The Slate 4-25-23

SGA passes budget despite extensive student concerns

Ian Thompson

Staff Contributor

At its final public meeting of the academic year, the Shippensburg University Student Government Association (SGA) passed the 2023-2024 SUSSI budget and held the transition ceremony from the current SGA to next year’s slate of members.

The meeting saw a larger turnout than any SGA meeting this year with around 60 students sitting and standing in the audience. The increased turnout can be ascribed to the meeting’s business — passing the SUSSI budget.

Shippensburg University Student Services Inc. (SUSSI) is the organization tasked with distributing funds to student groups from the student activity fee. The SGA Budget and Finance Committee (B&F) reviews student group budget proposals and determines how to allo-

cate funds.

The 2023-2024 budget includes sweeping cuts to many student groups, including a 34% cut to club sports, a 21% cut to student clubs and organizations, a 27% cut to performance arts and a 46% cut to student media. Many students representing organizations across these categories spoke during the open discussion to express their displeasure with the budget.

Associate Editor of the Reflector Emily Dziennik spoke on the wide-reaching budget cuts.

“This budget cut will only hurt SU,” Dziennik said. “Without the money to hold events that bring outside speakers to campus, the university is losing a valuable opportunity to receive outside attention.”

Aiden Piper, the current president of SU Bands, noted the importance of performing arts groups on campus. “We are student ambassa-

dors for Shippensburg University, assisting in retention, enrollment and recruitment,” Piper said. “We are quite literally on a billboard on Interstate 81.”

Piper continued, sharing how the budget cuts would affect those groups. “Each one of our ensembles gets to travel, gets to showcase Shippensburg University, and that’s what we’re here for,” Piper said. “That’s what we’re here to do for our campus. With these budget cuts, we are now determining that we cannot do some of those things.”

Katie Bridges, the vice president of SU Bands, continued Piper’s remarks after he was cut off by a two-minute limit imposed on individual comments. “My purpose is to try to show you why we requested what we do and how that money is used,” Bridges said. “Not a single member of SGA or the Budget Committee has approached myself or any of my officers.”

Brigette Allen, the director of Fraternity and Sorority Life, commented on the claim that Panhellenic Council was denied a budget because it did not maintain its CampusGroups page.

“Panhellenic Council has like, 12 executive members, and that’s who’s on there,” Allen said. “Did we need to have every single woman in the entire Panhellenic community represented on there?”

SGA President Kennedy Holt responded to concerns during the open gallery. “Everyone was offered an opportunity to serve on the B&F Committee,” Holt said. “Not many of you took that opportunity.”

“Obviously no one’s happy the budget’s getting cut, but this is the first time I’ve seen like half the faces in here,” B&F Committee member Justin Brajkovich added.

VP Brea Neal responded to student’s concerns with an appeal to fundraise. “Every club in this room

has had some type of cut, and every club in this room is now going to be expected to put a little more in so that their club is ran successfully,” Neal said.

Responding to concerns about student media being cut by over 46%, Neal commented, “SGA was also cut.”

Katie Huston, the business manager for The Slate, recalled SGA’s issues with how the organization has portrayed SGA. “We can’t present you in any way, if we don’t have the budget to print,” Huston said.

A member of the hockey team remarked, “A huge cut to the athletes is a huge cut to the entire school.”

In response to concerns brought by other athletes, Neal said: “We don’t have money to give. We’re giving you money we don’t have. So it’s like, we’re doing what we can.”

However, according to some, that is not the case.

Read the full story at theslateonline.com.

Professor Sara Grove waves goodbye to Shippensburg University after 31 years

Connor Niszczak Asst. Copy Editor

Her office is cluttered with three decades’ worth of personal history. A shrine to Bon Jovi sits on top of a shelf, photos from her many travels fill the room and plaques from numerous awards collected over the years tie the room together.

This is the academic home of SU’s Sara Grove.

A professor of both political science and criminal justice, Grove is preparing to retire from Shippensburg University after a career that began in early 1992.

“I have mixed emotions,” Grove said. “I’m thankful for everything I’ve been able to do since I’ve been at Shippensburg, and I’m going to be sad to miss many of my students and my colleagues in the political science department especially.”

Before coming to SU, Grove taught at Frostburg State University in Maryland. Grove had met two SU political science faculty members at a conference, so when an adjunct position opened up in the spring semester of 1992, Grove applied, got the job and began as a full-time professor that fall.

In her 30 years here, Grove has seen five university presidents, countless building renovations and even the birth of Big Red in 2006. However, Grove said, “It still feels like Ship.”

“You can talk to people if they graduated in 1995, 2005 or 2015 — everyone has this attachment to here, and that’s really what makes it special and important,” Grove said. “Here, you can go across campus and know people no matter what your major or department is — and that’s good.”

There were certainly challenges along the way, but Grove said almost all of hers have been issues with individual students or faculty rather than more widespread problems.

When Covid hit, Grove was on sabbatical, but she opted to return to her classroom for the fall 2020 semester. Grove says the pandemic continues to affect students and amplified the divide between haves and have-nots.

“It showed the divide between people who had resources and were able to manage and people who did not and had to wait for resources to find them,” Grove said.

Grove is well-known for her dedicated teaching style and passion for both political science and criminal justice. One of the techniques she has used to stay engaged with her content

through the decades is to never teach a class the same way twice, which helped Grove adapt to virtual learning during the pandemic.

“I try to keep things interesting because it is supposed to be relevant to your life, especially the gen eds,” Grove said. “One of the goals for me always with general education and the courses in political science is to get you to see how this connects to you and why this matters.”

One of Grove’s favorite courses to teach has been World Politics, which has satiated her never-ending desire to travel and explore more of the world.

In one iteration of the course several years ago, a student gave a presentation on Switzerland and Jungfraujoch, which is the highest observatory in Europe. Grove deliberately traveled to Jungfraujoch, often known as “the top of the world,” and captured “one of my most iconic pictures of my life” on the train ride there.

At different points in her SU career, Grove has worn the hats of department chair for both criminal justice and politi

cal science. Grove said balancing those two duties taught her different disciplines view the world differently and that criminal justice has to be more rigid, especially courses centered on the law.

Working in two departments has given Grove quite the ros

ter of faculty friends, many of whom she chose not to mention so as to not leave anyone out.

Grove told stories of beloved English professor Mary Stew

art and shouted out political science colleagues Lonce Bailey, Niel Brasher and Alison Dagnes, who will replace Grove as department chair.

“Dr. Sara Grove has been an essential leader of the polit

ical science department and of the broader Shippensburg University campus,” Dagnes said. “She has mentored faculty, staff and students alike and has devoted personal time and attention to all. When she retires, she will leave behind both a tremendous and incomparable legacy as well as shoes that are too big for anyone to fill. We will miss her powerfully.”

After her final commencement on May 6, Grove will be moving to Pittsburgh to work on some “special projects” at the Duquesne School of Law. She didn’t rule out possibly teaching a class again but does not see that in her immediate future.

Grove also plans to keep running “as long as I don’t fall in any holes,” has season tickets to the Pittsburgh Pirates and looks forward to exploring the Carnegie libraries.

Grove hopes her students and colleagues will remember her as someone who did her best to give students a better understanding of the world and was always willing to learn.

“I hope that students have a better understanding of the things going on around them, whether it’s in the United States, in the world or in the law,” Grove said. “I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t figure out something that I want to look up.”

