The Gettysburgian - December 6, 2019

FR E E

The Serving Gettysburg College since 1897

PAG E 12

Volume CXXII, Issue No. 3 · December 6, 2019

Deconstructing Stress Culture:

Why you should delete your email signature

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On Thankfulness

BY BENJAMIN PONTZ, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF As I sit down to write this introduction to The Gettysburgian’s third and final print magazine of the semester, it is two days before Thanksgiving, which I have long believed to be an underappreciated holiday sandwiched between the preposterousness of Halloween and the fervor of the Christmas season. While many engage in a fairly contrived recitation of “something I’m thankful for,” I think Thanksgiving provides an opportunity for genuine reflection and thankfulness. There is virtue in gratitude, and evincing it (whether to oneself or to others) is a choice, one I believe is worth making.

Several years ago, on Thanksgiving, I decided that I wanted to continue to reflect on the blessings in my life past the day we set aside for such expressions. That night, I began a practice that I have continued to this day—before going to bed, as the last thing I do each day, I write down one thing that has touched me in some way for which I am thankful. I have lists dating back to at least 2014 on a clipboard, and a cursory review of the list reveals hundreds of people, dozens of organizations and activities, numerous physical circumstances, and a handful of states of mind that—at the end of a particular day—struck me as worth remembering.

The list is valuable to me in that it helps me end each day—no matter what happened—in reflection on how indebted I am to friends, family, mentors, institutions, opportunities, setbacks, and material blessings for bringing me to that point. In trying moments, the list provides valuable perspective. In moments of triumph or success, the list is a humbling amalgamation the myriad of factors beyond my control that helped to bring me to that point. Fundamentally, rather than confining gratitude to a single day on which I consume large amounts of turkey (a day for which, indeed, I am thankful), it makes each day a day of thanksgiving.

Today, Nov. 26, 2019, my item is “The Gettysburgian,” and, indeed, I am thankful particularly for the people who make this operation work. A little more than five months ago, the concept for the magazine in your hands was merely a ridiculous idea I had not yet discussed with anyone. Over the course of the summer, the team that I feel privileged to call my friends pulled themselves away from summer jobs and internships to hold a series of phone calls and live chat sessions, agreed to break into small groups to brainstorm how this might work, and breathed life into what was, admittedly, an undeveloped “wouldn’t it be cool if …” thought. The product is beyond what I could have imagined, a testament to the work of dozens of students, almost all of whom plan to do something other than journalism in their ultimate professional lives.

Over the next few weeks, our team will reflect on what has worked and what has not in the first three issues, which have each had a different flavor and level of “punch,” and make plans for refining this product into something with a slightly more consistent framework as we head into the spring semester. As we do, I would, of course, welcome your input. My inbox (editors@gettysburgian.com) is always open.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Ben Pontz Benjamin Pontz ‘20 Editor-in-Chief The Gettysburgian

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 12

Curricular Revision

The Gettysburg College faculty is considering the first major revision to the college’s curriculum since 2004; we have details and history

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Eisenhower Scholarship

The college has a new merit scholarship, the highest to date at $40,000 per year; we explore the college’s goals

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Women’s Soccer

It was a season to remember for the women’s soccer team; we profile the student-athletes behind the run

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Members of College Dems discuss their favorite11/15/19 candidates half page ad_DEC_85x55 1:57 PM Page 1

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Fall Sports Recap

It’s time to stop engaging in performative stress and start taking care of ourselves and each other, the editorial board writes

Sports Editor Garrett Glaeser gives the low-down on how the men’s soccer, field hockey, football, and volleyball teams fared this fall

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The ‘Poor Student’ Trope

A Report on the Platypus

Julianna Pestretto ‘21 shares her story as a low-income student and suggests that inability to buy a drink at Commons does not make someone poor

Yes, you read that correctly ... a class project while abroad in Australia, Liam Tobin ‘21 and friends share some facts (and a joke) about the platypus

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20 Vaping at Gettysburg

Postcard from Abroad

Nadine Snyder ‘21 sends a dispatch from Zanzibar, where she is studying abroad this semester

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Decision 2020

Staff Editorial

Getty, Set, Go!

Caroline Kurtt ‘23 discusses her firstyear seminar in our journal series

Some students vape at Gettysburg, but others think vaping should be banned; results from our straw poll

22 Review: Disney Plus Ethan Cannistra shares his thoughts on Disney Plus

Coming Attractions A Celtic Family Christmas

Starring Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy Wednesday, December 11 7:30 pm Natalie MacMaster returns to the Majestic stage, and this time she’s bringing the whole family with her.

Cape Breton’s favorite fiddling phenome is joined by husband Donnell Leahy — an award-winning fiddle virtuoso in his own right — and an incredible array of talented musicians (including their children) for this special holiday concert. $51 / $45 / $39

‘We Shall Overcome’

A Celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Saturday, January 25 — 7:30 pm Inspired by the words and actions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “We Shall Overcome” showcases repertoire from across African American music traditions that electrified generations of civil rights activists with interwoven spoken word from Dr. King’s recorded speeches. This event is the 40th anniversary of Gettysburg’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration. Sponsored by Gettysburg’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Committee, Gettysburg College’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion and College Life, and Majestic Theater. FREE; reservations recommended

Mountainfilm on Tour — Friday, January 31 — 7:30 pm Experience the best short films from the annual Mountainfilm festival in Telluride, Colorado. Join us for a celebration of adventure, the environment and the human spirit with special guest emcee from Telluride.

The festival has been held in May each year since 1979, with the best films then touring more than 150 locations around the world. $15 in advance / $20 at door / $10 student THE GETTYSBURGIAN Tickets available at www.gettysburgmajestic.org • 717.337.8200 • 25 Carlisle St., Gettysburg

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N E WS Outline of the Gettysburg College Curriculum The Curriculum aspires to develop lifelong learners who are able to acquire and process information and ideas in multiple ways (multiple inquiries), are integrative thinkers, are skilled in communication, and are prepared for the responsibilities of informed citizenship.

Multiple Inquiries Goal

Integrative Thinking Goal

Effective Communication Goal

Gettysburg College students should develop both an understanding of multiple frameworks for analysis and proficiency in reading texts that span the breadth of human expression. Making meaning of such texts requires an understanding of their conceptual and historical underpinnings and their modes of expression.

Gettysburg College students should develop critical and open minds that seek to adopt wellargued points of view through the active consideration and integration of alternative methodologies, perspectives, and foundational presuppositions.

Gettysburg College students should develop proficiency in the skills of writing, reading, speaking, and utilizing electronic media. Further, students should be able to articulate questions clearly, identify and gain access to appropriate information, construct cogent arguments, and engage in intellectual and artistic expression.

Informed Citizenship Goal Gettysburg College students should develop skills, understandings, appreciations, and moral dispositions that enable them to be committed members of and contribute meaningfully to their local, national, and global communities.

Study in Depth Goal Gettysburg College Students should develop a deep understanding of what it is to know something through the sustained and sequenced study of at least one coherent focus of learning.

