ft I’apc October 1W5 Fea TURES Volunteerism service and family surround Geri Petersen's life By Miranda Odendahl staff writer Geri IVlcrscn is u woman who says she could sculpt all day long without eating met Iter husband in the seventh grade stories the Capitol Building's Castle C ountry exhibit in her basement and manages to keep up an active involvement in all throe of her ture while her husband was attending Ohio State working towards a masters degree She found that sculpting came quite naturally to her and was relaxing She lined the art She also was working for a temporary job service company as a personnel manager Af- ter throe years they moved to Columbia MI) where their oldest child children's lives The tions spring from her Montcssori days The family now resides in Price at the home owned by the college which she loves because of (he landscaping “It feels like I'm in (lie mountains" Gcri's arious interests keep her constantly on the go She is excited about art in any form and she and her husband have succeeded in instilling that interest in Pre-scho- ol wifeisanylhing their children An- hut idle thony is tak- Geraldine Grange was in born ing an art class at Carbon High Kenilworth und photog- Utah at raphy CEU Tiffany is a president's and to moved Castle Dale at two alter her lather's death m a coal mine At the me she had a 5 year old sister and an infant brother dancer ulule Paige is a T 1 1 rs “ tended art festixalsand galleries for many years re-ali- the he lam- - ily has Until recently she had not im- u riter One of Geri Petersen's numerous activities is senring on the Price City Library Board portance of On her recent trip to Hong Kong she was so impressed with some children's books that growing up in a she brought them back to show Price City council woman Theresa Frandsen Get! said coal mining that the library is ordering a collection of the books for its readers area and the diversity coal mining has brought to Carbon and Emery Counties Some of the numerous committees she belongs to arc interested in preserving the past and teaching about the area's colorful history She would like to write a children's hook about what it has been like to have been raised here Geri went through school in Emery County where in the seventh grade she met Michael Petersen at a sporting event In the ninth grade they attended high school together where they became good friends and were of the yearbook After graduating (in the last class to attend South Emery High) both went on to the College of Eastern Utah Geri planned to major in sociology and psychology Rather than following that pursuit she moved to Chicago and began working with United Airlines as a (light attendant which she says gave her the “travel bug" "I really enjoyed learning about people from all over geography and the cultures of the world" She remained there for three years keeping up her correspondence with Michael and then was transferred to San Francisco At that time her future husband was pursuing his bachelor's degree at the University of California til Berkeley and they decided to gel married The couple moved to Columbus Ohio where Geri look up sculp rs Paige was bom A year later they relocated again to Jonesboro GA where Michael taught at Clayton College and both Tiffany and Anthony were bom In Georgia the family became quite politically involved with Michael helping in different political campaigns one being the opponent of Newt Gingritch: Virginia Shapard This interest seems to be carried on by Paige who has been an aide to Democratic Slate Senator Scott N I lowed and has been a research director for Karen Shephard After nine years in Georgia they returned to Castle Dale Utah and Dr Petersen began teaching at CEU Back in the town where she was raised Geri began a Montcssori (Paige had attended one in GeorHer love of children kept the gia) establishment running Tor five years I ler Montcssori Preschool was the only one between the Wasatch Front and St George The purposes of the a were to promote love for learning and to nurture creativity In fact her son Anthony while attending the preschool said when he grew up he wanted to he a pink triangle und fight oclopi in the ocean and this was accepted Geri feels that many of the reasons she cares so strongly for children their treatment and condi lrc-scho- ol pre-scho- ol self-estee- m She feels that it is very important that people appreciate and while vacationing in Hong Kong the past summer she found a set of books written about how to teach children ahoql art The city library ( she is a member of the board) is now planning to order the set Being the president's wife comes art quite naturally They entertain a great number of people and arc supportive of the community and the area In fad while she was at the Utah StateCapitol waiting for her husband she noticed the Castle Country exhibit's poor condition look pictures of it and found out who was responsible for its upkeep Site showed the pictures to the city council and the