Latest news with #Wyner
Daily Express
03-05-2025
- Sport
- Daily Express
230kg rare black Marlin loses battle
230kg rare black Marlin loses battle LABUAN: The star attraction of this year's Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC) was a hefty 230kg rare black Marlinbut the fact that it fetched only RM3,000 in reward did not matter for the nine Labuan anglers who hooked the fish after a herculean battle at sea. 'It's not the money. There was greater satisfaction in finally catching the prized fish which is regarded as the Rollsroyce of the seas for its scarcity and swimming speed of 80km per hour. To catch it is the dream of every angler,' said Wyner Vilus Boijohn, spokesman for his nine-member team which travelled in three boats to hit the 'jackpot' some 160 nautical miles from Labuan. Advertisement The RM 3,000 was because the marlin was caught under the bill fish category. Over-all champions won between RM45,000 and M10,000. The popular marlin is also the original symbol of Labuan's premier game fishing challenge which started in 1979. The marlin hauled in last week was at Ardaser Reef off the Spratlys. SPONSORED CONTENT Wyner said the marlin put up fierce resistance at some point diving as deep as 500 meters. 'We finally managed to subdue it after an hour and won the tug-of-war. 'Six anglers were involved in pulling up the giant' Advertisement The trolling fishing method was used with a 130lb fishing rod and size 130 fishing reel filled 900m of monofilament was used to lure the targeted fish. Wyner said the team was glad the record-breaking catch confirms Labuan remains the ideal regional destination for such events which organised yearly by Labuan Corporation with the support of other agencies. Advertisement The eight other anglers in the Labuan team were - Teddy Eric Alfred,Anthony Tony Dominic,Ker Chin Cheang, Shamsuri A Rahman,Kairudin Hamidun, Armat Mosidin,Zainulariffin Julkapli ,M Yusof Manan and three crew. Labuan is no stranger to such super-sized fish. In 2017 an amateur fisherman hooked a 205kg grouper and sold it to a restaurant for more than RM 10,000 and another 241 kg was caught in 2019 and sold for RM12,255 more recently another 160kg monster fetched RM8,000 in the market.
Barnama
28-04-2025
- Sport
- Barnama
LISC 2025 Closes With Deep Sea Fishing, Kayaking Events
LABUAN, April 28 (Bernama) -- The Labuan International Sea Challenge (LISC) 2025 ended on a triumphant note on Sunday (April 27), marking one of its best editions yet, with record-breaking achievements in both deep sea fishing and kayaking. The highlight of the week-long event was the spectacular catch of a rare Black Marlin weighing an astonishing 230 kilogrammes (kg), by caught by Wyner Vilus Voi John@Rayner of Sabah on the first day of the event, which was a new record for the Labuan International Deep Sea Fishing tournament. A total of 212 participants from various states in the country, Hong Kong and Singapore had set sail from Labuan on April 22, heading towards the rich waters off Layangan Island and the Spratlys Islands, where the prized marlin was landed.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
In a first for Wisconsin, one of state's 16 technical colleges named best in nation
A technical college tucked away in a rural corner of Wisconsin was named the top community college in the country. Southwest Wisconsin Technical College in Fennimore won the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, a prestigious honor recognizing it as the best among the 1,000 community colleges nationally. It's the first time a Wisconsin institution has won the prize, which former President Barack Obama dubbed the "Oscars for community colleges." Southwest Tech beat out nine finalists, including another Wisconsin technical college. School leaders learned the news at an April 17 ceremony in Washington, D.C. Community colleges educate nearly half of all college students, and by far the most low-income students and students of color. But they are sometimes seen as "second class" to four-year universities, and graduation rates nationally are less than 50%. Enter the Aspen award, which aims to to elevate the importance of community colleges and make them better. The honor is awarded every two years by the Aspen Institute, a nonprofit think tank. "What drives us is the desire to improve colleges," said Josh Wyner, who founded the Aspen College Excellence program in 2010. "Our approach to that is let's identify the best actors, let's reward them, and then let's build training programs around what they teach us about how you can continue not just modestly better outcomes, but significantly better outcomes than the average." Southwest Tech fits this bill, Wyner said. About 58% of students graduate or transfer to a four-year university compared to the national rate of 39%. Even more impressive is its graduation rate for low-income students on Pell grants. Nationally, just 29% of Pell students graduate, he said. At Southwest Tech, 55% of Pell students graduate. Southwest Tech came to the Aspen Institute's attention in the previous awards cycle. Wyner and others were impressed with how faculty regularly assess student learning outcomes and adjust instruction to ensure better results each semester. "Frankly, that's really, really unusual," he said. "It's a very strong sense of accountability that faculty have for their own success and to make sure that their students succeed." More recently, selection committee members learned about how Southwest Tech analyzes its programs to ensure they lead students to jobs paying living wages. If they don't, the program is changed or shut down. For example, after learning Southwest Tech's agriculture program graduates earned low wages, college officials talked to local employers and told them they could not graduate students into poverty. "That's the language they use," Wyner said. "It's a very powerful expression of the fact that they care more about whether students succeed than whether they're enrolling them and getting their dollars." Southewest Tech asked employers what it would take to increase wages. College officials learned students need to know how to use drones and apply pesticides, both of which are now mandatory in the program curriculum. Childcare was another program where graduates earned low wages. Southwest Tech found students with bachelor's degrees earned better wages so the school revamped its program to better prepare students for university transfer. The Aspen Institute was also impressed with how Southwest Tech improved its advising system. Staff now help students go beyond drawing up an academic plan. They also come up with a plan for financing their education. Southwest Tech sends the plans to its foundation, which fundraises money to help bridge individual students' financial gaps, Wyner said. The school has a student headcount of about 3,700 students, most of whom are part time. Smaller community colleges are typically less likely than larger institutions to create systems that reach every student, often due to lack of resources or because they feel their smaller student population makes them feel they are already tapped into students' needs. "That's not Southwest Tech," Wyner said. "Southwest Tech understands that if they don't create systems to make sure every student benefits from these changes that they've made, that the ones who fall through the cracks will be the ones that need help most. I'm just so impressed by the leadership there and the culture that they've built." The Aspen Institute's process selecting Southwest Tech began in 2023 when the Aspen Institute scrutinized outcomes at all community colleges across the country and invited 150 institutions with the most promising data to apply for the award. A selection committee of education experts reviewed the applications and selected 10 finalists, which included Southwest Tech and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay. Site visits followed, along with requests for more detailed information, including graduate wage data. A separate jury, co-chaired by former U.S. Education Secretary John King, picked the winner from the finalists. Southwest Tech will receive $700,000 of the $1 million prize. The remaining money will be split between San Jacinto College (Texas), South Puget Sound Community College (Washington) and Wallace State Community College-Hanceville (Alabama). Ascendium, the Joyce Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, and the Kresge Foundation funds the prize money. (This story will be updated.) Kelly Meyerhofer covers higher education in Wisconsin. Contact her at kmeyerhofer@ or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Southwest Wisconsin Technical College wins prestigious Aspen Prize
