Wolverines dominate the diamond
All about the work/life balance
SPORTS
ENTERTAINMENT
Baseball’s back in the PAC
Does love transcend ‘Severance’
The Collegian The Award-Winning Grove City College Student Newspaper
Friday, March 28, 2025
Vol. 110, No. 17
5 years of Lux Mea Student films debut on silver screen Lydia Bennett
Contributing Writer The College’s highly anticipated annual Lux Mea Film Festival will return at 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 12 in Crawford Auditorium for its milestone fifth year. Produced by Professor of Communication Arts Gregory Bandy’s Special Events and Promotions class, the
film festival features original student films highlighting redemptive storytelling and spiritual truths. This year marks a significant milestone for the festival as the event celebrates its fifth anniversary. After attracting over 900 attendees last year, Bandy and his students are aiming to reach a new record: a crowd of 1,000 attendees in celebration of the festival’s growth and success over the past five years. Immediately following the festival, attendees are invited to join the reception in Staley Hall of Arts and Letters (SHAL) Atrium, which will begin around 9 p.m. The reception will offer a red-carpet experience of food, décor, additional photo opportunities and a VIP floor, providing a perfect setting to connect with the filmmakers and celebrate the creativity and passion behind the festival. To honor five years of Lux MEA 2
LUX MEA
This is the fifth year Lux Mea has been hosted by the Special Events class. Pictured above is this year’s class and Professor Greg Bandy.
Bandy behind the scenes Annie Levin
The fifth anniversary of Grove City College’s Lux Mea Festival marks another opportunity for students to partake in the cherished tradition of coming together to watch student filmmakers showcase their skills and creativity on the big screen. While students of the College pour an immense amount of effort into the student-
run event, Gregory Bandy, a communication arts professor at the College, is the driving force behind the festival. Bandy has over 30 years of experience as a writer, producer and director across various industries. Before joining the BANDY College in the fall of 2018, Bandy served as an assistant professor at Asbury Univer-
a variety of health issues, Pratt was diagnosed with post-concussive symptoms and functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition characterized by an impairment of voluntary motion. The accident also exacerbated a previous tic disorder not related to FND. With the disorder, signals from the brain to the body get “lost in translation.” “Think of it like my body had a software problem, and the Wi-Fi would just go out without me knowing why. I knew I was physically capable of moving my legs, but when my brain tried to send the right messages, they wouldn’t budge,” Pratt explained. Pratt’s experiences with paralysis varied. Her shortest episodes lasted a few seconds, but her longest lasted seven hours. Most averaged around two to four hours. “Half the time, it was just my legs. Sometimes it was just my arms. Other times it was full body, except for my
Julia Pratt dancing with her brother, sophomore Alex Pratt, before her accident. Orchesis this spring will be the first time since 2022 Pratt has performed in a show. head. Then on a bad day, it being able to string together changes in her gait that rewas everything, combined a singular thought,” she de- quired the use of a cane and with the inability to speak scribed. PRATT 3 and serious difficulties with The disorder caused
Contributing Writer
sity in Wilmore, Ky. for over a decade. During his time there, he co-founded the Highbridge Film Festival, which has since grown into one of the bluegrass region’s top cultural events. Bandy’s work in both academia and the film industry fueled his passion for creating opportunities for aspiring filmmakers. Inspired by the success of Highbridge, in 2021 he introduced a similar festival to the College.
“I just wanted to encourage storytellers – to give people an opportunity. Athletes have games, theater students have their performances and music majors have recitals. Filmmakers need film festivals to show off their films,” Bandy explained. His vision was to create an outlet where film-inclined students would be able to share their unique skillset BANDY 3
From paralysis to pirouttes
Violet Whitmore News Editor
Belief in miracles just got more convincing. After an accident her freshman year that left her partially paralyzed, junior Jessica Pratt is dancing, walking and successfully recovering thanks to expert medical intervention and the grace of God. Pratt has dealt with various minor neurological issues since she was 11 years old. In 2022, during her freshman year at the College, that changed. “I had an accident where I fell from the top of my lofted bed — total grandma moment,” she joked. “I landed on my tailbone, and from there my head slammed back and hit the floor. At the time, I was told I had a mild concussion and maybe a fractured tailbone that should clear up within about two weeks,” Pratt said. However, as the year progressed, her symptoms remained. After encountering
PRATT