Specific Requirements Addressing Curricular Goals Arts: 1 course

Social Science: 1 course

Interdisciplinary Courses OR Cluster: 2 Interdisciplinary courses OR 2 courses with an integrative experience

Natural Science: 2 courses (at least 1 with lab)

Capstone experience in each major

Humanities: 1 course

Quantitative, inductive, and deductive reasoning (QIDR): 1 course

FY Writing Course Communication Conventions of the Major discipline: determined by each department or program.

Cultural Diversity: 2 courses: 1 Global Understanding 1 Conceptualizing Diversity

Major: Completion of at least one approved major with a minimum gpa of 2.0

Second language: one year of language study in two sequential courses in the same language Science, Technology, and Society (STS): 1 course

Other degree requirements: 32 full courses with gpa  2.0.(See the Student or Faculty Center or the Registrar’s web page for those courses eligible for requirements related to each Goal.)

Faculty Considers First Significant Revision to Curriculum Since 2004

BY BENJAMIN PONTZ

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he Gettysburg College faculty is in the early stages of considering substantive revisions to the Gettysburg Curriculum, the core curriculum that has been in place at the college since 2004. While no specific changes have yet been proposed, the Academic Policy and Program Committee (APPC) has appointed a Curriculum Review Committee to consider possible changes, and the faculty spent its meeting on Oct. 17 in small group roundtable discussions to address several questions related to how the curriculum works.

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Chair and Associate Professor of Philosophy Gary Mullen, who sits on APPC, is chairing the Curriculum Review Committee, which, in addition to several other faculty members and the two student representatives who sit on APPC, includes representation from both Admissions and Alumni Relations as well as the college registrar.

Mullen stressed that nothing has been decided yet and that his group’s role is to gather information and then make a recommendation as to whether to proceed, not to propose actual

changes.

“The best thing we can do at this point is to create a process that is as inclusive and transparent as possible,” he said, noting that the prospect of curricular revision can understandably unnerve members of the faculty who fear their departments could face cuts or that their jobs could be on the line.

The Impetus The impetus for this project came from the Chairs Council, which includes the department and program chairs from across campus, and has also been

discussed by the Board of Trustees, which has pondered the notion of a 21st century liberal arts curriculum. The project then landed with APPC, which oversees the academic program. The Curriculum Review Committee is charged merely with performing a review, but based on the information gathered thus far through the faculty roundtable session and its early conversations, Mullen believes that a critical mass of faculty see opportunities to improve the curriculum in substantive ways.

Provost Christopher Zappe supports that effort and, in an interview, emphasized that he believes it is time to consider making structural changes.

(Curriculum graphic courtesy of Gettysburg College Office of Academic Advising)

“For me, while we have made minor adjustments, the last time there was a substantial revision was the early part of this century,” Zappe said. “Given where we are in this nation and in this global community, I think it’s time for us to consider what is essential for our students to lead engaged careers and lives.”

Before he came to Gettysburg, Zappe served as Dean of Arts & Sciences at Bucknell through a three-year process during which the college’s Curriculum Committee developed the “College Core Curriculum.” He said that he hopes to help lead a similarly comprehensive effort to examine the curriculum at Gettysburg.

“I would enjoy the opportunity to be a participant in the process as part of our shared governance system,” he said.

Ultimately, Mullen’s committee will issue a report in the spring, and, assuming APPC decides to proceed, an elected committee containing a member of APPC, representation from each of the three academic divisions (natural sciences, social sciences, and arts & humanities), and the Provost

could begin work as soon as the summer of 2020 to begin to propose revisions, which would require approval from the full faculty. By the end of the 202021 academic year, changes could be approved and ready for implementation, Mullen said.

The Last Time Gettysburg Revised Its Curriculum The last time Gettysburg substantively revised the curriculum, a curricular subcommittee made recommendations to APPC before submitting a motion to the faculty. The subcommittee began its work in the fall of 2001, the faculty approved the new curriculum in the spring of 2003, and the new curriculum was implemented in the fall of 2004. Only minor (though not uncontroversial) changes—such as renaming the former non-Western diversity requirement to “Global Understanding”—have occurred since the curriculum’s adoption.

“We were trying to get rid of the checkbox mentality.

It never equaled our ambition.”

- Jack Ryan, Vice Provost Prior to assuming his current administrative appointment as Vice Provost, Jack Ryan served on the subcommittee that developed the Gettysburg Curriculum beginning in 2001. He said that the goal of the subcommittee was to “challenge disciplinary boundaries” so that students would not perceive the curriculum as merely a set of distribution requirements. That aspiration has eroded over the past 15 years, Ryan conceded.

“We were trying to get rid of the checkbox mentality,” he said. “It never equaled our ambition.”

Professor of Philosophy Steven

Gimbel also served on the subcommittee from 2001 to 2003.

He said that the group began by considering the broad question of what it means to be a liberallyeducated person and worked from there to develop curricular goals.

“We thought that it meant more than the banal breadth and depth model that one usually heard and we thought that it would be a person who can approach problems through multiple lenses, who was engaged with the world, who could communicate effectively, who could connect dots, and who could be an effective citizen who was well-acquainted with the major trends of the time which we identified as globalization and the rise of science and technology,” Gimbel said. “It was from that abstract starting point that we then set about trying to design an educational program that would reflect our picture.

That’s where the idea for the multiple diversity requirements, the discipline-specific writing requirement, the cluster, and the science, technology, and society requirements came from.”

Gimbel, too, suggested that the subcommittee’s ambition was not fully realized.

“I think—as is the case with most things in life—the record is mixed,” he said. “Some elements have succeeded better than others, some have received more buy-in than others. But the question of curriculum and the underlying question of what it is to be a liberally educated person ought to be a continual source of discourse.”

Professor of Music Marta Robertson served as co-chair of the effort and recalled a colleague telling her shortly after the revisions were approved that “changing a curriculum is like moving a graveyard,” a sentiment with which she THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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identified after an arduous process to get the changes approved by the full faculty. In particular, she bemoaned the failure of a requirement that students create a learning portfolio throughout their time at the college in which they would collect artifacts from their various classes such as papers, artwork, pictures or videos of presentations, and other projects and, upon graduation, receive a curated trove of their work to share with potential employers or graduate schools along with their diploma.

“Changing a curriculum is like moving a graveyard.”

- Marta Robertson, Professor of Music “Now with mandatory assessment tied to accreditation a portfolio would have been so vital,” Robertson said. She added that the concept, which, at the time was part of the curriculum at less than 10 percent of institutions but now is a requirement at almost half (not including Gettysburg), “was really ahead of its time.”

“There was no buy-in from the faculty,” Ryan added.

To Robertson, the lack of faculty buy-in was emblematic of the curricular revision effort more broadly, which is part of why she believes the effort did not achieve its full potential.

“There was never enough faculty buy-in, even though the curriculum subcommittee worked

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Moving Forward Zappe, who came to Gettysburg in 2010, six years after the Gettysburg Curriculum was implemented, views faculty buy-in as a central goal central goal for any changes that would be made to the curriculum this time around.

“I want the faculty to be engaged in what we do,” he said, adding that finding meaningful ways to engage students would also be one of his priorities.

“I think we’ll move forward.”

