The University of the Cumberlands Student Newspaper
Fall Issue 1 August 29, 2019
August 29, 2019
Letter from the Editor
Editor-In-Chief Mike Krzyston Faculty Adviser Jeremiah Massengale Staff Emilee Agee Haley Bullock Taylor Duke Makayla Durham Abigail Fletcher Leanne Gregory Alex Nunn River DePetris Maranda Young
Front cover by Mike Krzyston Back cover by Taylor Duke Email comments, concerns or tips to: thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu or call us at 606-539-4172 7000 College Station Drive Williamsburg, Kentucky 40769
The Patriot is the student publication of the University of the Cumberlands. Our goal is to provide timely and original content by highlighting campus news and views. Award-winning member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Kentucky Press Association.
Mike Krzyston, Editor-In-Chief
Page 3 News
Quesadillas and fries, oh my!
UC opens a new restaurant Pete’s Eats with swipe options available
Photos by Makayla Durham UC students dicuss music over a meal at Pete’s Eats.
The front doors of Pete’s Eats are clear allowing for a brighter more welcoming look.
BY EMILEE AGEE Staff Writer
There are big changes this year on campus. A rise in enrollment, additional parking, and now a new meal option. Pete’s Eats, a new restaurant, is now open for business. The new restaurant is located in the Adams Center, formerly known as the Cumberland Inn, next to the new dorm building, Templeton. Pete’s Eats has a variety of food options that students on the meal plan can use their IDs for like hamburgers, quesadillas, chicken tenders, a chicken sandwich, grilled cheese, and a vegetarian burger, as well as an assortment of sides and additional meals for purchase. David Taylor, the district manager for Pioneer College Caterers, UC’s food service partner, said these options will likely be growing and changing in the future. Taylor said, “Once the dust settles, which we’re still figuring out the flow right now, but we will feature a sandwich of the week that will come in and be totally unique from anything on the menu. We have some people that have already put together a list for the entire school year. Certainly, as time evolves, we’ll see what’s working, what’s not and what needs to change, but right now, everybody’s trying a little bit of everything.” Taylor said that the process has been a long-time coming, “We started in January, probably earlier than that, but full fledge as far as the beginning of drawings and conceptual aspects, it was in January of 2019.” A couple years back, upperclassmen may remember that there used to be The Patriot Steakhouse where Pete’s Eats is now located, and while some were sad to see it go, the remodeled atmosphere is something the students appreciate.
Rejoice OlaOlorun, a UC senior, said, “The Steakhouse used to be so dark inside and I like the brightness and new look.” Pete’s Eats provides options that the cafeteria, Tossed, or Chick-fil-A might not be serving, which freshman Leeanne Fragosa appreciates. She said, “I love it, my favorite thing to get is the cheeseburger, I’ve tried other things but so far, that’s my favorite.” With the excitement surrounding Pete’s Eats, one might assume that people pouring in to a freshly establish restaurant would be overwhelming for the staff, but Taylor said that’s not the case, “The first day we prepared 800 pounds of fries. We didn’t use 800 pounds of fries but we would rather be safe than sorry. We ordered and prepared heavy and we were not mistaken. The first Wednesday we opened, we were probably at 350 meals for mostly students and the second day we were open we were probably close to 600 students and that’s kind of held pace through the weekend.” Logan Cornett, a UC sophomore, said that while he enjoys the chicken tenders, he was surprised to find them a little too spicy, “I think the food is really good, but I wasn’t expecting that kind of heat.” Taylor says that they are open to any comments and ideas for what to serve or what modifications to make for customers to have a tastier experience. He said, “We’re still trying to tweak selections. We’re open to ideas and comments, but everyone’s been really happy and enjoying it. It could evolve as we go. Come eat at Pete’s, give us a thumbs up, or tell us an idea.” Pete’s Eats is open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. throughout the week.
