friday takeout

January 22, 2021

CUPPA JOE | straight up news.

  • Local students, Bo Juran and Landen Knapp, find career success in auto and diesel mechanics through the College ... news


  • Anderson Sainci, Dubuque Community School Board member and partner with NICC, publishes inspiring editorial about Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy ... link


  • Melissa Eron, Agriculture Sales and Service '05, receives the 2020 Wisconsin Leopold Conservation Award ... link


  • FACULTY AND STAFF: Stay up-to-date on the College's Strategic Plan and Tracking document in NICC Shared Files!

WEEKLY FEATURE | good to know.

Marketing Achieves Solid Numbers through Digital Advertising!

More and more of our potential students are consuming media/content on their digital devices. That's why the Marketing Office creates advertising campaigns for online and social media platforms. Various campaigns have launched since September 2020 with some exciting results.

Enrollment Campaign "Safe & Reliable" has generated 530 clicks (users were sent directly to our website) and a click-through rate of 0.17%. This rate is TWICE the national benchmark of 0.08% for digital ads! Plus, more than 2,000 users who saw our ad came back and visited our website on their own. This is the highest our advertising partner has ever seen in data reporting.

Marketing also recently added a SnapChat campaign to fill out their social media advertising. Currently, the swipe up rates are in line with industry averages and 54% of the targeted audience is between the ages of 13-17 (see graphic at right).

If you're a Spotify or Pandora listener, you may have heard

Swipe Up Rate by Age Demographic Showing our Most Responsive Audience is 13-17 year-olds.

the College's ads there as well. Thanks to new features available in Spotify, Marketing has started to feature video ads in addition to audio. Just two weeks into this new tactic and video ads already have a 0.47% click-through rate!

APPETIZER | something for your appetite.

Merriam-Webster’s Words of the Year for 2020

The annual list compiled by Merriam-Webster, not surprisingly, gave this word top billing for 2020 with the explanation: “Based upon a statistical analysis of words that are looked up in extremely high numbers in our online dictionary while also showing a significant year-over-year increase in traffic, Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2020 is pandemic.”

Here are 10 others that made the dictionary's list and helped define a difficult and challenging year for the people of Earth:

  • Coronavirus

  • Defund

  • Mamba

  • Kraken

  • Quarantine

  • Antebellum

  • Schadenfreude

  • Asymptomatic

  • Irregardless

  • Icon

  • Malarkey

WELLNESS 360 | be well.

Self-Care Tips and Inspiration

by Flannery Cerbin-Bohach, Wellness and Life Stage Program Manager

Self-Care Tip of the Week:

Let’s talk positivity for a second, specifically the field of positive psychology. The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania defines positive psychology as the “scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves and to enhance their experiences of love, work and play.”

Want to learn more about positive psychology and how to incorporate more of its principles into your life? Here are some positive psychology podcasts to download and listen to the next time you are walking, cleaning or commuting:

  • "Making Positive Psychology Work"

  • "Live Happy Now"

  • "The Joy Factor"

  • "Happier" with Gretchen Rubin

  • "The Happiness Lab"

Inspiration of the Week:

Some days, we wake up with optimism and possibility … we’re able to find more reserves, connect better and do more generous work.

That might be because the outside world has handed us good news and opportunities, or it might be because the chemicals in our brain are particularly aligned …

I think it’s fair to assert that sometimes, our moods are handed to us.

But it’s also clearly true that we can do things to improve our mood. Morning pages, meditation, exercise, positive thinking, the right audio inputs, who we hang out with, the media we consume – it’s all a choice.

And if it’s a choice, that means it’s a skill, because we can get better at it.

- from "Is mood a gift or a skill?" by Seth Godin

January 16, 2021

Writing Club starting! Join Northeast Iowa Community College communications faculty member and published author, Keith Lesmeister, for a chance to harness your inner voice and write your family stories. Here’s your chance to stay accountable to any goals you’ve set for writing MORE in the New Year. Keith will send prompts weekly and encourages us to write for a minimum of 10 minutes. Begins Jan. 25, 2021 and will run for a minimum of eight weeks. Sign up with Keith at lesmeisterk@nicc.edu.

Here’s an example of Exercise 1- Think of a recurring childhood memory or memories -- those images or moments that pop up every once in a while and maybe for no specific reason. The memories don’t have to be grand events or lessons. They could simply be smaller events that for whatever reason keep coming back to you.

BIG FISH | be amazed.

William Hudson

Success Coach | Dubuque Center


If you had one million dollars to build anything you wanted, what would you build and why?

I would build a huge sports complex that offers every sport one could imagine, so people from all around the world could come together and compete with others.


Who is your favorite comedian?

Dave Chappelle.


If you could replace all the grass in the world with something else, what would it be?

Candy.


If you could create a holiday, what would be called and how would we celebrate it?

I wouldn't call this a holiday, but it would be nice if extended weekends were mandatory. Everyone should have the option of taking Fridays off and enjoying time with their family.


Name one country or region in the world you have never visited that you someday want to visit, serve or spend a vacation?

Dubai.

If you have input on a upcoming feature, Big Fish, something to celebrate or a suggestion, email us at news@nicc.edu!