Nov. 23, 2021 | The Reflector

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NOVEMBER 23, 2021

Campus crime addressed Faculty works to tackle crime on campus and beyond with hire of Troy Riggs

By Justus O’Neil

MANAGING EDITOR & CO-BUSINESS MANAGER Indianapolis has had a total of 106,835 crimes reported over the last six months, with 42,503 of those being theft, robbery, burglary or vandalism, according to the crime data aggregator SpotCrime website. The University of Indianapolis has experienced its share of crime during this time frame.

UIndy uses Watchdog alerts, sent via email and text to registered users, to provide information to students about criminal activity on or near campus.

In the past six months, the university issued 26 Watchdog Alerts, 20 of them related to attempted or successful vehicle thefts or burglaries.

According to the 2020-2021 UIndy Clery Act Report, there were a total of 334 offenses reported to the university over the course of a three-year period: 246 of those offenses occurred in 2019 and 2020, meaning that over twothirds of the offenses occurred in the recent two of the past three years. The UIndy police department keeps daily logs of any crimes or other incidents they respond to in the form of Daily Crime Logs, according to UIndy’s Clery Act report. The Daily Crime Logs for 2021 show 834 logged responses, of which 75 were referred to UIndy administration, and nine were closed by arrest. The majority of responses were closed by report, sent to other agencies or had no witnesses and no further information was provided.

Following student concerns expressed on the UIndy App after the shooting that occurred on Oct. 19, UIndy held

two informational summits to discuss about forging those partnerships the state of safety in Indiana as a that last maybe even past his [Manuel’s] whole, according to an email from tenure…. I think that having that type University President Robert Manuel. of vision for the future in public safety, On Nov. 3, Manuel announced in really, at the end of the day, helps another email that Troy Riggs, former greatly enhance public safety in not Indianapolis Public Safety Officer only UIndy but, I have to say, the and Indianapolis Metropolitan Police southside of Indianapolis.”

Department (IMPD) Chief, would Riggs said that in every city there are be collaborating with UIndy over a pockets of despair that can be attributed three-month period to design a to socioeconomic and crime issues comprehensive public safety strategy in one area. According to Riggs, these for the university. Riggs held two open pockets are spreading out within and forum sessions on Nov. 14 and 15 around Indianapolis. to introduce himself to students and “Anybody that has any large footprint faculty and field in the city—like questions and UIndy, [another] suggestions to university, a school, a improve campus hospital—you have ...We're going to be OK public safety. to be concerned long-term, but it's going to about some of the At the Nov. 15 session, Riggs said issues that you’re take a lot of work..." t h a t t h e t h re e seeing, making sure pillars of public that you have those safety include partnerships with re d u c i n g c r i m e, re d u c i n g t h e IMPD, which we enjoy here at UIndy,” fear of crime and enhancing public Riggs said. safety. He said that due to the pandemic, Constant communication is key to much of the public aspect of enhancing achieving public safety, according to public safety was cast to the side, and Riggs. One of his goals is to review the the university now has to reinstate that protocols for Watchdog alerts and take third pillar of public safety. into account what students want out According to Riggs, Manuel of them. deserves credit for allocating almost “What do they [students] want to $500,000 to improve campus safety hear about; what format do they want immediately, working inside a time it in; how often do they want it?” Riggs frame that Riggs has not seen previously said. “Obviously in those [extenuating] at an academic institution. Riggs circumstances, then let’s get it [the said that Manuel’s proceeding to Watchdog alert] out now, and let’s develop a long-term plan for public be timely. What I hear is [that there safety on campus is even more amazing. are] too many of them [Watchdog “L et ’s not just think in sixalerts] at times, and then sometimes month intervals. Let’s not just think they’re not timely or not thorough about next semester,” Riggs said. “Let’s enough.” think about next year. Let’s think Riggs said that the conversations

he has had so far represent a great beginning for his time at UIndy. He said that students have to play a role in fine-tuning the public safety system in place by giving him information to work with.

“They [students] have shared quite honestly with me….,” Riggs said. “The students here have been remarkable; their input has been remarkable.

They’re big thinkers and I think that’s refreshing and that means that they’re going to be actively engaged in keeping their campus safe.”

According to Riggs, Manuel will hold a meeting in early January, when they will roll out what will be implemented in the long-term plan. Riggs said that he thinks the UIndy community can expect to see an impact on campus safety soon, with the implementation of lighting and mobile cameras around campus. He said that he also believes an impact will be made in the form of UIndy Police getting out of their squad cars and interacting more with students.

Riggs said that he will return to campus to meet with a lot of people.

He said that being overbooked is a good indicator of the desire for engagement.

“People want to be engaged,” he said.

“When people want to be engaged, and we have the leadership you have here, [and] you have student involvement like we do here tonight [Nov. 15 event]— we’re going to be OK long-term, but it’s going to take a lot of work to get there in January.”

Riggs said that he encourages students to reach out to him via email at riggsdt@uindy.edu with questions or suggestions or to schedule meetings to discuss campus safety with him.

COVID boosters and flu season

By Kassandra Darnell NEWS EDITOR

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has been slowly rolling out guidelines for those previously vaccinated to receive COVID-19 booster shots, according to their website. As of Nov. 9, the CDC said those 18 years or older should receive a booster six months after their last shot if they have underlying health conditions, live in long-term care settings or work or live in a highrisk setting. Those who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and are 18 years or older should receive a booster two months after their shot, according to the CDC. The CDC said that those getting a booster shot should bring their vaccination card to their appointment.

Professor and Director of the Public Health Program Heidi Hancher-Rauch said the CDC has also approved the mixing of vaccines when receiving booster shots. She said she received the Pfizer vaccine series for her first two shots, but went with the Moderna vaccine for her booster based on her personal research. Hancher-Rauch also said it may be a good idea for collegeage students to consider receiving the booster as well.

“If you live in a dorm, perhaps you want to consider getting the booster,”

Hancher-Rauch said. “If you spend a lot of time on a college campus, you want to consider getting the booster.

Right now, it really is about your choice and how long ago you got the vaccine and how you feel, what your risk levels are, and whether you want to wait a little bit [and] whether you think this is a good time now.”

According to the CDC, the need for booster shots does not mean the current vaccine series are not working.

While the vaccines are working well at preventing serious hospitalization and death from COVID-19 as well as protecting against the Delta variant, public health professionals are starting to see reduced protection, according to the website, hence the need for a booster shot. Hancher-Rauch said that it is very common to receive booster shots, specifically for most childhood vaccinations and the HPV vaccine series, and the COVID-19 vaccine is no different.

“It's the same thing with a lot of our childhood vaccinations because what you do is you introduce it first, you let the body build up some of the immunity, then you give another dose because then the immunity will increase more at that time…,” Hancher-Rauch said. “So let's do a booster. Then what that does is introduce it yet again, so that the immune system really kicks back up again. If your body then > See COVID on page 8

INSIDE: NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 8 OPINION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 SPORTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4, 5 FEATURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 ENTERTAINMENT . . . . . . . . . .7

Graphic by Kayla Jennett

reflector.uindy.edu

UIndy TV commercial to promote campus

By Giselle Valentin SPORTS EDITOR

The University of Indianapolis has launched a new ad campaign, which will include a television spot that will air primetime during local broadcasts, according to a press release from the university. According to University President Robert Manuel, the idea came to be after he realized an element was missing from the university’s portfolio of communication work.

“Part of that was how do we look at visual representation of the university, especially since we added quite a bit to the university over the past eight years,” Manuel said. “We wanted to express that visually … we thought that we needed to fill out that portfolio and look at the visualizations [that] could be played in digital spaces.”

Manuel said the university was able to make the digital representation come to life with the help of Sara Galer, vice president of communications at the University of Indianapolis, and Caldwell VanRiper (CVR), an ad firm the university partnered with to produce the ad campaign.

According to account supervisor for CVR Kendra Geiger, UIndy issued a request for a proposal to ad agencies.

She said UIndy narrowed down their final four choices, selecting CVR because of the concepts the agency presented.

The concept behind the campaign, according to Geiger, was to produce a 30-second TV advertisement that highlighted the people and the city's closeness to Indianapolis in a unique way. Geiger said the best method to capture the uniqueness was using a drone.

“Every college has the B-roll of the students and the buildings and the music and the VO [voiceover] like ‘our university is the best,’” Geiger said.

“How can we separate ourselves from that? Using the drone allowed [us] to show off a lot of campus and how beautiful it is and how much bigger it is. And the quick transitions with the way that it flew allowed for quick transitions from frame to frame. We really loved the sweeping, the moving shots and just thought it would be better serving for the university.”

According to Galer, the university worked very closely with CVR to identify the images they wanted to include in the video. She said they partnered with one of the best drone pilots in the country to capture the images.

Another concept that was used in the video, according to Geiger, was not using a voiceover. She said they chose against using a voiceover because she wanted to change things up and get more people's attention.

“I liked that we made something that made UIndy stand out and look different,” Geiger said. “ … We wanted the images and the call-outs to tell the story.”

The ad, according to the press release, features buildings such as the Health Pavilion, R.B. Annis Hall, Greyhound Village and University Lofts, which were built as part of the University’s > See TV on page 8

SOCIAL MEDIA APPS FOR KIDS

MEN’S BASKETBALL OPENS YEAR

HOOKED ON KNITTING

The possible development of an Instagram app just for children has sparked conversation over the impact social media has on children and how much control a parent can really have over what their kids see on the internet.

With the 2021-22 season underway, the University of Indianapolis men’s basketball team was selected fourth in the East Division in the GLVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll, according to UIndy Athletics.

From making hats to sharing patterns, the Hooks and Needles RSO on UIndy’s campus introduces members to new friends and new knitting skills, while also having an outlet to relieve stress.

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OPINION

THE REFLECTOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

Should Instagram for kids exist?

Platforms only for children won't erase parental concerns with social media

By Anika Yoder STAFF WRITER

Facebook announced in September a pause in the development of an Instagram for kids in the face of mounting concern and criticism about children’s safety, according to CNBC. The app, intended for children 13 and younger, would have allowed parents to manage and control what their children are seeing and what they are doing on their accounts, said Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri in an announcement released last month on Instagram’s website.

