September 28, 2018

OUTHERN S The Student Voice of Florida Southern College

Final fall Bid Days bring Greeks home See the full photo essay at fscsouthern.com

First Scholars Weekend to be held in fall A new Scholars Weekend has been added to the Florida Southern College itinerary; it falls on the weekend of Nov. 30.

While in past years, Scholars Weekends have taken place in the spring semester, the admissions department at FSC chose to hold one this fall event to increase prospective students’ interest in the college and to allow an earlier program to help them make their college decision earlier.

“It takes a village to recruit the next class at Florida Southern,” Director of Admissions Arden Mitchell said. “It’s not just the admissions counselors but it’s our current students, the faculty and staff.”

Scholars Weekend is put on to help high school students make the final decision to choose FSC by giving them an insight into what a typical day at Florida Southern would be like. Florida Southern department recruitment events, like music and dance auditions, have also been moved to the fall.

The fall Scholars Weekend will have the same events as the other three held in Jan-

In this issue:

uary, February and March. This includes academic showcases, late night activities, and breakout sessions.

The success of Scholars Weekend not only depends on FSC students’ willingness and availability to be hosts but also that they represent the college well. FSC wants every Scholar to have a positive experience and be able to decide if Florida Southern is a good fit, according to Mitchell.

She also said that it is important to find a host that matches up with a Scholar’s interests, personality and preferences. Holding another Scholars Weekend creates more availability for potential new students and current ones to connect.

Mitchell said that the college values FSC students’ contributions to Scholars Weekend so much because they give up their night and open up their rooms.

Events like Gasparilla, Pig Fest, and Strawberry Festival often draw some students off campus and away from hosting.

In response, last year the admissions department added a payment incentive to encourage more students to stay on campus and host.

Page 3

Profile: Haver reflects on CLS Program summer in Indonesia

Mitchell estimates that about 150-200 students will be at the fall Scholars Weekend. Usually the students that apply early are the ones most interested in Florida Southern. Those students will more likely go to the earlier Scholars Weekend.

“I’m excited that we will capture students earlier in the process… we will be able to get [their excitement] earlier in the school year,” Mitchell said.

Another aspect affecting the admissions process is that FAFSA is now available in October, allowing students to make their decision earlier. Because of this, high schools are encouraging colleges to send out financial awards sooner.

Before the change, the time frame between high school seniors getting their financial award and having to make a decision was very short.

Students interested in hosting at Scholars Weekend or being Scholars Weekend Leaders may apply on Engage through the “Admissions” portal.

For more information, students may email elowers@flsouthern.edu.

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Student opinion analyzes reusable drinking straw possibilities

FRIDAY, September 28, 2018 VOL. 133, NO. 3

Moc athletes to be cheered on at UF Taylor Wilson Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Reems Landreth / FSC Center for Student Involvement Current Lambda Chi Alpha members greeted new brothers with shouts and tackles when they ran home last Saturday morning at the quad of the Publix Charities Commons.

Abby McHenry Staff Writer

Non Profit Org. US Postage PAID Permit 38 Lakeland, FL

Center

The Center for Student Involvement and FSC Athletics is organizing a “Pack the Bus” event for Florida Southern College students for Tuesday, Oct. 30.

Students have the opportunity to load up and ride a bus to the University of Florida to cheer on the Mocs at the Men’s Basketball Exhibition game.

“I’m so excited to show my Moc pride and beat those Gators!” freshman Mary Louise Freeman said.

An exhibition game is a warm-up match and is part of preseason training.

“Division One schools like to do Exhibition games for smaller schools so they get the exposure,” Student Development Technology Coordinator Stephen Bell said.

Head men’s basketball coach Mike Donnelly has been in his position for 4 seasons and led the men’s basketball team to place 3rd in the Sunshine State Conference.

“We are very excited to have the opportunity to play an exhibition at the University of Florida,” Donnelly said. “Our guys have been working really hard this preseason, and I know that playing Florida on October 30th has added extra motivation as we continue to grind through our workouts.”

The event is a way for students to come together and cheer their classmates on.

CSI tries to have at least one Pack the Bus event a year; they take students to National Championships when the Mocs are competing for them.

The event is an opportunity for athletes competing at FSC to experience a larger-scale stadium than Florida Southern College’s George W. Jenkins Field House, which seats approximately 1800. The Stephen C. O’Connell Center at UF seats around 50,000 people.

“I think it is terrific that the school has organized the Pack the Bus Event. It shows great school spirit, and it also allows our students, fans and supporters the opportunity to cheer us on as we travel to play the Gators. I know that our team is very appreciative of the support, and we look forward to seeing everyone in Gainesville!”

Students may go online to Engage and sign up for the event in a few steps. Bell described the process and encouraged interested students to sign up as soon as possible.

“On Engage you can go to the Pack the Bus event on the Event Calendar, inside there is a link that you click, which will take you to the form… When you fill out the form you will be added to the list.”

For more information, students may email the Center for Student Involvement.

Email contacts are available on the Student Involvement page at flsouthern.edu.

Discover Lakeland-area outdoor activities

Page 10

Mocs athletics starts initiative regarding suicide prevention

The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

NEWS

BRIEFS Cantilevers FSC to Open for Submissions FSC’s student-produced literary journal, Cantilevers, will open for submissions on Oct. 1. Students are encouraged to submit original works of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art.

FSC Student Releases New Single

2

FSC’s first class of dance majors to graduate Jillian Kurtz Copy Editor Four years ago, Florida Southern College’s Dance Program accepted their first students and in just a few months, those students will be the first to graduate from Florida Southern with a degree in Dance.

According to Erin LaSala, Assistant Professor of Dance/Program Coordinator, preparing these students to become professional working artists is much different than other students in their career planning, since work after graduation might not be as steady and consistent as other careers.

“I feel like my seniors came into the program as students who knew how to dance and now they’re leaving the program as dance artists,” LaSala said. “They understand that dance is more than just movements and they’re also leaving knowing everything that goes behind dance, such as

choreography. They’ve grown into people that I feel very confident putting out into the professional world.”

There are two majors within the Dance Program, B.A. in Dance Studies or B.F.A. Dance Performance and Choreography.

Natalie Kennedy, a senior B.A. Dance Major, was amongst one of the first students to be enrolled in the program.

“I think it was inevitable that the six members of our graduating class would become best friends,” Kennedy said. “Honestly more so this year, than any previous year, we have gotten along so well because our time left together is so short.”

With this being the first academic year that the Dance Program has had seniors, a few new courses were added for them to aid in their career planning. Senior Seminar was one of the classes that got added this year to the program and within that class, the faculty members help seniors build their

Junior Management major Lukas Horne released his new single, “Body to Love,” on Sept. 21. The single is off his upcoming EP, which is anticipated to arrive later this fall. “Body to Love” is available on iTunes, Spotify, and all other digital platforms.

