Bar checks are on the rise in Vermillion. In the first three months of 2023, underage drinking arrests rose by 300% compared to this time last year. Likewise, arrests for fake IDs are up 271%.
According to Vermillion Police Chief Crystal Brady, bar checks have increased due to recent officer hirings after years of short-staffing. In addition, Brady mentioned fake IDs are easier to obtain and very realistic, allowing minors to pass door checks.
During the first three months of 2022, 11 underage drinking arrests were made. In 2023, that number is 44. During the first three months of 2022, seven fake ID arrests were made. This year, that number is 26.
Brady said she would like to feel that the police are on the same side as bar owners. However, one owner opposes the increased police presence downtown.
Patrick Masur, owner of Hollarr Bar, voiced opposition in two Instagram posts.
“From a personal point of view I wouldn’t feel comfortable going into a bar with police presence as it would give me a negative impression about the bar…,” Masur said in a Feb. 24 Instagram post. “I understand police have to do their job, but HOW this is being executed is hurting the bar business.”
“We take great pride in checking each id to ensure all of our GREAT customers are of age,” Masur said on Instagram.
Brady pushed back on the claim that legal patrons feel uncomfortable from bar checks.
“He knows a large portion of his clientele is under 21,” Brady said.
Every alcohol license issued by the city of Vermillion stipulates officers may inspect bars.
“This application shall constitute a contract between applicant and the state of South Dakota entitling the same or any peace officers to inspect the premises, book and records at any time…” per the city’s alcohol license.
Brady and Masur met to discuss his concerns. Masur stated that no agreements had been made with Brady following their meeting.
According to Brady, no other bars have complained about the increase in bar checks.
“Our job is to enforce the law and if the legal limit was 18, that is what we would enforce. But
right now, the legal limit is 21,” Brady said. “We often get a lot of calls from other people saying it’s out of control, the number of people under the age of 21 that are drinking downtown.”
Brady also expressed her concerns about potential accidents resulting from underage drinking.
“I would absolutely feel awful if something did happen to somebody and it was a direct result of underage drinking from downtown,” Brady said. “That would not be okay. I feel it’s our job to go downtown, enforce the laws that are in place.”
For now, it appears police will continue to conduct bar checks. For those that go downtown, the Vermillion Public Transit offers a free Safe Ride program from 10 p.m - 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays.
SGA recently cut several budgets, including Safe Rides. People are wondering what this means for programs and how it will impact the community. Former SGA senator, Brandon Raynes, gave an update on what changes to expect.
“The budget cuts won’t affect a whole lot for Safe Rides. We managed to maintain adequate funding for this program given its importance to the Coyote Community,” Raynes said. “We recognize that Safe Rides is essential to our community, so it was crucial that we allocated as much funding to it as possible. We don’t anticipate the program being placed in any sort of danger. In a town like Vermillion where ride-share applications are not prominent, Safe Rides is extremely important to fill in the accessibility gap that wouldn’t normally be an issue in Sioux Falls or Rapid City.”
There are a few other programs recently cut from the budget. The programs involved other events and food.
“(Budget cuts are) mainly with organizational budgeting, such as costs associated
with food and events. This is especially true with special appropriations. Unfortunately, SGA has struggled to keep up with new organizations being created throughout the previous semesters. As a result, we have recommended that organizations cohost events with others or engage in approved fundraising activities. Additionally, wherever students can find funding from other resources is especially helpful in this troubling period,” Raynes said.
SGA has made changes to their budget and operations in the past year. Things seem to be uncertain in how it will affect those selected programs and future budget cuts.
“In my view, it remains uncertain,” Raynes said. “In this past year, SGA has been divided on fiscal policies which has ensued more gridlock than achieved realizable progress. As more costs pile on and become an even more difficult responsibility for SGA, senators will need to make hard decisions and consider more stringently how funds are being used. How exactly that will happen remains to be seen with the passage of the new fiscal year budget and its utilization by the new senate.”
Sesdac is a non-profit organization that provides services and supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, celebrated 50 years of service to Vermillion on March 24.
Sesdac held an open house for USD students and Vermillion residents. Dr. Don Monroe was the founder of the Southeast South Dakota Activity Center, Inc., later known as Sesdac, in March of 1973. Executive Director Ionela Georgescu said their workers are continuing his work in helping those in need.
“We’re very proud of the community we live in, because we feel like we have all the time. We feel so supported by our community,” Georgescu said.
