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FOOTBALL’S NEW COACH DORMS OVERCROWDED “ENDLESS” REVIEW
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The Appalachian
AUG.
25 2016
E T
C E T E R A
THE TEAM Carl Blankenship @carl_r_blank EDITOR-IN-CHIEF EDITORIAL MULTIMEDIA BUSINESS
Aleah Warner @aleahwarner MANAGING EDITOR Victoria Haynes @theappalachian CHIEF COPY EDITOR Sammy Hanf @sammyhanf NEWS EDITOR
Jacob Oller @theappalachian BUSINESS MANAGER Olivia Wilkes @theappalachian ADVISER
Katie Murawski @murawskikm A&E EDITOR Jason Huber @_jasonhuber SPORTS EDITOR Lee Sanderlin @theappalachian ENTERPRISE EDITOR
CRIME LOG CAMPUS AUG. 21
AUG 19.
12:00 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Bodenheimer Drive Cleared by arrest
7:00 a.m. | Vandalism Rivers Street East Tunnel Closed leads exhausted disposition
AUG. 21
AUG. 19
3:15 a.m. |Underage Consumption of Alcohol Cannon Hall Cleared by arrest
10:30 p.m.| Underage Consumption of Alcohol Coltrane Hall Cleared by arrest
AUG. 21
AUG. 18
1:30 a.m. |Underage Consumption of Alcohol Cannon Hall Cleared by arrest
2:30 p.m. | Contempt of Court, Perjury Turchin Center parking lot Cleared by arrest
AUG. 20
AUG. 17
12:55 a.m. |Underafe Consumption of Alcohol Belk Hall Cleared by arrest
8:00 p.m. | Vandalism Rivers Street Parking Deck Closed leads exhausted disposition
AUG. 19
AUG. 16
12:55 p.m. | Drug Violations Appalachian Heights Cleared by arrest
2:20 p.m. | Larceny Belk Library Complex Further investigation
Dallas Linger @dallingerphotos PHOTO EDITOR Maleek Loyd @maleekstuff VIDEO EDITOR Sydney Spann @spannooo GRAPHICS EDITOR Braxton Coats @brxcoats22 WEB MANAGER
SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS App News is a service of the Division of Student Development. Email wilkeso@appstate.edu for submissions. Submissions should not exceed 100 words and must include the event title, date/time, location and cost, and a contact email, phone and/or URL. Announcements will be edited as needed and will run as space allows. Preference is given for events that are free or have a nominal cost.
A P P
N E W S
WHAT TO DO VISITING WRITERS SERIES
FREE GUIDED MEDITATION
The Fall 2016 Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series will take place with craft talks and readings. Book sales and signings will follow each event. • September 9: Poet Jan Beatty, 2-3:15 p.m. Craft Talk in Table Rock Room, PSU. 7 p.m. Reading in Table Rock Room, PSU. • October 6: Poet and Essayist Bruce Weigl, 2-3:15 p.m. Craft Talk in Table Rock Room, PSU. 6-7:15 p.m. Pre-Reading Reception in Price Lake Room, PSU. 7:30 p.m. Reading in Table Rock Room, PSU. • November 3: Graphic Novelist Carol Tyler, 12:30-1:45 p.m. Craft Talk in Three Top Mountain Room, PSU. 7:30 p.m. Reading in Turchin Center Lecture Hall, TCVA-1102. • November 10: Novelist Robert Olen Butler, 2-3:15 p.m. Craft Talk in Table Rock Room, PSU. 7:30 p.m. Reading in Table Rock Room, PSU.
Held Mondays 5:15 p.m. in Linville Falls Room, PSU. Hosted by App Sits Meditation Club. No meditation experience necessary. Drop-ins welcome. Benefits of meditation can include a decrease in anxiety and stress, an increase in emotional stability and creativity, increased ability to focus and concentrate, lower blood pressure, a decrease in tension related pain, and improved immune system.
APPSYNC
ASU adjunct professor and host of the new podcast “What’s Ray Saying?” Ray Christian is also an award-winning storyteller whose stories have been heard live on stages, podcasts, and radio across the country, including the NPR shows The Moth and Snap Judgment. A Story Slam is an open mic competitive “story telling” event, in which members of the entire ASU community are invited to tell true personal stories without notes. FOR INFORMATION, email weinbergsc@ appstate.edu or call 262-2871.
UNIVERSITY WRITING CENTER
A silent walk through campus beginning on Sanford Mall to commemorate lives lost to violence in our community, to support vicitims and survivors of violence, and to affirm our commitment and responsibility to speak out against violence in all its forms. The walk will begin Tuesday, August 30th at 9 p.m. on Sanford Mall.
AppSync, at appsync.appstate.edu, is your one-stop connection to engagement and leadership opportunities at Appalachian State. Every member of our campus has access to AppSync, and as a user, you can explore over 450 clubs and organizations, departments, and programs on campus and around Boone. Once you get the hang of it, it may resemble a Facebook atmosphere for your leadership and involvement needs. We encourage you to browse the Involvement Directory, read and learn about our organizations and programs, and email the club president or faculty/staff member directly. Many of these groups advertise their open meeting times and will welcome you to attend - make sure you confirm with the president on their next meeting location, time and date.
CALLING ALL CREATORS
STORY SLAM
Calling all artists, writers, desginers, musicians! The Peel Literature and Arts Review will host a General Interest Meeting Tuesday, August 30th at 6:30 p.m. in Whitewater Cafe, PSU.
The Creative Writing program will sponsor the first ASU Story Slam in Crossroads Coffeehouse on Thursday, September 22, starting at 7 p.m. The Slam will be hosted by Ray Christian,
SNCURCS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 25
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27
“Wizard of Oz” screening
OVI Hydration Station
“The Jungle Book” screening
7 p.m. Greenbriar Theatre $1 door
11 a.m. Trivette Hall
7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door
WALK FOR AWARENESS
The University Writing Center (UWC) offers free services to students, faculty, and staff of Appalachian State University and the Boone community. Anyone who would like to discuss a piece of writing with an informed, sensitive reader is welcome. We are here to work with writers on a wide variety of projects: papers for academic courses; masters and senior thesis chapters; personal essays for job, graduate school, and law school applications; creative writing projects; grant or project proposals; and course syllabi. We work with writers at any stage of the writing process, from inventing topics to editing at the sentence-level. Please note, if you are working on a group assignment, all group members must be present. The UWC is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday. Visit writingcenter.appstate.edu to schedule an appointment.
