The Signal Vol. 86 No. 20

COUNSELING WOES

THE FINISH LINE

DANGEROUS DABS

BEACH US!

Counseling center lacks funding for counselors as student waitlist piles up.

More employers are requiring master’s degrees, bucking a “too common” bachelor’s.

Many are using vapes for convenient, but potentially dangerous, weed consumption.

Buckhead Murals gives the Beach Volleyball Complex a colorful new look.

NEWS

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OPINIONS

PAGE 7

A&L

PAGE 9

SPORTS PAGE 18

VOL. 86 | NO. 20

FEB. 19 - FEB. 26, 2019

was it a gift?

NEWS | PAGE 3

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BLOTTER FEB. 8

Is this the Wendy’s four for four?

At 11:25 p.m. four Georgia State students, under the age of 21, were arrested in Piedmont North Building B for possession of alcohol.

FEB. 9

Feeling lofty

A Georgia State student was arrested at 12:06 a.m. for possession of marijuana at the University Lofts.

FEB. 10

FEB. 11

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Daniel Varitek

An active case began from a Georgia State staff complaint of theft from a building in the College of Business at 10:45 a.m.

Editorial NEWS EDITOR Will Solomons

editor@georgiastatesignal.com executive editor (atlanta) Vacant executive editor (perimeter) Vacant

Just here for business

news@georgiastatesignal.com

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Vacant

news2@georgiastatesignal.com OPINIONS EDITOR Vacant opinions@georgiastatesignal.com ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITOR Vacant opinions2@georgiastatesignal.com ARTS & LIVING EDITOR Sydney Bloeme

FEB. 14

Valentine’s Day blues

A non-Georgia State offender was arrested at Woodruff park at 4:56 p.m.

The charge was for drinking in public and having and outstanding felony.

living@georgiastatesignal.com

ASSOCIATE ARTS & Living EDITOR Vacant living2@georgiastatesignal.com SPORTS EDITOR Jerell Rushin sports@georgiastatesignal.com ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Joshua Fife sports2@georgiastatesignal.com COPY EDITOR Vacant copy@georgiastatesignal.com

You’re open 24 hours, right?

At 4:56 a.m. at the Waffle House on 100 Piedmont Ave., a trespass warning was issued to a disorderly person.

Production PRODUCTION EDITOR Devin Phillips

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NEWS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

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Top SGA officials went to Israel for free That may have violated their constitution WILL SOLOMONS & ADA WOOD News Editor & Associate News Editor

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hen they’re sworn in, Student Government Association officers vow to uphold and adhere to their constitution. But a recent 10-day trip to Israel five officers embarked on — entirely free of charge — raises concern over a potential violation of those vows.

The SGA constitution — specifically article 4, section 4.3 — requires SGA members to “not accept gifts exceeding $5.00 in value from individuals or organizations (except SGA) for performing [their] official SGA duties.”

A round-trip flight from Atlanta to Newark to Tel Aviv is in the $1,000 to $2,000 range, a price which SGA members didn’t have to worry about. The flight alone exceeds the $5 limitation, and it was coupled with tours, room and board expenses that also came free of charge for the representatives.

The trip was an offer by GSU Hillel, Georgia State’s Jewish student organization.

Twenty-four Georgia State student leaders attended. Five were from SGA: President Franklin Patterson, Atlanta Executive Vice President Ayesha Iqbal, Senators Hamza Rahman and Jazmin Mejia, and Atush Dhakal, who recently transferred to Georgia Tech but was, until the end of the fall semester, EVP of the Dunwoody campus.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED A GIFT?

When outside forces attempt to impact SGA policy, this can be problematic — and that’s what the organization’s constitution attempts to prevent.

“The gift is typically to specifically influence the workings of SGA,” Boyd Beckwith, university-wide SGA adviser and director of the student center, said.

He explained that anything that can be given to an officer in hopes of receiving something in return — like a change in the representative’s stance on a particular issue — would be considered a gift by the SGA constitution.

So, can the free trip to Israel be considered a gift?

“Certainly, because it would cost a student a significant amount of money to make that same trip,” Beckwith said.

Student Judicial Board Chief Justice Gavin Hall disagreed with Beckwith’s interpretation, weighing that the free trip to Israel “does not violate” the constitution.

“Something I cannot speak for is personal motive, however the official SGA/presidential statement released expresses each involved parties’ sentiment,” Hall said. “From a general perspective, the trip is offered (while possibly true that it is promoting one side more than the other) to student leaders across campus.”

If members have accepted a gift and violated the constitution, they may be subject to removal from office, but that decision must be made by the SGA senate.

“If anyone is in violation of the bylaws or the constitution, it would be up to the senators to begin the impeachment proceedings,” Beckwith said.

Beckwith and Gail Sutton, SGA’s Downtown campus adviser, said neither of them were aware of the trip until after it occurred.

“As an adviser, I know that I wasn’t aware of

who was going on the trip until after the fact,” Sutton said.

Sutton said the representatives never checked in with her or Beckwith to discuss the trip, nor did they approach the senate body for other representatives’ thoughts.

“The students didn’t consult with SGA or ask the opinion of SGA on whether they should go on that trip or not,” she said. “Those individual students made that decision on their own accord.”

WHAT WAS THE TRIP?

The trip took place from Dec. 13 to 23, with GSU Hillel selecting the 24 student leaders who ultimately attended.

Although the students who attended came from a variety of Georgia State organizations, they were expected to represent those organizations while on the trip.

“In the end, students represent themselves,” GSU Hillel Executive Director Russ Shulkes said. “But we expect those that come on the trip to act as representatives of their respective clubs when applicable and/or as a student leader.”

And where did GSU Hillel get the money to fly 24 students to Israel for free?

The funding came from the Maccabee Task Force, a national organization created to “combat the disturbing spread of antiSemitism on America’s college campuses,” according to their website.

“These trips are conducted to provide students with an opportunity to see the region for themselves and form their own opinions, so when they return to campus they are able to engage in informed discussions,” MTF Executive Director David Brog said in an emailed statement.

One area of focus for MTF has been to counter the BDS movement, which works toward the interest of boycotting, divesting from and sanctioning the state of Israel.

The movement seeks to influence Israel economically and politically, to end their occupation of the West Bank and make reparations toward Palestinians. They also seek to have a presence on college campuses through student engagement.

“We believe that students who are exposed to both sides of this conflict and learn about it in all of its complexity are less likely to believe the simplistic scapegoating of Israel behind BDS,” Brog said.

Their efforts aren’t unique to just Georgia State.

“The Maccabee Task Force supports programs on 80 college campuses across the country, where there is a robust conversation taking place about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We work with partners like Hillel to provide opportunities for students to have an immersive and objective look at the politics of the region,” an MTF spokesperson said.

DID THE TRIP INFLUENCE SGA?

The trip received criticism

from several student protestors at SGA’s first university-wide senate in early January, claiming that it was politically biased and did not reflect Palestinian concerns.

“By using [MTF] funding, you are essentially integrating and promoting a proIsraeli agenda into the university system,” Fatima Wehbe, a Palestinian student protester, said during the meeting.

The group of students in attendance posed several demands to SGA — including a request for pro-BDS legislation, which Patterson rejected in a press release.

Following the trip and the protests, Patterson said in the release that SGA has no power to pass pro-BDS legislation, as the university is state-funded and must adhere to Georgia Senate Bill 327.

The bill, which went into effect in July 2016 and has been referred to as the “anti-BDS bill,” prevents the state of Georgia from entering into contracts with companies that boycott — or plan to boycott — the state of Israel.

But protesters in the meeting expressed demands on how the trip SGA members attended may have influenced them — after all, that is MTF’s mission statement.

SGA REPS GO QUIET

As far as as the constitution defines it, a gift to an SGA representative is anything over $5.

It’s safe to say the trip to Israel exceeded that cash total.

But Beckwith says there may be more questions for the student government to consider if they set an impeachment process in motion for the representatives that attended — like what the intentions behind the trip were and whether the experience influenced SGA stances and decisions.

The Signal reached out to all four current SGA members that went to Israel.

Senators Rahman and

Mejia chose not to comment. EVP Iqbal did not respond to questions by press time.

President Patterson confirmed that with the exception of a few meals and personal purchases, the entire experience abroad was free.

But, aside from conditions like having to complete an interview prior to the trip, there were no conditions that required any of the members to take a specific stance on an issue — before or after the trip, according to Patterson.

Patterson declined to comment on the differentiation of being sent on the trip as students or as representatives of their organization — which GSU Hillel said influenced their selection process.

“I would encourage any SGA member — any student leader — to go on trips that expand their horizons, expand their knowledge,” Patterson said.

SGA members, alongside other Georgia State leaders, took up GSU Hillel’s offer to go on the trip. But in SGA’s recent press release, Patterson claimed the members went solely as students, not as representatives of the university’s governance council.

And even though GSU Hillel’s coordinator made the decision to invite them because of their leadership positions on campus, there’s nothing in SGA’s constitution that identifies when (and if) members can detach from those leadership duties, and when they’re acting as student representatives.

Disclaimer: The Signal Editor-in-Chief Daniel Varitek was also invited and attended the trip to Israel. The article does not reflect Varitek’s experience on the trip.

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

NEWS

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Are students getting more involved?

Despite busy schedules, more students are making time for orgs CRAIG SCHULTZ II & ADA WOOD Staff Reporter & Associate News Editor

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as student involvement and participation decreased or increased on campus? Students often speculate about Georgia State’s school spirit and their own willingness to get involved, so it was time to go straight to the source.

The Signal conducted a poll with responses from 31 organizations that participated in this semester’s Student Organization Fair. The poll found that, ultimately, it depends on the organization.

The activity of students within student organizations was defined by two concepts. First, involvement was defined as the number of members and ability to retain staff in a student organization – like regularly having new members join. The second part of this is interactions — participation with the organization from non-member students — like students showing up to functions or events.

The poll was given to the member who had been in the organization longest of those present at the Org Fair, allowing them to share their perception of this question as it related to their group.

Overall, 58.1 percent of organizations surveyed saw an increase in membership and 61.3 percent had an increase in involvement with students on campus.

According to these students, Georgia State’s greek life is growing. Eighty percent of sorority and fraternity organizations reported membership increased or stayed the same while 20 percent reported a decline in membership and students interacting with their organization.

Omega Phi Beta Sorority Inc. experienced a decline in involvement.

“People seem to have an increased negative opinion in Greek life in general. This has also been seen on other campuses,” member Angelica Sanchez said.

