Voice Shorts

Hudson girl electrocuted, dies in bath tub
A 6-year-old Hudson girl, Chelsea Helland, died in a home accident Sunday night, according to the Hudson Star Observer. The Hudson Police Department is still investigating the incident, but it appears that she died after a hair dryer fell into the bathtub.

Helland was a kindergarten student at Rock Elementary School.

UW-System honors death of specialist
Hazardous Waste Specialist Henry Grote passed away after a massive stroke overtook him earlier this week.

Grote served for several years as the hazardous waste specialist for several campuses in the UW-System, including UW-River Falls.

Visitation will be held at noon Dec. 2, at the Olsen Funeral Home in Menomonie, Wis. The funeral will be held at 2 p.m., following the visitation.

Student organizations hold silent auction
On Dec. 1, the student organizations silent auction will be taking place. It is a fundraising opportunity for UW-River Falls student organizations and features over 100 items, including restaurant gift certificates, tickets to Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves games and homemade crafts. Baked goods will also be available. All money raised will be used to support the student organizations of UWRF. The auction will be held 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Riverview Ballroom in the University Center.

Several holiday concerts to take place
The UW-River Falls holiday concerts will begin 3 p.m. Dec. 2, and will feature the UW- River Falls Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Women’s Chorus and Men’s Chorus. The UWRF Brass Ensemble and women’s, men’s and University choruses will perform at the “Carols and Brass” concert. UWRF Assistant Music Professor Sarah Parks and UWRF Music Instructor Rick Gaynor will direct the event.

Familiar pieces such as “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” will be featured, as well as standard choral literature, including an African carol arranged by Wendell Whallum, titled “Betelehemu.”

“New Music Ensemble Concert” will perform 8 p.m. Dec. 2, and UWRF Music Instructor Patti Cudd will direct the event. The student-comprised vocal and instrumental ensemble plays the music of modern-day composers, often with an experimental flare. The ensemble is experimental in that they will interpret drawings and nontraditional scores. The concert will feature works by composers Cornelius Cardrew, Yoko Ono and Roger Johnson, as well as a number of drawings. The fee for the concerts is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, and $2 for students with ID. The concerts will be held in the William Abbott Concert Hall in Kleinpell Fine Arts.

Art department hosts annual holiday sale
The UW-River Falls art department will be holding their annual art sale. Every holiday season shoppers struggle to find a gift for that hard-to-shop-for person on their list. The art department has the answer: the popular annual scholarship sale. The sale will be held through Dec. 12 at Gallery 101 in the Kleinpell Fine Arts building.

Works of fine art including glass, ceramics, paintings, fibers, prints, photographs and mixed media will be available for purchase. Current and past students and faculty members, as well as talented local artists have handcrafted each piece that will be on display. 

Each artist receives 70 percent of the profit from the sale of their work and donates the remaining 30 percent to UWRF’s art department. The department uses the money to create scholarships for students and to support the Art Society.

The sale is open to the public. Gallery 101 will be open for sales from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and again from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. The gallery will also be open from 2-4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, please contact the UWRF art department at (715) 425-3266. 

Local students learn from weather station
UW-River Falls professor Geoffrey Force has come up with a way to help students at the River Falls Public Montessori Academy learn about the weather and share their findings with the community, according to the River Falls Journal. Force has a specialty in climatology, a college degree in geography and a basic knowledge of carpentry.

Force, whose daughter Arabelle Force is a third-grader at the school, has crafted and installed an operational, kid-friendly weather station at the school. Force based his design on weather stations he’s seen at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minn., where he also teaches, UWRF’s campus and others.

Though cost was a consideration, the primary importance was to devise a kid-friendly unit, designing it for students in grades three through five. Some weather shelters can cost around $600. Force came up with a much less costly version. He bought wooden café doors, the type you mount in a doorway between rooms, and cut them down to size to make the rectangular weather shelter. He also primed, painted and weatherized the slatted unit to make it resistant to the elements. It is mounted it on a post near the entrance to the academy.