The Yellow Jacket 2.16.17

INSID E: HOW WEATHER C A N A FFEC T STUDENTS' HEA LTH. SEE A3

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 | VOL. 94 NO. 14 | EST. 1924

THEYELLOWJACKET.ORG

@WUYELLOWJACKET

B R A D L E Y G R I N N E N: N O V. 5, 1995 - F E B. 12, 2017

Community remembers Grinnen as loving, hardworking

By TEGHAN SIMONTON Managing Editor

Bradley Grinnen came to Waynesburg in 2014 from Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, as one of the university’s most sought-after football recruits.

Brad spent three years on the team as a defensive lineman, proving to coaches and teammates alike that he could live up to those expectations.

Grinnen “Brad was clearly one of our most dedicated workers,” said Jason Falvo, assistant football coach and special teams coordinator. “He was relentless in his effort in football. He cared so much about his teammates and his team. It was special to watch—how he practiced, how he played and the joy that he had when he did it.”

Falvo, along with the other football coaches, the team and many others in the Waynesburg University community, was reflecting on Brad’s time on campus after he died unexpectedly in his Willison Hall room Sunday, Feb. 12.

In the small, close-knit community of Waynesburg University, many were hit hard by the news. A vigil was held the same evening of his death, in place of the regularly scheduled Upper Room service. Roberts Chapel was packed from wall to wall, and students took to standing in the aisles, filling Read about Grinnen's every inch of available space time as a Yellow Jacket to share their grief and offer football player on C1. comfort to one another. Additionally, Tuesday’s regular chapel service was dedicated to Brad’s memory and to the search for meaning in the tragedy.

This week, Brad’s coaches, among those closest to him, recalled his work ethic as remarkable, and above the call of the typical Division III athlete. He was someone, they said, who dedicated each ounce of his being into playing the sport GRINNEN >> A3

Thyreen: Bonner essential to mission

Program's arrival at WU helped redefine school's values, purpose

By KIMMI BASTON Executive Editor

Waynesburg University was the first school in Pennsylvania to become a part of the Bonner Scholars Program, nearly 25 years ago.

The program was relatively new when then-President Timothy Thyreen brought it to Waynesburg. It was also essential to turning the university in a new direction.

“My wife said it best that the early stages of the presidency were very difficult,” said Thyreen, now chancellor at the university. “We were pushing the boulder up the mountain, and it was really the Bonner Foundation that enabled us to do it.”

When Thyreen became

Photo courtesy of Waynesburg University

Then-President Timothy Thyreen gave Corella Bonner an honorary doctorate at Commencement in 1996 after building a partnership with her. president in 1990, he and his wife immediately decided they wanted to return the school to its founding mission, the early development of a purposeful life. The cor-

nerstone of that mission was service learning.

A year later, the Bonner Foundation contacted Thyreen and said, “We would like to lead with you.”

Thyreen met with two representatives of the foundation.

“I shared that vision of what we wanted Waynesburg education to be, and it was exactly the same mission of the Bonner Foundation,” said Thyreen. “Not only did they want students to do service, but it was equally important to [be] very rigorous academically and learn critical thinking skills so that service really does advance humankind.”

Thyreen said his approach to starting the Bonner Program was to have the entire institution involved. When the first class of Bonner Scholars entered the university, everyone from student life to academics was involved.

He also wanted the program to be at the heart of the campus, as opposed to other Bonner schools where their service office is on the outskirts or separate from BONNER >> A3

Senate searches for recycling solution

By ANTONIO PELULLO For the Yellow Jacket

Student Senate has begun the process of reinitiating the recycling program here at Waynesburg University, but they have been faced with a few challenges.

The recycling on Waynesburg campus is limited to academic buildings, and due to the limited pick up company, they cannot pick up the shed full of recycling on Waynesburg's campus, according to sophomore Senator AJ McClure.

There is only one company in Greene County that recycles, and it is a small business

that only works with small, local pick-ups and cannot handle a college campus load.

Green Arc is the only facility that could help, and as a small business, they are very limited.

“We are trying to work with them,” said McClure. “But they don’t always pick up the recycling [and] they don’t always get it in on time; we have two sheds on campus where reclining goes to stay until it gets picked up and they are filling up and it's not working out very well.”

There is a strong purpose for trying to clean up the campus and improve the wellbeing of the environment, and hopefully the world, McClure

said.

“Recycling is a really big part [for reigniting the program] and if you look at any major university around the country, they are doing so much more than we are to help preserve our environment and just make the world a better place,” he said.

There has also been the problem of finding out where missing bins go, because many have disappeared and Student Senate is looking into where they have gone.

“A lot of bins have been disappearing on campus, especially the ones in the dorms,” said McClure. “They have been found under [the]

staircase and in side closets.

We are trying to get them back out and we are trying to get them to be used again.”

There is a lot of support at Waynesburg to help get recycling on campus, said McClure, even though the Student Senate is having problems finding where and who can take the recycling out.

“I have support throughout the university from faculty and students and the library is always supportive of our initiative,” said McClure.

“It's not always the money we that we are looking at that is the problem, it's that we can't physically transport it in the county.”

Campus reacts to unexpected death

By KIMMI BASTON Executive Editor

The Waynesburg University campus community was shocked by the news of student Bradley Grinnen’s death on Sunday, Feb. 12.

Grinnen, a junior business management major, was pronounced dead shortly before 11:30 a.m.

Sunday, according to the Green County Coroner.

As information about the incident circulated and Grinnen’s name was released, identifying him as the victim, students took to social media to express their sorrow.

MOURN >> A3

Trust expectations greater in on-campus houses, officials say House scans by security lead to two alcohol violations

By JACOB MEYER Sports Editor

According to Waynesburg University officials, two oncampus houses were caught with alcohol by Public Safety officers over the weekend of Friday, Feb. 3.

“We had some incidents, which resulted in holding people accountable for violation of our university policy for alcohol on our campus,” said Mike Humiston, director of the Department of Public Safety.

Chris Hardie, assistant dean of Students Services, said of the two incidents, one was a “larger one” and the other was a “smaller one.”

“What I think raises it to a different level is, especially with an alcohol violation, is the amount of alcohol that is present and the amount of empty [alcohol containers] that were present,” Hardie said. “It just elevates it in our eyes.”

The consequences for alcohol violations are drawn out in the Code of Conduct.

The penalty may include an interview with a member of Student Services, attendance at an Alcohol Prevention Workshop, a monetary fine, community service and in severe cases, expulsion from the university.

For the violations at the on-campus houses, despite

the severity of the two cases being different, both parties, Hardie said, were still punished according to the Code of Conduct.

“The two instances were totally different in that the scope of the problem for one was pretty big for the one and then the other one was pretty isolated and the details were totally different,” Hardie said.

“We did handle them a little bit differently. But ultimately the alcohol policy is the same across campus. Both sets of students did have sanctions offered to them. It’s not like we let one go and just handled the other one. It’s pretty standard in our code of conduct how we handle them.

We stuck to that.”

The only difference for violations in an on-campus house versus in a dorm, Hardie said, is the violator in an on-campus house could be asked to return to a dorm after his or her violation.

“You are out there by yourself in the community, there’s less supervision, so we take into consideration that aspect. In a couple of cases over the past few years we have asked students to return back to campus,” Hardie said.

“That’s the only thing that’s different if you’re in an on campus house because there are RA’s, RD’s around. That trust had kind of been broken a little bit, so we want to keep it a little bit close,” For the 14 on-campus houses occupied by 65 Waynesburg University students this semester, the polices are the same as living in any dorm on campus, said ALCOHOL >> A3

WCCC BRANCH CLOSES AFTER 18 YEARS

CHEAT SHEET: NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR

Greene County's branch of Westmoreland County Community College will be closing after this semester ends. Read about the impact.

Michael Flynn resigns after shortest tenure for any national security advisor in American history. Find out why in this week's Cheat Sheet.

See B1

See B3

INSIDE

WRESTLING CHAMPIONS

BACK TO SCHOOL

The Waynesburg University wrestling team won the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship last weekend. Five wrestlers won individual titles in the victory.

Several non-traditional students attend Waynesburg University currently, pursuing other career options with further education after years in their field.

See C1

See D1

Campus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . A1–A4 Region. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B1, B4 Editorial/Op-ed. . . . . . . . B2 News Digest. . . . . . . . . . B3 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C1–C4 Arts & Life. . . . . . . . . . . . D1–D2 Entertainment . . . . . . . . D3–D4 Copyright © 2017 Waynesburg University 51 W. College St.Waynesburg, Pa. 15370

Page A2

February 16, 2017

Curriculum updates made Nursing presentations address to enhance Fiat Lux courses health problems in community

By KYLE DAWSON

Assistant Sports Editor

A group of students walks around campus, into and out of buildings with cameras out, a folder and list of questions and objectives in hand.

They have been tasked with completing several questions and finding several locations on campus as part of their Fiat Lux Scavenger Hunt, including several different areas of campus and buildings.

The group must stop and take photos as well as answer questions at each location in an attempt to acclimate them with the campus.

In the 2016-17 academic school year, it’s one of the slew of changes made to the Fiat Lux class at Waynesburg.

Fiat Lux is the equivalent of a first year seminar, as other schools refer to it, at Waynesburg University.

It’s a class in which freshmen learn what college is like and learn, in most cases, details about their respective institution, such as scheduling, library resources and more.

To those senior students watching the scavenger hunt happen, it’s not a common sight. It’s different. It’s almost weird.

It’s not what was involved when they were freshmen and enrolled in Fiat Lux. It’s not even the same to sophomores and juniors, who had the class more recently.

And the introduction of this scavenger hunt is not the only change Waynesburg University made to its Fiat Lux curriculum for 2016-17, let alone for the few years before that.

According to college catalogs across the board, first year seminars exist to help ease the transition for students as they make the radical change between high school and higher education.

The typical freshman seminar also assists students in learning about university policies, organizations, and allows students to garner areas of interest.

The transition can be tough for students and it can be tough too, to create a program that helps to ease that transition. *** The addition of the scavenger hunt is one of the few changes made to this year’s curriculum, after changes having been made each year since the 2013-14 academic year.

For the most part, they have been minor changes, such as changing the group experience current seniors had to a service project.

There were also small changes made to the everyday curriculum.

Its most recent changes, however, are the most obvious.

One of the newer ones is the introduction of the scavenger hunt, as well as a new bit to the curriculum involving financial literacy.

The thing these changes have in common, according to Dr. Marie Leichliter-Krause, associate dean for first-year programs at Waynesburg University, is they are all part of the effort to relate students to campus, and transition them into the college experience. “[The purpose behind the scavenger hunt is] we are trying to make sure the students are more quickly acclimated to the campus. We wanted to make sure those transfer students in the spring had the same experiences students coming in the summer had with orientation,” said Leichliter-Krause. “We want to make sure students are getting acclimated and learning about the school and its resources.”

Another aspect of a typical first-year program is for the institution to teach students about purpose, its mission and university policies.

“We want them to immerse themselves into the mission of ‘Faith, Learning and Service,’” said LeichliterKrause. “We still want them to learn about developing effective strategies for studying and time management, but we’re also trying to start getting students to look at the bigger picture items too.”

According to LeichliterKrause, those “bigger picture items” involve things like visiting the writing center, an explanation of why general education classes matter, asking poignant questions and more.

A section on financial literacy was added in response to feedback from focus groups of students in response to questions on how to improve the curriculum and experience of the class.

“I couldn’t tell you how many students asked for that,” said Leichliter-Krause.

“I had students tell me they didn’t know how to write a check and things like that.

We talk about financial literacy that goes beyond the basics of just writing a check to things like protecting your identity.”

That part of the syllabus now sets Waynesburg’s program apart from some other first-year seminars such as the ones at Robert Morris University, Washington & Jefferson College and others.

In fact, Waynesburg’s program, when taught to the syllabus and curriculum, covers just as much and in some cases more than similar institutions in the region.

According to Waynesburg’s universal syllabus for the Fiat Lux class, topics that are supposed to be covered include study skills and test CHANGES >> A4

Topics drawn from students' research of campus issues

By TEGHAN SIMONTON Managing Editor

Nurses have a responsibility to care for not only the ill and hospital-bound, but the healthy, said Melany Chrash, assistant professor of nursing.

"The goal of my class is to teach students that we're not just teaching sick people about being healthy; we've go to get the healthy well," said Chrash. "And we want to keep them healthy. So itís a lot about nursesí need to market health and wellness.î Chrash teaches Clinical Prevention and Population Health, which she said focuses on improving overall campus health. In order to do this, students in the class are required to give specific presentations both to the campus community and to audiences outside of campus.

Nursing students have been seen all over campus for the past several weeks, giving presentations to passing students about a variety of topics. Chrash encouraged all students on campus to participate in the wellness presentations and the campus Health Fair, and said that participants can be entered into a raffle to win a FitBit. "With clinical prevention, one of the things weíre trying to do is we want to look at campus as a whole, because we want to look at the population and look at common health needs," she said.

Chrash said that students spend an entire semester using Campus Health Assessment Tools (CHAT) to determine what wellness issues Waynesburg students struggle with the most. Then,

Photo courtesy of Melany Chrash

Senior nursing majors Emily Latimer, Alayna Astuto and Kaitlyn Hoskins gave a presentation in Stover Thursday, Feb. 9, called "Racing Heart," describing the effects of excessive caffeine. in the following semester, the students pair up into groups and design presentations for their assigned topics.

"It's all based on what this campus needs," said Chrash.

Some of the key wellness issues that were identified for this semester include the importance of flu shots and immunizations, the effects of sugar consumption on the development of diabetes, getting enough sleep, eye health and the effects of caffeine on heart health.

According to Chrash, all of these topics, and others, are based off of the needs and habits of Waynesburg students, based off of the research that students did in the previous semester, and are done to prepare the student body for the campus health fair later in the semester.

"What weíre trying to do is educate the campus on a variety of different wellness topics," said Chrash. "We just donít want to wait for the Health Fair."

Chrash said these presentations are not just impor-

tant to prepare students for the Health Fair, but to learn more about what impacts their health, and to fulfill the universityís mission.

"Being a Christian institution, our bodies are supposed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit," she said. "What are we doing to maintain that?"

Chrash's main obstacle in fulfilling her role is encouraging student nursess to be proactive and be confident when presenting. She said that the practice they receive now through the presentations will give them valuable experience for their careers as Registered Nurses (RN).

"It also provides the students with experience in terms of teaching their patients," she said. "One of the things I do is I station students out there, and I will literally have to push them outside their comfort zones to talk to people. It's easy to talk to somebody one on one, but when you're trying to sell "health" to people who are already what they consider "healthy," it's a lot more difficult."

Students confront topic of body image Stover lectures help

By GRACE HUTCHISON Staff Writer

At noon Feb. 3, Peer Educators gave a presentation on body image and finding selfconfidence in today's social media-driven society.

The presenters, Sydney Flick, a junior criminal justice and sociology major, and Renee Belisky, a senior psychology major with minors in child development and selfdevelopment, asked for the opportunity to present.

"A lot of people are putting more and more emphasis on what they look like, so Peer Ed felt that it was necessary to cover this topic," Flick said.

The presentation, which took place on the third floor of Stover, began with images of models being projected onto a screen. Those in attendance were encouraged to shout the first thing that came to mind when viewing the pictures. "Skinny," "muscular" and "beautiful" were among the most common.

After a few rounds of this, the

Grace Hutchison, Yellow Jacket

Peer Educators led a conversation on the importance and complexity of body image Feb. 3. presenters showed pictures of two average-looking people who were a normal weight.

To the normal images, there was little reaction from the crowd. The experiment was to illustrate their key point that people, particularly women, feel disgust toward themselves, though their bodies

are perfectly normal.

The presentation featured three videos, which ranged in content from self-love, to skinny-shaming, to male selfconfidence issues. A large portion of the presentation was devoted to discussing skinny-shaming, which is when someone is bullied for

being too skinny in someone else's eyes.

"Radical diets are pushed so that people can lose more weight, but at the same time, others are being shamed for being too skinny," Flick said.

Scattered about the presentation were facts about Americans, particularly young people, and their feelings toward their bodies.

"I did not realize how prevalent the issue was before seeing the numbers; it helped put things in perspective for me," Belisky said.

After the presentation, there was an opportunity for students and faculty to share thoughts and personal experiences. There was also discussed of how social media can perpetuate insecurities.

"Body image is something that impacts everyone at some point, or people know of someone who struggles with how they feel about themselves," Belisky said. "We are so emerged in technology which is only impacting how we see ourselves."

Service helps students gain perspective

By HOLLY HENDERSHOT For the Yellow Jacket

World Vision is a Christian organization that assists communities struggling with poverty around the world.

Waynesburg University students volunteered with the program last Saturday, Feb. 11.

Students worked alongside other volunteers to sort donated clothing into categories and then fold and package them for transport to families who need them.

Volunteering does not only impact those who are receiving the packages. Students who volunteer are impacted

both academically and spiritually by using their time to serve the needy.

Kelley Hardie, assistant dean of Student Services and director of the Bonner Program, and Adrienne Tharp, coordinator for the Bonner Program, organize the service days at Waynesburg University. "[Tharp] and I strive very hard to make that connection between academics, what students are passionate about and service experiences," said Hardie. "It gives students the opportunity to use what they are learning inside of the classroom, outside of the classroom for a great cause.

What better way to use your gifts and your skills to benefit others?"

Tharp agrees that service should relate to studentsí majors.

"Through the opportunities, [students] are able to participate in service that relates closely to their majors or their future career goals," Tharp said.

Junior Moesha Godwin, a Bonner Scholar who attended the Saturday service day, said she discovered what she wanted to major in through serving in the Bonner Program. Godwin found out how much she loved working with kids and switched

her major to psychology in her freshman year.

Serving has allowed Godwin to be more humble and open minded.

"It has really allowed me to look at various circumstances differently," said Godwin.

"We can have this closed perception of what people may be struggling with, and by being a servant and helping others, you realize that and break down the stereotypes and actually get to know people."

Sophomore and Bonner Scholar Paul Hicks, who served at World Vision as SERVICE >> A4

students explore majors' career paths

By MITCHELL KENDRA Copy Editor

The Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership is preparing for two guest speakers in the coming weeks.

Monday, Feb. 20, Chris Forde, a senior category manager at Giant Eagle, will be on campus speaking to students. His lecture, titled “The New Frontiers in Consumer Research and Microeconomics,” will provide those in attendance with insight on the application of economics in the work field.

Dr. Larry Stratton, director of the Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leadership, said that Forde’s job is to “take the guess-work out of pricing for a major retailer,” and he is tasked “with using the latest in consumer research technology and the discipline of microeconomics to strengthen the competitive edge of Giant Eagle.”

Stratton said that he knew Forde would be a valuable speaker for Waynesburg students as soon as they met.