Photo courtesy of Sara Grove SU Professor Sara Grove on a train to Jungfraujoch, a lookout in the Swiss Alps known as the “top of the world,” in the summer of 2019.

Joel DeFilippo/The Slate

Skylar Walder speaks up at SGA’s public meeting last Thursday. Many other students also voiced their concerns with regard to the new budget.

SU experiences

‘Traveling While Black’

Monika Lewis Asst. Opinion Editor

Shippensburg University has brought the “Traveling While Black” exhibit to campus. The exhibit started April 10 and will run until May 8 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is hosted in the CUB and is nostalgic of ’60s-era diners. The exhibit is guided by virtual reality headsets along with a guide who talks about the experience and leads a discussion after the experience.

The purpose of the exhibit is to allow the Shippensburg campus to put itself in the shoes of those who were Black during this time and needed to travel. The film displayed on the headset focused heavily on the time in which Black Americans used the green book as a way to know what safe spots they can travel to if needed.

The discussion lead by the volunteers allows those who went to the experience to talk about how they felt when seeing the film and the reality of what they felt. There was discussion on how traveling while black is still prevalent in today’s society. And although the green book is not used as much anymore, there is still a concern for Black travelers when it comes to their safety.

The main reason for the exhibit is to allow the campus to not only see the perspective of those Black travelers but also to encourage anyone who goes through the experience to look within themselves and take this as an opportunity to learn more and be the change in an unjust society.

At the end of the exhibit, visitors are allowed to look at pictures from Ben’s Chili Bowl — the real restaurant featured in the film that is located in Washington, D.C. — along with being given pamphlets that share more information like podcasts as well as civil war sites located right here in Shippensburg.

Weather Forecast

Paige Shope Managing Editor

In your lifetime, there will be people who help shape you into the person you become. For me, it was my Aunt Jill. It is impossible to describe the love and connection I and everyone in my family had for Jill. She was kind, caring, stubborn and tenacious. Most of my childhood memories revolve around her spending valuable time with me and taking my siblings and I on new experiences.

My Aunt Jill went above and beyond to be there for us and attended every single band concert, football game and color guard competition just to be there cheering for us. When I was born, Jill was 22 years old. She, as a young woman, went out of her way to be a huge part of our lives. For example, one very fond childhood memory was when she painted my siblings and I’s faces in camo face paint and we crawled around in my grandmother’s yard, pretending to be soldiers. She wasn’t afraid to get dirty with us, and she valued memories and new experiences.

Jill was someone I did a lot of my “firsts” with. My first roller coaster, I was side by side, hand

and hand with her. I can still remember peeking through the bars of the Fahrenheit Roller Coaster and feeling relief and happiness that my Aunt Jill sat snug beside me, laughing. Jill fostered a love and curiosity for animals in me and encouraged my musical escapades by letting me borrow her trumpet in high school.

She allowed me to delve deep into the world of literature and lent me her Harry Potter books, something that middle school me was ecstatic about. Once, she even pretended to be my mother so I could get my ears pierced in the mall. Jill was a constant in my childhood and was a staple figure in my life for so many new experiences.

My Aunt Jill even allowed my sibling and I to be in her wedding, something that was very special and important to us. In another experience, she once shared with my sister and I that she was pregnant in a fancy New York restaurant. I screamed so loud out of excitement for her, that I disturbed everybody around us, but I couldn’t contain my joy for her.

Jill as a mother was otherworldly. She had two beautiful little girls and was always on the move. Attending their school parties and taking them to swimming lessons, music classes, school events and more. Even when she was diagnosed with cancer, she never stopped.

I will never begin to understand why bad things happen to some people.

Everybody has their own

experience with a tragedy that alters their life in some way or another. In my case, this past week, my family lost my Aunt Jill.

On April 19, 2023, Jill Shope Adair passed away after battling cancer for almost four years. Her spirit and determination were something I deeply admired, and she never let cancer define her. Over the past few weeks, friends have journeyed to be with Jill and her family. I got a chance to hear the many stories and shared some of my own that have shown me what a special human being she truly was.

You don’t meet someone like Jill every day. Jill was smart, stubborn and bold. She taught me to stand up for myself but also to be kind to others. She allowed me the privilege to be close to her and learn from her. Some things in life are just unfair. They will never make sense, and they can never be explained.

Jill taught me what it meant to be a role model, and I only hope to do the same for her children. I will remind them to never waste a second and jump on the opportunity of life as she did. I will be there for them and always have their backs, as Jill had mine.

As I continue to journey through life, I will grow and change. But just like Jill taught me, I will continue to reach out to others with the same kindness and passion that she had. Doing so will ensure her spirit will live on forever.

2023-2024 Student Government Association election results

Ian Thompson Staff Contributor

Results have been announced for the 20232024 Student Government Association (SGA) Senator Elections. Each year, SGA holds three separate elections: two in the Spring to elect officers and senators, and one in the Fall for incoming first-year students to run for the two First-Year Senator positions.

Rising junior political science majors Malu Takahashi and Lillian Sellers were elected to fill the two Class of 2025 Senator positions. They will be joined in the 2023-2024 Student Senate by rising sophomore Ali Sina Sharifi — also a political science major — who was elected to the position of Class of 2026 Senator.

Write-in candidates saw some success too. Rising junior political science major Abigail Reasoner successfully ran an impromptu write-in campaign for the position of College of Arts and Sciences Senator. Brady Young, a sustainability major, re-

ceived the most votes for eight positions, including the senator positions for Transfer, Commuter, Non-Traditional, International, Exploratory, Class of 2024, Honors College and College of Business.

Young reportedly won “as a joke” and won all eight positions with five or less votes. Due to not meeting certain qualifications laid out in the SGA Constitution, Young will not be sworn into any of the eight positions.

Teegan Weaver received the most votes –12 – for College of Business Senator.

This election’s turnout (86) was similar in size to the previous officer election’s turnout of 68. Students have raised concerns about SGA being unrepresentative due to being elected by such a small portion of the student body.

Turnout has fallen in recent years, partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this last year’s elections have had particularly poor engagement. For comparison, the 2020 SGA Senator Elections (in the height of the pandemic) had a total of 482 ballots cast.

At the SGA public meeting and transition ceremony on April 20, these senators will be sworn in alongside the officers elected in the previous officer election. The vacant positions for Vice President of Finance and External Affairs and the remaining vacant senate seats will be up for election in the fall 2023 election, held in the first few weeks of the fall semester.

Here is a list at SGA positions that have been filled heading into the 2023-24 year.

● President Harun Pacavar

● Vice President of Internal Affairs Kennedy Holt

● Vice President of Student Groups Justin Brajkovich

● College of Arts and Sciences Senator Abigail Reasoner

● College of Business Senator Teegan Weaver

● Class of 2025 Senator Malu Takahashi

● Class of 2025 Senator Lillian Sellers

● Class of 2026 Senator Ali Sina Sharifi

● Male Athletic Senator Ethan Conrad

● Female Athletic Senator Eve Nealon

Paige Shope/ The Slate

Paige Shope/ The Slate

SGA is in desperate need of change

Ian Thompson Staff Contributor

Last year, I chose not to run for reelection to the Student Government Association (SGA) for one simple reason — I could not tolerate it any longer. The vitriol and infighting were too much, and it began to affect my mental health and academic performance. I am not alone — the past year has seen over a dozen resignations from the student senate and committees, many citing similar reasons.

Part of me hoped that this year’s SGA would make a difference and change things. That part of me died not long into the fall semester.

