Graduation 2013

COVER

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breezejmu.org GRADUATION

Inside this issue Grads give back................................................3 What’s a Duke to do? .....................................5 Athletes discuss graduation............................8 Conversation corner........................................9 Seniors see four years of change...................10

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Path less traveled Seniors pay it forward with ambitious employment plans

By Hayley Thompson The Breeze

Some JMU students don’t get to choose where their life after college will begin.

Amid the graduation excitement, senior Matthew Merritt anxiously awaits the letter from his employer letting him know where he begins his assignment with the Peace Corps in October.

“I’m excited to be a freshman again, out in the real world,” the Spanish and justice studies major said. Excited for these adventures but to also invest in the lives of my community, wherever I am assigned.”

A former international affairs major, Merritt switched to justice studies after traveling to Costa Rica on an InterVarsity mission trip his freshman year.

“I used to want this big title and office as an international affairs major,” Merritt said. “But then I realized, unless you are in the community developing relationships, you can’t really see the impact you’re making. I came back, changed my major and haven’t looked back since.”

Other soon to be graduates are ready to

make an impact in the world as well. Sociology major Sara Jo Malinske has just two months left before she moves to Nanyuki, Kenya to start her post-grad life.

Malinske will be an intern for Daraja Academy, a secondary education boarding school for Kenyan girls that she worked at during a summer term abroad in Kenya.

“Daraja has a glow that’s nearly unexplainable,” Malinske said. “It’s a place where students make friends with one another past boundaries of ethnic groups and backgrounds. These students are valued by staff like they’ve rarely experienced before.”

Malinske began traveling after going on an alternative spring break trip to Honduras her sophomore year. Since then, she has saved up to travel to many different places. Her experiences during a summer study abroad term in Kenya inspired her to move back.

“The welcoming nature of Kenyan citizens overwhelms me,” Malinske said. “The country is breathtakingly beautiful.”

In addition to her sociology major, Malinske minored in nonprofit studies and humanitarian affairs, which lend to her interests in serving others. While in Kenya, she

Courtesy of Sara Jo Malinske

On her study abroad term in Kenya, Sara Jo Malinske worked with students at the Daraja Academy which inspired her to return after graduation to continue giving back to the community.

Courtesy of Matthew Merritt

Matthew Merritt and other InterVarsity students help remodel homes in Costa Rica on a mission trip.

This trip inspired Merritt to change his major and continue his service by joining the Peace Corps.

will help facilitate a women’s empowerment class run through the Women of Integrity, Strength and Hope program in Nanyuki and work on the organic farm run by the school.

“I’ve become passionate about farming and agriculture after seeing the complexity of it and importance of it in Kenya,” Malinske said.

Malinske attributes her desire to give back to this community to the overwhelming hospitality she received as a guest there.

“I am excited to speak some Swahili again.”

Malinske said. “I think, overall, I’ve missed the ability to live simply.”

Senior Andrew Frank plans to make an impact after graduation by giving back to an organization that helped shaped his college experience: Teach for America.

“The biggest thing was I wanted to get into a service-type position after college,” Frank said, “and I saw this need for good teachers, so I got involved with Teach For America.”

Frank worked with Teach For America in Memphis city public schools on his alternative spring break trip, tutoring children and helping them with their literacy skills. The group of JMU students also helped remodel and clean up the schools they visited, improving the environment for the children there.

“As an accounting major, it’s not within anything I’ve studied in college,” Frank said of

his decision to join the nonprofit after graduation, “but it’s just something I felt I needed to do.”

The students Frank and his colleagues work with often come from troubled family situations. Frank’s goal is to build connections to his students and become a mentor for them. He does this in hopes that he can raise these students up to where they need to be.

“It’s a place where I can have the maximum impact,” Frank said. “It’s a risk, but it’s definitely a high reward.”

The giving attitude of JMU students can be traced back to the cultutre JMU establishes from the time students come in as freshmen, according to Merritt. As a 2011 Orientation Peer Advisor and current Student Ambassador, Merritt attributes his drive to give back to the opportunities he has had at JMU. The team building and character development that have come from his involvement at JMU will carry over into his work teaching English in his new community.

“The idea that you have one person who can make the world of an impact in one person’s life, it happens every day at JMU,” Merritt said. “It’s JMU’s identity and service towards the university, other students and ourselves. We are constantly being the change.”

Contact Hayley Thompson at breezesports@gmail.com.

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“I’m gonna miss the people and the atmosphere.

It’s definitely not the same anywhere else.”

Nathan Alvarado-Castle sociology, philosophy and political science triple major

What will you miss most about

JMU?

“What I will miss the most is the luxury of reading all day and being asked to express my opinion on it by writing a paper and participating in class.”

BY NATALIE JOHNSON / THE BREEZE

Nathaniel Hessberg political science and public policy & administration double major

Taylor Johnson communication studies major

“I’m gonna miss this campus and being here. I enjoy my friends a lot.”

“I’ll miss my friends and the camaraderie of the school; having friends there for you whether you’re having a good or bad day.”

