THE APPALACHIAN
CELEBRATING DIVERSITY
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STICKING TO HER HEART PAGES 10-11 A GROWING COMMUNITY PAGE 18
MAR.
23 2017
April 6, 2017
THE TEAM Carl Blankenship @carl_r_blank EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORIAL MULTIMEDIA BUSINESS
Aleah Warner @aleahwarner MANAGING EDITOR Victoria Haynes @victoriahayness CHIEF COPY EDITOR Sammy Hanf @sammyhanf NEWS EDITOR
Jacob Oller @ollerifyouhearme BUSINESS MANAGER Jordan Boles @jorddb MARKETING DIRECTOR
Olivia Wilkes @theappalachian ADVISER
Angelo Errico @angeloerrico821 OPINION EDITOR Lee Sanderlin @lee_sanderlin ENTERPRISE EDITOR
CRIME LOG
CAMPUS APRIL 4
12:50 a.m. | Vandalism Owens Field House Leads exhausted
APRIL 3 3:33 p.m. | Larceny Student Recreation Center Further investigation
APRIL 2 2:15 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Eggers Hall Cleared by arrest
APRIL 2 2:22 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Locust Street Cleared by arrest
APRIL 1 12:40 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Cannon Hall Cleared by arrest
Halle Keighton @halle_keighton PHOTO EDITOR Maleek Loyd @maleekstuff VIDEO EDITOR Braxton Coats @brxcoats22 WEB MANAGER
Katie Murawski @murawskikm A&E EDITOR Jason Huber @_jasonhuber SPORTS EDITOR
Sydney Spann @spannooo VISUAL MANAGING EDITOR
APRIL 1 4:36 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Lovill Hall Cleared by arrest
APRIL 1 11:58 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Belk Library Complex Loading Dock Area Cleared by arrest
APRIL 1 12:59 a.m. | Vandalism Varsity Gym Cleared by arrest
MARCH 26 2:00 a.m. | DWI Alcohol and/or Drugs Status Blowing Rock Road Cleared by arrest
MARCH 26 5 p.m. | Harassment Living Learning Center Further investigation
SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS
App News is a service of the Division of Student Development. Email wilkeso@appstate.edu for submissions with subject line: APP NEWS PAGE. Submissions should not exceed 100 words and must include the event title, date/time, location and cost, and a contact email, phone and/or URL. Announcements will be edited as needed and will run as space allows. Preference is given for events that are free or have a nominal cost.
WHAT TO DO STUDENT MEDIA LEADERSHIP APPLICATIONS Gain experience producing award winning publications at The Appalachian newspaper and The Peel literary arts magazine! Apply to be a part of the 2017-18 The Appalachian and The Peel editorial boards. Open positions include content editors, designers, public relations, marketing, videographers, photographers and more! View applications at https:// orgsync.com/91199/forms and https://orgsync. com/91200/forms. For questions and concerns, please email Interim Coordinator for Student Media Olivia Wilkes at wilkeso@appstate.edu.
FREE LEGAL ADVICE The Student Legal Clinic, in Suite 324 in Plemmons Student Union, offers confidential advice, information, and referrals provided by a licensed attorney. The attorney can meet with any currently enrolled Appalachian State student and can advise students on any issue that is not directly adverse to the university. Make an appointment by calling (828) 2628284. More information at legalclinic.appstate. edu.
VISITING WRITERS SERIES The Visiting Writers Series is named in honor of Hughlene Bostian Frank (class of 1968), a 2013 Appalachian Alumni Association Outstanding Service award recipient, past member of Appalachian’s Board of Trustees, current board member of the ASU Foundation, and generous supporter of Appalachian State University. The spring 2017 schedule of writers
includes Rose McLarney - March 2, Bianca Lynne Spriggs - March 30, Al Young - April 6, and Robert Gipe - April 20 in Plemmons Student Union. Admission to all VWS events is free and open to the public. Parking is free on campus after 5 p.m. For further information on the Spring season, please visit english.appstate. edu/events/series/5 or email weinbergsc@ appstate.edu.
Friday at 10:30 p.m. and every night at 12 a.m. AppTV programming is available on campus on Channel 23.3 and off campus on Spectrum Channel 198 and SkyBest Channels 20/1020. Visit the show’s Facebook page to catch the past episodes: https://www.facebook.com/ uplateappstate/. Interested in contributing? Contact Dylan McMurry at mcmurrydk@ appstate.edu.
LEADERSHIP COACH
SPRING FINANCIAL AID FAIR
Leadership Coaching is an opportunity for you to define your current skills and enhance your leadership ability. You will meet one-on-one with your Leadership Coach on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for one hour. Our coaches are professional staff and graduate students from a variety of backgrounds. They are experienced leaders and are passionate about coaching our next generation of great leaders. Leadership can take place in the classroom, in campus clubs and organizations, in the community or in the workplace. Any ASU student who is currently in a leadership role or is interested in enhancing their leadership abilities is eligible! Please complete the AppSync form to express your interest in Leadership Coaching. If you have questions about Leadership Coaching, please contact Dr. Jim Street at streetjl@ appstate.edu.
The Office of Student Financial Aid will be holding its annual Spring Financial Aid Fair April 13, 2017 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Sanford Mall. Drop by to learn more about Financial Aid, ask any questions you may have, or enjoy a game of corn-hole and free giveaways! Hope to see you there! For more info on this free event, contact Sheila Burleson at burlesonst@ appstate.edu.
UP LATE APP STATE “Up Late App State” is an experimental comic playground intended to make us laugh and think about issues, big and small. The show is produced, directed, and hosted by students on AppTV. Watch new episodes Monday through
FREE TAX HELP The Department of Accounting in the Walker College of Business offers a free tax help lab for students, faculty and staff beginning Feb. 7 until April 12. Individuals can drop into Peacock Hall Room 4015 on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings between 5-7 p.m. Don’t want to wait? Get started now at: www.myfreetaxes.com. For more information, contact Dr. Mary Ann Hofmann at hofmannma@appstate.edu
GLOBAL OPPORTUNTIES CONFERENCE The ninth annual Global Opportunities Conference: Balancing People, Planet, & Profit will be held on April 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Plemmons Student Union on the campus of Appalachian State University. This year’s conference will highlight the importance of sustainable practices in the Brazilian Amazon while raising the broader question of how business can balance the triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit in environments throughout the globe. Registration is encouraged for the conference by April 3 at: https://business.appstate. edu/gocregistration.
TASTE OF DIALOGUE Sustained Dialogue is now offering Taste of Dialogue: a community dialogue about current issues and how they affect our lives. Taste of Dialogue is a series of one-time dialogue events available to everyone on campus! We would love to have you come participate! Our next meeting will take place April 10th from 6-7:30 p.m. in Room 137C (Attic Window) in Plemmons Student Union.
CAMPUS WIDE FOOD DRIVE From now until April 14, Staff Senate and the Office of University Sustainability are partner-
THURSDAY, APRIL 6
FRIDAY, APRIL 7
SATURDAY, APRIL 8
Free Store Road Show
Global Opportunities Conference
“Moana” Screening
2 - 5 p.m. Sanford Mall
9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Plemons Student Union
2, 7 & 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer $1 advance, $2 door
Repost:Rethink Trivia
Zero Waste Lunch
3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Roan Mountain Room, PSU
11 a.m. Durham Park
“Moana” Screening
Spring Exhibition Celebration
7 & 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer $1 advance, $2 door
ing for a campus-wide Food Drive to support the Food Pantry in the Sustainability Office. Items collected will benefit the campus and local community by way of this free resource located in the basement of East Hall.
