The Collegiate — Volume 97, Issue 12 — April 23, 2021

The

Vol. 97 Issue 12

Collegiate Barton College’s Newspaper since 1927

Apr. 23, 2021

Graduation Returns Photographed by Hannah Price

Page 2

NEWS

100 Word Stories

“100 Word Stories” is a new feature in The Collegiate. Each issue we will print stories from members of the Barton College community — students, faculty, staff, administrators and alumni. Each story has to be true and cannot be more than 100 words. Topics are up to the writer. The Collegiate staff is soliciting stories and if you have one to share, please contact the adviser, Michael Brantley (mkbrantley@barton.edu) for submission details.

Sky

By Debbie Herrera

Corrections

Waking up and doing his morning routine, Atticus walked around the house. Today, like all the others, he feels content and calm.

He doesn’t have a TV, so he passes the time on his balcony.

Atticus would sit there all day without a care in the world. One night, as he was drinking his evening coffee, he looked up expecting stars but saw that the sky was empty. It was never empty.

Atticus quickly stood against the railing of the balcony and observed that the once noisy city was now completely silent.

In last issue’s story about the Hicks family gift to the College, there were two errors. It states the gift matches the largest donation in the history of the College however that isn’t true. It matches the largest ever alumni donation in the history of the College. The largest gift in the history of the College was in June 2016 from the estate of E. C. Winstead in the amount of $7.8 million.

Also, Zack Hicks’ name was misspelled, Spencer Hicks attends N. C. State, while Austin is currently a junior at Barton.

“Wake up, Atticus,” he heard from behind him.

Debbie Herrea is a senior from Los Angeles California and is double majoring in Photojournalism and Mass Communication Studies.

She is currently the co-photography editor for the collegiate.

Barton College Student Newspaper

The

Collegiate Co-Editors K.J. Askew Shannon Baker Art Director Hannah Price Assistant Art Director Carli Hinson Illustrator Whitney Joyner

Social Media Editor Cassidi Hinson Photography Editors Debbie Herrera Nikki Pruitt Correspondents Kayla Jimenez Colton Youngblood Scott Merritt Payton Sutton Piper Wolfe

200 ACC Dr. Wilson, NC 27893 Staff

Callie Burnette Ian D’meza Jayden Donofrio Moira Euker Gracie Lindfors Trey Scoggins Jessica Simmons Brianna Turner Kevin Vicari Kate Lawrence

Adviser Michael Brantley

Member, Associated Collegiate Press Member, College Media Association

Opinions expressed by writers/columnists are theirs exclusively and not necessarily the position of The Collegiate, The Collegiate staff, or Barton College.

Letters to the editor are welcomed at The Collegiate.

All letters must include the name of the writer and a phone number, address and email so that the letter can be verified. The Collegiate reserves the right to reject any letter or advertising thought to be in poor taste or libelous.

Send letters to Barton Forum, The Collegiate, c/o Michael Brantley, Barton College Station, Wilson NC 27893. You may also drop them by the newspaper office in the Roma Hackney Music Building.

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Commencement expected to continue as planned for 2020 & 2021 graduates

By Callie Burnette Staff Writer Barton College is holding graduation for 2021 and 2020 graduates on May 8 and May 9, in accordance with state COVID-19 regulations.

Graduation for 2021 graduates will be at 10 a.m. on May 8 for students in Humanities, Nursing, Sciences, and BLS, and at 2 p.m. for Allied Health Sports Science, Business, Education, and Visual, Performing, and Communication Arts.

Graduation for 2020 graduates will be held at 10 a.m. on May 9, with no separation of majors.

Commencement will be held in front of Parrish Plaza, on center campus, and attendees will be seated around the plaza. Chairs will be socially distanced, however, families are allowed to pull chairs close together.

The 2021 graduates are being divided into two separate graduation times as more attendees are expected for them. Through conducting surveys, a phone call campaign, and sending out emails, the college estimates 60% of 2020 graduates will be returning for commencement, allowing their graduation to be held at one time.

Attendees are required to wear

a mask during commencement.

Facilities will be open for bathroom use, and attendees are encouraged to bring water, however, water bottles will be provided if needed.

In case of rain, attendees should plan to bring an umbrella. If inclement weather presents itself, an alternate plan will be given for graduates and their attendees.

“Barton has been committed to safely allowing in person classes and other components of the Barton College experience, graduation being one of these components. We started planning graduation under the guidelines of

the state’s health policies in early spring, however, the state has relaxed restrictions, allowing us to only need to separate 2021 commencement into two separate time slots. The only way Barton would have to cancel commencement is if the state reverted back to banning outdoor gatherings on college campuses,” said Dr. Gary Daynes.

“Graduates are asked to pay attention to their email for any changes in commencement. Guests are asked to properly wear their masks, as we are excited to safely hold graduation for the 2020 and 2021 graduates that Barton is so proud of,” said Daynes.

Fall 2021 academic calendar includes fall and Thanksgiving breaks

By Ian D’meza Correspondent Through the Barton faculty efforts along with the leadership of Dr. Gary Daynes provost and president of academic affairs, the development of a new academic calendar for fall 2021.

“Working at Barton for going on 8 years, I look back at memories of

the campus pre-COVID-19 and want to assist its recovery,” Daynes said.

This schedule brings back a sense of normalcy with the return of seasonal college breaks, fall break Oct. 8-12, Thanksgiving break Nov. 23-28 with the whole school semester occurring Aug. 23-Dec. 9.

Though the academic calendar is

similar to semesters pre-COVID-19, the campus will continue to enforce the use of facemasks and take precautions to hinder the spread by social distancing.

“With other universities making it mandatory to get vaccinated before returning to campus, it is quite possible the same for Barton by fall semester, if so we hope to

offer vaccinations,” Daynes.

Barton orientation will begin August 18-20 with classes starting soon after August 23 and lasting until December 9. Finals will take place December 10-15 (including Saturday, Dec. 11). Barton’s academic calendar is available on the Barton website.

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Opinion Letter to the Editor

A Navy Seal Speaks About White Privilege

By Susan Bane We all do it, yet few of us wants to believe it. We judge the book by its cover. The time I did it, felt the worst, and yet learned the most, was in medical school. I was scrubbed in the operating room with a white male surgeon. Everyone in the room was white, except an overweight middle-aged black woman in scrubs sitting at the head of the patient.

As the operation began, I asked the surgeon, “where is the anesthesiologist?” He looked at me strangely and said, “she is right there” – pointing to the black woman who was sitting in the exact same spot every other anesthesiologist sat for all the other cases I had been in. However, for the first time, she was different – she was a black woman.

I was mortified and embarrassed. I had never met a female black doctor before. I had never gone to a female black doctor, nor had I ever been taught by a black female doctor. That absence in my life led me to fall prey to an unconscious or implicit bias – a bias that involves social stereotypes about certain groups of people that we form outside our own conscious awareness.

Nearly 30 years later, as I teach students at Barton College about bias in health care, I share this story with them, and I do it for two reasons. First, I want them to know we all have

implicit biases, including me, and an important step to stop stereotyping each other is selfawareness. The students often doubt how often this type of bias really occurs. They begin to recognize it more clearly when they reflect both on a time when someone demonstrated an unconscious bias towards them and a time when they, themselves, did so to another.

Rarely does anyone have a hard time coming up with plenty of examples on either side.

Second, I share this with the hope they will see the difference between what I did and conscious or explicit bias in which a person is aware and very clear about his or her feelings and attitudes and still chooses to participate in a behavior with the intent to harm (racism, discrimination, hate speech, etc.). My question 30 years ago in the operating room was not meant to cause harm, though it may have if told to the doctor. Nor was it mean-spirited, rather it was based on naiveness, some may even say ignorance – an ignorance I now understand.

Unconscious biases occur all day long and are not just based on race only. They can include stereotypes toward any social group based on one’s religion, weight, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, and on and on. Pay attention to yourself and if like me, you will catch yourself judging people in the grocery store line, at work, while driving,

and yes, even in church.

Because February is Black History Month and we are at a crossroads in society with discussions related to race and discrimination, I want to challenge each of us, myself included, to take an honest look at race relations and how we can do better as a society. Sadly, so much of today’s political rhetoric tries to pit us against each other, but we are members of one human race. Let’s rise above the constant us against them mentality of comparison, opposition, and differentiation.

Let’s demonstrate cultural humility and listen to others who are of a different race. Let’s learn that person’s story and how it fits into the great story of all of us – the human family.

