08.17.2018

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 17, 2018 •

NEWS

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NEWS • AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

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New dining options open for business; Starbucks, Sandwich Shack to come

Aramark fulfills promises following renewal of dining services contract KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu Following the renewal of Aramark’s dining services contract in February, there will be a variety of changes and updates to dining services this semester, primarily the addition of new dining options.

Brand new options provided by Aramark, Trinity’s dining service provider since 1984, include a fully licensed Starbucks that will replace EcoGrounds in the library, a Sandwich Shack that will replace the CSI P.O.D., a Chickfil-A that will be added to the Revolve concept in the Commons, an On the Fly mobile food truck and the Tiger Press Juice Bar. Some of the dining changes will be expansions and updates on options that were already available, including a new system that will allow students to use their meal swipes at dining locations other than Mabee for a value of up to $6.50.

“The most exciting dining option is probably the meal swipe exchange,” Charles Robles, Aramark’s food service director, wrote in an email. “I think it will give students a more flexible meal experience when they can exchange a residential meal swipe once a day for a meal anywhere on campus.”

Paul Wright, director of business operations in the Tiger Card office, and Bruce Bravo, senior

director of conferences and auxiliary services, both served on the Dining Services Request for Proposal (RFP) Committee. The committee, made up of faculty, staff and students, was responsible for awarding a vendor with the new dining contract.

“We sent the RFP to eight vendors, four decided to respond, the committee eliminated one after reviewing all the proposals, and so we brought the remaining three in for on-campus interviews,” Wright, who chaired the committee, said. “We eliminated one after the on-campus interviews, then we did our due diligence on the other two, which were Aramark and American Dining Creations, who would have been fairly new to this area. So based on that, we ended up with Aramark.”

Bravo elaborated on why Aramark was chosen over the other vendors who sent in proposals.

“We felt [Aramark] had the best management team,” Bravo said. “We were very impressed with the other vendor’s presentation, especially their on-campus presentation. Their personnel was extremely poised and they were great presenters.

However, we know that anybody could stand up there and impress you with what they say. David Tuttle, myself and Paul went up to see their only college and it simply was not as impressive as we thought it would be. They simply did not have the track record or the history that would have caused us to take a chance on a new company like this.”

Other dining changes in Mabee include the addition of a teaching kitchen, an allergy-free station, a vegetarian and vegan station and a coffee shop — the Daily Grind — which will feature local roasters.

The final construction on Mabee Dining Hall took place in the week before class began. Renovations included updated restrooms, an espresso bar and a teaching kitchen. photo by ELIZABETH NELSON

Most of the new dining options are scheduled to open towards the beginning of the fall semester. The Daily Grind, the teaching kitchen in Mabee, Steak ‘n’ Shake and updates to the lighting and restrooms in Mabee are planned to be complete by the time classes start. The meal exchange option will also be available at the beginning of the semester.

Construction is not scheduled to begin on Sandwich Shack until after Thanksgiving break, but the CSI P.O.D. will remain open until that construction begins. Starbucks is scheduled to

open on Sept. 10, and coffee will not be available for purchase in the library until then. Until then, On the Fly mobile food truck and Tiger Press Juice Bar may serve as alternative options.

“We’re hoping that those two options can station themselves at peak times around the library to pick up the slack,” Bravo said. “Aramark is going to try to figure out a way to serve people in that area to supplement what we’re doing until the Starbucks can open.” continued on PAGE 5

President Anderson and his wife Kimberly welcome the Class of 2022 and all new and returning students.

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 17, 2018 •

NEWS

TU welcomes SACSCOC reaccreditation moves forward its smartest, With process nearing university largest class completion, works to improve the

695 incoming first-years experience of first-years boast a 3.6 average GPA KENDRA DERRIG | NEWS EDITOR KAYLIE KING | NEWS REPORTER kking1@trinity.edu A record 695 first-year students are expected to begin class this fall as the university’s most academically impressive class in recent years.

While some of those students could change their minds about attending Trinity by the end of the add/drop period, the class of 2022 currently sits 53 students over last year’s firstyear class at the beginning of fall 2017.

“It’s very exciting, but it was not necessarily intentional,” said Eric Maloof, vice president for enrollment management. “We saw a spike in yield from some of our highest-performing admitted students.”

The expected size for the first-year class was approximately 640 students, with a margin of error of 20 on either side. Maloof predicted that between 685 and 690 students would be enrolled by census day.

Maloof described the group of incoming first-years as the strongest academic group of first-year students that the university has seen in recent memory, as well as the most selective class in university history. 34 percent of applicants were accepted, compared to 38 percent in 2017 and 41 percent in 2016. continued on PAGE 6

kderrig@trinity.edu

The university submitted the final response report regarding Trinity’s qualifications for reaffirmation as an accredited university to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) over the summer. The report was the final opportunity in a 15-month review process for Trinity to provide evidence of compliance with the principles of accreditation, which range from faculty credentials to campus facilities.

The reaccreditation process, which occurs every 10 years, consisted of three stages: An initial report from Trinity with an offsite review in Sept. 2017, a secondary report with an on-site review during Feb. 2018 and the final report over the summer. This final report addressed six principles that the review committee who visited campus in late February wanted to be further addressed.

“In December, we will find out what the status is, and in all likelihood, we will be reaffirmed,” said Kathy Friedrich, director of assessment for the department of institutional research and effectiveness. “We might have to submit an additional report — which would be called a monitoring report — to follow

MICHAEL HUGHES was recently appointed FYE coordinator. His appointment coincides with the initiation of the Starting Strong QEP, which is focused on first-years. photo by ELIZABETH NELSON

up again on the standards that they had questions about, but we’re not expecting them to say, ‘No, I’m sorry, you’re not accredited.’ “ If Trinity is not reaccredited, the institution would not be eligible for federal aid, and students looking to transfer would not be able to transfer credits earned at Trinity.

Meeting the principles set by SACSCOC and the federal government is only part of the reaccreditation process. Trinity must also execute a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP). continued on PAGE 6

From CUC to CSC: Coates construction completed

Complex receives new name with 3.2 million dollar in renovations GABBY GARRIGA | NEWS REPORTER ggarriga@trinity.edu

Students won’t be the only people moving in this fall. With the completion of construction on the Coates University Center (CUC) — now Coates Student Center (CSC) — members of multiple departments are preparing to set up in newly renovated spaces in the complex.

The Trinity University bookstore has moved into the main building. Student Involvement has moved into the space that previously housed the bookstore, while Counseling and Wellness Services will move from Halsell Center into Student Involvement’s previous space. The Center for Experiential Learning and Career Success expanded into the second floor space formerly occupied by the bookstore and remains on the upper floor of the west wing.

Conversations about the renovation began in 2013, but any progress was delayed due to the development of the Campus Master Plan.

The plan started up again in fall 2017, leading the capital projects planning committee to appoint the CSC Renovation Committee. The committee included a representative from all the departments and facilities involved in the renovation. Additionally, Gordon Bohmfalk, director for campus planning and sustainability, managed the construction of the project.

After meeting with the committee over the fall semester, Bohmfalk and the committee members created a clear goal for the renovation — to fill the needs of each department with a new space and to enhance the flow of students throughout all of the fields.

Sheryl Tynes, vice president for student life, oversaw the construction and is excited to see how the centralization of the services impacts the student body.

“Coates Student Center really is the place where everybody passes through from the main

Coates Student Center underwent construction as part of the Campus Master Plan over the summer.

Various departments were awarded with new office spaces. photo by GENEVIEVE HUMPHREYS

campus to upper campus. It is more functional in terms of access. That whole flow of students through that area is going to be really nice,” Tynes said.

The project began after spring break by moving the bookstore into the CSC. All renovations are expected to be finished by the start of classes this fall, according to Bohmfalk.

The budget for the project was 3.2 million dollars. Bohmfalk explained that this amount was influenced by the Campus Master Plan and the vision of having the CSC as the main campus dining hall in the future.

“Once we decided that, we then knew we didn’t want to completely remodel the entire building for this use, so that determined what our budget might be and how we dealt with the building,” Bohmfalk said. “Because eventually it will be the new dining center, and all of these uses will be relocated to other places. We don’t know if that happens in five

years or ten years or when but we had to keep that in mind.”

On Aug. 13, student involvement employees toured their new space. Members of the department were impressed with the spaciousness and the mobility it provided throughout the departments. Shannon Edmond, coordinator for student programs, was particularly excited for the potential for collaboration.

“As a collective, we talked about having spaces for students to collaborate with, so you’ll see in here a lot of different whiteboards to accommodate that collaborative nature that we’re looking for with students,” Edmond said.

“We want students to use the space and see the space as theirs.”

Additionally, the building has an area made specifically for Alli Roman, director for diversity and inclusion. The space is intended to provide room for students to feel comfortable

and to spend time getting to know each other.

“I’m most excited for students to have space there. That’s something I’ve heard a lot in having conversations with students,” Roman said.

“They’re looking for a space where they can just hang out or connect with one another or have maybe some difficult conversations around their identities or a place where they can just be their full authentic self.”

Gary Neal, director of counseling and wellness services and CSC Renovation Committee member, is excited to be in his new space, designed specifically for the department.

Counseling and wellness services were moved to Halsell in 2015 in anticipation of this project, with the expectation of moving back into the CSC upon completion. Since moving to Halsell, Neal has gotten mixed reviews from students about the distance from Halsell to other parts of Trinity’s campus.

“It’s been a mixed blessing, and I say that based on feedback we’ve gotten from students,” Neal said. “It’s been pretty evenly mixed between students who tell us, ‘It’s just so far away. It’s really inconvenient. It’s hard to get there,’ and between students who on the other side will say, ‘It’s very private. There’s nobody around.’ “ Neal believes the accessibility for students will be more beneficial in the long run.

“It’s basically a trade-off between convenience and privacy, but we think on balance it will be a great thing,” Neal said.

Overall, the redesigned CSC is meant to enhance student life. Throughout the project, students were asked their opinion on the plans for the center. Jamie Thompson, director of student involvement and CSC Renovation Committee member, led the search for student input.

“Student feedback was sought multiple times through the cultural student organizations and also through the Student Government Association. We went to those groups several times throughout the year to seek feedback and identify what their needs were,” Thompson said.

There will be an open house for the CSC on Sept. 28 from 2–5 p.m for Fall Family Weekend.

NEWS • AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Marketing, student life Navigating Pathways combine to fund NSO Professors, students

The exact budget was not disclosed

provide curriculum advice

GABBY GARRIGA | NEWS REPORTER

jfranci1@trinity.edu

JOLIE FRANCIS | NEWS REPORTER

ggarriga@trinity.edu

Departments across Trinity worked over the summer to make New Student Orientation (NSO) happen, contributing food, Trinity gear and space on campus. This means budgets can collide.

NSO consists of a weekend full of events for incoming students to get to know Trinity’s campus, traditions, faculty, staff and their peers. It’s filled with food, promotional items and lots of presentations. Esther Kim, assistant director for orientation programs, is awarded a yearly budget to promote and carry out NSO, Spring Student Orientation, Orientation Team (O-Team) and spirit initiatives.

“We provide critical academic sessions on how to be successful at Trinity while also providing them opportunities to be engaged on and off campus with the Student Involvement Fair or the Campus Service Project,” Kim wrote in an email interview.

