BSU 10-13-22

Building

Next Generation

BallStateDailyNews.com

Men’s basketball to feature for CBS

Oct. 6: The Mid-American Conference (MAC) announced the pre-selections for broadcasts of the 2023 men’s basketball season Oct. 6 with Ball State guaranteed at least three games on CBS Sports Network (CBSSN). Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. at Toledo, Jan. 6 at 8:30 p.m. against Akron and Jan. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Kent State will all be found on CBSSN.

Ukraine attack called a potential war crime

Oct. 11: The United Nations office described Russia’s widespread attack on Ukraine that resulted in the death of at least 19 people as a potential war crime, according to AP. This attack was reportedly in response to an explosion that damaged the Kerch Bridge between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.

Steele and Burrow MAC Players of the Week

Oct. 10: As Ball State Football edged out Central Michigan 1716 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) play, second-year running back Carson Steele and secondyear punter Lucas Burrow earned offensive and special teams player of the week respectively. Burrow hit nine punts for an average of 45.6 per punt and Steele rushed for 124 yards on 28 carries.

Delaware County early voting begins

Oct. 12: The Delaware County Building opened an early voting poll for the 2022 general election. In this election, positions such as county council, county office and Indiana General Assembly seats, among others, are up for voting. This is the first election since Delaware County’s move to Indiana’s fifth district.

THURSDAY

MOSTLY CLOUDY

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144-360), the Ball State student newspaper, publishes Thursdays during the academic year, except during semester and summer breaks. The Daily News is supported in part by an allocation from the General Fund of the university and is available free to students at various campus locations.

CONTACT THE DN Newsroom: 765-285-8245

Editor: 765-285-8249, editor@bsudailynews.com

EDITORIAL BOARD

Elissa Maudlin, Editor-in-chief

Evan Chandler, Print Managing Editor

Angelica Gonzalez Morales,

Managing Editor

Kyle Smedley, News Editor

Daniel Kehn,

Grayson

Jacob

Lila

Alex

Amber

Josie

Lisa

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CORRECTION

The Ball State Daily News is committed to providing accurate news to the community. In the event we need to correct inaccurate information, you will find that printed here.

To submit a correction, email editor@bsudailynews.com.

MOSTLY SUNNY

FRIDAY PERIODS OF RAIN

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SATURDAY MOSTLY SUNNY Hi: 60º Lo: 37º

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SUNDAY

THIS WEEK: Some cold fronts passing through will provide reinforcing shots of colder air. Enjoy these relatively warmer conditions as highs in the upper 40’s could be possible Tuesday and Wednesday of next week with lows below freezing.

START CHECKING, FROM DAY ONE.

Waking Up with Cardinal Weather is Ball State University’s first and only morning mobile show focused on getting your ready for the day through local news, weather and lifestyle trends. Waking Up with Cardinal Weather airs every Friday morning at 8 a.m. at @cardinalwx live on Facebook.

Ryan Hill, Weather forecaster, Benny Weather Group

4-DAY WEATHER FORECAST

International

NASA’s “Save-TheWorld Test” succeeded

NASA announced Tuesday Oct. 11 the Dart spacecraft, which was used in the “save-the-world test” shifted its orbit successfully. Two weeks ago, Dart collided with an asteroid to test if an asteroid could be nudged out of Earth’s way. Telescope observations from Chile and South Africa showed how much the asteroid’s orbit was impacted. The collison took off 32 minutes from the asteroid’s orbit.

Campus Diane Burko visits the David Owsley Museum of Art

Thursday, Oct. 13, renowned artist and activist Diane Burko will visit the David Owsley Museum of Art (DOMA) to discuss her art, which is featured in DOMA’s 2022 fall exhibit “Regionalism, Surrealism and Climate Change: Recent Loans and Acquisitions at the David Owsley Museum of Art.” The event starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m.

National Superintendent announces resignation in Uvalde

Monday Oct. 10, Ulvade School District Superintendent Hal Harrell announced his resignation for the end of the academic year. This resignation follows months of community outrage due to the handling of Robb Elementary School’s shooting May 24. Uvalde’s school board voted unanimously to search for Harrell’s successor Monday.

Elijah Poe Reporter

Digging up dirt, building a foundation and helping the local community are just a few things buildOn does. It is also a few things a Ball State University alumnus does.

Davonte Longmire is a digital marketing manager for buildOn where some of his duties are to expand their social media presence and support different elections and companies who support buildOn. “buildOn’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education,” Brandon Worth, buildOn vice president of marketing, said via email. “We mobilize U.S. students to transform our communities through service and change the world by building schools in developing countries.”

Growing up in Chicago, Longmire said he was subject to senseless violence. During this time, Longmire’s friend, Gregory Means, recommended he get involved in community service with the group “Building with Books,” later to be named buildOn.