The idea of an app like Instagram created as a social media platform for children has brought up concerns about the standards set by social networking apps, as well as advertisers. According to the Instagram announcement, the platform would require children to obtain parental permission to open an account, there would not be any ads and the app would display age-appropriate content. Although Meta Platforms Inc., has begun a discussion about its specific project, a broader concern involves the use of social media by children. Apps providing more parental supervision and safety controls for children brings up the question of whether young children should have access to social media, even with what is considered child-friendly content.

I think the problem is that companies believe safety locks and allowing parental control of their children's social media accounts will erase the problems social media contribute to through their own general audience profiles and that creating a separate space for children to interact will change parents’ minds about the issues young people face

Graphic by Olivia Cameron

on the internet. Many of the parents of the children who would be using these accounts are millennials, which is important to understand because social networking was still a newer concept when those parents started using computers and learning things on the web. The creation and use of so many social media platforms and forums, as well as the technological advances in the past decade, have given rise to an entirely different outlook on internet safety and mental health in relation to social media.

Navigating the internet and networking were so different 15 years ago than they are today, and with uncertainty comes a fear of risk, specifically as that pertains to today's young people. Social media companies’ attempts to increase safety precautions and allow parents to feel more in control of what is still a pretty new way to socialize and consume content ultimately are not very helpful.

On one side of the discussion are those who believe social media should be made more accessible to children, to aid with

mental health during adolescence in this age of advancing technology. On the other side are those who believe children should not be allowed to have accounts at all, to protect them from what can be seen on the internet and its toll on their health.

Personally, I don’t see the point in trying to take away social media.

Children who wish to engage in online networking will use the internet, and there is only so much you can do to stop them from seeing something that is not age appropriate. While I understand that social media companies want to ease parents' concerns about their children's mental health and safety, I think parents see the shift to social media for children as a gateway for unhealthy consumption of inappropriate content. Somewhere between creating more parental controls in apps and parents being concerned about children's safety, what is being ignored is the inevitability of what children will see and do on the internet.

I think the more companies try to brand for younger audiences and create an environment where children c an interact with one another, the more parents will push back. I think the best way to figure out social networking with children in the internet age is to educate and create an open discussion between parents and children. Removing ads and trying to control all aspects of a child’s internet life won’t eliminate the dangers children face on the internet, but talking about what they see on social media, with or without parental consent, is essential in the long run for understanding how it is affecting younger, developing minds.

Fast fashion's negative impacts

By Kassandra Darnell NEWS EDITOR

Fast fashion is a major staple in the fashion industry, offering clothing that is cheap in both price and quality. While fast fashion has made trendy clothing affordable and attainable, it has many negative impacts on the environment and humanity. I am in no way shaming those who may choose to purchase fast fashion — I occasionally buy clothes from brands that unethically produce their products — but there are ways to avoid purchasing these items when possible.

According to Sustain Your Style, a fashion blog focused on making fashion more sustainable, the production of fast fashion items can have a number of negative effects on the environment. These can include water pollution from textile factories dumping untreated wastewater into rivers, leading to toxic substances such as lead, mercury and arsenic entering ecosystems; overconsumption of freshwater to produce clothing; a vast increase in textile waste due to a decrease in clothing quality; and the 10% of global carbon emissions attributable to the apparel industry.

These companies also tend to have parents bought a lot of my clothes inhumane working conditions in order from second-hand stores as well. At to quickly create low-cost clothing, these stores, I could find clothes I liked according to a briefing from the European for an even lower price than fast fashion Parliament: Many of these products are stores offered, and sometimes I could made in countries that have minimal find clothes from the trendy stores for a workers’ rights, and these conditions fraction of the price. have been compared to slave labor.

Shopping second-hand is a Employees often do not receive a livable popular alternative to fast fashion, wage, work 14-16 hours a day seven days according to Sustain Your Style, and a week and work in factories with poor it’s something that I’ve done my ventilation that are entire life. Today, full of fiber dust about 80% of my and other airborne wardrobe comes ... it’s hard not to question f r o m s e c o n d toxic substances.

Furthermore, it is hand stores like why everyone doesn’t common for these Goodwill, Plato’s boycott fast fashion. employees to be Closet or loc al children, according vintage shops. to The Guardian.

And while some Considering all of these factors, people purchase fast fashion in order i t ’s h a rd n o t t o q u e s t i on w hy to keep up with micro-trends and everyone doesn’t boycott fast fashion. save money, according to Sustain Speaking from experience, I have Your Style, I have found that thrifting found boycotting these products is has allowed me to cultivate my own not always possible. When I was style, which helps me to avoid microgrowing up, my family didn’t always trends altogether. I’m able to find have enough money for me to buy all a lot of unique pieces that I often of the trendy clothes from the nice can’t find in other stores, which stores that my friends shopped at. Fast allows me to tailor my wardrobe to fashion is popular because it’s cheap, my own tastes. In addition, finding and lots of people don’t have another clothes that actually fit me becomes option. But when I was younger, my much easier than in most fast fashion

stores, which have a limited size range. Thrifting allows me to buy a lot of clothing for a lot less, and if I’m willing to splurge on certain pieces of clothing, I try to turn to vintage shops instead. How else would I find a Ralph Lauren silk cardigan or a genuine leather trench coat for less than $10?

Another way that I try to be more sustainable with my clothing is by doing everything I can to avoid having to throw my clothes away. I taught myself to sew by hand and using a machine, so that if something rips, I can just sew it up. If something is damaged beyond repair, I try to repurpose it by either using the fabric as scraps to repair other articles of clothing or making the fabric into patches, bags or cleaning rags. I also give old clothes to friends who like to make their own, so that they can use the fabric.

I understand that avoiding fast fashion can sometimes feel impossible. I still buy these brands on occasion if I’m looking for a very specific piece of clothing. But it’s important to keep in mind the impact fast fashion has on the world around us and try to avoid contributing to that if we can.

Corrections The Reflector acknowledges its mistakes.

When a mistake occurs, we will print corrections here on the Opinion page.

If you catch a mistake, please contact us at reflector@uindy.edu.

Page 1: Presence was misspelled in the “Newest Security Changes” infographic Page 4: In the captions for “Warthan hits career milestone” we misspelled redshirt.

Page 5: The photo used for “Cross Country season closes” the photo was miscredited. The proper credits belong to Logan Wong.

What do you think?

Send your letters to the editor or other correspondence to: reflector@uindy.edu Graphic by Jazlyn Gomez

Celebrities can't replace real voice actors

By Hallie Gallinat

FEATURE EDITOR & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR As a Nintendo fan, I was excited and nervous to hear that a movie based on the Mario Bros. franchise was coming to the big screen. Even as far back as 2018, Nintendo announced they were working on one, according to Variety. I remember my friend and I in high school speculating what this movie would be about.

Fast forward to 2021 where we got our first look at the movie in a Nintendo Direct on Sept. 23, only to find out actor Chris Pratt will be playing the titular plumber. Not only that, but Charlie Day will be playing Luigi, Seth Rogen will be playing Donkey Kong and Jack Black will be playing Bowser, among other celebrities playing other characters, according to the direct. Needless to say, I was shocked.

Fast forward even more to November 2021, where it is announced by cofounders and co-CEOs of film production company Alcon Entertainment that Chris Pratt will be playing Garfield in a new animated movie based on the Garfield comics, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Not even a couple months later and Pratt has taken another main role in a film adaptation of a beloved franchise. With Pratt snagging these two roles, it makes me wonder if celebrities should be voice acting for characters they really don’t need to voice.

With all of this being said, I do believe celebrities can be included as voice actors in movies. One movie I saw last year, “Sonic the Hedgehog,” had Jim Carrey playing the villain Dr. Robotnik.

However, he was one of the only big names in the project, and while he wasn’t voice acting per se, he was still playing a role in a pre-existing franchise. That isn’t to say Ben Schwartz didn’t knock his role as Sonic out of the park, but I feel like he isn’t as recognizable as someone like Carrey. Adding onto this, Sonic’s voice actors are constantly changing. Since the 1990s, he’s changed voice actors several times, but Mario is in a franchise where voice actors don’t change as often.

Mario and Luigi both have been played by one man for the past three decades, that man being Charles Martinet. However, he isn’t playing Mario or Luigi in this new movie, but Nintendo claims he still has a role in it. This feels like a stab in the back to Martinet to go around and replace him with someone more famous.

I think it’s fine to use a celebrity to voice a character that didn’t have a voice before.The newest installment in the “My Little Pony”franchise had big names like Vanessa Hudgens and James Marsden play some of the main characters. This is an instance where having celebrities voice these characters is alright because they aren’t replacing a mainstay voice actor. Mario has had one voice for 30 years, a voice that is one of the most recognizable voices in entertainment, and to replace that voice with someone purely for something to slap on the poster feels shallow and corporate to me. I also know that movies have been using star power for their voice actors for years.

For example, “Shrek” is one film that had plenty of celebrity voice actors. But “Shrek” didn’t have to rely on big names to make and sell a “good film.”

I have a good feeling as to why movie casting directors use celebrity voice actors, especially in movies aimed for families. They use it to say, “Hey, remember Charlie Day from ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia?’

Well now he’s Luigi!” I feel it’s to get more people to see the film, but star power shouldn’t have to be the only thing that gets people to see your movie.

Moving forward in the industry, I believe star power is not the only thing to rely on when making a film, especially when the film in question is based on a pre-existing franchise.

A movie should be able to bring in an audience from the content of the film alone and shouldn’t rely on big names to make money. Voice acting is a talent that shouldn’t be tossed aside for bigger names in the industry. Actors have their whole body to express a character’s emotions, thoughts and personality.

Voice actors use only their voice to express all this, and many do a great job at it. Sure, bigger names will attract more eyes to a movie, but if that talent is only there to make a quick buck, actual voice acting talent is being wasted.

NEWS

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THE REFLECTOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

Model UN conference returns in-person

By Anika Yoder STAFF WRITER

The University of Indianapolis held the 42nd annual Model United Nations Security Council Conference for University Students (Model UN) this past weekend with four schools in attendance, including UIndy. This year’s conference differed from last year’s because, as with COVID-19 being the reason for online classes, the conference last year was attended via Zoom.With the Model UN conference being in person this year, students were able to meet with delegates face to face to discuss agenda items presented to councils, according to Associate Professor and Graduate Director of the International Relations Program Jyotika Saksena.

