Sept. 23, 2014 - Vol. 57, Issue 3

GEORGIA REGENTS UNIVERSITY

www.grubellringer.com

VOLUME 57, ISSUE 3

Country group comes to Evans

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Workshop speaks on disabilites

By Amy Thorne arts & life editor

JESSICA SAGER | STAFF

Country duo, Eddie Montgomery (left) and Troy Gentry (right) of Montgomery Gentry, perform on the outdoor stage at the Lady Antebellum Ampitheater in Evans on Sept.19. See SOUTHERN BAND ROCKS OUT EVANS on PAGE 8 for full story.

The Georgia Regents University Literacy Center took a moment to talk about student learning problems facing the community during its most recent Literacy Summit on Sept. 12 and 13.

More than 250 parents, teachers and education leaders came to campus Friday night and Saturday morning, said Paulette Harris, a Cree Walker-endowed professor in the college of education and direc-

tor of the literacy center.

Harris said the center chose the theme “Impact of the A’s” to focus on the effect of ADD, ADHD and Autism on literacy. The center created the event in celebration of Literacy Month.

“We did the autism and the ADD/ADHD, because we get so many questions about that at the literacy center from parents,” she said. “We have children who come to the literacy center with autism, see DISABILITES on PAGE 3

First Friday waits for free ride from trolleys

By Haley Harris news editor

Those battling the issues of limited parking and possible DUI checks from the police force in downtown Augusta during First Fridays may find a solution pulling up on campus soon.

South Star Trolleys is hoping to create a monthly opportunity for those wanting a ride downtown, one that includes Georgia Regents University in a route that will supply accessible transportation for students to take on First Fridays to and from downtown Augusta, Syd Padgett, president of Artist’s Row, said.

With Artist’s Row now running First Fridays, Padgett said he intended to have the trolleys already in place for use but funding for the project has fallen a bit behind schedule.

“It’s a funding issue right now we’re working through,” Padgett said. “To either have the city or the college itself to pick up the cost in exchange for advertisement.”

Michael Wolff, tour and events coordinator with South Star Trolley, said there are a lot of pieces to put together in order to make it work, but once everything comes together, the plan is a real possibility.

“We kind of got delayed for September,” Wolff said. “We are still looking at moving forward.

(We are) trying to get some sponsorship out of it, too. Once that comes into play and those elements come together, I think that you’ll

RICHARD ADAMS | STAFF

One of the South Star trolleys to be used in the plan for shuttling students.

see that eventually happening.”

The route of the trolleys would not only include Georgia Regents; it would have multiple stops on the way downtown, Wolff said. With so many students coming to Georgia Regents, this would be a way to literally bring people to First Friday.

Padgett said he planned for the rides to be free.

“The original idea is basically that we would have the trolley come downtown,” he said. “It would start at the Summerville campus and come down Walton Way, stop at the Partridge Inn and go over to Paine College and then go over to the medical center, make a couple of stops there, and then come downtown. It’s basically the length of Broad from 13th down to 5th. We’ve timed it out where we can do this route in about an hour.”

The trolleys are expected to

improve participation in and the all-around enjoyment of First Fridays, Padgett said.

“Students and residents can hop on and off,” he said. “We’re trying to alleviate some of the parking problems on First Friday. And for people that are afraid to come down here and have a glass of wine at dinner and go home because of the police presence and everything, it kind of gives them another way to get downtown and get back home without having to worry about parking issues (and) DUIs.” Katelyn Murphy, a resident of downtown Augusta and mother of a Georgia Regents student, said she loves the idea.

“My daughter is always excited for First Friday, as am I,” Murphy said. “But I’m always worried about her safely getting home. I hate that she drives from her apartment and then leaves downtown late to drive home. Cops are everywhere and the trolleys would just be a smart ride to take. No DUIs, no trouble.”

In order to make it even easier for people, another idea the parties involved have discussed is the possibility of using phones to track the trolley, Padgett said.

“We’re trying to get an app developed,” Padgett said. “There’s already a GPS system in the trolley, and we wanted to have a trolley tracker where if you’re downtown and you want to catch a ride you can actually look on your phone and find out exactly where it’s at on the route. That’ll be the next thing.” hharris9@gru.edu

Panel speaks about journalist killings

By Ashley Trawick chief reporter Room W1002 in Science Hall was packed Thursday with students and community members who wanted to become a little more informed about the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.

The panel of experts included political science professors Sudha Ratan, Lance Hunter and Craig Albert who all discussed ISIL and its impact on the Middle East.

Following the beheadings of two journalists and a British aide worker, Ratan, the chair for the department of political science, said the problem that the U.S. faces is trying to understand exactly what the group’s purpose is and why the U.S. should be concerned. She said they claimed they’re returning to the Caliphate as it was in its heyday in Baghdad during the 8th and 9th centuries.

“If you take the group at its word, this is the territory that they

hope to expand to,” Ratan said.

“The rise of the group is in the context of problems across the region.

In very many ways, this feels like a repeat historically because any time there’s been upheaval in this part of the world and states have broken down, what you’ve seen is a replacement of the old order with a new order and in many ways, the group that’s all the way from the Taliban in Afghanistan to the see PANEL on PAGE 2

AMY THORNE | STAFF

Parents, teachers and educators gather for a workshop on students who have learning disabilites and listen to a panel at literacy summit on Friday, Sept. 12.

Mother-daughter team saves stranger

By Jessica Sager copy editor “Part of CPR training is call 911, and when you’re in the air there is no 911.”

Saundra McCorkle, a nurse at Georgia Regents Medical Center, said she had never thought about that until she and her daughter saved a man’s life in the aisle of a Delta airplane on Aug. 24 while on the way home from Dallas.

Flight attendants initially thought a male passenger was sleeping, McCorkle said, but realized otherwise when they were unable to wake him.

“We just saw that there was a commotion going on,” Rebecca Hawkins, McCorkle’s daughter, said. “We had just gotten pretty much in the sky and pretty much we just saw somebody looking at a gentleman and I told my mother ‘something looks wrong.’”

McCorkle said her daughter volunteered her to help.

“Of course I was looking, just like everybody else, and I saw her start to pick him up and I knew that that meant she was putting him on the ground, and he was non-responsive,” Hawkins said. “I went up there and it was plain to see, no heartbeat, not breathing. I mean, he was not, he was unresponsive completely, so that’s when we just decided to go ahead and do the protocol of first aid CPR.” The plane was well-equipped, McCorkle said.

Hawkins said someone brought them an automated external defibrillator.

“I know that they’re made to

where when you’re in water you’re not going to shock someone, but it was so jammed,” she said. “You’re supposed to clear, and you’re just, I mean, literally…the aisle is not as big as a tic-tac box and so, you know, you got everybody, and everybody’s kinda trying to see what’s going on and help if they can. So there’s so many people around … so that was our biggest fear, was that when we shocked this man, somebody’s going to be touching him.”

Though Hawkins teaches CPR to employees at the Family Y, she said she never had to perform it.

“It was amazing just to see how these steps literally got a man, you know, with God’s grace, from no life to life,” she said. “So it was definitely an experience.”

Hawkins said the other passengers were all praying for the man and were “a big support team.” see MOTHER on PAGE 3

RICHARD ADAMS | STAFF

Saundra McCorkle holds picture of her daughter who helped save a man’s life.

Car Fire Page 2

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Arts in the Heart

Boarder Bash

Page 6

Page 10

Festival expands cultural reach

Quick response saves vehicle

Augusta gathers for face-off

PAGE 2

NEWS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

www.grubellringer.com

Car goes up in flames on campus

The voice of

Georgia Regents University EDITORIAL STAFF adviser MATTHEW BOSISIO mbosisio@gru.edu

By Rebecca Perbetsky production assistant

editor-in-chief RICHARD ADAMS radams99@gru.edu copy editor JESSICA SAGER jschucke@gru.edu news editor HALEY HARRIS hharris9@gru.edu arts & life editor AMY THORNE athorne@gru.edu sports editor ANTHONY GARCIA agarci11@gru.edu chief reporter ASHLEY TRAWICK atrawick@gru.edu production manager JORDAN BARRY jbarry3@gru.edu production assistant REBECCA PERBETSKY rperbets@gru.edu staff writers FATIMA FRASHER ffrasher@gru.edu STEPHANIE MCCRAY smccray1@gru.edu TAYLOR MITCHELL tmitch22@gru.edu JEAN-PAUL CASSAGNOL jcassagn@aug.edu photographers SHELDONIA BESSENT sbessent@gru.edu columnists NEIL DAVENPORT cdavenport3@gru.edu RICKEY JONES ricjones@gru.edu contributors A’SHAELA ABDON ERICA BATTLE RICHARD BOITER SARAH COCHRAN CATRIONA FREEMAN DEVANTE STARKS Cartoonist DAQUAN MIDDLETON dmiddle6@gru.edu advertising manager ASHLEY SHELTON ashelto9@gru.edu webmaster JACOB SCHARFF jscharff@gru.edu Direct advertising inquiries to: Ashley Shelton, Advertising Manager ashelto9@gru.edu Address all correspondence to: The Bell Ringer 2500 Walton Way Augusta, Ga 30904 706-737-1600 www.grubellringer.com

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JORDAN BARRY | STAFF

Stephanie Allen, a firefighter from Station 8, extinguishes flames from a burning car.

Dean Dye: Campus loses psych student

By Fatima Frasher staff writer

Dean Dye may be gone, but surely will not be forgotten as a student, friend or family member.

Dye entered to rest Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014, at the age of 47, according to The Elberton Star. He left behind a loving father, Harold Dye, Jr. of Elberton, Ga.; a brother, Dwayne Allen Dye, of Hartwell, Ga.; and a sister in-law, Donna Dye, of Hartwell.

Tadd Patton, an assistant professor of psychology at Georgia Regents University, said Dye stood out in his memories and was even able to remember his first interaction with Dye in 2012.

“He was coming around… looking for probably Dr. Hartmann or Dr. Widner, and I (would) usually have my door open,” Patton said.

“He came by and just introduced himself; we kind of hit it off there.

I would see him maybe once a semester to kind of help him out with advising questions if he couldn’t find Dr. Widner or Dr. Hartmann and what have you. We would just sit down and talk about life, too.”

Patton said he remembered Dye as a good conversationalist and these were the interaction he most fondly recalled..

Dye had been an avid church and choir member at both Eliam United Methodist Church in Elberton and Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Augusta, according to The Elberton Star. He also had been a clerk for Circle-K. Quentin Hartmann, associate professor and director of the undergraduate studies in psychology, said she had the pleasure of having Dye as a student.

“He was one of our majors and so I met him somewhere around

Panel

CONTINUED from PAGE 1

groups in North Africa represent attempts by people on the ground to take advantage of fast, disappearing civilian order.”

She said the group that no one knows what to call began as ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria but the official term out of Washington and what the French government changed it to is ISIL, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, but now it’s being called DAASH.

