USF
College Monthly A print production of USF student media.
October 2016 Volume 4 Issue 2 | usfcollegeweek.com
contents 4 5 10 14 2 | COLLEGE MONTHLY
In the Political Arena:
The General Election and the Electoral What?
Voters in Sterling Heights, Michigan (2012); Image from NBC
Story By Whitney Fryer
Voters will select the 45th president of the United States on November 8th. However, if the election process has you confused, here is how it all works: Back in February and continuing until June, states held primaries or caucuses and voters selected the candidate they wanted to represent their political party in the general election. Each candidate was then awarded delegates based on the number of votes they received.
Washington D.C. is given a number of electors equal to the number held by the smallest state. Maine and Nebraska use a congressional district method, but in the other 48 when a candidate receives the majority of votes, he or she receives all of the state’s electoral votes. (go to: usa.gov/election for more information). In December, the Electors cast their votes and on January 20 the new president is inaugurated.
Now all you need to do is vote! At vote.org you can check your voter registration or learn how to register. The last day to register to vote in South Dakota is Monday, October 24. However, if you are not a SD resident, you will have to vote via an absenteeballot. After registering to vote, go to vote.org/absentee-ballot/ to request your absentee ballot. Once you receive your ballot, simply ďŹ ll it out and mail it back.
Then the parties held National Conventions to select their nominee (usually the candidate receiving the most votes prior). During the convention, the nominee also announced their running mate (usa.gov/elections). Currently candidates Hillary Clinton (Democrat), Jill Stein (Green), Gary Johnson (Libertarian), and Donald Trump (Republican) are campaigning and participating in debates in order to draw in voters. After the votes from the general election, there is the popular vote. However, this does not necessarily determine the winner. In presidential elections, the U.S. uses an Electoral College; comprised of 538 electors selected by each political party. A candidate needs votes from more than half (270) to win. The number of electors for each state is equal to the number of its U.S. Senators and Representatives combined.
Image from worldatlas.com OCTOBER 2016 | 3
The Perfect Pumpkin Pie Photo Courtesy of Christin VanderPol
Ingredients: 1 (15 oz.) can of pumpkin 1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 (9 in.) unbaked pie crust
Directions: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean.
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What’s Your Dog’s
Name
An Evening with Bob Goff Story by Jessica Justin
?
The auditorium is filled with smiles as Bob Goff, attorney and author of Love Does, hits his punchline. Laughter erupts from the crowd young and old, not knowing if they are laughing at Goff’s story or his contagious guffaw. Goff has mastered the art of storytelling in a way that captivates every person that is in the room, with the simple message of loving people unconditionally laced carefully in each story. Goff is a storyteller, attorney, humanitarian, and so much more. Hailing from California, Goff has had the vision of loving people unconditionally at the focus of his mentality. “I don’t think I love people unconditionally yet. I’m trying to get there, but I don’t think I’m there yet. But I’m aiming for that,” says Goff. After reading his book Love Does, one is able to see how his experiences directly show the impact love can have on people. Along with being an attorney by trade, Goff is also a professor at Pepperdine Law School and Point Loma Nazarene University, both located in California. In 2002, Goff founded a non-profit organization called Love Does, formerly known as Restore International. According to Bob Goff’s website, Love Does fights for freedom and human rights, works to improve educational opportunities, and aims to help those who are in need of a voice and a friend. The organization of Love Does is involved in several countries including Uganda, India, Somalia, Iraq, and Nepal. Sponsoring a student, traveling across the world, volunteering, and donating money are ways that people are able to help support the efforts of this organization.
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Goff’s book, Love Does, is a curious series of stories that occur in no particular order, however all have some sort of moral. They are not intentionally written to have morals, but because of intentional love, they have come to look like morals. Cassidy Wright, a senior at USF, says, “It seems like he’s such an ordinary man and he’s just telling stories, just simple stories, but they’re just so crazy and out there.” With these simple, enchanting stories, Goff motivates his listeners to do something instead of just staying in a comfort zone.
it. For Wright, one story from Goff’s book changed her perspective on love. “It talked about how love is engaging and just weeks before I read that, I had seen an article on Facebook about how you should be engaged,” Wright says.
