THE SPECTATOR Thursday, April 5, 2012 www.spectatornews.com Advertising Office : (715) 836-4366 [email protected]Editorial Office : (715) 836-4416 [email protected]The official student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire since 1923 Vol. 90 No. 24 After 15 DECA members qualified for nationals, five will represent them in Salt Lake City in two weeks. On to nationals 4A NEWS International advice Online @ www.spectatornews.com : 3B OPINION Columnist argues that organic products don’t help the environ- ment as much as people think. Don’t go organic Juror’s choice >> CURRENTS, 2B >> STUDENT LIFE, 6B 13 - 4 SOFTBALL BLASTS UW-PLATTEVILLE IN GAME TWO EDITORIAL Staff writer Alex Zank says the Supreme Court should rule in favor of the health care law. Say yes to health care Contact: MULTIMEDIA Audio slideshow: Rick Santorum visits Eau Claire 55th annual Juried Art Show opens in Foster Gallery CAL MCNEIL/The Spectator Freshman AJ Lawton submits his voting ballot on April 3 in Davies Center. The Republican primary and local level and school board elections were also held throughout the day. There is an apparent low bidder for the construction of the new education building, a process that took place on March 15. Miron Construction, out of Neenah, will now enter into negotiations with the Division of State Facilities to enter a con- tract to build the new education building, according to a university news release. The bid was $30.83 million. Assistant Chancellor for Facilities Mike Rindo said construction is set to begin on June 1 and the building is scheduled to be be open for classes by spring 2014. This will be the first new building on campus fully funded through state tax dol- lars. The $44.5 million project was includ- ed in the 2011-2013 state budget. The beginning of the construction pro- cess can already be seen on campus with many of the trees on the campus mall be- ing cut down recently. Duax, Johnson win close school board race Tuesday’s voter turnout considered average By Emily Gresbrink NEWS EDITOR Bidder found for education building Negotiations of contract with Neenah company begin; construction set to start June 1 More than 20,000 Eau Claire County residents stepped into the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots in the race for school boards, judges, mayoral candidates and the GOP primary race. Incumbent Kerry Kincaid was re-elected City Council president with 60 percent of the votes. For the sought-after Eau Claire school board positions, Wendy Sue Johnson and Kathryn Duax were the two winners, according to Eau Claire County elec- tion results. County Clerk Janet Loomis said 25 percent of eligible voters in the county cast ballots on Tuesday, which she said was not surprising. “I expected that kind of turnout, or perhaps a little better,” she said. “We had a pretty hot Altoona may- oral race as well as for those two Eau Claire school board spots.” Nationwide, eyes turned again to the state when news outlets predict- ed that Wisconsin was the potential end of the GOP presidental nomi- nation race. Alexander Burns of Politico said, “Wisconsin is the mar- quee prize, and the triumph most likely to push the GOP nomination fight toward conclusion.” The GOP race for Wisconsin, though, was somewhat close — the two major candidates landed within 5 percent of each other, with 42.5 percent of votes going to Mitt Rom- ney and 37.6 to Rick Santorum, ac- cording to the National Public Radio GOP primary map. Eau Claire County did not reflect the state’s decision of Romney, with Santorum snagging 39.4 precent of votes, compared to Romney’s 36.1. Additionally, Ron Paul fared well in Eau Claire County, with 13.3 percent of the votes. Freshman Danielle Decock stepped into the polling area on Tuesday for the first time to vote af- ter being reminded by a political sci- ence professor of the primary. Local child gets his wish granted UW-Eau Claire math program receives grant By Alex Zank STAFF WRITER Seven year-old Greyson Tib- bits of Eau Claire wished to go to Disney World - and had his wish granted. He celebrated his “big wish day” at Cold Stone Creamery with a party thrown for him by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and on March 18th the family left for Florida. Now, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will host a benefit concert for Tibbits at 7 p.m. on Thursday night in Schofield Auditorium. Junior Kally Luck, a member of Leadership Circles, said people should consider coming to the Thursday night concert to make a difference in someone’s life. “Those opportunities are presented to you all the time, but maybe you don’t take advantage of them,” Luck said. “This is something fun for yourself, and you get to see whose life you are making a difference in.” Tibbits has been living with a rare heart condition called subaortic stenosis. The disease causes a narrowing of the left ventricle of the heart just below the aortic valve, according to the Mayo Clinic. This in turn cuts flow of blood resulting in side effects that can range from mild to life threatening. The narrow- ing tends to progress as the af- fected grows older and can lead to a required surgery. In Tibbits’ life, this is the case — he will undergo an upcoming surgery, potentially on route to a disease free and healthy life. Benefit concert held by organization raises funds to help boy go to Disney World By Brian Roberts STAFF WRITER A UW-Eau Claire program meant to generate more interest in mathematics among Hmong high school students re- ceived a $4,057 grant from the Mathematics Association of America. The Opportunities for Outstanding Mathematics Performance for Hmong Stu- dents has received the Tensor-SUMMA: Strengthening Underrepresented Minority Mathematics Achievement grant for three consecutive years. Manda Riehl, Eau Claire assistant pro- fessor of mathematics and director of the OOMPH program, said the program is designed to get Hmong high school students more interested in mathematics with the hope that they will take more mathemat- ics courses when they get to college. “The majority of mathematicians are white men, and women are get- ting more and more … positions of influ- ence in mathematics,” Riehl said. “But we’re still really not there yet in terms of attract- ing underrepresented minorities to math- ematics and making sure that we can create a system that makes sure underrepresented minorities achieve in mathematics.” She said the OOMPH program tries to get students more interested in math by making fun games out of math concepts. “We’re asking them to show up and do mathematics outside of school, so we have to make sure it’s something they’re going to want to do,” Riehl said. By Haley Zblewski NEWS EDITOR Program aims to increase Hmong participation Riehl See MATH, page 4A See WISH, page 2A See CONSTRUCTION, page 2A See ELECTION, page 2A “This is something fun for yourself, and you get to see whose life you are making a difference in.” KALLY LUCK Junior GRAPHIC BY BRIAN MILLER/The Spectator Peer advisers, like senior Jade Schantzen, help students prepare for their study abroad experience.
Transcript
THE SPECTATORThursday, April 5, 2012 www.spectatornews.com
The official student newspaper of the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire since 1923
Vol. 90 No. 24
After 15 DECA members qualified for nationals, five will represent them
in Salt Lake City in two weeks.
On to nationals4ANEWS
International advice
Online @ www.spectatornews.com :
3BOPINION
Columnist argues that organic products don’t help the environ-ment as much as people think.
Don’t go organicJuror’s choice
>> CURRENTS, 2B>> STUDENT LIFE, 6B
13 - 4SOFTBALL BLASTS UW-PLATTEVILLE IN GAME TWO
EDITORIAL
Staff writer Alex Zank says the Supreme Court should rule in favor of the health care law.
Say yes to health care
Contact:MULTIMEDIA
Audio slideshow: Rick Santorum
visits Eau Claire
55th annual Juried Art Show opens in Foster Gallery
CAL MCNEIL/The SpectatorFreshman AJ Lawton submits his voting ballot on April 3 in Davies Center. The Republican primary and local level and school board elections were also held throughout the day.
There is an apparent low bidder for the construction of the new education building, a process that took place on March 15.
Miron Construction, out of Neenah, will now enter into negotiations with the Division of State Facilities to enter a con-tract to build the new education building, according to a university news release. The bid was $30.83 million.
Assistant Chancellor for Facilities Mike Rindo said construction is set to begin on June 1 and the building is scheduled to be be open for classes by spring 2014.
This will be the first new building on campus fully funded through state tax dol-lars. The $44.5 million project was includ-ed in the 2011-2013 state budget.
The beginning of the construction pro-cess can already be seen on campus with many of the trees on the campus mall be-ing cut down recently.
Duax, Johnson win close school board raceTuesday’s voter turnout considered average
By Emily GresbrinkNEWS EDITOR
Bidder found for education buildingNegotiations of contract with Neenah company begin; construction set to start June 1
More than 20,000 Eau Claire County residents stepped into the polls on Tuesday to cast their ballots in the race for school boards, judges, mayoral candidates and the GOP primary race.
Incumbent Kerry Kincaid was re-elected City Council president with 60 percent of the votes. For the sought-after Eau Claire school board positions, Wendy Sue Johnson and Kathryn Duax were the two winners, according to Eau Claire County elec-tion results.
County Clerk Janet Loomis said 25 percent of eligible voters in the county cast ballots on Tuesday, which she said was not surprising.
“I expected that kind of turnout, or perhaps a little better,” she said. “We had a pretty hot Altoona may-oral race as well as for those two Eau Claire school board spots.”
Nationwide, eyes turned again to the state when news outlets predict-
ed that Wisconsin was the potential end of the GOP presidental nomi-nation race. Alexander Burns of Politico said, “Wisconsin is the mar-quee prize, and the triumph most likely to push the GOP nomination fight toward conclusion.”
The GOP race for Wisconsin, though, was somewhat close — the two major candidates landed within 5 percent of each other, with 42.5 percent of votes going to Mitt Rom-ney and 37.6 to Rick Santorum, ac-cording to the National Public Radio GOP primary map.
Eau Claire County did not reflect the state’s decision of Romney, with Santorum snagging 39.4 precent of votes, compared to Romney’s 36.1. Additionally, Ron Paul fared well in Eau Claire County, with 13.3 percent of the votes.
Freshman Danielle Decock stepped into the polling area on Tuesday for the first time to vote af-ter being reminded by a political sci-ence professor of the primary.
Local child gets his wish granted
UW-Eau Claire math program receives grantBy Alex Zank
STAFF WRITER
Seven year-old Greyson Tib-bits of Eau Claire wished to go to Disney World - and had his wish granted.
He celebrated his “big wish day” at Cold Stone Creamery with a party thrown for him by the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and on March 18th the family left for Florida.
