Feature story

For some people hobbies are just that; hobbies. But for Anoka-Ramsey Community College student Caitlyn Peterson, her hobby is a passion and a way of life.

Peterson has been attending Anoka-Ramsey Community College four semesters and will be transferring to the University of Wisconsin River Falls in the fall. She has plans of going on to obtain a degree to become a pharmaceutical representative. When she graduates and finds her first job in her new field she will be peddling medications and making good money. However, her desire to become a pharmaceutical representative has nothing to do with the money; it has more to do with the travel opportunities.

Peterson has a fondness for horses to put it plainly. Her family owns 10 horses and she spends most of her free time with them. She has been riding since she was in the seventh grade and competes in various competitions.

Peterson stated that she didn’t get her first horse until she was in the seventh grade. “My parents had horses when they were just married and then they sold them when me and my sister were just born. They sold them because they just didn’t have time, and ever since I learned to talk I really wanted horses so I begged and begged and they kept saying no until the summer after seventh grade, then they bought me my first horse.”

Her first horse was a quarter horse named Moose. She stated he was interesting to begin with. He bucked her off a few times but eventually she was able to train him and turn him around.

Eventually Peterson began to compete in competitions within the Western Saddle Club Association (WSCA). Among her competition styles Peterson cited Western and English Pleasure, which are types of show competitions, as well as timed racing competitions such as keyhole racing.

After three years of training and competing she was able to take Moose to the state championship held at the Minnesota State Fair in 2008 and take home the state championship title in hunt seat English pleasure. She repeated the feat in 2009 once again in with a victory in keyhole racing. “It was really fun to do back to back years because not a lot of people do all of the kinds of showing so for me to do both, it was really exciting, I was happy,” said Peterson.

Although she is proud of her accomplishments in competitions, Peterson’s work with horses doesn’t stop there. She is currently working for Circle Vee Ranch in St. Francis. At the ranch she gives riding lessons and trains horses for shows. She is currently training 10 young girls and getting them ready for shows themselves. Peterson stated “I ride at least 4 or 5 different horses every single day. So now training comes really easily, I start a lot of young ones (horses) and people will bring older ones to me and I get them ready to show.”

Peterson stated that there is quite a bit of work involved in training a horse. “To compete and win it takes about a year. If you just want to just get out there and get some experience I can do it in 3 months,” stated Peterson “That’s a horse that’s never been rode, but they probably wouldn’t be winning. That’s for the pleasure events; in gaming though you can probably win in about 3 months because it’s a little easier. You’re racing a clock instead of someone else’s opinion.”

Within Peterson’s family the work with horses doesn’t end with her. Both of her parents are riders as well as her sister Lyndsie, who also designs clothing for shows with her company Owl Creek Designs. Peterson considers Lyndsie her partner as she designs all of the clothing for her competitions.

Looking towards the future Peterson plans to move to Hastings, Minn with her best friend Courtney Parson and her sister Lyndsie. The three will share an apartment where Peterson and Parson will share a room while Lyndsie will have a room to herself in order to be able to continue to design her clothing.

Peterson plans to help her sister sell her clothing once she has more of a background in sales through her pharmaceutical representative training and the two want to someday own two houses on the same property with an arena and a barn in between them in order to continue their work with horses. For now Peterson is training a horse named Dreamer, maybe she will make it three years in a row with a state title.

news summary

headline:

She was trapped and frantic ... and her car kept sinking

A woman drowned today after her SUV sank into a storm retaining pond in Hugo, Minn. Brian Peltier, a real estate agent on his way home from his parents home in Forest Lake, spotted the vehicle as it was sinking and attempted to save the womans life but was unsuccessful. Alcohol is being considered as an attributing factor in the crash.

http://www.twincities.com/ci_14871111

Summary

Headline:

RNC expense report renews criticism about Steele's spending

The Republican national committee, and its chairman Michael Steele are under fire by democrats again after lists of expenditures were released. The RNC apparently spent 10's of thousands of dollars on private jets and expensive meals. Among the most controversial expenditures was just over $1900 spent at Voyeur in West Hollywood, a club which features topless dancers and mimicked sex acts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/29/AR2010032903822.html

Story 6

Some teachers obtain their degrees looking toward teaching at universities, yet others prefer state schools and smaller community colleges. Dr. Kate Maurer, member of the Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) English department, has had the best of both worlds.

Maurer was born in Little Falls, Minn and raised in St. Cloud, Minn where she attended a parochial high school. Maurer grew up believing she could be whatever she wanted to be, thanks to her mother’s praises.

In her early post-secondary education, Maurer was engaged in scientific studies. She believed that a person always had to study something that was a challenge to them, but she soon became ill and fell behind.

Maurer recalled, “When I was a sophomore in college I got very sick, I ended up missing about a month of school, and if you miss a month of chemistry and calculus when they are not easy for you to begin with, you will never catch up.” It was at that point in her education that Maurer had an epiphany. She added, “That’s when I realized, ‘wow, I don’t have to take something that’s hard for me.’ I always enjoyed literature and reading, and it never dawned on me that I could study for something that I have an affinity for.”

