Williams crowned Queen Alalah LXXIX

By Rama Peroo
Cowley College
Having been crowned Little Miss Arkalalah at the age of five, Jordan Williams is now all grown up as evidenced by her being crowned Queen Alalah LXXIX during the coronation ceremony held Friday at Cowley’s Robert Brown Theatre.
Williams, an Arkansas City native, is the daughter of Kevin and Teri Williams.
The first runner-up was Jade Sparks, another Ark City native. The other three candidates were Jessica Coldwell, Amy Dunlap, and Erin Griffiths.
Williams attested to being the most nervous of the five candidates, but said the end result made it all worth while.
“Being crowned Queen Alalah is amazing,” Williams said. “This was an awesome experience that I will always remember.”
Queen Alalah LXXVIII, Ali Nittler, was on hand to pass her crown onto Williams.
The coronation also had performances by Prairie Voice, Ark High Singers, Ark City Dance, AC All Starz, and Ryan Smykil.
Lance Niles served as the Master of Ceremonies and introduced the former queens and the visiting queens from surrounding towns in southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma.
Union State Bank president, John Sturd, was introduced as the 2010 Arkalalah parade grand marshal. While, Jevin Foust and Madi Jennings were crowned Little Mister and Miss Arkalalah.
At Cowley, Williams is the vice president of fellowship for Phi Theta Kappa, is a student ambassador, and is a member of the spirit squad.

Cowley College growing

  Recent Enrollment figures released by the Kansas Board of Regents show Cowley College to be the fastest growing college in the state of Kansas.

Cowley’s enrollment increased a whopping 21.2 percent from the fall 2009 semester to the fall 2010 semester. Cowley had an increase of 847 students to bring its total to 4,850 students that are taking classes at either the school’s main campus in Arkansas City, its Allied Health Center in Winfield, its Mulvane Campus, or online.

“After what happened to us a couple of years ago with the loss of our Southside Education Center in Wichita, this increase in enrollment was a real blessing and a credit to all of our employees,” Cowley president Dr. Patrick J. McAtee said. “When you have success like this it is the result of hard work done by a lot of people.”

Cowley’s growth was not the norm as eight of the 19 Kansas community colleges saw a decrease in enrollment and only one school (Barton County) besides Cowley saw an increase in enrollment of more than 6 percent.

Overall, there was an increase of 3,237 students at the state’s 32 public universities, community colleges, and technical colleges.  This represents a 1.8% systemwide increase for the 2010 fall academic semester over the 2009 fall academic semester.  The systemwide enrollment of 187,398 is reported as of the 20^th day of classes.

At the seven public universities, enrollment was up by 364 students, or 0.4%.  At the 19 community colleges, enrollment was up by 2,609 students, or 3.3%.  At the six technical colleges, enrollment was up by 264 students, or 5.7%.