The University of the Cumberlands Student Newspaper
Fall Issue 9 November 15, 2018
November 15, 2018
Letter from the Editor Editor-In-Chief Zane Ross Managing Editor Emilee Agee Faculty Adviser Jeremiah Massengale
Face front, True Believers, That is how comic icon, Stan Lee, commonly addressed his audiences and with his passing it is only fitting that I address you the same. Stan Lee has been an impactful figure in popular culture and an influence in the lives of writers, artists and readers all over the world. Given the nature of this week’s issue, I don’t want to focus on his death, as sad and tragic as it is, but rather look at where his marvelous legacy began, with a man named Lieber. I think that we tend to forget that success isn’t something that happens overnight, and it isn’t forced, but it is something that we grow into which is the case of Stan Lee, born as Stanley Lieber. As Lieber, he began his career in comics in 1939 as an assistant at Timely Comics that would go through many iterations before finally becoming what we know as Marvel to which he was a figure head for decades. Stanley Lieber made his first debut as Stan Lee when he was tasked as a title-filler for “Captain America #3” in 1941. Could you imagine the man we know for the creation of beloved heroes like Spider-Man, The Hulk and The Fantastic Four started by creating filler? In fact, he wouldn’t go on to create Marvel’s first family, The Fantastic Four, until 1961. The story of Stan Lee’s rise to success is something I think we can all relate to. We all chose to further our education because we want to go above our knowledge and abilities. College isn’t where our journey began, and it isn’t where our journey ends. College is a stepping stone that carries us higher up the mountain of life. In fact, Stan Lee’s catchphrase, excelsior, is Latin for “ever upward” and, like Lee, we will always be moving ever upward. The Patriot has seen many alumni come and go since 2002 and there have been more than a few who have gone on to find success whether they continued as journalists or found a different path to pursue. The Patriot, like college in general, isn’t the pinnacle of where our writers, photographers and designers will go, but it is a media outlet that allows for experience, growth and the freedom for someone to find their voice. We hope you enjoy a few articles we pulled from our vault to showcase just a handful of our successful alumni. Keep in mind that we have printed these articles as they were originally intended with no alterations even though some names, job titles or even some author’s last names may have changed. If you are an alumni and you didn’t see your work presented in this issue, we look forward to including your work in a future “From the Vault” edition. To all future alumni, remember to continue to move ever upward. Excelsior! Sincerely,
Zane Ross, Editor-in-Chief
Staff Haley Bullock Leanne Gregory Tyler Kohn Mike Krzyston Rebecca Lewter Jessica McFerron Alex Nunn Jenna Rose Nichole Sharp Tara Todd Hunter West Dan Williams Maranda Young Cover photo by Flickr’s ninniane Cover illustration by Mike Krzyston Email comments, concerns or tips to: thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu or call us at 606-539-4172 7000 College Station Drive Williamsburg, Kentucky 40769
The Patriot is the student publication of the University of the Cumberlands. Our goal is to provide timely and original content by highlighting campus news and views. Award-winning member of the Associated Collegiate Press and Kentucky Press Association.
From the Vault
Letter from the First Editor BY KELLY HUTCHENS
in the November 20, 2002 issue of The Patriot Kelly Foreman graduated from UC in 2004. She has worked for the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training as a public information officer for the past 10 years. There she serves as editor of Kentucky Law Enforcement magazine. It’s here. It’s finally here. After months of preparation, stress, and excitement, the first issue of the Cumberland College Patriot is finally in your hands. Our staff has worked very hard over the last several months to produce this newspaper for our campus. Its purpose is not only to share news on campus, but also to entertain, encourage, and share the love of Christ. You will find a variety of subjects in the pages of this newspaper, but our vision as a whole can be summed up into one powerful verse. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.” This verse from 1 Timothy 4:12 has become the mission statement of this newspaper. It seems at times that many college students think they cannot make a difference. Students all across this campus have been proving this theory wrong since the beginning, when Cumberland College was better known as the Williamsburg Institute. The students have been the ones who started programs such as Mountain Outreach, which has grown and flourished in the last 20 years to build over 100 homes.
