There aren’t words to express my appreciation for our guys in uniform. They ALL serve, whether it’s on the front, or here at home. Thanks, guys….

If the people of this country has 1% of the respect and discipline of these fine young men and I assume women, we would all be better off. USMC rocks all that rocks.

Cosmic Echoes has not been getting its fair share of my attention the last few months, and it is in a great position to help a LOT of people. I should be doing a better job of keeping this blog updated.

So, in that state of mind, I’ve made a commitment to myself, and to you, the reader, to make this blog a USEFUL, interesting, and cutting edge look at all things preparedness…again.

This year, after 3 years of heavy college student involvement, resulting in two college degrees, many awards (All USA Academic Team, New Century Scholar, Video Telly Award, and others), I am taking what we students like to call “a breather”, and do some half time college work and invest the majority of my time this next 18 months doing a specific set of projects. In no specific order these are…

• 6 to 8 credit hours of college classes towards my bachelors degree in Journalism(instead of 12 to 20 credit hours per semester…as I have been doing for my first two degrees)
• major update of SurvivalRing.org..the ENTIRE website…into a database driven, Web 2.0, easily manageable, and entirely up-to-date system. See the first glimpse here
• the addition of a citizen driven, science backed, and thoroughly complete compendium of BIRD FLU prep..including some deep discussion of the effects a very possible pandemic outbreak might bring to our society
• a greatly enhance fallout shelter compendium, with lots of comments, suggestions, and insight….versus just a ton of free downloads. You’ll have the info in your hands to print out with the downloads. Now, I’ll tell you the things you’ll really need to understand..if you’re considering actually building one. The Build A Fallout Shelter Page, in other words, is due to a massive overhaul.
• Podcasts….yes, long promised, yet, not online. I’ve been doing weekly music radio shows for my college radio station for over a year…now it’s time to make the SurvivalRing Survival Podcast a reality. Everything is ready (computer hardware, software, recording equipment, mics, etc)…but that ACTUAL podcast recordings. That will change, very soon.
• A lot of new articles from yours truly, on a wide range of preparedness topics and genres. These articles will also be making the rounds of magazine editors, to hit the real world between the eyes with what can be done with very little work, when it comes to being preparede.
• New CD Rom projects. I’ve published two multimedia CD projects in the past 4 years…I’m doing at least 3 more in the next YEAR. Watch this space for more news.
• New digital publications. I’ve mentioned here many times that I have hundreds of original government produced, unscanned survival and preparedness documents…some of which you never knew existed. I have at least a dozen ready to finsish and upload in the next month, and new scan projects queued and prioritized. You’ll love what is coming…
• Interactivity for you, the site visitor. I’ve had polls up for several years on the main SurvivalRing website, and had forums up for years as well, until spammers wreaked total chaos and havoc. I’ve got the old archives saved and updated, and will be opening the new SurvivalRing forums this spring, in a much more secure and stable software package. Chat has been working fine, but with little traffic. Comments in the new site design may be posted in ANY page or article, much like commenting is available on THIS blog. Take advantage of it!

That’s just the start. A new year, a new sense of adventure, and a lot of work to do…and a lot of work that has ALREADY been done.

Many things are happening in the background that will change the way we all see our future. SurvivalRing, Cosmic Echoes, and I will be here to help you get through what we fear will be tough times ahead. Consider me your friend, mentor, and guide…we will get through this together.

Rich

Well, it is done. We can rest…at least for a little while.

Another year at college has come to a close. Last night, just a few hours ago, most of my family enjoyed something very special together…my daughter, my wife, and I all walked across the stage of our college, at graduation commencement exercises at Central Wyoming College.

This past year, between all three of us, we earned five degrees. Daughter Laurie earned Associates of Arts degrees in English and Technical Theater. My wife Annie earned Associate of Arts in English and Associates of Arts in Social Science. I finished my Associates of Applied Science in Computer Networking Technology in Web Development with highest honors.

One after another, with Annie in the lead, we strode across the stage, son Kenny pushing Annie in her wheelchair so she could accept her diploma and shake hands…then Laurie…and finally me. Son Robert and daughter in law Candi couldn’t be there, unfortunately. Candi just had our first grandson only 6 days ago, by the name of Hudson James, and a long trip across country after a very long weekend in labor just wouldn’t do. We’ll get them a DVD of the commencement.

MANY of our friends and fellow students here at CWC also earned degrees, awards, certificates and honors, including Ruhiyuh Olsen, Jolyn Zwemer, Jackie Dorothy, my coworkers at the KCWC radio station Lisa Johnson and Justin Dickman, Ryan Jevne, Lydia Dove (the OTHER web development graduate this year), Kim Ogg, several of my fellow student senators, and over 250 other graduates.

