The DA 12-04-2015

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”

da

friday december 4, 2015

VOLUME 128, ISSUE 68

www.THEDAONLINE.com

Mountaineer hub offers convenience by trey santorine correspondent @dailyathenaeum

West Virginia University’s student services offices began consolidation into a central hub with the relocation of several core service offices to the new Evansdale Crossing. Starting last week, students visiting various administrative offices downtown found themselves directed to the new Mountaineer Hub in the new

Evansdale Crossing. The Hub was created to consolidate various offices students often visit consecutively to resolve administrative issues. It houses the Office of Student Accounts, Office of the University Registrar and the Office of Financial Aid. Included with these offices are the offices of Student Employment, Scholarships, as well as Revenue Services. “With the offices separated downtown—the Registrar’s Office was one build-

ing, and the financial aid office was in one building, and the scholarship office and student accounts in another building—this was a way to bring all of these offices together, to one area, under one roof,” said George Yanchak, director of the Mountaineer Hub. “When students have any one concern, they will be able to call or email one central office— or hub—to help with all but the most specific questions.” Students will now be able to more easily avoid

AmeriCorps calls for volunteers to assist with summer program By Jordan Miller Staff Writer @DailyAthenaeum

AmeriCorps is seeking 500 volunteers for West Virginia University Extension Services’ 23rd annual Energy Express summer reading and nutrition program. The eight week program needs mentors and community coordinators for nearly 80 sites in up to 40 West Virginia counties, according to John Lyonett, Energy Express’ AmeriCorps coordinator. Lyonett said the program, which serves children entering first through sixth grade, is designed to prevent the “summer slide,” a pattern seen in school-aged children living in low-income or rural areas, who fall behind when school ends for the summer. The summer slide happens because low-income and rural families often do not have the same summer opportunities, like camps, vacations or access to books, Lyonett said, which would allow them to keep learning outside of the classroom from June to August. During the long summer break, these children lose both momentum and valuable ground in their learning, and quickly fall behind their peers, especially in reading and comprehension. “The kids from the lowincome families often don’t have the readiness. They’ve done nothing wrong, but they’re already behind,” Lyonett said. “Some of (these students) are just as bright, but they just fall behind because of the environment and the circumstances that they come from.” Many Energy Express participants are also eligible for free and reduced meals at their schools, which aren’t available to them during the summer. The nutrition portion of Energy Express’s program provides participants with breakfast and lunch everyday to ensure they won’t go hungry. “We give them breakfast and lunch, we give them a safe and secure environment, and we do the reading related activities. Between the three of them, instead of having them running in the streets and not having anything to eat, we try to address both components, reading and nutrition,” Lyonett said. When students graduate 6th grade and become too old to take part in the program, Energy Express often hires them as mentors, so

they can continue to benefit from the learning and free meals Energy Express provided them with before. To qualify for an Energy Express program, a county must have at least 50 percent of its school aged children needing free and reduced lunch. There were about 13 eligible counties in West Virginia when the program started 23 years ago, but now that the need has grown, there are around 46 counties eligible for the program. Energy Express’ volunteers are compensated for their service with a living allowance and a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award to help them pay tuition or student loans. An award-winning program, 74 percent of Energy Express participants either maintained or improved their achievement test reading scores last year by attending the program. Energy Express reaches about 3,000 children in West Virginia each year, and last summer they distributed nearly 18,000 books. “Our goal is just to maintain in the summer, because if they can maintain their skills then we’ve really helped them,” said Terri Collier, literacy and academic success specialist for WVU Extension Services and director of Energy Express, “but we actually see children (whose) reading achievement improves sometimes (in) as much as three or four months.” Collier said the noncompetitive environment at Energy Express is crucial for the children’s success because it allows them to learn and develop a love for books without the pressure of grades, tests and scores. “Many times in a school setting, I can say that as a (former) teacher, we’re focused on the mechanics of reading… and sometimes that can become difficult for children,” Collier said. “So, at Energy Express, we’re focusing just on enjoying it, trying to develop a desire and enjoyment for reading, which will then impact their skills as well.” Those interested in applying for a position as an Energy Express mentor or community coordinator can find more information at https://energyexpress. wvu.edu or by calling (304) 293-3855. The selection process will begin March 1, and applications will be available until all positions have been filled. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

