From left, Jayna, Jim and Nancy Conkey have made significant contributions to Western Nevada College over the years.
Western Nevada College
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Jim and Nancy Conkey began their nursing scholarship at Western Nevada College in 2017. Representing important aspects from both their careers, the generous scholarship is awarded to one nursing student per class and covers their expenses through their entire two-year program.
The Conkeys both had exceptional careers, contributing greatly to Northern Nevada. Jim taught anatomy and physiology for 30 years, challenging pre-nursing students to think critically in order to become the kind of nurses he could trust to do well in their profession. Nancy was the first APN (Advanced Practice Nurse) to be licensed in Nevada, paving the way for those who followed. She enjoyed a 50-year career in nursing, including 36 years as an APN in adult health. Jim had been a senior administrator at WNCC in 1974 when the college’s new campus opened in Carson City. Jim’s daughter, Karen Blasius, graduated from WNC’s nursing program. In addition, he was very proud when his daughter, Jayna Conkey, followed in his footsteps and began teaching at WNC as a graphic design professor.
Jayna and her husband, Chris Ryan, who is a geography professor at WNC, provided regular updates that gave Jim and Nancy first-hand insight into the strides that Western Nevada College was making.
“Each time we visited campus, we were more impressed by how innovative WNC had become. This was a deciding factor in creating the scholarship,” Nancy said.
Jim Conkey passed away on February 17, 2020, at the age of 88. Jim led an extraordinary life, dedicated to helping others. In addition to his career in education, he spent six years as a Naval officer in EOD and Nuclear Weapons. When Jim was 26 years old he earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal awarded by President Eisenhower for heroic service in the line of duty during a classified Cold War incident involving a hydrogen bomb. That harrowing experience influenced the rest of his life in terms of focus, excellence and attention to detail regardless of the task at hand.
Jim was a selfless crusader who gave tirelessly to causes such as civil rights, environmental issues and HIV education. In his 80s, he taught science in elementary school classrooms and coached Girls on the Run. Jim was an avid athlete and at the age of 75 began swimming competitively with the master swimmers and was a national champion at the age of 83. He was also an avid cyclist, biking up to 30 miles at the age of 86.
Jim had many accomplishments and honors, but nothing made him prouder than the achievements of his children Sue Boroughf, John, James, Kurt and Chris Conkey, Karen Blasius, Jayna Conkey, Mary Murphy and Tracy Busch. These children along with their spouses and 17 grandchildren were his greatest challenge and his greatest joy.
Through the Jim and Nancy Conkey Nursing Scholarship, Jim and Nancy will continue to touch lives and help students well into the future.
CDC Celebrates Children at Preschool Graduation Ceremony
College and high students weren’t the only ones graduating at Western Nevada College recently.
WNC’s Child Development Center celebrated the graduation of 19 children in its annual Preschool Graduation.
The CDC prepares children for kindergarten, focusing on their cognitive development, language development, physical development, literacy, mathematics, socialization, and more. Each graduate received a Preschool Diploma and a Future Wildcat T-shirt.
The ceremony creates mixed emotions for the CDC staff.
“We just love graduation and I cry every single year,” said CDC Director Anna Lisa Acosta. “I get so attached to these kiddos and so emotional watching them grow and leave. We are privileged and honored to be able to care for these children. Some we have with us for 5 years and others for a few months, but no matter the time they always make an impact on us.”
Acosta said that she hopes that the experiences at the CDC will have an everlasting effect on each child.
“We hope we have made an impact on them,” she said. “My goal is that later in life when faced with a challenge or new situation, they hear one of our voices in their heads reminding them they are brave, smart, tough, kind, and they can accomplish anything.”
To learn more about the CDC, go to wnc.edu/cdc/.
Register for College for Kids Camp by June 14 for Discount
Wildcat Teach is presenting College for Kids Summer Camp Aug. 9-13 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Western Nevada College’s Carson campus.
The five-day camp is for ages 6-11 and will provide STEM activities, arts and crafts, and games and music. Campers also receive a T-shirt.
Register by Monday, June 14 to receive a $50 discount. After June 14, the price will be $200 per camper. WNC faculty members and pre-K-12 teachers are also eligible for the discount.
To register, go to wnc.edu/continuing-education/.
Main Gallery Showing Traveling Exhibit ‘Still Here Now’
Pillows, goat hide, blankets and crushed pearls are only part of what Reno and Las Vegas artists used in the traveling exhibit “Still Here Now,” which is now showing in the Bristlecone Main Gallery at Western Nevada College in Carson City.
The Nevada Arts Council exhibit includes “Hidden Agenda,” a unique combination of latex painting and pillow stuffing, mesmerizing portraits including “As the Land” and “Saving Sage,” and abstract pieces using acrylic on paper in “Every Molecule in My Body” and burned goat hide in “Star Hide.”
NAC describes the artwork as “pieces in this show often reference or portray landscape and place, but their stories do not reside there. The experience of landscape is only as important as our own fixed experience in space; these artists reflect on notions of rootedness, permanence, anxiety and survival in their work.” The artists use hands, faces and bodies in most of the pieces in various mediums, including textile, paint, wood and resourcefulness with they have discovered.
“Still Here Now” was organized by the Nevada Arts Council and curated by Stephanie Gibson. It is part of the Nevada Touring Initiative Traveling Exhibition Program. It features the artwork of the 2010-14 recipients of the Nevada Art Council’s Artist Fellowship program and reflects the deep breadth of the artistic expertise supported by the NAC’s fellowship grants.
Contributing artists are Linda Alterwitz of Las Vegas, Chris Bauder of Las Vegas, Ahren Hertel of Reno, Darren Johnson of Las Vegas, Orlando Javier Montenegro-Cruz of Las Vegas, Elaine Parks of Tuscarora, Robin Stark of Las Vegas and Brent Sommerhauser of Las Vegas.
View the exhibit until July 16 in the Bristlecone Main Gallery Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The NAC was established as a state agency in 1967 to enrich the cultural life of the state by supporting, strengthening and making excellence in the arts accessible to all Nevadans.
