Collegian T he Cameron University
www.aggiecentral.com
Monday, October 5, 2015
Volume 93 Issue 5
Vicky Smith
Assistant Managing Editor @pinkwritinglady
“U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2016” has reported that Cameron University students graduate with minor debt. According to a press release, “Cameron is ranked 21st in the category of Least Debt, Class of 2014, among the 89 universities ranked in the West region of those designated as Regional Universities and is 46th among all 618 Regional Universities surveyed. Significantly, only 44 percent of Cameron’s 2014 graduates who started and completed a bachelor’s degree at Cameron incurred debt.” Cameron President John McArthur said he is proud of Cameron’s ranking and grateful for those who have shared their knowledge and given their time and money as investments in students. “Our faculty and our staff are so committed. I see how hard they work,” McArthur said. “Their passion is working for our students. “I think what [also] really makes the difference is the community of Lawton/Fort Sill and surrounding areas. It’s the generosity of our alumni and our donors who provide so many of our scholarships. It’s well over a million dollars a year in scholarship money.” McArthur said the university is committed to an affordable education because affordability may not only be the determining factor of whether someone chooses to attend college, but it also may influence the health and strength of a community. “We think affordability is very important because we want the citizens who grow up in Southwest Oklahoma to have the opportunity to stay in Southwest
Oklahoma and raise their families,” he said. “So if we can provide them affordable higher education, we think they are more likely to stay and grow and develop here. “Communities that have high percentages of college graduates have lower unemployment rates, lower incarceration rates, lower rates of divorce [and] more engagement in community service and civic service.” According to McArthur, affordable tuition is also an important factor in the career choice of Cameron graduates. “I want a Cameron graduate to be able to pick their career based on their passions and interests and not based on paycheck,” he said, “and not feel like they have to go chase a job that they’re not as interested in because they need to repay a student loan.” McArthur said Cameron’s tuition rate remains affordable because he and Cameron faculty are frugal in their operations. “By frugal,” he said, “I mean that any time a proposal comes forward that would increase a cost to our students, we would give that proposal a lot of scrutiny … particularly, we put a strong emphasis on what we see in the classroom. We want your dollars to primarily go what’s in the class.” He said another way Cameron has maintained an affordable tuition rate is through the process of making the campus environment more ecologically efficient. “Several years ago,” McArthur said, “we entered into a performance contract to review the heating and cooling needs of all our structures on campus, so we’ve been slowly making changes around campus. “The amount of money that’s saving us is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, just by replacing our windows with double-
“I want a Cameron graduate to be able to pick their career based on their passions and interests and not based on paycheck.” - John McArthur, Cameron President
pane glass, changing low-flow water fixtures where appropriate [and] switching to LED lights and low-use fluorescence.” McArthur said if state support for higher education continues to decrease, the university already has a plan in place regarding tuition. “We have two fundamental sources of revenue,” he said. “One’s our allocation from the state, which is from the taxpayers of Oklahoma, and then the other is tuition and fee revenue from our students. We have some other smaller pools of money, but those are the two big ones. “We are committed to keeping the cost of Cameron education affordable, but as we’re looking at future plans for tuition and scholarships, our priority is going to be students who grew up in Southwest Oklahoma.” McArthur said the reason those students will be the priority is because 40 percent of the university’s budget comes from the state tax payers. “If the state tax payers of Oklahoma are investing in Cameron,” he said, “Cameron should invest in Oklahomans. It doesn’t mean we’re going to not provide support for
What’s inside WAVES honors CU staff Page 2
others, but our primary emphasis is going to be on people who grew up in our service area. We serve about 11 counties in Southwest Oklahoma. Most of our students come from Comanche and Stephens county.” For students who may be struggling with debt, the first piece of advice McArthur offers is to apply for scholarships. “We’ve recently switched to a common application,” he said, “so instead of having to apply for each scholarship, you can apply once, and then the financial aid office will match, in a lot of cases, all the scholarships you are eligible to receive. “If you go to Cameron’s webpage and go to financial aid, it’s under the scholarship application. Actually, the fall 2016 scholarship application is already up, so you can get started now for next year.” McArthur said the university strives to make scholarships available for students.