Although Kim cannot disclose the budget, the biggest expenses of NSO are food, supplies and marketing. Meals and snacks are provided at various events, including the community luncheons for underrepresented groups on campus, such as black, Latinx, international and first-generation students.

Kim’s budget also finances supply rentals and purchases like tables, chairs and campus maps for students and family. Additionally, the budget funds marketing initiatives from her department.

However, other facets of NSO don’t require money from Kim’s budget.

Volunteers contribute their time to events allowing Kim to distribute that money elsewhere. Team Trinity is made up of student and faculty volunteers that help move first years into their residence halls. O-Team, after a week-long training session with Kim, works to make first-years feel welcomed and connected to the Trinity community.

Additionally, many departments on campus contribute to New Student Orientation.

“Every department and office on campus contributes to NSO in some way from space, sponsored food [that the budget does not pay for] from Aramark, [Residential Assistant] staff, volunteers, Team Trinity etc. It’s an all hands on deck approach when it comes to NSO,” Kim wrote.

Departments on campus do not directly contribute money from their own budgets. Rather, they contribute items or spaces to NSO. Tess Coody-Anders, vice president for strategic communications and marketing, uses about onethird of the department budget to support events and efforts related to admissions, including NSO. For example, instead of Kim using her budget to buy promotional materials, the strategic communications and marketing department will collaborate with her to contribute promotional items to NSO.

During the first year of college, students can have difficulty understanding Trinity’s curriculum and scheduling classes — this confusion often persists into their later years, occasionally resulting in issues with satisfying university requirements and graduate on time.

Trinity’s graduation requirements are in the form of a curriculum called Pathways. Pathways is a curriculum unique to Trinity University that was first made mandatory for first-years entering in fall 2015.

Pathways has six curricular requirements, consisting of the First-Year Experience course (FYE), Approaches to Creation and Analysis, Core Capacities, an Interdisciplinary Cluster, the major and fitness education. Once these components are completed, along with at least 124 credit hours and other specific requirements, students can graduate with an education in a variety of different subject areas.

“I would say that first-years should see Pathways as an opportunity to take courses they might not otherwise take,” said Jennifer Mathews, chair of the department of sociology and anthropology.

“One of the goals of Pathways is to

O-team leaders participate in training sessions before new students arrive.

O-Team training is funded as part of the budget of the director for orientation programs. photo by GENEVIEVE HUMPHREYS

“We just work together and collaborate. Let’s say, for example, she wanted to buy a plastic water bottle.

Well, no need for [Kim] to go buy them, and we’re buying them for future students. Let’s work together so we can get a better price,” Coody-Anders said.

Additionally, Coody-Anders’ creative team contributes expertise and ideas to NSO when thinking about ways to create a cohesive Trinity brand for events during Welcome Week.

“Our role is to make sure the brand message and the graphic standards are always being adhered to for the university so that we’re consistent,” Coody-Anders said. “So that even if you might have your own marketing person and your own marketing budget, that we all sing from the same song sheet — and that we look the same and we don’t confuse people by presenting a different image or message about Trinity.”

When new initiatives are added to NSO, like the community luncheons last year, they are not included in Kim’s budget. Instead, departments contribute elements

to it. Sheryl Tynes, vice president for student life, works with Kim on New Student Orientation and spoke about how Kim’s budget grows.

“If we have a new initiative that’s not in the budget, we request other university offices to contribute. It’s not really a donation, it’s like do you have some budget, so you can help with this new initiative?” Tynes said.

After this process, if the initiative receives positive reviews from students, it is included in Kim’s budget for the next year.

Overall, Tynes believes that NSO takes a lot of effort because it is critical to a new student’s transition to Trinity University.

“The whole goal of new student orientation is to help start the process of creating a sense of belonging for our students and to connect faces with names. And so here are the people, here are their names, here are ways you can reach them and sort of make that human connection, which is what small liberal arts schools do way better than a big school could do,” Tynes said.

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broaden our students in terms of learning a wide array of topics that may take them out of their comfort zone. I would never have been an anthropologist if I hadn’t happened to have taken a course during my first year of college.”

The first of the six curricular requirements is the FYE, which is completed during the first semester of college. The FYE is an everyday class that is essential to building critical reading, writing and other soft skills. There are many different FYE classes, including Social Justice, Science Fiction and HUMA. “My Social Justice FYE has been my favorite class to date,” said Meagan Springer, sophomore.

“There were a million essays to write and a million passages to read, but having the class every day helped me make my closest friends here at Trinity and the workload really improved the quality of my work.”

While the FYE is only one class, Approaches to Creation and Analysis and Core Capacities are each very large components to Pathways.

Both of these requirements have subsections that require a course or two to complete the subsection. Once all of the subsections are complete, the requirements are satisfied. continued on PAGE 6

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 17, 2018 •

NEWS

Progress in changes to campus dining services continued from PAGE 3

Benjamin Harris, head of instruction services in Coates Library, was a member of a group of faculty and staff and students who developed a library renovation plan for the future. Although the addition of the Starbucks in the library was not directly affected by this group, it was something that Harris felt was much needed.

“They were implementing some of the things we were going to suggest even without us suggesting them,” Harris said.

Harris expressed some of his specific concerns with EcoGrounds, such as the products available for purchase and the physical setup of the coffee shop.

“I think that the food selection, they had tried to upgrade it when they went from Java City to EcoGrounds, and they’re revisiting

that, rethinking their food options in the new Starbucks situation,” Harris said. “Those chairs were so uncomfortable; the tables were really small. If any place in the library is more comfortable physically than the coffee shop, that’s a problem. Just because of the workflow of this revision, the new furniture will probably not be in immediately whenever Starbucks opens — they’ll be bringing it in during the fall semester.”

Harris hopes that the renovations will create a

much more welcoming space overall.

“Ideally it’s going to be a fresher, more comfortable space to stay for a while and also a place with a better and a different variety of products,” Harris said. “Generally, we’re very excited about the change and we’re very excited to refresh that space and the product and we hope that students really enjoy it. We hope that students find it a really comfortable and enjoyable place to come.”

LEFT: The Daily Grind espresso bar, which will feature local roasters, is one of many updates to Mabee Dining Hall. There will also be a new vegetarian and vegan station and an allergy-free station.

RIGHT: The teaching kitchen will be used for cooking demonstrations. The Daily Grind will be open for the start of class, along with a Steak ‘n’ Shake in the P.O.D. photos by ELIZABETH NELSON

Reaccreditation update Navigating pathways continued from PAGE 4

“The idea behind the Quality Enhancement Plan is that you look at outcome measures for your institution and see if there’s an area where we can improve student outcomes and student success. It can either be a specific student outcome — like writing skills — or it can be the learning environment. But it’s generally focused on student success,” Friedrich said.

Michael Soto, associate vice president for academic affairs, explained the topic of the QEP. “The overarching goal of the Starting Strong QEP is simple: ‘First-year students will become more aware of and engaged in practices that lead to success.’ That means we’re beefing up advising, teaching and academic support — and expanding our efforts to bring this support to students’ attention,” Soto wrote in an email interview.

This topic was chosen through the examination of data, such as that collected through the National Survey of Student Engagement.

“Their survey data showed us that upperlevel students are very happy with their advising, but the students who have not yet declared a major were not as satisfied with how they were doing,” Friedrich said. “There’s also some data about how well students succeed early on in their initial courses. There are some courses, especially in the quantitative reasoning area, where they really need to be successful early on if they want to continue.”

The QEP will also encourage first-years to use academic support services.

“We have lots of resources to support students, and we want them to be aware of those resources, and so being successful in the classroom isn’t just what your instructor does — it’s also what you can do for yourself and the resources that are available to you,” Friedrich said.

With the QEP’s focus on first-years, the First-Year Experience (FYE) has been subject to some modifications.

“Two changes to the FYE are worth mentioning: First, we have a new FYE Coordinator in Professor Michael Hughes from the Library,” Soto wrote. “Second,

we’ll be implementing a pilot ‘early alert’ program in the FYE course. The early alert system is modeled after the mid-semester grading program that’s already in place, but as the name suggests, it occurs earlier in the semester.”

Under the early alert system, students will be notified of their status in a class during the week of Sept. 17. If the student has less than a C–, faculty will enter an alert grade, and the student’s advisor will be notified of a risk factor — such as excessive tardiness or poor quiz grades — that is jeopardizing their advisee’s grade. Students will also be notified with an “S” if they have a satisfactory grade.

The early alert program pilot will occur this fall only for the FYE. According to Hughes, the program will expand to every course in the future.

“The goal is to get students at risk of falling behind in the class to notice their standing,” Hughes said. “One of the complaints that we get is that students don’t know how they are doing. They may not be given enough low stakes assignments from their instructors so that they have some sense of their knowledge in class, but then there are other people that can help them make an early intervention so that they can get their grade up to where it needs to be.”

Hughes will also use the FYE to contribute to the QEP’s goal of making first-year students aware of the academic resources that are available to them.

“Naturally everyone has to take the FYE, which means that the FYE coordinator is in the position to help boost the signal of [student support] services,” Hughes said. “Advertise them, communicate their value and make sure that instructors in the FYE are then talking about these things with their students whenever it makes sense to do so — whether that’s language on the syllabus — or having brief presentations at the Common Learning Experience.”

Friedrich expressed that this is an excellent time to be a first-year on campus.

“I think [first-years] should be very excited — I mean, they’re going to be excited anyway — but I’m excited for them because I think that we are being very intentional about the things that we can do for these students to get off on a really great start,” Friedrich said.

continued from PAGE 5

For example, within Approaches to Creation and Analysis, there are the categories of Creative Expression and Natural Sciences.

Under Creative Expression is a list of art and creative classes that can be taken to satisfy this category.

Approaches to Creation and Analysis is focused on giving students an education in all fields of study. Core Capacities, which includes the categories like Written Communication and Engaged Citizenship, has courses that help students to develop soft skills like social and emotional intelligence. This requires that many different classes must be completed.

“My biggest [piece of ] advice on picking classes for the Pathways curriculum would be to be strategic about it and start planning early,” said Brooke Bloom, junior.

“Be prepared to make some adjustments to

the plan, but overall having a basic guideline can be a huge help.”

To complete the interdisciplinary cluster requirement, a student must complete three courses — at least nine credit hours — within a certain cluster. There are about 15 different clusters to choose from or a student can propose an original student-designed cluster to the University Curriculum Council.

“The four years you have at Trinity is the perfect time to take classes that either get you out of your comfort zone or involve something you have always wanted to know more about,” Bloom said. “I think an important thing to know is that the Pathways courses do not have to be done immediately. If there is a course you really want to take, wait for it. Now is your chance to take it while you are here at Trinity.”

Contact your faculty advisor to receive advice on how to best fit Pathways with your major

Biggest, brightest class ever continued from PAGE 4 The average GPA for the incoming class is 3.6, the average SAT score is 1339, and the average ACT score is 30.1.

“We’ve admitted a lower rate of students but our yield increased,” Maloof said. “We were also excited to enroll an extraordinarily diverse class.”

39.2 percent of the incoming first-year class come from underrepresented backgrounds, which is up from 38.9 percent last year.