The three participating schools included the University of Louisville, Indiana University South East and Manchester University for the first time, according to Saksena. Faculty advisers present from their respective schools were Jyotika Saksena from UIndy, Tricia Gray from the University of Louisville, Margot Morgan from IU South East and Gabriela Ramalho Tafoya from Manchester University, according to the conference schedule. This year’s conference, Saksena said, consisted of three councils with fifteen members each that discussed different current issues around the world. Agenda items included the Arab-Israeli Conflict, the UN political mission and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, the political and humanitarian crisis in Haiti and the civil war in Tigray.

“This year, we have three councils. And each council usually has 15 members, of those there are five that are permanent,”

Photo contributed by Jyotika Saksena

Photo contributed by Jyotika Saksena

Council two discusses one of their topics for the conference and features students from several universities. Students are assigned issues from their countries they must resolve.

UIndy students from councils one and two congregate during their break. The Model UN conference spans over several days and must solve a country's issues to complete it.

Saksena said. “So there's [the] United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China. Then the rest are nonpermanent members.”

With this year’s conference being in person after a year online, students were able to communicate face to face in council rooms to discuss agenda items and different country’s stances on the subject. According to junior international relations and philosophy major Ellie Wilson, students at last year's conference attended councils through Zoom and branched off to discuss talking points on Discord to have private conversations within unmoderated caucuses.

“So obviously, that's very different from being in person where we're all able to communicate in various caucuses,”Wilson said.“Whether they're

conference, but among themselves,” Saksena said. “So that's what we've been doing. But in terms of preparations, it has been a little hard won exactly in terms of the social distance and being able to find the right size of rooms that are available, because so many of the rooms that we had used in the past are now being used for classrooms.”

COVID-19 was a topic involved with discussions surrounding different pressing world issues, according to senior political science and international relations major Nasira Curry. Curry said safety measures regarding resolutions to humanitarian crises include the steps of COVID-19 protocol and making sure aid is received with attention to factors of the pandemic.

“COVID[-19] has been a catalyst

moderated or unmoderated and can talk to each other in person as well as pass notes during the caucus, if there's something we want to communicate to them more immediately. So those are some main differences.”

According to Saksena, the protocols taken for visiting schools were a required health check as well as masks worn regardless of vaccination status. Saksena said preparation for the conference was more difficult with social distancing being a factor in the process, and though students were assigned countries to represent in pairs, they were split into individual representatives for the councils.

“A part of at least three, four classes in the semester is spent in an actual simulation where they enact the

for certain situations, especially for the Ethiopian situation, I believe, because they had to hold off on elections,” Curry said. “A lot of people in Ethiopia thought it was unfair, the President was there unfairly or illegally, so that's what caused the conflict. So COVID[-19] has had detrimental things happen in other countries other than the United States.”

The Friday portion of the conference ended with the keynote speaker Cole Varga delivering his speech titled “The Urgency of the Afghan Refugee and Asylee Resettlement,” according to the conference schedule. The conference ended with participants being awarded first, second and third best delegates along with the delegate most in character, Saksena said.

Women in Leadership host drive

Club hosts hygiene drive during Domestic Violence Awareness month, donations go to victims

By Lindsey Wormuth STAFF WRITER

In the month of October, the Women in Leadership club organized a hygiene drive for the Wheeler Mission Shelter in downtown Indianapolis.

They hosted a table in Schwitzer Student Center from Oct. 25 to 29 in search of feminine hygiene products that could be donated to the women’s shelter. Residence hall liaison and senior public health major Hannah Crouch is a part of the Women in Leadership club and was a part of the drive that they held.

October was domestic violence awareness month, and the Women in Leadership group helped the shelter with the hygiene drive for the people who needed it, according to Crouch.

She said although the group did not do much this semester for domestic violence awareness month aside from the drive, they still advocate for women’s safety and empowerment throughout the month.

“Women in Leadership here on UIndy’s campus helps to empower people and let people know that if they are involved in any kind of domestic violence interactions, that it’s not necessarily something that they should feel stuck in,” Crouch said.

“They can go on and get help or that we can provide resources or advertise them for different people, that there are different resources there and of course domestic violence is not only an issue that women or other female identifying individuals experience, but there is a vast majority of people that do that identify as women.”

Crouch’s position within the club is to give out information within the residence halls. She said when she was asked to join the club it was an easy answer of yes and she has a passion for all of the things expressed within the group's organization.

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“I am really passionate about equality and making things equitable, very passionate about feminism as well,” Crouch said. “So when I was asked to get involved there was no doubt in my mind about it.”

Junior business management major and President of Women in Leadership Arianna Stephens joined the club her freshman year and has been a part of it ever since. As president of the club she said she likes being involved around campus as well as making people want to be involved and wanting women to feel empowered.

“For me it's helping women … realize that they can have power in the world as well and I just want to help people try to achieve that and also sort of a community of women that want to be supported as well,” Stephens said.

As president of the Women in

... For me it's helping women realize they can have power in the world..."

Leadership club, Stephens said she enjoys being involved throughout campus. She is also the orientation leader at UIndy, so when the opportunity came for her to be president of the club she was excited to see where it would go.

“I ended up being president and I was like I want to do that. I just like being involved around campus a lot as well as making friends and [getting] other people involved because that’s what I like to do,” Stephens said.

The club has impacted Crouch in many ways as well, she said, and it changed her viewpoint on campus life. Through that, they are able to talk about different empowering activities that are able to help shelters in need.

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drive goes directly to the shelter, Crouch said.

“We just hosted a hygiene drive, so I think that’s opened my eyes to different issues that a lot of women shelters have and a lot of issues in terms of equality and giving women the leadership positions that they need on campus,” Crouch said.

Women in Leadership also helps bring awareness to domestic violence through empowering women, Crouch said. They meet once a month in the student center to discuss women’s empowerment along with other important topics that can help people around campus, according to Crouch.

“I think we want people to know that UIndy is a place for empowerment, and we want everyone to feel very comfortable and feel that even in their campus life they can get involved and that getting involved [with Women in Leadership] here makes it a little bit easier for people to get involved within their professional life,” Crouch said.

Although the hygiene drive has ended, there is still an opportunity for people to donate products for the Wheeler Mission shelter. Crouch said students can message them directly on Instagram (@wiluindy) if they have any questions about where to donate the items. There could be another drive in the future.

“I think it kind of depends on the different organizations or if different factors in our community need more items,” Crouch said. “I think we could definitely look into doing another one if that is a big need.”

Stephens said in the future they are looking to host more events, including something closer to finals week this semester. They also have an email sign up list that is open for people to join if they are interested in getting involved or even getting more information on what the club entails.

“We have stuff planned that we want to do,” Stephens said. “We want to have a women’s panelist come talk to everyone and do stuff like that.

We also want to do a networking event to help them make business

cards or something like that if they’d like. So just really making them feel connected to other women as well and just on campus In general.

As well as making them feel welcomed to join.”

Graphic by Olivia Cameron

STAFF DIRECTORY EDITORS / MANAGERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF...................JACOB WALTON • waltonja@uindy.edu MANAGING EDITOR....................JUSTUS O’NEIL • oneiljl@uindy.edu NEWS EDITOR.............KASSANDRA DARNELL • darnellk@uindy.edu SPORTS EDITOR...............GISELLE VALENTIN • valenting@uindy.edu OPINION EDITOR..............OLIVIA CAMERON • camerono@uindy.edu FEATURE EDITOR...............HALLIE GALLINAT • gallinath@uindy.edu ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR..HALLIE GALLINAT • gallinath@uindy.edu ONLINE EDITOR.......................KIARA CONLEY • conleykf@uindy.edu PHOTO EDITOR.......MAKENNA MASCHINO • maschinom@uindy.edu ART DIRECTOR............................JAZLYN GOMEZ • gomezj@uindy.edu CO-BUSINESS MANAGER.......JACOB WALTON • waltonja@uindy.edu CO-BUSINESS MANAGER............JUSTUS O’NEIL • oneiljl@uindy.edu DISTRIBUTION MANAGER.........LOGAN WONG • wongla@uindy.edu ADVISER............................JEANNE CRISWELL • jcriswell@uindy.edu THE REFLECTOR • 1400 EAST HANNA AVENUE INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA 46227

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STAFF

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4

SPORTS

THE REFLECTOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

Photo by Kiara Conley

Red-shirt sophomore forward Jesse Bingham plays defense against Lake Erie College on Nov.12. The Hounds defeated the Storm 80-47, while Bingham ended the game with 14 points and three rebounds in the win.

Photo by Kiara Conley

Senior guard Mickey Sasson brings the ball up the court against Northwood University. Sasson finished the game with five points, six rebounds and four assists in the 64-60 OT loss against the Timberwolves on Nov.18.

Men's, women's basketball rank in Top 5 Both UIndy basketball programs open their seasons with several high-level division I matchups

By Alex Vela

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT With the 2021-22 season underway, the University of Indianapolis men's basketball team was selected fourth in the East Division in the GLVC Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, according to UIndy Athletics. Head Coach Paul Corsaro said the team does not put a lot of stock into preseason rankings and that the main focus is on his team getting better everyday and being ready to go for the season, Corsaro said.

Last season Corsaro led the team to an 11-12 record in which the Greyhounds got off to a slow start by opening 0-7. They were able to get things on track midway through the season, racking up 11 wins in their final 16 games, according to UIndy Athletics. Roosevelt Jones, a former Butler standout joined the UIndy staff prior to the 2020-21 season according to UIndy Athletics after spending three seasons at Indiana University-Kokomo.

“We finished off strong, but our overall record wasn’t that good, so you can kind of see why we were picked that way,” Jones said. “I feel like it’s kind of motivation for our guys to come out every single game knowing where we were picked in the Division.”

The team is headlined by red-shirt sophomore forward Jesse Bingham, who averaged 12.5 points per game and 5.8 rebounds, while also leading the team in three-point field goal percentage at 45.3% and blocks with 23 in the 2020-2021 campaign, according to UIndy Athletics.