The year began with the resignation of SGA President Andrew Hare, and the election of Kennedy Holt to fill the position. Holt has often labeled this as a “Year of Rebuilding” for the organization. But anyone familiar with the body can attest to SGA’s continued dysfunction as a legislative body. Looking at SGA minutes shows that it conducted little more than the bare necessities of approving required motions and granting voting rights to committees.

Most of these committees have this year either never met, or have failed to submit minutes as required.

Over the last few years, SGA has been deteriorating. The COVID-19 pandemic can

partly be blamed for this decline, but so can flawed leadership and a growing belief among students that SGA just is not worth their involvement.

For a long time, students have viewed members of SGA with derision, believing members to be pompous grandstanders who run simply for an excuse to wear suits and pad their resumes. This most recent student senate has done little to change that perception.

The student body’s distaste for SGA can be seen in the turnout for recent SGA elections. During the height of the pandemic, the spring officer election saw a turnout of 1578 students. In the most recent 2023 officer election, there were a total of 68 ballots cast.

Don’t get me wrong — there are those members of SGA who are professional, courteous, and whom I consider outstanding student leaders. Unfortunately, over the last few years, the proportion of that type of person in SGA has steadily decreased, causing SGA to fall into a destructive spiral.

At a meeting a few weeks ago, I asked a question about a drastic change to student group management. Instead of an answer to my question, I was met with scoffs and groans from members of the Student Groups Committee. They were seemingly annoyed at the prospect of explaining their actions, despite the adverse effects they would have on student groups. At this past week’s final SGA meeting

of the semester, the 2023-2024 SUSSI Student Activity Fee Budget was up for approval. More than 60 people showed up to voice their concerns about the deficient budget, but were effectively stonewalled. Public comment was limited to 25 minutes, at a maximum of two minutes per person.

In her farewell speech as SGA President, Holt spoke on the importance of being “quick to listen.” Unfortunately for the dozens of students who wished to express their issues with the budget, SGA does not seem to follow such principles.

SGA’s adviser, Lorie Davis, associate vice president of Student Affairs and dean of Students, was the one to reply to many of the students’ concerns on behalf of the SGA. Davis has taken a much more active role in SGA proceedings than previous advisers. Perhaps too active a role.

According to multiple members of SGA, some felt pressured to vote in favor of the unpopular budget because of Davis’ input in the caucus prior to the public meeting.

According to the same members, there had been a mock-vote during the previous week’s caucus meeting, in which there were multiple abstentions and “no” votes. While the budget remained the same during the time between the mock vote and the public meeting, some members did change their vote, despite the outcry from students.

The Slate Speaks:

What can SU do differently next year?

For years, SGA has been full of talk of representation, transparency, accountability, diversity, equity and inclusion. Those ideas are — and need to be treated as — more than slogans and buzzwords to include in speeches. Those who choose to serve in SGA need to take it seriously. It is not enough to show up at the meetings — and some do not even do that much. Serving in SGA is a commitment. If you are not willing to fulfill your duties and take an active role in serving your campus community, perhaps it is time to step aside and make room for someone who is.

If SGA as a group wants to be respected by the campus community — students, faculty and staff — they need to act respectably. They need to be professional and do more for students than the bare minimum. Senators need to act as actual representatives of the constituencies that elected them.

The 2023-2024 SGA was sworn in at that same meeting last Thursday. These 10 members will be joined by over a dozen vacant seats that will need to be filled in the fall. I offer this advice to them: be the change that SGA needs. Don’t continue down the destructive path your predecessors have tread. Do the hard work that needs to be done to make our campus better. And above all else, listen to the students you represent — and heed their words.

As the semester draws to a close, it is always important to reflect on the year as a whole. The 2022-2023 academic year was one filled with many ups and downs, but many of these problems could be fixed for the foreseeable future. The typical improvement you hear about for campus is dining. Many want more options for food at just the price of a meal swipe. There are some offered at Century Café, the Sub Shop and Burgers and Fries, but more at each location — and some at Freshens — would be beneficial.

In relation to dining, others have wished there were more nourishing vegetarian options. Students feel like they have been living off broccoli for the past three years and have to buy groceries when, with being required to have a meal plan, I really should not have to. The meal swipe is also not worth enough. It does not make sense that most of the other food

Where’s your voice?

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The unsigned staff editorial, “The Slate Speaks,” represents the views and opinions of The Slate as an organization. Participating editors help shape the staff editorial.

options outside of Reisner cost more than a swipe.

Changes should also come to the UNIV101 classes. Some feel like there is not really a set plan for any of those classes and everyone learns different things. For honors, many never even learned a lot of the things about college life that other classes did; they focused more on psychology. Some just feel like they are very all over the place and should be a little more general and helpful for students.

Other changes could include opening the library earlier. Some students wake up very early, but everything on campus is closed so there is no good spot to study or get work done. Students like to do a lot of their work in the library, but its hours are really strange, especially on weekends. The same can be said about the UPS store. It is understandable that the campus might not have workers who want to work in the

library or UPS store early in the morning or on weekends; however, we just like to see more locations open more often.

In regard to leadership, students want the administration to have more communication with students. Every time there is an issue, it is not wise for the administration to refer students to the website and things like that. When students have those concerns, the administration should talk to them and be more proactive and address those said concerns.

The university, SGA and other groups need to put more emphasis on meeting students where they are and giving them the resources to know what is happening on campus and where. And students should utilize those opportunities and turn out to events.

Adam Beam/The Slate

Prejudice: Do you have it?

My last semester here at Shippensburg has been brutal. My political science classes demand so much from me that I don’t think I have a life outside of Grove Hall. But I can say my semester has a silver lining which happens to be a class. Currently I am enrolled in Social Psychology with Jamonn Campbell.

This class has been a breath of fresh air. For starters Professor Campbell has been the second Black professor that I have had in my three years of being here which makes him memorable to me. Not only that but he is engaging and teaches with a natural charisma that not everyone can do. Aside from that Campbell has helped me understand social constructs from a psychologically perspective which has shifted my perspective completely. A couple of weeks ago the class had moved on to Chapter 9, which covers prejudice and disliking others. Campbell did express to us that this was one of his favorite chapters to teach and I understand why.

The unit begins with defining what prejudice is, which is a negative prejudgment of a group and its individual members. The unit went over racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, and weight bias.

Overall, Campbell walked

the class through a number of psychology definitions that all contribute to prejudice. What stuck out to me is the fact that anyone can be prejudice and to fix that and move forward to a better society all individuals need to recognize that they can be prejudiced.

When it comes to prejudices you have both implicit and explicit. Explicit being your conscious, implicit being your unconscious.

What I learned is that both your explicit and implicit attitudes differ from each other, and you may not think you feel a certain way about something but when put into certain situations how you feel will come out. This means that you will have automatic reactions which is your implicit response no matter the level of your prejudice that is explicit. This is significant because no matter how much we think we are not sexist or racist, or any of the other ism’s we could still respond in certain ways that says otherwise.

I understood this on a personal level because I too have those implicit prejudices and although I like to think that they do not align with who I really am, ignoring them does not fix anything and I become a part of a bigger problem that occurs far too much in our society.