HOSA to host professor panel HOSA-Future Health Professionals will be hosting a panel of FSC professors on October 23rd in Annie Pfeiffer Chapel at 5:30 pm. The event will be passport and will discuss a controversial story and everyone involved will be encourage to talk about their opinions.

Bill Cosby sentenced in sex abuse case Former TV star Bill Cosby was sentenced to three to ten years in prison after he was found guilty in April of drugging and sexually abusing a women in his home in 2004. He was also accused of similar alligations from more than 60 women over the past 50 years.

Dunkin’ name change Dunkin’ Donuts announced this week that starting in January of 2019, the company will officially be changing their name to Dunkin’. According to the Associated Press, the change comes because the company’s primary income is drinks, not coffee.

Photo Courtesy of Natalie Kennedy

Florida Southern’s first graduating class of dance majors will graduate in May 2019.

resumes, create their performance reels, and look for upcoming auditions.

Students also create professional portfolio websites in an effort to make them more visible and desirable candidates in the industry.

“I’m planning on creating a place where our program alumni will be able to keep us updated on everything that they’re doing and eventually in the future maybe doing an alumni concert and having them come back and either bring their choreography or their performance and having a special alumni event concert,” LaSala said.

The program was just a thought a few years ago. With the addition of the Wynee Warden Dance Studio, the program was given a home to flourish and expand, as it has been. Each year, the program continues to grow. The need for more studio space for classes has sparked discussion.

“The whole first year I was here, I was just forming the program and writing the curriculum,” LaSala said. “We recruited ten students [majors and minors] in our initial class and six of them are graduating with dance degrees in the spring.”

On top of the classes that the dance majors are enrolled in, they also are required to attend all auditions within the program.

If cast in a piece, the dancer must then add those rehearsals to their schedules. Being a dance major is a very time-heavy major and requires a lot of practice and rehearsals outside of a regular class schedule.

“Being a dance major is incredibly difficult and time consuming, but I can’t imagine my life without it,” Kennedy said.

“Rehearsals take up most of my free time but there is no other way I would want to spend that time. It also brought me closer to other dancers in the program, which is where I met my best friends Colleen and Gemma!”

LHA gets delivered new mail delivery system Victoria Salvatore Staff Writer

Starting this year, students living in the Lake Hollingsworth Apartments have been getting their mail delivered directly to the apartment complex rather than having to pick it up at the mailroom.

The mail goes over to the apartments and is put into lockers. Then, students receive an email or text with a code to unlock the locker containing their mail. The process sounds like it would be much more convenient, but in the beginning, it was chaotic for many students.

While some students felt they were well-informed of the changes, a majority felt they weren’t.

“We were told there was a change coming, but weren’t given any specifics,” Lake Hollingsworth resident Amy Wallace said.

Other students offered the same sentiments, but also said that over time the process has become less confusing and is overall very convenient.

“I haven’t had a problem with it and it’s nice because you can get your mail after five,” Lake Hollingsworth resident Olivia Duval said.

One of the biggest positives of having the lockers at the apartments is that students can access the mail 24 hours a day.

Oftentimes because students are living off campus they don’t have time to stop by the mailroom before five, so the new system gives them the freedom to pick up packages whenever they have time in their busy schedules.

The lockers are set up in the clubhouse, which means there’s limited space, and as a result, if a package isn’t picked up after three days it has to be removed to make room for other packages. Wallace mentioned that the system was convenient, but for students who are busy it can be difficult to pick your package up within the three day period.

Even though there was some initial negative feedback about the system, most students appreciated the work the mailroom staff did to help them understand the changes. It was a learning process for both the students and the workers.

The mailroom purchased a new system that was supposed to be implemented over the summer, but the new system didn’t

come in until the week before classes started. As a result, there was a scramble to understand how it works in order to make the transition smoother for students.

Students who don’t live in Lake Hollingsworth might have noticed that in order to pick up a package you have to swipe your student ID instead of signing your name.

Along with that change, students should be receiving texts as well as emails to notify them that their packages have arrived.

The purpose of changing the mail process has been to make it easier for students, and it seems that after the initial chaos, students are appreciating the mailroom’s efforts. If students have further questions about the new mail system, they can contact the mailroom at (863) 680-6222.

Photo by Victoria Salvatore

New mail lockers were installed in the Lake Hollingsworth Apartment Clubhouse in early August.

3 The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

PMA investigates Florida myth and Florida man in new ‘Sad Tropics’ exhibit Erin Daugherty Staff Writer

The Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College is opening Sad Tropics, a multimedia exhibition created by Floridian artists Cristina Molina and Jonathan Traviesa.

In the exhibition, Molina and Traviesa explore Florida mythology and the psychological idea of paradise in Floridian culture. The title is derived from the Claude Levi-Strauss’s memoir Tristes Tropiques.

Levi-Strauss studied communities in tropical destinations and shared his experiences in the memoir, which centers around his realization of how the communities subverted his expectations.

“Sad Tropics, the exhibition, is really about investigating Florida culture and mythology and considering how Florida, from the very beginning, was mythologized,” Molina said.

“Florida” means “feast of flowers,” and according to Molina, we now know Florida as not a feast of flowers but a beautiful, brutal swamp. Sad Tropics explores how Florida’s mythical reputation has evolved, how people travel here to create their own paradise and how this interacts with Florida culture and architecture.

“A lot of the space that our thinking takes place in is between this ideal vision, sort

of utopic, mythical paradise that kind of dominates Florida culture and the reality,” Traviesa said.

Sad Tropics features pieces created from years of travel and research. Molina and Traviesa shared advice for the Florida Southern art students.

“I think a lot of students sometimes get confused because they want to satisfy their professors or the art world, but it’s so important to pursue your own interests and create a lot of work and trust in yourself and that over time you’ll arrive at a solution that you like and you’ll be excited by,” Molina said.

Molina warns against students quitting too early, and giving up under the pressure because it’s so easy to get frustrated at knowing what a good piece of artwork and a good concept is, but not being able to create one yourself. She said being an artist is about investing in yourself, and not stopping from creating what you believe in and what you’re passionate about.

“Being an artist in this world, in this country and economic system—it’s a difficult thing, so to be an artist you can’t give up; you have to be obsessed,” Traviesa said.

According to Traviesa, the duo used photography to create many of the pieces because photography is about what’s on

the surface. Sad Tropics has a tragicomic appeal achieved by the use of bright colors and a dark undertone in the subject matter.

In the exhibition, many images seek accurately show, in Molina and Traviesa’s eyes, the tropical landscapes and ideas of paradise. To create and put together the photographs, it took about three years of traveling and exploring different areas in Florida. Molina and Traviesa also put together a stop-motion animation film inspired by the Florida man and Florida woman headlines.

