By April Biswell

In a faculty forum, it was suggested that instructors adopt an instructional theme every year. The themes are to help tie course work into everyday life and give students skills that they can utilize in the real world.

The theme that has been adopted for this year, at the urging of geology instructor Mike Phillips, is the general elections.

"I have assigned each of my environmental science students a presidential, legislative or county candidate to research," Phillips said, explaining that the student must research the candidate's position on environmental issues and present the information to the class before the elections.

"Some of my students seemed genuinely interested in the project. I didn't just give them candidates like Bush and Gore. I also gave them third party candidates."

In addition to instructors integrating the elections into their course work, the Student Government Association is urging students to register to vote, and the college is trying to get various candidates to visit the campus to talk to students.

"By working together, we will help students make an educated decision on who to vote for in November," Phillips explained. "Voting is an important part of being a United States citizen."

Due to the newness of the program, and since the program is not mandatory, Phillips said it would be hard to estimate how many instructors would participate. He said a theme for next year will be discussed earlier, giving instructors more time to integrate it into their course work.