“Things still didn’t end how we wanted, you have to take that type of stuff on the chin because we know that record really means nothing when you step on the court,” Bingham said. “We just got to go out and show that we are better than the spot they give us.”

The team opened their season with exhibition games against three high level Division I schools, No. 17 Ohio State University, No. 7 Purdue University and Butler University, to get ready for the regular season. Corsaro said the games were based on connections and the Purdue University game was supposed to be played last year. Purdue Men’s Basketball Head Coach Matt Painter was gracious enough to honor that game again this year, Corsaro said. He said the Ohio State and Butler games solely happened because of Jones’ connections, specifically Ohio State Head Coach Chris Holtmann, having played for him at Butler.

Corsaro said that those exhibition games were about improving every day. According to Corsaro, every game that they went out there and played,

the team got better. Those exhibition games saw the Greyhounds fall to No. 17 Ohio State 82-46, No. 7 Purdue 86-64 and Butler 73-68, according to UIndy Athletics.

“We got better from Ohio State to Purdue, and from Purdue to Butler,” Corsaro said. “That’s what you want to do is you want to grow every time you head out to the court. I think it was noticeable that we improved every time that we played and hopefully we continue to do that.”

Bingham said the team played well and that it was some of the hardest he has seen his teammates play. Bingham sat out the Purdue and Butler games with a strained hamstring, but that gave him a front row seat to see how far the team has come.

“Over that week, I’ve never been so proud of my teammates,” Bingham said. “To just be a part of this team because I feel like we played with all our heart and gave everything we had, we played very solid basketball, so I feel like we can just carry that on and use it as momentum into the season.”

The coaching staff has high praises for the Warren Central alum, Bingham. Corsaro said Bingham is a high-character individual and that he loves having him in the program.

“He’s a joy to be around,” Corsaro said. “From a player standpoint, he’s a coach's dream too in terms of he’s so versatile, he can play three or four different positions. He’s a two-way player, he plays on both sides of the ball at a high level and he has a tremendous work-ethic. I’m expecting big things from Jesse [Bingham] … I think the sky’s the limit for Jesse and his potential.”

According to Jones, when Bingham first came to UIndy he was looked at as a power forward, now he’s in the shooting guard or small forward positions, and then hopefully he might end up running some point guard by the end of his tenure with the Greyhounds. Jones said that Bingham has been bringing that leadership quality and running the offense in practices so far.

“In my mind, I think [ Jesse] should be a player of the year candidate in the conference just because of everything that he can do and the way he is evolving his game during this season,” Jones said. “I think as Jesse keeps growing and days keep going, he’s going to keep elevating his game, he’s going to be a hell of a player in this conference.”

According to Bingham, the challenge of the season is staying focused every day. Bingham said the team is prepared to endure a long season and end up with a winning record.

“I’m just looking forward to seeing everybody play and play our team basketball, and watch them excel in their roles,”Bingham said.“It is all a blessing to have this opportunity. I just look forward to it all really.”

By Makenna Maschino PHOTO EDITOR

Going into the 2021-2022 season, the University of Indianapolis women’s basketball team started off as the No. 3 ranked team in the East Division of the GLVC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll, according to UIndy Athletics.

The team also started their preseason with an exhibition game against No. 8 Division I Indiana University at Assembly Hall on Nov. 5 to better prepare for their regular season, according to Head Coach Kristin Wodrich. She said she viewed the exhibition game in Bloomington as a great learning opportunity for the squad. The Greyhounds fell to the Hoosiers 98-43 with junior forward Sadie Hill leading the team in scoring with 9 points, according to UIndy Athletics.

“I think it was great for us to play a team of that caliber, their pace, their intensity,” Wodrich said. “I think it was extremely good for us to see how good they play and just to play kids that almost made the Final Four last year at that level.”

Wodrich said that the exhibition game served as a learning experience not only for the team on the court. She also viewed the game as a time for the coaching staff to learn and improve as well.

“We took things that we needed to learn and how to get better, not only as a team but as a coaching staff, as players, all of us would get better every time,” Wodrich said.

Senior guard Mya Scheidt, who was second on the team in minutes played during the 2020-2021 season, averaging 31.5 minutes a game, according to UIndy Athletics, said that the exhibition game was an eye-opener for the team to see the pace the next level holds, and what they need to do to reach that level.

When it comes to the team’s position in the preseason poll, Scheidt says that it does give the team a sense of confidence, but said that it is important for the team to stay humble.

“Our coach keeps us pretty humble,” Scheidt said. “But I think we need just to stay our ground and not have our highs too high and our lows too low.”

Wodrich said that the ranking gives the team a goal to strive for, but before thinking about anything in regards to the postseason it is important to look at goals from a game-to-game perspective, tackling each game as a stepping stone to reaching and achieving those postseason goals.

“We talk a lot about what our goals are, but then how do we get there and what do we need to

do in order for us to achieve those goals,” Wodrich said.

The Greyhounds finished the 2020-2021 season with an 11-11 record after falling to No.1 Drury 70-66 in the first round of the GLVC Tournament, according to UIndy Athletics.

This year the team is looking for a fresh start as they are returning a number of veteran players that can help them reach those goals, including top performers from the 2020-2021 season senior guards Taylor Drury and Mickey Sasson. According to UIndy Athletics, the two led the team in both points and rebounds per game with Drury averaging 16.7 points and 6.0 rebounds per game and Sasson with 11.8 points and 6.9 rebounds. Wodrich also looks for senior guard Shira Sasson to play a big role in the upcoming season as she returns from an injury from last season. “[Sasson] is gonna be a big piece of the puzzle coming back and she's a veteran as well, but not having played most of the season due to a broken finger,” Wodrich said. “I think she's in shape, she's ready to go, and she’s been playing very well in practice, so I think that’s someone who is going to be a big impact for us.”

Scheidt said the experience of the team as a whole helps their performance on the court, because the team is more of an older squad they have good chemistry that allows them to work well together on the court. Wodrich views the experience that the team’s veterans have as a vantage point over their opponents. She said every player has the ability to step up and play a key role on the squad.

“I think it helps having veterans. Just they know what we expect, they know what we want, they know what it's gonna look like when we’re on the road, they know what teams look like,” Wodrich said. “So it’s helpful for us to have them on the floor. It’s kinda like having extra coaches on the floor, helping everybody out.”

The team started their season 0-4 with losses to out-of-conference opponents, falling 79-64 to Malone University and 59-45 to No.8 Ashland University, according to UIndy Athletics.

The team also fell 64-60 in overtime in a tight, out of conference battle against Northwood for their home opener on Nov. 18. The leading scorers for the team were Drury and Scheidt both contributing 13 points a piece. Junior forward Sadie Hill added 13 points of her own in addition to her four rebounds and four blocks, according to UIndy Athletics. The Greyhounds lost their fourth consecutive game against Cedarville 75-64, according to UIndy Athletics.

Foster represents GLVC at forum

By Kayla Jennett STAFF WRITER

University of Indianapolis senior outfielder softball player Kamrie Foster has been selected as the first UIndy softball player in the school’s history to attend the NCAA StudentAthlete Leadership Forum on Nov. 18-21 in Houston, Tex., according to Head Softball Coach Melissa Frost.

According to the NCAA website, this forum chooses student-athletes from around the country who exhibit leadership qualities.

“It was like back in September, [Senior Associate A.D. & Senior Woman Administrator for Student Support] Jackie Paquette sent me information about it so I submitted an application to be accepted in and then later in October... I found out that I was able to go to this and receive [this] and I was super excited because I don't know if I'm ever going to get an opportunity like this in my lifetime,” Foster said. “It's just super exciting to be able to go do something like this and hopefully bring some stuff back here to help.”

Foster said that her decision to come to UIndy was due to a multitude of reasons including academics, staying close to her family, the overall community and athletics. According to

Photo by Jacob Walton

Senior outfielder Kamrie Foster hits a line drive against Tiffin University on March 20. During her time at UIndy, she has garnered awards, including a two-time NFCA All-American Scholar Athlete, three-time Academic All-GLVC and 2021 All-GLVC Third Team.

Foster, her two twin sisters are also on the softball team.

“I have two sisters on the team, so we all wanted to stay together so that was one factor. Another factor is just the people here, such a great community like I know that … people are going to be around and they're going to help you and then academics are just like off the wall, amazing. I've heard nothing but great things about the school.”

According to UIndy Athletics,

during her time on the team, Foster has racked up a number of awards and honors including being a part of the 2021 All-GLVC Third Team, three time receiver of the academic All-GLVC award and two time receiver of the NFCA All-America Scholar Athlete award. While Foster’s awards and recognitions may speak for themselves,Frost said the awards are a reflection of the person Foster is.

“In all aspects, she’s just Kam. That's the biggest thing, she performs

for us on the field, off the field, you know she's reliable, she's accountable,” Frost said. “She's one of those people that from the first day she stepped foot on campus we looked at her because of her work ethic and I think that's something with Kam. She's always been that person that grinds it out and I just think that someone that puts in as much time and effort that she does, we feel like that her being able to be on the student leadership council is just a true representation

of who she is.”

Foster has proven time and again through her awards and recognitions in both athletics and academics that a leader is not only judged by their performance on the field, but off the field as well, according to Frost.

“Most of the time it’s more about the journey or the process that you have to do to get to the point where you want to be because softball is a game of failure, so you kind of have to learn how to combat that and those negative thoughts that come with it. So, it's more of a mental game at this point.

Physically, that's something that everybody can train and get better at but like mentally that's where you get to rely on other people and ask for help when you need it.”

Foster is a great representation of what a leader is both on and off the field, according to Frost, and she is excited to see what Foster does with this opportunity as well as where she takes the valuable lessons she may learn while there.

“I think she's just a true representation of what our program is about,” Frost said. “She always has been, she's a leader for us off and on the field and it's just amazing when you see somebody grow as much as she has but sticks to exactly who she is and that's the first step of high moral character and a work ethic that is second to none.”