Now, the Make-A-Wish Foundation will host a benefit concert for Tibbits at 7 p.m. on Thursday night in Schofield Auditorium.
Junior Kally Luck, a member
of Leadership Circles, said people should consider coming to the Thursday night concert to make a difference in someone’s life.
“Those opportunities are presented to you all the time, but maybe you don’t take advantage of them,” Luck said. “This is something fun for yourself, and you get to see whose life you are
making a difference in.”Tibbits has been living with
a rare heart condition called subaortic stenosis. The disease causes a narrowing of the left ventricle of the heart just below the aortic valve, according to the Mayo Clinic. This in turn cuts flow of blood resulting in side effects that can range from mild
to life threatening. The narrow-ing tends to progress as the af-fected grows older and can lead to a required surgery.
In Tibbits’ life, this is the case — he will undergo an upcoming surgery, potentially on route to a disease free and healthy life.
Benefit concert held by organization raises funds to help boy go to Disney WorldBy Brian Roberts
STAFF WRITER
A UW-Eau Claire program meant to generate more interest in mathematics among Hmong high school students re-ceived a $4,057 grant from the Mathematics Association of America.
The Opportunities for Outstanding Mathematics Performance for Hmong Stu-dents has received the Tensor-SUMMA: Strengthening Underrepresented Minority Mathematics Achievement grant for three consecutive years.
Manda Riehl, Eau Claire assistant pro-fessor of mathematics and director of the OOMPH program, said the program is designed to get Hmong high school students more interested in mathematics with the hope that they will take more mathemat-ics courses when they get to college.
“The majority of mathematicians are white men, and women are get-ting more and more … positions of influ-ence in mathematics,” Riehl said. “But we’re still really not there yet in terms of attract-ing underrepresented minorities to math-ematics and making sure that we can create a system that makes sure underrepresented minorities achieve in mathematics.”
She said the OOMPH program tries to get students more interested in math by making fun games out of math concepts.
“We’re asking them to show up and do mathematics outside of school, so we have to make sure it’s something they’re going to want to do,” Riehl said.
By Haley ZblewskiNEWS EDITOR
Program aims to increase Hmong participation
Riehl
See MATH, page 4A
See WISH, page 2A
See CONSTRUCTION, page 2A
See ELECTION, page 2A
“This is something fun for yourself, and you get to see whose life you are making a difference in.”
KALLY LUCK Junior
GRAPHIC BY BRIAN MILLER/The Spectator
Peer advisers, like senior Jade Schantzen, help
students prepare for their study abroad experience.
Campus News2A •
CONTINUED FROM FRONTThursday, April 5, 2012 News Editors: Emily Gresbrink & Haley Zblewski
The Spectator (UPS 509-820) is published Thursdays during the school year except for vacations and holidays. Distribution on campus is free. Annual subscriptions are mailed for $37. Second-class postage is paid at Eau Claire, WI 54701. The Spectator is a university publication published under the authority granted to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. Publication costs are paid by the State of Wisconsin under contracts awarded by State Printing Section, State Department of Administration, State of Wisconsin, as provided in the State Printing Operational Bulletin 9-24, September, 1970. The Spectator, vol. 89, is published at Leader Printing, 1960 County TK 00., Chippewa Falls, Wis., 54729. The Spectator is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press and MCT Direct.
News TipsIf you have any news tips call (715) 836-4416 any time or stop by 104 Hibbard Hall.
Advertising and Business StaffAddress: 104 Hibbard Hall, Eau Claire, WI, 54701Editorial Office Phone Number: (715) 836-4416Advertising Office Phone Number: (715) 836-4366Business Office Phone Number: (715) 836-5618Fax Number: (715) 836-3829E-mail: [email protected] Deadlines: The deadline for retail advertising space is Friday at 3 p.m. for a Thursday issue. The deadline for classified advertising is the Tuesday prior to a Thursday issue. Students must pre-pay for their classified ads in The Spectator’s advertising office. Advertising Manager: Chelsea Jacobson Assistant Advertising Manager: Grace Flynn Classifieds Representative: Kirsten Redding Account Representatives: Hannah Lagerman, Ariel Wegner, Kellen Busey Graphic Designer: Meghan Murphy Business Manager: Alex Schultz Assistant Business Manager: Jennifer Homeyer
Always check
spectatornews.comfor more stories and features!
The Spectator strives for accuracy. If you find any mistakes or have any questions, feel free to call (715) 836-4416 or e-mail the newspaper at [email protected].
CORRECTIONS
“(The tree removal) was some-thing that had to be done,” Rindo said.
The next stages will require the campus mall to be shut down in the summer while the ground is being dug up to replace the steam pipes, Rindo said. The Campus School complex will be torn down to make way for the new education building.
Along with closing the campus mall for the summer, the temporary parking lot behind Zorn Arena will be gone completely as construction gets under way, Rindo said.
“Much of the parking that was associated with the former Davies Center will be replaced,” Rindo said. “This summer we’re resurfacing, re-designing and expanding the HFA lot. So we’ll have more parking spac-es in (that) lot.”
Rindo said the new education building is needed for several reasons.
“The facilities we currently have
in Brewer Hall and the campus school are horribly obsolete,” Rindo said, adding the buildings were con-structed in 1952 and are not reflec-tive of the quality of the university’s education department.
Junior education major Samara Gaitan said that right now the educa-tion department feels a bit fragment-ed since there is no one place all the classes are held.
“Personally, it (having an educa-tion building) would make me feel like I have a home,” Gaitan said. “I feel like everyone else has a build-ing ... they (education majors) would really appreciate that there would be more room to accommodate ev-eryone and they don’t have to be dispersed.”
Gail Scukanec, dean of the Col-lege of Education and Human Sci-ences, said the classrooms being used in Brewer are very inefficient.
“The classrooms in these build-
ings are really poor classrooms,” Scu-kanec said. “We have classrooms that ... the ceiling heights are short so you can’t do audio/visual the way you would want to.”
The new building will also pro-vide more modern classrooms that will help accommodate larger class sizes and will better facilitate group-oriented discussions, Scukanec said.
Although excited about the new building, Gaitan did have some con-cerns with it, saying that it will look so different from the other buildings that it will really stick out. She’s also worried that the building’s location and size might take away from the natural beauty of lower campus.
But even with her minor concerns about the new building, Gaitan said she is excited overall for its construc-tion and said she is upset she will be graduating before it opens.
“I’m envious that I won’t be able to enjoy it.”
ELECTION from page 1A
The benefit concert presents an opportunity for anyone to make a contribution. The proceeds will go towards paying for the remainder of Tib-bits’ trip. Although there is no entry fee, guests are encouraged to make a donation.
The event will feature two a cappella groups on campus, Audacious and Fifth Element. Also play-ing will be Daniel and the Lion, a Madison area band. From the Eau Claire area, Gary and the Schwartzhoffs and Beacon James will perform.
The concert was brainstormed by Leadership Circles, a campus organization which provides students with a $1,000 grant to work collabora-tively on a leadership development project on campus or in the community. The Make-A-Wish Foundation was contacted by members of the Circles group and then in turn found a child in Eau Claire they could help.
“To grant a wish, for the Make-A-Wish Foun-dation it costs $6,000 and then $3,000 more in in-kinds donations,” Luck said. “In order to raise that, we’re having the benefit concert, and we’re also having the bake sale. We also dropped off little jars at local businesses for people to put money and change into.”
Freshman Sean Thuesen said the event is a great opportunity to get involved.
“Here in Eau Claire this is a great way to build a connection and feel how the campus and commu-nity can interchange,” he said. “There are so many opportunities to volunteer but this concert is say-ing, ‘Here’s a boy who needs help,’ and we’re able to the best of our ability step up and say, ‘We want to help you.’”
“It’s so exciting – and I really like it because you can actually do something without protesting or calling people,” she said. “All you have to do is vote and you can do so much.”
She added that her age group (18-24 year-olds) is not the best at turning up to the polls.
“The more college stu-dents who vote in the fu-ture, the more we show we care about this,” she said.
Decock was one of just a few students to come out and vote on-campus. Eau Claire City Clerk Donna Austad said on-campus voter turnout was 215 total. Other student voting totals are not readily available, as off-campus residents are grouped into Eau Claire’s various wards.
Upcoming elections in-clude the primary for dem-ocrats running in the special elections in May, Governor Walker’s recall election in June, the fall general elec-tion primaries in August and November’s general election.
Loomis said she antici-pates a much higher turnout for forthcoming elections throughout the year, spe-cifically the general election.
“In (the Presidential pri-mary in) 2008, we had a 42 percent turnout, but that time it was an open seat, so you had options rather than just a one-party ticket,” Loomis said. “The partisan primary in August depends on candidates, which we don’t know until June. But in the end, the presiden-tial race is the highest of the year.”
Austad echoed Loomis, but predicted a higher per-centage of voters with the general election primaries in August.
“Definitely for Novem-ber and June, I anticipate a higher turnout,” she said, “although I’m not sure what percentage to turn out for May for the recall pri-mary – that’s a whole new animal to us.”
Decock said she plans to vote in upcoming elec-tions on-campus and to continue following the presidential race.
“It really doesn’t take that much time — just vote,” she said. “Even if you don’t know a candidate, go search and see what they stand for and if you agree with it. It doesn’t take that much effort, even if you’re not into politics.”
WISH from page 1A
Organization also having bake sale to raise funds
Only 215 on-campus students voted
CONSTRUCTION from page 1A
Parking lot behind Zorn will be removed, spaces added to Haas lot
Faculty Recital: Dr. Me-lissa Koprowski. GantnerConcertHall,HaasFineArts.
• 9:30a.m.to2:45p.m.Ceramics Sale. PotawatomiRoom,DaviesCenter.
• 5to6:30p.m.Joint Student Recital: Leslie Stewart and Alex Isaacson, trumpet. PhillipsRecitalHall,HaasFineArts.
