UT launches new Student Success Building, pioneers sustainable design
University of Tennessee leaders gathered on April 24 to break ground on the new state-of-the-art Student Success Building. Taking the place of Melrose Hall, the building is set to open in fall 2027.
The 119,000-square-foot building will be home to multiple student programs, including the Academic Student Success Center, Vol Study Center, University Honors, Student Disability Services and more.
“Our scholars will find expert guidance, seamless support and insightful collaboration — all conveniently located under one roof,” Amber Williams, vice provost for Student Success, said. “It will be a place where inquiry, strengths coaching and curiosity will collide, creating a powerful synergy between academic and career support, faculty and our scholars that will elevate every student’s experience.”
The building will also house classrooms, lounges and common spaces to enhance the student experience further.
Beyond academic and student support, the building will represent a big step forward for sustainability within the UT community. The project will be the first campus building to feature mass timber in its construction.
“We have been looking for the right opportunity to introduce mass timber onto our campus, and this studentfocused building seemed like the perfect opportunity,” Andy Powers, director of Design Services and University Architect, said. “It is a fast-growing material which requires less energy to produce, creating less waste and reducing construction schedules.”
Powers also highlighted that the wood’s warmth and texture can create a calming atmosphere — natural light, native landscaping and nature-themed graphics — that will support student health and wellness.
“Many other environmentally conscious features are present, including materials selected for their local proximity to the building site and made from recycled products,” Powers said. “The building will include high-performance lighting and HVAC systems as well as plumbing fixtures designed to minimize water usage.”
The new building will also feature a green roof, providing storm management and reuse to eliminate pollution and runoff.
“Additionally, the green roof will serve as a gathering space,” Powers said. “The roof vegetation acts as insulation for the building and protects the roof, extending its useful life. These specific measures bring to life
broad sustainable concepts outlined in the campus master plan.”
Construction will be a phased process over the next two years. Mike Materna, director of Capital Construction, said the next step will begin next school year.
“The first major milestone will be the completion of the demolition of the current Melrose Hall,” Materna said. “Abatement work is underway now, and demolition work is expected to begin in August and be completed in September.”
UT will take preemptive measures to ensure that the central location of the construction site — between Hess Hall and Hodges Library — will not disrupt student and faculty life.
“The Johnson-Ward Pedestrian Walkway and alleyway between the John C. Hodges Library and Melrose Hall will remain open except for a few announced disruptions this summer,” Matt Motsko, assistant vice chancellor of construction, said. “The university will communicate throughout the project with neighboring students, faculty and staff to keep them up to date.”
Motsko emphasized the importance of construction to UT’s growth and modernization as he ensured that they would do all they could to minimize the impact of construction on students, employees and
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visitors.
The project is predicted to cost $108 million and will symbolize UT’s commitment to student success, academic excellence and sustainability.
Melrose Hall will be the new building for the Student Success Center which broke ground April 24, 2025. It is expected to be done by fall 2027 File / The Daily Beacon
Street at Cumberland Ave
Hall
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UT clay shooting team wins national championship without coach or funding
SUMMER SCOTT Contributor
The University of Tennessee’s clay shooting team recently claimed the 2025 Division I CAA National Championship, outperforming top collegiate programs across the country. They did it all without a coach, university funding or official team status.
Even with this major accomplishment, the team is still considered a student club by UT. That means no athletic scholarships, no university travel budgets and no permission to wear the Power T on their uniforms, even as they represent UT at the highest level of collegiate competition.
According to Cole Prince, a senior agriculture business major, the group has 15 members who handle everything on their own including planning practices, organizing competitions, booking travel and covering personal expenses.
Prince said the national title was especially meaningful given how much of the team’s operations are self-managed. He and teammate Ramsey Bodeen have also competed at the international level, representing Team USA at the ISSF World Cup in Morocco and the 2024 CAT Games in the Dominican Republic.
“When I found out I had made Team
USA, I was ecstatic,” Prince said. “Then I found out one of my closest friends, Ramsey, had also made it. We spent months training, and even though I didn’t shoot my best in Morocco, both trips were unforgettable. We competed with athletes from around the world and made lifelong friends.”
Back in Knoxville, Prince said his international experience now benefits the team.
“Here at UT, everyone asks me what it was like being on Team USA and always wants to hear about everything we did,” Prince said. “What I like even more is being able to use that experience to help coach my teammates. I’ve been exactly where they are, and I can help them fix
Featuring members of the UT Clay Shooting team. Friday, April 25, 2025. Summer Scott / The Daily Beacon
issues without confusion or frustration.”
Freshman management major Blake Gizinski said the win was the result of months of hard work.
“It feels amazing to win a national championship as a student-run and funded organization,” Gizinski said. “We all did our very best to perform, and when it mattered most, we did.”
Gizinski added that being on the team has created opportunities to grow and compete.
“Continuing to shoot at UTK has been a great experience,” Gizinski said. “I’ve traveled to new places and met people who share my love for the sport.”