The Office of Student Research would like
to personally invite you and your students to submit abstracts of research and creative endeavors (performance, plays, readings, exhibits, displays, etc.) for presentation at the 2016 State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS) to be held at North Carolina Central University on Saturday, November 5, 2016. To submit an abstract or for more information please visit www.sncurcs.org.
HEALTH, WELLNESS & SAFETY FESTIVAL A fun way to learn more about our personal and collective responsibilities as a community invested in the health, safety and wellness of our campus environment. Various departments, offices, community partners and student clubs/ organizations will be present to remind others to take care of themselves, take care of each other, and take care of this place. It is not just up to you or me, it is up to us! The festival will take place Wednesday, August 31st, 10 am-2 p.m. on Sanford Mall.
FREE LEGAL ADVICE The Student Legal Clinic, in suite 324 in Plemmons Student Union, offers confidential advice, information, and referrals provided by a licensed attorney. The attorney can meet with any currently enrolled Appalachian State student and can advise students on any issue that is not directly adverse to the university. Make an appointment by calling 828-2628284. More information at legalclinic.appstate. edu.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 28
Regional Outreach Art Mobile “The Jungle Book” screening 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door
Moon Taxi 9:30 p.m. Legends $12 advance, $15 door
5-7 p.m. The Jones House
“The Jungle Book” screening 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door
MONDAY, AUGUST 29
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER
App Sits Meditation Club
The Peel General Interest Meeting
Health, Wellness & Safety Festival
“Zootopia” screening
5:15 p.m. Linville Falls Room, PSU
6:30 p.m. Whitewater Lounge, PSU
10 a.m.-2 p.m. Sanford Mall
7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door
Walk for Awareness
Make Your Own Plant
9 p.m. Sanford Mall
11 a.m. Sanford Mall
Matt Phillips & the Back Pocket with Kate Rhudy
“Hook” screening
9 p.m. Legends $4 advance, $6 door
7 p.m. Greenbriar Theatre $1 door
S P O R T S
BACK TO HIS ALMA MATER FORMER MOUNTAINEER SHAWN CLARK BACK AS CO-OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR COLIN TATE SPORTS REPORTER
Co-offensive coordinator (running game) / offensive line Shawn Clark.
T
his offseason,
App State football welcomed back an All-American alum in Shawn Clark, who joined the coaching staff as a co-offensive coordinator in charge of the offensive line and running game. Clark, who played as an offensive guard for the Mountaineers from 1994 until 1998, held coaching positions at Louisville, Eastern Kentucky, Purdue and Kent State before returning to his alma mater. Though it is only his first year on the staff, Clark said that he and the university have a standard that his offensive line must live up to. “We want to make sure we remind those guys of how we want to play as a unit and that anything less than our best is unacceptable,” Clark said. Players have noticed that while there are differences be4
tween Clark and previous coach Dwayne Ledford, now an assistant coach at N.C. State, they both have similar philosophies concerning the running game. “He wants us to get after it every play, finish people down the field and hustle to the ball,” junior offensive lineman Beau Nunn said. “Pass blocking-wise, he wants us to be technically sound and to keep everybody off Taylor [Lamb].” Clark said that he tries to bring his own flavor to his coaching styles, but many coaching techniques are similar when it comes to the offensive front. “It’s just how you put a different twist to it,” Clark said. “We’ve kind of picked up where we left off and tried to improve from there.” Senior offensive lineman Parker Collins said that one change he has noticed is the
level of excitement Clark has brought with him. “I think he’s going to be a really good fit for us,” Collins said. “A lot of energy every day and excitement to learn and be a part of the offense.” While Clark knows it’s all but impossible to be perfect, he expects excellence out of his group, since the team depends heavily on the running game. This year’s running attack will feature senior running back Marcus Cox as he attempts to break the team record for career rushing yards. “We’re going to be excellent in what we do to make sure we run the football,” Clark said. “That’s what we hang our hat on. If we do our job up front, that record is obtainable, but for our offense to be successful, we have to run the football. We’ll let the records take care of themselves as long as we do our job.”
With an experienced group of linemen and a number of skilled position players, there are high hopes from fans, coaches and players for the upcoming season. But Clark wanted to make sure that his players knew what mattered outside of football as well. Clark not only brought football knowledge and experience with him, but he brought a sense of family. Clark invited players to meet his wife and kids and get to know him as a person to teach them about the important aspects of life off the field. “We’re trying to build men here,” Clark said. “We want to make sure these players see us around our wives and kids and know we are normal. That we’re good husbands first and are good fathers to our kids. This is a lifelong experience for these guys, and part of that is to come back and be great citizens in the community and give back.” Photo Credit: App State Athletics
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THE CORE FOUR BROOKS MAYNARD SPORTS REPORTER
(Above) Senior libero/defensive specialist Olivia Reed celebrates with her team during the exhibition on Sunday. The gold team won 4-0.
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he App State volleyball team lost some key players from last season to graduation, including outside hitters Emily Corrigan and Jess Keller and setter Paige Brown. On a roster of 18, eight are new to the Mountaineers this year and there are more questions than answers when it comes to who will be on the court for the black and gold this season. On top of a young roster, two of the most experienced players on the team are out with injury. In a time that is dominated with inexperience and mystery, head coach Matt Ginipro will look to his core group of seniors for leadership and guidance. “More than anything, we are pushing them for leadership,” Ginipro said. “For example I think Ashton [Gregory] is doing a really good job being really vocal sitting on her chair rehabbing her knee. Just getting everybody together, that is the biggest thing I am throwing on their plate.” Middle blocker Ashton Gregory had some of the most significant playing time last season but will start this season out due to injury. “I tore my meniscus really bad in April and had it repaired and then I was on my way back, it turns out I had another tear, a bone bruise and an inflamed fat pad,” Gregory said. “It is about four to six weeks for this and then hopefully I’ll be back out there.” With Gregory out with injury, the Mountaineers front line is left extremely inexperienced. She will be a key addition once she returns to the court around the start of conference play. Outside hitter Sloan Evans is also out right now rehabilitating from an offseason shoulder surgery. Photo Credit: Dallas Linger
(Below) Reed was watching the ball during play. Reed was the only senior of four on the team who played as the others are injured or recovering from surgery.
