Hotline // October 22, 2025

VCSU hosting 22nd Ployhar Honor Band this week

The Valley City State University music department is hosting the 22^nd annual Ployhar Honor Band Concert on Friday, bringing together more than 90 high school students from across the region.

The free public concert begins at 5 p.m. inside VCSU’s Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts. The concert includes pieces by Jack Stamp, JaRod Hall, Carol Brittin Chambers and James. D. Ployhar.

The Ployhar Honor Band includes more than 90 standout high school musicians from throughout the region. The band is directed by Mr. Jerrold Heide, associate professor of music at VCSU. Students were selected to participate for the Ployhar Honor Band through an audition process. Twenty-one different high schools are represented in this year’s band.

Each year, students in grades 8-12 from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana are invited to audition for the band.

The Ployhar Honor Band is named after VCSU alumnus James D. Ployhar, who was the first inductee into the VCSU Music Hall of Fame. He is considered to be one of the most prolific writers in the field of music education. His credits have appeared in well over 800 music publications, his compositions and scores have aired on network TV, and his music is performed internationally in Europe and Asia.

KFGO's Joel Heitkamp broadcasts from VCSU

KFGO radio’s News and Views with Joel Heitkamp broadcasted a 3-hour show live from the VCSU campus on Wednesday, Oct. 22. Host Joel Heitkamp interviewed multiple VCSU guests throughout the day, touching on several different topics.

Some segments from the show can be heard on the KFGO podcast page available at https://kfgo.com/podcasts-news-views-with-joel-heitkamp/

VCSU celebrates National Day on Writing

The Department of Language and Literature, in collaboration with the Allen Memorial Library, celebrated the National Day on Writing on Monday, Oct. 20. With the support of the English and Spanish Clubs, the group gathered over 100 creative and thoughtful responses to the National Council of Teachers of English prompt: Why I Write. Faculty and students shared meaningful insights on how and why writing is a vital part of human expression. Participants engaged in creative surrealist writing games and Spanish translation exercises, and all were also invited to review a selection of literary and other books gathered for the event by the VCSU library staff, with special emphasis on literature in translation.

A selection of Why I Write responses will soon be on display in the 3rd floor hallway of McFarland.

Questions about the National Day on Writing can be sent to event coordinator Emily D. Wicktor, associate professor of English: emily.wicktor@vcsu.edu.

Elston named ‘Staff Member of the Quarter’

Kayla Elston, manager for university brand, graphic design, and Viking Print Services, recently received the Staff Member of the Quarter Award.

Her nomination read, “Everywhere you look on campus, you’ll find evidence of Kayla’s great work. She dedicates her time to making our campus look good through creating window clings, signage, large wall graphics, etc. She also serves on the campus beautification committee, ensuring that any updates that are made adhere to the university’s brand standards. One of the biggest reasons Kayla deserves this recognition is that she serves every single office and department on campus. She helps create impactful marketing pieces for academic departments to use in recruiting new students, as well as promoting internal events, supporting the Alumni and Foundation office, and much more. She receives countless requests for new projects and somehow manages to add them into her already full workload. Kayla juggles an incredible amount of work and deadlines with grace, and routinely exceeds expectations with her creations. I believe Kayla is long overdue for this award, and is very deserving of this recognition.”

Another nomination read, “Over the past year, Kayla has taken on supervision of the Viking Print Shop (FMC) and overall responsibility for the campus branding while still being the primary graphic designer at VCSU. As her supervisor, I am continually impressed with the number of projects she handles at one time while working with nearly every area of campus to create promotional materials. She takes pride in her work helping to promote VCSU, its programs and its people. The annual Viewbook and other recruiting materials she designs for Enrollment Services are often the first impression many prospective students receive when considering VCSU. Her work is also prominent to on-campus audiences through banners, signage and graphics in or outside of buildings. I appreciate the skills and organization she brings to this position, and how her work benefits our campus as a whole.”

CSSE faculty and students attend CyberCon Conference

Yongchao Ma, assistant professor for computer systems and software engineering, along with three students—Abby Hill, Noah Paulson and Jacoby Hunt—attended the 2025 CyberCon Conference held on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

The conference, hosted annually by Bismarck State College, featured a variety of sessions on current cybersecurity topics, including “It’s Giving Insecure Vibes: Secure Coding Literacy for Vibe Coders,” “Why Engineers Need Soft Skills in the Age of AI,” “ND Cyber Blueprint 2.0: Powering What’s Next,” “Risk Exceptions and KPIs: What to Report Upstream,” and more.

