Michigan’s oldest college newspaper
Vol. 141 Issue 9 - November 2, 2017
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#LeafingtheDale photo competition winner
Caroline Hennekes | Courtesy
Caroline Hennekes won the Student Activities Board’s #LeafingtheDale photo contest. “This photo was taken the first morning — and my first time — of camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Despite the cold, getting out and hiking, breathing in fresh air, and exploring Northern Michigan’s beauty was such an incredible reminder that there is more,” she said. “That more beauty is waiting to be discovered. That creation sings with joy. That leaves and seasons change, and we grow with them. But most importantly, I was reminded to live for something bigger and outside myself, to strive to display God’s glory. It was the three worst nights of sleep, but the best days of adventure.” See B6 to read more about the Outdoor Adventures Club trip to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
New program certifies ’18 grads for public school teaching
By | Katherine Scheu Associate Editor Michigan public and charter schools could not hire even one graduate of Hillsdale College’s classical or early childhood education programs this past spring. That’s about to change. As Michigan education policy mandates, teachers must earn their certification from the state to work at any public or charter school. Hillsdale’s education programs do not facilitate students’ state certification as of 2009, so graduates in search of teaching jobs in Michigan look to private institutions. But the Michigan Department of Education approved a new program in August, Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow, which offers a solution to college graduates who want to teach in public institutions but lack the certification. “It is absolutely possible for a Hillsdale College graduate to
finish college in May and enter into the classroom by August as the teacher of record if they are determined to do so,” Teachers of Tomorrow Michigan Program Director Robert Brooks said in an email. Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow is an alternative certification program provider through which college graduates earn an Interim Teaching Certificate after completing more than 300 hours of online coursework, according to its website. When students emerge from traditional teacher preparation programs, like the ones Michigan State University and the University of Michigan run, the state grants them a provisional teaching certificate. Hillsdale once offered the same kind of program, but three people handled the same amount of paperwork and administrative tasks entire teams dealt with at bigger schools. When the Department of Education increased its expec-
tations, Hillsdale’s education department discontinued the program. “What Teachers of Tomorrow does is it adds another layer below the provisional, and it’s called an interim certification,” said Dan Coupland, education department chairman and dean of faculty. The interim certificate is valid for three years. Other than a shorter period of validity, no differences exist between the two certificates. “To a local school district, it doesn’t matter,” Coupland said. “All teachers need is some kind of a certification, whether it’s interim, provisional, or professional.” Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow would make a career in public education possible for any graduating senior, if the program accepts them. Although most Hillsdale students elect to pursue jobs in classical schools, Coupland said, a few consider public education.
Web developer remembered as kind, problem-solver
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started with our program,” Brooks said. “That student will be very familiar with our initial online Classroom Readiness training, and they will be able to get through that training quite quickly with that knowledge they already possess.” Hillsdale’s classical education minor bases itself in the seven classical liberal arts and the philosophy of education. Some students also complete the Liberal Arts Teacher Apprenticeship, which gives them hands-on experience in local classrooms. “Students with past experience tend to be more comfortable with the coursework and are already acclimated to a lot of the material that we will cover with them as well so everything is a smoother transition for the candidate,” Brooks said. Registrar Douglas McArthur used to serve as the college’s teacher certification officer when Hillsdale offered
the certification program. “On the positive, these programs appear to be less costly and less administratively burdensome for participants,” McArthur said. The program costs about $5,500, a price participants pay off over the course of 15 months. “On the negative, these programs don’t result in a graduate degree, as many post-baccalaureate programs from traditional colleges and universities do,” McArthur said. “Finally, programs like T of T are subject to the challenges of any new thing, and their track record of effectiveness and efficiency is still being established and evaluated.” Students interested in Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow can visit https://michigan. teachersoftomorrow.org or call 866-411-076 for more information.