Let me warn you, however, that in doing that, we will face some words and phrases that we often don’t like (and too often get misused) – words like systemic racism, black lives matter, white privilege. While you may not agree with the use of these terms or how various groups are trying to address racism and discrimination, fundamentally, we should all be able to agree that stereotypes, discrimination, and racism will not improve without a humble, honest, and hard look at ourselves, regardless of our skin color.

One amazing example of this cultural humility was recently written by Nathan Charles and he gave me permission

to share it. Nathan is a Navy Seal, attorney, and the nephew of my sister, Kelly: “I was skeptical of the Black Lives Matters movement at its inception. My family is deeply ensconced in the law enforcement community.

I wanted to believe that all police have the community’s best interests at heart like I and the cops and prosecutors in my intimate circle do. I still believe that is the case for the vast majority of them.

However, I have been put on notice that it is -- quite unfortunately -- not universally true. A couple of years ago, I was returning to the Justice Department from a meeting at the State Department. I was carrying a satchel of classified documents, so I was anxious to get to my destination as expeditiously as possible.

I caught an Uber. The driver was black. I jumped in the back seat of his SUV. The windows were tinted to the point where you could not see me from outside. My driver did nothing wrong the whole trip; it was one of those pleasantly boring ride-shares. Nevertheless, near the Whitehouse a couple of uniformed Secret Service officers pulled us over. They claimed my driver ran a stop sign. He had not. They were unnecessarily -- rather outrageously -- aggressive with him. They told him they were going to call for backup and detained the vehicle for far

longer than was necessary.

About ten minutes into the stop, I finally rolled down the back window. I said nothing.

I just made eye contact with the officers. Two minutes later, we were on our way.

The vast majority of cops are good. Unfortunately, some aren’t. “White privilege,” although a terrible term, is a completely real phenomenon.

We need to fix it. I think the solution to this problem -and a lot of our other recent problems -- is to rigorously enforce standards . . . not just on the general population, but on its leaders and public servants as well -- especially on its leaders and public servants.

I love this country more than anything. I am especially proud of its law enforcement and national security institutions.

There is no room within them for bias based on a person’s immutable qualities. The latest research tells us that some bias is subconscious, even autonomic -- inherent to human survival. If so, we need to acknowledge it and use the angels of our better nature to overcome it.

America is great, but any institution that rests on its laurels will inevitably find itself backsliding eventually. Never stop improving yourself; never stop improving your profession; never stop improving your country. That is all.”

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Opinion

Letter to the Editor

Response to student parking concerns On March 26, 2021 your newspaper published an opinion piece titled Increase in Student Enrollment Calls for More Parking on Campus.

As the two members of Barton’s Senior Staff that are most directly involved in parking and campus traffic, we are grateful for the opportunity to respond to the call for more parking availability and to clarify some incorrect information that was published.

First, some historical context to the increase in enrollment at Barton College. The Fall of 2018 was a pivotal year where the enrollment of first year students increased from 198 in the Fall of 2017 to 277 in the Fall of 2018. An increase like this on any campus is exciting, but it can also put pressure on resources such as parking. The opinion piece suggests that the ‘student body has grown dramatically over the past three years.’ In actuality, the increase has been just shy of 11%.

The opinion piece also suggests that, ‘the parking spaces have not been expanded to meet the needs of the student.’ Again, in actuality, Barton College has been committed to increasing the available parking spaces on campus and to date, that total increase is 40%.

Year Total Enrollment Number of Parking Spaces

2018 1059 513

2020 1177 854 For those interested, the additional parking lots added were Lot #9 (Stadium Lot), Lot #11 (Whitehead Lot), and the three gravel lots across the street from Hilley Hall.

We recognize that many students wish that they could park in the lot that is the absolute closest to the building they are living in or visiting, and we will continue to remain open to suggestions and feedback. We thank The Collegiate and the author of this opinion piece for their interest in Campus Parking and look forward to working through these challenges together.

Sincerely, David Browning, Vice President for Administration and Finance Joseph Dlugos, Dean of Student Life

Inadequate parking translates to lack of secure parking

By Collegiate Editoral Staff

Parking and security go hand in hand and we believe that students should be encouraged to express concerns. We published an opinion piece titled Increase in student enrollment calls for more parking on campus. The numbers used in that article regarding undergraduate student enrollment are a reflection of the information available to the Collegiate staff through institutional research and statistics provided by the Barton website. The information included in the article was discussing the change in undergraduate enrollment from the year 2018 to 2021. The Collegiate reached out to staff regarding parking information for the years 2016, 2017, 2018,

and 2019 individually and did not receive a response.

It is unknown whether the parking information provided in the faculty response article includes spaces reserved for guests, parking at off-campus athletic facilities, roadside parking or staff parking.

The Collegiate would also like to note the concerns of piece regarding the correlation of parking and safety. Even though the increase of student enrollment was accompanied by an increase in parking accommodations, there are still safety concerns regarding the distance from parking areas to areas of interest on campus including, but not limited to, classroom buildings, food services and residence halls. It is the lack of security around the

perimeter of campus that causes students to feel that there is not enough. The issue, then, is more about safe parking than available parking spaces.

There is little adequate lighting in several of the available parking areas available to students, faculty and staff. Many of the parking spaces are also not directly on campus, requiring students to cross public streets to reach campus. In addition, the section of campus where most of the buildings are located is also less than secure with open gates and access to the public from all directions, making the walk from off campus parking more risky for students.

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Chatty Kathy addresses fizzling friendships, college concerns and tough talks with family Dear Chatty Kathy, My best friend and I used to work together at the same job and we grew very close. But now she has quit working there and works somewhere else. Now her schedule is the complete opposite of mine and we have a hard time seeing each other because of our complicated schedules. She also has a long-distance boyfriend and I just found out that she is moving to Indiana at the end of the summer to go to a different college and to be closer to her boyfriend. I have a boyfriend too, so I understand why she would want to move, but I feel that the fact that she is moving and the fact that we never see each other has driven a wedge between us. The whole situation makes me sad. What can I do to fix this?

Sadboys Hours Dear Sadboys Hours, A big part of college is making friends that you will remember for the rest of your life. However, college is where everyone makes changes in their life and grows. The best thing to do is be happy for your best friend. Remember

that it isn’t the end of the friendship and you can always go visit them. Try making some new friends, joining a club, or finding a new hobby. Time heals all wounds. Keeping busy will help the time go by faster.

Chatty Kathy Dear Chatty Kathy, I don’t know if I want to go to college anymore. I don’t even know what I want to do with my life. I’m just trying to fake it till I make it, but dang I am barely holding on. What do I do?

-dumbdumb Dear Dumbdumb, Some people just come to college and find that they are not meant to be at college. Go to the Academic Career Planning Center in the Library and talk to them about the next steps there are for your future. Talk to your family and friends about your feelings towards college. Ask yourself what is really bothering you about being in college. It very well could be that you are meant to go to college, but right now may just be the wrong time. I think the pandemic has impacted a lot of people’s feelings

about being in school. Hopefully, your friends and family will be supportive and give you some advice about moving forward.

Chatty Kathy Dear Chatty Kathy, My mom keeps asking me to come home, like every day. I’m tired of driving 20 min back and forth when I live here.

I have been telling her this and she asked me to stay at home next semester. How do I tell her I do not want to?

Freshman Frank Dear Freshman Frank, You are just going to have to be honest with your mom and explain to her that you want your own space. It would be best to tell her as soon as possible so it does not continue. Your mom probably can see you growing up and leaving the nest and she might not be ready for it. Make sure you are nice about telling her so she is not more upset. Good Luck.

-Chatty Kathy

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Collegiate names new editors as seniors head for graduation

By Shannon Baker Co-Editor The Collegiate is once again welcoming several fresh faces to take over spots left empty by graduating seniors and is also bringing a previously unfilled position back to the table.

Brianna Turner, Piper Wolfe, Moira Euker, Colton Youngblood, and Carli Hinson will be working in new positions. Kayla Jimenez is being promoted from staff writer to senior writer and Cassidi Hinson will continue her current role as Social Media Editor.

All of the new editors were appointed to their new positions

by Adviser Michael Brantley.

Turner, Wolfe, Euker, Youngblood and Jimenez were considered for their positions because they showed undeniable writing skills in their classwork.

“Bri and Moira and Piper and Colton, they were all in various COM or ART classes. “Their skill set became evident pretty quickly,” said Brantley.