Programs such as Mountain Outreach, Appalachian Ministries, Youth for Christ, channel 19, or any of our other successful outreaches on campus do not start over night. But instead, students, along with the guidance and support of our esteemed faculty, have helped to make those programs what they are today. Our goal is to do the same with this newspaper. We are continually striving to set the example for those who come after us. Cumberland College has some of the most amazing and talented people walking through the streets of its campus each day. The unfortunate thing is that a large minority of the time these people go unnoticed. I firmly believe that each individual deserves recognition for their accomplishments, great or small. As one of the highlights of this paper we are including a section devoted entirely to you, the people who make it happen. Each issue will include profiles of individuals who have shown excellence in some way, on or off campus. We encourage to write to us, let us know about the great things you or your group are doing. This invitation is extended to everyone affiliated with Cumberland in any way.
CREATED BY CLARISSA HUTCHERSON
in the November 20, 2002 issue of The Patriot CAMPUS COLLEGE CUMBERLAND EDITOR ENTERTAINMENT EVENTS FACULTY FEATURES FUN TIMES IDEAS MISSIONS MUSIC NEW PROFESSORS NEWSPAPER PATRIOT
PEN PEOPLE PHOTOGRAPHS READ REVIEWS SPORTS STAFF STORIES STUDENTS TIME TRUTH WILLIAMSBURG WORDS WORK WRITE
After finding all of the words in the list, place the extra letters in the blanks below to reveal a secret message:
, !
Page 4 Old News
Judo team wins nationals Booming construction at UC BY KELLY HUTCHENS
in April 28, 2004 issue of The Patriot
BY CLARK EMBREE
in the November 2, 2007 issue The Patriot
On March 20, the Cumberland College Judo team brought home its ninth National Championship from Florida International University in Miami, FL. The team competed against forty-two colleges and universities across the United States that are also members of the National Collegiate Judo Association (NCJA). Some of these schools include San Jose University (Cumberland’s primary rival), Texas A&M, and Indiana University. Under the guidance if Sensei Doug Fortune, this year’s team set a goal of winning the Nationals early in the season. Fortune said, “This team has been extremely dedicated to this goal, and nothing has stood in the way of them achieving it.” This is the first National Championship any athletic team on campus has won since the Judo team under the direction of Sensei O.J.
Helvey in 1984. “Twenty years is a long time to wait,” said Fortune. “We have come close a couple of times by finishing sixth really bothered this team. Everyone worked hard over the summer and came back in great shape, that made the big difference.” All of the Patriots finished in the top five of their weight categories, with Junior Daisuke Hirata winning a gold medal in 100kg. division, and Senior Padraic Finnegan winning a bronze medal in the 81 kg. division. With his gold medal win, Hirata qualified to compete in the World University Championships this December in Moscow, Russia. He also received the Jeramy Glick Award as the outstanding sportsman of the tournament. Other members of he judo team include freshman Robin Friedly, sophomore Steve Combs, and freshman Shaun Wright. Congratulations to the judo team on an impressive win.
Clark Embree graduated from UC in 2011. He currently works as a news producer at WKYT-TV, the CBS affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky. There he produces the 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. newscasts. All you have to do is walk around campus and you will see various construction projects. A new women’s residence hall, Harth Hall, and an addition to the Correll Science Complex are currently being constructed, and a new sculpture has been placed in front of the Anderson Memorial Building. All three projects are contracted to Hacker Brothers Construction. The sculpture in front of the Anderson Memorial Building is of a small child wearing a graduation cap holding a magnifying glass to a book. The child is sitting on a globe. The title of the sculpture is “The World of Knowledge” by Jim Davidson. The sculpture was chosen because “it represents the thirst for knowledge throughout the world and the Anderson Building houses the Education Department,” said Kyle Gilbert, vice president of operations at UC. Lenora Fuson Harth Hall is the name of the new women’s residence hall being built next to Gillespie Hall. Harth Hall will be open next fall and will be similar in size and layout to Kleist and Hutton Halls. Lenora Harth donated the funds to build the funds to build the building. Boswell Park and its bust of former UC President Dr. J.M. Boswell have been removed to make way for the new building. The old fountain on Main Street has been filled in and the bust has found a new home there. Mr. and Mrs. Ward Correll of Somerset have donated $1 million to construct an addition to the science building according to a UC press release. When completed in January 2009, the exterior of the Correll Science Complex will be a replica of Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s famous mansion.
Page 5 Features
From midterm failure to final success BY MYRI AH SN YDER
in the November 24, 2014 issue of The Patriot Myriah Synder graduated from UC in 2014. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky and is the content editor for the Christian Index.