See LOW DEBT Page 3
Spreading joy on World Smile Day
Volleyball rallies back to win two more
Page 3
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Student Life
October 5, 2015
www.aggiecentral.com
CU staff members make waves Vicky Smith
Assistant Managing Editor @pinkwritinglady
Two Cameron University staff members received honors at the Western Association of Veterans Education Specialists (WAVES) training conference, held July 26-29 in Anaheim, Calif. Coordinator of Veterans Affairs Vicki Henson received the Past President’s Award, and Catherine Orozco-Christmas received the President’s Award. According to a press release, “WAVES provides training and fosters communication and cooperation between all concerned and interested institutions and agencies on matters affecting the education of and the application, processing, and serving of those eligible to receive VA educational benefits on college campuses.” Henson said she started working at Cameron University on Aug. 14, 1986, and one of her titles has always been the coordinator of Veterans Affairs. “I’ve dedicated my professional life to serving the veterans, service members and dependents on this campus,” she said. “My heart is that we provide them with the best possible quality education but also the best quality of service that we possibly can. I’ve always had a passion for those success stories.” Henson received the WAVES Past President’s Award for the contributions she has given to the program. As a two-time president of WAVES, Henson served her first term from 2007-2009 and her second, most recent term from 2013-2015. “I’ve worked with the program,” she said, “[and] probably had an instrumental role in helping with development of the program, at least 17 out of the last 19 years [the program has been in place].” Henson said the purpose of the threeday conference held in July was to train certified officials in assisting veterans, their
One person with whom Henson has built a professional relationship is Catherine Orozco-Christmas, who received the President’s Award at the conference and who is a veteran certification specialist with the office of Veterans Affairs at Cameron. Orozco-Christmas said her job every day is to make sure veterans, their dependents and active-duty service members are taken care of financially. “I do a lot of the checks and balances to make sure forms are good or paperwork’s good,” she said. “I make sure it’s sent to VA. … What I learn at WAVES I bring back home to make sure that paperwork’s done correctly.” Like Henson, Orozco-Christmas has a passion for her job. “I’m an army brat,” she said. “I went to high school in an air force community. I’m a navy wife; my husband is now a veteran – he’s a disabled veteran – so the military’s a part of my blood. “It’s my heart and soul, so I love Courtesy of Vicki Henson Receiving honors: (Left) Catherine Orozco-Christmas received the President’s Award, what I do because I can make the difference. I can see them [veterans] and (Right) Vicki Henson received the Past President’s Award at the Western Association getting out of service, walking the of Veterans Education Specialists (WAVES) training conference, held in July in California. graduation stage and fulfilling a dependents and active-duty service members. that our students on all those campuses get a dream at the end of it. … That’s just “We have national-level speakers,” higher quality of services.” wonderful in my eyes.” Henson said. “We had general sessions one Henson said she has been blessed to be a Orozco-Christmas said she believes day, and then we have 28 workshops. … We part of WAVES because she has developed WAVES will continue to grow. also have a resource fair, where we have over professional relationships and personal “[WAVES has] gone from a regional 20 tables.” friendships. organization to a national in the last year,” According to Henson, nearly a thousand “We all share the same heart for wanting she said. “I think with growing, you have school-certifying officials attended the to take care of our students,” she said. more power to change things on Capitol Hill, conference, which WAVES planned in “When you have a like heart on what so I think that, at least on our end, it’d help partnership with the Federal Department of your goal is, you come at it from different our students enormously.” Veteran Affairs. directions, but you share a similar passion, For more information about WAVES, “If we train our school-certifying officials then friendship buds from that. You support contact the office of Veterans Affairs by how things work,” she said, “then the each other, you help each other, [and] you calling (580)581-2301 or visiting its location absolutely wonderful thing that happens is share ideas.” at 332 North Shepler.