Kat Hugins English major

“I’m gonna miss my friends. I’m absolutely terrified but excited to graduate.”

PHOTOS BY HOLLY WARFIELD / THE BREEZE

Joy ride with Officer Conley

Explore the underground tunnels

Find out who the Duke Dog is

Get into the Wilson Hall cupola

Sing at TDU for open mic night

Jump off of Union Tower

Swim across Newman Lake

Kiss on the Kissing Rock

Jump in Burruss fountain

Publish a dart / pat in The Breeze

Get mentioned on JMU Crushes

Paint the rock on the Festival Lawn

Meet President Alger

Streak the Quad

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Hanging it up

Paul Wyatt

Graduating athletes share experiences

By Wayne Epps Jr.

Devon Moore

becky sullivan / The Breeze

During his time at JMU, England native Paul Wyatt was a four-year starter for men’s soccer. The midfielder and health sciences major scored 28 career goals and had 11 assists for the Dukes. He was a two-time first team All-CAA selection and a captain for two years and also helped lead JMU to the NCAA tournament round of 16 in 2011. In addition, he was named this year’s JMU Athlete of the Year. Though his days on the field for JMU are over, Wyatt is exploring his options to continue his career in Europe.

How would you sum up your athletic career at JMU? It was good, I couldn’t really wish for more.

Obviously, coming from a different country it’s hard to tell what you’re going to get. But I’m happy I came to JMU, I’m happy of the success that we had in 2011.

What’s the most important lesson you learned as a collegiate athlete? I think just making sure you

appreciate and work hard every day, I think that’s the biggest thing. It sometimes can be a bit daunting with a lot of work and other commitments. But you have to stay focused and remember why you’re here.

What are you plans after graduation? They’re up in the air right now. It looks like I’m going to go back to Europe and probably try to play. I’m not sure whether that’ll be at home in England or on the continent somewhere else. But I’m definitely trying to carry on playing at the highest level I can. I don’t know if I’m going to go home, it just depends on what opportunities come up. I made a lot of connections and a lot of opportunity comes from being here, so those are the kinds of things I want to build on and try to take forward and definitely continue pushing myself to the highest level.

Lauren Gordon / The Breeze

Guard Devon Moore helped lead men’s basketball to one of their best seasons in program history this year. The Dukes won the Colonial Athletic Association tournament for the first time since 1994 and won an NCAA tournament game for the first time since 1983. The sociology major averaged a CAA-best 4.9 assists per game plus 11.1 points per game. He leads JMU in career assists with 502.

How would you sum up your athletic career at JMU? It was amazing, I’m definitely thankful for the opportunity that I got to play at [this] university and I’m definitely going to miss it. It definitely was a heck of a ride.

What are your plans after graduation? I’m going to start working out. I just signed with an agent, so I’m going to work out and go from there and continue to try to play basketball.

What legacy do you think you’re leaving behind for men’s basketball? I really don’t know. Just knowing

that I was a hard-nosed person. A person that never gave up, through the thick and thin, through this whole program. I always was the type of person that always thought we were going to succeed every year. So I’m definitely going to be sad to leave it but I’m definitely excited to see what goes on from here.

Casey Ancarrow

Last season’s Colonial Athletic Association player of the year, Casey Ancarrow has established herself as one of the best players in JMU women’s lacrosse history.

Ancarrow, a justice studies major, is fifth on JMU’s all time goals list with 159 career scores. This year, Ancarrow has helped lead the Dukes to a 6-1 record in the CAA as they finished the regular season tied for first place. She and the rest of the lacrosse team will make a run at a CAA tournament title when it starts May 3.

How would you sum up your athletic career at JMU so far? It’s been great, I think that the opportunities

that we’ve been given throughout the years, the resources they give us, all the support that they give us, its just been awesome. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

What’s the most important lesson that you learned as a collegiate athlete? I guess just what it

means to be committed to something through the good parts of it and through the bad parts. And just how good it feels to stick with it and feel like you accomplished something.

What legacy do you think you’re leaving behind for JMU lacrosse? I think just a high standard for

yourself and for your teammates. And I hope my teammates got that from me and that they continue it on next year.

And just setting goals high throughout, in every aspect of lacrosse, throughout the program. So I hope that’s what I left Matt schmachtenberg / The Breeze behind.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

A “congratulations-and-good-luck!” pat to the Class of 2013.

From all of us here at The Breeze.

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From then… to now Past four years bring monumental advances in facilities

file photo

Bridgeforth Stadium expanded during the summer of 2011 and it’s able to seat 25,000 people.

The stadium was among many other construction projects completed in the past four years.

By Ij Chan The Breeze

In the past four years, public affairs manager Bill Wyatt has seen Bridgeforth Stadium grow to eventually shadow his house.

Wyatt, an avid fan of JMU football, said he’s enjoyed seeing its gradual construction and how it contributes to the atmosphere of the games.

