Education briefs News-Chronicle GREEN BAY Programs to be held for college bound students The Green Bay Area Public School District is offering Looking Ahead, a program designed to offer college bound students and their parents information that may help students gain admission to the college of their choice. Topics include high school course selection, Advance Placement (AP) courses, and what colleges are looking for in prospective students. A middle school session will be held 7-8:30 p.m. today at Edison Middle School, 442 Alpine Drive. A high school session will be held 7-8:30 p.m. Nov. 20 at the West High School Thune Center, 966 Shawano Ave. For more information, call Shirley Paulson at 448-7337. GREEN BAY "Oil vs. Wilderness" program to be presented Jonathan Waterman will speak about "Oil Versus Wilderness" at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Phoenix rooms of the University Union at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive. The program is free and open to the public. Waterman is internationally known for his northern adventures, and for his award winning books and films. The "Oil Versus Wilderness" program evolved from a credit course Waterman taught for the University of Alaska. He and the students traveled to the Prudhoe Bay oil complex and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to look at the aesthetic values behind wilderness preservation compared to the value of northern industry. Waterman is a veteran of a half a dozen trips into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. His presentation will tell of his experiences crossing the Brooks Range, and discuss potential cultural and environmental impacts of drilling for oil in the refuge, contrasted with economic benefits of doing so. Waterman is a world authority on Mt. McKinley, where he has been a rescue ranger, work for which he received a National Park Service Special Achievement Award. His adventures have included a 10-month journey across the Northwest Passage by skis, kayak and dogsled. He is also the author of eight books. GREEN BAY Green Bay speaker to address the Civil War and religion Mark Noll will speak about "The Civil War as a Crisis in American Theology and Religions Thought" at 11 a.m. Friday in the Christie Theater in the University Union at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive. Noll is McManis Professor of Christian Thought and professor of history at Wheaton College, Illinois. His academic interests focus on the interaction of Christianity and culture in 18th and 19th century Anglo-American societies. He has received two fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and won grants from the Pew Charitable Trust and the Lilly Endowment, Inc. His Ph.D. in American religious history is from Vanderbilt University. Noll is also the author of several books. GREEN BAY NWTC students eligible for scholarship competition The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which runs one of the country's largest and most competitive private scholarship programs, has announced that it will focus its undergraduate scholarship program on students transferring from two-year colleges to any four-year accredited college or university in the United States and abroad. Only two-year college students and alumni who have graduated from those institutions since May 1999 may compete for the new Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships, which could total as much as $30,000 per student. The Foundation plans to award approximately 30 scholarships in spring 2004 for use during the 2004-2005 academic year. It will renew each award in subsequent years based on performance. Awards will provide funding for tuition, room and board, required fees, and books for the length of the undergraduate degree. Scholarship candidates must be nominated by the faculty representative at their two-year institution. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College students and alumni who are interested in applying must call 498-5426 or (800) 422-6982, ext. 5426, by Dec. 30. GREEN BAY St. Thomas More receives accreditation The Wisconsin Religions and Independent Schools Accreditation (WRISA) announced at its fall meeting that St. Thomas More, 650 S. Irwin Ave., has achieved accreditation from the association. St. Thomas More and over 240 other private schools has attained this distinction. WRISA standards cover school philosophy, school and community relations, administration and governance, professional staff, school climate, curriculum, instructional materials and resources, student services, physical facilities, and planning and management. A school begins the seven year accreditation cycle by undergoing a year-long self-study during which a cross section of the school community closely examines all aspects of the school. Following the self-study, a team of educators from outside the school seeking accreditation conducts a site visit and validates the findings of the self-study. The school develops a long range plan of school improvement based on the recommendations identified in the self-study and visiting team report. Once approved by the visiting team, the school presents its documents to the WRISA Board of Directors of accreditation. To maintain it accreditation, each year the school files a report with WRISA and repeats the self-study, site visit process every seven years.