Some examples the classes were given was IAT test which gives you terms and pictures of black and white people at a rapid rate and

Four years, one pandemic, one Shippensburg

Carmine Scicchitano Multimedia Director

you match those words and terms together. Doing that you can find your automatic primed associations and biases. There is also the shooter bias test, which shows black and white people sometimes holding things and its up to you as the test taker to decide whether to shoot those characters. Often it was black people in this study getting shot. Campbell showed a very effective example when discussing these topics which was a video of a police officer rolling up on a black driver and before he could even utter a word the police officer shot him, further showing that the officer was prejudiced and because of that an individual almost lost his life.

This is the last article that I will write for Shippensburg University’s Slate. And if you have not learned anything from the articles I have written about on the topics of race going on right here on campus take this with you. Everyone has something they need to work on and there are other groups out there that we may have negative prejudgments about, and that may be OK, but what is not OK is pushing them away and choosing to think otherwise. If you notice that prejudice, acknowledge it and take the steps to move away from those prejudices. A good place to start is taking Social Psychology with Jamonn Campbell.

Summer is right around the corner. Vacations are planned, projects are finalized, the sun is shining and the clock ticks down. And so, we get ready to end another semester at Shippensburg University. As I get ready to graduate on May 6, I cannot help looking back at my four years here. Fall 2019 I jumped right in with The Slate and SUTV. I got myself and the rest of our crew into a presidential rally for Donald Trump in Hershey. We covered a homicide off campus.And, I won my first Keystone Media Award for my photography. I would say it was an eventful first semester. Spring 2020 started off great, I was looking forward to my time at Shippensburg University. And then the pandemic hit.

Campus shut down, we all went remote, it was a difficult time. I was one of the students who came back to campus in the fall of 2020 even though my classes were remote. In my apartment just off campus, I worked to complete my classes and keep pushing through.

Fall 2020, there was something in the air around campus. Shippensburg University felt almost abandoned during the pandemic. I could walk across the quad in the middle of the day and I would not see a single student. There were no groups playing frisbee on the quad, no gossip being shared walking between classes, it

was not the Shippensburg University I knew a semester prior.

That did not stop us though. While things were difficult, SUTV and The Slate refused to keep quiet. During fall 2020 both of them worked together to cover another Trump rally in Middletown, and SUTV hosted live election night coverage. We as students refused to let the shutdowns shut us down.

Then, we got the news. Finally, no more masks.

At the start of spring 2023, things felt different once again. It was something I had not felt since fall of 2019. Crowds on the quad walking between classes, friends laughing and catching up between classes, things were returning to normal. So, as I finish laying out my final edition of The Slate, I leave you all with this.

To my colleagues Ryan Cleary, Paige Shope, Jack Ansley and the entire class of 2023. We survived. Good luck after graduation. It has been an honor to write, study, take photos and be by your sides through these past four years.

And to the future freshman, sophomores, juniors and seniors. When you all return to campus for the fall 2023 semester, just know one thing.

This is the way Shippensburg is supposed to be. Enjoy it.

Reporting for SUTV News and The Slate, this is Carmine Scicchitano, signing off for one final time.

Dear Residents: An open letter from RA Connor

Connor Niszczak Asst. Copy Editor

To all my second-floor Seavers Beavers: Thank you.

Thank you for being the best group of residents I could have possibly ended up with. When I moved into Seavers Hall for RA training in early August, I was terrified of what was to come. I did not know who my residents would be, if they would like me and whether I would be able to handle this job. I learned the answer to my first concern on move-in day, and it did not take long to realize I need not worry about the other two either.

Throughout the year, I have described our floor as “lightning in a bottle.” We got a seemingly perfect combination of two social RAs and an overwhelmingly social floor. From our latenight hallway social hours to community trips to McDonald’s and Sheetz, I would not give these past eight months up for anything. Working with all of you — and our many honorary second-floor friends — has been the highlight of my Ship experience thus far and one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

This is not an easy job by any stretch. It is often demanding and can take a lot out of any RA. But even on the days when I felt overwhelmed, I still wanted to chat with you and get the latest tea. You are intelligent, determined and beautiful people — and genuinely funny.

I continue to learn from you all on a daily

basis, and the things we have gone through together will help me give the next class of Seavers residents an even better first-year experience.

Many of you have told me in these last few weeks of the year that you will be back in Seavers in the fall to keep tabs on me and my new residents. I love the sentiment, but the ultimate sign of me doing my job well is for all of you to go thrive on the West Side.

I hope to stay connected with many of you — and I know you want our GroupMe to stay active — but I hope even more to see you continue to discover your passions on campus and make the most of your time here.

Don’t get me wrong, it is going to be an adjustment to not hear the boys of 226 outside my door, the track stars in 205 running down the hall or the friends who like to knock on my door to chat and/or gossip — you know who you are. However, I am excited to bring the energy and sense of community that Seavers Hall has created into the next academic year.

I know that I have not done this job perfectly, and I am excited to change some of my techniques to improve my wing for next year.

But I hope you leave Seavers feeling like you have been supported and cared for. It may not have been an everyday feeling, but each of you is valued and played a part in making our home the place to beavers.

With Love,

RA Connor

Sincerely, The Seniors: Did SU prepare us for life?

“Shippensburg University has prepared me more than I could have imagined for the “real world.”

During my undergraduate career I have had two internships, one for Clark Associates (my now fulltime employer) and Volvo Construction Equipment, which both paid me well and gave me the business skills that I couldn’t fully learn in the classroom. These experiences would not have been possible without my mentors at SU. Additionally, I had the ability to serve on the Board of Directors of a 501c(3) nonprofit organization and plan, manage, and execute a $3.8 million budget for a year and a half during my time at SU. From serving as a Resident Assistant, Peer Anchor, Student Ambassador, and Slate Staff Columnist, I have honed the “soft skills” that employers are looking for. Although the John L. Grove College of Business faculty do provide a strong academic background, it is these other experiences that the university and its faculty, staff and administrators have provided me with that have prepared me for the workforce and allowed me to have a solid well-paying job post-graduation that I actually enjoy and am passionate about. The networking, leadership, internship and experiential learning opportunities at SU truly have helped prepare me for the workforce and allow me to stand out against other applicants and colleagues.”

- Chase Slenker, Staff Contributor

“Speaking for the department, and my department only — Communications/Journalism — I do feel prepared for the real world. However, this didn’t just happen. I had to put in the time and effort, and participate in extracurricular activities in order to feel as prepared as I am now. Classes are one side of the coin, actual experience is where you learn. I feel prepared because I dedicated myself to the department. I joined the newspaper, the radio station and SUTV. I had a year-long internship in my field in order to learn. My biggest piece of advice is that you can learn the facts in class, but you won’t understand how your career works until you’re experiencing it. Don’t solely depend on your degree, it’s not enough anymore. Go out of your way to expand yourself and be willing to experience different sides of the profession.”

- Paige Shope, Managing Editor

“Shippensburg University has prepared me for the real world in more ways than one. To start, as a CJM major, our student media program has allowed me to enhance my professional development and leadership skills in an environment that enables me to collaborate with my peers. I have also been able to network myself and create connections with so many passionate and talented individuals. Over the last four years, not only was I able to learn from others but I was also able to learn more about myself and who I want to be. My professors, directors, classmates and above all my family have motivated me to work hard and take advantage of my college career. I could not be more thankful and blessed for all of the experiences and opportunities I have been given. I know that SU will forever be my home away from home and will always hold a special place in my heart.”

- Olivia Faenza, Public Relations Director

“Ship has prepared me very well for life I feel. Every job interview I’ve had, they’ve been impressed by my writing and photography, which I’ve been able to improve through classes and involvement in The Slate.”

