aLvernian
THE
October/November 2012
what’s in
Alvernia Theatre Moves
Into New Stage
THIS ISSUE
06
By Leah Della Croce
Editor
Campus News
G
Get the scoop on
PHOTO: Rachel Boscov
AU’s Alumni House.
10
Vol. 51 Issue 3
Lifestyle
Senior Jeffrey Schaefer stars as Neil McRae in “Beggar on Horseback.”
It is the beginning of an
exciting new era for Alvernia
University’s Theatre company. After the successful run
of last spring’s production of
Macbeth and the graduation
of several of the company’s
key members, keeping the
momentum going for the fall
may seem like a tall order.
As usual, though, Dr. Nathan
Thomas was more than up
to the task; after an enthusiastic turnout at auditions in
late September, Dr. Thomas
chose a humorous ensemble
Tensions Rise Around Iran’s Nuclear Program
By Michael Hoshour
Contributing Writer
11
Sports
Men’s Basketball
Warm-Up
14
Personality
The Mystery Behind
Tess Gerritsen
After years of growing tensions, the conflict over Iran’s
nuclear program appeared to
take another step toward a
conclusion during the United
Nations General Assembly in
September.
Iran has been pursuing
nuclear technology, which it
says is for peaceful purposes,
for several years. Leaders in
the Israeli government have
been warning that Iran is
working on a nuclear weapon
that it could launch against
Israel.
On
September
27th,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed
the UN General Assembly.
Regarding the possibility of
Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, Netanyahu said, “At stake
is not merely the future of my
own country. At stake is the
future of the world. Nothing
could imperil our common
future more than the arming
of Iran with nuclear weapons.
To understand what the world
would be like with a nucleararmed Iran, just imagine the
world with a nuclear-armed
Al-Qaeda.
It makes no difference
Iran will back down.”
Two days earlier, President Obama spoke at the
United Nations and said, “The
Iranian government cannot
demonstrate that its program
is peaceful.”
Also during that week,
Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who has been
quoted calling Israel a Zionist regime and stating that the
Holocaust is a myth, spoke
at a breakfast meeting at the
United Nations. According to
the Associated Press he said,
“We believe the Zionists see
Continued on page 5
PHOTO: John Moore/Getty Images
The Drinking Myth:
What’s True on Your
Campus?
whether these lethal weapons
are in the hands of the world’s
most dangerous terrorist
regime or the world’s most
dangerous terrorist organization. They’re both fired by
the same hatred; they’re both
driven by the same lust for
violence.”
In his speech, Netanyahu
claimed that Iran could complete its first nuclear bomb
next year and drew a red line
on the image of a bomb at the
line of 90% completion. He
stated that he believes that,
“faced with a clear red line,
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the United
Nations General Assembly.
piece, “Beggar on Horseback,”
in order to accommodate
the large cast. An American
comedy written by William S.
Kaufman and Marc Connelly,
“Beggar” was written in the
late 1920s and updated for a
more modern audience. Filled
with unforgettable characters and a zany plot, Beggar is
guaranteed to keep audiences
laughing.
“I think this particular
show is like a new era for our
company,” says Sean Hartman.
“We have a new designer, half
our cast is new. It shows that
we’re evolving. We’ve come a
long way.”
Continued on page 3
Preventing Breast
Cancer through
Awareness
By Samantha Dix
Contributing Writer
Take a look around, and
chances are you know a breast
cancer survivor or someone
who lost a family member,
friend or co-worker. It is important to be aware of breast
cancer because it will affect
one in every eight women. To
help spread the word, October
is designated to raising awareness for the disease.
What is breast cancer? The
American Cancer Society says,
“Breast cancer is a malignant
tumor that starts in the cells of
the breast.” Since the disease
generally causes a lump in
the breast, women detect this
symptom through a self-breast
exam. Self-breast exams, clinical breast exams, mammograms and MRIs are important
tools to use in early detection.
On August 5, 1996, an
Alvernia student lost her
grandmother. This woman was
69 years young and within a
year the disease ran its course.
She received chemotherapy
treatments and lost her hair.
Continued on page 3
campus news
02
October/November 2012
STAFF
Managing Editor
Dani Motze
Layout
Dani Motze
Leah Della Croce
Editors
Jordan Bartolomeo
Leah Della Croce
Francesca Lampe
Contributing Writers
Iain Burke
Genesis Bernard
Jessica Ciesla
Sam Dix
Emily Geliebter
Sydney Glasmyr
Michael Hoshour
Janae McGallicher
Cristian Pena
Chelsea Prosser
Mindy Spade
Olaya Uribe
Josh Vargas
Courtney Wilson
The Alvernian is the
official student
newspaper of Alvernia
University.
To contact newspaper
staff, the office
telephone number is
610-796-8358.
Articles submitted for
consideration into The
Alvernian should be
written in some
semblance of AP
style. Letters to the
editor, requests for
advertisements, and
general comments
and questions may be
submitted to
[email protected].
The editors reserve the
right to edit submissions
for clarity, accuracy,
and length.
The views expressed in
The Alvernian are those of
the individual writers and
do not necessarily reflect
the student body, faculty,
staff, administration,
or sponsors.
© 2011 The Alvernian
Myers’ Files: November 2012
When I first came to
campus to help found the
O’Pake Institute for Ethics,
Leadership and Public Service, the first question I was
usually asked was where I
had come from. That was an
easy question to answer—
Lewisburg and Bucknell
University and before that
Harrisburg. But as I thought
about it, that really wasn’t
a totally adequate answer.
We don’t really come from
places—We live in communities.
And healthy communities share aspirations and
expectations; they are bound
together by certain shared
beliefs and values—things
like tolerance and respect
for others. Alvernia is such a
community. We are here for a
reason and we are intentional
about what we’re trying to do.
We talk about our Franciscan
legacy. I’m not Catholic, but
the core values of the Bernardine sisters who shaped this
university do resonate with
me: Service, humility, peacemaking, contemplation, and
collegiality. And they help to
distinguish this institution.
The O’Pake Institute will
focus on ethics, leadership
and public service, issues that
are important to me but also
help to define this university.
Alvernia, as a community,
believes that we can foster
ethical behavior—that we
can actually teach it. We
believe that we can learn to
become more effective leaders. And we believe that one
of the primary objectives of
higher education is to foster
engaged, informed citizens.
The Presidential election has a way bringing these
thoughts of leadership and
citizenship into focus. This
election season has been particularly bitter and, frankly,
some of the campaign rhetoric has turned off voters, particularly young voters. But
voting is fundamental to our
democracy—it is the basic
right of citizenship. At a time
when there has been perhaps
too much discussion about
voting fraud, the real challenge is that only two-thirds
of those who are eligible will
actually vote. Earlier this Fall,
I attended Professor Sholtz’s
class where she screened a
movie, Iron Jawed Angels,
about the 19th Amendment
and the battle to earn the
right to vote for women. To
see what those women went
through and how important
the right to vote was to them,
was truly inspirational.
It is vitally important to
vote, if for no other reason
than to emphasize once more
the strength of our democracy. It is our government.
I’ve been sitting in on the
class that Professors Radosh
and Williams are offering on
“Politics and the Media.” Its
been a fascinating opportunity, not only to think about
the role of the media in campaigns, but also to interact
with Alvernia students. A
significant topic of conversation in that class has been
the acrimony, the distortions
and the nastiness that have
characterized this campaign
season.
This bitter campaign has
also led me to think about
leadership, particularly the
challenge the successful
candidates will face to find
the solutions to some very
large and seemingly intractable problems, once they are
in office. Regardless of who
wins, and whether I supported them or not, the test
of their leadership will be
more than simply supporting
a policy position that they
took during the campaign. It
will require them to reconcile
differences and reach compromises that will work to
address these problems. Both
the candidates for President
have told us that they will be
strong visionary leaders. But
the ultimate test will come
when they actually have to
lead. Can they be what they
say they are?
I’ve been thinking about
leadership in another context,
in light of another tragedy
that has dominated the news
here in Pennsylvania, namely
the Sandusky Child Abuse
scandal. As that situation has
unfolded, one of the significant storylines has been the
challenge to leadership on
many, many levels: the leaders of the athletic programs;
the Penn State administration; the University Board
of Trustees; the Second Mile
Foundation and even the
state prosecutors. The lack
of or failure of leadership
created a horrible tragedy for
the victims of this abuse and
their families. But another
misfortune is the jarring disconnect between what Penn
State said it was and what
actually was occurring on its
campus. For years, maybe
even decades, Penn State said
that it was the model for student athletic programs on the
highest level. They said that
you could run a top notch,
competitive athletic program,
emphasize academics and be
above reproach. Integrity.
PHOTO: http://alvernia-university.smugmug.com/PR/headshots
the alvern i a n
Vol. 51 Issue 3
Director of the O’Pake Institute, Dave Myers
Leadership. Success. All the
hallmarks of Penn State. That
was what defined Penn State
Proud.
It may take many years
for the Penn State football
program to recover from
the sanctions that have
been imposed by the NCAA,
although they seem to have
already begun down that
road. But this tragedy is also
an opportunity for introspection, for Penn State to set
about being what it said it
was.
I’ve been impressed with
the number of leadership
programs and opportunities
at Alvernia. We have developed a progressive leadership
model for Athletics, giving
student-athletes the tools
and support that they need to
become not just team leaders,
but student leaders. We have
a PhD program in Leadership
and a Master’s level program
offered on three campuses
in Community Leadership,
preparing their graduates
to serve their communities
as future leaders. We are
developing a progressive
leadership model in Student
Activities and another degree
program in organizational
leadership. Alvernia is home
to Leadership Berks, which
has been training emerging
leaders to serve both their
employer and the broader
community. We have a stu-
dent residential affinity group
whose focus is Leadership
and Citizenship. And, in the
coming weeks, a small group
of us will be meeting to see if
we can establish a Leadership
Academy that will link a leadership development program
for high school students to
undergraduate leadership
training programs.