Mind of Christ Church hosts benefit concert Derick Isaac
I am Lawton and Lawton is me,” Elbert said. “So what better to give back to the place that raised me but from Staff Writer a biblical and spiritual perspective to try and lead by example.” Mind of Christ Church hosted a benefit concert at 5 p.m. He said the main goal of the LLH program is to give on Sept. 19 at Living Life housing (LLH). The purpose of the people a chance to improve their situations and better concert was to raise awareness and donations for LLH. their lives by teaching them how to be better. LLH is a faith-based, transitional housing program New residents who come into the program get help that provides its residents with a place to stay while giving with assistance like Section 8 Welfare or food stamps. them an opportunity to improve their lives from a spiritual, Elbert also said people should see it as a place to stay financial and educational perspective. while having their lives start over. Pastor Rick Gettens, the senior pastor of Mind of Christ “It is a faith based organization,” he said. “We require Church and director of LLH, founded the program. He said our tenants to follow a set of standards and rules in order the concert served to increase the awareness of murder and to help them get to the next level. The end result is to homelessness rates in Lawton, as well as what he believed to have people transition from having nothing to having a be a spiritual void. house or a place to stay, a job, a driver’s license and have Gettens started by giving homeless people food and their debts paid off.” clothing. However, that didn’t solve the case of homelessness, Gettens recalled that LLH got off to a very rocky because they kept on coming back. He saw an abandoned start with no sign of achieving its goal because of lack of duplex being used wrongly and felt the need to convert the financial support and the right resources. house for a better purpose. “What kept me going is eventually the great person “I felt the Holy Spirit telling me that we need to take these that came around me and started believing in the vision,” duplexes and turn them into a place of refuge, of peace,” he Gettens said. “What inspired me to push is because the said. bible says, ‘If you see your brother in need you help me. If Jeff Elbert, the youth minister at Mind of Christ Church and assistant director of LLH joined the church in 2013, said one hurts, we all hurt and if we all rejoice we all rejoice.’” According to Elbert, paying the mortgage, not having he doesn’t want to see a youth go through the hardship he a lot of people around to help and the lack of financial went through. support has been some of the main challenges of LLH. “I saw exactly what he saw, and I bought into the vision. “We are trying to find sponsors,” Elbert said. “Unfortunately we don’t have sponsors that would adopt homes, so we Courtesy of Joanne Amos are coming up Singing for Jesus: Soph. Alex Neace performs with different with Amplified Worship band at the concert. ways to raise to teach them how to fish, and we hope they will teach others money.” how to fish as well.” Elbert said the Elbert wants the concert to create more awareness for cost of managing the LLH. housing program “We are trying to tell as many people as we can that this is high because program works,” he said. “It’s not all about the money but the residents come in awareness of the program.” new, without food, Dale Commander, one of the residents of the housing, clothes or furniture. retired from the military after five and a half years of service. The residents begin He talked about how the program helped him get a place living rent free to to stay. After leaving the military, Commander said he start the process of securing a job to pay suffered from anxiety, depression and PTSD and alcohol and marijuana were affecting his wellbeing. their bills. “One of my counselors told me that there is place that According to accepts homeless people,” he said. “I got interviewed and Gettens, they are thereafter accepted, and I can say the program is great.” praying that people LLH has shown impressive numbers turning in accept Jesus as their applications, but because of limited resources, only a few are savior. Courtesy of Joanne Amos accepted. “We are not here A concert for a cause: Freshman Kenneth Williams plays guitar at a The program welcomes donations, and more information to give people fish,” is available at www.mindofchristok.org. Gettens said, “but benefit concert hosted by Mind of Christ Church at Living Life housing.
October 5, 2015
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Student Life
Celebrating World Smile Day Vicky Smith
Assistant Managing Editor @pinkwritinglady
It takes 17 muscles to form on a face. It takes only two dots and one stroke of a pen to draw on paper. It’s traditionally yellow and black. It’s never sad. It’s the smiley face. Commercial artist Harvey Ball created the smiley face in 1963. According to WorldSmileDay.com, Harvey “declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day. Ever since that first World Smile Day held in 1999, it has continued every year in Smiley’s hometown of Worcester, Mass. and around the world.” The Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation, created in 2001 to honor Harvey after he died, is the official sponsor of World Smile Day. Harvey’s idea for World Smile Day came from his concern about how the original meaning and intent of the smiley face was becoming lost through the processes of over-commercialization and marketplace repetition. According to the website, the smiley face has become “most recognizable symbol of good will and good cheer on the planet,” and knows “no politics, no geography and no religion,” so Harvey thought that “we, all of us, should devote one day each year to
smiles and kind acts.” The motto of World Smile Day is “do an act of kindness. Help one person smile.” Each year, people do acts of kindness individually and in groups around the world. The action of smiling, however, can not only make someone else smile, but it can also make the person who is smiling actually feel better. Cameron University psychology professor Dr. Adam Randell said this idea is supported through psychological research. “There’s such a thing called the facial feedback hypothesis,” Randell said. “If you maintain a genuine smile for 15 to 30 seconds, then you actually begin feeling the emotion expressed on your face… you start feeling kind of giddy, kind of good, kind of happy.” Randell said different things make people smile for different reasons. “Smiling’s just a signal to others of how we feel,” he said. “A smile can elicited by basically anything that the person evaluates as good, which for different people – because people have different goals – can be different things. “If you don’t like someone, then them getting hurt, is a good thing for you, so that can make you smile. It’s certainly not going to make them smile or anybody that likes them smile, unless it’s benign violation, [which is] basically when someone is harmed, but you know they’re not really in