Wright continues, “Everyone here, you know ring by Spring, is like you should be engaged you know, and it just makes me look at it from a different way about like being engaged in everything and everyone. How it’s not important to focus yourself on finding that person, but just being in love with everyone and everything, and that it’s okay to have “The book he wrote is called Love Does and it’s just a great enemies, but to love them, because we all have them and that’s okay.” reminder that love is far beyond a feeling or just words, but it’s a verb. It’s action-oriented, and so the book that he wrote is full of stories, one after the other, of his turning love On Monday the 12th in the Jeschke Fine Arts Center, into action and kind of inspiring us to do the same,” Corey Goff began telling stories until he came to one he would reference for the remainder of the night. One of his Ross, Dean of Students says. friends had lost his son and was blaming God for it. A Stories from the past and present ink each page of his book. woman proceeded to walk up to Goff’s friend and say “I From his adventures as a high schooler trying to make it on know exactly how you feel, my dog died too.” These his own, to tales of tumbling wedding cakes at his wedding, moments—when people say things that are a little off— are when you can grade yourself on your compassion Goff makes the most out of his stories. and ability to connect with people. When you can ask, “What’s your dog’s name?,” you will know you are getting Readers interpret stories differently based upon their past somewhere. and present experiences. From one story there could be hundreds of ways that it affected the people who read
6 | COLLEGE MONTHLY
While Goff was on the University of Sioux Falls campus, he helped launch USF360. Ross has been working hard on developing USF360 as a means of helping students achieve their full potential. “Having Bob Goff here to kick it off, says that this love thing is about more than just the feeling; it’s a way to be. It’s who you are, and we think it’s a great way to introduce USF 360 to our students and about love all at the same time,” Ross says. USF360 is a program that is new to campus, and it has been designed to incorporate ideas that already exist into words. “We know that USF’s education is unique. Its care and commitment to the students is really important, and so these are things that we’ve always done, but they’re so important we didn’t want to leave them to chance. We really wanted to articulate what they are,” Ross says. Love, Justice, Moderation, Faith, Courage, Wisdom, and Hope are the seven virtues being focused on this year. It was only fitting to have such an engaging speaker kick off a program that will be around USF for years to come. “We’re all working as a school together to help develop the whole person, all 360 degrees of us,” says Ross. Dennis Thum, campus pastor at USF, spoke highly of Goff and why he was invited to speak at USF. “The thing with Bob Goff is that everyone who has heard him speak raves about how inspiring he is. He is not coming in as a theologian to teach us profound theological things; he’s here as a motivational, inspiring individual who strives to walk the walk,” Thum says.
OCTOBER 2016 | 7
8 | COLLEGE MONTHLY
“
”
I loved Bob Goff; he was so much fun.
“I loved Bob Goff; he was so much fun. I appreciated how it wasn’t preaching - he wasn’t preaching to you,” Wright says. Goff never tried to guilt his audience into volunteering or donating money to charities and those worse off than you. He instead stirs the desire within people to search out opportunities to be better and do more for those around them. The audience wants to be like Goff because they witness the pure joy he gets from loving others, and they want that too. “More of who he is, is just his personality. He’s just incredibly fun and challenging and contagious; you know you just want to be around him. You want to hear his stories and you want to be inspired by what he’s been doing and want to do the same thing,” Ross says. This is how Goff is able to influence a campus filled with many young adults. Goff was well received by the campus; students lined up after he spoke carrying copies of Love Does for him to sign. “I would recommend it a lot; it’s just so refreshing to hear what he has to say,” Wright says. When asked about what he hoped students would take away from his event, Goff was optimistic. “I think for each person it’ll be different, hopefully. It’ll be something that will uniquely ping them as Matthew 13. It says (that) Jesus never spoke to anyone without telling them a story,” Goff says. Goff continues, “And the reason that he did that I think is because these stories, scriptures, everything would intersect people’s lives in different ways because your background and experiences are different than mine, your world-view is different than mine, and for each person, it would be terrific if there was a hundred people in the room, and they took away a hundred different things.” “It (your life) doesn’t have to be this routine forever. When you graduate or even while you’re in school, you can go out and you can have fun and you can find things to do and find people to be with. He’s very motivating and very enlightening at that and so that’s why I would say I would recommend it to all college students,” Wright says. For more information on USF360, visit their website at https://usf360.org or visit their Facebook page, Usf360. If you missed Bob Goff, you can find him on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram under Bob Goff, or you can visit his website at bobgoff.com.
