Wednesday, October 31, 2012 - The Lafourche Gazette

Opinion From 2-A
Good judges are the
oundation of any properly
unctioning judicial system,
nd we are fortunate to live
n a state where we have the
ower to choose who repreents
us on state and disrict
courts. That’s why it’s
o important that voters get
o know the candidates—
earn about their judicial
hilosophies and the profesional
backgrounds they
ill bring to the bench.
It can also be very
elling to find out who their
ampaign contributors are.
his information is publicly
vailable through the
ouisiana Ethics Adminisration’s
website at
ww.ethics.state.la.us.
The bottom line is good
udges really do matter, and
o does your vote. These
lections are often decided
y a very thin margin—
ometimes within 100 votes
r less. So don’t let somene
else speak for you on
lection Day. Learn about
he candidates and make an
nformed decision on Noember
6th.
Melissa Landry
Executive Director of
ouisiana Lawsuit Abuse
atch, a non-partisan citien
watchdog group dediated
to improving
ouisiana’s legal climate.
Community support
needed for NSU
As a resident of
Lafourche Parish, the wife of
an NSU educated educator
and coach, the mother of a
recent NSU grad and a current
NSU student, I wanted
to urge Lafourche Parish
residents, our neighboring
parish residents, and the
business communities to
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Vote # 51
Armojen
“A.J. - Buddy”
Cantrelle, Jr.
Greater Lafourche
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support our local university
before we lose it.
We all are aware of the
severe state and federal
budget cuts that higher education
has faced in recent
years. Now they have been
dealt another blow with
more cuts to come. We were
fortunate to get Fletcher’s
new facility completed and
opened, but let us not allow
our state and federal governments
to leave us with
no option for our children to
receive a bachelors or masters
degree without traveling
to Nola, Lafayette,
Hammond, or Baton Rouge.
How can we help you
ask? Well, even if we can’t
all set up scholarships or
create endowments; we all
can surely do the simpler
things to support NSU.
Call NSU and find out
how you or your business
can help, I am sure Dr. Hulbert
or any of the staff
would be more than happy
to steer you in the right direction.
There are many
public events on and
around campus that benefit
NSU in many ways. Try attending
events, patronizing
the university book store or
their new online store, buy
season tickets to sporting
events, plays, culinary dinners,
etc.
Check out the school
web site for the event calendar
and encourage young
people in your communities
to attend NSU.
Tommy and I have been
part of the NSU family for a
long time, and it is truly a
family atmosphere.
Two things that continuously
come to my mind
when thinking about our
community people are food
and sports. Both are important
parts of our local Cajun
Culture and can also be
huge parts of NSU’s survival.
NSU’s culinary programs
are growing rapidly
and have already developed
a national reputation as a
great affordable program.
The culinary school has
many opportunities for the
public to experience fine
dining and support our university
through patronage
or other means.
Another passion for the
people of our communities
is sports. We all love and
support our Saints, Tarpons,
Trojans, Tigers, LSU,
Tulane etc., so why not support
our Colonels, too?
NSU has so many
sports where home games
make great affordable family
outings, like baseball,
softball, basketball, volleyball,
soccer, and of course
my family’s passion, football.
The athletics web site
has schedules for all sporting
events posted for your
viewing.
This year the NSU
Colonel Football team has
only 4 home games, with
only two remaining, Saturday
afternoon, Nov. 3, and
Thursday evening, Nov. 15.
We would love to see our
community people there.
The Saturday afternoon
game coincides with NSU
students’ family day. This is
a family day for all NSU students
and their families.
They have many events
planned and it is a great opportunity
for parents and
family to tour the campus,
especially the newly opened
recreation facility.
What a great day to
come out with your family
and enjoy fun games, pep
rally, face painting, food,
music, tailgating, and the
game. This is the perfect
time to bring your teens
who are not yet college age,
and show them around the
campus, let them experience
the college tailgating
fun, and hopefully encourage
them to attend NSU to
further their education.
Whatever avenue you
choose to show your support,
I am certain that the
NSU faculty, students, and
administration will welcome
and thank you for it.
In closing, I urge you
the citizens of Lafourche
Parish and our surrounding
parishes to consider supporting
NSU in any way you
can before state and federal
governments trim our chil-
dren’s available education
programs from a masters to
a bachelors, then to an associates
degree only. Let’s
show our usual great community
support when faced
with a crisis, and losing
NSU would definitely be a
crisis!
Julie Gisclair
Cut Off
EDITOR’S NOTE: Opinions expressed
are strictly those of the letter writer and
not of this newspaper. Letters should be
brief and to the point. They must include
the writer’s signature, address and daytime
telephone number. Initials and pen
names will not be accepted. Letters from
the same writer are not published when
they follow frequently upon another.
Nicholls joins
national effort
to increase
college
graduates
THIBODAUX — Nicholls
State University joined more
than 480 public four-year
colleges and universities in
a national pledge to boost
the number of college graduates.
Through Project Degree
Completion: A Public University
Initiative, the institutions
have committed to
awarding 18.4 million degrees
over the next 14
years. This will help the nation
reach its goal of 60 percent
of adults possessing a
college degree by 2025.
“Nicholls is pleased to
join this nationwide effort
and show our solidarity
with other universities on
this important initiative,”
said Dr. Stephen T. Hulbert,
Nicholls president. “For
years, we have been making
great progress toward increasing
the number of degrees
awarded and
graduation rates. Nicholls
will continue doing its part
to achieve this national
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012 THE LAFOURCHE GAZETTE 5-A
Central Lafourche High School was the site of the Lafourche Parish School Board’s
Adult Education Commencement Exercises last Thursday evening.
Those receiving degrees included Frances Addison, Bryan Aucoin, Kristi Authement,
Chase Bergeron, Dana Boudreaux, Jordan Boudreaux, Susan Carnes, Kayla
Cheramie, LeeAnn Cheramie, Skyla Dardar, Alex Duet, Brittany Folse, Nicole Gisclair,
Leslie Guill, Brian Hebert, Ashley Johnson, Kristie Justilian, Amber
McWilliams, Amber Metrejean, Annisse Naquin, Chad Pruitt, Maria Terrebonne,
Stacy Trahan, Jonathon Turnage, Mechelle Verdin and Nicole Williams.
public higher education
goal.”
During the 2011–12 academic
year, Nicholls
awarded a recording-breaking
1,263 degrees. A recent
report also showed that
Nicholls increased its sixyear
statewide graduation
rate by nearly 10 percentage
points. Of first-time freshmen
who enrolled at
Nicholls in 2005, 41.88 percent
of them graduated from
Nicholls or another state institution
within six years —
the highest graduation rate
among Louisiana’s regional
universities.
Currently, the nation’s
public colleges and universities
produce a little more
than 1 million degrees annually.
Based on this figure,
public higher education
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Adult Education Graduates
would produce an estimated
14.6 million graduates from
2012 to 2025. The initiative,
however, seeks to raise the
total by 3.8 million, resulting
in 18.4 million graduates
over the 14-year period.
“By signing this commitment,
Nicholls is promising
to continue working
toward reducing the average
time it takes a student to
graduate and reaching out
to re-enroll former students
who started but didn’t complete
their degrees,” Hulbert
said. “Another important
aspect of the pledge is its
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call for a renewed partnership
with state and federal
government. Critical to the
future of higher education is
a reversal of the political
trends that have left universities
with no choice but to
raise tuition to make up for
the loss of state funding.”
Each year, the American
Association of State
Colleges and Universities
and the Association of Public
and Land-Grant Universities,
which have organized
the pledge, will release reports
showing progress toward
the 2025 goal.
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