“It is typically a six to eight month recovery,” Evans said. “I am kind of in a progression state to getting fully cleared. I am on an upward climb from here but it should be hopefully within the next month.” Libero’s Olivia Reed and Kati Stammen are also battling small, nagging injuries right now but both are expected to be ready for the Black and Gold Invitational Tournament to start the season next weekend. Stammen has the most significant playing time of the senior class next to Ashton Gregory and will be an important factor in keeping the
Mountaineers on track in the absence of her teammates. In the midst of being banged up as a group and having so much expected of them, this class of seniors is just focused on playing and leading their team. “Three of four of us are injured so we kind of take on different roles this year,” Evans said. “We can’t physically be doing everything everyone else is doing so we have to [be vocal].” If there was one message this group of seniors had for their teammates, it is this: “Beat Arkansas State.”
“We have yet to [beat] them since we entered the Sun Belt so I just feel like that would be the icing on the cake,” Reed said. The Red Wolves defeated App for the Sun Belt championship last season, creating a sore spot for the team. They also added that their key to beating Arkansas State is raucous crowd support. “It’s going to be our first game of the Sun Belt season, it is in Varsity Gym,” Stammen said. “We’ve only played [in there] one time and we need a big crowd.” 5
S P O R T S
REMARKABLY SPECIAL
The Mountaineers celebrate after winning the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl. The Mountaineers defeated Ohio 31-29.
SPECIAL TEAMS ARE READY TO MEET NEW CHALLENGES NOAH GERRINGER SPORTS REPORTER
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ith two seconds
remaining on the clock in the 2015 Raycom Media Camellia Bowl and the score 29-28 in Ohio’s favor, senior Mountaineers kicker Zach Matics set up to kick what would soon be his final field goal in the black and gold. From 23-yards out while time expired, Matics nailed the kick capping a 17-point, fourth-quarter comeback and gave App their first FBS Bowl Game win in school history. “I’ve been a part of football for a long, long time,” head coach Scott Satterfield said after the game. “I’ve never been a part of a game like this.” Fast-forward nearly eight and a half months later and the Mountaineers are preparing for one of their biggest opponents since Michigan in 2007 and Clemson last season. On Sept. 1, the Black and Gold will travel to Knoxville to take on the No. 9 ranked Tennessee Volunteers for their first game of the season. However, the man who helped kick App into FBS history will not be tagging along for the ride. Matics has graduated and the job 6
Freshman place kicker Michael Rubino works on his kick during the team’s practice on Aug. 17. of place kicker has been reassigned. Michael Rubino, a redshirt freshman out of Apex, North Carolina, has taken over the role and has no easy task trying to fill the cleats of his predecessor. “I like the pressure and I welcome that pressure,” Rubino said on his new role. “I haven’t truly been uncomfortable yet in a game so I’m just looking for new challenges to
welcome and take advantage of them.” Being uncomfortable was something Matics hadn’t experienced much either. Throughout last season, he was perfect for PAT’s at 61-61 and only missed three field goals all season long finishing 14-17. He also managed to nail two season long 51 yarders and rack up 103 total points. Despite the high expectations,
Rubino believes he’s ready for it to be his time. “I’ve been doing great through last spring and this camp and I’m just real excited to show what I can do,” Rubino said. Running-backs and special teams coach Stu Holt is in his second year at App State and his impact on the program has been recognized with special teams proving beneficial
Photo Credit: (Top) Chris Deverell (Bottom) Halle Keighton
S P O R T S
throughout last season. Holt can only see things getting better as the season progresses. Changes last year and players adapting to those changes help smooth the transition this summer. “This year we’ve been able to progress a little bit quicker in our practice habits and our schemes and techniques, but I feel good about where we are,” Holt said. He went on to say that big changes weren’t really a part of his plan looking forward. “We just want to play solid. We want to be a solid portion of the
game where we can be counted on to do our part,” Holt said. The standards that Holt holds his men to are simple: “You just always want to be better than you were the previous time you did it.” Holt also mentioned senior punter Bentlee Critcher. Critcher, like Rubino, is no stranger to high expectations, except in his case, the man who set the bar for him last year was himself. Last season, Critcher managed to punt 51 times for a total of 2,212 yards and a 43.4-yard punt average. That average landed him in fourth in the conference and 37th
in the nation, including a season long 60-yard punt against Georgia Southern. “There’s a sign in our locker room that says ‘it’s not about being the best in the nation, it’s about being the best on that given day,” Critcher said. “The ultimate goal is to be the best at game time. Being the best in the nation can come later.” Being best in the nation is not that far away as the Mountaineers managed to squeeze their way into the FBS’s top 25 in special teams at the end of last season.
The key is always being “better than you were the previous time you did it. That’s within each rep, within each game and within each season,” Holt said. Within this season lies ahead two major challenges for the Black and Gold, facing two power five teams. One of which kicks the season off against Tennessee while the other takes place at The Rock against visiting University of Miami on Sept. 17. Holt acknowledged the challenges ahead for them but reassured that the special teams will be ready to meet those challenges.
(Top) Former kicker Zach Matics. (Bottom) Senior punter Bentlee Critcher runs up to punt the ball during practice on Aug. 17.