Groups related to political or social change reported increase in both membership and student participation.

“The political climate we are currently in has facilitated more political involvement among students,” Maria Almanza, College Republican member, said.

This trend is parallel to other political student organizations surveyed. Flora & Fauna, an environmental group, attributed their increased membership to a growing awareness on their concerns.

“People are finally starting to realize the importance of protecting the environment,” member Fiona Fallon said.

The Left, a left leaning political group, reported a decrease in membership and involvement. Member Dontarious Wimberly attributed this to a perceived decrease in overall student interest.

Some organizations are based on local communities, like religious or racial based groups. These groups strictly saw an increase in both membership and participation, with none citing a decrease or lack of change.

Many organizations that saw an increase in membership and involvement said the increase was due to a new executive board, a re-charter of the organization or more advertising of their group on campus.

“Student involvement is a hard nut to crack,” Jeff Benson, the assistant director for Leadership Programs, said. “We have a lot of students that are super involved in their communities, have to work, have families, are commuting and because of that it’s hard for them to find the time to really find involvement.”

Student organizations reported that there has been an increase in student involvement on campus.

“With students’ busy life with work and class and other things, I think involvement is maybe the fourth or fifth priority on their list. Involvement is really important but when you need a paycheck and you need to pay bills it becomes a fourth priority. I think that it changed how students are engaged on campus the way that they invest in their organizations,” Chris Leary, Student Affairs Advisor of the Leadership Development Office at Georgia State, said.

Leary also mentioned that membership in organizations has been “cyclical” over the years. and once leadership leaves or resets, there is usually a decrease in passion among members.

Leary gave some tips on getting students more involved. One of these is that organizations should be “investing in leadership development” because once leadership changes, involvement depends on how active the new executive board is.

He also said there are plenty of resources that only a fraction of students use. The leadership office hosts workshops, trainings and retreats almost every single day of the semester. “[Workshops cover] how to set goals, how to work within teams, how to manage conflict, how to understand your personal leadership style. There are a lot of different options so that [the leadership office] is a big resource,” Leary said.

Leary had some advice for struggling student orgs: reach out to people who you thought would never join and to get outside the student center when recruiting.

“Instead of just posting on social media and putting a flyer up on campus and hoping that students will come to you, our students really need to branch out in their classes, they need to branch out beyond their just immediate friend group but really start talking to other students and finds students that might have that shared interest,” Benson said.

Benson thinks social media can play a big role in student involvement.

“Social media has done a great job of connecting people, but I think you stay connected only with who you want to be instead of broadening your connections [by only using social media],” he said. “We need to find new ways of engaging students and getting them out of their comfort zones to try out new things.”

The Org Fair had about 700 attendees despite having to reschedule to a Monday due to the university closing for weather. With that, the org fair itself still isn’t at its peak involvement; he largest ever attendance for the fair ever was 1,200 students.

31 STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS POLLED ON ACTIVITY CHANGES STUDENT INVOLVEMENT The number and retention of members at student organizations increased.

STUDENT PARTICIPATION The amount of interaction from non-members with student organizations increased.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

NEWS

5

Counseling center lacking counselors

Students put on waitlist, with some waiting months for help

LOCAL

BEN COLETTA Staff Reporter

Twenty-one students sent to hospital after eating Valentine’s Day candy

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he increase in suicides and other mental health issues has opened the eyes of many Americans to the importance of mental health awareness and intervention. However, the increase in awareness and demand has left many counseling and therapy centers struggling to keep up.

The Georgia State Counseling and Testing Center is no exception to this struggle.

The university’s student-to-counselor ratio is significantly lower than other major universities in Georgia. For comparison, the University of Georgia has 38,246 students enrolled with 15 full-time counselors and five part-time; Georgia Tech has 29,370 students with 14 full-time counselors and one parttime.

Yet, Georgia State has 52,814 students, more than both other schools, and only nine full-time counselors between the Atlanta and Perimeter campuses. Five are based in Atlanta and four are spread between the five separate Perimeter campuses.

This poses a serious concern. At the Georgia State counseling center, your first session is typically a walk-in for an initial consultation.

During this session, a counselor will evaluate the “clinical urgency” of your need and schedule an appointment for the service that you desire.

Georgia State’s Counseling and Testing Center provides a number of services which are entirely “free” for students since these programs are funded by student fees.

Students have access to individual counseling sessions, group counseling sessions, couples counseling and a list of other services. These services, according to students, are important to them.

Out of the 512 students who took the counseling satisfaction survey in the 20172018 school year, 97 percent said that they were satisfied with the care they received and 91 percent said they learned information during their sessions that improved their mental health and positively affected their ability to meet their academic goals.

For arguably the most important service, a personal session with a counselor, there is an extremely long waitlist. After a consultation, students can have appointments with a counselor scheduled anywhere from five to 40 business days in the future. Wait times vary, again, based on “clinical urgency.”

If a student is determined to be in urgent need of a session with a counselor, they could still wait up to a week to be seen. Those determined to be of lesser need can wait up to five months.

To further complicate things, demand for counseling services is increasing; the counseling center reported an average of 43 new students per week in the 2017-18 year.

There has also been an increase of 183% in student demand for services between the 2012-13 and 2017-18 school years, according to the center.

Currently, there are around 200 Georgia State students who have had a consultation and are waiting to be seen in a one-on-one session — some of whom will not be seen for 40 or more business days.

The center’s services are free to all students, but because of the lengthy wait times for one-on-one sessions, counseling services will offer referrals to outside counselors. This can subject students who are awaiting help to potentially expensive outside alternatives.

“Of the students who have been assessed

NEWS BRIEFS

On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, students were rushed to the hospital after eating snacks and candy to celebrate the holiday. The 21 students from Sandtown Middle School in South Fulton county experienced shortness of breath and other symptoms. The case is currently under investigation as no cause has been identified.

NATIONAL President Trump declares a national emergency

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

by a counselor about 17-20% are given off campus referrals. The CTC doesn’t track how many students actually follow through on the referrals given,” Dr. Jill Lee-Barber, the senior director of Psychological and Health Services, said.

“Students are referred to a variety of community resources, based on their clinical and financial need and their location. Students are provided with at least 3 referrals that they can access. The cost ranges from free to $50.00 per session. Students can always return to the CTC if they need more assistance with referrals,” Dr. Lee-Barber said.

The counseling center isn’t the only Georgia State service having to send students off campus to pay for services. The health clinic — also under Psychological and Health Services — is without a digital X-ray, meaning that students in need of imaging must go to Grady and pay for X-rays.

In light of recent events with what GSUPD has labeled an attempted suicide at Piedmont North, as well as the extreme wait times for personal sessions, why hasn’t the university prioritized expanding the counseling center?

It’s not because they don’t have the money.

Neither the counseling center or the student health clinic are running a deficit — both are funded by Psychological and Health Services.

And, as of June 30, 2018 there was $5.5 million in reserve for psychological and health services with approximately $3.4 million in student fees going to the program each year.

“Full-time counselors salaries at GSU average between 47-53K,” according to Dr. Lee-Barber.

It would cost the university approximately $500,000 per year to hire 10 new counselors.

However, if the university did hire 10 new counselors, that would only bring their total to 19 full-time counselors for all 52,814 Georgia State students.

However, in order to use any of the funds in reserve, there must be a recommendation by the vice president of student affairs and the university must approve that recommendation then pass a budget amendment.

On Thursday, Congress approved a new funding bill, preventing a second government shutdown days before the deadline of the three week period for which the government would reopen. This budget only provided $1.3 billion for border security, but not the full $5 billion Trump requested for the wall. On Thursday, he declared a national emergency, pulling $8 billion from various departments along with the new budget funds to build the wall. Later that week, Trump received criticism for saying that he “didn’t need to do this,” but that it would expedite the process. Some members of congress said it contradicted the validity of the declaration.

GLOBAL Sixty-six people killed in Nigeria

The counseling and testing center provides this list of services to Georgia State students free of charge.

Individual appointments Group counseling Nutrition counseling Mind/body consultations Relaxation room After-hours crisis consultation Campus crisis debriefs Workshops for student groups and classes Student health fairs and tabling events WellTrack health app

According to the Associated Press, 66 people were killed as violence erupted ahead of the Nigerian presidential election on Friday. Of these, 22 were children.

Local residents have cited the cause as a fight for land and water between Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herdsmen, violence which has taken place in recent years between the two communities.

NEWS

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Panthers rank No.1 in military friendliness Director credits success to staff and administration WILL SOLOMONS News Editor

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ut of more than 8,800 schools in the nation, Georgia State has secured the No.1 place as the most military friendly Tier 1 research institution for 2019.

The placement is based on a survey conducted by Military Friendly, an organization that ranks schools and companies on their effectiveness to serve veterans.

On their website, it states that through “setting a standard, then promoting it, we provide positive reinforcement for American organizations to invest in programs that improve the lives of veterans. That’s good for veterans, good for the organizations and good for America.”

Director of Military Outreach Mark Eister said he was proud of the hard work that the center has done to achieve this designation.

“We are very proud of this designation, but I also know that many hands make light work. With a staff of [six] Military Student Advocates, 12 VA Work-Study students, a 40-member Military Advisory Council, and partnerships with scores of outside organizations, we are able to provide or identify the specific resources student veterans need to be successful,” Eister said.

Even though they’re No.1 now, Eister said they aren’t ready to lessen the support given to military students.

“But we don’t intend to slow down for a minute; instead, this #1 ranking only inspires us to work harder and to do more. Individual needs will vary semester-to-semester and policies can often change, so our 2,600+ (known) military and veteran students are counting on us, and they deserve our best efforts,” he said.

Eister and his staff are facing a problem that comes with being in the heart of a busy metropolis: space.

“No matter how successful any program or initiative becomes, there are always limitations,” he said. “For instance, we are working hard to identify and secure a larger, more adequate Military Outreach Center on the Atlanta campus. With the increased use of the Atlanta MOC, we would love to see a space where the student veterans have more room to spread out, study together, relax, and not feel so cramped.”

ILLUSTRATION BY DIANA TAVERA | THE SIGNAL

Eister said their achievement may not have been possible without the help of upper university administration.

“I also realize that some schools just don’t have the one key element needed to become truly Military Friendly, which we do have here at [Georgia State]. That is, full support of our Military Outreach program by senior University leadership. From the top down, they

understand the importance and the need to honor our military students and their families here at Georgia State,” he said.

Some of the universities at the top of list below Georgia State for their category were the University of Georgia, University of Kansas, Syracuse University and University of Delaware.