SUNDAY, APRIL 9
“Life Animated” Screening 4 p.m. I.G. Greer free
6 - 10 p.m. Turchin Center for the Visual Arts
“Moana” Screening Clint Roberts & The Wonder Drug 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer $4 students in advance $6 non-students and at door
7 & 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer $1 advance, $2 door
MONDAY, APRIL 10
TUESDAY, APRIL 11
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12
THURSDAY, APRIL 13
Guided Meditation
Free Tax Help
Free Tax Help
Spring Financial Aid Fair
12 - 1 p.m. Rich Mountain Meditation Room, PSU
5 - 7 p.m. Peacock Hall Room 4015
5 - 7 p.m. Peacock Hall Room 4015
10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Sanford Mall
Taste of Dialogue
LGBT+ Music Therapy Group
LGBTQIA+ Therapy Group
“Smoke Signals” Screening
6 - 7:30 p.m. Attic Window Room, PSU
7 - 8 p.m. Broyhill Music Center 407
5:45 - 7 p.m. Miles Annas Student Services Building
7 p.m. Greenbriar $1
“Smoke Signals” Screening 7 p.m. Greenbriar $1
April 6, 2017
SGA CANDIDATE PRIMERS STAFF REPORTS
JaQuan Wiley - senior music education major John Sullivan - junior public relations major Campaign manager Rebecca Parsons said via email Wiley and Sullivan believe transparency is a critical issue in this campaign, which they claim has been lacking in previous SGA administrations. Some of their key proposals are a transfer student union, creating a multicultural club council to increase funding to underrepresented communities on campus and officially designating all single occupancy restrooms on campus as gender neutral. Wiley has served as the first African-American president of the North Carolina Music Educators Association but has had no previous experience in SGA.
Dejon Milbourne - junior, undecided Rice Neese - junior philosophy major Milbourne said via email the most important thing about being SGA president is understanding what students want done to give the best recommendations possible to administration. He identified tuition and fee increases as being a key issue, arguing students should have a greater say in where money is allocated as more of it comes from them. Milbourne identified health services, parking lot renovations and student activities fees as being important areas to focus on. Milbourne has served as a senator in SGA. Neese said he believes governance of the university should be realigned to give students more say in big decisions and has served as an SGA senator for the past three years.
Anderson Clayton - sophomore journalism major Alan Lee - junior political science major Clayton said via email that her administration would prioritize action and attainability and aims to start a movement to ensure that student’s voices are heard. Clayton identified tuition and fees as being of particular importance and said she will work to hold the university accountable for any decisions made on this issue. Clayton said she aims to create a grant system to distribute some of SGA’s $42,000 annual budget amongst other clubs at the university. Clayton is the current SGA director of external affairs. Lee is the current SGA director of student affairs.
WATER JUSTICE FORUM HELD IN BELK LIBRARY MICHAEL LYDAY NEWS REPORTER
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he Sustainability
and Environmental Education Club held a Water Justice Forum in Belk Library on Monday featuring two guest speakers specializing in water supply contamination and its effect on communities. Laura England, the faculty advisor for the club, said that the water crisis in Flint is what inspired the organization of the forum and was a major theme throughout the presentation. “Sustainability students came to us wanting to know more about what was going on [in Flint] and what we could do to help the situation,” England said.
“The Sustainability and Environmental Education Club was trying to think about what we could do that makes sense for a university setting and have a lasting impact on the issue, so we decided to hold a community forum.” The first speaker of the night was Kelsey Pieper, a USDA and NIFA fellow at Virginia Tech, who gave a presentation on her experience helping the community of Flint during their water crisis and testing well water in rural counties of North Carolina. “It is a basic human right to have access to clean, safe drinking water, both in quality and quantity, regardless of gender, income, race or other
factors,” Pieper said. “There are a lot of different water injustice issues that are being exposed, and now that Flint has occurred there is a new platform to talk about water issues.” Katie Hicks, the associate director of Water for North Carolina, said there are water issues occurring across the state but she is most concerned with how poor and minority communities are disproportionately affected. Hicks said that population growth in the state could bring its own problems in regards to water issues. “As the population grows, communities are struggling more to make sure there’s enough water and that it’s clean
because more and more people are moving to the state and people are finding unique challenges as they spread out from the cities,” Hicks said. England said the purpose of the forum was to help students learn about water issues facing various communities through experts’ firsthand experiences with them. “We wanted them to understand these issues better and to present them with role models who have engaged with these issues in a direct and substantial way to see that maybe this is something that they can engage with in a career or just as a concerned citizen,” England said.
Applications for The Appalachian’s 2017-18 editorial board are now open for ALL positions! Find them on our AppSync page. 4
April 6, 2017
A GROWING COMMUNITY
Mayor Rennie Brantz plants a sunflower seed after cutting the ceremonial ribbon at the grand opening of the seed library on April 1. The seed library provides over 100 seeds, free for the public to check out. ALEAH WARNER MANAGING EDITOR
O
ver the last year,
Blue Ridge Women In Agriculture has been working with librarians at the Watauga County Public Library and faculty and staff at Appalachian State University to make a Boone seed library a reality. Over 70 members of the community attended the seed library’s grand opening on Saturday, where Mayor Rennie Brantz spoke on behalf of the Town of Boone and performed the ribbon cutting. The seed library, located in the Watauga County Public Library, has over 100 seeds, many of which were donated from local businesses, farmers in the community and farming organizations in the region. Individuals can check out up to six seeds at a time, no library card necessary. To create a continuous system of available seeds, the library asks that people save their seeds and return them at the end of the season. Karen Caldwell, faculty member in the Reich College of Education, said the tradition of swapping seeds goes back millennia, with the seed library providing a permanent home for the tradition. “It’s like a regular library, but whereas in a book library you might have your books checked out for a few weeks, here you check out seeds by season,” Caldwell said. “You plant them in the ground, harvest the crop, and bring the seeds back.” All seed library users are encouraged to bring back seeds at the end of the growing season, but to ensure the library doesn’t run out of stock, BRWIA has created the Dedicated Seed Growers, a group of farmers in the community who will attend seed saving workshops and implement the process in their own farms each year. The idea for a Boone seed library began in spring 2016, after BRWIA board of directors member Debbie Bauer heard about the idea at the Mother Earth News Fair in Asheville.
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As Bauer began to research seed libraries, Jacqueline Ignatov, another member of the BRWIA board of directors, coordinated the spring 2016 Food Summit event to teach about seed saving. The idea was further energized when James Veveto, an anthropologist at Western Carolina University who was the keynote speaker at the Food Summit event, reached out to Ignatov in fall 2016 to have a seed saving workshop hosted by Gary Nabhan, an ethnobiologist at the University of Arizona and the Southwest Center. Ignatov said the seed library’s motto is “share seeds, grow food, spread knowledge.” More than just about feeding community members, Ignatov stressed the learning component the library promotes. “It’s both about having this resource available to the community for free, celebrating that kind of self sufficiency and growing locally adapted varieties of food, as well as learning how to grow the food, learning how to save the seed and having an appreciation for the whole process,” Ignatov said. To promote education, BRWIA will be hosting free workshops focusing on teaching people to save seeds to add to the library at the end of the season. There are plans to expand the workshops to other gardening processes like organic farming given enough interest. “Seed saving used to be a thing that everyone knew how to do,” said Lindsey Giglio, BRWIA community of gardens coordinator. “How are we gonna keep this food system sustainable? By saving seeds and passing them along so we don’t have to buy seeds. It’s a resource that should be a cycle, be continuous, and we’re trying to continue that here with workshops.” The workshops will be held in the Watauga County Public Library and led by Richard Boylan, the area agent for alternative and organic agriculture for Watauga and Ashe counties. In addition to teaching technical infor-
mation about farming, Caldwell said one of her goals with the seed library is to educate on broader issues in agriculture, and to encourage people to consume and produce local products. “If a publicly supported library has a place where community members, even people brand new to the community can come and access seeds, grow their own food, and give back to the community, it creates an alternative economies that aren’t based in that capitalist paradigm as well,” Caldwell said. Ignatov described the seed library as a “small and mighty axe,” that will serve
multiple roles: a food source, a community hub, an educational resource and a place to share stories about farming. “This is a way in which we can insert food sovereignty and seed sovereignty in our own community that is the way in which we can have autonomy and control, being able to produce food in ways that align with our values,” Ignatov said. “The seed library is about encouraging a culture of sharing.” The seed library is now open to the public, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
Sustainable development major Marissa Schneider looks through seeds in the “Lettuce” drawer at the seed library. Each drawer in the seed library is divided by plant family.
Aleah Warner
April 6, 2017
(Left) HPT Club Officer Garrett Gourley leading the pack at the annual NCDH Mount Jefferson Race. (Right) Jack Traynor at NCDH Mount Jefferson Race.