SPORTS

5 NOVEMBER 23, 2021

THE REFLECTOR

The epitome of a student-athlete Senior back Dana Youssef excels both on and off the field in her career as a UIndy Greyhound

By Jacob Walton

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & CO-BUSINESS MANAGER When University of Indianapolis senior back Dana Youssef came into Key Stadium on Nov. 7 for the GLVC Quarterfinal against the University of Southern Indiana (USI) knowing it could be the last game of her career, she said she was determined to make it her best. According to UIndy Athletics, the match was scoreless in the first half but then, only 16 minutes and 22 seconds into the second half, a collision between Youssef and USI’s midfielder Jill DiTusa resulted in a yellow card for USI. The collision was worse for Youssef as she had just dislocated her left shoulder, placing her on the sidelines for the rest of the match. After being cared for by the training staff, Youssef was not seen sulking on the bench.

She paced up and down the sidelines mixing between shouting commands and encouragements to her teammates on the field and wincing in pain. When she hit the sidelines, Youssef said she knew she had to do something.

“I knew I was out of the game, and I wasn’t allowed to go back on the field, but I wanted the team to win so bad[ly], I just wanted to put everything I had into this game and to make the team win,” Youssef said. “The second I stepped on the field before kickoff, I was like, this is going to be the best game of my life. This is the last home game, it has to be the best game, my best friends came to see the game, and it might be the last game of my career here…. I felt good playing until that happened, and then I went off the field.

I was like I need to do something, I need to continue pushing my teammates and directing them [to] help them to win the game.”

According to Head Coach Holly Cox, that competitive nature is who Youssef is. Youssef ’s drive has led her to have a successful career at UIndy on the field, with her winning back-to-back GLVC Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2020-2021 and in 2021-2022, and two All-GLVC First Team nods, according to UIndy Athletics. Cox said that in her many years in soccer, Youssef is one of the most competitive players she has ever seen.

“She’s one of the most competitive players on our team right now. But I have to say, honestly, that’s come through the program,” Cox said.

Photo by Jacob Walton

Senior back Dana Youssef waves to the crowd before she is introduced at a women’s soccer game at Key Stadium. Across her career as a Greyhound, she won CoSIDA Academic All-District, GLVC Defensive Player of the Year and GLVC Academic Excellence Award.

“I’ve coached at Division I, I played Division 1, she might be one of the most competitive individuals I’ve ever experienced around the game, which to me as a coach, I appreciate 100%.

When you find someone that loves the sport, as much as you love the sport, it’s really special.”

A Mönchengladbach, Germany native, according to UIndy Athletics, Youssef has had her fair share of obstacles not only athletically but academically as well, she said. Despite those challenges, she succeeded academically, achieving a 4.0 GPA every semester of her college career to this point while studying biology, according to Cox. The academic prosperity has netted Youssef even more awards with her winning the 2020-21 GLVC Distinguished Scholar Award, the 2020-21 GLVC Academic Excellence Award and being selected as 2020-21 GLVC Scholar-Athlete of the Year among other awards, according to UIndy Athletics. Youssef said that she has always strove for excellence in everything.

“No matter what I do, I want to do it well, so I’ve always been a good

student, I’ve always been extremely hard-working, which I think translates into my hard work in the classroom studying wise, and then on the soccer field as well,” Youssef said. “I think that’s just my mentality. I think if you’re able to focus [on] school you’re also able to focus on soccer. And just keep that focus throughout the game and throughout practices and pay special attention to detail, which you need to do in class too.”

The success she has seen on the field and in the classroom not only benefits Youssef, but it sets a precedent for what it means to be a UIndy women’s soccer player, according to Cox. She said that the players on the team established Youssef, who has been a team captain since her junior year, as a leader because of her drive to succeed.

“She gets the job done on the field, but at the same time, she manages to do the job in the classroom as well,” Cox said. “ … She’s so driven. She’s driven in the classroom, she’s driven on the soccer field. And it sets a precedent for the rest of the ladies on the team. And she holds them accountable. If she’s

able to do it, why can’t everyone else on the team do it as well.”

Cox said that over the years she has seen Youssef grow immensely as a player, originally recruiting Youssef to play outside back due to her smaller size. She said that over the years she has put a large amount of time and effort into the weight room to assume that role of center back. She said that early on, she recognized Youssef ’s work ethic.

“You always see something in a kid, when you’re recruiting them for your program, you want the best players that are going to come in and make an impact. Dana [Youssef ], when she first got here, she didn’t make an impact right away, [the] physicality of the game makes a huge difference in being able to perform when you are a young, timid freshman,” Cox said. “But I tell you what, her work rate and her mentality, even though she wasn’t maybe getting the amount of minutes she wanted to get as a freshman [or] as a sophomore, she never once complained, she just put her head down and grinded it out and worked hard.”

Youssef said she spends time re-evaluating her own performances, watching professional players and doing anything she can to get better. But for Youssef, she said there is a difference in working to become better for yourself or for your team.

“I think a big aspect of me is becoming a better player and working hard for the team and not just for myself. Because there’s a difference between like you want to get better yourself, and you want to get better for the team so that the team can be the best team possible,” Youssef said. “I think a big aspect of that was that I became team captain during junior year. So when you realize you have that much responsibility for the team, and you’re the person that people look up to, and you’re the one that needs to organize on the field and bring people in the right mindset, or reset people’s mind when we’re doing something bad or push people, stuff like that. If you know you have that responsibility, you also take more responsibility for your own actions on and off the field.”

Cox said that while she wishes it was not Youssef ’s last year as a Greyhound, she has left her mark on the program.

“We always say to our seniors, please leave the program better than when you joined it. By far Dana has done that,” Cox said. “ … She’s given the younger group an idea of what it means to be a leader, someone who’s a performer, someone who is an ideal UIndy women’s soccer player.”

Youssef ’s soccer journey may not be done, however. She said she plans to return to her home country of Germany to continue her education and hopes of becoming a surgeon and that there is a special track in German universities for professional athletes that she hopes to get into. She said she has considered playing soccer for SC Freiburg, a professional team in Germany. Youssef said that her biggest piece of advice for others that want a career like her is to love what you do.

“Do the best you can in what you’re doing, strive to become better every day,” Youssef said. “It’s not going to be a straight road. It’s not going to go up all the time. Sometimes you hit [a bump], you’re not improving every day, but just keep up the mindset of trying to be better and staying positive. And love what you’re doing and the people around you because they’re going to help you become better as well.”

Jason Reed new DII Representative

By Sara Brummett STAFF WRITER

Head Volleyball Coach Jason Reed was appointed by members of the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) to be a part of the Board of Directors as the Division II Representative this November, according to the AVCA website. The AVCA is the world governing body for volleyball at all levels, according to Reed. They work with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and USA Volleyball in order to better the game of volleyball through opportunities for all involved in the sport, Reed said.

According to Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletes Scott Young, Reed has become an extremely successful and respected coach, locally and nationally. This respect, as well as his achievements, is what makes Reed a valuable asset to the world of college volleyball, Young said.

“Jason is a tremendous coach [and a] great leader of our program,” Young said. “Obviously, with this appointment, [he is] well respected within the volleyball community, amongst his peers and other coaches at other institutions, so [we’re] very fortunate to have Jason here at UIndy and as part of our department.”

According to Reed, in his 17 years of coaching he has made a lot of memories and he has had his fair share of favorite moments. Reed said there are two key factors that have made him continue coaching volleyball for all these years.

“The first one is the relational aspect of coaching,” Reed said. “Our job is a very non-traditional job... But along the way, you meet such awesome people …You get to just meet a wide,

Photo by Kiara Conley

Photo by Kiara Conley

Head volleyball coach Jason Reed raises his arms after a rally during the University of Indianapolis’ match against Truman State University on Sept. 16 at Ruth Lilly Center.

Head volleyball coach Jason Reed coaches junior outside hitter Grace Hegwood during a match against Truman State on Sept.16. The Greyhounds would win the sets 3-0.

diverse group of people and get to build these relationships. All the while, we’re trying to win some volleyball matches.

Two, the other piece that I really, really like is just the learning piece …

Hopefully, 17 years into this thing, I’m not done learning either. There’s plenty of opportunities for everyone involved to have ‘a-ha’ moments and I love those ‘a-ha’ moments.”

Young said Reed was an excellent choice to be appointed to the Division 2 Representative. According to Young, this appointment is a step in the right direction for the university’s athletic department.

“I think any honor of this magnitude is a tremendous asset to the institution because it is able to represent the quality people that we have. Not only in the wins and losses, but someone who is so respected by their peers across the country,” Young said. “This is

chance at winning.

“I was shocked,” Reed said. “The two other guys, Doug Walters at Palm Beach Atlantic and Jeff Huebner at Texas Women’s, they’re good dudes and they’ve been in the game for a long time. When I saw that they were both up on the ballot as well, I was kind of like ‘Oh well, it was nice to run.’ I didn’t really think that I’d have much of a shake.”

After the initial shock of his appointment, Reed said he felt ultimately honored and happy to have his new title. He said he sees his new title as an opportunity to learn more and better himself as not only a coach, but also a leader.

“I’m pretty honored, but then I’m excited. I want to learn how things kind of work at a larger scale and I want to be able to help the Division,” Reed said.

“I want to be able to help coaches just

a position, [Division II Representative], that is elected by people that he works with and plays against and all that stuff. I think that means a lot when your colleagues think that you should

I’m pretty honored...I want to learn how things kind of work at a large scale ...” be representing them at a national level.”

According to Reed, he was surprised he was elected to be in the running for the Division II Representative. He said he was up against two of the most experienced coaches in the world and he didn’t think that he would have a

like the group does and I’m excited. I feel motivated to do what I can to try and help the sport.”

Regarding his appointment as Division II Representative, Reed said nothing will interfere with his coaching at UIndy. He said he sees his new title as a separate, yet equally important, responsibility from his involvement with UIndy volleyball.

“We have great stuff here at UIndy, we have great buildings, but it’s the people in the buildings that make UIndy so great,” Reed said. “The Board of Directors thing is independent of UIndy. If I can help volleyball and help UIndy, it’s the same thing. At UIndy, I am a small slice of that pie [and] I want my slice to be the best that I can make it. I think the same way at UIndy as I do at the Board of Directors position; we’re gonna try and do our best wherever we’re at.”

