The first issue of the spring 2014 semester (9th issue of the 2013-14 academic year).Cover story: class and chapel schedules are set to change this fall. Among the changes: chapel will start at 10:35 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m.
SPORTS TENNIS OUTLOOK: SEEKING STRONG COMPETITION 14 LIFESTYLE BROTHERS RAISE MORE THAN $10,000 FOR CAPSTONE FILM PROJECT 6 OPINION RICHARD SHERMAN’S INTERVIEW ISN’T A BIG DEAL 12 Clause WEDNESDAY, JAN. 29, 2014 – VOL. 50, NO. 9 – WWW.THECLAUSE.ORG student voice of azusa pacific university since 1965 ABROAD 3 SCHEDULE 4 CROSSFIT 13 Hunter Foote GRAPHIC Paige Lange staff writer Kelyn Struiksma staff writer Jessie Gomez staff writer Azusa Police Department COURTESY THE 1,906-ACRE BLAZE that broke out in the hills above Glendora and Azusa Jan. 16 took several days to contain. FULL STORY 4 Schedule shifts next semester include pushing chapel back from 9:30 to 10:35 a.m. This May, the singing groups will visit Poland and South Korea, respectively Colby Fire aftermath, reactions Class, chapel schedule changes coming this fall Cougar training: CrossFit Bel Canto and Men’s Chorale to go abroad PROFILE 8 OPINION 11 Sendy Valles makes her mark 15 Steven Mercado PHOTO THE WIRE @Juliana_Harn | Juliana: Pick-up lines learned in Rhetorical Theory: “My name’s Ray & as soon as you catch your breath, you can tell me yours.” #dying #iheartapu @hollyfaye | Holly: You know you go to APU when your professors from last semester greet you with a hug #iheartapu weets To see your tweets here, hashtag #apuclause, #apu or #iheartapu. @apuclause Former APU prof Ryan Bell to try on atheism for a year Russell Orrell COURTESY @MatthewJRoss | Matt: Honestly so blessed by the relationships I’ve made with my Professors. Shout out to my UBBL Profs, keep on keeping on #iheartapu After several months of numer- ous discussions with groups on cam- pus, the administration decided to formulate a new universal campus schedule that will affect both under- graduate and graduate students. A complete list of the new class time periods was emailed to all faculty at the beginning of this semester. The new class schedule will take effect this fall. The new time slots will include 15-minute breaks be- tween each class period, instead of alternating among breaks of 10, 15 and 20 minutes. Students will have a one-day per week option with classes starting at 7:15 a.m., a two-day per week option, Last year, in the face of grow- ing competition, the Azusa Pacific women’s basketball team decided to supplement its workout with some- thing new: CrossFit. “Conditioning’s not the most fun thing, so we thought that they might like [CrossFit] better. It gives a bit more variety and it can be geared toward endurance sports,” assistant coach Danielle Foley said. CrossFit was created in 2000 as an all-inclusive, full-body workout that mixes high-intensity cardio with strength training to optimize fitness results. Founder Greg Glassman writes that he “developed [CrossFit] to enhance an individuals’ competen- cy at all physical tasks.” The results it elicits persuaded the women’s coach- ing staff to incorporate it into their training routine. “[We know] that women’s bas- ketball has a tendency in the past [to] say, ‘We don’t wanna get big and buff, we just like to get strong.’ CrossFit seems to speak to that a bit more [than traditional workouts],” head coach T.J. Hardeman said. Bel Canto’s royal invitation For the first time in six years, Bel Canto will be spending part of its spring tour overseas. The choir will travel to Poland, where members will use their voices to minster to people in orphanages, hospitals, schools and cathedrals over a two-week period. “The ministry of Poland be- gan when our members took a leap of faith to commit themselves for every facet of training and the week-to-week rigors of practice,” Bel Canto Director David Hughes said. “Christ’s admonition for us to go abroad to share the Gospel can be fulfilled in a very unique way through Bel Canto: women dedicated to sharing God’s never- failing love for all humankind.” K i m b e rly Smith G R A P H IC Brooke Van Dam COURTESY The new class schedule will kick in this fall. PROFILE
student voice of azusa pacific university since 1965
abROad 3
Schedule 4
cROSSfiT 13
hunter foote graphic
Paige langestaff writer
Kelyn Struiksmastaff writer
Jessie Gomezstaff writer
azusa Police department courtesy
The 1,906-acRe blaze that broke out in the hills above glendora and azusa jan. 16 took several days to contain. full story 4
Schedule shifts next semester include pushing chapel back from 9:30 to 10:35 a.m.
This May, the singing groups will visit Poland and South Korea, respectively
Colby Fire aftermath, reactions
Class, chapel schedule changes coming this fall
Cougar training: CrossFit Bel Canto and Men’sChorale to go abroad
profile 8opinion 11
Sendy Vallesmakes her mark 15
Steven Mercado photo
the wire
@Juliana_harn | Juliana:pick-up lines learned in rhetorical theory: “my name’s ray & as soon as you catch your breath, you can tell me yours.” #dying #iheartapu
@hollyfaye | holly:you know you go to apu when your professors from last semester greet you with a hug #iheartapu
weets
To see your tweets here, hashtag #apuclause, #apu or #iheartapu.
@apuclause
former aPu prof Ryan bell to try on atheism for a year
Russell Orrell courtesy
@MatthewJRoss | Matt:honestly so blessed by the relationships i’ve made with my professors. shout out to my ubbl profs, keep on keeping on #iheartapu
After several months of numer-ous discussions with groups on cam-pus, the administration decided to formulate a new universal campus schedule that will affect both under-graduate and graduate students. A complete list of the new class time periods was emailed to all faculty at the beginning of this semester.
The new class schedule will take effect this fall. The new time slots will include 15-minute breaks be-tween each class period, instead of alternating among breaks of 10, 15 and 20 minutes.
Students will have a one-day per week option with classes starting at 7:15 a.m., a two-day per week option,
Last year, in the face of grow-ing competition, the Azusa Pacific women’s basketball team decided to supplement its workout with some-thing new: CrossFit.
“Conditioning’s not the most fun thing, so we thought that they might like [CrossFit] better. It gives a bit
more variety and it can be geared toward endurance sports,” assistant coach Danielle Foley said.
CrossFit was created in 2000 as an all-inclusive, full-body workout that mixes high-intensity cardio with strength training to optimize fitness results. Founder Greg Glassman writes that he “developed [CrossFit] to enhance an individuals’ competen-cy at all physical tasks.” The results it
elicits persuaded the women’s coach-ing staff to incorporate it into their training routine.
“[We know] that women’s bas-ketball has a tendency in the past [to] say, ‘We don’t wanna get big and buff, we just like to get strong.’ CrossFit seems to speak to that a bit more [than traditional workouts],” head coach T.J. Hardeman said.
Bel Canto’s royal invitationFor the first time in six years,
Bel Canto will be spending part of its spring tour overseas. The choir will travel to Poland, where members will use their voices to minster to people in orphanages, hospitals, schools and cathedrals over a two-week period.
“The ministry of Poland be-gan when our members took a leap of faith to commit themselves for every facet of training and the week-to-week rigors of practice,” Bel Canto Director David Hughes said. “Christ’s admonition for us to go abroad to share the Gospel can be fulfilled in a very unique way through Bel Canto: women dedicated to sharing God’s never-failing love for all humankind.”
Kimberly Smith graphic
brooke Van dam cOurtESY the new class schedule will kick in this fall.
PROfile
The following are selected incidents as reported from the Daily Media Log from Jan. 22 through Jan. 28, courtesy of Campus Safety.
■ sunday, jan. 26alosta placeThere was a report of mari-juana on campus. Azusa Police responded and the subjects were escorted off campus.
■ sunday, jan. 26shire modsReporting party advised his motorized scooter was sto-len; officer took a report.
■ friday, jan. 24university villageRP reported his vehicle was broken into.
■ friday, jan. 24west campusRP reported a suspious male standing on the south lawn. Officers responded to make contact.
■ wednesday, jan. 221899 dining hallRP reported a suspicious person on campus. Officer made contact with the sub-ject and advised the subject they were on private prop-erty. Subject complied by leaving campus.
■ wednesday, jan. 22shire modsRP called to advise of a subject who was loitering in K court of Shire. Officers re-sponded to check the area, but the subject was goneupon arrival.
leyva, ashlee polarek, arianna ruvalcaba, taylor schablaske, kelyn struiksma, j. yvette toastado
faculty adviser kyle huckins
The Clause is a student newspaper dedicated to providing a realistic, journalistic educational experience for students of Azusa Pacific Uni-versity; to seeking truth and reporting it boldly, fairly and accurately; to enhancing the univer-sity community by providing a student voice imbued with truth, responsibility and account-ability.
The newspaper is published weekly, ex-cept during examinations and vacation pe-riods, by the students of the Department of Communication Studies at Azusa Pacific Uni-versity. The newsroom is located on Cougar Walk in between the cafeteria and Cougars’ Den. The views expressed in all letters to the
editor and all signed opinion articles are those of their authors, not the staff or university.
letters to the editorPlease include a phone number for verifica-tion of all letters to the editor. Anonymous and unverified letters to the editor will not be printed. The Clause reserves the right to edit the letters for length and journal-istic style. The opinions expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of the faculty, staff or administration of Azusa Pacific University.
find us on facebook & twitterfacebook.com/apuclause & @apuclause
calendarWednesday, Jan. 29Dumpling 101The International Center will host a lesson in dumpling making in honor of Chinese New Year from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Sign up at the front desk.
Friday, Jan. 31Just ExpressionsFrom 7 to 9 p.m., students will perform various art pieces as the final event for Justice Week in the Cougar Dome.
Friday, Jan. 31SGA executive applications dueStop by their office or visit apusga.org for info.
Sunday, Feb. 2 Chinese New Year DinnerThe International Center will host a Chinese New Year dinner at 5 p.m. at Forward Church in Glendo-ra. Contact the International Center for info.
Monday, Feb. 3Summer Work and Career FairFrom 10:20 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Office of Career Services will host a Summer Work and Career Fair on Cougar Walk.
compiled by katie richcreek
kimberly smith PHOTOStudents support men’s basketball at rival game against California Baptist Friday, Jan. 24.
Tuesday, Feb. 4 – Wednesday, Feb. 5Blood DriveThe Athletic Training Program will hold a two-day blood drive in Trinity Hall. Schedule an ap-pointment online at www.redcrossblood.org and enter sponsor code: APU.
remember1. If you see something, say something. 2. Safety is everyone’s busi-ness.3. Dial 911 for life threatening emergencies.4. non emergencies: Cam-pus Safety (626) 815-3898.5. lock all doors and win-dows to your dorm, apart-ment and vehicle. 6. Keep all valuables secured and out of plain view.7. At night, keep to well-lit areas.8. Always be aware of your surroundings.9. Utilize the trolleys, safety escorts or walk in groups.10. Avoid places where you are vulnerable and there are no exits.11. Avoid texting or talking on the phone while walking as you may be distracted.12. Avoid walking and jog-ging alone.13. Secure your bike with a rec-ommended Krytonite U-lock.