APPALACHIAN STUDENTS WORKING TOWARD SKATEBOARD FRIENDLY CAMPUS ANGELA MCLINTON NEWS REPORTER
W
ill Winstead, a sophomore graphic arts major, said transferring to Appalachian State was jarring because of its campus-wide skateboard ban. Currently, under University Police Services, the skateboard policy states “The use of skateboards, skates, roller blades, or similar devices is prohibited on property owned or controlled by Appalachian State University.” “In Wilmington, it seems like a half and half mix of bikers and skaters versus people walking, while here I hardly ever see anyone riding,” Winstead said. “While transportation is important, I find myself skating just for fun and to clear my head. They shouldn’t take away the right to skateboard on the streets and sidewalks if they don’t provide us with an alternative outlet.” Captain Johnny Brown, patrol commander of university police, said skateboarding has been prohibited on campus since he came in 2001. Brown said he heard the policy came about after skaters caused damage around campus. Appalachian is one of three schools within the UNC system to still ban skateboards, the others being UNC Asheville and Western Carolina University. Brown said university police has been working with the Human Powered Transportation Committee and SGA to adjust university policy towards skateboarding. Brown says that if skateboarding is Courtesy of Phill Baldwin
to be allowed, he’s most concerned with regulating it so it doesn’t take sidewalk space from pedestrians. Lee Franklin, a senator in SGA, is working with campus police on the issue. “Multiple bills to legalize skateboarding on campus have been passed by the senate over the years,” Franklin said. “The problem is that skateboarding was made illegal by the town of Boone. Until skateboarding is legalized in the town, it won’t be allowed on campus. That being said, the purpose of the bill is basically to tell administration that if skateboarding is legalized in the town of Boone, then the university must allow skateboarding on campus.” Being a skater himself, Franklin was inspired to work on legalization after attending a Boone Town Hall meeting and seeing Nathan Godwin from the Human Powered Transportation club give a presentation on allowing skateboarding in the area. Franklin said town council was receptive to the idea and most people believe the ban should be overturned. “Every senator I have talked to has believed that the ban is unfair,” Franklin said. “The Environmental Sustainability Committee is against the ban because skateboarding is a green form of transportation. The External Affairs Committee is against it because with recent cuts to the Appalcart budget, students will need to rely more on other forms of transportation.”
As for now, much of the input has come from members of HPT. Nathan Godwin, president of HPT, said the club was started to promote sustainability and advocate for skaters on campus. “We wanted there to be a school skateboarding club to advocate for students who like to get to class on their skateboard,” Godwin said. “We meet weekly, skateboard where it is legal weekly, organize campus trash-pickups and encourage members to positively influence our community. HPT exists to demonstrate through our club actions that skateboarders are beneficial members in a community.” Godwin believes the ban still exists due there being a stigma against skateboarding, in contrast to biking. Brown said that there are still safety concerns that have to be addressed for skateboarding to be a viable and safe form of transportation. “Things that concern us about skateboarding in this area is the amount of hills that we have and people’s comfort level with skateboarding,” Brown said. “Somebody going down Howard Street or Locust Street or Hill Street scares me because that’s hard to stop. The one thing that has worried me is either the DOT lets them use the bike lane or else what if they get hit by a vehicle? Will that vehicle’s insurance say ‘that can’t be on the roadway so therefore we are not at fault’? I think those are things we need clear answers for before we can
move forward.” Brown said that while skateboarding is still prohibited on campus, university police are not attempting to pursue skateboarders. Brown does, however, recommend using a bike or other form of approved transportation until skateboards are officially allowed. Brown also says bike riders can be just as inexperienced as skateboarders and many dangers still exist surrounding bike riding, yet it remains legal. “If you’ve been around flat ground your entire life and you start going down Bodenheimer, that’s a big deal. You’ve got to make sure your brakes are pretty solid,” Brown said. “Bike riders should do a quick ABC check. They check they’re quick-connection for their rims, and then air, brakes and chain to make sure all that stuff is good before they ride.” For those still opposed to skateboarding in town or on campus, Godwin recommends reaching out to those who do skate. “For people who still don’t think skateboarding can be safe, I encourage you to talk with skateboarders. A lot of this misunderstanding comes from not having talked to people who skateboard safely every day,” Godwin said. “Lots of people skateboard as a way to commute to and from class, and have specific travel routes they take daily. Skateboarding can be safe with practice; it’s a lot like a car, it depends on the ability of the operator.”
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April 6, 2017
DRAG SHOW
(Top) Drag queen Courtney Nicole WildFrost peforming at the Diversity Celebration DragShow. The event was a part of Appalachian State’s Diversity Celebration. (Bottom) Drag queen Dixie Daniels peforming at the Diversity Celebration DragShow. The event was a part of Appalachian State’s Diversity Celebration.
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(Top) Drag queen Stacy Layne Mathews performing at the Diversity Celebration DragShow. Stacy Layne Mathews is from season 3 of Rupauls Drag Race. (Bottom) Drag queen Ginger Snatch doing a split in the air at the Diversity Celebration DragShow. The event was a part of Appalachian State’s Diversity Celebration and featured a performance by Stacy Layne Mathews.
(Top) Drag queen Anita Dickinson crawling on the stage at the Diversity Celebration DragShow. The event was a part of Appalachian State’s Diversity Celebration. (Bottom) Drag queen Ginger Snatch performing at the Diversity Celebration DragShow. The event was a part of Appalachian State’s Diversity Celebration.
Halle Keighton
April 6, 2017
ANGELA MCLINTON NEWS REPORTER
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or students not used to sleeping during the night, adjusting to college and dorm life can be a bumpy road. Many report fatigue and difficulty keeping up with classes. “Don’t try out a nocturnal lifestyle if you can help it,” Andrew Mullins, a freshman English major, said. “I think it’s a severe detriment to my life and education. Because being tired throughout the whole day is not conducive to keeping up with my education or keeping friendships alive. All you really want to do during the day is sleep, then you don’t get that much sleep anyway because of your schedule.” The latest course ASU currently offers is Astronomy, which has a lab that ends at 11:50 p.m. Very few universities offer around the clock classes, with Brown University being a notable exception. “I was definitely nocturnal before college,” Jason Loy, a freshman applied physics major, said. “What caused it is probably natural insomnia. Over breaks, my sleep schedules are awful. I would normally get up in the afternoon and begin my day going to dinner with family.” For roommate applications here at ASU, an option is given to select if one tends to go to sleep early or late, though that does not directly encompass those who are nocturnal. Loy and Mullins were lucky to have been assigned a room together as they are both nocturnal. “I can honestly say I’ve never fallen asleep during class, but I can also say it’s ridiculously hard to keep my eyes open day to day,” Mullins said. “At night, I don’t find myself doing work, I just find myself putting off going to sleep. I just watch videos to try to get me to sleep, thinking it will help.” Many seek help for this condition
THEY COME OUT AT NIGHT MAKING A STUDENT’S SCHEDULE WORK AS A NIGHT OWL
Physics major Maarten Kwaaitaal up late studying in his dorm. through medicine like melatonin, a common hormone taken to regulate sleep and wakefulness. Alex Howard, director of Wellness and Prevention Services, said he would hesitate to use the term “nocturnal” but his office does often discuss sleep and its relation to well-being with students. It is often a primary factor in performance in academic and extracurricular activities. Howard cites the American College Health Association in identifying the top factors that negatively impact performance during the year. “Sleep consistently ranks as one
of the top three factors negatively impacting academic performance among college students,” Howard said. “Through conversations with students at Appalachian, we have learned that many students’ sleep quality and quantity is disrupted by nightly Netflix binges, late night socializing with friends and procrastination.” Mullins said it would be a good step to have more night classes to accommodate students who prefer to work later. Howard said the lack of sleep is especially highlighted during this time in the semester.
“As we approach the end of the semester many are trying to close out the academic year by finishing major assignments,” Howard said. “I recognize that sleep is often sacrificed in an effort to complete various projects. However, I strongly encourage our students to engage in restful, quality sleep with adequate duration. If one is unable to sleep seven to nine hours at night, find a way to manage a 30-minute nap during the late morning or early afternoon. In addition, if the weekends are slightly less busy, use this time to obtain additional hours of high quality sleep.”