“The other exciting thing is that our male to female ratio is 50–50,” Maloof said. “That’s very unusual at smaller, residential liberal arts and sciences institutions, and we’re really excited to have that gender mix of being naturally 50–50.”

Despite an increase in population, Deborah Tyson, director of residential life, confirmed that there is enough housing available.

“With the addition of City Vista, the bed count was sufficient to meet the demands of the incoming first-year class,” Tyson wrote in an email interview. “There are no first-year triples.”

No additional resident assistants or other residential life staff were hired to accommodate the incoming first-year class.

Trinity University faculty have also been working to accommodate the first-year class academically. Michael Soto, associate vice president for academic affairs, stated that sections have been added to some courses.

“We have 46 [First-Year Experience] sections, and so class size will remain about what it’s been in the past,” Soto said. “We are going to average just under 15 students per FYE section when the fall semester begins.

Where it’s appropriate, we’ve raised course capacity, particularly at 1000 level courses, and we’ve added 10 new sections in high demand areas; in particular, [we’ve added] courses that satisfy some of the specific Pathways requirements that are popular among first-year students.”

Soto explained that new and veteran faculty have made it possible to support the unexpectedly large class.

“There are a handful of new instructors who aren’t part of the full-time Trinity faculty,” Soto said. “We’ve been working with departments and they’ve been very supportive to redirect what Trinity faculty are doing this fall, to make everyone’s experience a positive one.”

LET’S HEAR YOUR VOICE.

...

Have an opinion? To feature as a guest columnist, please submit your article to trinitonian@trinity.edu or to Soleil Gaffner, opinion editor, at LGaffner@trinity.edu by Sunday at noon to be in Friday’s issue of the paper.

Opinion

SUBMISSION

FROM THE EDITORS’ DESK

Take your time; it’s OK to be undecided Ask any senior on campus if what they’re doing now is anything close to what they imagined it would be four years ago, and most would probably say no. Even the seniors on the Trinitonian had no idea how much they would be involved in the publication at this point. Funny how things turn out.

We came to college thinking that this was where we would figure out how to be adults or how to get our lives together from the mess that was high school. In some ways, that’s true.

In college, you learn about hard work, dedication, relationships, successes and failures. You also learn to deal with stress, anxiety, depression — some of it manageable, some of it not.

Many first-years arrive on campus in awe of the opportunities they have, yet they’re frightened by the pressure of not knowing what to do with their future. We’re here to tell you that it’s okay. It’s okay not to know what you want to study, who you want to become or what Trinity will hold for you.

You can figure it out as you go, and you have all the time in the world (or at least four years.)

Many students will get concerned about their grades. Depending on your career path, the GPA you earn in college could stick with you from internship to job and even through post-graduation. That being said,

we wouldn’t stress unless you’re on track for graduate school.

If there’s one thing that previous students have told us, it’s that investing your time in your engagements outside of the classroom is far more valuable than perfect grades.

The opportunities that are found on Trinity’s campus are worth those few extra points to the GPA. The opportunities that are found on Trinity’s campus are worth those few extra points to the GPA. Joining a student-led organization, getting an on-campus job or becoming a member of Greek life are all experiences that you won’t be able to have after graduation. University life is the perfect place to explore yourself alongside other curious minds. As students, we’re all trying to find ourselves, so you’re not alone.

So as you start your first semester, take any class you want. Sign up for all the clubs

at the Student Involvement Fair. Explore what the thriving city of San Antonio has to offer you. Support your peers in their theatre productions, sports games and cultural events. Get active in politics on and off campus. Just do something to get out of your room from time to time.

The staff of the Trinitonian is here to help you stay connected and informed about campus life and issues. Remember that we are your outlet and campus voice.

If you have a story idea, you can reach out to any of the staff listed on page two or email trinitonian@trinity.edu. If you have feedback, questions, comments or just want to talk about how we convey campus news, you can see us in Coates Student Center passing out the paper every Friday morning.

And if you really like what we’re doing and what we stand for, you can apply to work for us.

In this issue, you can read about conservative students navigating their way through a majority liberal school, a musician’s guide to in the local music scene, what to expect from our athletics program and much more. We’ve made sure there’s plenty of stories to keep you from being a clueless first-year — just look for the “First-Year Focus” label.

So sit back, relax and read the Trinitonian.

We’ve got you covered.

Using diverse courses to explore new

identities, self-expression and skills KAYLA PADILLA OPINION COLUMNIST kpadill1@trinity.edu

Trinity is renowned for its diverse courses, yet it often seems as if students are intimidated by the idea of taking a course unrelated to their field of study. STEM people are avid problem solvers, always thinking critically and ready to solve just about anything. Art majors — entranced by the never-ending worlds created by words, paintings and drawings — can hardly fathom taking a class that doesn’t involve expressing themselves through art.

Dylan Tompkins, a sophomore Urban Studies and Economics double-major, enjoys expressing herself through art — particularly through graphic portraits.

However, in the spring of 2018, she decided to take a course that demanded the use of her creative mind in a different way.

The course was British literature: old English to 1800, taught by none other than Willis Salomon, associate professor of English.

Tompkins compared creating her graphic portraits to writing a paper: “You have to work out a rough sketch, and you make a lot of changes to that sketch before you finally start filling it in.”

Tompkins appreciated Salomon’s way of navigating the course.

“I really liked his mellow but still very active energy. He let the class guide the

discussion and it was a really relaxed, enjoyable environment.”

Tompkins shared that the class confirmed some of the abilities she knew she possessed.

She advised students not to worry about not being an English major, as the class helped her become a better writer.

“It gave me faith that if I wanted to take another English class in the future, I could,” Tompkins said.

Hannah Friedrich, a sophomore English and philosophy double major, said she would recommend the symbolic logic course taught by Curtis Brown.

“I feel it just makes you sharper in general because you have to break down logic problems into almost kind of mathematical terms. It also helped me realize how specific you have to be with language,” Friedrich said.

Friedrich was originally just an English major; however, Brown’s class was so enthralling that she decided to double major in English and philosophy.

“He was super happy to be in class every day and it just made you so psyched to be there. I also went to his office hours, and he’s really good at sitting down and explaining in terms you can understand,” Friedrich said.

Friedrich also expressed that the skills she uses in writing courses were similar to the ones she used in symbolic logic. “It’s a lot closer to analytical, essay-type writing.

When you write an essay of that type, you have to really think through your reasoning, step-by-step, and this is just a super zoomed-in version of that,” Friedrich said.

Expression comes in many forms, one of the most prominent in our world being religious expression. Lutfi Sun, an economics and mathematics double-major, recommended Religion in the United States taught by Angela Tarango, associate professor of religion. Lutfi is originally from Turkey and identifies as a Muslim.

The class helped him understand the faiths of his Trinity friends.

“Learning about how my friends’ faith evolved in the U.S., what difficulties their fathers faced in the past and what makes them different definitely straightened my relationships,” Sun said.

Sun also said that his Muslim faith has helped him identify with other religions.

“As a Muslim, I already see most religions, especially Christianity and Judaism, as different versions of the same divine message. This class definitely strengthened that view,” Sun said.

Sun also expressed his admiration for Tarango and her boldness.

“She doesn’t hesitate to share her own opinions and you see how much of an expert she is on the topic,” Sun said.

If there’s anything students should indulge in while at Trinity, it’s the array of classes that offer refreshing insights and diverse perspectives. Through each course, we can learn more about each other and how we can contribute to the betterment of this ever-changing world.

Kayla Padilla is a sophomore English and anthropology major.

GUIDELINES The Trinitonian is your public forum. Here’s how to start a dialogue and have your voice heard in print and online.

letters to the editor Share your quick reactions to Trinitonan coverage and opinion columns. Send 300 words or less to the head editors and Soleil Gaffner, the Opinion editor, at trinitonian@trinity.edu. She or Julia Weis, Trinitonian editor-inchief, will be in touch as soon as they can.

guest columns Can’t keep it to a few hundred words? Pen a guest column and let your views be known.

Please keep it between 500 and 700 words, and give us time to prepare. If possible, submit

by Sunday at noon to be in the Friday edition of the paper.

Email it to opinion editor Soleil Gaffner at LGaffner@trinity.edu.

please note!

The Opinion section editor and the Trinitonian copy editors will fact-check your work and edit for clarity, legal concerns, grammar and style, but we will not alter your argument.

Also, please include your graduating year and major or your position at the university.

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OPINION

The advent of coeducation and Trinity University THOMAS HARVELL-DEGOLIER OPINION COLUMNIST tharvell@trinity.edu

Margarite B. Parker Chapel is a staple on the Trinity University campus and is regularly used for mass as well as other religious and non-religious reunions. Cumberland Presbyterians influenced Trinity University’s policies and standards until 1969, when Trinity disaffiliated with the church.

Because of this influence, Trinity has always been coeducational. photo by ELIZABETH NELSON

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History matters. It shapes how we think and the institutions that surround us. This column will focus on the impacts of history and how it shapes our world. To start with, I will look at the founding of Trinity University and its intersection with the rise of coeducation and religion.

According to R. Douglas Brackenridge’s “Trinity University: A Tale of Three Cities,” Cumberland Presbyterians founded Trinity in 1869 with the intention of creating “a university of the highest order,” or a university based in Texas that would become as prestigious as Princeton.

Established in Tehuacana, Texas, Trinity was coeducational from its inception. This is significant because Trinity’s founding occurred during a time period where, according to Baylor Professor Andrea Turpin’s “A New Moral Vision,” education’s purpose shifted as women began entering higher education.

Oberlin College began the trend of embracing coeducation, while other newly established schools — such as Mount Holyoke College, Wellesley College and Vassar College — taught women exclusively.

However, established eastern schools — such as Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University — either remained maleonly institutions or established women-only coordinate colleges with less funding.

These coordinate colleges shared a university faculty and were quasi-independent, had less funding than their affiliated university and allowed their affiliated university to maintain its focus on educating male leaders.

Western schools were thus more likely to embrace or at least adopt coeducation. The established eastern schools emphasized that their purpose was to educate men for positions of power and responsibility in the world — not women. This traditionalist view of the purpose of schools remained in place in these Ivy league schools until the 1960s when they began admitting women.

Schools embracing coeducation were motivated by what Turpin terms “evangelical pragmatism.” Essentially, universities — both public and private — were viewed as tools educating individuals to serve Christian moral purposes. University founders found it imperative to reach as many people as feasibly possible — including women — which made up the evangelical component of evangelical pragmatism.

Since money was a concern and coed institutions were cheaper than establishing separate institutions, many of these schools

adopted coeducation, which formed the pragmatic aspect. Trinity’s coeducational foundations were likely rooted in this evangelical pragmatism.

Early on, Trinity University struggled for funding and maintained dangerously low enrollments. Despite coeducation originating pragmatically it eventually became controversial, but Trinity faculty rallied to defend coeducation’s virtues. Trinity has remained coeducational to this day.

While Cumberland Presbyterians were not necessarily liberal, the emphasis on spreading Gospel and creating more, better Christians likely influenced their decision to keep Trinity coeducational, mirroring other schools founded in the west during this time period.