Campus News3AThursday, April 15, 2012 •
As a service to the community, The Spectator publishes upcoming events. Events must be submitted to The Spectator office by 5 p.m. Monday for the Thursday issue and will be published as space allows.
R E C U R R I N G
E V E N T S
Eau Claire Progressive Film Festival
Various Rooms, Hibbard Hall7:30-10 p.m. Thur. and Fri.
The Police Blotter is compiled from campus police files. All names have been withheld. Call 9-1-1 to report emergencies. Call the Anonymous Tip-ster Line at 855-5555 to report suspicious activity that is not in progress.
Need a Roommate? Subleaser? Place an ad in Classifieds and you’ll find one in no time! Be sure to ask for our student rate. Call # 715-836-4366
Tag is free, but lookin’ will cost youTuesday, March 27
At approximately 7 p.m., an officer was dis-patchedtothePutnamHallparkinglotwherethecallersaidthereweretwomenwalkingaroundandlookingincars.Later in a written statement, the complainant
butwalkedwestonthetrailalongtheriverwherehefoundtwomenthatmatchedthecomplainant’sdescription.They said theywerewalking through thepark-
inglot,butweren’t lookingincars. Afterdoingarecordcheckonthetwomen,theofficertoldthemto avoid doing things that look so suspicious inthefuture.
STUDENT SENATE
Five BGC proposals discontinued, suspended
The Funding Analysis Committeefor the Blugold Commitment has ap-proved to continue funding for severalmulti-year proposals, but has also decid-ed to discontinue or suspend five of themulti-yearprograms.AttheStudentSenatemeetingonMon-
day,AcademicAffairsDirector JacobBer-nardy gave a presentation about the deci-sions.Bernardymainlyfocusedonprogramsthatwere suspendedor cancelled after theFunding Analysis Committee looked overrevised proposals that were submittedtothem.TheStudentResearchandDesignCenter’s
BlugoldCommitmentfundinghasbeensus-pendedforthe2012-13year.Thisisbecausethe project has been unable tofindphysi-calspacetoputtheresearchcenter.Fundingthatwasn’tusedinthepreviousyearwasalsotakenback.“They’ll be moving forward
during the next cycle, hopeful-ly with a spot to actually function,”
Bernardysaid.EffectiveJuly1, theImmersionExperi-
encetoIstanbulandAnatoliawillbediscon-tinued.ItwasdecidedbytheFundingAnaly-sisCommitteethatthecostof theprogramwasstilltoohighforstudents,Bernardysaid.“The dollar amount per student
was higher than we’d hoped to beaccomplishing,” he said. “It’s a great im-mersion and we’re hoping to see a re-vised proposal at some point in thefuture, but right now this model justisn’t functional … with that price tagonit.”The Funding Analysis Committee de-
cidedtotakebackfundingthatwasn’tusedfor the InfusingHigh Impact EducationalPracticesintoMathematicsServiceCoursesprogram,andsuspendtheprogramforoneortwoyears,afterwhichtheycancomebackwitharevisedproposal,Bernardysaid.Due to having had a high number
of retirements over the past year, themathematics department now has al-most as many new faculty members asit does returning faculty, so it has beentough for them to develop new projects,Bernardysaid.Funding for the Social Justice Living-
beinanLLCaremakingthatdecisionwhenthey’refillingouthousingapplications,whentheymightbe17yearsold,”Bernardysaid.“If you talk to 19-year-old students, therewouldprobablybeatonmoreinterestfromthosewho’vebeenoutintherealworldforalittlewhile.Buttheinterestfromincomingstudentsjustisn’tthere.”TheBlugoldCommitmentfundingof the
dysaidthattheamountof fundingfortheothermulti-yearBlugoldCommitmentproj-ectsstayedthesame,withtheexceptionof oneprogram.The LTS Improving the Campus In-
frastructure to Support New and Emerg-ing Technologies program was the onlymulti-year proposal increased. Ber-nardy said the need for the increasewas because of the benefits packageforemployees.
Learning Technology Services program the only multi-year budget proposal increased
Receive FREE and Con�dential Counseling.Identify your options.
Call 715-833-0992 or (888) 746-2850
Are you Pregnant?Heard about Open Adoption?
Business professor Emily Elsner Twesme said she decided to become a teacher because she loves work-ing with her students and helping them grow. So it seemed to her like a perfect match when she became the new faculty adviser for UW-Eau Claire’s DECA chapter in November 2011.
With the goal of excelling in the 2012 Collegiate DECA Wisconsin State Ca-reer Development Conference in March, Twesme said she approached DECA’s weekly meetings a little differently this year.
“This semester … all of our meetings were devoted to preparing for the state competition,” Twesme said.
The students did case studies to-gether, practiced on weekends and gave presentations on professionalism and listening. Their hard work paid off.
For the first time, all 15 Eau Claire students competing in the state confer-ence qualified to compete at the 51st In-ternational Career Development Con-ference which will be held April 21 through 24 in Salt Lake City. Five of these students will be making the trip to participate.
Students qualify for nationals by earn-ing a high score on either a proficiency exam or case study competition in the state conference. In a case study students are given a prompt and a short time to prepare a response before they present their cases to a panel of judges. Case studies gener-ally cover categories including business ethics, entrepreneurship, retail and restaurant management.
DECA’s national competitions give students the opportunity to compete with
others from all over the United States and Canada.
“It’s just really great to think that we can go compete at this level with hundreds of students across the country and that all their hard work pays off in the end,” Twesme said.
She said practice and preparation are key when competing in these events, but much of the competition requires stu-dents to be able to improvise and think on their toes.
“It’s a really great way for them to use their knowledge in a practical way,” Twesme said.
This is the second year that sophomore Nicole Leners, DECA’s president, has qual-ified for the national conference. For Len-ers, however, DECA is more than just a competition.
“This is a great way to learn how to network,” Leners said, “and a great way to learn how to be a professional.”
Although DECA attracts mostly busi-ness and marketing majors, it is not ex-clusive to these students. The organiza-tion welcomes any student who wishes to compete.
“That’s definitely an image we are trying to change,” Leners said. “It doesn’t matter what major you go into or career field you go into, you’re going to need to learn how to be a professional … that’s what the com-petitions are about. It’s getting comfortable portraying your ideas and selling yourself.”
DECA is an international organiza-tion which prepares high school and col-lege students for careers involving market-ing, finance, hospitality and management. It aims to help students apply what they learn in class to the business world as well as improve professionalism and
networking skills.Twesme said she thinks DECA might
be the most valuable experience in the ca-reer of a college student.
“I wish that more students would get in-volved. If you want (experience) that’s ac-tually going to help you when you get a job I can tell you … this is it.”
SUBMITTED PHOTOUW-Eau Claire DECA members (left row, front to back) Samantha Witter, Brianna Noeldner, Bris-selle Magana, Nicole Leners, Allison Coffey, Emily Matuska, Amber Steinert, (right row, front to back) Aaron Polzin, Justin R. Lang, Michael Schanning, Ryan Schorbahn, Jakob Broesch, James Donnellan, Shawn Dewane and Daniel Wolf all qualified to compete at the International Career Development Conference in Utah later this month. Five team members will make the trip.
Eau Claire DECA chapter headed to nationalsAll 15 team members qualify for Utah trip
By Alisha TaubnerFREELANCER
As far as the fun ele-ments go, Riehl said the group looked at the con-cept of probability by play-ing poker with M&Ms. Re-cently, the group took a site visit to 3M in Minneapolis to show students what they could do with a math or a science degree.
Eight Eau Claire stu-dents, most of them mathematics majors or minors, served as men-tors for the high school students, and met for a ses-sion every other week from September to February.
Julia Baranek, a math-ematics education ma-jor, served as one of the group’s student mentors who also helped design this year’s curriculum. She said she got involved after Riehl emailed her.
“It was perfect for me experience-wise ... and great to have before I became a student teacher and had to deal with having my own classroom,” Baranek said.
She said the reaction from students in the pro-gram this year was positive.
“Each session, we had
more and more students,” Baranek said. “They’d leave the classroom and tell their friends about how much fun they were having. And this program is important that way, too, to get them to see math as fun.”
Bret Meier, a senior mathematics and physics major, was involved as one of the mentors this year.
He said he decided to get involved after receiving an email about the program. He said it seemed like a good opportunity, especially since it took care of his service learning requirements.
“Part of it is I get my service learning out of it,” Meier admitted. “But I’ve always enjoyed helping peo-ple. I do other math tutor-ing for Math 111 and 109 on campus. I like it when you see someone with the light bulb going on like, ‘Oh! Now I understand what I’m doing.’”
He said he thinks the program’s goal to get the high school students to bet-ter understand concepts they might miss in class is working.
“I definitely think their mathematic abilities have improved through the year,” Meier said. “At first, they were really tentative. I don’t know if it’s so much that they just opened up but they definitely seemed more confident in what they were doing by the end of the program.”
Meier said it’s important to focus on the Hmong population of Eau Claire because Hmong students face different struggles than other minorities, as many of their parents were immigrants.
“A lot of them that came from the refugee camps, or even when they were in the mountains, they don’t know a lot of math,” he said. “So al-most none of the students can get help from their parents, mathematically wise. So I think it’s really useful to help them out and give them the extra opportunities, because they don’t have the resources that other students in high school would have.”
MATH from page 1A
Program fulfills service-learning credit for mentors
SportSThursday, April 5, 2012 • 5Awww.spectatornews.comSports Editor: Frank F. Pellegrino
Online exclusives at SpectatorNews.com
Weekly MLB column by Emily Gresbrink
Look for live-tweets from our reporters at home events!
Follow us at:@SpectatorNewsWeekly fantasy baseball podcast co-hosted by
Frank Pellegrino, Chris Reinoos and Eric Christenson
Men’s tennis splits weekend matchesTeam responds with 8-1 win after showing youth in opener, coach says
CAL MCNEIL/The SpectatorSenior Dirk Van Rybroek volleys with an opponent from Augustana College during his No. 2 doubles match on Friday at the YMCA Tennis Center. Van Rybroek and sophomore Ryan Vande Linde earned an 8-3 win in the match.