any serious harm.” Randell said a smile can be either fake or genuine. “The only real way to differentiate between the two is whether or not there’s neural activity accompanying the experience at the emotion state,” he said, “but there’s a genuine facial expression associated with happiness. That involves a smile, but it also involves eye crinkling.” He said the pitch of one’s voice can also be a factor in determining whether his or her smile is fake or genuine. “If you notice, smiling warps the shape of your mouth,” Randell said, “and it changes the pitch with which you talk, so people can identify, even if they’re not looking at them… just by listening to them when they talk, if they’re smiling or not.” Though smiling can be an indicator of happiness, Randell said people can live happily without smiling; for example, people who cannot not smile because of physical disability, can still feel happy. In the 2012 article “The Science Behind the Smile,” Harvard Business
Review’s Gardiner Morse interviewed Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert. Gilbert said people tend to find or produce happiness even in challenging circumstances. “One of the most reliable findings of the happiness studies is that we do not have to go running to a therapist every time our shoelaces break,” Gilbert said. “We have a remarkable ability to make the best of things. Most people are more resilient than they realize.” According to the Gilbert, volunteering is an ideal way for people to bring happiness into not only the lives of others but also into their own lives. “One of the most selfish things you can do is help others,” Gilbert says. “Volunteer at a homeless shelter. You may or may not help the homeless, but you will almost surely help yourself. And nurture your social connections. Twice a week, write down three things you’re grateful for, and tell someone why.” Even though World Smile Day 2015 has passed, people do not have to wait until next year to make someone smile. They can be the reason for another person’s smile today. Someone once said, “A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. “A smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen… Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them (Left) Courtesy of Jeremy Redbird (Right) Courtesy of Rebecca Hong one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give.” Flashing a smile: (Left) Soph. Jeremy Redbird said playing guitar makes him smile. He performs on the Baptist Collegiate
Ministries band. (Right) Jr. Travis McKinney said his friends make him smile, as well as activities that make his adrenaline rush.
LOW DEBT continued from Page 1 “Any time we raise tuition,” he said, “we set aside at least that additional percentage in internal scholarships through university funds. “We spend a lot of time working with our graduates and our other donors to provide additional scholarship support for our students. Last year, the alumni and development office raised about two million dollars, and half of that was specifically earmarked for student scholarships.” The second piece of advice McArthur offers students is to work hard. “Many of our scholarships have some kind of GPA requirement,” he said, “so probably the biggest favor you can do for yourself: study a little bit more instead of going out one night.” For the third piece of advice, McArthur said students should only take out the loans necessary to complete their education. “Many of our students qualify for much bigger loans than they may need to pay for the cost of a Cameron degree,” he said. “Think about what your real finance needs are, and just because someone is willing to loan you $20,000 a year doesn’t mean you should take $20,000 a year.” McArthur said the university is committed to providing students with an education that is both inexpensive in financial cost and priceless in educational value. “We want to continue to provide great opportunities to our students,” he said, “like being able to work in the newsroom, the Collegian news room, in the Academic Commons, having the laboratory facilities in the sciences, having a simulated trading f loor in the school of business. “We want our students not just to have an inexpensive education; we want them to have a quality education.”
Lawton hosts 35th Annual International Festival Angela Jenkins
belly dancing is the way he gets to show off his hard work. Staff Writer “My favorite part of dancing is putting On Sept. 25-27, the City of Lawton everything I’ve created together, as far as hosted the 35th annual International costuming, song selection and choreography, Festival at Elmer Thomas Park. The and seeing people respect and enjoy my International Festival is a culturally diverse creation,” Murff said. event full of food and fun for people of all His best friend introduced him to ages. belly dancing, and he has since created The International Festival featured his own style. He has been dancing at the free concerts and dancing, parades, food International Festival for a couple of years vendors, games, demonstration artists amid and plans to continue as long as he is living multicultural entertainment. in this area. Belly dancers, rappers and traditional Food vendors had something for Native American dancers all had the chance everybody such as turkey legs, snow cones, to showcase their talents. Indian tacos, Mexican tacos, gyros, alligator Deven Murff, who has been belly dancing and shark on a stick. for nine years, said his favorite part of Mohammed Omer, whose
family hosts the Pakistani kabab express food both, said that his favorite part of the International Festival is showing his culture to others. “I enjoy explaining to people what our food is,” Omer said. This was his family’s fourth year there, and they were serving their three of their favorites. He said they get a pretty good amount of business but that’s not his main reason for being there. “I just enjoy getting to see all the different cultures and food as well as getting to show people what Pakistanis are about,” he said. The International Festival is held on the last full weekend of September every year at Elmer Thomas Park.