We’re serious about leadership. As we say, we believe
that part of Alvernia’s mission
is creating ethical leaders
with moral courage. A laudable goal. An important goal.
But the challenge will be can
we be what we say we are.
And that will take continued
effort, strong commitment
and engaged faculty, students
and staff. I’m pleased to be a
part of that effort.
Please vote.
campus news
October/November 2012
03
Vol. 51 Issue 3
PHOTO: Courtesy of AU Theatre Club
Alvernia Theatre, continued
Alvernia University’s Theatre Program Logo
The show tells the story
of a talented young musician, Neil McRae, who lives in
Greenwich Village and gives
piano lessons to Gladys, the
daughter of the wealthy Cady
family. Gifted, charming and
adorably clueless, Neil often
depends on his neighbor,
Cynthia Mason, to keep him
grounded. Despite his talent,
Neil is struggling financially,
and when his friend Dr. Jonathan Rice tries to convince him
that marrying Gladys Cady
will solve his problems, Neil’s
world gets turned upside
down. After taking some
sleeping pills for exhaustion,
he has difficulty drawing the
line between dreams and reality. “It’s a very fun show,” says
sophomore Becky Chavan, a
member of the ensemble cast.
“I love being part of it.”
Neil is played by senior
Theatre and Communication
major Jeffrey Schaefer, who
has been a key member of
Alvernia’s theatre company
She became weak and needed
an oxygen tank to breath. She
has been gone 16 years, but
the pain of her death is still
strong. The disease robbed an
adolescent of her best friend.
Breast cancer does not
simply affect the patient. Diagnosis and treatment options
become physically and emotionally distressing to close
family and friends. A major
way to prevent cancer is to
know the risk factors, including gender, age, genetic factors,
race, ethnicity, weight, alcohol and tobacco use, as well
as a common genetic factor
called the mutated BRCA 1
and 2 genes. When the genes
work normally they produce
a protein to prevent cancer.
Women with the mutation
increase their risk of breast
cancer by 80 percent. The traditional female student may
not find screening herself an
important priority. Dr. Claire
Murphy of Alvernia’s Health
and Wellness Center says,
“Younger women typically do
not need to do breast cancer
screening unless they have
risk factors such as a family
history of breast cancer in a
close relative (mother, sister,
grandmother or aunt).” The
American Academy of Family
Physicians recommends routine mammograms for women
over 50 who are at a normal
risk of breast cancer. Stress to
these women the importance
of early detection and maintaining their yearly check-ups.
Knowing the risk factors and
incorporating healthy lifestyle
changes might help reduce the
chances of developing breast
cancer. “Young women may be
able to decrease their risk by
maintaining a healthy lifestyle,
for example limiting alcohol,
not smoking, exercising regularly and eating a healthy diet,”
said Dr. Murphy.
Early detection methods
can help catch breast cancer in
the early stages where cancer
is easily treatable and the possibilities of other areas being
affected are slim. Treatment
options (or a combined treatment option) for patients with
breast cancer include: hormone therapy, chemotherapy,
radiation, targeted therapy,
bone-direct therapy, or surgery
(breast conserving surgery or
mastectomy). Even though the
cancer is easily treatable, the
road to recovery and remission is anything but easy.
There are various types of
for the past four years. Schaefer, whose performance in
“Beggar” will fulfill his senior
project, made his debut as the
wealthy barber Shu Fu in the
fall 2009 production of “The
Good Woman of Setzuan”; he
has also appeared as Andrew
Carnes in Spring 2010’s Oklahoma! and Macduff in last
spring’s production of Macbeth. In addition to acting,
Schaefer has also been active
in other tenets of the arts program; he has designed posters and programs for theatre
events, filmed several dance
and chorus concerts, in addition to directing a student run
one-act show last fall.
Gladys Cady is played by
Ashley Frankhouser, also a
senior Theatre major. Frankhouser, who has also been a
highly active member of the
theatre program since her
freshman year, is also well
known for her valuable contributions to the arts. An
accomplished dancer, Frankhouser has also served as
dance captain for Oklahoma! Senior Sean Hartman,
who gave an electrifying performance as the doomed Mac-
theatre, only extraordinary.”
The first-year cast
members aren’t the only
newcomers to the company.
Last spring, Professor Brian
Prather was selected as the
new creative designer after
departure of artist-in-residence Melissa Guyer-Miller.
Prather, formerly a professor
at Ithaca College in New York,
is hardly new to the world
of theatre; he very recently
received a Jeff Equity award,
a prestigious award similar
to the Tonys. Prather was
nominated and awarded for
his outstanding scenic design
work in an Off-Broadway
production of Freud’s Last
Session. “Beggar” will be Professor Prather’s first show
with Alvernia’s theatre company.
Beggar on Horseback
opens on Thursday, November 1st at 8 pm and will run
from the 1st-3rd, 8th-11th of
November in the Francis Hall
auditorium. Admission is free
to all Alvernia students, faculty and staff, and will be $5
for others.
PHOTO: T-shirt design by AU’s Cancer Awareness Affinity Group
Preventing Breast Cancer, continued
beth last spring, rounds out
the cast as the power-hungry
Mr. Cady, sophomore Mary
Motuz plays the hymn-loving,
ever knitting Mrs. Cady, and
junior James Feeney is their
hypochondriac son, Homer.
A new but valuable addition
to the cast, freshman Marcus
Williams is featured as Neil’s
good friend Dr. Jonathan Rice,
and senior Leah Della Croce
appears as Cynthia.
Last spring saw the graduation of a number of core
members of the theatre company. However, nine first-year
students joined the company
this semester, in addition to
a new stage manager, Taylor
Mendez, and assistant stage
manager, Jennifer Mack. To
the old hands, these new additions to the theatre company
are a blessing. “I love it, I’m
really glad to see the club is
still growing,” says Jeff Schaefer. First-year student Caitlin
Miller adds, “Like a wonderful, loving, and caring family
we come together to build a
show, and make it grow into
a memory for the audience to
take home. There is nothing
ordinary about what we do in
T-Shirt sale proceeds were donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
breast cancer and five stages
which are numbered zero
through four. The names of the
various types of breast cancer
are Ductal Carcinoma in situ,
Lobular Carcinoma in situ,
Invasive Ductal Carcinoma
and Invasive Lobular Carcinoma. The stage is determined
by location in the breast, how
much of the breast is affected
and if other areas of the body
are affected. The stage of the
cancer may determine if the
patient can be operable or
inoperable. If the stage is operable, suggestions of surgery,
chemotherapy and/or radia-
tion give the patient a plan
to fight the disease. In stage
four (invasive) the cancer has
spread to other organs within
the body such as lungs, liver or
brain- however this does not
mean a death sentence for the
patient.
Early detection is crucial
Continued on page 5
04
MONTH YEAR
campus news
Vol. ?? Issue ?
Online (Dec. 17th - Jan. 11th)
Undergraduate:
BIO 109-W1: Human Biology
BIO 203-W1: Environmental Issues
COM 290-W1: ST:North American Folklore
ENG 290-W1: ST:North American Folklore
PHI 105-W1: Introduction to Philosophy
PHI 105-W2: Introduction to Philosophy
SOC 111-W1: Principles of Sociology
THE 105-W1: Foundations of Theology
THE 105-W2: Foundations of Theology
Graduate:
COR 510-W1: Moral Leadership
COR 600-W1: Organizational and Professional Ethics
*Blended (Dec. 17th - Jan. 11th)
Attention Grabbing Title Goes
Here
By Author’s Name
Author’s Title
Text starts here.
Undergraduate:
ENG 103-W1: Introduction to Poetry
ENG 103-W6: Introduction to Poetry
(location: Schuylkill Center)
HIS 112-W1: The Study of American History
PED 304-W1: Wellness for Life
PSY 208-W1: Human Development Across the Life Span
PSY 208-W6: Human Development Across the Life Span
(location: Schuylkill Center)
THE 210-W1: Medical Moral Theology
Graduate:
Register
Today!
Financial Aid
may be available.
MED 575-W1: Investments & Portfolio Management
Classroom (Jan. 2nd - Jan. 11th)
Undergraduate:
COM 290-W2: ST: Books to Film
MAT 101-W2: Survey of Mathematics
MAT 208-W2: Introductory Statistics
Stay on course this winter!
Register today online at www.alvernia.edu/winter
*Blended courses start online instruction Dec. 17th and begin classroom meetings Jan. 2nd.
campus news
October/November 2012
Preventing Breast Cancer,
continued
so it is important to conduct monthly self exams.
Women must also remember
to schedule and maintain their
yearly gynecological and mammogram appointments. No one
should lose their life or loved
one to cancer. In recognition
and on behalf of the Pre-Health
Club, Jan Savino, Secretary of
Arts and Sciences released an
e-mail notifying students to
wear pink every Friday beginning October 12 for breast
cancer awareness.
Different
organizations
at Alvernia have put their
own personal touch to showing their support to the cause
while raising money and
awareness. The women’s field
hockey team, men and women’s soccer team and men’s
ice hockey teams all wore
pink during their games to
show their support. The men’s
soccer team showed support
with “Kicks for Cancer” at their
game against Elizabethtown
on October 10. The men’s ice
hockey team sold their “Pink in
the Rink” shirts and members
of the Cancer Awareness Affinity Housing Group sold their
“Big or Small, Save ‘em All”
shirts donating all proceeds to
Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
The Affinity Housing Group
which consist of Erin Sheehan,
Alissa Vidovich, Taylor Sullivan, Emily Martin, Nicole Lupo,
Abby Rickert, Brooke Deamer,
Regina Jacoby, Jamie Dearie,
Rachel Coley, Kristen Eckert,
Rachel Heisler and along
with Affinity Advisor, Abby
Swatchick have helped to raise
over $1000.00. The Affinity
Housing Group selected cancer
awareness last spring because
several of the students share
personal experiences with the
effects of cancer. Erin Sheehan,
who has had personal experiences with Breast Cancer
said, “It has taken a huge toll
on my family, but I try to do as
much as I can to assure that
other families don’t have to go
through what mine did.”
themselves at a dead end and
they want to find an adventure
to get out of this dead end. We
are fully ready to defend
ourselves. We do not take
these threats seriously.”
