The Northern Lights Athletic and Scholarship Foundation hosted their eighth annual Pheasant Jamboree this fall. The Legends for Lights Pheasant Jamboree is a combination of former NFL, NHL, MBL and other professional legends along with locals and outdoor enthusiasts from across the country coming together for a 4 day jamboree that includes trap shooting, pheasant hunting, the Taste of Havre and a little storytelling. People pay to be in these teams and the money raised during this event goes toward athletic scholarships.
The Industry Working Group for Bio Energy producers, regulators and folks interested in the region conducted their meeting on campus this fall. There were representatives from the Montana DEQ as well as the state office for the WIRED grant and Montana Department of Labor and Industry. Producers and others include Brett Earl and Logan Fisher from the Earl Fisher bio diesel operation in Chester, Terry Larsen from the Stillwater Mining company who are using various bio diesel blends up to B70 in their equipment, John Scott from Modern Machinery and our own Jon Soriano and representatives from the Bio Energy Innovation and Testing Center. They had a number of presentations and a tour of the lab facilities and finished the day with a tour of the Earl Fisher plant in Chester.
Brian Hanson from Billings Farm Hand, Mark Koltiska general manager of C&K Equipment in Sheridan, Wy, Grant Hammond Agco Sales Manager, and Tommy Tristan Agco field service manager came to Northern Wednesday, November 12th to deliver the new Agco Constant Velocity Transmission. This one of a kind transmission is designed for their state of the art tractors. This unit will be modified so people can take it apart and see how it works. It is equipment like this that helps to keep Northern's Diesel program one of the best in the country!!!
Northern's automotive faculty and administrators met the architects from CWG in Helena and Rich Hilmes from the state Architecture and Engineering Division for an all day meeting to begin the planning process to define the goals and needs for Northern's new automotive technology project. The architects will take these ideas and concepts and will develop their preliminary drawings for this new project. The planning money for this building came out of the last legislative session.
On September 13, 2008, Tyler Embody, an honors student and a 2006 graduate of the Plumbing Technology Program, was the first plumbing graduate to write and pass the state of Montana Journeyman's Plumbing Exam.
An apprentice in the state of Montana needs to complete 8500 hours (5 years) of work and complete 15 courses before they are eligible to take their state exam. By going to Northern Tyler was credited with 3115 hours (subtracted from 8500 hours) and he received credit for 10 of the 15 required courses. Tyler works for Haugenoe Plumbing in Kalispell, Montana and we wish him good luck in his plumbing career.
A Homeland Security Committee field hearing was held at Northern on July 2. The hearing focused on security of the northern border, Senator Jon Tester chaired the Senate Homeland Security Committee field hearing. The hearing was called "Securing the Northern Border: Views from the Front Lines," it examined how effectively the U.S. Department of Homeland Security works with state and local partners.
Carl Perkins grant sponsored the first TechWays workshop. This presentation was designed to expose potential students to the various technical programs available at Northern. Seventy students went through the program. Each student was allowed to choose four, 25 minute seminars from a list of 13 options.
MSU-Northern • P.O. Box 7751 • Havre, MT 59501