Volume 13 Issue 9

The student newspaper at Florida Gulf Coast University since 1997

AGLE NEWS Wednesday, September 24, 2014

www.eaglenews.org

Volume 13, Issue 9 @fgcueaglenews

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‘Medical anomaly’ Friend says death not caused by alcohol

By Kelli Krebs and Madison Hampton @thereal_kkrebs Photo courtesy of miromar.com

NEWS

A3

University Village Photo courtesy of CBS The new season of “Survivor” will premiere Sept. 23, and will feature Drew and Alec Christy. Alec is an FGCU student.

Student competes on TV reality show

By Tiara Brown @tiabiaboo

EN Photo/Kelli Krebs

SPORTS

Soccer shutout

B1

When the newest season of “Survivor” premieres on CBS tonight at 8 p.m., students at Florida Gulf Coast University may see a familiar face on their television screen.

Among the competitors will be senior communication major and FGCU lacrosse player Alec Christy. The 22-year-old fishing enthusiast disappeared with his 25-year-old brother, Drew, this past summer to compete as castaways on the island of San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua.

When Christy first learned that he would be a contestant on the show, he was on a bus ride coming home from a lacrosse competition in Atlanta. He and Drew had interviewed for their positions in Los Angeles just weeks prior, but he was not supposed to say anything to his friends or family.

“We had sent in videos and they liked our

competitive brotherhood,” Christy said. “So the next thing we know we are in Cali and although the process seemed like a long one, I had a good feeling when we were out there.

When we got that call back, we just couldn’t believe it. It seemed so surreal.”

Christy said that interviewing for his spot on the show was not as hard as keeping his whereabouts a secret. Because he was out of the country, he missed a lot of lacrosse practices and had to drop his summer courses. A lot of people grew curious.

“All summer people were blowing up my phone like, ‘Where’s Alec?’” Christy said.

“Later when the cast was released to the public, no one could believe it.”

Because the show has already been filmed but has not yet been aired, Christy is not allowed to reveal any information that will be

>> Continued on A4

EN Photo/Hannah Johnson

E & L

Photography club

A8

Chief Stephen Moore of UPD said that often, Garages 1 and 2 are mostly empty of cars.

Commuters complain about campus parking

By Jessica Souza @Jessica_E_Souza

EN Photo/Hope Garza

OPINION

B6

Stay small or grow?

EN Photo/Jessica Souza

With about 14,000 students, Floida Gulf Coast University is rapidly growing, and for commuters, parking can be a hassle.

“It’s hell,” said Cari Bell, a commuter student. “I have to leave my house an hour before my class starts just because it takes so long to find a parking spot.”

According to University Police Chief Steven Moore, the struggle to find a parking spot isn’t because there aren’t enough spaces.

“It’s not that there’s not parking available, it’s that it’s not the closest available parking,” Moore said. “Everybody wants to park in Garages 3 and 4, but that’s not possible and there’s not any place to build another lot on that side of campus. The only place on future building is on the east side of the academic core.”

Chief Moore said that students prefer to park in Garages 3 and 4 due to their location in

proximity to their classes. Garages 3 and 4 are located on the west side of the academic core near Merwin and Lutgert Hall. This causes a higher demand for these spaces and this demand is why the garages are filled all day.

The east side of the academic core is located near Auxiliary Lot 8 — more commonly known amongst students as the dirt lot.“I’ve never seen so many kids in the dirt lot,” Katrina Peterson, another commuter, said. “We’re a fast growing university.”

But with fast growth comes more academic buildings. According to Moore, Academic Building 9 is projected to be added to campus on the east side of the academic core within the next four or five years.

Moore also said that the university will address adding more parking when a new building is built, but with the current plan FGCU does not have any plans for additional parking garages or lots. However, he believes

A family friend said that alcohol played no role in the death of Florida Gulf Coast University freshman Austin Vonckx, who died after a distress call to his South Village dorm in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Julie Escobar, a family friend of Vonckx, provided further confirmation on Vonckx’s cause of death: that it was a result of a medical anomaly.