Referring to American
support for Israel and it’s
nuclear arsenal, he was also
quoted as saying, “Some members of the Security Council
with veto rights have chosen
silence with regard to the
nuclear warheads of a fake
regime, while at the same time
they impede the scientific
progress of other nations.”
Israel has never officially
declared that it possesses
nuclear weapons, but it has
long been assumed that they
have a nuclear program. Estimates regarding the size of
the Israeli nuclear stock pile
vary from several dozen to a
few hundred bombs.
As the war of words
continues between the Iranian and Israeli leaders,
the Obama administration
has been advocating a more
patient approach focused on
sanctions against Iran. Sanctions put in place by the West
have contributed to a drastic
decline in the value of Iran’s
05
Vol. 51 Issue 3
ALVERNIA’S 25TH ANNUAL
TURKEY DRIVE
How YOU can help:
Donate turkeys and canned goods
Donate financially
Donate your time and effort
Friday November 16, 9-11am
Help shop, pack and unpack the truck.
or Kennedy house 10am-12pm
Monday November 19,
Upland Center 8 – 11am
Visit
turkeydrive.blogspot.com
or Contact Polly Mathys
[email protected]
for more information
Israli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the United Nations
General Assembly
PHOTO: Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images/AFPSource: Getty Images
Tensions Rise, continued
currency. The decline in purchasing power has caused
economic hardship on Iranian
businesses and individuals.
Complicating the situations for all involved is the fact
that Ahmadinejad cannot run
in next year’s election, Netanyahu is up for re-election
early next year, and President
Obama is up for re-election in
November.
It is likely Netanyahu will
be re-elected as Prime Minister. Who will win the American presidential election is far
less certain.
The relationship between
Netanyahu and President
Obama has been tense for
several years, at least in part
because of disagreement over
how to handle Iran’s nuclear
program. Netanyahu has been
friends with GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney for
decades.
All of these variables
leave multiple possibilities
for how the showdown might
play out. The ideal scenario
for Israel and the Western
powers is that Ahmadinejad
or his successor might agree
to dismantle the nuclear program in exchange for the end
of sanctions. Any dismantling
would need to be verified by
international inspectors.
Two other scenarios
would be far more perilous.
One scenario is an Israeli
attack on Iran’s nuclear facility and the other is Iran
building one or more nuclear
bombs.
An Israeli attack on
nuclear sites would not be
unprecedented. They bombed
one in Iraq in 1981 and
another in Syria in 2007.
An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites could occur
with or without support
from the White House. Such
an attack could cause Iran’s
allies in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories to launch
attacks against military and
civilian targets in Israel.
Iran could also retaliate
by using mines, boats, or the
threat of missiles to close the
Strait of Hormuz, a shipping
passage through which about
20% of the world’s oil travels.
Closing the Strait would likely
cause gas prices in the U.S. to
double, straining the American economy. Repercussions
of
an
Israeli strike could also
include Iranian operatives
striking American and Israeli
targets in the Middle East and
elsewhere, such as embassies
or U.S. military bases.
A nuclear Iran would be
seen by some as an existential
threat to Israel, which is only
about the size of New Jersey.
Confirmation that Iran
possesses a nuclear weapon
could trigger an arms race in
the Middle East as other countries including Saudi Arabia
would seek a bomb of their
own to prevent Iran from
gaining too much power in the
region.
Unless Iranian leaders
give in to sanctions and international pressure, any conclusion to the conflict over their
nuclear program could have
major consequences for the
region and the world. The
world may find out within the
next year what those consequences will be.
06
campus news
October/November 2012
Vol. 51 Issue 3
New Alumni House Added to Campus
Alvernia University continues to expand with the
completion of the new Alumni
House located on the corner
of Greenway Terrace and
St. Bernardine Street. The
quaint, brick house will be
home to some of the Alumni
Department’s offices, as well
as a place for alumni to visit
and stay active in Alvernia
long after their time as a student has ended.
A large sign identifying
the building sits boldly for
all to see as they near Alvernia’s main campus. Having
such a fine location for the
new house is crucial for the
Alumni Department to promote themselves. Darlene
Berk, Director of Alumni
Relations agrees. “The visibility of the alumni house
will be a wonderful thing for
us,” said Berk. “As students,
parents of students, alumni,
faculty/staff, and the community pass the house, they will
be reminded of alumni, and
the importance to the success
of the University through the
alumni.” The house is presents a cozy, welcoming atmosphere that a bleak office
building may lack. Having a
place for alumni to return to
is important. Alvernia University strives to be a presence
in students’ lives after they
graduate. Mrs. Berk hopes
the building will serve as an
outlet for that interaction to
continue.
In order to fulfill this
obligation, some members
of the Alumni Department
have moved their offices
into the house. Specifically,
Darlene Berk’s office will be
located on the second floor
along with Heather Riegel’s,
the Alumni/Donor Relations Assistant. The rest of
the house features rooms for
activities and events to be
held. The first floor contains
an area for social gatherings,
complete with a living room
and kitchen, as well as a conference room where meetings
and the annual Phonathon
will take place. Although the
house has many uses already
in place, more options are
being explored. “We will definitely be making plans for
new and existing events that
we can host at the house,” said
Berk. “Also, the alumni council will be investigating other
uses for the house.” Undoubtedly, the new building opens
up many new opportunities
for alumni and the University
as a whole.
The completion of the
Alumni House is a small but
important aspect to Alverna’s
continual expansion. Darlene Berk believes the Alumni
House places Alvernia University on a similar level to bigger
schools. “Many large universities have alumni houses,”
she said. “For a school the size
of Alvernia to have a house is
a pleasant happening.” The
process has been ongoing
and many people have been
involved.
Tom Minnick, Director of
Development, explained the
beginning of the idea to create
the Alumni House on campus.
“The thought of an alumni
house had been discussed
from time to time by our
Director, Darlene Berk, and a
few members of the Alumni
Council,” said Minnick. “The
initial conversations began
last spring (2012). At that
point, the idea was discussed
with the administration and
the Alumni Council and the
planning began.” Doug Smith,
Vice President of Finance for
Alvernia, outlined the purchasing of the property. “The
Alumni House property was
purchased by the University
in December 2010 as part of
our acquisition plan for properties near the Angelica Park
Ball fields,” said Smith.
Initially, the house was
vacant; however, the O’Pake
archives were kept at the
home for some time. “When
the University began purchasing homes for future
development,” said Minnick,
“the house that was chosen as
the Alumni House was not in
those future plans, so it was
made available for this purpose.”
Many other individuals
helped complete the project. “Mike Pressimone, Vice
President of Advancement,
and Doug Smith had the initial conversations and then
asked Mike Laws, Director of
Facilities, and myself to lead
the project,” Minnick added.
Dolan Construction then carried out the renovations and
other construction aspects.
Many volunteers offered their
time and energy to help put
on the finishing touches. Several Alumni Council members, Marilyn Monath, Valetta
Eshbach, Steve Keiser and
Nadine Blair, volunteered to
help pain the house.
The addition of the new
Alumni House may seem
small, but faculty members
see it as important for both
students and the continuing growth of the campus.
The ribbon cutting and blessing ceremony for the Alumni
House took place on October
13th as part of Homecoming
Weekend.
PHOTO: Jordan Bartolomeo
By Jordan Bartolomeo
Editor
The new Alumni House sits on the corner of Greenway Terrace and St. Bernardine Street.
Kozel Inspires AU
By Jessica Ciesla
Contributing Writer
Seen as an inspiration
to the masses, non-fiction
writer, educator and activist Jonathon Kozol brought
his experiences to Alvernia
University on October 10,
2012. He is best known for
his books on public education in the United States and
is passionate about working with children in inner
city schools, something he
has been doing for over 40
years. In addition to being
both a successful writer and
an inspiration, Kozol has also
founded a non-profit organization called Cambridge
Institute for Public Education.
Recently Kozel spoke
about his book and work at
Alvernia University’s annual
Literary Festival. The festival
consists of various events
like entertainment, lectures,
workshops and panel discussions. Kozol was invited
to speak about his 1995
novel, which received several honors including the
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
in 1996, an honor that had
been previously granted
to the works of Langston
Hughes and Martin Luther
King, Jr.
Amazing Grace described
Kozol’s visit to the poorest
neighborhood in the South
Bronx, where he began
teaching in run down schools
and making memories he
would never forget. “My life
was changed forever,” he said.
Kozel’s work and writing
fits with Alvernia’s Franciscan tradition, which is based
on social justice and service,
among other values. Each
first-year student read and
reflected upon Amazing Grace.
They then attended his lecture, joining hundreds of other
students, faculty, staff and
community members.
“After all the devastation he
saw, he still managed to turn
it into a positive thing,” said
first year student John Crossan. Shaina Dailey, also a firstyear student, agreed. “He is a
very intelligent man, yet very
down to earth. I find that to be
extremely humbling.”
“This is what I love to do.
My passion is with children
and education. I wouldn’t have
it any other way,” stated Kozol.
Kozol spoke about Pineapple, a six year old girl he met
in Mott Haven. He described
her as a “pushy little girl on
the plump side.” Pineapple
was a charmer who kept Kozol
on his toes, and they formed
a strong relationship. Unfortunately, the school Pineapple
attended was unacceptable,
in Kozol’s opinion. The class
sizes were far too large, and
they couldn’t keep a teacher
for more than a couple months
at a time. “Small class sizes
are essential to success. This
is something I truly believe
in,” said Kozol. Many of the other
children he came in contact with were not as lucky
as Pineapple. Kozol stated
sadly, “Some never recovered
from the battery they underwent.” He did not want to see
Pineapple go down a crippling road like he had seen so
many other children do, so he
helped enroll her in a private
school where she could get
a real education. Her reading skills began to strengthen
and she started to have faith
in her future. She stayed in
school and was later accepted
into college, a feat that no
one thought was possible so
many years ago. Pineapple, now in her
senior year of college, plans to
teach in inner city schools so
she can inspire kids to chase
their dreams. Kozol said,
“Pineapple was a charmer,
but you shouldn’t have to be
a charmer to get an equal
opportunity at education.”