Dear Aggie: How to avoid burn out Dear Aggie,
You are probably not alone in the struggle to find your bearings and focus on school once more. Perhaps you can talk with a I’m friend who feels like you do, and already tired the both of you can find ways to with the semester, and it’s keep each other accountable and only halfway done. How can I on task. even focus again? Another thing you could do is find a faculty or staff member Sincerely, Burning Out whom you think will listen to Dear Burning Out, your concerns and maybe even provide advice. Regardless, perhaps what you may need is a It is not uncommon to feel the listening ear. physical and mental fatigue to However, one of the most wear down on you as the semester important things you can do goes forward. There have been if you face burnout is to take few breaks since the start of the care of yourself. With the semester, and the thought of Fall amount of schoolwork, activity Break coming up might make responsibilities and other you feel even antsier.
obligations you may have, it could be easier said than done. That being said, if you are not at a point where you feel the best, it is going to be even harder to do your best. So take a shower, get yourself an ice cream or do whatever you need to do to feel better. Burnout is a tough thing to go through. But if you work on fire-proofing yourself bit by bit, you lower the risk of combusting under the stress.
Sincerely, Aggie Dear Aggie responses are generated in house by Collegian editorial members and do not represent professional opinion or advice. Tweet to @ DearAggieCU.
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Voices
October 5, 2015
www.aggiecentral.com
Getting caught in the tragic fracas Other than the tedium of transcribing interviews, the worst part of journalism is staring at the television screens in the newsroom and seeing violence strike an unsuspecting place. Usually, it’s some person bent on revenge or another person with a vendetta against some group of people. No matter what, they all have one thing in common: it didn’t have to happen. The unfortunate victims this time were in a small town in Oregon. Umpqua Community College started off a day normally enough when a local man opened fire at 10:38 a.m. local time on Oct. 1. Ten people died at the end of a bullet, while seven more sustained injuries. The man believed to be the shooter died in a police melee according to Douglas County (Ore.) Sheriff John Hanlin. But there was one other casualty in this mass shooting. The other casualty was a community’s sense of normalcy. If that line sounds familiar, that’s because it is. It appeared in another story from early September about the shooting of two news reporters from Virginia. Much like that shooting, the Umpqua tragedy was another unnecessary shooting amid the sea of causalities. According to Mass Shooting Tracker, there have been 294 mass
shootings in the United States this year. The site defines a mass shooting as an incident in which four or more people died by way of gunfire. As if this number wasn’t baff ling enough, the more baff ling number is 274 – the number of days passed this year as of Oct. 1. The Washington Post featured an article about this unfortunate phenomenon the same day as the shooting, stating that there have been no more than eight consecutive days between shooting incidents this year. In September alone, there were six days of three or more shootings. Are these numbers starting to get depressing yet? Because this number doesn’t count the number of shootings wherein casualties are fewer than four. There are shootings like those in Virginia. There are others that seem like an everyday occurrence in some communities. But it doesn’t get any less depressing – especially when the reactions start happening. In journalism, we learn the five W’s and the H: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How. Reports cover these exact things because those are the questions everyone asks – especially in times of turmoil. The media comes on and talks all about the what, when and where, trickling
Photos by Tribune News Service
in the whos, hows and whys as more information comes to light. Unfortunately, it teeters into unproblematic territory when those last three questions appear on screen and in the public mindset. When media outlets figure out the identity of the person behind the gun, they broadcast what seems like everything about the person – picture, name, family history, personal history and a slew of other pieces of information that come in at an unfathomable pace. Though it provides a sort of scapegoat for those in an ailing community, it does something else – it takes attention from the innocent lives affected in this tragedy. It gives the shooter a level of exposure usually reserved for political figures and celebrities. A shooter in the same sentence and status level as leaders and stars – do you see the inherent problem in that mindset? After the Oregon shooting, many news outlets did just that with the shooter, finding out why and how he carried
out what had the makings whether physically or of a massacre. He inquired ideologically. First, the victims about their religious group can go out on the preferences before shooting attack for revenge. These them either in the head or cases are extreme, but the legs depending on their the Crusades and other answers. retaliatory activities done The in the name of inclusion faith show how of this possible they religious can be. undertone Second, and always more likely, has the those in the potential religion close both to off from those unite and who are in to rift. It the outgroup. can bring Psychological those of a research common demonstrates religion how divisive a together for group can be Jacob Jardel catharsis when trying to Sports Editor in a time form withinof tragedy, group harmony @JJardel_Writing rallying or conformity. around their tenets and In the efforts to do so, they their deities en route to draw an even bigger divide eventual healing – as any between the “us” and the good religion should in “them.” times like these. It takes that healing But the rifts can be concept and adds a damaging if the public takes sectionalist undertone it in their hands. wherein disagreement is One of two bad things attack. It doesn’t happen can happen when a group in religion only – the comes under attack – antebellum South provides
Two sides of tragedy: The reaction to the tragedy of a mass shooting can take one of two paths. The two photos on the left show friends, family and supporters rallying around each other for catharsis in the midst of grief, while the photos on the right show both victim (bottom) and authorities (top) speak to the media while the smoke still swirls from the barrell. Reactions in both the media and the public tend to sensationalize the happenings of a tragedy. However, what many experiencing tragedy need is that comfort amid the media frenzy. About Us
The official student newspaper of Cameron University, The Cameron Collegian is available each Monday during the year. It is printed by the Lawton Constitution. The first issue is provided for free. Each subsequent issue is $1.50.