OCTOBER 2016 | 9
alling into F Autumn Activities Harvest Festival at Strawbale Winery Saturday October 8th, 11am - 5pm Strawbale will be celebrating the end of harvest with food, wine, games and fun including bean bag toss, bocci ball and live music Renner, SD www.strawbalewinery.com
Autumn Festival October 21 - October 23. Arts, crafts, music, gift certificate giveaways, food and drink vendors. Sioux Falls, SD Convention Center
Country Apple Orchard Apple harvest: mid-August - late October Pumpkin festival: October 8-9 Activities includes tractor wagon rides to pick your own apples and pumpkins, pony rides, kiddie train rides, inflatable playground, children’s barn, homemade apple pies, caramel apples, kettle korn, apple brats, and much more. Harrisburg, SD www.countryappleorchard.com
Jaycee’s Haunted House October 9 - 31 Easy Pass $16 // $8 Admission // $6 with canned good W.H. Lyons Fair Grounds, Sioux Falls, SD www.siouxfallshauntedhouse.com
Heartland Country Corn Maze August 12 - October 23 Adults $8 // Child (5-10) $5 Harrisburg, SD www.heartlandcountrycornmaze.com
Zombie Walk Saturday, October 29, Parade at 5pm $3 donation to participate // $5 make-up Icon Lounge, Sioux Falls, SD www.siouxfallszombiewalk.com
Trick-o-Treat Trail Run Saturday, October 29th, 10 AM 8th Annual 5K // 10K Trick - o -Treat Trail Run. Candy Dash for ages 3-10. Awards given for best boys and girls youth costumes. The Candy Dash for youth 3-10 will start at 9:30am. Pasley Park, Sioux Falls, SD www.trickortreattrailrun.com
Rapid Fitness Glow Run Friday, October 28, 7pm Check-in, packet pick up, late registration and warm-up at 5:45pm $20 entry fee // $25 after October 18 Starts and ends at Dell Rapids City Park entry fees avilable via Facebook www.facebook.com/DellRapidFitness
On Campus Events USF Halloween Party
USF Halloween Dance
Saturday, October 29, 8 - 9:30pm
Saturday, October 29, 10pm - 12am
Ward Lobby, University of Sioux Falls
Ward Lobby, University of Sioux Falls
Friday, October 7 Volleyball vs. Winona State Friday | 7pm Saturday, October 8 Volleyball vs. Upper Iowa Saturday | 2pm Football vs. SMSU | 6pm Friday, October 9 Soccer vs. Upper Iowa Friday | 1pm Saturday, October 22 Cross Country (Yankton Trail Park) Football vs. Concordia, St. Paul |12pm Volleyball vs. Bemidji State | 7pm
Saturday, October 15 Soccer vs. Minnesota | 11am Sunday, October 16 Soccer vs. St. Cloud State Sunday | 1pm Tuesday, October 18 Volleyball vs. SMSU Tuesday | 7pm Friday, October 21 Volleyball vs. Minn. Crookston Friday | 7pm Sunday, October 30 Soccer vs. Augustana | 1pm
OCTOBER 2016 | 11
USF Parking Chaos
Photo By Miranda Cain
Story By Tyler Riedmann
With a sea of cars on and off campus, parking is a little tight for all USF students, staff, and faculty, and some are frustrated about the parking situation.
staff, USF is adding an additional parking lot between Campus Park and Collier Baker Residence Hall. However, it is taking a little longer than expected.
“It is hard to find parking close to the dorm building I’m living in, but upper and lower Grand Island Hall has some open spots, especially during the weekend,” says Laura Kroeker, a USF student who has had this issue of the parking on campus.