Page 4 Features
Freshmen on the block Students and staff express excitement and concern about the recent increase in attendance
Photo by Taylor Duke Photo byMaranda Young
BY: LEANNE GREGORY AND M AR ANDA YOUNG
Freshman show their excitement for opening convocation
Staff Writers
Change is the catalyst by which growth can occur, and, out of its dedication to serving its student population, the University of the Cumberlands has made many changes to its campus. Some of the changes UC has gone through have been cosmetic, such as the beautification of trees and flowers on campus grounds and updating campus facilities such as the football and track field. Other changes have involved renovations to dormitories and in the case of Templeton Hall, allowing them to be utilized for student housing for the first time. Perhaps the most publicized change from UC has been reducing the cost of tuition by 57 percent for all on-campus, undergraduate students. The most prominent change the campus has experienced so far this academic year, however, is the massive influx of incoming freshman. There are almost 900 new undergraduate students on campus this term. This phenomenal growth in UC’s student body has prompted a variety of reactions from students and staff, concerning differing facets of campus life. One such reaction prompts concerns among the student body about what the university plans to do to accommodate the
students housing and parking needs if the student population continues to expand. “There’s not a whole lot of parking, which I think it’s worth it to deal with a few parking spots if you have that many new friends and classmates,” Jake Singleton, a UC senior, says, “I think they’re doing well with the accommodations but I could see a new dorm being built. That would be awesome, just to have less people in all the dorms just to make it a little more convenient to people. But it is nice though, because we get a lot of people out for the dorm events and just a lot of community in the dorms.” Some students, due to the especially long lines at lunch and dinner time, have fears that they might not be able to access certain oncampus food services like Chick-fil-A during times when they might not have an extended amount of time to wait, and have spoken about newfound difficulties of traversing campus. “It kind of made me feel excited at the same time because ‘Oh [there are] more people.’ It’s more diverse and everything like that, so it kind of made me excited,” Chasity Cortez, a UC junior, says, “And then I realized there’s such long lines for food, there’s no parking now, and every time I try to get to classes it takes a lot
longer because there’s a lot more people to get by.” Still other students and staff members are excited for the changes to campus that incoming students will bring. “It’s nice to have a big team,” Jake Sinkovics, UC’s assistant men’s wrestling coach said. Sinkovics adds, “You know you get to have a lot of family basically; then there’s so many guys around to support you with likewise minds around campus. It’s awesome.” As with any change that happens on campus, the student body is the main influence, so for any students who have questions, or compliments, there are many resources on campus that are dedicated to addressing those questions, such as the office of Student Services.
Page 5 Photos
Pops of Patriots Welcome week is always highlighed by the annual Paint Fest, this year taking place on the band field due to the large amount of freshmen entering the university. We sent a photographer to capture the madness and enjoyment that occurs. Top R ight: Sophomore Nicolas Cecioni dances and hypes up his peers while Whitley County Firemen spray water over the crowd. R ight Middle: Two UC students prepare to slide on the paint-covered slip-and-slide.Bottom R ight: Sophomores Morgan Askey (right) and Lexi Nickel (left) pose for a photo a fter being sprayed with paint. Top Left: To kick off the festival, each student that shows up receives a cup of paint powder, in which they toss into the air at the official start time. Bottom Left: Senior R iver DePetris poses for a photo a fter a run down the paint-covered slip-and-slide.
BY: MIKE KR Z YSTON Editor-In-Chief
Page 6 Sports
Patriots kicking off the season UC men’s soccer start season off on the right foot
Photo by R iver DePetris UC men’s soccer team prepares during afternoon practice.
BY ALEX NUNN Staff Writer
The University of the Cumberlands men’s soccer team have made it clear that they’re shooting high with strong dreams and goals. The season is already two games in, with one win and one loss under their belt, and the anticipation for their next game again Bryan College on Saturday, August 31 is tangible. With each season comes obstacles and goals that the players, and coaches alike, are striving to overcome and achieve. Players like KJ Mann, sophomore striker, for the team, says, “Personal goals for me this year would be to try and improve my skills each and every training and be the best I can be.” Mann continued speaking about how the team has been preparing for the season saying, “My teammates and the coaches definitely, as well as the training sessions, where we work on drills, both individually and as a team, help me gain more knowledge about the sport.” Another player, sophomore midfielder Joel Drewery, had quite a lot of positivity to spread when it came to hopes for the season. Drewery said, “This year’s team has a lot more talent in terms of depth. I think we’ve got a lot more players that can come off the bench and impact the game.” Commenting on last year, Drewery said, “I don’t think we had that last year, and I think that’s where we struggled in the conference play.” Drewery also took time to talk about some of the players he thinks will stand out this season, “Marvin Van Der Made, the striker, he’s scored a lot of goals for us last year, and he’s looking good right now, so hopefully he’ll continue to score like that. We have Nemanja Jovanovic, he’s very calm, very organized, defends really, really well. We also have Smith Pepper, he’s
our captain this year, He’s a really good leader who pushes us on to do better every day, and he’ll be an important player for us this year I definitely feel.” Head coach Chris LeFevre has conveyed that his dreams are aligned strongly with that of the team. LeFevre said, “In our program we talk about positive people, and dreams. If you have a dream and a vision of where you want to go, you don’t want to tell yourself or others that it can’t be done, but also don’t lose sight of what has gotten you where you are.” Expressing that the team is in an every day battle, though the dream that stands strongest for the coaches and the team is the make it to the finals this time around, making it through the semi-finals. Coach LeFevre also made note that a crowd cheering also boosts the team’s morale, saying, “In our sport, the players come from all over the world, and, something that relates to football and the ‘Friday Night Lights’, the more people that are there, the more encouraged the players are. They want to play well and entertain, so I think that if people could know that we’re not trying to play a boring game, and that we’re a team that will be fun to watch with a lot of good teams to go up against, coming out and supporting would help a lot.” Our men’s soccer team is just as ready as ever with this new season. As Coach LeFevre said, “Even in 90 minutes, four seconds can cost the game. It’s not about winning or losing though, for us, no matter what that record looks like, if we make it to the finals, or semi-finals, then we did well, because we play a lot of good teams.”