“The first project we did was a mural project; it ignited my passion, I really liked the people and the group I was with. I had a strong sense of commitment and turned that into a passion,” Longmire said. “I felt like buildOn really gave me my voice back through community service. Here I had this cruel thing that happened to me, and essentially, I was able to overcome it through community service.”

Worth said buildOn has completed construction on 2,171 schools since 1999 in eight developing nations.

“We break ground at a new school every two weeks, and every week we complete a school,” Worth said. “What buildOn is doing is important because we must each take responsibility for the change we wish to see in the world.”

Trek works alongside local community members to build a school in a community in need. Trek builds schools in countries where the youth are at risk of not completing school. They have built schools in Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Haiti, Malawi, Mali, Nepal, Nicaragua and Senegal.

buildOn also has programs for helping under-resourced schools in America. They focus their programs in six cities: Boston; Bridgeport Conneticut; New York City; Chicago; Detroit and Oakland, California.

Longmire first traveled out of the country with buildOn Trek in 2009. He traveled to Chitunda, Malawi, to build a school.

“I think every high school student wants to go out and travel and explore,” Longmire said. “I think I was much more focused on things socially and the social aspect like making friends, fitting in, getting along with people in the community, as well as doing community service.”

Longmire studied at Ball State from 2016-18, where he got his masters in public relations with a business concentration from the then-called Department of Journalism. He was also a graduate assistant for the department as well.

“All the professors are honestly so great, my professor I worked with directly, Kim Green, was great. The Department Chair, Johnny Sparks, he was so down to earth and really solid,” Longmire said. “He has a great understanding about people in general and where the department is going. Another professor was YoungAh, she was amazing as well. There are just so many amazing people you meet there.”

YoungAh Lee, associate professor in journalism, knew Longmire during his time here.

“He was one of my advisors when he

was a masters student. He is very friendly, easy to talk to and kindhearted,” Lee said. “He was very sharp. He took courses from me, and he was [a teacher’s assistant], mainly working with our workshop.”

Before his second overseas Trek with buildOn, it was more of a last minute choice. In his blog, Longmire talked about his advisor reaching out to him Aug. 9 to see if he could travel Aug. 20.

Being cautious of COVID-19, Longmire said yes to his second trip on short notice.

“The second trip that I made, I actually met an amazing student, his name was Moses Ngozo,” Longmire said. “He was just a really educated and passionate student. Meeting with that student, I was really able to connect with him and his story right away. I feel like there was a sense of relatability because essentially, here is a kid who has been through a similar struggle, and now he has different educational goals and how he wants to achieve that. Meeting with him was really amazing.”

Longmire was also able to connect with not only the students the school is for but also with local teachers.

“I had opportunities to meet with one of the teachers in the community, and she turned out to be my teacher as well,” Longmire said. “The language they speak there is Tumboka, and just learning that language, she was able to tell me, ‘No you don’t say it like that, you say it this way.’”

In his blog, “Mwadzuka Bwanji! Greetings from Malawi,” Longmire goes into depth over the differences in community in how people work in Malawi compared to the United States. He talks about how the United States is very individualistic, whereas overseas it is more of a community effort.

Ball State alumnus built a school in Malawi, Africa, working for buildOn

I want other people to know that anybody can serve in any capacity. It just takes the courage to do so and the willingness to put yourself out there.”

- DAVONTE LONGMIRE, Digital marketing manager at buildOn

A group poses for a photo during the Welcoming Ceremony for United for Malawi Group with Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Madalitso Kazombo, in Livwezi, Malawi. DAVONTE LONGMIRE, PHOTO PROVIDED

Davonte Longmire poses for a photo with a contract worker on the construction site in Livwezi, Malawi. DAVONTE LONGMIRE, PHOTO PROVIDED

HOMECOMING Schedule of

Gamma Rho Lambda looks to increase membership

Grayson Joslin Opinion Editor

Audrey Schockett’s parents were both involved in Greek life when they were in college.

Despite the past lineage in her family, Schockett was uncertain of whether or not to join Greek life at Ball State University when she arrived on campus as a first-year student. However, at an activity fair, one sorority caught her eye.

I always try and think about the ways I can go about being a better person and a better ally to communities. It just brings me a lot of fulfillment.

- AVERY UÑATE,

of Gamma Rho Lambda

“I hadn’t heard about a sorority that was LGBT inclusive,” Schockett said.

The sorority in question was Gamma Rho Lambda, the “first all-inclusive, college based sorority” in the United States, according to their website.

Throughout her time at Ball State, Schockett became more involved with the sorority, which she described as a “close-knit community.”

Schockett said the COVID-19 pandemic hit

Gamma Rho Lambda hard. Coming into the 202223 academic school year, Schockett was the only remaining member.

“We just didn’t have a chance to really grow our numbers,” Schockett said. “And then everyone else graduated.”