It was an amazing night…much more of a wonderful evening than we could have hoped for. I mean, we were all graduating together. That in and of itself was so cool. Before the major work of the evening progressed, we had a musical interlude provided by the CWC Jazz Ensemble, which just happens to feature our son Kenny as the guitar player/stylist/melody guy. Laurie’s best friend Cameron Fehring provided the vocals for the song that played, and it was over all too fast. But then, something even better happened.

I mentioned many weeks ago that I was named to the All-USA Academic Team for community colleges, a couple of weeks after I was named a New Century Scholar for 2006, for the State of Wyoming. Well, as a second team member of the All-USA team, I didn’t make the cut to receive a scholarship. That is reserved for first team members.

Tonight, I found out what second team members receive. After the presentation of the Valedictorians, I was next on stage…by myself with the administration and faculty. President Jo Anne McFarland read a very nice prepared statement about my winning both the New Century Scholar award, and making the 2nd team of the All-USA Academic Team. She then presented me with a beautiful medallian, very heavy and gold plated, on a red, white and blue ribbon. I had to remove my mortarboard hat so she could place it over my head. It was a little snug on my noggin, but she was able to get it on without problems, only knocking my glasses slightly askew, which she very deftly straightened for me. She also presented me with very nice framed parchment certificate from the All-USA Academic Team organization and USA Today.

I found myself with the opportunity to speak to the graduating class, the audience, the faculty, and ALL the rest of the people there watching. Did I mention that Wyoming Public TV was broadcasting the entire commencement on LIVE TV?

I didn’t think I was going to be offered the chance to say something, so I didn’t really prepare. I figured if I did get the chance, I was going to thank my family. S0, I did. I mentioned that without the support of my wife and children, I would not have been able to come back to college to finish the degrees I started over 27 years ago. I also was able to spit out, in the swirling, blinding TV lights, that I wanted to thank the college and faculty for helping make all this possible.

But I didn’t get to the point of getting to mention specific names of those such as Steve Ferwerda and Dale Smith (my two main instructors and advisors while here on campus the last 36 months or so), Terry Svilar (who gave me my first on campus job in the business lab, where Annie has been working for the past two years now), the Student Success Center (where I’ve been tutoring in many subjects almost as soon as I started here), Danielle Hood (one of the first people I saw, when I came to inquire with the college about returning to school after so many years, and How Was I Going To Pay For It…she made it all happen for me and helped me finalize the decision to return)… and on and on for dozens of other folks who have made it all worth while.

Nope, went completely blank after thanking the family and the college..said thank you to Jo Anne, and the administration…and the audience for their support, and turned to head off stage and back to my seat in the front row.

Drats… Maybe Next Time.

After that, the march of students receiving their diplomas, the exit of the students and faculty, and the reception in the Arts Center afterwards, where a couple of thousand folks mingled over cookies and punch….taking pictures and videos, saying farewells, and heading out.

We hung around to the hall was almost empty. Dozens of teachers, fellow students, faculty, friends, and even strangers came over to where we were hugging one of the walls as a family unit, with Terry S. and others hanging out with us, and shook hands, exchanged hugs, said congrats, and spent a few moments just being friends…in other words, it was a wonderful night for the entire family.

Afterwards, Annie and I went out for a burger and shake, drove west of town for a few miles, just past the airport up on the hill, found a nice wide spot off the side of the road overlooking the airport, and the town of Riverton below in the Wind River Basin, and enjoyed some quite time looking at the stars and the full moon, while staving off a bit of hunger.

We both took a lot of deep, satisfying breaths…concerning our completion of this phase of our college careers, talking a little about our summer plans, and a few things we’d like to do together THIS summer, that we have been putting off to get through school.

We’ve going to hit Yellowstone this year, go camping up in the Sinks, and maybe Boysen Resevoir, try do some flyfishing I’ve been wanting to do ever since we moved up here, and finally, put all the work and new skilks I have planned into getting my website ready and working with state of the art technology I just earned a college degree in.

Next fall, a return to the books, with plans for both of us to earn bachelor’s degrees, and then I’ll start on that Masters Degree I want to finish with in Homeland Security soon after.

Now…a summer of fun, some peace and quiet, and some planning for how we’ll spend the REST of our lives after college degrees earned at middle age.

Oh yes…and time will be WELL spent…playing grandma and grandpa to two wonderful, beautiful, and incredible grandkids. It’s going to be a great summer.