“I met him at a Leadership Pittsburgh event a year ago, a reception in Pittsburgh, and as I was teaching economics [that semester] I thought ‘Huh, I think it’s very important for students to meet someone who uses what they are learning in class on a dayto-day basis for their business career.’”

Stratton hopes Forde is able to teach students that the application of economics in the work force isn’t as simple as it seems.

“It’s one thing, in an economics course, to be a stu-

dent of economics and to teach economics and to say ‘Oh the price ends up being the intersection of the supply curve and the demand curve, that’s how you know what to set it at,’” said Stratton. “Well it’s harder than that in the real world because no one draws these curves in the sky for you: it happens through trial and error and the application of science.”

“And I’m hoping, as I’m teaching more economics courses, that this will be [an event every semester]: that there will be some person from the business world discussing the application of the study of economics,” Stratton said.

Last semester Stratton brought a speaker from Nobel Energy to discuss pricing in the energy market; this semester Forde will provide his insight on economics in the grocery market to Waynesburg students.

The Stover scholars will be hosting Forde in the CRED building at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 20.

The second speaker that Stratton is bringing to campus will be Judge Thomas Gladden, a senior judge in the court of common pleas in Pennsylvania, in Washington County, and has served on the bench for many years.

Gladden will engage in a conversation with students on the topic of law school.

Stratton has brought in different individuals over the last couple semesters who have attended law school and have been in the field for several years. His aim is to give students interested in attending STOVER >> A4

February 16, 2017

Page A3

Self-care recommended during winter to prevent sickness During temp changes, nurse says hygiene, sleep essential

By BRANDON WILLIAMS For the Yellow Jacket

For most Americans, one of the first things they do upon waking up is check the weather.

Whether this is via Twitter, the morning news or

HIGH TEMPERATURES DURING THE LAST TWO WEEKS (PITTSBURGH) (F°)

60 50 40 30 (FEB)

1

2

3

4

listening on the radio, one’s decisions for the day including clothing and activities are based on the weather conditions.

As of late, in south-

5

6

7

8

9

10

western Pennsylvania, the weather has fluctuated on a daily basis. From Jan. 31 to Feb. 9 the lowest temperature was 28 degrees Fahrenheit. The highest

11

12

13

14

temperature, recorded in the same span, was 66 degrees, according to U.S Climate Data.

With all the weather change also comes change

in the way our bodies feel as well.

“Studies find that changes in the barometric pressure can causes headaches, arthritic joint pain and joint sensitivity,” said Jennifer Shiring, nurse director of Student Health Services at Waynesburg University.

To stay healthy during this time, Shiring offered advice to students on how to handle such dramatic weather fluctuations.

“Students can keep their

immune systems healthy by getting sleep, eating a healthy, balanced diet and frequent hand washing,” said Shiring.

This is key to students making it through the semester staying out of bed and in the classroom.

As Shiring attests, it can be easy for students to lose track of their health and fall into the trap of getting sick when the weather changes so often.

CHANGES >> A4

Alcohol: Houses held Bonner: WU a leader in service learning in 90s to different standards Continued from A1

Continued from A1

Humiston.

Humiston said inspections and access of the on-campus houses fall under the same policy in the Code of Conduct as the dorms, as well.

“The university reserves the right of Resident Directors, Maintenance and Public Safety staff, and other authorized representatives to enter the room premises at any time for the purpose of supervising conditions regarding maintenance, repair, damage, health, safety, compliance with university policies, or federal, state and borough laws,” states the Code of Conduct. “Additionally, the university reserves the right to inspect all residence halls rooms to insure compliance of rules, regulations and laws, whether or not the occupants are present at the time of inspection. All rooms will be inspected at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring breaks.”

DoPS officers conduct walkthroughs of the dorms on campus once or twice a shift, Humiston said, but monitoring the on-campus houses pose a different challenge due to having 14 of them and the locations of them being all over the outskirts of the college. This leads to the on-campus houses being checked much less than the dorms on campus.

Humiston said the decision for Public Safety officers to inspect on-campus houses is “more random” than planned and relates to information provided to Public Safety.

“Security will act on an investigation, a lot of times it’s by an anonymous call or maybe it’s a Res Life member who has heard it or seen it, so they notify security who will investigate,” Humiston said. “Most of the information we get is credible, so we hold that [accused] person or those persons accountable for a violation of our alcohol policy.”

Humiston said initially each member of the house will be responsible for the alcohol in the house, but “typically what happens in a multi-living setting, someone takes ownership of it,” Humiston said.

One reason, Hardie said, the on-campus houses are inspected less is due to “trust” between Residence Life and the students in the houses.

“You go through a pretty lengthy process to apply for that house and you go through a committee, an impartial committee that looks at GPA, discipline, credits earned, those types of things,” Hardie said. “The trust level is really high for those kinds of students. We wouldn’t put you in there if we didn’t trust you. We don’t feel like there needs to be mandatory walkthroughs.”

acampus.

When Stover Campus Center was built in 1998, Thyreen intentionally placed the Center for Service Leadership right next to the first floor entrance.

“I wanted students to know that service to others was a very important part of a Waynesburg education,” said Thyreen.

At some point during the early years of Thyreen’s presidency, a consultant came to Waynesburg University and told Thyreen that if he could accomplish what he aimed to do in terms of his vision for the institution, it would influence all of higher education.

“It really did do that,” said Thyreen.

According to Thyreen, ‘service learning’ wasn’t politically c or re c t t o talk about in the 1990s.

Other universities questioned Wa y n e s burg’s policy of giving academic credit f o r service learning classes, and questioned the value of the Bonner program.

But Thyreen continued to give speeches at various

venues about Bonner and Waynesburg’s service learning initiatives, and soon, other colleges were calling the university, asking about the Bonner Program.

Thyreen wasn’t worried about other schools “copying” Waynesburg’s service model. In fact, he hoped they would, so that service learning would become important across higher education.

“I want schools to be excited about service learning,” he said. “That will change the language of higher education and students will be looking for it.”

Today, service learning has taken off at colleges around the country, and it continues to be embedded in the mission and operations of Waynesburg University.

“The Bonner Program continues to play a very integral and vibrant role in how this university moves forward, because it helps us to stay identified with one of the touchstones of our mission,” s ai d c u r re nt President Douglas Lee. Lee has had the opportunity to interact with many Bonner Scholars during his years as a trustee and since the beginning of his presidency.

Photo courtesy of Waynesburg University

Then-President Timothy Thyreen, here with Mrs. Bonner of the Bonner Foundation, brought the Bonner Program to Waynesburg in the early 1990s.

Those interactions have shown him that the Bonner Program has truly transformed the campus and surrounding area.

“The stories that I hear about the ways our students are making a difference in all the ways that the Bonners serve in churches, in the after-school tutoring programs – they really have had such a positive impact on the community,” said Lee. Just as Thyreen attests, Lee said Waynesburg was

a leader in service learning when the Bonner Program was established here, and the university continues to be a leader today, as the program approaches its 25th anniversary.

With those 25 years of Bonner service gone by, Thyreen believes the program is still essential to the university, and the missions of the Bonner Foundation and university are too intertwined to have it any other way.

Grinnen: Student's dedication showed across sports, classes and friendships Mourn: In wake of sudden death, students lean on one another

Continued from A1

right—the way it was meant to be played.

“He’s an old-school football player,” said defensive coordinator Scott Venick. “It mattered to him—one of the hardest-working kids we had here in my 11 years working here and a great team player as well.”

Venick said that the other members of the football team had immense respect for Brad, voting him as a captain 10 weeks in a row during the football season this past Fall.

In wake of his passing, Brad's teammates recalled that he stood out among them.

“He was very determined and self-motivated,” said Kevin Thacker, junior business management major, who met Brad before the start of their freshman year. “Hardworking, for sure. I mean, a lot of people are hardworking, but he was definitely like one of the [greatest at] working hard among people.”

What Brad’s teammates said they think about most, though, aside from his work ethic, was his heart. Now that he’s gone, they said they think about the little pieces of his persona—his irrational and severe fear of dogs of all sizes, his genuine kindness and his jokey personality. He was, they said, far more than what he appeared on the outside.

“That’s just how he was,” said James Roundtree, junior athletic training major and defensive end on the football team. “Brad looks like Tarzan; he’s a freaking giant.

But he had a heart of gold.

Man, he was the nicest dude,

Continued from A1

do anything for anybody. He walked around all [angry], hard on the outside, but dude was just soft—just a real nice guy, kind-hearted. I mean, everyone looked at Brad and would be scared, but once you knew him and talked to him—once he opens his mouth and stuff, he’s just a great dude. Just a life of everything man.”

Brad has always been this way, according to a childhood friend from Ellwood City, Jamison Stewart, 21.

Stewart met Brad back in seventh grade, sitting next to him in choir class, and continued to get to know him throughout high school.

Stewart said Brad made every class “10 times better” just by being around.

“He was such a nice guy, so easy to get along with,” said Stewart. “I hope people remember him as the genuinely nice guy he was, and how much people loved him. Just a good person all around.”

Brad’s instructors at Waynesburg saw that liveliness and openness as well.

Neeley Shaw, instructor of business, appreciated what Brad’s personality brought to the classes he had with her.

“He just had that outgoing personality that you could

just really get along with and you could just have those kind of conversations that would liven up the classroom with him,” said Shaw. “He was one of those kind of guys that you were able to talk to and he always had something to contribute.”

Shaw said that Brad’s work ethic was definitely noticeable off the field, and she was impressed by him time and time again. It’s one of the reasons that make his death all the more painful, she said.

“I knew he would be one of those guys that would be successful,” said Shaw. “You get that feeling about some of your students and I knew he would be one of those guys that would be successful in the business world no matter what it was that he was going to do. He would find a way to persevere through everything. And I think I’ll just remember him as that big goofy guy that was always in the back of my classroom.

He could always make you laugh.”

Among the football team and the campus community, Brad’s absence is notable and agonizing this week, as the shock of the news Sunday gave way to viewings and funeral services mid-week.

Friends, teammates, faculty and coaching staff have expressed their heartache at the loss of Brad from the Waynesburg community.

“He loved his family,” said Falvo. “He loved his friends.

He loved his teammates. He was full of life and joy every time I was around him. He was dedicated to what his purpose was here in terms of getting his education and playing a great sport. He was a guy that would do anything for you…Ultimately, I’m going to miss him—miss the life that he brought to the football team and to the family.”

Head Football Coach Rick Shepas, said that Brad will forever have a legacy at Waynesburg “as one of the best defensive football players that we’ve had here.”

Shepas said he appreciated the way Brad played the game, but to him, Brad was more than just another athlete. The time he spent with Brad, Shepas said, is something he will always cherish.

“I just think it was an honor.”

Kimmi Baston, Shon Meade, Luke Goodling and Jacob Meyer contributed to this story.

Across Twitter and Facebook, Grinnen’s friends and classmates, former Waynesburg students and others began using the hashtag “#waynesburgstrong” in posts about him.

Some expressed their sadness at his death and the fond memories of him they would keep; others simply encouraged the campus to love one another and take nothing for granted.

Sunday evening, a prayer vigil was held in place of the regularly scheduled Upper Room ser vice.

Hundreds of students, staff and faculty filled Roberts Chapel, some arriving to pray as early as a half hour beforehand. With every seat filled, the Chapel was a common space where students mourned, worshipped, cried and leaned on one another.

The Rev. Jim Tinnemeyer, university chaplain and vice president for Student Services, spoke to the student body, as did Assistant Chaplain Josh Sumpter and the Rev. Donald Wilson, university trustee.

Tinnemeyer strongly encouraged all students to reach out to resources on campus should they

need to talk about anything. This sentiment was echoed by Campus Ministries throughout the week.

“We want to join the efforts of the Counseling Center to be a listening ear for our students, to be there to pray with our students, to dive into Scripture with students who have questions, but ultimately just to be available,” said Sumpter.

The university counselors have been available to students since Sunday afternoon and will continue to serve as resources.

The Tuesday Chapel service was a second opportunity for students to mourn in community. Tinnemeyer urged the campus to turn to their faith in this time of grief.

“We may never get over the grief that we feel in life, but we will get through it, we will, we will by leaning on our faith in Christ,” said Tinnemeyer. “Each of us have a choice, I think, to believe this, to believe that God is with us. I know it is the only way you are going to get through it. God is with you.”

Students can contact the Counseling Center at 724852-3225.

Luke Goodling contributed to this article.

Page A4

February 16, 2017

Students plan academic symposium

By ANDREW SLOBODA For the Yellow Jacket

The American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Forensic Science Club (FSC) have teamed up to create a symposium series, to help students learn more about their future.

Brandon Bosley, President of the FSC and Vice President of the ACS, said that the freshmen and sophomores do not often get a chance to have class with some of the teachers involved, so the idea is for them to get to know them more.

“It’s a tech talk with the professors to showcase what they have done and attempt to get students interested in the same thing,” said Bosley.

Bosley added that there has been a larger number of incoming freshmen and

sophomores the past few years, making it more difficult for the teachers to meet all the students.

Bosley also added that many of the Chemistry and Forensic Science faculty is relatively new and teach mainly upper class students.

As a result, several will not get the chance to teach the current underclassmen until their third or fourth year here.

The symposium is unique because of the students’ involvement in organizing it, said Dr. Evonne Bauldauff, chairperson for the Chemistry and Forensic Science Department. In doing so, chemistry and forensic science students can choose the events and speakers that will most benefit their own careers.

“The symposium series

will be different because it is planned by students with specific attention to their major [forensic science and chemistry],” said Bauldauff.

“Certainly other students could benefit from them, but the information is particularly relevant to those careers.”

However, Dr. Fletcher, assistant professor of chemistry, also encourages nonchemistry and forensic science students to attend as well, because they might find out that they love science.

The only event that has been scheduled so far is the “Introduction to Faculty” night April 6.

Fletcher was asked to speak at the event. Fletcher said that she plans to speak about her life in graduate school and the research that she has done, as well as talk about her personal life and

family.

The second event of the series entails two county drug analysts visiting the university and speaking with students about the field. The third event, which has not been fully planned yet, has a possibility of being a skype session with a Waynesburg alumnus who is in graduate school. This would allow students to ask questions about graduate school and the process they have to go through.

This event may also include the students who have completed their research and provide them a platform for which to show it.

“If you are interested in graduate school it’s important to hear stories and tips about it as well as get help about applying and the importance of your undergraduate research,” said Fletcher.

Service: Lives changed by a mission to serve Continued from A2

well, has also been impacted through serving.

"I've never felt more blessed to have these opportunities to serve," said Hicks. He added that serving through the Bonner program, he has gained many ideas for how he could use his skills as a communications major in service outside of college.

"It's been a wonderful experience and it's really affected where I want to work and how I want to work in the future," Hicks said.

Sophomore Nick Lies, who often volunteers his time to serve, has also experienced that connection between

service with both academics and faith. Lies wants to be a missionary after graduation and said service gives him the preparation and experience that he needs to do that.

"If you're an English major," Lies explained, "[you can write] testimonials from different people in different countries in order to promote and advertise. If you're a business major, business skills are required so they know where the donations go; what percent of money goes where and what percent goes to the actual organization."

The Center for Service Leadership office is always open for students who have questions about becoming more involved in service at Waynesburg University.

Weather: Health issues arise from dramatic changes in the weather

Continued from A1

The frequent weather and temperature changes are a theme that is going to continue throughout

“Students can keep their immune systems healthy by getting sleep, eating a healthy, balanced diet and frequent hand washing.”

JENNIFER SHIRING

Director, Student Health Services Tyler Wolfe, Yellow Jacket

the years in southwestern Pennsylvania, according to Glenn Smith, professor of meteorology at Waynesburg University.

“The climate is ever-

Waynesburg University has seen drastic changes in the weather in the time span of only a few days. These rapid changes in temperature, university health workers say, can be detrimental to student health and wellness. changing with the path the earth moves around the

sun,” said Smith.

So is climate change to

blame for these weather changes? Not exactly. The

climate is ever-changing and with that the weather

will change as well but there is also another reason for the weather to be so out of character.

If a student at Waynesburg University does in fact get sick, there are several things that can be done to take care of the problem.

Students can visit Student Health Services located on the ground floor of the Wiley Armory during office hours, Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Students can also go to the Med Express located in Greene Plaza; they are open 7 days a week from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The we at her is constantly changing and will continue to do so for years to come. However, there are things students can do to keep from getting sick during such temperature fluctuations.

Stover: Changes: University continues to update freshman course Guest speakers give career advice Continued from A2

Continued from A2

law school a glimpse into their speaker’s personal experiences.

“It’s part of an ongoing discussion with lawyers and judges so that students who are interested in law might hear more about the practice of law from distinguished practitioners,” he said.

Gladden has several ties with the university. According to Stratton, Gladden is the judge that Provost Dr. Dana Baer clerked with after law school and he has visited campus once, a couple of years ago, but Stratton said he met Gladden after sitting behind him in church.

The Stover scholars will be hosting Gladden in the third floor of the Stover Center at noon Wednesday, Feb. 22. He said lunch will be provided for all students in attendance.

Stratton commented on the opportunity students have to hear from successful people in both the economic and law fields through these guest speakers.

“It’s so students can figure out their own paths: to learn about different careers, to connect with their learning in the classroom with the real world out there,” he said. “It’s one thing to have a vague idea of ‘I want to study business’ or ‘I want to go to law school,’ but [it’s another thing] to know those who actually do it. There’s always the benefit of having these people meet Waynesburg students, which is always an enjoyable experience for them, I do believe.”

taking tips, scheduling and advising, planning ahead for a career, critical thinking, faith in learning and time and stress managemen.

Waynesburg students are also required to write a “Faith and Learning” paper and visit the Writing Center on campus to, according to Leichliter-Krause, “make those types of connections early” to succeed further down the road as students in higher education.

“We want students to still be getting a very high-impact learning experience,” said Leichliter-Krause. “So of course we want them to learn about the university, develop effective strategies for time and stress management and do all of those things. We know that not every student needs all of the resources but we want them to know they are there.”

Classes also spend time discussing why general education courses exist and how they can tailor their general education to best suit their career goals and future plans.

In the end, each professor is different, and each class is different, according to Leichliter-Krause, which makes it even more important “to find a system that works but to allow classes to be unique.” *** Waynesburg, in an attempt to create that “solid transitional experience,” has attempted to tailor the class to the idea of each class being unique.

“We have created that structured set of skills, knowledges and abilities we want our students to leave with. We ask that every teacher cover those in class, but every freshman experi-

ence class is unique,” said Leichliter-Krause. “We want our instructors to have some flexibility to tailor the course to the needs of the students.

As long as he or she is meeting the universal objectives, they can tailor it to how they need to.”

Waynesburg University, according to LeichliterKrause, has striven to create a very hands-on program.

The class requires students to attend a Chapel service and other events.

It is also hands-on in discussion during class. It is interactive.