Schockett said those who didn’t graduate left for personal reasons. She said the help she got from alumni was very crucial.

After the struggles of the pandemic, Schockett hopes to attract new members with the values of Gamma Rho Lambda: “Truth in tolerance, knowledge through diversity, bonds of unity and strength in trust.”

The Nu Chapter of Gamma Rho Lambda was founded Nov. 16, 2013. With the founding of the Nu Chapter, Gamma Rho Lambda became Ball State’s first, and only explicitly advertised, allinclusive sorority.

Avery Uñate joined Gamma Rho Lambda after he began his studies at Ball State in 2015. Uñate was drawn to the sorority because of the acceptance of others in the sorority.

“It was my first time feeling really comfortable around other queer people,” Uñate said.

Coming from a small, conservative town near Valparaiso, Indiana, Uñate never had the opportunity to express his identity as a queer person until coming to Ball State.

Uñate found out about the sorority through both his resident assistant (RA) and a friend who was on Hall Council at LaFollette Complex with him.

“I really loved everything about it,” Uñate said.

“So I decided to fully join.”

Gamma Rho Lambda has partnered with Muncie OUTreach, a partnership which was already underway when Uñate joined, and the partnership has continued to this day. Uñate was also voted to be the sorority’s representative in the Polar Plunge one year, a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

Uñate, 2019 graduate from Ball State, said the core values of Gamma Rho Lambda have guided him in his life ever since joining the sorority. He credits the sorority with his work to become a better person and a more comfortable leader.

Uñate, a queer transgender man, still does activism work and does drag performing in his free time. He hopes to tell stories through his drag work.

“I always try and think about the ways I can go about being a better person and a better ally to communities,” Uñate said. “It just brings me a lot of fulfillment.”

Uñate still helps with Schockett and the Nu Chapter at Ball State, and is now the mentor for the newest Gamma Rho Lambda chapter, the Alpha Epsilon chapter at George Mason University in Fairfax County, Virginia.

“I’m excited to work with them to get better at communicating and problem solving on their own,” Uñate said. “So they can just be an independent chapter without my help.”

A graduate who helped Schockett out was Mack Yote. A former president of Nu Chapter, Yote was persuaded to join the sorority, like Uñate, by an RA in her residence hall.

“A discussion about identities came up,” Yote said. “I had mentioned that [my identity] was in their [LGBTQ] community. She asked me if I wanted to join a queer sorority.”

Yote joined Gamma Rho Lambda in spring 2017. What drew Yote to the sorority was, like Schockett, the sense of community within the sorority.

“They just made me feel like I was home,” Yote said.

Yote pointed to the first recruitment event she went to and how comfortable she felt.

“I just remember sitting in the room and thinking, ‘I haven’t been afraid to say something this entire time,’” Yote said. “I felt that sense of, ‘I can be myself here.’”

Yote also noted how far the understanding of the LGBTQ community has come since she began her first year at Ball State in 2016.

“It was still very common to hear the ‘F’ slur on the street,” Yote said. “Transgender issues were just not in broad daylight at all.”

In her time in Gamma Rho Lambda, she

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helped organize events with the purpose of educating the Ball State community about the LGBTQ community.

“We did it to help bring visibility to queer students on campus,” Yote said.

Schockett hopes to help increase the awareness of Gamma Rho Lambda over the course of the 2022-23 academic year, including plans to partner up with other clubs on campus.

Schockett said.

She hopes to foster the same sense of community and closeness that brought her to the sorority in the first place.

“I still want to get involved as an alum and continue to help them after I’ve graduated,” Schockett said.

“Just so I can help them foster that community I had when I first joined. I’m around people who can relate to some of the same experiences that I’ve been through.”

Yote noted the people involved with Gamma Rho Lambda get to be a part of “something far bigger.”

“It is a family. It is a community of people doing really great work,” Yote said.

Contact Grayson Joslin with comments at Grayson.joslin@bsu.edu or on Twitter @GraysonMJoslin.

door market

President of Nu Chapter of Gamma Rho Lambda Audrey Schockett poses for a photo

JOSLIN,

President of Nu Chapter of Gamma Rho Lambda Audrey Schockett poses with new recruit AJ Duvall.

GAMMA RHO LAMBDA, PHOTO PROVIDED

A Dream Come TrueA Dream Come True

Tennis Men’s Tennis wins three of four flights at BSU Invite

The Cardinals ended their three-day competition weekend for the 38th annual fall invitational with an overall single mark of 20-10 while earning a 7-5 doubles result. Second-year Nathaniel Webster finished as the Flight A singles champion beating Butler University’s Tom Brennan in a two-set tie breaker while first-year Broc Feltcher defeated Butler’s Aidan William in the Flight B singles final.