- Chris Zappe, Provost Mullen shares that goal and said that surveying both students and faculty will be forthcoming parts of the process. He also said that he is working with the Provost’s Office to use funding from a Mellon Foundation grant to host presenters at future faculty meetings from other institutions to

better integrate diversity into the college curriculum.

While Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Faculty Council Jocelyn Swigger said at the faculty’s most recent workshop that this process is merely to review the curriculum, not necessarily to revise it, Zappe signaled that he thinks change is coming.

“I think we’ll move forward,” he said, though he cautioned that the process will likely take at least a full academic year. “This will take time.”

Robertson added that the faculty has an exciting opportunity but needs to recognize and commit to engaging the complexities that reshaping the college’s academic program requires.

“There’s such a great opportunity with this current curricular revision to really revise the curriculum, rethinking it philosophically, for changing students, demographics, political times, and way more complex world questions,” Robertson said. “But given the complexities of moving a graveyard, it is much easier to apply bandaids.”

(Photo Allyson Frantz/The Gettysburgian)

“The snag,” Robertson said, “was getting faculty on board to understand that this was not an extra assignment to grade, but a place for students to reflect on their learning from courses and curricular goals.”

for two years,” Robertson said. “In general many faculty believed the curriculum was ‘too complicated’ which compromised good faculty advising.”

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College Debuts New Eisenhower Scholarship for Class of 2024

BY PHOEBE DOSCHER AND BENJAMIN PONTZ

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ettysburg College has introduced a new merit scholarship geared towards incoming students with records of civic engagement. The Eisenhower Scholarship, named for the 34th President of the United States and namesake of the college’s public policy institute, represents the highest meritbased offering to incoming students at $40,000 per year. Approximately ten members of the Class of 2024, for which the college is currently accepting applications, will receive the renewable award.

Unlike the college’s other merit scholarships, the Eisenhower Scholarship requires prospective students to submit a separate application detailing their record of civic engagement, why civic engagement is important to them, and how their engagement will leave a “lasting legacy,” the application says.

The college will continue to offer its other four merit scholarships: Lincoln (which was previously the top award), Presidential, David Wills, and 1832 Founders, the values of which have increased for incoming students to $32,000, $27,000, $24,000, and $15,000 respectively. For the class of 2020, which enrolled four years ago, the values remain at $25,000, $15,000, $10,000, and $7,000 respectively.

The value of merit scholarships do not change commensurate with annual tuition increases.

Eisenhower Scholarship Program The scholarship aims to recognize students who are transforming their communities and are active participants in civic engagement “locally, nationally, and/or internationally,” college marketing material says. Similar to the Lincoln Scholar program, Eisenhower Scholars will be paired with an upper-class mentor interested in civic engagement

and will have the option to attend a pre-orientation program.

They will also take a First-Year Seminar during the fall semester on a topic related to civic engagement as well as a spring semester civic engagement series, and have an opportunity to register for courses early.

Eisenhower Scholars must maintain a cumulative 3.0 GPA at the end of each academic year to retain the scholarship.

According to college spokesperson Jamie Yates, the scholarship aligns with Gettysburg’s values of responsibility and service, and encourages students to enhance and support civic institutions in our democracy, continuing the work students do in their communities at home when they arrive at Gettysburg.

“By participating in both a First-Year Seminar on a topic related to civic engagement in the fall and a Civic Engagement Series in the spring, recipients of this scholarship will continue to learn, engage, and grow both personally and professionally and ignite change once they graduate,” she said.

Scholarship Goals Yates emphasized that Gettysburg College will continue to allot upwards of $65 million in financial aid to students across its merit and needbased financial aid programs. The new scholarship specifically aims to

celebrate and encourage students to bring an attitude of making change to the college.

“We have had a long history of civic engagement here at the College, but it is naturally ingrained within all of us as individuals before we step foot on campus. This scholarship recognizes those individuals who are already showcasing our values and transforming their communities in their own ways,” Yates said.

“This scholarship recognizes those individuals who are already showcasing our values and transforming their communities in their own ways.”

-Jamie Yates

In his September inaugural address, President Bob Iuliano signaled similar themes as institutional values for the college.

“The health of our civic institutions requires engaged citizens ready and able to exercise their voice thoughtfully and responsibly,” he said. “When this College, and institutions like it, graduate broadly educated students with the skills and determination to get involved, we have every reason to believe that our country’s fragile democratic experiment may long endure.”

Scholarship

Value/Year, Fall 2020

Eisenhower

$40,000

Lincoln

$32,000

Presidential

$27,000

David Wills

$24,000

1832 Founders

$15,000

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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A Season to Remember for Gettysburg Women’s Soccer

BY KYLE MILLER

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he Women’s Soccer team’s historic season came to an end on Saturday, Nov. 16 in the first round of the NCAA tournament against the back-to-back defending national champions Williams College.

Gettysburg’s Charlotte Cenatiempo ‘20 and Tatum Lareau ‘20 each had shots on goal that were blocked by the Williams goalkeeper. At the end of the half, Williams was able to score on a header,

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their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014.

In the second half, Williams continued to keep the pressure on with four shots in a fourminute stand, but the Bullets defense would not give in. The game ended 2-0 with Williams moving on to play MIT in the next round. The Williams College Ephs wound go on to beat MIT in a penalty shootout.

“As a senior, it felt so great to make the national tournament.

This team has worked so hard this year, and it has been amazing to see that all of our hard work has paid off. Our senior class has been pushing to achieve the goal of making the tournament since our freshman year, and when we saw “Gettysburg College” pop up during the NCAA selection show, everything came together. I felt so happy, proud, and emotional that we had finally got what we’ve wanted so bad,” said senior Brooke Priddy ‘20.

Despite the loss against Williams, this was a spectacular season from the Bullets. This season, the team achieved its highest victory total since 2014 with a final record of 13-5-1, and earned their first national ranking since 2014 (#25 on 10/8/19). The Bullets started the season with an unreal 9-0 run and capped it off with

In addition to all the team has accomplished together, the Bullets had six players

(Photo courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)

Williams came out the gates with their foot on the gas and never let up. They scored a goal in the first four minutes of the game and continued to keep the pressure on the Bullets, outshooting them 12-5 in the first half.

which ended up being the last goal of the game.

SPORTS

named to the All-Centennial Conference team. Sophomore Erika Muskus ‘22 earned first-team honors, Charlotte Cenatiempo ‘20 and Kelly Gaudian ‘22 earned secondteam honors, and Brooke Priddy ’20, Molly O’Shea ‘22, and Julia Myers ‘21 each earned honorable mentions.

Though all their end-of-season accolades are a testament to the team’s hard work and skill, the Bullets did not win on pure talent. They won because of their team culture and leadership.

Before the season, the Bullets worked with the Garthwait Leadership Center to bring the team together and just discuss common goals.

“Our senior leaders this season were one of the biggest reasons why we were so successful. They were not just leaders, but role models and best friends to every underclassmen on the team.”

-Erika Muskus ‘22

On the team’s experience with the GLC, Cenatiempo said, “Working with the GLC really helped our team create concrete goals for ourselves and the season ahead. We knew we had goals that we wanted to achieve by the end of the season but the GLC really made those goals come to life by the practice of working in small groups and writing out what we were going to achieve and how. We finished the season achieving

almost every single goal we committed to at the beginning of the season!”

achieve something bigger than yourself is the best feeling in the world,” said Cenatiempo.