Photo courtesy of Minute School Failure—it’s a thing that happens, right? Mid-terms are over. I am sure we are not all totally proud of those grades. The intimidating thing is there are just a few weeks left in the semester. So, you failed a midterm… or two. And maybe your grades since then aren’t looking so hot either. The question is, is the world ending? The answer to that is a resounding NO! What are you going to do about your failure… setback… whatever you want to call it? Is there a chance for redemption? Here are some other failures. Outside Gatliff and the Bennett Building is a statue of a man. The name—President Abraham Lincoln. Obviously, he was great. He essentially held a nation together in a time when it may have easily fallen apart. I don’t think that I need to list his other accomplishments. But before he was a success, well, he was kind of a failure too. In 1832, He lost his job and was defeated in his run for the state legislature. He had a nervous breakdown in 1836. He was defeated for Speaker and for his nomination to Congress. This failure became somewhat of a pattern. However, in 1860, everything changed, and he was elected 16th president of the United States. Then there’s Thomas Edison. The light bulbs that illuminate the building that you are sitting in can be attributed to him. Also, the camera that filmed your favorite movie exists in part because of him. Nevertheless, he was not an instant success. Actually, his teachers said that he was too stupid to learn anything. I’m going to go with they were wrong. Oh, and Oprah. She’s so important I don’t have to use her last name. But she was not an automatic success either. She was fired from her first television anchor job. Now, according to Forbes, she is worth $2.9 billion. Other famous failures include Walt Disney, the founder of Macy’s, the founder of KFC, Isaac Newton, Vera Wang and Dr. Seuss. These people stand to show us that failure is defining. Had they given up, our lives would more than likely be much different. But maybe their stories are too distant to encourage us. Perhaps the idea that we are failures turned into successes will strike a little closer to home. With a .69 G.P.A at the end of his first semester of college, Dr. Chuck Smith,
now a professor of history at UC, was obviously not off to the best start. “I went to class when it was absolutely necessary, that is to say if I happened to be awake. I buckled down and by the end of the year I had knocked it up to a .92,” Smith said. He continued, “It took me awhile to realize that what I had been doing in high school wasn’t going to cut it in college.” “By the time I left Stamford University my last couple of semesters there, I made the Dean’s list each time and then went on through to different degrees in graduate school and then published on four continents his students. I always encourage students that it never hurts to ask,” Mirissa Cumpston, UC’s dean of student employment, said. “My senior year of college I was in a class required for my major I was having some personal issues going on and I had missed all the assignments for this one class,” Cumpston continues. She calculated that without turning in those assignments, she would not pass the class. “I went and talked to the professor, and she let me turn in the assignments which is the only way that I salvaged my grade for the semester,” Cumpston said. “That time in my life I really needed that grace and I got it and it was awesome,” she concluded. Even those students that don’t really struggle will have those times when things don’t go right. There is still redemption. Professor of English, Dr. Jolly Sharp, after being a “straight A” student through her entire academic career, failed a comp class while getting her Ph.D. “that was devastating because I had always been a good student. But that took away some self-esteem—took away some self -confidence at first.” However, she learned a valuable lesson through that. “I went back and figured out what they wanted and that’s what you have to do. If you fail a course, figure out what the professor wants, what the professor requires and go again,” Sharp said. So, keep your head up. This semester is not over. Start studying harder. Do your best. You can still succeed at this whole school thing.
Page 6 Features
Sumpringterfal Strikes Again
BY JILLI AN CARPENTER
in the March 11, 2014 issue of The Patriot
Jillian Carpenter graduated from UC in 2015. She received her master of science in clinical psychology from Murray State University. She works as a positive behavior support specialist at Growing Minds Learning Center in Lexington, Kentucky.