Turner said she is looking forward to the experience of working on The Collegiate as an editor and hopes to increase student engagement with the paper.

“It’s going to be a challenge. (It will be) interesting to see how I adapt… I’m really excited to have

the chance to make a mark on campus at Barton,” Turner said.

Turner is an art major who first joined The Collegiate as a photographer, until Brantley saw some of her writing and began encouraging her to write and edit for the paper.

“I knew she was a really talented artist, but her writing skills are just top notch. I think she’s going to be great,” Brantley said. “She’s like a triple threat.

She’s art, writing and photography.”

Wolfe was taking several of Brantley’s classes last semester and said that he recruited her to the co-assistant editor position after she came to a couple of newspaper meetings. She is a sophomore double majoring in visual and mass communications with a concentration in public relations and is from Cary, NC. “Having taken a lot of Brantley’s classes and gotten really used to the AP Style, I’m confident that it’ll go well,” said Wolfe. “I think that I’ll take a lot of interest in the design of the paper and aesthetics, but also making sure that stories are conveyed in the best way possible.”

Brantley said he thought she would be a good fit for the assistant editor position because of her writing skills.

“Piper, she’s a good writer, but her grammar and structure are excellent,

which is very important,” Brantley said.

Euker will be working alongside Wolfe as co-assistant editor and is majoring in political science with a minor in public relations. Euker joined the staff after taking the Intro to Media Writing course last semester.

“I’ve never worked on the editing side. I’ve written my own stories and stuff, and my mom is an English teacher so it’s kind of like following… in her footsteps. I’m excited to do it, something new, and it’s good experience,” said Euker.

Brantley recruited Euker last semester because he noticed that she did well with correcting her work after receiving critiques.

“Moira is really good with revisions, which makes her well suited to be an editor,” Brantley said.

Brantley said that Wolfe and Euker are steadily improving, which is a good quality to have as editors.

“I’m really excited about Moira and Piper… They’re good writers who just keep getting better,” Brantley said.

Colton Youngblood will take the responsibility of sports editor, which has not been filled for several semesters and he will also be working on The Collegiate podcast.

“We’ve not had a sports editor since I’ve been here, and Colton

Left to right: Kayla Jimenez, Carli Hinson, Piper Wolfe, Brianna Turner. Photographed by Shannon Baker

is just high energy. He also gets better every issue,” Brantley said.

Youngblood said he hopes to increase student engagement and wants everybody on campus to be involved.

“I honestly just love having conversation with people and ever since I’ve been on The Collegiate team I’ve gotten to cover football games and talk to people I never would have thought I would talk to,” Youngblood said. “That, honestly, is what keeps me going… making those relationships with people.”

Youngblood is a sophomore mass communications major from Lubbock, Texas who hopes to work in broadcasting or podcasting.

Brantley said that all of the new editors possess the skills necessary to be good leaders in their positions.

“Writing and editing skills were important, but dependability was also extremely important and we’re lucky enough that this group has all of those,” Brantley said. “Doing things, doing them on time… showing up… good structure, good writing, good grammar, that’s really important.”

Carli Hinson will be taking charge of the design of the newspaper and was recruited by the current design team.

“I’m really excited about it because Coninued on page 19

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Senior takes advantage of last year of deaf education program

By Payton Sutton Correspondent Determined to end on a high note, senior Haley Joyner is taking advantage of the deaf education program just before it is discontinued next year.

“I feel really lucky to be one of the last graduating in the deaf education program because there were some students that came in after us and they only got to do a little bit, now they have to transfer somewhere else,” said Joyner.

Joyner is a double major in deaf education and elementary education. She will be able to teach deaf children in grades K-12. She knew she wanted to learn some type of language whether that was sign language or a different language. When she realized Barton offered deaf education, she took her shot at success.

Joyner is also a studentteacher. Last semester she attained her Elementary licensure by teaching under a cooperating teacher for six weeks at Red Oak Elm. She is now pursuing her

Deaf Education licensure in Johnston County. She goes to different schools to serve those that have hearing loss.

Joyner started at Nash Rocky Mount Early College where she gained her associates degree in art and science. She then transferred to Barton because she believed the staff cared about her success more than any other school.

She is at Barton on an academic scholarship which includes the Presidential scholarship and other scholarships due to her majors.

“I was really thankful I got to spend the rest of my time here at Barton, it is a great little school,” said Joyner.

The deaf education program has been at Barton for 52 years. The program is closing because there are not enough interested students.

“The sad thing is, we keep getting emails from people asking us about jobs in the field of deaf education,” said Assistant Professor Carolyn Hornick.

Joyner believes students

shouldn’t get discouraged if something like this happens.

“Just because a program is closing, it doesn’t mean that the field is not in need. Find a new program that you can continue to use your skills even if it’s at a new school. There are always alternatives to get you to your overall goal,” said Joyner.

Joyner says she will stay around Wilson, Nash, or Johnston County after graduation because she feels like she has work to do here. Those counties are not too far from her hometown, Rocky Mount.

“We kind of have a large population of the deaf community in Wilson than most would have because of the deaf school. They have been able to offer a lot of interaction with deaf individuals that I would say a lot of schools have not,” said Joyner.

Outside of academics, it is said that Joyner has an edge to her. Many people can speak about Joyner’s character whether the person is a friend or an administrator at Barton.

“Once you get to know her free time she enjoys crocheting she is really fun, she is sarcastic, and baking. Joyner is also she has a dry sense of humor, preparing for her wedding. and is very witty. I find her She got engaged last October. endearing, she is one of my favorite students,” said Hornick.

Joyner describes herself as modest and likes to get things done in a way that benefits everybody.

“She is really sweet and kind, if you think of an elementary teacher, that’s kind of what you think with her.

It fits her perfectly,” said deaf education major Courtney Cox. During Haley Joyner. Photographed by Nikki Pruitt.

Joyner’s

Students hold fundraiser for mental health awareness

By Jessica Simmons Staff Writer With Mental Health Awareness Month (M.H.A.M) right around the corner, a student-led mental health fundraiser will take place from April 5 until the end of the week on center campus.

The fundraiser was organized by the men’s tennis team.

“A couple of things happened this semester that affected a lot of guys on the team… It woke us up to the world of mental illnesses. We all thought that something like this couldn’t happen to us, but it

did… After that, we felt like we had to do something about it, so we did this, [the fundraiser], to create awareness,” said Alessandro Gerbino, member of the men’s tennis team.

The team decided to sell bracelets for their fundraiser.

Each bracelet costs $2, and every purchase will go to The Russ Devereux Headlight Project (TheRDHP).

“The Russ Devereux Headlight Project was the most obvious organization to choose from. It was also chosen because it’s based in Europe, and the majority of

us, [men on the tennis team], are from Europe so it only made sense,” said Gerbino.

The RDHP is a nonprofit organization that was founded in memory of Russ Devereux, a victim of mental illness. It is also a registered charity that teaches children about mental health, provides support and help for adults, and works to deliver emotional resilience workshops and counseling to partnered organizations.

The team chose Dean of Student Life, Joe Dlugos, to be the fundraiser’s staff advisor.

“When the students came

to me, I was surprised but not really at the same time… This is something that students here do… [But], this is something we actually haven’t seen before.

We bought 200 bracelets, but the men’s tennis team designed the bracelets completely on their own so they’re unique.

You won’t find them anywhere else. The guys chose bracelets so they could always carry something around [to spread awareness],” said Dlugos.

Gerbino felt that more attention should be given to mental health issues.

“With mental health,

you don’t really understand the seriousness of it until something happens to you or someone you love, so the guys and I came up with the idea of having this fundraiser because we should create more awareness for it,” said Gerbino.

The bracelets were designed with a purple and green background to represent the colors of mental health awareness with the phrase, “Remember, you never alone” in bold and white font.

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SGA elects new representatives for next academic year

By Trey Scoggins Staff Writer The SGA officers for the 2021-2022 upcoming academic year include President Leslie Wellendorf, Vice President Patrick Garvey, Secretary Addie Piper, Treasure Alexis Lewis, Chief Justice Jeanelys Suarez, Senior Class Representative Kelly O’Sullivan, Junior Class Representative Itzelt Molina, Sophomore Class Representative Sarah Wicker.

The Student Government Association is primarily a student-led organization on

campus that helps promote upcoming events in other clubs and organizations, as well as plans for the Barton College campus.