“Florida man and Florida woman are based on our figures and it’s kind of a homage to our heritage, but [they] also playfully embrac[e] the fact that because of this aspiration and failure of idealism, the ideas that it evokes makes you wonder what manifests this strange behavior.

It’s almost like trouble in paradise being rendered through this characters,” Molina said.

“One of the ways in which idealism and utopism is expressed through building and architecture, and there’s a handful of pieces that speak to that,” Traviesa said.

Sad Tropics will be on display in the Melvin and Burks Art Galleries until Nov. 2nd. The Polk Museum of Art is located north of the FSC campus, across from the Lakeland Public Library on Lake Morton.

Campus Ministries’ ‘Fall Retreat 2018’ sees student attendence break record numbers Reems Landreth Staff Writer

The 2018 Campus Ministries Retreat, located at the Warren W. Willis United Methodist Camp in Fruitland Park, Florida, saw the largest number of students ever to attend.

A total of 168 students attended the retreat, surpassing the previous record of 150 student sin 2016. Once staff was accounted for, the Florida Southern total reached 180.

Last September, the retreat was initially rescheduled before finally being canceled after Hurricane Irma ripped through South and Central Florida. Assistant Chaplain, Bryant Manning, accredits the cancellation of last year as the substantial difference in first time student participation.

According to Manning, 128 of the 168 (76 percent) students who attended were first time attendees at the retreat. The retreat was also predominantly female as 113 women (73 percent) attended while only 45 men (27 percent) attended. Manning said that this percentage is common throughout most campus ministries at Florida Southern.

The weekend consisted of three sessions of small groups where 22 student volunteers led seven to eight students in prayer and discussion. Senior Mark Iannuzzi was a small group leader this year as well as one of a dozen seniors on the trip.

“The small groups were a great way to get to know each other,” Iannuzzi said.

“This was my third retreat and it was and has been my favorite campus event every year.”

During the opening orientation for the retreat, Florida Southern’s Pastor Rev. Tim Wright spoke to the students urging them to expect the unexpected and meet and interact with as many students as you can.

Photo by Reems Landreth / CSI Center for Student Involvement A small group in discussion during the 2018 Campus Ministries Retreat at Warren W. Willis United Methodist Camp in Fruitland Park, Florida.

“Some of the best things that happen here aren’t planned,” Wright said. “They are in the margins.”

“The margins” were the time outside of the normal schedule. To some students, that meant going to sleep or playing on their phones, but to the vast majority, that meant having deep conversations and forming relationships that could last years.

The staff talked about a group of girls that met at the retreat a few years back and took a picture on the dock during the retreat. They went on to say that the group of students remained friends throughout their time at Florida Southern and ended up retaking their photo on the dock their

senior year, but this time wearing their caps and gowns.

The overarching theme of the weekend was Bethel. Bethel refers to the location in central Palestine where according to the Bible, God spoke to Jacob as he slept.

Wright used this theme to tell the students in attendance that they do not need to have just one special place to speak to God. “Everything you see and everywhere you are is Bethel,” Wright said. “I urge you this weekend to find your Bethel.”

Students will be able to attend an event similar to the event featuring Bob Goff last spring this upcoming semester, according to the Chaplain’s office.

NEWS

English Senior Sem dates released Peter Edgar Editor-in-Chief

For English majors, the sign of the end of one’s time at Florida Southern is the Senior Seminar, a capstone class that results in a paper 15 pages long and a 35-minute-long presentation.

The content of each seminar will vary as students explore different aspects of the major. Most students will be presenting critical work, and four students will perform readings from original creative works.

“What does the senior sem” —as the English majors refer to the project— “represent to me? Too much,” senior McKenzie Bengry said.

Bengry is one of several students presenting at Senior Seminar who will graduate only a month after she finishes the semester, at commencement on December 15. Others include Meredith Stambaugh and Caitlin James, who are also presenting senior ‘sems’.

Each of the aforementioned is presenting critical work. Stambaugh is exploring “contact zones” in relation to MexicanAmerican literature; James is speaking on “Tropes of Black Womanhood in The Help, The Color Purple, and Gone With the Wind.”

Topics of criticism will vary widely from presentation to presentation; Gaelyn Crowder will discuss how Toni Morrison’s constructs masculinity and Amber Jones will speak on literary ideas of womanhood. Melissa Harnage, Katie Copeland, Greg Imhoff and Chelsea Kidd will tackle addiction, burial rituals, family dynamics and monstrousness, respectively.

I polled the senior seminar students about their emotions regarding the project. In the same vein as a number of them, regarding her senior seminar, James said “stress is the answer.”

Senior Jim McKenna, who will be presenting a selection of original poetry titled soft sxn, described himself as “addled with self-doubt.” (The Southern reported last year on McKenna’s having won a summer internship at Coffee House Press in Minneapolis.)

Senior seminar isn’t the first place McKenna has presented original work: he gave a reading at Fiat Lux last spring for his Honors Thesis presentation.

Senior seminar represents “a chance to force faculty to acknowledge queer PoC [Person of Color] poetry,” McKenna said in a message.

McKenna is one of two students presenting poetry. Shannon Sullivan, who is an English Education major, will read selections from her project, Patenting a Confession: Arguments with Guilt. She responded to a request for comment with a gif of a young boy repeatedly hitting a table.

Fiction and creative nonfiction will be represented at the presentations as well.

Nick Galvez and Laramie Renew will be presenting an excerpt from a novel and a memoir, respectively.

The students presenting represent a number of educational and situational backgrounds. Six of the students are commuters and Galvez is a transfer student; Crowder is a student athlete on the women’s soccer team.

Senior Seminar will be held on the evenings of Nov. 6, 7, 12 and 14. Times vary from 4 to 6:30 p.m. depending on the evening. Inquiries may be made to Dr. Bravard at rbravard@flsouthern.edu.

The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 4

FEATURES

A summer at the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College Erin Daugherty Staff Writer This past summer, I received an amazing yet unexpected opportunity that opened up a whole new world of knowledge and possibility at the Polk Museum of Art (PMOA).

An internship opportunity was surely something I had my eye out for after my sophomore year at Florida Southern but wasn’t actively pursuing. One day towards the end of the spring semester, my mom shared a link with me on Facebook about a student internship at the museum.

I am not an art major, but the thought of spending my summer in a museum triggered my curiosity. I submitted an application, hoping that my passion for art and learning would shine through and I would be granted this opportunity.

Over the summer, I spent six weeks at the PMOA soaking up as much as I could from the departments. The program included two weeks in each department: curatorial, education, marketing and weekly shifts in visitor services. After completing the summer program, I decided to continue with an internship in marketing and member services.

The community environment and teamwork at the PMOA was something that I feel people dream to be a part of when they grow up. While I continued my internship in marketing, I enjoyed every minute at each of the departments and this experience opened my eyes to a whole new area to explore.

At the museum, I learned about the caring and preservation of pieces of art.