Georgia State’s award-winning student media Sixteen students travel to Tennessee to compete WILL SOLOMONS & ADA WOOD News Editor & Associate News Editor

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eorgia State student media organizations have been busy the past week, attending – and winning – a variety of competitions and awards. The Signal and NeoNetwork’s, formally GSTV, Panther Report News and Primetime Sportz took some of the biggest awards in conferences held in Georgia and across the Southeast.

SOUTHEASTERN JOURNALISM CONFERENCE MURFREESBORO, TN.

Sixteen students from Georgia State attended the Southeast Journalism Conference from Feb. 14-16 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN. The students competed in various on-site competitions including news writing, photography, entertainment writing and public relations.

Of these on-site competitions, from The Signal Julian Pineda placed third in the photo feature competition and Amber Kirlew placed third in the competition for design/ layout. From PRN, Tyrik Wynn received second in the current events competition.

After panels and presentations on Friday, the students gathered in one of MTSU’s ballrooms for the Best of the South 2018 awards banquet. This awards ceremony takes students’ work submissions from the previous year and pits them against other universities’.

The Signal’s design team took home several awards. Salinna Phon placed second in the category for best news graphic designer. Khao Tran finished third and Demetri Burke won first place in best newspaper page layout designer.

Alex Brooks received first in best print advertising staff member and Vanessa Johnson took tenth in best press photographer.

The Signal’s former editor-in-chief Christina Maxouris received two fourth place awards for best news writer and the highly-coveted college journalist of the year category.

The Signal as a whole received third for best college newspaper while The Signal’s Urbanite received third for best college magazine.

Daniel Varitek, Signal editor-in-chief, said he was proud to work alongside dedicated journalists.

“If nothing else, SEJC proved once again that The Signal is turning heads and making a positive impact within our community. I’m incredibly proud of our team’s growth this year, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with such talented and driven people,” he said.

Under NeoNetwork, Brianna Dahlquist won first from Primetime Sportz and Kelsey Perkins won third from PRN in best television journalist.

News Director for PRN Kevin Sanchez said he was proud of his peers and emphasized the importance of what they do.

“There is strength in the message and stories we project,” he said. “Our goal is always to give a voice to the Georgia State community. I am extremely proud of Tyrik, Brianna, and Kelsey who were recognized for their commitment to that message.”

GEORGIA COLLEGE PRESS ASSOCIATION ATHENS, GA.

Concurrent to SEJC, a separate conference was being held in Georgia on Friday. Students from across the state gathered in Athens to highlight the best of the state for the past year at the Georgia College Press Association annual conference.

The Signal came out rather victorious, winning one first place and five second place awards in general categories across the state.

The Signal won second place in general excellence, layout and design and three awards in best campus community service in news, features and sports. For best campus community service in editorial, The Signal placed first.

Several students shined in individual categories, taking three third place, three second place and five first place honors, as well as an Impact award.

Third place winners include Shari Celestine for best column, Unique Rodriguez in sports photo and Will Solomons for best objective news article.

Vanessa Johnson in news photo, Autumn Boekeloo for entertainment story and Ada Wood for objective news article all took second places.

The Signal staff received three third place awards for editorial, entertainment story and entertainment feature.

Julian Pineda with editorial/feature photo and Will Solomons with objective news article both won first place awards.

One of the most desired awards was received by Evan Stamps, the Impact award, which goes to the best editorial cartoonist in the state.

OPINIONS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/opinions

It begins and ends with us

What it’s like putting an end to generational curses MYA GRANT Staff Columnist

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eing a first-generation anything can be rewarding yet intimidating. Many students are making headway for themselves and their families in attempts for a better now and a better future.

Breaking the cycle and making an impact for your family is very important because it will guide your family in the direction you’ve set for them as well as the family that you’ll have in the future. By breaking the cycle of misfortune and miseducation, you’re beginning a new cycle for a positive future. And you don’t necessarily have to do that by solely going to school.

For many students, being the first in their family to attend and complete college is a huge accomplishment for them. For others, it may be something different, such as challenging the generational lifestyle or being the one individual to do something different than everyone else in their family. It’s not always easy but being authentic and trying a different route are the goals, right?

Generational curses are mostly negative attributes that trickle down from one generation to the next and begin an endless cycle that so many people easily fall into.

These curses are often seen in the black community where there are higher numbers of single mothers, high school dropouts, families in poverty and violence. Small communities and neighborhoods praise young adults for small milestones that are overlooked in other communities, and these are the kinds of curses and cycles that need to be broken.

Graduating high school should be an everyday phenomenon but most black teenagers don’t make it there due to violence,

criminal records, poor schooling or teen pregnancies. Those who do graduate high school barely have the opportunities to continue their education or do something bigger with their lives and the cycle continues.

Lately, there’s been an increase in black-owned businesses, black college graduates, black politicians and successful black productions. This is because there are young black individuals who seek to break their generational curses and want to see better for themselves, their families and their futures.

Breaking the generational curse isn’t always easy, either. When breaking the cycle, you must set the bar to welcome the changes you’re bringing into the cycle.

Many people within your family and social circle may not always agree with you but that is where you have to help them understand the reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. If it is pushing you into a more successful realm, I doubt your support system will be unsupportive — but in that event, keep going and pushing for positive change.

You’ll have bragging rights when it’s all over.

If you’re one of those

people who’re challenging their generational curses, I applaud you. Working toward the betterment of your future and setting that example for others in your family to follow couldn’t be a better life accomplishment (besides becoming a millionaire overnight). We are the generation to make or break this country and it starts with making or breaking the direction we drive our families in.

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

Employers have moved the finish line

If you thought your bachelor’s degree would cut it, think again SHARI CELESTINE Staff Columnist

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fter four long years of sweat and tears, you’ve finally walked across the stage with your cap and gown. You’ve earned yourself a bachelor’s degree from Georgia State. Now it’s time to move to the next step: a career. Except that perfect

job with a sweet salary, bonuses, 401K and health benefits now requires a master’s degree.

Can you move forward and meet this next challenge headon, or will you have to make some sacrifices to keep up?

A master’s degree at Georgia State is an additional 36 credits.

Georgia State has a handy calculator to tally up what a full year (fall and spring) would cost a Georgia resident. $9,360 (tuition) + $2,128 (mandatory student fees) + $1,600 (books) brings you to a whopping $13,088. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have $13,000 in a savings account waiting to be spent.

Yet this latest trend in hiring practices is doing more than just emptying students’ wallets. It’s also weeding out non-white job applicants.

According to Georgia State’s IPORT database of spring 2019 enrollment, the largest demographic of students at the university is African-American with 21,695 students. There are 15,814 students who are white, 7,038 who are Asian and 5,792 who are Hispanic.

The National Center for Education Statistics compiled a list by race and ethnicity between the years 2014 and 2015 and found that a total of 758,708 students in the United States earned a master’s degree. Of those, 433,106 were white. All other races and ethnicities were represented much less — 87,265 were African-American, 58,684 were Hispanic and 44,517 were Asian.

Mark Schneider and Jorge Klor de Alva of the American Enterprise Institute said in January that the highest-paid graduates earned master’s degrees in the fields of business,

ILLUSTRATION BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

information technology, engineering or real estate. Notice that was master’s degrees, not a bachelor’s degrees.

After looking over these numbers, I have just one question: Are employees limiting accessibility to recent college graduates by accepting largely white and affluent applicants?

Right now the bachelor’s degree is still the most common degree granted by our nation’s colleges and universities. But is it becoming too common?

A 2017 CareerBuilder survey stated that 33 percent of employers are now recruiting those who hold master’s degrees for positions that once only required four-year degrees. That statistic increased 6 percent from 2016, showing that employers are pushing their education requirements toward higher degrees. And if you’re thinking of starting with an entry-level job and working your way up the ladder to bypass a degree requirement, think again; employers are looking to hire bettereducated candidates at the entry level as well.

Most American families can’t afford the cost of a bachelor’s degree without scholarships or government financial aid. How can we manage an additional two years of schooling so that the next generation can enter the job market? Perhaps employers don’t want middle-class American families to become top earning employers. The top management and corporate positions are currently held by baby boomers who will be entering retirement soon. If employers raise the bar so only the the privileged can fill their positions, what will happen to everyone else? Will the job market collapse or will middle-class America continue to hold the nation afloat while being left behind?

OPINIONS

8

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

EDITORIAL Context matters Whether you like it or not

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e’ve all seen it before. And again, blackface has been a highlight of the news cycle, though this time for several fashion industry designs.

Prada released a handbag featuring a figurine with brown skin and exaggerated red lips. The doll was reminiscent of old racist dolls like Black Sambo or Golliwogs. Katy Perry’s namesake line also released new black shoes with blue eyes and – again – exaggerated red lips. Gucci’s new black turtleneck features the same lips, with the ability to pull the neck over the bottom half of one’s face, giving them a black mask.

A few weeks earlier, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam experienced a cloud of controversy regarding his yearbook page, which included an image of a man in blackface next to a man in a Klu Klux Klan costume. Northam said this wasn’t him in the photo – but he did admit to having worn blackface in the past.

This has sparked a debate about whether people coloring on or wearing paint masks and clothing that represent black or brown people should be held accountable.

Some see it as a costume; just a way to

represent a figure or celebrity that happens to be a black or brown person.

The issue with this line of thought is that due to the historical context surrounding blackface, it’s simply impossible to remove the practice from its hateful past in any form or fashion. Any variation of blackface is equally as unacceptable, and good intentions don’t negate the insensitivity and insulting nature of imitating black skin.

Simply put, there is a line. Wearing afros or “gangsta” outfits and fake chains are in their own questionable realms of imitation as a form of flattery, but blackface is an insensitive reminder of a time when the nation generally characterized the black race as lazy, incompetent and sexually aggressive criminals.

It was the demonization of black people in early films using blackface that helped spread and solidify these negative preconceptions that black people still face today. This is why blackface still remains an insulting symbol and a reminder that at one point the president of the United States himself called the racist imagery of “Birth of a Nation” “so terribly true.”

In 2018, H&M released a “Coolest Monkey

in the Jungle” hoodie. This hoodie sparked controversy because it was modeled by a black child. The company quickly apologized and pulled it from their line, but it still reveals larger issues within the organization.

All of the controversial products from Prada, Katy Perry Collections, Gucci and H&M have since been removed from the market and apologies have been issued, yet the larger problem still remains: The companies lack the diversity and sensitivity to catch these problems before they hit the market.