“At first I thought, ‘With the giant stadium

are we going to lose that small community feel of the football games?’” Wyatt said. “But that hasn’t happened. It’s still so much fun and you get to see your friends — it’s just a good time.”

He added that although the JMU community had experienced low points like Springfest, students and faculty have worked hard to give back to the community with events like The Big Event.

“The university as a whole from a faculty perspective and an administrators are

committed to being a good neighbor,” Wyatt said. “We’re giving back on a regular basis.

I definitely think that it’s a priority for the university. We’re moving forward and we’re starting to see the fruits of that.”

Wyatt also said one of the most significant changes in the past four years was the focus on the development of the arts, especially with the construction of the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts.

“I think it completes the Quad and it’s an academic building that’s sort of the centerpiece of the arts at James Madison,” Wyatt said. “When Dr. Rose broke ground, he said it was going to be the beginning of the decade of the arts.”

The Forbes Center, which opened in 2010, is currently home to the music, theatre and dance programs. Before Forbes, these programs were all housed in separate buildings — the dance program in Godwin, the music program in the Music Building and the theatre program in a former turkey hatchery on South Main Street.

Dance professor Kate Trammell remembers the difficulties of being separated from the other departments.

“It was very difficult to do — just geographically,” Trammell said. “I mean, even having faculty meetings, you know, we always had to schlep up to the other end of campus to do our faculty meetings and committee meetings. It was hard just to get people in the same space and that has made a difference.”

Trammell had taught in Godwin for 30 years and said the Forbes Center encourages students in the dance, music and theatre programs to interact and support each other artistically and academically.

“I think one of the things this space has done is decrease isolation among the various arts so I think people feel like there’s more of a community,” Trammell said.

“This has definitely created more energy and interaction among the various areas in the arts — faculty and students, which should be the case. We shouldn’t just be huddled in our own corner.”

Trammell also mentioned that she and another dance professor, Cynthia Thompson, are choreographing a dance this summer and have collaborated with school of music faculty Wanchi Huang. Huang, a violinist, will provide live accompaniment for Trammell and Thompson’s performance this coming Fall in the New Dance Festival.

She added that she hopes to encourage her students to do the same and establish stronger connections to the other areas on campus.

“That’s the kind of thing we should be doing a lot and much more here,” Trammell said. “It seems like the world of dance has become more integrated with other areas on campus besides studio

work and stage work.”

In addition, Trammell said the arts have gained more respect in the JMU community and people have taken more notice to them with the Forbes Center in place.

“When we were in Godwin we did great work but most people on campus didn’t know anything about it — didn’t know that it was happening,” Trammell said. “We were kind of invisible and being here right in the spotlight as it were, now there’s more people who are encountering our work and the work of students and being able to appreciate it and respect it.”

Senior music education major Nathan Gredler said he’s grateful for the Forbes Center because it enhances the performance experience.

“Everything was scattered around campus … moving equipment around was a big issue,” Gredler said. The performance space was much better to perform in. The acoustics are much better.”

Gredler said he’s also seen the arts programs grow because of the new facility.

“All the news things that have been brought together, different faculty and staff — changed the aspect of the program,” Gredler said. “I’m sure it’s the same in the biology department … the new facilities helps bring new people in and foster new ideas here and it’s only going to getting better.”

Bridgeforth Stadium, the Forbes Center and the BioscienceBuilding cost $62 million, $80.7 million and $33 million, respectively.

MinYoung Park, a sophomore biology major, said the new Bioscience Building motivates her to succeed and make connections with faculty members.

“I’d love to do research with a professor because the research labs are so awesome,” Park said. “You have equipment readily available. You can also see into the labs —it’s not closed off … you can see the research professors do.”

Park added that the new location and the equipment have improved her academic experience. Along with the new labs, the bioscience building also advanced technology like new touchscreen computers which can be programmed to track data.

“The chem building and the bio building are right next to each other — it’s so much easier in terms of transit because you don’t have to go to Burruss,” Park said. “It’s also great because of all the new equipment. It’s awesome — you get to use all these microscopes and slides and all this crazy equipment. It makes my learning experience better.”

Contact IJ Chan at breezenews@gmail.com.

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

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FOUR YEARS OF HISTORY 2

DAVID CASTERLINE / FILE PHOTO

1

DAVID CASTERLINE / FILE PHOTO

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4 MATT SCHMACHTENBERG / THE BREEZE

LAURA WEEKS / FILE PHOTO

5 MATT SCHMACHTENBERG / THE BREEZE

1. In April 2010, SpringFest, a block-party-turned-riot with over 8,000 students in attendance, resulted in police being called and the use of heavy tear gas. 2. The Dukes defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies in one of the biggest upsets in school history. 3. Bridgeforth Stadium opened in fall 2011 after two years of renovations which included the addition of 10,000 seats and a club level. 4.

Students gather in the wake of a bus accident that killed freshman Jane Hwang in 2011. 5. Jonathan Alger was inaugurated in March 2013 as JMU’s sixth president. He began his tenure in July 2012.

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