Anything is possible
What makes humans strive for what is deemed impossible? Pages 14-15
DePaulia
The
Volume #99 | Issue #13 | Feb. 3, 2015 | depauliaonline.com
When winter weather hits, Basketball Operations Director saves the day By Matthew Paras Sports Editor
Bob Janis said. Staff worked from 5 a.m. Sunday morning until 9 p.m. Sunday night, and again from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Monday morning on overtime. “While our crews have kept up with the snowfall and our campuses were in good shape Sunday afternoon, the side streets in the surrounding neighborhoods were still snow-packed with several cars stuck,” Janis said in a release Sunday evening. “The suburban areas, where many of our faculty
The only time Ivan Vujic wasn’t glued to his phone last week was when he was getting his average four hours of sleep. Vujic, DePaul’s director of basketball operations, was busy handling travel plans for the team’s rescheduled game against Providence. Originally planned for Tuesday, the Blue Demons learned Monday the game would be postponed because of a snowstorm on the East Coast. What followed was a series of projections, knowing the right people and constant communication before the game was rescheduled for Thursday afternoon. “I can’t count how many emails, phone calls, text messages, you name it,” Vujic said. “You are completely plugged in. You’re checking your email every few minutes. You need to make sure there are no new updates.” Vujic, a 6-foot-11 Croatian who played college basketball at Vincennes University and Valparaiso, lived up to a task as tall as he is. The 37-year-old director said he never dealt with having to reschedule a regular season game before. One of Vujic’s first tasks was to be in contact with the charter plane company DePaul flies. “You have to figure out the forecast,” Vujic said. “You’ve got to check the Providence airport. There was no clear answer. You have to estimate what time the storm was going to die down so we could land.” Vujic said Providence’s side of the job was much harder because they had to deal with rescheduling staff members at the arena, what was happening at the campus and making sure roads were clear. But that didn’t mean Vujic didn’t have his hands full. There was a lot of reshuffling for DePaul too, including
See SNOW, page 8
See VUJIC, page 27
GRANT MYATT | THE DEPAULIA
Kat Cirone, a DePaul feshman, enjoys the day off with a snowball fight in the Quad with some of her friends from University Hall.
WINTER BREAK
Unexpected blizzard, poor conditions close university Monday By Megan Deppen & Grant Myatt News Editor & Managing Editor
Students lobbing snowballs in the Quad weren’t complaining when DePaul University closed its campuses Monday while most other universities in the city remained open. Mounds of snow lined the mostlyplowed walkways on the Lincoln Park campus after Sunday’s blizzard set the record for Chicago’s fifth largest snowstorm. The National Weather Service recorded
19.3 inches of snow at O’Hare International Airport Monday morning. The university issued an alert at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday just as the Super Bowl began notifying students the university would be closed all day Monday. The only other Chicago-area university to close Monday was Northeastern Illinois University. A team of 30 of the university’s regular grounds staff and overnight custodians worked through the night to clear the snow, Vice President of Facility Operations
Sounds of the future By Kirsten Onsgard Arts & Life Editor
In about 18 weeks, more than 3,500 students will be awarded diplomas. For seniors, June 13 looms in the near future, marking either a transition into the job market or furthering an academic career. For most, this is a time filled with thoughts of jobs and internships, cover letters and resumes. But for those graduating from the School of Music, the stakes are higher. Whether entering into freelance work or applying for graduate school, the future means practicing, striving, shaking hands and creating opportunities for one’s self. And it can be scary.
Over the next few months, The DePaulia will follow three School of Music seniors as they prepare to transition into the next phase of their life. Told through their individual voices and the voices of those close to them, these profiles showcase the unique difficulties and triumphs of young performers as they push themselves from student to the stage.
For the first edition in The DePaulia’s series of profiles on School of Music seniors preparing for graduation, see pages 16-17
KIRSTEN ONSGARD | THE DEPAULIA
Katherine Baloff, center, rehearses with the DePaul Symphony Orchestora. Baloff, a senior violin performance major, is currently auditioning for graduate school.