ASU PROFESSOR TAKES STUDENTS ON RESEARCH TRIP TO HOLOCAUST SITE BEN SESSOMS NEWS REPORTER
T
homas Kaplan was
once a German citizen coming of age during the 1970s coping with what he describes as “coming, as the awkward phrase has it, to terms with the mass crimes of the Nazi era.” Kaplan is now a distinguished professor of Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies at Appalachian State who teaches a course where students travel to Germany and Poland, including to the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the Center for Research on Antisemitism at the Technical University of Berlin and the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Educational Site, according to the course website. Kaplan’s passion for genocide studies started when he wrote a piece in his
Myles Toe
high school student paper criticizing an honorary citizen in the community at the time who had been a member of the Nazi party during the 1930s. Kaplan said he was threatened with a libel suit, which was later dropped when his principal saw the overwhelming evidence in his piece. Kaplan said the backlash is what got him started. “Now of course it wasn’t pretty to be called a communist pig and all the good stuff, but nonetheless, you do what you have to do. That’s what really got me going,” Kaplan said. Kaplan later went on to university and continued his work in genocide studies. “The rest, as they say, is history,” Kaplan said. The most recent trip that Kaplan’s
students took to Poland and Germany was this past spring break. During this trip, students walked through the gas chambers where so many lost their lives. Aaliyah Spear, a junior history major who went on the trip, wrote via email that she believes everyone should go see the camps at least once in their life. “Being able to see and stand in the places where this genocide of many different types of people happened was emotionally draining,” Spear wrote. “I honestly believe that everyone should go once in their life, even if it’s not for a research trip. Go and see where they were imprisoned and stand where they stood.” Kaplan said that the trip requires minimal funds from students as a vast
majority of it is funded through the Center for Judaic, Holocaust and Peace Studies at Appalachian State. Many schools organize trips such as these but they often deteriorate to what Kaplan calls “holocaust tourism.” Katie Atwell, a senior Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies major who went with Kaplan on the trip, said they were busy researching the entire time and were granted access to archives undergraduates don’t often get to use. Katie Haynes, a junior history and social studies education major who also went on the trip, wrote through email that the class was incredibly rewarding, but also challenging. Students will present their research on April 27 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 417 in the Plemmons Student Union.
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April 6, 2017
STICKING TO HER HEART
Head coach Angel Elderkin during the game against UT Arlington. The Mountaineers lost to the Mavericks 73-62. TYLER HOTZ SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
B
efore the women’s
basketball season started in the High Country, headlines surrounding the team were everywhere, but not in the way that Angel Elderkin expected. Elderkin, the third-year App State women’s basketball head coach, was in the middle of a fight against cancer. Even with her setback, she continued to coach team that she loved. As her season finished up, her fight with cancer gave her a new perspective on basketball and life off the court. Though her fight has gained the attention of many, few know what brought Elderkin to Boone in the first place. Fighting cancer is not where her story began. Instead, it began with the attitude and determination to use basketball as a way to work through challenges.
Only a Mile Away Born in downtown East Providence, Rhode Island, Elderkin’s parents made a modest living. Her mother worked in the medical field and her father worked as a construction worker. Escaping the action on the busy streets, Elderkin and her older brother used sports as a release from the sounds of the city. “It was a different era and we did a lot at the playground,” Elderkin said. “I used to go with my brother and he was into basketball so I would just follow him and dribble the ball, ride my bike and walk everywhere.” Everywhere her brother went, Elderkin followed, emulating his passion for the game they both grew to love. Beg-
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ging their parents to get them a hoop, the Elderkin’s pleas went unanswered. Basketball hoops were hard to come by where Elderkin lived, and even after walking miles to find a hoop, she would often have to settle for a stop sign. Hitting that stop sign over and over again, she gained the diligence the game requires, recording points with every ping off the back of the red octagon. “Basketball was more of an escape, and it was something that I loved at a young age,” Elderkin said. “It gave me involvement with other people and I enjoyed being a part of a team.” Growing as a basketball player, Elderkin began to play the game in as many team settings as she could, wishing to someday play varsity basketball in high school. Saving up their money, Elderkin’s parents were able to enroll her in St. Raphael Academy in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. With the academy 15 minutes away from her home Elderkin had the opportunity to move outside her home community, thriving in the classroom and on the court. Middle school extended until ninth grade at St. Raphael’s, and because of this, Elderkin got to play basketball all four years at the school. Picking up other sports, Elderkin also played softball for three years and ran cross-country for two years in Pawtucket. “I had some good coaches and some people in the community that would pick me up and take me to practice, so the coaching along the way helped me,” Elderkin said. “I had some high school
Halle Keighton
April 6, 2017
coaches that were really invested and they really helped me develop.” Developing into a strong athlete, Elderkin received offers to play college basketball and softball at the University of Southern Maine. Known for their dominance of Division III basketball, the multi-sport athlete took the offer and began her college career in Portland. Starting off, Elderkin found it hard to find playing time on an impressive roster, only playing in 17 games her freshman season. Aside from basketball, however, Elderkin excelled in softball, leading the Huskies in hitting her junior year which gained her all-conference honors. Outside of sports, Elderkin excelled in the classroom, becoming a two-time winner of the William B. Wise Scholar-Athlete Award. This success, however, was disguised in uncertainty. Throughout Elderkin’s college career, she changed her major three times, unable to find her exact path. Identifying her true passion was a mystery, but that all changed with a talk with her head coach, Gary Fifield. Coaching for 27 years, Fifield compiled a 648-123 record, consistently making runs in the NCAA Division III tournament. Success at Southern Maine was second nature and the decorated head coach saw that one of his players had the intangibles to excel on the sidelines. “My college coach brought me in for a meeting and he said, ‘Have you ever thought about coaching?’ and I said, ‘well not really,’” Elderkin said. “He always saw me at camp and heard me on the bench, and now that I was injured [my senior year] he thought I really
Halle Keighton
should look into some graduate assistant positions, and I did.” Stepping out of her college life in Portland, Elderkin relied on her resources to push her along. Luckily for her, the first steps into coaching became second nature, winning the respect of all who would listen.
Given the Chance The coaching world is a tough place to belong, where finding the right job often is a dream in itself. As Elderkin finished up her degree at Southern Maine, she took the advice of Fifield and chased a career in coaching. However, reality quickly revealed the difficulties of finding a hold on the coaching ladder. Working in campus recreation at Southern Maine, Elderkin befriended the person who ran the entire operation. Ultimately, her friendship led her to gaining a graduate assistant position at East Tennessee State University. While this gave her direction to life after college, initiative to break into the coaching game came from outside of her graduate assistant title. Instead of gaining a graduate assistant position for basketball, Elderkin worked for campus recreation, using her limited free time to make an impression on the basketball court. “What people really don’t know is that I went to ETSU as a campus rec graduate assistant, and I hounded the basketball office every day to let me volunteer,” Elderkin said. “I would finish my 20 hours at campus rec and then would go to basketball and be constantly around and was probably annoying at the time, but how are you going to turn away
free help?” Through trial and error, Elderkin’s persistence paid off, earning her an assistant coaching position at Siena University in Missouri. Staying from 2001-2005, a golden opportunity from women’s basketball royalty came calling. The opportunity came from the University of Tennessee, commanded by legendary head coach Pat Summitt. In her time, Summitt won eight national titles and set the pace for career victories, recording 1098 in her time with the Lady Vols. Claiming she at times was “too big for her own britches,” Elderkin used her three years at Tennessee to actively learn from some of the game’s brightest minds. “I took what I learned from coach Summitt and her staff and I took a piece of them and fused them with my own style,” Elderkin said. “That’s when I really became a good assistant coach.” Growing as a basketball coach, Elderkin’s role elevated from a graduate assistant in her first year in Knoxville to acting as the video coordinator in her final year, helping the Lady Vols capture a national championship in 2007. “Angel has a great knowledge of the game and watches tape,” then-assistant coach and current Tennessee women’s head basketball coach Holly Warlick said. “Angel is just good at her job; it wasn’t crazy. She was an MVP, but honestly she loved doing her job and did it well.” Winding down, Elderkin’s skills at Tennessee were noticed, especially from former Virginia head coach Debbie Ryan. Given a significant salary increase from the Cavaliers, Elderkin found it hard to
say no, even with Summitt offering to up her pay. At Virginia, Elderkin started work under a new title: recruiting coordinator. Identifying with high school athletes, the new member of the Virginia coaching staff enjoyed forming bonds with developing basketball players. In 2011, after over four years in Charlottesville, Virginia, Ryan unexpectedly stepped down, surprising Elderkin and prompting her to make a move. This time she would return to the job of video coordinator, but instead at Louisiana State. Following a quick year in Baton Rouge, Elderkin made her way back up north, taking a job at St. Johns. Casting doubts to the side, her work with the Red Storm gave her confidence to run a program on her own. “When I went to work with Joe Tartamella at St. Johns in his first year as a head coach, I realized that I could do this,” Elderkin said. “We had a year together, and it was his first year being a head coach and I was his right hand person. It made me realize and have the confidence to be like ‘Okay, I’m ready do this.’” Returning to Louisiana State for the 2013-14 season, Elderkin signed with an agent to finally take on the load of being in charge of her own team. Getting various job offers, one place in particular stood out to Elderkin: Boone, North Carolina. Oddly enough, the first time she felt that way was in May 2014 when she was interviewing for another school’s head coaching vacancy. Read the rest of the story at theappalachianonline.com/in-depth
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April 6, 2017
COLD WEATHER, HOT BAT TAYLOR STORY SPORTS REPORTER
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oming to the end of
a cold Boone winter, App State baseball junior left fielder Tyler Stroup was able to catch fire, having a career season this year putting up big numbers. At the surface, Stroup is batting .284 this season, with 29 hits on 102 at-bats, good for second on the team behind senior teammate Matt Vernon. He is leading the team in slugging percentage at .529 and is tied for third in on-base percentage with .360. Despite the dazzling numbers he is churning out at this stage of the season, Stroup got off to a less than stellar start. In the team’s first nine games of the season, Stroup was only able to garner five hits on 32 at-bats, a .156 batting average. In their March 4 contest against Western Carolina, a game they won 7-3, Stroup would get going with his first multi-hit game of the season, going 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. “I’m doing the same stuff every day,” Stroup said. “Just trying to get into a routine more and practice the same and not overthink things.” During two outings this season, App has faced a team where at least eight pitchers have been used. It’s hard to get comfortable when you see a new guy each inning, but not for Stroup. “I’m seeing the ball pretty good right now,” Stroup said. “Working on picking up the arm slots going to be and try and put the ball into to play.” There was also a change in skipper this season with Kermit Smith entering as the new head coach and Britt Johnson coming in as the new hitting coach. The new workout programs before the season could have contributed to Stroup’s success. He has surpassed his home run record of five from last season already with six this year. “One thing we talk about a lot is power,” Johnson said. “Part of swinging hard and being on time to your pitch in a powerful position is going to cause that. We’re trying to hammer baseballs, and if you hit it well where
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Junior Tyler Stroup up to bat during the home games against Wake Forest. The Mountaineers lost to Wake Forest 5-4.