Azusa Pacific University Re-source Officer Mike Bires now heads the Azusa Police Department's most recent project: a social media team.
Bires first proposed the social media group in Nov. of 2012, ini-tially proposing to create the depart-ment’s own website. With previous Web design experience, Bires and his team members from the Azusa PD developed the website, which launched this year.
The social media team was put to the test Jan. 16 with the Colby Fire, which flared up the day after a group of police officers met to discuss the formation the San Gabriel Val-ley Law Enforcement Social Media Group. The officers met to discuss how to handle emergencies through social media on Jan. 15.
“We had no idea that in less than 24 hours, our department [would] be thrust into the limelight and [be] put to the test,” Bires said.
The Azusa PD's Facebook page had 210 likes prior to the fire. After the fire, the number increased to 400.
“This shows the impact that there was an emergency and the people turned to social media,” Bires said.
As URO for APU, Bires reached out to students to volunteer for the
Azusa PD launches new social media team
social media team. Senior psychology major Erika Huth and senior comput-er science major Dylan Price learned about Bires’ team through the Office of Campus Safety.
“I hope to help expand the Azusa Police Department in a sense of giv-ing them more of an online presence — helping out the community and connecting them closer through so-cial media,” Price said.
With an interest in law enforce-ment after graduation, Huth looked to joining the program as a great op-portunity to have Bires as a mentor.
“I have the same vision as Mike has — I want the community to see the department in a positive way. I want people to feel comfortable so that they can reach out to the depart-ment,” Huth said.
Bires also helps maintain the APU Office of Campus Safety social media sites.
mike bires COURTESY UrO Mike Bires
online exclusive
First and Second South residents given all-clear to move back in for spring semester following December flood. For the full story, visit www.theclause.org/news.
Trinity Hall flood update
camille garciastaff writer
Monday, Feb. 3 – Tuesday Feb. 4Teach for AmericaTeach for America representative Marissa Ring will be on campus from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to meet with se-niors interested in the program. To make an appoint-ment, email [email protected].
t. brown COUrTeSyBel Canto (above) and Men’s Chorale (below) are two of APU’s six choral ensembles.
With much of the country deal-ing with storms and icy weather, California is sitting high and dry. Too dry, in fact. Jan. 17, California Governor Jerry Brown declared a Drought State of Emergency and asked citizens to voluntarily reduce water consumption by 20 percent.
According to the Governor’s Of-fice of Emergency Services, many areas of the state are reporting the lowest precipitation levels since they first began recording in the 1800s. Such rainfall is especially painful for a state going on its third dry year in a row.
In his declaration, Brown or-dered water officials to ensure the state is prepared if drinking water supplies become an issue. This in-cluded ordering state agencies to re-duce their water use and hire more
alec blehercopy editor
The choir will partner with Next Generation Missions for the trip, an organization that combines music with ministry and reaches out not only to Poland but also to Jamaica, Scotland and Native American reservations within the U.S.
“It is interesting to think people just like us live on a different side of the world, do different things and speak different languages, but they are just the same as us,” said freshman biology major Stephanie Zarling, a Bel Canto member. “This will be a big culture change and will be a challenge to get used to.”
Poland is slowly becoming a main avenue for Next Generation Missions, as select organization lead-ers trace family ties directly back to the Polish throne. With this connec-tion, Bel Canto has been cordially invited as guest of the royal family to not only attend, but also perform at the royal ball.
“It’s really cool to see how God is using their royalty to serve him,” Bel Canto President Heidi Chamberlain said. “We have a lot of responsibility to not only uphold APU and Christian values, but we will be ambassadors of the royal family while we are there. We are really blessed to be a part of this and see how God is using that story in Poland to change Poland.”
Poland is known to be a tradition-al Roman Catholic-based country. To sing Christian songs throughout the week is unheard of for the people in Poland and Bel Canto is working to specifically pick music to move in people’s hearts, according to Cham-berlain.
“I want to make an impression on the people I see,” Zarling said. “I want to them to know that I respect their culture and want to be a part of it.”
The choir not only hopes to de-velop relationships with people in each of the communities but also to continue to bond and deepen the uni-ty among Bel Canto members.
“Not only do we spend class time together and concerts together, but the heart of our group is musical min-istry,” Chamberlian said. “Whenever
you are doing ministry with people, you are bonded with them. I couldn’t ask for a better last year.”
Bel Canto will depart for Poland May 22 after completing its Northern California tour which begins May 4.
Men’s Chorale to South KoreaOn May 1, Men’s Chorale will
take flight to Incheon City, South Ko-rea, where members will spend two weeks on tour performing at various venues throughout the country.
University President Jon Wallace presented Men’s Chorale with this opportunity to tour abroad as ambas-sadors for APU to both minister and make deeper connections with South Korea.
“Our mission from the univer-sity is to visit churches and build the bridge between the university and the local church,” Men’s Chorale Direc-tor Dr. Harold Clousing said. “So what this is, is building the bridge between the university and an inter-national church.”
South Korea is not entirely a new location for either the university or the music department. Faculty members such as Wallace, Vice President David Bixby, Provost Mark Stanton and Dr. Hae-Seong Park of the Department of Educational Leadership have all spent time building relationships and preaching in South Korean churches. Although the University Choir and Orchestra toured South Korea five years ago, this experience is new to both Clousing and Men’s Chorale.
“We are a ministry choir and our purpose is to minister through song,” said sophomore political science major and bass section leader Jamie Warren. “It’ll be really interesting to see how we affect other people [...] being in such a foreign land, seeing other Christians worshiping with us and realizing that Christ and the king-dom does not know borders.”
Men’s Chorale will travel by bus throughout the country, performing at churches that reach an average at-tendance of 20,000 people on Sunday morning services. According to a 2007 census from the South Korean National Statistical Office, the per-centage of Christians in South Korea
APU music programs to minister abroad
was 29.2 percent of the population, making Christianity South Korea’s largest religion.
“It is a way to see how another culture worships, how another cul-ture lives and some of how that cul-ture can be influenced by who we are as men of God,” Clousing said.
The biggest challenge for Men’s Chorale will be adapting to the lan-guage barrier. Dr. Young K. Kim of the Department of Higher Education Doctoral Programs will accompany
the group and translate introductions to each song at every performance in addition to written translations. Men’s Chorale is also working on perfecting two or three Korean pieces before departing.
“[Men’s Chorale] has a really spe-cial group of guys,” said senior biology major Michael McClellan, Men’s Cho-rale president. “We have great attitude and great talent, which is not always the case; it’s usually one or the other.”
During the trip, Clousing hopes
to have his group stay in the homes of college students or at major universi-ties to better understand the Korean culture.
“What we normally see during tour is that the brotherhood cements in a way it never has before,” Mc-Clellan said. “When you spend two weeks, in two crowded buses and do-ing home stays with people, you get really close to the guys and become this huge family. And that is so much fun to be a part of.”
abroad, from Pg. 1
firefighters. He also took the oppor-tunity to launch an expanded water conservation campaign, Save Our Water, according to Cal OES.
“We can’t make it rain, but we can be much better prepared for the terrible consequences that Califor-nia’s drought now threatens, includ-ing dramatically less water for our farms and communities and increased fires in both urban and rural areas,” Brown said in his declaration.
The Azusa community has al-ready experienced the consequences of these drought conditions, includ-ing the two fires that ravaged the hills above the city this academic year. With the National Weather Ser-vice showing year-to-date precipita-tion levels for the area at 10-25 per-cent of normal, more consequences could be forthcoming.
Should a much-needed storm ma-terialize in the near future, it is im-portant to note that one storm cannot undo months of record-low rain. The drought will continue until overall precipitation levels return to normal.
To deal with possible shortages, the SoW campaign website recom-mends conserving water now, some-thing that can be done in a number of ways at APU.
holly magnuson COUrTeSy
On Saturday, Jan. 25, many Southern California museums opened their doors to the public free of charge, offering cash-strapped students a creative and free week-end option.
For the past nine years, South-ern California museums have par-ticipated in the “Museums Free-For-All” program in an effort to offer the public a chance to im-merse in the arts without cost.
Twenty museums participated in the program this year, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the California Science Center and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Although many museums still required payment for parking, many were accessible by public transpor-tation options such as the metro and buses, which not only cut back on
the cost of the trip but helped visi-tors be eco-friendly.
“I really enjoy art, and I think that this is a good opportunity for people who can’t afford to go to museums all the time,” said sopho-more film major Victoria Rosales, who planned to go to LACMA that day. “I think that art should be for everyone, not just for people who can afford it.”
This program is an opportu-nity for families who don’t get the chance to experience the arts and sciences regularly. Museum offi-cials say it opens doors for children to learn more about art and even how the human body works.
Rev. Holland Prior, program coordinator for the history and po-litical science department, shared her plans to visit MOCA and en-couraged her students to check out one of the many museums offering free admission.
If you missed this chance to check out some of the museums, don’t fret. Many museums offer free days once a month or every two weeks. Be sure to check their websites for deals and updates.
Record-low precipitation leads to a Drought State of Emergency
1. If you do laundry regularly (and I sincerely hope you do), run-ning only full loads will use less water and get you in a money-sav-ing habit for the future.
2. Students with dishwash-ers should use them, as they tend to use less water than washing by hand. Just be sure to fill them up with dishes before running.
3. For pots and pans too big for the dishwasher, soak them while cleaning rather than letting the wa-ter run.
4. Showers are nice, but for each five minutes you spend show-ing, you use an additional 2.5 gal-lons of water if you have a low-flow shower head, according to the SoW website. Get clean, but then get out.
5. For you zealous water-savers out there, try turning off the shower while washing your hair, which can save up to 150 gallons of water a month.
6. When brushing your teeth or shaving, only turn the water on when you need it to rinse.
Rain, rain... come back?Students and faculty enjoy free museum day
ashlee polarekstaff writer
APU participates in free admission to local museums
The Colby Fire began blaz-ing around 6 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 near the Glendora Mountain/Azusa Canyon area.
According to the Incident In-formation System, Colby burned 1,952 acres and destroyed five homes and 17 structures. An es-timated 300 firefighters worked against the fast-paced flame, ac-cording to the Los Angeles Fire Department
Although the university was never under any threat, the fire af-fected numerous students and fac-ulty both on and off campus.
“My roommate woke me up at 8:30 a.m., and all I could see was a big, huge cloud of orange,” se-nior communication studies major Annie Hansler said. “We had been
Summing up Colby Fire’s aftermathBurned mountain range and polluted atmosphere are just a few repercussions left by the fire
Jessie Gomezstaff writer
evacuated before in the year, so we really weren’t too worried. But when we saw how close the fire was, then we started to worry.”