2011,” Hartmann said. “So I’ve known him for a number of years.

He’s one of them students that just sort of wanders around and pops in and says hello.”

Patton had a chance to talk more in depth with Dye about his personal life and discuss with Dye his goals in life.

“He talked to me quite a bit about the struggles that he had with taking care of his mother,” Patton said. “His mother was very ill and he (was) older than traditional age students, so I understand that he had to leave employment to help his mother and he tried to go to school part-time.”

Dye was also pursing a minor in English literature, Patton said.

Dye really wanted to pursue his goal of being a counselor helping individuals with addictions.

Patton also remembers Dye for his sense of humor as well.

“He was very funny,” he said.

“He had a little bit of a dry sense of humor. The thing I would say most about Dean is that he is a very comforting soul. He just had a warm presence, and I was telling someone else that I think he had the effect on other students of just making them feel comfortable in class. He was humble and very sweet.” ffrasher@gru.edu

“What France have said is, they’re very careful because France has got the largest Muslim population in Europe,” she said in her background introduction. “They’re very concerned about the term (and its) boomerang backlash effect.

They’re worried about the use of the terms Islamic and state. They’re very worried that this is going to result in more recruit and so, they’re trying to get around it by taking the Arabic terminology, the Arabic words and stringing it together and calling it DAASH … It’s the same group.” atrawick@gru.edu

A car caught on fire Saturday morning in the lot behind the Jaguar Student Activities Center.

The 1999 Buick Park Avenue was parked in the third parking spot when the owner of the car was trying to start it. It backfired and the passenger side caught on fire, but no one was injured, public safety said The owner of the Buick, who wished to remain anonymous, said the response time for public safety is what saved the Buick.

“Your campus folks did a good job with supplying the fire extinguisher for me,” the owner said.

Prior to receiving the fire extin-

guisher, the owner was able to get his granddaughters’ car seats out of the Buick and said to him that was the most important thing.

Stephanie Allen, a firefighter at Station 8, was one of the firefighters who helped put the smoldering remains out.

“I am not sure why it happened,” she said.

Stephen Parish, a lieutenant at Station 8, was also at the scene.

“This is a first for me,” Parish said. “I have never seen this happen before and I have been doing this for 34 years.”

Sgt. Mat Chrisman said the outcome could have been worse if the fire had been on the side of the vehicle where the gas tank was located. perbets@gru.edu

RICHARD ADAMS | STAFF

The office of the Academic Advisement Center will see 4100 students come Spring of 2015. The office consists of 14 professional advisers who will assign schedules.

Center takes on scheduling duty

By Richard Adams editor-in-chief

Gareth Smith said he knows what it means to have control of his education; he was shocked to discover this level of freedom lacking upon entering Georgia Regents University.

Smith, a middle grades education major, said his situation is a particular one: Having experienced scheduling and registration at Fort Hays State University in Kansas, he now finds himself at Georgia Regents as a sophomore unable to register for his own classes. In order to register for classes, his schedule must first be prepared by and entered into the system by an adviser.

“Now, we ... don’t use PIN numbers anymore,” said Katherine Sweeney, director of the Academic Advisement Center. “For the students we advise in the center, we actually have holds on their record so that when they come in for advising we’ll register them right here.”

This new approach to registration for students with less than 60 hours is part of a trend in higher education to graduate students sooner, Sweeney said.

“The registrar and I went to Georgia College (in the spring) because they have this model,” Sweeney said. “They advise to graduation at Georgia College. This is a model that is being implemented across the country. Because, let’s face it, having a student finish in four years – if the student has unlimited funds, it’s not their emergency to finish in four years – the onus is on the institutions because the institutions are being held accountable for students who don’t finish in a timely manner. So, most schools are moving to some kind of much more intrusive model.”

But if a student feels they are unable to take a full 15-hour course load, Sweeney said the center would work with that student and not require them to do something they truly felt they could not do.

Student progress will be tracked by

the advisement center using a variety of technologies not previously available to the different academic departments for use in sadvising.

“98 percent of our (entering) students are taking 12 (hours) or more this semester,” Sweeney said.

“We really average between 14 and 16, depending on if you throw a lab in there that first semester.”

Mike Augustine, senior director for advising and retention at Georgia College and State University, said one difference between the program at Georgia College and Georgia Regents University is that the student success center at Georgia College only requires freshmen to have an adviser prepare their schedule, as opposed to the under60-hour model currently in place at Georgia Regents.

“It’s the first year that we help them,” Augustine said. “But after that, the students register themselves.”

It is a model that has great benefits, he said.

“We’ve seen fewer withdrawals from classes,” Augustine said.

“And, also, the advisers make sure that students are hitting the 30-hour mark, the 60-hour mark, making sure that they’re progressing and taking a full course load to progress them in four years.”

Augustine said the relationship between student and adviser is key to this process. He said he feels confident this is a matter of importance to the advisement center at Georgia Regents as well.

“Over the 14 years of our POUNCE program, we’ve presented our POUNCE details many, many times to our colleagues at various conferences, and actually GRU seems to be the first institution to be willing to tackle such an initiative at the same level,” Augustine said.

“So kudos to Katherine Sweeney and Heather Metress and the other folks at GRU for striving to implement an early registration program and shaping it to meet the needs of your students.” radams99@gru.edu

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THE BELL RINGER

Student opens LGBTQ clinic

By Ashley Trawick chief reporter

In today’s society, everyone is not able to afford and receive proper healthcare – and one medical student is working to change that.

Justin Neisler, a fourth-year medical student, realized this need a year ago when he was approached by members of the LGBT community and others who were incapable of getting proper healthcare. He said he had been volunteering at several clinics over the course of his academic career at Georgia Regents University on the Health Sciences campus but noticed there wasn’t one central place where members of the LGBT community could go.

After attending a medical conference a year ago and hearing a professor speak about opening up a LGBT clinic as a part of her faculty clinic, Neisler said he wanted that same goal accomplished for the CSRA area. That next month, as it turns out, he said he took an elective with a professor who tasked the class with creating a community-driven project.

“I decided that, you know, I would utilize that time to kind of get this off the ground and I wrote a proposal for it and presented to (that professor) as part of that elective and he bought on to the idea,” he said.

The clinic is student-run, free and serves members of the LGBTQ community and others who are uninsured or under-insured and fall below 200 percent of the federal poverty

ASHLEY TRAWICK | STAFF

Justin Neisler, along with others, holds a pair of scissors to cut the opening bow of the new LGBTQ clinic.

level, according to the clinic’s website.

Regarding the support for the clinic, Neisler said it’s been incredible. He had a couple of worries, though, because he said he didn’t have the proper time to devote to getting the plan started. He said there were also issues regarding clinic space.

“Last spring, we became aware of the space in the … Health Sciences Building,” he said. “And right from there, second-year medical students really latched onto the project. That’s something that they wanted to see

happen.”

Alexandra Dodd, a second-year medical student, currently volunteers at the clinic. She said she was glad the space is finally being utilized properly and not only medical students are volunteering there.

“The way that medical students (are) at the end of the semester, we sign up to work certain clinics,” Dodd said. “But here at this one, it’s not just medical students. It’s medical students, nursing students, physician assistant students and hopefully, eventually,

other health professional students can come here and volunteer and get exposure to patients, practice using an interpreter, practice dealing with cultural issues that you might not see when, you know, you’re on the ward third and fourth year.”

Dodd, who helped write the clinic’s operation manual, said when a student signs up, it’s only for a day. She said there are also a lot of people who are interested in coming.

Duties as a volunteer, she said, may include procedural things like working on a team, greeting patients, taking vitals and getting a history to find out why they’re visiting.

“We call it volunteering but really, you know, you get a lot out of it,” she said. “You learn a lot and it’s really fast-paced and you learn really fast. And it’s great because first and second years are in medical school just in the classrooms. But with volunteer opportunities like this, you get to start doing clinical work before you actually start clinical curriculum in third and fourth year.”

Alexis Rossi, the director of Diversity Training and Evaluation in the Office of Student and Multicultural Affairs, said negative statistics like abuse by a healthcare professional or refused healthcare from various organizations are why the equality clinic exists.

“It’s these types of negative experiences that we’re hoping Equality Clinic will be able to overcome by providing culturally competent care to those who need it in the local community,” she said. atrawick@gru.edu

Graduate helps fight disease abroad

By Taylor Mitchell staff writer

Recent Georgia Regents University graduate Brett Heimlich, recipient of the Fulbright-Fogarty scholarship, plants his feet firmly on the foreign soil of Africa to take on an issue much bigger than himself.

One problem that still arises in the Southeastern African country of Malawi is sickle cell disease, Heimlich said.

“The first order of business for us would be to establish a sickle cell diagnostic laboratory so that way

we could get samples from people who might have sickle cell, take them to the lab and tell people for sure or not if they have the disease,” Heimlich said. “If they know they have the disease they can have better care.”

At Georgia Regents there is a percentage of the African-American student population that has connections to Africa, said Ogechi Ochuba, a senior biology/pre-pharmacy major.

Ochuba, a first-generation Nigerian-born student, said she remembers the Igbo lifestyle when it comes to sickness and diseases.

Disabilites CONTINUED from PAGE 1

as well as ADD and ADHD.” Some of the speakers included the two keynote speakers: Kerrie Powell, who has a child with autism, and Joel Sussman, a doctor who spoke of his own ADHD, Harris said.

The event also featured a panel of officials from Columbia County, Richmond Country and South Carolina who spoke about how the laws impact what educators can do.

Betsy Thompson, a kindergarten teacher at South Columbia Elementary School and member of the Georgia Regents literacy council board, said the board is trying to build up the literacy center in hopes of making it one of the best in the Southeast.

“We’re just trying to get some things to make people more aware of what the literacy center can do, but also through the department of education we’re trying to bring in different things that will affect a lot of people,” she said. “We’re just trying to do something to meet the needs of the teachers and the parents in this area and students as they’re learning to go into education.”

Providing professional learning experiences for the community is part of the literacy center’s mission to be a National Reading Styles Institute exemplary models program, Harris said.

“Because we are becoming a diagnostic

Mother CONTINUED from PAGE 1

Though the plane was turned around for the medical emergency, McCorkle said, it was really turned around for everyone onboard.

“They had to check their medical bag, and then we could take off,” she said. “But when they checked the medical bag, that took them five minutes. You know, they found a taillight out.”

Nurse coordinator Sandra Oglesby, who has known McCorkle for about 28 years, said her first reaction was “That was just like Sandy” when she heard about McCorkle’s actions on the plane.

“She is probably the most caring nurse that I have ever run across, and I have been in nursing for 30 years,” Oglesby said. “She’s also very passionate.”

“We use this cream called Okwouma,” Ochuba said. “You put it on your hands first.. Say your chest is congested and you rub it over your chest and that’s it. It’s like a rub. It will clear your sinuses. You can put it on a sprained ankle. My mom used to put it on my ankles during soccer and it clears right up.”