“My class was vocal in the respect that we discussed more than we listened,” said Ian Bish, junior nursing major. “We got out of the classroom a lot. I had Coach [Sam] Jones, [the women’s basketball coach], so we went to the basketball games as a class, the fall play and chapel.”

Bish said he benefitted greatly from the course and, for the most part, the class covered everything he would’ve liked to get out of it.

“I made some friends in Fiat Lux that I’m still good friends with,” said Bish. “The class as a freshman experience is beneficial to students trying to make friends and definitely helped to ease the transition into college.”

Bish isn’t the only one who agreed the class is a benefit.

“I have Joan Brichetti for Fiat Lux and we covered a lot including proper etiquette in the workplace and in school,” said Michael Cappelli, a freshman nursing major.

“Matt Stokan, [director of financial aid], came in and talked to us about financial aid, which was beneficial. We also talked about scheduling and the different ways we can go about doing it.”

Cappelli highlighted a service project to Rolling Meadows Nursing Home as

well as a class trip to chapel as the way his Fiat Lux class got hands on.

“I think I’ve benefitted from it,” said Cappelli. “[Fiat Lux] helped me learn about the university and I was able to meet other freshmen who I could relate to.”

That, Leichliter-Krause said, is the goal.

“The purpose of a first year experience is complex,” said Leichliter-Krause. “Here they have a young, peer mentor who they have a relationship with. This kind of class lets them get an experience they don’t get in your typical class setting. That’s why we put so much time into it.” ***

Each first-year program is different. Some, like at Robert Morris, go further in depth on topics like sexual assault, drug and alcohol use and effects, and more, while some, such as W&J, use the class as an introduction to liberal arts and learning skills.

Other schools do not have a program for first-year students.

Those that do are different but all with the same goal in mind: creating a program to ease that transition and give students an opportunity to be in a different type of class.

“Recent studies show students that go to schools that have these first-year programs are more satisfied with their college experience,” said Leichliter-Krause.

“Students at those schools get higher grades. They are shown, in those studies, to be better in other courses because of the experience they had in the first-year seminar.”

In a 2013 survey conducted by the National Resource Center for First Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University

of South Carolina, 61.7% of responding institutions reported having a first-year seminar.

The survey also reported the top three objectives reported by survey respondents with first-year seminar programs, as “develop a connection with the institution, provide orientation to campus resources and services and develop academic skills.”

Waynesburg, according to Leichliter-Krause, incorporates those goals into the Fiat Lux curriculum.

Waynesburg isn’t the only school whose students benefit from the first-year program.

At Robert Morris University, the First Year Studies Program discusses alcohol and drug use, sexual assault and other deep topics to go along with the basic academic skills such as time management, financial aid and college living.

“On a scale of one to 10 with 10 being the most beneficial, I’d say I’m around a seven or eight,” said Ian Kist, a junior communications major at RMU. “I was in it for a whole semester while others take it for eight weeks.

They’ve recently made it longer for most students, but there is a well-established program here that is very beneficial.”

Other students don’t have the program at their school, and some say they wish they did.

“We don’t have a freshman experience course at Clarion,” said Nicole Lentz, a senior education major.

“I wish we did. I hear about friends who had it at other schools that benefitted greatly from it and about how it helped their transition into college. Things like time and stress management, financial literacy and other things would’ve been nice to be taught in a class setting.”

Some schools similar to Waynesburg that do not offer a first-year program include Geneva College, Grove City College and Thiel College. ***

Like the new scavenger hunt at Waynesburg is a game to learn about the university, finding the right formula to create the best experience, is the game all colleges and higher institutions play. Higher administrators acknowledge it.

“The support we have is great,” said LeichliterKrause. “All universities are different in the way they structure their curriculum so it depends on how much you value the course. Everyone gives feedback to see what is working and what isn’t.”

Change can be good when it is effective change, according to Leichliter-Krause.

“We’ve put so much into this program because we feel it is extremely important,” she said. “Fiat Lux is a course that is there to build, grow and continue relationships that drives who we are at Waynesburg. They set us apart. We have a set of faculty who spends so much time and are willing to go above and beyond to have our students succeed.”

It’s as if Waynesburg is in the middle of its own scavenger hunt. A hunt towards creating the best freshman experience possible, according to Leichliter-Krause.

“We want to create the best program out there,” said Leichliter-Krause.

She said Waynesburg University and its faculty is ready to make that next move to better the program.

Meanwhile, the students, still with folders and instructions in hand, with cameras ready to click, make their next move.

And the cycle continues.

SECTION B

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 | WAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY | THEYELLOWJACKET.ORG

Local man's unexpected path leads to pulpit Mason-Dixon Line

After nearly 40 years of ministry, Rexrode reflects on life's journey

Rexrode at 16 years old

By CODY YANKULIC Editorial Assistant

He stands in light brown cowboy boots and a gray suit hangs from his shoulders.

As he stands behind the pulpit, he speaks with a loud tone and brings forth a message. A normal Sunday morning for Dale Rexrode, but at one point, it was anything but routine.

1950s rural Appalachia; Rexrode is a small child and his home is a tiny house at the bottom of a hill. Running water was yet to make its way to the area, and the only source of fresh water available was a spring that lay 1,000 yards from the house. Outhouses adorned the landscape.

"It was kind of a poor life," said Rexrode.

There was no television in the home, and when running water made it to the tiny town of Farmington, Pennsylvania, it was by the sweat and brow of those

who inhabited it.

"Daddy had dug a well," said Rexrode.

"It was eight feet in diameter and 20 feet deep."

Rexrode's father, Nicholas, was a logger, the wood he cut was used in the coal mines that dotted half of Fayette County. Rexrode, one of three siblings, didnít have the same toys as some parts of 1950s America.

"I didn't have a bicycle 'til I was 14 years old," said Rexrode. "The spokes were loose on it and the wheels would wobble as you went down the road, but I was proud of that."

His family was low-income and supplemented the earnings with government surplus food. Cans of ham, flour and sugar made their way through his door every month, nothing out of the usual.

"That style of living was just normal to us," said Rexrode. "We didn't know any

other style."

Flash forward several years. Now a young man, Rexrode begins to hang out with friends who didnít go to church like he did.

"I wanted to mix in with them," said Rexrode.

After setting up an army tent in the woods, he and his friends would stay the weekends in the tent, away from his parents. Soon, beer began to be brought in and he found himself slipping away from the values he was raised with.

"About every weekend, they were drinking," said Rexrode. "Everyone drank, so you drank with them.î His lifestyle was changing. Drinking is something his parents did not approve of, especially out of a 15-year-old young man.

"It separated us," said Rexrode.

Unknown to him, the activity didnít go unnoticed by his parents. Soon, a confrontation would come.

"One day he [Rexrode's father] came up and he told me, 'I know what you're doing up here,'" said Rexrode. "He said, 'You've got to make your own decisions; REXRODE >> B4

Natalie Johnston, Yellow Jacket

COFFEE SHOP REACHES OUT TO STUDENTS AFTER CAMPUS DEATH

With a traumatic weekend in tow, Carlisle's Coffee and Sandwiches reached out to students via social media offering them a place to cope by enjoying later hours and free coffee. The post on Facebook read, "The coffee shop will stay open until 10 p.m. this evening for college students who would like a place to be together. Coffee will be free of charge. Please pray for our students."

celebration hosted by Genealogical Society

By ANTONIO PELULLO Staff Writer

The Mason-Dixon line is not just about the Civil War; it is about the travel of two men through Pennsylvania determining state lines. Those men were John Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, the historic establishers of the Mason-Dixon Line.

After 250 years, these two men and the MasonDixon Line are still being celebrated in Greene County today. For the 250th anniversary, former Post-Gazette editor Pete Zapadka, who views himself today as an amateur astronomer and geologist, was invited by the Cornerstone Genealogical Society to host the celebration.

Zapadka said these celebrations were inspired by the 2003 popularity of the Lewis and Clark Louisiana Purchase anniversary.

“I think it was in 2003, where there were big festivals for Lewis and Clark,” said Zapadka. “Well what about Mason and Dixon?

The shape of Pennsylvania and many other states would not be what they are without Mason and Dixon.”

The Cornerstone Genealogical Society is looking for more donations that are tax-deductible and looking for volunteers for the “Walk in the Footsteps of History” event in October.

The event will be a reenactment of when Mason and Dixon met with Chief Catfish for native Americans to help guide Mason and Dixon.

The Cornerstone Genealogical Society hosted Zapadka in what was Greene County’s first courthouse before the brick courthouse on High Street was built.

Mason and Dixon used as-

tronomy to find their way across Pennsylvania and had many ways to mark the actual border.

“It’s unbelievably significant what they did in the 18th century; they were able to use astronomy to determine how to put a straight line across the face of the earth,” said Zapadka.

Zapadka enjoys educating people on the MasonDixon line, however he said he doesn’t enjoy lecturing people. Instead, he tries to get those in attendance involved in the discussion.

“I like to be conversational, I don’t want to be up here lecturing,” said Zapadka. “My approach is not, ‘I know something you don’t know.’ My approach is, ‘I’ve learned something and you might be interested in it too.’”

After spending only 30 minutes telling a very long history, those in the room asked questions and discussed markers, including the Mason Dixon line stone, which marked the end of the line and is now buried somewhere in the river.

It is unclear as to how this stone ended up in the river. While some believe it fell off the edge, Zapadka believes it was thrown in.

He was part of group that helped dig up the rock and examine it, but then put it back to prevent damages to the rock itself.

Even though Zapadka has spent a lot of time on the Mason-Dixon Line, he feels there is a more important historic location celebrated in Greene County.

“I wou ldn’t s ay t he Mason-Dixon line is the most historic thing Greene County, I would say it’s second,” said Zapadka. “The first is the Warrior Trail.”

University student WCCC closing after 18 years of teaching leaves impression on Pgh. Comic Con

By TIFFANY MORGAN Editorial Assistant

By ZACK ZEIGLER

For the Yellow Jacket

Thousands of people in the Pittsburgh area flock to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center for the first day of Steel City Comic Con. They walk in the door and the first thing they see is Darth Vader joined by two Storm Troopers politely conversing with the ticket lady trying to pay their entrance fee. As they turn the corner, Batman and Deadpool are laughing and sharing popcorn and a drink. Entering the exhibit room, Wonder Woman is greeting them and trying to sell various arts and crafts that she has created.

To some people this would be a fantasy scene, but to 20-year-old Michelle Frye, and many other cosplayers across the country, this is where they feel most comfortable and are able to express who they truly are. From the moment she started into cosplay, Frye felt an immediate sense of success as soon as she walked out of the car.

"My first cosplay I did [was] when I was 16 years old and I was the Ice Queen from Adventure Time," said Frye. "By the time I even got out of the car people were already taking my picture. It's an immediate sense of euphoria like, 'Wow

I did something and I didn't screw it up.' It's just an incredible feeling."

Cosplay is something that started for Frye in high school, when she had to leave the drama club due to certain circumstances. Frye says that she needed an outlet to continue her acting career and cosplay was a way for her to do that and not be stuck in her house all day.

"I actually got into cosplaying because in my junior year of high school I had a falling out with the drama club," said Frye. "I have been in theatre since I was five years old, so when I quit the drama club I needed a substitute. That's how I figured out cosplaying, and I always wanted to try it out and do it myself, I just never had the time."

Time is something Frye is struggling with when it comes to her cosplaying career today.

Not only is she an award winning cosplayer, she has won three major awards, including a first place finish in the teenagers division with her Ryuk cosplay in the spring of 2014 at Steel City Con. She is a junior at Waynesburg University, where she majors in advertising and public relations with minors in marketing and theatre.

COSPLAY >> B4

After 18 years of educating students in the G r e e n e C o u nt y a r e a , the local Westmoreland County Community College [WCCC] branch will be closing following the end of the Spring 2017 semester.

The closure is due to financial and enrollment issues. According to Observer-Reporter, WCCC President Tuesday Stanley said enrollment has been declining for several years.

The Observer-Reporter also obtained statistics provided by the college, saying that the enrollment at the Greene County center fell from 113 students in 2015 to just 66 last fall.

Along with the sharp decline of student enrollment, down 41.5 percent from 2015 to the 2016 fall semester, the financial performance has also been down.

A lt h ou g h WC C C i s coming to a close, Corey Vansickle, a counselor and interim director at the college, is helping students figure out what to do next.

The closing comes as an obvious inconvenience for current students, so Vansickle is working to help them transition to other local schools.

As for nursing students specifically, Vansickle is trying to help them find

Kyla Wolper, Yellow Jacket

The local WCCC branch will be closing down after the Spring 2017 semester. The main cause is said to be the drops in enrollment. Only 66 students enrolled last fall. According to officials, nursing majors are to be mainly impacted. another program for their profession since their schedule is tight.

The full-time students are mostly nursing majors, but the other majors that Vansickle is persistent in helping include business and computer majors.

O t her students t hat are taking general studies have been informed of surrounding colleges to at-

tend as well.

Potential colleges for students will depend on the degree each student has and the amount of years they have to go.

Vansickle, who has been a teacher and school counselor for 18 years, is sad that the college is closing since it not only served as a college, but a place for several people in the com-

munity to come together.

“It’s ver y sad for the Greene County community to lose the Greene center because of the local ties with the enrollment in high schools, and it is close to home,” said Vansickle.

“Our building not only housed local students, but it also served as a commuWCCC >> B4

Page B2

SPJ BEST ALL-AROUND N O N - DA I LY F I N A L I S T 2004

2005

2013

2014

Reasons to love Waynesburg are plenty KIMMI BASTON Columnist

STAFF: Executive Editor Managing Editors

Chief Photographer Copy Editor Graphic Design Editor News Convergence Editors

Sports Editor Asst. Sports Editor Sports Convergence Editor Op/Ed Editor Editorial Assistants

Staff Writers

Staff Photographers

Advertising Director Asst. Advertising Director

Kimmi Baston Shon Meade Mattie Winowitch Teghan Simonton Tyler Wolfe Mitchell Kendra Joey Buchanan Annie McGlaughlin Emily Hackman Jacob Meyer Kyle Dawson Luke Goodling Brendan Keany Sam Chadwick Tyler Godwin Matthew Shinkle Amanda Troncone Cody Yankulic Rachel Mangan Tiffany Morgan Grace Hutchison Colin McLaughlin Joe Smeltzer Antonio Pellulo Michelle Keith Kyla Wolper Dimitri Arvanitopulos Joshua Mundell

ADVISORS Richard Krause Brandon Szuminsky Editorials in the left-hand column represent the views of the Yellow Jacket. Letters from readers, columns, cartoons and other elements on the editorial page do not necessarily reflect the position of this newspaper and university.

EDITORIAL

Share wisely

February 16, 2017

As a general rule of thumb, every semester of college is busier than the last.

Responsibilities, obligations, jobs, homework and activities grow until, by junior and senior year, finding time to take a deep breath seems unlikely.

And ever y time you seem to get caught up on your work for a moment, the grown-up voice in the back of your head whispers (or, more likely, shouts), “Now, what are you going to do after you graduate?”

Enter the rapidly increasing sense of panic.

You only have to glance at my planner to know I’m feeling it.

Three part-time jobs, several classes worth of homework and projects (not to mention classes themselves), five organizations that meet regularly, the job hunt, friends, family, keeping up with life’s responsibilities, and running a newspaper that needs hours of my time every day.

Sound a little like your life? I figured. College students everywhere have a lot on their plates.

But one of the great things about being a college student at Waynesburg University is that my fellow students are some of the most special people I will ever have the joy of

meeting.

The more time I spend with them, the more I realize I couldn’t make it through one day without them. Here’s why: 1. Waynesburg isn’t just a campus – it’s a community.

With such a small student body, I know upwards of half the people I pass on the sidewalk every day.

And I even have a kinship with the ones I don’t know. Something as simple as having a door held open for me (there’s a lot of that around here) reminds me that we’re all going through this college experience together, and there’s support around every corner.

2. This is where you find your people.

It’s one thing to find a

close group of friends (also an easy task at WU), but it’s a whole other thing to find your people.

I’m lucky enough to have two sets of people: my roommates, three girls whose personalities click so perfectly with mine that it seems too good to be true, and my staff at the Yellow Jacket newspaper, who have truly become a family.

Together, all of my people make my days infinitely brighter, pick me up every time I fall and remind me why I’m here at Waynesburg.

They’re my friends, sure, but it’s more than that – they’re the very foundation of the life I’m building in WU >> B3

Most conspiracies are nutty, yet revealing JACOB MEYER Columnist

We all know at least a few people who are conspiracy theorists, or at least believe in a conspiracy theory.

Whether it’s the President Obama “Birthers,” the 9/11 “Truthers” or the number of theories about JFK’s assassination, there are people out there who believe ridiculous things that are not true. There always have been, and there always will be.

If you don’t have experience in any conspiracy theory, a simple trip to YouTube would do the trick.

To make it worse, many conspiracy theorists also go about their beliefs in a disrespectful way – not always considering the feelings of those affected by their statements or beliefs.

Despite the absurdity of conspiracy theorists’ claims and them often coming off as charlatans, the premise of their beliefs is good.

The premise of conspiracy theorists is a lack of trust in authority and power figures. While al-

ways being a contrarian on any issue is bad, blindly believing and following what authority tells us is worse.

For example, it took the construction industry decades before admitting asbestos’ link with cancer – even spending a lot of time and money trying to debunk the then-conspiracy theory.

If it weren’t for the pressure from those conspiracy theorists, who knows when asbestos would have been banned.

In a famous baseball case, the 1919 World Series, which was thrown by the Chicago “Black Sox,”

was just a conspiracy theory that was ignored by Major League Baseball until nearly a year later.

Lastly, it wasn’t until two years after President Nixon ordered Republican officials to spy on the Democratic National Headquarters, before it was known as the “Watergate Scandal.”

It was probably just another one of those crazy conspiracy theories that the government tried to sweep under the rug.

No, t h e c o n s p i r a c y theories like Birthers or Truthers are not the same TRUTH >> B3

Do not spread or believe rumors through tragedy This past weekend, a student of Waynesburg University, junior Brad Grinnen, died while on campus. His death was a tragedy and a shock for many students, staff and faculty members.

As with any college or university in this situation, speculation has been made regarding the details of the incident through all of the chaos that follows a student death on campus,.

We at the Yellow Jacket normally encourage curiosity and skepticism, but in this situation, we would like to express to students the necessity of news outlets and official reports rather than rumors and speculation.

Here at the Yellow Jacket, we do all that we can to deliver the most accurate and timely information. Misinformation is currently a serious issue running rampant in the media—one that we, as ethical journalists, aim to combat.

As such, we follow strict and particular guidelines of verification to ensure that all information we bring to you is accurate and objective. We do not want to condone the spreading of rumors or false information, especially at a time when the repercussions will put even more stress and heartache on the friends and family members who are mourning.