Mandatory evacuations were is-sued for Easley Canyon, San Gabriel Canyon Road, Mountain Cove Com-munity and homes north of Sierra Madre Blvd, according to an NBC report. Hansler and her roommates live on the northern side of Azusa Avenue, which is just before the en-trance into the Canyon, and were
asked to evacuate. Due to the intensity of the fire,
the majority of the Los Angeles/Or-ange County region was covered in a cloud of thick smoke and pollution that day. Various students on campus, especially those with asthma or respi-ratory problems, were encouraged to stay indoors and seek attention from the Health Center if needed.
Sophomore English major Mau-rice Johnson was one of the many students on campus who had an aller-
gic reaction to the smoke.“I was outside for classes and
near a door at work for four hours, which is always swinging open,” Johnson said. “I have asthma, and so with the smoke entering my lungs, I caught a reaction which affected my breathing; my eyes and parts of my body swelled.”
Health officials issued air-quality warnings for several days afterward due to thick smoke from the blaze.
Despite the negative consequenc-
es of the fire, APU students have joined forces to help out the commu-nity during this time.
In last week's Wednesday morn-ing chapel, Associate Vice President for Internationalization Matt Brown-ing invited students to gather and clean up the Garcia Trail.
“We need to lend a helping hand to the city of Azusa,” Browning said.
The symbolic “A” on the Garcia Trail was damaged and is no longer visible. However, the cross atop the mountain range remains standing.
Azusa Police Department COURTESY Left: Several CL-215/Bombardier 415 “Superscoopers” were used to fight the fire.Right: A surfer looks at the smoke from the fire, which has stretched down to the coast.
scheDuLe, from Pg. 1
Former Israeli Prime Minis-ter Ariel Sharon died Jan. 11 after eight years in a stroke-induced coma.
Sharon was widely known for his military victories as a general in the Israeli army in addition to the controversial, hardline poli-cies he implemented as a political figure.
Sharon was exonerated by many Israelis for an avid dedica-tion to his country, and viewed by Arabs as a villain.
After becoming the defense minister of Israel, Sharon was ac-cused of allowing the killings of more than 800 Palestinian civil-ians in 1982. A Lebanese Chris-tian paramilitary group was al-lowed to enter a Palestinian refuge camp in Beruit that was under the protection of Sharon's soldiers. This event led to him receiving the nickname "The Butcher" from Arabs.
Sharon believed that Israel has a holy right to the land oc-cupied by both Palestinians and Israelis. Those who agreed with Sharon admired his prowess in major battles such as Israel's war of independence in 1948, and the war of 1973.
President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both declared Sharon as a man dedicated whole-heartedly to Israel.
Sharon is survived by his three sons Gilad, Omri and Gur.
Former Israel PM Sharon'slegacy scott Jacobopinion editor
which includes Monday/Friday, and the traditional three-day per week option.
Alongside new course times, chapel will officially start at 10:35 a.m. and run until 11:25 a.m., instead of running from 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. This allows students to take up to three classes before chapel.
“We are really excited for this new change,” said Dr. Vicky Bowden, vice provost for under-graduate studies. “We will have all this information provided with the student advising materials so students can plan effectively for Fall 2014.”
Bowden added that profes-sors are currently using the new schedule to select their class times for next semester. This means that during academic advising, stu-dents will choose classes in accor-dance to the new schedule.
The decision to create a new class schedule was brought upon by the needs of the growing ca-pacity of the undergraduate stu-dents.
“The reality is … we are only at 47 percent classroom use,” said Bowden. “… our problem is not space capacity but effective space utilization.”
With new changes on the way, administration faces challenges the university has never encoun-tered before.
A later chapel time may call for extended breakfast and lunch times along with a secondary lo-cation for chapel to accommodate Dinner Rally days.
Trolley services will also be also changed to adapt to the new schedule.
Campus schedule change coming
If you're having trouble living up to some of those New Year's resolu-tions, the state and federal govern-ments might have a few you will live with ... unless you like fines and/or jail time.
Joining their 100- and 75-watt cousins of last year, traditional 60- and 40-watt incandescent bulbs are now illegal in accordance with the Energy and Independence and Secu-rity Act of 2007. In their place, the government wants to see citizens buy the more energy-efficient halogen and compact fluorescent bulbs.
For those of you wanting to eat healthier in 2014, the Food and Drug Administration may make that just a little bit easier. According to an FDA press release, the organization an-nounced that it plans to remove trans fats from its list of additives that are "generally recognized as safe." Any-one wishing to use them would have to secure FDA permission.
New sections of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) took effect with the coming of the new year. Ac-cording to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' website, insurance companies can no longer discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions or on the basis of gender. This includes denying cover-age renewal or charging higher rates.
In addition, insurance plans can-not place limits on the amount of an-nual coverage an individual may re-ceive. People who decide to take part in clinical trials cannot be dropped from their coverage for this reason.
Health insurance tax credits based on income and for small businesses also rolled out this year in addition to
New year, new laws 2014 brings forth new state and federal laws that affect many
the Health Insurance Marketplace for those not covered by their employers.
Be ready to buy health insurance upon graduating. However, those un-der their parents' insurance may re-main on their parents' insurance until the age of 26. Uninsured Americans will now be subject to a penalty for failing to comply.
The state of California had a few laws of its own come into effect with the start of 2014. Most controversial is AB 1266, which allows transgen-dered students to use the school fa-cilities (like bathrooms) and join the sports teams of the gender with which they identify.
However, some activists are chal-lenging the implementation of this law, attempting to collect the neces-sary signatures in order to place a ref-erendum on the ballot.
The state's minimum wage is set to go up this year. According to the California Department of Indus-trial Relations, workers will be paid a minimum of $9 an hour starting on July 1. Starting at the beginning of 2016, it will be $10.
The California Department of
Public Health enacted a rule that all food employees in California, includ-ing chefs, cannot touch many ready-to-eat foods with their bare hands. As a result, chefs will now have to wear single-use gloves or use utensils, which may make the preparation of certain foods, like sushi, more diffi-cult.
A number of measures on immi-gration also took effect. California Bill AB 4, also known as the "Trust Act," that was passed in September of 2013 states that jails can now only hold on to immigrants for federal im-migration enforcement if they com-mitted violent or serious crimes. Ad-ditionally, employers are forbidden from punishing or retaliating against workers on the basis of their immi-gration status.
The Golden State now bans high-capacity magazines, thanks to AB 48. Gun owners must also lock up their firearms.
Going hands-free is no longer enough for drivers under the age of 18, following the enactment of the California SB 194 of 2013. Reading or sending texts via voice command is now a ticketable offense for teens.
As APU students looked through their academic calendar, some were surprised that this year's spring break falls in the middle of the semester.
In past years, students typically enjoyed spring break around Easter-time. However, APU administration has instead granted a mid-semester break in the month of March in addi-tion to a three-day weekend for Eas-
Khristi Adams is at it again. After authoring her first book last semester, this month she released her second documentary, which focuses on APU student George Ramirez’s testimony, his struggle with cerebral palsy and his life with a foster family.
Adams, a campus pastor, hosted a screening of the documentary Friday, Jan. 24 in the Cougar Dome for APU students, and nearly 60 of Ramirez’s friends and peers filled the seats.
"Although it’s my story and where I come from, people are go-ing to have their own opinion. There is still a lot that people don’t know about me," Ramirez said.
Adams first screened the film at Ramirez’s home church, led by for-mer APU Campus Pastor Coba Ca-nales, who also appears in the film, explaining how he met Ramirez and how they became such good friends while Caneles was working for APU as a campus pastor.
“George was around Coba a lot, so we had an opportunity to get to know him on a surface level," Adams said. "The one thing that stood out is George is always pleasant, joyful and makes himself available. I was curi-ous to see what was underneath all that.”
Adams said she went into the filming process knowing very little about Ramirez, wanting to hear his full story for the first time as she filmed, to experience his story the same as an audience would.
Adams' name was not credited or mentioned in the promotions for the screening.
“I wanted it to showcase George;
Khristi Adams screens new documentary: 'A Narrow Road'Campus pastor hosts on-campus screening of latest project, which spotlights APU student's life
Ashlee Polarekstaff writer
that’s why my name wasn’t on the chapel slides. I wanted to show George, and only George, his extend-ed family at church and here at APU,” Adams said.
“A Narrow Road” is very differ-ent from Adams' first film, "Chivalry is Dead." The documentary focuses on Ramirez and his life story, instead of showing interviews with various individuals.
“I want to do the most authentic stories. I sought after the most ex-treme of men on purpose [in "Chiv-alry is Dead"]; I thought George was just as real of a human being. So many people have experienced so much, it served as a reminder for me to not just assume things about people," Adams said.
After the screening, a panel made up of three of the filmmakers an-swered questions about Ramirez and the documentary.
Adams said she looks to share the documentary with the APU campus again soon.
“I hope people would be encour-aged, not because of my story, but be-cause of God. I hope someone would find the strength to keep going, to keep pushing," Ramirez said. "I know it’s hard sometimes to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but keep go-ing."
Ramirez said he got through chal-lenges and hard times by trusting in God and his friends, who encouraged and supported him.
"You just have to really pursue God in what you do in life," he said. "It’s not always easy but you know He’s in control when you give your-self to Him."
Kimberly smith phOTO Khristi Adams screened her sec-ond documentary on Friday, Jan. 24.
Give me a (spring) break: ChangesNew spring calendar gives students a mid-semester break in addition to Easter weekendemily Leyvastaff writer
ter in April.For freshman psychology major
Maddison Sytsma, the change was bittersweet.
"I think it's good, because it would be a long time to go all the way from January to mid-April without having a break," Sytsma said. "But I guess it could be a problem; I'm from out of state so I won't be able to go home for Easter. With the two breaks, I can't afford to go home for both."
On the other hand, freshman un-declared major Alex Jaggers said the mid-break and three-day Easter vaca-tion is a bonus.
"I like the mid-break; [for Eas-ter] I will probably just stay here just because it's easier and there's not that much time off," she said.
The mid-semester break will be March 10-14, and students will be excused from classes before 1 p.m. on April 21, the Monday after Easter.
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PROFILE
Senior film majors Phillip and Peter Hall have raised $10,810 to produce their senior capstone project, a short film titled, “The Lost Dutchman.” Using crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, the brothers raised enough money to follow through with their ambitious plan: to shoot a film in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona.
The Halls first began developing the story in January 2013, inspired while hiking near home in Mesa, Ariz. Dec. 28, 2013, they reached their pledged Kickstarter goal of $10,000, just one day before their deadline.