There are a total number of 11 board members in the organization for the 2020-2021 academic year, these members include, President Talor Glover, Vice President Leslie Wellendorf, Secretary Addie piper, Treasure KJ Askew, Senior Representative Landon Skaggs, Junior Representative Alexis Lewis, Sophomore Representative Morgan Tripp,

Freshman Representative Jayden Smith, and Chief Justice Jason Fencestermaker.

“This year has been difficult for SGA because of the barriers put into place with COVID. But we have continued to host traditional events such as paint wars, the zombie run, and regular monthly senate meetings. We were able to add some events as well. There was a spring glow-in-thedark paint wars and a spring concert that will happen next week,” said Glover.

SGA works to make the

campus feel as normal as possible and let students have a voice about their concerns.

“We never stopped listening.

We still were able to support student organizations and even help start some new ones! We also did some behind-thescenes work such as starting the process of renovating the student center and taking all SGA operations virtual so that there are no longer any paper exchanges with our organization,” said Glover.

The Student Government Association at Barton

College serves as a voice to all students on campus.

“This organization has exposed me to so many new people. I have met more students, my faculty, and more staff than I ever thought I would. Being the president this year has given me the chance not necessarily to lead on campus, but a chance to be a public servant and voice for our students. That honor is the best thing I could have asked for,” said Glover.

Sexual assault awareness campaign gathers donations for Wesley Shelter

By Jessica Simmons Staff Writer April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (S.A.A.M) and the S.A.A.M committee has come together to organize a variety of events and activities.

The committee is composed of SGA president Taylor Glover, Service Engagement Coordinator Meghan Hickey, Assistant Director of Campus Life for Student Programs & Diversity Education Allison D. Hunter, and counseling intern Chanale Propst.

“Overall, we wanted to do a compilation of educational activities, some fun things so that way, we’re reaching

all student groups… The whole point of this month’s activities, in my opinion, is to take the stigma away from sexual assault. I think that on college campuses, a lot gets swept under the rug, but this is something you can’t sweep under,” said Glover.

The events and activities taking place will consist of the Clothesline Project, Teal Tabling, a film and dialogue, a sexual assault awareness lecture, and Denim Day. The biggest event lasting all month is the donation drive.

The Clothesline project is a yearly event where participants decorate a white t-shirt with

inspiring or supportive quotes.

There will also be a virtual lecture about sexual assault featuring guest speaker Britney Piper who was chosen because she is close in age to students.

“For the last week in the [Barton’s] gallery, we have been taking portraits with Jonathan Moss. We’re going to display them in the student center and all of our models are either supporting sexual assault, or they have been through it themselves.

[For the donation drive], we have drop-off stations on and offcampus and all donations will go to the Wesley Shelter,” said Glover.

The Wesley Shelter is a women’s shelter and domestic violence and sexual assault agency that provides a variety

of services located at 106 East

Vance Street in Wilson, North Carolina.

“The Wesley Shelter is a good campus partner to us here at Barton, so they were the obvious solution. They do a lot of work with women and children who are victims of abuse in different formats as well,” said Hunter.

Donation stations have been placed in the student center, the Hines building, Market

C, and off-campus at the Carolina Nutrition Spot in Wilson. Women’s and children’s clothing, canned food and non-perishable items, gift cards, toiletries, and cleaning supplies can be donated. The donation drive will cease on April 30.

Hunter encourages anyone with questions to simply ask.

“You never know what people are going through...

It doesn’t label you in any negative way. If anything, it shows that you want to be knowledgeable and supportive towards survivors, so be that light,” said Hunter.

Photos by Nikki Pruitt.

Page 10

Fraser credits success to individuality and encouraging upbringing

By Piper Wolfe Correspondent Rebecca Fraser was a walk-on for the lacrosse team at Barton College, and became an all-conference athlete and a statistical national champion in ground balls. Fraser joined the lacrosse team with little knowledge of the sport.

“I had no clue what a ground ball was until the last two games of the season,” Fraser said. She credits her success to her welcoming teammates who brought her to love the sport.

Fraser was playing for Barton’s soccer team, but decided to take up lacrosse in her freshman year. While her experience was minimal, she knew she could control three things: effort, attitude and discipline. Fraser was motivated by her teammates, and did not want to let them down.

“It ended up going better than I ever thought,” Fraser said. “It’s something that I will appreciate

forever and will always be one of my favorite teams I played on.”

A beloved memory for Fraser was her sophomore year lacrosse season. Her team had lost three players to injury, and had to play at a disadvantage during matches.

“Every game felt like you were sprinting,” Fraser said. However, the Barton lacrosse team won more games than expected that season and went to playoffs.

“I was better for it, because we had to work together and come together as a group,” Fraser said. “I will miss not going to practice with my teammates and riding the bus back together from road games. I don’t think anything will be able to compare to that in my future and I will miss it.”

She is grateful for her upbringing, as her parents encouraged her throughout her athletic and academic career. Fraser’s father was a football

coach, and he taught her intensity and focus. Her parents did not force her to choose a single sport, as many of her friend’s parents did. Because of this, Fraser was able to play both soccer and lacrosse in college.

Fraser’s mother encouraged her academically.

“Without her, I would have never made it to college,” Fraser said.

Fraser was originally unsure of her major, but chose to attend Barton for its plethora of specialties.

She also appreciated the small class sizes and other accommodations.

Fraser was drawn to the welcoming environment and friendly campus.

Fraser is now an exercise science and sports management double major, and a multisport athlete at Barton College. Fraser is now enrolled in the kinesiology program for her masters degree. She will graduate in May. Fraser credits much of her

personal growth to her experience at Barton. She said she was, “quiet and did not like to talk much,” prior to joining the Barton community.

Life after Barton is expected to look a bit different for Fraser. She suspects that she will travel internationally, and take more risks in general.

Athletically she said she does, “not see much changing when it comes to… working out and setting goals.”

Fraser plans to be a strength coach at a high school or college in the future. She also expressed her interest in sports psychology, and may return to school at some point.

Fraser believes that her individuality is what drives her.

“It’s a privilege to be you and there is no one else you should rather be. There is no one else I would rather be than Rebecca Fraser,” she said. Afterall, “the odds of being you is 1 in 400 trillion.”

Updates given on the outdoor pavilion and retail food service

By Jessica Simmons Staff Writer In the fall semester, many students noticed a large white tent set up on the lawn between the Hamlin Student Center and Waters Hall with picnic tables and benches underneath.

While many students speculated the reason for this tent was due to COVID-19 rules and regulations, David Browning, Vice President for Administration & Finance clarified the tent’s sole purpose.

“It was set up for opportunities to do more social distancing. We wanted to create spaces for students to be able to get out no matter the weather and be able to be under shelter for outside meetings. It was set up also with picnic tables underneath for students to be able to social distance from the dining hall, so students wouldn’t have to go back to their rooms with food due to limited seating in the culinary center,” said Browning.

The idea of the tent’s installation, according to Browning, sprouted from President Doug Searcy, other senior leaders and administrators, with Browning included. Following the tent’s arrival, an email sent out from Provost Gary Daynes to the Barton College’s community stated that the plan for the tent was for it to be replaced by a permanent pavilion later that fall semester. However, nearly a semester later, the tent had been removed with no pavilion structure to take its place.

While students questioned the disappearance of the tent, Browning shed light on the situation.

“We do still have the plans and designs done not only for the pavilion but for other outside structures such as a permanent firepit. All the design work was done last year, but we decided to put it, [the plans for the pavilion], on hold … We just never went back to it. It’s still a plan, just not one that has been implemented yet,” said Browning.

Browning then explained the reason why the pavilion plan was put on hold.

“Competing priorities I think would be the best answer. There are so many competing priorities for capital needs that are maybe more urgent, [at this time], so we have to set some priorities for the things we can do …” said Browning.

One of the competing priorities Browning named was the upcoming retail food service, or “bistro,” located in place of the old postal office building between Hilley and Hackney Hall.

“We are also making the decision from last fall to put additional resources into the bistro. The resources that we put in there, [the retail food service], were to have an outdoor seating area, or patio, in close proximity to where the shelter, [or the white tent], was designed to go. So we had to shift resources, which was part of the reason why we put it, [the pavilion plans], on hold.

[Referring to the bistro’s outdoor patio],

we decided that we wanted to get that done first. We thought that it would provide some of the same outdoor seating and opportunities [that the white tent once had],” said Browning.