Still, he acknowledged the ongoing challenges. Team members pay for almost everything out of pocket, including travel, lodging, ammunition and food.
“The best range is in Crossville, about an hour away,” Gizinski said. “We’re always figuring out who can drive, who has space and where we’ll meet. Storage on campus is limited, and while the police department helps with checkouts, they close at 4 p.m. on Fridays and we usually practice on weekends.”
Freshman kinesiology major Gabrielle Worthen echoed that struggle.
“Living on campus and trying to take shooting seriously isn’t easy,” Worthen
said. “It’s hard to access our equipment and get to the range if you don’t have parking. Sometimes it feels almost impossible to make it work during the week.”
Despite those difficulties, Worthen said winning a national title made it all worth it. He is ecstatic that the team won the national title and is becoming organized without an official coach.
Worthen also sees potential for the future as she believes if there was funding for this team, many more people could come to UT for this sport and get an exceptional education.
Prince also has huge goals for the team and hopes to see UT become a powerhouse in collegiate shooting.
“For years it’s been Texas A&M, Lindenwood and Emmanuel,” Prince said. “I want UT to be one of the first schools people think of when they think of competitive shooting.”
Prince agreed, saying UT is missing a key opportunity.
“There are programs at other schools with over a hundred student-athletes,” Prince said. “I know people who chose other universities because they offered scholarships and coaching. If UT ever invested in us, we could bring in more talent and win more championships.”
White House seeking to end taxpayer funding for UT Media Center member WUOT 91.9 FM Radio, an NPR affiliate
The White House issued an executive order to cease federal funding for National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service the night of May 1, 2025.
The Media Center, home to The Daily Beacon, is also home to NPR member WUOT. WUOT calls CPB funding “crucial” and has stated that this funding makes up almost 8% of its total revenue.
According to WUOT’s 2024 financial statement, the station receives a community service grant from the CPB annually, which is used to purchase network programming. For 2023-2025, the grant amounted to $157,420. WUOT received $177,00 from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2025.
NPR and PBS receive funding via taxpayer dollars through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which outlines in its governing statute that it may not “contribute to or otherwise support any
political party.” The executive order wrote that by funding NPR and PBS, CPB does not follow in line with this principle.
“The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS,” the executive order says.
“Which viewpoints NPR and PBS promote does not matter. What does matter is that neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”
The CPB Board was instructed to cease indirect funding, cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed
by law and decline to provide future funding.
The White House further stated that media outlets do not have a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies and that it is the government’s responsibility to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.
“We are working to determine the full impact of the cuts,” UT’s Director of Media and Internal Relations Kerry Gardner told the Beacon. “WUOT is committed to serving East Tennessee and that mission will continue.”
Shelby Wright / The Daily Beacon
Hope for autism: Groundbreaking research emerges from UT Health Science Center
SAMANTHA WHITLEY News Editor
Autism Spectrum Disorder rates have increased in Tennessee — in 2014, about 1.5% of children had ASD, which doubled to 3.4% a decade later.
ASD disproportionately impacts children and minority groups have higher rates of the disorder compared to white children in Tennessee.
To address ASD and its complications, Il Hwan Kim, a researcher with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, took the initiative to create a study on the development of ASD along with his other researchers, YongEun Kim, Sunwhi Kim and Yusuke Ujihara.
ASD is a complicated mental disorder that impacts how people socialize and interpret the world. Specialists presumed that factors such as the environment and genetics are key contributors to ASD.
Kim’s work aims to understand ASD at a deep level by analyzing the brain’s gatekeeper — the blood-brain barrier. According to Kim, the BBB decides what can enter the brain and is affected by various environmental factors like pollution, infections and stress.
“This growing body of evidence suggests that ASD-associated genetic and environmental risks may disrupt the BBB independently of their direct influence on neurons,” Kim said. “Thus,
I have hypothesized that BBB dysfunction and neuronal abnormality synergistically impair brain function, contributing to ASD-like behaviors.”
In addition to BBB, Kim and his team also studied the combination of the gene SHANK3, which provides instructions for constructing proteins in the brain. Mutations in SHANK3 are known for their connections to ASD, but their function with BBB was unknown.
The study’s overall goal is to examine if SHANK3 compromises BBB and if that connection contributes to ASD.
To test this hypothesis, the researchers used mice to see what would happen if the SHANK3 gene were “knocked out.” Male mice had a more “leaky barrier” in the brain, as stated by Kim.
According to Kim, to reestablish BBB’s function in male mice and improve neuronal functions, the team altered Beta-Catenin, a protein that maintains the tight junctions in BBB.
“Although BBB permeability is restored during adult age, the male mutant mice display reduced neuronal excitability and impaired sociability,” Kim said. “Further analysis reveals that the BBB-hyperpermeability is attributed to the Beta-Catenin imbalance triggered by eShank3-KO. These findings highlight a pathogenic mechanism stemming from the ASD-risk Shank3, emphasizing the
significance of neonatal BECs in the BBB as a potential therapeutic target for ASD.”