Sesdac supports 75 people within Clay and Union counties, which includes USD students and Vermillion residents. Out of these people, Sesdac helped 43% get jobs throughout the community.
“[There is] not one support that fits all. What we’re doing is looking at their individual needs…[we] look at what the specific person needs and we’ll try to meet those needs,” Georgescu said.
Some of these services include transportation, supported employment, helping with house tasks and helping with grocery shopping.
Students can find part-time jobs and volunteer work at Sesdac. Georgescu estimated nearly half the staff at Sesdac are students.
“We are in a really good place with employment, although we did suffer. A year ago when USD was remote from the pandemic really hurt us when [students] weren’t here. But last year, we had over 200 volunteers from USD and then decided to apply for jobs,” Georgescu said.
Sesdac has a strong advertisement held throughout the community through
the town’s newspapers and USD. Every year, Sesdac holds a table to advertise for jobs to students in the MUC and has presentations for Health Sciences on campus throughout the year.
“We have a close relationship with USD,” Georgescu said.
To learn more about Sesdac, Inc. visit their website at www.sesdac.org or find them on their social media at Sesdac Inc.
On Feb. 24, 2022, Russian soldiers officially invaded Ukraine, causing many people to lose their lives.
One year later, USD student Oleksandra Lukina and many others, made an exhibit on the second floor of the MUC to honor Ukrainian students who lost their lives during the war. The exhibit honors 36 Ukrainian students from around the world, who were killed in the Russian invasion. They will be awarded with ‘Unissued Diplomas’ which honors the memory of the students along with sharing their stories.
“Since USD already had events in support of Ukraine, I thought that I should try to bring this exhibit to our students,” Lukina said. “As a Ukrainian, I find it very important to talk about the war in Ukraine and bring awareness about all the tragic events and stories of bravery that are happening in my home country.”
Even though Lukina is in South Dakota, she feels that this is her way of helping her home country during this time of need.
“Since I live abroad and do not directly help my country to win the war, organizing events about
Ukraine here in South Dakota is my personal way to stand with my country,” Lukina said.
Coordinate for the Opportunity Center, Melissa Tadke, said that she and the Opportunity Center helped Lukina make the right connections and set up the exhibit.
“(Lukina) brought this to the international office and they reached out to us.” Tadke said. “We then kind of just helped connect the right people to get this together.”
“I saw people stopping by the exhibit and spending their time reading the stories of Ukrainian students,” Lukina said. “Different people spent different amounts of time learning about the stories, but the fact that they were thinking about Ukraine a year after the invasion is already very important, because it is very easy to forget about the news after a long time.”
The ‘Unissued Displomas’ exhibit is finished at USD; however, many other universities across the world are honoring the same 36 students.
Tadke said that around 46 other universities participated in the project. Some of those include Georgetown, Notre Dame, Allegheny College and Pierce College.
The full exhibition will conclude on April 2,
2023. To learn more about the ‘Unissued Diplomas’ project, Lukina and Tadke said to go to https://www. unissueddiplomas.org. As of now, there are no other projects that Lukina and her team will be working on.
“I do not know if the ‘Unissued Diplomas’ team is planning any continuation of the project, but I kept all the printed materials and will be happy to install them again sometime in the future,” Lukina said. “It would be great if we could establish a tradition of remembering about the war in Ukraine at least once a year, around the anniversary of the invasion.”
USD student involvement at the Heartland Humane Society in Yankton has increased in the past year. Currently, there are over 150 volunteers with a mix of community members and students. In total, there are 25 students volunteering this year.
The Heartland Humane Society is an animal shelter for unwanted animals. They take care of a variety of animals until they are fostered or adopted. These animals can include cats, dogs, bunnies, ferrets, hamsters and many more.
Kaitlyn Thomas, director of the shelter, said that there has been a steady increase in student volunteers since the pandemic.
“We averaged 100 [volunteers] before COVID. When the pandemic hit, we went to split shifts and closed doors temporarily. Some volunteers were comfortable still helping, many took a break and came
back later, and plenty quit volunteering and decided not to return,” Thomas said.
Thomas said the shelter is very flexible with their hours for students. She believes anyone can be a volunteer.
“I totally get what it’s like to be in college and to have finals and exams,” Thomas said. “I’d say we’re pretty flexible with our volunteers.”