With the new retail foodservice in the works, Browning believed that the finished outcome should be completed by early May. “By the time the bistro should be finished and opened, students would already be leaving campus for break.

We would hope that it would have limited hours in the summer and then fully opened to students when fall semester starts,” said Browning.

According to Browing, the retail foodservice will be operated by Barton College’s Culinary Services, AVI Fresh, and economically accessible through cash, credit cards, or Blue (Bully) Bucks. The official name of the retail foodservice will also be confirmed by Barton College’s Student Government Association (SGA) at a later date.

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Social media drastically impacts the value of cryptocurrency For starters, cryptocurrency is simply digital money used to buy anything from food to cars. Crypto has been a big speculation for the past few years, but seems to be getting a lot of attention in the past few months. The two most popular cryptocurrencies include Bitcoin and Ethereum which both trade for thousands of dollars.

Bitcoin is among the most well-known and sought-after digital currencies which currently trades above $60,000 per unit. Many top firms and companies are getting in on the action by purchasing Bitcoin with their cash holdings. Tesla

is reporting their $1.5 billion holding in bitcoin which is around 8% of Tesla’s 2020 cash holdings.

With that being said, a few factors drive the price of bitcoin and others in a bullish way.

The popular CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk has quite the presence on many social media websites, the biggest being on Twitter. Musk is often seen tweeting about bitcoin and other popular stocks. This drives people to buy them and causes prices

forums like Reddit and TikTok fuel the fire of sporadic prices. People like to make all sorts of accusations by Financial tips video about the from Kevin reasons for price fluctuation, which end up receiving

By Kevin Vicari millions of views Correspondent and actually cause more fluctuation in the process.

The popularity that social media has gotten within the past 10 years has affected or selling cryptocurrency many sectors of our economy, can also cause a significant not just the cryptocurrency. drop in currency value.

More specifically if a verified Popular sites with large to skyrocket. News about a large company buying

user on a social media app were to post anything about a stock, cryptocurrency or something in that ballpark, the typical trend of it exploding up or down is seen.

An interesting statistic I saw was that almost 2/3 of American adults get their news from social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Social media is essential for the growth of digital currency. Bitcoin has social media to thank for its current standings. The future of cryptocurrency is going to be very interesting to watch but people must remember that crypto isn’t a toy, it’s an asset.

Barton purchases property for expansion plan

By Callie Burnette Staff Writer Parking will be added to the Barton College athletics facilities at the corner of Roundtree and College Street.

The site is a small residential lot next to the current Sports

Performance Center that originally had two small homes on the land. These homes were purchased by Barton College in the late fall of 2020 and were taken down to prepare for converting the land into a parking lot.

One of the houses on the

property was being rented out, while the other was owned by a Wilson resident.

“These houses were in great need of repair. Both residents were given plenty of time to relocate before the houses were demolished,” said Vice President for

Administration & Finance David Browning. “The property fits into the campus master plan of further developing the college

and improving the athletic complex. There is an interest in the college to expand in that area within the future,”

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Senior Atkins found dream job on career search website, changed majors

By Colton Youngblood Correspondent Hard work and optimism has helped senior Maddie Atkins through three and a half years as a student athlete at Barton. Before becoming a Bulldog, Atkins did not have the slightest intention of playing soccer in college.

Atkins first learned about Barton College when she played against a team coached by former head women’s soccer coach Thomas Goines at a travel soccer competition. Goines decided to recruit her because she was fast, athletic and worked

hard when she played.

Atkins accepted a walk on scholarship to play soccer for the Bulldogs and enrolled in the fall of 2017. From the start, she enjoyed being a student athlete but playing soccer required her to work hard through adversity. She played her first two years on the developmental team which meant she would not play in collegiate games or travel with the team to away games.

After two years of playing developmental soccer, she saw her hard work pay off as she made the travel roster her Junior year. This past

semester she had to hang up the cleats to focus more on her academic studies and her career after graduation.

“She is very outgoing and funny, and that’s what attracted me to become friends with her,” said former teammate senior Kylie Bowers. “The more I got to know her the more I learned that she is caring, strong, and a hard worker.”

Growing up in Princeton, Atkins was an extrovert, and she made a lot of friends playing basketball and soccer. She had a passion for people whether its helping someone out or simply

having a conversation.

She took her passion into consideration when deciding what she was going to study in college and what she wanted out as her career.

In the classroom she pursued an interest in pre-vet studies but quickly realized that biology was not for her and decided to switch majors.

While scrolling through a career website one day in class she found her true calling, occupational therapy.

“I love occupational therapy,” said Atkins. “You get to help people and there’s jobs everywhere, so I’ll get

to travel, which is a plus.”

Occupational therapy has a wide range of career paths and this excited Atkins. The availability of jobs nationwide and the salary also helped influence her to apply to grad school and chase a master’s degree after she graduates in May. When looking for grad schools she realized that she might be traveling sooner than she thought. She is currently looking to attend grad school to get her doctorate from Methodist University in Fayetteville or Barry University in Miami, Florida.

Professional pianist takes stage at Barton for annual concert

By Kayla Jimenez Senior Writer Barton College will be hosting their annual spring orchestra concert this year with the Wilson Symphony on Sunday, April 25 at 3 p.m. in the Kennedy Family Theater.

This year’s featured musician is professional pianist Kwan Yi. A graduate from the Curtis Institute, Juilliard School and the Peabody Institute, Yi has performed all around the world, including Carnegie Hall, Auditorium Du Louvre and the Chicago Symphony Center. Yi is currently an assistant professor of piano at East Carolina University’s School of music.

The orchestra will be performing two pieces, Piano concerto No.3 by Beethoven and the Schubert Symphony No.5.

The concert is free to the Barton Community, and reservations are required. Reservations can be made through Mark Peterson, director of music and conductor at Barton.

Masks will be required as well, and social distancing is expected for the Barton community and its patrons.

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Process for choosing residence assistants uncovers leadership qualities

By K.J. Askew Co-Editor Each school year the residence life staff chooses the best candidates to serve as Resident Assistants (RA) for the upcoming school year.

There are 21 RAs in total. This includes the student residence life staff workers for each residence hall and each floor.

An RA is a student worker who is a part of the residence life staff for their respective residence hall. An RA job is to ensure resident safety, building community and holding residents accountable to the school’s policies and rules.

“I would say that above all else an RA’s main job is resident safety. That is the number duty/responsibility for the job,” said Assistant Director for Residential

Services, Gaven Mayo.

Mayo and Assistant Dean for Campus Life and Residential Services Jeff Tilson as the two professionals for residential services they conduct the hiring process for RAs. Before Thanksgiving break, three RA informational sessions are offered to interested students on campus.

“In these sessions we go over job description, benefits, the rest of the steps in the hiring process and we allow a Q&A for the current staff,” said Mayo.

The next step of the process is applications go live. Students have approximately four weeks to submit their applications.

“After the application closes, we go through and filter out applications. The criteria to get pass the application phase

is to have at least a 2.5 GPA and they have lived on campus for a full year,” said Mayo.

After the applications are filtered, notifications go out to the applicants who will move forward in the candidacy pool for the next academic year.

“The group process is vague, we do not give them any detail on what to expect,” said Mayo.

The group process will take between three to four days to complete depending on the number of applicants.

“The group process is a time to see them interact with other potential RAs. We are not testing their knowledge but allowing them to interact with others. We focus on problem solving, confrontation with others and socializing,” said Mayo.

In the group process the applicants will go through a

rotation of different activities to gauge their interactive skills.

“The main qualities I look for is enthusiasm, receptiveness and flexibility,” said Mayo.

After the group process is complete, each applicant is given an individual interview.

This interview is done with a panel that consists of two professional staff members and a current RA. “In this interview, we ask them as list of questions pertaining to floor community, safety and past experience.

They are given a rating for the group process and individual interviews,” said Mayo.

These interviews take a week to complete.

At the end of all the sessions, the panel averages out all of their ratings together.

“Once again, we filter between three decisions:

definite yes, definite no, or an alternate pool,” said Mayo.

RAs are strategically picked and placed for appropriate skill sets and leadership styles.

“After all this is done, we take a look at the current staff and we place people depending on building needs,” said Mayo.

After final decisions are made, students are notified to pickup offer letters for the campus life office.

“The offer letters will mean one of three things (in short): One, you have been offered the position. Two, you have been offered the position, but listed as an alternate. Three, you have not been offered the position,” said Mayo.