As ASD is a complicated process requiring much attention to detail, Kim expressed his challenges concerning Brain Endothelial Cells — the building blocks for BBBs.
“Since focusing on BECs and the BBB in ASD research represents a new direction in the field, our team had to create innovative experimental concepts and develop a range of new methodologies to explore novel pathogenic mechanisms that may originate from the BBB,” Kim said.
This crucial research study allows therapists to potentially use this information on the role of BBB in the early stages of ASD.
“Our unpublished data revealed that more than 50 ASD-risk genes are highly expressed in the primary BECs of the BBB in both humans and mice,” Kim said. “I believe these ASD-risk genes may play their distinctive roles (different from their function in neurons) in maintaining normal BEC/BBB function.”
The research teams’ work is far from complete — the BBB groundwork and its impacts on ASD have the potential to unlock more discoveries.
“Future studies that concentrate on these ASD-associated genes within the context of BECs have the potential to broaden the ASD research landscape,” Kim said. “This expansion could significantly contribute to unraveling
the mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of ASD, particularly those stemming from neonatal BBB dysfunction.”
“It is exciting to see foundational research from our investigators here at UT Health Sciences that is helping advance our understanding of the human brain,” Jessica Snowden, vice chancellor for research at UT Health Science Center, said. “Every day across Tennessee, high-quality science like this is helping us change the lives of families across the world.”
Vols for Kids: UT students begin efforts to end food insecurity in East Tennessee
EMMA CASKILL Arts and Culture Editor
Four students at the University of Tennessee started a volunteer-based organization called Vols for Kids, dedicated to solving food scarcity in East Tennessee communities. The group teamed up with Second Harvest Food Bank, a local nonprofit organization in Knoxville. Through its Food for Kids program, the
nonprofit has already given out 1.2 million meals to children in East Tennessee this year.
“Throughout this program, I have learned how widespread the need for food in East Tennessee is,” Cecilia Fermann, a member of Vols For Kids, said.
Vols for Kids’GoFundMe page, posted in early April, has raised almost $2,000, surpassing its goal of $1,500. Fermann said that all funds raised go directly to Second
Harvest’s program, which provides meals for over 150 students for an entire year. Fermann talked about why the group felt connected to the nonprofit and what led them to want to help.
“When we took a tour of the Second Harvest warehouse, there were thousands of pallets of food that an employee said would all be gone by the end of the month,” Fermann said. “It was truly eye-opening to see and conceptualize just how large of a problem food insecurity is in East Tennessee and the effort it takes to resolve it.”
After partnering with Second Harvest, Vols for Kids decided to focus on the Food for Kids program in order to have a bigger impact.
“We learned about the Food for Kids program when we had a meeting with one of the Second Harvest employees,” Fermann said. “She spoke very highly of the program as it is their most successful, yet one of the most demanded programs.”
The program provides easily prepared food packed with nutrients to students who are reported to miss meals frequently by their teachers. There are 18 counties in East Tennessee that this program works with to ensure kids are not only fed but are eating food that will give them the strength they need to grow physically and mentally.
“All four of us were familiar with the fact that food insecurity and hunger were
prevalent in East Tennessee, but we did not know the extent,” Fermann said. “Children who experience food insecurity within their homes usually get their meals from school, leaving them with significantly less on the weekends. We decided to start Vols for Kids to change that and ensure children have food to last them through the weekend.”
Fermann said that because Vols for Kids is such a small group, getting the word out about their fundraising efforts was not easy at first, but through the use of social media and reaching out to family and friends, the group was able to attract a good number of donations. Fermann discussed ways students can get involved with their efforts to make a difference in our community.
“There are many ways other students can get involved at Second Harvest, like through donating to our GoFundMe that directly benefits them, donating food to their warehouse or doing volunteer work, packaging and sorting their food,” Fermann said. “Second Harvest is always looking for volunteers to assist with all the donations they receive.”
Vols for Kids plans to continue its partnership with Second Harvest through volunteer and fundraising work to continue working towards the goal of “promoting the need for food to resolve food insecurity in East Tennessee,” Fermann said.
Graphic featuring autism awareness colors. Thursday, May 1, 2025. Samantha Whitley / The Daily Beacon
Expanding meaning of ‘everything school’
UT
Advisory Board talks new records, improvements, fee increases to keep up with expansion
The University of Tennessee Advisory Board meeting occurred on May 2, 2025, marking the last meeting of the 2024-2025 school year.
At the meeting, the Board discussed the $2.37 billion budget proposal — more than $200 million compared to last year — which will now go before the UT System Board of Trustees for final approval next month. However, UT Chancellor Donde Plowman confirmed that there will be no tuition increase for students this next year but there will be an increase in facilities fees.
Graduate and out-of-state tuition increases are being kept below regional benchmarks.
