The Hutchinson Collegian Friday, October 20, 2017
Campus
Page 5
Volleyball sweeps aside Colby, moves into second place ‘Check’ out
the HutchCC chess club Cassidy Crites Staff writer
Photos by Allie Schweizer/HutchCC Sports Information Hutchinson Community College’s Patricia Joseph (15) and Leonie Wienkaemper jump to block an attack by Colby’s Karissa Winkel (1) during a Wednesday match at the Sports Arena. Hutchinson won the match 25-21, 25-20, 25-13.
HutchCC’s Nina Pevic tips the ball over Colby’s Marija Mamic (7) and Julie Archer (8), who attempt to block.
HutchCC’s Cassidy Crites sets the ball for a teammate during Wednesday’s match at the Sports Arena.
HutchCC jazz band ready to fire up sweet sounds By Amanda Carney Online Editor
Get your jazz hands ready and go support Hutchinson Community College’s very own jazz band. Concert jazz band, vocal jazz group and badinage have their first concert in November. If you want to see the band before, be sure and keep an eye out for jazz combo gigs at Metropolitan Coffee. No date had been determined yet. When asked what jazz is, Nick Schroder, jazz band director and teacher said, “It’s music with improvisation in it, it has expressive blues affects and advanced harmony rhythm.” In order to join jazz band, you must have musical experience. Auditions are held at the beginning of each year to see what band you will be placed in. Another option for people interested in joining a band, without music experience, is jazz combo. You can have lots of experience or no
experience at all to join this club. “You are always more than welcome to come and listen if you do not feel like playing,” said Allison Ediger, jazz member band and HutchCC
sophomore. Jazz combo teaches jazz standards and the basics of improvisation. When asked what her favorite part about jazz band Ediger said, “The feeling of unity/ togetherness we all feel.
We’ve got a fantastic music faculty and they make sure that we’re working in a nonjudgmental environment where everyone feels like they belong/ play a major role in our success.” When asked how
much is required to practice, Ediger said, “I practice whenever I’ve got the time. “Everyone has heard that practice makes perfect. It’s just as true for music as it for anything else.”
Six years ago, Hutchinson Community College’s Duane Schmidt first introduced chess in one of his work ethics classes. “Chess teaches things like like decisions and consequences, and planning your strategy, thinking ahead, and it’s good for your brain,” Schmidt said. “And work ethics is a lot like that. It’s making good decisions and keeping track of stuff.” For three semesters, it stayed in the classroom until a student suggested they make it a club. The club worked well, gaining support from the administration. From there, the Schmidt club filtered into five local schools, starting with Hutchinson High School, then Allen Elementary, Holy Cross Elementary, Hutchinson Middle School 7 and Nickerson High School. On Saturday, the Hutchinson Community College Chess in the Schools program and the Hutchinson Community Foundation hosted a chess tournament provided by a Make It Greater Grant from the Fund for Hutchinson of the Hutchinson Community Foundation. The tournament was open to kids from all over ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade. While no members from the college chess team competed, some helped out. The club features 20 members, which is a lower number, for this year. However, on the chess club is Gabe Purdy. Purdy has been named Kansas Champion five times, but his talents don’t stop there. Purdy can play the game blindfolded and has once played 33 different people at one time, winning 28 of those games. For now, the chess club has not competed in any tournaments. However, there is an upcoming tournament for any HutchCC students. The date has not been set yet, but chess sets and money will be awarded to the winners. The club meets Monday’s from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Thursday’s from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is always looking for new members to join. “Anyone is welcome to join, regardless of the amount of knowledge towards the game. We teach people how to play all the time,” Schmidt said. While the main focus of the club is chess, Schmidt said he felt there is more to it than the game. “It’s not just chess. The least important thing about chess club is chess. It’s about friendships,” Schmidt said.