Photo Credit: (Top) Allyson Lamb/App State Athletics (Bottom) Halle Keighton
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S P O R T S
ON THE MOVE ADAM HOTHERSALL SPORTS REPORTER
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he Mountaineers
cross country team heads into the 2016 season with veteran leadership, high expectations and a lot of talent coming back from a solid 2015 campaign. The team’s goal is simple: win the Sun Belt. “The men’s and women’s teams expectations are to challenge for a Sun Belt conference championship,” coach Michael Curcio said. “Being runners up the last two years have been both exciting and heartbreaking.” Five seniors for the men return, including Michael Ellis and Chris Anderson who finished fourth and 22nd respectively at the Sun Belt Championships last season. The women have four seniors, including Tristin Van Ord and Torre Moser who finished second and 14th respectively. “We like our seniors to lead by example. All of our top athletes came in as somewhat unheralded recruits,”
Graphic Credit: Sydney Spann
Curcio said. “Tristin [Van Ord] and Michael [Ellis] were not in our top five until their sophomore years.” Having runners such as Van Ord and Ellis show the hard work and patience it takes to reach their full potential. It proves that the program thrives off of work ethic and dedication. “They know that hard work and consistency really does pay off and they show that by doing the right things,” Curcio said. “In athletics you can really get out what you put into it.” Moser believes leadership and molding the way for the younger runners work right into the culture of the program. “I’m pumped to get the freshmen, sophomores and juniors up to their potential and ultimately [have them develop] as a team to win conference,” Moser said. “Our ultimate goal is to come in first, show the people who are new to the conference that we are the top dog and that
we’re not someone to mess around with. We want to show the conference that we are here to compete and win.” Ellis, who placed 31st at the NCAA Southeast Regional championships in the 10k with a personal best of 30:25.90, has his sights set high for the upcoming season as well, hoping to keep improving. “My goals are to keep on improving like I have in the past years, hopefully being able to move up from the fourth spot to the first spot in the conference meet,” Ellis said. “The past two years we have gotten second place [overall] at Sunbelt so we are still shooting to get first place.” All hands on deck will be needed to help bring a conference championship to the Mountaineers this upcoming season, and people have made impressions throughout the summer. “Evan Georges was our top middle distance miler through track
last year,” Curcio said. “He’s shown some real talent, and he stayed in Boone this summer and picked up his mileage.” Curcio also said on the women’s side to watch out for sophomore Elisa Sargent, junior Kerry Leonard and transfer Molly Pusateri. “Elisa and Kerry are returners who are way ahead of where they were last year at this time,” Curcio said. “Molly comes from Ohio State with solid credentials in the middle distance events, but with a summer of training at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona, she has stepped right in and is in our top seven.” Curcio and the cross country program want to make the next step with a message for his team. “Second is nice but like Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s saying, we have to keep moving,” Curcio said. The Mountaineers will have that opportunity at their first invitational Sept. 2 with the Covered Bridge Open in Boone at 5:30 p.m.
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HOWARD AND DAWSON AIM TO BRING CHANGE TO SGA CARRIE HALL NEWS REPORTER
J
alyn Howard and Kend-
rick Dawson, the student body president and vice president, make up the first ever all-black ticket to win Appalachian’s student election. Howard said they aim to use their unique experiences to bring about real change. “If we’re traditional SGA, then it doesn’t really make any difference that we were the first black ticket ever,” Howard said. “It doesn’t matter if we don’t do things differently.” Howard and Dawson want to increase the visibility of SGA. They want everyone to know what it is, what its members do and how it affects students. Adrian Thompson will be the SGA’s first ever director of campus relations and will perform outreach to make students aware of the services they offer. Walt Grayson, director of legislative operations, said that SGA has more influence than people realize. “We have the ability to get the administration’s attention and to let them know there’s a problem on campus,” Grayson said. “It’s powerful to watch administrators interact with SGA and see how much they listen to what we have to say.” Alan Lee, director of student affairs, said that SGA has the power to make changes students want made. “We aren’t an extension of the administration, we’re an extension of the student body,” Lee said. Grayson, who has held a position in SGA since he was a freshman, said the leadership this year will be focusing on students more than ever before. “It’s so important to act in the student’s best interests, and I feel like this administration is going to do this more than any that SGA has seen before,” Grayson said. “Based on their platform, on working with them and seeing what happens behind closed doors, I know that they always take the students opinions into account. It’s their first priority.” As president, Howard has a seat on the Board of Trustees. His vote represents the student’s interests on issues such as tuition and fees, dining options on campus, grade replacement, financial aid, the new campus master plan, violence and assault resources, and more. “My most important function is as a voting member on the board of trustees,” Howard said. “At the highest level I’m the only student representative on the committee, so if we’re in a closed session meeting, I’m legitimately the only student voice in that room.” SGA encourages students to give feedback because it helps the organization represent the student body more authentically. “We have an open-door policy at 10
Howard was the director of multicultral affairs and Dawson was the director of campus health and safety of the SGA 2015-16 cabinet. SGA,” Clayton said. “You can come in to talk whether you’re in SGA or not. We are here.” Howard said that while many issues will come up throughout the year and some could certainly become top priorities, he wants to devote time to more
systematic issues like proper appropriation of student fees and a lack of diversity and wellness services. The adminsitration is focused on increasing diversity not just in terms of ethnic diversity, but in terms of ideas and perspectives.
Howard said that getting diverse perspectives in SGA is important because it makes the organization better able to accurately represent the student body. “We’re here to represent 18,000 students but we definitely do not hold the identities of 18,000 students,” Howard Photo Illustration: Dallas Linger
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SGA president Jalyn Howard and vice president Kendrick Dawson walking into the SGA office. said. “That’s the importance of reaching out to people who haven’t been involved before.” A revamping of wellness services, such as mental health and counseling, is in the works. “We want to make students feel more at home and give them the resources that they need,” Clayton said. “Jalyn and Kendrick want people to understand that you have a place here at Appalachian. You have a home.” While Howard and Dawson will be working on many important initiatives throughout their term, the allocation of student fees is highest on their list of priorities. “Tuition and fees is what we ran on,” Howard said. “We’re really prioritizing that. It covers our entire platform.” Dawson said re-allocating student fees is necessary to achieve their other goals. “If our tuition and fees aren’t being allocated equitably, then everything else is pointless,” Dawson said. Since each president and vice president choose their own cabinet members, each SGA faces a steep learning curve at the beginning of the year. Lee and Grayson both said that SGA is working on getting internally organized and prepared so that it can begin to function smoothly. “The hardest part of SGA is coordinating over 100 people in the organization, especially because it changes so much every year,” Grayson said. “We have 15 new executive members and many new senators, so now is when we have to decide how we’re going to run the organization.” Grayson said SGA did a much better job with training this time around. He created and implemented a new cabinet training program to ensure that cabinet Photo Illustrations: Dallas Linger
SGA president Jalyn Howard and vice president Kendrick Dawson hang out on Sanford Mall and interact with students. members fully understand how to write legislation. “Having everyone in SGA understand what we’re doing, how we work and how we’re structured is the key to getting rid of the long turnaround time,” Grayson said. “They’ve all done really well so far.” Lee said that SGA leadership sat down and went over expectations for both members and upper leadership. “It helps when the cabinet and the leaders are on the same page,” Lee said.