The increases align with overall campus growth and the rapidly growing rate of prospective students who have submitted more than 63,000 applications for the fall 2025 semester, breaking yet another record.
The facilities fee is set to increase by $30 for in-state students and $46 for out-ofstate students to cover rising costs related to new construction and maintenance, totaling to $630 and $946.
Additionally, the transportation fee will increase by $24 for expanded parking services, totaling $258, and the library fee will see a $10 increase, totaling $90.
Dining service rates are set to increase by a flat rate of 3.6%, except for the Flex Plan, which would increase by $21-$90, depending on which plan students pick. The increase would offset inflation costs for food, maintenance and salaries. The university has proposed discontinuing the $24 per day unlimited meal access fee.
Yet, students can now pay a $299 flat fee that covers all course materials for all classes. Even more, mini and summer term subscriptions cost less, and students can opt out of the “Total Access” program to purchase individual textbooks.
Housing rates are set to increase by 5% for every option to pay for rising costs, debt and maintenance projects. The increase would be between $152 and $295, depending on which type of room students choose.
However, affordability was a central theme of the meeting, with multiple leaders highlighting UT’s efforts to reduce the financial burden on students and families.
Educational and general revenues — tuition, fees and state funding — comprise most of the $2.37 billion budget. These incomes cover professor salaries,
scholarships and research, as well as UT’s auxiliary functions like sports and bookstores, which in turn provide revenue.
According to agenda documents, UT’s revenues will exceed the university’s expenses.
Nearly 90% of in-state first-year students now benefit from the university’s flagship affordability programs — UT Promise and the Tri-Star Scholarships. UT Promise guarantees free tuition and covers mandatory fees for Pell-eligible Tennesseans with family incomes under $75,000. The Tri-Star Scholarships support HOPE-eligible students from low and middle-income households.
For the 2025–26 academic year, the university will invest $18 million in institutional aid — more than double what it allocated five years ago. Thanks to targeted outreach, FAFSA filing rates increased 13% over last year, giving more students access to federal and institutional aid despite the federal mix-ups.
Over 50% of UT students graduate with no student loan debt, and institutional debt per graduate is 37% below the national average.
UT’s next-level goals
Plowman outlined several objectives for UT, including incorporating an unparalleled student experience. The student experience breaks down into student success and student life.
According to Plowman, student success represents students’ academic achievements, including creating an environment for alumni to stay in Tennessee. More than 90% of the 2024 graduating class reported being either employed or continuing their education, 95% of first-year scholars were in positive academic standing at the end of fall 2024, and 97.6% of spring students are coming back next year.
Student success is impossible without an adequate student life, including every aspect outside the classroom. Over the past year, UT has seen a 30% increase in Greek Life participation, 78% increase in group sports and intramurals and 71.5% increase in group therapy.
Plowman reiterated that UT is committed to being the “university of choice for Tennesseans,” noting that more than 70% of undergraduates are in-state students and over 50% are first-generation or Pelleligible.
UT’s reach extends to all 95 counties through Extension offices, K–12
partnerships, workforce training, and agricultural research stations. The campus has also doubled its external partnerships since 2020, connecting students with experiential learning across the state.
High-impact research in service of Tennessee is another aim of the chancellor’s office. To obtain this goal, the university raised $386.9 million in research expenditures for FY24. According to Plowman, four UT researchers were named AAAS Fellows, and seven faculty members were named among the most highly cited researchers in the world.
However, recent federal budget cuts to university research programs have impacted some UT students and faculty, and Plowman addressed these concerns.
“We’re just monitoring that every day very carefully and trying to support our campus, our scholars, our scientists and support the students that they have on those grants,” Plowman said. “That’s the biggest area that concerns us — I don’t want any student who was hired to be on a grant to lose that opportunity.”
UT partnerships in Knoxville UT prides itself on exploring connections and outreach with resources outside of the university. For Knoxville, Plowman and the Board want to collaborate with the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, an economic prosperity organization.
Knoxville’s Chamber of Commerce goals
include raising annual pay by 30% in Knoxville, lowering the poverty rate and increasing population ages 25 through 54.
“We are on it and heavily involved,” Plowman said.
‘Winning is contagious’
According to UT’s Athletic Director Danny White, the university is well on its way to remaining the best athletics department in the country.
All 20 UT athletic teams made it to the postseason last year for the first time in history, and 11 of the 20 teams finished in the top 10 in the country, according to White.
“So across the board — success, ‘everything school,’ our student-athletes are really digging that,” White said. “And I say winning is contagious. Building a championship culture is really important, and I think it feeds off itself.”
Not only did football tickets sell out for the third year in a row, generating $234 million for the department, but studentathletes had a combined GPA of 3.38 — the second-best semester in school history.
“This is what it means to be a landgrant university,” Plowman said. “We serve Tennessee, and we make sure every student — regardless of background — has the opportunity to thrive.”