New RAs are contacted, trained and are ready to begin their duties as an RA in the upcoming academic year.

Barton students participate in honor society induction ceremony On April 11, 14 Barton students were inducted into the Alpha Chi National Collegiate Honor Society.

Grounds for invitation to Alpha Chi are based on the top 10% of the senior class.

For instance, if there are 268 seniors, the top 10% will be the top 27 seniors, and thus the 27th highest career GPA will be the minimum GPA that seniors and juniors must have earned to be invited that semester. The bottomline GPA for Alpha Chi is 3.5, but the actual GPA required is always higher because only the top 10% should be invited. The top 10% of graduate students is determined separately, following the same procedure.

Juniors and seniors must have earned at least 30 hours at Barton

to be considered. Graduate students must have completed 15 hours at Barton to be considered.

Spring 2021 inductees included Rebecca Ashton, Mackenzie Evans, Douglas Flora, Cynthia Green, Austin Hicks, Gavin Jones, Cory Joyner, Sarah Kaempfe, Linda Kirk, Nicola Macdonald, Jennifer Nelson, Nicole Norlin, Hailey Russell, Jacob Sauls, Kiara Claiborne, Kaylee Davis, Tyshika Dickens, Allison Dunkle, Alexander Hoscila, Clinton Marsh, Kristen Price, Norielle Sanchez, Joshua Stidham, Cassidy Tharp, Micaela Turner, and Dwuaneisha Whitfield.

Officers for the 2020-2021 year are Micaela Turner, president, and Leslie Wellendorf, vice-president.

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Studying abroad offers variety of experiences for Barton students

By Kayla Jimenez Staff Writer Barton has many opportunities for students to travel and experience new cultures through programs offered at the school. There are two main ways for students to travel.

The first way is through faculty-led trips. These trips usually consist of a faculty member taking the students on short trips, that can usually last from one week to a whole summer.

For example, last year, a group of students went to London for spring break, with Dr. Lane, history professor at Barton, leading the group.

Departments also have facultyled trips. The business department has been on trips to Guatemala and to the Disney world.

These trips are often desirable for students because they usually have to miss only one or a couple of

weeks, and they do not have to miss important events that may be needed for their sport or their major.

The second way that students can travel is through the studyabroad program. These trips usually last for a semester.

Jacqueline Fischer, who is the director of transition and studentathlete programs, is the main person to talk to if a student is interested in studying abroad. Fischer looks into many factors on how a student can study abroad, such as length of stay, location, and courses that students can take while studying abroad.

Barton also makes it easy for students to get funding to travel abroad. Every year, Fischer releases an application in late August or early September for students to apply for funding. Once the applications are turned in, a committee looks

through them, and distributes the funds to applicants.

According to Fischer, there are many different reasons on why students should study abroad.

“One of the main reasons why I am such an advocate for students to study abroad is because of the engagement of societal and the diverse cultural connections that students get from stepping outside of their comfort zone,” said Fischer.

Students can also gain professional experience from studying abroad through internships, working on international projects, meeting other professionals in their field and much more.

Barton senior Callie Burnette studied abroad at the University of Roehampton in London, England, was able to gain many professional experiences while in London. For

example, she was a Designer Marketing Intern for the company Nimbo Babies.

According to Burnette, her experience at London was very life changing.

“It was exciting, I had to jump out of my comfort zone. Through the internship, I learned about cultural differences, and how to work with people from various backgrounds,” said Burnette.

Students that are studying abroad will be provided with many resources that will help them with their study abroad experience.

“It was scary being away from home, but our advisor was with us through every step of day,” said Burnette.

For more information, students can contact Jacqueline Fisher at jefischer@barton.edu.

Business honor society inductees ranked in top 20%

By Piper Wolfe Staff Writer Thirteen Barton College students were inducted into Sigma Beta Delta, a scholastic honors society that recognizes academic excellence among students involved in business and management fields.

The Sigma Beta Delta ‘Class of 2021’ is to join the existing 20 members on Barton’s campus.

These new inductees are; Rebecca Ashton, Bryson Boyette, Ronaldo Del Duca, Dakota Jones, Brenna Keegan, Ophelia Lamm, Blake Pennington, Natalie Brandenburg, AnnaKate Gilchrist, Gavin Jones, Sarah Kirk, Grace McCartney and Eason Warren.

The highest national recognition a business student can receive in college is membership in the Sigma Beta Delta chapter. In order to be inducted into the society, a student must rank within the top 20% of their class and be nominated by a faculty member.

The purpose of Sigma Beta Delta is to honor those students within business fields who exemplify academic merit.

Existing members of the chapter are; Carter Brogden, Grace Browning, Holly Johnson, Jennifer Nelson, Nicole Norlin, Kaity Pearson, Olivia Rivera, Tobie Bellamy, Mackenzie Camp, Owen Dick, Trevor Edior, Alessandro Gerbino, AJ Hoscila, Denning Hudson, Tyler Hunt, Oscar Marmestedt, Kristen Price, Bart Swiderski, Ada Vargas and Imrie Worley.

Sigma Beta Delta is an honor awarded to both juniors and seniors obtaining undergraduate degrees.

Inductees are nominated by the faculty, once they join the top 20% of their respective classes.

In 2020, Barton College hosted an induction ceremony in the Kennedy Family Theatre, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students this year cannot participate in such an event. Letters were sent to the 2021 inductees, and they picked up their pins and certificates.

Susan Matthewson, an educator in the school of business, said that a mother of an inductee reached out to ask for her daughter’s induction

letter on Barton letterhead so that she could put it in her scrapbook.

“That just makes me feel really good,” said Matthewson.

Scholarships are also available via Sigma Beta Delta, and they require an essay and a recommendation. One student at Barton College was a recipient of

a $1,000 scholarship this year.

Sigma Beta Delta, from Greek origin, loosely translates to wisdom, honor and aspirations. Sigma Beta Delta students wear honor cords at graduation ceremonies, which are green and gold. The honor society has 277 active chapters across the country.

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SPORTS

Sports Roundup: Players on multiple teams have a great week; Football team wins scrimmage

By Debbie Herrera Photography Editor

This past week the bulldogs had several games including men’s and women’s track, soccer, softball, volleyball and baseball.

The Conference Carolina’s players of the week are Jacob Randolph for men’s soccer Defensive Player, Jared Davis and Travious Ford for baseball pitchers, and Rilee Jones for softball pitcher.

For home games, on April 6 Barton women’s tennis went up against Erskine College losing with a score of 6-1. On the same day, women and men’s volleyball also took place with a losing score of 3-0 for women and a close game of 3-2 for men.

The next day women’s lacrosse won 15-6 against

Southern Wesleyan and the men’s lacrosse lost with a close score of 10-9 against Mount Olive. Barton’s softball team also went up against Mount Olive in a doubleheader, winning both games with a score of 8-0 for the first and 6-2 for the second.

That Friday, the baseball team went up against Southern Wesleyan with a doubleheader losing the first game with a score of 6-2 but brought it back with a winning score of 11-2 in the second game.

During that time, the softball team also competed in a doubleheader with Emmanuel College winning both games with a score of 6-0 for the first and 13-10 for the second.

On the Electric Supply Company field, women’s soccer lost 3-0 to Chowan.

Saturday, April 10 was a very busy day for the Bulldogs with several home games and several away games. At the tennis court, the tennis teams went head to head with Emmanuel College, the women losing 5-2 and the men bringing home a win 6-1.

On the field, the baseball team played a doubleheader with Southern Wesleyan once again winning both games scoring 3-2 for the first and 11-9 for the second.

Also on the field, the softball team had a doubleheader against Erskine College with a winning score of 2-0 for the first game and a losing score of 4-1. The women’s volleyball team competed out of town at Emmanuel College for the Spring 2021 Conference Carolinas

Championship Pool Play winning with a score of 3-0.

Men’s and women’s outdoor track teams also competed out of town against the Trojans at the University of Mount Olive; women’s track landed fourth place on the 4x100 meter relay ran by Bethany Blackwell, Bianca Kave, Takeitha Glaspie, and Telina Bunch with the final score of 49.21. Men’s track landed third place on the 4x100 meter relay ran by Ronnie Robinson, Jimere Summers, Justin Aggrey and Tucker Eaton with the final score of 43.11.

Sunday, April 11 women’s golf traveled to Spartanburg S.C. for the two-day 2021 Conference Carolina Championship landing fifth place with a score of 1005.

