Tuesday, February 12, 2013 Issue 24, Volume 122
‘Lumberjack’ club up to chops David Cobb Assistant News Editor The winner of Tennessee vs. Kentucky no longer brings home the blue and orange painted beer barrel which, until its abolition in 1997, was a coveted prize for nearly 75 years in the border state rivalry. At least not in football they don’t. Lumberjacking is a different story. UT’s timbersports team captured first place at Saturday’s Timbersports and Bluegrass Bash – a competition between four schools in events such as axe throwing and log rolling – and in the process reclaimed the infamous beer barrel which lives on in the competitive lumberjacking community. “It’s the same as it is for the football team,” Jack Lipkin, senior in forestry and president of the team, said. “You win that match and you
win bragging rights and you have the pride.” Though Sewanee and North Carolina’s Haywood Community College also had teams represented in the overall competition, there was, as there has been for two years now, a side wager between UT and UK for a re-creation of the legendary wooden cylinder. “It’s a pride thing, but it is just kind of for fun,” Lipkin said. “We aren’t like too horribly serious about any of this, we aren’t like bitter rivals … It went the way it did and everyone went home happy just because it was that good of a time.” The “lumberjack” team, as they sometimes refer to themselves, is a part of UT’s chapter of the Society of American Foresters and meets every Tuesday to practice the ten events that comprise a typical intercollegiate timbersports competition. The events include archery, team bolt split, stock sawing, bowsawing and the standing block chop, just to name a few. But
don’t be intimidated by the jargon. The club is open to anyone – even “lumberjills.” “Anybody (can join),” Jacob Lunsford, sophomore forestry major and first year team member, said. “Even women – we need women, and you don’t have to be majoring in forestry or wildlife.” The co-ed group of axe-wielding UT students will travel around, competing a handful more times before the end of the spring. They’ll be looking to build on Saturday’s victory – but they’re also looking towards the future of a club that they’re very passionate about. Prior to joining the club in January, Lunsford had never been involved in timbersports, which allows him to give an honest sales pitch to anyone considering trying their hand at it. “You don’t have to have any experience,” Lunsford, who placed in Saturday’s axe throw competition, said. “And with a little training
you’ll be able to compete and be good at it.” But for both Lunsford and Lipkin, it provides more than just the thrill of competition. “It’s a tradition, doing this year after year,” Lipkin said. “We travel probably about six to seven times a year and host events just for fun. Until you go to one of these things, you don’t really know what’s possible here at UT because these events are so much fun.” The team has a strong presence on the Ag campus, but Lipkin stressed that the club is open to all students, regardless of major. “There are events that if you don’t have experience doing certain things, it’s going to be a hindrance,” Lipkin said. “But there are events that we expose new people to. If you’re any kind of an athlete or have any coordination, it’s pretty easy to pick up.” Lipkin can be reached at jlipkin@utk.edu for inquiries about the club.
Impact UT hosts open house David Cobb Assistant News Editor
Danielle Dyer • The Daily Beacon
Students talk with companies during the Diversity Job Fair on Monday.
Campus prepares for spring job fair R.J. Vogt News Editor Although Valentine’s Day looms on the weekly calendar, many UT students and area employers are already looking further into their future. From 2 to 6 p.m. today, the Spring Job and Internship Fair will offer summer internships, part-time jobs and post-graduation employment on the court of Thompson-Boling Arena. Free pens and stress balls will be provided, but Mary Mahoney, the assistant director for Career Services, said the jobs are the true prizes. “Students will come back later and say, ‘I talked to five companies, I had two interviews and I have a job offer.’ And we are always excited to hear that,” she said.
Career Services began organizing the event almost an entire year ago, days after the previous spring job fair was over. The hard work pays off; today’s job fair will bring in more than 190 different employers, including such well-known businesses as Macy’s, Northwestern Mutual Financial and even the U.S. Department of State. “Many of them are employers that we already have a relationship with,” Mahoney said. “They come on campus to interview, they’ve attended job fairs in the past … We also always pick up a number of what I call ‘new employers’, meaning new to coming to (UT), and it’s because they’ll hear about our programs.” Mahoney added that UT’s top-ranked programs, such as the logistics supply chain
major and the College of Engineering, help draw the multitude of employers. “They know that there’s quality majors at (UT) — we are a large recognized school — so the employers want to reach out to our students,” she said. Career Services also sponsored a Diversity Job Fair on Monday afternoon from 3 to 5 p.m. The smaller setting of the UC Ballroom attracted all kinds of businesses, from multinational corporations like Pepsi and Wal-Mart to local businesses like the Knoxville News-Sentinel. These businesses all committed to hiring a diverse pool of applicants. The definition of diverse is broad, and students attending the fair were encouraged to define their own diversity.
Kenneth Bell, a recruiter for information technology company TEKsystems, explained that his company’s interest in diversity is derived from customer service. “We are looking at ways to be more inclusive for how we recruit internal employees,” he said. “Obviously, demographics in America are changing every year, and so our customer base is changing every year. We want our internal employees to be a reflection of the customers we serve.” Although diversity was a prominent theme of Monday’s job fair, many of the same companies will set up shop in Thompson-Boling today. And almost all of the representatives offer the same advice: do your research. See JOB FAIR on Page 3
Impact UT has something to offer students today that it won’t be able to offer them when the organization begins its application process in 2014. The chance to get in on the ground floor. The group, newly formed through the Alumni Affairs Office with the intent on raising awareness on the importance of philanthropy, is holding an open house in room 223 of the UC at 6:30 tonight. Impact’s student leadership board has already been selected and will be on hand to discuss the program with potential members, but the group may take up to 100 students, depending on the number of applicants. “You’ll get a much more in-depth look at who we are and what we’re trying to do,” Paige Atchley, leadership board member and senior in marketing, said. “And I think that should draw a lot of people because a lot of people have heard ‘Impact’ and there’s been a little bit of buzz, but there’s just some confusion on what it is exactly.” In short, the group’s purpose is to facilitate relationships with UT alums that will delve deeper than the occasional mass newsletter that a Vol of years past may receive in their email inbox. “I think that a student that would want to be involved in this group would be one that wants to see UT get better and has a lot of school pride,” Atchley said. “Because if you’re not excited about what’s going
on, then how are you ever going to convince someone else to be excited?” The organization is similar to ones that have flourished through the alumni offices at other major universities and will seek to connect alumni with facets of the university that align with their interests and passions. And according to Lance Taylor, the group’s advisor and UT’s director of annual giving and student philanthropy, it’s not just about soliciting monetary donations. “We’re kind of promoting our group as a very entrepreneurial group,” Taylor said. “We’re so new and have just a few members that are serving on the leadership board to help us get started, but most of our programming isn’t really set so we want our new members to come in and help us with ideas, and tell us how we can expand and get our word out there.” Applications for the program are due Feb. 28, and a tworound selection process will follow. “We desperately rely on our alumni to support the university,” Taylor said. “So this group is hopefully going to teach students about the importance of not only giving your money back, but your time and your talent back to your university once you graduate and how important it is to come back an serve, be involved.” The applications are available at the Tyson House or online at volsconnect.com/ impactut. “Students will really have the opportunity to build a program from the ground up,” Taylor said, “which is really exciting.”