Phillip and Peter Hall’s film is based on a legend the two grew up with, “The Lost Dutch-man.” Based off real-life people, main charac-ters Jacob Waltz and Jacob Weiser approach the Superstition Mountains in hopes of finding gold, but learn incredible lessons on the way.
Although there are many versions of the legend, the brothers have decided to pull from history and local accounts as well as their own imaginations. They have co-written the screen-play and will start filming next month.
“One of the things I really liked about the Hall brothers was in terms of script, they were really responsive and actually willing to listen,” said Dr. Warren Koch, a film professor. “You need to have that passion and it needs to be your story, but at the same time, you have to be willing to be flexible, to flesh it out in different ways so it becomes universal.”
The brothers have a number of people sup-porting them in addition to Koch, such as their c o - p r o d u c e r s , senior film ma-jors Brooks Mal-berg and Shelby Etcheson.
“To be hon-est, producing is all about prob-lems and solving them,” Malberg said. “That’s part of why I love it, though. You’ve got to make something work that often times seems impossible. One of the biggest challeng-es with student filmmaking is trying to make a high-quality film with basically no money.”
Koch has served primarily as an adviser
Senior film majors go big for capstone projectTwin brothers raise more than $10,000 for senior thesis short film
Tory Freethstaff writer
Davin Lindwall courtEsyPhillip Hall, Brooks malberg, shelby Etcheson and Peter Hall
for the entire project, meeting with the team to check progress and help problem solve.
“He’s a resource, but he’s very hands-off in a lot of ways,” Phillip said. “The film pro-gram is structured to where by the time you
get to your thesis film, capstone, you should be able to pretty much do this on your own.”
The produc-tion crew and ac-tors will film on location in Arizo-na from Feb. 7-16. “The Lost Dutch-man” will pre-miere April 29 at the Film Premiere night, hosted by APU’s Theater Film & Television Department in Hollywood.
The premiere will be open to anyone who wants to buy a ticket and will feature all films put together by the upperclassmen in the last academic year. Many industry contacts will be
invited to view the films, creating a chance for exposure to film professionals.
All of the members of the production crew, except for Director of Photography Andrew Ceperly, are currently studying at APU. Profes-sional actors will make up the cast.
“This is a great crew,” Etcheson said. “We’re all friends, but we’re also great collabo-rators.”
According to the brothers, filming logis-tics have presented a challenge because the film takes place out of state, in the wilderness and is a period piece. However, the Halls said Malberg and Etcheson have been instrumental in film scheduling, budget breakdowns, secur-ing shooting locations, casting, hiring the crew, transportation to Arizona, acquiring funds, pro-viding food, housing and much more.
“They take their jobs so seriously in a beau-tiful way,” Peter Hall said. “They are 110 per-cent all the time. They’ve done an amazing job of helping Phil and I make the film we want to make, and that’s a beautiful thing. The relation-ship between a director and a producer is so vital.”
The brothers have been drawn to film from a young age, and even participated in theater productions. Both said they were led to APU’s
film department because it is still early in its de-velopment and growing every year.
“As students here now, we are kind of writing the traditions and the rules of what this department is going to be,” Peter said. “It’s amazing to think that something I do now could set a precedent, could make an impact for this entire program that could be felt 50 years from now.”
The Halls said they are dedicated to mak-ing films after graduation, even if the road is not an easy one. Inspired by well-known direc-tor Christopher Nolan, the brothers are willing to start by filming on the weekends with some friends just as he did.
“If you’re a passionate, creative artist, you’ll keep doing it no matter what,” Phillip Hall said. “If you say that film is what you’re passionate about, then it will happen. You’ll make it happen.”
Peter and Phillip Hall plan to submit “The Lost Dutchman” for as many film festivals as possible during the 2014 submission period, hoping it will be chosen for potential screening in 2015.
For more information about “The Lost Dutchman,” check out www.lostdutchmanfilm.com.
“If you’re a passionate, creative artist, you’ll keep doing it no matter what. If you say that film is what you’re passionate about, then it will happen. You’ll make it happen.”–Phillip Hall, co-writer and co-producer
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On Friday night, APU theater students host-ed a humorous “Miscast Cabaret” event in the Blackbox Theater to fundraise for a trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this summer.
A cabaret is traditionally live entertain-ment in a restaurant or night club setting, but the theater students arranged for the event to be more casual with couches and a few tables placed near the performers like a floor show. The venue also included bleacher seating as well.
The “miscasts” were numbers chosen by the performers for characters they thought would never play on stage in a professional setting. The students sang, danced and made audience members laugh with their unusual performances.
Junior theater major Tory Freeth and alumni Brittany Gilmore played Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert in the number “Confron-tation,” taken from the musical “Les Misera-bles,” while senior acting BFA student Scott Kuiper performed an untraditional male per-formance of Elsa’s “Let it Go,” from Disney’s “Frozen.”
Additionally, senior acting BFA student
Theater students host fundraiser for Scotland trip
Hollywood actress dialogues with APU’s aspiring actors
Josh Contrerasstaff writer
Josh Contreras PHotomackenzie Breeden, claire schuttler, taylor Wesselmen and Hannah Bushyeager smile after finishing their performance.
Tim Davis performed as Candela, whose char-acter is convinced that her boyfriend is a ter-rorist in the number “Model Behavior,” from the musical “Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.”
The Miscast Cabaret had a total of 22 per-formances with a variety of similarly natured musical deliveries.
The whole purpose of the event was for students to raise money to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland this coming sum-mer. Many of the students who plan on going see this trip as a ministering and learning op-portunity, as well as for themselves.
“We will be performing a piece there in front of an international audience with a large group
of other artists and people around the world to exchange culture and ideas,” said senior theater and screenwriting double major Hannah Bushy-eager, host and performer of the cabaret. “It is going to be an incredible opportunity for us as a theater department because we have never been able to go out to other countries and perform.”
This will not be the first time APU has tried to reach out through ministry in acting. Accord-ing to senior acting BFA student Taylor Wes-selman, who also hosted and performed in the Cabaret, a drama ministry travelled around the U.S., but this is the first international trip the theater has ever done.
Representatives from APU’s theater depart-ment will be joining many others in the festival.
“The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is set up in many ways like a convention, only with us, it is a lot of theater groups from around the world singing and learning from one another,” Kuiper said.
The trip to Scotland will cost about $5,000, according to Wesselmen. The group originally had 25 people interested in it, but has been cropped down to 12.
“I thought we had a great turnout and the audience was very responsive and supportive,” Wesselman said. “We are looking to use the money from this cabaret and the previous one to put on a much larger event where we will be focusing on getting more substantial donations and funding.”
To donate toward the trip, contact APU’s theater department.
Hollywood actress Kerris Dorsey visited campus Tuesday for a lighthearted evening ses-sion with APU students, answering questions and offering advice to the Theater Department’s aspiring actors.
Dorsey, currently playing the role of Bridget Donovan in Showtime’s television series “Ray Donovan,” sat down for an interview at the Blackbox Theater for the department’s monthly Q-and-A session.
“It was so refreshing to hear from someone who has grown up in the business [who] is re-ally down to earth,” junior theater major Claire Schuttler said. “She has a great head on her shoulders, and even though she has grown up working with very successful actors, she is so humble about what she has accomplished.”
The event featuring professional actors was previously known as “Third Wednesdays” but recently changed to “Pro2Col,” short for “Pro-fessionals to College students.” This was the first time that Pro2Col showcased a teenage actress.
Dorsey began acting professionally at 5, receiving her first substantial role as Kathy Cash in “Walk the Line.” Since then, she has guest starred in various television series such as AMC’s “Mad Men,” FX Network’s “Sons of Anarchy” and Disney Channel’s “Shake it Up.”
Dorsey has worked with acclaimed ac-tors such as Brad Pitt in “Moneyball ,” and Steve Carell and Jen-nifer Garner in the upcoming film “Alexan-der and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” Her longest-standing role is five years as Paige Whedon in ABC’s drama series “Brothers & Sisters.”
Next month she will begin filming her sec-
ond season of “Ray Donovan” as Bridget Dono-van, daughter to the title character, who’s played by actor Liev Schreiber. Dorsey explained that
acting in a tele-vision series as opposed to a feature-length film allows her to spend more time growing and developing her character.
Theater De-partment Mar-keting Director
Matthew Gilmore conducted the interview with Dorsey, then opened the floor to the au-dience for questions. Although the event was open all students, most of the audience con-sisted of around 40 theater majors.
Dorsey not only discussed her career, but also everything from approaching auditions to being on set.
“Being as close as we are to Hollywood, it’s awesome we can have these great artists come and share with the students,” Gilmore said. “I’m thankful that our students can gain insight from working professionals in the in-dustry now.”
Dorsey said to help combat her nerves while on set, she reminds herself that all suc-cessful actors - even the Brad Pitts of the world - had to begin somewhere.
Acting is her craft, something to be studied and mastered, Dorsey told the students. She did note, however, that acting is also some-thing to be enjoyed, advising the students to take a break if they ever reach a point of com-placency.
“She did a great job of making the profes-
sion sound more like a human experience,” senior theater major Taylor Wesselman said. “A lot of her training came while the cameras weren’t rolling because interacting with these people and hearing their stories was an unex-pected master class. I thought that the interview with Kerris was very enlightening.”
The students’ questions varied in nature, although many were about her experiences on set. When one student asked her to recount a favorite memory on the set of “Ray Donovan,” Dorsey shared a reminiscence of Jon Voight sitting down to tell her the story of auditioning for and filming “Midnight Cowboy.” Voight re-cently won the 2014 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor as Mickey Donovan in the show.
For more information about upcoming APU Theater events, check out www.facebook.com/AzusaPacificTheater.
Francesca Fromang courtEsyKerris dorsey (right) answers theater department marketing director matthew gilmore’s questions at the aPu Blackbox theater.
Theater Department hosts 16-year-old performer at monthly Q-and-A session
Raising money with fun performances
Tory Freethstaff writer
“Being as close as we are to Hollywood, it’s awesome we can have these great artists come and share with the students.”–Matthew Gilmore, theater department marketing director
When former APU adjunct pro-fessor and longtime pastor Ryan Bell decided to embark on an un-usual yearlong personal faith ex-periment, he didn’t realize how much of a stir he would create in the media and with Christians and atheists nationwide.
But after his opening letter declaring his “Year Without God” project was published on the Huff-ington Post Dec. 31, he has spent every day trying to keep up with what he described as a never-end-ing, exhausting influx of emails, tweets, Facebook messages, blog comments and other notifications.
“It’s emotional because people think they know you, and they say some pretty hurtful things at times. They ascribe motives to what I’m doing, like I’m just trying to cre-ate a media platform for myself, or I’m not sincere, it’s a stunt,” the 42-year-old told The Clause. “It’s so upsetting. I try to tell myself that it’s all part of the research; these responses are as interesting as the project itself.”