- Carmine Scicchitano, Multimedia Director

“As a transfer student and only being here for three years I feel like Ship has taught me a lot. Especially when it comes to personal growth. My three years here I feel like I have shifted into a new person the longer I stayed here. A lot of that growing had a lot to do with the professors within the political science department along with the many students I have met here. I feel well prepared for my next chapter beyond Shippensburg and will take the lessons I’ve learned here with me everywhere I go.”

- Monika B. Lewis, Asst. Opinion Editor

“Ship has prepared me for the real world not only because of the variety of classes, but the organizations as well. I have been able to apply skills from the classroom to student media and vice versa.”

- Bailey Cassada, Staff Contributor

Carmine

Carmine Scicchitano/The Slate

Ship Life

The Reflector and Write the Ship hold annual launch party

On Thursday in Stewart Hall, the SU’s undergraduate journal of the arts, The Reflector, collaborated with Write the Ship, the journal of student writing, to hold a launch party celebrating their published works for the 2023-2024 year.

The opening remarks began with Professor Neil Connelly recognizing assistant editors for their cohesive hard work before being individually recognized with orchids. Write The Ship’s Editor-in-Chief Sydney Kunkel then individually recognized the editing team for the efforts that have been devoted to the publication.

“My amazing editing team has worked tirelessly on selecting the best of the best student essays to be published in this year’s edition of Write The Ship,” Kunkel said.

Kunkel then introduced The Reflector’s Editor-in-Chief, Megan Gardenhour, who expressed her gratitude as she introduced the journal for the final time before stepping down after serving as Editor-in-Chief after two years. Gardenhour also emphasized Shippensburg’s significant budget cuts for the upcoming year.

“The Reflector has lost a total of

$3,000 in our yearly budget, the largest cut that we know of since 2019,” Gardenhour said.

Gardenhour showed her appreciation for those who spoke up during the budget vote and meeting held among campus clubs and organizations. “At this meeting, I have never been more inspired. To the people who spoke on behalf of The Reflector, the arts, the media committee, and the performing arts, a ‘thank you’ will never be enough.”

English department chair Michael Bibby awarded the D’Orazio-Carragher Prize of Excellence to three recipients.

First place was awarded to Jennie Gildner and second place was awarded to Marcelo Pereria.

Provost and Vice President for academic affairs Nicole Hill then presented the Provost Awards. For the College of Arts and Sciences, the Provost Award was given to Alaina Conaway, recognized for her work in English 460 for her piece titled, “Silent Suffering.” In the College of Business, Taylor Gemmell was recognized for their work titled “Work Life Balance.” The Provost Award for the student in the College of Education and Human Services was awarded to Mikayla Greech for her work titled “The Psychological Autopsy.”

Readings were then shared by mem-

bers of The Reflector as well as Write The Ship, including a reading by Marcelo Pereria for The Reflector on his piece titled “Sword from the Trees” centered around childhood imagination and a piece by Sydnie Simmons for Write The Ship on cruelty-free makeup.

Afterward, Megan Gardenhour, along with the current E-Board, announced new E-board elections: PR chair Alaina Conoway announced new PR chair Megan Williamson, associate editor Emily Dziennik announced Olivia Chovanes as new associate editor, and Megan Gardenhour then announced The Reflector’s new editor-in-chief for the 2023-2024 year, Emily Dziennik.

The passing of the torch was then followed by closing remarks by associate editor Pierce Romey.

“I want to say thank you to my team, you made this a breeze, and I don’t think I could have done this without you guys. Thank you for supporting the arts and academic writing here on campus,” Romey said.

To learn more about The Reflector and Write The Ship, go to shippensburgthereflector.wordpress.com or search “Write The Ship” on the Shippensburg University website.

Give it a Thought: Advice for underclassmen

Chase Slenker Staff Columnist

Coming into college, there are a lot of unknowns, and you often do not get a solid grasp of not only “how to survive college” but how to truly thrive until you are almost done with your undergraduate degree.

Fortunately, I and countless other Raiders have relied on the advice, mentorship and guidance of upperclassmen that have come before us to help us succeed our first and subsequent semesters. It is my hope that advice of the many students who contributed advice to this column will help current underclassmen and those to come to succeed in their academic, professional, social and personal endeavors.

The most common and arguably most important piece of advice is to get involved early and regularly, whether it is an academic club, Greek organization, club sports team, cultural group or other student organization. Do not just attend events from other organizations: get involved in their daily functions and help plan trips, events, fundraisers and other functions. There is so much to learn in terms of professional development, personal skills and social skills just from getting involved in an otherwise “fun” activity.

Additionally, do not let your ego stretch you too far, and do not be afraid to ask for help. We attend a small university with dedicated faculty and staff who can support you holistically in almost every capacity from mental health and spiritual health to learning development — use them.

Something I did not learn until almost halfway through my junior year is not only to ensure you are not spread too thin on your activities and academics

So,

you want to go to

After being in South Korea for two months, I have realized just how many things I should have done differently to prepare for my trip. Do not get me wrong, I am having a great time and I have adjusted very well to living abroad, but I have a lot of advice about what I think would have made this easier.

1. Learn Hangeul before your trip Shippensburg University unfortunately does not offer any courses on the Korean language, but the program I am participating in does not require any experience. My mistake was planning to have completely no knowledge of Korean before coming here, and it made the beginning very stressful.

You do not need to have a perfect understanding of grammar to travel, but being able to read the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, before coming here will save you a lot of stress. Even if you don’t know what something means, being able

to sound out words makes things like ordering food and finding locations so much easier.

Apps like Duolingo, Lingodeer and Write Korean can help, but keep in mind that no app is perfect. I personally found that the Duolingo pronunciation was a little off for certain letters, but it gives a good gist of what it should be.

2. Download Naver and Papago

I did not know this before coming to Korea, but not all navigation apps work abroad like they do in the US. Instead of Google Maps, we use either Naver or Kakao Maps to travel, as they are connected to the Korean public transit systems. These apps can tell which trains and buses to take when but operates best if you search in Hangeul (which makes sense as, you know, the app is meant for people living in Korea).

To combat the language barrier, I also recommend you download Papago. This is a translator app that is better than Google Translate

and has a super helpful photo feature. You can take a picture of anything, and it will translate what it sees written in Korean, or the other languages it has featured. The developers of this app have saved my life in so many instances: using a printer, the washing machine, finding non-spicy food–the list goes on. This is an essential app if you are not a fluent speaker before traveling.

3. Get a Korean SIM card

You need a Korean phone number for so many things, and I did not know that when I decided what I was going to do to have a cell phone in Korea. My American number is not accepted for most things, which has made somethings more difficult. Calling taxis, ordering takeout and even shipping items all require a Korean number. The work around is borrowing your Korean friends number, but that does not work if they are not traveling everywhere with you. SIM cards are not hard to find, and you can even get something

but also in terms of your friends. When you graduate, who are you going to talk to? Developing a few meaningful friendships is substantially more rewarding than a lot of very surface-level relationships. Plus, they are the ones that will last beyond Shippensburg University. Make time to make memories as your time at Shippensburg is truly very short in the grand scheme of things.

Another important lesson is to not be afraid to “screw up,” as these will be the most defining moments of growth during your academic career. Try new things and make mistakes, as long as you learn and grow from them. It is a lot easier to make mistakes here where they are more easily correctable rather than in the “real world,” where it could easily cost you a job, promotion, reputation or relationship.