Til next time,

Rich

As some of you might know, I won the New Century Scholar award for Wyoming several weeks ago. With that comes a free trip to Long Beach, where I’m staying in the Westin Hotel…a very nice, 4 star, and extremely expensive place to spend a couple of nights.

I’m here for the awards ceremony, as well as the opening night of the American Associaton of Community Colleges, being held at the Long Beach Convention Center. Tomorrow night I get to pick up my scholarship winnings at the official New Century Scholar reception. Hint…look at the very BOTTOM of this page for my picture.

From http://www.ptk.org/knb/apr06/h0421064.html

“Fifty outstanding community college students will be honored as 2006 New Century Scholars during this week’s American Association of Community Colleges Annual Convention in Long Beach, California. New Century Scholars are the highest-scoring nominees for the All-USA Academic Team in each state. They each receive $2,000 scholarships from the Coca-Cola Foundation and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. Learn more about the 2006 New Century Scholars online.”

Just finished the rehearsal phase of the presentation for tonight. Very interesting. The Grand Ballroom here in the convention center is HUGE. Two giant screens on either side of the stage. Looks like a couple thousands chairs as well.

The New Century Scholar part is the middle part of the presentation, after the opening remarks by the PTK CEO and so forth. We march on (of course I’m the very last one on stage), and then they present us, and then people cheer (think Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the minstrels rejoice)…and then Coke is given the Truman award (they’re the money for the New Century Scholar), and then Coke goes away, the lights go down, and we all march off stage back to our front row seats.

Sometime after this event, PTK will be shipping all participants a DVD of the event, so all will be able to see the whole thing.

Fun.

After the presentation tonight, the ballroom at the Westin has live video feeds, where us PTKers, er, um…Scholars…will get to watch the Hallmark awards, which I think is the international convention for PTK…going on this very same weekend in Seattle (you’d think they plan better!).

That’s the place for free pizza and soda…yum.

Around lunchtime, I did walk uptown on Long Beach Blvd. to “Acres of Books“, and found three VERY good used books for $20.03…all pertain to production stuff for our business, and future plans…film making, screenwriting, and online community planning.

You would love AOB. Think Half Price Books, when they were in that old store off Northwest Highway in Dallas…the one that had the Ship looking thing in the middle of the ground floor…but with stacks stacked HIGHER, and rows much narrower. I could stand in the aisle and both shoulders touched bookshelves across from each other. There must have been MILLIONS of books!

Weather is still cool here…and very breezy. Got some video last night before sunset of the bay, the Queen Mary, and ALMOST got video of a seal swimming around the giant boats…kept going underwater before I could grab him on video.

I can’t believe the prices here….haven’t found a 7/11…or even seen a gas station in this neck of the woods. Spent $14 at Borders…got the one PODCASTING book , and 4 alkaline batteries for the digital camera. Breakfast via room service was over $30. 2 eggs, sausage, coffee, OJ, a small basket with 3 danishes, and hash browns….jiminy christmas!

My lunch here at the events center, a piece of roasted chicken, mashed taters, brocolli, bottle of coke, and bottle of water, and a tiny bowl of salad … $17! On Jo Anne’s (the college president, who is also here for this convention) credit card of course…

Tomorrow evening is the “official reception” for the NCSers…I think that’s when I get the check (which I hope isn’t a gift certificate for $2,000 worth of Coke products!

Anyway…that’s about it for now. Gonna go snoop around this floor and find any freebie stuff that have…and fill my pockets!!!!

More later…!

Rich

First, thanks to everyone for your support and kudoes. It’s very humbling to a) win this national scholarship opportunity, and b) know that what I’ve already spent years doing on my own with SurvivalRing.org, was part of the key to enabling me to get this far, and set my goals as high as I have (I mean, a bachelors degree in emergency management and a masters in homeland security ? There’s no money in that!! )

It’s all about helping the community, and getting _some_ recognition for hard work is the most I can expect. I’m ok with that…a lot deeper meaning for me comes from knowing I’m doing all I can to help my fellow man.

Now, for those parents with “college bound” kids…I *is* one, too.

My wife, son, and daughter are ALSO going to college here at Central Wyoming College full time. Laurie has finished two associate degrees and started her bachelors degree here thru the University of Wyoming distance program.

My wife Annie will finish her Social Science Degree in May, when I finish my web degree. My daughter Laurie finished both her technical theater and english degrees in December (thanks to scholarships from the college in the theater department), and my son Ken won a full music scholarship from CWC for this year, based on his passion and work on his music, which he started on his own YEARS ago ( www.kennyfleetwood.com to listen) when we were HOME SCHOOLING.