These one-of-a-kind works are pieces of our history that must be delicately and attentively cared for. Getting to see how

pieces of art are stored and shared between museums to help create exhibitions was also fun to see. I think it is amazing how museums lends pieces of art to one another to complete exhibitions and share the story of that piece with even more people.

The biggest perk of being in marketing is how involved you get to be in the other departments. It is important to share with the public everything going on within an organization to build personal relationships with them, so posting about the shipments of artworks, future exhibits and even how artwork is stored and cared for in museums is something to delve into for publishing content.

Another wonderful opportunity the PMOA provided me with this summer was working with children. I have taught swim lessons for five years already, but through the museum’s summer camp program, I was able to help teach elementary and middle school students how to create clay sculptures and other fun art projects.

I had never had opportunity to teach children art before, and it was just as fun as I thought it would be!

It is also the marketing department’s responsibility to share exciting news and events going on at the museum with schools and summer camps. The museum does weekly tours for 4th graders and a special evening curator tour on the first Thursday of every month. The diversity of people that visit the museum is something to be enjoyed because there is a place for everyone to learn and be a part of something in a museum.

My responsibilities as a marketing intern this fall include managing the Melvin and Burks Galleries Facebook page, assisting with the museum’s Instagram

profile and developing strategies for building audience and engagement on social platforms. As a communications major and someone involved in network marketing, these are things right up my alley but in a different area than I would have thought.

My experience at the PMOA so far has been nothing but mind-opening and educating. Every day I am pushing the creative limits of my mind to come up with new, engaging content to share and meeting artists and community members

on the rest of Indonesia. Another thing he asked me to state was that his personal views were not necessarily representative of the State Department.

The specific project Haver was a part of centered in the Indonesian city of Malang on the island of Java, and he took trips to various notable cities and sites around the country, including Batu, which Haver described as “the tourism capital of Java (besides Jakarta),” Mount Bromo, an active volcano, and Bali, an adjacent island to the east of Java.

Haver was part of an immersion program that focused on teaching CLS students Indonesian, the most-spoken of Indonesia’s more than 7000 languages. It was created in 1945 after Indonesia declared its independence. Haver’s visit to Bali brought his consciousness of post-colonialism to the forefront of our conversation more than once. “A lot of people might… just see white people on TV ads, news, things like that and never have an interaction.”

Haver noted how appreciative some Indonesians seemed that he was learning the language. “I would say ‘Thank you’ and they would be like ‘Oh, you’re fluent?’ and I would be like, “No, no, no, no, no, not yet, but trying’; it was cool,” he said.

“Please look into it,” he said, “even if Indonesia’s not your cup of tea—which it should be—just check it out.”

Haver had only been back in the United States for a week when we interviewed.

“The transition is surprisingly difficult,” Haver noted. “My body is not reacting well to American food… I didn’t have any problems adapting to Indonesian food.”

Haver described some of the biggest cultural differences between Indonesia and the United States. In Indonesia, the left hand isn’t used in contact with others, and now he finds himself readapting to his and other Americans’ use of it.

“I almost wanted to correct them, ‘Right hand, please,’ or literally slapped my hand away to take something someone’s giving to me with my right hand instead,” he said.

Haver cited dress code as another large difference between the U.S. and Indonesia.

Many women, he said use the hijab (referred to as the jilbab in Indonesia), even to the beach, a contrast to “less conservative clothes; booty shorts and things like that have been wild.”

Change wasn’t just cultural for him; it was also deep and personal. “I went in with some inner turmoil that I was hoping might be solved, but just the lack of time that I had there was kind of surprising…. I’ve definitely learned [to understand] like the “santai” culture, which is just like ‘chillax, take it slow, take it easy.’”

Haver often related his journey not back to the program itself, but to his host family and community. He said, “there are so many traits that I wish I could emulate… the thoughtfulness, creativity, hard work, and just kindness and compassion.”

Indonesian students involved with Haver’s community threw him surprise birthday parties, “cultural parties” for Fourth of July, and plays that they wrote, rehearsed, choreographed, and memorized themselves. “I don’t think many Americans would do the same for an international student of two weeks,” Haver said.

Haver had the future in mind when he

I never would have even heard about if it wasn’t for the museum. I am doing what I love and dreamt of doing, which makes it that much better.

I have been presented with challenges, new ideas and experiences and began building many new connections in my life through the opportunities the museum has brought me. I am so thankful for the experience I have had so far and I cannot wait to see how I’ll continue to grow the rest of this semester at the museum.

Photo courtesy of Erin Daugherty

Daugherty enjoyed working in the museum’s Marketing Department.

From Lakeland, Florida to Malang, Indonesia Peter Edgar Editor-in-Chief

Every year, rising juniors and seniors at Florida Southern broaden their horizons through travel as part of their Junior Journey guarantee. Some take further steps by traveling outside the context of FSC. One such student is Mark Haver, who won a Critical Languages Scholarship Program (CLS) over the summer and studied in an immersion program in Indonesia. I sat down with Haver in the sunroom of my house a week after classes started this semester to discuss his experience.

Haver is a quadruple major at Florida Southern. He began his application for the Critical Languages Scholarship his sophomore year, working closely with Dr. Erika Vause, who was the faculty advisor for students applying for prestigious national fellowships before Dr. Jennifer Moffitt took over at the end of last year.

The CLS Program was founded in 2006 as “a U.S. government effort to expand dramatically the number of Americans studying and mastering critical foreign languages,” according to their website.

The program has a presence in over 15 countries.

“It’s an application and a half,” Haver said, “but it’s so worth it…. There’s a reason [the CLS] has been funded by the State Department for so many years: because it does produce results.”

Indonesia is made up of thousands of islands, and Haver stressed that his experiences were not representative of all the CLS Programs and even that his experiences on Java and Bali shouldn’t reflect

applied for the CLS Program. He’s a junior at FSC, and it seems that he has the next two years already planned out.

“Next summer, I already have an internship with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,” Haver said.

He hopes to work on marine conservation efforts before he applies for a Fulbright Award his senior year.

“That’s really where CLS comes in,” Haver said excitedly. “It is sort of a great prerequisite to have for the Fulbright…. [I] definitely will be looking into environmental Fulbright research in Indonesia.”

Haver had few recommendations for students applying for the CLS program.

“Answer honestly and openly; get a thousand edits and rewrites from your professors and people who know what they’re talking about,” Haver said.

He learned upon his arrival is that it was the Indonesian people he met who read his application and decided on his award.

In the short term, Haver said that a professor from one of the largest universities in Malang is coming to Florida Southern in November. He wants to “discuss opening an international exchange program between our respective colleges and universities,” which would, in Haver’s words, “be a really cool thing to implement: that infusion of Indonesian culture here in Florida.”