As we head into the summer, UT continues to uphold its journey toward becoming the nation’s “everything school.”
McClung Museum’s ‘Homelands’ exhibit pays homage to contemporary Native American artists, honoring land UT sits on
provided translations on their panels.
The University of Tennessee sits on the ancestral lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the Muscogee Nation of Oklahoma, the Euchee (Yuchi) Tribe of Indians, the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Kialegee Tribal Town, the Shawnee Tribe and the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town.
In January 2025, the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture unveiled its new exhibit, “Homelands: Connecting to Mounds Through Native Art,” a contemporary art exhibit featuring Native American artists from four federally recognized tribes.
The idea for this exhibition came from Lisa King, an associate professor in the English Department who specializes in the rhetorics of cross-cultural sites such as Indigenous museums and cultural centers. Currently, she works to explore the rhetorical practices that surround and produce public representations of Indigenous people within the United States in museum and performance spaces.
“So much of education for a number of Tennessee students basically ends with the Trail of Tears,” King said on a tour of the exhibit. “People know Tennessee as a removal state. They don’t know Tennessee as Native homelands. The idea here is to re-establish that indigenous peoples and Indigenous artists are alive and they still feel the deep connection to their homelands here.”
UT is situated on the ancestral homelands of Indigenous peoples. Out of 11 federally recognized tribes invited to participate in the exhibit, four responded: the Cherokee Nation, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation.
There were two questions that King pondered as they worked on the exhibit.
“How can you decolonize the space?” King said. “How can you mold space for Indigenous peoples?”
The entrance to the exhibit is designed to be immersive, laid out so that it feels like you are walking through the woods into a mountain valley.
Throughout the exhibit, there are four statements from each tribe’s co-curators, each sporting a different color. Each color was pulled from the tribal seals of each nation, according to King. The statements also feature translations from Indigenous languages. It had been requested early on that Indigenous language be a part of the exhibition. Three of the four nations
“One of the most interesting things we found out is that people don’t understand the connection between Indigenous language and land or why language is so important,” King said.
The creation of this exhibit involved extensive cooperation with Native partners to ensure that each culture was displayed accurately and respectfully.
“We had to ask ourselves, how can we make this exhibit about reciprocity, not just extraction?” King said.
King hopes the exhibit can serve as a resource for students and educators alike.
“One of the reasons that teachers don’t teach more about Native Americans in their classes is because they don’t feel like they have the expertise or resources,” King said.
Accompanied by King on a tour of the exhibit was Sadie Counts, the curator of Indigenous Collections and assistant curator of exhibitions at McClung Museum, and a co-curator of “Homelands.” She discussed the exhibit’s focus on mounds, a significant aspect of Native American culture. She also highlighted that part of the inspiration for the exhibit stems from the existence of a mound located on UT’s campus. Although it is seldom discussed, it is one of the oldest landmarks on campus.
While it was requested that no photos of the mound be included in the exhibition, there are many artistic renderings.
“I think a lot of folks only know about
burial mounds and while burial mounds are extremely important sacred sites, there are other forms of mounds,” Counts said. “Mounds are extremely important to Native peoples today because they are literal tangible pieces of their ancestors and the work that their ancestors did in these homelands.”
This exhibition also hopes to raise awareness to the existence of mounds and increase their protection.
“Part of protecting mounds is making sure that contemporary Native Nations are the ones that have access to these mounds and are the ones interpreting them and telling us how to interact with them,” Counts said. “These are descendants of the folks who made these mounds. They should be treated as sacred spaces, just like we might treat any other sacred space from any other culture. Not being disrespectful, not walking on mounds, never digging into mounds, never leaving trash.”
Counts also emphasized that not all mounds may be for the public eye, and that should be respected.
“Allow tribal partners to speak on behalf of themselves,” Counts said. “Respect their sovereignty and allow them to tell you what is and is not appropriate to share.”
The exhibition features art from all contemporary Native American artists, as they aim to emphasize that Native American people and their cultures are not just a historical lesson.
“The main takeaway I want people to get is to understand that Native folks are still here and they’re still connected to their homelands, despite where they may be living now,” Counts said.
“Homelands” will be featured in the McClung Museum until December 2027. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Admission and parking are free. The museum is open to students, faculty and non-UT affiliated parties alike.
The museum is also currently working on a digital catalog of “Homelands,” which will be accessible through their website in the future.
For more information, visit the McClung Museum’s website, which features a list of upcoming events hosted by the museum.
“The exhibition features art from all contemporary Native American artists, as they aim to emphasize that Native American people and their cultures are not just a historical lesson.”
Sarah-Nicole Jackson Contributor
SARAH-NICOLE JACKSON Contributor
A mural by artist Starr Hardridge of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. An artistic rendering of pre-Columbian mound sites in Knoxville, depicting the mounds with a river running underneath them. Courtesy of Grayson Martin Media
Sarah J. Maas’s ‘A Court of Thorns and Roses’ turns fairy tale into fantasy
KACIE BURNS Staff Writer
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas has become one of the most praised fantasy books since its release in 2015. Maas’s world-building, fierce heroines and intricate plots in the first book laid the foundation for the series to follow.