In 2 1/2 months, I will get to walk across the stage to get my next A.A.S degree, steps behind my wife AND daughter…three of us together. How cool is that?

The key for us earning these degrees has been EXTREME hard work, extreme frugal living (4 college students in one two bedroom apartment on campus), doing without (no car or mortgage payments, no extra entertainment fun, no vacations, no road trips, no new toys [except where needed for school],) and no wasted time.

We each chose degree paths that we EACH were passionate about, which made the learning process much more interesting. And fortunately for us, we each have skills that for the most part complement each other, which helps one another when we hit a roadblock or snag.

For scholarships, the key is USING that passion for that topic, INVESTING time in extracurricular activities (at school, or in the local community) that mesh or connect in some way with our majors, and PURSUING all scholarship options that come our way, that we in ANY way might have a chance to obtain.

This New Century Scholar award is just one of thousands out there, but if I had not had good grades (3.93 gpa) AND not excelled in classes by being helpful, considerate and thought provoking (even class clownish sometimes), then I would not have been nominated by two faculty members at my college to be inducted into Phi Theta Kappa (must have 3.5, and must have 2 faculty nominations).

Without PTK, I would not have had access to the New Century Scholar award, and millions of dollars of other scholarships offered ONLY to PTK members.

There are a lot of scholarship websites out there. I would like to recommend the FASTWEB service…lots of useful features.

I did win two other CWC college only scholarships last year, and two this year (my third). These were mostly standard program-specific degrees (electronic media student, and non-traditional student) but every penny helped.

Your son or daughter has many funding options for college these days. Paying their own way truly drives home the cost of education, but makes them work that much harder to finish and obtain their goals. Getting scholarships and pell grants, trio grants, student loans, or even multiple part time jobs surely helps, as I can attest to ALL of these.

These three years I have had an average of three part time regular jobs a semester, and multiple one time jobs (video projects, web site design, debugging infected computers, etc) to cover gas and groceries, and we’ve even had funds SOMEHOW available to get hundreds of $$$ in dental repairs done, $1500 to fix the engine last year in our Lincoln Towncar when it blew head gaskets, upgrade computers with new or faster components, replace my wife’s wheelchair, and other tough things…most thru faith and perseverance.

You can apply to all the scholarships in the world, fill out millions of online forms and essays, and visit every college site on the web, but unless you TRULY invest every fiber of your being into a college education through time, sleepless nights doing homework, REAL time in extracurricular college events and activities (BE PART of the college social life…some student organizations, helping in the tutor lab or tv or radio station, ushering at games or plays, etc) and just getting out to meet fellow students EVERY week….well, you might get a degree, but not a fully rounded education.

If you’re going to do it…do it all. You’ll be more successfull than you could ever imagine if you do your best to at least TRY.

In my case, my entire life experience, many years of work developing a website of global importance, my involvement with the community at the school level ( student senator, tutor, most available geek), city (video PSA projects with High School and Police Department), county ( CERT Volunteer and coordinator), and state ( working with Wyoming First Lady Nancy Freudenthal’s WFLI initiative against teen drinking and substance abuse), ALL played a part in my winning this latest scholarship of national importance.

I set my goals high, learned from failures, kept on trying, and never gave up.

Biggest part of all this?

I started college again, along with my entire family, with ZERO savings.

Having moved to Wyoming in 2000, we found ourselves homeless and living in a motel for a few long weeks in 2001, and started over again completely from scratch.

To have gone this far, from that point, to the place we find ourselves now, is utterly mindblowing.

We picked the college closest to us, filled out every page of every financial aid document we could get, talked to everyone we could on campus in registration and financial aid, administration and faculty, and found the best fit we could for our degree programs.

My selling point for this college, Central Wyoming College, was that they had the ONLY web design degree I’d seen to that point, which was MY first goal. What was more helpful, is that they had the best value (tuition, housing, local cost of living rates) I’ve seen YET at a community college.

Students from around the world (Japan, Germany, Ukraine, and many others) have come here for some standard associate degrees because of the low cost here. CWC also has one of THE leading college equine and rodeo programs in the nation, with several national champions starting here.

Parents…help your kids find and develop their passions in their early years. Help them focus in their high school years. Work hard to give them the basic tools for creativity, whether its a GOOD computer, a quality music instrument, a bookshelf of books, or your TIME to show how a good parent/adult/leader SHOULD act, and be like.

Young adults…START EARLY. Do it all…try new things…accept new challenges…HELP YOUR COMMUNITY. Finish what you start. Accept failure as a path to learning how to do things better. Change the world around you. Learn how to lead…and how and when to follow.

