THE VOL .91 NO.6
SOU’WESTER THE VOICE OF GSW
MARCH 2022 SINCE 1934
IN THIS ISSUE
ART GALLERY SHOWCASE PAGE 2
The James Earl Carter Library hosts GSW student art through the month of March. Read on for a sneak peek of the gallery!
GSW LAUNCHES NEW B.A. IN COMMUNICATION AND EMERGING MEDIA PAGE 3
Watch an interview with Dr. Jones and read about the new Communication and Emerging Media program. Officer Maurice Barron. Photo by University Relations.
PUBLIC SAFETY CRACKS DOWN ON RECENT AUTO ENTERING THEFT Sabrina Hagler Editor-In-Chief A recent email sent by public safety warns students about securing their vehicles on campus. The email reports that Americus and its surrounding areas has been experiencing a rise in thefts from automobiles in the past few weeks. Officer Maurice Barron, a GSW campus police member for almost four years, sat down with the Sou’Wester to discuss the recent thefts and public safety initiatives. Could you tell me about the thefts from automobiles? “Individuals that we feel are from the Americus area, came on campus somewhere around four A.M. and started going through the Magnolia parking lot, pulling on car doors and seeing which ones would open. There were four vehicles that happened to be unlocked and those guys went into those vehicles that were unlocked- a majority of them
GSW CANES ATHLETES CELEBRATE D2 DAY PAGE 4
Check out how the Canes give back to the campus and community in elementary classrooms.
were locked, thank goodness- and right now we have a video of them. But they were well-clothed so we couldn’t make a strong description. Nearby and the same day, the Americus police department had the same calls and so we’re assuming they were the same guys, so we’re joining efforts with them to identify these young men so that we can resolve the matter.” What is the campus police doing to combat thefts from automobiles? “We’re continuing to communicate with students through email and also during our freshman orientation. Our chief reminds them to keep their doors locked on your vehicles and rooms in the dorm to protect your property and to protect yourself as well. And we’ll continue to send out those communications to students so that they can help us in assuring their personal safety when it comes to themselves and their property. Over the last year and a half to two
Alertus home screen.
PAGE 2 years, it has gotten a lot better with students securing their vehicles because we haven’t had as many incidents as we used to.” Could you tell me about the Alertus app? “We have had that app in place for a little over two years, and started getting out that information to incoming freshmen at orientation so that they could go ahead and download the app on their phones. But what the app does is it creates direct communication, if anybody uses that app it will send an alert to our desk computers. Chief, his office assistant, and also our office cell phones receive a notification, so if we’re not in the office or it’s the weekend, whoever needs the assistance will get help as quickly as possible. It’s for emergencies but not just for crime, we can also use the app to send out weather notifications in case there is severe weather in the area, it’s just a good emergency medium for communication for any type of alert.” “Our main focus is to communicate to students about helping ensure their personal safety and the safety of their property. Anytime we receive information that is pertinent to students we make sure it gets out there and our office assistant does an excellent job with that. We’re here for a law enforcement presence but we’re also here for the support of our students in their academic pursuits because a safe environment is conducive to focus and learning so we’re a part of the team just as much as any other department.” The public safety email warns students to lock their cars, ensure that windows are up, and to never leave valuables in your car. To report suspicious subjects or vehicles, call GSW public safety at (229) 931-2245.
IMAGE SERIES
ART GALLERY SHOWCASE Check out what GSW art students have been up to! Through March, the library is hosting an art gallery that is open for viewing. Pictures by Talik Hill.
PAGE 3 ACADEMICS
GSW LAUNCHES NEW B.A. PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND EMERGING MEDIA Talik Hill Staff Writer Dr. Jones is an assistant professor of communication and emerging media here at GSW. In this interview, she discusses the process of implementing a new verison of the communication program. What skills can students expect to attain from this program? “With this program, we have several types of concentrations. So it’s going to really depend on what the student thinks would fit with their future career goals. So for example, we have a Health Communication concentration and that’s really geared toward folks of the nursing program like being able to put together presentations on research that they’ve done and being able to professionally talk to families and those kinds of things. We have a Media Studies concentration, which is focused on understanding the theoretical aspects of consuming & creating media, and being exposed to different kinds of media. We also have a Strategic Communication concentration that’s focused on things like public relations campaigns, being able to actually do the things that are required of public relations professionals, like social media posts, and creating a campaign from start to finish. We have a Rhetorical Criticism concentration, that looks at things like language development, etc., and how those work in political and civic spheres, which is great for folks in political science and history majors and things like that. So we are incredibly interdisciplinary, and we’re designed to be that way to complement the programs that are already here on GSW’s campus, as well as to give them real-life experience & skills for when they graduate and go out to start working with companies and businesses in southwest Georgia.”
Picture by Talik Hill.
