2 10 2016 the davidsonian

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the davidsonian

FEBRUARY 10, 2016 VOL. 108 ISSUE 14

The Independent Student Newspaper of Davidson College since 1914

Callinder wins SGA Presidential election

Inside NEWS SGA President-elect Ben Callinder answers the Davidsonian’s questions 2 LIVING DAVIDSON The Chew returns with a hearty chicken soup recipe 4 Annual Apocalypse Step Show ignites DPFH 4 PERSPECTIVES John-Michael Murphy critiques college bylaw that restricts presidents to mostly white Presbyterian pool 5 YOWL

Callinder answers a question at the debate last week. See our Q&A with the president-elect on page 2. Photo by Shea Parikh.

Fitbits track student habits for campus study OLIVE DANIELS Staff Writer

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tudents across the Davidson campus embrace technology, using laptops, cell phones, and tablets to enhance their experiences of daily college life. In addition to these devices for both social media and academic use, Fitbits are also becoming a big part of many students’ daily routines. Fitbits – wearable fitness trackers that come in a variety of colors and styles – keep count of wearers’ daily steps, calories, sleep patterns and more. The device is synced with an app available on smartphones and tablets, through which wearers can monitor their own activity or progress, comparing days, weeks, months, or even years of data.

While Fitbits are becoming popular among the general population, there are about 80 Davidson students who are wearing them not just for personal reasons. These students are members of a clinical psychology project that is being conducted at Davidson called You@Davidson. The You@Davidson study asks questions of members of the class of 2018 about their college experience. The questionnaires will produce findings which can help university and college professionals analyze, among other questions, what causes the most stress to college students and how, as leaders of institutions, they can make their academic or student life environments more conducive to student learning and health. Researchers are collecting data from the members of the class of 2018 through periodically

distributed questionnaires, designed to better understand their patterns of exercise and sleep. Similar studies are being conducted at the four schools that receive backing from the Duke Endowment. In addition to Davidson, researchers at Duke University, Furman University, and Johnson C. Smith University are conducting the study on their own campuses. Professor Emeritus of Psychology Dr. Cole Barton is leading the Fitbit component of the study. The ultimate questions, according to Barton, are: what promotes student growth, and what inhibits growth in relation to performance?

See FITBITS on page 3

Police still on the hunt for student’s lost self esteem 6 GSS class sparks desire to make world a better place 6 SPORTS Barham overcomes knee problems to contribute meaningful minutes 7 Latt takes women’s basketball to new heights in second A-10 season 8

Charlotte banker teaches introductory finance course VITA DADOO LOMELI Staff Writer

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his spring, the College introduced an Introductory Finance course to its curriculum for the first time. Taught by Barrett Kollme, an investment banker, the course provides a foundation in the principles and tools of finance, which include financial analysis, the time of value of money, capital budgeting, and capital structure. Kollme grew up in Atlanta, GA and received a Bachelor’s degree at the University of Virginia and an MBA at Duke. After residing in Baltimore for 11 years, Kollme moved to Davidson in 2005, working for what was at the time Wachovia Bank, now Wells Fargo. He specializes in equity capital markets, or raising equity for real estate companies. Kollme has always held a personal relationship with Davidson. Married to the daughter of long-time professor Gill Holland, Kollme has been consistently involved in campus and community life. Through his in-laws, Kollme became acquainted with Ben Baker, Professor of Accounting, with whom Kollme collaborated in the creation and approval of the Introductory Finance course. “My real mentor here has been Ben Baker,” Kollme recalled. “I came in close contact through

my father in law and told him that if there was vidson. It’s been a very logical transition from ever a need for a finance class then I would be my existing job to what I do here in that I’m just interested in talking to him about forming that teaching another set of people who are in theory or teaching that in whatever form it took on.” The interested in finance.” College approved the course last spring, and, afAs the student demand for careers in bankter a conversation with Baker, Kollme embraced ing increases, Kollme believes he can integrate the teaching opportunity wholeheartedly. his professional experience in the classroom setAlthough ting to teach a this is his first unique course time leading that exploits One of the other things I want to and crafting a the student do is tell people what it’s like to course in a colbody’s sharp lege setting, problem-solvbe an investment banker. What Kollme has ing skills. do you learn, what do you do on a always been “Davidson driven to teach can find anyday-to-day basis. It is not a career one who can young individufor everybody.” als who are moteach basic fitivated to work What I — Barrett Kollme, instructor, nance. in the banking think I bring industry. Introductory Finance into the table is “My favorite real world expart of my job, perience, a lot frankly, is when I sit down and teach them finan- of different situations that I’ve been in, good and cial strategies, accounting, [and] decision mak- bad,” Kollme said. “Layering on kind of the acaing, “ Kollme explained. “Any type of financial demic side of finance with the real world side of situation I can help them analyze. It’s always very investment banking, I hope, gives the students a exciting to me to relay what I’ve learned and what little bit of a different slant on how this material is I’ve experienced to them. So I’ve always wanted used in the real world and how you really can apto take that to the next level to teaching students, ply the different analysis or valuation techniques and particularly at a college the caliber of Da- that we’ll learn in the class to a real world situa-

tion. It’s a good balance between the academics and real world professionalism.” Although the College does not offer a wide variety of pre-professional courses, Kollme attests that the liberal arts curriculum and its emphasis on the development of critical thinking abilities enhance the classroom experience. “Davidson is filled with smart people that analyze complex problems and come up with solutions,” he said. “Finance can be an extension of that. To me there seems to be a demand for not stepping too far out of the liberal arts focus but taking another step towards more of the real world side. I think there will be and should be demand for that type of extension for the existing liberal arts focus.” Kollme’s course, with its emphasis on real world applications, also provides insight into what banking as a career entails, shedding light on the overall value of pre-professional courses. “There are a lot of people at this school that have expressed interest in investment banking as a career,” Kollme explained. “So one of the other things I want to do is to tell people what it’s like to be an investment banker. What do you learn? What do you do on a day-to-day basis? It is a not a career for everybody. What I tell them is that you know what you’re getting into and really examine what investment banking means, what it demands of you.”


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