you miss hit it underneath, it’s still going to go a long way. It’s a byproduct of our process.” At the start of the season, Stroup started off batting leadoff for the Mountaineers. He was not used to doing this and found himself in a new spot. After the first couple of games, teammate Calev Grubbs matured and the staff moved him into the leadoff
and Stroup back to cleanup spot due to his better in-game power. The hitting woes continued, so a decision was made to push Stroup further back in the lineup to get him going at the plate. “Early on he struggled, so we decided if we moved him down in the lineup maybe we can get him some fastballs,” Johnson said. “We’ve moved him to
the eight hole and now it doesn’t matter what you throw him, he's absolutely hammering the baseball.” Now midway through the season, Stroup is moving up and down in the lineup from fourth spot to the eighth, but he is still producing. Next came something that has only happened one other time in the team’s last fourteen seasons. On March 21 in a game against Radford at home, Stroup would hit 4 for 5 and hit for the cycle. Current Mountaineer Colin Schmid is the last player to do it in 2016. Stroup hit for the cycle in order as well, singling then getting a double, triple and a homerun. To make it more interesting, the home run turned out to be inside the park, which sealed the victory in the game 13-9 for the Apps. “I didn’t really think about it at first until I got my triple,” Stroup said. “I was on deck and thought, if I hit a homerun here I might get the cycle, but whenever I got in there I didn’t think about it.” That game described his season thus far with a variety of hits with RBIs, leading the team to a victory. It was a game where Stroup and the team faced eight pitchers as well. Not to be overlooked is the work Stroup puts in on defense. This season he has a perfect fielding percentage at 1.000, and no errors with 40 putouts. He has started all 28 games in left field this season and 50 of 52 games in last season. “We don’t want anything to drop,” Stroup said. “We don’t want to make errors, keep the ball in front of us and we don’t want anything over our heads and catch the ball every time it comes to us.” With half the season remaining, Stroup is looking to keep battling and put up these big numbers to help him and the Mountaineers achieve their goal of winning the Sun Belt Conference. Stroup will be back in action at home this weekend against UT Arlington April 7 at Beaver Field.
Lindsay Vaughn
April 6, 2017
A WORLD APART, A GAME IN COMMON
Senior Jack Maddocks hitting the tennis ball to Georgia Southern's Eddie Landin. TYLER HOTZ SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER
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hen App State
men’s tennis head coach Bob Lake moved into his office at Appalachian State, an ultimatum confronted him from the start. Face to face with the athletics director at the time, a simple conversation turned into a blueprint for his tennis program. “Basically, when I got here, it was all Americans, and the athletic director at the time told me that if I wanted to win, then I was going to have to get some international kids,” Lake said. “Without them, we can’t do anything because the top Americans are going to get sucked up by the big schools.” Taking this advice in stride, Lake began to set up contacts abroad, especially in regions of Canada, South Africa and Australia. Creating pipelines, the Mountaineer head coach in his 17th season has built a network of foreign players. Lake’s roster consists of nine players this season, four of which come from outside of the United States. Australia in particular stands out, where one of Lake’s most important assets is concluding his final season in Boone. Senior Jack Maddocks, one of the three Australians on the team, grew up thousands of miles from his eventual college home. Getting older, Maddocks realized the opportunity that an American education and tennis career presented. Entering his high school years, Maddocks began to see the positive aspects of playing tennis away from home. Playing in the Australian schools’ championships, a former player of Lake’s had taken notice of Maddocks, leading to emails between the current head coach and player. “When I got to 15 or 16 years old, you hear about people who have came
Lindsay Vaughn and Nora Smith
over and had such a good time, so that makes you want to find out about it and see if it’s really for you,” Maddocks said. “I’m really happy I made that decision, and it’s probably one of the best I’ve ever made.” Lake’s strategy again proved successful, relying on his former players to make connections with players that were once unreachable. While his strategy has seen continued success, Lake’s ambition to recruit foreign players finds a defined balance. Looking to split his team half and half, Lake understands that the App State program must develop players domestically as well. Gathering five players inside the United States, growth and leadership have become key components of any player he recruits. Seniors in particular have added an extra dimension, and joining his Australian teammate Maddocks, senior Trey Morris has a completely different story to how he ended up in the High Country. Originally from Colbert, Georgia, Morris had barely heard of App State, aside from the school’s major football upset of Michigan in 2007. As his college decision came closer, Morris found out much more about his future university. “I always wanted to play tennis in college starting back when I was nine years old,” Morris said. “I had a coach who asked us to state our goals, and my original goal then was to play Division I tennis. As I started getting older, I looked into different schools and App became a really good option for me.” Starting off at Appalachian, Morris has elevated his play, pushing him up from sixth to third in the lineup. While his skills on the court have improved throughout his time at App State, more
than tennis has made life in Boone memorable. Gaining an experience unlike many of his fellow Mountaineer students, Morris has grown alongside a group of students that come from places unlike his own. “It’s awesome, and it’s one of the coolest experiences for me just being able to have a big melting pot of players from all over the country and all over the world,” Morris said. “It’s been eye-opening seeing different cultures, and it’s been a really good experience.” Essential to that experience, Maddocks has taken his time with his American teammates to find an outlet from being so far away from home. Only returning home each year in December, growing on and off the tennis court has eased adjustment to American life. For the first time, Maddocks' parents visited Boone in September, which was also his mother’s first ever trip to the U.S. Gaining an international experience was important, but without tennis, that reality may have been much different. “Tennis is a sport that is played in
almost every single country, and it’s unique in a way,” Maddocks said. “Growing up, you play against people from so many different countries and backgrounds, so you get used to it in tennis.” Developing better tennis players helps put wins on the stat sheet, but even with this, leadership comes directly from the ability to work with players from all across the world. Losing three senior leaders from a team that finished 14-6 last season, Maddocks and Morris have had their names called to continue a proud tennis tradition. “The seniors are the ones who normally get it done, and they grow quite a bit from being a freshman all the way through,” Lake said. “I rely on the seniors in their last year to help me with everything, and these two have been good.” While both of these seniors see their App State careers coming to a close, their love for tennis has brought their unique backgrounds together.