In whatever you choose, choose your own direction.

Let others guide and mentor you and a few personal mentors at Shippensburg will unequivocally be a key to your success; however, do not be afraid to make your own decisions because ultimately it is your life and not theirs. Seek wise counsel, but ultimately choose your own path.

A few final tips from upperclassmen include bringing a hammock to campus, studying in a hammock off the west quad and filling your water bottle at Reisner when you go in for lunch.

All in all, these are merely a few pieces of advice from soon-graduating underclassmen to give a thought to. Want more advice? Find those mentors to guide your path to commencement and help you not only survive your college experience but to make it into a fun, meaningful and purposeful time in life.

South Korea?

called an e-SIM that does not require you to physically replace your American SIM. However, as I have not used any of these personally, I cannot fully recommend which is the best option. Still, I know that traveling is a lot easier when someone in the group has a Korean number, and when I come back, I will be getting a SIM card.

4. Bring proper electricity adaptors

An overlooked part of my packing process was getting adaptors for my electronics. Korea uses 220-volt outlets, whereas the U.S. uses 120-volt outlets, which means your plugs will not fit and you can fry your cords if you do not have the correct adaptors. I bought a dinky little overpriced convertor from the airport, and it did not do what I needed it to.

I cannot use the hairdryer I bought because the convertors I have cannot handle the amount of energy it uses. Do a little research, find the right convertors, and get them months before you go so you

are not scrambling the night before like I was.

5. Do familiar things

Yes, going to a foreign country is all about experiencing new things and gaining new experiences, but there is something to be said about finding ways to maintain familiarity. Going to familiar events and eating familiar foods give you a great base for comparing Korea to your home.

I am Catholic, and I try to make it to church every few weeks. While I do not know what is being said, because every Mass follows the same pattern, I always know what is going on. At the last mass I attended, we sang one of the songs we sing at my home parish but in Korean, which was super interesting. Doing the familiar alongside the new has made my adjustment to Korea much easier for me.

To follow along with my last two months in South Korea, follow my travel Instagram @eap_travels for weekly updates on Fridays at 8 a.m. EST.

Piper Kull / The Slate

Elizabeth Peters Managing Editor

Reflector E-board and genre editors. From top left: Bailey Joseph, Oliv ia Chovanes, Maggie McGuire, Emily Dziennik, Megan Gardenhour, Alaina Conaway, Megan Williamson, Jenny Russell and Hannah Cornell.

Huber hosts 45th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibit

The awards ceremony for the 45th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibit was held from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday in Huber Art Center’s Kauffman Gallery. The award ceremony began at 1:30.

The exhibit displayed 72 selected artistic creations made by 28 different artists. The works were selected from a received list of 147 by two judges, Brant D. Schuller and Becky McDonah, both of whom are professors in the art field at Millersville University.

The judges spent three hours analyzing the

selected entries to determine the winners. Artists were limited to five entries each, and two individuals had all five entries on display: Cameron Conroy and Mariana Espinosa. Many other artists had more than one entry on display in the exhibit.

The 72 entries on display come from a variety of different medias of art, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, digital art, ceramics and more.

The first artists to be recognized were the honorable mentions: “Withdrawal” by Colby Page, “SLEEPER 00” by Heather Barley, “Untitled” by Kaitlyn Durff and “Hive” by Alexis Woodring. They each received a $200 cash

prize for their winning entries.

Carlos Mora-Fallas won the William D. Davis Memorial Drawing award for his piece, “Breaking News.”

Next up were pieces selected for their artistic merit. The three works were “Obligations” by Sarah Lieberman, “Cleanse” by Kimberly Braet and “Tentacle Vessel in Light Blue” by Carole DiDaniel.

The third-place prize was awarded to Mariana Espinosa for her work “Blur,” a digital print. She was awarded $300. The second-place prize was awarded to the photograph “Pump No.” by Jalen Brownson. He was awarded $400.

Bombs and Barbies: 2023 summer movies

2022 proved to not only be a great year for movies critically, but financially too, and it cemented that going to the movies is back in style. Studios are clearly capitalizing on this as the 2023 Summer Movie season is stacked to the brim with some massive blockbusters and highly-anticipated tentpole films.

The summer season is kicking off strong with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which James Gunn is promising to be an emotional finale for the current line-up of heroes. The film will see the return of all its principal cast members, as well as newcomers like Chukwudi Iwuji as the villainous High Evolutionary and Will Poulter as the powerful Adam Warlock. It’s important that Marvel has a lot riding on this new installment as their previous release this year, “Ant-Man

and The Wasp: Quantumania,” majorly underperformed at the box-office and received less than favorable reviews from critics. The film releases on May 5.

Other superheroes hitting theaters include Ezra Miller’s speedster in “The Flash” on June 16. Despite the numerous controversies and legal battles Miller has found themselves in over the past two years, the film’s first trailer received overwhelming excitement from fans.

“The Flash” will also see the return of Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck as Batman. DC is also gambling on the relatively unknown Blue Beetle with his own solo film starring Xolo Maridueña on August 18.

Easily though, the most anticipated comic book outing has to be the long-awaited follow up “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”

Picking up where the original left off, Miles Morales will be

taking on new villains and a whole multiverse of Spider people led by Miguel O’Hara (Oscar Isaac). The film will be swinging into cinemas on June 2.

June is looking to be the most jam-packed of the whole season with other major releases like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” on June 30. Details of the film’s plot are still scarce but it promises to be Harrison Ford’s final time dawning the fedora. The month also has the star-studded “Asteroid City” directed by Wes Anderson on June 16 and the horror comedy “The Blackening” on the same day.

In July, we have the roadtrip comedy “Joy Ride ‘’ on July 7, and the following week will see Tom Cruise risking his life for our entertainment once more in “Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One” on July 14. However, July contains the ultimate showdown of

cinematic powerhouses.

July 21 will see the release of Christopher Nolan’s threehour epic “Oppenheimer” and Greta Gerwig’s already iconic “Barbie.”

The month will conclude on a spooky note with one for the family and one for the older crowd. Disney will give audiences their new adaptation of their beloved theme park attraction in “Haunted Mansion” starring Owen Wilson and Lakeith Stanfield. Youtubers Danny and Michael Phillippou will make their film debut with A24’s “Talk to Me.”

Other summer releases worth noting include the live-action “The Little Mermaid” on May 26, Pixar’s most unique looking film in years with “Elemental” on June 16 and the Jennifer Lawerence comedy “No Hard Feelings” on June 23.

It should be noted that all release dates mentioned above are subject to change.

The 2023 Best of Exhibit Award Winner was “Columbia” by Cameron Conroy, an oil canvas painting of Conroy’s hometown. A $500 cash award was given to Conroy for his first-place prize. Shippensburg University President Charles Patterson was in attendance to award Conroy’s work as Best of the Exhibit. Cameron Conroy was excited to have been accepted, feeling that the hard work he put in had paid off.

The art exhibit will be available for viewing in the Kauffman Gallery until May 3. The exhibit can also be viewed online at artcall.org from May 15, 2023, to March 1, 2024.

5 books for your summer reading list

Abbygale Hockenberry Staff Contributor

Summer is right around the corner; and with summer comes tons of free time. Fill up that free time with reading these 5 books and/or series:

1. “Beach Read” – by Emily Henry (2020)

The story follows a young romance writer who experiences writer’s block and no longer believes in love. Her college rival, Augustus Everett, writes literary fiction. Both wound up in neighboring beach houses and are working on their next deadline. They make a deal to swap genres to help them to be more creative. If you are looking for a good summer romance story, “Beach Read” is for you.

2. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” – by Suzanne Collins (2020)

A prequel to the famous “The Hunger Games” trilogy. The novel falls under the same dystopian-action adventure that the original trilogy holds. It takes place 64 years before the first installment, centering around Coriolanus Snow. It provides a background story to President Snow, who becomes a dictator in his later years. The film adaption is set to come out on Nov. 17 of this year.

3. “Dune” Chronicles – by Frank Herbert (1965)

Calling all science fiction readers! “Dune” is the perfect summer read as the story takes place on a desert planet. It tells the story of Paul Arteides who is the heir of House Artreides. He battles the evil House Harkonnen. The original series consists of six books, but there are 16 other books that are outside the original series that was taken over by Herbert’s son after his death. The first installment was turned into 2021 film starring Timothée Chalamet. The second film is set to release in 2023.

4. “House of Salt and Sorrows” – by Erin A. Craig (2019)

This book falls under the mystery/fantasy genre. Annaleigh’s family is cursed. 12 daughters, four of whom died when they were born. Annaleigh notices a pattern and believes her sisters’ deaths are not just “accidents.” She makes it her mission to get answers to what is behind all the deaths before she is next in line. This book gives off summer vibes because of the magical elements and the seashore setting.

5. “Paper Towns” – by John Green (2008)

A simplistic coming-of-age, contemporary novel. “Paper Towns” was also turned into a film in 2015. Quentin has been in love with Margo for years; she lives across the street from him. One night, Margo shows up in Quentin’s window asking him to join her in a revengeful adventure. In love, her joins her. By the next morning, she goes missing and leaves clues for him to find. He is committed to finding her, and the story focuses on his journey in doing so. If you are looking for a nice travel kind of book, “Paper Towns,” and other books by Green, may be for you.

Photos courtesy of Liam Ocker

Cameron Conroy took home the 2023 Best of Exhibit award at the 45th Annual Juried Student Art Exhibit. President Patterson was in attendance to award him.

Evan Dillow Staff Contributor

Adam Beam Asst. Opinion Editor

Softball Recap: Raiders go 3-1 on the week, celebrate Senior Day

The Shippensburg University softball team had a strong week, going 3-1 featuring a split against Lock Haven University Tuesday afternoon and a sweep of Millersville University on senior day Saturday morning.

The Raiders fell behind early in the first game of the doubleheader to the Bald Eagles. The Bald Eagles scored back-to-back home runs in the top of the first inning.

Lock Haven’s Summer Peters started the scoring with a two-run home run, and Haley Lestician added a solo home run to extend the lead to 3-0 in the first inning. An RBI single gave the Bald Eagles a 4-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

The Raiders would respond in the bottom of the third with a two-run home run shot from Senior Hannah Marsteller to cut the lead to 4-2. Lock Haven responded right back in the top of the fourth with an RBI walk and

two runs scored on a Raider error to extend the lead to 7-2. The Raiders responded right back and scored a run off a Lock Haven throwing error and an RBI single by Morgan Lindsay.

Shippensburg would rally again in the bottom of the seventh inning, with a tworun double from freshman Kaira Zamadics and an RBI single from pinch hitter Ally Weaver to tie the game at seven and head into extra innings.

An RBI single from Lock Haven’s Riley McClellan scored the game-winning run. The Raiders were not able to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth inning and dropped the game to the Bald Eagles 8-7.

In Game 2, the Raiders started strong with two base hits from Junior Alyssa Nehlen and Zamadics getting RBIs. The Bald Eagles scored a run in the top of the sixth after a triple from Bella Schmitt and an RBI single from Peters.

Shippensburg scored five runs in the bottom of the

sixth, three of which came from a three-run home run from Hannah Marsteller.

The Raiders won Game 2 7-1 and won three out of the four weekend games against the Bald Eagles.

Shippensburg would exact revenge on Millersville, winning both games by at least four runs on a windy senior day. Lindsay had a two-run single in the bottom of the first, bringing home Taylor Myers and Marsteller, who broke the school record for career runs with 170.

Marsteller would score again in the bottom of the third, bringing the Raider lead to 3-0 before a solo home run by Millersville’s Gabby D’Ottavio in the top of the fourth cut the lead to 3-1.

The Raiders scored two more runs, with Weaver reaching home plate and Marsteller getting an RBI single, with Shippensburg winning game one 5-1.

Shippensburg started strong again, with another RBI single from Marsteller to start scoring in the bottom of the first inning. The

next runs scored came in the bottom of the fifth inning, getting a two-run double from Caitlyn Martell, an RBI single by Marsteller and Zamadics, and an RBI walk by Katelyn Minney to extend the lead to 6-0.

The Raiders scored two more runs in the bottom of the sixth from Marauder error and an RBI double by Martell, ending the game as a Raider 8-0 win. Shippensburg would tie the overall series with Millersville 2-2.

The Raiders now sit at 2215 overall and 16-10 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) and are fourth in the PSAC East division. They return to Rob Field Monday afternoon to host non-conference Holy Family before resuming conference play against Mansfield Tuesday. The Raiders end the regular season with a Friday home doubleheader against rival West Chester before traveling to Kutztown for a Saturday doubleheader.

Baseball takes 2 of 3 from Kutztown, returns to .500

Shippensburg University baseball picked up two wins this past weekend against Kutztown and moved its season record to 22-22.

The Raiders now sit at 9-12 in PSAC play, putting them sixth in the East Division with one conference series to go. They are 2.5 games out of a PSAC tournament spot, although the two teams above them each have two conference series left.

Following a midweek 17-7 win over Pitt-Johnstown, Game 1 of the series was here at Shippensburg on Friday, with Kutztown winning 7-1. The Raiders hit the ball well throughout the game, but could not capitalize with men on base, leaving 11 runners stranded.

Junior Jackson LoBianco started on the mound for the Raiders, giving up three earned runs over four innings of work. He gave up six hits and hit a batter while striking out two. He got the loss in the contest, falling to 3-3 on the season.

Junior Andrew Chronister and

sophomore Carter Hinds led the way offensively for the Raiders, each going 3-for-4 with Hinds scoring a run and Chronister getting an RBI. Sophomore Jaxon Dalena and freshman Mike Heckman each had a pair of hits as well.

The series moved to Kutztown for a pair of seven-inning contests on Saturday, with Game 1 going to Shippensburg 6-3. The game was tied after seven innings before the Raiders pulled ahead on an error, before picking up a pair of insurance runs.

Graduate Noah Nabholz went all eight innings on the mound for Shippensburg and gave up three runs (three earned) on eight hits. He didn’t walk any batters, a huge improvement after walking six last start and struck out six batters. The win moved him to 5-4.

Dalena was the lone batter with multiple RBIs for Shippensburg, picking up a pair on a first inning double. Junior Austin Baal, graduate Justin Byler and Chronister each had an RBI, with Ball, Chronister and Hinds each having two hits.

Game 3 was also a Raiders win,

this time 7-4.

The game changed in the sixth inning, with Shippensburg scoring five runs in the frame. It was a sloppy game overall as well, with a combined six errors from both sides.