The men’s tennis team suffered a loss against Au-gustana College (Ill.) Friday at home but redeemed themselves the very next day with an 8-1 win against Macalester College (Minn.). The weekend results bring the Blugold’s record to 14-6 on the season.
Coach Tom Gillman said the team’s mixed week-end seemed to be a result of their youth.
“We played on too much emotion,” he said. “Emotion only works when things are going well.
“We have a young team, and when we play too emotionally it doesn’t serve us very well.”
Senior Florent Marco also thought the team played with too much emotion in the first match but noted their performance improved from Saturday.
“We played a lot stronger and the attitude was really different,” he said.
Gillman said he felt senior Chris Kuna played ex-ceptionally during the weekend, beating Augustana’s Adam DeSimone in the No. 1 spot 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 Fri-
day and Macalester’s Chris Fowler 6-3, 6-1 Saturday.“His body language and his approach to play
was stronger, he looked more comfortable on the court,” Gillman said, “It’s important because Chris is a really good player and he’s a senior and we need him.”
In doubles, senior Dirk Van Rybroek and sopho-more Ryan Vande Linde dominated both of their No. 2 matches last weekend, going 8-3 against Au-gustana and 8-5 against Macalester.
Gillman noted that Van Rybroek had returned from an injury that left him out for most of the season.
“I think it’s great to get Dirk back, (he) is a very important player on our team,” Gillman said. “More important than just winning or losing, just getting a senior back in the lineup, a guy that’s been in our program, is important to me on the personal front.”
Van Rybroek said it was great getting back on the court again. “But the best part about it all was being able to play alongside all of my teammates,” he said.
Up next for the Blugolds is a 3 p.m. match on Friday at home against Luther College (Iowa).
By Taylor Kuether CHIEF COPY EDITOR
Day 1 vs Augustana College (Ill.)
Singles1. Senior Chris Kuna wins: 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
2. Sophomore Ryan Vande Linde loses: 3-6, 2-63. Junior Florent Marco loses: 6-4, 5-7, 1-6
Freshman Laura Raflik warms up in the bullpen before game one of a double-header against UW-Stevens Point Saturday at Carson Park. Raflik gave up no runs after entering the second game in the fourth inning to help lead Eau Claire to a 10-6 come-from-behind victory. Game one was highlighted by a walk-off home run by freshman Taylor Pierce.
CHRIS REINOOS/The Spectator
Scan the QR code to watch the highlight
video
Scan for this week’s episode
Golf spring previews
Senior golfer Emily Swift said she really wants to beat 14-time consec-utive national champion Methodist University (N.C.) this year.
“In terms of Division III golf, Methodist is always the team to beat,” Swift said. “We’ve got our eyes set on them this year, I think everyone does.”
Eau Claire, ranked No. 6 na-tionally by the NCAA, will start their spring season off in Illinois at the Illinois Wesleyan Spring Fling April 14th.
Coach Meghan Sobotta says that the sky is the limit for this squad after an impressive fall season.
“My expectations are pretty high,” Sobotta said. “We came off of a 54-stroke win at con-ference in the fall, and I think that was great motivation for the upcoming season.”
Four of the five starters for the spring season team have been solidi-fied and given to three seniors and a junior. The fifth and final spot has yet to be won and will be given to a freshman.
On the men’s team, the ultimate goal is not unlike the women’s. They want to shoot well individually and as a team throughout the remainder of the season and ultimately make it to nationals, junior golfer Tim McCormick said.
McCormick said he is moti-vated to have a great spring season this year.
“Every time we go out to win. We want to win everything,” Mc-Cormick said. “We want to make it to nationals, and the only way we can do that is if we go out and do well in the tournaments.”
The fall season was an up-and-down outing for the men’s golf team. They took last place at the Gordin Classic on both Septem-ber 25 and 26, yet took home two second place finishes and a win at the last tournament of the season at the Gustavus Adolphus Twin Cities Classic.
First year coach Mike Greer says he sees a lot of potential with this group going forward after the team played well in the last tournament in the fall.
Expectations are high for a strong performance at nationals, coach says
WOMEN MEN
Team looks for consistent play during spring season
with new coach
By David HeilingSTAFF WRITER
Women’s tennis wins fifth straight Blugolds win pair of weekend matches in Twin Cities by combined 16-2 score
The women’s tennis team traveled to Minne-sota on March 31 to de-feat St. Kate’s (Minn.) in a perfect 9-0 match and then picked up a second vic-tory (7-2) against Bethel University (Minn.).
Assistant coach Randy Anderson traveled with the women to the Twin Cities and reported to head coach Tom Gillman, bringing back good news.
“I think it was a tre-m e n d o u s w e e k e n d — it was great that we were able to get off the bus and get a really good s t a r t , ” Gillman said. “It sounded like since we got such a good start it was kind of unsettling to the oppo-
nents and that momentum carried on.”
Freshman Maddie John-son played with strength against St. Kate’s in singles, losing the fewest games for any Blugold in the No. 4 singles spot.
The team won all three doubles and all six singles matches during their play at the Baseline Tennis Center.
Sophomore Katie Gill-man said the team did not waver during their time playing the Wildcats.
“St. Kate’s has improved since last year, and we were still ready to play,” she said. “We played very hard and very well in each match.”
Junior Taylor Heltne had similar remarks, saying all of the women were on top of their game during the sweep against the Wildcats and when they headed to Bethel to play.
“It was good to see everyone playing well to-day,” she said. “We didn’t let it go downhill when we played Bethel, and we kept
it together.”Against Bethel, the Blu-
golds won all three doubles matches and four out of the six singles matches.
Heltne and Katie G i l l m a n t e a m e d up twice during the day for d o u b l e s m a t c h -es, win-ning both times. Ka-tie Gillman said that even though it was victorious, their first doubles match got off to a slow start.
“Our first match (at St. Kate’s) was fine, we were doing okay,” she said.” We were not playing with our A-game. We did end up get-ting it together at the end (for Bethel), though.”
The result for Heltne and Gillman’s A-game was an 8-0 win for No. 1 doubles.
By Emily GresbrinkNEWS EDITOR
Tom Gillman
Katie Gillman
See TENNIS, page 6A
See WOMEN, page 6A See MEN, page 6A
FILE PHOTO BY CAROLYN TIRY/The SpectatorA women’s golfer chips the ball from the rough on the first hole at Wild Ridge last spring. The UW-Eau Claire women’s golf team is currently ranked No. 6 in the country and coach Meghan Sobotta said the team has high expectations this spring.
SportSwww.spectatornews.com Sports Editor: Frank F. Pellegrino6A • Thursday, April 5, 2012
Senior Emily Swift said it will be interesting to see who gets the final spot.
“All of the freshmen have worked so hard over winter break,” Swift said. “Kate Engler got the spot last season, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was very competitive for that last spot.”
After the Illinois Wesleyan tournament, the team will play the Wartburg course, which Sobotta also thinks will be a course at which the team can excel.
“It is a course that they know, and usually my girls play well there,” Sobotta said. “Then we end the season at home before nationals. It should be a great Spring.”
The home courses that Sobotta is referring to are the Wild Ridge Golf Course as well as Mill Run Golf Course. The Blugold Spring Invitational will end the spring season before Nationals and will be held on April 28 and 29.
“I think we underachieved in the fall. With that said, we showed some improvement and actually played pretty well that last weekend,” Greer said. “We worked extremely hard in the off season and I think our expectations are high.”
The team travelled to Arizona over spring break to kick off their spring season, something that McCor-mick thinks can only benefit the team.
“It was good to get with the top five guys that will be hitting this year,” McCormick said. “I think our ca-maraderie improved a lot and we got our goals straight ... it really was a great way to start the season.”
The men’s schedule starts Friday when the team travels to St. Cloud, Minn., for the Saint John’s Spring Triangular.
Though the day was a success overall, the team still had their difficulties.
Sophomore Lexi DeMario said overall it should have been easier to beat Bethel, but the change in lo-cation was a big factor.
“Our second match was outside,” she said. “It was windy and it was cold, so it took us a little while to adjust to the weather.”
Tom Gillman said another small hiccup on Satur-day was the change in lineup at Bethel, when junior Gretchen Bachmeier stepped out of the lineup due to an injury.
“But that is positive in the sense that it gives every-one a chance to play and to handle the challenges of a game,” he said.
The matches from the weekend put the Blugolds at 13-5 on the season.
Next week, the women will travel to St. Scholas-tica (Minn.) for what Katie Gillman said will be a good match.
“I think we’re all really excited because we lost 4-5 to them, so it was very close,” she said. “But we’ve gotten better since last year in all the spots, and I think we will win. I’m excited to go up there to their home game and kick their butts — but we’ll see how it turns out.”
WOMEN from page 1B
MEN from page 1B
TENNIS from page 1B
Cost of being D-3 athletePrice to play sports varies from several hundred dollars to thousands, players say
As a Div. III school, UW-Eau Claire is not able to provide any of its athletes with full or even partial scholarships to participate in sports.
Each year, however, hundreds of student athletes sacrifice time, energy, and perhaps even sanity for the love of their game. However, there’s an ad-ditional sacrifice that student athletes make which is often overlooked: money.
Between men and women, there are 20 different sports teams at Eau Claire.
Each sport receives limited funding from the university to pay for things such as entry fees, transportation costs, uniforms and equipment, but it is of-ten up to the athletes themselves to cover the costs associated with their particular sport.
Mat Rieckhoff, a sophomore on the men’s wrestling team, said the average wrestler might spend around $400 in a single season. This number may seem high, but it’s relatively low compared to some other sports.
“Wrestling is a pretty inexpensive sport,” Reickhoff said. “You don’t re-ally need a whole lot.”
He said that as far as equipment goes, it’s up to the wrestlers to purchase their own shoes, headgear and knee pads, which costs about $175 altogether.