Maas is a master of fantasy with other popular series like “Throne of Glass” and “Crescent City.”
“A Court of Thorns and Roses” is the first book in the series. There are currently five books published, with at least one more release coming in the next year.
Maas takes inspiration for the first book from “Beauty and the Beast,” but it is much more than a fairy tale. This fantasy is riskier, full of adventure and more adult than Disney’s classic film.
The book follows Feyre Archeron, a young human girl doing everything she can to support her impoverished family. While trying to keep her family alive, she makes one mistake that changes everything.
The story truly begins when Feyre is taken into the fae world — that is separated from the human world by an invisible wall — by Tamlin, a high fae lord. Everything Feyre ever knew was taken from her and replaced with magic, danger and deadly fae courts.
Beyond the wall, Feyre has to accept her new life in the Spring Court, but soon she is dragged into a deadly curse that has been waging in the fae world for 50 years.
Feyre is the beating heart of “A Court of Thorns and Roses” and is a truly unique heroine. She was never a warrior, but she slowly became one through sheer determination and willpower.
Feyre’s arc is a compelling one, from a weak mortal girl to a fierce woman willing to fight for love and survival. She is fiercely loyal, stubbornly independent and extremely intelligent.
Tamlin, on the other hand, is the classic brooding love interest. Despite his stereotypical character traits, Maas does well to give Tamlin much-needed layers. Tamlin is a protector, but he is also vulnerable and gentle.
The setting is unique and helps set the novel apart from such a saturated genre. Prythian is made up of seven courts, each with its own climate, politics and dangers. Maas uses attention to detail
and intense imagery to make it easy to fall into the world.
Prythian is beautifully deadly, especially for Feyre. Most humans who find a way to enter the fae world never make it back alive.
The emotional stakes are high, Feyre’s journey is not just about surviving but living. She must learn to love and make sacrifices like she has never done before.
The book’s climax comes during her trials under the “Mountain” — a brutal and dark place readers encounter late in the novel. These sequences are gripping and leave readers wanting more.
Pacing can feel slow or uneven for some readers at times, but this first novel is an introduction to a complex world, and that takes time. Additionally, other readers have praised Maas’s willingness to take her time building the world, so they can truly immerse themselves in it.
The book heavily relies on romance rather than plot for most of the book. There isn’t much conflict until the last quarter of the book, but this seems to be a style choice made by Maas that can be seen in many of her books.
Despite these complaints, “A Court of Thorns and Roses” delivers a fantasy like no other that sticks with readers well after the final page. This first installment sets readers up for deeper world exploration and character development in later books.
Maas’s series is technically high fantasy, but it is the perfect read for fantasy veterans and new readers alike.
Rating 4/5
Staff Writer Kacie
ACROSS
1 Kind of blocker 5 Like the Sahara 9 Rolex rival 14 Hollywood's Ken or Lena 15 Playing with a full deck 16 Plant root 17 Draws a bead on 18 Wavering 20 Cheap ship accommodations
22 Youth's inn
23 Inventor Nikola 24 Gas guzzler 26 Enduring 28 Large vases
32 Longtime CBS News host Charles
34 Of the stars
36 Holiday guests, often
37 Petal-plucker's 63 Culture medium 8 Wallace of "E.T."
38 IM sign-off word 64 Herbal
that takes time,” Burns writes. Emma Caskill / The Daily Beacon
Burns reviews Sarah J. Maas’s “A Court of Thorns and Roses,” the first book of Maas’s series. “Pacing can feel slow or uneven for some readers at times, but this first novel is an introduction to a complex world, and
Crossword by Margie E. Burke
Tennessee track and field honors seniors, remaining ‘happy and healthy’ as postseason action approaches
TREVOR MCGEE Sports Editor
Tom Black Track at LaPorte Stadium played host to the final home meet this year as Tennessee track and field closed out the regular season.
During the Big Orange Invite, the Vols honored 21 seniors as they capped off their final regular season. As the meet concluded, Tennessee ran away with 12 event titles to close the year on a high note.
Tennessee added five marks that rank in the top 25 on the NCAA Division I list for the 2025 outdoor season on Friday. They also helped to push six outdoor, wind-legal personal records on Saturday at the Big Orange Invite.
It was one final chance to clean up the flaws and prepare for the postseason.
“Just reminding our athletes to have fun like they did today,” head coach Duane Ross told The Daily Beacon. “I think we’re in a good spot because the training has been done at this point. I think when we remember to have fun doing this and remember why we do it — I think things fall into place.”
Myreanna Bebe led all performers over the weekend in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. The senior hurdler put forth a lifetime-best 12.81-second time. That was enough to put Bebe as the top performer in the NCAA this outdoor season, also running the third-fastest time in the event in Lady Vols history.