Kozel called the audience
to consider the systematic
injustices that children such
as Pineapple face. He calls
us all to take action to fight
the systematic discriminations that prevent children
like Pineapple from reaching
their full potential.
October/November 2012
lifestyle
07
Vol. 51 Issue 3
By Cristian Pena
Contributing Writer
Halloween is a tradition
that has been around for a
very long time, but its meaning varies depending on
whom you ask. Many people
enjoy celebrating Halloween
even if they do not know what
it means. “Halloween is about
getting the family together to
have a good time, reminiscing
our old times as children,” said
Lilyana Thuy, senior. For some
people, Halloween is about
decorating their house, finding the right costume, buying
candy, or just a night that lets
people have fun.
Halloween in Mexico is
not all about costumes and
candy. Rather than being a
holiday about being scared,
Halloween is a celebration of
the dead. From October 31st
until November 2nd, people
in Mexico celebrate the
people that have passed away
by having “offerings” for their
loved ones.
Dr. Eli Pena, who specializes in Mexican culture and
tradition, says the offerings
usually consist of a picture
of the one that passed away,
special candles that are about
two feet tall, and food or beverages that their loved ones
liked the most. “The food
has different meanings: one
is a way for them to catch
the essence of some of the
things they liked the most,
and second, to help them get
through the journey to the
better life,” said Pena.
Celebrants believe that
the spirits of the loved ones
come to earth to relive and
catch the essence of the things
By Mindy Spade
Contributing Writer
It seems as if the public
always something to complain
about regarding the education world. Most recently, it
has been the practice of digital literacy in classrooms, as
young as second grade. Many
people are blaming school
systems for over-using digital applications, computers,
cell phones and tablets. They
are blaming the technology
for why children cannot write
or spell on their own without
the aid of a computer or digital application.
According to the study,
“Stanford Study of Writing,” by
Professor Andrea Lunsford,
from Stanford University we
are just at the beginning of
a new age of digital literacy.
Lunsford did her study from
years 2001-2006 where she
took samples from her college
students. Dr. Lunsford examined everything from in-class
writing assignments, formal
essays, journal entries-mails,
blog posts and chat sessions.
“I think we are in the
midst of a literacy revolution
the likes of which we haven’t
seen since Greek Civilization.”
Dr. Lunsford said.” Technology isn’t killing our ability to
write it’s reinventing it and
pushing our literacy in bold
directions.
Lunsford found that the
youth of today are writing a
lot more then they think they
are. This is because there
is so much more socializing on the World Wide Web,
which typically involves the
use of text. There may not ne
proper nouns or verb usage,
but it is writing. There was
a time when writing a three
page essay was hard for some
young people, but now a seventeen year olds blog published on the web can be more
than sixty pages long. Such a
blog can include thoughts on
politics, opinions and research
ideas.
The use of the emoticons
and abbreviations has slowly
shown up in many writings
today. They don’t, as some
suspect, end up in a classroom
essay. Lunsford found, that
they know not to write “Alexander the Gr8.” When typing a
paper for a college class. Lunsford took all the writing from
one hundred students and
one thing that she found out
was that there is a lot of closet
Poets in the student population, but almost none of the
writing was old fashion hand
written, it was all digitalized.
The main question of
digital literacy, is technology
effecting how students write?
Lunsford states, “If it is you
can’t tell by looking at their
writing. By the time students
get to college they understand
who their audience is and they
know what the purpose of
writing is, they know they are
writing to a college professor
and they are not on Twitter
so they adjust their writing
accordingly.”
The digital world has
taken over not only in education but also in everyday lives.
Terms like, LOL (Laughing
out Loud) and SMH (Shaking
my Head) are being used in
more than writing but also in
spoken language. Professor
Siburt has a definite opinion
on Digital Literacy.
“There is so much out
there right now with new
technology and how it is used.
It would be great to have a
course added to college curriculum about digital literacy,
not only for the students but
also for the professors, we
would all benefit and it would
make some other courses
easier for students, they may
not be a sales major but be
able to understand technology
terms making the class easier
for them to understand.”
Although investments in
technology have increased
significantly in recent years,
simply purchasing the latest
digital technologies does not
necessarily lead to the acquisition of digital and media
Traditional Mexican ‘Offering for the Dead’
Digital Literacy in the Classroom
they enjoyed the most while
they lived. This is why nobody
should touch or eat any of the
things in the offering.
Dr. Pena said that people
start to set up their offerings
for the dead on October 31
before noon. On November 1,
families go to the cemetery
around 4 p.m. to decorate the
graves, and stay overnight at
the cemetery to welcome the
spirits to earth again. According to legend, the spirits of
children that have passed away
come to earth first, followed on
November 2 by adult spirits. It
is important for people to stay
overnight and welcome them.
As a sign of respect and love,
the offerings are left untouched
until November 2, when the
spirits go back to where they
came from.
During these days the
cemetery becomes a place
full of joy, happiness and surrounded by people waiting for
the spirits of their loved ones.
This tradition has been around
for many years and even the
new generation is following,
not only in Mexico but in the
United States as well.
“Even though I was born
here, we follow our traditions as best as we can,” said
Elvira Gabriel, senior. “We do
celebrate our loved ones, it
is important to us to remind
them that they still in our
hearts.” Gabriel added that
keeping in touch with part of
her Mexican culture is essential because it determines who
you are as a person.
Despite the challenges in
maintaining Mexican traditions in America, many people
of Mexican heritage continue
to try to keep up the old ways.
“I think people should know at
least a little bit about our culture, and why we do things like
this (celebrating the dead),”
said Elvira Gabriel.
literacy competencies. Unfortunately, many school leaders mistakenly believe that
simply providing children
and young people with access
to digital technology with
automatically enhance learning. Renee Hobbs who is a
professor in Communications
at Temple University shows a
different view from Lunsford
of digital literacy but we are
all entitled to our own opin-
ions.
“All across the nation and
the world, school librarians
and teachers are taking steps
to ensure that digital and
media literacy education offers
the potential to maximize what
we value most about the truly
empowering characteristics of
media and technology, while
minimizing its negative dimensions.”
Slogan From Digitalworld.org
IMAGE: Digitalworld.org
PHOTO: http://alternativo.mx/2010/11/dia-de-muertos-en-el-d-f-al-rescate-de-nuestras-tradiciones/
A Different View of ‘Halloween’
08
October/November 2012
lifestyle
Vol. 51 Issue 3
By Courtney Wilson
Contributing Writer
It has finally arrived! The
new iPhone 5 was released
on September 21, 2012. The
iPhone was so high in demand
that customers had to preorder them. According to Apple,
the iPhone 5 had two-million more pre-orders within
twenty four hours, twice the
amount of the iPhone 4S.
Although Apple guaranteed
customers that their iPhone
5 would arrive on September 21st, some orders were
delayed until October.
Some of the new iPhone
features include the ability to
download files twice as fast,
as well as the ability to use
FaceTime on the go, rather
than having to depend on
Wi-Fi, in addition to a faster
Central Processing Unit (CPU),
which means the phone will
be enhanced graphics, longer
lasting battery, and improved
gaming. The iPhone 5 also
has an improved 4-pixel display screen, multi touch capabilities and finger coating
resent. The camera includes
panorama capabilities, autofocus, and HD recording and
can take up to 1.2 mega pixel
pictures. The battery life has
eight hours of 3G talk time,
225 hours of standby time,
40 hours of audio, 10 hours
of video playbacks, and eight
hours of internet use. Furthermore, the iPhone 5 also
contains earbuds, which play
audio better and are a more
comfortable fit than headphones.
The iPhone 5 is thinner
and longer than the iPhone 4s,
and is more advanced than the
iPhone 4s. The Siri application has even been improved.
Previously, Siri would have
to Google answers to questions, but the application can
now report it to the customer
based on her improved functions. Facebook and Twitter
have even been recuperated
for the iPhone 5.
When consumer’s expectations were not met for the
iPhone 4s, customers began
to doubt the capabilities of the
iPhone 5. Daniel Berg, a laptop
staff writer, mentioned five
reasons why not to upgrade
to the iPhone 5. The weight
of the iPhone 5, although the
camera may be better on the
iPhone 5 the iPhone 4 and
4S will be receiving the same
software that the iPhone 5.
The major difference
between the cameras is that
the iPhone 5 has panorama
aptitudes. Letterboxing is a
wide-screen film in letterbox
format and the Apple Company is requiring developers
to redesign the letterboxing
feature because it looks worse
on the display. The new dock
connector does not allow the
connector the connect all of
the iPhone accessories. The
one feature that has been
eliminated from the iPhone is
the National Field Communications (NFC) which permits
wallet-like features with the
tap of a phone.
Instead, coupons, airport
check-ins, loyalty cards, and
Passbook application will be
replaced with bar codes, just
like the iPhone 4s. According
to Katie Heinmiller, a junior at
Alvernia University, “iPhone 5
was unnecessary.” Katie currently has the iPhone 4 and
she enjoys it. She claims her
iPhone has the same capabilities as the iPhone 5 and adds,
“I like my iPhone because it
does the job and I don’t think I
need an upgrade.”
The iPhone 5 has been
compared to the Samsung
Galaxy S3 and the consensus
is that the Galaxy has a wider
range memory, whereas, the
iPhone 5 body has a better
quality and a wider screen.
According to the editor of
CNET, Kent German ran five
tests between the iPhone 4s,
the Samsung Galaxy S3, and
the iPhone 5. The tests concluded that the iPhone 5 contained much better quality
and better capabilities. Wilson
Rothman, NBC news, reported
that the iPhone 5 is “the [?]
iPhone ever.” The three major
components that make the
iPhone the best include the
components, design, and compatibility.