Though the U.S. may not use the same methods of healing, the idea is very similar. These are the same benefits that Heimlich said he is trying to provide for the people of Africa.

Megan Tabanico is a Georgia Regents student who said she suf-

screening program, we will be talking more about our brain-based research strategies that we’re implementing, identifying reading styles, the kinds of things that we’ll be able to do to assist children,” she said.

The event, Harris said, was geared toward parents, teachers, community leaders and school leaders as a way to reach students in schools who experience autism and/or ADHD. “We had them do evaluations at the end,” Harris said. “(Participants in the evaluation) said it was the best two days of a conference they had ever experienced..”

Carrie Murga, autism facilitator for Richmond County, said the event helped her to see the parents’ perspective and struggle.

“I’m very used to dealing with parents,” Murga said. “But watching them, they talked about their struggle and their journey once they found out their child was diagnosed with autism and what they had to go through, and understanding their perspective.”

She said she also discovered that Georgia is one of few states where autism therapies and treatments are not covered by insurance.

“Early intervention is the key to treating any child with a disability or an exceptionality,” she said. “The earlier you can get them treated, the more likely they have to live a more normal life and some of these therapies and treatments are extremely expensive, so some of these kids could lead a stronger life had they had more early intervention.” athorne@gru.edu

Hawkins said that before she and her mother got back to Atlanta, they heard the man they’d helped had passed away. She found herself talking to his parents.

“They were starting to say, you know, ‘Thank you, thank you,’” she said. “And I’m just, I’m waiting for them to say these treacherous words, you know, ‘Thank you, but he didn’t make it’ And then, so they said ‘Yeah, he’s in ICU.’ And I’m like, ‘He’s in what?’

And I’m just like breaking down crying in the airport.”

Oglesby said McCorkle told her she felt she needed to go back to Texas to see the man whose life she and her daughter had saved.

“Knowing Sandy as I do, I did not hesitate, because I knew my staff would be able to pick up the slack for her not being here,” she said. “We’re like one big family.”

McCorkle said the man from the airplane has a weak heart and is struggling but is still alive. jschucke@gru.edu

fers from sickle cell and yet has learned to manage her symptoms day to day, as well as attend to her schoolwork. Tabanico, a senior social work major, said part of this daily maintenance is achieved by eating well and working out.

“The doctors tell you to do tons of things and give you tons of medicine,” Tabanico said. “And yes, I take them, but first and foremost I try to eat right and exercise. That can cure anything. Right now, I’m managing everything great right now, so no worries. I’m just taking it day-by-day.”

Heimlich said he is making

every possible stride to ensure that Malawi sees a decrease in the number of undiscovered sickle cell patients.

He said he loves the fact that he can help in another country.

“The first two months, all I will be doing is paperwork,” Heimlich said. “If I could, that would be what I would get rid of.”

He said paper work is a burden when the need for help is growing; right now, the only thing that stands between him and a population that so desperately needs him is a pile of papers.

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PAGE 4

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THE BELL RINGER

OPINION www.grubellringer.com

editorial

Restricted access hurts all I

n good conscience, the Bell Ringer cannot stay silent on the matter of the university refusing underclassmen the right to register for their own classes.

On one hand, we do not doubt the commitment of the Academic Advisement Center to scheduling these students; they seem more than capable of handling the increased work load this new development has resulted in. Also, the infrastructure they have set in place and the preparation they undertook to get to this point are both signs that they have set forth on this path with the future in mind.

And yet, the Bell Ringer is unable to refrain from stating the precariousness it foresees in a situation where students are asked to

hand over their freedom of choice to the university on a regular basis.

What is next? Prescribed majors? That sounds silly, but so would have restricted access to registration only a few years ago.

In this lopsided equation, the university’s interests are clearly represented and the concerns of faculty and students rejected.

Trust, in order to be effective, must be reciprocal. If the advisement the school is able to offer is of the quality it is purported to be, shouldn’t this be enough? A student who ignores sound advice does so at his or her own peril.

While the student body is being assured that the model currently underway is one being emulated by other schools around

the nation, it should be pointed out that already it has surpassed the program at Georgia College it has been modeled upon as to the extent of its intrusion into students’ lives.

The impetus behind these restrictions on scheduling for freshmen and sophomores seems, well, sophomoric.

From this angle, it seems as though the school is attempting to achieve results by forcing upon its students the constraints of a statistical profile. Only poor judgment would suggest this as a possible route to constructing an environment conducive to student well-being. As parents inform their children, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

If the formula for success

which the school seeks is more important than the students affected by it; if, in other words, success comes at the expense of development; then we are not the university we claim to be, but instead a shell purporting to have the same stability of a university whose students’ success is integrated within an approach to the whole pupil.

It is the plea of this paper that the school reconsiders its current approach. For if the student voice is stifled, then the university will suffer the same fate of its students: To be stunted, to wither and not grow.

Encouragement, respect and wisdom, this is what we request and it is all we require.

editorial policy Letters to the editor must be accompanied by the author’s email address. All columns and letters to the editor are the opinion of the author. The views expressed in the opinion section do not necessarily express those of The Bell Ringer, a designated public forum.

Anything submitted to The Bell Ringer is open to be edited or rejected. However, The Bell Ringer staff gives all opinions a fair chance to be heard. All letters will be edited for grammar and style.

If you would like to contribute a column or a letter to the editor, send an email to: bellringerproduction@gmail.com

Answers fail in wake of acts of brute violence

By Haley Harris news editor

W

RICHARD BOITER | CONTRIBUTOR

Shoppers outside the AT&T store located at Mullins Crossing shopping center in Evans, Ga., wait to get hands on newest tech.

iPhone 6 arrives on the scene

By Jacob Scharff web master

O

n Tuesday, Sept. 9, Apple unveiled its latest set of i-devices, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus; also revealed was the Apple Watch, which is the company’s first foray into the wearable market.

The first iPhone I ever Jacob Scharff owned was an web master iPhone 3 and I jumped from that straight to the iPhone 5, but it looks like with all the new possible plans and deals and everything now that I’ll be able to get an iPhone 6 in November, a mere two months after the release that was on Sept.

19. Is it worth it though?

As the iPhone 5 was released about two years ago, we can safely assume it’ll be at least another two years before there’s enough innovation and new tech to make making and (for the consumer) buying an iPhone 7 a reality.

So does the iPhone 6 and, subsequently, the iPhone 6 Plus make enough of a difference where

it should be used to help bridge the gap? Maybe.

Let’s start with screen size.

The iPhone 5 came packing a 4-inch screen, and the iPhone 6 jacks that number up to a 4.7. The iPhone 6 Plus increases it even more to a whopping 5.5 inches, officially allowing it to be deemed Apple’s first “phablet,” a device that bridges the gap between phones and tablets by working as a phone and being just big enough to be used as a tablet as well.

It’ll be easier to see things than ever before, but the size increase, especially when it comes to the iPhone 6 Plus, is going to make it difficult to use one-handed still.

And good luck carrying that in your pocket without having it stick so far out that it begs to be stolen.

The operating system is next and the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will both run iOS 8. With improved capabilities and a whole suite of new health software at the user’s fingertips, this new update should be nice for both the tech-savvy and the health-conscious individual.

There is also, however, an option for those of us who’ve always wanted to mount our iPhones to our wrists. It’s the Apple Watch.

The watch won’t be released till 2015, but that is because Apple

is really putting it’s all into it. It’s built (in 2 out of 3 models, anyway) with the same sapphire crystal the iPhones are using, which is super strong glass that actually comes from bits of sapphires.

It has a heart rate sensor and walkie-talkie capabilities, too. And it will be interesting to see how Apple improves on those in future iterations. I’m personally getting flashbacks to the original Mighty Morphin Power Ranger wrist communicators that they could use to talk to Zordon.

So, will I trade in my iPhone 5 for an iPhone 6? Probably, as I’m the type who loves having a piece of the newest tech as soon as I can.

What about an iPhone 6 Plus?

No. I’m not a fan of carrying around an airplane tray table, and my laptop still works just fine, thank you very much.

The Apple Watch? Debatable.

Since I always have both my cell phone and watch on my person, I’m really not sure of the sense it would make at this point.

There is a lot of innovative technology in this first set of models, though. And in a few years I could easily see myself changing my answer to a definitive “yes” if all the pieces fall into place.

jscharff@gru.edu

illiam Davitte, a 56-year-old man and Jennifer, his 64-year-old wife, were at their church turning on the sprinkler system.

While his wife waited in the car, a male suspect approached the car.

He shot Jennifer, and when Davitte rounded Haley Harris the corner after news editor hearing his wife scream, he was shot in the face, dying at the scene.

This incident was reported in the Augusta Chronicle at the beginning of the school semester and occurred on Aug. 14 in the parking lot of Marvin United Methodist Church in Martinez, Ga. When I first read this story, I was beyond shocked and disgusted.

I was so confused and traumatized to the core, honestly.

Of course, I’ve seen numerous stories similar to this one: A man beats a couple on Riverwalk, woman is robbed walking from apartment, man held at gunpoint for wallet. I have to say, though, none of those hit me as hard as hearing about an elderly, defenseless couple being shot for no reason.

I know times have changed, and killings have become much more prevalent in today’s news and have even become so abundant that most news headlines with murder in them bypass the average person’s attention - but this needs to be heard.

How can anybody kill an innocent person? How? Is it because he was in a rush? Was he just in a bad mood? Is it really that easy to take

a life?

Jennifer Davitte will awaken in the hospital without her husband.

She will awaken and her entire life will change. Why? Because 21-year-old Daniel Robinson felt he had the right to end the life of a man he had never even met.

I am tired of hearing about stories like this. We as a population have evolved into a generation where murdering another human is just a common event that happens on a daily basis, and we are losing touch with real emotion.

Shooting to kill is expected. If someone approaches a stranger to steal his or her wallet, the probability of that person being shot or stabbed as well is extremely high.

Whether you resist or comply with the attacker, you will die if the attacker just so pleases to kill you.

We have a history that has experienced so much death and so much growth, that you would think, by now, compassion and support would spread amongst the population. Instead, I fear we have merely evolved into an even less emotional and detached species.

This couple was going about their normal lives on a normal night and had never met this man.

I picture elderly couples as this to be completely harmless. If the man wanted something from them, what was the couple honestly going to do? Did this 21-year-old really think the old man was going to fight him? Was this 64-year-old woman going to punch him in the face?

No. Yet, he shot her and killed her husband without empathy, without sensitivity.

I don’t expect the human race to love one another and hold hands, but I cannot comprehend why I need to be terrified for my life all day, every day when a stranger simply approaches me.

hharris9@gru.edu

Not living in a vacuum: Student considers the victims of suicide

By DeVante Starks contributor

A

ccording to the World Health Organization, over 800,000 people commit suicide every year, which estimates someone commits suicide every 17 seconds. Nationally, suicide is the eighth leading cause of death among the general population; however, for the age group in which most of you reading this reside (15-24), suicide is the third leading cause of death.