During the two-day event, students broadened their understanding of emerging cybersecurity challenges and gained valuable insights from industry professionals on the latest trends and best practices in network and information security. The conference also provided opportunities for students to connect with experts and company representatives, explore potential internships and develop professional relationships within the cybersecurity field.

Student Affairs update

Family Weekend 

Family Weekend 2025 returned the weekend of Oct. 10-12 after an eleven-year hiatus, with just under 100 participants joining the celebration. Families and students spent the weekend enjoying presentations, hands-on activities, athletic events, and community experiences. Families got an inside look at student life, visited favorite campus spots, shared meals, and met faculty members. The weekend highlighted the strong sense of connection and pride that makes VCSU so special. Planning is already underway for Fall 2026.

Vice president for student affairs, Mark Nelson shared, “It was great to see the campus community get involved with various presentations, hands-on activities, open athletic events, and community experiences. I enjoyed seeing family members visiting with their students, having meals on campus, and meeting various faculty members.”

Student Employee of the Month

Matt Belgarde who works for Sodexo at Viking Grounds and the Cafe, recently received the “Student Employee of the Month” award. Congratulations to Matt for his outstanding dedication and positive attitude. His hard work continues to make a difference across campus!

VCSU.AI – Prompt Writing

Effective prompt writing is extremely important – it’s often the difference between getting mediocre results and truly useful ones when using your favorite AI tool. José Antonio Bowen, educator and author of “Teaching with AI” (2024) and soon to be released Teaching with AI 2nd Edition,” offers these general ideas when writing prompts:  

• Prompting is Weird: Being polite has no consistent effect, but occasionally, the offer of chocolate can make a difference. Strange, but in general, longer prompts with more details or steps help.
• Demand More: While AI often responds like a human, it does not feel emotion, and it does not get tired. You can now be as exhaustive and pedantic as you like. Require AI to triple check everything. Your regular practice should be to ask for more than you need: 40 instead of 4.
• Converse: For many situations (like brainstorming), it is better to just start and then refine. Sometimes just asking “what do you think of this?” can be enough to start a conversation.
• Iterate: You should rarely accept the first answer. Refine or ask AI to start over. AI can often help: ask “what might be missing,” “is there anything else you need to know to make this better?” or “list the evidence for and against each claim, with links to original sources.” Mike Caulfield has developed a great list of Effective Follow-up Prompts to check the veracity of claims!

You can see his full list of tips and more by visiting his website.

Viking Sports Update

FOOTBALL

The Viking football team hit the road for the first time in four weeks as they took the trek down to Madison, South Dakota to take on Dakota State. It was a rough day for the Vikings. This week, VCSU returns home for Senior Day to take on Dickinson State. Kickoff at Dacotah Bank Field is set for 1:00 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

The Valley City State volleyball team had a busy week with three matches in four days. Vikings sweep Mayville State. It started at Mayville State on Wednesday, then ended with a couple of matches at Graichen Gym Friday and Saturday. Vikings battle #2 Providence, fall in four sets, Volleyball comes up short against Montana State University Northern. The Vikings are back at Graichen Gym this weekend with Carroll College on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Rocky Mountain College on Saturday at 6:00 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

The Viking men will host Dakota College at Bottineau on Friday in a scrimmage at the Bubble. This scrimmage is open to the public as the Vikings take on the Lumberjacks, coached by former VCSU player and coach Karl Sorby. Tipoff is set for 5:00 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

The Viking women will be on the road Thursday for an exhibition game with Northern State. The season and home opener for the Vikings will be Friday, October 31st when Providence University College out of Manitoba comes to the Bubble for a 6:00 p.m. tipoff.

What's happening at VCSU and around Valley City...

August 18 – October 23
8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Do You Feel What I Feel art exhibit, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts Gallery

October 24
5 p.m. Ployhar Honor Band Concert, Larry J. Robinson Center for the Arts Performance Hall

Find out what’s happening at VCSU: https://www.vcsu.edu/news-events/

Find out what’s happening in the community: https://www.valleycitycalendar.com/