Bell grew up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, attended Christian colleges and has been a pastor his entire adult life. Most recently he served for eight years as a senior pastor at Hollywood Adventist Church, but was asked to step down last March.
Bell said his activism against Proposition 8, California’s ban on gay marriage, was a big part of why he was eventually asked to resign.
However, Larry Caviness, pres-ident of the Southern California Conference of Seventh-day Adven-tists, said in a statement emailed to The Clause that although issues with same-sex views may have contributed, they were not a major factor in in the conference’s deci-sion to ask Bell to resign.
After Bell lost his pastoral position, he was left teaching one class on cultural communication for APU’s Global Studies Depart-ment and one class for Fuller Semi-nary’s Doctor of Ministry program, both as an adjunct.
Bell formulated the idea for his yearlong project during a friendly conversation on philosophy and theism sometime between Christ-
mas and New Year’s Day.Bell said for the last two or
three years, he has been exploring a non-ontological approach to God - focusing on how to think about God, instead of the “being-ness” of God. Without any full-time work, he said if there were ever a time to explore these questions, it might as well be now.
“It would be a year without God, a year as an atheist, to sort of not force myself into theistic argu-
Former APU prof to try ‘Year Without God’
Russell Orrell courtEsyFormer aPu adjunct professor ryan Bell laughs as he speaks to friends about sunday assembly, a ‘church’ for atheists.
Ryan Bell sits down with The Clause to discuss his yearlong atheism explorationAnnie Z. Yueditor-in-chief
ments, and just let my questions be there, and explore them,” Bell said.
One of Bell’s former APU stu-dents, Amanda Eckersall, called Bell’s sudden trek into atheism “a little shocking.” The former senior graphic design major has since transferred to Citrus College, but recalled how Bell would often start his classes by handing out a pas-sage from Scripture.
“Of course I think it’s won-derful to explore different beliefs, but I just wonder how serious he’s going to take atheism,” Eckersall said. “I worry about him, spiritu-ally and financially.”
Bell’s story has been picked up by mainstream media such as the BBC, NPR, CNN, Religion News Service, Washington Post and oth-ers. An atheist blogger even set up a fundraising page for Bell, raising more than $27,000 so far. After in-tense public scrutiny and question-ing, Bell said he has been forced to clarify both to himself and others what his project really is, and that
it has evolved since he first an-nounced it last month.
For example, although he did write that he would not pray or read the Bible for inspiration. Now he stresses that those are merely consequences, not goals, of the project. His faith was much more robust than just praying and read-ing God’s Word, he said. And he said he’ll still read the Bible, but with “a different set of lenses.”
“It’s almost like the thing I’m
doing is stepping into the void. So it’s not about things I’m doing so much, but about being in a space where I don’t know what to do,” he said. “If God is not there actu-ally, and my belief in God is really about the effort to avoid the reality ... that God isn’t there, then a year without God is really about not fighting it. About not fighting that question, and allowing that ques-tion full room to roam.”
Bell will be blogging about his project throughout the year, as well as his plans to travel, meet with and interview both individual and groups of various atheists and the-ists. He said numerous people have “come out” to him as either serious agnostics or atheists, asking him spiritual questions and inviting him to be a part of their story.
“I said from the beginning this is one part journalism, one part spiritual journey,” Bell said. “I want to explore atheism in Amer-
ica from the inside. It’s really par-ticipant-observer research.”
Meanwhile, Bell is also hunt-ing for full-time work, preferably something writing-related that isn’t too overwhelming, since he is treating his “Year Without God” project as a part-time job in itself.
“Social justice, community en-gagement, social services type of jobs ... I think that would keep me connected to stuff I really care about. More than anything else, I’ve been a social justice activist,” he said.
Contrary to several media re-ports, Bell was not “fired” from his positions at APU and Fuller. Bell was on a semester-by-semes-ter contract for the two Christian universities, and had to sign a faith statement to renew each term.
“We find it as a very high value that our professors will encourage students spiritually [and] pray for students,” said Kurt Fredrickson, associate dean of Fuller’s Doctor
of Ministry program. “And Ryan, by his own admission, couldn’t do that for us.”
Ken Fong, a longtime pastor and former colleague of Bell’s at Fuller, said he is “[admiring Bell] from afar for being so honest.”
“I trust Ryan’s heart, to be motivated by things that are much more pure than not,” Fong said. “I’m enough of a pastor and a friend to not want to presuppose what a good outcome [of Ryan’s project] would be.”
Similarly, at APU, Bell said he had a “lovely conversation” with Dr. Donald Isaak, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Richard Robison, chair of the Global Studies Depart-ment, about his trek into atheism.
Isaak called Bell’s project in-teresting and “even courageous,” but that he personally thinks what Bell is doing is dangerous.
“If I’m mistaken I don’t mind being corrected, but as far as I understand it, he’s seeking for answers intentionally outside of God’s Word,” Isaak said.
The Rev. Kevin Mannoia reached out to Bell to connect af-ter he learned about Bell’s change in his spiritual journey. As APU’s full-time chaplain, Mannoia pro-vides spiritual support and en-couragement to the university’s graduate students and faculty/staff, much like what the campus pastors do for undergraduate students.
“These are tough moments for anybody, and his world has changed dramatically. ... I want to be available,” Mannoia said. “This is a very authentic time for him. He’s very sincere in his desire to pursue this project.”
Although Mannoia said faith without any doubt is never good, he would warn against having an antagonistic attitude.
“God welcomes the questions,” Mannoia said. “And be careful of doing it in isolation; don’t follow that path of questioning alone.”
Senior global studies major April Fautsch, a former student of Bell’s, described him as passionate and radical.
“If I had to picture one of my professors doing [this project], it would be him,” she said. “I wish him luck.”
Another former student, senior business management major Chris Duke, said he struggles to under-stand if Bell truly believed in God before, how he could completely cut God out of his life.
“I’d be interested to see how he’s doing in July,” Duke said. “I’m friends with him on Facebook and I’m constantly seeing his up-dates. ... I’m very excited to see where it will lead him and what God’s going to do with him over the next year.”
Bell is now several weeks into his atheistic journey and said he’s learning about terms such as an “agnostic theist” and “agnostic atheist.” He is “probably” some-where in between, he said. Reflect-ing on his journey so far, he said it has included elements of lone-liness, high pressure, clarity and freedom.
“There have been moments of real, ‘Oh, no, what have I done?’ kind of things,” he said. “[But] there’s also a feeling of immediacy ... living without the premise of a god really forces a person to deal with life as it presents itself to you right now. So someone asked me what do you believe in, and I said I believe in Zoe and Sophie, my daughters. That I know for sure.”
Ken Fong courtEsyBell, who is involved in several activist causes, speaks at an anti-gun violence conference on the steps of the los angeles city Hall a week after the 2012 Newtown, conn. shooting.
“It would be a year without God, a year as an atheist, to sort of not force myself into theistic arguments, and just let my questions be there, and explore them.”–Ryan Bell, former APU professor and lifelong pastor
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Students share their thoughts on the match-up with the NFL’s No. 1 defense, the Seahawks, against the No. 1 offense, the Broncos
Hanks, who will be rooting for the Se-ahawks, said rooting for her team has been a tradition from a young age.
“I’m hoping to go home to my family to watch the game because it’s such a huge tradition for me, and exciting because the Seahawks have never won the Super Bowl. Hopefully we will this year,” Hanks said.
Although Hanks says she likes the en-ergy of the whole team, her favorite player is quarterback Russell Wilson.
“He is really good and cute,” Hanks said. “He has really good aspects to the game running, throwing and he is really smart.”
Students speak: Super Bowl teams, traditionsKelyn Struiksmastaff writer
Kailey Hanks, JUNIOR APPLIED HEALTH MAJOR
Kelyn Struiksma PHoto
Kemp, who will be supporting the Se-ahawks, respects the passion with which the team continually plays. He said the Seahawks have a “1-0 mentality.”
Jeff Kemp, SENIOR APPLIED HEALTH MAJOR
Kelyn Struiksma PHoto
“It’s the ideal that every game they go into, their record is always one win and no losses, so every game there is no pressure be-cause ‘we’re the best team and we’re going to win,’” Kemp said.
The Seahawks are more than just a team to watch for Kemp. Quarterback Russell Wil-son serves not only as his favorite player, but also as a role model.
“He is more than just a football play-er,” Kemp said. “He is a Christian and has an amazing story about how he came to the faith when he was 14. He is someone I can look up to even though I have never played football.”
Kemp hopes the Seahawks will be able to combine their offense with their strong defense.
“If both can click, we will definitely win the Super Bowl,” said Kemp.
Lindsay Lee, SOPHOMORE CHEMISTRY MAJOR
Kelyn Struiksma PHoto
Lee, a 49ers fan, will be rooting for the Broncos out of spite against the Seahawks. Just weeks ago, the Seahawks triumphed in a 23-17 victory against San Francisco.
“It’s a big rivalry between the 49ers and the Seahawks, and I don’t want them [the Se-ahawks] to win,” said Lee.
Although the Broncos are not her team, Lee thinks they have a great chance of winning and she respects Peyton Manning.
“This might be one of his last years, so I feel like he should have his time to shine,” Lee said. “He’s a good football player and he shows that on and off the field.”
More than anything else, Lee is looking the “overall great atmosphere” the game brings.
Counts, a Seattle native, will be rooting for the Seahawks. With only one other Super Bowl performance, he is excited that they have another opportunity to compete for the title.
“It’s really exciting because this is the
Andrew Counts, SOPHOMORE SOCIAL WORK MAJOR
Kelyn Struiksma PHoto
dream match-up,” said Counts. “You have the AFC champions verses the NFC cham-pions. The No. 1 defense from the Seattle Seahawks, going up against the No. 1 of-fense, the Denver Broncos. That’s what you want to see; the two No. 1 teams going head to head.”
Cornerback Richard Sherman is one of Counts’ favorite players to watch, as he is “so good at what he does and does it with a sense of style.”
This Super Bowl, Counts will most like-ly be watching the game with friends and eating pizza, but explains how his passion for the Seahawks can quickly reduce his ap-petite.
“Usually there’s not a whole lot of eating because I’m real anxious and get really stressed out,” said Counts. “I pace around and there’s a lot of breath-ing techniques that happen. I’ll be in and out of the room, yelling at not always the appropriate times.”
Sean Janas, SENIOR BUSINESS ECON MAJOR
Kelyn Struiksma PHoto
Colorado native and lifelong Bronco fan Janas hopes that after years of just missing the mark, the Broncos can pull out a win and get a Super Bowl ring.
According to Janas, the Broncos de-serve to win because of the unrecognized talent they have. Cornerback Champ Bai-ley has been in the NFL for 14 years and has set various records, but this year Janas hopes that he can finally win a Super Bowl ring.