Though I’m simplifying this process, it is telling that less prestigious universities embraced coeducation more quickly than schools in areas framed as progressive. Even if they were in a liberal environment, established structures stifled imperatives to change established educational institutions while the openness and need for funding in the west facilitated coeducation.

Coeducation did not, however, treat men and women equally. This was true for Trinity University as well. Trinity women were subjected to stricter dress codes and standards of moral conduct than their male counterparts who did not have to suffer such indignities. For example, up until the 1950s and 1960s, women at Trinity University faced regulations such as curfews and clothing restrictions that men did not.

Essentially, while coeducation was adopted, it did not lead to immediate equality.

The different type of education that women received — or were excluded from — shaped the social networks formed in colleges and helped to facilitate the placement of men in more powerful societal positions. When looking at our modern world, one wonders if CEOs, politicians and other people in leadership positions would be more representative of the general population if schools such as Yale and Princeton had started accepting women as students earlier than the 1960s and coed schools had treated students as equals.

As Turpin mentioned in my interview with her, the history of education is important “because it affects things” such as who holds power, who is privileged in society and who gets to make the social connections that allow them to advance in society. The history of education allows us to understand how protection of established privileges can perpetuate societal inequalities, whereas pragmatism can lead to unexpected outcomes such as coeducation.

This leads to a situation where a denominational southwestern school, such as Trinity, embraced coeducation, while it took the Ivy League (with the exception of Cornell) another century to do so.

Thomas Harvell-DeGolier is a senior history major.

OPINION • AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Rocking your first year: Learn from my mistakes KARA KILLINGER OPINION COLUMNIST kkilling@trinity. edu

Hey, opinion section! I’m Kara, an incoming junior getting ready to send in some distant thoughts from Edinburgh, Scotland, where I’ll be studying abroad this semester. But before that, I want to talk a little about Trinity.

Though things are going much better nowadays, I was a lonely, lost kid my first year. Here are five mistakes I made as a first-year so you don’t have to.

JOIN ORGANIZATIONS NOW In order to develop strong college friendships, you need to find ways to work with people for many hours toward a shared goal — preferably a goal you care about a lot. This means you should either throw yourself passionately into an intense, group-focused class or join something.

Trinity students make friends rushing fraternities or sororities, practicing for theater productions, slaving away on engineering group projects or even getting involved with political groups on campus.

I got close with people by staying up all night designing newspaper pages with them in a small, windowless basement. By far my biggest regret in college so far is not joining the Trinitonian earlier.

Working together will inevitably heed friendship. Especially if there are all-nighters involved.

PRIORITIZE FRIENDSHIPS Look, I’m not going to lie: Trinity is a great place to find cute humans. Many of these cute

humans are also kind, bright, ambitious and warm.

You’ll probably fall in love at least once while you’re here, but don’t forget that if you spend all your time on one person, you might miss out on the amazing friendships you could be developing with the other wonderful people Trinity has to offer. This advice is especially relevant during orientation and the first few weeks of classes.

Don’t allow a relationship to become your whole life before you make friends.

DON’T BE INTIMIDATED Speaking of falling in love, a big reason I picked Trinity was how articulate and intelligent the students seemed. Upon coming here though, I found myself intimidated by those smart students — and as a first-year, I never thought of myself as one of them.

There were perfectly kind, generous, amazing people who irrationally intimidated me. I could have easily tried to talk to them, but I didn’t have the self-confidence.

Here’s a message from current me to past me, and to the class of 2022: You deserve to be here! You were chosen from a giant pool of applicants to come to an awesome school. You are capable of so much. Life is too short not to talk to the girl who makes smart comments in Literary Methods.

DON’T BELIEVE THE LIBERAL ARTS HATERS You know the ones — those people who hear you’re an English major, ask if you want to be a teacher, and then stare at you like you’re from Mars when you say, “No, I actually don’t know what I want to do yet.” When I was a first-year,

others seemed to suspect I was doomed career-wise. So, I thought I was doomed career-wise.

I think my first-year self would be shocked — but happy — to learn that by the end of sophomore year, I’ve worked as an English tutor, edited a national literary journal, interned at a startup accelerator and reported and edited for the Trinitonian.

Job prospects exist for all liberal arts majors: You just have to work hard and keep looking.

BEFRIEND PROFESSORS Don’t get me wrong: There’s a balance to be struck here, and you’re not going to befriend your chemistry prof in the same way you’d befriend your roommate.

Still, I was misguided as a first-year by internet advice columns saying you’d better be as formal as possible when emailing your professor for the first time.

Those pieces of advice are for the average UT student in a 500-person lecture hall, but you are at Trinity, and there are maybe 12 people in your First Year Experience class. I guarantee your professors know who you are, even if you’re quiet. You probably don’t have to introduce yourself in an email, or spend 30 minutes crafting an absolutely perfect one.

As your Trinity career goes on, don’t be shocked when your professor sends you an article you might like, loans you a book, asks you to babysit her kids, commissions a piece of art from you or even offers solid life advice.

You’re just not going to be invisible at Trinity. People will care about you here.

Welcome home.

Kara Killinger is a junior English major.

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In a liberal world MADDIE D’IORIO OPINION COLUMNIST mdiorio@trinity. edu When I first decided that I was going to attend a liberal arts university, I was inundated with warnings from conservative family members about how awful colleges are these days, and how I would be brainwashed by my liberal professors into becoming a communist. They sent me articles about University of California, Berkeley, and anytime Ben Shapiro or Milo Yiannopoulos had a run-in with campus progressives or Antifa protesters, I was the first to know.

So when I finally began school, I didn’t really know what to expect.

I eagerly went up to the table at the involvement fair for Tigers for Liberty (TFL), asked questions about the club and signed up. I began to go to meetings, attended their socials and even made friends within the club.

The people in the group, majority male, were all unique and interesting in their own way. Some I clicked with more than others, but quickly I became good friends with a solid group of people so different than the folks I hung out with in high school. Going from having a few close girlfriends to suddenly having a wide friend group of mainly conservative guys was a huge shift — but one that I really enjoyed.

Most memorable was how the guys in the group, especially the upperclassmen, were so quick to take us first-years in. I came into college fearing that it would take me months to make solid friendships, but just one month in, and I had nearly a dozen people come to my room to dunk me in Miller Fountain for my mid-September birthday. That night alone made me feel like I belonged at Trinity and that I had people who cared about me.

Gone were the worries about feeling alone as a conservative at a liberal university, as I also made many progressive and non-political friends.

But it was truly the guys in TFL who made me feel accepted on campus.

They quickly got me involved — just a few months after coming to Trinity, I had already gone to a weekend-long

training, competed in a debate on immigration and planned a successful club social for Thanksgiving.

Instead of just treating me like any other first-year member of the club, they saw leadership potential and allowed me to do more than just go to meetings. They did the same thing for my other two friends, Emma and Julia, and now the leadership board for TFL is three-quarters female — far from the boy’s club that it once was. Hopefully this means we’ll finally get to make club t-shirts.

Although there are certainly issues with being a conservative on a liberal campus (especially an “out” and visible one like I am), the rewards far exceed any problems you face.

There are so many great opportunities to meet people, begin internships, create connections and become friends with people of diverse opinions and perspectives. You also get to hone your skills in political discussion and become even more knowledgeable about the finer points of whatever interests you politically.

So, if you’re a conservative student coming to campus, don’t worry. The professors aren’t evil (far from it — they’re amazing and accepting of all opinions, in my experience), it’s not impossible to make friends and chances are you’re going to have a social circle that encompasses a diverse range of people. And if you’re a female conservative student, know that your experience may be a bit different, but great all the same. We’re outnumbered for sure, but that just makes it more fun.

Take the first step by coming to a meeting for TFL, a chapter of Young Conservatives of Texas, and we’ll handle the rest. Isaiah Mitchell, Julia Westwick, Emma McMahan and I are excited to meet you and get you involved in whatever you’re ready for.

Even if you wouldn’t identify as conservative, our doors are open to you as well (we have plenty of members who are libertarian, classical liberal or centrist). Come to a meeting, message us on our Facebook page (just search “Young Conservatives of Texas at Trinity”) or flag us down on campus. But whatever you do — don’t feel alone.

Maddie D’Iorio is a sophomore economics major.

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HAVE A STORY THAT NEEDS TO BE TOLD? Know a professor or student who embodies what it means to be a Tiger? Email us at trinitonian@trinity.edu to let us know about the people and events that should be covered in an upcoming issue of the Trinitonian.

Pulse

Trinity welcomes the diverse class of 2022 Recognizing what makes Trinity students unique

NOELLE BARRERA | PULSE REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu

With each year, Trinity's campus demographics shift to reflect a more diverse group of students. This year the undergraduate population — the numbers of which are still subject to change around the add/drop period — has gender parity, with an even split of male and female students.

Additionally, 40 percent of the incoming cohort of first-years are historically underrepresented in terms of race.

According to Eric Maloof, vice president for enrollment management, 0.8 percent of the 695 first-years currently registered with the admissions department identified as American/ Alaskan Native on the census survey, 9.1 percent identified as Asian, 3.3 percent as African American, 0.1 percent as Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 22 percent as Hispanic or Latino, 4.7 percent as multiethnic, and 58.8 percent as white.

1.3 percent of students did not answer.

Maloof also gave statistics on socioeconomic diversity: 15 percent of the incoming first-years are full or partial Pell Grant recipients who recieved needbased government financial aid and 15 percent are first-generation students, meaning that they are the first in their families to attend college.

Racial and socioeconomic diversity are just two of many factors that the admissions committee at Trinity takes into account when deciding whether to admit a student. Trinity practices holistic admissions, meaning that the committee looks at all aspects of a

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

student's candidacy, including the diverse perspective that they could bring to campus.

“It’s really important to craft a class that looks and behaves like the world that our students are going to go out into after they graduate,” Maloof said. “Diversity is broadly defined. … We have socioeconomic diversity, racial and ethnic diversity, gender diversity, geographic diversity and political perspective diversity.”

Maloof spoke about the value that a diverse population adds to campus. Sheryl Tynes, vice president of student life, elaborated on this statement, speaking about how her background in sociology gives her an appreciation of the value of campus diversity.

“To me, it's not just how our students are doing, but what a diverse student body adds in the classroom,” Tynes said. “Whether you live in the residence halls with a student from Greece, or a student from another state, or from a different socioeconomic background, race, sexuality or gender identity ... you benefit from that mutual understanding of a different perspective.”

Erin Ford, a junior and Swashbuckler captain, explained what diversity means to her. “[Diversity] means getting to know people who come from different backgrounds and have gone through different experiences in life than I have,” Ford said. “Even if I talk to someone else who's also a cis white

female, they're still gonna have different experiences. ... Just getting to know how people are different, how they think differently, is really good because it broadens your own horizons and you can understand people better.”

Trinity's Diversity & Inclusion Office exists to help all students feel welcomed and represented.

“For students who are from underrepresented or marginalized backgrounds ... students of color, students who are first gen, students from low income backgrounds — I happened to fit in all three [categories] when I was in college — for students who are LGBTQ, the goal is for you to have a space that exists for you,” said Alli Roman, director for diversity and inclusion.

Slowly making Trinity feel more like home Trinity students offer ways for incoming first-years to feel more comfortable being in college

MATHILDE LE TACON | PULSE REPORTER mletacon@trinity.edu

Every new first-year class deals with homesickness and uncertainty.