Immediately following Brad’s death, many took to Twitter. Before his identity was confirmed and released, Brad’s name was out on social media for the world to see, and this presents a serious issue to the coverage of this tragic event. It is possible that a close friend or family member may have found out about the tragedy from a tweet. No one should be informed of a death of a loved one through this way—especially as the result of countless sharing.

This issue is not exclusive to Waynesburg’s recent tragedy. The Yellow Jacket would like to encourage everyone to exercise caution when taking to social media about still-breaking news stories, because there are very real and personal consequences that many don’t consider.

We do not expect the entire campus of Waynesburg University to adhere to the ethical guidelines that we, as journalists, are trained to adhere to.

We do, however, believe that it is important to consider how the behavior, discussion and engagement in gossip exhibited online can cause true pain to people in times as sensitive as these.

We at the Yellow Jacket would also like to stress our sincere condolences to those mourning the loss of Brad.

In our coverage of this situation, we aim to be respectful and compassionate toward those who knew and loved Brad while still fulfilling our commitment to informing the campus community. While all may not have seen our coverage as perfect, and we do not pretend that it is, we hope the entire campus community be considerate, remembering that a precious life was taken from the community this weekend, and the grief is felt by many.

NEWSPAPER POLICY The Yellow Jacket is the student-operated newspaper of Waynesburg University funded by student fees and advertisements and is intended for the entire college community. The Yellow Jacket is produced by the student staff on a weekly basis during the academic year. The office of the Yellow Jacket is located in room 400 of Buhl Hall. It is the right of the Yellow Jacket to print all material deemed newsworthy and gathered in a fair and unconditional manner. No advance copies of stories will be shown, and reporters' notes are considered confidential. No "off the record" information will be accepted.

ADVERTISING POLICY Anyone wishing to advertise in the Yellow Jacket should email the advertising director at jacketads@waynesburg.edu.

Ads must be submitted by the Monday before publication date and not conflict with the university mission.

BUILDING OUR CAMPUS

Students leave 'thumb print' on Miller's creation The following is an overview of the history of Miller Hall as part of the building our campus series.

Editor's Note: The information for last week's story about Hanna Hall came from Courtney Dennis.

By TIFFANY MORGAN For the Yellow Jacket

Thanks to Courtney Denis, the associate director of the Paul R. Stewart Museum, much of the history of Waynesburg'scampus buildings has been kept, and she provided an outline of Miller Hall's extensive history.

Miller Hall, originally called the New College (from 18791935), has been a building packed with history, red bricks and sandstone for several decades.

The process of brick-making began in the Spring of 1875, and four years later the foundation was underway.

The clay used was obtained from the excavation of the basement and also from Lake Winetta, a small pond nearby.

Alfred Brashear Miller was the biggest advocate that constructed Miller.

Students, as well as Miller, molded bricks daily to create Miller’s Second Empire-Style design.

The bricks were fired in

Courtesy of Courtney Dennis

Miller, pictured above in 1912, was one of the first building's on Waynesburg's campus and has served as an icon of the university for decades. three kilns located behind the building. You can still see fingerprints in some bricks along Cusick Court.

A total of 803,000 bricks were used in the construction of Miller Hall.

By 1890, the building was in use. Miller Hall was used for offices, a library, classrooms and a museum.

The building was dedicated in Alfred Brashear Miller’s name in 1899.

December 17, 1874, A.B. Miller wrote a letter to the editor of the Cumberland Presby-

terian, entitled “Nine Hundred Thousand Bricks” – he stated that “Waynesburg College is in great need of a new building,

and its trustees have determined to erect one that will require about the number of bricks indicated above.”

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor are encouraged as a method to bring issues of concern into the public eye. Letters should be typed, limited to 300 words, signed and include a phone number for confirmation. Letters may be submitted to 400 Buhl Hall, sent to the Yellow Jacket via campus mail or via email to jacket@waynesburg.edu. Letters may also be sent to Yellow Jacket, 400 Buhl Hall, Waynesburg University, 51 W. College St., Waynesburg, Pa. 15370. All letters must be received by 5 p.m. the Monday of any publication week.

February 16, 2017

Page B3

Cheat Sheet: Flynn resigns from Cabinet after 24-day tenure Editor's Note: The following is a synopsis of a recent topic trending in world or national news.

By BRENDAN KEANY Op/Ed Editor

Michael Flynn did not last long as the national security adviser for the Trump administration.

On Monday evening, according to several major news outlets, Flynn resigned as a cabinet member due to some inaccuracies in his reporting to Vice President Mike Pence and some other top White House officials.

CNN received a copy of Flynn’s official letter of resignation and an excerpt of it reads as follows: “I inadvertently briefed the Vice President-elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology.”

The Washington Post

Tribune News Service

Michael Flynn arrives in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 22. The National Security Advisor resigned on Feb. 13. published further on the specifics of what Flynn did incorrectly, and it relates primarily to his dealings with a Russian ambassador that he mentioned in his apology and resignation note.

“Flynn was referring to his disproven claims to Vice President Pence and others a month ago that he had never discussed U.S. sanctions

against Moscow with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak,” said the Washington Post. “Pence, White House spokesman Sean Spicer and others, relying on Flynn’s accounts, publicly defended him and repeatedly declared in categorical terms that sanctions were never discussed.”

The sanctions referred to

in the above quote had to do with Moscow’s interference with the United States’ Presidential election.

In fact, the New York Times said that a majority of the conversation between Flynn and the Russian ambassador regarded the sanctions.

Furthermore, the Washington Post also states that

President Trump did not fire Flynn; instead, he resigned as a result of the mounting media pressure relating to his disproven claims.

Flynn lasted just 24 days as the national security adviser However, according to the New York Times, the White House acted quickly in finding a distinguished replace-

ment for Flynn.

“The White House said in the statement that it was replacing Flynn with retired Lt. Gen. Joseph K. Kellogg Jr. of the Army, a Vietnam War veteran, as acting national security adviser,” said the publication.

According to NBC News, Flynn’s tenure is the fifth shortest of any government position in the history of the United States, and he now owns the record for shortest tenure of any national security adviser. The average length of time for the position is 949 days Many media outlets are questioning the early legitimacy of Trump’s White House, as several reports point to a myriad of problems including infighting.

“The sudden exit marks the most public display yet of disarray at the highest levels of the new administration, which has faced repeated questions over a slew of controversies and reports of infighting among senior aides during its first three weeks,” according to CNN.

In the News: Five headlines you need to know this week Editor's Note: The following is a summary of the five stories from last week that college students need to know.

1. Nearly 200,000 forced from homes At least 188,000 people were evacuated from their homes on Monday as crews in California raced against time to keep an emergency spillway at the country’s tallest dam from failing and unleashing floodwaters on towns in its path.

Lake Oroville is one of the California’s largest man-made lakes, residing about 150 miles northeast of San Francisco. The evacuation order, issued Sunday, came after engineers discovered a hole eroding near the top of the 770-foot-tall Oroville Dam’s emergency spillway.

As of Monday afternoon, California Department of Water Resources officials say water flowing into the dam was entering at a rate around 45,000 cubic feet per second, while outflow remained high at nearly 100,000 cubic feet per second.

While it appears the crisis may have been averted, state officials say they want to inspect the erosion scar on the spillway before determining further steps.

Additionally, rain anticipated for Wednesday further complicates the problem by adding more pressure to the dam and spillway.

The cities of Oroville, Gridley, Live Oak, Marysville, Wheatland, Yuba City, Plumas Lake and Olivehurst were all under evacuation orders.

-Fox News Feb. 13 2. Girls shot in separate incidents in Chicago Two young girls are both in critical condition fighting for their lives after

Tribune News Service

Oroville evacuee Sharon Dalton finds a quiet spot under a table on Monday, Feb. 13, as she spends a second night inside Bangor Community Hall in Bangor, Calif. being shot in the head in separate incidents in Chicago this weekend, police told CNN on Monday.

The two shootings happened in two different inner city neighborhoods within an hour of each other.

Kanari Bowers, 12, was playing with her friends at a playground on Saturday evening when the shots were fired.

According to Chicago Police, the shooting took place on the 1900 block of W. 57th street at approximately 7:10 p.m.

She sustained a gunshot wound to her head, and was brought to Stroger Hospital, according to police.

“She is fighting, she is really fighting,” Bowers’ cousin Rochetta Tyler told WLS. Hours after the shooting, the little girl’s “heart stopped three times,” Tyler said.

Half an hour later and less than three miles away, an 11-year-old girl was also hit in the head by a bullet while sitting in the backseat of a minivan, police said.

“I never thought it would hit this is close to home,”

Takiya Holmes’ grandmother, Patsy Holmes, told WLS. “That is a wake-up call, you can be anywhere at anytime and this happens, they were in the car, who knew a stray bullet was going to hit her.”

-CNN Feb. 13 3. Jerry Sandusky’s son charged sex assault Jeffrey Sandusky, the son of former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who is currently serving time after being convicted in the school’s child sexual-abuse scandal, was arrested Monday by Pennsylvania State Police and is being charged with sexually assaulting a child.

Sandusky, 41, was arraigned in B ellefonte, Pennsylvania, after WTAJTV reported an investigation has been ongoing since last November, when a child claimed to have received text messages from Sandusky asking for naked photographs.

State Police say Sandusky had been dating child’s mother and have lived at the residence for about five years. The child shared the texts with his father whom notified police. The crimi-

nal complaint cited by the TV station says a second child was abused dating back to 2013.

All together, Sandusky faces 13 counts, including six of communicating with a minor for sex and two of soliciting child pornography. He is being held on $200,000 bail and was prohibited from having contact with any minors.

His father, Jerry Sandusky, is serving a minimum 30-year sentence after his 2012 conviction of 45 charges of sexually abusing 10 boys. Matt Sandusky, another son of the former coach, has alleged he was a victim of his father’s abuse.

-Washington Post Feb. 13 4. At least 13 dead in Pakistan bombing In an att a ck t h at a Taliban faction has now claimed responsibility for, at least 13 people were killed and 58 others wounded Monday after a large bomb exploded at a protest rally in eastern Pakistan.

The bombing in Lahore began less than a year ago after an Easter 2016 attack targeting Christians killed

as many as 70 people.

Among those killed in the bombing on Monday were six police officers, including a former provincial counterterrorism chief, said police.

Investigators have said the attacker was reportedly on a motorcycle, but provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah says closedcircuit footage reveals the bomber was actually on foot.

“We just couldn’t understand what happened,” Tufail Nabi told local Geo News TV. “It was as if some big building collapsed,” he said as he limped away.

Ja m a a t - u l - A h r a r, a Taliban splinter group, claimed the attack in a text message, saying it was revenge for Pakistani military operations against Islamic militants in tribal regions along the Afghan border.

Reuters reported pharmacists and drug manufacturers organized the protest, citing local media, and calling out new amendments to a law governing drug sales. xPharmacists were reportedly holding a sit-in at the time.

Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is one of several splinter groups from the Pakistani Taliban, which has carried out scores of attacks against security forces and religious minorities.

In recent years, Pakistan has had launched several offensives against the Taliban and other Islamic militant groups in the tribal regions.

-Fox News Feb. 13

5. Immigration agents arrest more than 600 Federal immigration officials arrested more than 600 people across more than 11 states last week.

Law enforcement officials said on Sunday they de-

tained 40 people alone in the New York City area.

It is currently unclear whether the actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were part of continuing operations to gather undocumented immigrants with criminal records, or if it was an initiative of deportations by President Trump’s administration.

President Trump said on Twitter that “The crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!”

However, Gillian Christensen, acting press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, said “The focus of these targeted enforcement operations is consistent with the routine, targeted arrests carried out by ICE’s Fugitive Operations Teams on a daily basis.”

This contradiction between President of the United States and members of the Department of Homeland Security has caused already fearful immigrants and their advocates to worry even more.

The New York operation was planned one week ago and was part of a national action that was planned several weeks ago, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

“All these people are in violation of some sort of immigration law,” the official said, adding that some of their convictions included rape and aggravated assault. “We’re not going out to Walmart to check papers — we know who we are going out to seek.”

-New York Times Feb. 12 Information curated by Matt Shinkle For the Yellow Jacket

Truth: It's better to WU: The students here are unlike any other question everything than accept anything Continued from B2

Continued from B2

or beneficial to society like the ones I just listed.

And even though the vast maj or ity of conspiracy theories include falsehoods – like many conspiracy theories today – I would rather a group of people, like the people of the United States, be open to conspiracy theories than just

accept what the government or our authority tells us.

I’m not asking you to go out and watch as many “The Holocaust was Fake” videos on YouTube, because they’re ridiculous.

I just hope that rather than trusting in authority and the government we can trust in our ability as a society to think and act for ourselves rather than for a monolithic entity.

college.

It’s the Waynesburg culture that will allow you to find groups like mine that light your path and make it possible for you to have the best college experience imaginable.

3. Ever yone’s busy – which is why we all take the time to help each other out.

I know that doesn’t seem to make much sense, but somehow, it’s the reality on our campus.

Maybe it’s the fact that we all know how it feels, or

that we sometimes seek an escape from our own responsibilities.

Either way, you’re never alone when you’re stuck in the middle of a hectic day or week.

There is always someone willing to lighten the load.

And in my case, my friends have only to look at my face to know when I’m overwhelmed, and they come to the rescue without me saying a word.

4. These students are unlike any others.

Every college and university boasts this about their students – but at Waynes-

burg, it’s the real deal.

This statement is the culmination of all of the points above.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a campus more filled with empathy, love and community, and the students prove it every day.

When a 20-something thinks to text me and let me know the sidewalk he knows I’ll be walking on is icy, when finding encouraging notes on my desk becomes a regular occurrence, when my cell phone is flooded with ‘good luck’ messages on the day everyone knows I have a big

interview – those are the moments I know for sure why I was called here: the people.

There are so many wonderful things about Waynesburg University, but in my opinion, my fellow students are by far the best.

My friends and classmates really are something special, and I’m grateful beyond words to have them in my life.

No matter how much college-induced stress comes crashing down on me, I know I’ll always find my way back to the top thanks to my Waynesburg family.

Page B4

February 16, 2017

Humane Society urges pet owners to keep pets out of the cold

By KAITLYN MOORE

For the Yellow Jacket

Pennsylvania weather can go from being sunny and 75 degrees one day to below zero the next.

A n i m a l s e nj oy t h e warm weather just as much as humans do, if not more at times.

And just like humans, they are not too fond of snow and cold weather.

Despite this fact, many pet owners continue to leave their animals outdoors during the winter months, resulting in health problems, injuries and sometimes even death.

It is important as the thermometer outside is constantly changing that pet owners keep their animals in mind.

The Humane Society of Greene County recognizes this as a serious problem. According to the volunteers that run it, many animals are brought to their shelter in these conditions.

The following is an excerpt post from the Greene County Humane Society Facebook page

Tyler Wolfe, Yellow Jacket

When temperatures get low, local pets can be at risk if left in the cold. The Greene County Humane Society recommends that pets be kept inside if and when possible during inclement weather in order to ensure the safety of the animal. to help guide pet owners who are unsure of safe conditions for their pets: “As winter time is upon us, we wanted to pass on a few reminders regarding some of the require-

ments for keeping dogs healthy and comfortable in the cold. Any outdoor dogs shall be provided with adequate shelter to keep them dry, protect them from inclement

weather, and allow them to preserve their body heat. Chewed dog boxes that have wide entrances or holes or openings in the sides won’t meet this requirement. Dog

boxes should be solid and have four sides. It is critical, and required by law, that bedding be provided to dogs this time of year – ideally straw or hay – especially if only

one dog is located in an enclosure. The bedding must also be kept clean and dry.”

When temperatures drop below zero, it is very harmful to animals.

In the wintertime a lot of stray animals seek shelter wherever they can find it.

It is also not uncommon for them to hide underneath cars or even in the tire wells.

Sometimes it can be a good precaution to take the time to do a quick once over to make sure there are no extra passengers on the outside that could be harmed.

There is a high number of stray animals that roam around local neighborhoods, and that number is only increasing.

This is what makes it important that animal shelters get out and try and get the animals that are left out in the cold.

Sometimes they even make home calls when a family has neglected the animal and has left it out in freezing temperatures that they simply cannot handle.

Frye: Acting plays huge role in the world of cosplay conventions Continued from B1

When discussing about how difficult it is balancing schoolwork, professional life and her cosplaying, Frye laughed emphatically and thought for a second before responding with the one word that summed it all up.

"Very," Frye said, enthusiastically.

Frye said she has met countless friends through these conventions who've helped her in this balance of time as well. According to Frye, each of these friends has helped her not only in her cosplay career, but in giving her advice of how to deal with her professional life as well.

"My friend Kaleia [Batchelor] also is majorly involved with the theatre, she even does some professional theatre on the side," said Frye. "She has not only given me a lot of acting experience, how to work the judges at conventions and how to nail auditions, but her mom has also given me some very good life advice."

With cosplaying and the busy schedule, Frye is constantly looking for new ways to incorporate her hobby into her professional life. She said when she goes to some of these conventions, she looks for some of the specific advertising and Public Relations techniques that she is taught in classes at Waynesburg University.

"I notice that vendors really need some more advertis-

ing help," said Frye. "I look at what are they doing to make themselves stand-out. Is it their displays, their artwork, etc. In terms of theatre it literally goes hand-in-hand. I'll think, 'I really like what I did with this theatre makeup I can definitely use this.'"

Between her time in theatre and her cosplay she has portrayed almost every character imaginable from the Bride of Frankenstein and Kylo Ren to Princess Zelda and Frodo Baggins. This ability to be any character you want to be is the main reason Frye keeps coming back to cosplaying.

"It's acting without having to audition for a role," said Frye.

"You can be any role you have ever wanted to be. If you want to be the Mary-Sue Character by all means be Winry Rockbell from 'Fullmetal Alchemist.' If you want to be the villain, the bad guy, you want to screw things up you can be Loki from 'Thor. 'It doesn't matter, you can be anything you want to be."

Bearing this in mind, Frye and many other cosplayers around the world have to apply this philosophy of being anything you want to be to their professional lives as well.

Their ambition, drive and creativity is what leads their life and it helps them advance up the business ladder.

No matter what your hobby is, Frye said that it is important to lead the life you want to live while still having a good time.

Grace Hutchison, Yellow Jacket

EXCESSIVE CRACKS IN SIDEWALK A PROBLEM FOR LOCALS

After years of erosion from weather and constant foot traffic, the sidewalks in Waynesburg have taken a beating, especially around Waynesburg University and the park. Borough officials indicated the sidewalks as an issue they plan to fix.

WCCC: College to officially close in June Continued from B1

nity center in many ways that had meetings or support groups.”

S everal students are still in the process of finding a college, since they were recently informed that WCCC is closing. In March, students will have a transfer counselor assist them in finding the right college for them.

The center’s full-time nursing instructor, Barbara Walters, will be teaching at other locations following the closure.

The remaining parttime employees may apply for positions at other Westmoreland locations.

