MARTIN LUTHER KING, jr. day offers perspective, service opportunities SEE IT LIVE
Want to know more about what it took to plan MLK Day or what went on during the events? Check out BGNews. com for two videos about it.
PHOTOS GALORE SHARE YOUR FUN STORIFY-TELLING Check out a slideshow of MLK Day at BGNews.com under the multimedia tab.
Check out BGNews.com to see a Storify on what people thought about the events. See if we used your tweet, Instagram photo or Facebook post.
Did you serve? Or not? Share your MLK Day experience by tweeting at @The_BG_News using the hashtag #BGMLK14
INSIDE:
Check out Page 5 to see why one volunteer participates in MLK Day events.
THE BG NEWS ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Volume 93, Issue 54
WWW.BGNEWS.COM
remembering
WHY
Coordinator encourages ‘people over projects,’ event takes several people to host
MLK DAY BY THE NUMBERS
Service Learning staff • 925 t-shirts • 5 speakers • 820 volunteers TRANSPORTATION: • 53 sites • 10 buses • 2,775 service hours completed • 5 shuttles • $60,000 = roughly how much the • 6 vans hours are worth to the community FUNDING: • 70 members of the leadership • 2 grants worth a total of $2,500 team • Around $7,000 in co-spon• 7 Civic Action Leaders sorships, including $2,000 • 152 student athletes from the University Activities • About 15 Classified Staff Organization Council volunteers to make lunch • Also donations of items, such • 11 members of the Office of as food and vans
By Danae King Editor-in-Chief
T
hough there are 53 projects going on during one day, to Katherine Bowser, the people are more important than the projects. Bowser was one of the graduate students in charge of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on Monday. Bowser, an assistant director in the Office of Service Learning, and Jeremy Doughty, another graduate student and assistant director, were both new to the day and their positions and spent months preparing. Throughout the planning process and the day, Bowser remembered her long-held belief that the relationships made between people are more important than the projects completed. If students ask why they are at a place helping out, that helps them begin to work toward a solution to the problem they are helping to solve, she said. “If you do that— it’s very natural for them to engage in people more, rather than wall painting or food stocking,” Bowser said.
See SCENES | Page 6
MLK Day offers multiple opportunities for volunteers By Kathryne Rubright Reporter
F
or many students, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a Monday free of classes. For others, it’s one of the best days of the year. “It’s like our Christmas almost, because it’s so big,” said Alan Watson, a senior serving with Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed service fraternity. Watson said the day of service has been bigger and better each of the four years he has served. “I’m sad this is my last year,” Watson said. 820 students chose to participate this year, putting in 2,775 service hours. This is the sixth year the Office of Service Learning and Civic Action Now, a student organization, have come together to organize the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service Challenge. Students work in teams to complete community service projects in Bowling Green, Toledo and the surrounding area. “We had a few more students than we thought we were going to have,” said Tracy Knappins, service center director for Salvation Army of Wood County. About 35 students helped to repaint the Salvation Army Service Center. Knappins had expected 20 students.
brief
Dining Services offers food for MLK Day volunteers
This year, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day food was fully catered by campus Dining Services for all to eat. Dining Services is the only sponsor for MLK Day for food this year because its funding was lost for the food, said Mike Paulus, director of Dining Services. When Paulus received a phone call for more food than this past year, he was shocked at the number increase of volunteers.
“There were 500 volunteers last year and 800 this year, so it was important for us to step up and help,” Paulus said. This past year, Dining Services was a primary partner. There were other organizations helping out, such as United Way. Paulus and the Dining Services team prepared lunches to go for volunteers. They had a variety of food and drinks for volunteers to choose from. “We [were] more than excited and ready to help out and provide everyone with lunches and snacks,” Paulus said. “It was a great way to help out such a huge event, so we were more than happy to.” The Classified Staff Council packed more than 800 lunches Monday morning.
SECOND-HALF COMEBACK BG Men’s basketball overcomes a 15-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Broncos of Western Michigan. Anthony Henderson led the way for the Falcons with a career-high 27 points. | PAGE 3
Co-ed team wins national championship By Cameron Teague Robinson Sports Editor
The Bowling Green State University cheerleading team stayed true to its mission statement and ‘found a way’ to win the co-ed national championship this past Saturday at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Fla. “Our mission statement all year has been ‘find a way,’” junior Abbey Pilgrim said. “We had so many challenges and we were still able to do our routine well and complete our goal.” The cheerleaders were given four days off the entire break, and they went through two-a-days which consisted of two three hour practices each day. There were injuries and other obstacles the team had to overcome while preparing for nationals, Pilgrim said. The team’s goal through the entire event wasn’t to win a national championship but to hit a technically clean routine. “We were so happy after the routine ended because we knew we hit the routine the best we could,” Pilgrim said. The Falcon co-ed team climbed from third place after the semifinals, among 21 cheers programs from around the country including Hofstra, Purdue, San Diego State, Rutgers, Colorado State, George Mason and Syracuse. There were a total of nine teams in the finals that were fighting to stop Hofstra from winning its sixth championship in a row. All 10 of the finalists were standing on the stage waiting for their name to be called and when Hofstra was called as runner up, a sense of shock hit the team, Pilgrim said.
See CHEER | Page 2
See MLKDAY | Page 6
CAMPUS
Falcons ‘found a way’
Takeout boxes not available in 2 dining halls The Oaks, Carillon to bring community together; not allow students to eat in residence halls By Abby Welsh News Editor
There are no new plans for takeout boxes at either one of the All You Can Eat dining halls anytime soon. Carillon and The Oaks, now open for more than two years, allow students to pay one price to eat anything they want. These are the only AYCE facilities on campus. Students are allowed to stay as long
TWEET THAT JOB
as they want to socialize or do homework when they are finished eating. “The purpose of these dining halls was to prevent taking your food home and eating in your room, but instead to create a sense of community and coming together,” said Mike Paulus, director of Dining Services. Because the two facilities have not been open that long, there is not enough data to determine whether or not takeout boxes would be a
Columnist Davood Dadfar talks about the impact social media will have on the professional world in the upcoming year. He also provides examples as such. | PAGE 4
good option yet. “If anything it would cost [Dining Services] more money to buy the boxes, extra food, walking in and out, etc. It just is not feasible at the moment,” Paulus said. “It would not bring us in any extra income at all.” However, Paulus and the rest of Dining Services do not think it won’t
See BOXES | Page 5
WHAT DOES MLK DAY MEAN TO YOU? “Freedom of speech for everyone. Before MLK, not everyone would say what was on their mind especially if they were of color.” Scott Henley Senior, Digital Arts