Stepping away from the familiar and into a completely new environment can be overwhelming. While new is good, it’s also scary. But there are many different ways incoming and current students can make Trinity feel like more than just a university and turn it into a place that they belong.

Residential assistants (RAs) in first-year residence halls organize regular meetings and activities so that first-year students can get to know their hallmates. Junior Ben Brody, RA, will

be monitoring part of Dick and Peggy Prassel Hall this year and believes that every Trinity student should build a support system on campus.

“I strongly encourage first-year students to actively seek out groups or organizations that appeal to them," Brody said. “Trinity has an elaborate infrastructure for connection and development, but ultimately, it's your choice if you make use of it.”

Building new relationships can be daunting, but creating a support system on campus can help make new students comfortable. Senior Ariana Conway is a member of Chi Beta Epsilon, one of the many

AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

organizations on campus belonging to Greek life.

“I personally joined Greek life my sophomore year, and immediately after making those connections with my sisters Trinity finally started to feel like home — not just where I went to school,” Conway said.

Conway’s roommate and sorority sister, senior Claire Hausauer, agreed that her sorority helped but added that a student's hallmates are also an excellent place to begin looking for friends.

“The sorority didn't really come into play until I was already established with my hallmates and our integrated group of people,” Hausauer said.

If Greek life doesn't appeal to students and they've yet to bond with their hallmates, there are still numerous other places to find a home at Trinity. Not only are there varsity sports that encourage players to rely on each other and build connections, but also there are also other athletic clubs that students can join, including cheer and dance.

“Staying busy made Trinity feel more at home,” said Erin Becker, sophomore and member of the Spurs sorority. "That's why I joined cheer.” continued on PAGE 13

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PULSE • AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

Slowly making Trinity feel more like a home continued from PAGE 11

Students who don’t want to make the time commitment varsity teams require, but still want to participate from time to time, may find happiness in club sports or intramurals, like volleyball or soccer.

Chen Wang, sophomore and RA, has attended many intramural volleyball games and has herself played for an intramural soccer team.

"Club sports are more competitive and intramural would be a better way to make friends," Wang said.

Besides Greek life and sports, organizations at Trinity span far and wide.

According to Shannon Edmond, the coordinator for Student Involvement, there are three steps that students should keep in mind when choosing an organization. The first is to find one that aligns with professional interests.

"If [students are] interested in business [they should] that they look into Alpha Kappa Psi or the Financial Initiative,

or if they're interested in art history [they should] join the Trinity Art Collective," Edmond said.

The second is to find organizations that connect to their personal interests, like hobbies that bring them joy.

"Before they come to student involvement fair, [they should] examine things that they are interested in, or a new interest of theirs, and join that organization," Edmond said. "Chess club, knitting club, Swashbucklers [and] Student Programming Board, they can get plugged into that."

The third and final one is to try something new — something that they've never done before.

"This year we're really challenging someone to ... find something that they would never think of joining. Maybe a different ideology or beliefs. [Students should] go to a meeting and see how they can expand their thoughts and their beliefs and their horizons," Edmond said.

13

LEFT TO RIGHT: ANGELA CAMPBELL, BROOKLYN BAKER, and LYDIA MATTESON participate in Bid Day. FILE PHOTO

First-years and older students should remember that building long lasting relationships and getting comfortable takes time. It's alright not to feel integrated into the university straight away.

Missing home, old friends and old hometowns is normal.

But for students still feeling lost, Trinity's counseling services, Residential Life assistants and Residential Life Coordinators are good places to seek emotional support, comfort and guidance as they are all formallyå trained to help students make the

transition from high school to college.

To make an appointment with Counseling Services, students should call 210-999-7411. To contact the Residential Life office, e-mail reslife@trinity.edu or call 210-999-7219.

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PULSE • AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

15

Students get involved in summer research and internships Summer opportunities for Trinity students to learn and grow together

NOELLE BARRERA | PULSE REPORTER nbarrera@trinity.edu

Some Trinity students spent their summer working on summer projects through academic research or partnerships with local San Antonio organizations. In doing so, many students achieved accomplishments that could inform and guide their future work.

Trinity's Arts, Letters and Enterprise program (ALE) gives students the opportunity to live on campus and partner with different organizations such as Gemini Ink, the Green Spaces Alliance of South Texas and the Esperanza Peace & Justice Center for a paid three-month internship.

Senior Megan Smith's favorite part of her ALE internship with the Green Spaces Alliance (GSA) — a nonprofit focused on environmental sustainability — was her work with the lake conservation program. Smith and colleagues visited properties to make sure landowners complied with their conservation easements, agreements that they had made with GSA pledging not to develop a plot of land.

“I went on two or three of those visits, and I love the outdoors, and I love hiking, and basically we were just hiking and getting paid to do it,”Smith said.

Smith decided that nonprofit work may not be for her. However, she is considering a career in land management. “[Land management] involves the ‘hiking for [a] living’ type thing and you're really the boots on the ground — talking to landowners, observing their properties, making sure that things are being taken care of and networking with people,” Smith said.

Students + Startups (S+S) is one of two summer programs at Trinity that the entrepreneurship department sponsors. S+S, expanding nationwide this fall, gives students the opportunity to partner with San Antonio startups.

Students gather for mid-summer celebration organized by a summer-start up company. photo provided by CARMEN ARAMANDA

Senior Caroline Haggard partnered with Jungle Disk, a local cybersecurity startup. Haggard helped to build a chatbot, a computer program that can converse with potential customers to deliver information.

“My absolute dream job is software development for video games, and so being able to participate in the software development for a chatbot has been a lot of fun," Haggard said. "Being in an environment where there are multiple people working on the same project really helps give the feeling of what it would be like to be on a development team.”

The other entrepreneurship program, Summer Accelerator, allows students to work on their own companies over the summer. Summer Accelerator is a special program for Stumberg Prize finalists, in which these students can spend the summer developing their companies further with assistance from the entrepreneurship department. Luis Martinez, director of Trinity’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, explained the benefits of these programs for students.

“To be working full time for 10 weeks on starting your own company

Diverse class of 2022 continued from PAGE 11

Roman’s mission doesn’t stop where the TLC doors close.

“Ultimately, we want to make sure that you feel like you belong throughout the whole campus, that Trinity is a place for you,” Roman said. “I’m working with a lot of great partners across campus to think about how we can be better and do better.”

Roman will host social justice ally training in the fall and spring for faculty and staff, along with a peer educator program. Applications open this fall for students who want to grow in their

leadership skills around social justice.

Students who sign up for this paid year-long commitment will train for and eventually facilitate workshops for faculty, staff and students on topics such as LGBTQ+ allyship, microaggressions and Diversity and Inclusion 101.

The office will host an inaugural Grill & Chill party on Sept. 14, along with weekly Flashback Fridays. Beginning Aug. 24, Flashback Fridays give students the chance to connect with one another and with office staff while embracing a friendly retro-themed atmosphere.

For more information on diversity, contact aroman@trinity.edu.

or working with a local startup is an incredibly valuable,” Martinez said. “[These programs] give students experience in their major and direct experience that they can then put on their resume or that could actually be utilized to further the rest of their career."

Students also conducted research with faculty members this summer.

Brandon Guzman, a senior and McNair scholar, analyzed Twitter data from Maryland's summer gubernatorial election with Jennifer Henderson, professor and chair of the communication department. Their research focused on the behavior of bots trying to influence the outcome of the election.

Guzman talked at length about how he stayed motivated during his research project.

“I think what kept me going at the end of the day is that all of this has a purpose and all of this matters," Guzman said. "This is going to make a difference regardless if I'm making some groundbreaking discovery or if I'm simply just building the next step so someone can take another step further, you know?”

Junior Simone Washington also worked with Henderson on a Mellon Initiative research project. Washington helped write a chapter for Henderson's upcoming TU Press book, "Maverick Rights: Mayor Maury Maverick and Free Speech in Wartime San Antonio".

Each chapter of the book focuses on a different demographic in 1930–40s San Antonio.

“Last summer Hunter Sosby worked on the communist perspective, Henderson's working on the Jehovah Witnesses, and I'm working kind of on the black perspective," Washington said. "Each of us is trying to determine whether Maury helped or hindered free speech in San Antonio, specifically in regards to these groups.”

These four students and their fellow interns and researchers presented their findings at the 2018 Summer Research Symposium on July 23 and 25. The first day of the symposium spotlighted posters, while the second day included oral presentations about research students' findings.

Students interested in learning more about summer research or internships can contact melloninitiative@trinity.edu, ale@trinity.edu or lmartin6@trinity.edu.

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PULSE

How you can make cash on campus Trinity offers work study and institutional positions for students that need extra money JOLIE FRANCIS | NEWS REPORTER jfranci1@trinity.edu

Trinity students look for jobs on campus during the school year as a way to make money and work in close proximity to their residence hall.

Trinity University offers a variety of jobs on campus, which range in hours per week. Most pay minimum wage, and all student paychecks are distributed every two weeks. The Federal Work-Study (FWS) and Institutional Work-Study (IWS) are the student employment programs that give students the opportunity to earn money by working part-time on the Trinity University campus or for specific off-campus organizations.

“Federal Work-Study is a needbased financial assistance based on [the students’] completion of the Free Application for Student Aid,” said Maria Soto, human resources coordinator and processor of student employment. “Institutional [WorkStudy] are funds paid out of department money.”

FWS is offered to students who qualify for the need based on their Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA).

The students are paid via funds from the U.S. Department of Education.

If a student does not qualify for FWS, then they can work through IWS, which is paid directly by Trinity University.

“All vacant jobs on campus are available and first priority to FWS students so that the departments do not have to use their funds,” Soto said.

Sophomore Suzy Blalock works as a manager at the William H. Bell Center and for the Intramurals as a referee.

While managing her time can be

illustration by JULIA POAGE

difficult, she makes sure to prioritize school first so she stays as stress-free as possible.

“Before I go to work I try to get my homework done so I don’t have to worry about it during work,” Blalock said. “I also don’t pick up extra shifts if I have school work to be done or if I have scheduled plans with friends.”

While balancing a job with school can be difficult, Maya Crose, a junior employed as an assistant in the art and art history department, explained that employers understand.

“Another plus [to working on campus] is that since [your bosses] know you are obviously a student, they have a lot of sympathy if you are really stressed out with school work

or having a bad mental health day,” Crose said. “I’ve been fortunate to have such great bosses that really care about my well-being.”

Staff regularly look for new people to hire, as approximately 900 student employment agreements are processed per year. Job opportunities are posted on Trinity’s website.

“Most departments and offices are flexible with student work schedules,” Soto said. “A few departments have specialized hours, duties and skills.”

According to Soto, having a job while in college teaches work ethic, responsibility, time management and how to handle money that can be applied to the tuition, books, or any other personal needs and pleasures.

“Having an on-campus job allows me to be a part of the Bell Center community, and it allows me to be a student but also be disciplined,” said Kelsi Ballard, senior and facility manager at the Bell Center. “I have friendly relationships with many of the faculty — including coaches and administration in the Bell Center — that I otherwise would not have.

This allows for new opportunities including connections and possible recommendation letters.”

To find out whether you qualify for FWS, contact the Student Financial Aid Office.