Maurer explained that she was drawn to teaching by example, “I had some really good role models. Some professors who I just would do anything for, they were amazing, which made me want to be like them.”

Maurer went on to obtain her bachelor’s degree at the University of Minnesota Duluth and followed that with a Masters from Marquette University in Milwaukee where she also got her PhD.

While Marquette University in Milwaukee, Maurer worked as a teacher’s assistant (T.A.). She stated, “I was a T.A., which in our field means you run the whole class, it doesn’t mean you help the professor, you are the professor.” She added, “Once I started doing that I really liked it. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to go but I found that I really sort of grew into my personality once I had to be in charge of a classroom, and I really enjoyed it. First it was to pay the bills and it quickly became something I very much enjoyed.”

Maurer has been teaching in one capacity or another since 1989. Before coming to ARCC she taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth for nine years. Maurer stated, “I wanted to come to a teaching centered school. I had some philosophical differences with the approach of the four year school.” Those differences were enough to convince her to make the move to the smaller campus of ARCC.

Comparing ARCC to the University of Minnesota Duluth, Maurer said, “I like that it [ARCC] is very student orientated. To me that doesn’t mean, bend over backwards and do whatever the students want, but it means I’m given the freedom to spend time with you, to help you to get to know you as opposed to, just ‘get them through, don’t care about them, push them on through.’ We are encouraged to get to know our students individually and spend time with them.”

Maurer explained that she is happy with her decision to make the move to a smaller school and has no future plans on moving back to a bigger school. She is currently involved in teaching courses at ARCC such as: college writing and critical reading, British literature, introduction to literature, and the art of watching films. She also hopes to one day teach a special topic Shakespeare course.

Journal Summary

Headline:

Maple River student critically hurt in rollover crash

An 18-year-old Maple River High School student, Lexi Hagen, is still in a coma after her car crashed into a ditch while traveling along Blue Earth County Road 90 Sunday.

Hagen is currently in St. Mary's hospital in Rochester and is listed in critical condition.

Maple River High School lost a pair of students almost two months ago when they were killed in a head-on collision along Minnesota 22.

Golden Rams hold media day event at Armed Forces Reserve Center

If their past games are any indication, the Anoka-Ramsey Community College (ARCC) Golden Rams women’s fast-pitch softball team is going to have their work cut out for them, but that didn’t stop them from holding their media day in the gym at the Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) across from the Cambridge Campus Tuesday.

The media day event was scarce with onlookers, but among those in attendance were Mary Jacobson, marketing/public relations liaison for ARCC. Jacobson took photos of the girls as they posed for team shots and individual photos. “We really want to bring more excitement to campus through the athletics,” stated Jacobson, “this is a good opportunity to draw in new students.” Also in attendance was Patrick Johns, ARCC school president.

The ARCC Golden Rams have played five games thus far this season and have yet to score a run. The team has been blanked in five consecutive games, losing with scores of: 30-0, 29-0, 36-0, 9-0, and 17-0, respectively. The Golden Rams are set to play 47 games this season within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III and they are part of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC). This is the girl’s fast-pitch softball team’s inaugural season and they admit they have a lot of team building to do. ARCC athletic director and fast-pitch softball coach Dave Alto stated, “From a team standpoint, we are just trying to improve.”

Alto has coached softball for 19 years but this is his first year coaching a college level team. He voiced his excitement over his new coaching position, stating, “we look forward to creating excitement and enthusiasm about having varsity sports at the Cambridge Campus.” He went on to say, “This [fast-pitch softball] is something the people here in Cambridge and on campus can rally around.”

The Golden Rams currently have 12 girls on the team and are looking to improve, as shown at the open practice on Tuesday. The girls spent the better part of an hour tossing balls back and forth, fielding ground balls and running sprint drills.

The girls seemed to have a lot of fun working together Tuesday during practice. There were plenty of smiles and laughs to go around as they tossed the balls around and while they posed for team photos. Ashley Peterson, Golden Rams second base player, stated before the drills started, “I love playing softball and playing with new people.” Peterson went on to say her goals for the season were, winning games and having good chemistry. Alex Thunborg, Golden Rams shortstop, said her goals are mainly having fun, meeting new people, and just enjoying the new experience.

While the girls are now spending time practicing in the AFRC gym, and playing games in various out-of-town locations, they are hopeful to be playing on their own field scheduled to be built near the AFRC by next year.

-30-

News Summary

Headline: Five-hour standoff at Shoreview town house ends with man's arrest


A Shoreview man was arrested by the Ramsey County SWAT team after a 5 1/2 hour standoff at his home on Chatworth Street North. Police were called to the home after neighbors reported a couple fighting outside the home early Monday morning.

When police arrived at the home they were unable to reach the man by cell phone or landline but his spouse reported that he was inside the house threatening to kill himself or anyone who tried to take him out.

The SWAT team were eventually able to arrest the man after using tear gas to storm the house.



http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_14637080