In addition to equipment costs, wrestlers pay for their own team ap-parel, which can run around $125. They must also cover other small costs like snacks, drinks and a weight room pass each season.
For other sports, the start-up cost in one season may be extremely high while
following seasons may require almost no expenditures at all.
Senior golfer Emily Swift said that a nice set of golf clubs can cost more than $1,000 but that they last for a while after the initial purchase. She said the same is true for golf shoes, shorts and hats, which cost around $150 total.
“All of our golf balls and golf for the whole year is paid for at Mill Run and Wild Ridge (golf courses),” Swift said. The team also covers the cost of golf bags, uniforms, transportation and meals while on trips, she said.
Many teams hold fundraisers to partially fund their costs. Ryan Vande Linde, a sophomore tennis player, said that the tennis team hosts one event per year.
“It’s a mixed doubles tournament that provides a bit of finance,” he said.
The tennis team pays for tennis balls, but it is up to the athletes to supply their own racket, uniform, shoes, racket string, handle grips and warm-ups, he said. They must also pay for snacks and a weight room pass. This comes out to around $650 in a single year. The rackets, which Vande Linde said cost around $200, represent a large por-tion of the cost, and do not need to be purchased yearly.
The women’s gymnastics team is able to fund many of their expendi-tures with fundraisers, said sophomore Michaela McCamey, who won nationals this season on the balance beam.
“We usually have a car wash and ga-rage sale before it gets cold, we sell fan shirts,” McCamey said. “We also make deals with restaurants where we get a certain percentage of the profit they make on a given night.”
FILE PHOTO BY FRANK F. PELLEGRINO/The Spectator
Sophomore Michaela McCamey, the national champion on balance beam, performs her routine during the con-ference championships at McPhee Center. McCamey said the gymnastics team pays for many of their expendi-tures through fundraising.
The Milwaukee Bucks are currently two games be-hind the New York Knicks for the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff standings. Both teams are playing hard down the stretch to grab that final spot in the postseason.
But why does it matter?The eighth-place team in
the East will match up with either the Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat, currently sepa-rated by three games at the top of the standings.
There is virtually no chance the Knicks or Bucks could beat either of these teams, yet some fans still
get excited at the pros-pect of their team making the playoffs.
It’s no great honor to get swept in the first round. Serving as an elite team’s playoff warmup is not a strong indicator of a suc-cessful season.
The Knicks’ season has been, for the most part, a disaster given the talent on their roster and their pre-season expectations. The Bucks stumbled out of the gate and haven’t played with the grit and defensive inten-sity one expects from a Scott Skiles team.
The NBA expand-
ed its playoff field to 16 teams — eight in each conference — before the 1983-1984 season.
Beginning with those 1984 playoffs, there have been a total of 56 first-round series involving eighth-place seeds. These teams have a combined first-round record of 4-52. Even seventh-place teams have won only five times in that same span. A record of 9-103 over almost 30 years of playoff basket-ball doesn’t speak well for a lower seed’s chances.
The NBA draft lottery system is set up in such a way that it can actually benefit teams to miss out on post-season play.
In this system, all 14 teams that miss the playoffs have a weighted number of ping-pong balls put into a tumbler. The worst team gets the most balls, the sec-ond-worst the second-most, and so on for the 14 teams.
Balls are then drawn to determine the first three picks in the draft, with picks four through 14 assigned
based on the team’s regular season records.
Only twice since the cur-rent system was adopted has the team with the highest odds won the first pick. In fact, teams with a single-digit percent chance of winning have gotten the first pick six times, most recently in 2008 when the Chicago Bulls and their 1.70 percent chance won the lottery.
Why should struggling NBA teams try to make the playoffs?
See the rest online at SpectatorNews.com
By Tyler HartSTAFF WRITER
CurrentsThursday, April 5, 2012 • 1Bwww.spectatornews.comCurrents Editor: Katie Hoffman
Off the Rack presents:
By Cal McNeilPHOTO EDITOR
Now that the campus mall is free of any kind of tree coverage, it’s a lot easier to people watch when walking to and from classes. As we jump into spring, hemlines are rising and coats are being shed, revealing a group of truly fashionable Blugolds. Study these outfits and be inspired to break out of your bland winter duds and into fun-filled spring fashion.
Cat Jacoby, freshman
Jacoby’s choice of outfit is exe-cuted well and follows some fresh trends, while still showcasing personal style.
Maxi skirts like this one makes her body appear long and lean. Her waist is clearly defined with the belted cardigan, another great choice to help show off your shape.
Fun metallic accessories add interest to any outfit, which Jaco-by does well. The turquoise san-dals are perfect for a sunny day on campus and the silver bracelet adds just enough bling. Both accesso-ries will surely catch the eye of any fashion enthusiast.
Andrea Fisher, freshman
Fischer first caught my attention with her bright bomber jacket. Wear-ing a lightweight jacket is both fash-ionable and functional for whatever the unpredictable weather throws at you.
Pairing multiple bright colors is a surefire way to stand out on campus and puts you right on trend this year.
A bold colored v-neck t-shirt paired with dark skinny jeans is my go-to outfit of choice. It is a great option if you are looking for some-thing simple and comfortable to wear to classes.
“I think that [campus] is a place where everyone can dress however they feel comfortable,” Fischer said.
Dexter Nelson, junior
This classic outfit is casual, so-phisticated and a perfect option for spring.
A navy blazer paired with a pat-terned shirt and bold pants cre-ates a simple outfit that is casual for campus, but also translates well into settings like interviews or dinner dates.
If this look seems too formal for you, try a v-neck striped or pat-terned shirt, bold pants and boat shoes. This will help you seem more put-together, but not make it look like you spent too much time in your closet. Take inspiration from Nelson and try something new — whether it be a bright color or a different cut of jeans.
Catie Griffiths, junior
This is a prime example of how you can mix more edgy fabrics with feminine patterns to create a truly unique look.
A leather bomber jacket paired with florals creates an unexpected yet coordinated juxtaposition. The green cardigan goes well with the floral dress and is a softer layer un-der the structured jacket.
Choosing flats is a great choice when wearing a busy top. Although mixing patterns like florals was in numerous Spring 2012 collections, choosing one piece as the main fo-cus of your outfit is a better choice than having an overly busy outfit.
PHOTOS BY CAL MCNEIL/The Spectator
UW-Eau Claire all-student a cap-pella group Fifth Element recently took second place in a national competition to open for singer Andy Grammer. The group lost to Six Appeal, a professional a cap-pella group from Minnesota.
A member of Fifth Element for two years, junior AJ Vanden Heu-vel said the group didn’t expect to advance as far as they did.
“There were groups in our bracket that have been doing this for a lot longer than we have that were professional groups,” Vanden Heuvel said. “‘On The Rocks’ was in our bracket, they won ‘The Sing Off ’ two years ago.”
The tournament started with 53 groups, including the Innocent Men. Groups uploaded videos, and the group with the most fan votes moved on to the next round. The Innocent Men made it to the final 16 groups.
Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff is the director of choral activities in the department of music, and he said Fifth Element’s and the Innocent Men’s success in the competition is a testament to their initiative.
“This is a good laboratory for these students to practice their craft,” Schwartzhoff said. “To take it to a national level such as this speaks highly of the skill of their performance and the talent within these groups.”
Vanden Heuvel said one of the benefits of the competition was it showed the group the power social media can have for promotion.
“We’re going to start doing a lot more promotional stuff … kind of like contests using social media to try to increase the fanbase and get people more excited and energized when we have a concert coming up,” Vanden Heuvel said.
Ella Maloney, a junior at Eau Claire, said she was happy Fifth Element made it all the way to the finals, but still thinks they should have won.
“I thought it was amazing that they got that far, but thought it was kind of too bad that they didn’t make it, because I think the other group was almost professional, so it was kind of strange,” Maloney said.
Fifth Element’s character and style is what Maloney said draws her to them.
By Spenser BickettCHIEF COPY EDITOR
Student a cappella group finishes second in national competition
SUBMITTED PHOTOMembers of Fifth Element include junior AJ Vanden Heuvel, senior Ryan Cook, junior Timothy Mattson, junior Andrew Schwab (behind), senior Joe Holtan and sophomore William Berendsen. See ELEMENT, page 2B
When I was a kid, nothing made me happier than when my mom would pick me up from school and stop at the library on the way home. This meant only one thing to me: that I could stock up on more Matt Christopher books.
OK, I know what you’re thinking: ‘Who is this book-loving nerd, and who is Matt Christopher?’ Christopher was a prolific author of children’s novels centered around sports.
As a young sports nut who loved read-ing, this was the perfect marriage of my inter-ests. Christopher was one of the reasons I grew up wanting to be a sports writer.
After some extensive research — OK, OK, I mean Google searching — I found out that Christo-pher wrote more than 100 novels, with baseball being his most common subject.
These books influ-enced me so much that I still remember the basic concepts of some of my favorites. In “The Dia-mond Champs,” a mysteri-ous baseball coach formed a team of players who had never played before, and
they end up winning it all in the end.
One book that sticks out most in my mind is “The Hockey Machine.” It’s actually a scary book, all things considered. It involves a hockey player who is kidnapped and forced to play on a rich kid’s junior hockey team. The book had dark mate-rial for Christopher, but I still loved it when I was 10 years old.
Sadly, Christopher passed away in 1997 at the age of 80. He lived a full life and touched countless lives with his novels, in-cluding mine. Maybe I’ll go pick up a classic like “Baseball Flyhawk” from the library, just for old time’s sake.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
What EverHappened To...
?