Lang aids in astronomical discovery
Matthew Weber passed away Monday, Oct. 23. He is survived by his wife, Amy, and son, Jonah. Amy Weber | Courtesy
By | Jordyn Pair News Editor Matt Weber was known for fixing things. Whether he was problem solving as the senior web developer for the Hillsdale College information technology services department or simply tinkering with a broken garage door opener at home, Weber always knew how to approach a problem with patience. Matthew Weber died on Monday, Oct. 23, after a threeyear battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Amy, and 5-year-old son, Jonah. “He enjoyed when things didn’t go 100 percent right, and he had to think about it,” Amy Weber said. “He could take things apart and get them to work again.” Matthew Weber joined Hillsdale’s ITS in November 2010. Co-workers describe him as open, intelligent, and friendly. “He was always quick to help somebody out,” said Jim Clark, who joined ITS as a
“Most people who come to Hillsdale and graduate from Hillsdale want to be involved in the same kind of thing,” he said. “They came to Hillsdale for a liberal-arts education, so I’d imagine they want to provide that kind of education in their own classrooms, and so they go to a classical school.” To gain admission into Michigan Teachers of Tomorrow, candidates must have graduated from college with a GPA of 2.95 or higher, passed a subject-area exam relevant to the field they wish to teach, and taken any Michigan basic skills test such as the ACT or SAT, according to Brooks. The program does not require its applicants to have earned any type of degree in education, though Brooks said any prior study of education will help new teachers as they enter the classroom. “If a student completes the classical education minor at Hillsdale, that would help out the student to initially get
systems analyst in 2015. Weber was also open about his struggles with cancer, Clark said. “The last week that he came in was the best I’ve ever seen him,” Clark said. “I saw him at his best. That’s how I like to remember him.” The department was quick to rally around Weber, after his diagnosis in 2014, gathering each morning at 8 a.m. to pray in the ITS training room. “We’re open about our faith here at Hillsdale. We’re believers in Christ, and we don’t hide that,” said Kevin Maurer, the information system manager in ITS. “We were able to pray openly with him at work. We did that for years.” Faith was important to the Weber family, and they ensured Jonah attended Vacation Bible School this summer at College Baptist Church, even after Matthew Weber was too sick to attend regularly. “Matt had no doubts about where he was going,” his wife said. “There’s comfort in that.” Ben Cuthbert, the pastor at College Baptist, agreed:
“Matt was a man who trusted in Christ and wanted to be the best husband and father he could be with his days on Earth.” In addition to characteristics like problem solver and Christian, Weber proudly proclaimed another one, as well. “He was a self-proclaimed nerd,” his wife said, laughing softly. She would often buy him shirts “only fellow nerds would understand,” she added. And after seeing the ergonomic mouse he brought from home and his novelty office lighting, it was a title his co-workers applied to him, as well. “I mean, who has a Tetris lamp?” Maurer said. “You only get that stuff from nerds.” Ultimately, though, Amy Weber remembers her husband as a “good-hearted person.” “If you ask anybody’s spouse what’s special about them,” she said, “they would say everything.”
By | Brooke Conrad Assistant Editor Although the solar eclipse in August received a great deal of national attention, few people were aware of an exceedingly larger astronomical that occurred the same week. The event was the long-expected detection of a neutron star merger, announced by members of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory on Oct. 16. Assistant Professor of Physics and LIGO member Ryan Lang attended the press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Lang said it was exciting to be a part of the discovery, which one LIGO member referred to as the “holy grail of high-energy astrophysics.”
“I think I kind of teared up a little bit,” Lang said. “I was just like, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’” Many scientists, according to Lang, are calling the Aug. 17 event “one of the most significant astronomical discoveries ever,” because the collision produced light waves in addition to gravitational waves. The resulting plethora of data allows scientists to learn more about how the universe is expanding, and how some of the Earth’s heavier elements such as gold, silver, platinum, and uranium may have been formed by an ancient, nearby neutron star collision. “It literally and figuratively is a gold mine of stuff,” Lang said. “People are going to be studying this for a long time.”
Neutron stars are incredibly dense objects, containing the mass of Mount Everest in the size of a teaspoon, and range from 12 to 15 miles across. Although LIGO’s first four detections involved gravitational waves emitted from black hole collisions, scientists had expected this fifth detection for a much longer time. “People started going: ‘Well, what about the neutron stars? You always promised us neutron stars,’” Lang said. “It wasn’t inconsistent yet that we hadn’t seen any; if we had gone another 10 years and didn’t see any, then it would be. But it’s still nice to just get it in the bag.”
By | Jo Kroeker Features Editor The Hillsdale College women’s cross country team dashed to the front of the pack during the G-MAC Conference Championships, finishing in first place, jumping to eighth in national Division II rankings, and claiming two conference distinctions. “They won very handily,” said coach Andrew Towne, who won G-MAC Coach of the Year. “I know for us we felt like this was a much more accurate picture of who we are, so we’re excited for regionals,” which takes places on Saturday in Cedarville, Ohio. Of the nine members of the 14-runner team who ran at
the Oct. 21 meet in Nashville, five came in the top 11 and seven came in the top 20. The top five were senior Hannah McIntyre, second; G-MAC freshman of the year Maryssa Depies, fourth; sophomore Arena Lewis, fifth; freshman Christina Sawyer, eighth; and junior Allysen Eads, 10th. “The week leading up to it, we were all joking: ‘Oh, we’re going to destroy the G-MAC, but we all kind of knew we had a chance of winning,’” said Lewis, who beat her personal record by 25 seconds. “Our goal was to have our top five in the top 12, and we achieved it. We weren’t doubtful, but it was a scary goal and a great booster for the team overall.”
By 18 points, the women outpaced the second-place team Walsh, one of their fiercest opponents, which was ranked ninth before the meet and dropped to 10th. In the Midwest Region, the Charger women are now just behind Grand Valley State University, a former rival in the GLIAC. Although Lewis said she shot for a higher place than fifth, she said: “Anybody to lose to, two teammates is the best way to go.” Lewis predicted, according to Depies, that she would win G-MAC freshman of the year — the distinction for the top-placing freshman at the meet.
LIGO to B3
Women’s Cross Country wins G-MAC
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