WCCC plans to close after the spring semester on May 11, and the college will officially leave the property when the lease ends June 30.

Rexrode: Life forever changed after being saved Continued from B1

I would prefer you turn your life around.'"

Still distant in his faith but recently returned to church, Rexrode, his wife and his kids move back to Farmington after living in Cleveland, Ohio for several years. As someone who loves music, Rexrode and two friends traveled around playing country and gospel songs at different venues.

On a Saturday night in 1976, he and his friends played a revival and the pastor of the church invited Rexrode and his family back for the morning service. On a Sunday morning in 1976 and 33 years old, he accepted Jesus Christ as his savior and the effect was immediately felt.

"I really got involved in the church," said Rexrode.

Three years later, Rexrode, who was a plumber at the

time, felt the call from the Lord to become a pastor.

Similar to Gideon, he wanted to be sure that this was where the Lord was calling him.

"That is when I started putting out the fleeces," said Rexrode.

In addition to putting out fleeces, Rexrode asked the Lord for a church to preach in for the upcoming Sunday.

In response to his prayer, he received a call in the following days.

After that Sunday, he wasnít satisfied with the answer, so he asked the Lord to give him two churches to preach in for the upcoming Sunday.

A few days later, he received a phone call asking him to preach two Sundays at a church.

After this week, he still wasn't satisfied, so he asked for three services to preach.

Similar to the past two weeks, he received a phone call ask-

ing him to preach three services for a church.

He would repeat the cycle two more times before asking for a church to be the permanent pastor in. A week later, he received a phone call asking him to take-over a church, something that should have never happened because the Free Methodist church was in the middle of conference and churches were already filled with pastors.

"I finally put my hands up and said, 'OK, Lord,'" said Rexrode.

Rexrode would head back to school, become an ordained minister in 1985. By 1988, he had earned the title of Reverend, and in 1991, he felt the call to go back to his hometown of Farmington.

"The Bible says a servant is not worthy in his own land,"said Rexrode. "I talked to my mom about it and she said, "If God calls you..."

After much prayer, he received a call from an official within the denomination asking him if we would like to go to Farmington church.

It is 2017, and at 73, Rexrode still takes the pulpit.

In 2003, a split between the Free Methodist denomination and the congregation of the Farmington church brings Rexrode to his current position of pastoring a non-denominational, independent church.

"That was a growing step for me," said Rexrode. "At the time, I looked at it as being bad, and it was just another growing step for me."

His experiences in life and as a pastor, reveal what brings him back to the profession he was called into for 37 years.

"Life has a lot of ups and downs," said Rexrode. "I relied upon God for everything I did; it was all about giving God the glories."

Every Convenience for College! $ 24-Hour ATMs @ Stover Campus Center &

Corner of Washington & Strawberry Streets

$ Main Office @

25 East High Street

$ Drive-Thru @

Routes 19 & 21

$ Additional Offices in Carmichaels • Mt. Morris • Uniontown • Washington • Taylorstown

Plus 24/7 Online Banking, Bill Pay & Mobile Banking! www.firstfederalofgreene.com NMLS #458729

Good luck to all Jacket athletes!

SECTION C

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 | WAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY | THEYELLOWJACKET.ORG | @YJ_SPORTS

Grinnen leaves legacy at Waynesburg

By LUKE GOODLING and JACOB MEYER Staff Report

The football team gathered in the auxiliary gym Monday.

After a light warm up, the coaches there told them that they understand everyone grieves differently, and if they didn’t want to lift today, they didn’t have to.

The weight room – the “dungeon,” as most call it – wouldn’t feel the same after what happened the day before – wouldn’t feel the same without the team’s leader in the dungeon.

Brad Grinnen, a junior defensive lineman on the football team, died Sunday morning in his dorm room.

But, all three lifting groups, nearly every player on the team, decided they should lift. It was what Grinnen would want them to do.

“You know this dude was all about football and business,” said James Roundtree III, a fellow junior defensive lineman. “Regardless of what happens or what is going on, we still have a season to play and that is how Brad would want us to be. He would want us to get work done.”

Grinnen took his responsibilities with the team seriously. Game day prep would start three days out, he was practicing before some players even arrived and was able to turn his intensity “switch” on and off almost instantaneously.

All of Grinnen’s coaches describe him the same way – “old school.”

The 6’2’’ 230-pound defensive lineman played every snap, whether in a game or practice, with equal importance, head coach Rick Shepas said. “[Grinnen was] extremely in-

Junior football player Brad Grinnen, pictured here in a game last season, died Sunday morning.

The defensive lineman led the team with eight sacks and was a first-team All-PAC selection.

Mackenna Drazich, Yellow Jacket

Five first-place finishes lead wrestling to PAC Championship

MBB eliminated from playoff chances with blowout loss

By KYLE DAWSON

Assistant Sports Editor

Mitch Kendra, Yellow Jacket

For the fifth time in program history, the wrestling team won the PAC Championship. The Jackets won five individual championships, which is just one short of setting a team record.

Evans named top wrestler, Headlee named top coach

By TYLER GODWIN Editorial Assistant

Five wrestlers took home individual championships as the Waynesburg University wrestling team won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship for the first time since 2014, and fifth time in history, in dominating fashion. The Jackets outpaced the second-place finisher, Washington & Jefferson, by 37.5 points.

In addition to the individual champions, two more took second place, four placed third and one grabbed a fourth-place finish en route to 119 team points.

“It’s a process. What happens during the year [leads] up to what we do at end of the year,” said head coach Ron Headlee. “[It’s] been up and down, [but] when everyone is going we are a pretty good team. Everybody contributed; we had a good week at practice and got a good effort.”

Following Waynesburg’s 119 points was W&J with 81.5 points. Thiel finished closely behind the Presidents with 78.5, while Thomas More came in fourth with 59.5 points in their debut season in the PAC. “It feels good; we have definitely been on the short end the last two years, so it feels good to

get the monkey off our back,” said senior Ryan Shank. “It was good to come out and dominate like that…it felt good to put our foot down and say ‘We’re the best in the PAC.’” Junior 125-pounder Tristan Buxton was Waynesburg’s first champion of the day, pinning all three of his opponents, including Thomas More’s Cody Schultz in 4:19 in the championship bout. The individual title was Buxton’s first of his collegiate career after coming in second place last year.

Senior Filippo Crivelli reached the title match following a bye and a pin. However, Crivelli was unable to come out on top in a close match (3-2) with Thiel junior Jason Miller, who typically wrestles at 149 pounds, but cut down to 141 pounds for the championship tournament.

Crivelli has now been conference champion and runner up two times each over his four-year career.

“He knew how to wrestle me to win, and now that I know what to do, there’s no way that he will beat me again,” Crivelli said. “I feel confident with that.

I’ve got two weeks to prepare for regionals.”

At 149 pounds, freshman Shaun Wilson dominated his way to the title, winning by fall, technical fall and major decision

Prior to Saturday’s game against Thomas More, Waynesburg honored its two seniors: guards Timmy Kaiser and Christian Koroly.

Kaiser was set to play his second to last game of his career at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse Saturday, while the latter has already played the final basketball game of the season, during which he suffered a season-ending knee injury that required surgery.

No matter the result, head coach Mark Christner was proud of the two seniors and what each contributed to the program.

“It meant a ton. Obviously it’s hard to see Christian in a wheelchair on Senior Day, but he’s been a great example of toughness and growth,” said Christner. “Timmy is one of perseverance.

He’s had some stuff not go well in his life, but he’s hung in there. I’m really thankful he could play today. Having to go on Senior Day with both guys hurt would be been a synopsis of our year, but those guys are a big part of our family and will continue to be.”

When the ball was thrown in the air, the matchup pit two teams that had played a competitive, one-point game the first time the two met.

Thomas More won that game 69-68 on Wednesday, Jan. 11, in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. In that game, Waynesburg didn’t have a good start offensively but rebounded and played competitively, Christner said back in January.

The result Saturday was the exact opposite.

Waynesburg led 19-11 before it went downhill MBB >> C4

Nationally ranked Thomas More routs women's basketball

By JOE SMELTZER Staff Writer

Mitch Kendra, Yellow Jacket

Jake Evans earned additional honors with being voted the league's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Ron Headlee earned the Coach of the Year award for the fifth time. in the finals over W&J senior Dan Pommerer.

Waynesburg’s fourth competitor in a championship bout was freshman Dan Verhovsek at 165 pounds. Verhovsek reached the title round with a decision and major decision in the first two rounds respectively, but lost to Thiel senior Chris Nuss for the second time this year, 3-2, after losing to him earlier in the year 6-2.

“For Dan, you never want anyone to lose, but at least he’s got three more years at it,” said senior Ryan Shank. “Dan has been a real pleasant surprise for us for sure coming out from football.”

At 184 pounds, for the second straight year, Shank took the PAC title. This year he won after receiving a first-round bye, sticking his opponent in 1:33 in the semifinals, and then grinding out a 6-3 decision in the championship match against Thomas More freshman Avery Jones.

Shank said this year he didn’t have his best performance because he was a little sick going into the day, but he still was able to execute to a level good enough to win he needed to pull out the victory.

“I didn’t wrestle completely CHAMPS >> C4

Waynesburg University’s women’s basketball team fell to Thomas More, a team ranked No. 4 in the nation for Division III basketball, on Saturday, 89-56, at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.

From the start, the defending NCAA Division III National Champions lived up to their reputation, as the Saints got out to a 29-12 lead after one quarter of play.

In the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets were able to stay competitive with the Saints, mainly due to the play of senior guard Katie Gehlmann, who scored 18 of Waynesburg’s 30 first-half points. At halftime, Thomas More had a convincing, but not completely insurmountable, 48-30 lead.

The Saints pulled away in the second half, outscoring Waynesburg 41-26, en route to an 89-56 victory. “[Thomas More’s] ball movement on offense is really quick,” said head coach Sam Jones. “They’re always in the right spot. They anticipate each other’s movements very well, and they just have talented players that make the shots when it’s time to make them.”

Gehlmann, who scored 20 points and was the only Jacket in double figures, echoed Jones’ praises.

“They’re good at what they do,” said Gehlmann. “They just get out and run, and that’s where they get all of their points. They just keep going.”

WBB >> C4

Page C2

February 16, 2017

Men's tennis prepares for season with new head coach

By MITCHELL KENDRA AND TY MCELIECE Staff Report

On Friday afternoon, Ron Headlee traveled to Mount Aloysius with the men’s tennis team, coaching the team in its first match of the season. He made it back to his house at 11 p.m. and then had to get ready for Saturday: the Presidents’ Athletic Conference wrestling championships at Washington & Jefferson College.

Headlee, who is in his ninth year of coaching the Waynesburg wrestling team, woke up and prepared for the championships, which his team would later win, becoming the 2016-17 PAC Champions.

His wrestling team is preparing for the postseason, with a very hot team, and the tennis team just had its first match of the season.

Headlee was named head coach for both the men’s

and wome n’s t e n nis teams in August 02016.

Headlee just had five individual PAC Champions at the wrestling championships and is faced with coaching his second sport during the season overlap, a tennis team made up of all but three freshmen. However, the difference in the team’s potential means no difference on Headlee’s point of view.

“People ask me, ‘Why not just send someone else?’ [to the tennis matches], and I don’t think that’s fair,” Headlee said. “I care about all of my athletes and I treat all of my athletes the same.”

While in the postseason of wrestling and the begin-

ning of the tennis season, Headlee will be “d o u b l e dipping” in both sports.

He h a s a schedule that he hopes to stick to as best as possible, with the help of his assistant coaches from both sports.

The player reception of Headlee has been nothing but positive on the men’s tennis team. Sophomore Jonah Cooper said his effort has not gone unnoticed.

“I think Headlee is awesome,” said Cooper. “He plays tennis, and he is great at making the guys work.

You want to work for the guy, you want to come through for him. He’s leading not just as a coach but by example – he’s putting

in the time and effort that we need.”

The young team received 27 points in the conference preseason poll, which placed them in seventh place in the standings.

Despite the team’s youth, Headlee believes the team will not be at a disadvantage for his first-year coaching.

“Not for me, but for the season it will,” said Headlee.

conference, Headlee said, will be challenging for the team.

“I hope we can stay with the PAC,” said Headlee. “It is going to be a hard start, but we will be prepared for the end. Hopefully we can teach [the younger players] a lot.”

According to Cooper, the season will be focused on rebuilding, as last year the team did not have enough

“It is definitely going to be a rebuilding year.

We've got a lot of new players. Some guys who are new to the sport or they just have little experience. But we're trying to reestablish ourselves as a team."

JONAH COOPER

Sophomore tennis player

“As a first-year head coach, it allows me to get them working into my system sooner.”

Staying competitive in the

players for a full roster.

“It is definitely going to be a rebuilding year,” said Cooper. “We’ve got a lot of new players. Some guys who

are new to the sport or they just have little experience.

But we’re just trying to reestablish ourselves as a team.”

Looking forward, Headlee said the team needs to stay consistent as well as have the doubles teams improve.

“We need to get the doubles teams playing a little bit more and be more consistent with our shots,” said Headlee.

The team will have the opportunity to do that when it faces the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Friday, Feb. 17, at 5 p.m. in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

The last time the two teams faced last year, Waynesburg lost 6-3, despite Cooper going undefeated.

Editor’s note: Follow @YJ_Sports on Twitter or visit theyellowjacket. org for coverage of the match against UPG.

CO M M E N TA R Y

WBB should lose intentionally Saturday if it means avoiding TMC in semis JACOB MEYER Columnist

The Thomas More women’s college basketball team has won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championship every year it has been in the conference, except for the first in the 200506 season. That’s 10 straight PAC Championships.

In recent years, they’ve been even more dominant.

They’ve gone undefeated and won multiple national championships on the court. The Saints haven’t lost a PAC game in the last

five seasons.

Thomas More will win the conference this season.

And the next season. And the next.

This leaves the other nine teams in the conference, like Waynesburg University, to hardly have a dream of winning a PAC Championship.

Getting to the title game and losing to the Saints would be the pinnacle of any PAC team this season, and that’s certainly not going to change for the next few seasons.

Because of this disparity between Thomas More and the rest of the conference, some teams, like this year’s Waynesburg team, should

do everything possible to avoid playing Thomas More in the playoffs until the finals.

The Jackets should have lost their past few games intentionally and should lose their game Saturday intentionally if it has the ability to enhance their chances of not facing Thomas More until the finals in the PAC tournament.

By losing intentionally I don’t mean not playing any of the team’s starters or playing horribly, rather just playing not well enough to win that specific game.

In terms of the playoffs, only eight teams make the tournament, and the tour-

nament does not reseed. To avoid TMC, getting the No. 4, No. 5 or No. 8 seed means the farthest one of those teams can go is the semifinals, in which they would lose to Thomas More. So, the No. 2, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 7 seeds are exponentially more valuable than the No. 4, No. 5 and No. 8 seeds because you do not have to play Thomas More until the finals.

Obviously, the best way to avoid the Saints is to get the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, meaning if you win out you would make it to the PAC title game.

For the Yellow Jackets, getting a No. 2 or No. 3 seed

was possible. They won four out of five games, including a win on the road at Washington & Jefferson. They were winning by 11 at St. Vincent, a team they were tied with in the standings, going into the fourth quarter before being outscored 18-5 and losing on a lastsecond 3-pointer.

The loss hurt the Jackets’ chances, as a win would have made receiving the No. 2 or No. 3 seed more probable. It was still possible at the time, though, but the Jackets lost to Westminster at home the next game, which virtually ended their chances of getting the No. 2 or No. 3 seed.

After the loss to Westminster, the Jackets should have intentionally lost to Chatham. If they would’ve lost that game and following the loss to Thomas More, they would have been tied with Grove City at 8-8, owning the tiebreaker with the Wolverines because they beat them twice earlier this season.

In this scenario, to get the No. 6 seed the Yellow Jackets would have to finish one game worse than Grove City in the standings. The Wolverines played the second worst team in the conference Wednesday in Thiel MEYER >> C4

PRESIDENTS’ ATHLETIC CONFERENCE ROUNDUP Men’s Basketball STANDINGS

Saint Vincent Thomas More Westminster Thiel Bethany Grove City Chatham Geneva Waynesburg Wash & Jeff

Conf. Overall 14-2 18-5 13-3 17-6 10-6 14-9 9-7 13-8 8-8 13-10 7-9 11-12 6-10 10-13 4-12 6-17 4-12 6-17 3-13 3-20

Saturday’s Box Score

THOMAS MORE 95, WAYNESBURG 56 Thomas More 39 56 95 Waynesburg 31 25 56

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS

Thomas More Wash & Jeff Saint Vincent Waynesburg Bethany Grove City Chatham Westminster Thiel Geneva

Conf. Overall 16-0 23-0 13-3 16-7 12-4 15-8 9-7 13-10 9-7 11-12 8-8 12-11 6-10 11-11 4-12 9-14 2-14 5-18 1-15 4-19

Saturday’s Box Score

THOMAS MORE 89, WAYNESBURG 56 Thomas More 29 19 23 18 89 Waynesburg 12 18 13 13 56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Waynesburg Top Scorers 1. Marcus Wallace................................11 2. Timmy Kaiser...................................10 Grove City Top Scorers 1. Brandon Grider........................................23 2. Cory Huff..................................................22 Bethany Top Scorers 1. Andrew Williams......................................13 2. Chalique Jones.........................................11 Geneva Top Scorers 1. Ethan Moose............................................26 2. Jimmy Leichliter.......................................17 Thomas More Top Scorers 1. Ryne Callahan..........................................23 2. Austin Young............................................21 Thiel Top Scorers 1. Nyric Gosley..............................................13 2. LeAndre Jackson......................................8 Chatham Top Scorers 1. Alex Schoppen.........................................21 2. Isaiah Brown............................................18 Westminster Top Scorers 1. Cameron Kane-Johnson..........................18 2. Deontay Scott...........................................12 Wash & Jeff Top Scorers 1. Mike Zappala............................................22 2. Johnathan Devito.....................................16 Saint Vincent Top Scorers 1. Coy Patterson Jr........................................18 2. Matt D’Amico...........................................12

Waynesburg Top Scorers 1. Katie Gehlman.................................20 2. Addy Knetzer....................................9 Grove City Top Scorers 1. Lexi Arkwright..........................................16 2. Jackie Stewart..........................................12 Bethany Top Scorers 1. Hayley Holenka........................................35 2. Sammie Weiss..........................................25 Geneva Top Scorers 1. Miranda Heaney......................................17 2. Marissa Heaney........................................11 Thomas More Top Scorers 1. Madison Temple.......................................25 2. Nikki Kiernan............................................15 Thiel Top Scorers 1. Taylor Duchon..........................................19 2. Alivia Sidley..............................................7 Chatham Top Scorers 1. Megan Sieg..............................................18 2. Jesse Hinkle..............................................15 Westminster Top Scorers 1. Kylie Cook.................................................17 2. Emily Fromknecht....................................14 Wash & Jeff Top Scorers 1. Taylor Cortazzo.........................................35 2. Rachel Bellhy...........................................20 Saint Vincent Top Scorers 1. Hannah Carroll.........................................11 2. Taylor Boring............................................11

RECENT RESULTS

RECENT RESULTS

Saturday, February 11 Chaham 71, Geneva 69; Grove City 65, Westminster 60; Thomas More 95, Waynesburg 56; Wash & Jeff 72, Bethany 61; Saint Vincent 80, Thiel 47

UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, February 18 Chatham at Thiel - 3 p.m.; Thomas More at Wash & Jeff - 3 p.m.; Saint Vincent at Westminster - 3:30 p.m.; Grove City at Bethany - 4 p.m.; Waynesburg at Geneva - 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 11 Chatham 82, Geneva 52; Grove City 56, Westminster 63; Thomas More 89, Waynesburg 56; Wash & Jeff 89, Bethany 86; Saint Vincent 79, Thiel 39

Swimming and Diving MEN RECENT RESULTS

Saturday, February 11 PAC CHAMPIONSHIPS 1. Westminster, 929.5 pts.; 2. Grove City, 825.5 pts.; 3.