With every successful team, there is great leadership. This Bullets team was fortunate to have six senior leaders. Muskus commented, “Our senior leaders this season were one of the biggest reasons why we were so successful. They were not just leaders, but role models and best friends to every underclassmen on the team. They were extremely motivated and hardworking at every practice and game.

They knew when it was time to be serious and when we could joke around. They created an environment that every player wanted to be around, both on and off the field, and celebrated the team’s victories instead of their own. I couldn’t thank the senior leaders enough for the legacy they left on this team. There are some very big shoes to fill moving forward.”

From the start of early practices back in August to the final whistle against Williams, many of the players I talked to expressed that, for them, they were not just a team; they were a family.

As all athletes know, being a part of a team creates lasting bonds. For fall sports teams, while the end of their season marks the end of the time on the field together, teammates still have another semester to look forward to spending time with one another. For seniors, this time of year is an opportunity to look back and reflect on four years of hard work and investment.

A group of talented athletes all committed to the same goal creates a team that can succeed as the Bullets did this year. It will not be easy to follow such a great season, but the Bullets have a lot of returning talent.

“Looking back at my four years playing for the women’s soccer team, I can definitely say I’m going to miss that feeling of winning games with my best friends. There is nothing like competing with your teammates, especially under the lights at our home field, and winning as a program. You see these girls all day every day and to work with them to

“You see these girls all day every day and to work with them to achieve something bigger than yourself is the best feeling in the world.”

-Charlotte Cenatiempo ‘22

Head Coach Matt Garrett said a season like this bodes well for the program’s future.

“This year hopefully showed the team and players what it takes to be successful on and off the pitch, but also what extra is needed to become an elite program in the future,” he said.

The loss of six seniors will be felt, but the squad will surely have hopes of returning to the national stage next year.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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OPINIONS

Decision 2020: Dems Weigh Bernie Sanders

BY DALLAS HARDEE ‘23

Senator Bernie Sanders is the best candidate for the Democratic Party in 2020, but his ability to beat Donald Trump has been constantly underrated. Throughout his time in Congress, Senator Sanders has maintained a voting record that is both consistent and progressive. He reflects the change that the majority of Americans are waiting for.

In the 2016 presidential election, it was evident that the Democratic Party wanted Hillary Clinton to be the nominee and, as a result, Senator Sanders was overlooked by the vast majority of American voters. If he had won the Democratic nomination in 2016, I believe that the presidency might not be occupied by Donald Trump today.

In the 2016 primaries, Sanders beat Clinton in many key battleground states that she later lost to Trump—like Michigan and Wisconsin. Had Sanders received the nomination, he likely would have won all of the states that Clinton won, and when you include Michigan and Wisconsin, which he won in the primaries, he would have ended up 26 electoral votes ahead of Clinton. Sanders can also win in other key states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio because his message about taking on the establishment resonates with lower-income white voters in those states who supported Trump in 2016.

Although electability is important, the main reason I support Senator Sanders is because of his stance on important issues such as immigration, criminal justice reform, healthcare, and women’s reproductive rights.

On immigration, Senator Sanders has laid out a plan that will ensure a path to legal permanent status and citizenship within five years; he also supports the expansion of DACA and the break-up of ICE and CBP. On criminal justice reform, Sanders supports the legalization of marijuana, which would relieve communities that have been affected by the War on Drugs, in addition to banning private, for-profit prisons. Senator Sanders’s healthcare plan, Medicare for All, will provide affordable, comprehensive coverage to people of all income levels, and is supported by the majority of Americans.

Finally, on women’s reproductive rights, Sanders has consistently voted in favor of pro-choice legislation and policies, and has a rating of 100% from NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

Bernie Sanders is the ideal candidate to beat Trump in 2020, and his administration will work for all people, not just, as he likes to say, “the millionaires and billionaires!”

Pete Buttigieg

BY MATT SALTON ‘20

I support Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend Indiana for President of the United States. This support does not stem from his youth, military service, or midwestern roots. These are all assets, but my support for Mayor Buttigieg lies in his practicality, eloquence, and temperament.

While I value experience in elected office, I believe we are at a moment in history where character must come first.

Experience informs decision making, but values do as well. No other Democratic candidates talk about liberal values like Mayor Buttigieg. It would seem as though certain areas of this country are entirely allergic to voting for Democratic candidates, and the “D” placed next to someone’s name on a ballot seems to be an instant disqualification in the minds of many voters. One of the reasons for this is that Democrats are often mischaracterized by Republicans and do a poor job at actually defining what they believe in. Instead, they rail against Republicans and say they are the opposite of them. While Mayor Buttigieg is occupying a “centrist” lane, he is not doing it in the vein of centrists in the past. He is not compromising values or policies, he is simply framing them in a different way.

Buttigieg does differ policy-wise when compared to more liberal candidates like Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, but not in any drastic ways. He wants to pass meaningful reform in a bipartisan fashion so that policy is not overturned every four years. A large part of my support comes from a superficial place—he’s a charismatic politician.

Like other people, I want to be inspired by a leader, and I get inspired when Mayor Buttigieg speaks. I can picture him debating President Trump, hosting rallies, and delivering an inaugural address. He demonstrates the cool, confident demeanor that I hope a president would demonstrate. He is unphased in debates and hits his opponents in a way that doesn’t come across as malicious. His demeanor and practicality have also attracted the attention of Republicans disillusioned with the current President. I know some Democrats would view this as a negative, in that his appeal to Republicans might hint that he isn’t sufficiently liberal. But I see it as a testament to his ability to sell his values to those who might share them, but are put off by the “D” next to his name on the ballot.

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In on Preferred Candidates Steve Bullock

BY BRENDAN SALYARDS ‘20 As we inch closer to the Iowa caucuses, it is tempting to narrow our scope to those candidates polling near the top of the pack. I can’t say, though, that any of the frontrunners thrill me. Vice President Joe Biden isn’t the same scrappy street-fighter who defeated Paul Ryan in the vice presidential debate in 2012. Senators Warren and Sanders are running on plans that are bound to die in the Senate. For moderates searching for an alternative, Steve Bullock may be the answer.

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump carried Montana by a margin of almost 21 percent. That same year, Steve Bullock defeated Republican Representative Greg Gianforte by a margin of 3.9 percent. The Governor jumped into the presidential race in May of 2019, and he is the only candidate running for the Democratic nomination who won an election when Trump was on the ballot. Although there isn’t much media coverage of his campaign, Governor Steve Bullock has been quietly working to secure support ahead of the Iowa Caucuses. He just completed his sixteenth trip to Iowa, and he has secured the endorsement of Iowa’s Attorney General.

His platform is decidedly more moderate than those of Warren and Sanders, but he has a track record of success when working with Republicans in ruby-red Montana. What’s more, he hasn’t compromised his beliefs in doing so. The delay in the launch of his candidacy was a result of his efforts to force Montana’s state legislature to approve the expansion of Medicaid. His work in the area cleared the way for 88,000 Montanans to receive access to healthcare.