Even if the branding and marketing of the products aren’t racist, the lack of social competency by the companies that sell them reflect racial ignorance at the least and malicious racism at the worst.

It doesn’t take a black person to recognize that certain images are inherently offensive and therefore should be avoided. People of color shouldn’t be the only ones capable of shining light on racist symbolism, nor should any group.

Shopping with companies that lack decisionmakers who have compassion for disenfranchised groups should be identified and avoided.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor, Concerning the story about SGA members taking a trip to Israel for free, I think it was clearly inappropriate for the members to take that grant.The idea of taking a trip anywhere gives the expectancy of a greater than $5 budget.

I don’t, however, flat out blame the members fully for taking the trip. I’m sure that they have many tasks on their minds to keep track of, than the entire constitution.

I question why it wasn’t double checked upon. Surely someone in all of SGA has read the complete constitution and would have recalled a detail similar to this ordeal? So now

what I want to know is, what is the repercussions to this?

Will SGA members admit to their faults?

Or will the constitution be amended to add a difference between the status of “members” and “students”?

Thank you, Saeeda Choudhury Senior Game Design and Development

SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letters must be submitted to the editor-in-chief via email (editor@georgiastatesignal.com) and must include the text of the letter in the body of the message. Letters should be 200-400 words maximum. The Signal will allow longer letters, but only in rare circumstances. Letters must include the full name(s) of the writer(s) and include their year and major. If the writer is a faculty member, they must include their title and department. Letters will be fact-checked prior to publication. The writer may be obligated to make changes to the letter for publication. Letters will be edited for grammar, clarity, length, factual accuracy and adherence to Signal policy.

The Signal reserves the right to modify and/or reject letters at the discretion of the editorial staff.

ARTS & LIVING TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/artsandliving

The dangers of dab pens

The convenience of smoking indoors comes with a caveat MARY PITTS Staff Reporter

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opular among college students thanks to their discreet nature, weed concentrate cartridges have recently shot up in demand, leading to the distribution of problematic counterfeit products.

Because of the sensitive nature of discussing producing and consuming illegal substances, all names in this article have been changed.

SWITCHING TO WAX

Marijuana extract, also referred to as dabs or wax, is a sticky yellow substance up to six times stronger than herbal marijuana.

People today buy vape cartridges containing marijuana extracts and are able to screw them onto their vape devices.

According to the Center on Addiction, a typical marijuana joint yields around 15 percent THC, where as marijuana wax can be more than 90 percent.

Georgia State freshman, John, recently switched from smoking marijuana herb to vaping marijuana wax because of convenience and subtlety.

“It’s so discreet that it can be used pretty much anywhere with hardly any risk,” he said. “The smell is almost nonexistent compared to most other forms of consumption that involve smoking.”

John values wax because he feels it is a safer alternative to the tar deposited in the lungs after traditional smoking methods.

“I think using dab pens is much better for your lungs because it minimizes the amount you need to smoke,” John said. “It’s generally more concentrated and it doesn’t produce the tar you get from burning regular weed plant material. That’s why I stopped smoking a lot of bud and switched to wax.”

Unlike in legalized states, cartridges bought in Georgia, where marijuana remains illegal, can be risky. Some Georgia State students have found that buying them comes with the risk of unknowingly purchasing counterfeit — and potentially dangerous — cartridges.

SELLING HOMEMADE CARTRIDGES

Dab pen users in illegal states should be aware of homemade cartridges. Empty cartridges can easily be refilled with unregulated, DIY extracts. Thanks to the technology of today, what once was a time-consuming day long process of mixing and

boiling, can now be finished in less than eight hours with the help of the Magical Butter Botanical Extractor Machine, a small device resembling an electric kettle, offered on Amazon and at Walmart.

Brian uses the Magical Butter Botanical Extractor Machine to make his own wax out of his dorm.

“You put your flower in there and put grain alcohol in and mix it around with the weed,” Brian said. “The Magical Butter machine is going to spin it around for anywhere from like four to eight hours. Then after that, you just heat it up to burn off all the alcohol. Then you have your extract.”

Ingredients for extracting oil are often flammable solvents including butane or alcohol. Sometimes these solvents are not completely evaporated, causing the smoker to inhale it and according to the Center on Addiction, inhaling butane-extracted oils can be harmful.

Leafly, the largest cannabis website in the world, with over 15 million monthly visitors and 40 million page views across its website and mobile applications, ranks CO2 dab cartridges the safest on the market.

“The FDA has labeled CO2 safe for industrial extractions, making it a much less controversial solvent than petroleum-based hydrocarbons such as butane or propane,” Leafly said.

The process of using CO2 to extract marijuana concentrate involves a heavy understanding of chemistry and large, expensive machinery.

The CO2 gas is pressurized into a liquid before being mixed with finely ground marijuana, acting as the solvent that separates the compound.

But just because a cartridge appears legitimate on the outside doesn’t mean its contents are pure. Dealers can simply purchase original packaging and place

their homemade cartridges inside.

CHECKING WHERE IT’S FROM “They come in a small cardboard box with a product cut out so you can see the cart, as well as a short description of the strain and effect and then it lists the content,” John said.

There is a way to determine whether a product is genuine — customers just have to be willing to check.

“As far as identifying authentic cartridges, at least for the ones I get, there’s a serial number on the bottom that you can look up in the specific company’s database,” Brian said.

Additionally, the general practice of vaping dab cartridges poses a greater risk of dependence than traditional ways of smoking weed. The quick high users achieve from easily hitting a dab pen anywhere, anytime is instant gratification leading many students vaping more and more without thinking too much about repercussions.

“People now just take their drugs,” Brian said.

“Whatever.

If someone says it’s good, it’s good. Smoke it. No one really goes and does their research anymore.”

ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO GET HIGH • Oil Vape - classic and discreet • Flower Vape - for vaping herb • Dab Rig - extremely pure, for experienced stoners • THC Oil - for use with food • Weed Capsules - simply take a pill

E-CIGARETTE USAGE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS: 2011: 1.7 percent 2017: 11.7 percent MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS: 2011: .6 percent 2017: 3.3 percent PAGE DESIGN BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

Opening the time capsule of student media Explicit racism at Georgia State wasn’t too long ago

By Sydney Bloeme | Arts & Living Editor

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ecorated with confederate flags and military imagery, paying tribute to previous beauty norms of frilled dresses and pin curled hair, the beginnings of Georgia State’s yearbook, The Rampway, depicts student attitudes from ‘54 until ‘96 — whether they want to be remembered or not.

However, The Rampway isn’t the only place to find a racist past at Georgia State; other student media serve as time capsules as well.

Georgia State opened in 1913 as The Evening School, an all-white night school part of Georgia Tech. Early Rampways document student life overwhelmingly consumed by Greek life.

Fraternity members dressed in blackface are innocently stamped onto glossy pages, forever being a reminder of past minstrel shows.

Segregation was ruled unconstitutional in public schools following the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, but it wasn’t until eight years later that the first African-American student would step foot in Georgia State to become a Panther.

The Signal was once overwhelmingly white and male-led, writing many pieces discussing each of the conflicts the mid century brought. Some of them include being completely against race integration in schools.

The Signal’s editorial against integration was titled, “Four negros acting unwise.” It stated: “We can see nothing in integration but racial strife. We realize no reason for mixing the races in schools and colleges now or in the years ahead,.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GEORGIA STATE LIBRARY PAGE DESIGN BY DEVIN PHILLIPS | THE SIGNAL

INTEGRATION IN THE ‘50S AND ‘60S

Within the final pages of the 1956 Rampway, onlookers can find, nestled amongst the many faces of white students, Marybelle Reynolds Warner, Georgia State’s first African-American student. An arrival just as quiet as it was significant.

“The college made no announcement and there was no adverse reaction to [Hall’s admission],” Merl E. Reed, Georgia State emeritus professor of history, said in the fall 2009 GSU Magazine. “I think it was because of the environment. These people appeared and others accepted it. Atlanta was an unusual Southern city.”

From then on, the African-American student population at Georgia State took a steady incline.

“The African-American population at Georgia State went up a couple thousand very quickly,” former student and past financial administrator in the Alumni office, McRae Williams said.

The 1967 Rampway shows few African-American students speckled throughout the freshman and sophomore class.

The 1968 Rampway displays black performers such as Louis Armstrong for Homecoming Week and Josh White for Mardi Gras.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the University in 1968, only a few months before his assassination.

Williams remembers the Dean of Men at the time, Dr. Tim Singleton becoming quite close to the Kings.

“Dr. Singleton, [and] his family hit it off with Dr. King’s family, and they made a plan to meet out at Stone Mountain for a picnic,” Williams said. “And it never happened because of the assassination.”

After the assassination, Singleton said students filled the streets around the Capitol Building, marching and unbothered by being marked absent in their classes.

THE ‘70S BRING A BLACK STUDENT BODY It wasn’t until the 70s that African-American students started increasingly appearing throughout the student body and in student organizations such as The Signal and with their own pages dedicated to the National Pan-Hellenic Council, the historically black sororities and fraternities.

The 1970s Rampway portrays the African-American fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha completely shirtless — each of their collar bones and upper biceps exposed, jumping off the glossy paper.

During this time, language surrounding AfricanAmerican students was often the plural “blacks.”

The 1971 Rampway dedicates three spreads in the beginnings of the book labeled “blacks” displaying smiling students of color hard at work alongside the other spreads labeled “nights, days, whites” and “Greeks” among others.

RACIAL TENSIONS RISE IN 1980S

Backlash from racially insensitivities start appearing in student media in 1986 with the November 16th front page of The Signal reading: “‘NAACP protests ‘Soul Review.’”

“An ‘offensive’ flier advertising the all-white fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha’s 17th annual ‘Soul Review’ brought the matter to the attention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples (NAACP),” Georgia State University chapter President Denise Bundridge said.

The flyer displays a caricature of a black man wearing a suit in front of musical notes with “GO PIKE!” across the page. Student and activist Tanya Cook said these kinds of depictions of black students was not uncommon on campus.

“There used to be some parties where people dressed up in blackface, it was called soul food, something. It was a recurring thing,” she said. “It was a shocker.”

In the article, the fraternity’s then president, Jutch Benford, announces changing the name to “60’s review” and agrees to eliminate blackface performances as a final compromise with the NAACP. “I am pleased with the compromise,” Bundridge said.

“It is 1986 and changes have to be made.”

But around the same time the next year, the Pikes appear again on the cover of The Signal. The headline reads: “Pikes continue song and dance tradition after last year’s protest.”