With September being Suicide Prevention Month, it is important that everyone be educated on the warning signs of suicide and knowledgeable on ways to prevent it from happening. There are many factors that lead someone to consider suicide; while depres-

sion is the first thing that comes to mind, anything can begin the downward spiral to considering or committing suicide. Bullying has always been a large factor in contributing to suicidal activity, and living in the technology age, cyber bullying has become a big factor as well.

Although there are many individual warning signs expressed by someDeVante Starks one experiencing suicidal contributor thoughts, the biggest warning sign is change in behavior. More often than not, this change will be a person’s personality going from one extreme to another; this also includes loss

“

When a person has reached the point of considering suicide, it is believed to be the last resort to stopping the pain they are experiencing.

--DeVante Starks

”

of interest in favorite day-to-day activities, change in patterns and neglect of hygiene and appearance. Another universal sign that someone is having suicidal thoughts is they continually express feelings of hopelessness and apathy. These feelings are highlighted by expressions of having no expectancy for the future and nothing to look forward to.

I cannot go forward in this article without acknowledging a common myth of those who experience suicide. Many people be-

lieve that anyone who is considering suicide is beyond their help. Others may be fully convinced suicide is their only option; this is not true. As someone who has struggled with suicidal thoughts and survived an attempt, I will be the first to first to acknowledge that suicide is not seen as an end but a means to an end. When a person has reached the point of considering suicide, it is believed to be the last resort to stopping the pain they are experiencing.

In David Cox’s novel, “Aftershock: Help, Hope, and Suicide,” he writes that 1500 suicides are attempted daily, and for every suicide six lives are directly affected.

Now that you have a general understanding of suicide, I want you to know that you can do something about it.

dstarks2@gru.edu

Distractions too common in daily life

By A’Shaela Abdon contributor

I

SARAH COCHRAN | CONTRIBUTOR

While studying and teaching in Africa, Cochran says she was confronted with a life-threatening reality millions face everyday.

Malaria haunts victim

By Sarah Cochran contributor

A

frica holds a very special place in my heart. My father grew up there, and I grew up hearing his stories of life on that continent.

The stories fascinated me, and it’s safe to say I caught the “Africa bug” at a young age, vowing to one day to go explore it for myself. I finally had the opportunity when I was in college.

I had fallen in love with foreign languages and chose to add Swahili to my repertoire. I worked hard and earned a Fulbright-Hays scholarship to go abroad to Tanzania when I was 20. Despite the feelings of invincibility typical of a 20-year-old, I decided to do whatever possible to insure my safety.

I had all of my vaccinations before traveling. I took my anti-malaria medication per doctor’s orders. I wore bug repellant. I slept under my mosquito net every night. I said my prayers in English AND Swahili. I even drank beer instead of water with most of my meals because it was safer. (What a sacrifice for a college kid!).

Although I did everything right, things eventually went wrong. I caught malaria.

I had been living abroad for months. I started tiring easily but thought it was just delayed jet lag, or maybe I was doing too much. I was ECSTATIC to be in “National Geographic” territory and I was living my African adventure to the fullest – caving in places where I expected an Indiana Jones-sized boulder to suddenly appear and plow me down, hikes through rainforests, driving through the middle of animal migrations, watching the sunrise from deserted beaches, snorkeling near Zanzibar, walking in places where Dr. David Livingston had been and where “Nutcracker Man” was discovered – the

“

When the lab tech told me he found the parasite in my blood sample, the world froze.

--Sarah Cochran

list goes on!

I started working in an orphanage near Morogoro. There were children from many backgrounds – some whose parents had died of HIV/AIDS, some whose parents could not take care of them and then some who had been orphaned by malaria. Some of the children there HAD malaria. I had heard of malaria. I was on medication to prevent it. I also had a cousin who had contracted it as a child. He survived, but the damage done to his body had left him a diabetic.

Malaria frightened me. It wasn’t like HIV or AIDS – American health classes didn’t teach about diseases that no longer exist in America.

One morning I woke up and knew something was terribly wrong. I was dizzy, incredibly achy and abnormally emotional. I dressed quickly and went to find my supervisor before breakfast.

When she answered my knock at her door, all I could do was cry and tell her, “I don’t feel good.” After asking me a few questions, she took me to the local “laboratory” (a little tin shed with a couple of chairs outside) to have my blood tested.

When the lab tech told me he found the parasite in my blood sample, the world froze. Then I realized I was freezing, and sweating and my world was spinning. The fever had started. The scary unknown had become my reality, and it was attacking my body quickly.

What followed was mostly a blur as the malaria took over. I was taken to the private clinic in town where I was prescribed some medication – a box of pills that was

”

designed to not only kill the live parasites in my blood, but kill the ones that were incubating in my liver.

I took the pills. I was able to eat a little. Then my kidneys started shutting down. The pain can only be compared to childbirth as my organs started to fail. My body rejected food and water. I was loaded into a taxi and driven in the middle of the night to the local doctor’s home. The nearest hospital was five hours away. I was placed on the sofa in his home, his wife and children hovering nearby, and in my delirious state, asked if it were possible to go ahead and remove one of the kidneys just to take the pain away.

My parents were called and were told to convince me to make the trip home as soon as I was strong enough or I would die.

I made it home and I recovered, but malaria didn’t leave me alone after that. Years later, when I was pregnant with my first child, my husband and I were relieved when we were told my liver panel and multitude of tests showed my organs were functioning fine and my history of malaria would not affect the baby. Then my kidneys started failing. It was like a horrible replay, but thankfully, this time the closest hospital was only five minutes away.

I get tired easily now. I have to take extra care of my body, but I have not let anything slow me down too much. I have continued to travel the world, and will continue to do so – now just with a more intimate understanding of some of the harsher aspects of everyday life for millions.

feel rather lucky and blessed to have a job where, while also helping people, I have the time and resources to get my homework and studying done.

Do I take advantage of this time wisely? No. If I’m not up helping others with their own assignments, I’m at my desk on Facebook.

Probably taking the latest Buzzfeed quiz telling me which “Friends” character I am (my results were Rachel Green, by the way).

So it doesn’t surprise me when I come up with more subpar grades than I’m used to. I’ve gotten plenty better at completing my homework, but why do I do this to myself? BeA’Shaela Abdon cause it’s 2014! contributor My younger siblings already have tablets and I don’t. We are in a growing technological era that brings progress and distractions.

Instead of discussing what we already know, let’s take an honest approach at getting stuff done!

Sleep: Some may say that sleep is overrated, but I say it’s highly underrated. Sleep does so much good to the body. I admit, I’ve had those “just one more episode” kind of nights where all the episodes just turn into one full movie.

I like to think of sleep as currency and the body is a bank.

As I save up hours and hours of sleep while I’m young, later I’ll be sitting on a humungous sleep retirement fund.

The less sleep you get, the higher your risk of making mistakes. Not enough sleep could potentially cause you to look older by your late 30s. Anyone who proves otherwise has really great genes, is a vampire or Benjamin Button.

Stimulants: Unless you’re prescribed certain medication by a doctor, drugs probably aren’t the best route. Drugs that aren’t FDA approved have a likeliness to be false.

Another stimulant we consume almost every day is coffee. Out of 100 million coffee drinkers in the United States, 34 percent of those have 13 or more cups per week (according to Live Science). I found myself in this same position last semester. The letdown afterward

was not as pleasant. This can help, but it’s mostly short term. Once my exam was over, it was met with headaches and, surprisingly, drowsiness.

Technology: Let’s be honest with ourselves, those apps and programs that put a timed block on your social media barely work, unless I’m not as technologically literate as I thought. If you know the password to the block, and you are just desperate enough to stop studying, you will bypass it to check Facebook.

My trick for denying the phone: Plug it up to the charger!

If your phone is legitimately low on battery, you have a sufficient reason for it to be plugged in. If so, plug up your phone in the next room or even downstairs. Ultimately, it requires willpower. There are very few things in life you’re in control of, but yourself is definitely one of them.

Plan: This is the most important part of all in helping you conquer those distractions. As soon as you get an assignment, lay out the steps. Make a super detailed, maybe even redundant list of steps for your completion. Step one: Walk into JSAC. Step two: Open the door to the library. Step three: Walk to the Circulation Desk. It may seem useless, but we find satisfaction in checking things off of lists. Be sure to designate time.

You get more done when you designate time for certain things.

Personally, I set aside an hour every day to just do… well, sometimes nothing, sometimes something. That one hour is “me” time that I use for anything I want.

Friday night and Sunday is the best time of the week for doing whatever you want. You can even set five hours for schoolwork on those days. People do have busy lives; so as long as your “you” time fits evenly with school and jobs, you can work it out.

Take all of this with a grain of salt; I understand that my methods are not someone else’s. As a beginning freshman, I was utterly surprised by the amount of freebies I did not receive in my classes. We are ever evolving, and you can’t become better at being productive overnight. One of the biggest mistakes we make in procrastinating isn’t exactly the act itself, but it’s how it makes us feel. We’re only human, and humans have been given the gift of learning from their mistakes and taking immediate action to progressively get better.

aabdon@gru.edu

PAGE 6

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

ARTS & LIFE

Artists revamp utilities

By Jessica Sager copy editor

SHELDONIA BESSENT | STAFF

Festival grows in culture

By Amy Thorne and Fatima Frasher arts & life editor, staff writer Students and Augustans recently welcomed the 34th annual Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival, on Sept. 19-21, an event well known for the variety of cultures it presents annually to the community of Augusta.

“We have lots of great stuff this year,” said Leza Witherington, senior administrative assistant of communication. “We are a full block larger than we were last year, so that means we have over 200 original arts and artists.”

Tammi Jenkins, property manager of High Point Crossing, said she looks forward to seeing the event’s many cultures every year.

“I’ve been going since my daughter was probably in middle

school,” she said. “I think it’s great because a lot of people don’t get the chance to travel abroad. I was very fortunate as a child with my father being in the Army, so I spent my time abroad. Each state has a different culture, so I think it’s one way we can bring different cultures to Augusta and one way we can learn each other’s culture.”

Another thing the Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival is known for is its extensive variety of food and performances, Witherington said.

“We have, I think, an additional 10 food countries that are represented as well,” she said. “We have five stages this year, instead of four. We have a brand new stage called the Jazz Stage that’s being ran by Karen Gordon. Karen is known for her Moonlight Jazz series that she does on the Riverwalk. We have a family

HALEY HARRIS | STAFF

Gamers battle each other on their Gameboys during a Pokemon X &Y competition.

Gotta catch ’em all

By Haley Harris news editor The Electronic Gaming Club gathered on Thursday for one of its many events this semester where students competed to “catch ‘em all.”

The Pokemon tournament took place in Washington Hall from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. and was open for any student interested, electronic gaming club president Jacob Scharff said. The fee to enter in the competition was $3, and spectators were encouraged to come and hang out and were allowed in for free.