Alyssa Evans, junior at
Alvernia University, owns a
Samsung Galaxy S3 phone and
loves it. She prefers the Galaxy
over the iPhone because every
application is free, everyone
has the iPhone, and there is no
personalization on the Apple
phone.
Alyssa states “The difference between the Samsung
Galaxy and the iPhone are the
prices and when I went for
my upgrade the Galaxy cost
$100 to upgrade to, where as
the iPhone was $300 dollars
to upgrade.” Alyssa and Katie
would love to see the Apple
Company come out with a
new phone because they are
tired of Apple iPhones.
how to get a job. But the most
important question they need
to ask themselves is how to
start paying off student loan
debt. Student loan debt is a
very noticeable problem in the
United States. Over borrowing
money from student loans and
being unable to repay debt on
time can have serious financial consequences. According
to the NY Federal Quarterly
report on household debt and
credit, student loan debt rose
from $10 billion to $914 billion so far this year.
Taking that into consideration, many college students
have borrowed more money
than necessary in order to
finance their education. Jason,
a senior, transferred from a
technical school to Alvernia
in 2010. “I finally got a job in
September and while it is a
good job with great benefits I
am not making in a year what
I have in student loans. I do
not know yet if I will be able
to maintain paying my student loans on my income,” he
says. By the time he graduates
he will have borrowed around
$47,000 from Alvernia and
$57,000 total, including the
expenses from the technical
school. “I highly doubt I will
be able to pay the full amount I
am supposed to, so I will probably end up deferring some of
the loans for a while. If I was
single, I doubt I could afford to
even pay one on the income I
am making,” he added.
According to Christine
Saadi, director of the Student
Financial Planning office at
Alvernia, students over borrowing is not a big problem at
the university. “We are a very
fiscally binding institution,
where we advise students
they need to borrow only
what they need,” Saadi says.
Even though they cannot limit
the amount of money a student decides to borrow, they
do have to let them know the
responsibilities that come
from over borrowing money
that is not needed. Students
also have the option to opt-out
from receiving student loans.
There are a number of
tools available to help students manage their loan
debt. Students can schedule
appointments at the Student
Financial Planning Office,
where counselors can go over
student’s financial loan paperwork. There are also websites
like
www.studentloans.gov
where students can use a
generic calculator to see how
much their monthly payment
is going to be. Another source
is for National Student Loan
Data System www.nslds.gov.
Students can sign in and see
all the federal student loans
they owe, along with payment
information for each loan
borrowed. In the spring, the
Financial Planning office also
hosts an event for graduating
seniors, informing them of the
options they have to consolidate all their loans and make
them more affordable to pay.
Not being able to pay for
student loan debt on time can
also lead to serious financial
troubles in the future. Defaulting on student loans can also
have an impact on credit
scores. Employers now are
check applicant’s credit report
and having debt as the result
of not paying student loans
may cost potential employees
a job. College students need to
be very careful about borrowing money for student loans,
because it can have a lifetime
of consequences.
Beware of Over-Borrowing
By Olaya Uribe
Contributing Writer
PHOTO: Olaya Uribe
With graduation right
around the corner, many college seniors need to start
thinking ahead about their
future- where to live and
PHOTO:http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upgrade-your-life/iphone-5-worthmoney-215705776.html
iPhone 5: On The Rise or Taking A Dive?
Ariel Velez, Student Financial Planning Counselor with Jenny Fabian,
Senior
Short description of above photo.
Customers are still talking about the new iPhone 5, which hit stores
in late September.
lifestyle
October/November 2012
09
Vol. 51 Issue 3
Face Mid-to-End Semester Confidently
PHOTO:http://bellemagazineonline.com/the-diary-of-a-brokedown-college-student/
By Genesis Bernard
Contributing Writer
As the end of the semester rapidly approaches, a
lot of students are rushing
around to finish work on time.
But besides keeping track of
school work, it is essential for
students to take their lifestyle
choices into considerationdiet, physical activity, sleep,
and stress all contribute to
lifestyle. But how can college
students balance all these
things at once?
An important part of
maintaining a healthy lifestyle is maintaining a proper
diet. Having a good diet can
improve overall health and
academic performance. Dr.
Murphy, M.D., Director of
Alvernia University’s Health
and Wellness center says,
“Proper nutrition has been
shown to improve academic
performance. We also know
that poor nutrition can lead
to vitamin deficiencies which
in turn can cause irritability,
fatigue, and problems with
concentration. I personally
believe that diet, both good
and bad, can have a strong
influence on performance in
many areas of life including
but limited to academics, but
Feeling that mid-term and end-of-semester stress? Check out the tips
to the right.
s
r
u
o
O
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4
2
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e
p
also employment, relationships and emotional health.”
Stress can also affect lifestyle, depending on how a
person handles it, and how
immense it is. Stress, defined
as an issue that induces bodily
or mental tension, can be
unhealthy to an individual’s
life if they do not assess what
is making them feel pressured. In order to avoid stress,
it is always helpful to practice
time management and plan
out a schedule. Dr. Patricia
Kreider, says “The best way
to ease stress depends on the
individual person and what
he or she is experiencing. The
first step in managing stress
in identifying what is contributing to your stress. Effective
time management, relaxation
techniques and self care are
important to in strategies
in managing most stressful
situations. Self- care involves
making sure you are eating
healthy, exercising, sleeping well, and seeking support when necessary.” Staying
involved in clubs, sports,
going to campus events and
taking breaks can help lower
stress levels.
Physical activity is also
important for keeping a
healthy lifestyle. An individual should be active for at
least 30-45 minutes a day. Dr.
Kreider says, “Exercise is one
of the most effective stress
management strategies. A
healthy and realistic exercise routine acts as a natural
mood stabilizer and increases
energy. Exercise is extremely
important to an individual’s
emotional health.” Exercise
can also help people stay
energized and more attentive
throughout the day.
Sleep can also help students’ sense of alertness and
keeps them prepared for the
rest of the day. The more sleep
a person gets at night, the
better their chances are for
success. It is also proven that
people who get at least seven
hours of sleep have better
memory and have better focus.
Dr. Murphy states, “According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC),
sleep deprivation is associated with daytime sleepiness,
difficulty with concentration
and decision making. It also
causes a general sluggish feeling. Adequate sleep duration
for young adults is in the range
of 7-9 hours per night and less
than that is in sufficient. Sleep
deprivation is also linked to
many chronic diseases such as
diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and depression.
Wellness Tips
Create a routine.
Put limits on work hours.
Give yourself a break.
Be realistic.
Understand you can’t do everything.
Get help.
Take advantage of campus meditation and
yoga programs.
Cut back if needed.
Relax with hobbies.
Give yourself plenty of time.
Spend time with friends.
Don’t let yourself get run down.
Learn time management skills.
Find More at:
http://www.rncentral.com/nursinglibrary/careplans/101_health_and_wellness_tips_for_college_students
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10
lifestyle
October/November 2012
Vol. 51 Issue 3
The Drinking Myth: What’s True on College Sobriety: Not
Your Campus?
an Oxymoron
behavior while intoxicated,
can stick out in a student’s
memory as a false impression of the “normal collegiate
environment.” Think about it:
when you go to a party, who
attracts attention? All of the
people hanging out—talking,
dancing, and having fun—or
the person spilling beer and
making a scene?
Imagine you’re at a
campus event, and people are
walking around with those
ubiquitous plastic cups. Alcohol is being served. What do
you assume is in those cups?
Some people might be drinking beer or punch, but many
others might have soda or
water. Dr. White explains that
people will measure their
own drinking based on what
they think other people are
doing.
P s y c h o l o g y To d a y
describes that a false sense of
behavior in a social circle or
environment (like a campus)
can make people feel pressure
to do what they perceive as
“normal.”
If the expectation or belief
is that everyone drinks, and
to excess, this can lead to the
feeling that in order to relax,
meet friends, or make romantic connections, you need to
“party hard.”
Researchers at the University of North Carolina’s
Highway Safety Research
Center have studied student
drinking, and found that on
a typical weekend night on a
college campus, two-thirds of
students hadn’t had a round
of drinks. They also found that
during the other five days of
the week, about 85 percent of
students were perfectly sober.
The campus where the
research was conducted did
random checks of students’
blood alcohol content (BAC)
before and after the study, and
after the results were shared,
there was a 15 percent drop.
Dr. Robert Foss, who led the
study, attributed the drop in
BAC to a reality check. “A great
deal of what humans do is
influenced by social norms,”
he said.
Dr. White agrees. “Once
students are educated about
the facts, they scale drinking
back.”
Bryan B., a junior at Elmhurst College in Illinois, notes
that many freshman students
see college as a time to “go
nuts.” As an upperclassman,
he’s realized how small a role
alcohol actually plays at his
school. “It’s like, if you want to
drink you can drink, but there
aren’t very many heavy drinkers,” even though Elmhurst is
a wet campus and allows alcohol.
Dr. White says a healthier drinking culture involves
more than just education
about social norms, the choice
to abstain, or how to drink
responsibly. “Education can
change a student’s expectations about what’s normal.
The rest lies in [his or her]
choices.”
Instead of thinking about
drinking as an activity in and
of itself, try considering it as
one part of an event: one that
doesn’t have to be present for
people to have a great time.
There may be music, games,
dancing, food, movies, or any
number of other creative
things to do; what’s important
is that people are having fun.
The reality is that the pressure to drink usually comes
from within ourselves or from
the people right around us,
and it’s based on misperceptions of what’s normal and
common in our community.
The next time you’re heading out for the night, consider
those plastic cups.
When we realize the truth,
that many people don’t drink
at all and most of those who
do are responsible, a whole
new perspective on what college life is like can open up.
Take Action!
• Find out if your school
participates in the National
College Health Assessment.
If so, what does it say about
drinking on your campus?
• Think about how
perceptions affect behavior.
People tend to do what they
think others are doing.
• Talk with your friends
about the reality: not everyone drinks, and most drink
responsibly.
• Find friends that
make healthy decisions and
support yours.
