News – Page 32 – The Scene

Student finds stolen phone

April 7, 2014

Campus police responded to a call about a missing cell phone in the Highlander Lounge on Wednesday, and a student then found the phone in the parking lot. Aaron Dlamini, 20, nursing, was with friends in the lounge between 1 and 2 p.m when his iPhone came up missing. “We weren’t there when it was taken, but we were there when it got back,” said Chief Richard Banahan of the Forest Park Campus Police department, who accompanied Officer Terri Buford to the Highlander Lounge. Buford pulled witnesses to the side one at a time for questioning. The suspect fled the lounge undetected but left the phone on top of a car in the parking lot. A fellow student found the phone and returned it to Dlamini within the hour. […]

Interim chancellor Dennis Michaelis speaks to a crowd of faculty during a Forest Park forum. ( Photo by Scott Allen)

Faculty questions Michaelis at forum

April 7, 2014

Dennis Michaelis was optimistic about the future of the college’s administration and student services as he spoke with Forest Park faculty at a March 19 forum. Michaelis is filling the job of STLCC chancellor during Myrtle Dorsey’s leave of absence through her original contract date of June 2014. Few students attended, but the faculty and staff who were there questioned the school’s future leadership and efforts to improve student life. […]

Construction work has just wrapped on the Cardinals Nation rooftop deck at Ballpark Village. (Photo by Dejuan Baskin)

Cards fans are back in force

April 7, 2014

Opening Day is not a holiday, but true Cardinals fans celebrate like it is. Thousands of baseball fans flood Busch Stadium in downtown St. Louis every year to create what has been locally nicknamed the “Red Sea.” This year the Red Sea has broken the levees of Busch Stadium and spilled into the new Ballpark Village directly across the street. […]

Students study graphics at Forest Park. (Photo by Anna Mars Chekhovskaya)

Graphics program moves to other campuses

April 7, 2014

The associate’s degree in graphic design is no longer offered on the Forest Park campus, as of this semester. Students can still pursue it at Meramec or Florissant Valley. Forest Park continues to offer three classes in the program — computer art studio and graphic design I & II. […]

Hess leads a discussion with faculty on campus climate. (Photo by Brandon Reynolds)

Hess headed back to Oklahoma

March 31, 2014

President Cindy Hess is leaving Forest Park. She has accepted the position of associate dean of communications at Tulsa Community College’s Southeast Campus in Tulsa, Okla. Her last day is May 13. “I’m looking to be within an hour of most of my family and being in a role that’s more closely connected to faculty and students,” she said. […]

Rush is on to get health insurance

March 31, 2014

Today is the deadline for Americans to sign up for health insurance, so some students are opting out of coverage while others scramble to find options. Fire Protection Technologies student Andrew Wheeler, 24, hasn’t had health insurance for three years. But he’s adamant about not using the federal health-care exchange website because of its problematic launch in October. “It’s either health care through the military, or I just won’t have health care,” he said. Byron Keaton, 21, a theater major and member of the Campus Life Task Force, also has been uninsured for three years. […]

Forest Park students board the No. 59 MetroBus at the Oakland Ave. bus stop on a chilly afternoon. (Photo by DeJuan Baskin)

Metro to increase transit fares

March 31, 2014

Metro Transit plans to increase fares this summer, affecting many Forest Park students who commute by bus or light-rail train. Culinary arts major Myeisha Garrett, 19, isn’t happy about it. She uses the system to travel from Dellwood to the college every day and sometimes to her job at Walmart. Metro officials have developed three possible options to raise revenue, targeting people who use public transportation most. […]

Campus police officers lead away a student who was believed to have a firearm, but was later released by the St. Louis Metro Police Department. His face is blured to protect his identity. (Photo by Markeith Childress)

Arguments lead police to detain six

February 18, 2014

Two separate arguments on the Forest Park campus prompted police to handcuff and detain six people on the morning of Feb. 19. Dozens of students, faculty and staff witnessed the incidents in the cafeteria, C circle and courtyard between G Tower and the theater building. […]

Enrollment decline continues

February 18, 2014

The trend of declining enrollment continues at Forest Park, with spring figures down 15 percent from a year ago, from 6,888 to 5,888 students, according to the latest data published by the college. Forest Park Bookstore cashier Erica Coleman, 34, said she noticed “bigger crowds” last fall compared to this semester. In fall of 2013, enrollment was at 6,815. Coleman, a general transfer student, also sees the impact of the trend in her classes. […]

Graphics student Darryl Reece, 18, becomes an organ donor with the help of Angela Johnson during a recent event in the Forest Park cafeteria. (Photo by Scott Allen)

Grieving mom promotes organ donation

February 18, 2014

Sixteen-year-old DaVon Steward saved or improved the lives of nearly two dozen people — after his 2001 murder. His family donated his heart, lungs and other organs and tissues to strangers who needed transplants. “A lot of people’s lives got blessed because of this,” said Steward’s mother, Angela Johnson, 51, a Forest Park student majoring in hospitality management. “And I just thought this was the greatest thing in the world.” The experience led Johnson to become an advocate for organ donation. […]