Prizes were given away to the top three champions, according to a poster advertising the event. First place received a $45 gift card to GameStop, second place received a stuffed Pokemon animal and a notebook and third place received a plastic keychain, Scharff said.

Jessica Faust, a junior creative writing major and secretary of the club, said she has been a part of the club since her freshman year at Georgia Regents University, and video games have been a passion

and hobby of hers for many years.

She said she is regularly involved in the activities of the club, and the Pokemon tournament was just one of many events the club holds.

“We do tournaments every semester,” Faust said. “We do all kinds of other tournaments. We do Mario Kart (and) we do Mario Party. We did a C.O.D. (Call of Duty) tournament last semester. We’re not getting a lot of publicity when we do tournaments. Basically, we’ll do anything that the members would like us to do.”

She said the most popular among the tournaments are Mario based games.

“Mario Kart is really popular with the club (and) so is Smash Brothers,” Faust said. “That’s probably the most popular. We try to work with Level Up to do tournaments over there exclusively for our members. We’re working to get a League of Legends tournament this year.”

Cody Ford, sophomore medical illustration major and vice president of the club, said that Pokemon is

stage, a community stage, the Global Stage (which is in the Augusta Commons). Then you have my stage, the Troubadour Stage.”

Witherington said the Troubadour Stage is smaller and more intimate. The larger stages featured all kinds of other acts, including music from various genres.

“There will be belly dancing, Zumba and folk dancing,” Witherington said. “We had some of the Pakistani kids on our stage last year, and they were a lot of fun. We have a young artist market as well this year.”

Micheale Jenkins, a postgraduate finance major, said she had been waiting all year for the festival.

“I (was) looking forward to the food,” she said. “I cannot lie. I hope the Germans come back. I missed them last year; I missed them terribly. I wanted my jagerschnitzel.” one of the popular events.

“We try to branch out and do different tournaments that go to different interests,” Ford said. “But the one that will garner attention, and actual arrival and payment and everything, is definitely the ones that have been consistent like Pokemon.”

The event drew in students, such as sophomore radiation therapy major Ashley Jackson, who had never heard of the club before.

She said she has been playing Pokemon since elementary school and it sparked her interest.

“I usually just go straight home after class,” Jackson said. “I saw one of their posters in University Hall. I play Pokemon and I was like, well, might as well try to do something besides do class and then go home.”

The Electronic Gaming Club does more than just carry out events, Faust said. They also act as a support and friend-making group.

“Our overall goal is to make gamers feel comfortable, because they are sort of ostracized,” Faust said. “They’re looked down upon as freaks. I had a video game addiction a while ago. I always thought it had to be, like, give-or-take. Either I had to play video games or I couldn’t at all, and this club, like, really showed me that, you know, we’re like a family. We help each other out, no matter what, with personal problems, with schoolwork.

It’s just a really comfortable environment for us to be in because a lot of us are antisocial, too, and to be accepted like for no matter who you are ... it’s wonderful.”

Ford agreed with Faust and said that the club is meant to join students with the common gaming interest together, and even help one another out with school.

hharris9@gru.edu

Witherington also said she enjoys the festival’s selection of food.

“My favorite is the Filipino food,” she said. “They grill chicken and beef, and they put it on skewers. I don’t know what they put on it but, boy, is it good. Their line is always the longest, but I like the Germans too - but the Greeks know how to do their baklava and gyros, holy mackerel.”

Other acts included performances from Davidson Fine Arts, Paine College Concert Choir, hula hooping and pyrotechnics, according to the event’s website.

“It’s just an amazing festival,” Witherington said. “We are one of the best in the Southeast and one of the largest in the Southeast. So, there is a little something for everyone.”

athorne@gru.edu ffrasher@gru.edu

STEPHANIE MCCRAY | STAFF

Judges discuss a student’s performance during GRU Idol auditions held Sept. 7.

Idol show strikes a good chord

By Richard Adams and Ashley Trawick editor-in-chief, chief reporter

Eleven contestants, one stage and the eyes of Georgia Regents University all focused on determining who would be the next GRU Idol.

After several months of preparation, the Jaguar Production Crew brought back an event on Wednesday that had not been on campus since the merger between Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University, said Raysean Ricks, sophomore communications major and live entertainment director for THE CREW. Differentiating between the other talent show events held throughout the semester and creating a specific atmosphere for the GRU Idol contest was a concern

PAGE 7

Movie teaches life lessons

www.grubellringer.com

Yitao Tu (Left) paints a butterfly on a patron’s head, New Orleans stilt walker Shaka Zulu (Top Right) works the crowd, (Bottom Right) a group performs a cultural dance.

THE BELL RINGER

Some of the traffic boxes that occupy the sidewalks of downtown Augusta will be given a makeover by local artists.

Brenda Durant, executive director of the Greater Augusta Arts Council, said graffiti on the traffic boxes is a problem. People also use the boxes as places to put up advertisements.

“Up around the Augusta Nationals, during the Masters, seems like people want to use the traffic boxes to advertise their parties, events, or, you know, whatever,” said Assistant Director of Engineering Steven Cassell.

Cassell, who works for the city, said he first saw painted traffic boxes in Eugene, Ore. Later, he saw the boxes in other states.

He brought the idea to the arts council.

Durant said that graffiti stops when there is artwork on the boxes.

Sallie West, outreach director at the arts council, said artists could apply to paint the traffic boxes by submitting their work. Anyone may submit his or her work.

She said information about the application process should be released in early October.

The arts council is organizing the project, Durant said. It is being funded by funds from the downtown development authority, which come from the SPLOST. Jennifer McKeon, a manager at O’Donovan’s Irish Pub, said she thinks the more attractive-looking traffic boxes will be good for business.

“People want to come somewhere that’s pretty, and, you know, comfortable,” she said. “If you have a bunch of eyesores and things that are just not appealing, it makes people not want to be around.” jschucke@gru.edu

Ricks had early on.

“That was one of the biggest challenges I had trying to move forward with this show,” he said.

“Trying to make it unique and stand alone from the talent show.”

The desire to reach as many people as possible, Ricks said, also helped to inform how he and his panel picked out the contestants.

One of those contestants, Ashley Elim, a sophomore marketing major who ultimately came in second, said that while singing is second nature to her, the urge to perform at GRU Idol came much less naturally.

“I wasn’t going to do it at first but my friend, Arthur, he convinced me,” Elim said. “I’ve been singing all of my life. I grew up singing in church, in the mirror at my house, so just all the time, anytime I could.

It’s exciting. It’s always exciting to perform. It’s something that I really love to do. I can’t talk in front of anyone; it makes me really nervous. But I can sing in front of pretty much anybody. It’s something I love to do.”

Ariana Williams, a sophomore art major, won the first GRU Idol competition Wednesday. She said it felt good to win because she’s always sung privately.

Williams, who goes by the stage name Ariana Cherice, wants to take her talent farther than a talent show.

“I hope that I will be able to tour the world one day,” she said.

“I’ll start off small with the U.S., but hopefully one day, I can take my music overseas and stuff. I really just want to share my talent because music is such an important part of my life. I want to be able to share that with other people and help them the way that music helps me.”

radams99@gru.edu atrawick@gru.edu

By Neil Davenport contributor

“T

his is Where I Leave You” is a heartfelt and touching film that demonstrates the very idea of not only accepting the elements in life that you cannot control, but primarily choosing to live contently with who you are and learning to love the people who knowingly love you.

This film portrays life as an odd phenomenon and illustrates the acceptance of change: If life appears to be complicated with overflowing struggles and confusion, don’t panic.

As Judd Foxman (portrayed by Jason Bateman) demonstrates, after seeing his wife ruggedly sleep with his boss who he considered a

COURTSEY OF WARNER BROTHERS

friend, life is never simple.

Like Foxman, we scratch our heads and wonder why life takes turns we were not ready for. Although things go sour, it is not a bad practice to be surprised by life. We need a few rainy days in order to smile when there is a sunny day.

While grieving their father’s recent death, the characters in the film exemplify the

relationship between siblings beautifully in that, even though they are all adults dealing with the accidental rise and fall of marriage, divorce, pregnancy, individual discovery and acceptance, they, in a sense, become children again so as to revisit their past and then appreciate life as it is.

Though it is a small detail, it proves the point. Philip

Foxman (Adam Driver) puts a cigarette in his mouth and Wendy Foxman (Tina Fey), his sister, instantly snatches it out and says, “Come on man, its 2014!”

Or when Judd sees Wendy’s son, who’s 4 years old, and takes it upon himself to carry around his own portable toilet to poop in while sitting on the front porch, Judd wishes he could be like his nephew and wishes his life was not so complicated just like Wendy wishes Philip would not smoke so much.

Ultimately, this film is worth seeing in the theater, and though it is rated R for a number of reasons, it is a funfilled family film. Just don’t take your kids if you care about their innocence.

cdavenp3@gru.edu

PDQ: New restaurant fries up good deals for customers

By Taylor Mitchell staff writer

P

DQ has made an appearance upon the Evans restaurant scene.

Located at 4311 Washington Road in Evans, the recently opened PDQ is striving to make its mark in the CSRA. Upon arrival the colorful restaurant definitely draws you in to see what’s happening on the inside, just because the sign really catches your eye. Though the sign was catchy, PDQ’s menu choices are everything shy of exciting; chicken sandwiches, chicken strips and salad. That’s it.

Eye catching? NO. Super huge selection? NO. Delicious? YES! Though PDQ’s selection is extremely limited and completely uninspiring, that does not make the food any less tasty.

Three words come to mind when I think of PDQ: “College kid heaven.”

We seem to always be hungriest for

the things that aren’t always the best for us.

This, on the other hand, tastes great, is all made in-house and you don’t leave feeling like you have a huge rock in your stomach or you could take a 12-hour nap.

Just because the food is great doesn’t mean the restaurant goes without room for improvement.

The lack of advertising for this hidden jewel makes it hard not to overlook the place. Without word of mouth, no one would ever know this place existed in the first place. Did you know? No? Neither did I! Two suggestions I have for PDQ are to advertise more and expand the menu.

At the end of the day, nobody only wants to eat chicken. Beef, seafood and pork; I LOVE IT ALL. So why not give the people what they want and expand the menu? I’m sure your clientele will skyrocket because what you do offer is AWESOME.

My favorite part of the experience had to be the atmosphere. It’s honestly a chill place with good food, great people working there - and all that’s lacking is the company that you can bring with you.

When you invite your friends, the place goes from a seven to a complete 10.

With prices ranging from $6.99 to around $9, you can have a full meal that’s just as delicious as it is completely inexpensive.

Oh, the service you ask? Couldn’t get any better; everyone had a smile and cheery disposition upon entry. PDQ, though extremely limited in what they serve, is a great option if you just so happen to be in the mood for chicken; then I would recommend you give PDQ a try.