Haver doesn’t have his post-Fulbright future planned yet, but he mentioned moving to Singapore, as he admires their sustainable urban development program, as well as becoming a foreign service officer.

He said, “I think that I have at least a pretty solid foundation for a trajectory, wherever that trajectory goes.”

5 The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

OPINIONS

Reusable straws easy and affordable choice for students Abby McHenry Staff Writer Over the past year, people have become more environmentally conscious and aware of the consequences our actions have on the environment.

Small steps we make in our everyday lives can make big changes.

Straws have been most recently put in the spotlight. According to USA Today, Americans use more than 500 million drinking straws daily, enough to fill 125 school buses.

Corporations, cities, states and even countries are choosing to opt out of using plastic straws.

Starbucks announced that they will no longer be using plastic straws at their 28,000 locations worldwide by 2020. Seattle became the first city to ban plastic straws.

California is the first state to regulate plastic straw usage (in the food service industry, plastic straws are not available unless requested).

Costa Rica wants to be the first country to ban all single use plastics by 2021.

Many people are choosing to use biodegradable straws made of paper instead of plastic ones.

Others have chosen to carry around glass or metal ones or just not use a straw.

I have decided to carry around a metal straw or use a paper one if I forget it. If

there are no paper straws available where I am, then I will not use a straw.

Some people are pretty upset over the lack of plastic straws, and I can understand their argument, but do not agree with all of it.

Plastic straws are convenient for sure, but is it really that difficult to carry a reusable one or at least buy paper ones?

I know that plastic straws make up a small percentage of ocean waste, but it is still waste. Isn’t it better to make a small effort to prevent waste from heading to the ocean than doing nothing and just letting the environment crumble?

Yes, straws are small, but this also makes them easier for ocean inhabitants to eat them.

A video surfaced on social media not too long ago with a straw stuck in a sea turtle’s nose.

That alone should be a sign that changes need to be made.

Another argument against the ban on plastic straws is that people with disabilities need them.

This argument I understand. According to Jamie Szymkowiak, founder of the Scotland-based “One in Five” disabled rights campaign, some disabled people take a longer time to drink, leading paper straws to get soggy or even disintegrating, which could lead to choking.

He also said that metal straws are usually inflexible, making usage more difficult

Presidential tweets need factchecking Sophia Gonzalez Staff Writer In the age of social media, accurate and unbiased reporting is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish from untrustworthy information. There should be no question that when a government official, such as the president, shares information through social media, the information presented should be revised by their legal team.

Recently, President Donald Trump received widespread criticism after tweeting controversial messages regarding the death toll in Puerto Rico following the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria on Sept.

20, 2017. In his tweets, he said that “3000 people did not die from the hurricane,” in response to a study conducted by George Washington University. The study found that there were an additional 2,975 deaths in result of the hurricane and its aftermath.

The reasoning behind Trump’s statement is that when he visited, Puerto Rico “had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths.”

The problem with what Trump is articulating is that he is arguing against a credible source without having any scholarly support. Also, when he’s talking about the death count, he is neglecting important pieces of information that would gravely affect the mortality rate on the island. The initial number of deaths was indeed 6 to 18 people. However, this was reported directly after the hurricane, when an accurate count of how many people were affected by the immediate aftermath of the hurricane is hard to gauge.

Trump also ignores the fact that most of the deaths that occured are a result of damage caused by the hurricane. After Maria, it took the power company in Puerto Rico eleven months to restore power to the island, and even now, power outages are common. The death toll climbed due

to lack of functionality at hospitals, lack of access of resources, and the spreading of diseases after the hurricane.

What’s dangerous about the manner in which Trump is presenting his arguments is the fact that even the information that is being put out by other parties can be questioned. The mortality rate in Puerto Rico after the hurricane, even now, cannot be ascertained unequivocally, so people who are already likely to believe what the president is saying will likely agree more with Trump, despite the president’s baseless claims.

He has no information to corroborate his statements other than his own personal bias, but he’s releasing the information as if it were fact. Even more alarming is the fact that in his tweets he says, “This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible.” By “this,” he means exaggerating the death toll.

This piece of information is disturbing because that statement alone can cause tensions between the two political parties, despite the fact the study was unaffiliated.

The reason why information released to social media should be monitored is to prevent the spread of misinformation. The President of the United States should be a credible source, and the information that he puts out needs to be factually correct, or at least corroborated by credible sources. The fact that Trump spoke out against the death toll in Puerto Rico without having any legitimate support to back him up is detrimental to Puerto Rico because they are still in need of help and are actually still suffering from the aftermath of Maria.

Although Rosello, the governor of Puerto Rico, didn’t directly deny Trump’s statements, I believe that his response accurately reflects the problem with Trump’s statements. Rosello said, “Neither the people of Puerto Rico nor the victims deserve their pain to be questioned.”

Photo by Abby McHenry A metal straw can be used as a common replacement to plastic straws. for people with mobility-related impairments.

I think that plastic straws should still be available but limited. In the food service industry, straws should be given upon request.

Retail should carry less plastic straws and more reusable ones.

The reusable straw I got was two dollars at a local acai place in my hometown.

I only had to spend a few dollars to help

keep the planet a little cleaner.

Think of buying a reusable straw as your “good deed” for the day.

I believe that, like anything else, we will become pretty quickly accustomed to this change.

We all have to live here, and we all have to face the good or bad consequences eventually.

This is the environment we are talking about, which affects all of us.

SOUTHERN The Student Voice of Florida Southern College Florida Southern College 111 Lake Hollingsworth Dr. Lakeland, FL 33801 Always on FSCSouthern.com 863-680-4456 fscsouthern@gmail.com

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The Southern is published every other Friday during fall and spring semesters of the academic year at Florida Southern College. The newspaper is produced by students through the Communication Department. Opinions expressed on the opinions pages are not necessarily those of the department, the administration, the Board of Trustees or The Southern editorial board. Written and signed responses to views expressed on these pages, or relevant to other Florida Southern College issues, are encouraged and will be considered for publication. All members of the Florida Southern community — students, staff, faculty, administrators, trustees, alumni and other friends of the college — are invited to voice their opinion in or about The Southern. All material submitted is subject to editing for length, style and taste. All material must be submitted to fscsouthern@gmail.com to be considered.

The Southern office is in the Chatlos Building on Johnson Ave. Staff can be reached at fscsouthern@gmail.com

The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

6

Top Six Outdoor Lakeland Berries: Shady Oak Farms 3320 Shady Oak Drive E, Lakeland, FL 33810 Miles from FSC: 8.8 Shady Oak Farms provides a safe family-fun environment where families can come and enjoy a day of picking, education on blueberry uses and growing and a relaxing environment by the pond to enhance the experience.

Hollis Garden 702 E Orange Street, Lakeland, FL 33801 Miles from FSC: 1.1 Lakefront botanical garden featuring neoclassical architecture, fountains & a variety of plants.

