October 2010 Chatterbox - Ruston High School - Lincoln Parish ...

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Ruston High School October 21, 2010 Page 2
Distinguished Alumni:
Joan Blondin, M.D.
Information provided by the RHS Alumni Association
by Natasha Alva
News Editor
Dr. Blondin graduated from RHS in 1955. In 1959,
she received her Bachelor‘s degree from Louisiana
Tech‘s School of Home Economics with a specialty in
Nutrition Sciences. Then in 1961, she attained her Masters
Degree in Nutritional Sciences from Cornell University
located in Ithaca, New York. After graduating
from Cornell, Dr. Blondin served as an Instructor of
Nutrition at the University of Alabama for a year, a Research
Associate at Cornell for a year, and then as an
Assistant Professor of Nutrition at LSU for two years. In
1965, Dr. Blondin was accepted to the Louisiana State
University School of Medicine in New Orleans and in
1969 received her M.D.
After graduating from the LSU Medical School, Dr.
Blondin completed both her Internship and Residency in
Jindal’s Plans To
Improve LA Schooling
by Elizabeth Smith
Business Manager
Tuesday September 28, 2010, Governor Bobby Jindal
went to Dubach, Louisiana, to share his plans to for improving
the school systems in Louisiana to the general
public. He stated his two goals and how he planned on
reaching them. He first plans on ―improving outcomes in
Saluting Outstanding Student
Achievement
Throughout the Bearcat Nation
Medicine in 1972, and
her fellowship in Nephrology
at Washington
University, Barnes Hospital
in Saint Louis, Missouri
in 1974. From
1974 – 1978, she served
as an Assistant Professor
of Medicine at Washington
University and was
on the admitting staff at
both St. Louis City and
Barnes Hospitals.
Dr. Blondin‘s field of
specialization is in internal
medicine and nephrology.
Her special interest has been intermediary metabolism
of the kidney and mineral metabolism. Her
particular clinical interest has been in the progression of
chronic kidney disease. In 1978, she returned to North
Louisiana and opened her private practice of Nephrology
in Monroe. Because of her interest in higher education
in Louisiana, she accepted an appointment to the
Louisiana State Board of Regents and served as its
chairman.
higher education‖ by, ―enacting performance expectations
and incentives at colleges and universities‖. Secondly, he
plans on ―encouraging flexibility and accountability in K-
12 education‖ by, ―reducing red tape and bureaucracy in
the state‘s education system,‖ ―ensuring that every child
is taught by an effective teacher and that every public
school is led by effective instructional leaders‖ and
―better communicating public school performance‖.
After his speech, Governor Jindal answered two questions
during a short interview on education.
Throughout her distinguished career, Dr. Blondin
has remained committed to research, the publication of
her findings from such research in many technical texts
and periodicals, professional lecturing, and classroom
teaching. Her expertise has been widely recognized by
her peers resulting in her being appointed to prominent
positions in numerous professional organizations from
the local to the national level. The list of Honor Societies
into which she has been inducted reads like the entire
Greek alphabet.
More important than all of Dr. Blondin‘s professional
achievements and awards is the universal agreement
and often expressed sentiment that she is a wonderful
colleague and friend. Just one confirming example of
this is her having been selected by the students and faculty
of the LSU Health Sciences Center at Shreveport as
the 2010 recipient of the Allen A. Copping Excellence
in Teaching Award. Nominators cited Dr. Blondin, a
faculty member since 1996, for the way in which she
uses every opportunity to mold students and young residents
into both successful clinical physicians and responsible
citizens. The Ruston High School Alumni
Association honored Dr. Joan Blondin by recognizing
her as its 2010 Distinguished Alumni in the field of
Medicine and Education.
Q: How will you implement better
communication of the school performance?
A: There is already a system in place;
we are just going to translate it to
where everyone can understand it.
Q: When are you going to enact the
new grading scale?
A: There is already one in place, we
will just translate it.
Flag Raising on Sherwood Drive
by Natasha Alva and Lauren Townsend
News Editor and Asst. News Editor
On Friday, September 25 th , residents of Sherwood Drive gathered at the end of their
cul-de-sac with members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post (VFW) and other friends
to pay tribute to former Marine Corps First Sergeant Bruce Spaulding. The flag raising
ceremony honored Spaulding and all veterans, and inspired patriotism for local citizens.
The ceremony began with a prayer, followed by a short speech by Earvin Ryland,
organizer of the event. Ryland explained the work that took place to make the event
possible. The flag used was actually received by Ryland by an anonymous sender.
Ryland called Col. Lynn Clark of Ruston‘s VFW for assistance, who coordinated with
the city of Ruston to assist with the flagpole. With a restored flagpole and a new flag,
Spaulding was given a memorial ceremony that will be honored by all patriots.
Bruce Spaulding was a twenty year Marines Corps veteran and a true patriot. He
served two terms as the commander of Ruston‘s VFW post. Both of his sons attend
RHS and his daughter is a Ruston graduate. Both sons raised the flag at the ceremony,
which would, as Ryland says, ―make [Bruce] very proud.‖ J.D. Harper, the current commander
of the Ruston VFW post, stating ―Bruce was a great person… He was all about
spreading patriotism, so he would be thrilled by all of this. That flag will wave in his
honor and the honor of all veterans of our armed service.‖ Hopefully, the memory of
Bruce Spaulding and the American flag waving on Sherwood Drive will spread patriotism
to all who look upon it.