clarioncallnews.com
facebook.com/clarioncall
twitter.com/clarioncallnews
THE
Clarion Call CLARION UNIVERSITY’S STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1913
NOVEMBER 1, 2012
VOL. 99 ED. 8
Poverty simulation demonstrates trials of being poor Amerigo Allegretto COPY EDITOR
Alizah Thornton NEWS EDITOR
Clarion, Pa. - The Clarion–Jefferson Community Action Partnership and Rho Epsilon, Clarion University’s real estate fraternity, teamed up to present the annual Poverty Simulation on Friday, Oct. 26. The event put volunteering people in the shoes of those who are less fortunate for one hour. The simulation started with an introductory speech by the Rev. Clara Belloit, pastor of United Methodist, chairperson of the Salvation Army and a board member of the Clarion-Jefferson CAP. The poverty simulation was not a game. “This experience is to sensitize us to what it might be like to live in a low-income family and to experience a month in the life of another low-income person to see some of the barriers that they face in everyday living,” said Belloit. People retain 20 percent of the information they hear, 30 percent of the information they read, 40 percent of the information they hear and read together and 50 percent or more of the information they hear, read and participate in, Belloit said. The “one-month” simulation was split into four 15-minute pe-
Kelsey Warros / The Clarion Call
Clarion University students and faculty participate in a poverty simulation sponsored by the Clarion-Jefferson Community Action Partnership and the Rho Epsilon real estate fraternity. riods, each period representing one week. In order for a family to survive for the month, they needed to keep their home safe, buy sufficient amounts of food every week, keep their utilities on, make the necessary payments on their loans, pay for clothing and other expenses, send their children to school who were of age and respond to
unexpected situations, according to a handout given to the participants before the start of the event. Participants in the simulation were given name tags beforehand, telling them their name and age; they were then placed into families ranging from two to six individuals per household. Each family was given a packet that explained
their financial and social situations, such as what kind of income they had, how much they had to pay for bills and how many transportation passes they had. Transportations passes were the only way a person could go from one place to another. More passes could be bought at a loan shop that was set up.
There were several shops set up to meet basic needs, such as a school for people who portrayed children, an employer for people who needed jobs and a pawn shop for people to pawn away their goods for cash, among other places. Several risk factors also came into play. Families could get stolen from, family members
Professors, students help with Drake Well Museum project Rachel Farkas STAFF WRITER
Clarion, Pa. - Two Clarion professors have embarked on a journey to organize the history of the state’s oil region. James Maccaferri and Rhonda Clark, professors of library science, are overseeing two projects being done in conjunction involving the Drake Well Museum, which celebrates Edwin Drake’s discovery of oil in 1829. With the help of Sarah Everett, library science graduate student, Maccaferri is digitally indexing 14 volumes patents related to the oil and gas industries. Macafferri said they have only worked on the first volume, the patents “covering a wide variety of apparatuses and processes” from the mid-to-late 1800s. Some examples of the patents being indexed are “Improvement in the Manufacture of Oils Obtained from Coal,” “Process of Making Asphaltic
Fluxes” and “Process of Making Artificial or Elastic Bitument for Paving.” Maccaferri said Clark, who lives in Titusville, was approached by Titusville resident John H. Scheide for assistance with the patents, which he obtained from the U.S. Patent Office and Trademark Office. “We are usually approached with these projects by individuals who know of the Department of Library Science and our history of service to the community,” he said. After getting through the first volume in about two weeks, Maccaferri said he is hopeful that they will be able to complete the project by the end of 2013. With the patent indexing, Clark plans to create a local history thesaurus of the state’s oil region, according to a university press release. “This thesaurus will serve as a guide for the indexing of people, firms and subjects related to the region and its history,” the
“We are usually approached with these projects by individuals who know of the Department of Library Science and our history of service to the community” -James Maccaferri press release stated. Before the patent collection was given to the library science department to index, it was housed in the Drake Well Museum in Titusville, Pa. Previously, the only way to look for something was to leaf through the volumes, as there was no table of contents or organization system apparent, Macafferri said. “Producing an index that can be added to the museum’s website will allow researchers access to the collection remotely and, potentially, to request copied of patents of interest,” he said. The process of indexing is one done with special care and attention to details. Maccaferri and Ever-
ett are using aspecialized indexing software called SKY Index. The first step in indexing is developing rules that cover any situations that might develop. “In this case we are dealing mainly with the names of peoples and companies, but the rules also have to cover such details as to how the titles of the patents will be capitalized,” Maccaferri said. Once rules are established, the indexer, Everett will begin entering in information from the patent into SKY Index. Once volume one is complete, the index will be sent to the client for review to “make sure we are in fact including the concepts of interest to the museum,” he said.
THIS WEEK’S EDITION
Inside
INDEX
10th annual ghost experience begins on campus. FEATURES PAGE 5
VizArts presents Halloween show. ENTERTAINMENT PAGE 8
Former coach Baschnagel writes book. SPORTS PAGE 10
News Opinion Features Classifieds Puzzles & Comics Arts & Entertainment Sports Standings
2 4 5 7 7 8 10 11
could go to jail for various crimes and employees could get fired from their jobs, creating a tougher situation for the entire family. Alexis Best was one of the participants in the simulation. “I was a single-mother in my family, the Eppermans,” said Best. “Overall, we did well. We had to push our 17-year-old son to get a job and use our resources available.” “I really believe it’s important for people to learn how people less fortunate live,” said Jerry Belloit, chairperson of the department of finance and real estate, advisor of Rho Epsilon and husband of Clara Belloit. “When you go into business, education, social work or whatever career you may have, it’s important to have an idea how people live.” Belloit said he believes there are many preconceived notions about poor people by others, that aren’t always positive. Barriers such as lack of transportation or childcare can be hard for some individuals to get around. Sometimes people are just unlucky, he said. “Bad things happen to good people sometimes … I think it’s really important for people and our students to understand just how tough it is to be poor,” Belloit said. The two organizations hope to host this simulation again next fall.