Our Views
The opinions expressed in The Collegian pages or personal columns are those of the signed author. The unsigned editorial under the heading “Voices” represents the opinion of the majority of the editorial board. The opinions expressed in The Collegian do not necessarily represent those of Cameron University or the state of Oklahoma. Our student media are designated public forums, and free from censorship and advance approval of content. Because content and funding are unrelated, and because the role of adviser does not include advance review of content, student media are free to develop editorial policies and news coverage with the understanding that students and student organizations speak only for themselves. Administrators, faculty, staff or other agents shall not consider the student media’s content when making decisions regarding the media’s funding or faculty adviser.
THE CAMERON UNIVERSITY
COLLEGIAN Founded in 1926 veritas sempiterna
Editorial Staff Managing Editor - Krista Pylant Asst. Managing Editor - Vicky Smith A&E Editor - Brandon Clark Sports Editor - Jacob Jardel, Krista Pylant Student Life Editor - Tyla Eakins Copy Editor - Joel Frambes Aggie Central Editor- Charlene Belew
Newsroom Staff Financial Officer - Susan Hill Circulation Manager - Krista Pylant, Vicky Smith Advertising Managers - Charlene Belew Faculty Adviser - Mr. David Bublitz
ample proof to this claim. Regardless of context, it’s another distractor from tragedy gets in the way of proper healing. But one other that comes around in the wake of tragedies such as this one is the gun control debate. At this point, constituents of different sides of the debate come out in defense of their points of view. Advocates cite that better regulation would have prevented it before it started, while opponents say that someone with a gun could have stopped the shooter in his tracks. All this debate does is cause another rift in the public that turns tragedy into town hall f loor. It gives political candidates more fuel for rhetoric, and it gives media outlets and the public alike something with which to fill the time until it fades away. The last thing people going through the tragedy need is another debate and more rhetoric. What they need is healing. What they need is support. What they likely need is some hope that reality is still within reach. These people have lost brothers, sisters, daughters, sons and friends. People in 294 separate incidents have had to spend some fraction of their 274 days this year to grieve. That fraction may be small, but the days that make up that sliver of time will be the longest days of those people’s lives. So what can we do to help them? If the answer were clearer, this article wouldn’t need to exist. Different families and individuals need different things. It doesn’t help that there is no right answer to recovery from tragedy. But what we’re doing now sure isn’t it.
Letters Policy
Letters to the editor will be printed in the order in which they are received and on a space available basis. The Collegian reserves the right to edit all letters for content and length. Letters should be no more than 250 words. Letters from individual authors will be published only once every four weeks. All letters from students should include first and last names, classification and major. No nicknames will be used. Letters from people outside the Cameron community should include name, address and phone number for verification. Letters can be sent by regular mail, by e-mail to aggiecentral@cameron. edu or they may be dropped off at our office - Academic Commons 101 or at www.aggiecentral.com.
Sports
October 5, 2015
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5
Golf wins Oklahoma Baptist Invitational Jacob Jardel
far, which is promising.” The Aggies topped the Sports Editor performance the next day, @JJardel_Writing shooting a second-round 303 to win the tournament by six The Aggie women’s golf team came out swinging during strokes. Williams said she and their second tournament of the the team were excited to pick up season, winning the Oklahoma the victory on the course. “We managed to pick up Baptist Invitational on Sept. a few shots from our round 28-29 in Midwest City. yesterday,” Williams said in a Cameron won the press release, “and being around tournament with a two-round 300 for both days really helps total of 610 overall. This win comes off a sixth place finish at give the group confidence moving forward.” the Hawks Creek Invitational Thompson cut three strokes to open the tournament. from her first round total to Head coach Christi Williams shoot a second-day 74 to finish felt optimistic heading to as the individual runner-up Oklahoma Baptist. with a 36-hole total of 151. “We improved our score Wheeler finished within the top after each round, so that’s five, carding a 153 after a 78 on real encouraging,” Williams day two. said in a press release. “This Moore shot a career-low 75 is a different field of teams for round two, finishing in sixth that we normally don’t see, with a 154 for the tournament. and it’s really tough to gauge Hess finished with a secondwho