Making My Mark on the Mountains BY JOLINA MILLER
in the February 22, 2008 issue of The Patriot Jolina Petersheim graduated from UC in 2008. She now lives in the mountains of Tennessee with her husband and their three young daughters. She is the author of “The Divide,” “The Alliance,” “The Midwife,” and “The Outcast.” Her fifth novel, “How the Light Gets In,” is set to release in 2019. Photo courtesy of Flickr’s Durdle
The common phrase, “If you don’t like the weather in Kentucky, wait a minute,” seems to hold quite a bit of truth in it. How is it possible that the weather can be sunny and warm on Monday, yet icy by Wednesday and humid and rainy by Friday? Some people mention ideas that the mountains around us are the reason that the weather behaves the way it does. I personally prefer to sum all the seasons to “Sumpringterfal” and leave it at that. Other than that, however, there isn’t much of an explanation that has, as of yet, been offered to tell us why the weather seems as if it has a rather indecisive mind of its own. While we can’t find the dial that changes the weather and lock it on sunny in the 70’s indefinitely, we can do some things that soften the blows the sharp weather changes can deal its victims. One of the most important things you can do is check the weather every day. You might have been able to check the weather on Monday and be set the rest of the week before, but that isn’t the case here in Kentucky. On Monday, the weekly forecast may suggest rain for Friday, but by Wednesday that Friday prediction will probably make a drastic change that still might be far from what the weather is really going to be. If you can, check the weather before you leave your home or dorm room in the morning. You’ll thank yourself after realizing you need to make a drastic outfit change to account for what’s really going on outside. Not only does the weather change drastically from day to day, it can
also fluctuate during the day. Because of this, you always carry a jacket or coat of some sort. It doesn’t matter if you think you will wear it or not, because chances are, you will. On more than one occasion, the temperature has dropped twenty degrees or more in the span of an hour or two. Even if it’s sunny and warm outside, it’s probably best to prepare for a possible second Ice Age. Of course, random cold spells aren’t the only extreme and sudden weather changes that are likely to happen in this area. It is also very normal for the temperatures to increase drastically, or to have sudden rain when the day started out sunny without a cloud in sight. In general, it’s best to keep articles of clothing fit for every season ready to go in your closet. It isn’t abnormal to start the week wearing shorts and a t-shirt, then transition to a heavy coat with gloves and boots, and finish the week off with a umbrellas and rain boots. No one wants to be left to go out and face the weather with the wrong clothing. You don’t have to bring your entire wardrobe from home. Just keeping at least one outfit for each season would be enough. When the weather doesn’t seem to conform to the seasons during the year, walking to classes can become quite a pain, especially if you don’t know how to prepare for the weather. It seems to like a horrible thing to endure right? As long as you keep a close eye on the weather and have the supplies to be ready for whatever weather the day may throw at you, you can get from class to class with ease.
Being back at UC to finish my last semester still feels somewhat like a dream. I have unpacked my belongings at Gillespie’s Senior RA room and returned my cheerleading uniform to my coach. Months ago, I signed the papers stating my intentions of graduating in May of this year and begrudgingly added up my loans to see what I had to deal with once I was handed my diploma. Despite these steps I have taken towards leaving this place, the reality of how quickly my life is about to change has not yet been fully absorbed. From the first moments I stepped on this campus, I have been told that the next four years of my life would go by faster than I could ever fathom. I always believed the people who told me this were so caught up in their nostalgia that their rationality had diminished in the process. Now, I too struggle to recall the many memories I have gathered while living in this college community tucked into the folds of the Appalachian mountains, Did I really run over the fire hydrant down at the football field my freshman year and have to sign a contract to the Williamsburg Fire Department stating I would pay for the damages if the fire hydrant exploded once my car was lifted off of it? Was I ever that bad a driver? The answer is simple: Yes. Over he years, and before the construction for the new dorm began taking place, I wonder how
many hours I spent lounging under the cool shadows of my favorite tree in Boswell Park, soaking up the sun while flipping through the pages of a battered textbook to reassure myself that I was actually getting something accomplished. How many times have I chatted with our much doted upon cafeteria lady, Miss Pauline, about her precarious drive into work while waiting for her to swipe my ID? How many mornings on my way to class have I watched the early morning mist uncurl and nestle itself like a blanket around our mountains? How many walks did I have to take around our campus community before the Williamsburg residents began waving to me like an old friend and their yapping dogs decided my extremities were really not their chew toys? How many pages have I written trying to complete my English and Communication Arts majors? How many late night movies have I watched with the girls? How much laughter, tears, clothing, and food have I shared? How many times have my friends and me discussed the Lord, literature, life, and love outside of the bounds of the classroom? The list could stretch on forever it seems. Instead of making me feel nostalgic to the point where I feel unable to let go of this place, it offers me reassurance to know I have made my mark on these mountains, and these mountains have left their mark on me.
Page 7 Entertainment
The Beatles (White Album) BY RYAN REED
in the April 2008 issue 6 of The Patriot Ryan Reed graduated from UC in 2009 and now lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. He currently works as a news writer/contributor for RollingStone.com and as a freelancer for many other publications. His first book, “Fleetwood Mac FAQ: All That’s Left to Know about the Iconic Rock Survivors” was published this year.
