MOLINE, Ill. - Midwest Technical Institute is proud to announce seven Moline-area high school students as the winners of the 2014-2015 mrWF/MTI Scholarship Program.

This year's winners were determined by a public voting campaign via Facebook and include Jeff Farny, of Sterling High School; Colin Jones, of Mercer County High School; Daniel Reed, of Rock Island High School; Andrew Fitz, of Moline High School; Jace Jennings, of Kewanee High School; Madalyn Brown, of Moline High School; Logan Wheeler, of Louisa Muscatine High School.

Winners of this year's scholarship program will receive a 100 percent tuition-paid scholarship for any of MTI's courses and programs, including those in welding, HVAC, medical assisting, dental assisting, medical coding, CDL and others.

Founded in 2013 as a collaboration between MTI and Mike Rowe - best known as the host of the reality show 'Dirty Jobs' and CNN's 'Somebody's Gotta Do It' - the program is committed to assisting today's high school students in receiving the hands-on, workforce training necessary to help close the nationwide skills gap in a number of skilled-labor industries.

To be eligible for the program, students submitted a short essay and video detailing why they deserved to win one of this year's scholarships. Submitted videos were then subject to a period of public voting via MTI's Facebook profiles where the videos with the most votes were selected as winners.

MTI's Director of High School Development Eric Gleason believes the scholarship program offers winners more than just a free, skills-based education.

"The Mike Rowe scholarship gives winners a sense of accomplishment and pride, not to mention the recognition," Gleason said. "The effort these students put into this scholarship can give them the confidence to accomplish great things in their career and life."

A partnership between MTI and the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, the program awards seven students at each of MTI's five campus locations annually with a tuition-free scholarship. The program also works to promote the value of hands-on, vocational training for a number of in-demand mechanical trade, allied health and transportation industries.

For more information on MTI or the scholarship program, contact MTI Director of Marketing Stacey Wierman at (309) 427-2750, extension 1228, or via email at swierman@midwesttech.edu.

About Midwest Technical Institute

AMES, IA (05/06/2015)(readMedia)-- A group of 30 Iowa State University undergraduate students stretched their learning through research and laboratory experience in the Science with Practice program. Science with Practice is a learning and work experience program in research and related laboratories for undergraduate students who work closely with faculty and graduate students to gain experience in their field of study. Students participating in Science with Practice this past semester include :

Joshua Byrne, from Davenport and majoring in Animal Ecology, was advised by Dr. Gregory Courtney, professor, on a project titled Iowa Biomonitoring with Aquatic Insects. This project had a goal of creating a simplified dichotomous key of aquatic insects which will be used by middle and high school students. The key involves written characteristics and diagnostic illustrations. Once completed, the aquatic insect key will be employed in educational programs to determine the health of local waterways.

Ellen Kaschke, from East Moline and majoring in Animal Science, was advised by Dr. John Patience, professor, on a project titled Evaluation of Phytase Enzyme and ?-Glucanase in Nuresery Pig Diets. This project was to evaluate effects of adding a phytase enzyme and ?-glucanase on nursery pig performance. A total of 437 weanling pigs were blocked by weight and randomly assigned one of the five dietary treatments. The growth and feed intake was then analyzed for results.

Jacob Smith, from Port Byron and majoring in Horticulture, was advised by Dr. Christopher Currey, assistant professor, on a project titled Quantifying the Effect of Mean Air Temperature on the Development of Annual Culinary Herb Species. This project had a goal to develop models to predict biomass accumulation and determine growth responses to various temperatures. Culinary herbs are a popular food crop to produce in hydroponic production systems in greenhouse and controlled environments. The air temperature has a strong impact on the rate of growth and development.

In the program, students develop individualized learning agreements and project goals with Iowa State faculty mentors. At the conclusion of the semester, participants presented their projects at a poster session open to the public.

The Science with Practice program has linked students with faculty research for 10 years. Students may participate in the program multiple semesters. For more information visit www.ageds.iastate.edu/SWP.

After Governor Rauner addressed the Chicago City Council, he was asked, "give me an example of what Chicago wants and what Illinois needs."

The governor answered in part:

"Well in terms of what Illinois needs, I have been clear for two and a half years. We need local control, voter empowerment, pro-growth regulations and an overhaul of the government, empowering local voters and taxpayers to get more control of government costs, and that's laid out crystal clear within our turnaround agenda. That's what we need, and I've said that consistently."

To be clear, the governor's top priorities are listed below:

·         Term limits

·         Property tax freeze

·         Allow local control of ability to create employee empowerment zones

·         Allow local control of contracting and bargaining in schools and local governments

·         Allow local control of competitive bidding on taxpayer-funded construction projects

·         Pension reform

·         Worker's compensation/tort/unemployment insurance reform

·         Ethics reform/end conflicts of interest in government

The detailed Turnaround Agenda is available at the following link: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Documents/CompiledPacket.pdf

Quad Cities - Communities across America celebrate National Travel and Tourism Week from May 2-10 in order to shine a light on what travel means to jobs, economic growth, and personal well-being.

"Just look at the numbers.  Travel supports 15 million jobs in America, including almost 8,000 jobs right here in the Quad Cities," said Joe Taylor, president/CEO of the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.  "This week, we are celebrating what travel means to our community as well as our 25th anniversary year, and we call on everyone?from elected officials to local residents?to join us in saluting this important industry."

Local travel employs a prosperous and diverse workforce, from airline and hotel employees, to restaurant, attraction and retail workers, and supports industry sectors such as construction, manufacturing and finance.  Over the last year, visitors spent over $800 million in the Quad Cities and generated over $12 million in local tax receipts.

The national figures are equally remarkable:

·        $2.1 trillion in economic output and $927.9 billion in direct travel-­?related spending in the U.S. by domestic and international travelers in 2014.

·        $141.5 billion generated in federal, state and local tax revenues in 2014.

·        15 million American jobs supported?8 million direct tourism jobs and 7 million indirect and induced jobs?good jobs with good pay that cannot be outsourced.

In the Quad Cities in 2014-2015, over 400 hotel rooms were added from four new hotels openings:  Holiday Inn Express & Suites and Holiday Inn & Suites in Davenport, Hilton Garden Inn in Bettendorf, and Holiday Inn Express in Moline.

Another new initiative from the Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB) is Quad Cities Museum Week on June 13-21 with 21 local museums involved offering events and activities.  Find the details at www.qcmuseumweek.com

Also the opening of the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday in its new permanent location at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport.  This is a collaborative effort between the Quad-City Times, Quad City Sports Commission, and Quad Cities River Bandits.

Travel can also have a positive effect on personal well-being.  A recent study by the U.S. Travel Association found that Americans left 429 million vacation days unused (the most in nearly 40 years) and forfeited $52.4 billion in time-off benefits.  If workers took just one more day off each year, travel would generate $73 billion annually for the economy.

The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau staff has put together a new video for National Travel and Tourism Week highlighting a few of the fun places to go in the Quad Cities.

Video Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaKuTmzqW5Y

"Travel contributes to the fabric of America and continues to do wonders for our businesses and personal lives," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, the umbrella organization representing the travel industry in the U.S.  "This weeklong celebration should extend to every day of the week to strengthen further our dynamic industry."

The QCCVB is the official tourism destination marketing and management organization for the Quad Cities region.  The organization serves the tourism interests of Scott County in Iowa and Rock Island, Mercer, Warren and Henderson Counties in Illinois. The QCCVB increases visitor expenditures and overnight stays through strategic sales, marketing, and services to customers, members and communities.  www.visitquadcities.com