Both Soccer teams brought

home wins after traveling to Bristol Tenn. to go up against King; the women won with a score of 4-1 and the men 3-0.

Barton’s football team also won a scrimmage against Louisburg on the Electric Supply Company Field with a score of 24-7.

Tuesday, April 13, men’s and women’s tennis both won their games against Chowan in Murfreesboro N.C., scoring 7-0 for men and 4-3 close game for the women.

Men’s volleyball also had a home game against King for the 2021 Conference Carolinas Championship Quarterfinals but lost with a score of 0-3.

For more information and live videos check the Barton Athletics website, at bartonbulldogs.com.

Wilson Tobs baseball keeps collegiate players active during summer season

By Parker Harris Correspondent There is a team located in Wilson, North Carolina unlike many others, and it goes by the Wilson Tobs. They are a college summer league team affiliated with the Coastal Plain League. Within the Coastal Plain League or the CPL, there are 16 teams that are spread throughout the east coast. One of the main attractions to this league is wooden bats instead of aluminum bats used by regular NCAA College teams.

“The wooden bats give MLB scouts a legitimate estimate of what these college players’ batting power is,” said, President and owner of the Wilson Tobs Greg Suire.

There are many benefits to using wooden bats, a key one being player development.

With a metal bat, as long as the batter hits the ball, it’s going to have some power to it. With a wooden bat it is important to find the sweet spot on the barrel of the bat to get a good hit off it.

“One of the main reasons for this team is to keep these baseball players occupied and in the game of baseball,” said Director of Operations and Group Sales, Stephen Andrew MacKinnon II. He believes that the players must continue to grow even during the regular scheduled offseason.

“If you are not recruiting right after the season ends,

you’re behind,” said General manager of the Tobs Mike Bell.

Since the team cannot give housing itself, it looks to the locals to help provide a place to stay for the recruits that need it.

“We lose four or five supporting families a year but usually get back the same number we lost,” said Bell.

As the team looks towards their 25th season, they look back at the summer of 2020 with disappointment.

COVID-19 swept across the nation and canceled sports, and unfortunately the Wilson Tobs were no exception. The team was forced to postpone their season last year after getting off to a hot 17-5 start.

The stoppage was because of an outbreak within the team.

“It came down to the timing of it all. We didn’t have enough time to pause for two weeks then pick it back up,” said Greg Suir.

Fleming Stadium, home of the Wilson Tobs, seats 3,000 people. Because of COVID-19 protocol, it will let in 1,500 people, meaning it will seat only half its capacity.

While at Fleming Stadium, there are plenty of things to do even though COVID-19 is still around. One is to visit the North Carolina Baseball Hall of Fame. It features players that have played at Fleming stadium, such as Rod Carew, Richie Ashburn, Robin

Roberts, and Ted Williams, who are all in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Another attraction to the park is that they sell alcohol.

This isn’t uncommon to see at Minor or Major league games but, up until recently, there wouldn’t have been alcohol at college games or any sporting event affiliated with the NCAA. “It’s not the main reason people come out to our games, but it’s nice to have on a hot sunny day,” said Greg Suir.

People can take advantage of these opportunities and watch a baseball game on May 27 when the Tobs face off against the North Wake Fungo.

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Marissa Stevenson continues to lead in her graduate studies

By Gracie Lindfors Staff Writer Barton College was the first American experience for Barton graduate and master’s student Marissa Stevenson.

Stevenson is originally from England but was born in Uruguay, South America. She came to Barton in the fall of 2016 and continued here for four years completing her bachelor’s in exercise science with minors in psychology and honors in 2020. She is currently completing her master’s in Kinesiology with a concentration in strength & conditioning.

Stevenson plays tennis on Barton’s women’s team. She has been playing for Barton since her freshman year and gets to continue to play as she finishes out her master’s degree. She has been playing tennis competitively since she was 12 years old.

Her biggest influences in tennis are Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Simona Halep and Maria Sakkari.

“Marissa Stevenson is a great player and a great kid on the women’s team, who took advantage of the extra year eligibility, and I am excited to have her another year,” said Barton College Tennis Coach Lee Underwood.

Her goal after college is to be a tennis coach and a personal trainer. She wants to have a job that will allow her to travel. Stevenson’s dream is to work with professional tennis players and athletes.

“In five years, I see myself as a personal trainer with possibly my own fitness brand, influencing people to live a healthy and active lifestyle! I also hope to have traveled the world,” said Stevenson.

At Barton, Stevenson also is a part of the Exercise Science Club and The International Student Association. She has also been a SAAC representative in the past and a member of the student philanthropy society. As an involved student, she was influenced by many students and staff members at Barton.

“I have had many influences at Barton that have helped me get to where I am. Megan Hickey.

She was always a leader and a big presence on campus. Jacqueline Fischer, for always making the international students feel at home and supported.

Matt Shubert, for always setting an example and

keeping motivation high in the weight room, and Ashley Teilborg, for being the most positive and inspirational friend and athlete, and always providing a “feel-good” vibe,” said Stevenson.

Outside of tennis and school, Marissa enjoys Brazilian music, learning guitar, playing sports and learning Portuguese.

Marissa wants new students to take advantage of every opportunity at Barton to learn and grow. Join new clubs, go to campus events and reach out to the staff.

“My advice for tennis freshman, I’d say be prepared to work hard on and off the court, but also to have fun! The college tennis experience will fly by, so embrace every moment on the court,” said Stevenson.

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Barton Cheer disappointed to not participate in Nationals

By Payton Sutton Correspondent The cheerleading team at Barton has continued to grow since it was added three years ago. Due to Covid-19, the cheerleading team has had to do things differently.

The cheerleading team was looking forward to competing at nationals this year even though it would be virtual.

Sadly, some unexpected news has led to the Bulldogs cheerleading team losing their spot in the competition.

“When one person tests positive, the whole team goes home. Currently, somebody got quarantined so now

we have a whole meeting about it,” said sophomore cheerleader Shelley Wilson.

Covid-19 has affected the cheerleading team negatively because of the current two week quarantine situation and because of the inability to do stunts in their game day routines due to the six feet apart Covid-19 restriction.

“It has definitely made it difficult especially in the beginning of the season because there was no football in the fall and basketball started later than normal. We were having to make up a lot of things to keep everyone entertained and change things up because of not stunting in

the first part of the semester.

That was really different for the girls because normally you come in and start stunting, it’s one of the first things you do in the summer,” said Head Cheerleading and Dance Coach Sarah Moore.

This is Moore’s second season as head coach for Barton cheerleading. Moore is also the Game Day Marketing Manager for Barton. Moore took the job as head coach for cheerleading and dance because of the support shown from the athletic department to the program.

“Since taking the job, I was right about the support they give. I have been really

happy here,” said Moore.

The cheerleading team is full of athletic females all on a $2,500 renewable scholarship per year. The number of cheerleaders on the team can fluctuate. The Barton administration usually does not limit the amount of girls Moore is allowed to bring to Barton. Typically she keeps 20 girls on the cheerleading team.

The public tends to get confused on the difference between the cheerleading team and the dance team.

Both are described to be one program called the Spirit program but they are two different organizations.

There are a total of three

girls that have crossed over to do both cheerleading and dance. These girls choose to do both because of their skill set and experience although they do not get extra scholarship money for doing so.

“I have been dancing for 16 years and doing competitive cheer since seventh grade.

I got used to managing my time because I did both in highschool but it was a little hard here at first because classes are at all different times,” said freshman Grace Collins from Wilson, NC.

Alumni produce website for promotion of athletics on campus

By Moira Euker Staff Writer Barton College fans now have an inside look at athletics on campus.

In December of 2019, Bulldogs Insider, an independent source coverage page, was created for Bulldogs fans. The business was started

by B.P. Cox, a Barton College alumni who graduated in 1999 with a degree in Communications. Cox was very active on campus. He was a member of SigEp, had a lead in a musical, did play by plays for basketball games, worked for The Collegiate and was president of his graduating class.

“Enjoyed my time at Barton, I was obviously very

active on campus,” said Cox. Cox had the opportunity to assist with Inside Pack Sports, covering N.C. State athletics.

Throughout his experience with IPS, he helped out a lot with marketing and promotion of the site. This allowed Cox to learn about bigger schools and their fan base websites to cover athletics, making him realize the need for a program to cover athletics at Barton.

“Why Shouldn’t Barton have something like this,” said Cox. With the recently created lacrosse program and the football program starting up, Cox saw the perfect opportunity to begin building the fan base he planned to start at Barton.