6

FEATURE

THE REFLECTOR

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

Graphic by Hallie Gallinat

Hooks and Needles RSO gives outlet to reduce stress, introduces new hobby, skill to members

By Jacob Walton

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & CO-BUSINESS MANAGER Being a college student in 2021 is a stressful time,with 48% of college students saying they are experiencing moderate or severe psychological stress, according to a study by the American College Health Association. Hooks and Needles, a Registered Student Organization, has sought out a way for students to not only relieve stress, but to learn a new skill, according to founder and alum Mariana Rosendo. The organization began at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 when Rosendo realized there was a community of those interested in knitting on campus.

“A lot of people that I met that also knitted and everything, we could never find somebody else to knit with, because they come to a lot of different problems like you make a mistake and don't know how to fix it,” Rosendo said. “Having somebody else who knows how to do it as well is really helpful because we can help each other with projects and stuff and have an outlet

to de-stress. It's very therapeutic to do it over and over again.”

Rosendo, who has been knitting for four years, said that besides the stress relief they have also been able to use their knitting skills for good around the community. She said that during her time in the club, they did several service projects for the community.

“We made close to 20 knitted hats to donate to a homeless shelter for the winter. And we also taught people how to knit scarves to give to a home for the elderly,” Rosendo said. “…

I'm really happy that we were able to do it with the university helping us, we wouldn't be able to do it without that support.”

While supplying materials for students, Hooks and Needles also helps other students learn how to knit and crochet, according to Rosendo. One of those students who has learned through Hooks and Needles is its current president and senior exercise science major Savanna Yates. She said that she was originally introduced to Hooks and Needles through the RSO’s partnerships with another organization on campus called Glamour Gals.

“In partnering, that's how I learned to knit, just [by] doing a lot of hats,” Yates said. “I'm really good friends with Mariana [Rosendo], so having someone that they trust and understand that is willing to do the background work for a club was a good segue to moving into the next year.”

Currently, the club consists of eight to ten members and meets bi-weekly

... you may not think that this is your thing, but just try it." in the basement of Schwitzer Student Center where everyone in the club brings in their materials and projects to work on, according to Yates. The club also schedules trips to stores like JOANN Fabrics and Crafts where members will buy more materials for their projects, Yates said.

Yates said that the primary goal of the organization is to breed a community of people with a shared interest and to

Student finds RightFit

By Logan Wong

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER An intern for RightFit, a member of the Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement (CSLCE), contributor of an upcoming book, Social Worker Organization President and senior social work major Maddie Abramson is an active contributor to all of these organizations. She does this on top of taking 18 credit hours at the University of Indianapolis.

RightFit is a coalition of students, parents, educators, sponsors, public safety personnel and committed volunteers who choose to work together to enhance a safer and healthier community, according to the RightFit mission statement found on their website. They do this by supporting an after-school program that encourages academic growth, fun physical activity and a nutritious meal, which is all provided in an environment of courtesy and respect, according to their website. Abramson works at Central Catholic and St. Philip Neri elementary schools as an observer to see what components within the programs can be improved or be done more efficiently.

“RightFit was the right fit for me,” Abramson said. “I needed a spring term component to go along with [my concentration], so I reached out to Marianna Foulkrod, the department head [of the CSLCE], and she told me that we could try an independent study, and you can do a practicum … it's been an amazing opportunity to have that chance to work with all these different people that work towards my major and my concentration.”

Director for the CSLCE Marianna Foulkrod recommended her to RightFit and was able to get her connected with the founder, according to Abramson. She said she was able to become an intern there thanks to her connections.

“Being put into RightFit, it was just a crazy experience,” Abramson said. “I don't think I would ever change how it happened.”

Abramson is also a part of the C S LC E a t U I n d y. Ac c o rd i n g to their website, the CSLCE supports and promotes social responsibility

through programs and initiatives as well as a way to connect students and faculty.

“It's just such amazing opportunities of what this department can bring you,” Abramson said. “Because you always hear Marianna [Foulkrod] being like ‘Oh, so and so here's this so and so, I want to help you guys connect, let's get you guys going’ … it's just really amazing to see how much can grow from this department.”

Abramson is contributing to the writing of an upcoming book for the Social Work Department 25th Anniversary which is set to be released in the spring.

Abramson’s chapter will be about her

ABRAMSON experience with social work through her practicum and independent study.

The chapter will be a case study on her experience and how all of her involvements work together and coexist, she said.

“I'm writing [the book] with Marianna [Foulkrod],” Abramson said.

“We're doing chapter three together.

And we've had lots of meetings with the founder of the social work department, [Phylis Lan Lin], to discuss how we're going to go about that and how our chapter’s looking so far.”

Abramson, the previous vice president, became president of the Social Worker Association shortly after her predecessor stepped down.

She was encouraged to become the president by Assistant Professor at the Phylis Lan Lin Department of Social Work Francine Carter, who recognized her abilities and potential.

“She was always willing to answer questions, was great at receiving feedback and stepped up to the plate when needed,” Carter said.

“Any questions that she had about

assignments, she wasn't afraid to ask, which is what we want in a student.

As far as her future, she can do anything she wants. She just has that ability.”

Once she took over the Social Worker Association, Abramson said she started to notice that the organization could be doing more to be more interactive with the UIndy community. She began to create programs to get freshmen to want to be a part of the association, she said. “ We've done a lot of suicide awareness through the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention Foundation,” Abramson said. “ …

We also do an ‘Out of the Darkness’ walk in the spring where we just have people come in and we spread awareness about suicide and mental health in general.”

According to Abramson, she is an active participant in three different organizations on top of taking 18 credit hours at UIndy. It has not always been easy for her, she said.

“I had three weeks where I just felt really burned out,”Abramson said.“I took a week off and then we had fall break.

Then my internship had fall break. I was feeling like I was just at a mental block. But I've been delegating better.

And I've learned to let my board grow and show their commitment to our board a little more … I'm still working on my mental health and trying to stay positive, because I know I'm doing all these great things. But sometimes I get so lost because I want each thing to be perfect, that I criticize myself too much. I just have to remember that it's okay.”

Abramson will graduate in May of 2022. She said she wants to move to Arizona eventually, but will stay in Indianapolis for a couple of years and may attend graduate school or get more experience at other nonprofits.

Carter, who first met Abramson in her Social Work 110 c lass, said that she hopes Abramson will follow her heart. She admires Abramson for everything she has overcome and knows that their relationship will continue after graduation, Carter said.

“I know she'll be doing great things,” Carter said. “There's no doubt. There's just no doubt.”

allow for an outlet of stress relief for its members. She said that they also do a lot of pattern sharing. “ We've had some really cool patterns that people have shared for their projects, because everybody's like, ‘Wow, that's really cool. I want to work on something like that,’” Yates said. “They send it in the group chat. And so … it's spurred a lot of other projects.”

The c lub has members with all different majors from the university, according to Yates. She said that for many of the members,having the scheduled time to relax and de-stress has been incredibly valuable. Yates said that for herself, it's nice to have a set time to practice her knitting and work on her own projects while spending time with others.

Moving forward, Yates said the main goal is to get new members and inspire others to take up the hobby of knitting and crocheting. She said she hopes to continue to do more service projects and to do more in club events like their Knit-A-Thon.

“We did that [Knit-A-Thon] a couple years back, so you give them a set amount of rows, and you have to do

as much as you can in a certain amount of time,” Yates said. “We decided this year [to do knitting] because the year before we had it where you could knit or crochet.

And we learned that the crocheters go really fast. So we decided we're going to split it and have a specific Knit-A-Thon and a specific Crochet-A-Thon and have prizes for whoever wins.”

According to Yates, what makes Hooks and Needles different from other RSOs is the flexibility that the club allows and the community surrounding it. Yates said her biggest advice for others that may be interested in knitting or crocheting is to just try it.

“You don't have to have the skills to come join because I was terrified.

I thought I was gonna be a terrible knitter and honestly, it's not bad, my first hat was pretty good. I only had a couple of little errors and I was very proud of it,” Yates said. “Marianna was also baffled because they did not think I was gonna do well either.

Don't get in your own way. That's the biggest thing I want to tell people is just, you may not think that this is your thing, but just try it.”

'Abogados de ficción' law made way for the book to be written in Spanish.

STAFF WRITER “I'm living in the United States, living in English, but also the way I live here in the United States, because I Assistant Professor of Spanish teach Spanish and the Global Language and Advisor for the Global Language Department, I live in a very bilingual Organization Ana Maria Ferreira recently world,” Ferreira said. “I speak Spanish published a book with fellow academic with people who want to practice with editor and co-author and Professor of me, or I have colleagues in universities or Law at the Universidad del Rosario in cities who are also teaching in Spanish, Colombia Lina María Céspedes Báez.

The book, titled “Abogados de ficción,” so I think it was also easiest for me to write in Spanish.” is focused around law and literature According to Associate Professor of and how the law can apply to literature.

Spanish Global Languages & CrossAccording to Ferreira, the book is Cultural Studies and Department co-authored by 15 different authors, Chair Eduard Arriaga, faculty members including herself and Báez. being featured in outlets or Fe r r e i r a s a i d t h e publishing scholarly works inspiration for the book benefits the department as came about while discussing well as the university. He said work with her friend Báez. professors get recognized She said talking about the outside of the university fields of law and literature for articles or work they influenced the decision to do and gaining academic begin writing a book put reputations draws students together by academics across to join the school. the different branches of law. “ W hen one faculty “We have been having member publishes a book, this conversation for a very that causes a lot of attention long time,” Ferreira said. from different perspectives, “But in the end, now that we FERREIRA different stakeholders and are both professors, and we different communities,” Arriaga said. are teaching, we decided that we should “I think that's the case with professor give life to this idea.”

Ferreira's book, or will be the case.”