Janas also supports quarterback Pey-ton Manning’s skill and leadership and be-lieves if the Broncos win the Super Bowl, it would be a great “swan song” for Man-ning.
“As they say in the movie, ‘We ride to-gether, we die together, bad boys for life,’” said Janas. “I’ll always be a Bronco fan no matter what happens. Go Broncos!”
Freshmen: What we learned first semesterFreshmen share lessons learned, from researching professors to finding support on campus
Kimberlee Buckstaff writer
After a semester of experience under their belts, freshmen all over campus can feel a little more confident. They may still be figuring out their major, why so many people are barefoot or how not to flood a building, but they are starting to get this whole college thing figured out.
“Diversity is really what makes this place special and creates a community. The fact that we have a background with God, there is that initial love that we all have for each other that is really special. ... We may be all different but we all have God in us and we all share that love that creates that community.”
Edward ValdezBIOLOgY MAJORSMITH HALL
Kimberly Smith PHoto
“There so many resources on campus to get help, whether it’s the counseling center, campus pastors ... There are so many people [who] want to help you. If you reach out they won’t redirect you.”
Ellen Mayer
Kimberly Smith PHoto
CINEMATIC ARTS MAJORADAMS HALL
“Reading beforehand and doing your research on your pro-fessors helps a lot because everyone has different preferences ... ratemyprofessor.com is helpful.”
Breanna NavarroBIOCHEMISTRY MAJORENgSTROM HALL
Kimberly Smith PHoto
“You actually need your syllabus because in high school they didn’t matter as much, but now all of your assignments are in there, so it’s quite important.”
Jordan TuttlePSYCHOLOgY MAJORTRINITY HALL
Kimberly Smith PHoto
“You have to plan out tasks so that you don’t forget about them. Writing things down really helps.”
got Advice?WHAT DID YOU WISH YOU KNEW AS A FRESHMAN? TWEET @APUCLAUSE WITH YOUR BEST ADVICE AND YOU
MAY BE FEATURED IN OUR NExT ISSUE.
OpinionLegacy of Iraeli prime minister: hero or murderer?Despite Ariel Sharon’s war hero status with Israelis, he is responsible for countless innocent deathsJ. Yvette Tostadostaff writer
Scott Jacobopinion editor
Justine Jacob courtesyProtest art in Nabulus, Palestine decrying the separation wall between Israeli settlements and the West Bank.
Ariel Sharon passed away this month at 85, after suffering a stroke in 2006 and falling into a coma for eight years.
While the Israelis mourn their hero, Palestinians are glad the former prime minister died. This sparks a volatile controversy as onlookers ask themselves, “Whose side are we on as Americans, C h r i s t i a n s and individu-als?”
I s r a e l i s saw Sharon as a war hero because he helped de-feat Egypt in 1973, while Pa les t in ian Arabs see him as an enemy because of the 1982 Lebanon invasion when hundreds of men, women and chil-dren died in refugee camps.
Sharon was also accused of kill-ing 800 Palestinians in the supposed oversight of security troops stationed outside a Palestinian refugee camp. Due to this ethically fragmented de-cision, Sharon was forced to resign
as defense minister. If one were to ask an Israeli di-
rectly involved in Sharon’s history - or one who shares similar views of Israeli right to the Holy Land - to de-scribe the ex-prime minister’s legacy, their response may very well support the exoneration of a hero. The argu-ment would be that he was loyal to the Israeli nation and the people with-in it. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is responsible for the countless deaths of hundreds of innocent Pales-tinians, Lebanese and Egyptians.
R e f u g e e camps by defini-tion are estab-lished to provide solace from an increasingly bru-tal circumstance. Very few people in the APU com-munity can even fathom the con-ditions and over-whelming fear that come with being displaced
due to violence. It is essentially the most vulnerable place where a human being can be in this life. When a mas-sacre is allowed to pass through where human beings need to feel safe, there is very little room to see the bureau-cratic oversight as forgivable.
Initially my thoughts were neu-tral, until I waded through numerous articles and documentaries. Sharon
did some good for his people, but I soon realized that does not excuse the fact he also destroyed many fami-lies. Killing only provokes further bloodshed in the form of retaliation. Howard Zinn, in his book “A Peo-ple’s History of the United States,” wrote, “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”
There is something deeply complex and worrisome about Sharon’s heroic legacy, especially when considering the violent upris-ing between 2000 and 2005, which resulted in the deaths of 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis.
But unlike Palestinians, I will not celebrate Sharon’s death because, as Christians, we are not called to cel-ebrate the death of another child of God.
Ariel Sharon was an incredibly powerful leader: he had his values, his own beliefs, and he stood by them. He was known to not follow anyone’s rules but his own, which led the victory of the war in 1973. The Is-raelis valued him because of his role as a leader, how he led their country and what he brought to the Israelis in terms of political power and exten-sive land gains.
From an American point of view,
his death is an extremely sensitive is-sue because of the deep-seated ties our government has financially and militarily with Israel. While there is certified evidence of senseless kill-ings and even war crimes within Sharon’s career as a leader, Obama would never make negative state-ments against Sharon and possibly jeopardize the relationship between our nations.
Sharon did not shy away from his hardline values. His unwavering dedication to Israel and his people resulted in a legacy of victories, but at an astronomical cost of human life and freedom.
The flickering light of one man’s spiritual journeyFormer APU professor Ryan Bell’s year of atheism project shows lack of boldness to fight for his faithMarissa Blackstaff writer
Russell Orrell courtesyryan Bell has a discussion about sunday Assembly, a non-religious gathering for atheists.
Which is worse: leaving someone you no longer want to love, or to continue pretending to love? Should you let go of what already seems a lost cause and save further heartbreak, or is it better to fight for that person despite not really wanting to love?
Now apply your answer to a relationship more important than any person — what if the relationship in jeopardy were between you and God?
While this may sound like a plot line from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Ryan Bell —former pastor, ex-adjunct professor of intercultural communication at APU and a previous adjunct in the Doctor of Ministry
program at Fuller Seminary — battled this conundrum.
Bell used to be a pastor at Hollywood Adventist Church, but after he was fired last March, he ultimately chose what the Christian Post calls “flirting with unbelief” in choosing to live a year of atheism rather than settle for a faith he didn’t consider his own.
“So, I’m making it official and embark-ing on a new journey. I will ‘try on’ atheism for a year. For the next 12 months, I will live as if there is no God. I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstanc-es,” Bell wrote in a blog post published on the
Huffington Post Dec. 31.I don’t believe Bell’s decision to live as an
atheist for a year stemmed from some deep-seated hatred of Christianity or of God’s people. I believe it was a direct result of what is proving to be the biggest enemy of all Christians: apa-thy. Instead of confronting his doubts and mak-ing an effort to mend his relationship with God, he dismisses it all together.
While other religions can aggressively try to snuff out our lights, apathy lets them burn out leisurely, slowly adjusting our eyes until we become comfortable with darkness. This apathy led to Bell’s desire for something fresh, something else to believe. Just like passively dating someone with no intentions can make
you jump at the opportunity to meet someone different and new, living passively in our faiths bores us; it leaves us uncommitted and unin-terested.
I think too often Christians would rather settle for what Revelation calls a “lukewarm” Christianity. We don’t like to face the reality that our faith has been marooned on an island of stagnancy, left to rot without the nourishment it needs.
I believe we can become lax in our worship, engaging our bodies but refusing to budge our hearts and minds. We can become lax in our involvement with the body of believers, telling ourselves that chapel counts as church because the body is the body no matter where we go, right?
We can become lax in our genuineness, “going through the motions” as it were, with no intention of growing. The most terrifying discovery we can make as Christians is to re-alize that the actor we’ve been watching put on a convincing character is our self. Scrip-ture supports questioning and testing of our faith, commanding us not to just passively accept our beliefs without ever doubting. We are human and thus prone to skepticism and questions.
Second Corinthians 13:5 says to “examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified” (NKJV). Scripture encourages us to not settle in our beliefs. We are not called to live comfortably in our faith, but to be con-stantly challenged by it.
I support Bell in his decision to admit his shortcomings. I believe his recognition of his weakened faith is admirable, but his resulting plan of action is not. He lacks the boldness to fight for his Father, his faith, his future. When faith seems fragile, we can’t try to fix it by our-selves. We will only smash it. Give it to some-one who can repair it. Give it to the Healer.
“There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.”–Howard Zinn, author of “A People’s History of the United States”
We don’t like to face the reality that our faith has been marooned on an island of stagnancy, left to rot without the nourishment it needs.
Sherman controversy is an overreaction caused by mediaStar NFL player makes some strong comments but they can be forgiven
Kaity Bergquiststaff writer
The reaction to Richard Sher-man’s postgame comments is unnec-essary. Athletes are going to bring a level of intensity to their game that is unlike any other, and they should not be punished for it.
Jan. 19, the Seattle Seahawks played the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game. There was a lot at stake; one team was going to the Super Bowl and one was not. The focus after the game should have been on the winning team - the Se-ahawks earned the 23-17 victory - but it was not. It was on some spur-of-the-moment, pure reaction, all-out-intensity quotes made by Seahawks cornerback Sherman.
When Sherman was interviewed by Fox News reporter Erin Andrews moments after the game ended, he was fired up. He had just completed a thrilling block of the football in the end zone that caused an interception that gave the Seahawks a win. That play gave them the Super Bowl spot. Immediately after the play, he ran over to 49ers receiver Michael Crab-tree, for whom the football had been intended, and tried to congratulate him on the game. Crabtree pushed
him in the face and ignored his at-tempts for a handshake.
This slight prompted his inter-view. “I’m the best cornerback in the game,” Sherman said, screaming and jumping around. “When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crab-tree, that’s the result you are going to get. Don’t you ever talk about me. ... Don’t you open your mouth about the best, or I’m going to shut it for
you real quick.”This was obviously not the most
well thought-out response. But he later cooled down a bit and reflected on his heated statements.
“If you catch me in the moment on the field when I am still in that zone, when I’m still as competitive as I can be and I’m trying to be in the place where I have to be to do every-thing I can to be successful ... and
help my team win, then it’s not going to come out as articulate, as smart, as charismatic - because on the field I’m not all those things,” Sherman told CNN in an interview Jan. 21.
What was most surprising about this incident was the reaction. Thousands took to social media to criticize Sherman for his comments, and many derogatory terms and racial slurs were used.
This is not right. Sure, he prob-
ably should have been watching what he was saying, but he was in the mo-ment. What he said didn’t hurt any-one. Crabtree might have felt threat-ened by his statement, but what came out of Sherman’s mouth was fueled by an intense game and some bad blood between the men. Just because someone has a moment showing some emotion in a public sphere does not mean the person deserves to be at-tacked for character or race.
Take, for example, Muhammad Ali, a very successful athlete who said many controversial things in his career, in fact, much worse than what Sherman said. When asked about one of his opponents, Ali said, “Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bureau of Wildlife.”