“The University couldn’t officially get the properties until September 1st , but we should have the new lot done by the 1st of November,” says Jeff McDonald, the assistant director of Campus Security.
Cory Ross, the Vice President of Student Development says that while parking is an issue, especially for the faculty and
While our growing campus adjusts to construction, USF officials are doing their best to respond. Hopefully, with this expansion, the game of ‘find-theparking-spot’ should be a little easier.
When One Dorm Closes, Another One Opens In July, the demolition of Patterson Hall marked the beginning of progress on USF’s new three-story residence hall. The project is projected to cost 11.7 million dollars and it will be the first new dorm in more than a decade. “Where’re going to see construction all year round. Right now they call it a closed envelope. The tight envelope would be that it would sealed completely by December. From that point it would be all internal walls,” says Corey Ross, Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students.
Photo Courtsey of USF Admissions
The residence hall will have 94 rooms. “The room style is where we have two bedrooms that have a bathroom in the middle that they share. So its semiprivate, but it’s not self contained like an apartment complex,” says Ross.
Read more and watch this story online!
12 | COLLEGE MONTHLY
Zika: Is the Bite as Bad as the Buzz?
Image from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Story By Miranda Cain Preventing a disease even the experts aren’t experts on gets a little sticky. Sticky, like the feeling of three layers of sweaty bug spray when you peel off the thinnest long sleeve shirt you own after a 95 degree summer night out.
a bit passive for the average citizen. But Infectious Disease Physician, Dr. Fares Masannat, who works for the private group Infectious Disease Specialists, says the Zika frenzy is a disease we’ve seen before.
According to Dr. Masannat, the Zika Virus is an especially interesting case because it’s a reemerging infection which gives experts like himself a long list of unknowns and a lot of questions left to answer.
Long sleeves, bug repellent, and a night in is the cocktail the Center for Disease Control suggests to combat the Zika Virus. For as much media coverage this disease has demanded, the CDC’s recommended course of action seems
“It’s actually an old virus. The first cases of Zika were reported about 60 years ago in Africa,” Dr. Masannat says. “And every once in awhile some of these viruses start coming back and start causing infections on a large scale”.
“Until we have more cases, until you study short term and long term outcomes of the virus, it would be hard answer a lot of these questions accurately,” Masannat says. OCTOBER 2016 | 13
What the CDC and experts like Dr. Masannat’s team do know is that the virus can be spread in two ways. First, and the result of an overwhelming majority of the cases in the United States, is a direct infection from a mosquito bite of a mosquito carrying the Zika Virus. The second is a sexual transmission of the virus from someone who has been infected with the disease. Once contracted, the symptoms, if displayed, can consist of a mild fever, a possible rash or joint pain, conjunctivitis (reddening or inflammation of the eyes), and in some cases, a headache or muscle pain. “The symptoms of the infection tend
to be really relatively mild overall. A lot of the people probably wouldn’t even suspect anything severe if they had that,” Cheri Kovalenko, Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Sioux Falls, explains. The bout of media attention given to the Zika Virus prompts healthcare educators such as Kovalenko to stay attuned to the continuous conversation concerning this disease and how it can impact communities like the Nursing Program at USF. USF Senior Nursing Student Samantha Whitley is keeping up with the course of Zika right along with Kovalenko. “It is a virus, so right now there is no cure for it,” Whitley says.
PROTECT YOUR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY: PROTECT YOUR FAMILY AND COMMUNITY: HOW ZIKA SPREADS HOW ZIKA SPREADS
“We don’t have any sort of vaccination or particular antiviral medication that can cure Zika,” she says. “For the average person, symptoms are generally pretty mild. A fever, a rash. You know, you might just kind of feel like junk for a week”. Dr. Masannat agrees with Kovalenko and Whitley in that some people may not have any symptoms at all when they get the virus. According to Masannat, as far as experts know, right about 80% of those who get infected with the virus do not show any kind of symptoms. “Now how about the other 20% percent? They usually have mild symptoms.”