“We all understand what we want from each other and what we expect from each other, which makes for a really healthy environment.” Howard said students should come to Board of Trustee meetings. He said the more students show up, the more seriously the student voice is taken. “If you wanna make a difference, then the most important organization on campus is SGA,” Howard said. “You have the ability to make a positive difference.”
Currently, SGA is working on Appalachian Student Government grants that can be turned in as early as Sept. 2. The grants can provide funds from a pool of $90,000 to different clubs and organizations. The organization is also working to get voting site in the Plemmons Student Union and working on fixing other issues such as food insecurity among students, poor handicap access and the absence of a sexual assault nurse on campus.
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69 APPSTATE STUDENTS IN TEMPORARY HOUSING AT BEGINNING OF FALL SEMESTER HALIE HAMILTON NEWS REPORTER
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ue to overbooking, 64
freshmen and five transfer students are currently bunked up with resident advisors, a temporary arrangement until more beds open up. “Some of those students will live with an RA for the entire semester and in January they’ll get assigned a permanent space,” director of university housing Tom Kane said. Ella Duffy, a freshman special education major, is one of those students. “When I first found out I was going to be placed in temporary housing, I was extremely shocked and a little frustrated,” Duffy said. “I knew adjusting to college life was already going to be stressful enough, so hearing that I didn’t
even have a permanent room assignment only added another challenge.” Marie McGurk, a senior criminal justice major, said that two residence halls had to be designated all female dorms due to the disproportionate number of female applicants. University Housing gave returning students the option to cancel their on-campus housing assignment before Aug. 1 without having to pay the $250 cancellation fee. Kane said that housing estimates are based on cancellation rates, which fluctuate slightly each year. “People say, well how can you be overbooked now?” Kane said. “No two years are the same. What you do is look at how many people canceled last
year from the time people signed up for housing, how big the freshmen class is and how many people do we expect to cancel by the time we open.” Kane said 25-100 beds typically open up in the spring semester. Sophie Dano, a freshman exercise science major, is also living in temporary housing. “When I first found out I was mad and confused as to why I didn’t have a permanent place to stay,” Dano said. Students have 48 hours to move into their new room when a bed opens up, with the option of help from University Housing Support Services staff. Duffy said that housing will try to keep her in the same dorm, but reassignments are largely based on which beds
open up first and there are no guarantees. Dano said that the dynamic with an RA isn’t the same as with another freshman. They’ve already been through the freshman experience and can’t share that with you, but RAs can offer valuable perspective on the first few weeks of classes and having a bigger room doesn’t hurt either. “There are so many benefits from living with an RA, not only do we get a bigger room, closet and personal bathroom, I have an upperclassmen right across the room from me that can answer any questions I could ever have,” Duffy said. “I know all the changes will be difficult and challenging to navigate, but I’m going to stay positive.”
TEMPORARY HOUSING PLANS
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Graphic Credit: Sydney Spann
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APP COOKIE CO. FINDS NEW HOME
(Above) People wait outside of the new location anticapting the grand re-opening early Monday morning of Aug. 15.
(Left) Maddison Swisher, Amanda Langston, and Lucy Edy have been camping out since 7 p.m. the day before. (Right) Jeremy Parnell and Jeremy Bollman are co-owners of Hatchet Coffee. Shift manager Sam Collins and owner Dave Holloman of Appalachia Cookie Co. (Bottom) Shift Manager Tarik M. prepares of batch of chocolate chip cookies to send off location to bake due to the ovens breaking before opening.
Photo Credit: Dallas Linger
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JUNALUSKA COMMUNITY CELEBRATES HERITAGE THROUGH ORAL HISTORIES ASU PROFESSOR SHARES HISTORY AND STORIES FROM JUNALUSKA COMMUNITY
The Chocolate Bar, a restaurant in Junaluska, circa 1960. ADRIENNE FOUTS A&E REPORTER
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ocated above King
Street on the twisting roads that make their way up Howard’s Knob, the community of Junaluska has persevered through the countless changes to Boone since the mid-19th century. Now, it wants to make sure its story is heard. Junaluska, sometimes called “The Hill” or “The Mountain,” is a historically black community, one of the oldest in western North Carolina. It is also home to the Boone Mennonite Brethren Church, one of few remaining black Mennonite congregations in the country. In 1890, a few hundred people called Junaluska home; today, the community has 42 homes and 97 residents. The expansion of Boone and Appalachian State University, along with Junaluska’s small size, has sometimes caused the community to be invisible over the years. However, they are hoping to change that by permanently recording their history and working to honor past and present community members. Susan Keefe, a professor of anthropology at Appalachian State, has been working with members of the Junaluska community for 27 years. During that time, she has received university grants to interview community members with her students, attempted to save historic Junaluska buildings and helped found the Junaluska Heritage Association, or 14
JHA. Now, the JHA has decided to put together an oral history by Junaluska community members. There are already a few interviews from the 1970s in Belk Library’s Special Collections, as well as more recent interviews that the JHA hopes to publish. Keefe hosted a presentation entitled “Junaluska: The African-American Neighborhood in Boone” Aug. 18 at the Blowing Rock Art & History Museum, in which she gave an overview of the neighborhood’s history and current efforts to preserve it. During the presentation, Keefe also read excerpts from four interviews with Junaluska community members, whose lives spanned from the turn of the 20th century until the present. In these interviews, the subjects talked about their everyday life, how Boone developed over the years and their experiences with segregation. The first excerpt was from an interview conducted in the 1970s with Reverend Ronda Horton, who died in 1986 and was the first black pastor of the Mennonite Church in Boone. He was born in 1895 on what is now Queen Street. Growing up, he said, King Street was called Main Street, and it was a muddy road with only a few buildings. What was then Watauga Academy would eventually become Appalachian State
University. “The rest of the land was farmland,” Horton said. “You’d look up Howard’s Knob and it was all clean, not a tree, just farms.” Horton helped haul and lay gravel for Main Street around the time of World War I, and also helped build Farmer’s Hardware in the 1920s, but there wasn’t much work to be found for the Junaluska community. “Our young people leave this country when they get old enough,” Horton said. “There’s not much work for black people in Boone.” Reverend Leroy Kirkpatrick was the subject of the second interview excerpt read at the Junaluska presentation. He was born in Charlotte in 1910, and moved to Boone with his wife, who was from the High Country, in 1932. Kirkpatrick was a sharecropper who also raised hogs and chickens, and hunted and fished in the area. He was the assistant pastor at the Mennonite Church at the time of the interview in 1989. Keefe said that Kirkpatrick, like many others interviewed, did not often discuss his experiences with discrimination. Junaluska as a community tried to avoid racism and conflict by maintaining a low profile and a peaceful existence. “We’ve got love in our hearts, and we’ve got to exercise it,” Kirkpatrick said in the interview.
