12.6.11

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Back in time

MSU Choirs use Elizabethan Dinners to raise money

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Tuesday • Dec. 6, 2011 • Vol. 105 Issue 14

Briefs

Speaker tells story of mom’s immortal cells By Alexis Reid The Standard

Evan Henningsen/THE STANDARD

Occupy Springfield MO protests at McCaskill’s office

Occupy Springfield MO occupied Sen. McCaskill’s downtown Springfield office Friday afternoon because of her vote to allow the U.S. Military to indefinitely detain American citizens who are deemed to be aiding “terrorism.” Occupy Springfield said they intended to share their concerns with the senator who is up for reelection in 2012. The group said they support all who stand for freedom and First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble to communicate grievances to the government. The group said they ask for the bill to be stricken down so U.S. citizens are not unjustly placed in jails without any timeline for release. McCaskill’s office is located on the corner of Campbell Avenue and Park Central East.

Starbucks to open in January

After originally being scheduled to open in October, Starbucks in Plaster Student Union should open in early January. Thomas Lane, director of the PSU, said construction started to finish the Starbucks about six weeks ago and should be open Jan. 9 before spring semester. The project was delayed because design drawings had to be modified over time to meet Missouri State and Starbucks criteria for the venue changes. Chartwells will be serving samples of Starbucks products in the PSU during finals week, Lane said.

Calendar December 6 to December 12

Tuesday

BFA Senior Exhibitions, 1 to 6 p.m. at Brick City Student Government Association meeting, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at PSU 313

Wednesday

Voice Area Recital, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Ellis Hall 217b Spectrum meeting, 7 to 9 p.m. at PSU third floor (look for the flag)

Thursday

Students for a Sustainable Future meeting, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at Temple Hall pit

Friday

Study Day, no classes Student Activities Council presents: Finals Massages, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at PSU Remembrance Lounge

Saturday

Final Exam Period, all day SAC Comedy presents: Amy Schumer, 7 to 9 p.m. at PSU theater

Monday

Final Exam Period, all day College Republicans meeting, 7 to 8 p.m. at PSU 314C

Photo Illustration by Steph Anderson/THE STANDARD

Some students have turned to the prescription drug Adderall to help them prepare for finals week.

Adderall used as a quick fix Finals week causes an influx of drug use By Brittany Meiling The Standard As finals week approaches, students are scrambling to find an entire semester’s worth of notes, time between jobs, sleep and a quiet study space to relearn four months of material. For those who skip class frequently or forgot to read the textbook all semester, a quick fix is needed to help them study through the night in order to learn four months of material for the first time. While some students rely on Red Bull or espresso to get them through long nights, others take a gamble on the prescription drug Adderall. Michael Greinke is a senior at Missouri State majoring in business. Greinke was diagnosed

with attention deficit disorder as a child and took Adderall for years to help him focus. “Students see their buddy or know a friend who takes Adderall by prescription and they think that Adderall is the magic ‘good student’ drug that helps you focus and get good grades,” Greinke said. “This is not true. In fact, it’s not even how the drug works. If it’s not been prescribed in the right dosage for you, at most, it will keep you up all night long.” Burnie Snodgrass is the director of the campus health care center, Taylor Health and Wellness. He said there are many myths about Adderall. “A lot of students who come in wanting prescriptions for this drug haven’t studied and

suddenly it’s finals time,” Snodgrass said. “Just like people who take a pill to lose weight, they’re just looking for a quick fix which probably won’t work. There are a lot of misnomers and myths about what the drug will do for you. It’s not going to take you from a D to an A.”

Acquiring Adderall is all about who you know or who your friends know. --Michael Greinke, senior Missouri State business student

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, an organization directed by Congress and dedicated to reducing the impact of substance abuse, conducted a national survey on drug use and health. The survey data showed

that in 2006 and 2007, full-time college students ages 18 to 22 were twice as likely as those in the same age group who were not in college full-time to have used Adderall non-medically in the past year. Few students who take Adderall during finals week are actually prescribed the drug, Snodgrass said. Some students come to Taylor Health and Wellness just a couple weeks before finals claiming they need the drug to treat their attention deficit disorder. “We have students who have no history of ADD come in and ask for Adderall, typically right before finals,” Snodgrass said. “We don’t write prescriptions for people to get through finals. We have to go through medical analysis to see if they need it, or transferred medical records showing their See DRUGS page 2