His chief goal is campaign finance reform. He lays the blame for the ineffectiveness of Congress on the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. The corrupting influence of dark money permits special interest groups to enforce their will while everyday Americans are left voiceless. After the ruling came down, Governor Bullock fought for legislation to get dark money out of politics. That law is now the benchmark for those that are fighting to get money out of politics.

Steve Bullock is a pragmatic progressive building a grassroots campaign, and has a track-record of legislative success.

He calls for a “fair shot for everyone,” and in this time of political stagnation America needs someone to get things done. Steve Bullock can do just that. I support him, and so should you.

Elizabeth Warren

BY RYAN DESTEFANO ‘21

(Gettysburgian Staff Photos / Photos Provided / File Photos)

Elizabeth Warren’s bold, progressive vision isn’t just vague, four-word phrases. It is, first and foremost, centered around real, concrete plans. Most presidential candidates only run with one or two fleshed-out policy proposals.

Warren has come out with not just two, but over two dozen comprehensive policy plans that she would be ready to implement on day one.

While Warren’s campaign is policy-centered, it doesn’t ignore the human element. Growing up in a working-class family, she knows firsthand how public policies, like expanding healthcare to all or lowering the cost of higher education, can drastically affect people’s lives. She has seen how the system is rigged and has made it her aim to level the playing field, to give equal opportunity to all. Warren is known by the slogan “She has a plan for that,” and, as Representative Ayanna Pressley said, “The plans are about power: who has it, who refuses to let it go, and who deserves more of it.” Her successful fight to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau following the Great Recession is just one of many examples of her success in implementing changes to the benefit of the average American.

A criticism often thrown at Warren is her lack of ‘electability’ in the general election. Sexism aside, this criticism is misplaced. Warren grew up in rural Oklahoma and was even a registered Republican until 1996. Because of this, she knows how to engage with moderates and even conservatives. Her time as both a public-school teacher and Harvard professor have equipped her with the ability to simplify complex issues to explain them to voters of all stripes, without falling into demagoguery. Her populist economic message and advocacy for fundamental change is exactly what we need.

Many of the people who voted for Trump did so because they were desperate for change. Even though Clinton was more moderate, many voters, especially in the struggling Rust Belt, felt as if she was offering more of the same. If Democrats want to win in 2020, they need to advocate for big, structural change. A candidate that runs on simply returning to normalcy will not flip any voters, nor will they inspire turnout among key parts of the Democratic base.

Elizabeth Warren knows what the problems are, and she knows how to fix them. She knows how to fight, and she knows how to win. We have a once in a generation opportunity to elect a President with a bold vision for the country—one who can make big, lasting, positive structural change.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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OPINIONS

Deconstructing Stress Culture

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

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recent Gettysburgian editorial board meeting opened in a traditional fashion: “How’s everybody doing?”

We all gave a reflexive “Okay,” but, after a moment of silence, it became clear that the answer to which we are all well-accustomed was not apt. Actually, folks were not “okay.”

Anxiety is in the air, and it is hard to avoid. At this point in the semester, the library, in particular, serves as a breeding ground for toxic conversations and rampant stress culture. Some of the fragmented sentences you hear when you start to listen can be pretty unsettling.

“I didn’t sleep last night.”

“I haven’t eaten today.”

“I just have to push through this.”

And what’s more, some people seem to be oddly competitive about how stressed they are— how little sleep they’ve gotten, for example. The size of the bags under their eyes. How behind they are on their papers. The competitive climate around stress only compounds the pressure that students feel.

While college poses many challenges, are we really being asked to cut sleep, meals, and human interaction? Maybe the contents of the syllabus are not what has students hyper-stressed.

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It seems like students are craving an endorsement on their unhealthy habits. Perhaps the apparent sacrifices they are making validate their efforts.

It’s toxic, and it has to stop.

We shouldn’t be feeding into the culture that validates people for not taking care of themselves and reinforces those same habits across campus.

This race to the bottom culture affects all of us: performative stress impacts the audience as well as the performer. When you tell someone that you don’t have time to eat, it makes them feel guilty for doing so. The truth of the matter is that, as students, deconstructing this culture is within our control. We have three suggestions.

hour of every day, and that is neither healthy nor sustainable.

Overloading yourself fosters stress, not productivity. The research shows that we are more creative when we have room to breathe. Happiness breeds success, and not the other way around.

As we approach finals week, when the temptation to project stress is at its peak, let’s change the script around performative stress.

Let’s lower the threshold for what constitutes “real” stress, and raise the bar on how we take care of ourselves. Let’s spend more time in conversations with the people we care about. Let’s go to Servo.

1. Eat meals. With people. At a table that is not in the library or in an academic building. Stop perpetuating the myth that busy, engaged students don’t have time for servo.

2. Delete your email signature.

If someone wanted to see your resume, they would have asked.

Long email signatures reinforce the idea that the quantity of things we do indicates our worth. They don’t impress people. They give students the false impression that they are not doing enough.

3. Remove things from your calendar that are keeping you busy for busy’s sake.

At Gettysburg, we have a culture of “signing up.” Of course, that is necessary for an engaged campus, but it is also a doubleedged sword. It creates a sense of obligation to fill every

Photo Mary Frasier/The Gettysburgian

Of course, students have plenty of sources of stress: academic, financial, social, the list goes on.

We have papers to write, shifts to work, and office hours to get to. But, somehow, students’ perceptions of stress and how they respond to it seem disproportionate to what is being asked of them in the classroom.

Maybe it’s the culture we’ve created.

What It Means to Be Low-Income at Gettysburg

BY JULIANNA PESTRETTO

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or me, the most surprising moments lie in the minutiae, the quotidian. Those offthe-cuff phrases that you know shouldn’t matter, but matter even more because of their trivial delivery. For me, that phrase is, “…but I’m too poor.” This time, it came from the mouth of a girl sitting in Junction, adorned in all the accouterments that come with status: a MacBook with three Greek letters staring me in the face, a Fjallraven backpack cuddled up next to her, and a Canada Goose jacket draped lazily over the chair. What a visual.

She was talking about wanting to get a drink from Commons, but it seemed as though her dining dollars had already run out.

(Photo Provided)

As a low-income (and actually poor) student at a private liberal arts college surrounded by those of a higher socio-economic status, I’ve gotten used to hearing the phrase—“But I’m too poor”—used as a sort of pseudo-colloquialism. This time, the phrase hit me in the face harder than it had in awhile. Maybe it was the fact that the sentence was uttered from a source that screamed status. I couldn’t help but sense the irony.

In Commons, right in front of me, I witnessed the clashing between a “rich” image and the casual use of the word “poor.”

As college students, we are constantly presented with the trope of the “poor college student,” the shameless user of the student discount surviving solely off of mac and cheese and Ramen. This trope has been happily adopted by students of all socioeconomic statuses, resulting in a sort of

fetishization of poverty. People on this campus play into it, adopting colloquialisms like “I’m too poor” in an effort to relate to fellow students—to acknowledge our fellow sufferers who’ve also been thrown into this unfamiliar world. But this trope almost makes it seem like it’s cool to be poor, and what results from this is an erasure of the true low-income student experience.

