The Seward County Community College/Area Technical School Board of Trustees met for a regular board meeting Thursday, September 8, following a tour of the Area Technical School.

Tammy Doll, director of devel- opment, gave an overview of the SCCC/ATS Foundation Auction scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17. New this year to the auction is day care provided by the Saints Cheer and Dance Squad for $20 per child.

Galen McSpadden, athletic di- rector, discussed the Saints athletic programs and the rules from the National Junior College Ath- letic Association and the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.

The women’s tennis team has been recognized as the ITA Academic Team of the Year and the men’s tennis Team was the ITA Academic team of the Year for the third straight year.

The Lady Saints basketball team was the top academic team in the Jayhawk Conference.

Overall, the 102 SCCC/ATS student-athletes last year had a 3.27 grade point average during the fall 2010 semester and 3.14 during the spring 2011 semester.

The athletic department is ex- perimenting with streaming video during its athletic games, and began with the Sept. 7 volleyball game.

The video broadcasts will be used for instruction for the sports management program as well as provide parents, fans, and college recruiters with the opportunity to watch Saints athletic events through web based video.

McSpadden also reported that the National Collegiate Athletic Association wants to change the transfer requirements of commu- nity college student-athletes from a 2.0 grade point average to a 2.5. This would mean that community college student-athletes would be required to graduate with a higher GPA than any other student-athlete in the NCAA.

They would also be required to take 16 core classes in high school with at least a 2.5 in their 16 core classes.

In addition, the NCAA would also require a year of readiness for student-athletes who enter community college athletics programs because they do not meet the NCAA university academic admissions requirement.

Those students would also be required to spend their additional two years of eligibility at the same community college.

“Once they start at a community college, they would not be able to transfer to another after one or two years,” McSpadden said.

A new international rule goes into affect in 2012 changing the number of foreign students a team is allowed to have each year.

The new rule would allow for only 25 percent of the team to in- clude international students com- pared to the current rule of allow- ing 25 percent of those who at- tend on scholarship.

McSpadden said this would especially affect the tennis, volley- ball and basketball teams at SCCC/ATS.

Seward President Dr. Duane Dunn and McSpadden explained that the new rules seem prohibi- tive to students who want to obtain an education, and especially to those who may not have had a

successful academic experience in high school. The result may be fewer individuals entering college at all community colleges.

SCCC/ATS has submitted an application to participate in a new Accelerating Opportunities for Kansas Grant, called AO-K. The first two areas of focus will be advanced manufacturing and health care, said Bud Smithson, director of the Area Technical School.

The initiative would pair instructors who teach basic skills through the college’s Colvin Adult Learning Center with an instructor who teaches a technical program. The key concept would be to develop skills in a non-traditional individual to make them employable and to help them meet the specific needs of area businesses and industry.

The fall semester is under way and enrollment appears be up for the third straight year. Following certification date, enrollment should be up about 15 percent.