A big factor in their recruiting process on campus are the different events they hold. This year, they held Pet the Stress Away and the Cat Cafe.
“A lot of [students] volunteer for many reasons. Two patterns I really notice are missing animals from back home and students who are going into the field with animals,” Thomas said.
Abbi Bailey, a senior at USD, said she enjoys volunteering because of her love for animals.
“One of my favorite things is getting to know some of the animals’ personalities… Some of these dogs will come in and they’re shy and laid back and sit quietly in their kennel, but then the next week they’re
a lot more playful. I get to see a lot more of their personalities,” Bailey said.
Bailey decided to join the volunteer program due to her career choice.
“I am actually interested in working in veterinary medicine. I was looking for things that would get me more involved with animal work and experience. So I looked at Humane Societies near me and this one was the closest near me,” Bailey said.
The Heartland Humane Society has helped 162 animals this year. Thomas credits the volunteers for their success so far.
“Without our volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to help 100 animals a month,” Thomas said.
Thomas hopes volunteer rates will continue to climb in the coming years.
For more information, or any questions regarding the volunteer process, go to their website heartlandhumanesociety.net, or visit them in Yankton on Highway 50.
For their 10-year anniversary, PanLingua is coming to USD on April 3. This is the fourth time that USD has hosted this event. PanLingua is an undergraduate research conference where students present their research papers or cultural experiences in a target language.
USD professor in Modern Languages & Linguistics, Angela Helmer, said there will be 27 presentations this year: 24 paper and three poster presentations. The presentation topics cover a wide range such as history, creative writing and linguistics.
“The topics are diverse; for example literature, history, anthropology, cultural studies, linguistics, translation, creative writing, etc,” Helmer said. “This year, we will have sessions on creative writing, linguistics, French literature and culture, indigenous cultures of the Americas, cultural studies, language acquisition, LGBTQ+ community, literature of the Spanishspeaking world, Russian language and culture.”
Helmer said that the main goal of the event is to have undergraduate students share their research topics with and explore their language majors and minors.
“The main goal of the conference is to give undergraduate students at USD and participating universities the opportunity to share their research on diverse cultural and linguistic aspects of the languages they explore as language minors majors or language learners in general,” Helmer said. “Languages are important to promote global awareness and interconnectedness, students are invited to share their views, experiences and knowledge on the importance of being competent in and understanding of different cultures and languages through art, literature, creative writing,
linguistics, anthropology, etc.”
There are a wide variety of presenters at this event all coming from different places. Some come from the surrounding areas in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska.
“We invite universities in South Dakota and the neighboring states to the conference. This year we will have several student presentations from SDSU, St. Olaf College and Minnesota State University in Mankato,” Helmer said. “In the past, we have had students from Briar Cliff, Buena Vista, University of Sioux Falls and once even a student from Louisiana State University.”
Helmer wants to inspire students and help them have similar experiences that she had. She also appreciates the students’ presentations and how hard they work for this event.
“I highly appreciate their efforts, because I know that it is not easy to craft a paper and present it even in your native language, let alone in a language you are learning,” Helmer said. “As a graduate student I had the privilege of working with an advisor who encouraged us students to research, write, present our work and gave us research and presentation opportunities in places such as the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, the University of the Cloister of Sor Juana and the General Archive of the Nation in Mexico City, San Luis Potosí in Mexico, Alcalá de Henares in Spain. I wanted to give back and offer my students a similar opportunity through this conference. This conference celebrates their efforts.”
There will also be a keynote speaker at the event; the speaker is Dr. István Gombocz, a professor emeritus of German at USD. The title of his talk is “German Theatre in Sioux Falls around 1900.”
The presentation will be held on April 3 in the Atrium on the second floor of the MUC from 8:15-2:15 p.m. To learn more about PanLingua go to https://sites.google.com/usd.edu/ panlingua-april2023/home?authuser=0.
Volume 148, No. 6
March 29, 2023 www.volanteonline.com
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2023 THE VOLANTE VOLANTEONLINE.COM/SPORTS
Junior Bela Goerke has successfully followed in her parents’ footsteps as a college athlete.
While growing up in Arizona, Goerke was involved in sports from a young age. She took part in baseball, T-ball and eventually softball.
Her love for the sport grew even more as she got closer to college and closer to fulfilling a future that replicated her parents.