Score 11/10 This 1968 masterpiece from the Fab Four is considered by some to be the most important album ever made. The two-disc track list traces every genre the band ever attempted and some they would never touch again. But the true glory of this work lies not in its expansiveness but in the quality of the individual songs, which are the best the band ever penned. There are gorgeous acoustic McCartney romps, like “Blackbird” and “Mother nature’s Son;” there is Lennon blues magic in “Revolution 1” and the nearly parodist “Yer Blues.” And “Revolution 9” finds the Four fidgeting with tape loops, backward sounds, and sampled speech with mind blowing results. The band’s experimentation with transcendental meditation and Middle Eastern spirituality is reflected in the album’s sound, as well, particularly in the Lennon-penned “Dear Prudence,” which s nearly frightening in its simplistic intensity. Indeed, the greatest songwriting duo in history never topped these tracks, even if the collaborative partnership was nearly in shambles after years of turmoil involving diverging musical influences, drugs, the issue of public performance, and a young woman named Yoko Ono. Gutairist George Harrison, however, was just a blossoming as a songwriter, and he officially cemented his credentials during these sessions, authoring a fantastic group of tunes including the bouncy “Savoy Truffle” and the hypnotic “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Even Ringo’s contribution, “Don’t Pass Me By.” wasn’t exactly terrible. Often imitated yet never duplicated, “The White Album” is still the most colorful set of songs in the rock pantheon. Go figure.
Tuning into the tenth BY KRISTINA SMITH
in the August 30, 2013 issue of The Patriot
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Kristina Medina graduated from UC in 2014. She is now living in Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband Jered and their “fur children.” She works at Caesars Entertainment as a corporate storyteller, where she writes everything from employee newsletters to executive communications. The walls at the University of the Cumberlands’ campus radio station, WCCR, speak for themselves, and they have a lot to say. Decorated with newspaper clippings, photographs of various musical geniuses and random tid-bits of deejayfriendly information, the walls at WCCR speak volumes of the activities that have been taking place over the past nine years. Now WCCR is beginning to play its way into its tenth year on the air and station manger Dr. Keith Semmel looks to add to the collection of wall memorabilia. However, getting WCCR to look and sound the way it does now took a great deal of patience and effort from all those involved. “When I was hired here back in the fall of 1990 the academic dean of the time was a fellow by the name of Dr. Joe Early,” Semmel explains. “Dr. Early wanted to see the Communication Department grow because at that time it was part of the English Department. So, part of his long-range plan was to see a campus radio station.” After branching out the communication Department, Semmel received his chance in 2002 to bring Dr. Early’s dream to life and filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to start a radio station. “For a longest time we didn’t hear anything back and I thought it was just kindly dead in the water-that it had been lost n the Washington bureaucracy,” says Semmel. But the FCC eventually sent its letter of blessings and after a year and half of constriction; Semmel was able to sign onto WCCR for the first time in the summer of 2004. Initially, empty shelves plagued the station due to lack of CD selection. “Our student deejays would pick the latest songs to play, like “Stairway to Heaven” over and over again because they simply didn’t have anything else to
play,” Semmel says while laughing at the station’s initial misfortune. Today however student deejays such as Timothy Wyatt have a far-reaching variety of CD’s to pull songs from. “I try to play everything on my radio show because I really do love every type of music. I know people throw around the word eclectic a lot, but that really is my taste of music and my kind of show, says Wyatt. This variety of music is what Semmel believes really makes WCCR stand out on the airwaves. Listeners can hear any type of music on any given day. “That drives some people crazy I suppose but we are an alternative to you typical one genre radio station,” says Dr. Semmel. In addition to being able to hear to an assortment of music, listeners can also tune in online to listen outside of the stations ten mile broadcasting area. Semmel considers the day that WCCR began streaming online to be a breakthrough moment for the station. Semmel reports that listeners from England, France, and Norway (just to name a few) have signed online to listen to WCCR. Needless to say, Semmel has witnessed many changes throughout WCCR’s broadcasting history and still expects more good things to come. With its tenth year now in progress, Semmel would like to see WCCR stream live seven day a week with special live coverage over various campus and community events. He also hopes to see scholarships come available for student deejays so that even more students can go on air. “The station will look different in the spring semester than it looks right now,” promises Semmel.