All vacant student job opportunities were posted on Aug. 17 on the Trinity website.

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” hits theaters, ABBA back to their rightful place dominating the zeitgeist

“Mamma Mia ! Here We Go Again” hits theaters, ABBA not enough to end the theatrical tyranny of Marvel once and for all

AE &

illustration by KAITLYN CURRY

KYLE to headline Welcome Week Concert SPB announces artist to perform next week with hip-hop artist A-Game CALLIOPE IZQUIERDO A&E REPORTER jizquie1@trinity.edu

Student Programming Board (SPB) has released the name of the headliner for this year’s Welcome Week Concert: KYLE. The artist will perform after hip-hop artist A-Game on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m.

According to the announcement email sent on Aug. 10, KYLE is a singer, songwriter and rapper from Ventura, California best known for collaborations with artists like Lil Yachty, G-Eazy and Chance the Rapper. The e-mail was sent by Amulya Deva, president of the Student Government Association. The announcement also included information about opportunities to win backstage passes to the show through flyers hidden around campus.

Dylan Welling, concerts chair of SPB, explained how the organization takes into account students’ opinions as well as SPB’s budget when searching for an artist every year.

“I kind of listened to people, and I even sent out a survey to the campus asking people for their criticisms and their constructive feedback and what they want to see in the Welcome Week Concert,” Welling said. “I tried to be as honest with those forms as I could, and I told them in the form: for recommendations on artists, be realistic. We have a budget, so — with the information that the campus provided us — I had to make an educated decision on what I thought was the best fit and what was doable with our current budget.”

Along with Welling, assistant concerts chair and sophomore Carmen Johnson and SPB adviser Shannon Edmond also take part in the process.

“I mean, planning this kind of thing is one of the biggest events that Trinity holds, and so it’s collaborating to get all the arrangements,” Welling said. “It’s really part of all three of us to collaborate together, so while some might do more than others, we all rely on each other.”

Last year, students reacted negatively to the Welcome Week Concert. Examining

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the results of last year’s concert, featuring Cashmere Cat, lead to some significant discussion for SPB. “We had a few changes of leadership between now and then. So like last year, when Cashmere Cat was the Welcome Week artist, that was really Shannon’s first year on the job, so she was kind of thrown into it,” Welling said. “And the person who had my job last year kind of disappeared during the summer and just left all the work to two people.”

The concert chairs’ advisor noted the difficulties of organizing last years concert while also stating how it helped them to grow.

“From last year to this year, I had a better sense of how the concert is and a better sense of what needs to be done prior to be sure the concert is done successfully,” Edmond said. “I know how to effectively advise the two concert chairs that we have to ensure that they’re given enough responsibility where they each have a sense of ownership over the concert as well.”

Welling emphasized the importance of the work done over the summer and explained that the absence of a complete team last year was one of the reasons that last year’s concert was not received well by the student body.

“Besides making a decision on who we should ask to perform, about 90 percent or maybe 85 percent of the work is done over the summer, so without [the job of concerts chair] being filled, the concert’s really not up to par with what we usually have,” Welling said. “So last year was kind of a fluke, and we did get a lot of bad rap for that, but it’s being taken care of this year.”

When asked about last year’s team as compared to this year, Edmond likewise stated that being intentional with their meetings and being accountable for responsibilities resulted in a clearer team cohesion overall.

“Last year it was really only one or two main meetings, but this year, this summer we’d set an expectation that communication would happen over the summer, so we had biweekly meetings, and we assigned tasks to people throughout.

So throughout the two weeks that we didn’t meet, we were responsible for doing our allotted tasks,” Edmond said. “So I think this year was a lot smoother as for the planning process because we were all in communication, and I had a better idea of what to delegate.”

The Welcome Week Concert will take place on Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. on Prassel Lawn.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

A GUIDE TO THE SA MUSIC SCENE

Support safe spaces in the local scene DOMINIC ANTHONY DIGITAL CONTENT CREATOR dwalsh@trinity.edu

Every year, Trinity pushes for students to break out of the “Trinity Bubble.” One avenue out of the bubble is participation in San Antonio’s music scene, and you’re likely to see and hear about more musical happenings in and around the city this year as student participation in the scene increases. This is great! As a musician/artist manager/radio person in the local indie scene, it’s really gratifying to see fellow students exhibiting a growing interest in the community I’ve spent most of the past three years of my life living and working in.

Definitely go to shows! Whether it’s a huge artist with an international following playing at the Paper Tiger or a local project releasing an EP at a house show, a higher level of participation from college kids will absolutely help the local scene continue to thrive and grow which ultimately makes San Antonio a better place to live.

But when you consider which show/venue/ artist to support, give preference to those that endeavor to create safe spaces. San Antonio’s scene is in a critical stage of growth — really great artists from out of town are starting to consider San Antonio a major city to hit on tours. Local projects are interacting with these out of town artists, opening up incredible doors and making solid connections. Several local projects are gaining a lot of regional and national attention, but all of that is wasted if the local community that helped these projects grow doesn’t feel comfortable and safe at shows.

A vital step towards creating a safe space for everyone — particularly women, the LGBTQ+ community and people of color — is to support projects with members who are female, LGBTQ+ or artists of color. Higher representation of these groups among artists is key to enforcing the foundation that safe spaces rest upon: everyone deserves to participate in the music scene.

Good identifiers of safe spaces vary from case to case, and sometimes you might have to trust your gut or word of mouth, though some concrete identifiers exist. For house shows, look for event descriptions on flyers with a phone number to contact if you feel uncomfortable; the presence of bands that refuse to play with known or alleged abusers on a lineup; the presence of artists who are female, LGBTQ+ or persons of color on the bill and a statement on the event page or flyer that clearly states something like, “safe space — abusers not welcome.”

I hate to highlight the negative, so I’ll shine a light on the positive by mentioning a few artists and organizations that make an effort to create safe places for the community. The artists on my management roster are the people I trust the most when it comes to this stuff — Booty Feet, Elnuh, Slomobile, Samantha Flowers and Vonna. Artists and individuals affiliated with Bassethound Collective are also attentive to crafting inclusive, safe spaces, as are the members of the instrumental trio, Verisimilitude. There are others, but I’ve had personal conversations with and seen concrete action from the aforementioned artists and organizations directly addressing the need and ways to attain more safe spaces in San Antonio.

Support San Antonio’s music scene by supporting safe spaces!

illustration by JULIA POAGE

Leave the bubble, find the hottest spots RAFAELA BRENNER A&E REPORTER rbrenner@trinity.edu

It’s that time again: Trinity University will host its annual Welcome Week Concert this Aug. 25. But why stop there, live music lovers? There’s a broad range of options in San Antonio for those who desire to explore what kind of music this city has to offer. With my own experience and the help of Kory Cook, the KRTU music director, Albert Salinas, operations manager for KRTU, and Ray Tamez, professor of music, here’s a place to start if you want to experience the local music scene!

DIVERSE CULTURE, DIVERSE GENRES Throughout its lifespan, the San Antonio music scene has embraced a diverse range of influences. “San Antonio is very welcoming to anybody trying to do what they want to do.

Being in a band myself, I’ve never felt like I have to play certain types of music to appeal to people,” Salinas said.

Over the years, the influence of Hispanic music has been especially prevalent; there’s a lot

graphic by ALEXANDRA PARRIS

to be found right now in the ways of Conjunto and Mariachi music, as well as Latin-infused jazz and rock. And metalheads, it’s your lucky day: San Antonio has historically been called the “Heavy Metal Capital of the World,” and there’s still a loyal base of fans within the city to spot at venues such as Limelight and Faust.

ST. MARY’S STRIP North St. Mary’s Street could be considered one of the best places in town to find live music, as it’s home to multiple venues; its proximity to Trinity’s campus doesn’t hurt, either! Paper Tiger is a San Antonio staple, and perhaps one of the most accessible of these venues for students. It regularly features all-ages shows by both local and touring acts, focusing on alternative and indie rock bands.

TOP-NOTCH THEATER VENUES San Antonio is fortunate to have entertainment venues such as the Aztec Theater and Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, which host touring musicians throughout the year in addition to other arts events. These are good places for audiences to have a seat and really focus on a show. However, you don’t have to suppress that urge to move your feet: The Aztec Theater has room for you to get up and dance!

DIGGING FOR GEMS There’s a lot to be found away from the venues and bars that line St. Mary’s Strip or the grand theaters of the Downtown area. If the concept of a New York-style jazz club in Texas draws you in, then Jazz, TX at the Pearl Brewery is the place to go. For those looking for dinner and a show, there’s a variety of restaurant-style venues in the city such as The Cove, Carmen’s de la Calle and Sam’s Burger Joint, which regularly hosts Swing Dance nights.

FACE THE MUSIC! For students who want to learn more, KRTU is a resource here on campus focused on music education and providing support for local artists. Whether you want to support local musicians or start a band yourself, making your way off campus to explore what the city has to offer is a significant step on the right track.

“Try to go out and check out as many bands, as much live music as you can. Not just one genre but different genres,” Tamez said. “It opens you up to possibilities to hear different things that you maybe haven’t heard before and you think, ‘Wow … I want to find out more, maybe I want to learn to play that kind of style.’ ”

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Summer researchers use theatre to combat HIV stigma Students and faculty join San Antonio community members to raise awareness RAFAELA BRENNER A&E REPORTER rbrenner@trinity.edu

This summer, Trinity University students and faculty worked with members of the San Antonio community to create a theatre production entitled “End Stigma, End HIV/AIDS: A Forum Theatre Project.” Across multiple performances, the show aimed to combat intense stigma faced by those living with HIV, which often acts as an obstacle to treatment.

As a part of the Mellon Initiative Research Fellowship summer program at Trinity, those involved in the production constructed scenes based on 33 interviews with members of the community living with HIV. These interviews, assembled by Robert Huesca, professor of communication, gave insight into the stigma experienced by those living with HIV. “This was an intervention designed to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV testing, AIDS and AIDS treatment,” Huesca said. “Stigma is the most important social factor that prevents people from getting tested and treated for HIV. If everyone infected with the virus could be identified, HIV could be eliminated.”

The scenes performed by the actors were written to portray what the researchers had observed to be the most common situations in which those living with HIV encounter stigma: Situations among family members and situations while seeking treatment.

After viewing scenes in which the performers depicted oppressive events in those common situations, it was up to members of the audience to intervene in the oppression. This type of audience participation was based upon Brazilian theater practitioner Augusto Boal’s concept of Forum Theatre.

“No matter what the topic is, people don’t want other people to be oppressed.

Seeing that in a controlled environment where they can speak up like it’s okay,” said Syne Barr, a senior who participated as a cast member. “I think will then translate into real life.”

In observing the effect of the show on the audience, those involved confirmed that the performances fostered empathy and awareness of the experiences of those living with HIV. “Audiences were intensely responsive.

People regularly came up to me and other cast members to tell us how powerful they found the play,” Huesca said.

The show was performed for a variety of patrons this summer, including performances that took place primarily for an audience of service providers working within the field of HIV/AIDS treatment and shows for general audiences. One performance was also done for Fiesta Youth, an LGBTQ+ youth group in San Antonio.