“Both of my parents played sports in college, so I wanted to do something they did. I look up to both of them so much,” Goerke said. “My mom played volleyball in college and my dad played football. So, I wanted to continue the athletic family genes.”
Goerke began her collegiate softball career at Grand Canyon University (GCU) in Phoenix, Arizona. After a year at GCU, Goerke felt like the Christian university felt too similar to high school and decided to transfer.
USD’s coaches, overall college atmosphere and softball environment convinced Goerke that USD was the right fit for her.
In her first year as a Coyote, Goerke was a second team all-Summit League honoree and had a homerun on her first at bat of the 2022 season.
“Compared to last year and years before, I am just trying to work on not thinking about anything too much and trying to stay out of my head,” Goerke said. “It’s really a mental game. I’m just trying to have fun and remember that it’s a kid’s game you get to play at 20 years old.”
Now, as the 2023 season has gotten underway, Goerke spends most nights practicing alone in the DakotaDome. Goerke has a hitting routine and uses a net to practice catching drills most nights once the DakotaDome is empty,
so she has room to work out without distraction.
During the nonconference schedule, Goerke has seen success as a hitter. She had a hitting percentage high vs. Utah State on Feb. 25 with 41.4%. and many of her other games landed in the high 30 or 40 percent range. She currently has an average 30.1 hitting percentage on the season which only consists of two conference games against North Dakota.
“I feel like I can always do better. I am pretty hard on myself,” Goerke said. “I always want to push myself and tell myself that I can do better, and this isn’t good enough.”
As the conference season continues April 1 with a doubleheader against Kansas City, Goerke and the team have their sights set on the Summit League Championship. Goerke said the team’s main goal is to win it all and all it will take is them playing together and believing in themselves for them to accomplish that goal.
When Goerke looks back on a lifetime filled with softball, she can’t pinpoint any one thing that makes it her favorite sport. What she does know, is that the endorphins and feelings she receives when making a good play make the whole game worth it.
“There’s a lot of failure in softball. It’s a game of failure,” Goerke said. “But the couple times that you do something really good, that feeling outshines the failure.”
Goerke became a softball player with the goal of making it to the collegiate level in a sport she loved like her parents did. Now here she is, living out the same fate her mom did on the volleyball court and her dad did on the football field. Now her next goal is that her parents will be able to make the trip up from Arizona for a couple of her games this season.
Minnesota has announced that former South Dakota women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit will be their new head coach on March 18.
This came almost one year after Plitzuweit left South Dakota for West Virginia University.
Plitzuweit signed a six-year contract with the Golden Gophers after spending her first six seasons as a head coach with South Dakota and one season with West Virginia.
Plitzuweit started in South Dakota in 2016. She had a career record of 158-36. She earned the Summit League Coach of the Year award three times and was a semifinalist for the 2020 Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year award.
The Coyotes made the NCAA tournament four straight years under Plitzuweit from 2019-2022. In Plitzuweit’s final three seasons at South Dakota, the Coyotes
made it into the Coaches and AP poll top 25 multiple times.
She also led the Coyotes to the highest ranking by any Summit league team ever when she made it to No. 11 in the 19-20 season.
She guided the Coyotes to a Women’s NCAA Sweet 16 run in the 2021-2022 season as a No. 10 seed. Her team defeated the No. 7 seed Ole Miss in the first round and No. 2 seed Baylor in the second round before losing to No. 3 seed Michigan 5249.
After that run, Plitzuweit announced that she would move to a power five conference team in West Virginia.
She inherited a team that went 15-15 the previous season and in her first year as head coach, went 19-12. They were granted a tournament appearance as a No. 10 seed in the 2023 Women’s NCAA Tournament. The Mountaineers were knocked out of the tournament’s first round, losing to the No. 7 seed Arizona.
USD athletics and campus/community events will now be broadcast state-wide on GoYotes TV, a move that senior associate athletic director for external affairs, Joe Thuente, hopes will help to connect the west side of South Dakota to USD.
“We’ve had trouble connecting with that side of the state,” Thuente said. “We’re all the way out here in southeast South Dakota, and I don’t know if the people on the west side of South Dakota think of USD as representing them…we’re harder to reach from our little corner over here.”
The channel went live on Feb. 4 with a broadcast of the men’s basketball game vs North Dakota, but Thuente said the idea was in the works with South Dakota Network since September.