From the food to the bathrooms, the place gets an overall eight and a half. Would I recommend it? Heck yes! Now, go eat, and save me some salad. tmitch22@gru.edu

Fashion is my creed Rickey Jones

Columnist

The intern files week IV

S

o, on my blog, I write about fashion and success. I have a little miniseries of posts called “The Intern Files”! This semester, I got an amazing internship with VeryVera, a local baker-extraordinaire! “The Intern Files” are pretty much tips that go along with what I did/learned that week. Here is this week’s: Well, it’s Week 4 of my internship, and I can say that it’s great. I’m learning so much and making so many connections.

What’s so funny, I really didn’t think this internship would affect me that much, but now, I feel like it’s my full-time job! I have also learned so much about myself and how I like to work. What I love about this internship is that I get to work with brands.

I could totally see myself launching my own brand!

However, this internship is not easy.

I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me!

I have made a vow to myself, to be as professional and proficient as possible! If I give my best, I will get the best! Here is a tip on how you can give your best on your job: Staying One Step Ahead: Vera and I have a great relationship. I always like to stay one step ahead of Vera, so that she sees how committed and organized I am.

Staying one step ahead helps your boss get more things done! When your boss sees that you have completed most of your tasks, he or she can allow you to work on something more enjoyable! For example, every Monday Vera and I have a meeting where we go over the outlines for the week. Vera sends me the outlines on Sunday, so staying one step ahead of her would be printing the outlines, reading over the outlines, taking notes on the outlines and preparing things for Monday morning!

Fashionably Yours, Rickey

ARTS & LIFE

Southern bands rock out Evans

By Jessica Sager copy editor

Montgomery Gentry, along with other country bands, performed Friday at the Lady Antebellum Pavilion in Evans, Ga. Campbell “Cam” Griffin, who organized the show, said about 5000 people came to the concert. He also said he went to Fort Gordon and gave tickets to the Warriors Transition Battalion. “(Montgomery Gentry is) very patriotic, they’re very popular with the military crowd, kind of working class-type musicians that stayed humble and that sort of thing,” Griffin said. “And that’s what I look for in an artist. And it’s real country, it’s not this…overproduced stuff that you hear on mainstream radio all the time now, even though they are a mainstream act.”

Montgomery Gentry has had 14 Top Ten singles, five of which were No. 1 singles, and has been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, according to the duo’s official website.

“I know that we’ve been very fortunate, very blessed to have had a long career,” Troy Gentry said.

“This is going on our 16th year and, thanks to radio and all these fine folks that come out to listen to us every night, we’ll be able to contin-

JESSICA SAGER | STAFF

Chart-topping country duo Montgomery Gentry performs for fans of all ages on Sept. 19 at the Lady Antebellum Amphitheater.

ue to do this.”

They are currently finishing another studio album that will come out in February, he said.

“It’s flattering to know that people have taken notice and we’ve had some influence on some other people,” Gentry said. “It’s nothing we’re trying to do, we’re just out here making our own music.”

Aspiring musicians should stay true to themselves, Gentry said.

“Too often in the industry, people try to change an artist, or, you know, lead them to sing songs they want them to sing or be somebody they’re not,” he said. “And I’ve always been about being yourself, and continue to do what you believe and don’t bend to, don’t bend over

Collection honors former professor

Romeo and Juliet return

By Ashley Trawick chief reporter

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou, Romeo?”

That’s an easily recognizable line from the classic Shakespearean play “Romeo and Juliet,” which made its return to Maxwell Theatre Sept. 11.

The last time the show had been performed on the Summerville campus at Georgia Regents University was almost four years ago, said Walter Evans, a professor in the department of English and foreign languages and the brain behind the operation of getting the play to return to Maxwell.

He said he applied for a grant earlier this year with the Porter Fleming Foundation, which was later approved to allow some actors and a director from Atlanta to participate in the play.

Most of the actors in the show were from Augusta, including some high school students, he said.

The director of the play,

Allen O’Reilly, said he had taken a different approach with the script compared to the last show.

He said that while everything was received well, actually putting on the show wasn’t without its challenges, especially bringing the actors from Atlanta.

Evans said the show had the audience’s approval, based on the hoots and hollers he heard from the audience.

“The high school kids loved it,” he said. “They made it clear they loved it. They talked a little bit more than you would like and laughed in some places you would prefer that they’d not laugh, but they were having fun.”

Evans said two major changes to Shakespeare’s original stage direction were a new introduction to the play and the slowly advancing change in the performers’ clothing from contemporary to period dress as the play moved forward, a progression marked significantly by the character Mercutio’s death.

By Richard Adams editor-in-chief

ASHLEY TRAWICK | STAFF

Chris Rushing and Mandi Lee practice a scene in “Romeo and Juliet.”

Melanie O’Meara, the assistant director of the show and a lecturer for the department of communications, said she helped Evans to promote the show and ran the auditions for the show. She said the show was a great experience overall.

“This was something Allen said: It’s comedy until Mercutio dies, and I hope that people will appreciate that and sort of celebrate that,” she said. “I really think the way Allen did it in-process so they’re rehearsing is an interesting way to see the play. (Evans) wanted it to be accessible to people and I think the actors being as talented as they are really helps you to understand what’s going on, too.”

atrawick@gru edu

James Smith meant a lot to those who knew him; he was a mentor and teacher, employee, friend, colleague, lecturer of opera as literature, film series originator, science fiction fan and, finally, an inspiration.

This spring, a group of individuals whose lives Smith touched were able to raise enough funds among themselves in order to donate to Reese Library what they thought was a substantial memorial to the learning and tutelage Smith advocated for his entire life, said Melissa Johnson, the electronic resources and serials librarian who helped the group.

“They had money and they wanted to donate a collection or something in memorial of him,” Johnson said. “They told us either science-fiction or opera. We knew that the students would get more out of the science-fiction, so we opted to go with the science-fiction.”

Lillie Johnson, former chair of the English and foreign language department at Georgia Regents University, headed up the efforts to raise the necessary funds for the collection.

“He actually taught me when I was a student back in the late ‘60s,” Lillie

Choir tunes up for new start

By Catriona Freeman contributor The GRU Gospel Choir has been inactive for about two years but has recently come back in full force.

Members of the choir said they hope to begin fundraising and getting their message out to the community through praise and worship.

JoVawne Fletcher, a senior marketing major and president of the gospel choir, said his background prepared him to bring the program back to life. He found a group of students interested in forming the choir group and made the vision come forth, he said.

The first gospel choir meeting was on Sept. 3, with introductions from Fletcher and the executive board, followed by a warm-up vocal exercise.

RICHARD ADAMS | STAFF

Lee Buoy leads a collection of students during choir practice.

Describing the first practice, Taylor Rodriguez, a sophomore psychology major and secretary of the choir, said, “Everyone was feeling the Lord.”

Vernon Blount, a freshman bio-chemistry major and parliamentarian for the choir, said he hopes to get more people to join the choir.

“It should be inclusive,” Blount said. “It should promote campus involvement. You know, get students engaged and

to others. And pretty much that’s it, you know, just do your own thing, don’t let anybody change you.”

Other bands that played at the concert included the Jeremy Graham Band, Ray Fulcher and County Line, Kenney George Band, Brian Kaye and Phil Lee with McKenna Hydrick, according to the Evans Towne Center Park website.

Jeremy Graham, who is from Harlem, Ga., said it was exciting to have a chance to see and maybe hang out with Montgomery Gentry.

The Jeremy Graham Band has played in Europe and Japan for American troops, he said.

Ray Fulcher is also from Harlem, and he said he went to the Laurel and Hardy Festival every year as a child. His band has opened concerts for Lee Brice, Craig Morgan, the Marshall Tucker Band and Dustin Lynch. Fulcher now lives in Nashville.

“That’s where, if you ever want to make it in music, you kinda almost have to go there,” he said.

“That’s where all the business side of everything is, and that’s where you meet all the people that have singing deals and record deals.”

20-year-old Jordan Rager also performed at the concert. Griffin said. Rager was on Blake Shelton’s team in NBC’s “The Voice” and toured with country artist Justin Moore.

“He’s phenomenal, he’s really, really gracious,” Griffin said. “Like I tell everybody, that’s the cool thing about these country artists, is most of them are just really humble and, you know, kinda know where they came from.” jschucke@gru.edu

stuff like that. We don’t want a certain dynamic of students, we want all of them. Anyone who really believes or whatever you believe. Racial dynamic, age, gender; it doesn’t matter. We just want you to come out and support.

And if you want to be a part of it, come sing.”

Kendall Berrian, a senior biology major, said she found out about gospel choir through two of the executive board members.

“Well, I heard about

it from Amma Sarfo and Shanece Pierce and I always wanted to join a gospel choir at my church, but I didn’t have time for theirs because they practiced so much,” she said.

“So, I thought this was a wonderful opportunity for me. And it’s to glorify the Lord, so that’s why I’m here.”

Breyuna Irby, a junior occupational therapy major, said she also expects a welcoming, family-like atmosphere.

With the assistance of Jessica Pruitt, a senior music education major at Georgia Southern University, the choir is getting better with each practice and getting more in tune with each other, Fletcher said.

Anyone can join the choir as they are looking for sopranos, altos, tenors and basses, Blount said. cfreem25@gru.edu

Johnson said. “Then I worked with him as a colleague when I first started teaching, and he was still in the department and very supportive of me and the English program when I became chair.”

She said she could sum Smith up with a single word: Wonderful.

“I think that there’s hidden depth to what people consider just escapism,” said Kathrynn Culver, the Reese Library catalogue and search associate. “(They think) ’Oh, it’s just aliens and ray guns.’ It’s not.

I mean, it can be, but there’s really good stories.”

The gap between what was considered literature and what was considered entertainment for the masses was a misunderstanding Lillie Johnson said Smith was always trying to repair and build upon.

“He was an engaging teacher,” she said. “I had him in a couple of courses, and one of the things I can say about him is he really had an impressive range of interests and expertise. I studied Jane Austen with him, but I also studied the gothic novel, which is sort of early 18th century and early 19th century pop culture.”

Culver said, by typing “Hugo award” into the library search engine, students can access almost 40 new selections.

radams99@gru.edu

Lets go out Sept. 23

Sept. 26

Whole Foods Market Opens

“The Adams Family” 8 p.m. at the Imperial Theater

Sept. 27

Sept. 27

GRU goes to The Coca-Cola Factory (7:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.)

Hispanic heritage month kick-off at the Augusta Public Library, 4 - 5 p.m.

Oct. 1

Oct. 2-5

Peter Bogdonavich and “The Last Picture Show” at the Maxwell Theater

Oktoberfest at Fort Gordons Barton Field

Oct. 3

Oct. 3

Reptar performs at SkyCity at 10 p.m.

Amos Lee performs at the Old Arc at 5 p.m.

THE BELL RINGER

comics

PAGE 9

I don’t know...

Google it

Across 2. There were no _________ on Nantucket until 1989.

4. It is impossible for you to lick your _____.

6. _________ is Italian for “pine head.”