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Date April 6, 2017
Freshman Kenzie Longanecker begins her wind up to pitch the ball during the double header game against UNCG.
LONGANECKER OFF TO A QUICK START COLT JENSEN SPORTS REPORTER
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he Appalachian State softball team still has under half a season to play, but they have already won more games than they did in all of last year. Despite recent struggles against Sun Belt teams, a large part of the Mountaineers 2017 turnaround and success has been due to the team’s 12 freshmen, especially freshman pitcher Kenzie Longanecker. Longanecker is a freshman pitcher from Sanford, Florida, who has already become a dominant part of the Mountaineers roster. In 23 appearances, Longanecker has already notched eight wins, a 2.01 earned run average, four complete games, 87 strikeouts and a save. Head coach Janice Savage believes that Longanecker's work ethic and humility have coupled with her tremendous talent to facilitate her fast transition and early success. “I think the biggest thing that’s led to her early success is how she has handled her early playing experience,” Savage said. “She’s still growing and makes freshman mistakes, but she owns up to them and wants to get better. She’s willing to make changes and make adjustments. She understands the importance of weight lifting and condition which has helped her be successful.” Longanecker has played a big role for Mountaineers despite the fact that she is the only freshman on the pitching staff. “I think there’s a lot of diversity within our pitching staff, and Kenzie brings that piece that can help the other players be more effective,” Savage said. “If we can get into the later innings, and bring in Kenzie, her drastic change in pitching style makes a big difference.” With Longanecker’s pitching style, hard work and talent, her transition from 14
high school to college looks to have been seamless, but Longanecker acknowledged that some parts of being a collegiate athlete took some getting used to. “We have a lot more practice time, and a lot more one-on-one with the coaches and you’re always being watched which was overwhelming at first,” Longanecker said. “However, overall it’s been good, and helped me push myself.” Longanecker struggled some recently, now that the Mountaineers have entered into their difficult conference schedule against the Sun Belt, one of the best softball conferences. However, Appalachian’s pitching staff has plenty of veterans and a senior leader to help Longanecker find her groove against the more difficult conference schedule. “Something I struggled with was the high school to college to transition,” senior pitcher Vanessa Ciocatto said. “This year we’ve tried to help the freshman understand that this is a long season. You have to push through, and if they’re not succeeding at the beginning of the season they’ll still have plenty of opportunities to improve and succeed this season.” Even though Longanecker hasn’t been able to help the Mountaineers get their first conference win, the experience of pitching in Sun Belt conference is very valuable. The Sun Belt conference features Texas State, who played in the college softball world series last year, and Louisiana, who is currently 17th in the nation and advanced to the second round of the college softball world series last year. As the Mountaineers enter the final stretch of their season, Longanecker has started working with the coaching staff on improving some key aspects of
her game to be able to compete and win against the difficult Sun Belt conference. “I think the biggest thing for Kenzie is that we have to work on conditioning with her, so she can pitch more innings for us,” Savage said. “We also are working on precision, so she can hit spots when she gets tired.” The Mountaineers hope that the changes to Longanecker’s game will help them to go on a late season confer-
ence run and achieve their team goal. “I want to make a difference every year I’m here,” Longanecker said. “I really want to help this year's seniors achieve their goal of making the conference tournament.” The Mountaineers face an uphill climb to reach the conference tournament this year, but with talented freshmen like Longanecker, anything is possible for this year’s team.
Freshman Kenzie Longanecker pitches the ball during the double header game against UNCG. Halle Keighton
April 6, 2017
APPALACHIAN STATE CELEBRATES LUNAFEST STEVEN CAUGHRAN A&E REPORTER
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n April 6 in the Plemmons Student Union, a festival of short films with one common theme took place: all the films are “by, for and about women.” This is the motto of LUNAFEST, a traveling short film festival with the goal of showcasing women’s issues and inspiring thoughtful dialogue. Every LUNAFEST event also raises funds for a wide variety of charities. This week’s LUNAFEST event in Boone will benefit a nonprofit young girl’s organization called Girls on the Run. Mary Sheryl Horine, the associate director for the Institute for Health and Human Services and the council director of Girls on the Run of the High Country, has been working with professor Heather Paige Preston’s public relations campaign class in order to host LUNAFEST at Appalachian State this year. “They’ve taken this on as a class project,” Horine said. “LUNAFEST is a program with Girls on the Run of the High Country, which is a program within the College of Health Sciences here at ASU.” The Luna corporation, a producer of energy bars and a division of Clif Bars, works closely with organizations and charities in order to make events like this possible. “The Luna corporation puts together a package of short films, internationally awarded films, by women and all about the same topic of women,” Horine said. “Luna then sends out the package to various organizations throughout the country to be shown as a way of bringing women together in the community. It also serves as an arts activity and a fundraiser all in one.” The proceeds for the ticket sales will benefit Girls on the Run of the High Country and the Breast Cancer Fund. “LUNAFEST leaves it up to the communities to decide [the charities that the festival will help],” Horine said. “Girls on the Run learned about this unique opportunity and put together an application to show the films here, and for the past five years we’ve had a LUNAFEST event here.” Girls on the Run of the High Country was chosen because it fit with the theme of LUNAFEST, which is about women, their stories and their causes. “[Girls on the Run] is a program that inspires girls to be confident and healthy, and gives them tools to really lead a healthy life,” Horine said. “That’s where LUNAFEST comes in. It’s both a really cool cultural event and a fundraiser for Girls on the Run, a women’s organization.” This year’s festival will be put on with the help of the Appalachian State University Women’s Center and the sponsorship of Mast General Store. “The class is based off learning how to do an entire public relations campaign for a client,” Preston said. “Part of that campaign usually is a special event of Halle Keighton
A couple of the bras that were decorated during “BraVa!” The bras will be on display at LUNAFEST, which is on April 6-7. The event is a fundraising film festival to promote awareness about women’s issues and appreciating women filmmakers. some sort, in this case LUNAFEST.” Preston said that this allows the students to get hands-on experience working with people in the media business and to plan how best to reach their target audience. “We learned that when Girls on the Run first came to us that they had all sorts of needs,” Preston said. “They had no real public relations help along the way. They need student interns, that’s huge for them. They just needed our expertise, which is great, because we want a perfect match.” The public relations campaigns class typically serves organizations throughout the community, both profit and nonprofit, that may not have the resources to have adequate public relations services without assistance. “It’s kind of the perfect storm. We learn a lot through the experience, and we educate too, which is nice,” Preston said. “We teach people what public re-
lations is, and what we can do for them. And since they have a better understanding afterwards they’re able to keep that momentum going when we’re done.” Preston has her students come up with an agency name and structure to put them in the mindset of a real job. All her students come up with a mock agency and logo in order to simulate real-world experience. The class is based around simulating a real-world public relations experience, including working with real-world clients. “This class is offered every semester, so we’re always looking for clients. This client was actually suggested by a student in the class, Jenna Huff,” Preston said. Jenna Huff, a senior public relations major, has served as a mentor in the Girls on the Run program. “Girls on the Run is a great way to build up and empower women,” Huff said. “LUNAFEST is going to show
films that were created by women and about women, and it can show more of what women can do.” LUNAFEST invites female producers from around the world to create films and submit them for consideration to be included in LUNAFEST events. “They sort through hundreds and hundreds of films every year to pick out only nine that they think are best,” Horine said. “The producers of course get a reward if their film is selected to be featured.” The nine films will be selected with the purpose of entertaining the audience, conveying emotion and inspiring dialogue within the community. “These are unique little films that you wouldn’t really see anywhere else, and they’re truly inspiring,” Horine said. LUNAFEST will be held on April 6 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenbriar Theater in Plemmons Student Union and on April 7 at 6:30 p.m. at the Harvest House.
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April 6, 2017
Some of the musicians playing during the Nile project event. In total, there are 12 musicians that play in the Nile project. In most songs, the musicians take turns in performing the music.