“We have a donor who works closely with them
as well, and he was kind of the impetus,” Thuente said. “He got the people on their side kind of fired up about it, so we went up to Sioux Falls and met with them. They told us their pitch of a free thing. We don’t pay for it, they don’t pay us… our games are already TV quality and they’re free, so might as well put them on another place where people can reach it.”
GoYotes TV is introduced as the third place to catch Coyote athletics along with GoYotes.com and Midco Sports/Midco Sports Plus. Thuente said that adding this cable option outside of Midco will be especially beneficial to the less tech-savvy population and expects the number of viewers to climb.
“Our games aren’t on an app or anything, so if you wanted to watch it on TV you had to plug a laptop into your TV or have a browser on your
TV which can be tough to navigate,” Thuente said. “Being able to just pull it up on your TV with a cable subscription is nice.”
Live events, Coyote News and reruns of athletic competitions or campus activities are broadcast from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., and static screens show upcoming events during the downtime. Thuente said the next phase of the channel is to incorporate more of the USD culture and community outside of athletics, including documentaries, plays, orchestras and The Charlies.
“We’ll take any piece of content we can get our hands on,” Thuente said. “Our long-term thing is that it’s not just going to be athletics. It’s going to be a University of South Dakota channel.”
The celebration of Women’s History in March goes back decades. The month is meant as a way for our history to inspire current and future generations and celebrates women of the past who have laid the foundation for us to succeed and be recognized in society. It is a period of time for advocacy.
In March of 2022, the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies department held the “Care Conference” that focused on the gendered issue of care in our society, specifically the more dominant role that women play as caretakers. This was a great way to show past and current scholarship about women’s
”
history and future possibilities. Obviously, it could be difficult to plan a similar conference every year for Women’s History Month but there could have been more done this year. There are lots of ways USD could have celebrated and
supported women on campus. One easy way could have been hosting a film screening that featured a female lead. Or there could have been a presentation about women from South Dakota. There could have been discussions about leadership,
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gender-based language, intersectionality or advocacy. Another possibility could be a workshop about salary negotiation. There could have been a workshop about salary negotiation with an emphasis on gender discrimination in the workforce.
There was a Trivia Night that focused on women’s history on March 6 as an effort to kick off the month, but there could have been more. A lot of clubs and organizations across campus made remarks over social media in support of International Women’s Day on March 8.
Women’s History Month is a time to recognize and acknowledge women’s role in society.
While women have made advancements socially, economically and politically since the United States’ founding, gender discrimination and sexism still create barriers for people. College campuses across the country should make an effort to support their students and employees, as well as help teach and progress gender equity. This process can easily begin during months centered around awareness like Women’s History Month. By supplying a campus community with events and workshops to celebrate and acknowledge a history filled with gender bias, colleges can be the forefront of change.
Here you’ll find the weirdest, funniest and stupidest things we’ve heard during the week. Context is for suckers.
“My only goal for today is to finish this milkshake, nothing else matters.”
— MUC
“I wouldn’t want anything short of a baseball bat if I was going into battle against a turkey.”
— MUC
“You can’t just ask people where they live!”
— Old Main
“Shakespeare is cancelled.”
— Delzell
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2023 THE VOLANTE VOLANTEONLINE.COM/OPINION
While women have made advancements socially, economically and politically since the United States’ founding, gender discrimination and sexism still create barriers for people.
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The realm of comedy has, unfortunately, been dominated by men throughout history.
Early Shakespearian play stages used male actors to portray females, leaving them no chance for advancement, and movies nowadays are still more likely to cast a man for a part meant for comic relief over a woman.
Luckily, women have begun making their way up the humor stage in the last century, but they still struggle to be taken (not) seriously where joking around is involved. It does not
help that studies have proven men are, on average, funnier than women. This does not indicate that picking any one man from a crowd will guarantee that he has a good sense of humor, but people will likely assume his comedic superiority to a random woman picked from the same group. However, most fail to acknowledge why this is, and how it will eventually change if gender equality continues moving in the right direction. There are multiple elements that make something objec-
tively funny, these depend on the timing, audience and topic. Psychological studies have also shown most jokes need to be somewhat problematic to trigger laughter because they catch listeners off guard. If this is true in these cases, then the data makes perfect sense because of historical gender roles.