• When
you
take
the focus off of drinking, it
becomes less important. Plan
and attend events where
there’s plenty to do other than
drink.
Students can access the
Alvernia University Student
Health 101 magazine online
at
http://readsh101.com/
alvernia.html. Copyright 2012
Student Health 101
By Janae McGallicher
Contributing Writer
Sobriety is not the deathsentence that some college
students believe it is. Today’s
students have been brainwashed into thinking that
college and drinking go handin-hand. While this may be
true in some cases, staying
sober has not become a thing
of the past. Believe it or not,
non-drinkers still exist!
How do people have fun
without drinking? Brittany
Kurtz, sophomore, enjoys
herself by “doing a lot of
impromptu things, such as
going to the Pagoda at midnight or having a movie marathon” while managing to stay
sober.
“I think everyone else
misses out on the college life
[by drinking].” Ms. Kurtz said.
“You miss out on so many
opportunities by drinking.”
This idea of drinking at
college seems to be a common
misconception. Contrary to
popular belief, not everyone
drinks at college. There are
countless students, not just at
Alvernia University, but across
the United States, who choose
to stay sober throughout college. According to Rachel
Morse, a recent study suggests
that nearly a third of college
students do not drink.
As cliché as sounds, college is meant as a place to earn
an education, not a place to get
wasted on the weekends. Even
though some students turn
down alcohol, they can still
have fun experiences. On the
plus side, they can remember
these memories too. “College
isn’t all about partying,” says
Deanna from Easter Mennonite University- “It is more
about spending time with
people and doing things we
haven’t done before.”
Serious consequences
may result from binge drinking or drunk driving. According to the Center of Disease
Control, about a quarter of
those who consume alcohol
participate in binge drinking. For men, this is drinking
at least 5 alcoholic beverages in one sitting and 4 for
women. This puts students
at a higher risk for dangerous blood-alcohol levels,
which can be lethal to the
body. Even worse, this same
study revealed that 10% of
minors drove after consuming alcohol.
Common preventions
that college students use in
order to avoid serious consequences while drinking
could include having a designated driver, hiding car
keys, and/or pacing their
drinks. For example, one
student explained that “for
alcoholic beverage [she consumed], [she] drank one cup
of water.”
For more information
about how to drink responsibly, stop by Residence Life
in Veronica Hall for more
information. The hours are
Monday through Friday,
from 8 am - 4:30 pm. Karolina Dreher, Director of
Residence Life, is also available by e-mail at Karolina.
[email protected].
Despite pop-culture messages, college isn’t all about partying.
PHOTO: http://www.atgfoundations.org/warnings.html
By Rachel Morse
Student Health 101 Writer
Ryan S., a senior at the
University of Tennessee at
Chattanooga, entered college with the idea that heavy
drinking was a common pastime. “A lot of people have the
perception that it is just something every college kid does,”
he notes.
In reality, according to
data in the 2011 National
College Health Assessment,
which surveyed nearly 28,000
students around the country,
the real picture is quite different. The survey found that
the last time they socialized
or “partied,” 31 percent of
students didn’t drink at all.
Another 42 percent drank
four or fewer alcoholic beverages over the course of the
night or event. That’s about
three-quarters of all students
abstaining from alcohol or
making responsible, healthy
choices about their drinking.
So, if it’s a myth that college life revolves around
drinking alcohol, where does
the drinking-to-excess stereotype come from?
Drinking in college has
been stereotyped as one giant
party flooded with alcohol,
fueled by popular movies like
Animal House and Old School.
Brittany P., a senior said everything she had heard about
school was about people
getting ‘plastered.’ In every
movie, social situations [are]
centered on parties,” she said.
“There’s a lot of pressure.”
Dr. Aaron White, program
director for underage and college prevention research for
the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism,
explains that student expectations of college drinking begin
long before their first experiences on campus, and those
can translate into “a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
A 2006 study published in
the Journal of American College Health, which evaluated
data collected on a wide range
of campuses about the use of
alcohol and student perceptions, concluded that students
“generally overestimate” how
much alcohol the average college student is actually consuming.
Similarly, it found that
many student perceptions
are based on memorable situations, not necessarily frequent ones. A movie depicting
extreme behavior with alcohol, or one person’s crazy
sports
11
October/November 2012
Vol. 51 Issue 3
Alvernia Men’s Basketball Warm Up
By Janae McGallicher
Contributing Writer
er’s last two teams converted
more foul shots than their
opponents attempted, which
is unusual for many teams. He
favors a “man to man” defense,
and believes championships
are won with defense.
“Defense is the only contest,” said Coach Miller.
According to the
coaching staff, the team’s
strength might be its raw
speed. The speed of the Crusaders allows them to play
more zone defense, enabling
them to trap or double team
their opponent’s ball handlers,
causing turnovers
Coach Miller’s goals
for the year are to teach
improvement, and utilize
depth and speed to overcome
their lack of size.
The team will get an
early test with practice scrimmages against 2-year scholarship team Harcum College.
Harcum is comprised of Division 1 and 2 players to test
Alvernia’s resolve. Next is
Susquehanna on the road. The
real season starts in brutal
style with three consecutive
road games against Delaware
Valley, Lycoming and Albright.
PHOTO: Karoline Miller
The Alvernia Men’s Basketball Team comes into the
2012-2013 season as defending East Coast Athletic Conference (Southern Division)
champions. Coach Mike Miller’s squad had an excellent
20-8 record last year. Even
though the Crusaders have lost
three starters and have just
one senior, Alvernia has high
expectations for its men’s basketball team.
The university’s confidence is not ill placed. Coach
Miller has so far averaged
eighteen wins per-season,
which includes only twentyfour games in eight years as
the Alvernia head coach. He
is 144-73, giving him a 66.4
winning percentage. Coach
Miller’s record includes two
Pennsylvania Athletic Conference Titles and a Middle Atlantic Conference Title two years
ago. The Middle Atlantic title
was especially impressive considering it was only the second
year that the Crusaders were
in the MAC Conference.
The Crusaders compete
against the likes of the crosstown rival Albright College,
Messiah College, Lycoming
and Widener University. This
is Alvernia’s fourth year in this
league.
The only returning senior is starting guard
Josh Vargas. Mr. Vargas averaged over 13 points a game
last year. His running mate is
junior point guard Chris Davis.
Mr. Davis started every game
last year. Between Mr. Vargas
and Mr. Davis, Alvernia has
an experienced backcourt,
which is essential in the talent
rich Commonwealth Division.
Rounding out the backcourt is
sophomore Lamont Clark, the
team’s best defensive player,
and sophomore Steve Schneider, a tremendous pure
shooter.
The Crusader’s front
court will consist of junior
Brian Parker, who gained valuable experience last year subbing for center Cory Boone.
The graduated Boone was
out 40% of last year with a
knee injury. Joining Parker in
the front court is sophomore
Harrison Deyo, a talented 6’5
forward who transferred to
Alvernia from Kutztown University. Skilled sophomore Terrance Bridges returns as last
year’s most valuable player of
the Allentown Desales Christmas tournament.
The Coaching staff is
also counting on two junior
college transfers, 6’7” Kahlil
Valasquez from Reading Area
Community College and Multidimensional Khalil Bennett
from Brookdale Brookdale
Community College in New
Jersey, Khalil can really shoot
the ball well and he is very Athletic. He is really going to help
the team out this year.
Even though the team
lost three key starters from
last year, the players and
coaches believe a championship is attainable because
of one word. That word is
defense. Coach Miller demands
the word defense. Coach Mill-
Left : Athletic Trainer Mike, Coach Terry, Paul Renier, Javar Colon, Steve Schneider, Kriby Turner, Stef
Thompson, Terrance Bridgers, Deandre Clark, Corey Boone, Brian Nerney, Harrison Deyo, Dave Sloan,
Chris Davis, Coach Miller. Bottom Left: Joshua Vargas, Brian Praker
Image: Janae McGallicher
By Joshua Vargas
Contributing Writer
Crusaders Couldn’t Find
After a 4-0 loss to nationally ranked Messiah, Alvernia’s women soccer team
continued to lose the next two
contests, bringing their losing
streak to a total of six.
The Crusaders played
Lebanon Valley and Elizabethtown in the past week, losing
2-0 and 4-0 respectively. Each
game was physical and the
calling of the game was controversial, but how the ladies
still should have been able to
win. What is the team doing
wrong? Is there still hope for
the playoffs?
The last issue the team
faced was not being able to
execute in the final third while
still placing double digits in
shots. The team now faces a
very different problem. They
are finding themselves being
outshot, but not having the
skills to still pull out a win.
Shots on goal for each
team during the matches
show how little the offensive
line of Alvernia’s team is troubling opponent’s defense.
Unlike their earlier opponents, when Alvernia is outshot, they usually lose the
game.
The offensive line
becomes ineffectual in these
cases, leaving the Crusaders
with zero chance to win.
Coach Bill Bonewitz says,
“The problem we’re having
starts from at the basics. We
are having trouble with
the simple things like change
of direction and quality
passes.”
While the team is overall
a very skilled group, when
broken down there are technical issues that affect the play
of the game. Practices are
now spent working on technical skills in the hopes that,
in conjunction with better
shooting, the team can start to
win games for the rest of the
season.
Captain Rachel Gimber
pumps up the team before
every game, reminding them,
“We are better than this team!