Preparing for colder weather How to be ready for the winter season By Damien M. DiPlacido The Standard Last winter, harsh snow and dangerous ice pummeled Missouri, shutting down businesses and prompting the Missouri Department of Transportation to periodically close Interstate 44 from St. Louis to Springfield. Dubbed by some as “Snowpocalypse,” the lengthy winter storm even canceled a St. Louis Blues hockey game in downtown St. Louis — the first and only cancellation due to weather in the team’s 44-year history. Greene county was covered with 8-12 inches of snow on Feb. 1 alone, with several of

Josh Campbell/THE STANDARD

It is important to have a kit of everything you might need for your car, including a scraper and antifreeze, in case extreme weather occurs. the surrounding counties getting up to 20 inches, The National Weather Service’s online snowfall summary said. Steve Runnels, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the weather extremes seen at the beginning of this year in southwest Missouri prove that citizens must take responsibility for informing themselves and to be attentive to watches and warnings. The Springfield-

Greene County Office of Emergency Management is readily available to keep the community informed and prepared in the event of a disaster. Their website is http://www.greenecountymo.org/oem. Ryan Nicholls, the office’s director, urges Springfield residents to utilize the simple, easy to use home disaster preparedness materials that are available on the Springfield-Greene County OEM website.

“We’ve identified all the hazards that could impact Greene County,” Nicholls said. “Basic disaster preparation is the same for all. Make a kit with emergency supplies, make a plan to keep in touch with your family and stay informed before, during and after an emergency.” The Office of Emergency Management’s website offers viewers education, training and exercises to inform themselves about what to do in the event of an emergency or just simply preparing for a potentially rough cold season. “On the front page of our website we have some resources for folks to download and use,” Nicholls said. “It includes all the local social media sites to get disaster information. It also has a disaster kit and other ‘what to do’ tips.” The materials include

See WINTER page 2

They are in labs at Missouri State and all over the world. They were essential in developing a polio vaccine and went up in the first space missions. They’ve been used in scientific landmarks for decades, from cloning to in vitro fertilization. Called “HeLa cells,” they were the first cells to survive outside the human body — they never died and no one knows why. They came from a woman named Henrietta Lacks, who was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951. Doctors took two small samples from her and when she died later that year, the cells they took lived on. Today, her story also lives on in “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot and in Henrietta’s children and grandchildren. “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was selected as the First Year Experience Common Reader and all freshmen GEP 101 classes read the book. On Nov. 30, her son, David “Sonny” Lacks and his daughter Kim Lacks, spoke to students at Juanita K. Hammons Hall about the book, the cells and the woman behind them. “To see young people like this in college that want to know the story, that makes you feel good inside,” Sonny said. “It’s something my sister, Deborah, always wanted — to get the word out about Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa cells. It’s get-

“The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” was the Common Reader for all GEP 101 classes.

ting so now that a lot of colleges are doing that as a first read for freshmen. It’s a wonderful thing.” It was Deborah who first agreed to work with Skloot in researching the cells. Deborah was an infant when Henrietta died and had always wanted to know who her mother was. When she found out that part of her mother was still alive, she wanted to understand what that meant. She wanted to know if it hurt her mother when researchers injected the cells with viruses and if the cloned cells meant that scientists had cloned her mother. She traveled with Skloot to talk to people about Henrietta and the cells and the two became good friends. Over the years, other researchers had tried to get in touch with the family, but Skloot was the first to truly get through. “Other people had tried to get in contact with the family, and they just kind of gave up,” Kim said. “I guess I feel like when Rebecca came and she put in that effort, maybe it was my mother saying, ‘This is the person that needs to tell my story.’” Skloot spent 10 years researching and writing the book. She learned there was a person behind the HeLa cells when she was in high school and began her research in the late 1990s, which continued until the book was published in 2010. “The way she wrote the book was amazing to me,” Sonny said. “Nothing surprised me, nothing upset me. Some of my family got upset about some of

See LACKS page 2


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12.6.11 by The Standard at Missouri State University - Issuu