These kinds of childish attacks were prevalent throughout Ali’s ca-reer, yet even his bitter rival George Foreman declared that he was “a prophet, a hero, a revolutionary.”
This situation can even be com-pared with the recent arrest of Justin Bieber. In that situation, a huge pub-lic reaction is completely justified. Bieber was breaking the law and cre-ating a situation that could have been dangerous to innocent people. All Sherman did was show some passion after a game.
Some people found his rant to be a distraction from the attention that should have been given to his team-mates after their big win. The blame should be deflected to the media as well as those on social media. We are the ones that make things like this go viral, but we also have the power to see it as it really is: a hyper-passion-ate moment after a big game.
Scott Jacob grAPhIcBased on a survey of 50 APU students
Sports
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Execution and the little thingsWith season half over, Cougars look to make adjustments and move up in conference ranks
The Azusa Pacific men’s basket-ball team stands with a 10-6 overall record and a 6-4 conference record at the halfway point of the season after an impressive victory Friday night to stop the conference-best California Baptist Lancers from a perfect season.
The Cougars’ performance dur-ing the first half of the season was shaky. After their 20-point win over Cal State Dominguez Hills in their home opener, they lost the next two games at home against Cal Poly Po-mona and Biola. A week later, they won back-to-back games against Alaska Fairbanks and Northwest Nazarene (Idaho), but began confer-ence play with two losses against Dominican and Notre Dame de Namur, respectively.
The Cougars recently went on a five-game home winning streak that was snapped by Dixie State on Mon-day, Jan. 20.
“It’s been eventful. We’ve had some injuries, some tough losses, but all in all, I like how we’re com-peting and playing,” head coach Justin Leslie said. “We’re compet-ing at a high level. We just have to continue to grind out and do those little things that are the difference between winning and losing.”
The Cougars’ two starting guards, juniors Troy Leaf and Rob-ert Sandoval, possess the ball the majority of the time. Directly after a rebound, they push the ball up the floor and either take it themselves, find a teammate for an open shot, and run the pick-and-roll or the few offensive sets they run. Leaf leads the Pacific West Conference in scor-ing, averaging 18.9 points per game, leading Hawai’i Pacific junior guard Justin Long by just 0.1 points.
Steven Mercadosports editor
Leaf said the Cougars had a lot of tough breaks in the first half of the season. According to Leaf, a number of the games they lost could have been wins if they had buckled down and made smarter plays.
“Staying focused throughout an entire game [is key]. If you take a minute-and-a-half, two-minute stretch out of a game, we win those games,” Leaf said. “We need to be able to maintain our consistency throughout a game and not only have spurts of consistency.”
The Cougars point to their de-fense as one of their main early struggles. Leaf talked about incon-sistencies early in the season and said inconsistent defense caused issues for the team.
But lately things have picked up, particularly the defense, he said.
“I think we started really incon-sistently, but I think we’re starting to come together and starting to learn how to play with each other,” Leaf said. “I think if we take where we’re at now and put that seven or eight games ago, we would be a lot happier
with where we are at.”One of the key contributors to
the improving defense is sophomore forward Sharif Watson. The inten-sity he brings on the court ignites his teammates to bring the pressure to opposing teams.
“I personally try to do my best every play to keep the ball from go-ing into the rim. If that means taking a charge, getting a block or bodying up, I’ll do it,” Watson said.
Watson and senior forward Ty-ler Monroe provide the majority of the scoring on the inside for the Cougars. Watson averages 9.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, leads the team in blocks with 27, is sec-ond in steals with 21, and is shooting 64.5 percent from the field. Monroe averages 12.2 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, and is shooting 54.7 percent for the season.
Leslie said the team’s inside scorers need to make difficult shots around the basket, the shooters need to sink shots when they are open and the team as a whole needs to consis-tently execute the “little things.”
“Fifty/fifty balls, executing scouting reports, and game prepara-tions are some of the little things,” Leslie said. “Those little things are the difference and we’re making steps, but I think it’s fair to say that’s a key for us.”
Everything came together on Friday night’s contest against the conference juggernaut Cal Baptist Lancers. The team came to the Fe-lix Event Center undefeated with a 16-0 record before the Cougars stunned the Lancers with a 78-65 victory.
As the players look forward to the second half of the season, Leslie is excited for what lies ahead.
“All in all, the team is doing really well,” Leslie said. “They’re learning, they’re tougher and they’ve been a lot more mature. It’s all part of the process, but it’s been a lot of fun.”
With 10 games remaining in the regular season, the Cougars’ win over the Lancers might be what they need to push them into a hot streak to close the season.
Steven Mercado PhotoJunior guard troy leaf looks to lead the cougars over the opposition in the second half of the season as he did on this fallaway jumpshot against the dixie state red storm monday, Jan. 20.
Steven Mercado PhotoJunior guard Allison greene and the rest of the cougars are able to endure hits and contact like greene did against the dixie state red storm on monday, Jan. 20 due to their increased strength and endurance from their crossfit training regimen.
This workout regimen gave the team a whole body workout that was entertaining, well liked and benefi-cial in producing top-shape players with the ability to outhustle most of the competition they play.
“[CrossFit]’s different than just standing and lifting weights or just straight running. It combines a lot of different movements, which is what basketball is. It’s more realistic to a basketball game, or things you have to do in a basketball game,” Foley said.
Junior forward Allison Greene,
CrossFit boosts level of performance for CougarsCougars adopt different training method to build strengthcROSSfiT, from Pg. 1
a player who transferred from Division I school Portland State this year, applauds the results that CrossFit has produced.
“I think CrossFit has been great for our whole team. Just helping us get in shape … I don’t feel as winded when I play,” Greene said. “I think it’s not just a fatigue thing, but it’s a mental thing.”
Foley was one of the coaches who pieced together this workout program. She implemented her CrossFit workouts and helped ad-just them to the needs of her team.
The Cougars are making no-ticeable gains this year. Last year around this time, their record was 7-3 in conference; now, it is 9-1.
“As much as anything else, it just brought a competitive nature,” Hardeman said. “I definitely think we will continue to do it.”
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The Cougars (10-6, 6-4) begin the second half of the season with a four-game road trip that begins with three games at the Hawaiian Islands. They cap off the trip with another rematch against the rival Cal Baptist Lancers.
■ THURSdaY, JaN. 30BYU-HaWaii @ LAIE, HAWAIIThe all-time series between the Cougars and the Seasiders is tied, 1-1.
■ SaTURdaY, feB. 1HaWai’i pacific @ HonoLuLu, HAWAIIThe all-time series between the Cougars and the Sea Warriors is tied, 3-3.
■ MONdaY, feB. 3cHaMiNade @ HonoLuLu, HAWAIIThe Cougars are 0-2 against the Silverswords all-time.
■ SaTURdaY, feB. 8califORNia BapTiST @ rIvErsIdE, cALIf.Following the Cougars’ recent 78-63 upset over the conference-leading Lancers, the rivals are set to face off in another heated contest. The Cougars lead the all-time series, 73-26.
Tennis program seeks strong competitionWith season starting Saturday, men’s and women’s teams look to stay competitive against opponents this yearSteven Mercadosports editor
Following a 23-2 national cham-pionship year for the men’s ten-nis team and an 18-8 season for the women’s tennis team that ended with a NCCAA semifinal loss to Fresno Pacific, the Azusa Pacific tennis pro-gram is preparing for its final season before full NCAA eligibility.
The men’s tennis team will be without two of its top players from last season. Former captain Jochem Hoefnagels graduated and Ben Eger will be redshirting this season. Soph-omore Jan Meyer and junior Gary Yam return to the team as top play-ers for the Cougars this season. The roster consists of four newcomers, including a sophomore transfer from Eastern Washington, Tomas Aran-guiz.
Head coach Mark Bohren said this season is going to be much different from last season, with a few seniors gone and several newcomers arriving.
“It’s impossible to repeat what we did last year. We didn’t lose a match in the NAIA last year until the national championships,” Bohren said. “Expectations are like they are every year — to be our very best by
the end of the season.”Senior and team captain Freddy
Wilkens is taking Hoefnagels’ spot as the top player and the senior leader for the Cougars. He had a 19-7 sin-gles record last year and earned All-PacWest Second Team Singles hon-
ors. Bohren said he is excited about Wilkens’ ability to be an effective leader for the team this season.
“[Freddy] has an amazing abil-ity to lead the guys by example out there, and that leadership will, just like last year with Jochem, win us a
few matches, calm us when things are difficult, and pull us through some of those really close dual matches,” Bohren said.
Wilkens, the only senior on the active roster, said he takes his role model position on the team seriously.
“For myself, I always try to stay on top of things, I always try to orga-nize everything, I try to do the best I can to help everyone out and to lead the team the best that I can,” he said.
Meyer, last season’s PacWest co-Freshman of the Year, and Yam are returners who, according to Bohren, will carry the men through the lengthy dual matches. The team’s good shape will keep the squad from adversity relating to fatigue.
“We put a lot of time and effort into [conditioning], so that always helps in those really long, 3 1/2 hour matches where guys are playing and conditioning comes to be a part of it,” Bohren said. “We might even win a match or two off that strength — off of our ability to be physically fit and ready to compete for long periods.”
The women’s tennis team is es-sentially the same as last year’s, aside from losing one player and adding freshman Natalie Johnson. Bohren said he wants the team to be success-ful, but more than anything, he wants to stay competitive.
“The wins and losses are not that important to me. We’re trying to build each day to get a little bit bet-ter,” Bohren said. “The girls, one of their expectations as a group is to be competitive in every match. Whether we’re better than the other team or not as good, they’re going to go out there and compete their hardest.”
Out of the eight players on the roster, four are experienced seniors, which Bohren said makes “a huge difference.”
“I just think, as a coach, it’s a lot of fun to have seniors,” Bohren said. “They’re very well behaved, they know what to do, they’re on time, they know exactly what to expect, there’s no real surprises for them, so it’s a really relaxed group of girls.”
Senior captain Emily Harris is will be leading the team for the sec-ond straight year. Her combined singles and doubles record was 31-12 last season and she received All-PacWest Second Singles team honors and All-PacWest Second Doubles team honors alongside junior team-mate Danae Ingwaldson.
Bohren is thankful to have a leader like Harris on the team and said “nobody is better and [more] du-rable” than the senior captain.
“She’s a perfect role model for the girls, being able to fill that good presence at No. 1 singles that she brings,” Bohren said. “A heck of a tennis player. I always say she’s a good tennis player, but she’s a better person.”
Harris said she is ready to lead her teammates and like last year, is honored to take this position. She is a player who leads by example through her performance during practices and matches.
According to Harris, the team has great chemistry and she is excited to play alongside her teammates and make memories during her last season.
apU Sports information courtesyfollowing a championship year, senior captain freddy Wilkens looks to compete hard and lead the men to another successful season.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Visit apu.edu/cdl/, or APU’s mobile app the week of the event, for the full schedule.