However, the next interview excerpt with JHA facilitator Roberta Jackson did touch on her experiences with segregation in Boone. Blacks had to sit in the balcony of the movie theatre, she said, and when they ordered food at a restaurant they picked it up from a back window. “There were no social interactions between black and white kids at the time,” Jackson said. “We were separated, and that’s just the way it was.” Jackson said that she is glad that her kids got to grow up after segregation ended, because it is good to interact with different kinds of people. One of Jackson’s children is Lynn Patterson, subject of the final interview excerpt and University Program Associate at Appalachian State’s Belk Library. She lived through the integration changes that came about in 1968, and said that life in the mountains was tough for everyone. One of the struggles that Junaluska has faced is increasing gentrification and growth of the university, but despite changes, Keefe said that the community has displayed a “remarkable spirit of resilience” by working to preserve and celebrate its history. “You hear people saying that Junaluska is dying,” Patterson said in her interview. “But as long as we write it down, it’ll always be there.”
Photo courtesy of Junaluska Heritage Association
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BALD GUY FINDS ITS NICHE IN THE KITCHEN
ONE OF BOONE’S OFF CAMPUS COFFEE SHOPS JUST UPGRADED TO A CAFE.
Bald Guy Brew Cafe’s new menu. AUSTIN HALE A&E REPORTER
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ald Guy Brew Cafe
has been serving coffee to the students of Appalachian State and the Boone community for 10 years. When asked what brings people to Bald Guy, co-owner Peter Herbert said the main draw is the breezeway. Some students, such as junior marketing major Jason Pollock, said they have never even set foot in the building. “Espresso News is so entrenched in the culture of Boone with the bookstore,” Herbert said. “Local Lion has their own crowd of the people who live on Faculty Street.” Pollock is an ENews fan. “It’s walking distance from me,” he said, sipping a cup of hot tea in the coffee shop’s small downstairs lounge. Mostly, he cites the coffee shop’s environment, such as their art loft, as the major attraction. That’s not to say Bald Guy doesn’t have its own loyal customers. Junior marketing major Leanna Ferguson said she prefers Bald Guy over ENews. “I really like [Bald Guy’s] iced mochas and it’s close enough to campus where I can have a meeting with someone off campus,” Ferguson said. “My best friend and I come here a lot to work in between classes to get a different scenery.” Ferguson said ENews is too small and crowded for her to use as a meeting Photo Credit: Aaron Moran
place. “I have to yell to talk to the person across from me,” she said. In an effort to expand their niche and attract more students, founder Nikki Rezvani decided to install a kitchen. To handle the kitchen, she brought in Herbert, a long time friend of hers. Herbert said the idea came from their mutual love breakfast places like Melanie’s and Boone Bagelry. “We saw another opportunity for people to get breakfast and lunch,” Herbert said. Bringing in a full kitchen also gives Bald Guy another opportunity to define themselves from ENews and Local Lion. “By bringing food in there we’re doing something different, you can actually get a meal,” Herbert said. At Local Lion and ENews, you can buy doughnuts and pastries to go with your coffee, but you can’t get, as Herbert said, “real food,” such as sandwiches and salads. “I wanted to have specifically food we can get out quickly and food that can be taken to go,” Herbert said. He also wanted to include plenty of vegan and vegetarian options. Ferguson said she hasn’t had anything from the kitchen yet, but she looks forward to trying what Herbert has to
offer. “I don’t expect it to be normal,” Ferguson said. “That doesn’t seem like their kind of flow here which is awesome.” Looking forward, Herbert wants to expand the menu to include dinner options, but for now, he seems content
with the fast options they have available. “We really wanna be able to have [the students] call in and order something and have them able to take it to class,” Herbert said. “By the tame you get to your building, all you have is tin foil to throw away.”
Cup sizes for Bald Guy Brew Cafe.
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NO MAN’S SKY REVIEW A BEAUTIFUL GAME THAT LACKS DEPTH
Flying through the atmosphere of a newly discoverd planet. MIKE HEBERT A&E REPORTER
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uper Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda,
Pokémon and Mega-Man; these titles went down in history as games that made major advancements in how games were played. No Man’s Sky will go down in history as a game that pushed the boundaries of the scale games can reach. Released on Aug. 9 for PS4 and the 12 for PC, No Man’s Sky is a space exploration game with a Minecraft style crafting system. Like Minecraft, No Man’s Sky is largely open-ended in game objectives, allowing the player to decide what his or her goals are. This open-ended mission structure is paralleled in the game’s universe. There are over 18 quintillion, yes quintillion, planets that the player can discover and explore in the game. Each player exists in the universe at the same time, meaning that two people could theoretically run into each other, although it’s unlikely. This level of scope is unparalleled and unprecedented in video games, making it the largest video game ever made. No Man’s Sky can reach these lofty numbers because of the algo16
rithm that makes up the game. The development team, called Hello Games, created templates of planets and solar systems that are procedurally generated when a player first warps into them. This means that whenever a player first arrives in a new solar system, the game randomly generates entire worlds and fills them with natural resources, water and wildlife that is unique to that planet. No two planets in the entire galaxy are identical. The player can then name and upload his or her discoveries to the universe, permanently leaving their mark in the game. When another player visits the solar system, the information generated from the first player will be used to show the next one what the planets are like. Hello Games essentially created a giant template for everything you can see generated on planets and players actively create the universe as they play. There is currently a solar system named The Appalachian, which is approximately 180,000 light years from the center of the Euclid Galaxy. No Man’s Sky is without a doubt the largest game ever devised. But its size doesn’t detract from its issues.