Women are traditionally expected to be more soft-spoken and kind and generally use less foul language and offensive speech because of this stereotype. Essentially, men feel safer drop-
ping questionable punch lines because it is more acceptable for them to do so. They also tend to dominate the conversation and thus find more opportunities to drop less relevant points into everyday discussion. While women have been preoccupied with gaining a voice in more important areas like the government and the home, it is reassuring that once these bigger roles are taken care of they will also find a voice in more enjoyable subjects like comedy.
With finals only a few weeks away, professors are starting to introduce final essays and presentations. Students will soon have to come up with topics for research or discussion. Whether you have to write two pages or 20, deciding on a topic can be intimidating.
Being able to choose a viable research topic is an important skill for any student. It is the difference between writing a good paper and a horrible one. Final assignments often carry a lot of weight in grading, this can make selecting the right topic feel like a difficult decision and responsibility.
To start out, start answering questions like who, what, when, where and why about things you have learned over the semester. Answering these questions before writing is going to make things so much easier and is a good first step to researching a topic. While brainstorming, make note of anything that interests you. If there was a question you have had throughout the semester or something that you have not learned, use it as a topic. Choosing a topic you are interested in is going to keep you engaged with your research and writing. Sometimes professors will
give you a list of options to pick from rather than having students come up with a new topic. If that is the case, make sure to keep your thesis or argument narrow.
If the topic is too broad there is going to be too much information and no focus within the paper. Limiting the scope of the topic is going to help the essay remain manageable.
If you are still finding it difficult to come up with a topic, look through the syllabus or past assignments. Some of the readings could have discussion questions or other things that could be of interest. If you absolutely can not think of a topic
to write about, meet with your instructor. More often than not they will help you come up with something.
It is important to know that your thesis or argument might change while researching and writing. It’s a common thing that happens as you learn more about a topic. However, even if the argument changes the topic will not.
The end of the semester is nearing and deadlines are looming. Any effort to work on assignments is a positive thing. Keep pushing yourself, there are only a few more weeks before we (hopefully) get a break.
The Fool’s 48 Short Film Project is set to return again this year. This competition challenges participants to write, direct and edit a short film in just 48 hours.
For 2022 student participant Gen Hirata, the competition was an opportunity to learn what it takes to make a short film.
“I’ve been passionate about filmmaking my whole life, and I didn’t realize Vermillion had opportunities to participate in film festivals,” Hirata said. “I was excited to take advantage of the opportunity.”
Outside of learning how to create a short film, Fool’s 48 participants also have a chance to develop
valuable life skills, like time management, teamwork and communication.
“It taught me a lot about time management. Because you only have 48 hours, you have to really efficiently split up your time and make sure that you’re getting everything done in a reasonable manner,” Hirata said. “It was a big collaborative thing, and we were just open about communication.”
Participants come from all areas of the community, and while experience in filmmaking makes the competition easier, it is not required. For many teams, it is their first time participating in an event like this.
“We were one of the only student groups participating,” Hirata said. “Everyone pretty much does
it for fun. It’s a ‘get together with your friends and make something’ type of competition, but the competition was steep last year. A lot of people entered, and there were a lot of really good films and some really cool music videos.”
The competition also gives students and community members something to do over the weekend.
“It’s just another fun thing to do in Vermillion. I know that sometimes people struggle to find things that aren’t drinking or have an age limit, and it’s just another fun event to attend and be a part of and immerse yourself in the community a bit more,” Hirata said. “It’s really fun, and you get to spend time with your friends ... You’ll make something that you will be proud of because you made
it and you did it in 48 hours. It’s just an opportunity to just be involved.”
The competition is not without its challenges, though. For Hirata, the biggest of these was acting.
“The biggest challenge for me personally was acting because I’m not super comfortable in front of the camera, and I’ve never done that before,” said Hirata. “My teammates were super supportive, and super helpful in directing me and telling me what to do. That’s how I overcame that fear a little bit. We were just taking it lightheartedly, none of it was serious. It was all for fun, so it was just easy to relax and be myself.”
At the end of the weekend, the participants get to see their short film alongside everybody else’s in
the
“My favorite moment was watching the showcase because, like I said, I had never acted in anything before, so it was really cool seeing myself up on a big movie screen and being there with my teammates was really fun,” Hirata said. “We all enjoyed it, and we were really proud of what we had made. It was nice to see it and hear everybody applauding it and, I think, liking it.”
Fool’s 48 will kick off this Friday, March 31 at 5:30 p.m., when teams will draw a genre from a hat. After that, teams get to individually decide how to spend their time before the deadline on Sunday. The films will be shown on Monday, April 3 at 7 p.m. at the Coyote Twin Theater.