According to Ferreira, “Abogados de “Abogados de ficción” could be ficción” is split into four sections that advantageous for native speakers focus on international law, gender and and learners of Spanish as a second law, property and other voices in law. language in the form of a textbook with Most of the book’s authors are from it being written by Spanish speakers, Colombia and living abroad, so the book according to Arriaga. Anyone interested is put into the focus of international law in the topics the book discusses could as it applies to literature, Ferreira said. learn from it too in a classroom setting, “We were trying to compare and bring he said. When a book is published it it to Latin America and to the problems can reach different kinds of audiences that we have in the region,” Ferreira whether they be on or off campus and said. “I think there is an international can become separate entities that anyone [audience], like writers and books, but interested in the book’s topics can draw we are also bringing this stuff back to from, Arriaga said.

Latin America, I think almost all of us “I think we need to continue to did that.” support publications like books and The book is published in Spanish and articles by academics, because people all writers are native Spanish speakers, like us devote time, entire weeks, months, according to Ferreira. She said discussing years to write the books, investigate whether or not to write the book in them, research and even interact with Spanish or English led to the decision communities,” Arriaga said. “I think to publish the book in Spanish. Ferreira those books are valuable elements said that her field of research focuses on that should be considered by different Latin America, indigenous people and stakeholders, not only universities, but Colombia so a book written by Spanish society at large.” speakers, as well as using international

By Anika Yoder

ENTERTAINMENT

7 NOVEMBER 23, 2021

THE REFLECTOR

UIndy Theatre celebrates age in song

By Steven Pagel STAFF WRITER

Photo contributed by Michelle Itczak

Several University of Indianapolis students in the ART 473 Pre-Art Therapy Field Capstone course painted a mural in a hallway of Hornet Park Elementary School in Beach Grove, Ind.

Art students paint mural

By Olivia Cameron OPINION EDITOR

Senior Art and Design students from the University of Indianapolis brightened up the hallways at Hornet Park Elementary School and the faces of its students by working with first grade students to paint a mural for their ART 473 Pre-Art Therapy Field Capstone course, according to professor of the class and Assistant Professor in the College of Applied Behavioral Sciences Michelle Itczak.

She said that the project was an opportunity for her students to experience working in different settings and with different age groups.

“My students are already getting experience doing art one-on-one with people, but this was more of an opportunity to kind of create a sense of community for the school and have them all contribute and be a part of it,” Itczak said. “Seeing the dynamics between working with somebody individually on their own project, versus something that several people can work on and the community can experience, it creates a sense of cohesion and gives the [Hornet Park] kids a sense of pride in their school.”

Itczak said she had not planned to do the mural at the start of the semester.

She said that she was at Hornet Park to prepare for a research grant she had been given when she noticed there was construction being done at the school. While with Hornet Pa r k’s p r i n c i p a l E r i n Pro b u s , she overheard one of the construction workers say that a wall was ready to be painted.

“I was like, ‘Can we do a mural on it?’

And she was in agreement,” Itczak said.

“Then I came back and looked at my syllabus and found some times that we

would be able to go, and planned it and executed it. It was kind of a last minute opportunity that I saw and wanted to take advantage of.”

Students went and created the outline for the mural before they had the first grade students come in small groups to paint it in, according to senior pre-art therapy major Kaitlynn Davidson. The idea behind the mural was school spirit and something that the kids would be able to take part in, Itczak said.

“That’s where we did the ‘HP’ for Hornet Park, and we put their school mascot on there because we thought that would be appealing to the kids,” Itczak said. “It was more simplistic, ‘What could we do quickly in the limited amount of time?’ and ‘What would be developmentally appropriate that the kids could help with?’

Those were kind of the two big factors.”

Davidson said that her favorite part of working on the mural was interacting with the kids. She said it was neat to see the different ways the kids approached painting.

“It was just a lot of fun to get to talk with them and see them get excited about all the colors on the wall because they’re doing a lot of construction in the school right now,” Davidson said.

“Just walking into the school, there was so much gray and blandness, and so that mural just brightens everything up and makes it feel more exciting to be in the school. And you could sense that, with all the classes walking by or the students that were coming to help paint, there was just energy immediately lifted up as soon as I saw the colors.”

Itczak said that she hopes her students see how great community projects can be after working on the mural. She also hopes that they see the impact art and color can have on a space.

Every person that walked by the mural was smiling and excited about it, she said.

“I think it’s important for them also to see the importance of giving back to the community,” Itczak said.

“When you have a skill set that is not easily accessible, or that not everyone has, to be able to use that to benefit others. I think that’s a really important characteristic to have as well.”

Photo contributed by Michelle Itczak

Senior pre-art therapy major A’driella Butcher (left) and senior pre-art therapy major Melissa Lemus Miranda (right) paint the outline of the mural at Hornet Park Elementary.

‘Within the Shadows’ performed Senior theatre major Cora Parker directed play about group of three friends Steven was best friends with Sean, who was Sandra’s fiancé before he STAFF WRITER took his life, according to Parker.

The play evokes a lot of emotions quickly Exploring the relationship between once the two come to terms with their two friends after the friend who own feelings of guilt regarding Sean’s connected them passes away, this suicide, Rodriguez said. is the plot of the play “Within the Community theater has been a big Shadows,” created by theatre artist Scott help in preparing Parker for her elevenShallenbarger. This play was brought to plus year-long career in the performing the University of Indianapolis by senior arts, Parker said. She switched from theatre major Cora performing drama Parker on Nov. 12 to performing in and 13. community theater “ W i t h i n I have done backstage stuff, after the drama the Shadows,” program depleted stage managing, props according to UIndy at her high school. managing, also acting ...”

Events, is about “I have been three friends named doing plays since I S t e ve n , S a n d r a was in sixth grade. and Sean who went through college And I started doing the spring musicals at together and how Steven and Sandra my school, just as background characters,” lost their third piece to the trio. It is Parker said. “But when I got to high about their first encounter since their school, our drama program really died best friend’s suicide, which was only a out, and so I actually started to get year before, and explores how suppressing involved in my community theater.There emotions c an have destr uctive I started doing a lot more stuff, I have consequences, according to UIndy done a little bit of everything. I have done Events. backstage stuff, stage managing, props The main character Sandra was managing, but I’ve also acted on stage performed by freshman theatre major and I have directed some stuff as well.”

Lia Rodriguez, while the other main Rodriguez and Parker both said character, Steven, was played by freshman what made the play so interesting theatre major Zachary Schneider. and exciting to be a part of was

By Tim Mathioudakis

Photo by MaKenna Maschino

Freshman theatre major Lia Rodriguez (left) and freshman theatre major Zachary Schneider (right) practice a scene during a rehearsal for the play “Within the Shadows.”

because of the mental health and depression issues that were faced throughout this 45-minute long play.

Parker said she believes this is one of the more unique plays she has been a part of and that contributes to her excitement for it. She said this show is unique because it addresses the issues of depression and suppressing one’s emotions.

“The fact that I get to do the show and I get to show people the struggles overcoming it, the show is very special to me because of that,” Parker said.

Rodriguez said she makes attempts to fully immerse herself into the life of the character she is playing in order to fulfill such an emotional role.

“Really just answering some deep emotional questions about the character and then developing from there,” Rodriguez Taking my character and really turning her into a real person and then going from there and being able to make my own decisions as an actor and just connect with her on a personal level and bringing her to life. So just making her own person is, I think, really important.”

Establishing 20 years of par tnership, the Universit y of Indianapolis and the Center for Aging and Community decided to celebrate their tenure through song.

Through collaboration between the Center for Aging and Community and the Fonseca Theatre C o m p a n y, a c o m p a n y w h o celebrates diversity and inclusion in Indianapolis through creative outlets like plays, the two groups created “Forever Sung: A Celebration of Aging in Song.”

The celebration is a show that demonstrates aging by celebrating it, welcoming the process of aging and growing older and reflecting the reality of it in a positive light, according to Communication Manager of the Center for Aging and Community Amy Magan. Performers in the celebration perform in acting and singing, as the show aims to broadcast its message through a focus of song, according to Magan.

“We have a song in the show called ‘Making Friends With My Gray Hair,’” Magan said. “...Talking about the fact that I’ve embraced my gray hair means I’m saving a bunch of money because I’m not getting my hair colored and I feel more confident about who I am.

I ’m m o r e t h a n t h e c o l o r o f my hair.”

Pro d u c t i on D i re c t o r a t t h e Fonseca Theatre Company Jordan Flores Schwartz likes to view the play as a musical review. Incorporating both youth and older members to capture the concept in the play, Schwartz said that the play takes you between the stages of aging.

“It’s a selection—I believe about 14 or so songs that all deal with different aspects of the aging process. Some of them are funny, some of them are sad,” Schwartz said. “There’s also a little bit of the youth perspective.”

“Forever Sung” employs artistic commentary through songs within the play, with themes of aging and staying viable while aging, which is an important aspect of the show, according to Schwartz.

Nuances of aging and the highlighting of a rather bitter connotation of it are referenced throughout the play, according to Magan.

Magan headed the development and collaboration between the parties. Magan, having spent time seeing the show and overseeing what’s going on, said she thinks the show can be important and eye-opening to younger audiences, who otherwise might not care to think about aging while in their youth, according to Magan.

“It’s a celebration of the process of aging...the one thing everybody in the wor ld has in common,” Magan said. “You know we might come from different cultural b a c k g ro u n d s , w e m i g h t c o m e from different racial backgrounds, different economic backgrounds, we might be in different political parties or have different c a re e r s , b u t we ’re a l l ge t t i n g older.”

This joint production comes with sentiment to the 20 year tenure of the Center for Aging & Community and UIndy, so the excitement behind maintaining this program is felt by everyone involved, according to Magan. Going forward, there will be times when the Fonseca Theatre Company and UIndy work together as well, and Schwartz and Magan said they want people to feel free to join and know what to expect if one is interested.

“Just keep an eye out and reach out if this is something you would like to learn more about, because really our mission has to do with diversity as a whole,” Schwartz said. “It includes racial diversity, gender diversity and includes diversity of abilities, diversity of backgrounds, socioeconomics, the all-intersectional approach to it.”

One goal to be accomplished with “Forever Sung”and the Center for Aging & Community is the transformation of perspective when it comes to aging, according to Magan. She said it is an important thing for young p e o p l e t o e d u c a t e t h e m s e l ve s on aging so that they welcome it when it comes and so they can help older people out along the way.