Saint Vincent, 598.5 pts.; 4. Wash & Jeff, 446.5 pts.; 5.

Bethany, 188 pts.

UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, February 18 Grove City at Kenyon Fast Chance Invitational - 1:30 p.m.; Westminster at Kenyon Fast Chance Invitational - 1:30 p.m.; Saint Vincent at Kenyon Fast Chance Invitational - 1:30 p.m.

WOMEN RECENT RESULTS

Saturday, February 11 PAC CHAMPIONSHIPS 1. Grove City, 909 pts.; 2. Westminster, 772 pts.; 3. Saint Vincent, 387 pts.; 4. Wash & Jeff, 437 pts.; 5. Chatham, 340 pts.; 6. Bethany, 137 pts.

UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, February 18 Westminster at Kenyon Fast Chance Invitational - 1:30 p.m.; Grove City at Kenyon Fast Chance Invitational - 1:30 p.m.; Saint Vincent at Kenyon Fast Chance Invitational - 1:30 p.m.

WHATS ON THIS WEEK WCYJ-FM

WRESTLING MATCH RESULTS

PAC CHAMPIONSHIPS 125 lb: 1. Nick Bamonte (TMC) Fall 2:39; Tristan Buxton (WAY) eliminated in first round 133 lb: 1. Vince Mion (THI) Fall :048; 2. Michael Smith (W&J) 141 1b: 1. Vincent Palm (W&J) Forfeit; Fillipo Crivelli (WAY) eliminated in first round 149 lb: 1. Zach Mackall (WAY) Dec. 10-4 157 lb: 1. Tristan Badida (TMC) Dec. 8-6; Landon Lohr (WAY) eliminated in first round 165 lb: 1. John Sims (THI) Fall 4:02; Dan Verhovsek (WAY) eliminated in first round 174 lb: 1. Derek Hull (WAY) Major Decision 15-5 184 lb:1. Dominic Farbaugh (THI) Fall 2:13; Ben Norman (WAY) lost in final four 197 lb: 1. Adam Rigney (WAY) Fall 1:38 285 lb: 1. Wil VanNorman (WAY) Dec. 5-3

RECENT RESULTS

Saturday, February 11 PAC Championships 1. Waynesburg, 119 pts.; 2. Wash & Jeff, 81.5 pts.; 3.

Thiel, 78.5 pts.; 4. Thomas More, 59.5 pts.

UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, February 25 Thiel at Division III Mideast Championships - TBD; Thomas More at Division III Mideast Championships - TBD; Waynesburg at Division III Mideast Championships - TBD; Wash & Jeff at Division III Mideast Regional Championships - TBD

PAC W. BASKETBALL LEADERS

Waynesburg at Geneva 5:30 p.m.

Scoring: Arkwright, 467, GRO; Daughtry, 401, BET; Holenka, 400, BET

WCYJ-FM

Rebounding: Addy Knetzer, 269, WAY; Daugherty, 251, BET; Vormelker, 202, THI

WAYNESBURG ATHLETES OF THE WEEK Jake Evans, Wrestling Katie Gehlmann, Women's Basketball

Baseball UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, February 25 RUSSMATT CENTRAL FLORIDA INVITATIONAL Waynesburg vs. Capital University - 12 p.m.

Assists: Temple, 120, TMC; Moore, 92, W&J; Weems, 84, TMC Free Throw %: McClain, .905, CHA; Katie Gehlman, .892, Waynesburg; Seig, .863, CHA

PAC M. BASKETBALL LEADERS

Scoring: Moose, 369, GEN; Jon Knab, 361, Waynesburg; Leichliter, 350, GEN Rebounding: Scott, 219, WES; Cetoute, 174, THI; Vrabel, 168, WES Assists: Bomar, 116, CHA; Vaudrin, 111, GEN; King, 102, TMC Free Throw %: Stone, .864, TMC; D’Amico, .847, SVC; Williams, .826, BET

INDOOR TRACK AND FIELD WOMEN TIFFIN Dragon Invite

60 Meter: 1. Lauren Ellsworth, 7.73, N/A 200 Meter: 1. Adaysha Parker, 25.49, Tiffin; 57. Abi Stevens, 33.40, Geneva 400 Meter: 1. Chanel Gardner, 59.41, Oakland; 17.

Jessica Kelosky, 1:03.14, Geneva 800 Meter: 1. Josefine Malmborg, 2:22.92, Keisser; 27. Rebecca Miller, 2:38.45, Geneva 1 Mile Run: 1. Erika Rector, 5:21.19, Maolne; 21.

Rebecca Miller, 5:54.04, Geneva 3,000 Meter: 1. Monica Patrick, 10:40.65, Allegheny 60 Meter Hurdle: 1. Emma Gielink, 9.06, Tiffin; 3.

Nicole Bartoletta, 9.13, Geneva High Jump: 1. Olga Branney, 1.68 m, Malone; 14.

Morgan Peaco, 1.45 m, Geneva Pole Vault: 1. Leah Frischmann, 3.82 m, Dayton; 18.

Justice Newland, 2.90 m, Geneva Long Jump: 1. Miaisha Blair, 5.55 m, Tiffin; 23. Emily Claypool, 4.53 m, Geneva Triple Jump: 1. Adria Butler, 11.11 m, Dayton; 13.

Lydia Swartzbaugh, 9.63 m, Geneva Shot Put: 1. Rashida Harris, 14.21 m, Cuyahoga CC; 23. Madeline Taylor, 9.62 m, Geneva Weight Throw: 1. Ashley O’Neil, 17.22 m, Siena Heights; 32. Madeline Taylor, 10.38 m, Geneva

MEN

TIFFIN DRAGON INVITE 60 Meter: 1. Reginald Thomas, 6.80, Tiffin 200 Meter: 1. Shaquille Hildreth, 22.32, Tiffin; 35.

Michael Savino, 24.55, Geneva 400 Meter: 1. Edens Thermidor, 50.06, Keisser; 4.

Aaron Tedys, 50.96, Geneva 800 Meter: 1. Nico Hudson, 1:56.73, Tiffin; 10. Micah Daigneault, 2:01.06, Geneva 1 Mile Run: 1. Owen Norley, 4:20.98, CMU; 3,000 Meter: 1. Curtis Watro, 8:50.24, CMU; 28.

Micah Reese, 10:50.11, Geneva 60 Meter Hurdle: 1. Mackenzi Rickman, 8.24, Tiffin; 4. Alex Parker, 8.63, Geneva High Jump: 1. Cameron Burrows, 2.00 m, Tiffin; 7.

Jesse Garcia, 1.85 m, Geneva Pole Vault: 1. Dylan Cornwell, 5.01 m, Tiffin; 14.

Raymind Hagg, 3.76 m, Geneva Long Jump: 1. Thobias Nilsson Montler, 7.48 m, Keisser; 12. Peter Taylor, 6.16 m, Geneva Triple Jump: 1. Jalon Monigan, 14.91 m, Tiffin; 4.

Jesse Garcia, 12.60 m, Geneva Shot Put: 1. Coy Blair, 19.16 m, Tiffin; 32. Isaac Barringer, 12.18 m, Geneva Weight Throw: 1. Coy Blair, 20.19 m, Tiffin; 20. Isaac Barringer, 13.07 m, Geneva

Sunday, February 26 Waynesburg vs. Franklin College - 11 a.m.

UPCOMING GAMES

Saturday, February 18 Chatham at Thiel - 1 p.m.; Thomas More at Wash & Jeff - 1 p.m.; Saint Vincent at Westminster - 1:30 p.m.; Grove City at Bethany - 2 p.m. ; Waynesburg at Geneva - 5:30 p.m.

WPIAL HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS ROUNDUP Carmichaels

Jefferson-Morgan

Mapletown

Waynesburg Central

West Greene

Boys Basketball

Boys Basketball

Boys Basketball

Boys Basketball

Boys Basketball

Girls Basketball

Girls Basketball

Girls Basketball

Girls Basketball

Girls Basketball

JEFFERSON-MORGAN 66, CARMICHAELS 60 CAR: 12 16 16 16 60 JM: 22 17 6 21 66 SERRA CATHOLIC 45, CARMICHAELS 27 SC: 8 15 11 11 45 CAR: 7 10 6 4 27

JEFFERSON-MORGAN 66, CARMICHAELS 60 CAR: 12 16 16 16 60 JM: 22 17 6 21 66

CORNELL 67, JEFFERSON-MORGAN 16 JM: 3 4 7 2 16 COR: 19 25 16 7 67

GEIBEL 76, MAPLETOWN 40 GEI: 22 24 22 8 76 MAP: 13 12 8 7 40 WEST GREENE 71, MAPLETOWN 29 WG: 21 18 23 9 71 MAP: 5 7 8 9 29

UNIONTOWN 94, WAYNESBURG 82 WAY: 25 14 17 26 82 UNI: 21 27 22 24 94 CAHRLEROI 62, WAYNESBURG 13 CHA: 19 17 15 11 62 WAY: 6 0 4 3 13

WEST GREENE 53, AVELLA 30 AVE: 7 5 4 14 30 WG: 5 18 15 15 53 WEST GREENE 71, MAPLETOWN 29 WG: 21 18 23 9 71 MAP: 5 7 8 9 29

February 16, 2017

Page C3

Jackets lose opener despite strong performances by Cooper and Denham

By CODY YANKULIC Editorial Assistant

The Waynesburg University men’s tennis team battled Mount Aloysius College for its first match of the season on Friday, Feb. 10.

The team was defeated 6-3, and head coach Ron Headlee though his team played “alright.”

Headlee went on to further explain that the team had only been able to practice twice indoors before the meet and the opposing coach made some dishonest moves with player positioning.

“They put a couple of moves on us that you aren’t supposed to do in tennis,” said Headlee. “They moved their players around.”

Headlee explained that he moved the number three up to play number one and dropped their number one down to play in the number two spot.

D espite t he t r icker y played by Mount Aloysius head coach Mike Hample, Headlee and the Jackets were able to win two matches in singles and one in doubles.

Sophomore Jonah Cooper won both singles sets

Dave Miller, ADM Photography

Last season Cooper led the team in singles, only losing four games out of 17. Additionally, he teamed up with Timothy Harris and Adam McKnight in doubles and had a 20-5 record on the year.

6-2, 6-2 to win first singles.

Headlee was pleased with his performance.

“He played really well in both doubles and singles,” said Headlee.

Adding to the team’s performance on the day, sophomore Josh Denham won his sets of singles play to stand victorious in the

number two singles. Denham dominated his way to 6-2 and 6-1 set victories.

“It was a good win,” said Headlee.

Cooper and Denham joined together to win the first doubles match, 8-4, which gave Waynesburg its three wins on the day.

The team also found

some areas that it could improve upon.

“There’s a lot of things we need to work on right now,” said Headlee. “It is basically all learning right now.”

Headlee explained one area he noticed the team needed to work on was maintaining rallies longer and added that the early

season is a growing period.

At the third singles position, sophomore Adam McKnight played his way through three sets, but fell in the tiebreaker at the end of the third set, dropping his match to Mount Aloysius' Trent McErlane.

McKnight and freshman Jordan Pastoria came

close, but lost 8-6 at second doubles.

Pastoria lost his match at fourth singles, while fellow freshmen Tanner McKnight and James Zeremenko lost at fifth and sixth singles, respectively.

“It is good to find where our weaknesses are and our strengths are,” said Headlee.

At the current moment, Headlee, who is also the women’s tennis coach, said he is trying to learn his players, as he replaced former head coach Ron Christman for both the men’s and women’s teams.

“This year, we are just trying to learn our players and getting ready as the season goes along,” said Headlee. “I’m kind of in the dark with everything myself.”

D e s pit e f i n d i n g t h e team’s weaknesses and being new to coaching the men’s team, Headlee feels the team has a chance at being competitive.

“I think we have the possibility of having a decent team,” said Headlee.

The Jackets will be back in action on Friday, Feb. 17, when they travel to take on Pitt-Greensburg.

The match starts at 5:30 p.m.

Grinnen: Teammates, coaches reflect on player's work ethic and leadership Continued from C1

tensive with his training and preparation before a season,” said Shepas. “Extremely intensive about that stuff, always in the best possible shape he could personally be in. On the field, the way he practiced every snap and every drill – it’s where as if it was a game snap and [he] gave everything he had.”

After games last season, Grinnen would go to fellow defensive lineman Zach Machuga’s place to break down tape.

“I just remember coming back after games, before we would do anything with the team, me and Brad would just hang out in my room and watch film together,” said Machuga. “He obviously had a great year but even when he was making a sack he would just [say], ‘that’s a great play by this dude. That’s a great play by you. That’s a great play by him.’ He would never talk about himself. It was really fun just sitting with him two hours every Saturday.”

His work ethic stood out, and defensive line coach Alex Smith said it broke the

norm of most college players today.

Last season, Grinnen would show up early to every practice, doing hand drills and punching the bag alone.

“He would be at the sled relentlessly; he would be there himself. He would be hitting the sled repeatedly and working on his rates before practice,” Smith said.

“He had that clip to him, and he obviously took it to a whole different extreme. It almost like he had a practice before practice – just at how hard he was working at his craft before.”

Because of his work ethic, Grinnen improved exponentially through his three seasons.

Grinnen was a “priority recruit” for Waynesburg out of Ellwood City High School.

Since Shepas has been at Waynesburg, the defensive line has almost always been the strength of the team, with some of the best players in program history coming from that unit. Shepas felt that Grinnen out of high school had a chance to become one of those players.

As a freshman defensive end on a Waynesburg

team that went 8-3, Grinnen played in six games, recording five tackles on the season.

The following season, Grinnen played in all 10 games, totaling 16 tackles and a sack.

Through his first two seasons, Grinnen’s career could be explained as a player not reaching his full potential.

Then Grinnen had his breakout game in Week One against Muskingum.

Now playing the threetechnique full time, Grinnen tallied four sacks and forced two fumbles in the game.

It was just the beginning to a season that would end with Grinnen being a firstteam All-PAC selection and owning eight sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss and 48 tackles to his name for the season.

Grinnen’s dedication to self-improvement, Machuga said, is what led him to his impressive junior season.

“There is a number of reasons why he became up to speed with the game,” said Machuga. “He worked out more, he loved the weight room, he worked hard – he worked super hard…That’s a big part of it and he just came into his own, worked his craft and it showed.”

Smith said in his six years of coaching he has never experienced a player who improved so quickly and as much as Grinnen.

His success came with establishing a routine and improving the technical side of his game, Shepas said.

“He became a more experienced player, a smarter player, he started to play with more technique instead of just shear, raw ability and muscle,” said Shepas.

After the first few weeks of his junior season, the team voted Grinnen as a game day captain, as they do every week before the game.

Since that first selection he was elected as a captain every following week.

“I’ve always been fond of the way Brad has played, his loyalty and being a throwback football player,” said Shepas. “I just think it was an honor – its not often you have juniors being elected captains because the team is voting on it, I think that is significant for a couple of reasons.”

Next season, Grinnen’s teammates will carry, on and off the field, the impact he made in their lives. “[Grinnen was the] most mentally tough dude I’ve

Michael Purvis, Yellow Jacket

Grinnen broke out last season against Muskingum with four sacks and forced two fumbles in the game. ever seen,” said Roundtree.

“The stuff that dude would push me to: get better and make me have a drive. Everybody wanted to be that dude. I wanted to be that dude.”

Even the coaches now feel the significance Grinnen had in their lives. Smith said he would always remember their game day conversations on the sidelines.

“I just think of him coming up to me game day, he was just so excited to say ‘hey coach just leave me on those guards one on one, we’ll be fine – those guards can’t block me,’” said Smith.

“He’d just look me in the eye kind of saying he had my back. That’s what I think of him – I think of him on that bench looking me in the eye and telling me that he had my back.”

Smith’s coming of age as a young coach progressed with Grinnen’s improvement as a football player. Grinnen helped Smith find his calling as a football coach.

“I think we all, especially at Waynesburg, strive to find our purpose in life, and that

Mackenna Drazich, Yellow Jacket

After the first few weeks of the season, Grinnen was named a captain a captain and maintained that status for the rest of his junior season. able, seeking a relationship out with me and having the same goals as me with

“The stuff [Grinnen] would push me to — get better and make me have a drive. Everybody wanted to be that guy. I wanted to be that guy."

JAMES ROUNDTREE III

Junior defensive lineman

is what every man is trying to do,” Smith said. “With him just being so coach-

the team and everything, he just helped me find my purpose in life being that I

loved to coach football and use that as a platform to impact young people. I would say he helped me find my purpose in life.”

Now, the football team will move on in the dungeon, on the field and in their everyday lives without Grinnen. Shepas said his legacy is one that will never be forgotten by him or the Waynesburg football community.

“He’s going to always be remembered as one of the best defensive football players that we’ve had,” Shepas said.

Page C4

February 16, 2017

BASKETBALL PREVIEWS

Women’s basketball to face Personnel a question mark PAC bottom-dweller Geneva heading into season finale

By COLIN MCLAUGHLIN Staff Writer

Entering play Wednesday, Waynesburg’s women’s basketball team was tied for fourth place in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference with the Bethany Bison.

On Saturday, Feb. 18, the Yellow Jackets will have their final game of the regular season when they hit the road to take on the Geneva Golden Tornadoes.

“You’ve got to defend the 3-point line well,” said head coach Sam Jones. “They shoot the ball pretty well from the outside; there are probably three or four girls that can get really heated up from outside so it just boils down to defending the 3-point line well.”

The last time these two teams played, the Yellow Jackets cruised by Geneva 70-53. Junior forward Addy Knetzer led the team with 19 points that game and Geneva sophomore guard Callie Ford led the Golden Tornadoes with 24 points.