Sarah Schmitt also topped her own school record in the pole vault, clearing a 4.45m mark, which ranks No. 10 in the NCAA.
Overall, it was an outing that Ross was pleased with.
“We’re going to spend a lot of time this week here, focusing on making sure everyone’s healthy, making sure everyone’s happy,” Ross said. “I have a saying — happy and healthy. We focus on those two things. I think we’ll be alright.”
Tennessee’s next step in the process is the 2025 SEC Outdoor Championships in Lexington, Kentucky. The Vols have two weeks off before the postseason begins on May 15.
With the regular season over, it’s one step closer to achieving Ross’s preseason benchmark.
“The goal is to win a national championship on both sides, men and women, and to continue doing it,” Ross said. “That’s never going to change. The goal would be the best in the world. So, I’ll say we’re getting one step closer. Not there
yet. But every competition we have, every practice, I think we get one step closer.”
Senior Day festivities Friday and Saturday were two emotional days on the track.
“I spent the last three years really getting to know a lot of these studentathletes and watching them progress and on the track and in the classroom, and build those relationships,” Ross said. “So as a coach, I’ve been doing this for a long time. It’s always a touching moment to see them move on.”
The largest contingent of graduating seniors included the distance runners:Msgana Araya, Will Cahill, Yonas Haile, Zach Jaeger, Aaron Jones, Rachel Sutliff and Callie Tucker.
Sprinters make up the next-largest total with Canaan Anderson, Aaron Bell, Deron Dudley, Milan Fields, Jonah Ross and Brianna White.
The rest of the senior class includes hurdlers Layla Anderson, Bebe and Kiara Smith. Ellison Colarossi and Schmitt make up the departing pole vaulters, alongside jumper Patrick Fehm and mid-distance runner Calvin Wetzel. Jevon Williams rounds out the entire group as a sprinter
and hurdler.
“As coaches, that’s our responsibility to help them move on and move forward,” Ross said. “So excited to see them move on to the next level of things, whether it’s still running or going out in corporate America — whatever it is, just extremely proud of them and what they’ve built here. The foundation that was in place when I got here.”
For Ross, it was a particularly special day. His daughter, Jonah, took part in Senior Day festivities, capping her career in the place that her father guides.
“That’s my rock,” Ross said. “We’re really, really tight. It’s always emotional seeing her grow up and move on, but excited for her future as well.”
In an evolving landscape of college athletics, it’s a scene that Ross does not try to focus on. A vast majority of Tennessee’s seniors did not spend their entire career with the Vols.
Canaan Anderson, Araya, Colarossi, Schmitt, Sutliff and Tucker are the only six who have been with Tennessee throughout their collegiate time.
“We try to stay grounded and just focus on the main thing, and that’s them getting here and being educated,
and then having fun on the track and winning some championships,” Ross said. “Because of that, that’s why we have something so important here. It’s bigger than performances, bigger than wins. As a coach, man, when you get to touch lives like I do, get to see them grow — that’s really a sweet spot.”
At the end of the day, it’s what makes Ross’s job so rewarding.
“I think coaches in every sport sometimes don’t get the credit that they deserve, because it’s not just about wins,” Ross said. “It is about moving them forward. It is about getting them ready for real life and being mindful that when you’re on the track, they’re still student athletes and are still sponges. They’re picking up everything you say.
“I take that responsibility very seriously, and guiding them and moving them forward in life so extremely important. I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve had kids going into corporate America, and had a lot of success — become doctors, lawyers, mechanics — whatever they want to pursue in life, and that’s just as important as them going on and continuing in the sport.”
The Tennessee Volunteers during senior day after the Big Orange Invite at Tom Black Track At LaPorte Stadium in Knoxville, TN. Saturday, May 3, 2025. Peyton Collimore / Tennessee Athletics
Opinion: Reaping Revisited: Suzanne Collins’s ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ reignites fire of rebellion
MARISSA HUNT Opinions Editor
Suzanne Collins returned to Panem with “Sunrise on the Reaping,” a prequel that expands the lore of the Hunger Games universe and sharpens its political commentary.
The chill of young Coriolanus Snow’s future faced audiences head-on in Collins’s conclusion of her book “The Ballad of Song Birds and Snakes” as we all watched in horror at the beginning of the Snow era.
If “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” was a study of how tyranny is born, “Sunrise on the Reaping” is about how resistance takes root — even when it’s barely visible. It’s a haunting, resonant read that challenges readers to consider what it really means to play a rigged game — and what it takes to defy it.
Set 24 years before Katniss Everdeen’s revolution, this prequel centers on the 50th Hunger Games — the infamous Quarter Quell, where two tributes were reaped from each district. Unlike the flashy horror of the Games themselves, the true brilliance of Collins’s latest installment lies in its quiet, psychological unraveling of power, propaganda and the personal cost of survival.