By Spenser BickettCHIEF COPY EDITOR
Matt Christopher Books
“MTV UnplUgged”Florence +
The Machine
“UnderwaTer SUnShine”coUnTing crowS
“STrange caSe”haleSTorM
“in The land oF Blood and honey”
“war horSe”
“we BoUghT a Zoo”
“aMerican reUnion”Starring: Jason Biggs, Aly-son Hannigan, Tara ReidPlot: The “American Pie” characters return to East Great Falls for their high school reunion.Release date: April 6
“air racerS 3d”Starring: Paul WalkerPlot: Fly into Nevada’s “Val-ley of Speed” to explore the fastest race in the world combined with air show entertainment. Release date: April 5
cUrrenTSwww.spectatornews.comCurrents Editor: Katie Hoffman Thursday, April 5, 2012 • 2B
Upcoming Releases
ELEMENT from page 1B
A cappella group expands fan base
Not many people are aware that our university has a competitive dance team and Concert Dance Company. So once I heard that CDC was performing their annual Danceworks show, I was excited to attend and feel like a part of the dance world again. CDC performed “Dance-works 2012: Convergence” March 29-31 in Kjer Theatre.
It was not what some audience mem-bers said they expected, though. The production did not have many con-ventional, synchronized routines such as jazz, ballet or hip hop. This year’s Danceworks production was more about the meaning of the routines and analyzing emotion than simply enjoying the performance as a whole.
Because of that, the audience played an active role. The routines told a story that people can relate to, which created a conversation about those issues. With-out the audience to interpret different aspects of the production, there would be no conversation.
One of the routines, “Order of (dis)array”, choreographed by Emily Desorcy, had a relatable message that applied to students. Eight performers danced individually on stage to several voices playing at the same time, which spoke about stresses in school, work and social lives.
In my opinion, the chaos of the voic-es mixed with the dancers’ movements successfully relayed that message to
the audience.“Disconnected,” choreographed
by Ally Frosch and Caitlin Rathburn, showcased America’s dependence on technology and how that can negatively affect us.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
“This is our
chance to show
Eau Claire and the
community what
we can do.”
BRIANNA
HOLBECK Senior
A reviewBy Tuesday Wustrack
STAFF WRITER
Students’ artwork evaluated for 55th annual show in Foster Gallery
On Tuesday, the Foster Gallery was a mess.
With paintings and prints propped against the white-painted walls, sculptures on ped-estals, huge wooden installation pieces not yet standing and nothing labelled, Gallery Director Tom Wagener had his work cut out for him.
“We have an idea of how works go in a typical show where you have all painting or all prints or all sculpture, but this is always the hardest show to put on,” he said. “There’s a lot of work and then making it cohesive.”
Wagener and his assistants were setting up for the 55th annual Juried Art Show, a Fos-ter Gallery exhibition where UW-Eau Claire students’ work gets evaluated by a juror who selects enough pieces to put on display in the gallery.
The juror then awards first, second and third place (as well as five honorable men-tions) to the student works.
Wagener said the set-up process is strenu-ous because every medium is represented from photog-raphy to sculpture, multime-dia to installation, painting to graphic design.
This year’s juror is Libby Rowe, a professor of photog-raphy at University of Texas-San Antonio. Wagener said Rowe travelled to Eau Claire and gave a lecture on Friday about her own work. Rowe and Wagener then “sequestered” themselves in the gallery, choosing which works would be featured in the show.
Wagener said out of 178 student works, Rowe se-lected 76 to be in the show and picked her winners and honorable mentions
which will be announced at the opening reception on Thursday.
Senior Brianna Holbeck, who has some ceramic work in the show, said the pro-cess of creating a piece and getting it in the show is tough, but it’s rewarding to have it shown off.
“This is what comes of all this hard work,” Holbeck said. “This is our chance to show Eau Claire and the community what we can do.”
The juried show is unique in that the art faculty play a very small role in getting the students’ work on display.
“The faculty don’t really have anything to do with the jurying process; they have more to do with working with the students and get-ting the work ready,” said Ned Gannon, as-sistant professor of illustration. “We don’t prepare the students with the juried show in mind, except for reminding them, ‘Hey, this piece is really strong. You might want to think about framing this in time.’”
Gannon said that professors will gen-erally suggest or recommend the juror for the show, but the decision falls on the gal-
lery committee whether or not to connect with the recommended juror.
Senior Rachel Gasque said she looks at the juried show as an opportunity to practice the way her work is presented.
“The presentation is what we’ve been focusing on a lot lately; presenting our work in a way that would be acceptable in the show,” Gasque said. “It’s been an accumulation of all my work.”
Gannon said another way faculty contribute is by mak-ing students think about presenting their work in public.
“We’re always trying to prepare them for exhibi-tions,” Gannon said. “That
hopefully is one of their ultimate goals. It’s also good practice to understand the relationship between audience and maker.”
It’s certainly a stressful time, Wagener said, but despite the pains of setting up large-scale installations — getting the perfect light-ing or making sure paintings are level — it’s worth it.
“It’s always a lot of fun, (there’s) a lot of energy,” Wagener said. “A lot of people come to see what the students are up to.”
The 55th Annual Juried Art Show runs from April 5-22 in the Foster Gallery and the opening reception is tonight at 7:30 p.m., where the winners and honorable mentions will be announced along with Art and De-sign scholarship recipients.
CAL MCNEIL/The SpectatorAn earthenware piece, “Personal Narrative” by Michelle Eronsen is included in the Juried Stu-dent Art Show.
By Eric ChristensonOP/ED EDITOR
Read the rest of Tuesday’s Danceworks review
at SpectatorNews.com!
From a dancer’s perspectiveSuccesses, shortcomings of Danceworks 2012
“I just think … they’re very talented and they’re growing a lot as a group, and I think it’s awesome for them,” Maloney said. “They’re going to go pretty far.”
Senior Koryna Flores said her favorite thing about Fifth Element is their stage presence and their ability to put on a good show.
“So, you have six guys on stage who are just
having a really good time,” she said, “And you can tell they have fun with each other.”
Vanden Heuvel said the group’s tight bond sets Fifth Element apart from other a cappella groups.
“We are literally like six brothers, and I mean that in every way possible,” he said. “We fight like we’re brothers, and we love each other like we’re brothers.”
Scan the QR Code to visit Fifth
Element’s website and learn more about the guys.
89.7 WUEC-FM is Hiring!
Opening Positions Include: Public Relations Manager Blugold Performance of the Air Host Local Independence Host Jazz, Blues and Beyond Host Senior Producer WUEC News Director
Volunteer in:
Public Relations News
Interested in radio? Looking to build your resume?
1242 W Clairemont Ave (715) 834-10042602 E Clairemont Ave (715) 834-53462225 Eddy Lane (715) 833-12221242 W Clairemont Ave (715) 834-1004 2602 E Clairemont Ave (715) 834-5346
Monday-Friday 11:30am to 1 pm and
Monday & Tuesday Evenings
5 pm to 7:30 pm
Expires 4/30/2012
Dine In Only, Limit 2 per coupon
Not valid with any other offer or special, valid at participating locations.
SUBMITTED PHOTOJunior Jill Graboski performs “The Air Be-tween Us,” choreographed by Kaitlyn Bry-an for Danceworks 2012 in Kjer Theatre.
OpiniOnThursday, April 5, 2012 • 3BOp/Ed Editor: Eric Christenson
Eric Christenson Op/Ed EditorEmily Gresbrink News EditorHaley Zblewski News Editor
Taylor Kuether Chief Copy EditorSpenser Bickett Chief Copy Editor
Frank F. Pellegrino Sports EditorKatie Hoffman Currents Editor
Cal McNeil Photo EditorMax Grones Online Editor
Camille Gerstenhaber Multimedia Editor
Brian Miller Graphic DesignerAnna Soldner Copy EditorChris Reinoos Copy EditorEmily Albrent Copy EditorDavid Heiling Staff WriterTyler Hart Staff WriterTuesday Wustrack Staff WriterBrian Roberts Staff WriterAlex Zank Staff WriterElizabeth Jackson Staff Photographer
The Spectator is written and edited by students of UW-Eau Claire and they are solely responsible for its editorial policy and content.
Editorials in The Spectator reflect the majority opinion of the editorial board and are written by the Op/Ed editor. The editorial board is generally comprised of the editor in chief, managing editor, Currents editor, chief copy editors, news editors, sports editors, but may include other members of the editorial staff. Columns, cartoons and letters are the opinion of the author/artist and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board.
Students, faculty and staff members are invited to write letters to the editor to express their views on public issues and other matters of concern or to respond to editorials or other opinions in the newspaper. Letter writers are not allowed to respond to attacks on their letters. Letters should be typed or written legibly and include a name with signature, address and phone number. Students should include their year in school and major. The Spectator reserves the right to edit, shorten or withhold letters. Letters should be 300 words or fewer. Letters will be published in their entirety online. Email letters to [email protected].
For more information about The Spectator contact Carolyn Tiry by phone or email. Faculty adviser Michael Dorsher can be contacted at (715) 836-5729 or [email protected].
THE SPECTATOR
www.spectatornews.com
By Eric ChristensonOP/ED EDITOR
The Axis of Brilliance is a graphic ranking of everything awful and brilliant this week from here to infinity.And it’s back.
Neil Patrick Harris is hosting the Tonys. I guess if the world’s go-ing to end in December, we should just have the same dude that everyone loves host the awards show that no one watches for the 100th time. Sure.
Even while they were being bombed in Grand Chute, Planned Parenthood refused a $500,000 donation from
Tucker Max, which rules because that dude sux. Basically, he writes really disgustingly distasteful things about women like, “Planned Parenthood would be cooler if it was a giant flight of stairs, w/someone pushing girls
down, like a water park slide.” Planned Parenthood rightly refused the money he earned from saying those disgusting, distasteful things, which is very cool, no matter what you
think of the organization.
Mary J. Blige did a commercial for Burger King and it is HILARIOUS. What a career she’s had! So proud of her. I’m actually having difficulty thinking of a song she did before this Burger King one. Sorry, Mary J.!
3.9 million people watched “Game of Thrones” on Sunday. 3.9 MILLION.
Did you guys know that show is based on a book by this dude?