has a strong group at this round 76, putting her in a tie tournament.” for seventh one stroke behind The Black and Gold hit the greens running with a 307, good Moore. Johnston finished tied for ninth after an 81 brought enough to tie event host OBU her tournament total to 157. for first. Freshman Kennedy Oklahoma Baptist’s Taylor Wheeler led the team with an Hildebrand took home the opening round 75, two strokes behind Southwestern Christian individual title with a tworound total of 150. McGill and University’s Andi McGill for OBU’s Madison Herron tied the overall lead. for third with matching 152s. Junior Katie Johnston tied The Lady Bison finished for third after shooting a 76, six strokes behind the Black while senior Lexi Thompson and Gold for second place as shot a 77 for sixth overall. a team. Both teams distanced Sophomore Erin Hess and themselves from the pack in junior Robyn more tied for round two, with Southern tenth, carding a pair of 79s. Arkansas University coming in Williams said that she felt third, 31 strokes behind CU. good after CU’s first round on Southwestern Christian and the links. Seminole State rounded out the “We have all of our five players inside the top 10, which top five. The Aggie women’s golf team is good to see,” she said in a will tee up next on Oct. 12-13 at press release. “This was our the Dallas Baptist Classic. lowest round of the season so
Photo courtesy of Christi Williams
Nielsen places second, earns Golfer of the Week CU Sports Information Sophomore Daniel Nielsen finished in second place, but the Aggies fell down the leaderboard to 12th place at the WNMU Fall Invitational on Sept. 29 in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Nielsen’s runner up finish earned him Lone Star Conference men’s golfer of the week on Oct. 1 Nielsen finished in second place out of 120 individuals at the WNMU Fall Invitational after carding a five-under, 137 (69-68). In the two round tournament, he recorded 25 pars and eight birdies, which was tied for second most in the field. In the second round, Nielsen recovered from an out of bounds shot on hole 14 and dropped the ball into the pin from 140 yards out to card a par. Cameron carded a 297, which was nine strokes higher than their first 18 holes to drop eight spots. Head coach Jerry Hrnciar said he was impressed with Nielsen’s performance on the greens. “Daniel did a phenomenal job on the course
in the last two days,” Hrnciar said “On hole 14, he recovered from hitting it out of bounds and dropped it in from over 140 yards out to get par; that to me is a rarity.” Hrnciar added, “Overall, we let some regional teams beat us, which I didn’t like to see, but we didn’t drop down putts like we did yesterday, and we’ve got to improve out of the tee box.”
Nielsen would score a five-under, 137 (69+68) and was one shot back of forcing a playoff with CSU-Monterey Bay’s Carr Vernon. Senior Zander Winston fell from 21st place on Monday to tie for 44th place after shooting a 147 (72+75). Freshman Dario Gabriel finished three strokes behind Winston with a 150 (74+76) and tied for 71st. Although senior Justin Jang was one stroke back of Winston on day one and tied for 32nd, he carded a 151 (73+78) to finish the tournament tied for 78th. Sophomore Quinton Tews improved his second round score by one stroke to round out the CU field by carding a 159 (80+79). California State Monterey Bay’s Carr Vernon was the individual winner after shooting a 136 (67+69) and led his team to a first place finish after the team carded a 571, one stroke ahead of second place finisher Chico State. Next, the Aggies will return to New Mexico for the Western New Mexico University RMAC Invitational tournament on Oct. 12-13.
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October 5, 2015
Cristina
VIERA
www.aggiecentral.com
Digs
in a Match
Aggies dig in, come back to notch two Krista Pylant
we talked a lot about how we wanted to win this game and how we needed to push hard and be a team on the court to get Managing Editor ourselves back in.” @KristaPylant8 In the third set, the score and lead alternated three times For the second match in a row, Cameron has battled back early until the Aggies took charge off a 4-4 tie. Cameron from a two set deficit to make a comeback in five sets. scored four consecutive points to lead 8-4 after kills from Williams and Gillean and two attack errors by SNU. Southern Nazarene The Black and Gold never let off its lead to salvage the A late match rally by the Aggies paved the way for a nonmatch and take the third set, 25-15. Cameron ended the set conference victory over Southern Nazarene (SNU) (25-27, with a .182 attacking percentage while holding SNU to -.020 23-25, 25-15, 25-12, 15-6) on Sept. 26 in the Aggie Gym. hitting clip. Sophomore Cristina Viera broke the school record for digs With the momentum on Cameron’s side, the Aggies surged in a match with 45. set four. After a 2-1 lead, the Aggies scored nine consecutive Although Viera was unaware of the record prior to the points off of seven SNU errors and two kills by Williams to match, she said she is glad she could share the moment with bring