Potato Expo 2010

Wandering and wondering through the Pond Student Union often bears fruits, or, in this case, vegetables, namely Idaho’s most famous, the potato.

A habit I’ve grown into the last 10-plus years working at ISU is to poke my nose around in the Pond Student Union. Every January the annual Idaho Potato Conference, which runs in conjunction with the Eastern Idaho Ag Expo held in Holt Arena, is something worth checking. If you missed it this year, try next. It runs through noon Jan. 21.

It is everything potato. I picked up a free miniature chocolate baked potato as a gift to my departing boss. I tested a foam, life-sized Russet potato stress squeezer thing. Organizers were giving out free samples of tater tots, smiling deep-fried mashed potatoes and French fries. I sampled the smiling deep fried mashed potatoes and they were excellent. My buddy gave me a free copy of “Spudman” magazine and I now have a bumper sticker on my car that says “Proud to be a Spudman.” Exhibitors on hand were showing off dozens of variety of potatoes. This is a Mecca of sorts for an Idahoan, where potatoes and the products that help grow them are exhibited in splendid wonderment. I’ve rarely felt as close to my potato heritage.



This is one more example of how Idaho State University is a center for this community, the region and the state. The Unions attract an incredible variety of events and people. Annette Lattin, event service coordinator for ISU scheduling and events services, says that her office handles 5,000-plus reservations per year in the Student Union facilities. A single event may require more than one reservation for different rooms, etc., but that is still an impressive number – on average, about 14 different reservation per day during a year. The Student Unions host everything from the Women’s Holiday Fair and a quilt show, to a giant gun show and high school debate tournaments.

I recommend poking your nose into some of these events to see what’s going on. The rewards can be many, from hearing an amazing speaker during the Frank Church Symposium, to eating a juicy tater tot dripping with ketchup.

Written By Andy Taylor

Reed Gym Expansion

Bengal Nation, get ready to get buff in the new ISU campus recreation center. I recently took a tour of the facility with Doug Milder, director of Idaho State University Campus Recreation, along with ISU photographer Julie Hillebrant and Magic Jim, the camera guy. (see accompanying photos, video if you please)

Milder couldn’t contain his excitement (and we have the video to prove it) about the 32,000-square foot, $7 million expansion of the Student Recreation Center – funded by the generous Associated Students of Idaho State University at Reed Gymnasium. Construction is proceeding right on schedule.

I won’t pull an “Apocalypse Now” and say “There’s nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning,” but I will say just the smell of this new construction is hopeful, a mix of some of the paint being sprayed by a worker combined with fresh dust, that definitely hinted to my senses that something new is going on. There are also workers all over getting stuff done so the work was being completed before our eyes.

The building construction should be completely finished by the end of April. Students will be able to begin using the facility no later than July 1, and perhaps sooner, depending on how long it takes to acquire and install equipment and add the finishing touches to the facility. An official “grand opening” ceremony will be held in September when a fuller contingent of students, faculty and staff are back on campus.

Facilities at the new two-story structure will also include a large multi-purpose recreation room, cardio machines and exercise areas, campus recreation offices, bathrooms upstairs and down, a lobby area, lounge areas and an equipment checkout area. New exercise equipment will also be purchased.

I was impressed by the overall spaciousness of the two-story structure that features a lot of room and open spaces, characteristics that many others have commented on, according to Milder. You won’t feel claustrophobic here pounding your weights or pedaling away on a new-fangled exercise machine. A great feature of the top floor, which I hate, is the inside view of the adjacent tennis courts. It is bound to create greater competition and use of the tennis facility, which means I will have a harder time reserving courts to hone my unhoneable game. Thus, when using this facility it is recommended you use the cardio machines and weights that border the big windows on the outside of the building so you can look at all the outside stuff. Who knows, perhaps a Northern Harrier or a Sharp-Shinned Hawk will fly by and you can tell your friends about it?

“A lot of people have asked me how this stacks up to our sister institutions Boise State University and the University of Idaho,” notes Milder. “Our new facilities are very comparable and on par with theirs, and they are a quantum leap forward from what our students had previously.”

I hardily concur with him. There will be a lot of new places of Bengals and Bengalettes and Bengalites, and Bengalezeans to get fit, trim and happy. It will also be a great recruiting tool for new students. It is so impressive in its rotundness and siren call to exercise that even madly addicted texters will put down their phones long enough to move muscles and sweat.

Counting the tennis center and student gymnasium that contains the climbing wall, the total ISU Student Recreation Center offers about 100,000 square feet of recreational facilities for students, and that doesn’t count the Reed Gym swimming pool. Come July, there are no more excuses for ISU students not to exercise, although some probably still won’t.

It’s not always possible to get a guided tour, but those curious about the facility can get some good looks of it from the outside, feeding dreams of buffer, more aerobic Bengals for the future.

Written By Andy Taylor