“Members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity painted their faces garnet red, wore Afro wigs and sang 1960’s rhythm and blues songs at a party Sept. 26 despite a protest of a similar performance last year by the [NAACP],” the cover article stated.

Lance Grant, rush chairman of the fraternity, was hesitant to change.

“It’s been going on for 25 years,” he said. “It’s probably the biggest traditional thing that we have for our fraternity. I really think it’s one of those things that if you see it, it’s not a big deal.”

Former student Darryl Holloman remembers that it “wasn’t a big deal” to most of the school but for students of color, subtle racism was very much apparent.

“I would say that we had direct racial tensions but there felt like a lot of indirect microaggressions that you could always say, especially at 19 to 20 years old, was overt racism,” Holloman said.

Much of the University was still white, including the faculty, and that was seen not only through curriculum, but also subtle choices such as student leadership.

“What we did notice as Black students was that it seemed the white Greeks were being chosen for a lot of student leadership positions,” Holloman said. “Now some of that could have been attributed to the fact that at that time there were two Assistant Dean of Students who were themselves white Greeks.”

Monday, 80 sat peacefully, arms locked in the hallway of Sparks Hall.

“The day that the first sit-in took place in Dr. Patton’s office, I was enroute to the hairdresser and Eric Bridges got me from the cafeteria and said ‘it’s on, come with me to the president’s office,’” Cook said. “We thought, if we wanted to get the attention of administrators, let’s do a sit-in.”

The sit-ins were to protest the larger system of oppression the students faced. They for years had been speaking with administration about better resources for black students. The student’s ultimate goal was to establish a Department of African-American Studies, one they reached peacefully and unified.

“The incidents leading up to the sit-ins not only gave us a platform that led to the creation of an AfricanAmerican Studies Department, but sparked our actions which helped dismantle a white good old boy network of administrators in the office of the Dean of Students, who for years, overlooked our concerns,” Winbush said.

The sit-ins garnered much attention in and around campus and restaurants Downtown. Subway provided sandwiches to those students who remained in Sparks Hall for 12 hours.

Patton, fresh to office, immediately responded to the student’s protest by locking the doors of the fraternity for two weeks and pending investigation and possible reassignment of Deans Buttermore and Pearson, complimenting the African American student’s peaceful demonstration.

The Signal’s publication that following week included a poll response of 200 students showing 84 percent against Sigma Nu and 16 percent in favor.

The student opinion columns vary from support to anger with some calling the protest a “terroristic threat to freedom” and while others call for reimbursement of missed classes.

In protest of the protest, that following Tuesday, about 35 members of predominantly white fraternities and sororities performed their own five hour sit-in in the president’s office.

“They were concerned about protection of their rights, their ability to go to class, and work at their jobs,” Patton said.

THE 1990S PEACEFUL PROTESTS

Today, the Department of African-American Studies stands as a physical representation of the student activism of the past.

“We wanted it created so every student, faculty and staff could understand the contribution of AfricanAmericans from a scholarly perspective, from a cultural perspective, from a community perspective. I’m proud of the department. They’ve really come a long way,” Cook said.

And while Georgia State has made great progress in diversity, being ranked one of the most diverse institutions in the country, the fight for equality isn’t finished yet.

“We knew we had to be unified. We knew we were making a difference,” Cook said.

“I feel empowered, but I’m always aware that there’s room for growth.”

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1992, eric bridges anOn Wednesday, Nov. 4, 1992, Eric Bridges and Darryl Holloman discovered a trashcan in Student Center outside of the Sigma Nu Fraternity defaced with the words “niger enter.” The two black students immediately brought the trash can Dean H. King Buttermore’s office, to which he did nothing.

Cook documented the entire experience. Her papers can be found today in the University Archives today.

An excerpt from Cook’s papers read: “Deans H. King Buttermore and William Baggett attempt to pacify us just as they did when members of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity (H. King Buttermore’s Fraternity) painted their faces black and wore afro wigs for their annual ‘Soul Review,’” former student leader Kenyatta Winbush said.

A few days after the incident, on Friday, 60 students occupied the then newly assigned president Carl V. Patton’s office for eight hours as a sit-in. That following

MORE REPRESENTATION IN ACADEMICS IS ACCOMPLISHED

Editor’s Note: Research for this article would not have been possible without the help of the University Archives.

ARTS & LIVING

12

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Edgy after your 9-to-5

Hiding your darker self from employers and parents ALEX QUARTERMAN Staff Reporter

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attoos and piercings are now more acceptable than ever before. Over 45 million people in the U.S. have at least one tattoo. It’s not uncommon to see college kids walking around campus with an arm sleeve filled with flowers or an ear lined with hole after hole.

While today many students don’t look twice at someone with tattoos, business jobs and those in the medical field are strict on employees’ appearance.

Georgia State’s University Career Services recommends putting off getting a tattoo until you have job security.

“Many students don’t know what they’re going to do when they graduate. It’s much safer to wait to get a permanent tattoo until you are absolutely sure what kind of job you’ll have in the future,” University Career Services staff member Marisa Dobson said. “If you already have tattoos, you can never go wrong with some long-sleeved professional attire.”

TIPS AND TRICKS

If you already have a tattoo not positioned in the best place for a professional work environment, there’s some clever tricks you can utilize to hide it.

PLACEMENT

Tattoos on your ankles or wrists can be covered by bracelets or socks. If you’re someone with long hair, you can get away with a tattoo behind the ear or on the back of your neck (as long as you don’t have a job that requires you to pull your hair up). Any artless, empty skin on your torso and hips is free real estate for tattoo artists, since these areas are almost always covered by clothing.

Arm sleeves are completely doable for those willing to subscribe to year-long long-sleeves.

“I know when I graduate I’ll most likely get an office job, so it’ll be pretty easy to cover up my tattoos with longsleeve dress shirts,” economics student Noah Packard said.

“It’ll suck in the summer, but it’s worth it ‘cause I really love my tattoos.”

CONTENT

While some companies can turn a blind eyes to a small name or dainty anchor, the design of the tattoo matters.

“I don’t really have the most serious tattoos, one of them is a ghost riding a skateboard on my ankle,” Packard said.

“But I am trying to cover up this tattoo on my arm because it’s a bloody axe, and I didn’t want it to be bloody but the tattoo artist just did it. So now I have this gory tattoo, and I don’t think it’s the best considering the serious nature of my job.”

Employers are not going to accept any tattoos displaying violent content, vulgar language and nudity. And while you may believe the depiction of Venus on your calf is a work of art, your boss might not be too thrilled about seeing full frontal every casual Friday.

USE MAKEUP

PAGE DESIGN BY EVAN STAMPS | THE SIGNAL

If there’s absolutely no way you can cover your tattoo, check out the make-up brand Dermacol online. Dermacol is a foundation made specifically to cover up tattoos. If you have neck, hand or chest tattoos that normal clothes won’t cover up, this concealer is perfect for you. Just apply with your finger, set with powder and mist with setting spray.

Makeup can be a great approach for those with an “interview first, rules later” mindset.

“I work as a paralegal looking over files, and I don’t actually know if my bosses care about tattoos. I covered mine up for my interview just to be safe, but people at my job have them. They’re just not talked about,” Jess McKinley said.

SNEAKY PIERCINGS

Unfortunately, at times it’s not a job keeping you from expressing yourself, but rather, the people who raised you.

“My parents are super strict and would never let me get a tattoo or anything like that, but I’ve always really, really liked them, and I wanted to get something really bad. I knew I couldn’t get a tattoo, or my mom would kill me, so I got my septum pierced instead. It kind of got rid of that impulse to get something, and it’s easy to hide from my mom and dad because I can just push it inside my nose

“WOULD A CANDIDATE HAVING TATTOOS AFFECT YOUR DECISION TO HIRE THAT PERSON?” Yes. I would be less likely to hire them. 13.85% Yes. I would be more likely to hire them 0.31% No. It would not affect my decision. 22.77% It would depend on the role I was trying to fill. 35.08% It would depend on how many tattoos and where they were. 28.00% Source: WORKOPOLIS

whenever I see them,” Anita Csonka said.

If you’re worried about a piercing closing while you have it out, you can purchase “retainers” which are clear piercings that hold the place of your normal metal ones.

They’re almost invisible and make piercings far less noticeable. Clear, flat jewelry is perfect for the nose and silicone flesh colored plugs disguise stretched ears.

If you prefer something completely unseen, try a bellybutton piercing. It’s inappropriate to show your stomach off in an office setting anyway, so there’s no way your boss will see this piercing. It can be your little secret.

FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT

People are always diving head first into getting tattoos or piercings, but it’s best to try something out before jumping for the permanent alternative. If you want to give these edgy accessories a test run, you can easily order faux piercings and tattoos online.

Currently, millennials are the generation with the most tattoos with 47 percent having at least one. This expressive generation is just beginning to enter the job market, and in 10 to 20 years, perhaps long-sleeves wouldn’t be required.

Until then, don’t be afraid to express yourself fully — after 5 p.m. that is.

FAUX PIERCINGS: • Clip-on earrings • Pinch nose ring • Cheat ear plugs • Stick-on rhinestones

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

ARTS & LIVING

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Bird watching at the skatepark Skateboarders declare a turf war on Bird scooters EUGENE RUBINCHIK Staff Reporter

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ird scooters may just be the single biggest threat to skateparks since scooter kids, but where did the two-wheeled hate originate?

“Wow, I’ve never actually seen them leave. I guess we won the Bird war,” Old Fourth Ward skater Stunt said, as a flock of football jersey toting Bird scooter riders retreated from the skate haven.

The Beltline is Atlanta’s Birding Autobahn, providing 22 miles of limitless transportation, and the electric scooters are bacterial in their spread. A representative for Bird told the AJC that Atlanta is the company’s second-largest scooter city globally, currently occupied by over 1,500 Bird scooters.

Old Fourth Ward skaters subsequently bare the burden of electric scooter riders’ invasion.

“They have the entire Beltline, but they just have to come into the skatepark,” Stunt said.

Banned on the Beltline and shoveled off the streets, some Bird riders leave their nests to seek refuge in Old Fourth Ward, flaring up skater’s eternal disgust toward scooters. Scooter riders are treated to strong remarks, and many skaters attribute the hatred for skatepark Birding to its associated safety risks.

“Some kids try to ride Birds at the skatepark and underestimate the ramps and stuff. The scooters are way too heavy and clearly not made for anything but transportation. I have seen people almost die on these things. One time I saw a scooter fall apart mid air,” Georgia State student and skater Tom Baumgaertel said.