Featured Keynote Speaker:
Kara Powell, Ph.D. Fuller Youth Institute
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for the full article, visit www.theclause.org/sports
Cougar baseball ready to ‘bring the steam’erica Knudsenstaff writer
Young softball team prepares for new season
The Azusa Pacific baseball team is ready to start its new season with a double header on Saturday, Feb. 1 against Cal State San Bernardino at the Cougar Baseball Field.
“The attitude our team has every year is what we call ‘bringing steam.’ This means a lot of energy, focus and enthusiasm on the field,” senior pitch-er Hunter Brown said.
With 16 freshmen and nine trans-fers this season, the players are well-balanced. They have dominant mem-bers in pitching, offense and defense that will increase their chances of win-ning the conference title.
“I think what we are most excit-ed for is just to play an actual game with the new group of guys,” senior pitcher Jacob Cage said. “We’ve been practicing for about six months now, and I think everybody is just ready to play and have fun.”
The Cougars have been work-ing hard for several months with 6 a.m. practices three times a week and scrimmages four times a week dur-ing the offseason. They ended their season last year with a record of 19-30, but they won nine in a row at the
The junior communication studies major transferred to Azusa Pacific last fall from Long Beach State, where she also played basketball and was part of a Division I program on a full-ride scholarship.
At Long Beach State, Valles was teammates with former Cougar guard Amanda Sims, who transferred to APU the year before Valles did. After Valles played for Long Beach an ad-ditional year, she decided it was not the place for her. She talked with Sims and decided to give APU a shot.
Transferring from a Cal State University to a private Christian uni-versity was a huge culture shock for Valles. Not only did she have to adapt to mandatory chapel requirements and a Christian worldview, but it was also a change to switch from Division I to Division II.
“Here at APU, people really care about your well-being, whereas in Long Beach, I just felt like a number,”
finish. They plan on using that same determination to win conference this year.
“Last year, we were young and still learning, but our optimistic atti-tude going into each game has never changed,” Brown said.
The goal for the Cougars this sea-son is to come together as a team and continue to stay positive through suc-cesses and failures alike. Their main concern is making sure each player is handling adversity in a professional way and giving his best effort each time on the field.
“We want to be consistent with our process of handling things, and we really believe if we have a good process, practice [the] right way and a maintain a good attitude, then the wins and the losses will take care of themselves,” head coach Paul Svag-dis said.
Moving from the NAIA to NCAA Division II has not affected the Cou-gars dramatically. Their training has been changed in different areas, but the competition and skill level have been consistent in the transition to Di-vision II, leaving the pressure behind.
“The one difference between NAIA and Division II is just putting in the extra hours to become that much better,” Cage said.
The new pitching coach, John Verhoeven, has also contributed to the new training this season, with his past experience as head coach at Bi-ola University and as a former Major League Baseball player.
“I think people assume our poor results last year was because of our move to Division II, but I would say that wasn’t the case,” Svagdis said. “I think we just have more opportunities available to us now that we’re Divi-sion II.”
The coaches do not want the play-ers to only play baseball well, but also to become respectful men. With each season that passes, the players are learning new ways to improve their baseball skills, along with lessons they can use for the rest of their lives.
“[Svagdis] puts having a great character above being a great baseball player, which I love,” senior outfielder Joseph Daris said. “I wouldn’t want to play for any other head coach.”
The team is more than ready to start the 2014 season and wants as much support as it can get from the Azusa Pacific community.
“When you walk out on the field and they’re practicing hard every day, have a good attitude, and believe in themselves regardless, as a coach that’s all you can ask for,” Svagdis said.
Going into its second season as an NCAA team, the Azusa Pa-cific softball team is looking for-ward to making an impact in its conference.
The team joined the Pacific West Conference as a Division II NCAA team last season and fin-ished its season with a 23-24 over-all record and a 12-18 conference record. The team will not have playoff eligibility in the NCAA until next year, but the squad did play a role in determining the final playoff spots by winning games against teams like Grand Canyon at the end of the season.
The team lost 11 seniors this year, leaving behind a small group of underclassmen and many holes to fill.
“It’s hard to replace 11 girls when that’s even more than a team,” head coach Carrie Webber said. “Nine of those 11 had been with us for four years, so that’s a big loss for us.”
Junior outfielder Sona Ba-bayan said losing that many play-ers made things noticeably differ-ent this year.
“You kind of have expecta-tions in the beginning, but we came out strong in the preseason and showed a lot of potential and just meshed really well together and really quickly,” Babayan said.
Webber said the Cougars re-cruited four freshman and four transfers for the team this season.
“The loss is hard, but it also gives us the opportunity to bring in new talent and really develop the program and take it to bigger heights,” Webber said.
Kaity Bergquiststaff writer
After losing 11 seniors last season, team looks to younger players to pick up leadership roles
Webber said at the beginning of last season, the Cougars weren’t sure how the level of competition would change in the new division. They quickly found out that the competi-tion was better and more consistent, which led to adjustments for the team. Players also felt they were at a disadvantage because they were un-familiar with their opponents, but this season they are more prepared.
“Last year we had a lot of one-run games, and this year we’ll win a lot of those one-run games instead of losing them,” Webber said.
Babayan said that the transition to the NCAA is exciting.
“It’ll be challenging, but I think we can do really well against the teams,” Babayan said.
The strongest aspect of the team this year is the hitting, according to Webber. Last season the team collec-tively batted .269 with 134 RBIs. She pointed to Babayan, junior second baseman Katrina Oviedo and junior center fielder Renae Chappelle as the upperclassmen who should be big contributors to the team this season.
“We’re looking to them to really lead the team on and off the field,” Webber said.
On the pitching side, there are only three pitchers on the team this year.
apU Sports information courtesyJunior second baseman Katrina oviedo, one of the teams leading returners, looks to help power the cougars through a new year.
Holly Magnuson courtesyWith a year of Pacific West Conference experience under its belt, the Azusa Pacific baseball team looks to bounce back with a stronger all-around team.
Valles said. “My coaches here care a lot more about us, and I think it is just a more positive atmosphere.”
Valles was elected captain her first year as a Cougar, and her peers and coaches believe she will stay a leader on the team while she finishes her edu-cation at APU.
“Sendy is a very vocal leader and obviously really good at basketball,” junior guard Katie Powell said. “She is a smart player because she thinks through things before she acts and has a lot of knowledge when it comes to basketball.”
Her teammates and coaches de-scribe her as reliable, looking to her to come through if something needs to happen in the last minutes of the game.
“I think Sendy is consistent; she is definitely one of our best players,” assistant coach Danielle Foley said. “She knows that one of the main goals on the team is to score points and she does that consistently.”
Whether it’s a win or loss, Valles takes responsibility for her mistakes during the game and leaves the court
determined to improve.“I think it’s awesome we come
from different places, and she has a lot of basketball experience from past schools,” junior center and captain Emily Nordberg said. “So, bringing together ideas from differ-ent schools and pasts is always a good thing because we are creating a new culture on how we want the team to look.”
This season there were seven re-turning women and seven new ones on the team.
“Sendy has done really well living up to her expectations on and off the court, things like school, chapel, and practice,” Nordberg said. “Instead of sitting back and refusing to adapt to the culture here, she has definitely em-braced these things.”
The Cougars are currently 9-1 in conference play and are half a game behind the Academy of Arts in San Francisco.
Valles and her teammates have played well and need to maintain their current level of play if they hope to win the conference.
“We need people that can score baskets and Sendy has definitely
for the full article, visit www.theclause.org/sports
Steven Mercado PhotoJunior forward sendy Valles creates a variety of different scoring opportunities, such as attacking the basket like she did against the dixie state red storm monday, Jan. 20.
pROfile
Sendy Valles makes her markerica Knudsenstaff writer
Kimberly Smith PhotoSenior jumper and short sprinter Sameer Sedam placed third in long jump, first in the 4x400 relay and registered one qualifying finish in the 60-meter dash out of 49 total qualifying finishes in saturday, Jan. 25’s indoor qualifying meet.
After the men won the national title last year, the entire team looks to continue building the program’s legacyTaylor Schablaskestaff writer
As the Azusa Pacific men’s and women’s track & field teams enter the 2014 season as their final year of competition before they become full members of the NCAA, coaches and athletes are striving to carry on the winning traditions of APU track & field.
Several key Cougar athletes are redshirting this season, which will allow them to save eli-gibility for NCAA competition next season and years following. This year’s redshirts include top men’s sprinter sophomore Remontay Mc-Clain and senior multi-event participant Me-gan VanWinkle on the women’s team. Despite the absence of several key players, athletes are still expecting to be competitive on the national level this season.
“I’m hoping to see people, including my-self, step up and become better athletes so we can start our first NCAA season off with a bang,” VanWinkle said. “I want people to know our name and know that we are a force to be reckoned with.”
Before next season’s NCAA debut, this sea-son holds many expectations.
“We have a solid group of juniors and se-niors that will be competing that will still have the ability to do really well,” men’s head coach Kevin Reid said. “David Schulte is coming back as a defending champion in both indoor and out-door 400s; we’re going to have good relays. It’s going to be a solid year.”
Another key returning athlete who will be
competing for a national championship is se-nior jumper and short sprinter Sameer Sedam. As defending National Christian College Ath-letic Association Champions, Sedam fully ex-pects both teams to be right back at that level this season.
“We have many athletes that are full of ex-perience at the big stage as well as freshmen and transfers who are eager to show off their God-given abilities at a high level,” Sedam said. “Given our state of training and state of mind, stacked on top of the rich winning tradi-tions of Azusa Pacific track & field, we all fully believe we will bring more national champion-ships home to APU.”
The Cougars hosted their first meet of the 2014 season on Saturday. At the indoor events qualifier meet, the Cougars put up 49 marks that met the NCCAA indoor national championship standards.
During the meet, 37 Cougar athletes regis-tered at least one NCCAA qualifying mark, in-cluding 11 who were able to qualify in multiple events. Overall, the women accounted for 21, while the men added 16.
For the men, standout performers were senior mid-distance Riley McKee, who ran a 1:55.37 in the 800 meters, and sophomore sprinter Ronald Douglas, who ran a 22.10 in the 200 meters, both of which would be provisional qualifiers for NCAA Division II competition.
For the women’s team, the top performers of the day were senior hurdler Jordan Chesley (60 meters, 60 meter hurdles), senior mid-dis-tance runner Diandra Carstensen (800 meters, mile) and junior transfer Amber Panapa (weight throw, shot put).
The Cougars’ next meet will take place Saturday, Feb. 1 at Westmont College in Santa Barbara.
The Azusa Pacific Track & Field team will participate in three more meets before going to the NCCAA Indoor National Championships on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21-22.