“That was our last performance, and they were amazing. It doesn’t matter, your knowledge on the subject. It was just people speaking up,” Barr said. “The kids were interesting because they did it in different ways than the adults did. They incorporated more humor, and they were even more supportive.”

The researchers attested to the success of the project in educating members of the community on HIV/AIDs and opening up a path to understanding situations of oppression.

“We had audiences who didn’t know anything about HIV or AIDS, and those were some of the best ones particularly because you got to actually see them learn and ask questions,” said Julia Palmer, a senior who participated as a cast member.

If you didn’t get a chance to see the production this summer, Palmer still has some advice for you on how to begin to move past the stigma.

“Get tested! It’s very easy; you can do it for free. Ask for the whole sweep because a lot of the times they will just test for a couple of things,” Palmer said. “One of the biggest takeaways about HIV is that it’s not a death sentence, and you can live a long, healthy life.”

For further information on HIV/AIDS, the San Antonio AIDS Foundation is an extensive resource that provides education and free testing to the San Antonio community. They can be found at sanantonioaids.org.

ABOVE : JULIA PALMER, far right, performs as a person with HIV facing stigma from her family. photo provided by ROBERTO PRESTIGIACOMO BELOW: Cast looks on as a scene showing a patient with HIV experiencing stigma at the hands of medical personnel is rehearsed. photo provided by JULIA PALMER

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Good sequels keep theaters fresh

Franchises may save summer from sizzling out, if ratings are to be trusted CALLIOPE IZQUIERDO A&E REPORTER jizquie1@trinity.edu

Even if summer’s not quite over, I’m of the belief that there’s a significance to summer movies and their general role. In these hot months, the movie theater becomes a haven of sorts not just from the sun and the aridity, but also from the summer blues that result either from a busy work schedule or nigh paralytic unproductivity.

Summer movies can provide a special kind of spiritual respite from both, depending on how okay or how awful the actual films are.

Despite the efforts of “The Big Sick” and “Baby Driver” (the two best-rated movies in this category), the summer 2017 catalog of movies was generally panned.

Perhaps this is due to the amount of poorly received children’s animation there was, such as “The Emoji Movie,” “Despicable Me 3,” “Cars 3,” “The Nut Job 2: Nutty

by Nature,” as well as the more anticipated movies beyond the summer of 2017.

According to Rotten Tomatoes’ scorecard for summer movies in 2017, 32 out of 59 listed films received a “passing” freshness score. In other words, a little over half of

that catalog was worth the sweaty drive to the local theater, if we were to subscribe to this freshness paradigm.

So how have people received the summer movies of 2018 that have been released? From my personal experience, I along with people around me have been satisfied with this summer’s catalog. Movies like “Sorry to Bother You,” “Eighth Grade,” “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” “Incredibles 2,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” and several other highly anticipated action and comedy films already cement this summer as probably pretty dang good.

This is just my experience though — what does Rotten Tomatoes’ summer movies 2018 scorecard say about this catalog? At the time of my writing this, 56 movies have received freshness ratings from critics and fans all across the United States, and 35 out of the 56 passed.

So, now we have confirmation that this summer has been a better time for movies by a seemingly insignificant margin — a margin that, upon further thought, doesn’t actually indicate anything until I consider how movie ratings work as a whole.

Aside from the fact that the quality discrepancy between two “fresh” movies of scores 60 and 100 could be significant, Rotten Tomatoes’s statistics suggest that, in terms of the overall impressions of movies, this summer season has done a little better than the previous summers, especially since 2016’s summer scorecard rates 35 fresh movies out of 63, a ratio that likewise just hovers over half. But why does 2018’s slight deviation feel like it indicates a much more significant year for movies?

illustration by KAITLYN CURRY

One reason could be the value of franchise movies and how well summer 2018 did theirs as opposed to 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy, vol. 2” and the three panned children’s movies listed earlier. Think of how much hype early promos for “Incredibles 2” garnered before its release this summer, and then consider “The Nut Job,” which I vaguely understand to be like “Over the Hedge” but bad. Or think of “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” and how thrilled fans were to sing along to ABBA once more. Or even back in the children animated movies camp, “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” did fairly well, despite not many people expecting anything from it.

This is not to say new and original works like “Disobedience” or “Leave No Trace” — the top-rated movie this summer — haven’t done well, but maybe the reason there were so many exciting franchise movies is because the familiarity of them is so appealing to moviegoers. And this familiarity complements the aforementioned things that make summer movies special.

At the end of the day, I can’t be too sure on my own. And I think that’s the correct answer, at least for now. This is a question best answered through open discussion between peers, and I hope the summer’s given us enough time to mull it over before the fall season begins.

Meet the Press

What was your favorite movie of Summer 2018?

“ ‘Incredibles 2.’ Pixar once again shows that they can make movies for the young and the old.”

“ ‘Deadpool 2’ — was different from the original ‘Deadpool’ but felt like seeing an old friend.”

“ ‘Eighth grade.’ Don’t underestimate the power of empathy — or some McDonald’s sauce for that matter.”

“Gimme!

Gimme!

Gimme! a ‘Mamma Mia’ sequel after midnight.”

AUSTIN DAVIDSON SPORTS EDITOR

ALEXANDRA PARRIS GRAPHIC DESIGNER

GEORGIE RIGGS A&E EDITOR

JULIA WEIS SWEDE-IN-CHIEF

Have a burning question for the editors? Tweet it to us @Trinitonian

THANK YOU

to Kevin, Eric, Larry and the entire ITS staff for helping us get computers online to make this week's Trinitonian. We greatly appreciate your hard work in such a busy season!

Sincerely, All Trinitonian Staff

Sports

LET THE GAMES BEGIN:

• Volleyball vs. Cabrini University, Friday, Aug. 31, 3 p.m.

• Women’s Soccer vs. Pacific Lutheran University, Friday, Aug. 31, 4 p.m.

• Men’s Soccer vs. Rutgers-Newark University, Friday, Aug. 31, 8 p.m.

Trinity prepares for dominance this fall Fall sports teams gear up for the new season EVAN BROWN | SPORTS REPORTER ebrown@trinity.edu The tigers of Asia are famous for their ability to stalk prey over large distances before unleashing a powerful attack.

The prey has little chance of fooling the tiger, but even when it does, the tiger will learn from its defeat.

A lesser known subspecies, the Trinity Tiger, will always seek revenge on those who have briefly outsmarted it.

The Trinity Tiger, which lurks right outside the limits of the Monte Vista Historic District, will hold grudges against its prey for up to a year before it strikes again.

Trinity University’s football, volleyball, men’s soccer and women’s soccer teams all suffered heartbreaking losses that cut their seasons short.

These unexpected losses challenged the players’ mental strength and forced them to bounce back even stronger this season.

Women’s Soccer Fall Update

Despite winning the SCAC conference title and the past 19 straight games, the Tigers lost to Hardin-Simmons University last year in the second round of the NCAA tournament when Hardin-Simmons scored two goals in the final eight minutes.

“We should not have lost that game.

[Hardin-Simmons] also knocked us out of the tournament my freshman year. I will always look forward to playing them. We don’t lose very often, so when we do, we remember the teams we lose to,” said Chelsea Cole, senior co-captain and the reigning SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year.

Cole and the rest of the team feel that putting the loss into the back of their minds and focusing on beginning of the season will be instrumental to a successful season.

“I’m excited for the first few games of the season. They should all be against good teams who were ranked pretty high last year.

It will be fun as a test from the beginning to see who steps up and plays what roles.

We definitely are able to fill those [vacant]

Sophmore slot reciever PEYTON TUGGLE, center, sprints past teammates. photo by MATTHEW CLAYBROOK

Football Fall Update On the gridiron, the Tigers missed the playoffs last year but finished with a solid winning record of 6–4. They came close to having a record of 9–1 but fell short when they lost three games by a combined 12 points.

“It kind of seems, on paper, like we had a mediocre season, but we were really close to winning our division. We had our last game against Berry [College], who won the conference last year. They were undefeated last year when we played them, and we only lost to them by three in a really close game,” said Vail Miesfeld, Trinity’s senior starting field cornerback — a position that defends the wide receiver closest to the wider side of the field.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Tigers graduated only four starters and kept its entire secondary (the cornerbacks and safeties) intact.

However, the offense lost starting quarterback Austin Grauer to graduation.

The offense graduated 48 percent of its production, meaning that they will need to turn to underclassmen and incoming first-years to fill the void.

“Obviously we lost some key players, but I’m not too worried about that,” Miesfeld said. “I think that even last year we had good young guys backing them up. I’m really excited to see what the offense can do. No discredit to Grauer and McDowell, but the young guys coming up are pretty exciting players, too.”

The football team starts the season with a Thursday night nonconference game at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, on Aug. 30, which is untraditional considering generally first games are played on Saturdays.

Thursday night games give the teams less time to prepare for competition but allows for an advantage in the next week.

“The biggest factor in football is rest. So, if we have an earlier game, we can get more rest for the next game,” Miesfeld said. “It does feel weird [playing on Thursday], but at the end of the day when you start warming up for the games and get into that mindset, there is not much of a difference. You just go out and play like you have always played your whole life.”

AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

spots with the team we have, so getting good competition right off the bat to challenge us and get the season off to a quick start will be nice,” Cole said.

Senior defender Madee Gallagher, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in March and is expected to return late September, believes that team will also need to focus on implementing a few newer formations.

“The biggest thing that we will need to focus on in the beginning of the season is learning how to transition back and forth from attacking and defending while still keeping our shape. We also are looking to be more efficient on set pieces — for example, scoring off corner kicks. This will benefit us greatly, especially during conference when we tend to have a greater number of corner kick opportunities each game,” Gallagher said.

The women’s soccer team begins the year with a 4:00 p.m. home game against Pacific Lutheran University on Aug. 31.

More information about other sports teams can be found at trinitytigers.com.

Sophomore defender LINDSAY PENG prepares to clear the ball to her teammates. FILE PHOTO

Junior MAGGI LINKER, center, timing her jump, leaps, and lines up the perfect spike to win. FILE PHOTO

Volleyball Fall Update

The Tigers lost in the final round of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) tournament to Colorado College by a score of three sets to two.

They were then selected for the NCAA tournament with an at-large bid but lost in the first round to Pacific Lutheran University three sets to one.

Senior libero Sarah Mullens felt that the team lost due to an improper mental mindset.

“Although we tried not to, we found ourselves looking past the first round and towards who we would have to play in the second [round]. When the opponent in the first round ended up being a really good team, we didn’t have time to recover and get in the right mindset,” Mullens said.

The volleyball team only graduated two seniors last year because outside hitter Madeline McKay decided to stay for a fifth year. Since McKay joined the team as a sophomore, she had an extra year of eligibility.

In her four years of playing for Trinity, McKay is a two-time first team All-SCAC member and gives the team valuable experience and skill.

“Madeline’s experience motivates the rest of us to perform at the highest possible level.

Knowing that someone was so devoted to our team and believed in us so much that they were willing to stay a fifth year because of us inspires us to work harder,” Mullens said.

Many players have put in countless hours of training during the offseason to better the team’s chances, namely senior Jade Schoenberger.