“We need to take advantage of our size, get the ball inside, and get some easy buckets,” said Jones. “As always, win-

ning the battle of the boards and the details on how to guard each specific kid based on their strengths.”

This game also is special because Geneva’s head coach Lori Wynn, who has been battling cancer, will be at the game.

“We are looking forward to seeing her; I am glad to see she is able to come back,” said Jones. “I just think that anyone that has to battle cancer is strong, and it is obviously a tough thing to do. I have been keeping track of her and in touch with her every two to three weeks to see how she is doing, because she is a colleague and a friend of mine.

We are just praying that she is healed, that there is no more

cancer and she can come back to the sidelines, back what she loves to do.”

Waynesburg is preparing to play well and will take whatever playoff matchup comes along “It would be the third time we have played [any team in the conference],” said Jones. “We split with [Bethany and Westminster], so we will watch film of our first two games versus both of them and look at what we did well and what we did not do well.”

Jones wants to see his team make as deep a run as possible in the playoffs.

“I would like to see ourselves give us a shot and get to the semifinals and give us a shot against Thomas More right now we are locked into the fourth or fifth seed, so if we get to the semifinals that would be who we play,” said Jones. “But, you know, I would like to just get there and give ourselves a shot again against the defending champions."

Waynesburg has two games left on the regular season. The Yellow Jackets will compete aginst W&J on Wednesday, past publication date, and against Geneva on Saturday.

By LUKE GOODLING and CHACE JOHNSTON Staff Report

Waynesburg’s men’s basketball team’s season ends this weekend.

Entering into this season, the team had postseason potential but a number of key player departures and a season-ending injury led to a premature conclusion to the 2016-17 campaign.

Despite a dismal second half of the season, the team could end on a high note. On Saturday, the team will travel to Geneva to compete against the Golden Tornadoes.

These two teams faced each other earlier this season, Jan. 14. It was a back-and-forth affair until the final minutes when Geneva capitalized on critical free throw shooting and won the game 74-72.

In the beginning of the game, the Yellow Jackets struggled, and went into halftime with a 14-point deficit.

According to head coach Mark Christner, it was a simple matter of being outplayed.

“They played harder than we did. They were the more assertive team,” said Christner.

“Coming out of halftime, [we]

needed to do more on defense than what [Geneva] did in the first half.”

In the team’s last game against Thomas More, the Yellow Jackets struggled with second-half defensive execution. The team went to the locker room down just three possessions, however, they went on to give up 56 points in the second half, eventually losing 95-56.

Against Geneva earlier in the season, Waynesburg managed to start a comeback. Junior wing Jon Knab hit a three at 16:13 in the second half, which began an 18-2 run for the Yellow Jackets and gave the team a slight, one-point lead.

Contributing to the equalizing run by the team was the

accuracy from behind the arc. Freshman guard Sam Heeter had his breakout game, making two 3-pointers in the second half.

A pair of Geneva free throws concluded the game and the Yellow Jackets lost 74-72.

Along with the conclusion of the basketball season for the men, two players will end their careers with Waynesburg University as well.

Senior guard Timmy Kaiser will play his final minutes on the court Saturday, while senior guard Christian Koroly will watch from the sidelines due to a season-ending knee injury suffered in early January.

Both Kaiser and Koroly have been leaders on the basketball team this season, Christner said.

“They’ve meant a ton. Obviously it’s hard to see Christian in a wheel chair…he’s been a great example of toughness and growth and maturity within our program,” said Christner. “[Kaiser] has been an example of perseverance – he’s had some stuff not go well in his life. He’s hung in there and his attitude is so great.”

Meyer: WBB should avoid Champs: WU hopes to place several wrestlers at regionals TMC in semis at all cost Continued from C1 Continued from C2

College and finish their season with Bethany College – a team one game ahead of them in the standings.

Assuming Grove City will go 1-1 in those games and end the season 9-9, it would mean Waynesburg would have to lose to W&J and Geneva to finish 8-10 and earn the No. 6 seed.

But, the Jackets didn’t intentionally lose to Chatham.

They stood at 9-7 heading into Wednesday’s game against W&J. For the Jackets to get the No. 6 seed, they would have to lose W&J and Geneva and Grove City would have to beat Thiel and Bethany, which is a less likely scenario.

Now, you’re probably thinking, this kid is crazy – and you’re probably right.

It’s easy to sit in my chair and say the team should have intentionally lost games. In my position, I am thinking I would do everything possible to advance as far in the playoffs as possible.

If I were a coach I don’t think I could intentionally try to lose games, and it would be crazy to expect head coach Sam Jones to do so. I don’t even know how a

coach could even approach the idea. It also wouldn’t be fair for the seniors on the basketball team, as intentionally losing the games would demean the end of their college careers.

As a player, it would be difficult to play knowing you were trying to lose intentionally. It would also be hard to turn the light switch back on once the playoffs came around.

I understand the controversy surrounding intentionally losing games, also known as “tanking” in professional sports. But, for this team, I wouldn’t be saying this if I didn’t think it were possible for this team to make it to the finals as the No. 6 seed. They would play Chatham – a team they just beat on the road – at home.

They would then travel to the No. 3-seeded St. Vincent – a very beatable team that they should’ve beaten two weeks ago.

Then the Jackets would play W&J – a team they beat earlier in the season – in the semifinals. And then, if they win all of those games, they lose to Thomas More in the finals.

If it’s at all possible for the Jackets to get the No. 6 seed, the team should lose Saturday.

my own match, but I wrestled in my areas, kind of forced my wills on him,” Shank said.

“Even though I didn’t wrestle my best, I still was able to put my style and my approach on him instead of letting him dictate where I went.”

In what Headlee described as arguably the most exciting match of the afternoon, Yellow Jacket freshman Kenneth Burrs defeated W&J junior William Oberschelp in a 1713 shootout in the title bout at 197 pounds.

Burrs led 12-5 after two periods, but Oberschelp responded with six straight points early in the third to cut the score to 12-11 before Burrs regained control with a late takedown and took the individual conference championship, becoming Waynesburg’s fourth individual champion.

Then, at 285 pounds, sophomore Jake Evans was the seventh Yellow Jacket representative in a championship bout.

After his dominating regular season, Evans took care of business in the PAC Championships.

In the three matches he competed in, he spent a total of 2:49 seconds in action, sticking his opponents in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals in times of 0:45, 0:24 and 1:40, respectively. Evans

Mitch Kendra, Yellow Jacket

Junior 125-pounder Tristan Buxton won the first of five individual championships for Waynesburg, pinning Thomas More's Cody Schultz for his first individual title. has now been the PAC heavyweight champion the past two years and was also named the PAC Most Outstanding Wrestler following the event.

“He just wears on them, especially on top, and it’s hard to carry 250 pounds for however long that time is,” Shank said.

“Those guys break and eventually roll over, but he does a good job just staying on task and doesn’t really let much bother him. If it’s tight, he’s not worried, and then usually he can just finish it off.”

In addition to the seven finalists, freshman Zach

Mackall, junior Derek Hull, freshman Adam Rigney and sophomore Will VanNorman all took home third-place finishes in their respective weight classes of 149 pounds, 174 pounds, 197 pounds and 285 pounds. Junior Landon Lohr added a fourth-place finish at 157 pounds.

Continuing to add to Waynesburg’s hardware, Headlee took home his fifth PAC Coach of the Year award.

Crivelli said that coming off a down year last year, a big reason they bounced back this year was because of the ninth-

year coach.

“He deserves it; we had a pretty rough season last year, not how we wanted it to go,” said Crivelli. “That’s not his fault, sometimes it’s rough recruiting at the D-III level. But, to be able to respond like we did this year, like the drastic difference, I think we owe it to him for our success.”

Waynesburg will have two weeks before they are back for regionals. The NCAA Division III Mideast Regional Championships will be hosted by York College on Saturday, Feb. 25, through Sunday, Feb. 26.

WBB: Saints offense too much for Jackets MBB: Offense disappears without Knab Continued from C1

In spite of the loss, neither Jones nor Gehlmann were disappointed in the team’s effort.

“I was happy today that we kept fighting,” said Jones. “In the fourth quarter, it would have been easy to just mail it in, but we fought and we showed some tenacity, which was really important, and I think that will help us as we take the next step.”

“We never gave up,” said Gehlmann. “I think that’s preparing us for [the next game], if we play like that with the intensity.”

Another thing that impressed Jones about Thomas More was its physical attributes.

“They’re quick, long and athletic, and that’s really what it boils down to,” said Jones.

“They make you pay every time you make a mistake.”

In spite of the dominating effort, Saints head coach Jeff Hans saw some aspects that

his team can improve on.

“There was a lot of stuff that we didn’t do well,” said Hans. “We didn’t defend very well at times. We just have to be more consistent on both ends of the floor. There’s stuff that we have to clean up.

We’re working on it, just like Waynesburg, and everybody’s trying to get a little bit better for a postseason run.”

Leading the charge for the Saints was sophomore guard Madison Temple, who posted a career-high 25 points, 18 of which came in the firstquarter.

“I think I’ve been more aggressive driving to the basket, trying to get open,” said Temple. “I felt really confident in my shot, and today [the shots] just kept falling. I’m trying to

get to the basket more to either create shots for myself or my teammates, and that seems to be working out recently.”

Hans credits Temple’s versatility, as well as Thomas More’s unselfish play, for her success.

“She’s attacking the basket very well,” said Hans. “Her teammates are finding her on the perimeter for the open [3-pointers]."

For Jones, the key to getting back on track is straightforward. The team needs to care of their responsibilities.

“We just have to get back to [playing] Jacket basketball,” said Jones. “We’ve got to do our job, take care of what we’re supposed to do – just really get back to the basics.”

Continued from C1

for the Jackets on both ends.

By the half, Thomas More led 39-31.

When all was said and done, Thomas More (17-6, 13-3) won by 39 points with a 95-56 final score.

The loss, coupled with wins

by Chatham over Geneva and Grove City over Westminster Saturday, eliminates Waynesburg (6-17, 4-12) from playoff contention.

Waynesburg played the end of the first half and the entire second half without its best scorer, junior wing Jon Knab, who left the game in the first half with a leg injury and didn’t return. With Koroly already out, and sophomore wing Brennan Smith out for the game with a knee injury he suffered at Chatham, Waynesburg played the rest of the game with just two of its original starting five from the first game of the season: Kaiser and junior forward Marcus

Wallace.

In a season of odd turnover and unusual circumstances, Christner was proud of his team’s drive to continue to compete and play hard.

“We’re going to fight.

We needed to manage the game a bit better in the second half, but [Thomas More] is such a good perimeter shooting team that it’s tough,” said Christner. “Our guys battled and the unfortunate thing is you still have to be able to do things correctly.

The grit and resolve are there, but maybe the execution is lacking. In some ways, it’s still November with this team. It’s a different lineup seemingly every time, and it’s tough to get consistency, but silver lining wise, we’ll be a little further along next year because of it.”

Wallace led the Jackets offensively with a team-high 11 p oints, while Kaiser added 10 and freshman guard Frank Bozicevic scored eight points.

Thomas More got 23 points from sophomore guard Ryne Callahan, who hit six 3-pointers.

Junior forward Austin Young poured in 21, a career high, on nearly perfect shooting from the field, while sophomore guard Damion King, freshman forward Gavin Jameson and junior forward Simon Clifford scored 16, 11 and 11, respectively.

Waynesburg rounds out its 2016-17 schedule this week with games Wednesday and Saturday, against Washington & Jefferson and Geneva, respectively.

SECTION D

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 | WAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY | THEYELLOWJACKET.ORG

Student's political YouTube channel finds success Passion for politics leads to videos with 100,000 hits

By BRENDAN KEANY Op/Ed Editor

T.J. Denofrio did not appreciate the “Time for Kids” magazines that were passed out to his class in elementary school. There wasn’t enough substance to the articles. He felt the publication skimped out on important issues.

He always wanted to read the real stuff – the issues in “Time” that the teachers received.

That curiosity and yearning to understand what really was happening in the world around him is what set him apart. His desire to be informed, and his passion to inform others and share his ideas, has led to a plethora of opportunities.

“It was my dad being a government whistleblower and just having to see how horribly the government can run,” he said. “Having that insight from early on in my

life and being able to see that, it’s something I want to try to stop, and that’s something that inspired me to make the YouTube channel.”

In the physical world, he’s known as T.J. Denofrio wears thickframed, black glasses with a shorter haircut, and sometimes he has a coat on, which allows him to carry a pocket copy of the U.S. Constitution. He volunteers his time to campaign for candidates he supports, and he was chosen to be a part of the Stover Center for Constitutional Studies and Moral Leader-

ship.

Throughout the internet world, many know him as the Political Platypus, a name he created partly due to his love for “Phineas and Ferb.”

The Political Platypus is a YouTube channel that now has around 800 subscribers, and the number is growing every day. Denofrio synthesizes a combination of pictures and words, while doing his own voiceover, to pick apart one subject of conversation to provide his conservative analysis on said topic.

“It started one night af-

ter I watched that “13 Hours” movie dealing with Benghazi and Hillary Clinton,” T.J. Denofrio's he said. “Having a YouTube Channel, very heavy military "Political Platypus," has recieved family, that’s just a thousands of views on videos movie that struck which discuss political issues. me very emotionally in a way, and out of anger, I just started re- 100,000 views. searching and formulating “I realized that people care some facts on exactly what what I have to say and unwent down, and that’s what derstood that I have a platled to my very first video.” form where I can influence His videos have already people,” he said. “It’s just received exposure, as two CHANNEL >> D2 of them earned more than

Spontaneous food Reasons for returning to college breaks promoted vary for non-traditional students via social media Adult students

SAB provides opportunities for students to break from class

By COLIN MCLAUGHLIN Staff Writer

There’s a SWARM coming.

No, not an actual swarm of bees.

The Waynesburg University Student Activities Board (SAB) has been hosting fun activities and food giveaways that they call SWARM. SWARM stands for ìStop Working And Relax More,î and a lot of students have been attending these events in comparison to years prior. The catch, however, is to check on Student Activities Board Facebook page, Twitter (@WU_SAB) page or SAB’s Snapchat to see if an event is going on, as they are typically announced unexpectedly.

“They are random and spontaneous, so I do not even know when they are,” said Michelle Keith, secretary of SAB. “Basically Pat or some-

one in the office will plan them along with the committee and we will send out something usually the morning of saying watch out there is going to be a SWARM happening.”

So far this year, SAB has had two Starbucks giveaways, a French fry bar and a hot chocolate bar. Students that have not yet attended a SWARM event should not be concerned because they are going to have many more throughout the rest of the semester.

“We try to mix up the times and the days to let other people come to them since some people are in class or different activities,” said Keith.

These events have been happening for several years now, but this year the events have really taken off. There is a larger number of students coming out for free food or drinks and to socialize. The SWARM events are usually in the Beehive, located on the second floor of the Stover Center, during the afternoon of weekdays. Students that are wrapped up in studying for

SWARM >> D2

face unique set of challenges

By LUKE GOODLING

Sports Convergence Editor

Charles B eattie is a 51-year-old junior.

Two and a half years ago he was laid off work from the oilfield.

Now, he is enrolled at Waynesburg University, taking seven classes while studying applied science for business and energy management.

“Money was good with what I was doing [in the oilfield] – it was really good,” said Beattie. “But I just can’t continue the pace I was going in. Hopefully with this degree, I can get somewhere better.”

In just over a year, Beattie will earn his second degree.

After being in the Marine Core for around 20 years in the mid-80s, he earned his associate’s degree in criminal justice. Following that, he served a brief stint in

Ashley Hall, Yellow Jacket

Charles 'Chuck' Beattie returned to college after years of working in the oil field but senses that there is more out there in life for him to do. the oilfield, where Beattie said working an unrelenting, 70-hour work week was not uncommon.

Michael Purvis, 41, is 10 years younger than Beattie, but he also is working towards acquiring a degree.

Purvis started classes in Jan-

uary 2016 in digital design.

“I’ve been self-employed my whole life,” said Purvis.

“I run a photography company. I’ve owned it now for 21 years. I started it immediately after graduating from college the first time and never had the desire to

have a degree – thought it would be nice to finish up something I never finished.”

In 1995, Purvis left the Arts Institute of Pittsburgh with an associate’s degree.

In the following years, Purvis started his own photography company that he said went through ups and downs.

“In my 20s I was the baby of all the professional photographers of Pittsburgh,” said Purvis. “I networked with all the best in town – they always sent me their referrals and extra work because I was the young guy that was creative.”

Purvis has photographed 872 weddings in 13 states and five countries, he said, including working private weddings of professional athletes. However, the transition into the digital era, Purvis said, was difficult, and it prompted him to return to school.

“Business started to decline due to saturation and technology, so I thought I would get back into digital and learn some of the trendy STUDENTS >> D2

'Hairspray' performance wins talent show Weekly food nights

By ANNIE MCGLAUGHLIN

News Convergence Editor

Waynesburg Student Activities Board hosted the annual talent show, WU’s Got Talent, Feb. 10. As students filled the Goodwin Performing Arts Center to see the talent that graces the campus, the acts nervously awaited their turn to wow the audience.

Acts included magic, singing, comedy, dancing, rapping and various combinations of these things.

Emily Mielcarek, a senior international business major, emceed the event and also performed during the wait for the results.

Freshman accounting major Heidi Dziak auditioned and was joined by sophomore communication major Megan Cook and

sophomore early childhood and special education major Kayla Coughlin in an act.

Dziak said her love of singing and performing is what prompted her to audition.

Their act was a tribute to the musical “Hairspray.”

They featured a few males to play the “moms” to mirror the performance of a male in drag playing the mother in the original Broadway musical.

Dziak said auditions went a little rough, but they got through it and were eventually given a bid.

“It was a little bit of a wreck, but we were all smiling & laughing by the time it was over. I stumbled my words a good bit but kept smiling

and hit the correct notes,” said Dziak. “The judges said they really liked our act, double-checked to see if the guys’ outfits would be okay and they told us we were in.”

Although Dziak’s initial intention was to win to competition, in the end, she just wanted to enjoy performing with her friends and giving the audience a great show.

The girls practiced both vocally and with the entire ensemble, including the guys.

Dziak’s act went onto the win the whole competition, and her group was overjoyed when they announced their names.

Junior criminal justice major Paige Gilchrist attended the event and said

the variety and lineup of the acts was very attention grabbing.

“I think the event went pretty well,” said Gilchrist.

“A lot of people sang, but there was both a magic act and JWebb [Jordan Webb] rapped for us. It was interesting.”

Among the diverse lineup was freshman biblical studies major Connor Hoffman.

Hoffman performed a comedy act for the audience.

He said he was nervous during his audition, but the judges gave him a second chance and he made the most of it.

Hoffman, a member of the Improv team here, said this was a chance to see if this would be a good hobby for him.

He hoped to bring laughter and joy to those sitting in the audience, increase his skill as a comedian and gain better stage presence.