There are a few alien races that the player runs into throughout the game that trade and interact with them. After a few hours though, the aliens appear the same. This is probably due to the limitations of the algorithm for the game which recycles common features of how aliens look, and reassembles the specific details of facial structure or body shape. This sounds great in theory but the player can recognize these component parts without much effort. The same can be said for the planets themselves. Each one is randomly generated and no two are identical but there are hundreds that are alike. This distinction is worth underscoring because there seems to be an endless stream of similar planets from the start of the game until many hours in, when the player acquires the ability to warp to unique solar systems. This change is great and it shakes up the gameplay enough to get the player interested again, but it comes way too late to be effective. The player is alone for most of the exploration on planets, only occasionally running into alien lifeforms. These long stretches of being alone and interacting with nonaliens might indicate the developers
are trying to convey a message that interacting with others is special and thus makes the player value their time with them. If this is the case, it failed colossally. Endlessly trekking across vast swathes of planets and space is lonely. The only times the player gets a break from this is through meeting other lifeforms, but again, they begin to feel repetitive. The result of this strange, artificial isolation gives the player the same feeling as someone dialing a customer service line only to be heard by robots and recordings. At arm’s length, No Man’s Sky seems like the game to end all games. It’s enormous, has a robust crafting and resource gathering system and is amazingly beautiful at times. But upon further inspection the game feels shallow, hollow and empty. No Man’s Sky is a great party game or something to play for a few hours to admire the beauty, because it is truly beautiful if nothing else. Unless Hello Games makes drastic changes through game updates and patches, No Man’s Sky will be lost in a mass void of other games that it so perfectly replicates.
Photo Credit: Braxton Coats
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FRANK OCEAN HAS RETURNED MAKAELAH WALTERS A&E REPORTER
Frank Ocean’s new visual album, “Endless.”
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rank Ocean’s highly anticipated return to the music scene ended on Aug. 19. After four years, what seemed like forever to fans, Ocean has released new music: an 18 track visual album and a separate 17 track album. Both releases came as a surprise to Ocean’s fans, who have been eagerly awaiting this moment since the release of “Channel Orange,” Ocean’s first album, in 2012. Ocean released “Endless” as a visual album, an audio-visual experience just under 46 minutes. Some tracks feature artists like James Blake, Jazmine Sullivan, members of Odd Future and Andre 3000. “The whole affair can be dark, moody, drifty, ambient, textured, druggy, somnambulant, melancholic, Eno-ghostly, synthy and depressive,” Jason King of NPR said in his review of the album. “It can be melodically rich, even if its lethargic sameness can sometimes be snoozy.” Filmed entirely in black and white in what seems to be a vast empty warehouse, “Endless” includes 18 tracks that serve as somewhat of a soundtrack. Through the entirety of the video Ocean is seen working with various power tools to build what many believe are several steps to what will ultimately become a “staircase to heaven.” There is no particular narrative or context surrounding “Endless” to give the audience an idea of exactly why Ocean is constructing a staircase.
Only Ocean can tell us for sure. Each song bleeds into the next, almost seamlessly. “With this Apple appliance you can capture live videos, still motion pictures shot at high frequency” a warped, almost robotic greeting from German artist Wolfgang Tillmans welcomes listeners to “Endless” in the intro track entitled “Device Control.” Next comes “At Your Best (You Are Love),” Ocean’s rendition of the late Aaliyah’s cover of an Isley Brothers song from 1976. Avid fans may have recognized this track immediately, as audio of Ocean’s Aaliyah cover was originally released in 2015 on Ocean’s Tumblr page. “But if you feel more like I feel, confusion can give way to doubt,” Ocean wails on this track in a way that makes listeners want to melt, then quickly solidify just in time for “Alabama,” the next track, and technically the first new Ocean song. “Alabama” is brief, though its overlapped lyrics tell a complex story. In what are arguably some of the most impressive moments of “Endless,” Ocean delivers the tracks, “Mine” and “U-N-I-T-Y.” With lines like “Boy, you missed your moment, perusing the MoMA, I’m all on my lonely,” both tracks dance along the line between freestyle and spoken word. The next track is a very brief instrumental entitled “Ambience 001: In a Certain Way.” In “In Here Somewhere,” Ocean’s
voice is warped, distant and almost indistinguishable. Sonically it lags a little before dipping into what feels like a space odyssey. It’s simultaneously futuristic and laid back. It’s hard to see where the next track, “Slide on Me,” fits in with every song preceding it up until the very last moments. The guitar seems incompatible with Ocean’s rhymes, and ill-fitted with the more electronic tone of the album. Luke Morgan Britton, a writer for British music journalism magazine NME, labeled this track the most conventional. “It’s only at the end, as the synth pitch-shifts, that we hear something compelling going on,” Britton said. At this point in the stream, Ocean begins to assemble the mysterious staircase, while “Sideways,” track 13, plays on. Another rap, “Sideways” closes with what sounds like an angelic choir crooning on almost eerily as Ocean continues to construct a spiral staircase. “Rushes” and “Rushes To,” the most striking songs of the album, feature Leon Bridges-esque guitar behind Ocean’s vocals. The songs are stripped down and more personal than any of the tracks before them. “Rushes To” is the only track on which Ocean himself plays the guitar. Jayson Greene, of Pitchfork Magazine said “Rushes” has “a purposefully fragmented feeling.” In the final track, which feels very much like the end of a journey,
viewers watch as Ocean ascends his fully assembled staircase. The futuristic techno beats return before Wolfgang Tillmans returns to bid listeners farewell. It’s as fun listening to this song as it is watching Ocean climb his staircase to the heavens. “Endless” is an experience from start to finish, leaving fans to wonder if such an enigmatic piece was only the precursor to the album they’d hoped for all along, and they were right. On Saturday, just two days after the release of “Endless,” Ocean dropped another album entitled “Blonde,” in addition to announcing “Boys Don’t Cry,” a 360 page magazine he’s been working on since 2015. “Boys Don’t Cry” was originally speculated to be the title of Ocean’s album. It was available in pop-up shops across America. Ocean also shared a spread from the magazine on his Tumblr page that night, according to PaperMag.com. The magazine includes work from artist like Kanye West, Lil B and Tyler, The Creator. As of now, “Blonde” is available on Apple Music only. A different album in itself, “Blonde” features 17 new songs. After it’s release, Ocean took to Tumblr. “I had the time of my life making all of this,” Ocean said in the post. “Thank you all. Especially those of you who never let me forget I had to finish. Which is basically every one of ya’ll. Haha. Love you.”