“Jade has been working super hard this summer. She is in San Antonio for an internship, so she is getting to work with [the trainer] every day,” McKay said. “We have already seen improvements in her physical strength, which could help the team with our net play. If she is working this hard, she is going to be a great person have up front helping us defend.”

The volleyball team begins their season on Friday, Aug. 31, with a home match against Cabrini University at 3 p.m. as part of the Trinity National Invitational. continued on PAGE 22

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Men's Soccer Fall Update

continued from PAGE 21 The soccer team won the SCAC conference title easily and looked to carry their momentum deep into the NCAA tournament until they met University of Mary-Hardin Baylor.

Trinity was 21–1 going into the game and had already beaten Mary-Hardin Baylor once during the regular season.

Despite 12 shots on goal and six second-half corner kicks, Trinity was unable to match MaryHardin Baylor’s first half and lost the game 2–3.

Junior goalkeeper Blake Lieberman won’t let one game define his legacy.

“Last season definitely ended in heartbreak. Going into the next season, we are obviously looking to go further in the national tournament and ultimately put another star on our jersey. Defeats like that are used as motivation for me,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman and his teammates decided to turn up their offseason practice intensity in a response to the heartbreaking upset.

“Throughout the offseason, I stayed in San

Antonio to train with SAFC (San Antonio Football Club) in the mornings. Then, in the evenings, the other Trinity players who were in town would all get together and do conditioning in addition to ball work,” Lieberman said.

To replicate the successful regular season that the Tigers had last season, they will need to replace their entire graduated back line of Daylon Gordon, Guy Harris, Kellen Reid and Brent Mendelkorn.

Thankfully, the guys leaving will be replaced by solid defensive options like Carter Moon, Liam Looney and Vetle Maesvaer Halle. They also have a fresh batch of new recruits bolster their defense.

“Those guys meant a lot to our team. Guy [Harris] and Kellen [Reid] were both senior captains, and Daylon [Gordon] was a fifthyear [senior]. They brought loads of experience to the squad. I believe our incoming class in addition to the returning players are more than capable of filling these roles,” Lieberman said.

Men’s soccer kick off their season with a home game against Rutgers-Newark University at 8 p.m. on Aug. 31.

SPORTS

Senior forward AUSTIN MICHEALIS takes the ball up the field, his teammates busting a lung to catch up and the opposing team simply watching as he flies towards their goal. file photo

Stressing out over college? Take a hike

Trinity’s nature lovers teach students to relax out of school

EVAN BROWN | SPORTS REPORTER ebrown@trinity.edu College is stressful. In fact, the word “college” is derived from Latin with “col” meaning to acquire and “lege” meaning stress. (Don’t check that; trust me). Heck, you are probably reading this article to de-stress despite the fact that you should probably be reading your textbook to get ahead. Ideally speaking, of course.

If you bottle up your stress, a nasty reaction could occur, like a panic attack or obsessively watching Netflix with no end in sight. Immersing oneself in nature can magically relieve stress. There is something nature offers that trumps squeezing the bejesus out of a stress ball.

Thankfully, Trinity offers Outdoor Recreation or OREC to help you de-stress.

The mission of OREC is to help students meet new people, relax and experience the glorious landscapes that Texas has to offer.

For the fall semester, OREC has 11 planned trips, most notably trips to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Pace

Bend Park and Big Bend National Park.

Unfortunately, all of these trips have a limit on the number of people who can attend.

OREC will start the year off with a tubing trip to welcome students back to campus. Up to 60 students can go tubing on Saturday, Sept. 8. When it comes to the number of participants, the tubing trip is an outlier.

Usually, only eight to nine students are able to go on the trips.

“We use Trinity vans as transportation to all our vacations and trips. The Trinity vans only hold 11 people. We like to take two to three trip leaders on our trip to effectively run the trip so that only leaves about eight to nine spaces available on the van,” said Kristen Harrison, associate athletic director for recreation and OREC adviser.

Since more students usually wish to go on a trip than there are spots available for the trip, OREC uses a lottery system to give all students a fair chance in winning a spot.

“It used to be done on a first-come, first-served basis where whoever had the fastest mouse and could enter in all their information could go, but they changed it to a lottery system to try to get more students involved, so it is not the same students each time. They have [both] entered the names on a randomizer website [and] literally wrote

OREC members MADDY WALSHAK, JACK BRALEY and IAN WITECKI build a cairn in west Texas, a marker for future hikers to follow if they get lost on the trail. photo provided by MADDY WALSHAK

OREC drifts down the Rio Grande in Big Bend National Park, the Texas sun reflecting off the lazy river. The Rio Grande cuts the border of Texas and Mexico and flows from Colorado. photo provided by MADDY WALSHAK

the names down and drawn them out of a hat,” Harrison said.

Many students are left waiting until the next week to try to get a spot on a trip. Repeated stories of people trying all semester to get a spot on a trip but missing out each time has led to the members of OREC asking whether they should offer the trips to more people.

“Do we want to offer bigger trips with more possibilities for more participants to go, or do we want to offer smaller trips with a little bit less participants with a more individualized experience?” Harrison asked.

Ideally, OREC could use as many Trinity vans as they wanted for each trip to accommodate everyone’s wishes. There are, however, only six vans available on campus for all of Trinity to use.

“Unfortunately, the vans fill up so fast. We have one trip planned where they have no vans available. There are only six vans on campus and once they are gone, they are gone. It is kind of a first-come, first-served basis. So if we are able to get multiple vans, we do, but usually they aren’t available,” Harrison said.

Of course, hiking doesn’t have to be done under the supervision of OREC (although they wouldn’t mind.) You can do your own hiking in the San Antonio area.

“If you want to stay within San Antonio limits, there are a few parks that offer a couple trails, such as Friedrich Wilderness Park and McAllister Park. Closest to Trinity, though, is Brackenridge, the Botanical Gardens and the Japanese Tea Gardens, all of which are a short distance from campus,” said sophomore and OREC trip leader Jack Braley.

To maximize your time with nature, participate in OREC’s weekly trip drawing. If you don’t get picked, do some local exploring.

“If you want to come adventure with us, make sure you are on our mailing list. Shoot us an email at orec@trinity.edu, and we can make sure you receive information about how to join,” said sophomore and trip leader Ryanna Chouman.

Nature is the perfect stress reliever, but it can be difficult to find not only the trail to explore but also the group to go with you.

Thankfully, OREC solves both of these dilemmas and provides Trinity’s student body exactly what they need, a way to assuage their worries and find an alternative to rewatching “Westworld,” though it’s apparently better the second time.

Make sure to reach out and get to know Trinity’s nature gurus throug the year. They’ll be happy to guide through what hidden natural gems Texas has to offer.

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ADVERTISMENT • AUGUST 17, 2018 • WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM

TIGER BYTES GetCONNECTED By now you should have a TUNetwork username + password. You will use to log into most Trinity accounts (but notably not your Tmail inbox).

Use these credentials to connect to the TUSecure wifi network. If you encounter problems while connecting, please visit... https://bit.ly/2LYP9r0

GetHELP We’re here to help as you set up your computer and discover the many ITS services available for students!

OtherHIGHLIGHTS

1

Service Catalog We created an easily searchable website for details on all of the technology services available at Trinity. https://technology.trinity.edu

2

Learn New Skills Trinity offers all students access to learning opportunities from Lynda. com and Safari Books Online. Find them in the Service Catalog (above)!

3

More TV Options Trinity students can sign up for Philo IPTV at trinity.philo.com to gain free access to HBO Go and to watch and record TV using mobile devices.

4

Free Software Did you know you can get free software, including BitDefender Antivirus and MS Office? Check the ITS Service Catalog (above) for details.

https://bit.ly/2M30beU  Student Computer Service Center

Witt-Winn 042 | 2-7pm M-F

 Technology HelpDesk

helpdesk@trinity.edu | 999-7409

Student wifi sessions will run from August 17 - 20 from 12-5pm in the SCSC.

NSO SCHEDULE  FRI August 17

Regular hours resume on August 2 2PM - 8PM | Witt-Winn 042

 SAT August 18

8AM - 5PM | Witt-Winn 042

GetSECURED Did you know Trinity provides great antivirus software for FREE? It’s called BitDefender and we strongly suggest you download and install it on your computer as soon as you’re connected to TUSecure wifi. https://bit.ly/2Kwk3Bv

 SUN August 19

12PM - 4PM | Witt-Winn 042



TrinityITS



TrinityU_ITS

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WWW.TRINITONIAN.COM • AUGUST 17, 2018 •

SPORTS

Opinion: Support for all students’ passions is needed Take some time out of your life to support your fellow Tigers in their endeavors AUSTIN DAVIDSON | SPORTS EDITOR adavids1@trinity.edu Hello, everyone. My name is Austin Davidson, and I’ll be the sports editor for the Trinitonian this year. Being a member of the Trinitonian is both a massive honor and an even larger commitment.

I spent countless hours of each week reading, writing, editing and crafting the pages that go out each week, and I wasn’t alone.

A committed, passionate and smart team of fellow students was with me the whole way. They put their time and energy — priceless commodities for college students — towards creating the best paper for the greater Trinity community.

We are not alone in this sacrifice of time and energy to something larger than the individual.

Everyone at Trinity makes these kinds of sacrifices; after finishing that biology lab report or English paper, they give up what little time they have left to Trinity’s countless students organizations or sports teams.

Appreciating and supporting all of the people in these different endeavors is a duty that all Trinity students share.

From the starting quarterback on the football team to the secretary of Trinity Progressives, we should all support each others’ interests and passions. It creates a

community of acceptance, care and growth — something we all strive to create.

The best way to create a place where all Trinity students can feel at home and supported is going to that volleyball game on your Tuesday off, or going to the theatre production on Sunday afternoon.

You don’t have to go to everything, but if everyone made an effort to go to just one more event this year they would make a world of difference.

It meant the world to me when I saw my friend from down the hall at my theatere show, and I know my suitemate appreciated it when the rest of the suite supported him at his soccer games.

College is a wonderful yet chaotic place. It bombards you with opportunity and choices, and it can feel overwhelming and lonely.

Organizations and clubs offer a community and outlet to escape the flurry of deadlines and commitments we all are subject to.

Seeing that person from your art history class or the tennis player from down the hall at your club’s event gives that sense of belonging we all need at this time in our lives.

I am aware that we all lead exceedingly busy lives and asking everyone to go to the women’s soccer game every Friday is like asking LeBron James to stop being the greatest basketball player ever. It just won’t happen.

So instead, I ask this of the greater Trinity community: Whatever amount of events you went to last year, go to one more.

Whether it be another volleyball game or another basketball game, just go to one

Junior sports enthusiast AUSTIN DAVIDSON leans austin-tatiously. photo by HENRY PRATT

more. Maybe it’ll become a regular thing for you; maybe it won’t. That is beside the point.

You going to that game may push your friend to do the same thing, and then perhaps we can get people to start going to swim meets.

When young, passionate people work together and put their minds to something, anything is possible.

I can’t wait to be the sports editor; I hope to shed light on the incredible men and women

who represent Trinity and push their bodies to the limit every day.

I hope that after you read about basketball you’ll maybe go to one of their games. They are exciting and full of action. If you go, you might get to watch a fellow student from your philosophy class cross up some noob from Southwestern University and shoot the game-winning shot.

And if that happens, I get full credit.