Regardless of safety risks, there seems to be an equally strong opinion toward the transportation device in general even within competitive, non-electric scooter riders.

“I’ve seen some people eat s--- on Bird scooters and that’s pretty funny to see, but I just don’t want people to put Bird riders in the same category as trick scooters,” Mark Williams, semi-pro scooter rider and Georgia State student, said. “They’re obviously different, but I guess it’s funny to see normal people’s styles when riding scooters.”

Skate culture especially is tribal in its acceptance of outsiders, and the introduction of Bird scooters in skateparks highlights skaters’ rivalry with a different demographic: scooter kids.

“I scoot for myself, and I understand that many skaters are offended by that.”

— MARK WILLIAMS semi-pro scooter rider and Georgia State student “Skaters hate scooter riders because most of the time scooter riders are little kids that get in everybody’s way. Even though there are no regulations at a skatepark, there are unspoken rules that everyone respects and agrees with. The most important things is to be mindful of peers and not get in anybody’s way.

Most scooter riders don’t do that because they have barely any experience with skateparks,” Baumgaertel said.

Statements like Baumgaertel’s are not uncommon amongst the skate community with professional skaters Omar Hassan and Rune Glifberg saying, “It’s a fad” and “If you’re a scooter rider, please stay at home,” respectively. Other pros disagree.

“It’s another form of fun,” skate legend Steve Caballero said in an interview with Broadworld. “If I had a scooter I’d want to

go to the skatepark. If anything, my daughter transitioned into skating by first scootering.”

It seems as though the number of wheels under your feet determines your respect at the skatepark, but scooter riders like Mark Williams boast skatepark immunity.

“A lot of people know me over the years so I rarely get talked down upon for scootering,” Williams said. “If they do it’s the classic ‘scooters are lame’ line and it’s always never to my face.”

Williams continued to explain how he, a non-electric scooter rider, isn’t discouraged after receiving skater-bred hate.

“It’s really not my place to get skaters to like scootering,” Williams said “At the end of the day they are going to go home and watch skate videos, not scooter videos. It’s not worth making scootering seem cool. I scoot for myself, and I understand that many skaters are offended by that. It’s just funny because I can skate better than most skaters at the park too, but I just prefer scootering.”.

Many other scooter riders relate to Williams as the Razor scooter generation have now reached adulthood.

The association between the infancy of Razor scooter’s audience is another factor that has contributed to scootering’s childlike,“lame” image.

“Skateboarding’s roots lie in 1960s surf culture, but push scooters originated as much more of a kids’ toy,” Rolling Stone Writer Dan Gentile wrote.

Razor was also a large proponent for familiarizing scooters with a “cooler” audience, pushing scootering into contention with other action sports for X-Games entry. Scooter phenom KC Corning leveled with Tony Hawk’s prestigious 1999 X-Games 900 in 2004, and the future of scootering seemed promising.

Unfortunately, the introduction to skatepark Birding and William’s experiences rejects the idea of the once promising scooter conformity in skateparks, and new innovations to transportation will only further confirm Skateboarders’ pride.

ELECTRIC SCOOTERS Speed: average 15 mph Weight: average 30 pounds STUNT SCOOTERS Speed: Average 10 mph Weight: Average 10 pounds

ILLUSTRATION BY SHANCHEZE JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

ARTS & LIVING

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Drunk Mario Kart

Black history at Oakland

Blue Lot coffee

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NASCAR in Atlanta

Free Museum

February 19

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Drink beers and win prizes at Monday Night Brewing’s Mario Kart tournament. The event starts at 6 p.m. and equipment is provided.

Enjoy a free tour of Oakland Cemetery’s African American Grounds and learn about some of Atlanta’s black history pioneers resting there.

Spotlight will be introducing their next events while handing out drinks and refreshments starting 8 a.m. at the Georgia State Blue Lot at Georgia State Stadium.

The Georgia National Rodeo returns in Perry, Ga, from Thursday to Saturday. Events include specialty acts and cowboys and cowgirls from across the country competing in roping, riding and racing.

Celebrate black history at the annual Black History Month Parade. The parade starts at 11 a.m. from Hurt Park and ends at Centennial Olympic Park at 1 p.m.

Enjoy a day out at the track watching nice cars drive fast at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series - Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.

Tickets start at $40 and the event starts at 2 p.m.

Entry is free to the Nation Center for Human Rights for Black History Month until February 28th. Some current exhibits include athlete civil rights advocates and the Martin Luther King Jr. Collections.

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Black History Month: Harlem Renaissance

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This week, we’re taking a look at the Harlem Renaissance and the iconic artists that emerged from that time. We hope you enjoy!

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across

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2. ___ Cullen was a successful poet during the Harlem Renaissance who is most famous for his poem “Ballad of the Brown Girl.”

3. James Weldon ___ wrote “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, the Negro National Anthem.

9. You may know Louis ___ from his song “What a Wonderful World.”

12. Zora ___ Hurston was an influential African-American author most known for her book “Their Eyes were Watching God.” 13. Bill “___” Robinson was a famous actor and tap dancer with the catchphrase “Everything’s copacetic.”

14. Billie ___, also known as “Lady Day”, was a talented jazz singer.

16. Marian ___ was the first African-American to perform at the

New York Metropolitan Opera House.

18. Duke ___ was a famous composer and an icon in jazz music.

19. Ella ___ became known as the “First Lady of Jazz.”

20. W.E.B. Du Bois created The ___ Magazine, the official magazine of the NAACP. 21. Lena ___ got her start as a dancer at the Cotton Club and later rose to fame as an actress.

DOWN

1. The ___ Brothers were tap dancing phenomenons who performed intricate, high-flying dance routines.

4. Jacob ___ was an African-American painter best known for the paintings in his Migration Series.

5. Although ___ Baker rose to fame in Paris, she was influential

in that she was the first black woman to be an world-famous entertainer.

6. Cab ___ was a jazz singer, dancer, and bandleader with iconic performances like “Minnie the Moocher.”

7. ___ Hughes is one of the most famous poets of the Harlem Renaissance.

8. ___ ___ was the leader and creator of the Count Basie Orchestra.

10. This was a legendary nightclub in Harlem where black entertainers performed for white audiences.

11. The ___ Theatre was an iconic venue that allowed black performers and black audiences.

15. ___ Gillespie was a bandleader, composer, singer, and jazz trumpeter recognizable by his puffed-out cheeks.

17. Paul ___ is an actor known for his roles in “All God’s Chillun Got Wings” and “The Emperor Jones.”

SPORTS TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

www.georgiastatesignal.com/sports

In the shoes of coach Ron Hunter

The leader of the Georgia State men’s basketball program JOSHUA FIFE

Associate Sports Editor

S

ome may know coach Ron Hunter only as the man frantically screaming up and down the sidelines of Georgia State men’s basketball games. Georgia State students may have seen him dancing or dressing up at GSU Jam or noticed him coaching shoeless during the annual Samaritan’s Feet game, a game that he looks forward to every year for the thousands of shoes that get donated following the game.

“Most people just see him on the sidelines of basketball games where he can look a little crazy,” athletic director Mike Holmes said, “but it really is just his passion for his players and this University coming out. Off the court he really is just another guy that loves sports, his family and his faith.”

College basketball fans may also remember his 15 minutes of fame during the March Madness tournament in 2015.

THE STOOL

Back in 2015, Georgia State garnered national attention as the Cinderella team that knocked off No. 3-seeded Baylor in the first round of the tournament. His son, R.J. Hunter, had hit the gamewinning 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to give the Panthers the 57-56 victory.

Having just seen his son hit one of the biggest shots of his life, coach Hunter flung his arms up in excitement after the buzzer beater, flinging himself right off of his stool and cracking the cast on his left leg.

Hunter had torn his achilles while celebrating the Panthers’ conference championship win prior to the tournament, hence why he was confined to a cast and rolling stool in the first place.

The reaction went viral and news of the heartwarming, proudfather moment spread quickly. Overnight, both Hunters became headline news. The duo was even invited on TNT and interviewed

by Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith for a segment on March Madness Live.

Georgia State even made a bobblehead of coach Hunter, which has since been featured in the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Panthers lost in the next round, and just like that, the national attention switched back to the powerhouse conferences that dominate most of the tournament. Ron Hunter then returned to Georgia State and continued building his program.

COACHING

First and foremost, Ron Hunter is an honored and respected head coach. His exceptional leadership has landed him in the Miami University Cradle of Coaches, a distinction awarded to alumni who have coached at Miami or go on to coach after graduating.

Coach Hunter was also inducted into the Indiana UniversityPurdue University Indianapolis Hall of Fame in February. At IUPUI he coached the Jaguars for 17 seasons. His stint in Indianapolis was

highlighted by three 21-win seasons with NBA star George Hill from 2004-08.

Hunter is grateful for the honors, but he credits his players and coaching staff for being the reason behind his success.

“I have been fortunate to have great assistant coaches along the way who have helped recruit talented young men who buy into our system of play and want to succeed,” Hunter said. “All of these honors are great and very much appreciated, but they really belong to my assistants and student-athletes who have helped me along the way.”

Hunter took over at Georgia State men’s basketball after Rod Barnes, and is currently the third-highest paid faculty member at Georgia State. Hunter secured 22 wins in his first season with the Panthers and added four more 20+ win seasons over the next six years.

His ability to recruit top talent and develop them has led to Georgia State becoming the top basketball program in the state for the 2018-19 season and a promising future for the reigning Sun Belt champions.

Hunter decided as a player at Miami University that coaching was the way he wanted to continue his career in basketball.

“I honestly decided to pursue coaching while I was still in college,” he said. “I loved the game of basketball from the time I started to play. I figured what better way to continue to help the game than to coach. It just felt right from day one and I am so glad to be doing it all of these years later.”

Hunter said that two of his college coaches, Darrell Hedric and Jerry Peirson, had a big influence on his life.

“I was always able to ask a lot of questions and learn from them which is important in getting started in the profession,” Hunter said.

“Since then, there have been too many people to name who have been influences in helping me sustain this career as long as I have.”

Another defining characteristic of Ron Hunter is his passion for giving. His value goes far beyond his win-loss record. He raises thousands of shoes each year with Samaritan’s feet and pushes his players to be better men, teaching them lessons that they can use in life long after basketball.