Lake Mirror Park Frances Langford Promenade, Lakeland, FL 33801 Miles from FSC: 1.1 Scenic body of water surrounded by a paved walking trail, historic buildings & a botanical garden.

7 The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

Activities

in Lakeland Safari Wilderness Ranch 10850 Moore Road, Lakeland, FL 33809 Miles from FSC: 13 Safari tours through large herds of exotic game on over 260 acres of wilderness in customized vehicles.

If you prefer a more adventurous mode of transport, you can view the wild game by camelback.

Saddle Creek Park 3716 Morgan Combee Road, Lakeland, FL 33801 Miles from FSC: 6 740-acre park with a playground, trails & campgrounds, plus boat ramps, lake fishing & picnic areas.

Circle B Bar Reserve 4399 Winter Lake Road, Lakeland, FL 33803 Miles from FSC: 6 Several distinct ecosystems can be seen in this reserve of 1,267 acres.

You’re almost guaranteed to see alligators in Lake Hancock, often considered the headwaters of the Peace River, which flows more than 100 miles from Polk County southwest to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

8

ENTERTAINMENT

‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ begins 2-week run at Buckner Theatre Reems Landreth Staff Writer

Florida Southern’s Theatre Department opened the fall semester in the baby blue bedroom of a plantation home in the Mississippi delta.

The Pulitzer Prize winning play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, follows a Southern family over the course of an evening celebrating Big Daddy’s (Nic Parker) 65th birthday at the family estate in Mississippi. The entire family, except for Big Daddy and Big Mama (Lauren Holland), know that Big Daddy is dying of cancer and they are trying to find the best way to tell Big Mama and Big Daddy the truth after they were lied to and given a clean bill of health.

The three act play delves deep into American psyche as it looks at the mendacity and untruthfulness between the family as Brick (Jonah Hager) reconciles his life to Margaret and Big Daddy as he drinks from curtain to curtain.

The show is headlined by junior Skye Marie Sena as Margaret, sophomore Jonah Hager as Brick, and senior Nic Parker as Big Daddy.

This will be senior Nic Parker’s eighth show at Florida Southern and he says that each show he does has its own challenges to overcome.

“At first I found it difficult to relate to Big Daddy because he’s so full of anger and hatred,” Parker said. “But when I started to dig deeper I found that while he is angry, it’s because he’s hurting. He’s in so much pain and that’s easy to relate to.”

Skye Marie Sena will be in her sixth

The set and cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in Buckner Theatre. show here at Florida Southern and she relates to Maggie in the sense that she felt insecure or unwanted at times and that she “just wanted love and acceptance from people.”

Director Mary T. Albright feels that this show is still relevant today, 63 years after the show originally opened on Broadway, as it shows the abuse that men still give to women as well as how lying is still ingrained into every part of society.

“I definitely feel that the play relates to modern times because a lot of the themes in the play have to do with lying and family disputes and money and desire and envy,” Sena said. “These are all things people experience and that are and always will be timeless.”

This is sophomore Taylor D’Onofrio’s first show as Stage Manager and she said that it has been a “really exciting experience” and is looking forward to the show

Photo by Reems Landreth opening.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened last night and runs through Sunday, Oct. 7 with shows Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. and on Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are free to FSC students, faculty, and staff and can be reserved at the Buckner Theatre Box Office Monday through Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. or by calling (863) 680-4296. Tickets can be picked up at the Buckner Theatre Box Office.

Cowboy Bebop holds up to older audiences after two decades Angelo Grajo Staff Writer

Animes a mixed bag, you’re either going to get something good, bad, or at least watchable but not worth marathoning.

The only anime that I watched religiously growing up was Pokémon, not just because I loved the games as a kid, but it was the only anime that was accessible to me.

This was before streaming services were a big deal and the only thing with internet access my family had growing up was the computer in my family room, so at the time, it seemed to me that anime was nothing but Japanese cartoons that were loved by nerds. That all changed during my high school years, when one day I was thinking about a song my cousin played in his car. The song in question was “Cat’s on Mars.” Keep in mind that I first heard this song when I was in first grade, yet my high

school aged brain never forgot that catchy, dreamlike, yet nonsensical song. For no particular reason, I decided to Youtube search the song and discovered that it was from an anime called Cowboy Bebop.

I watched the first episode, and it was like no other show I’ve ever seen in my life. Much to my surprise, I was greeted with a show with action, humor, drama, style, and lovable characters. A show so amazing, it has some of the most unexpected fans, ranging from people who admit to loving it despite hating anime to celebrities such as Quentin Tarantino, Keanu Reeves, Megan Fox, Conan O’Brien, Guillermo Del Toro, and Robin Williams.

While I have dabbled in other anime during my high school freshman year, such as Soul Eater and Attack on Titan, I’ve lost interest in them due to a change in tastes and simply outgrowing them, but I always return to Cowboy Bebop with no

The Cado Show New Episodes Every Friday

hesitation.

Why? Looking back, the reason was probably because this show was the first piece of animation I’ve watched that was made for an older audience and treated them with respect. Now for “mature” I don’t mean gratuitous profanity and sex, but a show that respects its audience while giving them something entertaining. What makes Cowboy Bebop stand out from other well known shows is that it has a slower pace, which isn’t seen that often in most popular anime franchises.

My biggest complaint with anime in general is that many lack in-between frames, the frames that make keyposes move more fluidly. That said, Cowboy Bebop is one of the most fluidly animated shows out there and beautifully-painted backgrounds.

Finally, this show has a plethora of subversions of anime tropes. Many episodes have the main cast defeat a threat, only

for the victory to be rendered moot by the end of the episode. Also, the main cast is not made up of flawless characters, which makes them well-rounded and interesting as well as subversive of character tropes.

Spike, the main protagonist, has a cool personality that goes well with his superb fighting abilities, but he is also a reckless slacker. Also, the team pet, a corgi named Ein,has a really high IQ, and is able to figure out puzzles, beat one of his masters in a game of shogi, and even hacks a computer. All in all, what makes Cowboy Bebop such a personal show to me, is that it’s what opened my eyes to what animation is capable of doing.

Growing up, I was used to animation being nothing but a series of wacky cartoons that aren’t meant to be taken seriously,but Cowboy Bebop taught me that it can be mature, artistic, and subversive at the same time. See you space cowboy. Bang.

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9 The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

ENTERTAINMENT

‘God Friended Me’ pilot shows promise going into fall season Ariel Molinaro Staff Writer

While students and professors head back to the classroom and Starbucks customers anxiously await for the company to release their seasonal pumpkin spice latte, broadcast channels are starting to premiere their fall schedules alongside returning favorites and new primetime series. From your returning superhero series on The CW, namely Arrow, The Flash, and Supergirl, to NBC’s This Is Us, and, don’t forget, the final season of CBS’s Big Bang Theory airing opposite NCIS, the comedy crime series is returning to air their sixteenth season on the broadcast network. They are set to premiere throughout Sept. and into early Oct. The never-ending lists hint at the large variety of shows for every audience member as autumn falls into full effect.