Other, less common ways, people get Zika: Other, less common ways, people get Zika: During pregnancy A pregnant woman During pregnancy can pass Zika virus pregnant woman toAher fetus during can pass Zika pregnancy. Zika virus causes to her fetus during microcephaly, a severe pregnancy. Zikaiscauses birth defect that a microcephaly, a severe sign of incomplete brain birth defect that is a development sign of incomplete brain development
Most people get Zika from a mosquito bite Most people get Zika from a mosquito bite
A mosquito bites a person infected A mosquito bites with Zika virus a person infected with Zika virus
The mosquito becomes infected The mosquito becomes infected Through sex Zika virus can be Through sexsex passed through Zikaavirus canwho be from person passed through sex has Zika to his or her from a person who sex partners has Zika to his or her sex partners
More members in the community become infected More members in the community become infected A mosquito will often live in a single house during its lifetime A mosquito will often live in a single house during its lifetime
Through blood transfusion Through blood There is a strong transfusion possibility that There is can a strong Zika virus be possibility that spread through Zika transfusions virus can be blood spread through blood transfusions
More mosquitoes get infected and spread Morethe mosquitoes get virus infected and spread the virus The infected mosquito bites a family member or neighbor The and infected mosquito infects them bites a family member or neighbor and infects them
14 | COLLEGE MONTHLY
Image from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Though doctors in the United States haven’t before seen Zika like they do now, Dr. Masannat says that the West Nile disease has similar tendencies of showing a lack of symptoms and being relatively mild, and South Dakota alone has seen 127 cases this year of West Nile spread by mosquitoes. “But as time goes by the answers can vary,” Masannat cautions about the current information regarding Zika cases. Posted numbers according to the CDC show that out of the total 3,358 cases of the Zika Virus in the United States, just 43 were acquired from local mosquito bites, and 28 sexually transmitted. This leaves the other 3,314 cases in the country to individuals who contracted the virus while traveling in a country or region where the mosquito population carries the disease. The state of South Dakota has seen just one confirmed case of Zika in the state as a result of travel. “Overall it seems it’s a mild virus. However, there are a few areas where this virus can be concerning,” says Masannat. In more extreme cases, Zika does have the potential to cause Guillain-Barré syndrome. Though the CDC has only recorded eight of these cases within the United States, this syndrome is a neurological problem leading to paralysis.“In most cases, it [paralysis] is completely irreversible,” Masannat reassures.
Even with this connection, Dr. Masannat and other experts still say that most people who will get Zika will not have any major complications. Additional statistics have lead experts like Dr. Masannat to vague conclusions of how Zika can influence pregnant women and their unborn child, and it might be these complications that contribute to some of the scare of this virus. “When it becomes dangerous is if you’re pregnant,” Whitley says. When a pregnant woman gets infected with Zika, “they themselves do not get extremely ill” Masannat explains, “but the main risk is to their fetus.” The Center for Disease Control has recorded 20 infants born with birth defects and five pregnancies lost with the fetus having birth defects. Masannat says one of the main risks for children being born from a mother who had Zika right before or during her pregnancy is microcephaly, a condition where the size of the baby’s head is significantly smaller than other children, leading to cognitive dysfunction resulting in mental disabilities and learning difficulties. One of the questions Masannat says is being studied right now is “even the children of pregnant women who got Zika who did not develop that specific complication, the microcephaly, are they going to have a normal life?”.
According to the current research, this is some indication that these children might still have some cognitive dysfunction, but Dr. Masannat explains, “It might take years to answer that question.” As disease experts keep working to gain knowledge about the Zika Virus, its symptoms, complications and the spread of the disease, researchers are discovering and sharing new information all the time. “We get frequent updates on Zika, sometimes daily,” Dr. Masannat says. For right now, experts, educators, and hospital staff have similar conclusions. Use preventative measures of bug spray, long sleeves and caution when traveling. Consult your doctor about being tested for the Zika Virus if you are or plan to become pregnant before or after travel and be conscious of sexual contact if you or your partner could be infected. A Mexican vacation might not the best idea right now is what Kovalenko reminds, but with correct precautions and consulting your physician, Zika - as far as the average citizen is concerned might mean just a week or so of “feeling like junk.”
OCTOBER 2016 | 15
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