Astrologist Neil Degrasse Tyson said that in “Titanic,” when
Rose is laying on the driftwood looking at the sky at the end,
that’s not actually the star field she would be seeing, so they’re fixing it for the new 3-D rere-lease. But more importantly:
GO OUTSIDE, NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON.
You guys, Limp Bizkit is in trouble! Fred Durst wants to fire two of the band’s origi-nal members ‘cause they don’t fit with his “new vision” for Limp Bizkit. I hope his new vision includes no one ever talking
about Limp Bizkit forever.
AWFUL
BRILLIANT
Over the past few years we’ve seen an increase in the consumption of organic food. The demand for it has increased for many reasons, but those reasons typically revolve around the idea that it’s healthier for our bodies and the environment.
But the word organic doesn’t necessarily mean ‘healthier’ and eating or-ganic products doesn’t really do much to help the environment.
I’ve been a vegetarian for over six years now, so maybe it comes as a surprise that I’m writing about why people shouldn’t eat organi-cally. I mean, you’d think I’d be a total granola girl whining about Eau Claire not having a Whole Foods every day of my life. But, I’m not.
People hear the word organic and automatically think it’s healthier. I’d be willing to bet that most of the time, people think this because of pesticides.
Pesticides have gotten a bad rap lately as people have supposedly become more concerned about the effects of the chemicals on their bodies. The word pes-ticide is often replaced with ‘poison’ within the rhetoric of organic backers.
But the benefit of us-ing pesticides outweighs the negatives.
Before the idea of us-
ing chemical pesticides became standard in agri-culture, people didn’t really have nearly as much access to fruits, veggies and grains. According to an MSNBC article from 2006, the av-erage harvested acre of farmland yields 200 percent more wheat than it did 70 years ago.
Around 20 to 40 percent of the world’s crops are al-ready lost annually because of the effects of weeds, pests and diseases, accord-ing to Crop Life America, an association for chemical pesticide developers.
Crop Life America’s website claimed that if we just stopped using
pesticides altogether, crop losses would double, which would raise food prices.
Fewer crops and more expensive food is kind of an issue when we have more than 6.8 billion people on the planet to feed, many of whom live in poverty. Until a way to organically prevent a repeat of the Irish potato famine exists, going without pesticides is a ridiculously bad idea.
Not to mention that the EPA is pretty picky about evaluating pesticides before they can be used.
And for those who want to eat organically because they want to be healthier, if we rule out the overarching
issue of pesticides, organic food isn’t any healthier than non-organic food.
Adding more fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains to your diet is going to be beneficial whether or not they’re organic. Foods like fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals and antioxidants, both of which are good for your body.
Research from Stanford University found that add-ing brightly colored fruits and vegetables, whole grains and beans may decrease the risk of developing certain cancers as well as diabe-tes, hypertension and heart disease. Not to mention that these foods are high in
nutrients that your body needs and low in calories.
One study found that organically grown tomatoes have more vitamin C than conventional tomatoes, ac-cording to Time magazine. But other than that, so far no studies have been able to prove that organic foods offer any more health ben-efits than conventionally grown food.
Perhaps the most in-teresting double standard of the organic food in-dustry is that brands like Amy’s Kitchen get to gro-cery stores the same way as Kellogg’s and Nabisco. Ground shipping.
Gas is still being burned
by the truck that car-ries organic food to the grocery store.
Annie’s Homegrown, an organic food company, is located in Berkley, Calif., meaning the organic mac and cheese you spent a dol-lar more on probably trav-elled further than the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese as Kraft Foods is headquar-tered in Northfield, Ill.
And it goes without say-ing that the organic food industry is smaller than the traditional food indus-try. Because of this, there is less organic food than food grown with pesticides in our world, and some-times an organic apple needs to be shipped from New Zealand, whereas an apple grown with conven-tional methods might come from Wisconsin.
While the idea of eat-ing organically is attractive, especially if you’re wor-ried about what you eat or what impact you’re hav-ing on the environment, it might not have much of a real impact at all other than provide you with a bit more vitamin C.
And if you need vitamin C that badly, you can easily find it in more places than a $4 tomato.
By HALEY ZBLEWSKI
/MCTMany large companies own some of the most popular organic food options. This feeds into the idea that many people don’t know all the facts about the products they consume under the assumption that it’s healthier.
Zblewski is a senior journalism major and news editor of The Spectator.
The benefits of pesticidesOrganic options aren’t as environmentally helpful as often thought
SUBMITTED PHOTOS
Editorial4B • Thursday, April 5, 2012 Op/Ed Editor: Eric Christenson
UW-Eau Claire prides itself on the amount and variety of service its students participate in each se-mester. To facilitate this, the uni-versity provides many opportuni-ties for students to give their time, energy, and intellect.
As students head out each semester to undertake their vari-ous service-learning experienc-es, I ask that they consider the following ideas.
First, service should be con-ducted in the “spirit of service.” The giving of time and energy to serve a worthy cause is an essen-tial part of the college experience.
Many service-learning op-portunities are linked to course grades, student clubs and organi-zations, intercultural immersions, student teaching and graduation.
However, students should never lose sight of the notion of giving one’s time for free. The pri-mary objective is to provide the highest quality, reliable and caring support to people in need.
In the minds of students, this reality should trump requirements for grades.
Second, service should meet
the needs of the people whom the student intends to serve; not the student’s personal needs.
Students should listen to the wishes of the people they are working with to learn how best to help them. Sometimes well-mean-ing students approach service fo-cused on teaching math concepts, for example, when in fact their mentees would rather work on conversational language skills.
Service should be as close to unconditional as possible. To this end I suggest that the student em-brace a willingness to listen be-fore he or she goes to work in any service setting.
Third, service is something that one does with people, not to them or for them.
Students who participate in service should ask themselves if they see the people that they are working with as equals. If the an-swer is “no” then maybe he or she is not ready to serve, or maybe they are interested in service to serve their own needs.
As a student willing to serve, one should never go into a community with a deficit-based
mind set. Students may do this subcon-
sciously, therefore one needs to look for the signs of this by ask-ing a few questions: Do you feel that part of your service is to help the people you are working with become more like you, or think more like you?
Do you feel “sorry” for the people you are working with?
Do you feel that nothing you learn from your service re-lationships will inspire positive changes in your attitudes, values, and/or actions?
If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, then there is rea-son for concern that your service may fall short.
Similarly, I suggest to students that it is a mistake to use service to others as a way to transmit one’s religious viewpoints. Genu-ine service and missionary work on behalf of any religion are not one and the same, at least not at Eau Claire.
Social service is not a vehicle for proselytizing. Those who serve seek to offer assistance and support with few or no conditions
and, certainly, not by exacting as a fee the acceptance of a particular cast of religious ideas.
In service-based partnerships it is often true that one party in the relationship is in great need of the offered support.
Due to this power dynamic, often the person (or persons) who have accepted the service offer-ings of another will feel coerced to accept whatever conditions are placed on them in exchange for the service, either overtly stated or covertly implied.
This is the case when reli-gious offerings are in any way a part of a service-based rela-tionship. This subtle but real pressure negatively affects the dynamic of the working relation-ship by oppressing, devaluing, and silencing the people with whom one seeks to build positive meaningful relationships.
Under no circumstance should religious acceptance be used as a bargaining chip in ex-change for service, either stated or implied.
In addition to providing the needed support, an equally
important goal of service is to widen one’s own horizons and broaden one’s understandings of the world.
When students are unwilling to discard or suspend their “single story” idea about history, social class, race, privilege, and religion, one’s ability to grow while serving others is significantly impaired.
This in turn sets up the po-tential for deficit-based thinking that paves the way for offensive behaviors, as the server initiates the serving relationship believing that he or she has come to the relationship already knowing the “truth” or the “right way.”
This is, at best, condescending and, at worst, deeply offensive.
I truly admire all the hard work UW-Eau Claire students do in the name of service.
Their efforts have had a posi-tive impact on countless youths and families. Evidence for this is easy to find.
Please, keep up the good work, but take a moment to think about the reasons why we serve.
By ARAM deKOVEN
deKoven is an assistant professor of educa-tion studies at UW-Eau Claire.
By CHRIS REINOOS
Service with nothing more than a smile
Intruder bill prompts unnecessary violence
What the service learning requirement should be
Castle Doctrine needs to be repealed
This doesn’t seem like justice to me: The shoot-ing of 20-year-old Bo Morrison last month in Slinger has ignited a fierce debate in Wisconsin over the intruder bill signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker last December.
The law, known as the Castle Doctrine, a refer-ence to the phrase “a man’s home is his castle,” al-lows citizens to use deadly force against intruders in their home, business or automobile.
At the time, I thought the law was extreme and unnecessary and set a dangerous precedent.
Milwaukee County Sher-iff David Clarke said when the bill was signed into law he supported it because he’s “not going to have to sweat whether or not a prosecutor is going to come along and put the onus on me.”
What, you mean you’re not going to have to “sweat” doing your job? You’re the sheriff of the largest county in the state.
If you are unwilling or unable to look into crimes and determine who the guilty party is, then resign immediately and save us from your incompetence.
Now the Morrison shooting has put a tragic face to the Castle Doctrine.
The specifics of the case should make any rational
person think twice about the sanity of this law.
Morrison was at a party when Adam Kind, the homeowner in the case, called the police to complain about the noise.
When the police even-tually came, Morrison fled the scene and attempted to hide from police on Kind’s enclosed porch. Kind claims he believed Morri-son was trying to break into his home.
Kind opened the door to the porch, saw Mor-rison take a step towards him, and fired one shot, killing him.
Does that sound like someone who was a deadly threat to Kind and his family?
Morrison was a kid run-ning scared from the cops and found a good place to hide.
Wisconsin’s previous law said a person could only seek to kill or wound someone if they reason-ably believed they were in immediate danger.
Morrison brandished no weapon. He didn’t approach Kind aggressively — Wash-ington County District At-torney Mark Bensen said that Kind shot when Mor-rison took just a single step towards him.