the score up, 11-1. her team. Errors continued to plague the Crimson Storm as they fell “It feels pretty good,” Viera said. “I didn’t know about the to the Aggies in the fourth set, 25-12 after the Aggies held record; I just played for the team. We were very excited and them to a -.041 attacking percentage. Cameron had 11 kills, teamwork brought us the record and win.” with six of them from Williams. Offensively, freshman Jordan Williams led the Black and Cameron furthered its 3-1 lead in the fifth set by scoring Gold in kills with 15, followed by freshman Jenna Gillean who nine consecutive points over SNU to lead, 11-2. added 12. The Aggies controlled the remainder of the set by holding Freshman Kayla Allen and senior Kat Evans each had ten SNU to a -.087 hitting percentage to win, 15-6. kills, while Evans contributed 17 digs to record her seventh Eastern New Mexico double-double this year. Freshman Tori Luckenbill had 41 assists for the Ags. The Aggies remain undefeated at 12-0 (LSC 3-0) after Cameron and Southern Nazarene matched total team defeating Eastern New Mexico (22-25, 22-25, 25-12, 25-15, blocks (10.0) and service aces (8). However, the Aggies led the Crimson Storm in total kills, 57 to SNU’s 45, and digs, 104 to SNU’s 95. Cameron ended the match with a .182 attacking percentage versus SNU’s .045 hitting percentage. Cameron had trouble closing the first two sets of the match. In set one, the Aggies got off to a quick 4-0 start. The Crimson Storm steadily climbed until the set tied at eight. The score would tie seven more times and set one saw five lead changes. With the set knotted at 25, a kill by SNU’s Courtney Bowie put the Crimson Storm up by one. After a Cameron timeout, SNU captured the set, 25-27 after an attack error on Evans. The Aggies stayed out of the Crimson Storm’s reach for the majority of set two until late errors began to unravel CU. With Cameron up 23-21, an SNU kill by McKenna Qualls followed by a service ace from Elyse Berlin tied the set at 23. After a CU timeout, Qualls added another kill and a block to award SNU the second set, 23-25. Down 0-2, Cameron headed to the locker room where Viera said the Aggies began to discuss their comeback. “We shouldn’t have lost the first two sets,” Viera said. “We had already beat them 3-1 (on Sept. 11 in Durant). In the locker room Photos courtesy of Mike Mazzo Graphics by Krista Pylant
15-9) on Sept. 29 in the Aggie Gym. According to freshman Jenna Gillean, Cameron struggled in the first two sets because the team was not in sync, but the Aggies were determined to make a comeback. “We just decided that we were going to come together as a team,” Gillean said. “We weren’t playing together in the first two sets. We picked up some momentum after key blocks. After that, everything just came together.” Gillean led the Aggies with a career high 17 kills and a .389 attacking percentage. Senior Kat Evans followed up with 12 kills and 12 digs for her eighth double-double of the year. Sophomore Cristina Viera contributed 18 digs, while freshman Tori Luckenbill had 43 assists for the Ags. Both teams were evenly matched, notching near identical numbers in kills and digs. Cameron had 53 kills on the match, while EMNU had 54, and the Aggies had 64 digs compared to the Greyhound’s 63. However, Cameron came away with the better attacking percentage, .250 to EMNU’s .104 hitting clip. To begin the match, the first set saw six ties and four lead changes. It was back and forth action as the set knotted at seven. From there, Eastern New Mexico took the lead following an attack error by Evans. Cameron came within a point of the Greyhound’s lead after four consecutive attack errors by ENMU brought the score to 19-20. Late in the set, ENNU went on a 3-0 run to win, 22-25. Viera began set two with a service ace, but EMNU took off on a six point run to take the lead. The Greyhound’s never looked back to take set two, 22-25. ENMU had 15 kills and ended the set with a .231 attacking percentage. Set three saw a comeback for the Aggies despite a 0-2 start from attack errors. EMNU went on a four point run to lead 1-5. Cameron battled following three straight kills from Evans until the score knotted at six. The Aggies retained the lead and an 8-0 run late in the set drove the Aggies to a match saving third set victory, 25-12. EMNU took a 3-0 start to set four with three straight kills. After the set tied at eight, the Aggies took off on a six point run spurred by three CU kills and three Greyhound errors. The Black and Gold held the lead to take set four, 25-15. Cameron carried over the momentum from the fourth set, starting the final frame on a 7-2 run. The Aggies led the rest of the way through the set. After fighting back two Greyhound runs that closed the gap to two points, CU closed out the match with a decisive 4-0 run to take the set and win 15-9. Additionally, the Cameron volleyball team picked up five votes in the latest AVCA Coaches poll released Tuesday morning in the program’s first appearance in the national poll in ten seasons. Cameron has been inside the top-25 for five weeks, once in 1998, and for four weeks in 2001.