8. Michael Jackson wanted to play __________ in a movie, so he tried to buy Marvel Comics in the 90’s.

11. Marvel got around a law that increases taxes on toys that resemble humans by claiming that X-Men figures were _______, not humans.

12. Nicolas Coppola took his stage name, Nic ____, from the Marvel character Luke ____.

13. There are more than 1000 chemicals in a cup of ______.

16. Our universe actually exists in the Marvel __________.

18. ____________, the declaration of an item being useless, is the longest non-medical term in the English language.

19. A _____ is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.

20. The world’s largest comic book collection belongs to the Library of ________.w

Down 1. Depending on the type, the symbols used to censor words in comic books are called _________.

3. There was a superhero in the 1940s called the Green ____ who was a practicing Buddhist.

5. The word “_____” is a contraction of the words “modulate, demodulate.”

7. In _______, the words for crisis and opportunity are the same.

9. There is a company in the Marvel universe called “______ Control” that specializes in cleaning up after villains and heros.

10. The font Comic Sans is based on Dave Gibbons’ lettering in the ________ comic books.

14. Comic book letterers avoid words like “Clint” and “Flick” because during printing the letters can run together, making the words look like _________.

15. The average person’s ____ hand does 56 percent of the typing.

17. NASA loaded a 1-year supply of _________ on the first Apollo mission, just in case.

ACROSS: (2 Across) Squirrels, (4 across) Elbow, (6 Across) Pinocchio, (8 Across) Spider-Man, (11 across) Mutants, (12 Across) Cage, (13 Across) Coffee, (16 Across) Multiverse, (18 Across) Floccinaucinihilipilification, (19 Across) Jiffy, (20 Across) Congress. DOWN: (1 Down) Grawlixes, (3 Down) Lama, (5 Down) Modem, (7 Down) Chinese, (9 Down) Damage, (10 Down) Watchman, (14 Down) Profanity, (15 Down) Left, (17 Down) Triskuits

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

PAGE 8

PAGE 10

sports

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

By Anthony Garcia sports editor

The Rookie Report Anthony Garcia sports editor

Ethics change off field

R

ANTHONY GARCIA | STAFF

Elaine King throws her second stroke at the 10th basket at the “Steady” Ed Headrick Memorial Disc Golf Course during the women’s disc golf championship on Saturday.

Women take on disc golf The Professional Disc Golf Association hosted its annual United States Women’s Disc Golf Championship in Wildwood Park this weekend.

Bill “Old Man” Wallis, along with Mary Ann “Mom” Wallis, ran the women’s tournament from 2002 to 2007 and returned to Appling, Ga., to direct this year’s three-day event.

“Right now we have 98 women registered,” Bill Wallis said. “Almost half of them are pro players from all over the country. A little more than half are amateur players of all different skill abilities from all over the country, also.”

Bill Wallis said that the number

registered for this year’s tournament tests past records from before.

“This year is as big as it’s ever been,” he said. “The 98 we have registered for this particular tournament is challenging the record of 105 that we had last year. And the 98 this year is far and away above the previous highs.”

Michael Downes is the events manager for the PDGA and said that preparations for this tournament went underway months ahead.

“It is a PDGA major event, so there’s a lot of pre-planning that has to go into it,” Downes said. “The bid was awarded for this event two years ago to ‘Mom’ and ‘Old Man’ Wallis, that’s when they bid on the event to have it here at the IDGC (International Disc Golf Center).

Since then, we’ve been planning for

Annual Border Bash continues football rivalry

By Erica Battle contributor

College football season has begun, and Sept. 12 marked the 21st annual Border Bash, where Georgia and South Carolina fans converged on downtown Augusta to participate in the festivities. “(The Border Bash) revolves around Georgia and Carolina,” said Joe Stevenson, producer of the Border Bash. “The celebration of the rivalry and the football games and the music enhances the event.”

Held in the Augusta Commons, a place, Stevenson said, that is almost middle-ways between Columbia, S.C., and Athens, Ga., the event kicks off the football game between the Georgia Bulldogs and the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“It’s basically a tailgate before the football game and a fraternity party after the football game, but without the football game,” Stevenson said.

Behind the scenes, the Border Bash Foundation uses the money raised by the party to support good causes, Stevenson said.

“That’s a little piece a lot of folks don’t know that go to Border Bash,” he said. “(It’s) that the money raised there goes directly to help charities here.”

Local news station WAGT is a repeat sponsor of the charity event.

Mariah Gardner, WAGT’s marketing and promotions manager, said this is the station’s third year sponsoring Border Bash.

“I believe the Border Bash Foundation gave out 26 grants to

nonprofit groups after last year’s event, which is amazing,” Gardner said. “And we are proud to be a part of that and to help get the word out about the event.”

The Border Bash Foundation’s charity work isn’t as widely known as it could be, said Valerie Goldston. Goldston, an independent senior sales director at the Mary Kay vendor booth inside the Border Bash event, said she had actually found out about its fundraising activities online only earlier that day while Googling the event.

Small-business owner Jennifer Tutt said that she did not know about the Border Bash’s charity side, either. Tutt, the owner of Sit A Spell Coffee House, a cafe located on Broad Street, said that, while this was her first time at the event, she will definitely come back. ebattle99@gru.edu

ERICA BATTLE | CONTRIBUTOR

Gamecocks cheerleaders warm up before their performance at Border Bash.

six, eight, 10 months, well ahead of time, just so that we can kind of accommodate this many players.”

One of the recognized players playing this year, Bill Wallis said, was Elaine King, who is a member of the Disc Golf Hall of Fame.

“It’s been a very well run tournament,” King said. “The courses are very well-roomed, well-marked.

The weather’s been cooperative, as well.”

When it comes to practicing, King said, disc golf players should look out for how and where they handle their throws.

“I think it’s very important not just to play rounds, but to practice shots, so most of my practice, preparing to play competitive sports, is drilling,” King said. “Doing shots at a certain distance, with a certain

curve... very important to have trees and other obstacles in the way so you learn how to shape your shot, and it’s really important to learn how your disc flies.”

Looking back at how the women’s championship has grown, Bill Wallis said that the focus of women-only events has driven the culture of disc golf.

“More and more women are playing, and more and more women are discovering these women-only events, and they’re having so much fun at it,” he said. “The women are playing competitively, but it’s really about having the fun, and they sometimes don’t feel that they get that as much when there’s also guys in the competition. This is geared just for them.” agarci11@gru.edu

What does Kadijah like?

•

Favorite volleyball player to watch: Logan Tom

•

Favorite movie: Coming to America

•

Favorite food: “Anything that has to do with potatoes, of all kinds.”

•

Lucky number: “Three. It is the number forever.”

•

Favorite color: Yellow

ANTHONY GARCIA | STAFF

Kadijah Fornah serves the ball during practice rounds with the volleyball team.

Volleyball assistant coach ups the game

By Rebecca Perbetsky production assistant The GRU Augusta volleyball team has an ace on the coaching staff assisting with its turn around.

Kadijah Fornah is in her first season as the assistant coach for the women’s volleyball team at Georgia Regents University, according to jaguarsroar.com.

Prior to her working for Georgia Regents, she played at Wake Forest College as an undergraduate.

She said she didn’t expect what happened to her after her senior year.

“At the time I was playing at Wake Forest, I didn’t know I was going to play professional volleyball,” Fornah said. “I had someone approach me about maybe playing internationally, and I never thought about it. We got in contact with the right people and I went December or January of my senior year to check out what it would be like, and I loved it.”

Fornah found her way from Banner Elk, N.C., to Augusta after

PAGE 11

Volleyball team kills matches

www.grubellringer.com

By Anthony Garcia sports editor

THE BELL RINGER

she applied for the open position at Georgia Regents, said Head Coach Sharon Quarles.

“We did a nationwide search for an assistant coach,” Quarles said. “She was one of 42 applicants who applied. And based on her resume, not only did she have college experience at Wake Forest, she did play internationally; but she just came off a stint as an assistant coach with Lees-McRae for the men’s and women’s program and she had a year of being an assistant there, which actually jumped her ahead of most other candidates.”

Kristen Koch, a senior outside hitter, said even though Fornah often restrains herself, she still teaches the team a lot.

“We can definitely tell the difference in her,” she said. “She jumps over our block every single time until she just means to hit into it - and just passing and every other aspect of it. You can just tell that she is just at a different level than we are.” rperbets@gru.edu

ay Rice. Adrian Peterson. Jonathan Dwyer. Day after day, it would seem like more pro athletes are being called out for some kind of scandal.

While the concept of domestic violence and controversy among athletes isn’t new with sports leagues, the main backlash recently has been how these problems are being handled by the leagues that employ them.

This renewed attention comes back to Sept. 7, when surveillance videos of Rice, the Baltimore Ravens running back, surfaced of him knocking out his then-fiance in an elevator. The first video, of two, was a warning shot of sorts; upon arrival of the second video, everybody began talking. Rice is now, indefinitely, out of the NFL. Sept. 12 came with Peterson and his child abuse case against his 4-year-old son. At the time, he was still being allowed to practice and play for the Minnesota Vikings against the New Orleans Saints for the Sept. 21 game, before roughly a day later a conference was held where Vikings’ management deactivated him from the team, meaning he’s to remain away from all team activities until further notice.

And on the same day, Dwyer, almost immediately following confirmation that the Arizona Cardinals running back was arrested for domestic abuse charges, was deactivated from the team.

While the NFL is taking swift action following these last weeks, why is it that it took a major public outcry to change their policy?

While the policy has changed as of now, with any first account of domestic charges meaning suspension from six games, critics have remarked that it took years for change to occur.

For his part, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has opened up about how he “didn’t get it right,” and is meeting with community leaders to better represent the issue of domestic violence in major league sports.

The NFL is the richest sports league in the world, but that doesn’t make it more invulnerable to cases like these. I’m not so much calling out these players and their actions, but any sports league with billions in revenue, millions of fans and thousands of sponsors should remember itself among its publics. Domestic violence is a reality in sports culture, but it shouldn’t be handled any less than from everybody else. Everyone, including multibillion-dollar businesses, should do right in their part, and these last few weeks have proved confused but bettered change for it.

agarci11@gru.edu

After losing 3 in 1 against Lenoir-Rhyne at the Queens Invitational Sept. 5, it seemed as though the GRU Augusta volleyball team would be repeating history after its losing 8 in 25 season last year.

Merely one game later, and the team is already on a winning streak, almost sweeping the floor at the 2014 GRU Invitational with 3 in 0, moving 6 in 1 overall on Sept. 12 and 13. Head Coach Sharon Quarles said the results the team pulled from the non-conference matches can be summarized in one word.

“Huge,” Quarles said. “Huge in regards to regional wins. Of the three that we played, Carson-Newman was, by far, the most competition and we needed that, which was a huge, huge win for us.”

The team introduced new players, whom she said played for the team during the home games against Emmanuel, Carson-Newman and Paine College.