But with the Castle Doc-trine in effect, Kind did not break any law. Sadly, he
was within his legal rights to shoot Morrison, who had gone onto his porch without permission.
Cases like this are why the Castle Doctrine needs to be repealed. Now.
I live near Water Street, and on more than one oc-casion this school year, strangers have barged into my house, drunk and belligerent.
Now, I could shoot these people and prosecu-tors would have to assume the force was justified. But clearly, that’s insane.
Gov. Walker has gotten a lot of heat for his anti-union policies and the in-creasing cost of education in the state, and deservedly so. But the new gun laws, including the Castle Doc-trine and concealed carry, also will play a huge role in the future of our state.
Do we want to live in a “shoot first, ask questions later” culture? I, for one, certainly do not.
Proponents of the Cas-tle Doctrine say it provides necessary protection for people in their homes.
Protection from drunk, scared kids like Bo Mor-rison? It seems to me like they may need more pro-tection from overzealous homeowners.
Reinoos is a junior journalism major and copy editor of The Spectator.
Do we want to live in a “shoot first, ask questions later” culture? I, for one, certainly do not.
www.spectatornews.com Thursday, April 5, 2012 • 5B
remodeled and very nice. Just off bike path. $300 per person,
real nice.Call 715-579-9007
2012-2013 HOUSING AVAILABLE
4 bedroom houses for rent.
All utilites paid. Dishwasher, laundry,
off-street parking. Water St.
2 BEDROOM Dishwasher, microwave,
off-street parking. Chippewa St.
(715) 210-5569
HOUSING NEAR CAMPUS1, 2, 3, 4, 5, AND 6
BEDROOM APARTMENTS
AVAILABLE NEAR CAMPUS. ALL UNITS
ARE PRICED UNDER MARKET.
PLEASE CALL 715-829-5174 OR
715-832-8040 TO INQUIRE. THANK YOU
AVAILABLE JUNE 2012
4 br 211 8th Ave. newly remodeled
3 Bedroom Rental at 111 7th Ave in Eau Claire
ecstudentrentals.com(715) 456-1967
PETERS RENTALS1 & 2 Bdrm. Apts.
www.petersrentals.net715-831-2106
PROCRASTINATING?...THIS TIME IT HAS PAID OFF!
Reduced rents on many units.
2 – 6 Bedroom houses & apartments. Most have
laundry and off-street parking.
Owner managed & maintained by a
friendly, respectful & knowledgeable staff.
Come see the difference yourself.
Call 715-838-2000, or visit our website, www.cwree.com.
FOR RENT 2012-2013Bro Properties 2, 3 & 4
bedroom apartments and houses. Exceptionally
clean; Landlord pays all utilities. For a rental list and prices please check
out our website at www.broproperties.com
(715) 832-6062
MULTILISTING
EMPLOYMENT/REAL ESTATE
MULTILISTING
EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT
5 BEDROOM
www.spectatornews.comStudent Life6B • Thursday, April 5, 2012 Editor: Camille Gerstenhaber
Every semester, a new group of students at UW-Eau Claire get ready to depart on their study abroad adventures.
Those students have a lot on their plates between packing, filling out forms and get-ting informed about their new location.
Another group of students, the peer ad-visers, help them prepare for their journey.
Each semester, the Center for Interna-tional Education hires 14 to 18 peer ad-visers, depending on the number of pro-grams and the number of students going abroad, Study Abroad Coordinator Cheryl Lochner-Wright said.
She added that the university sends about 200 students abroad in the spring and about 200 in the summer and fall combined.
“(The peer advisers) are the first point
of contact with the students who are going abroad on their program the next semes-ter,” she said.
The advisers help the students on their programs and have various responsibilities, Lochner-Wright said.
First, they participate in the study abroad orientation held in September or February where they talk more specifically about their programs. They also perform skits, answer
questions and help students fill out forms.The peer advisers also hold office hours
two hours a week where students can come and ask questions.
In addition, they help promote the study abroad programs, especially in the fall.
“They organize their program’s table for the study abroad fair and they also speak on the study abroad spotlight panels that are a comparison of programs in a particular
region,” Lochner-Wright said.They also send out weekly emails to the
students participating in their programs to remind them about important deadlines coming up, or about cultural tips and fun facts about their destination and personal advice from their own experience, she said.
Lochner-Wright added that every se-mester, the students going abroad evaluate the performance of their peer advisers.
“It is always very positive (feedback), she said. “They appreciate having someone they can go to who has recent experience at their program site.”
Without their help, Lochner-Wright said, the programs would not be the same.
“We couldn’t do what we do without them,” she said. “They are an integral part of the office, and I think the level of ser-vice we can provide to students who are going abroad is much higher because we have the peer advisers.”
By Camille GerstenhaberMULTIMEDIA EDITOR
“The level of service we can provide to students who are going abroad is much higher
because we have the peer advisers.”
CHERYL LOCHNER-WRIGHT Study Abroad Coordinator
Jade Schantzen spent 66 days last summer sailing on a ship around
the world while taking classes as part of the Semester at Sea program.
The program started in the Baha-mas and then went to Spain, Greece, Croatia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Morocco, she said.
It is the first year that the Semes-ter at Sea program is affiliated with the university, so Schantzen didn’t have a peer adviser at the time she went, but wished she would have had one.
She said she decided to become a peer adviser because of her passion for the program and to help promote it to the students since it is not a traditional study abroad program.
“Since it is the first year that the program is affiliated with Eau Claire, I thought it was important to give a posi-tive message and really get the program out there,” Schantzen said.
On of the challenges of being a peer adviser for Schantzen is wanting to be the one going abroad again, she said.
“It is hard because you go and have all your own experiences, and you go back to Wisconsin and you are like, ‘Gosh I really wish that I was back travelling,’” Schantzen said.
However, she said she loves seeing how excited students get as their time abroad approaches and the stressful parts of forms and financial are over.
“For me it makes me happy when I see them get excited and forget about all the forms and think about what they are actually going to be doing and the people they are going to meet,” Schantzen said.
Next summer there will be one student participating in this pro-gram. Five will go in the fall and four will do the short-term program for a month.
Jade SchantzenSenior, finance major
Peer adviser for the Semester at Sea program
Maureen Sullivan participated in one of the study abroad programs
offered by Eau Claire. She went to Thessa-loniki, Greece, in the spring of 2011.
“I had a lot of fun there and I thought I would be useful in giving information to people who wanted to go,” Sullivan said.
She said she enjoys talking about her ex-periences, but her roommates got tired of hearing about them, so she wants to share
them with someone the information would be relevant to.
“When we had orientation I got excited for them that they get to do what I did, and experience what I did,” Sullivan said.
She adds that sometimes she find it challenging to answer some of the more specific questions students may have.
Two students are studying abroad to Greece in the fall.
Maureen SullivanJunior, political science legal studies major
Peer adviser for Thessaloniki, Greece
It is the second consecutive semes-ter that Kristina Bleess is a peer
adviser for the Lismore, Australia, pro-gram. She studied abroad there in the spring of 2010.
“I had an awesome time and a great experience and I wanted to get people excited about going abroad and share my tips and places that I saw,” she said.
Since it is her second semester advising students, Bleess said she is more comfort-able answering the common questions.
She adds that most student have ques-tions about packing and traveling, and
she also answers questions about the best places to go and how to make their time abroad worthwhile.
But she said the best part of being a peer adviser is the orientation.
“It is the most fun part,” Bleess said. “You can actually see (the students) get really excited about it and get all of the relevant important information up to them face-to-face, which is really impor-tant because we do a lot of correspon-dence through email.”
In the fall, two students will be going to Lismore.
Kristina BleessSenior, actuarial science major
Peer adviser for Lismore, Australia
Peer advisers share tips and experiences with students who will study abroad in their program
Andrea TrungaleJunior, public relations and Spanish major
Peer adviser for Valladolid, Spain
Andrea Trungale studied abroad in
Valladolid, Spain, in the spring of 2011 and it is her first semester being a peer adviser.
She said she was in-spired to be a peer advis-er after seeing the work they do.
“When I was going to Spain, I saw that they had this role of people to help out the students and interact and com-municate with them, and I was like, ‘I need to do this when I come back,’” Trungale said.
She was glad the advis-ers were there to help her and answer her questions especially about the culture of Spain because she didn’t know anything about it. She added that she appreciated the tips about how to live with a host family.
Trungale said when she same back from a study experience she knew she
had to be a peer adviser be-cause she had a great expe-rience and wanted to share it.
“I literally think it was the best thing I did in my life,” she said.
To give tips to the stu-dents going abroad in the fall, she surveyed some people who went to Spain with her, Trungale said. From her survey she com-piled some advice that she can give to the students in her weekly emails.
“I also try to put my-self in their place and think about what kind of things they are wondering about,”
she said.One of the challenges, Trungale said,
was orientation because she didn’t know what to expect. But she hopes next se-mester will be easier as she is reapplying for the position.
In the fall there will be 17 students studying in Valladolid.
Students’ reactions about the peer advisers
Jackson SchmidtkeSenior, broadcast journalism majorStudied in Winchester, England, Spring 2011
“I think having a good peer adviser is one of the best ways to be prepared to go abroad, no matter where you are going to go. If you have a good peer adviser who helps you out and lets you know all the things that you need to know before you
go it is going to make your transition there a lot easier.”
Lisa LabeauJunior, Spanish liberal arts major
Studied in Valladolid, Spain, Spring 2011
“They were there to make the adjustment easier. It was going to be a big culture shock, and they helped out quite a bit. We were
![Staunton Spectator (Staunton, Va.) 1869-09-07 [p ] · Staunton Spectator Volume XLVI. ... Staunton, Virginia, Will practice in all the Courts of Augusta and Alleghany, and in the](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/5e8836fa4304ac5ade5cf79c/staunton-spectator-staunton-va-1869-09-07-p-staunton-spectator-volume-xlvi.jpg)