This time, we revisit District 12, still reeling from control and cruelty, but with a disturbingly different scope. We’re blasted back to the past of a fan-favorite character, Haymitch Abernathy.
If you’re still with me at this point and haven’t read “Sunrise on the Reaping,” this is your warning to exit stage left so you don’t see any spoilers.
For those who have finished the book, let’s get into it, shall we?
I knew we were in for something heavy from the very first line — “Happy Birthday, Haymitch!” — especially since it’s the same line the book ends with.
The easter eggs in this book were phenomenal, and I hollered at every page. Specifically, finding out that Haymitch was best friends with Burdock Everdeen, who is Katniss Everdeen’s father, literally blew my mind. Budrock Everdeen singing “The Hanging Tree” like his daughter would sing 26 years later or so to spark a revolution is otherworldly. Reading Haymitch’s story absolutely destroyed my Hunger Games heart. He truly loses everything. The second he arrives in District 12 after the games, he also loses his brother, mother and lover at the evil hands of President Snow on the same day he buries his friends killed in the games.
In his youth, Haymitch vowed never to become a drinker like the rest of his family, but the pain he’s endured has driven him to seek escape. Haunted by the nightly memory of watching his lover die in his arms, he drinks
to numb the constant horror he can’t forget.
The fact that Snow ends Lenore Dove’s (Haymitch’s lover’s) life by lacing gumdrops with the same poison that nearly killed Haymitch during the Games and disguising them as the innocent gift he gave her before he left is beyond diabolical. How did he even know about the gumdrops?
What’s truly disturbing is that Snow remains fixated on a girl he loved for only a month — over six decades ago. His obsession drives him to destroy millions of lives simply because she chose to escape him. It’s a terrifying testament to how far wounded pride and entitlement can go.
Haymitch could have never known what it would take to defy the Capitol, but he blazed in, intending to burn it all down with the firestriker his lover had made him. It truly takes a village, as we see many well-known characters and their history mixed into this rebellion.
I also loved all the new characters we were introduced to, especially Wyatt Callow. He quickly became one of my favorites, and his brains and empathy were beautiful.
Maysilee Donner stood out, too, with a fiery spunk that reminded me so much of Johanna Mason. The fact that the Mockingjay pin originally belonged to her made it all the more powerful.
Ampert was so sweet and truly brilliant, like his father, Beetee. With his resourcefulness and gentle spirit, Ampert reminded me of Rue. Reading his death ached in my bones, just like
Rue’s did.
The cameos in this book truly stunned me — Effie Trinket, Mags, Wiress, Beetee, Plutarch — I screeched at every appearance. Collins truly thought of everything, and it was beyond interesting to see how these characters connect to the history of the Hunger Games and Katniss and Peeta’s games.
Plutarch Heavensbee continues to remain the truest mystery of Panem.
In my opinion, he is one of the most interesting characters in fiction. How is he getting away with his rebellion for all these decades?
He has planted the seeds of rebellion within Haymitch in the 50th Quarter Quell of the Hunger Games, but why? We know he’s partnered with the capitol but perpetually opposed as we see a huge plot twist at the end of Catching Fire when Katniss is rescued from the arena after blowing it up. A feat Haymitch also accomplished in his games by the inspiration of Plutarch.
Plutarch then informs Katniss that she is the Mockingjay and the face of the rebellion against the capitol, something we find out is 24 years in the making as Plutarch waits for the next Haymitch.
Collins’ writing retains its trademark precision — concise, evocative and loaded with meaning between the lines.
She doesn’t waste a word, yet somehow crafts a world heavy with fear and heartbreak. At the same time, some moments feel like intentional echoes of the original trilogy,
“Sunrise on the Reaping,” which doesn’t rely on nostalgia. It deepens the lore, giving longtime fans a more layered view of the Capitol’s cruelty and the seeds of dissent planted long before the Mockingjay’s flight. Her plot and character development are as masterful as always. It’s the only series I’ve read that doesn’t plunge you face-first into plot holes. How she’s organized this intricate work, which she’s woven over 12 years and still recalls each intimate detail, is nothing short of legendary.
“Sunrise on the Reaping” has become my favorite book of the series. This book doesn’t just expand Haymitch’s story, but the whole history of Panem. It changes how you see it. I’ll be thinking about this book for a long time, and it’s truly an ode to us long-standing fans.
My mom and I have never missed a Hunger Games premiere in the theaters, and I’m excited to see this new movie with her on a date that is already saved in my calendar — Friday, Nov. 20, 2026. I’m sure Lions Gate is cooking up another perfect production as we speak.
Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.
Marissa Hunt is a junior at UT studying journalism. She can be reached at mhunt44@vols.utk.
Columnist Marissa Hunt enthusiastically reviews Suzanne Collins’ newest prequel novel from the Hunger Games series and says Collins, “... doesn’t waste a word, and yet somehow crafts a world heavy with fear and heartbreak.” Ansley Graves / The Daily Beacon