THE NILE PROJECT: SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH MUSIC AND DANCE MYLES TOE A&E REPORTER
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he New River Conser-
vancy, Blue Ridge Conservancy, Turchin Center for the Visual Arts’ Office of Arts and Cultural Programs and Appalachian State University will be hosting their collaboration, the Nile Project, from April 2 to 4. The project is part of the university’s academic year performance series presented by the Office of Arts and Cultural Programs. The series showcases a variety of visiting artists from the world of music, dance and theater throughout the year. This project connects not only the arts, but also areas of global studies, political science, social justice and sustainability. The event is sponsored by the McDonald’s of Boone and has received support from the university’s Quality Enhancement for Global Learning, as well as grant funding from South Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Denise Ringler, director of arts engagement and cultural resources, coordinated with the Nile Project team to bring them to the university, something she says is an important overarching goal of the university arts. “We want to engage audiences in the arts not only by providing great entertainment, but also by connecting performances to the curriculum and supporting the teaching mission of the university,”
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Ringler said. “We are especially interested in artists and performances that can broaden our view of the world and shape our perspective on important issues, through the lens of arts.” Ringler booked the artists of the Nile Project and helped bring the magnitude of workshops, master classes and informal discussions that will be presented throughout the week. “When we book artists, we always attempt to engage them in more than just a single performance,” Ringler said. “This makes the experience much richer and deeper for our audiences, who are seeking a deeper level of connection with the arts. When we present a residency such as the Nile Project, it’s especially meaningful because it’s not just a single performance, but a series of activities that bring together artists and audiences.” The events range from a New River clean up, where a small group of Nile Project musicians will visit the new river and interact with students, a panel discussion, and an exhibition viewing at the Turchin designed to showcase the headwaters and focus attention on the environmental threats which impact local watersheds. “The message of The Nile Project is one that we can all learn from. Whether in making or playing music, sharing cultures or looking for an opportunity to conserve natural resources, we all understand the need to communicate more
effectively,” Christy Chenausky, director of arts education and outreach, said. She and her team brought the many events around campus to the university and says that is fits in App State’s message of sustainability. “The Nile Project is finding ways to talk about water resources in a way that is both effective and creative,” Chenausky. “I would encourage anyone to come to the residency events and the performance of the Nile Project.” The Nile Project is a performance of traditional string instruments that use heritage, style and culture to give audiences a better understanding of the countries that make up the Nile River basin. This performance will be shown at the Schaefer Center on April 4 at 7 p.m. The music is a collaboration of participating musicians that are self-taught in their own musical language and rhythms based upon their own traditional heritage. The songs relate to nature and geography, and the lyrics come from ten different languages ranging from deep personal tracks to party anthems. The many themes of identity, regional solidarity, and intercultural relationships are intertwined in the music throughout the show. The performers themselves are a group of musicians, educators and activists who work together to build awareness about and generate new ideas to address environmental challenges in the Nile River basin.
The project was founded in August 2011 by Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis and Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero. They both wanted to cultivate the power of music by making a difference in the Nile region. They hope to bring together the 437 million citizens of 11 nations to solve environmental challenges that affect the Nile River. Not only does the project include a musical performance but also a Nile prize which is an award for students who have developed ideas to create a more sustainable Nile basin. Faculty wants the student body to go out and attend these events and make use of all the great opportunities available. The impact of doing so will break cultural barriers and aid in App’s message of sustainability. “All activities fall upon a the broader mission of inspiring and empowering Nile citizens to focus on the sustainability of the river,” director of marketing and public relations Anna Gaugert said. “It will also break barriers between the people living along it.” Tickets are available now on the Schaefer Center’s website and can be bought online. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for faculty and staff and $10 for students. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone. The three-day residency programs are free and open to the public. Date, time and locations of these events can also be found on the Schaefer Center’s main website.
Lindsay Vaughn
April 6, 2017
Ken Nwadike speaking at Legends for the Free Hugs Project. His video giving free hugs to the runners at the Boston Marathon went viral.
EXAMINING FREE SPEECH MARIAH RENEAU A&E REPORTER
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hroughout this past
week, Appalachian faculty and students have been educated about first amendment rights and freedom of speech in the Say What? Free Speech Summit. The event spanned March 23-31 and involved several talks and art exhibitions about various aspects of free speech. The panel that arranged all of the events that took place was made up of members of the Student Development council to department chairs as well as higher-ups such as Dean of Students J.J. Brown, among others. Each talk and exhibition was purposefully very different from one another. This diverse group of speakers came into the summit in various ways, Phillip Ardoin, the chair of the Government and Justice Studies Department, said. Some got involved by being friends of different board members, whereas others were just well known individuals who were knowledgeable about the subject of free speech, Ardoin said. It wasn’t just faculty members involved in bringing in individuals to give presentations. The Appalachian Popular Programming Society Cultural Awareness and Student Engagement Council was involved in bringing in Ken Nwadike, the founder of the Free Hugs Project, to campus. After CASE brought in Ebony Stew-
Courtesy of APPs
art last semester, the university contacted them about bringing in someone similar for the free speech summit. After discovering Nwadike’s videos, she suggested that CASE bring him to Appalachian’s campus. Stephanie Smith, chair for the CASE council, was one of the main contributors in bringing Nwadike to campus to speak about his Free Hugs Project and the work he’s done in hostile and violent protest situations. After watching Nwadike’s “Charlotte Rise” video where he enters Charlotte during the violent protests this last summer, CASE decided he would be the perfect person to come speak on campus, Smith said. During his speech, Nwadike spoke about how his homeless childhood, supportive friends and loving mother all encouraged him to be an advocate for homeless children in his California community. After the Boston bombing in 2013, Nwadike felt it was so important to run in the Boston Marathon in solidarity for the sport of running. After just barely not qualifying for the race, Nwadike still felt that love was an important message, and flew to Boston to give free hugs during the event. Eventually his free hugs turned into a symbol of peace and love, and now Nwadike travels around the nation, going into hostile activist situations to encour-
age peace and conversation. His speech stressed the importance of nonviolent activism and how much more effective it is in getting one’s point across. Robert Shibley, executive of the organization Foundation for Individuals Rights in Education, was another individual who gave a talk about free speech on campus, and who provided more of a conservative stance on free speech. “I was familiar with FIRE because they are a leading group on the other end of things,” Ardoin said. “FIRE is typically coming from the right with a lot of the cases they become involved in and the issues that come from the conservative end of the spectrum.” Shibley said FIRE “defends free speech, due process and other rights on campuses.” The organization not only takes up court cases to protect students’ first amendment rights, but also ranks each school in the nation on their speech codes and ability to uphold the first amendment on campuses. Their rating system involves three light colors: red, yellow and green, depending on how FIRE feels about the university’s policy. When FIRE first came into existence, most of the schools were considered red. Now, the majority of schools, including Appalachian State, are yellow, Shibley said.
Appalachian State was considered a yellow school because of the vagueness in our harassment and use of technology policies. One of the administrators after the FIRE event approached Shibley, and he said that after the talk, he was going to go back and reevaluate some of Appalachian State’s policies in the future, Ardoin said. The administrator wasn’t the only one who learned things from the speech summit. “As a teacher of American government I’m familiar with the legal ramifications,” Ardoin said. “What I learned was how uninformed people are.” There was also a sense of tolerance that was gained through this event. “When we’re talking about an issue, we need to listen respectfully and understand the other side,” Ardoin said. “That, at least for me, was something this week helped bring to my attention.” Although the event was informative to those that attended, there was one disappointment about the event as a whole. “I’m surprised that the attendance at these events weren’t as high as I thought and I was somewhat disappointed,” Ardoin said. The administration hopes to hold more events like the free speech summit next fall during Constitution Day, as well as possibly another summit in the spring, Ardoin said.
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April 6, 2017
TODD ORGANIZATION FIGHTS HUNGER
ALEAH WARNER AND HALEY SHELTON MANAGING EDITOR AND A&E REPORTER
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lackburn Community
Outreach is focusing this year on redefining what it means to be blessed, through growing and giving organically-grown fruits and vegetables in the Todd community. What started as just a place for members of the Blackburn Chapel to grow their own food has become an outlet for those experiencing food insecurity in the High Country to receive healthy produce free of charge. The garden has been operating and expanding for years. Garden coordinator Matt Gundlach moved to Todd in 2014 to help work on the community gardens, and has since helped create the Blackburn Community Outreach to oversee the gardens and Blackburn’s multiple programs. “We’re expanding everything we do with Blackburn Community Outreach and the chapel is constantly widening the circle of blessing and what it means to be included in that,” Gundlach said. The organization has two community gardens. One grows vegetables like cabbages, lettuce, beans and peppers, while the second one has a more diverse arrangement of crops, like tomatoes, flowers and herbs. During last year’s growing season, Blackburn Community Outreach grew 1,730 pounds of food, 880 pounds of which was donated through the organization’s different programs. One of those programs is the Green Valley Program. Blackburn Community Outreach works with Green Valley Elementary School in Watauga County to provide students and families enrolled in free or reduced lunch programs to receive food during the eight weeks of summer. Last year, 500 pounds of food was donated to Green Valley. Blackburn also donates to food pantries and shelters in the high country, including Casting Bread in Blowing Rock, Hunger and Health Coalition and Hospitality House in Boone, and the Ashe Sharing Center. What produce that isn’t donated is given to interns, volunteers, and employees of Blackburn, as well as members of the chapel. In addition to service, education is also a goal for the organization. Blackburn Community Outreach provides an educational experience for those interested in agriculture to volunteer their time to its community gardens. The chapel transformed its vacant parsonage into the Blackburn House program, which allows four residents to live in the parsonage for a year and provide services for the chapel and community, which includes working in the gardens. Blackburn Community Outreach also has internships, apprenticeships and volunteering opportunities.