51°/31°

SINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS

INSIDE

WVU Choir to perform in holiday concert A&E PAGE 4

PARTLY CLOUDY

News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5, 6 Sports: 9, 10, 11, 12 Campus Calendar: 8 Puzzles: 8 Classifieds: 7

the “campus run-around,” a complaint Brenda Thompson, senior adviser for strategic initiatives, said was heard frequently on campus. “By this time next year, I think that students will be thinking about the Mountaineer Hub as an effective resource where they can go to find information or resolve any issues they may have,” she said. The Mountaineer Hub will also serve to help integrate the services each office provides to students. Often is-

sues or concerns that students may face between the offices of Financial Aid and Student Accounts can overlap or be intertwined. By helping to solve each student’s issues as a whole, rather than dividing them into pieces, the new consolidated office aims to serve students more quickly and effectively. To this end, the Hub is currently hiring nine new full-time staff members that will be cross-trained to aid students with a variety of

problems. While some students expressed frustration that these offices are no longer on the Downtown Campus, the Mountaineer Hub’s location in the Evansdale Crossing is still easily accessible using the bus or PRT, and parking is available. The Mountaineer Hub can be found on the second floor of the Evansdale Crossing, across from the Engineering station on the PRT. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

ICE, ICE, BABY

West Virginia University students form a line to keep from falling on the ice skating rink behind the Mountainlair.

Kristen Uppercue/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

WVU opens ice skating rink at Mountainlair Plaza as stress reliever for students during finals by amy pratt

staff writer @dailyathenaeum

Thursday night, Fun Before Finals week brought another opportunity for West Virginia University students to chill before finals start next week. The University rented a portable ice rink for the Mountainlair plaza. Once again, the goal was to provide students with an easy, inexpensive way to have a bit of fun before hitting the books. “We were trying to think of things that would really just relax students,” said Sonja Wilson, Lair personnel administration. “That’s why we’ve had the therapy dogs. Just things that you can do on the spur of the moment, you don’t have to plan to be here, so ice skating is one of those things where you can just go out and re-

lax, clear your mind.” Even students who had no experience skating could try the rink out, such as Marissa Hovey, a psychology student. “I’ve never ice skated before,” she said. “I am always up for trying new things and I had never ice skated, so I thought, ‘Hey, ice skating, might as well try.’ I saw it on the Fun Before Finals website and I decided if I had time I would come down and try it.” While the night was cold, heating lamps were set up around the rink to keep students waiting in line warm. But the low temperatures were cause for the Lair personnel to consider moving the rink to the Student Recreation Center. “We were going to move it to the rec center when it was

see ice on PAGE 2

Art students sell work to raise money By Trey Santorine Correspondent @DailyAthenaeum

Students in West Virginia University’s Print Making Club from the College of Creative Arts are holding a holiday sale of student-made prints on Thursday and Friday in the Mountainlair. The sale runs from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., and all proceeds from the sale will go toward travel funding for the 2016 Southern Graphics Council International Print Making Conference in Portland, Oregon. Since 2004, The WVU Print Making Club has attended the Conference. It is one of the largest print making conferences in the world, according to a WVU To-

day press release, with attendees from as far as Australia, Europe, India and China. Print Making Club president and senior art student Jessica Poole attended the conference last year in Knoxville, Tennessee. She said that participating in the conference can help students grow artistically and professionally. “Going to the Conference helped me realize all of the different avenues for the field I’m pursuing,” Poole said. “Before I went, I didn’t know the wide variety of (things) I could really do with print making.” The Conference serves as an important networking event for up and coming artists, and students that may want to work in

Shelby Thoburn/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Jessica Poole sells her artwork including homemade Christmas cards in the Mountainlair. printmaking and other related arts. Students that attend the conference will have the opportunity to discover new techniques in the printmaking field, stay up to date with the

THE DA’s HIRING WRITERS

Inquire about paid positions at The Daily Athenaeum at DA-editor@mail.wvu.edu or pick up an application at our office at 284 Prospect St.

CONTACT US Newsroom 304-293-5092 or DAnewsroom@mail.wvu.edu Advertising 304-293-4141 or DA-Ads@mail.wvu.edu Classifieds 304-293-4141 or DA-Classifieds@mail.wvu.edu Fax 304-293-6857

CRYOGENICS Freezing human bodies for later reanimation is optimistic thinking at best OPINION PAGE 3

most effective equipment and exchange works from all corners of the globe. Portfolio exchanges, which are often themed,

see art on PAGE 2

FINAL RIDE WVU to end regular season at K-State SPORTS PAGE 9


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