The Vermillion community continues to come together in many ways to create special events for the residents that build connections and create fun.
The Vermillion Public Library put together an event called StoryWalks where anyone can walk outside and read a book through downtown Vermillion. They use picture books so people can read a story from start to finish. Daniel Burniston, the library director, said StoryWalks was intended to create community, especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At that time, it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and we were very limited in what we could do in the way of in-per-
son or group activities,” Burniston said. “A story walk seemed like a great way to be able to safely engage and connect with community members during the pandemic.”
The library found this concept after hearing and seeing stories of other libraries across the country that had done them. They worked with the Park & Rec department in order to make the idea happen.
“We theme our StoryWalks to fit with our summer reading program, or often a particular day or month, such as Earth Day or Juneteenth,” Burniston said.
The StoryWalk events were originally held at Prentis Park. They had temporary story posts they could take down during the winter months. Since there was so much popularity with the
event, Mike Phelan, the owner of Outside of a Dog Books & Games, contacted the library asking to get involved.
“They get families out to get a bit of exercise and share some great stories,” Phelan said. “We reached out to the library to see if we could help in any way.”
Through this partnership, they moved StoryWalks downtown so this event could continue throughout the winter months. Burniston said continuing this event is important for the community.
“The downtown StoryWalk version was a great chance for us to collaborate with the downtown business,” Burniston said. “We are able to encourage literacy while also encouraging people to walk around downtown and check out local businesses.”
The library plans on posting a new story sometime within the next month. They can see this event continuing long term, both at Prentis Park and downtown.
“StoryWalks are designed as
a way for children and adults to enjoy reading while also getting outside and walking at the same time,” Burniston said. “They are a wonderful opportunity for literacy and recreation to come together.”
Bennett Clary Bennett.Clary@coyotes.usd.edu
Many students have hobbies outside of class, but few have hobbies that get their writing published. Junior Josh Ellerbeck, a communication studies major, held his third book signing for his most recent book “Streetlights.”
Ellerbeck’s 400-page novel, “Streetlights,” was published Aug. 30, 2022, to not only raise awareness for Huntington’s disease, but also to raise money for the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA). Ellerbeck decided he would donate one third of his proceeds to the HDSA. This book required heavy research from Ellerbeck to portray the scenes accurately.
Ellerbeck’s previous novels have included conversations about eating disorders and school shootings. Ellerbeck said he’s open to the idea of writing about more medical conditions in the future and knows that even though it requires a lot of research, it could help people.
“I want to encourage people with that, but also just to reach out to people to encourage them with whatever mental health struggles they’re going through or with anything they might be struggling with, in general, just to have a little bit of encouragement for the people that I’m talking to,” Ellerbeck said.
Ellerbeck keeps track of all his story ideas and feels that the concepts that stick with him are the ones that are worth writing. “Streetlights” was one concept that came to fruition from that long list. Currently, Ellerbeck has no plans to write about medical health issues but wants to continue exploring through research.
“I think it’d be interesting to write more about different medical conditions in the future,”
Ellerbeck said. “Right now, I don’t know what that looks like since this is more of just a very different genre for me, writing medical fiction. It was taking a shot in the dark and seeing where it led me. So it’s definitely something I want to keep exploring in the future. But you never know, I might be led to write something else.”
In the future, Ellerbeck said it’s possible he will move to children’s stories because he thinks it would be fun to work with an illustrator and write fun stories to diversify the things he publishes. Although he does well with chapter books, Ellerbeck said other authors also write different kinds of books on the side for kids and teens if that’s not their main audience.
“I think the biggest thing is just diversifying who I am as an author and who I’m writing to, because there are a lot of different kinds of readers out there of different age groups. And I just find it interesting and inspiring how authors can cater to those different age groups by writing such different things for different people,” Ellerbeck said.
One of Ellerbeck’s goals for his children’s books is to encourage young readers to continue reading and writing, but to also face things that make them uncomfortable.
“That book will talk about overcoming fears, but also...you’re not doing it alone when you’re overcoming fears. You have people by your side, people who want to be by your side, and you can’t expect yourself to get any better without those pushes of encouragement from other people out,” Ellerbeck said.
All of Ellerbeck’s books are available on Amazon, including “Streetlights.” The sequel to “Streetlights” is tentatively planned to be published in September.