Video by Talik Hill
What are the digital media lab & the communication research library about and how do they help to prepare students for the workforce?
pus right now go through Judy Orton Grissett, in experiential learning, but those can count toward communication internships as well. We’re still building up relationships right now but we obviously have the stu“So our digital media lab is a lab dent newspaper housed under this in Collum Hall that is set up with a department, Communication and brand new iMacs that have the Ado- Emerging Media, and we’re hoping be creative products on them, as well to build up more relationships with as different products that will allow some of the gaming organizations, for things like podcasting, general the esports team. We have also been audio editing, video editing, graphic in talks with the athletics department design, you could also put together to see if we can get students doing publications with some of these pro- internships with the new video board grams as well as general research. It’s that got set up in the fall. If you have designed for students to be able to an interest, we will find a way.” have an all-in-one space where they can do creative projects, like editing, What careers can students expect layering, 3D graphic designs, and to be able to market themselves that way they can have a central hub for? for that. The library is a media-based research space, with sources that “The sky is the limit. That’s the inwe’ve pulled together so that stuterdisciplinary benefit of communidents have access to these books cation and emerging media. We are without having to leave this space highlighting that. With the local busiof the program. The lab is open to nesses, we’re looking for folks to do anyone but permission is required to public relations type of work, copygain access to cameras, podcasting, writing, content creation, being able and audio recording equipment.” to do things like publishing assistance, journalism, sports commentaWhat on-campus extracurricular tor, critical analyst, those are all jobs activities, jobs, or clubs correspond you could get with a Communication with this degree? and Emerging Media bachelors.” “We do have internship opportunities, most of our internships on cam-
Picture by Talik Hill.
Picture by Patrick Peacock.
PAGE 4 ALUMNUS INTERVIEW
GSW CANES ATHLETES CELEBRATE D2 DAY Jackson Carlstrom Staff Writer
Photos provided by GSW Athletics department.
D2 Day, as stated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, serves as an opportunity every year for all people associated with division II sports teams to “celebrate the impact of athletics and of student-athletes on their campus and community.” The NCAA encouraged all DII athletic programs to use D2 Day to engage with their local communities and show the benefits athletes get from being a part of a division II team. “For me, tennis gives me an opportunity and a reason to make friends, to meet people,” Nina Thomet, a freshman on the GSW Women’s Tennis team, said. “You can feel a connection when we work and play together.” For D2 day this year, several of GSW’s sports teams went to Sumter County’s primary and elementary schools to read children’s books to the kids and talk to them about what they do as athletes at GSW. Alongside reading, the Canes talked to the children about D2’s slogan, “Make it Yours,” and what it means for those in division 2 sports teams. The NCAA’ “Make it Yours” slogan, as outlines by their website, focuses on several goals for student athletes such as “having an experience in which you can be an active participant,” as well as several academic goals outside of sports like “making graduation a priority,” “having a campus that is tight-knit enough to respond to individual student’s needs,” and “having coaches who help athletes develop their resumes as much as their athletic skills.” Reading and talking with the children allowed the Canes to build connections with the children, many of which could become Canes athletes in the future, as well as the staff and faculty of Sumter County’s schools. “It was a nice experience.I got to go to a kindergarten class, and we read books to the children there,” Pilar Becerrat, a freshman on the GSW Women’s Tennis Team, said. “They were all very passionate and excited to listen to us. I felt really loved.”
PAGE 5
ASK THE What do you think CANES about the new gym? Sophomore Exercise Science Major “I like it. It’s very clean and I like the sanitation stations. I don’t like the leg press, we’re still getting used to the new equipment, but overall I like it.” Senior English Major “I haven’t really used it but I think that it looks absolutely amazing. I love the initiative that GSW has been taking in the past couple of years with restoring buildings to make our campus beautiful.”
MEET OUR WRITERS Sabrina Hagler Editor-In-Chief shagler1@radar.gsw.edu Moses Simmons Associate Editor asimmo10@radar.gsw.edu
Junior Computer Science Major “I like the new gym. I like that it has new equipment, lots of space to move around, a lot of good cardio options, and different types of weights. I really like how open the area is, the nice bathrooms, and the changing area. The only flaws would be that there are not enough benches in the free-weights area and the bars that you bench at are not fit for benching. I have talked to a few other people and that’s what they said too. Other than those things, it’s a solid gym.”
Jackson Carlstrom Staff Writer jcarlstr@radar.gsw.edu
Talik Hill Staff Writer thill19@radar.gsw.edu Dr. Ashley P. Jones Faculty Advisor ashley.jones@gsw.edu
Senior General Studies Major “I like the equipment, especially the bumper plates and barbells. The barbells have a lot of whip and work well for Olympic movements. I also appreciate the turf portion of the gym where you can warm up and perform conditioning work. It’s also really cool how they’ve kept the original gym floor as well as some of the graphics. I’m glad they’ve incorporated some history of the building into the design. I do think they could have used the space more effectively. Over a third of the gym is cardio equipment, and the majority of people come in to lift weights or use the machines. If there was less cardio equipment they could have made the turf section or added something like a weightlifting platform.”
FIND US ONLINE! gsw.edu/souwester @gsw_souwester