“After spending the day with friends, paddle boarding and playing football,” Escobar told Eagle News. “Something triggered in his heart in the early morning hours that caused his lungs to fill with fluid. The doctors called it pulmonary edema – with a possible embolism.”

Doctors said that it happened instantaneously while on the phone with his mom. During the phone call, Vonckx was telling her about his day with his friends, when he collapsed.

The Mayo Clinic describes pulmonary edema as a condition caused by excess fluid in the lungs.

Fluid collected in the numerous air sacs in the lungs, can make breathing difficult for the person affected. Pulmonary embolism occurs when one or more pulmonary arteries in your lungs become blocked which is usually caused by blood clots that travel to the lungs from the legs or rarely other parts of the body.

“We’d like people to know is that Austin died of a medical anomaly, that alcohol did not contribute to his death,” Escobar said. “It was one of those unpredictable things.”

Almost 100 people attended Vonckx’s candlelight vigil outside South Village. “We’re overwhelmed with blessings to count from the countless folks that have reached out,” Escobar said.

There is a memorial page set up for Vonckx where people can stay updated: https://www. facebook.com/AustinVMemorial. The family hopes to have pictures posted here by his friends during his time in college.

In the wake of the tragedy, Vonckx’s family tries to see the positive side of things.

“If we can take an upside, we can tell you that he was an organ donor,” Escobar said. Organdonor. gov reports that organ donors can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation.

“For all those that knew him and loved him, he’s enriched our lives his whole life and will continue to,” Escobar said.

While searching for photos for his memorial, members of the Vonckx family came across an old video. None of his family members had ever seen it, but were touched by it and encourage people to watch it on YouTube. The video shows 12-year-old Vonckx singing “When I Get Where I’m Going” by country music singer, Brad Paisley. Vonckx’s family added that “he was not a country music fan” and the video is “even more of a sign to them the he’s all right and at peace.”

The Vonckx family requests donations be made in his memory to FGCU Foundation, 10501 FGCU Blvd. South, Fort Myers, FL 33965 (direct questions to Judi Cassidy @ 239-590-1067).

On Sept. 23, Eagle News obtained the 911 recorded dispatch call from Pasco County to Lee county. In the call, a Pasco dispatcher tells Lee County Sheriff’s Office that Vonckx’s mother reported she was on the phone with her son when he collapsed and the phone went dead. Vonckx’s mother believed it was due to a medical issue but her son had mentioned he had a few shots of Southern Comfort previously and did not feel well.

>> Continued on A4 Photo courtesy of the Vonckx family

EDITOR: NINA BARBERO NEWS@EAGLENEWS.ORG

A2 NEWS EAGLE NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 The official student produced newspaper at Florida Gulf Coast University since 1997.

SERVICE LEARNING

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Arts and Lifestyle Editor Aubrie Gerber

entertainment@eaglenews.org

Photo and Media Editor Kelli Krebs photography@eaglenews.org

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sports@eaglenews.org Opinion Editor Kelli Krebs

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Adviser Keith Gibson CONTACT:

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Eagle News McTarnaghan Hall 217 10030 FGCU Blvd. S Fort Myers, Fla. 33967 MISSION STATEMENT: Eagle News, the student media group at Florida Gulf Coast University, represents the diverse voices on campus with fairness.

We select content for our publication and our website that is relevant to the student body, faculty and staff. Members are committed to reporting with accuracy and truth. Our purpose is to encourage conversations about issues that concern the on-campus community.

Eagle News views every culture with equal respect and believes every person must be treated with dignity.

ABOUT US: Eagle News, founded in 1997, is the student newspaper at Florida Gulf Coast University. The newspaper is the only student produced publication on campus and is entirely student run.