“We have five new players and they’re all playing, four of which are freshmen, and one is a junior college transfer,” Quarles said. “So they’re all contributing, they’re making major impacts in a short period of time, and the great thing is we’re attacking from all angles, and

we’re playing really good ball.”

Winning 3 in 1 against Emmanuel, and an even 3 in 0 against both Carson-Newman and Paine, the team remained strong together between plays, Quarles said.

“It was a consistent effort across the board,” she said. “There was no one that stood out above anyone else because, especially playing against Carson-Newman, they’re coming from all angles, and we needed to have a multiple-attack system where we’re swinging from the outside, swinging from the right side, and swinging from the back row. And we had more back row swings in that one match, which helped off-set what was happening on the other side.”

The Lady Jags’ next game for the season was in Gaffney, S.C., against Limestone, whom they overtook 3 in 2 during the Queens Invitational in North Carolina, their first match of the season, according to jaguarsroar.com.

“We’ve already seen this team that we’re facing on Tuesday (Sept.

16),” Quarles said. “We beat them five (sets) last week. We know how their style-play is; they’re very young, they’re very scrappy, but as long as we stay the course on what we’re doing, and just continue on the path that we’re doing, we should be fine on Tuesday.”

ANTHONY GARCIA | STAFF

Katie Beresford, middle blocker, deflects the ball against Paine Lions players Lyida Elmore and Tiera Daugherty, both hitters.

The team went on to beat Limestone, yet again, with another 3 in 0 victory in S.C. Kali Boatwright, a freshman kinesiology major, is an outside hitter for the team. She said the practice the team worked on before the invitational gave them an edge.

“We worked well as a team, and we came out 3 in 0,” Boatwright said. “We did stuff that we

worked on in practice, and we came out strong with Carson-Newman, and it was good. Overall, we passed really well so that everyone can run their offense.”

Senior kinesiology major Kristen Koch, already making headlines after ranking at the Peach Belt All-Conference, said the teamwork behind the players helped them along for the weekend matches.

“Yesterday, we started off really slow, but I think we picked it up just based on who we were playing and having the home-opener jitters out,” she said. “Today, our first match was really awesome. We all came together and played together, and just really picked each other up.

And then the last game, I think we stayed up to our level of play.” agarci11@gru.edu

Tennis game raises funds

JEAN-PAUL CASSAGNOL | STAFF

Beth Annis lines up her shot at a tournement for Cancer Awareness Tournament Inc., an oganization that raises funds for Georgia Regents University Cancer Center.

By Jean-Paul Cassagnol staff writer The CSRA Tennis Cancer Awareness Tournament Inc. raises funds in support of Georgia Regents University Cancer Center.

“This funding is generated through various grass roots initiatives employed to aid the center’s efforts to advance clinical science through research, the diagnoses of, treatment and prevention of many types of cancer,” according to tennislink.usta.com.

As the years went by, it has

grown rapidly, said Brenda Jennings, president of the Cancer Awareness Tournament Inc. “This year we have 160 registered,” Jennings said. “We’ve given over $38,000.”

According to a Georgia Regents Health testimonial on csracat.com, the money donated has allowed them to create a safety net for their patients that have either no insurance or limited insurance, that may not cover certain important prosthetics.

As the tournament grows, the

research money grows, said Beth Annis, a player in the tournament.

“It’s come together and grown every year,” Annis said. “The tournament is well-run because they try, not only with the tennis, but there is a lot of fun things involved, too.”

Jimmy Pitts said he placed first in men’s doubles last year, which was his first year playing in the tournament.

“It’s great relaxation and stress relief,” he said. “At the end, it’s for something good. Everybody wins.” jcassagn@gru.edu

PAGE 12

sports www.grubellringer.com

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Jag runners take second at home run

By Jean-Paul Cassagnol staff writer

JEAN-PAUL CASSAGNOL | STAFF

Jackson Jacobs, a freshman, copes with the longer 8K race at the Jaguar Cross-Country Invitational Saturday at Fort Gordon.

GRU Augusta men’s cross-country team finished second in their first home meet on Saturday morning when they hosted the Jaguar Cross-Country Invitational at Fort Gordon’s Barton Field.

“We have a good shot at competing for another conference title, and we are moving in the right direction for sure,” said Nick Del Guercio, a sophomore from Norcross, Ga. “We have a lot of young guys, but we just got to be patient. I am confident that we will be ready come conference and regionals, just like last year.”

Del Guercio finished in fourth place with a time of 26:16.65 for the invitational’s 8K course, according to race statistics found on jaguarsroar.com. After the run, he said he now finds himself in a leadership position after five seniors on the championship team cycled out last season.

“There are five freshmen on the team this year, so it is different but I am getting use to it,” Del Guercio said, referencing the fact that the team has one senior in leadership this year. “It helps that, last year, I was in the same position. I know what they are going through so I can give them advice. “ Part of that learning process, Del Guercio said he only knew too

wellb is what Head Coach Adam Ward cited as the vast difference between high school and collegiate cross-country, especially when it comes to the distance and pace runners are expected to keep up with at this level.

“I thought it was a lap shorter so I went out like it was a 5K and I didn’t realize until I thought I was finishing … and I just died from there,” said Jackson Jacobs, a freshman from Harpers Ferry, W.Va. “So, I’ll keep that in mind next time. Other than that, I mean, I thought I had a good race. Learning is part of it.”

Another freshman new to both the team and the demands of collegiate-level competition, Dylan Forester, said he is still learning to adjust, but is relying on the wisdom of Ward and the methods of strength and endurance-building he schools his team in.

“Anybody can go out and run a 5K, but when you add an extra two miles on the end, there is a little more strategy involved,” said Forester, who finished with the second highest race position on the team at 18th place overall. “To run at this level, you have to train at this level.”

The next meet GRU men’s cross-country team will attend is the Greater Louisville Classic in Louisville, Ky., on Oct. 4. jcassagn@aug.edu

Men’s Golf to compete in regional conference

By Jessica Sager copy editor The GRU Augusta men’s golf team, which tied for fourth in its first tournament of the season, is going to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in April 2015.

Head Coach Jack O’Keefe said the team played at the University of North Carolina’s tournament in Chapel Hill, N.C., from Sept. 12 to Sept. 14. There were 18 teams.

“I was hoping we could finish second or third,” O’Keefe said. “We got off to a slow start the first day and were in sixth place, and then moved up to fourth and then stayed tied for fourth after the tournament.

So, overall, a good start.”

The team wasn’t in a conference until it joined the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, O’Keefe said.

“It’s an exciting time for our players, to compete for a conference championship,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve played for a conference championship for more than 13 or 14 years, so that will be a nice

change for us to be able to compete in a conference championship and try to win a championship.”

Maverick Antcliff, a junior history major, said the team didn’t know about joining the conference until the tournament in Chapel Hill.

“That was a bit of a surprise,” he said. “Haven’t really given it any thought, you know. We’re just looking one tournament ahead at a time, not trying to jump all the way to April.”

One area the team could improve on, O’Keefe said, is putting. “(Putting) seems to be, in my opinion, one of our average to not-as-good areas,” he said. “I don’t think we’re bad at it, but we could be better at it. We’re a good ball-striking team, we hit a lot of great shots, but we don’t always capitalize on the good shots we hit.

We don’t always make the putts that we need to make.”

Jake Marriott, a sophomore business major, said putting practice is “pretty brutal” and the hardest thing the team does. He said that

it can be frustrating, but he hopes it will pay off for the team.

“We’re starting to see some little improvements, but, you know, we should be making some big improvements in months to come,” Antcliff said. “So it’s pretty exciting.”

The team’s second tournament, O’Keefe said, will be the Jack Nicklaus Invitational, hosted by Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.

Marriott said it was like he had “a family right away” when he arrived at Georgia Regents University. He said it was easy to fit in and, although the team spends most of every day together, it “doesn’t really get old” because the members have fun.

“It’s a lot of fun when we’re on the road and hanging out with four guys and Coach,” he said. “And we just all, we’re always joking, messing around, having a good time, and we all really enjoy it, obviously, or we wouldn’t be here. ” jschucke@gru.edu

JESSICA SAGER | STAFF

Jake Marriott, a sophmore business major, works on his putting on the golf course behind the J. Fleming Norvell Golf House at Christemberry Fieldhouse Sept. 18.

Augusta player embraces professional golfing

By Taylor Mitchell staff writer

Georgia Regents University marketing graduate Natalie Wille has completed an amateur life here in Augusta and has officially stepped up and accepted her role as a professional golf player overseas; from GRU Augusta athletic leader to a professional golfer and entering the Nordea Tour’s No. 1 ranking spot, Natalie Wille continues to show that from Augusta to Sweden she can excel at her craft.

Being a newcomer to the professional sports lifestyle, Wille said she often feels awkward when she’s approached by people for autographs and treated like a celebrity.

“It’s kind of, like, ‘Why do you

want my autograph?’ But it’s mostly been little junior boys and girls coming up with golf balls, which is kind of cute,” she said. “After a while, people start to recognize you at your own club and it’s, like, OK, now people are watching me and expecting me to perform well.”

Though usually a confident player, the nervousness and stress of professional stardom sometimes gets to Wille, but she said realizing what she has to accomplish means quickly shaking those emotions off for the sake of the game.

“It’s definitely a lot of pressure,” Wille said. “I think this last week I’ve been getting to know what it takes, know the feeling of what life on tour is like. And it’s been not really a wake-up call,

“

After a while, people start to recognize you at your own club and it’s, like, OK, now people are watching me and expecting me to perform well.

--Natalie Wille

”

because I knew it was going to be tough. But just getting the feeling of what it takes, it was a little scary.

I’m over it now. I’ve got it. I can just play.”

Brayland Archie, a senior accounting major at Paine College, said she shares the love of the game equally and has the same heart for golf as Wille.

“It’s relaxation, it’s power, and it’s love, all in one swing,” Bray-

land said. “Behind the club is the only place in life where you are in control; it’s kind of like when you wake up and your hair looks great, then the wind and rain hits, and girls are all mad and there’s nothing you can do about it. When you swing a great swing it doesn’t matter. Wind, rain, sleet or snow; if you hit right, it will go where you want.”

Even though she enjoys the games, Wille said it doesn’t make her too much money because she has to be in the top five to break even on travel expenses. When you play, she said, you truly play for the love of the sport.

With her marketing degree from Georgia Regents, Wille said she wants to work in sports marketing or management but continue

working with sports.

Her degree has opened opportunities for her, she said, and with or without golf, her success can be limitless. Her next order of business will be training to qualify and compete in the European Tour.

Her support system, Wille said, is strong with her former players, and still keeps in touch with her collegiate golf coach. Women’s Golf Coach Kory Thompson said she has nothing but high hopes for Wille’s future, and is confident that she will continue to succeed throughout her career.

“Enjoy the ride, don’t get caught up in the lifestyle and know that you’re capable of succeeding,” Thompson said. tmitch22@gru.edu