The true low-income experience is lost in the sea of imitators and appropriators of our experience.

It becomes hard for us to speak to our peers about our lived experiences.

A synthetically casual connotation has attached itself to the word poor, taking away its consequence.

I find myself using the identifier of “low-income” instead—using the sterility of the phrase to get my point across and attempting to avoid the pity that comes with “poor.” The presentation of poverty as a shared experience among all college students transforms the true low-income experience into a trivial one, where the hardest struggle we face is the inability to get a coffee at Commons.

Although I wish this were the case, poverty as I have experienced it couldn’t be further from the reality of the girl claiming to be poor. To me, poverty looks a little more like a notification letting me know that “This message failed to send” because I tried to text an Android user and I couldn’t pay the cell phone bill this month. It looks a little more like not going to Servo with friends because I changed my meal plan to save money. It looks a little more like working as much

as I can to pay my own tuition and send money home. Planning and saving for every possible expense, and then breaking down when an unexpected one comes along.

Crying at work when the tuition bill comes out. Giving in to numbness when my mom loses her job for the second time in one year, so as not to cry in public for the second time in one week. But most of all, it looks a little more like feeling a sense of shame for sharing my low-income status with those around me. For subjecting them to the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing how to react. For the pity they feel for me. For the guilt they have when buying something I can’t afford. For their tendency to see me as poor, and nothing more.

But most of all, it looks a little more like feeling a sense of shame for sharing my low-income status with those around me.

This erasure of poverty on our campus needs to come to an end.

Low-income students should not have to feel guilty for making people uncomfortable for using “poor” in the true sense of the word. Poor should not equal pity, and poor should not equal prosaic. It is time we start acknowledging that poor students do exist on this campus— and this starts with removing poor from our colloquial vocabulary.

Because I’m poor, and buying a drink at Commons is the least of my concerns.

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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F E AT U R E S

POSTCARDS FROM ABROAD

A POSTCARD FROM STONE TOWN, ZANZIBAR: CHUMBE ISLAND

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BY NADINE SNYDER

his semester, I’ve had the opportunity to swim with dolphins and whale sharks, I’ve watched lion cubs play on safari, and I’ve learned how to use a bucket bidet; however, the most memorable thing I’ve done this semester is snorkel on Chumbe Island. Chumbe is an ecotourism destination off the main island of Zanzibar, Unguja, with rainwater harvesting systems and composting toilets. They also have the most spectacular reef in Zanzibar. The day we went snorkeling on Chumbe was super rainy. The rain disturbed the sand on the seabed and clouded the water so that when we first jumped in, we didn’t see anything special. Then we dove down. Bright colors exploded before our eyes. We saw all types of coral: table, plate, you name it. There were so many colors: blue, purple, and yellow; I had never seen anything like it in my life. When we dove down further we saw the fish: angelfish, clownfish, trigger fish, we even saw a blue spotted ribbon tail stingray, and again, the colors were unbelievable. Some fish were bright navy and yellow, others were fuchsia and purple. It was hard to believe that these colors could exist in nature. I loved diving down as deep as possible and watching the life below. It was like I had access to a whole other universe. Sometimes, I’d pop up and realize I was alone. All my friends had been so engulfed by the reef that we had been separated, and had to swim to meet up again. None of us ever wanted to return to shore.

However, not all of reef was bustling with life. A large portion of it was bleached. The coral skeletons were stark white and the water was devoid of color. I knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of the reef was dead as well. The reef management team at Chumbe did their best to keep the reef pristine by removing coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish and requiring reef-safe sunscreen, but those efforts wouldn’t do much to protect the reef from climate change.

It’s devastating to think that a place brimming with life will be destroyed when the ocean temperature gets too high. It is predicted that most reefs will only survive for another twenty years or so. Our children will most likely grow up in a world without them.

The Earth is resilient. It will bounce back no matter what we do to destroy it. Our world is not. If we want to save our planet’s ecosystems, as well as ourselves, we must change our habits and change them now. Our sadness and alarm must turn to action, not apathy. I’ve seen so much this semester: elephants, giant bats, baobab trees, and I’ve met the most amazing people. There is so much in this world worth saving. It’s time for us to try.

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(Photo Provided)

The coastal communities that rely on reefs for food and employment (communities that really haven’t contributed to climate change) will have to find other sources of income. If the major fossil fuel burning countries decided to stop burning today, we might save some of the reefs, but even so, the majority of them would die, and it would be our fault.

GETTY, SET, GO!

STUDENT REFLECTS ON FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR CHOICE: “YOU. AN EXPERIENTIAL INQUIRY.”

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s a prospective first year

(Photo Provided)

completing my firstyear dashboard, one of my assignments prior to my arrival at Gettysburg College was to choose a first-year seminar. Many classes sparked my interest, but the title “You. An Experiential Inquiry” was specifically intriguing to me.

This unique course, taught

by Professor Divonna Stebick and Jess Jozwick, revolves around the idea of adolescent development in the fastpaced world we live in today.

Through literature, articles, podcasts and experiential opportunities held outside the typical classroom setting, my classmates and I reflect on the significance of the environments we grew up in and how different factors affect our own identities. A specific facet of this course, however, is the involvement of students receiving residential treatment from the Abraxas Leadership Development Program, located in South Mountain, PA. Being able to share a learning environment with other students with a variety of different life experiences and upbringings allows everyone in our class to learn and reflect upon one another as we discover what makes us, us.

Every other week, our tightly knit class meets in various locations on the Gettysburg College or Abraxas campuses.

A typical class session will usually begin with a discussion of a journal prompt we received from the week prior. This journal entry is

BY CAROLINE KURTT ‘23 based on the topic we have been learning about, some examples being trust, morals, perspectives, news stories, and social justice. This time is an opportunity for students to share their own unique stories from our upbringings, and to reflect on how they mold our views on the topic. Storytelling is a major component to this class, something I know many of my fellow classmates enjoy.

Throughout the duration of the semester, sharing personal testimonies and stories from our lives has created a more comfortable learning environment, and has taught us all the value of both shared and differing life experiences.

Next, the class will usually do a teambuilding activity, which has included completing a ropes course and hiking! My classmates and I love being able to get off campus and experience learning in an outdoor setting because it keeps us engaged and excited to learn more about ourselves.

our crests on a piece of glass, which we will be presenting with a story for our final project. The interactions and participation from students really bring this class to life and makes the learning process so much more engaging than in the usual classroom setting.

This first-year seminar has been one of my favorite classes this semester because it is so much more than a grade; the experiences and conversations my classmates and I are able to have are extremely rewarding, especially in such a pivotal season of our young lives.

Using the insight I have gained from my classmates, “You. An Experiential Inquiry” has exceeded my expectations of a first-year seminar and has made the transition to college much more fun!

What makes “You. An Experiential Inquiry” a distinctively unique course is the variability in assignments, and how they all relate back to the idea of self-exploration and discovery. For example, last week, our class met in Gettysburg College’s Innovation Lab in the West Building, where we individually constructed a crest with symbols that represent us and things that are important in our lives. With the amazing technology provided by the college, we got to engrave

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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SPORTS

Bullets Fall Sports Recap

BY GARRETT GLAESER

For three Gettysburg College athletics teams, the fall 2019 season ended in the playoffs. Others struggled to find their footing. Here’s a team-by-team recap from the fall sports season.