responsible parly but nothing was ever done T wo years later pcrsoncl at the Capitol called her saying the governor wanted something done about the exhibit and she went to Salt Lake "Before I knew it they had loaded the entire display into my blazer!" she says She drove home and immediately went tu the mayor's home to let him know she hadn't stolen it! Since then the pcrsoncl from the Capitol have called to let her know that the wing of the building is being renovated so the new exhibit will have to he smaller So as a “sideline thing" Geri is trying to gel another display for the Stale Capitol Building Because of her upbringing here site really cares how Six instructors join CEU's I faculty team by Leona Christensen 3 editor At the College of Eastern Utah pop cans are notthe only package deal that comes in sixes Six new instructors have joined the faculty team Mary Young Bowers joined the faculty as a business instructor Her previous teaching experience includes positions at Northern Arizona University Ohio's Marion Technical College and Northwest State Community College She earned her BS at Heidelberg College and her MBA at the University of Toieda Most recently a computer operations and informations systems instructor at Utah Valley State College Doyle Collings is a new addition to the COIS faculty He has also held several technical managment and consulting positions He earned his A A from Snow College BS id Finance from Brigham Young University and and MS in Business Information Systems and Education at Utah State University Using his strong background in marketing and management to better teach business students is Cary Countryman Fur the past three years he has taught hotel and restaurant administration at Washington State University and has served as a management and financial consultant He earned his AAS from Everett Community College in Washington He has a BA in public administration and an MBA from WSU The new director of forensics and communications instructor is Dean Gundlach His previous teaching experience includes teaching forensics and theater at River Valley I ligh School in Arizona He earned his A A in theater and communications from Mesa Community College and a BE in the same mqjor from Arizona State Univeristy At Central Missouri State University he served as a graduate assistant in theater A veteran of the mining industry Arvel Hansen has joined the faculty as a mining instructor In addition to earning a degree in mining from CEU he also has a degree in marketing and management from Boise State College He most recently served as senior safety representative forCyprus Plateau Mining in Carbon County Kimball Johnson will use his extensive military and civilian nursing expertise as the new addition to the nursing faculty Major Johnson as an ADN and MSN from B YU and a BSN from the University of Utah He is a licenced registered nurse in Utah and Colorado Some highlights of his nursing career include chief of nursing administration at the 200-be- d Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in AuroraColoudo and staff nurse at the 130th Station Hospital In Heidelberg Germany 20-ye- ar the area is perceived and would like others to take pride in it also Geri Petersen is doing everything she can to help the community Although she says it is impossible for her and Michael to attend every community function they go to all they can She is the director of the Castle Country Volunteer Service Center and numerous projects spring from that She has a computer program in her home where she keeps records of community service projects Anyone in the urea can inform her of their project and she records the information She has been a member of the advisory hoard for the Lighthouse KNOCK A the Christmas Tree Regalia Committee The Giving Tree (she did eight trees herself last year) the City Library Board the International Folkfcst The CEU Ballet Guild und thcTuke Pride in Utah Board Also us a member of the Price Community Progress Committee she is bringing more of an awareness and appreciation of the cultural diversity which exists here (she heads the cultural refinement area) Some other groups have been formed from Price Community Progress such as (lie Culture Connection which does the programming for the Peace Garden and (lie Civic Auditorium She also belongs to the Castle Country Arts und Humanities Council and is on the advisory board for the SUN Center along with having held several positions in the LDS Church "The thing that really has gotten me sii involved in community services is that I fell very strongly that students at die college needed to do volunteer work They need the opportunity to do volunteer work" She feels that getting involved with volunlcerscrviccs not only benefits the community but the individual She would like to encourage all students to go to the SUN Center and sign up for any ureas of service that are of interest Not only is such a dynamic woman a strong force in the community but she see Geri page 7