As Samantha Malloy said, "This class Was the bomb" There were only seven students, but this group met on their own time--from 3 to 5 p.m. in the afternoon. They met for eight weeks and learned the basics of the communications skills that they will need throughout their lives.

Teachers Rowena Crosbie and Kyndra Wilson threw a real graduation for the group, complete with Pomp and Circumstance, certificates, and parents attending. One parent even brought a chocolate cake for the occasion.

The class, "Personal Communication Skills," is new at Dowling., completely voluntary and has an enthusiastic group of students. They learned that eye contact is 55 percent of persuasion in a conversation, good ways to handle potentially conflictive situations, what causes anger and how to deal with it, and that in negotiating, you have to separate the people from the problem.

Wilson told the class, "We believe in all of you heart and soul." Crosbie told the students "This has been such a fun experience for us." She reminded the students that the things they had learned were things that business professionals were learning at Drake University.

At the end of a videotape of the class Nick Neidert was sent a special greeting. He was not able to complete the course because of iIlness. From the class, "We miss you Nick!"