NEWS

8 THE REFLECTOR

Self-defense classes for all

By Molly Church STAFF WRITER

The Police Department at the University of Indianapolis is offering self-defense classes to help students feel safer around campus, Sgt. Dallas Gaines said. Due to the increase in crime around campus, UIndy has begun to promote these classes more than they have in previous years, according to Gaines.

Lt. Brandon Pate said the classes are a resource for both students and staff.

Those who attend the classes learn mostly about striking and ground defense.

They also learn ways to get away from the situation and how to get up off the ground, he said.

“Each one is scheduled for about two hours,” Pate said. “They go a lot into situational awareness, just knowing how to not put yourself in a bad situation, and then some basic [moves for] if you find yourself in a bad situation, what can you do to create distance.”

These classes are more focused on teaching those who attend about defensive techniques and tools, according to Gaines, and they also teach participants about being aware of their surroundings.

He said students and staff can attend as many of these classes as they want, and they are actually encouraged to continue coming to each class, as each one gets more advanced.

“We encourage them to come each time, that way they don’t get lost in the classes … ,” Gaines said. “It’s kind of a stair stepping tier, so if you miss one week we [have] to play catch up a little bit. We do a recap at the beginning of the class of what we covered the last week in case they’ve missed it, but we kind of also make it so that one week doesn’t coincide with the next.

So one week we’ll do like stand up where you’re using your hands and knees and kicks and stuff like that, the next week might be grappling, where we’re on the ground doing a little bit of

Photo contributed by Brandon Pate

Self-defense class participants stand in a ready position, as taught by the instructor. While these classes have been offered by the university prior to this semester, they have been advertised more as a result of an increase in crime on and around campus recently.

ground fighting or escapes from different holds.”

Self-defense classes increase in effectiveness if students and staff train outside of the classes they attend, Pate said. He said the class is mostly just an introduction to self-defense and outside practice can help with the success of the class. “ … We know that if you’re more likely to defend yourself, you’re less likely to be attacked,” Pate said. “A lot of the people that look to do harm look for easy targets, so the harder of a target you can make yourself the better you can be. So any sort of learning of situational awareness or

self-defense is effective.”

The initiative behind these selfdefense classes is mostly to help students be more confident when being on campus, Gaines said. He said that coming to the classes helps UIndy police officers get to know students better and work with them more. “[These classes are] to give the students confidence, make them feel a little bit more comfortable on campus as far as their safety and awareness …

[We] try to make it fun, try to make it light,” Gaines said. “They get to interact with us, the officers. [We’ve] gotten to know a few of them on a first-name basis, and each time we teach a class...

we get to see and interact with the students one on one.”

Both Gaines and Pate say they encourage students and staff to come to the self-defense classes. Gaines said practicing what is taught in the class can give them the tools to help keep themselves safe and escape a violent attack.

“If nothing else it’s good exercise, it’s great for fitness, it raises confidence levels,” Pate said. “It’s kind of been shown that if you feel better about yourself then you’ll do better, just in any sor t of tr aining. I think [students] should consider it and take it seriously.”

Students present to ACSM Chosen kinesiology students virtually deliver abstracts at virtual conference

By Keshon Griffin STAFF WRITER

Senior exercise science major Savanna Yates was part of six kinesiology students that presented an abstract for the Midwest Regional Chapter of the American College Sports Medicine (ACSM) on Nov. 4-5. Chosen by the ACSM committee, Yates has a concentration in pre-occupational therapy and studied the potential relationship between microvascular oxygenation levels and muscular hand grip endurance. According to Yates, she had some other ideas before eventually working with Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology Trent Cayot to find what she wanted to study.

“Dr. Cayot is really interested in the microvascular oxygenation levels, so we combined that with handgrip muscle endurance because that's a tool that's used quite often in occupational therapy,” Yates said. “We wanted to kind of investigate those two things together to see how accurately the relationship portrays.”

Yates said presenting this was important because when microvascular oxygenation levels are normally looked at by professionals, it has previously corresponded to cardio-respiratory endurance and the way it’s done is primarily through muscle occlusions.

The method she presented posed as an alternative looked more into muscle endurance, and she said she thought this would be beneficial to people with diseases, specifically breast cancer patients that suffer from lymphedema.

Yates said that she had some challenges during the research process.

“With the muscle endurance, our findings ended up not being quite as much as we hoped, but just trying to find another way to do that so it's applicable with more populations is kind of the big part of the project,” Yates said. “And that was what we aimed for.”

Exercise science graduate student Jacob Woodrow was also part of the six students that presented an artifact at the ACSM conference. Woodrow studied the differences in fitness testing, training workloads, and playing time among college players. Using the men’s college soccer team, he looked at their heart rate during training by using GPS devices and he was able to

more information about your project measure their distance covered while so people could ask questions and sprinting, Woodrow said. According you could go more in-depth in it. But to Woodrow, The purpose of this is to I think that's very different than past make it easier to differentiate players by conferences.” skill in soccer.

During the conference, Woodrow “One of the big things that we found said he also faced difficulties with the was that the players who were starters format being different compared to typically displayed a higher sprinting other presentations he’s done in the past. ability and better performances in their “I think the biggest thing for me agility,” Woodrow said. “What we can was I liked being in person for do with that, or more so what soccer presentations,” Woodrow said. “So I coaches can do with that is they can guess … the fact that it was all virtual try to develop this in the preseason and you kind of have to change the way so that once their players are in the that you do things competition phase, when you’re virtual, they're better at I think that was these aspects.”

I think they really made an probably the biggest Yates said that for me.” presenting her effort to still have ways that difficulty According to findings at the Woodrow, he is c on f e re n c e w a s you can connect." passionate about helpful to keep the research projects, so literature up to date having this experience will not only get and to advance the field of study. The his foot in the door but give him more ACSM conference was done virtually this experience to work on more research year, on a website called Gatherly that projects in the future. Woodrow said he incorporates a more engaging approach wants to work with athletes after college to online events. and eventually obtain his doctorate and “I'd never used it before. It was continue doing research. kind of fascinating. You would have to According to Yates, during the move your character around to different places to be a part of different talks,” Yates said. “You would click the elevator button and then go up to different floors that had different talks on them.

It was an interesting platform. I liked the way it was set up. Obviously it's different than if the conference was in person, but I think they really made an effort to still have ways that you can connect.”

According to Yates, during the preparation process she worked closely with Cayot to write a preliminary abstract to get into the conference. She then went back and edited the abstract and went back and forth with Cayot to prepare for what questions she would receive, how to present the data in depth and what to prepare behind the scenes to be successful at the conference.

Yates said her actual presentation had to be pre-recorded and under five minutes. She then had to send the video to the representatives at the conference and after playing these videos, the representatives of the conference would open up the floor for questions.

“I think that part was really good because you didn't have to present everything, that part was already done,” Yates said. “And you just had to know

conference she was partnered with four other students not affiliated with UIndy that were studying the same topic as her. After presenting, she was then asked questions by the committee.

Yates said the questions that she got were what brought her to this specific topic and what are the next steps in the process as well as questions about the specific data and results that she found.

As for the next steps in the process, Yates said that the results didn’t come out the way that she wanted so she is going to take a different approach.

“We didn't find a ton of correlation in the hand grip, but I know Dr. Cayot is also looking at knee extension,” Yates said. “We're going to look at different areas of the body, if there's any changes. And then we're going to try to look at populations. So looking at the breast cancer survivors and how we can move this project forward.”

According to Yates, this experience prepared her to speak at future conferences throughout her academic career. Yates plans to attend graduate school to get her doctorate in occupational therapy to eventually become a practicing therapist.

NOVEMBER 23, 2021

TV from page 1 Vision 2030 strategy.

“We highlighted all different areas of campus to highlight specific programs, different buildings and some of the developments that people might not be aware of,” Galer said. “That was one of the goals of the campaign is to raise that awareness.”

Geiger, a UIndy alum who graduated in 2011 with a double major in marketing and sports marketing, said it was an honor to come back on campus and promote the university that gave her the best years of her life. “...it just kind of goes to show what I remember about UIndy and that sense of pride and like all coming together to do something cool,” Geiger said. “... every person we went to that represented the department was so helpful and kind and willing to be a part of it. I think that really just tells a lot about the UIndy spirit.”

The campaign’s purpose was to reach out across the range of influencers, according to Galer. She said it is not necessarily students who apply, but rather their families who may have an impact on their decisions.

“When they see our name, then they also may trigger their memory,” Galer said. “If they get an application from a UIndy grad, then they will be able to kind of make that association. And there's just bigger brand awareness in that process.”

COVID from page 1 experiences that virus entering, what it enables it to do is fight it easier.”

While receiving a booster shot can decrease the risk of severe symptoms and hospitalization due to COVID-19, according to Hancher-Rauch, those who are vaccinated should continue to follow CDC guidelines regarding mask protocols in order to keep flu season under control this year as well.

Hancher-Rauch said proper masking is responsible for last year’s milder flu season and that she encourages people to get the flu vaccine as well in order to prevent overloading hospitals this winter. “ The last thing you want if COVID[-19] gets really bad is to be in a hospital with a bunch of COVID [-19] patients because you have a really severe case of the flu—and yes, people do die from the flu, not as likely maybe, as from COVID[-19],”Hancher-Rauch said. “Our healthcare system cannot take a really bad flu season on top of a bad COVID[-19] season. And if we have a bad flu season, the chances are we're probably going to have a bad COVID[-19] season because that means our people are circulating, unvaccinated, not wearing masks. And the behaviors that put us at risk of one are the same behaviors that put us at risk of the other one.”

Hancher-Rauch said it is important for people to get vaccinated in order to prevent the development of different variants and those that remained unvaccinated are making it more difficult to stop the spread of COVID-19. She said the development of potential variants during flu season depends on people’s behaviors.

“If we have a lot of people who are just living their lives like they were pre-pandemic, who are unvaccinated, then we have a high risk of variants circulating,” Hancher-Rauch said.

“And then again, that puts us all at risk.

Because, yes, we have the vaccines that are doing very well holding up against the current variants. But there are some out there in other parts of the world that if they start spreading there, we could have real problems. And so we honestly need people to get vaccinated.”