“For as much as Coach Hunter enjoys coaching, he enjoys giving back even more,” Holmes said. “The work he has done with Samaritan’s Feet over the years is remarkable. Coach Hunter points an incredible amount of energy into these trips because bringing shoes and hope to children is a true passion of his. It has been an eye-opening experience being a part of this the last eight years. To go along with that, Coach Hunter does a lot of stuff for others in the community that doesn’t go as recognized which is the way he likes it.

He doesn’t do it for media attention or fame, but rather to give back to those less fortunate that we are.”

The Panthers were on a roll early in the season, starting conference play on a 5-game win streak. They then started to skid, losing four out of the next six. The team is currently 18-8 and ranked second in the conference with just five games left before the tournament. Hunter is focused on the conference championship and adding a third trip to the NCAA Tournament to his resume.

“Throughout the basketball season you are going to have wins and losses,” Hunter said. “The goal is to never get to high after a win

or too low after a loss. We have had a couple of tough losses lately, but winning on the road is extremely tough and our guys know that.

We have a championship team that will not let a couple of bumps in the road affect them too greatly.”

AT A GLANCE Eighth season as Georgia State head coach 165-93 record Most wins in Panther history 2 Sun Belt Conference championships 2 NCAA Tournament appearances and 1 win Coached first round NBA Draft picks George Hill (26th overall) and R.J. Hunter (28th overall) Ron Hunter, head coach of the Georgia State men’s basketball team, is a beloved character in the long history of the Panthers.

PHOTOS BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

SPORTS

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On the cutting edge: Kosha Irby

Former associate A.D. now the Memphis Express president JULIAN HARDEN Staff Reporter

“I

want to be at the forefront of something that’s cutting edge,” Kosha Irby said.

These words best describe the path of former associate athletic director of Georgia State and current team president of the Memphis Express, a team in the brand the new Alliance of American Football league.

However, as an assistant athletic director Irby also knew that it wasn’t common for minorities to get the opportunities for leadership positions in football.

Still, for over a decade, Irby has worked to build and improve college athletic programs and give back to those that have supported him. Each time he has gone to a new program, he has tried to leave a lasting impact.

His first athletic director opportunity came with South Florida in 2005. A decade later, he’s doing something similar, but this time at the professional level. Irby is now through his second week of the AAF schedule and it reflects on how he came to be where he is currently.

Irby developed his passion for being a leader in sports innovation when he graduated from his alma mater, Memphis, in 1999.. In 2001, Irby returned to Memphis to get his master’s in business,, specializing in marketing.

Irby also played football during his time at Memphis and became more interested in the business of sports. After he finished playing, he interviewed with Conference USA to work in the business of sports management.

“I quickly realized how [much] better I was at counting the number of fans [who] were in the stands and event management protocol than trying to do a 100-yard dash,” Irby said.

One of the more interesting things about Irby was his desire to give back to his community and to fellow studentathletes who were in his shoes in college.

“I just wanted to be able to create an impact and I wanted to give back to the student-athlete community because it created so many opportunities for me,” Irby said.

Irby worked at Dell after completing his degree. While Irby did appreciate his time spent at the company, he also felt his impact was too small and the work he was doing was too miniscule of an effect in the grand scheme of things at Dell.

“The millions of dollars I brought in for Dell did nothing compared to the billions [Dell] was bringing, but the small minor deal I brought for St. Louis did wonders … so I wanted to create an impact,” Irby said.

When Irby left Dell, he became the associate athletic director for St. Louis and was able to generate a good percentage of money for the athletic department. While the money he brought into the department is smaller than the money he helped bring in at Dell, it was the impact he made at St. Louis that resonated with Irby the most.

In 2009, he faced one of his most toughest tasks in laying the groundwork for a brand new football program at Georgia State. At the time, Georgia State was most kn own for its basketball program –– and still is today.

He compared the creation of the Georgia State football program to that of a startup company. The first game is still looked upon as the proudest moment in the program, now nearly a decade old.

“I will never forget our first game at what was then the Georgia Dome with 30,000 screaming fans, and that was one the coolest moments and that was kind of a startup,” Irby said.

Both college and professional football have struggled to hire minorities in leadership roles.

“The percentages are still not where they need to be and this something that I think everybody needs to pay attention too,” Irby said.

Currently in the Football Bowl Subdivision out of the 130 head coaches, only 12 are African-American. However, within the Power 5, the Big 12 lacks any minority head coaches—last African-American coach was Charlie Strong in 2016.

As you climb the college football ranks, the percentages rises by a few points. In the FBS, there are 15 AfricanAmerican athletic directors out of 130 schools.

The NCAA in 2016 asked their members to sign a pledge

Kosha Irby (right) and Mike Singletary (left) pose inside the Memphis Express stadium.

“establishing initiatives for achieving racial and ethnic diversity, gender equity and inclusion.” The NCAA, to its credit, did understand that they had an issue when it came to recruiting minorities to leadership positions and tried to get it rectified.

However, the measure itself was non-binding and had no teeth when it came to enforcing the commitment. This has caused some rumblings on whether a Rooney Rule, a rule that required NFL teams to interview minorities, is needed in college athletics.

“That’s a tough one because where do [you] stop … you can’t put in the [Rooney Rule] at every position,” Irby said.

Even with the percentages not being where he wants them to be, Irby has seen steady improvement.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MEMPHIS EXPRESS

“In the sports realm and in business realm, the playing field on how people are being treated is leveling out,” Irby said.

In the AAF, diversity has a strong presence as women are assistant coaches and three of their eight clubs have an African-American head coach, not to mention some teams like Memphis who have an African-American team president and African-American head coach.

Irby, throughout his career, has never shied away from opportunity to seek a new challenge in sports. In doing so he has challenged the status quo in sports by both being a minority in businesses dominated by caucasian males. By being able to make an impact he’s opened the door to other leaders and continues to blaze a path for himself.

SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

Malik Benlevi helped lead Georgia State’s men’s basketball team to a win in an away game against South Alabama on Feb. 15.

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Men go 2-0, women’s streak snapped

Men’s team overcomes an 18-point deficit to defeat South Alabama CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

F

or the second time in two weeks, the Georgia State men’s basketball team (18-8, 9-4) found itself in a double-digit hole. However, this time was different as the Panthers were able to overcome an 18-point deficit and grab a 90-81 win over South Alabama (12-14, 5-8) on Friday.

MEN’S: SOUTH ALABAMA, W, 90-81

In the Panthers’ last loss against Louisiana, seniors Jeff Thomas and Malik Benlevi didn’t play particularly well, scoring four and three points respectively.

Benlevi, the heart and soul of the team, rebounded in a big way leading the comeback, finishing the game with 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists. The Savannah native was 5-of-7 on 3-pointers after scoring four points in each of the previous two games.

Thomas added 21 points off the bench. Head coach Ron Hunter said after the game that having him run with the second unit gives the team some added punch, and in a situation like Friday when they trailed big, someone needed to provide a spark.

In the first half, Georgia State allowed South Alabama to shoot 12-of-19 from behind the arc, while only going 5-of-15 themselves. But in the second half, the Panthers tightened up on the defensive end and made it tough on the Jaguars, who made only two more 3-point baskets.

Georgia State sped things up with a press defense and caused problems for South Alabama on the offensive end. Hunter gave a lot of credit to redshirt junior Damon Wilson for his defensive performance.

“I’m really proud of one guy, in particular, he may give us a chance to win a championship, and he didn’t score one point in the game, and that’s Damon Wilson,” Hunter said. “I thought Damon in the second half, his energy came in and got things going, and really changed the dynamic of this ball game by himself. I’ve never seen someone who dominated a game like

he did and did not score one point.”

Wilson has struggled to find his way with the team so far this season, only averaging 4.4 points per game, but maybe this game will get things going for him. Although he didn’t score, the team will need his defensive intensity during the backstretch of the season.

MEN’S: TROY, 77-63

On Wednesday, the Panthers ended their two-game losing streak with a 77-63 win over Troy, avenging the loss earlier in the season, when Trojans guard Jordan Varnado hit a lastsecond 3-pointer.

In the win, junior D’marcus Simonds scored 27 points and became the school’s all-time leader in field goals made with 589. The record was previously set in 1986 by Chavelo Holmes.

Defense also won that game for the Panthers; they caused the Trojans to turn the ball over 19 times and had 10 steals in the contest.

Georgia State has five games left until the Sun Belt Conference Tournament begins, with three of them on the road including a Mar. 9 showdown with Georgia Southern in Statesboro.

The Panthers have not won in Statesboro since Hunter took over before the 2011-12 season.

Although the tournament doesn’t begin until next month, the Panthers are already treating it that way.

“I told the guys earlier in the week that right now we are in the conference tournament, these aren’t regular season games for Georgia State these are conference tournament games,” Hunter said. “If we want the make the NCAA Tournament, if we want to win a championship we have to treat these are tournament games.”

Georgia State currently sits in a second place in the Sun Belt standings. The first and second place teams get a double-bye into the semifinals rounds, so the Panthers are pushing for one of these two spots.

WOMEN’S: SOUTH ALABAMA, L, 62-59

The Georgia State women’s basketball team (14-10, 8-5) had its four-game winning streak snapped on Saturday after a 62-59

loss to South Alabama (19-5, 8-5) on the road. The Panthers led by nine heading into halftime, but collapsed in the second half due to more pressure from the Jaguars.

Georgia State didn’t play particularly well early, but their defense held South Alabama to 9-of-24 shooting and 1-of-7 from deep in the first half.

The Panthers shot poorly in the first half, going 11-of-38 and 2-of-11 from 3-pointers. The difference, however, was the defensive effort. They were able to force 23 South Alabama turnovers and plenty of bad shots, but the majority came in the first half.

South Alabama held a 61-59 advantage with under 30 seconds to go. Both Jada Lewis and Walnatia Wright missed short field goal attempts, then after two missed South Alabama free throws Lewis had another chance to tie or win the game, but missed. That was the last good look the Panthers would get.

“Road wins are always tough to come by,” head coach Gene Hill said. “We put ourselves in a position to win in the end and gave just came up a bit short. Obviously we’re happy being near the top of the standings, but we feel like at the end of the day this is one we let go. We have to rebound and come ready to play Thursday against Appalachian State.”

Allison Johnson led the team with 13 points, six rebounds and three assists, but she fouled out late in the fourth quarter.

Lewis and Wright added 11 and 12 points respectively.