Field Hockey

MAC Offensive Player of the Week named

Zionsville Quarterback Christian Abney has dreamed of playing Division I football and is fulfilling it after committing to Ball State

Zach Carter Reporter

Joel Abney originally signed his young son up for flag football, but Christian Abney begged his dad to let him play tackle. He told his dad he was ready for the next level, and after talking to coaches, he switched his son to tackle.

“I guess I was just kind of excited to be there with the big boys,” Christian said. “I just wanted to get to it.”

A few years later, Christian was named the starting quarterback at Zionsville Middle School. He had played multiple sports from baseball to basketball, football to lacrosse, and he said he enjoyed them all. Football eventually became the sport he focused on, and he started to dream about playing Division I college football.

Now, after two seasons as the starting quarterback with Zionsville Community High

Christian has always been a good leader by example. He is a player and a student who our program can always count on to do everything we ask at a very high level in both effort and execution.”

School and being ranked as the 10th quarterback in the state of Indiana, Christian has decided his next step and will live out his dream at Ball State playing Division I football.

He was offered earlier this summer and committed only 12 days after getting the offer.

“The developing relationships with the coaching staff like Coach Elliot, Coach Lynch and all the other coaches there [were important],” Christian said. “I really liked the family aspect to have there, and I thought it'd be a great fit for me, so I ended up committing really soon.”

Joel appreciated the Cardinals’ process.

“Part of the reason that we were so excited with the Ball State encounter from the beginning was that they showed a definite interest in him,” he said. “I really liked that, and it's just been a mutual, genuine, neat experience.”

Ball State Field Hockey’s first-year forward Fleur Knopert was named Mid-American Conference (MAC) Offensive Player of the Week following her performances against Ohio University and Michigan State at the weekend. Knopert scored the game-winning goal against the Bobcats and found the back of the net against Michigan State as well.

Campus Manscaped partners with Ball State

Manscaped, the men’s grooming, health and beauty brand, announced a partnership with Ball State University Oct. 11. “Some things just go together,” the company said in a tweet. The company, founded by Paul Tran in 2016, is based in San Diego, California, and has gained popularity as a men’s lifestyle brand and male grooming company.

- SCOTT TURNQUIST, Zionsville head football coach

Fourth-year quarterback Christian Abney looks to throw the football in a game against Pike Aug. 19, 2022, at the Zionsville Football Stadium in Zionsville, Ind. TOM MARRON, PHOTO PROVIDED

Makers

Makers

Neu:

Michael Lewis:

Mike Neu (if terminated, how much the university must pay him)

Mike Neu

much

he chooses

Michael Lewis (if he chooses

much he

DNLife

with Muncie

Looking for something special to do this fall?

Olivia Ground Social Media Editor

As the seasons change from summer to fall and the semester starts to settle into a routine, the Delaware County community is ready to offer you a variety of events and activities. From pumpkin patches to farmers markets to haunted circuses, these fall events are the perfect activities to be paired with locallymade apple cider.

Minnetrista Farmers Markets

Minnetrista Museums and Gardens is just a half-hour walk (or a five-minute drive!) from campus, as well as a stop on the MITS bus. Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon, you can enjoy the farmers market with both regular and rotating vendors from weekend to weekend, a variety of meats, produce, baked goods and more. While you’re there, consider stopping at The Orchard Shop to get local, homemade goods and unique gifts. The Orchard Shop sells their own apple cider they hand-press on site.

Costumed Creature Crawl

For the fans of spooky season not wanting the spook, join DWNTWN Muncie for their Costumed Creature Crawl event Oct. 29 from noon to 3 p.m. Watch pets of all kinds dressed in their costumes take part in a parade around downtown Muncie, encounter new animals and join in trick-or-treating with local Muncie businesses. There will also be a costume contest for animals and humans alike.

Indy Screampark

For the thrill seekers, Indy Screampark in Anderson, Indiana, is about 30 minutes from campus and can provide you with the scares you’re looking for this fall. The attraction offers a variety of themes for your screams, from zombies to a circus with a killer clown. Indy Screampark is an awardwinning scare attraction voted #1 Best Haunted House in 2021 by USA’s Best Haunted Houses.

Pumpkin Patches and Orchards

Scattered throughout the Muncie area, there are plenty of pumpkin patches all with their own charm. Located just a few minutes from Muncie, Spangler Farms Market in Yorktown offers a variety of pumpkins as well as mums and corn. Located between Muncie and New Castle, Jacob’s Family Orchard offers a variety of apples, apple donuts and rotating produce — like pumpkins — according to the seasons. Visit them in early fall to see their sunflower trail.

Places to Admire the Fall Foliage

Nothing perfectly captures the change in seasons like leaves turning into crisp reds and oranges. Muncie is home to plenty of parks and trails that allow you the perfect chance to see the leaves change up close. Christy Woods is a 17-acre forest in our own backyard, located right on campus. Tuhey Park is located at 500 W. North Street, just a five-minute drive from campus. It has a playground, as well as picnic tables and a shelter house. Cardinal Greenway is a 62-mile trail that passes through Muncie. There are a few trailheads in Muncie where you can park to enjoy portions of the trail, including McGalliard Road, McCulloch Blvd., Wysor Street and others.