“I feel like I did well, I got a lot of strong responses from the audience,” said Hoffman.

Tyler Wolfe, Yellow Jacket

Heidi Dziak, Megan Cook and Kayla Coughlin performed an act from "Hairspray," winning WU's Got Talent on Feb. 10 in the GPAC.

serve as alternative to going out to eat

By MATTIE WINOWITCH Managing Editor

Students at Waynesburg University are required to purchase a meal plan of a minimum ten meals per week. With only two places to get food on campus, sometimes dining options can get a bit mundane for students.

Because of this, Lesley Davis, Waynesburg’s Food Services director, decided to switch things up at the Beehive, the café-style restaurant on campus. As the Beehive is a popular eatery on campus, especially for its flexible hours going into the evening, she wanted to provide the students with some new options for late-night snacking.

One thing Davis decided to change was the selection and price ranges of items on the Beehive’s late-night menu.

“We changed the late-night menu to an all-five-dollar basic menu,” said Davis. “Now, students can get different combinations of food and a drink. There’s also a Pick Three option now.”

Davis said the reasoning behind changing up the latenight menu was to pique students’ interest through low prices and delicious foods.

“We wanted to make it

cost-effective for the students so they’d be able to just come up and grab it,” said Davis.

“We also wanted to make it food items you wouldn’t normally get.”

Another thing that was

Late Night Beehive Menu $5 Basic Menu

Entree & Drink or Pick Three Option

Thursday $3-$5 PopUp Snack Bar Nachos, Fries, Hot Dogs, or Walking Tacos

changed at the Beehive was the introduction of weekly Pop-Up Snack events. They were originally introduced when students returned to campus after winter break.

The Pop-Up Snack events were Davis’s idea. She said she was trying to provide something for students who might be getting tired of the same old selections, but don’t want to leave campus.

“We completely understand that you eat every meal here, so you don’t want to go BEEHIVE >> D2

Page D2

Feburary 16, 2017

Duo's background provides them with musical inspiration

By RACHEL MANGAN Editorial Assistant

On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the music duo Scot and Chris performed at the Student Activities Board’s coffeehouse.

The duo, made up of Scot Holt and Chris Housman, are very new to the touring and performing life.

The two performers feature an array of instruments, including guitar, upright bass and violin. Hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, the pair played everything from pop to country.

The duo is a part of the APCA or the Association of Promoting Campus Activities.

“We are fortunate to be a part of this because they do an outreach program sort of deal looking for universities that promote various campus activities and it helps us to find places to perform,” said

Tyler Wolfe, Yellow Jacket

The Beehive was nearly filled with students during the most recent Coffeehouse, which took place Wednesday, Feb. 8, with musicians Scot and Chris.

Housman. “We never would have heard of Waynesburg if it weren’t for this opportunity.”

The group performed cov-

ers such as “Wagon Wheel”

by Darius Rucker, “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran and “I Want It That Way” by The Backstreet Boys. The group

also created mashups blending lyrics from “We Found Love” into the melodies of “Thinking Out Loud.” The duo also performed some of

their personal favorites, such as “Hallelujah.”

Bantering between sets, the duo admitted to being huge fans of 90s music, performing many iconic and memorable songs. They also backed up in terms of the music timeline and broke out some Johnny Cash hits from their repertoire of songs.

The duo came to be in May of 2015 when the two performers met and discovered they had the same taste in music and that they had very compatible voices for singing harmonies.

Despite their differing backgrounds, the two performers use these differences to create a very unique effect to their sound.

Housman grew up in a small town in south western Kansas. He played fiddle from the age of seven and was influenced heavily by bluegrass music.

“As musically involved as I was I as a child, I stepped away from it for a while, but my love of it was revived after I moved to Nashville and met Scot,” said Housman.

Holt came from a different background than his partner Housman, he grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, where he self-taught himself to play piano, drums and guitar. He also wrote his own songs.

“I went to music school and was signed by an independent record label and I released some music with them, but I moved to Nashville in 2012 and that where I met Chris,” said Holt. “Things just kind of expanded from there.”

The pair thanks their unlike backgrounds for exposing each of them to very different kinds of music, which inspires the wide variety that they perform today.

Bonners fundraise with cheesesteak event Channel: Student displays passion for politics on YouTube

By RACHEL MANGAN Editorial Assistant

On Friday, Feb. 10, the Bonner Scholars, students involved in the Bonner Scholarship program, held a Philly cheese-steak fundraiser. The proceeds were donated to Second Sam Nine.

Second Sam Nine is a faith-based day program for adults with developmental disabilities.

“We are required a large amount of community service hours for the Bonner scholarship, but we do a lot of volunteer work at Second Sam Nine and we decided that they were the place we wanted to donate the proceeds from our fundraiser,” said Hannah Bloir, one of the student leaders of the fundraiser.

The Second Sam Nine is a non-government funded program that relies solely on the generosity of donations by various organizations and sponsors so that they can provide their program to disabled adults free of charge.

“The fundraiser is completely student organized and student lead,” said Adrienne Tharp, coordinator of the Bonner Scholar Program. “I’m just the support person, they organize all of

Photos courtesy of Hannah Bloir

DeVaughn Davis worked the kitchen in the Beehive on Friday to prepare food for the fundraiser. this themselves.”

Bloir, who lead the process of the fundraiser, explained what went into organizing the event and how it came about. The students had several meetings confirming how the event would be approached.

“We weren’t super technical about who we wanted to work which jobs, we just asked who wants to cook?

Who can work the table at this time?” said Bloir. “It was voluntary and who had what preferences on where everyone wanted to work.”

One of the biggest points

of profit for the event came off of pre-sales and the fact that local businesses could order the Philly cheese-steak sandwiches ahead of time and have them delivered.

Not only were the sandwiches delivered to the businesses, but the businesses could specify exactly when they wanted the sandwiches to be delivered.

The delivery process was based on the time specifications requested by each place and students with cars on campus would take several orders at a time and deliver them to the customers

throughout the evening.

The students were also very fortunate to have been worked with so generously

by Aladdin food company.

“Aladdin donated all the food, which was incredible, and we’re super grateful for that. They’re also letting us use their space as well,” said Bloir. “They shut down the Beehive for the night and let us use it for the fundraiser, so we really appreciated everything they did to help us with that.”

This is Bloir’s first time organizing the event, and as a sophomore at the university, she has two more years to expand the fundraiser and set higher goals for it each year on.

Although this is Bloir’s first year, Tharp explained that the event has been going for the past for years since she has been the coordinator of the Bonner Scholar Program, but the fundraiser even precedes her time with the Bonner Scholars.

The fundraiser made over $200 in pre-sales and also made significant money in the “on the spot” orders received in the Beehive.

Bloir and the rest of the students involved didn’t set a concrete goal for this fundraiser, but plan to set one the next time they do this event.

Continued from D1

really cool to be able to set some time aside and create videos where you know people are actually going to receive your insight.”

With the added pressure of being a recognized voice on the internet, along with the critical political culture seen today, Denofrio said that he’s mindful of accuracy, and he has learned the hard way already.

However, he believes that every video improves on itself with the experience he gains.

Although there is some money to be had in being a successful YouTube personality, and he already has been compensated, Denofrio doesn’t want to make his hobby into a career.

“I wouldn’t want to make this into a career per se,” he said. “I’ve always liked journalism and the media aspect of reporting news. If I want to do anything in the future I definitely want it to feel like a hobby, because as

soon as it starts to turn into a job, it takes the fun away.”

However, he does want to improve his project, and he has already talked to several people about potentially setting up a podcast over the summer to advance what he’s been doing through the Political Platypus.

As a prelaw major at Waynesburg University , Denofrio still has his eyes set on a career as a future lawyer, but he wants people to understand the importance of practicing and understanding politics, even if they are not a politician.

“People need to be interested in politics, particularly in America, because America gives you the platform to actually care about political situations,” Denofrio said. “You don’t have that in a lot of other countries. So, in the United States, it’s essential that people are educated about political situations because that is one of the best rights you can attain as an individual: the right to express your political beliefs.”

SWARM: SAB communicates on Beehive: Food service offers snacks social media to announce events for on-campus nighttime dining

Continued from D1

tests or midterms, writing papers or completing projects are encouraged by SAB to check their social media pages to see if a SWARM is going to be happening soon.

“If anybody has any suggestions or comments, we

take feedback at SAB, so if students like them, then let us know, and if a student wants to have any different activities, let us know, and we will take that into account when we are trying to plan, and we will accommodate in new stuff that the student body might want,î said Keith.

Students that may be in-

terested in helping plan and create SWARM events are also encouraged by Keith to join SAB, noting that they are always looking for more people.

“It is specifically our Common Happenings group within SAB that plans it, but anybody can join SAB, we are always looking for new members,” Keith said.

Continued from D1

to the Beehive and get the same exact thing over and over again and you’d rather go to Sheetz,” said Davis. “We want to try to give the students something they would like.”

The Pop-Up Snack events

Student: Non-traditionals pursue career options Continued from D1

things that are happening to better myself in the future,” said Purvis.

Though Beattie and Purvis come from different areas of life and pursue differing majors, they share one thing in common: being the oldest in the classroom.

“It is different,” said Purvis.

“I am as old as most of the students’ parents. In a way, there are a lot of students that look at me like I may not belong.”

Having a more traditional view on the current generation, Beattie said he primarily focuses on getting his work done in class.

“I just study,” said Beattie. “I just pay attention to what the professor has to say and I just go on from there – I just try and keep my mouth shut as much as possible.”

While Purvis and Beattie said they focus mostly on themselves and their own responsibilities, Dave Floyd, senior associate director of Admissions and recruitment manager, said the nontraditional students of the university bring vital skills to the classroom.

“They bring a lot more experience to the table,” said Floyd. “Whether or not they’ve been involved in that field or academic discipline already, [which they are studying], regardless, I think they bring just a life of experience that helps add to the discussion and to other areas as well.”

Purvis recognizes the unique situation he is in, and can relate to a similar experience when he was younger in school.

“When I was in school [the first time] there was a guy twice everyone’s age and we all thought it was a little strange at first,” said Purvis. “But then

everyone got to know the guy and found out what a fun person [he was], who has experienced a lot in life already. I always think of me as my friend, Dave, back in the 90s who was the older guy in class.”

Some students seek out Purvis and Beattie. Purvis said that business students have spoken to him about running their own companies, as well as other questions.

“The students who have gotten to know me… network with me and ask questions,” said Purvis. “Some found out that I might even know about film and have asked me about the film days.”

Beattie said relying on the classroom will not be enough for a successful path in the workforce.

“Real world experience has nothing to do with the classroom,” said Beattie. “You’ll take some stuff out of the classroom,

but once you hit the real world – you could throw a lot of it out.”

Instead, Beattie said staying consistent and working hard is the baseline towards accomplishment.

“If you want to be successful… make sure your work gets done, worry about yourself – no one else,” said Beattie.

“People are going to notice, whether they tell you or not, people do notice. Just by doing the little things, you will move up the ladder and you will be successful, even coming out of college.”

Purvis has a five-year-old daughter and lives with his wife, Shari Payne, vice president for enrollment. He hopes to graduate with his bachelor’s degree and continue to work for his company.

Beattie wants to find a less physically demanding job upon graduation next year.

range from $3 to $5, depending on the type of snack food offered. Each event features a different snack food for students to enjoy after paying the fee. Since the events began in January, the snack nights have included loaded nachos, walking tacos, hot dogs and loaded french fries.

Davis said she’s currently

open to suggestions from students if there’s anything specific they’d like to have at one of the snack nights.

“We’re mainly experimenting right now and trying to see what everybody likes,” said Davis.

To suggest a new snack idea, e-mail Davis at ldavis@ waynesburg.edu.

February 16, 2017

Page D3

WEEKLY CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Basil sauce 6. Pops, to baby 10. Sacred assurance 13. Sound from a lily pad 14. 88 or 98 automaker 15. Give a ticket to 16. Birds on United States seals 18. Longing feeling 19. Old photo hue 20. Started the poker kitty 21. Explosion noise 24. Commonly multipaned patio entrances 27. Hop out of bed 29. More like a cad 30. Send a racy phone message to 31. Changed into 34. Apt anagram of “aye” 37. Reptiles known for their strong jaws 40. Actor McKellen 41. Briefs, informally 42. 50-and-over organiza tion 43. Somber melody 45. Red-nosed “Sesame Street” character 46. Bank transport ve hicles 51. Poetic nightfall 52. Quicken offerings 53. Reebok rival 55. __ Spumante 56. Musicians found at the ends of 16-, 24-, 37and 46-Across 61. Costa __ 62. Word for the calorieconscious

63. Fertile desert spots 64. “I’m not impressed” 65. Arrived at second base headfirst, perhaps 66 Little songbirds

DOWN 1. Banned chem. pollutant 2. Pitching stat 3. South-of-the-border sun 4. Youngsters 5. Michael of “Cad dyshack” 6. “Git along” little critter

7. Edgar __ Poe 8. Pres. before JFK 9. Stubborn animal 10. Post-race place for a NASCAR winner 11. Catchall check box 12. Dandelions, e.g.

15. Kayak kin 17. Earth Day mo.

20. Poisonous snake 21. Low operatic voices 22. Sports venue with tiered seating 23. Versatile, as a ward robe 25. Shipping container

26. Organic fertilizer 28. Fuel additive brand 31. __-watching: TV view ing spree 32. Put the kibosh on 33. Movie SFX 35. Tremble-inducing 36. Trembling tree 38. Good vibrations, in the cat world

39. Sticky road stuff 44. Ancient Aegean region 45. Real-estate holding ac count 46. Smartphone wake-up feature 47. Riveting icon 48. Desert plants 49. Patronized a help desk 50. Big truck

54. Zoom up 56. Dr. Jekyll creator’s monogram 57. Saudi Arabian export 58. “__ the Force, Luke” 59. Confident crossword solver’s tool 60. Escaping-air sound

LAST ISSUE'S SOLUTION

Accessories L S J M R M H E F O Q C U Q H

T E C Q H O A I G R S Z Z U F

R O U D H N N Y B Y A W H H M

GLASSES SHOES TIE NOSERING

I H F Z R O D I W A T C H E S

N S F N E C K L A C E S S O G

WATCHES EARRING MONOCLE BRACELET

Students of Waynesburg

"After studying abroad in Costa Rica during the fall semester, my new favorite Spanish word is solidaria.

This word is the adjective form of the word solidarity in English; to be solidaria is to be supportive or helpful. To be solidaria means to think of others' needs before your own, to unconditionally and whole-heartedly love your neighbors, and to form and keep strong bonds and relationships with everyone you meet, even strangers. I saw solidarity in the way the Costa Rican people taught me about religion, culture, communication, work, farming, corn, family, and love. Ojalá que pueda ser una persona más solidaria. I only hope to be a more solidaria person."

-Taylor Garrett

G M L D F L E S R U P F Z N K

S W I A X E R E Y F Y X I N X

S U N F U Z C C R Q F R J I W

J E K N J F H G P A R S E W W

U K S G R L I G M A R W L P D

K V W S X A E T E L E C A R B

RINGS SCARF HANDKERCHIEF CHOKER

J K U W A B F L R G K P O N Y

Q T I E M L R A A K O M K S M

M Y T D G J G Q A L H M Y E G

B N O S E R I N G N C T Q Q F

NECKLACES PURSE CUFFLINKS

Visit

THEYELLOWJACKET.ORG

for our regular sports content as well as bonus coverage.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Garrett

Taylor Garrett, left, is a senior math secondary education major who spent last semester studying abroad in Costa Rica.

Page D4

February 16, 2017

THE BACK PAGE

HOW TO LAND THE PERFECT JOB/INTERNSHIP Written by Emily Hackman

Designed by Joe Buchanan

Life after college is important. Everyone is working towards the same goal of one day getting employed by the perfect company. Being prepared to land this job or internship is the first step in making this dream a reality.

Your resume and interview tactics should set you and your talents apart from the rest of the applicants.

Marie Coffman, Director of Career Services and Placement, has some tips on how you can find the perfect job.

INTERVIEWS OUTFIT

Dress professionally no matter what. For males, a suit and tie is acceptable and for females, a dress suit or skirt in acceptable. The first 60 seconds will be when the employers will judge you for how you look.

PRACTICE

Practice questions that interviewers may ask you. Some of the most common questions include: tell me about yourself, why are you applying for this position, why are you applying to this company, why did you pick your major, what are some of your strengths and weaknesses and why should we pick you for this job.

HANDSHAKE Have a nice handshake when you introduce yourself. A firm handshake that is not like a “limp fish” is what you’re aiming for. When shaking someone’s hand, make sure that you have eye contact with that individual.

RESUME

Bring at least two copies of your resume with you to give to the interviewers. Good resume paper is available to print your resumes off in the Career Service Center located on the third floor of Stover.

PREPARE Prepare questions to ask the interviewers. At the end of the interview you will have an opportunity to ask questions and you should take that chance to ask them. A great question to ask is why do they recommend working at the company you’re applying to.

THANK YOU Always follow up with a thank you whether it be a hand-written letter or an email, this tells your interviewer that you respect their time and are interested in what they had to say.

RESUMES

PROFESSIONALISM TIPS

• Everyone has their opinions on how the resume should look, but the accepted format is one page in length and the font size should not be smaller than 11 points. Your name, home address, phone number and email address should be located on your resume.

• Include your education toward the top of the resume. Be sure that you list the correct degree that you are receiving. Also include your graduation date so that employers know when you would be available to start.

• Your resume needs to be eye catching for all the right reasons and for that reason do not use a template in the creation of your resume.

Create something that is ease to read and reflects your personality.

• Edit, edit, edit. There should be no misspellings in the resumes that you are turning in with your job application.

• References can be included on the resume or on a separate sheet of paper. The average number of references to have is 3 to 5 and the references should not come from the same location.

Invest in a professional business wardrobe.

Be aware of your nervous ticks.

Have good posture. Sit up straight and do not slouch.

Be careful of scams. Never give out your social security number and be careful to whom you give out your contact information to.

WAYNESBURG UNIVERSITY CAREER CENTER How the Waynesburg University Career Center can help you: • To help format and edit your cover letters and resumes.

• To provide resume paper to print resumes on.

• To help you search for jobs and internships.

• By offering a one credit course on professional development that you can take to help you grow your professional skills.

• By hosting multiple job and internship fairs for students to attend.

March 8, 2017 – Waynesburg University job fair in the Marissa Fieldhouse March 15, 2017 – West PACs job fair in Monroeville, PA. Register online for free at westpacs.org or pay $10 the day of the event. The university van is reserved to take students to the job fair.

March 29, 2017 – PERC Education job fair in Monroeville, PA. 204 schools will be in attendance from across the country looking for new employees. Pre-register online at percjobfair.org for $10 or pay $25 at the door.

April 5, 2017 – Waynesburg University Summer Camp Recruitment in Stover.