Eagle News is published weekly during the fall and spring semesters and monthly in the summer, with the exception of holiday breaks and examination periods.

Like us on Facebook to see many service learning updates and opportunities

Events & Short Term Service United Way of Collier County’s Annual Walk for the Way is happening Saturday, September 27th!

Volunteers are needed to help with ALL aspects of this event, including cleanup after. Arrival time for volunteers will be 7:30am and they day should be finished by 12noon. For more information or to get involved, please contact Meryl Rorer merylrorer@colliergov.net.

Rookery Bay Reserve is looking for Communication and Hospitality Management students to assist their Friends of Rookery Bay Event Planner. You would be attending events with her to secure donors; preparing flyers and other advertisements, as well as assisting during events. Depending on your interest and level of commitment, additional opportunities may be considered. Contact Volunteer Coordinator Donna Young at volunteer@rookerybay.org or 239-5305974.

WGCU (on campus) presents family literacy workshops at 14 area Title I schools. The station provides singlepage handouts to parents who attend the workshops. Currently, all handouts are printed in English and WGCU seeks to provide Spanish versions. This project requires a student who is fluent in Spanish and can translate in writing from English to Spanish. WGCU anticipates this project to start late August or early September. For more details please contact Paula Sklodowski at 239-590-2510 or email psklodow@ wgcu.org.

Volunteers are needed to assist with various tasks during the Sunflower Festival in Collier County. Help is needed from 9:30am until approximately 4pm. The location is: Pepper Ranch Preserve 6315 Pepper Road, Immokalee FL. For more information, please contact Meryl Rorer at merlyrorer@colliergov.net.

Autism Speaks is looking for students to assist with their annual walk. This year, the walk will be on October 11th at Estero Community Park. Assistance is needed with registration (beginning at 9am), set-up, clean-up, and other assigned tasks. Shifts are available. For more information, please contact Haley S. at hshuras@gmail.com.

Do you enjoy Halloween? Would you like to be a part of a food benefit for Harry Chapin Food Bank and the Animal Refuge Center?? If so, you may join the Hingson Family and their 9th Annual Hingson’s Haunted House of Horrors event.

Set up for this event will begin September 27th. All are welcome to help build the haunted house.

If you would like to also work as a “scarer” in the haunted house, this may be an option as well. For more information, please contact Shar at sharhingson@gmail.com or text 239-340-6569.

The print edition is free to students and can be found on campus and in the community at Gulf Coast Town Center, Germain Arena and Miromar Outlets.

CORRECTIONS: In reference to the Sept. 10 article “Budget Season”, budget applications and excel

Colloquium Rookery Bay Reserve is looking for students to help in many areas; assisting their Biologist with aquarium maintenance and fish feeding, assisting with the Butterfly Garden planting, trail maintenance, elementary school programs, and special events beginning with Estuary Day on Saturday, September 27th!! For more information, please contact Donna Young at donna.young@dep. state.fl.us or (239) 530-5974.

Florida DEP is looking for volunteers to help build a new oyster reef for the Peace River in Punta Gorda.

Kate Aug, Florida DEP Community Outreach Coordinator, is looking for individuals & groups. You must be able to lift 30 lbs. to make oyster bags. Most bagging events are scheduled Tuesdays and Wednesdays 8:30 am to 10:30 am or so.

Some Saturday dates are available.

Please contact Kate by phone or email. Katherine.Aug@dep.state. fl.us or call: (941)-575-5861 Charlotte Harbor Preserve is partnering with The Nature Conservancy to launch an oyster reef restoration project adjacent to the City of Punta Gorda’s Trabue Harborwalk.

Volunteers are needed to: prepare mat material, make oyster mats and fill bags with shells, and deploy the materials in the water. If you are interested in participating, please contact Katherine Aug at (941) 5755861 ext. 117 or via email Katherine.

Aug@dep.state.fl.us.