Contact Olivia Ground with comments at olivia.ground@bsu.edu

Community Day of a Thousand Bulbs event

On Oct. 16 from 10 a.m. to noon, the East Central Neighborhood Association (ECNA) will host an event where volunteers plant flower bulbs at the corner of Wysor Street and Madison Street and in the orchard at the corner of Gilbert Street and Pershing Drive. The ECNA will provide flowers for the volunteers.

Campus Life hacks for frugal living

On Oct. 17 from 6–7 p.m., Mandy Hummer will host a seminar and workshop at 900 W. 8th Street about cutting expenses and making the most of things they buy. The first half of the seminar will focus on Hummer’s “trade secrets” to saving money while the other half discusses upcycled art that can be sold for a profit.

Campus

Dialogue Days at Miller College

From Oct. 18–21, the Miller College of Business will host a series of panels and presentations led by BSU alumni about navigating workplace culture, developing a personal brand and more. A student ID is required to attend in person; a full schedule of events is available on the Miller College of Business webpage.

Here are several ideas for places to visit with family and friends

A look into the Ball State ceramics studio Art and All Its Forms

Lila Fierek, Josie Santiago Copy Director, Visual Editor

Little Bird

Ceramics graduate student Mary Vozenilek didn’t expect her professor to eat his own work.

The week before April Fools’ Day, during her undergraduate studies at Southern University Illinois Edwardsville, teacher’s assistant Cody Thompson demonstrated shaping a bowl on a pottery wheel, then took a bite of his completed work. Vozenilek said she couldn’t believe it.

“Porcelain is a little Velveeta-cheese-ish,” she said.

Though it looked like porcelain to Vozenilek and her classmates, the TA actually used cream cheese to show how similar the textures were.

This wasn’t the first time Vozenilek had to decipher between food and clay.

The Peoria, Illinois, native enjoys making things that are functional. She started ceramics at age 15, now 25, and decided early on that she wanted to either be an artist or a cook. But since she said she is easily stressed in fast-paced work environments, she decided to pursue art.

Vozenilek started off working at a glassblowing studio in Peoria and ended up getting a minor for it in her undergraduate degree. She even taught a few classes while working at the studio and is looking forward to teaching in the future.

Though she enjoyed glassblowing, she missed ceramics and decided to rent a space in a warehouse for artists to pursue her work.

Vozenilek started selling pieces at farmers markets, but she struggled to keep up with the demand for things like mugs and vases, so she had to stick to simple textures and landscapes.

The weekend art markets happened in the summer, which was “super convenient because that’s when you don’t blow glass a lot because the

room temperature in a glassblowing studio goes up about 20-30 degrees,” she said.

The pieces Vozenilek made to sell versus what she created for enjoyment were different in nature. The projects she develops on her own time are more artistic and thematic than what she sells.

Currently, she is working with the idea of generational trauma by using the theme of poisonous plants on her pieces.

“You take something that might be a good thing and then it ends up sort of slowly poisoning you, or you take something that is a poison [in] just small enough doses that can actually be used for [medicine],” she said.

When Vozenilek’s parents got a divorce, ceramics helped her deal with the difficult time. She started using fungus-based pieces with a lot of texture showing elements of decomposition.

“I was thinking about how the relationship had died, but things were getting better in a roundabout way,” she said. “It was sort of [the] death of something old and turning into something new without it being like a zombie.”

She said she felt like she could not sell these pieces in a farmers market setting because the prices were higher due to the time and skill involved with each individual item.

Vozenilek said ceramics is a communal form of art and exists because people needed objects to put food on that wouldn’t dissolve. She is now working on a dinnerware set centered around her Italian family and the importance of eating at the dinner table together.

“That’s sort of where the family can … come to dinner every night,” she said. “My wife didn’t have that.”

The name of Vozenilek’s online shop, Little Bird Pottery, was based on the nickname her wife calls her: little bird. Most of her work on the site includes birds, mainly cardinals.

“There’s a common myth to imagine that a

loved one is being reincarnated as a cardinal,” she said. “So if somebody’s passed away and you see a cardinal, that’s Grandma visiting.”

Pursuing Education

Ball State second-year Hannah Cushner became interested in ceramics when she joined an afterschool art club in fourth grade.

“I went to Catholic schools my whole life, so the art programs are always a little bit iffy, but my mom would make sure to get me into certain classes at the Indianapolis Art Center,” Cushner said.

During her time in the club, Cushner said she took a variety of classes including ceramics, glass and metals and took classes through her eighthgrade year.