In the race to get high ratings, CBS released an all-new “heartwarming spiritual drama” ‘God Friended Me’ starring Brandon Micheal Hall as Miles Finer. The comedic drama follows Miles Finer (Hall) on his religious journey, but the show may not be your initial impression.

Finer tackles today’s controversial religious views, as seen on trending social media feeds, from his perspective as a former Christian turned atheist. Sitting opposite a religious expert, they discuss comfort with faith without tangible proof, on Finer’s upand-coming podcast: The Millennial Project. All until one day, after a new episode airs, an account calling itself ‘God’ sends Finer a friend request via Facebook.

The series debut episode depicts the biblical burning bush from Exodus 3:2, the first step in Finer’s journey with faith. Despite everything he believes to be true and his plan on ‘How I Plan To Change The World’ through his growing podcast listener audience, Finer finds himself questioning everything after a series of coincidental events takes place over the course of a few days.

Bryan Wynbrandt and Steven Lilien, the show creators and writers of ‘God Friended Me’, aimed to design a program that showcased the diverse melting pot of society as a whole.

In a CBS preview article about the series, Lilien discusses how a show that was written to focus on religion could show the

Photo Courtesy of Gage Skidmore / Wikimedia.org ‘God Friended Me’ creator Bryan Wynbrandt speaking at the 2012 WonderCon in Anaheim, California. meaning of faith. “It’s really 'friend,' that's the key word for us . . . We’re not here to take sides. We're here to show all different points of view. It's a respectful, inclusive show. Whether you believe or don't believe, our message is 'Believe in each other,” Lilien said.

Sitting down at the planning board prior to filming, the pair embraced the ‘believe in one another’ concept. Their outwards goal was to encourage audience members to reach out within society and raise the conversation topic about individual meanings of spirituality and religion within personal beliefs and values. Each week in a new episode the characters, including Finer and the friends he meets along the way, will tackle a new aspect of that ongoing conversation. ‘God Friended Me’ incorporates the diversity of our society, both race and religion, and fights the current harsh

social media trend of hatred and judgement to remind everyone to believe, if not in a larger being, in one another.

After tuning in to watch the all-new series episode, I found the concept intrigued me, not only in the aspect of their approach to religious themes but with the addition to social media, specifically Facebook in the role of messenger, with the only terms of communication the notifications that popup on your device screen. The social media tie-in is a new approach I haven’t seen in a spiritual religious series prior to ‘God Friended Me’ and, I’m interested to see how the creators, Wynbrandt and Lilien, tackle the topics moving forward. A potential negative for any series, more partially aimed for shows that have been renewed for a handful of seasons, is predictability and repetition. The predictability aspect was well executed, I felt there were mo-

ments where bread crumbs guided viewers towards a conclusion and yet is still surprises at other times. In terms of repetition, the one hour debut episode covered a large variety of topics that would typically unravel over a complete season for other shows. I can’t help but wonder how quickly concepts will get recycled quickly making the storyline repetitive. Overall, I was surprised regarding how much I personally enjoyed the pilot and was genuinely disappointed when I had to wait an additional week for episode two.

The pilot episode officially airs on the broadcast CBS network channel on Sept.

30 at 8:30/7:30c, or you can tune-in to the one-hour episode early on CBS.com at any time. Afterwards, make sure to mark your calendars for episode two. The all-new “feel-good drama” is set to air a second episode on the CBS channel Oct. 7.

The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

SPORTS

10

FSC Athletics starts year-long suicide prevention initiative Andrew Pawling Sports Editor

Florida Southern College Athletics and it’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) have partnered with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) in a yearlong campaign that will help raise awareness to help in the fight against suicide. Throughout the academic year there will be several Suicide Awareness events during select Florida Southern home games.

The goal set by those in charge of the initiative is $10,000 although raising donations will come secondary to helping people as that is the primary goal of the initiative.

“I know I speak for all of us in athletics when I say we are extremely proud of our student-athletes for tackling this issue head-on,” Director of Athletic Communications Ryan Bower said. “In the end, they just want to show people that there is hope - that suicide is never the answer.

If we don’t raise a single dollar but can positively effect one person and maybe help change the course of their life for the better; that’s what really matters.”

There are four different ways of that Florida Southern students, faculty, and staff can get involved. The first of which is attending Suicide Awareness home games. During these games, donations will be collected and there will be a variety of educational resources available to those who are interested.

Graphic Courtesy of FSC Athletic Communications The second way to participate in the initiative, if you attend the Polk County “Out of the Darkness” walk on Saturday Dec. 1. The walk will take place around Lake Hollingsworth.

“Long term we’d love to see our student-athletes participate in the Polk County Out of the Darkness Walk each year to help raise funds for the AFSP and awareness about the issue of suicide,” Bower

said.

The third way to help would be to ask for donations through the AFSP official website where 50 percent of donations will go Central Florida chapter of the AFSP and the other half will be spread out nationally.

Lastly, Florida Southern students will be sharing videos through the Athletic Department’s social media to further pub-

lic education of suicide.

“Many of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff have lost a loved one to suicide,” Bower said. “It’s really what pushed our Student-Athlete Advisory Council to commit to a cause that would help people better understand the suicide crisis in America, and to help raise awareness and collect donation to help combat suicide.”

Florida Southern welcomes five new head coaches Andrew Pawling Sports Editor

Going into the 2018-19 academic year, Florida Southern welcomed five new Head Coaches to their athletic staff. The coaches were a mix of promotions and outside hires based on the needs of their specific programs.

“We [the athletic administration] are excited and it is important to have the right coach, to have the right leadership and guidance for our student athletes and we want to do what is best for the college,” Director of Athletics Pete Myer said.

Chris Keen is taking over as the head

indoor volleyball coach after spending the previous five seasons as an Assistant and associate head coach under Jill Stevens. He is the fourth head coach in the history of the program and was a key component to the team success finishing as national runners-up this past season.

Matt Levassiur, who was a volunteer assistant coach since 2015, took over as the head coach of the men’s cross country and track teams in May 2018. Levassiur was an 11 Time All-American runner during his collegiate career at Adams State College.

Stephanie Bylander, Matt’s wife, similarly served as an assistant coach since 2015 and was promoted to the head coach

position of the women’s cross country and track teams the same day as her husband.

Bylander was a 10-time All-American during her time at Adams State College.

Previously the men’s and women’s team were coached under one individual but now the duties will be split between Levassiur and Bylander.

Lee White took over as the head men’s golf coach following the retirement of Doug Gordin. White has spent a combined eight years in the program as botha student athlete and assistant coach. Over the past 47 years the teams two previous head coaches have combined for 13 national championships.