Freshman J.T. Weaver went 1.1 innings in his start, giving up three earned runs on two hits and two walks. Redshirt freshman Eric Bohenek got his fifth win after 3.2 innings of relief, and junior Austen LaBarre got his seventh save, pitching two scoreless innings to finish the contest.

Sophomore Gio Calamia and Hinds each had two RBIs in this one. Sophomore Bryce Herb drove in the tying run with his single in the sixth before Heckman reached on a throwing error that also brought in the go-ahead run.

The Raiders take a break from PSAC play this weekend, hosting Mercy College for a three-game series. All three games are at Fairchild Field with a 3 p.m. game on Friday before a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m.

JC Greenwood Guest Contributor

Mason Flowers Staff Writer

Junior Jackson LoBianco pitched during Game 1 of the series against Kutztown University on Friday.

Sophomore Carter Hinds tags the runner out in the opening contest of the series against Kutztown on Friday.

Senior Hannah Marsteller at bat during Tuesday’s game against Lock Haven University. Marsteller broke the school record for career runs scored with 170 on Saturday against Millersville University.

Anadrew Miller/Su Sports Info

From left: Maddie Uschock, Hanna Phillips, Emma Flattery, Hannah Marsteller and Hannah Palinkas were honored for Senior Day prior to Saturday’s games against Millersville.

Photos Courtesy of Andrew Miller/ SU Sports Info

Track and field dominates at mid week invitational

The Raiders will host their second home meet of the season on Saturday at the Paul Kaiser Classic at

Shippensburg University´s track-and-field team impressed at its first home meet of the season, the Midweek Invitational, with several event wins and strong performances in Seth Grove Stadium on Wednesday.

Among the standout performers was Sara McKean with her long jump over 20 feet, 0 ¼ inches, which is a new personal record (PR) and puts her on the Division II national leaderboard. McKean also got a new PR of 12.38 seconds in the 100-meter dash to qualify for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) championships.

Sasha Lee also had a standout day with podium finishes in three events. Lee won the 100-meter hurdles in a new PR of 14.53 seconds and placed second in the triple jump with a distance of 37 feet, 11 ½ inches. Lee placed third in the long jump with a new PR of 18 feet, 10 ¾ inches. Lee is now ranked first in the PSAC for triple jump and second for the hurdles and the long jump, where she sits behind her teammate McKean.

The men horizontal jumpers also had a good day at their home meet. Mo Whittle placed second in the long jump with a huge personal best of 24 feet, 2 ½ inches. This is a provisional national qualifier and puts him in third on the PSAC ranking. Teagan Weaver also had a big PR in the long jump with a distance of 23 feet, 2 ¾ inches, that placed him third in the meet.

Noteworthy was also the performance of the throwers on Wednesday. Pat Maloney won the shot put and the discus throw, and Josh Herbster won the hammer throw.

Maloney barely missed his PR in the shot put by 2 inches with a big toss of 56 feet, 5 ¼ inches. With the discus, he threw 163 feet and then he took second in the hammer throw with 182 feet, 11 inches.

Herbster won the hammer throw with another throw over 200 feet, throwing 200 feet, 2 inches. He is still ranked eighth on the Division II leaderboard. Herbster also achieved a new PR of 50 feet, 6 ¾ inches in the shot put, which placed him fourth in the meet.

The women throwers recorded several new PRs and PSAC qualifiers. Ashley Adams hit the league standard in the hammer throw with a distance of 147 feet, 1 inch, and Lauren Bellows hit the PSAC qualifier in the discus with a throw of 123 feet, 9 inches. Makayla Decker placed third in the discus with 131 feet, 3 inches, which moves her into the Top 5 in the PSAC.

In the sprints, both the men and women placed 1-2-3-4 in the 100-meter dash. Leah Graybill led the women with a new meet record of 11.87 seconds, and EJ Dorwil led the men with a new PR of 10.79 seconds. Aliyah Serrano, McKean and Kayla Dalhouse placed 2-3-4 on the women´s side, and on the men´s side Eric Kirk, Whittle and Weaver com

pleted the sweep.

Caroline Mastria won the 400 in her first outdoor meet of the season in 57.55 seconds, which ranks her third in the

The Raiders will have one more home meet on Saturday, the 18th Paul Kaiser Classic. Throwing events are set to start at 9 a.m., running events at 9:15 a.m. and jumping events at 11 a.m.

Shippensburg´s track-and-field team will conclude its season at the PSAC Championships hosted by Slippery Rock May 11 through May 13, where the men seek to continue their streak of 12 PSAC Championships and the women seek to win the championship to continue their success from the indoor season.

Lacrosse gets second win of the season, falls to East Stroudsburg

After Tuesday’s win the Raiders improved their record to 2-14 on the season. The Raiders are currently 2-5 at home.

After losing their last 13 games, the Raiders lacrosse team finally snapped their losing streak on Tuesday and got their second win of the season against Shepherd University. The game was tight throughout as neither team held more than a two-goal lead.

The Rams broke open the scoring when Holly Poe scored her 25th goal of the season. The Raiders struck back with over a minute left in the first quarter when Sara Vosburg scored her 28th goal of the season and tied the game at one.

After the Raiders tied it up, the Rams broke the tie and scored back-to-back goals. The first goal came with 22 seconds to go in the first quarter. Shanna Dextraduer scored her 18th goal of the season, broke the tie and gave the Rams a 2-1 lead into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, Poe scored her second goal of the game and gave the Rams a 3-1 lead. The Raiders came back and scored four straight goals. Two of those goals came in the final five minutes of the second quarter.

Jamie Carvin scored both of the Raiders’ goals before halftime and tied the game at three. In the first few minutes of the third quarter, the Raiders struck twice more — Sara Vosburg scored both and gave the Raiders a 5-3 lead. The Rams responded with three goals of their own from Poe, Kaiya Edwards and Katie Paredes. The three-goal run gave the Rams a 6-5 lead.

In the fourth quarter, senior Hannah Seifried scored her 17th goal of the season and tied the game at six. About a

minute later, Paredes scored and gave the Rams a 7-6 lead. The Raiders tied it four minutes later when Emily Fenwick scored her fourth goal of the season. The Raiders tied the game at seven with about seven minutes left to play in regulation.

Poe broke the tie with her fourth goal of the game to give the Rams an 8-7 lead with just over five minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Less than a minute later, Emily Fenwick scored her fourth goal of the season to tie the game 8-8.

Two minutes later, the Raiders scored the game winning goal: Carvin scored her sixth goal of the season and gave the Raiders the lead 9-8.

After Tuesday’s win, the Raiders traveled to East Stroudsburg University to play the Warriors. Saturday’s game did not have the same result as Tuesdays win against the Rams. The Raiders fell to the Warriors 17-8.

The Raiders will play their final game of the season on Saturday when they host Bloomsburg at 1 p.m.

Carmine Scicchitano/The Slate

Seth Grove Stadium.

PSAC.

Nicola Pugge

Asst. Sports Editor

Andrew Miller /SU Sports Info

Jack Ansley Asst. Sports Editor

2022-2023 Recap Gallery

In honor of our final edition of the 2022-2023 academic year, enjoy this highlight gallery of some of The Slate’s best photographs of the year for each section from the fall and spring semesters.

News

Ship Life

Special thanks to the entire Multimedia staff of The Slate

Allyson Ritchey

Bailey Cassada

Haytham Zaami

Jayden Pohlman

Joel DeFilippo

Mavis Anderson

Olivia Cason

Quehanna Coble

Shamere Briggs

Arts and Entertainment

Sports