Cushner’s art teacher helped her discover her passion for ceramics.

“One of the reasons I’m going into art education is because of her,” she said. “She would

always push me to try new things and just explore … because ceramics was all new for her too.”

Cushner took architecture courses in high school, which led her to choose that for her major.

She said she loved the hand drafting and designing aspect of this program and decided to pursue architecture after receiving second place nationally in the National Association of Women in Construction contest.

She said she felt there was a big push from her high school to continue her education in architecture. Once she started classes at Ball State, she discovered it wasn’t the right fit for her.

“I learned that architecture is not all about hand drafting, and it wasn’t necessarily worth it because it didn’t fit with my other ideals for my life that I wanted,” Cushner said. “I would love to have a big family. I’d love to travel, and

Ball State ceramics professor

when you allow for flexibility and reevaluation of work and then changing direction and then growing.”

Ceramics graduate student

ceramics studio.

“This is my safe place; this is my home,” she said. “I love it here.”

In the studio, Cushner spends time on personal and class projects. For her, clay is a calming medium. She said it can be frustrating sometimes, but it can form many things as well. She said it provides income through selling, and you can incorporate other materials into it, like metal and glass.

Faith plays a large role in Cushner’s life, so much of her inspiration for her art comes from religion, she said.

“I feel like I tend to lean towards beauty and creation and family,” Cushner said. “One of my pots I did on feminine beauty. I had the heart that is created turn into the female, which was made to be beautiful.”

As part of the art education program, students assist with Saturday art classes run by Ball State. In one of the classes, Cushner helped first and second graders stay on task with learning about complementary colors, she said, and giving overall words of encouragement.

In the future, she said she would enjoy teaching at a Catholic school, though she is worried because Catholic schools don’t always get funding for their art programs.

“It would be wonderful to be in a school surrounded by my faith and being able to express that freely,” Cushner said.

Sculpting Growth

Coming from an artist and an electrician as parents, Ted Neal grew up to be a ceramic artist.

“Being raised in a family of people that worked with their hands, I learned a lot of skills early on, and it’s run the gamut,” Neal said.

Prior to being a ceramics professor at Ball

facility,” Neal said.

He said real-world experience is the most important thing in his classroom. He takes his students on trips to museums, brings in visual artists and helps them build equipment, so they can get the experience they need and establish their community.

“You can’t be an artist and a hermit and expect to have success,” Neal said. “You’re a part of a community in general that are going to be your customers … and you have to establish a presence in both of those areas to be successful.”

Neal has been working in ceramics for 30 years. Being an artist is not always the easiest road, but it is also rewarding, he said.

Along with blue-collar work, Neal has experience in drawing and designing, among other types of art.

According to Neal’s course schedule, he is currently teaching seven classes. One class has students sculpt a live model.

“I’m sort of fascinated to have that be part of my program because it’s not typical,” Neal said. “It’s a reach for me, even though I have some experience, and I thought it would be really good.”

He said after working for so long with the same materials, they become familiar, and he is able to make what his mind sees. A big challenge for someone with his skillset is keeping his work fresh and learning new things.

“The growth as a creative only happens when you allow for flexibility and re-evaluation of work and then changing direction and then growing,” Neal said.

Alongside teaching at Ball State, Neal also travels to other places and teaches how to build kilns, including train wood kilns, soda kilns, salt kilns, centenary wood kilns, pizza ovens and more. Recently, Neal traveled to Pennsylvania to

teach this workshop.

“I love that aspect of what I do because [of] the same reason I liked having community members in here,” Neal said. “I get to go out, represent Ball State, I get to leave behind a thing, a piece of equipment that will continue to function as a support structure for that group of people for years.”

Being an artist is hard because you can spend a lifetime doing one style of art and never run out of things to do, Neal said. He wants to learn and create more because “to say that you’ve sort of done it all is impossible.”

Neal said there is only so much time in your lifetime to explore.

Recently, he has been focusing primarily on using stoneware clay, which gives his products a metallic look. Neal concentrates on consumerism in his work, and he infuses his thoughts about consumer culture into objects.

“When I came here 17 years ago, I was kind of in awe of how awesome this building was and how much space we had,” Neal said, “and I feel like I’ve been supported in all of the goals that I’ve had in building this up.”

Coming Together

Each of these people are involved on campus. Cushner is the promotions officer for the Art Ed Club and is a member of the Clay Guild. She helps plan Art Ed Club events and takes care of the emails and Instagram page, she said. Vozenilek is the vice president of the Clay Guild on campus and helps plan future events for the program. Although he is not involved in any clubs, Neal supports the art program by making and building plenty of the materials used in the ceramics studio, he said.

Through their passions, they contribute to the world around them and the Ball State community.

Contact Lila Fierek with comments at lkfierek@bsu.edu or on Twitter @fierek_lila. Contact Josie Santiago with comments at josephine.santiago@ bsu.edu.