We’re better than all of these
teams! We know that, now
let’s go out and prove that to
everyone else!”
career
development
stay informed! [email protected]
careercentercloth.indd 1
8/23/12 3:27 PM
Career Development Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
2. A practice interview to prepare you for a real one
4. Type of interview with more than one interviewer
6. Part of your résumé that explains the position you are looking for
9. Making connections; “It’s all about who you know!”
11. Annual event on campus to meet various employers and apply for jobs
13. Informational events to teach you about certain career related topics
14. A professional networking site to connect with business professionals and search for jobs
15. Something you do to look for jobs
DOWN
1. A social networking site we use to connect with students and alumni for advice and upcoming events
3. Our online job board
5. Submit with your résumé
7. An assessment we administer to pinpoint your interests
8. Type of personality assessment we administer
10. Pre-professional experience to gain relevant knowledge and skills; some are paid, most are unpaid
12. A list we email to students every Friday
For the answers and more information and advice, stop by the Career Development Office, BH 1104 or call us, 610-790-2878
personality
13
Vol. 51 Issue 3
October/November 2012
Krafting a Healthier Life
By Chelsea Prosser
Contributing Writer
By Jessica Ciesla
Contributing Writer
PHOTO: http://www.alvernia.edu/events/2012/10/Teaching%20Updike%20with%20Jim%20Plath.php
Dr. Jim Plath, co-founder
and president of The John
Updike Society, paid a visit
to Alvernia University nearly
two years ago, to inform the
community and surrounding
areas about the impact of John
Updike. On October 8, 2012,
Plath revisited Alvernia to
emphasize the importance of
teaching Updike in all educational settings.
Many residents of Pennsylvania and the Alvernia community have had the chance to
hear Plath speak. A number
of Plath’s essays on Updike
have appeared in a variety of
critical anthologies, including Critical Insights: John
Updike, published by Salem
Press in 2011. One of Plath’s
most recent projects, Native
Son: John Updike’s Pennsylvania Interviews, will be published by Lehigh University
Press. Another project Plath
is involved in is the Updike
house. In addition to the
plans to turn the house into a
museum, Plath is deeply passionate about engaging others
in the project and showcasing
the efforts being put forth by
everyone involved.
With all of Updike’s success, the biggest question
today is why are professionals avoiding Updike teaching
in their classrooms? Unfortunately, the explicit content
in some of his novels works
against him. “It is a difficult
sell for students, as well as for
Dr. Jim Plath
teachers,” Plath stated. In his
speech on Monday, Plath laid
out many contexts for ways in
which Updike can be taught.
Plath emphasized that
Updike integrated mythology
and descriptive content in his
novels, as well as American
fiction. Even though some
of the content in Updike’s
works was explicit, much of it
revolves around real-life situations.
Despite some negative
reviews of John Updike’s
work, many people around
the world are commemorating his work and even reissuing his books. Noah Eaker,
senior editor of Random
House, INC. told The Washington Post that he and a
team plan to send every novel
written by Updike to press
and have it re-printed.
In the conclusion of his
presentation, Plath stressed
that everyone should continue to teach Updike in
schools. Updike is especially
important to the Berks county
area, as he was born and
raised in Reading, and incorporated his hometown into
many of his stories. Alvernia
was chosen as the location of
the first Updike conference in
2010, and will play host yet
again in 2014 to celebrate the
life and work of John Updike.
Alvernia professor and
nutritionist Diane Kraft says
she has a fascination with food
and its effects on the human
body, and she expresses this
passion through teaching
several nutrition courses
throughout each semester
as well as being a positive
role model for students. Her
vast experience in the field,
including a degree in human
nutrition from Penn State and
a degree in clinical nutrition
from NYU, emphasizes her
qualifications for this difficult, yet extremely important
position.
“I live and breathe nutrition. Teaching the younger
generation how important
it is to be conscious of your
health is something I feel I
am obligated to do. It is my
responsibility to share my
wisdom,” said Kraft.
Kraft sees a very
bright future for the students
at Alvernia University. Her
ultimate goal is to make the
campus a healthier place
without tainting the “typical college experience.” She
plans to use her expertise on
the subject along with her
personal experiences at home
to transform Alvernia from
the average college to one
that demonstrates healthy
habits for longer and happier
living. When asked what she
would do to help bring awareness to the campus, Kraft
stated, “I would make sure
there was a healthy choice
of food at every social event.
It doesn’t have to be boring
food it could be smoothies
or frozen yogurt; something
along those lines. If we make
eating healthy look cool, then
we could really be onto something spectacular.”
Kraft also spilled a few
secrets as to how she managed to keep her son away
from the greasy fast food.
When her son asks for french
fries, she simply replies,
“Sorry, honey, they don’t
have french fries today. How
about the apple sticks?” This
simple act demonstrates her
passion for health. However,
she added, “The parents’ job
ends once the food is on the
table.” While it is the parent’s
job to introduce their children to the healthy choices
that are available, the rest is
up to the children. Once the
child goes off to college, it is
their individual responsibil-
ity to continue practicing a
healthy and nutritious diet.
Entering college as
a new student comes with
several new responsibilities
and an increased amount of
freedom. These are all ingredients for a failed diet. Kraft
explains that many students
gain weight for a variety of different reasons.
First, there is more food
readily available at all times
from snacks in the dorm
rooms to the “all you can eat”
style cafeterias on campus.
Unfortunately,
the
food
options are not always the
healthiest. This is where the
responsibility of the student
comes into play to be able to
make an educated choice on
what they are putting into
their bodies.
Junior
psychology
student,
Skylar
Zagleski
explained, “It’s very difficult to stick to a healthy diet
when you come to college.
It’s drastically different from
being home and I think a lot of
people, including myself, eat
whatever is the easiest to get
their hands on. If the cafeteria
offered more nutritious food,
there wouldn’t be such a big
issue surrounding health and
fitness.”
Another factor that causes
unhealthy eating habits in college students is the idea of
emotional eating. According
to Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland, “Emotional
eating is eating for reasons
other than hunger. Instead
of the physical symptom of
hunger initiating the eating,
an emotion triggers the
eating. When you’re happy,
your food of choice could be
steak or pizza, when you’re
sad it could be ice cream or
cookies, and when you’re
bored it could be potato
chips.”
Nutrition is more than
simply
making
healthy
choices. It is a lifestyle that
people choose to take on
because they are truly passionate about it. Kraft takes
on this extremely challenging task with eagerness and
excitement. Her passion for
both food and the opportunity to make a difference in
the lives of so many people
are what make her such an
exceptional person. From
her home in Bucks County
to her classroom at Alvernia,
she inspires so many with
her love and passion for food.
She says, “If I can help one
person turn their life around,
then all of my hard work will
have paid off.”
Professor and nutritionist Diane Kraft
PHOTO: Jessica Ciesla
John Updike Enthusiast
Returns to AU
personality
October/November 2012
14
Vol. 51 Issue 3
Dr. Muzevich Releases Innovative The Mystery Behind Author Tess Gerritsen
Strategies for Teachers
While “No Child Left
Behind” can be a controversial
topic, many people agree that
there is a need for teachers to
evaluate very young children’s
writing more accurately. The
foundations for any writer
are things like content, organization, and focus, but what
about at an even more fundamental level? Dr. Kathleen
Muzevich, Assistant Professor
of Education, set out to learn
more about the writing of the
very young nearly three years
ago when she began writing
her first book, “Evaluating
Children’s Emergent Writing:
An Assessment Tool for Early
Childhood Educators.” She is
not only concerned with not
leaving the child behind, but
knowing exactly where they
stand.
“There was really
nothing on the commercial
market for educators to use in
their classrooms…I wanted to
create that,” said Dr. Muzevich, the sole writer and editor
of the book.
One of the important
aspects about creating a tool
for educators to use is making
sure there is inter-rater reliability. This means that the
teachers and professors who
will use the book can agree
upon the specific conditions
set forth in Dr. Muzevich’s
rubric, and have confidence
in the fact that it has been
studied and verified. If multiple teachers cannot use the
same rubric and make the
same assessment, the rubric
is not trustworthy. Making the
rubric vetting process accredited was one of the obstacles
she had to overcome.
Beginning by studying
kindergarten students and 1st
graders from schools across
the county, Dr. Muzevich had
to come up with a way to
assess the positive elements
of children’s writing. After
looking over an estimated 500
pages of student artwork, she
deduced the varying levels of
development in the children.
The chain of literary
development seems to be
as follows: Sounds, letters,
words, phrases, sentences,
paragraphs,
and
finally
essays, articles, stories, and
other longer formats of writing. While some of the more
advanced students were able
to write short paragraphs,
others were only able to write
a few letters from words in
a sentence. The latter stu-
dents could tell their teachers what ideas they wanted
to tell, but still had difficulties forming shapes of letters
and putting letters together to
form words. This is where Dr.
Muzevich says the old rubric
needed further development.
The conventions that
we can all remember from
writing workshops throughout our secondary and even
primary educations (style,
content, organization, etc.)
are things Dr. Muzevich interprets as “the craft of writing.”
They comprise only a small
portion of the rubric designed
for emergent writers, as Dr.
Muzevich believes in building a strong foundation first.
Instead, Dr. Muzevich’s Rubric
contains
categories
like
Letter Formation, Capitalization, Spacing, and Spelling.
“I really wanted to make this
book ready to go right off the
shelves,” Dr. Muzevich said.
“All the materials you need
as an educator are included
so that the students can get
the most attention.” By using
color-coded grading schemes,
the book provides resources
and ways for teachers to track
the progress of their students.
The rubric that Dr.
Muvevich calls the “brainchild” of the book is fleshed
out in numerous ways. While
there is a section for teachers
to understand the criteria in
the rubric, Dr. Muzevich also
outlines how each category
corresponds to standards set
forth by the English Language
Arts Standards as part of the
Common Core State Standards Initiative. The initiative aims to create a common
curriculum between states
so that teachers may better
share knowledge and further
educational efficiency at all
levels.
Dr. Muzevich wants
to continue to develop children’s education. Her next
goal is to get this assessment
tool into the hands of teachers and educators across the
country. She will be presenting the book at Florida State
University, the International
Reading Association Convention, as well as at the Southern California Kindergarten
Conference in May. While she
has begun the rough draft for
a rubric that would go on to
the next age bracket, she says
she hopes to have a team of
editors helping her next time.
By Sydney Glasmyr
Contributing Writer
How did Tess Gerritsen, a
physician, become a New York
Times Bestselling author?
The answer is an unusual
journey that brought her to
her calling. When she graduated from Stanford University, Tess actually went on to
medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where she was awarded
her M.D. On maternity leave,
when she had the first of her
two sons, she began to write
short stories and submitted
them to different magazine
contests. To her surprise, she
won several of these contests.
