Doudna’s construction Panthers set for history unveiled top 25 showdown Page 3 Page 8
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Friday NOVEMBER 16, 2012 V O LU M E 9 7 | N o. 6 3
D A I LY E A S T E R N N E W S . C O M T WIT TER.COM/DEN_NE WS
“Tell t h e t r u t h a n d d o n ’ t b e a fr a i d . ”
STUDENT LIFE
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Council approves new minor Staff Report
BOB GALUSKI | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Derek Morrow, a senior history major, was a team leader in the 11B Infantry of the National Guard. He will be graduating in the spring.
Veteran prepares to graduate By Bob Galuski Staff Reporter
While most students choose college right after high school, Sgt. Derek Morrow of the 11B Infantry chose instead to serve overseas in Afghanistan and is now preparing to in the spring. Morrow, a senior history major, has been a part of the National Guard since 2001, with active duty in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2009. Morrow said he was a team leader of his unit in the National Guard during his time in Afghanistan. He said he was also a part of a quick reac-
tion team, which would help get those injured to hospitals or emergency services. “If somebody was hurt or needed assistance, we would provide that for them,” Morrow said. Morrow also said they would help no matter what time of day. “Once somebody had gotten hurt at three in the morning, and we rushed him to the hospital,” he said. Morrow said one of the main duties his team had was to help train the local Afghan police departments. Improvised explosive devices were also part of his day-to-day life, Morrow said.
“If something like a car blew up, we had to close the area off and make sure it was safe,” he said. He said one of the biggest reasons he joined the military was because of the benefits the military offered, as well as the chance to travel. After serving his two years overseas, he said he first went to Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield. “I was in community college from the end of my tour until 2011, when I came here,” Morrow said. Morrow came to Eastern’s campus for a tour, and said he “fell in love with the campus.” VETERAN, page 5
The Council on Academic Affairs unanimously approved a sports media relations minor and new course during its meeting Thursday. Joe Gisondi, an associate professor of journalism, said sports media relations is a rapidly growing field, where training and experience is necessary to be hired. “Sports-information people used to just hire journalists to do the job,” Gisondi said. “Writing is still an essential part of it, but it’s moving more and more toward some of the marketing and multimedia aspects.” The sports media relations minor will require 19 credit hours in journalism classes and three in kinesiology and sports studies classes. Gisondi will be one of the instructors of the new course, “JOU 2850: Sports Media Relations,” that will be required for completion of the minor. “This minor isn’t going to fully prepare someone for the field; it’s intended to give them the basic skills so that they’ll understand what needs to be done,” he said. The council also approved additions to the acceptable test scores international students may submit to meet the English language mastery requirement for undergraduate admissions. The two additional scores include a Kaplan International Colleges certificate of achievement at the proficiency level and level-nine completion from a U.S. Language Company center. Marilyn Thomas, an admissions specialist, said Eastern signed a letter of cooperation with Kaplan International Colleges in 2004, but the undergraduate catalog had not yet been modified to include their certifications. She said the Language Company offers an intensive program with 10 centers throughout the U.S. and roughly 20 students at each center, and the teachers often incorporate students’ intended field of study into their language lessons. “This center is a little unique because it teaches English and academic skills together,” she said. “Some others don’t do that.”
CONCERT
Percussion ensemble makes a bang By Sharita Harris Staff Reporter
About 15 students performed with percussion instruments such as the xylophone, marimbas and the vibraphone Thursday. The EIU Percussion Ensemble showcased student percussionists in its only performance of the semester. Danika Dale, a junior communication studies major, said she usually comes to support her friends and enjoy good concert music. “I really like these concerts because they are a lot different than the other ones because you don’t know what you will expect when you come to one of these,” she said. Eddie Blakney, a sophomore marketing major, said he noticed the hard work that was shown in the performance. “I thought they did great; I know a lot of them personally,” he said. “I know they’ve been preparing for this for a really long time, and they’ve been working really hard at this
because I’ve barely been seeing them because they’ve been in here a lot.” Jonathan Summers, a senior music performing major, said he had been practicing his performance for two and a half months. “Well, the concerto I played I started doing about the last week of August,” Summers said. Summers has played percussion since he was 10, half his life, and said music was always a big part of the person that he is today. “There’s always things that can go better for a performance all the time,” he said. “It only took about an hour and a half to go through the entire performance, and I think everyone really stepped it up to make the best performance they could.” Lindsey Alexander, a second year graduate student, said being a part of the ensemble includes a lot of patience, practice and learning. “Working with other people—especially in the chamber group—we all have our ideas, and we mold them together, and we just make great music,” Alexander said. PERCUSSION, page 5
MIR ANDA PLOSS | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Meghan Osterbur, a music education major with teacher certification, plays the marimbas in a performance of “Rainbows” by Alice Gomez during the EIU Percussion Ensemble’s concert Thursday in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. The ensemble only performs once a semester.