I was thinking about how the relationship had died, but things were getting better in a roundabout way. It was sort of [the] death of something old and turning into something new without it being like a zombie.”

Society’s Silent KILLER KILLER

Time and time again, we have become victims of hustle culture

Olivia Ground is a second-year advertising

writes

Olivia Ground Social Media Editor

In high school, I was told if I wanted to get scholarships, I had to participate in extracurricular activities and have numerous community service hours.

I was a marching band section leader and received multiple gold medals at a state level for solos. I was in a statewide band, and I completed more than 350 community service hours over four years. I was involved in local and national leadership ambassador programs. I graduated with a four-year honor roll streak and 34 college credits.

Yet, I did not earn a single scholarship. I applied for more than 20 scholarships, but I didn’t receive a single one. What exactly did I gain then? The answer to this — burnout. I reached a point in my last semester of high school where I couldn’t find the will to do any work or try for that matter. I felt like school and living was an endless cycle of work I had no passion for.

More specifically, I gained the subconscious need to constantly work hard to the point where I convinced myself if I don’t work hard, I will never get a job.

In high school, I worked diligently to reach the standards I set for myself, but I was never satisfied. I found myself in this continuous cycle of burnout and anxiety. I was never happy, I was always tired. Even with me being in college, this hasn’t changed.

When I had the chance to speak to a professor from the School of Journalism at Ball State my senior year of high school, I was bombarded with a variety of opportunities that would encourage me to be involved. I was told time and again that I had the chance to get involved, meet professionals and get hired.

This same rhetoric was preached repeatedly to me during my application and orientation process, and it is still the same to this day. I have been told more times than I can count that my participation in organizations would be the breaking point of my future employment. “Join this club, and you’ll have a résumé opportunity that will guarantee an instant hire. Get involved early, and you’ll have so much portfolio material, you’ll be hired right away.”

I fell subject to these empty guarantees. My first year of college, I took 18 credit hours, three more than what is recommended for college students. This meant I was spending an average of three hours in classes and three hours studying per day. I was also heavily involved in five organizations on campus, all of which demanded an average of three hours per week, sometimes even demanding double that, requiring me to work from dinner until 2 a.m. every night for a week.

Newsflash — no organization should ever deny you eight hours of sleep every night, it’s what your body needs to function.

12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

Good Housekeeping defines hustle culture as “a lifestyle where the career has become such a priority in your life or the environment that you work in that other aspects of being human — such as hobbies, family-time and self-care — often take a back seat.”

I was naive, and I had fallen for this narrative that demanded me to be as involved as possible to get a great job after college. I was told by upperclassmen and faculty that getting three hours of sleep every night for weeks was normal for college students and professionals alike — this was the standard for my industry as an advertising and journalism professional.

simply how life has to be, and I should be feeling depleted and lost because that’s what it means to have a job.

I love Ball State. I do genuinely and wholeheartedly love my school and my area of study. I don’t blame Ball State for being the reason I was so over involved — I did that to myself. I do think there are so many benefits to being involved, as I am involved in the Daily News, worked as an orientation leader and am now a resident assistant. Likewise, I think there are a lot of benefits of joining an organization that you’re passionate about because I have learned so much and met people who are genuinely my favorite people on the planet.

However, I think everyone, myself included, has fallen victim to hustle culture.

As a society, we have put our literal well-being on a backburner and chosen to prioritize “the hustle.” We’re obsessed with “the grind” and “getting the bag.”

The most frustrating part is that it seems almost impossible to shake off this hustle culture mentality because of how deeply embedded in society it is.

I was a naive first-year student, listening to upperclassmen, who were expected to graduate, tell me they wouldn’t sleep for days, ran on energy drinks and ate one meal a day. In a sense, I felt like they were proud of this. To them, this is the same grind that got them internships and jobs lined up for after graduation, the same grind that shows an indicator of life in the real world.

My over involvement caused me to take a nose dive to the hard crash of burnout. The lack of rest and neverending stress has physically caused my immune system and mental health to break down. There were several occasions where I had ear infections and tonsillitis simply because my body was severely exhausted; it couldn’t fight off seasonal allergies.

To the same effect, I lost sleep and found myself stressed to the point where I was skipping meals overall, making myself sick. My mental health was steadily declining; consequently, so were my grades.

I was losing my sense of self.

Yet, I kept pushing myself because I thought if I wasn’t constantly physically sick and mentally unwell, all my efforts would get me a job. I was somehow convinced this is

There are probably a million reasons as to why this has happened, whether it is contributed to social media, the 2008 recession, job instability or whatever reason it happened, hustle culture is a slow-burning killer that is finding its prey on college campuses. We, as students, are its victims. As students, we have spent so much time getting involved that we have slowly started to burn out. A study by the American Psychological Association showed that 87 percent of Gen. Z adults said their education was a significant source of stress, thus linking to burnout.