Field Hockey Field Hockey enjoyed a turnaround season from last year’s 6-10 record. The team finished the year with a final record of 11-9, their season cut short by #6 Johns Hopkins in the CC semifinal. Three Bullets finished the year with double digit goal totals: Emma Bertrando ’21 (11), Julia Soares ’20 (10), and Lauren Beccaria ’22 (10). Bertrando earned All-Conference First Team honors and Soares earned second team accolades. This year was the team’s first year back in the postseason for the first time in seven seasons. Bertrando’s OT goal against Dickinson in the final game of the year gave the Bullets the final spot in the playoffs. The team went on to avenge its earlier loss to Bryn Mawr in the first round of the conference playoffs, beating the Owls 1-0. The team should expect to continue their success next year as they lose only three seniors—Soares, Sam Nicol, and Jillian Caputo.

Men’s Cross Country Senior Sam Sheldon led the Bullets this year to another successful season where the team finished fifth out of nine at the Centennial Conference Championships hosted by Gettysburg.

Sheldon finished 7th out of 97 runners, earning All-Centennial First Team honors for the first time in his career. Gettysburg would go on to place 16th at the NCAA Mideast Regionals, their highest finish since 2012. Sheldon again led his team by placing 35th, earning all-region honors. The team’s lone first place finish this season came in late October at the Lebanon Valley Invitational where two Gettysburg juniors, Owen Crosby and Dylan McKeever, finished fourth and fifth respectively to propel the team to first out of seven. The

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team placed second at the event last year. Men’s Cross Country will graduate three seniors, the aforementioned: Sheldon, Jonathan Gronke and Aren Heitmann. The returning eight juniors will take the reins for next season.

Women’s Cross Country Women’s XC had a season very similar to their 2018 campaign. Placing seventh at the Centennial Conference Championships and 26th at NCAA Regionals, the women’s team enjoyed some improvement on the individual level. Sophomore Kathrin O’Brien earned CC Runner of the week honors in late October for her strong showing at the Lebanon Valley Invitational. She placed second out of 70 runners and was the first DIII representative to cross the finish line. Fellow sophomore Amy Cantrell enjoyed success this year, placing fourth in the Lebanon Valley event. The team will only lose senior Leah Hill this spring and will enjoy consistently thereafter as currently no members of the class of 2021 are on the squad. The five sophomores currently on the roster will enjoy a leadership role for the two years as the young team gains more experience.

Football The football team experienced a near identical season to last year, finishing 1-9 overall with their lone victory over conference opponent Juniata. Following their sole win on October 19, the team faced a daunting finish against top ranked conference opponents Hopkins, Susquehanna, Muhlenberg, and F&M. Gettysburg went on to lose their final four games by a combined score of 218-30. A few individual honors serve as bright spots for the season. Justin Lessel ’21 earned D3 Team of the Week honors for his two interception and seven tackle performance at Juniata. Senior Evan Tannenbaum was named Special Teams Player of the Week for his record setting 12-punt performance, tallying up to 470 total yards. The team will lose its 13 seniors, while its 15 juniors will look to pick up a squad that has been struggling to find wins the past few years.

Men’s Soccer Men’s Soccer made the deepest run of any fall Gettysburg team by reaching the Second Round of the NCAA tournament where the Bullets fell to #11 Washington & Lee. The day prior, Gettysburg blanked #22 Oglethorpe 4-0 in the First Round. Despite the Bullets seemingly average overall record of 12-8-1, Gettysburg played one of the toughest schedules in all of D3 including strong CC opponents. The Bullets fell to #4 F&M in the conference semifinals but earned an at large bid into the tournament, their first appearance since 2001. Sophomore Oladayo Thomas led the team in scoring with 15 goals this year, and five Bullets earned all-conference honors. The team loses seven seniors, including goalkeeper Thomas Keane and backs Ezekiel Omosanya and Raff Mazzone.

Four juniors will become leaders of the team that will look to punch its ticket back into the NCAA tournament next year.

(Photos courtesy of Gettysburg College Athletics)

Volleyball It was a bit of a down year for the volleyball team, who finished with a record just above .500 at 14-12, especially after the team had gone 37-15 the prior two seasons. That being said, the team’s 5-5 conference record remained the same as the past few seasons.

It is that struggle with Centennial opponents that has kept Gettysburg from reaching the playoffs since 2013 where they fell to Hopkins. Zanze Kuba-McCoy ’23 and Caoline Sequeira ‘20 earned All-Conference Second team honors. KubaMcCoy was also named Rookie of the Year as she led the team in kills with 196. The team graduates six seniors—Sequeira, Sierra Conboy, Francesca Garrison, Shannon Fletcher, Kasey Higgins, and Kate Davis. Five juniors will assume leadership of the team that will look to bring in a strong freshman class to replace some of the lost talent.

For Women’s Soccer, see story by Kyle Miller on page 9.

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F E AT U R E S

Finding Australia’s Faunal Icon: The Platypus

BY LIAM TOBIN, ZO SPEARMAN, MADDIE STEPHEN, AND PHIL KUHEL

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n Australia’s rivers and creeks, there lives an egg-laying mammal flaunting dark fur, a duck-like bill, and venomous spurs. Surely this animal can’t possibly exist… Yet, this bizarre creature is very much real and can be found nowhere else in the world besides eastern Australia and Tasmania!

While studying Wet Tropics Rainforest ecology, our group of 19 students studying with the School for International Training (SIT) sought out to learn more about the elusive platypus

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(Ornithorhynchus anatinus).

Our goal was to gain a better understanding of platypus observability in Yungaburra through surveys. A quaint town with numerous pockets of ecologically important natural areas, Yungaburra perfectly encapsulates the diverse ecosystems and organisms found throughout Northern Queensland.

Rumored platypus abundance brought us to the muddy banks of Peterson Creek (check out our

map). Situated along the western edge of Yungaburra, this “milky tea” waterway seemed to be the perfect place to spot some furry ‘platypals.’ These furry friends live in burrows along the creek’s dense vegetation.

Once we saw the platypuses emerge from their burrows, we were shocked by their actual appearance. We imagined they’d resemble a similar size and appearance of beavers, because of their common appearance in pop culture. On the contrary, they are noticeably smaller in

size and charming to watch as they swim.

Due to their unique biological makeup, it’s no surprise this species has long perplexed both the scientific community and wildlife enthusiasts.

Did you know?

Baby platypuses are referred to as puggles (and are absolutely adorable!).

How do you spot a platypus?

(Photos Provided)

Younique up on it!

People tend to be loud and disruptive, behavior that does not bode well for spotting platypuses.

That being said, we began observations at 6:00 a.m. each morning in an attempt to avoid the rowdy commotion of other visitors. Platypuses are most active at dawn and dusk when they are foraging for their favorite prey: worms, insects, freshwater yabbies (crayfish), and shrimp, among other species.