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COLLEGE ATHLETES SHOULDN’T HAVE TO WAIT TO GO PRO O
ne of the most pivotal
keys to life is a good education. From how you speak to others to how you come across in a job interview, everything always comes back around to how good of an education you have. In today’s economy, getting a good job almost requires a college degree. Going back to the baby-boomer age or Generation X, a high school diploma was sometimes enough for a high paying job. This brings us to one of the most talked about debates in all of college and professional sports: Should a one and done NCAA college athlete be allowed to go pro? Yes. Whether or not a college athlete is a freshman or senior, they should have the opportunity to turn professional if they feel it is best for them. In Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League, these questions do not matter. The MLB allows team to draft high school players with a farm system that lets them work their way up to the majors and the NHL allows anyone 18-20 years old to enter the draft. The discussion about one and done has mainly focused on the National Basketball Association after they discontinued allowing high school seniors to enter the NBA draft but still allow one and done players. Recently though, a lot of the talk has been on the National Football League and the NCAA football’s draft eligibility rules. College-athletes have to complete three years of college to enter the NFL draft. Part of the increase in discussion is because of many NFL caliber college football players getting injured before they even have the chance to turn pro. Star LSU junior running back Leonard Fournette rushed for 1,953 yards and 22 touchdowns last season despite missing a couple games and hurting his ankle in the preseason. This has left a lot of people questioning the rule of allowing NCAA athletes to turn pro whenever they want. Fournette himself said that he would have stayed in college even if there was no three year rule, but it’s easy to wonder if the injury would have happened at all if he went pro last year. Former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore was one of the top players in the country and arguably a 18
86% of college athletes live below the federal poverty line
10 years since the NBA adopted the one and done rule Jason Huber is a junior journalism major from Charlotte, North Carolina. top 10 NFL draft pick as a sophomore in college. His junior season he tore every ligament in his knee, damaged nerves in a game and was forced to retire at the age of 23. Lattimore lost millions of dollars and was never the same player. Imagine if he were able to go pro just one year earlier? According to the National College players association, 85 percent of scholarship college athletes live below the federal poverty line. Not all college athletes come from wealthy families and many of them play sports from a young age hoping to make it professionally and earn money to help their families. “Student-athletes go through this academic machinery, left torn, worn, no idea of their purpose,” former Florida State football player Myron Rolle said at a 2014 NCAA hearing. Athletes do struggle to keep up with their studies. Being a student-athlete takes a lot of commitment and sometimes, completing four years with a solid GPA can be a struggle for those who feel they can turn pro. If going pro does not pan out, you can always go back to school. In 2014, UNC Chapel Hill offered former scholarship athletes the chance to return and complete their studies. Opportunities are still out there. In no way whatsoever am I saying that education is not important. Education is one of the great things that we have in our country, but with some student-athletes who are so fortunately gifted to have professional talents, they should be allowed to take the next step in their life before something takes it from them.
117 basketball underclassmen entered early entry for the NBA draft this year
107 total college football underclassmen were granted NFL eligibility
A typical rookie NFL player makes $860,000 compared to the average $51,206 college graduate.
Graphic Credit: Sydney Spann
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31% football underclassmen went undrafted in the 2016 NFL draft
51% of NFL players have college degrees
Only 1.3% of college basketball players make it pro
5.8% of college football players make it pro
78% of NFL players and 60% of NBA players go bankrupt within 5 years of making it pro
Graphic Credit: Sydney Spann
COLLEGE ATHLETES SHOULD GRADUATE BEFORE GOING PRO I
magine yourself as a
talented college athlete eager to get your professional sports career off the ground. You’re getting looks from scouters who want you to hop in the draft. You’re confident and willing to drop your college studies to pursue the sport you love as a career. You have no doubt that you will choose to go pro. But you can’t help but question what would happen if something causes you to no longer be able to compete. Athletes can be pressed with the opportunity to go pro early in their collegiate careers, and many of them know they are good enough to make it in the professional leagues so they choose to go pro and leave their education behind. But what happens if a situation arises where the player to no longer be able to play their sport or just not prepared for life in a professional league? What’s plan B? All athletes should be highly encouraged to finish out their college careers to be able to have that second option of finding a “normal job” if their professional sports career doesn’t live up to the hype. College does much more than just provide an education, it gives students the opportunity to learn about themselves in ways that they have never thought of before and decide the kind of person that they want to be in the real world, all while in a new and different environment. If you choose to further your education or continue athletics at the collegiate level, then the four year buffer between high school and the real world should be the most influential time in a person’s life and should not just be seen as wasted time that could have been used to play professional sports. When Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman speaks in post-game interviews, I am in awe of how well spoken and intelligent
Braxton Coats is a junior computer science major from Raleigh, North Carolina. he is and how many good things he has to say. Sherman is a role model for athletes and an example of what a college education can do for an individual. If an athlete chooses to go pro in a sport, they should be an educated person that others can look up to for advice. Athletes shouldn’t make decisions that could potentially hurt them in the long run, or hurt others around them. Athletes should have a career to fall back on if a circumstance arises to where they are no longer able to compete at a high level. But most importantly, your years in college can be the best of your life. Athletes shouldn’t be quick to throw them away before they get the chance to live them.
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