This is dangerous because if we are burnt out before we even get into our careers, how are we supposed to thrive when we are placed in the industry? The most frustrating part is that it seems almost impossible to shake off this hustle culture mentality because of how deeply embedded in society it is.

I know I catch myself judging others for their lack of involvement in student media, wondering what else could have possibly gotten them a job, and I’m sure I am not the only one who has done this. Students have all probably wondered why we are the only ones in the news writing class that are actually writing for the newspaper. We judge our peers for their lack of involvement and may often think we’re better simply because we are involved. Yet, that is nothing more than hustle culture talking.

The thing is the only way to beat hustle culture is to simply stop hustling. Make yourself the priority, especially in college. College isn’t easy, but it could be a lot easier if you took time for yourself. Make time in your week to go out, schedule a designated nap. It sounds so silly, but setting aside hours every day to spend time away and alone can benefit your mental health. Get eight hours of sleep, do things you love, go to therapy and eat well.

Overall, put yourself first because being a healthy and happy human is going to get you so much further than a list of a dozen organizations will.

Contact Olivia Ground with comments at olivia. ground@bsu.edu.

AFRICA

Continued

“I feel like working in the international setting is just such a different experience, working through language barriers and all the barriers that exist between cultures in general,” Longmire said. “Everybody being there working side by side for one goal is something that I can’t necessarily put into words. Everyone there is really committed to the cause that we are going to have a bigger impact on the next generation.”

Longmire said his responsibilities with buildOn are comparable to the responsibilities he had at Ball State. He also talked about expanding to TikTok and other social media websites and apps in the future, as well to build the growth and recognition for buildOn.

DREAM

Continued from Page 07

In his first year as the starter during his junior year of high school, Christian threw 1,006 yards and 11 touchdowns. He did so after missing most of the season due to a broken collarbone.

“At first, it was super frustrating because you know, you worked so hard to get to the season,” he said. “All of a sudden, three games in and your whole season might be done. It was super frustrating because a lot of people didn’t think I would come back or told me I probably wouldn’t be able to.”

Zionsville head football coach Scott Turnquist thought Christian handled the injury well. Turnquist said Christian supported his teammates and was patient, ultimately working himself back in at the end of the season. However, he said Christian wasn’t just talented on the field.

“Christian has always been a good leader by example,” Turnquist said. “He is a player and a student who our program can always count on to do everything we ask at a very high level in both effort and execution.”

Zionsville votes on team captains every year, and this year, they selected Christian.

“It feels really good because I always want to be a guy that my team feels like they can rely on,” he said. “So I’m just really happy to be in that situation where they feel like that.”

“Working along with our different stakeholder groups and basically telling their stories through a digital platform,” Longmire said. “What we are learning is that the messaging and stories are not changing, it is just the communication platforms that we use to express these stories that are changing.”

Longmire referred to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote, “You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love,” as being one of the quotes he relates to for community service.

“I want other people to know that anybody can serve in any capacity,” Longmire said. “It just takes the courage to do so and the willingness to put yourself out there.”

Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah. poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4.

Christian said the bus ride after winning the 202122 semi-state game against Michigan City his junior year stood out.

“We had like a three-hour bus ride and got to come back with a win after a really cold, hard game. It was just a really good feeling to know we’re going to state,” he said.

So far this season, Abney’s stats have been improving. He has 91 completions out of 171 attempts, 1,061 passing yards and has thrown 13 touchdowns. Christian also enjoys using his size and his feet to his advantage. He has 159 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown.

“I want to use my athleticism all the time,” he said. “I feel like a lot of people don’t know about my athleticism. I really want to be able to showcase that this year as much as I can.”

It is bittersweet for Christian as he prepares to leave high school and join a Division I football team.

“I’m not gonna want to leave Zionsville because it’s where I grew up and [made] all of these memories,” he said. “But I’m also really excited to get up to Ball State just because I’m really excited for the challenge of coming in and having to put in a bunch of hard work.”

At the end of the day, he wants to do one thing with Ball State.

“Go help the team win,” he said. “I just want to do whatever I can to help the team win and maybe win a bowl game at some point.”

Contact Zach Carter with comments at zachary.

fresh. flavorful.

Mexican Cuisine authentic

Davonte Longmire breaks the ground for the new school in Livwezi, Malawi. DAVONTE LONGMIRE, PHOTO PROVIDED

Fourth-year quarterback Christian Abney hands off the football in a game against Franklin Central Sept. 9 at the Zionsville Football Stadium in Zionsville, Ind. TOM MARRON, PHOTO PROVIDED

Fourth-year quarterback Christian Abney runs with the football in a game against Lebanon Aug. 27, 2021 at the Zionsville Football Stadium in Zionsville, Ind.

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