“We want to win, the college wants to win, we have the resources to be successful, so our expectations of success never changes across the board,” said Myer, when discussing how the new coaches will continue the success of their predecessors.

Andy Robbins was the final head coach to be brought on board for this year. Robins comes to Florida Southern with 23 years of coaching experience at the college level. Most recently, Robins was an assistant coach at Georgia Tech following a 20 year run at Florida State.

Chris Keen

Matt Levassiur

Stephanie Bylander

Lee White

Andy Robbins

Volleyball

Men’s Cross County & Track

Women’s Cross Country & Track

Men’s Golf

Swimming

Photos Courtesy of FSC Athletic Communications

11 The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

Equestrian team sees largest freshman class Ariel Molinaro Staff Writer

In the month since students arrived back on campus and the fall 2018 semester classes began, the Florida Southern athletic season took off at a running start. As men’s and women’s soccer kicked off a new season on the latest sport field addition to campus grounds, FSC’s second newest sport addition (added to the roster prior to eSports) begins their third consecutive full year of competition this fall. English Oaks Equestrian Center hosts the Florida Southern College Equestrian Team.

This year, the sport welcomes one of the biggest groups of freshman commits to the team since their debut year back in 2016. Picking up where they left off last May, the members of the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association, have gotten back on the horse and started season condition-

ing with head coach Shannon Morrell over the course of the past few weeks.

The equestrian team is putting Florida Southern College in the record books. Representing Zone Five, Region Five, the FSC team had four team members qualify for Regionals last year alone, with two upperclassmen, Emily Shoaff and Shona Whitfield advancing to the Zone Five Championships, just a handful of shows away from the National Championship. In July, Whitfield was given the honor of the 2018 FSC Equestrian Team MVP, coming after earning the title of Reserve High Point Rider at University of Florida IHSA Hunter Seat Show in March.

Alongside Shoaff, Whitfield returns for her final season as a senior to co-captain this year’s ambitious young riders.

“The potential and effort [to win] are there, we just have to bring everything we have and show them what we got . . . . I

Photo by Ariel Molinaro Freshmen Aleena Hess practicing on Lovey at the English Oaks Equestrian Center in Lakeland, FL.

personally would like to see more of the team qualifying for regionals so I am able to share with them what an amazing opportunity it is to be able to represent not only FSC but also Zone 5, Region 5,” Whitfield said.

Unlike traditional sports teams whose competitive games start as quickly as their respective seasons, show competitions for the equestrian team don’t start until autumn is in full swing. That doesn’t stop the team from saddling up and beginning the season with training in full swing.

Under the mentorship of Morrell, riders take weekly lessons at the local stable, home of the FSC Equestrian Team. Here riders are preparing for the first show of the academic year by learning how to position their bodies atop a saddle to direct their horse through a variety of events and obstacles. Riders must exhibit confidence, skill, and form in competitive shows, where contestants are randomly assigned a horse, provided by IHSA. Team members are given the opportunity to compete in jumping and hunting events, in which horses are taken through an obstacle course of hurdles and fences, or advanced walk, trot, and canter events. Competitions take place over a two-day event.

The Florida Southern Equestrian team also offers a social membership. The membership allows students to learn more about horseback riding and “ …. [become] involved around the community helping out local horse rescues and volunteering at local shows,” says Whitfield are events in the planning stages for the team.

The equestrian team invites fellow Mocs to come out and attend their closest show of the season at the University of Florida in Ocala, Oct. 21 and 22.

Cross country wins with new coaches Christopher Collins Staff Writer The men’s cross country and track team got a new head coach, Matt Levassiur in May. Levassiur has been a volunteer assistant for the past three years and has been teaching high school English at Plant City High School for the past 13 years.

“As a first-time NCAA head coach, I’m hoping to weather the transition process and learn from the many mistakes I’m sure I’ll make this season,” Levassiur said.

“With the support of Athletic Director, Pete Meyer, and the entire FSC Athletic Department behind me, I know that I’ll have the support I need to build on the program’s long running success in the conference and region.”

Levassiur said the team goals this season include: defending the conference title, earning a National qualifier spot, improving the team GPA, rostering the fastest 7th man in the conference and region, being able to touch our toes by the end the season.

Levassiur is married to the women’s head coach of cross country and track, Stephanie Bylander.

Bylander said the ultimate goal for women’s cross country and track is to secure a spot at the NCAA National Championships.

“The current crop of seniors has really been working hard toward that since 2015,” Bylander said. “It’s been exciting to see the pieces come together a little more every season.”

SPORTS

Athlete Spotlight Cross Country: Mason Jones

Major Exercise Science What are your career goals Become a Physical Therapist What events do you run 8k & 10k Favorite professional team Dallas Cowboys Who is your role model My Dad Favorite thing to do on campus Play beach volleyball and hangout with my friends Best sport memory Winning Conference with the team Goal for this season Help bring the team to Nationals Favorite song Jolly Mon Sing by Jimmy Buffet Favorite place to travel to Yellowstone National Park

Photo by Reems Landreth / FSC Athletic Communications

Favorite TV show Crocodile Hunter (RIP Steve)

Sophomore Mason Jones crossing the finish line in first place at the 2018 Holloway Park Preseason Festival in Lakeland, Florida.

Favorite food Shrimp Alfredo

If the women’s team can finish top 3 at the Region Championships they’ll secure their spot for the Nationals. The NCAA South Region Championships will be hosted at Holloway Park on Nov. 17.

According to Bylander, they’ve shaken up their training. Putting more emphasis on recovery by spacing out the long runs more and focusing more on building into the season. They will continue to work on running

Favorite movie Forrest Gump

as a pack and narrowing the gaps between the 1-5 runners.

This year Bylander hopes to take those final steps to being a consistent contender toward the top of the conference and region by continuing to follow their process and build upon a successful track season that saw our runners rewrite the record books here at Florida Southern.

Funniest memory with your team I can’t choose, there is never a dull moment with these guys

The Southern SEPTEMBER 28, 2018

12 PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Upcoming MSC Events Listening Party: Hispanic/Latin Music Hear new music from the Hispanic/Latin American genre, Discussion to follow Monday, October 8, 2018 5:30pm Refreshments served!

Located in the Simmons Center

The Inagural “Access- ability” Symposium Monday, October 22, 2018 6:00pm Located in Honeyman Pavilion

Harry Potter Discussion on Race

Monday, November 5, 2018 5:30pm Located in Simmons Center

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Monday, October 29, 2018 5:30pm Located in Simmons Center

Open Mic Night Monday, November 28, 2018 6:00pm Located in Eleanor Searle

Refreshments served at all events!

@fscmsc

@msc.fsc

@msc_fsc

Multicultural Student Council at FSC or @MSC.FSC

Text: “@fscmsc” to the number 81010 You will recieve updates on events!