FGCU Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park in Naples is accepting additional student volunteers to assist with our beach survey and beach counts which take place 7 days a week. Contact Michael Odom at michael.odom@dep.state.fl.us or call 239-597-6196.

Barefoot Beach is looking for volunteers to come out and help with removal of invasive species. Interested students should contact Jan at jjbchrch@comcast.net.

ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization) Help out with agricultural development. Fill out a volunteer application at www.echonet.org. For questions, contact Ruth at rmay@echonet.org.

Koreshan State Park Historic Site is ALWAYS looking for students to help around the park! If you are interested in partnering with Koreshan, please email Mike Heare at michale.heare@dep.state.fl.us.

Calusa Nature Center & Planetarium Numerous opportunities!

Contact info@calusanature.org or call 239-275-3435.

Naples Botanical Garden Horticulture gardening starts at 8:00 am Monday thru Friday and includes weeding, potting, moving plants, digging, raking, sweeping, clearing debris, etc. Wear closed toe shoes.

No shorts or tank tops. Bring water.

Wear sunscreen. Bring work gloves if you have them. Looking especially for groups of students on Fridays.

No last minute requests. Give 4-5 day lead time. If you commit, then can’t make it, give notice. Be on time. Email Sally Richardson at srichardson@naplesgarden.org.

workbooks must be printed and handed into the Multicultural and Leadership Development Center in Cohen Center room 255 by Friday, Oct. 10 by noon.

Lisa Mattson studied with members of the

Long Term Opportunities Lee County Homeless Coalition needs assistance with their social media and online presence. There is a three month commitment for 4-5 hours per week. You will help develop strategy, post various information to different media outlets, help with research, and assist Executive Director in creating online updates. If you are interested please contact Janet Bartos at (239) 3226600 or email her at leehomeless@ gmail.com.

Collier-Seminole State Park is offering an amazing opportunity for an interested student as Park Promotions Specialist. If you want to gain real world experience doing special event planning, public relations, learning about park operations & more, this could be the opportunity for you. Don’t miss out! Email Darren Flickinger at Darren.Flickinger@dep.state.fl.us or call (239) 394-3397.

Ongoing Volunteer Collier has two servicelearning positions that need to be filled! First, they are in need of a graphics-tech person to help upgrade and maintain their website. Second, they need someone to contact each of their listed agencies to make sure their information is up-to-date. The mission of Volunteer Collier is to recruit volunteers for all non-profit agencies in Collier County and to promote the needs of those agencies to the public. For more information, please contact Donald Scott at dscott@volunteercollier.org.

FGCU Museum Studies Minor is looking for volunteers for various projects including: research, inventory/accessioning, advertisement, and event programing. Students must be willing to commit to the projects until completion, be willing to learn museum protocols, have a deep interest in artwork/art history, and have the ability to work independently. For more information, please contact Professor Creagan at fcreagan@fgcu.edu or (239) 5907426.

Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties is gearing up for a busy fall, winter and spring. There are families waiting for homes, and we need to get busy building them!

In order to accomplish all that we need to do, individuals, groups and/ or organizations are needed to help us out. We are scheduling groups/ organizations for the upcoming season. Pick your volunteer date (or dates) and contact us today. Individuals can sign up online and select the day that works best for your schedule. You can volunteer Tuesday thru Saturday. If you have any questions about scheduling a group or would like to set your group date – just contact volcoor@habitat4humanity.org or 239-652-1684 and we will get you set up! Don’t delay – sign up for a volunteer day!

Juilliard String Quartet. A story on page A7 of the Sept. 17 issue indicated otherwise.

WWW.EAGLENEWS.ORG

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS NEWS A3

Photo courtesy of miromar.com

In fall 2016, Miromar will be opening new housing for FGCU students. It will be the only housing specifically for students that is not owned by the university.

It takes a village: New housing for 2016

By Megan Turetsky @MeganTuretsky Miromar Development Corporation has that it will begin building housing for Florida Gulf Coast University students.