WOMEN’S: TROY, W, 85-70

Earlier in the week, Georgia State blew past Troy 85-70. The Panthers completely dominated the game, keeping a doubledigit lead for most of the contest. They led for over 37 minutes in the game. Troy shot poorly from the field and on 3-pointers, with 33 percent and 26 percent respectively. Georgia State, by contrast, shot 46 percent from the field, 50 percent on 3-pointers and forced 25 turnovers.

The Panthers are tied for fourth in the conference with the Jaguars, but South Alabama holds the tiebreaker. However, with wins over Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina next week combined with a South Alabama loss to Troy on Saturday, Georgia State would control fourth place with three games left before the conference tournament.

SPORTS

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The Georgia State’s beach volleyball team got a colorful new upgrade for their upcoming season, brightening their practices and giving them a new home-court advantage.

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

PHOTO BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ | THE SIGNAL

Mural, mural on the wall

Beach volleyball court gets a facelift thanks to local business GREG HOLLIS Staff Repoter

I

f you attended a home beach volleyball game last season, you would’ve noticed an empty space on the back wall. Attend one today and you’ll notice a large, vibrant and colorful mural This offseason, Georgia State Athletics and a small local business called Buckhead Murals teamed up to do something special for the beach volleyball team and its fans. Buckhead Murals, owned by Cuban couple Lenia Castro and Ornesto Torres, painted the artwork.

“The athletic department researched our work and saw that we had did murals at local middle, elementary schools, and other colleges in Atlanta and they loved our work, so Nick reached out to us and of course we happily agreed,” Castro said.

Nick Buchs is the Director of Facilities and Operations, and his job is to make sure that the sports facilities are always looking and operating at their best.

The athletic department gave Castro and Torres a $20,000 budget for this project.

“Since this was such a huge space that had to be filled, we hired a few freelance artists in the area that are good with paint brushes, got all our supplies and worked hard on this project for six weeks straight,” Castro said.

The mural highlights some of Atlanta and Georgia State’s best features while keeping the beach volleyball theme.

“GSU wanted it to include some Atlanta style and flavor along with a nice tribute to the team and the school,” Castro said.

With that in mind, the couple and their workers came up with a tropical beach theme that features the Atlanta skyline, a beach, a volleyball net, volleyball and the words “Georgia State” in its background.

“We really think that we did a good job representing the university, the team and city of Atlanta,” Castro said. “We also hope that when people come to the games or even walk past the court, they will appreciate our hard work because in our home country, [Cuba], it is hard for us to do artistic work. It is frowned upon, so coming here and being able to follow our dreams means a lot to us.”

The team appreciates the hard work of Buckhead Murals and of the athletic department for getting this done before the start of its new season.

“The new mural really brightens up our practices and brings a smile to all of our faces,” Maddy Delmonte, a freshman beach

volleyball player, said. “Not only does it add a splash of color into our courts, but it also connects our unique sport to our fantastic city. We really appreciate all the hard work that went into upgrading our own little beach in downtown Atlanta.”

The beach volleyball team is coming off the second winningest season in school history, finishing 24-12. The Panthers begin their 2019 season on Feb. 22 in the Stetson Spring Fling in Deland, Florida.

They racked up 22 wins in the regular season last year, which tied a school record. They also finished the season ranked No. 11 in the final AVCA Beach Poll and No. 12 in the DiG Magazine Poll.

The Panthers won 62 percent of their matches in match play for a 112-68 record on the year.

In addition, nine players earned double-digit wins for the season.

The team starts this season ranked No. 13 in the AVCA Beach Poll and No. 14 in the DiG Magazine Poll. Georgia State lost about half of its top talent, but a strong recruiting class and a few veterans returning should help them pick up where they left off last season.

The new background should also help the team with its home court advantage.

Struggling Panthers take on 9-1 Georgia

Panthers, 1-9, host one of the nation’s best on Wednesday JERELL RUSHIN Sports Editor

T

he Panther softball team will take on the Georgia Bulldogs in what will be Georgia State’s first home game of the season. The Bulldogs, coming in at 9-1 and winners of five in a row, will be looking to assert their dominance on a team searching for their groove.

The Georgia game offers the Panthers a glimpse of elite talent and a gauge of exactly how much they have to improve to be a true contender in the Sun Belt. With a 1-9 start that isn’t indicative of the goals the team set for itself at the beginning of the year, a game on home territory might allow for the team to gain some momentum.

Georgia State the Georgia game after going 1-3 in the Samford Challenge in Birmingham, Alabama. The youth and inexperience of the Panthers’ squad proved to be an issue for the team so far.

“I think we are still trying to find that chemistry on the field,” co-captain and outfielder Reagan Morgan said. “We have a young team and a lot of people that can play different positions

so we are still trying to get used to playing next to each other and getting a feel for what everyone can do. I think once we find that, the defense will come together and the bats will follow.”

Georgia State will be facing a Georgia team who has had one of the most productive offenses in the Southeastern Conference.

In 257 at-bats for the Bulldogs, the team has hit 19 home runs – the best in the SEC – and have scored 105 runs so far in the season.

Senior Alyssa DiCarlo is tied for second in the SEC in runs batted in with 23 in 28 at-bats. DiCarlo also is first with home runs hit with eight so far in the season. Her .571 batting average is third in the conference.

Georgia has three players in the top five of players with the most scored runs – DiCarlo and junior Justice Milz with 16 each and freshmen CJ Landrum has 13.

The Bulldogs will bring a talented, cohesive team to the Robert E. Heck Softball Complex when they face Georgia State. Morgan and the team are up to the challenge and are eager to get a win at home.

“It’s very important to get a win at home and playing against a [Georgia] team of that caliber presents an exciting opportunity,” Morgan said. “I think that would be the momentum we need to get us going this season.”

Even though the season wins haven’t come, head coach Roger

Kincaid has continued to remind the team that each game represents another chance to improve and get better, and facing Georgia certainly is one.

The Panthers visited their cross-town competition, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Feb. 13, losing 8-3, but team co-captain Remington Hasty saw some improvements the team can build on.

“I told everyone that we need to keep pushing and focus on the good things that we do,” Hasty said. “When we played Georgia Tech, we had a lot of good at bats, and we had a ton of energy in the dugout and I was proud of that. So we need to cruise with those good things because the other things that aren’t clicking right now will come.”

There aren’t any hung heads or lowered spirits in the Panther dugout, Hasty said, but rather a feeling of motivation to use this early part of the season to grow as players and team.

“Starting like this leaves a sour taste in your mouth,” Hasty said. “[After] our game against Georgia Tech I think there was a difference in the energy and enthusiasm in the dugout even though we didn’t come out with a win. Right now we are just trying to stay positive and build on the good things that we do, and have fun doing it.”

SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

SPORTS BRIEFS softball • • •

• • • • •

Lost 8-3 at Georgia Tech on Wednesday Played in the Samford Challenge from Friday through Sunday The Panthers lost 8-4 to Eastern Illinois to begin the Birmingham, Alabama event Picked up its first win of the season, a 9-2 victory over Eastern Illinois, on Saturday Lost its second game on Saturday 4-0 to DePaul Ended the challenge with a 1-5 loss to Samford Its final game was cancelled due to rain Return home and face Georgia on Wednesday at 5 p.m.

baseball •

•

• •

•

Started their season 0-2, losing games to Richmond and West Virginia in the Atlanta Challenge at the GSU Baseball Complex Hunter Gaddis pitched seven innings and allowed four hits and two runs in the season opening 13-6 loss Won its first game of the 2019 campaign 9-5 against Illinois-Chicago The Panthers allowed five runs in the first inning, and then they shut out IllinoisChicago for the next eight innings Hosts Georgia Southwestern on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

women’s tennis • • •

•

Losing streak extends to three with a 7-0 defeat by Georgia Tech on the road Georgia State has a 1-4 record this season Senior Daniela Ramirez lost her first singles match of the season in a tiebreaker after starting off 4-0 Georgia State faces Auburn and Samford on Saturday for a doubleheader

SPORTS CALENDAR BASEBALL

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

BASKETBALL

FEB. 19

FEB. 22

FEB. 21

GEORGIA SOUTHWESTERN

GSU Baseball Complex

4 P.M.

APPALACHIAN STATE

FEB. 22 CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

Charleston, South Carolina

6 P.M.

FEB. 23

6 P.M.

FEB. 23 women’s basketball

FEB. 23 2 P.M.

Charleston, South Carolina

1 P.M.

APPALACHIAN STATE

Boone, North Carolina

Conway, South Carolina

GEORGIA

Tampa, Florida

4 P.M.

FEB. 24-26 2 P.M.

men’s golf TIGER INVITATIONAL

Opelika, Alabama

ALL DAY

5 P.M.

FEB. 22 SOUTH FLORIDA

Deland, Florida

GOLF

COASTAL CAROLINA

Robert E. Heck Softball Complex

7 P.M.

women’s basketball

FEB. 20

12 P.M.

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL

FEB. 23

SOFTBALL

SAINT LEO

FEB. 23

FEB. 21 women’s basketball

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

12 P.M.

Deland, Florida

4 P.M.

FEB. 24

FEB. 22 ECKERD

COASTAL CAROLINA

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN

8 A.M.

Deland, Florida

Deland, Florida

GSU Sports Arena

Charleston, South Carolina

STETSON

women’s basketball GSU Sports Arena

MEN’S BASKETBALL SUN BELT CONFERENCE STANDINGS

4:30 P.M.

FEB. 23 VIRGINIA TECH

Tampa, Florida

FEB. 23 SOUTH FLORIDA

Tampa, Florida

3 P.M.

FEB. 24 VIRGINIA TECH

Tampa, Florida

9 A.M.

FEB. 21 women’s tennis UCF

Orlando, Florida

5 P.M.

FEB. 22 women’s tennis DENVER

Orlando, Florida

2 P.M.

FEB. 23 women’s tennis SOUTH CAROLINA

Columbia, South Carolina

EAST DIVISION

10 A.M.

TENNIS

SCAN HERE TO JOIN US!

19

1 P.M.

school

conf

overall

streak

TEXAS STATE

10-3

21-5

W4

GEORGIA STATE

9-4

18-8

W2

GEORGIA SOUTHERN

8-5

16-10

W2

UTA

8-5

12-14

L2

LOUISIANA

6-6

15-10

W2

ULM

6-6

13-11

L1

COASTAL CAROLINA

6-6

12-12

L3

SOUTH ALABAMA

5-8

12-14

L3

ARKANSAS STATE

5-8

11-15

W1

LITTLE ROCK

5-8

10-16

L1

APPALACHIAN STATE

4-8

9-16

W1

TROY

4-9

11-14

L2

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