Most importantly….NEVER GIVE UP.

Anything is possible. I guarantee it.

Rich

Well, the news hit the local newspaper today, and the college website Friday, about my winning the New Century Scholar award for Wyoming this last week

And, this week I’ve been thinking of other things that helped guide my path into scholarships and success…and thought I might share a couple of ideas that came to mind.

a) A college degree is a wonderful thing to have, but not easy to get. When the time came that I needed to have one for better employment opportunities after becoming homeless, not having one cost me jobs, and meant a much lower income back in 2001. I had to start at the bottom again..flipping burgers.

b) Small colleges offer better opportunities for advancement into the scholarly ranks. A 1200 student campus is much easier to embed yourself into the daily rigors of student life and extracurricular activities, than a 10,000 or 15,000 student campus. I started in this town with no friends or contacts, and in 18 months I was elected to the student senate … simply because I was helpful, concientious, outgoing, and willing to help anyone with a problem or project.

c) Small campuses allow you to make a bigger difference to your community for the same investment of time and energy. Before I won this particular scholarship, I was already well known to the college faculty, president, most of the deans, and the board of trustees…by my name. Most of these folks recognize my face and say hi to me in the hallways or stop and chat for a few minutes occasionally. All because I’ve taken the time to become part of local student organizations, help in any little way I can, and try to make a difference for my fellow students. I don’t shy away from controversy…I look for it…as an opportunity to open eyes to bigger problems, and find solutions for them. One such thing was taking the college’s current smoking policy and creating a paradigm shift for the entire college, by updating policy from Smoking outdoors only, to no smoking within 20 feet of designated doors. You’d have thought I was going to kill all the smokers by the amount of anti-change people that came out of the woodwork, and verbally accosted me or made very negative comments about the project. The project was picked up by the AP and made it into several regional newspapers, and the college administration passed the new policy update last week. So much for not being able to make a difference.

d) Small towns with colleges are better than big towns with colleges…or small towns with big colleges. When I moved to rural Wyoming, I moved to Lander. In the past, Lander has made it to the list of Best towns to live in, for quality of life, educational opportunity, recreational options, and cost of living. CWC is located in Riverton, the next town over from Lander. Because Riverton is small, yet full service, you’ll find all you need here…120 miles from the nearest interstate. Because of the size of the town, I’ve been able to make a difference in my community volunteering with the high school, police department, emergency management, and city fathers…especially with the video and media tools I bring, including Telly Award winnning public service announcements. Being a part of the community, instead of apart from it, has meant I’ve helped others learn how to be more self reliant and self sufficient, in everything that I do. I don’t hide the fact of what I do with my website, and I share my thoughts with anyone who asks for more info. People have noticed, and no one thinks I’m a wacko of any sort.

e) Considering that Riverton is in the middle of nowhere, 120 miles off the interstate, and has no industrial base of any kind in town, there are still plenty of job opportunities here. The college is one of the larger employers, followed by the super Walmart, the Honor Farm minimum security prison, and BTI which is a trucking firm that moves Trona from southern Wyoming to Shosone north of town and the railhead there. And, with the big increase in oil production nationwide, this area of Wyoming has tons of job openings that pay very well in the oil field. Unfortunately, a good economy and lots of labor based jobs, means that college enrollment goes down. Still, living in a small town in a good economy is really the best of all worlds.

f) The future. With a quality education, earned degrees, time spent involved in the community, and a record of success personally and collegiately, anyone who puts the time in, can go as far in the world as they wish. The only limits implied are the ones you put on yourself. Just going to college for a piece of paper when you graduate isn’t enough these days. As a college student, you’ve truly got to invest real time and talents in the world outside the classroom. It doesn’t hurt, and helps reveal and and all areas you can improve on, in the entire process.

Take the time in college to do EVERYTHING. Everyone wins when that happens.

Rich

ALLLLRIGHT!!!!

Just got word about an hour ago… A MAGNIFICENT honor for a college student…

I’ll let you read the email announcement below…

I am very elated this afternoon.

Congratulations!

Richard Fleetwood has been named the New Century Scholar for your state. This is an amazing accomplishment and speaks to the quality of education at your school!

Please note the attached memo and document for more information regarding the $2,000 scholarship and award ceremony for New Century Scholars.

THERE IS A VERY TIGHT TIMELINE - Please confirm housing by March 7th and submit photographs and form by March 8.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Again, our sincerest congratulations to you and your school!

Heather Johnson
Director of Scholarship Programs
Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society
Center for Excellence
1625 Eastover Drive
Jackson MS 39211
direct 601.984.3560
fax 601.987.5660
www.ptk.org