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Garden coordinator Matt Gundlach and garden youth apprentice Lee Dees plants peas in the Balckburn community garden. “A farm internship was really formational in my life,” Gundlach said. “It’s been my goal to make the strongest intern and apprenticeship program possible, where it’s really a full experience where people have an experience of personal growth, of spiritual connection to the land, and that we’re fully invested in them.” Volunteers can work in the gardens on the fourth Saturday of each month, and are assigned larger group tasks like weeding and planting. Interns and apprentices get a more hands-on learning experience, but volunteers also have the opportunity to attend workshops and workdays to learn skills and tips for gardening. Interns and apprentices work in the gardens multiple times a week, and get a deeper education on how to effectively own and operate a garden. Lee Dees, the garden’s youth apprentice, said that while interns and apprentices do the same work as volunteers, it is a bigger time commitment because they work throughout the growing season rather
than just once a month. For this growing season, Gundlach is focused on growing a wider variety of fruits and vegetables by creating an orchard and implementing a full permaculture design on the property, as well as starting the first phase of Blackburn’s newest program, the Listening Project. The Listening Project has three phases, Gundlach said. The first phase, which will begin this year, is creating a mobile market where Blackburn will be selling its produce for the first time. The goal of phase two will be to obtain a food truck that operate on a pay as you can basis, similar to F.A.R.M. Cafe. The third phase is to create a gathering space in Todd for the community to eat together. The inspiration for this project stemmed out of the community’s desire for a meeting space, Gundlach said. A survey of 115 Todd residents found that 62 percent of community members want to see an additional venue providing food and fellowship. “We’re starting something and it’s a place where we can catalyze what’s
missing now in literal, physical place, we’re trying to recreate the essence of that. The table, where people can come,” Gundlach said. “We want it to be affordable and accessible but also healthy and quality, and ultimately we’re hoping that it is a catalyst for economic development here.” It has been Gundlach’s goal to use the community gardens and programs to redefine what it means to be blessed. This year, Gundlach renamed the gardens to Beatitudes, for Jesus’s list of blessings given in his sermon on the mount in the Bible. Gundlach said that people are blessed when they take care of the land, and when they bless others by more than just giving. “Too often when we give, when we try to ‘bless others,’ food pantries are filled with canned goods, with processed foods,” Gundlach said. “What if we when we give, we give the best, and in my opinion the best is organically grown, natural food from healthy soil. That’s what we’re trying to give.”
Haley Shelton
April 6, 2017
THE DEAD MAN RETIRES W
hat makes a legend? How does
a man go from being just a mere mortal to becoming a myth and a legend known to thousands upon thousands of people? The answer is simple. Look to The Undertaker. To the uninitiated, The Undertaker is the stage name adopted by professional wrestler Mark William Calloway during his time working for the World Wrestling Federation, and later, World Wrestling Entertainment. Known for his signature long, black coat and hat, Calloway has been a dramatic figure in the hearts of wrestling fans for the last 25 years. His entrances were always heralded by darkness, thick smoke and the ringing of a foreboding bell that signaled his opponent’s doom. Of course, there was no actual threat, it was all staged and the outcomes of the matches were all set beforehand. But in kayfabe, in the story of the universe and its characters and to viewers both young and old tuning in, The Undertaker was the Dead Man, this was
T
he World Baseball
Classic is the Olympic games for international play of the long-lived sport. This past week the young tournament saw a new winner, the United States of America. The WBC has been played every four years since 2006, but the USA’s best finish before this year was fourth place in 2009. This may be a surprise to some fans of the game knowing all of the talent that comes out of America. According to the MLB, 73.5 percent of all MLB players last season were born in the U.S. The National team does not lack the talent, they’re out there, but what is stopping them from playing? If you look at this year’s WBC roster you might only recognize a couple names, especially for the casual fan. Some notables include Buster Posey, Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stan-
Q Russell is sophomore journalism major from Charlotte, North Carolina his yard and his opponent was going to be broken. But this last Sunday at Wrestlemania 33, the biggest pay-per-view that WWE puts on, The Undertaker retired. Losing his last match to Roman Reigns, The Undertaker ended his 25 year career as a professional wrestler. Leaving his ring gear on the ground, his gloves, his long coat and finally, with some hesitation, his hat, The Undertaker walked out of the arena for the last time. With his signature music playing in the background, he walked out backstage, stopping only to kiss his wife,
marking the first time he ever broke kayfabe in his career. At the end, just before disappearing into the back, he raised his fist in response to the crowd’s cheers of “Thank you, Taker,” marking the end of an era. While some may be disappointed with the results of the match, almost everyone could agree that the ending send-off was perfect for him. It applauded not only the man himself, but the legend that he had inspired in the hearts of an entire generation. The Undertaker was a consummate professional and never broke character. Vince McMahon, the owner of WWE, said, “We have all tried to get Undertaker to break character and we can’t do it. He is such a professional and an extraordinary human being behind the character. He’s committed to his craft and worked through injuries.” Anyone would be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know who the Undertaker was, as he’s up there with fictional characters like Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man and Batman. I have always been a fan of wrestling on some level, whether it be the skeptical
A NEW CLASSIC Taylor Story is a junior public relations major from Huntersville, North Carolina ton, Chris Archer and Andrew Miller. Although there are other all-stars on the team, those are the names that people would consider the faces of MLB. Even looking at the Olympic baseball rosters, although they haven’t been played since 2008, there isn’t that great of participation from the better players in the game.
With other countries, such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico, you will see their best players representing their homeland. I can’t speak for those players, but it seems like the players from countries other than the U.S. take greater pride in representing their countries. You Google “American baseball players” and names come up of recent MLB MVPs and all-stars, yet you don’t see them associated with anything other than their MLB team. In light of the United States’ first win in all of international play, you might see a surge of more recognizable American talent. Although you will not have any games for another three years, you will have the WBC, as well as baseball’s return to the 2020 Olympics. This will generate a lot of hype between players and more will hopefully look to join the team.
love I hold now or the wide-eyed wonder of my childhood. I can remember Friday nights when I would stay up hoping to watch the latest Friday Night Smackdown. I’d look for all my favorite wrestlers: Batista, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and plenty others. But the one that always stood out to me was The Undertaker. Whenever I’d see the ring go dark and his theme come on, I knew I was in for a great show, not only in the match but on the mic. And so it is with both sadness and gratitude that I say, thank you Taker. Thank you for your tireless work these last 25 years, for entertaining and inspiring a whole generation of people. Thank you for making professional wrestling what it is today and inspiring wrestlers such as John Cena and Kevin Owens. Thank you for your time and thank you for your effort. While the idea of the Undertaker might be a myth in the canon of the WWE, you are truly a legend in the hearts of your fans.
You might start to see players like Mike Trout, 2016 MLB MVP, Clayton Kershaw, three-time Cy Young award winner, Bryce Harper, 2015 NL MVP, as well as many other potential stars joining the ranks. Although the official ratings for the WBC are not in yet, according to awfulannouncing.com the viewership skyrocketed from the 2013 WBC. The most watched game that year only drew about 883,000 viewers, which was about 40 percent lower than the USA-Japan semifinal game this year. This was in part due to the ever-changing rosters and addition of more star players. With the rise in viewership combined with the newfound success of USA baseball, the WBC is sure to get that much more exciting. Look for the United States National team to grow in numbers and strength in the coming years leading up to international play.
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