Page 7 Entertainment
We lost the kid
Spider-Man splits from the MCU over Sony-Disney disagreement
Photos by Abigail Fletcher
BY HALEY BULLOCK AND ABIGAIL FLETCHER Staff Writers
A nnie Stigall, A lec Williams and Logan Bernard react to the news of the Sony-Mar vel conflict.
Last week, after a discussion between Sony and Marvel, a deal with the two companies could not be met regarding Spider-Man’s character, ending his association with the MCU. Due to this, Spider-Man will no longer appear in any of the Avengers films or any other products by the MCU in the future. This is because Sony technically owns the rights to the Spider-Man character even though he is a part of the MCU. Many students find the lucrative side played a large factor in this large split. Drew Shannon, a UC sophomore, says, “It’s really unfair to the fans. It’s just corporate greed. They’ve shown they don’t actually care about making people happy, all they care about is profits and how well a movie will sell. It’s really unfortunate because the art of moviemaking is slowly going to the wayside and it’s being replaced by greed honestly.” A similar reaction comes from Logan Bernard, a UC senior. He says, “I am upset to keep it simple. I thought that Tom Holland was one of the greatest Spider-Man actors there has been in a long time, excluding Sam Raimi’s Tobey Maguire. But I have to say I expected it really, it’s the third time that Sony has done this sort of thing. I love Sony to death. They are a great company, but they are stingy and always searching for more money.” A few fans wondered if their feelings were considered at all during the meetings. Lindsey Jones, a UC freshman, said, “If Disney were more considerate about the reactions of Spider-Man fans, they would have been more willing to compromise with Sony. It’s a shame to see such a classic character unincluded from the MCU because of a massive corporation’s mulish tendencies.”
UC sophomore Drew Shannon is astounded when hearing about Spider-Man’s departure from the MCU.
While some students are very passionate about Tom Holland’s departure from the MCU and the Avengers, other students take a more “it is what it is” approach. Lydia Barbour, a UC sophomore, says “I love SpiderMan as a character, and I believe that Spider-Man will continue to thrive even without the MCU. Even so, I’m really going to miss seeing Spider-Man in Marvel films.” However, everyone reacts differently to different situations. Some use comedy as a way to cope: Alec Williams, a UC senior, says “It’s just like Spider-Man vanishing from the universe for a second time.” Spider-Man’s fanbase didn’t start with Tom Holland’s portrayal, the character has had many interpretations throughout the years. At this point, many fans have become attached to the web-slinging superhero. Annie Stigall, a UC junior, says, “It’s super upsetting, but I wonder how Tobey Maguire feels about being the only Spiderman with a trilogy.” Debates have sparked on Twitter within the last few days over what Stan Lee would think about the lack of an agreement between the two companies. Rachel Meadors, a UC junior, says “I am appalled, Tom Holland was the best version of Spiderman and even Stan Lee himself thought the same thing.” UC students have an involvement in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and when something so devastating happens, it is sure to get a variety of reactions from the student body. But we at The Patriot have to say, it doesn’t feel so good with Spider-Man’s exit from the MCU.