“I wanted to take the

opportunity and momentum that the school had,” said Cox. Bulldogs Insider also experienced tremendous support from Barton President Searcy.

“President Searcy is such a great promoter of the school that it was just sort of the three headed beast that I wanted to just go ahead and take this opportunity to push my vision of what the site could be and what people could get out of it,” said Cox. The Bulldogs Insider gives Bulldog fans an opportunity to stay in touch with the happenings on campus pertaining to athletic programs and promote Barton College as a whole. The Insider promotes the Bulldogs

through social media and their website www.bulldogsinsider. com by publishing sports stories, posting photos and posting live tweets.

“This is a great way for us to promote the Barton life,” said Cox. Cox is also assisted with his work by Michael Peckerar, another 1999 Barton College graduate. Peckerar now works writing stories and marketing for Herbalife in Los Angeles, CA. Peckerar’s primary job is to write stories for the business. Due to COVID-19 limitations, Peckerar has not been able to attend any recent Bulldogs events. To allow Peckerar to feel the hype of the Bulldogs, Cox Facetimes him at the start of every football

game from center field.

“Back when we were in college we didn’t think we would ever have a football team or stadium Barton has now, it is truly awesome,” said Cox. This platform was initially called Barton Pride and that name lasted for a year. Cox and Peckerar wanted to allow room for their business to develop by monetizing some of their work, so they changed the name to Bulldogs Insider.

The Bulldogs Insider platform is 100% homegrown

by Cox himself.

“I’m just doing this for my love of Barton, I just think that Barton deserves something,” said Cox.

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Softball coach earns 400th career win during 5th year at Barton

By Colton Youngblood Correspondent Head softball coach Junior Bailey, has marked his fifth year working at Barton College by bagging the 400th win of his softball coaching career.

Bailey has led the Bulldogs to victory 73 times and said he hopes to quickly increase that number this season and in future seasons.

“I have to give the credit to the players who have played for me and my assistant coaches over the time because without them, of course, none of this happens. I really have had

some dynamite ball players, and have some now, to be honest with you,” said Bailey.

Bailey has been coaching collegiate softball for 15 years. His career started at Pitt Community College in 2005, where he coached for 10 years and served as the athletic director.

At Pitt, Bailey secured three Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Softball Tournaments under his belt and established a collective win record of 316-147 (.683) before transferring to Barton.

Bailey’s coaching career began at the middle school level where he was a physical education teacher. During this time, he also coached football, basketball and baseball. It was when he was promoted to a fulltime position that he began coaching softball because it was the only sport available.

“I took softball and... after the first year I told the baseball coach, he can have the baseball stuff, I like the softball game.

The speed of the game is so much faster, a lot of great coaching opportunities were

there that baseball doesn’t use as much,” said Bailey.

Bailey recalls his childhood years visiting his mom in Illinois where he would watch his stepdad play fastpitch softball. Bailey watched his first women’s softball game at Barton, without knowing he would begin coaching college women’s softball the following year at Pitt.

Bailey is ready for the current season as he is sure that the team is strong enough to get closer to competing on a national level. He believes with effective recruiting the

team gets stronger each year.

The Bulldogs demonstrate this strength on the field and in the classroom by maintaining an average GPA of around 3.5 each season.

“I want our players to be amazing people, that’s number one and we do, we have some amazing young ladies, but we also want to be a contender and not just in our conference,” said Bailey.

“We do want to be a contender in conference, but that’s our first step. Then we want to be a contender nationally.”

Barton shares long-running history with Conference Carolinas

By Colton Youngblood Correspondent The Conference Carolinas commemorated its 90th year of establishment last year and Barton College continues to reflect on its history and relationship with the conference.

On Dec. 6, 2020, 90 years had passed since the formal creation of the Conference Carolinas. The conference

was founded in 1930 as the North State Intercollegiate Conference in Durham, N.C, also known as the Old North State Conference.

Barton College, then known as Atlantic Christian College, was one of seven of the first founding colleges and charter members to form the conference. Barton is the only college left in Conference Carolinas that was

Riley Jones photographed by Matt and William Proseus

there since the beginning.

The other charter members included Appalachian State University, Catawba College, Guilford College, Elon University, High Point University, and Lenoir-Rhyne University. It was on May 20, 1961, when Newberry College joined the conference that the name changed to Carolinas Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (CIAC).

Newberry was the first college from South Carolina to join.

The name later changed to Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference (CVAC) in 1996 when a Virginian school, Longwood University joined.

Then in 2007, the name was changed yet again this time to Conference Carolinas.

It was in 1995, that the members of Conference Carolinas, including Barton,

Jacob Randolph photographed by Matt and William Proseus

transferred as a unit from NAIA to NCAA DII. During the first year of student athletics at Barton in 1907, baseball was the first sport for the college to compete in, they had a 0-2 season.

Within 20 years, Barton established a men’s basketball team in 1914, a football team in 1920, a boxing team and a men’s tennis team 1928.

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Updates on Pavillion Continued from page 10

decided that we wanted to get that done first. We thought that it would provide some of the same outdoor seating and opportunities [that the white tent once had],” said Browning.

With the new retail

foodservice in the works, Browning believed that the finished outcome should be completed by early May. “By the time the bistro should be finished and opened, students would already be

leaving campus for break. We would hope that it would have limited hours in the summer and then fully opened to students when fall semester starts,” said Browning.

According to Browing,

seen “drastic growth” since she first started working on the paper during her freshman year. She also said she thinks the biggest focus should be continuing to build on what The Collegiate has become.

“Just continuing, teaching people and assisting people … we all work together to make The Collegiate the best that it can be,” said Cassidi Hinson.

Jimenez also said that she excited about taking on her new role.

“I feel like it will help me as a writer. It will help me to learn more skills,” Jimenez said.

Brantley also said that it was different this semester because most of the new editors didn’t have journalism plans initially.

“It’s interesting that none of these students, with the exception of Cass…they didn’t show up as journalism students. They just found it was something they could do well,” Brantley said. “That’s the great thing about college sometimes.”

the retail foodservice will be operated by Barton College’s Culinary Services, AVI Fresh, and economically accessible through cash, credit cards, or Blue (Bully) Bucks. The official name of the retail foodservice

Collegiate Continued from page 7 it’s a great opportunity not only for my resume but also for me to meet new people with like-minded goals and ambitions,” said Carli Hinson.

“It’s a new opportunity for me to work on my art in a more professional-based setting.”

“She is a really good artist, but she has such a good design eye too,” Brantley said.

Social media editor Cassidi Hinson is a junior and has been on The Collegiate for four years. She said that she has

Travis Ford photographed by Matt and William Proseus

Jared Davis photographed by Matt and William Proseus

will also be confirmed by Barton College’s Student Government Association (SGA) at a later date.

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Harper Hall serves as Barton College’s hub of administrative services

By Brianna Turner Staff Writer Harper Hall is known by students as the home for many of Barton’s administrative and financial offices. Located by the Centennial Alumni Bell Tower, Harper Hall provides spaces for the President’s office, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Office of Financial Aid, and much more.

Harper Hall was constructed as a dormitory in the beginning. In 1941,

America joined the fray alongside the Allied Powers after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many young men were enlisted into the military, decreasing the population of ACC’s (Barton College) campus community by a significant amount. To remedy this issue, plans for Harper Hall were drawn up with an $80,000 budget to accompany an influx of female students following a promotional campaign at local high schools.

The front of Harper Hall. Photographed by Brianna Turner.

In 1950, Harper Hall and a few other campus projects, such as the Hardy Library, were completed thanks to generous donations by the Wilson community and ACC faculty.

Female students praised Harper Hall for its welcoming atmosphere and impressive recreational area, which provided enough room for the college to host dances, social events, and dance lessons.

A game room was also built inside the dormitory building

with furniture procured by members of ACC’s Greek Life.

1987 brought new changes to Harper Hall. The first floor dorms were wiped clean and converted into office spaces, switching the role of administrative center from Belk to Harper.

The second and third floors continued to remain as dormitories until 2002.

Harper Hall is named for John James Harper and his daughters, who served

as ACC faculty members.

Harper served as the first chairman for ACC’s Board of Trustees and as the second college President from 1904 to 1908. A former preacher and N.C. legislator, Harper was a highly respected member of ACC’s campus community, praised for his wisdom and commitment to the academic success of the student body.