We were broken up into pairs while the instructors each took on their own segment of the transect. In total, we had eleven groups observing platypus behavior along Peterson Creek.

After synchronizing our watches, we

platypus observations spent almost double at Peterson Creek seem the amount of time to increase during the foraging underwater dry season. This could than on the surface. A potentially be due to study conducted by increased environmental Philip Bethge found stability when there is that the foraging less rainfall. An extreme habits of platypuses wet season last May, for are energy efficient, example, may explain meaning that their the low numbers of time spent underwater platypuses observed seems to be solely for at this location at that foraging. However, time. However, the past there was little few months in the Wet observation of any Tropics Bioregion have consumption of prey by We ultimately came to been exceptionally any of the individuals. the conclusion that there dry, encouraging a This could be in part were approximately stable environment for due to our limited view thirteen sweet platypuses platypuses in Peterson of them, as they rapidly present in Peterson Creek. swam by us.

Creek during our surveys.

Platypuses typically Though it may seem If given the opportunity, mate from August like a very low number, we’d highly suggest this estimate is actually through December, making the trek to thus October may be much higher than the Peterson Creek. Despite considered the peak of four platypuses found the nauseating curves the breeding season. during the previous present on the roads to Multiple interactions SIT group’s survey.

Yungaburra, watching between individuals Not only was the total a platypus swim on were observed by number of platypuses by makes the ride all several pairs of greater, but also the worth it. For the most researchers suggesting frequency and activity enjoyable experience, that platypuses in of these platypuses we recommend arriving Peterson Creek may be were significantly around dawn or dusk for maximum platypus mating, encouraging increased. In the past, sightings - just don’t the presence of data collections have forget to bring along more individuals… warranted no platypus a cup of coffee so you don’t fall asleep before Furthermore, we found sightings whatsoever, spotting one! that the platypuses so the Peterson Creek ecosystem today seems Map of Peterson Creek to be rather healthy! recorded any relevant observations of platypuses. We recorded the time we spotted them, the direction they were swimming into our transect, any distinguishing physical features, and the time a platypus spent above the surface as opposed to below. We were able to do all this despite not having had our morning coffee. imagine that!

We collected our data during Australia’s dry season; however, ironically, the conditions the night before the first day of collection were not optimal, to say the least. Although it stopped raining by the time we went out, this created slightly wetter conditions than expected, not only for our ‘platypals,’ but for us observers as well. We found that

THE GETTYSBURGIAN

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INFOGRAPHIC BY LAUREN HAND

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F E AT U R E S

The Gettysburgian Crossword In this issue, we are pleased to introduce the Gettysburgian crossword puzzle. Give it your best, then scan the QR code below for answers (or visit gettysburgian.com).

CROSSWORD BY BENJAMIN PONTZ

ACROSS

3 A beloved moniker for the 14th President

7 The grandest small-town theatre in America!

8 Our unaquatic lake

9 Shockingly, it’s the most aggressive rodent on campus

10 Gettysburg College’s resident historian

12 A record-setting crowd descended on Gettysburg for this most auspicious occasion

13 The last two teams the football team defeated

14 Champs … three times in eight years

15 The creator of maniacs and stargirls

17 Scale down sparks to settle a score; don’t drop out

18 It’s out of this world!

19 Where Bob stands to monitor potential incursions from Carlisle

20 The second-most frequently appropriated president on campus DOWN

1 A house haunted … by the Constitution?

2 Its waves are full of hot air

3 A Tom Clancy character who just so happens to work in the Provost’s Office

4 A totally sober karaoke fest

5 What’s a freshman?

6 A band singing at twilight

7 The fruitiest of benefactors

11 A bibliophiles’ trove … or an old apple cellar

12 Gettysburg’s favorite portico

16 An inauguration speaker who came as a “bargain?”

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A&E

Getting to Know Disney Plus

BY ETHAN CANNISTRA

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n Tuesday November 12th, 2019, Disney officially launched its new streaming service, Disney Plus. Disney is hoping that the service will be able to compete with Netflix and eventually become the predominant streaming service. The kickoff includes several original television shows such as The Mandalorian, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.

Disney Plus also features two original films; Noelle and Lady and the Tramp. Most of Disney’s back catalog of television shows and movies are also available for viewing.

As the service continues to grow, Disney is hoping to add more original programming based off of their intellectual properties such as Marvel and Star Wars. Disney plans to launch The Falcon and Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, and several other shows on the service. Overall, Disney Plus aims to usher the company into a new age where they can provide content directly to their consumers. After using the service for only one week, it is clear to me that Disney is already succeeding in their goal.

One of the main draws for consumers to purchase Disney Plus is that the service will be home to the first live action Star Wars show, The

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Mandalorian.

This show alone makes the subscription price of $6.95 per month worth it. The show provides audiences with a very different perspective of the Star Wars Universe. The Mandalorian takes place after the fall of the empire and follows the story of a bounty hunter known as The Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal. The audience sees the elusive bounty hunters flying across the galaxy looking for his next bounty in order to earn a living. One of the best aspects about The Mandalorian is that it is a completely isolated story.

This gives the filmmaker, Jon Favreu, the freedom to tell whatever story he wants while also expanding the Star Wars universe.

Another reason that I purchased Disney Plus was to have access to the entire Disney movie and television library. Everything from Disney’s original Mickey Mouse cartoons to The Avengers is available for viewing on Disney Plus. This marks the first time that a studio’s entire film history is available for viewing on a streaming service. The other reason that this is significant

is that Disney has officially gotten rid of the vault. The vault was Disney’s original philosophy on releasing movies for home-video. The company would release a movie on home video and only sell it for a certain amount of time. After time had passed they would no longer sell a particular film and they would put it back in the vault. Disney would then release the movie again when they believed demand was high. Disney has officially abolished this practice and all of their films will be available for viewing at anytime.

In my opinion, the streaming service is a big success so far. It works well with a fun interface, and already has some great original content and a fantastic back catalog of Disney films.

Lead the Way, Bob! DRAWING BY LOGAN SHIPPEE

Catch up with the week’s news by listening to On Target Listen to The Gettysburgian’s weekly podcast, featuring news and exclusive interviews with a variety of figures from across the campus community!

Recent Interviews: Patrick McKenna ‘20 (President of Student Senate) Bob Iuliano (President of Gettysburg College) On Air: 91.1 WZBT-FM Tuesday 11:00 a.m.

Wednesday 9:00 a.m.

Thursday 5:00 p.m.

Online: gettysburgian.com/podcast On iTunes, Google Play, TuneIn and Stitcher: Search “On Target”

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The Gettysburgian Staff: Benjamin Pontz, Editor-in-Chief Maddie Neiman, Managing Editor Lauren Hand, Print Editor Phoebe Doscher, News Editor Nicole DeJacimo, Assistant News Editor Cameron D’Amica, Features Editor Britney Brunache, Arts & Entertainment Editor Anna Cincotta, Opinions Editor Garrett Glaeser, Sports Editor Kailey White, Visual Editor Mary Frasier, Director of Photography Samantha Hann, Public Relations Manager Dr. Scott Boddery, Advisor

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Interested in joining us?

Contact neimma01@gettysburg.edu for more information.