Thursday February 7, 2013 www.utahstatesman.com
All-time leader
Trampoline park not just for kids
Senior guard Devyn Christiansen expected to break USU record Saturday
Page 4
Page 9
UtahStatesman
8WDK 6WDWH 8QLYHUVLW\ ‡ /RJDQ 8WDK
The
Resort stays ahead BY DANIELLE MANLEY staff writer
SNOWBOARDS AND SKIS LINE THE RACKS outside the day dodge at Beaver Mountain Ski Resort, while guests take a break from the slopes. DANIELLE MANLEY photo
Travis Seeholzer Beaver Mountain
It’s a Saturday afternoon at Beaver Mountain. Some customers have season passes and a few buy a $45 lift ticket. A snowboarder glides through newly fallen pow-� der, giving him a feeling similar to floating on air. Several yards away a skier jumps and speeds through the terrain park, showing off to friends. Skiing and snowboarding is a part of Cache Valley’s culture and economy. “We are the longest family-�owned ski area in America,� said owner Ted Seeholzer. “Most of them are corporate owned, cor-� porate operated, and it’s a different ball game than if it’s owned by individuals.� Beaver Mountain has been family owned since its opening in 1939. Seeholzer said he thinks bigger corporations have more focus on making money. “Not that we don’t want to make money, we do, but I think the prices, I don’t think a corporation of any size would let you ski on Beaver Mountain for $45,� Seeholzer said. “I think
“V
ersus typical ski areas, we’re ahead of the curve. We’re an anomaly.�
you’d be looking at 60 or 70 bucks. I think the food ser-� vice would be handled dif-� ferently. I don’t think you’d be permitted to bring your lunch in the day lodge.� Seeholzer said Beaver Mountain Ski Resort was down 25 percent from their sales average last season Many ski resorts in the country are owned by corporations and run on a very large scale. But for a medium-�sized resort with no overnight lodging and without the ability to make s ynthetic snow, Seeholzer said Beaver is ahead of the curve. “I would say on an aver-� age maybe ten year period, we generally have been growing six to eight percent a year, which is good,� said
operations manager Travis Seeholzer. “Versus typi-� cal ski areas, we’re ahead of the curve. We’re kind of an anomaly in the ski world these days. Being a ‘Ma and Pa,’ we’re one of the last ‘Ma and Pa,’ sort of a midsize, day ski area without lodging. There’s not a lot of those around anymore.� Despite growth in cus-� tomers each year, last sea-� son’s lack of snow affected Beaver’s sales. “Our student univer-� sity season pass sales were down significantly,� Travis Seeholzer said. “I blame that on last year. I think we’ll see a lot of that next year maybe. People are like, ‘Oh, is it worth it to buy a season pass?’ and then you have a good year. It hasn’t been a great snow year, but it’s early. I have faith it’s going to change. Early on, we were better than last year.� A problem the lack of snow created was the build-� ing of the new ticket office. “We were a little con-� cerned, so we decided to back off of this new facility, which will be about 10,000 to 12,000 square feet build-� ing,� Travis Seeholzer said.
See BEAVER, Page 2
Faced with admissions drop, USU turns recruiting focus BY SARAH MENLOVE staff writer
According to Student Services Vice President James Morales, USU expects to lose $15.5 million over the next two years. This projected revenue loss is the result of the change in eligi-� bility age for missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-� day Saints. In reaction to this prediction, USU’s admissions team has focused on several recruitment tactics which are currently being put into action. USU President Stan Albrecht created the Missionary Task Force in response to the age change made in October’s General Conference by Latter-�day Saints president Thomas S. Monson. Led by Morales, the task force encompasses representatives from Student Services, academic depart-� ments, deans, Housing and The
Campus Store. The task force will meet every Friday for the next year to discuss how to minimize the impact this change may cause. “We have developed three pri-� mary areas to offset this dip in revenue,� Morales said. “Recruit more out-�of-�state freshman, more out-�of-�state transfer students and more international students.� Despite the projected dip in enrollment, Morales said there was no reason to panic. “We’re concerned, but we got a really good jump start on it,� Morales said. “We feel confident that we’ve got the right pieces either in place, or we’ll be able to put them in place to get through this. It’ll be a challenge, but we think we will weather this storm well.� Morales believes the impact will be greater at USU than at other institutions in Utah. He said
86 percent of students attending USU are members of the church, compared to 50 percent of the University of Utah’s students. According to Morales, USU predicts it will lose approximately 1,900 students over the next two years. This will be $9.5 million lost in tuition plus an additional $6 million in auxiliary revenue such as Dining services, residence halls and parking services. “Many of those students will come back, so in the end it won’t necessarily be truly lost revenue,� Morales said. “It will just be a rev-� enue dip for a period of time.� USU’s Director of Admissions Katie Nielsen said the Admissions team is targeting areas in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and especially California to recruit out-�of-�state freshman as well as out-�of-�state transfer students. “We’re doing six trips to California in the next month basi-�
OUT-OF-STATE FRESHMEN and transfer students are the new focus of USU recruiters. SAMANTHA BEHL photo illustration
cally covering from Sacramento to San Diego doing events in the area,� Nielsen said. “We will be doing admissions and scholar-� ships on the spot and looking for students who maybe didn’t know
Diners help patients BY TAVIN STUCKI news editor
Chatter filled the restaurant as hosts and waitresses scurried between tables, leading hungry guests to their chairs. People crammed into the foyer, crowding the large donation box respon-� sible for the influx of Cache Valley residents to IHOP. Tuesday was “Free Pancake Day,� and each IHOP guest received a free short stack of pancakes. Even more, pancake houses nationwide paired with the Children’s Miracle Network to help save patient lives. The Logan IHOP teamed up with Primary Children’s Hospital to aid children like 11-�year-�old Cache Valley cancer survivor Sydney Mecham. Mecham was at IHOP to help raise awareness and support for the disease. “Primary Children’s means a
lot to me for what they’ve done for me and a lot of my friends,� she said. Mecham was was diagnosed with cancer near the end of 2012 after she went to Primary Children’s Hospital for an MRI. She was released 10 days later after a multitude of tests and scans. Lindsey Lopez, who helped raise awareness for the event as part of her duties as Miss Cache Valley, has grown close to Mecham as the two have interact-� ed. Lopez said Mecham was eager to help at Pancake Day because she experienced what it is like to be a patient at Primary Children’s hospital. “It kind of links everything together,� Lopez said. “To have someone like Syd here, they can actually see who they’ll be helping with their donations.�
See PANCAKE, Page 2
Utah State could be an option.� Morales said USU is very affordable in terms of tuition and student fees. He said USU costs
See RECRUIT, Page 2
Aggies take top debating marks BY KATRIEL WILKES staff writer
MISS CACHE VALLEY LINDSEY LOPEZ and 11-year-old cancer survivor Sydney Mecham greet IHOP guests Tuesday. SAMANTHA BEHL photo
USU’s Speech and Debate team placed second in the Northwest Forensic Conference Jan. 25-�27 in Washington. “Everyone is very talented and a very hard worker,� said team member Andrea Bouwman. There were about 30 schools competing at Western Washington University. USU has attended this conference for the last the eight years. Seven of the eight years, they have placed first. With five students — Justin Jerez, Andrea Bouwman, Bobby Fausett, Chloee Butterfield and Prairie Fox — USU was the smallest team attending the tournament. The morning before the tournament, the competitors got up early to practice their speeches. In most of the events, the students write and memorize their own speeches before the competition.
See DEBATE, Page 3