Tess felt inspired by her love
of romance novels and wrote
two ‘practice novels.’ Finally
in 1986, a publisher called
Harlequin Intrigue bought her
novel, Call After Midnight and
published it a year later. Since
then, Tess has written screen
plays, novels, and essays. She
also blogs regularly about the
writing business, both on her
own website and on a mystery
writers site, called Murderati.
com. In Tess’s lecture on October 15, 2012 in the McGlinn
Conference Center she spoke
about all of these things and
so much more.
When Tess decided to
switch genres from romance
to medical thriller, it wasn’t
a coincidence. Many years
ago, she had a chance dinner
conversation with an ex-cop.
He told her he had recently
been traveling in Russia and
Moscow cops had told him
that orphans were vanishing from the streets, and they
believed the children were
being kidnapped and shipped
abroad as organ donors. Tess
was horrified by this story
and when she was still thinking about it weeks later she
decided she just had to write
a book about it. She knew she
could put to use all of her medical experience and knowledge
in the details of this book. Sure
enough, Harvest was released
in hardcover in 1996 and it
was Tess’s very first medical
thriller. The medical thrillers
genre became Tess’s favorite and she is known to be
unbelievably accurate about
every subject in each book she
writes.
Susan Guay, Assistant
Professor of English and Communication at Alvernia University, knows Tess Gerritsen
on a personal level and enjoys
her novels very much. According to Professor Guay, “Tess is
incredibly accurate as far as
medical terminology and procedures. She is still very well
informed and she carefully
studies any topics she wants
to write about so that every
aspect of the story is accurate.”
Tess’s books took yet
another abrupt turn, to forensic thrillers, in 2001. Her novel
The Surgeon was her first
Jane Rizzoli thriller. Tess said
although she likes the television show Rizzoli & Isles, she
doesn’t have much say in what
the show includes or does
not include. She is expected
to write a new book almost
every year for this series, and
Tess spoke about her difficulties with this contract. “I write
by the seat of my pants and
sometimes I don’t know what
happens next. When this happens, I usually go for a long
drive and there’s something
about it that helps you put
together the clues in the plot
without even thinking about
it,” said Tess. S
Tess named her lecture
“Where Ideas Come From”
because people always ask
her where she gets her ideas
for her books. Such as the
conversation she had with
the ex-cop from Moscow,
her ideas always come from
something she hears or reads
about. “Writers like to read
a lot because that is how we
learn,” says Tess. She told her
Mystery author Tess Gerritsen
audience that she reads a
couple of newspapers each
day and that the “weird but
true” articles always grab her
attention.
Tess spoke about a
smaller article she read one
day that said a woman was
found dead in her bathtub
with pills beside her. This
woman was pronounced
dead and taken to the morgue,
only to wake up several hours
later. In her research, Tess
learned there were many stories like this where people
were thought to be, but were
not dead. The horror caught
Tess’ interest and became
the foundation for one of
her novels. The novel The
Keepsake was based on her
interest in mummy CT scans.
Tess knew someone doing
research on the mummification process and found out
there were cases of modernday homicides where the
victim was mummified.
Tess’s
future
plans
include writing two more
books for the Rizzoli & Isles
TV series, and soon after that
she is looking to write a few
more novels about topics of
her choice. Who knows what
will be next!
PHOTO: Jacob Gerritsen
By Ian Burke
Contributing Writer
campus news
lifestyle
October/November 2012
Student Health 101: Keep in Touch: Creative Ways to Connect
By Anna Lekas Miller
Student Health 101 Writer
Maybe you chose to go to
school just a short drive or
train ride away from where
you grew up. Perhaps you
went away, but you’re close
enough to make weekend
visits and spend time with
your family and friends over
holidays. Or maybe you’re
like me and went to college as
far away as humanly possible
without leaving the country.
So, what do you do when
you are like me—eager to
explore a new place and make
new friends, yet committed to
staying in touch with people
back home?
Staying Close
There are as many ways
to communicate with people
far away as there are different
personalities. Here are some
things to consider as you
make plans to stay in touch:
• Who is most important to you? There isn’t time
to speak with everybody,
every day. Prioritize the
family members and friends
to whom you are closest.
• What are everyone’s
expectations? Have a conversation about how often and
in what way you each want
to communicate. You might
prefer texting, while Mom
might want a phone call. Talk
about your needs and find a
compromise that works all
around.
• Set a schedule. Knowing that you’ll talk with someone, say, on Tuesday nights
will give you something to
look forward to. Plus, if you
have roommates, you can
plan ahead for privacy or
noise. Parents often like to
know they’ll hear from their
children on a regular basis;
this can reduce their anxiety
about how you’re doing (and
the likelihood that they’ll
chase you down).
• Figure
out
your
boundaries. It’s important to
balance time catching up with
those far away with social
time at school. If a particular
person is demanding a lot of
your time, or doesn’t seem to
have other supports at home,
talk with him or her about
your concerns.
Be Creative
Keeping close can be
simple: Skype™, Apple FaceTime, Google Talk, Facebook,
cell phones, and text messaging are readily available—in
fact, sometimes a little too
available.
Here are some creative
ways to connect.
Letters & Packages
Snail mail has a sense of
permanence and romance.
Sending letters and care packages can be an opportunity to
step out of the daily grind and
write a thoughtful note.
Video Chats
Of course, there is nothing
quite like seeing people face
to face, and chat programs
offer a close approximation.
Setting aside an hour every
week or two is a great way to
enhance your connection with
those far away. In addition
to regular “check-ins,” you
can also make special dates.
For example, why not plan to
have Sunday dinner with your
family? Everyone can crowd
in front of their screens and
enjoy a meal, laughing and
catching up. Or you and your
beau can plan an evening in,
watch a movie simultaneously, and then discuss.
Student Health 101: 3 Steps to Self-Esteem
By Anthony Everette Jr.
Student Health 101 Writer
Self-esteem is about
believing that you innately
have worth and having
patience with yourself. Recognizing your unique talents,
personality traits, and beauty
is very healthy. It can motivate you to try new things and
challenge yourself to succeed.
If you suffer from low
self-esteem, you’re not alone.
Many people struggle to feel
positive about themselves,
though no one is born with
that feeling. Instead, it’s the
result of negative experiences
during childhood or at other
points in life, such as excessive criticism, feeling “different,” or the end of a significant
relationship.
How you recover from
these has an impact on selfesteem. Here are some tips
for boosting, and maintaining,
good feelings about yourself:
Find positive people.
The world is filled with unrealistic standards, and judging yourself based on these
is a recipe for disaster. If your
friends or family have the
tendency to criticize (you or
themselves), look to build
relationships with people
who confirm and value your
unique qualities.
Repeat daily affirmations. Spend some time identifying the things about yourself
that you like and appreciate—
such as your talents, favorite
physical features, compassion, or academic strengths.
Now translate this list into
statements you can review
on a regular basis. Research
indicates that changing our
thought patterns can change
our behavior. Affirmations
can make you feel better
about yourself, or help you
feel connected to something
larger than yourself (which
can lift you out of negative
thoughts). Post your affirmations in a place where you will
see them often, such as on a
bathroom mirror.
Learn something new.
Nothing builds self-esteem
like accomplishment. Take
classes or join a group or
activity relating to things
you’d like to learn or improve.
These small steps can have a
big impact on how you feel.
Mentoring others is another
powerful way to increase your
sense of self-worth.
If negative feelings are
affecting your relationships
and activities, contact your
school’s counseling center or
another trusted resource.
The Downside of Virtual
Have you ever misinterpreted something that someone said online, or wasted
time having a trivial conversation on Facebook? In a recent
Student Health 101 survey, 85
percent of the students said
that someone had misinterpreted something they tried
to communicate via email or
text message, and 61 percent
strongly believed that text
messaging and email can have
a negative effect on real-life
communication.
Balance Old & New
Since you can talk regularly with loved ones back
home, it’s possible to get a bit
stuck in a faraway mindset.
Think about whether you’re
falling into this.
“I was in a long-distance
relationship my freshman
year,” confides Alexis H., a
graduate of New York University. “I was constantly staying
in my dorm to chat with my
boyfriend. I missed out on a
lot that year,” she notes.
An hour-long call with
your parents or siblings once
a week is one thing. Staying
in on Saturday nights to talk
09
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Vol. 51 Issue 3
with someone long-distance
is another. You may be missing
out on the chance to develop
new friends and enjoy new
experiences.
Translate your skills at
keeping faraway relationships
alive into strategies for meeting new people. Sydney R., a
sophomore at Winston-Salem
State University, notes that
reaching out can be as easy as
aiming to “always be friendly
and smile at everyone so that
you’re approachable.”
Take Action!
• Use technology to be
in touch with people far away.
• Talk about expectations and set a schedule for
communicating,
especially
with parents.
• Prioritize the people
most important to you.
• Find creative ways to
stay close, like postcards, care
packages, and online “dates.”
• Balance old and new:
reach out to make friends.
• Join or create activities and clubs to meet people
with similar interests.
Exercise Tips
Diet Tips
Stretch first.
Learn proper portion size.
Ride your bike.
Vary your meals.
Play a sport.
Eat breakfast.
Use safety equipment.
Keep healthy snacks around.
Head to the gym.
Drink moderately.
Take advantage of fitness courses.
Don’t fight stress by eating.
Walk to class.
Drink water.
Incorporate different kinds of exercise in your routine.
Limit sugary and caffeinated beverages.
Make it fun.
Try to eat fruits and veggies.
Bring a friend.
Limit junk food.
Take advantage of open spaces.
Make it convenient to eat right.
Don’t skip meals.
Find More at:
Find More at:
http://www.rncentral.com/nursinglibrary/careplans/101_health_and_
wellness_tips_for_college_students
http://www.rncentral.com/nursinglibrary/careplans/101_health_and_
wellness_tips_for_college_students
Register
Today!
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may be available.
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|
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|
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