University Village will be located just south of campus on the east side of Ben Hill Griffin and will span 100 acres.

With the growth of the student population, more offcampus housing has become pertinent. The university currently has more than 14,000 students enrolled and is projected to reach 22,000 students.

University Village will be comprised of two and four bedroom lakefront apartments in three-story garden-style buildings. The village will accommodate 1,400 students and each apartment building will be built near a central courtyard.

Students are excited about this expansion.

“Our school is growing and more people want to live offcampus after their freshman year. Gulf Coast Town Center is a great area for food and shopping, especially for people that live in West Lake Village, so offering more options is great,” said forensic studies major Amanda Johnson.

The complex will be the first privately owned space

dedicated to FGCU’s use.

Coastal Village is the only other off-campus student housing facility, but unlike University Village, it does not offer shops and restaurants.

College Club was also an off campus non-university owned housing complex, however it was bought by FGCU in 2011 and turned into West Lake Village.

Currently, there are plans to build a roadway to connect the project to the main FGCU campus loop.

“The fact that there is going to be a road that leads straight to campus will make it easy for students who live there to stay connected to the campus while still living off-campus,” said senior communication major Kaitlyn Santucci.

A press release by Miromar Development described the retail environment of the development: “University Village will provide off-campus housing, retail shops, coffee shops and restaurants.”

FGCU has welcomed the build-out with open arms.

Currently, there are no plans to construct more on-campus housing, which leaves an open market for off-campus housing.

The university also battles a space issue, as the

university is only able to build on half of its 760 acres.

According to a Naples Daily News article, FGCU and Miromar went to court last year when Miromar accused FGCU of developing outside of its 2010-20 campus master plan.

Following the lawsuit, President Wilson Bradshaw said that FGCU and Miromar are “very good friends.”

Miromar Development anticipates construction to begin in January 2015 and hopes to welcome its first students in fall 2016.

Private Equity Group has also announced plans of a possible off-campus student housing development to the north of campus. CenterPlace will sit on 886 acres of land on the southeast corner of Ben Hill Griffin Parkway and Alico Road.

The proposed project may have a road that connects to the FGCU campus and is expected to have a town center with shopping and restaurants, as well as a hotel and a conference center.

EN Photo / Oscar Santiago Torres

Student naturalist Taylor Hancock leads a group of students on a tour through the Nature Trail on campus.

Students lead nature tours

By Oscar Santiago Torres @osantiagotorres Imagine facing a bush of American beautyberries. The glossy, purple, bundled and tiny berries are available for students to pluck and eat. The beautyberries are found throughout the Florida Gulf Coast University campus such as outside of Edwards Hall, and they are one of many interesting facts students can learn about FGCU after taking a campus tour with a campus naturalist.

Campus naturalists work 10 - 25 hours weekly to guide students and visitors on interactive tours. They present information about FGCU’s ecosystem through guides such as wet walks and nature trails.

Since 2005, Sarah Davis, the University Colloquium coordinator and instructor for campus naturalists, has

been the leading campus naturalist. Currently there are nine student naturalists who work with her. Davis welcomes other students to apply to become a naturalist.

Requirements are that students need to have completed the University Colloquium course, have an interest in outdoor experiences and natural resources and is pursuing environmental education.

“I have nothing to bring to the table,” Mark Presheur said teasingly about being a history major and a Campus Naturalist. Before taking the position, Presheur was not sure whether he was qualified for the position. Later, he realized that connecting different majors to the environment is important.

Prescheur and Taylor Hancock have been campus naturalists for a year and a half now, leading seven to 10 trips per semester. Hancock agrees that the major is just part of

it.

“I was inside all the time,” Hancock said. “I was into computers. I was into engineering, designing and art, which I am still very interested in, but then I started going outside.

I’m like — hey, I love this. Why have I not been doing this my entire life? Now, I’m doing this for a living.”

“My future is pretty foggy,” he added. “I know I’d like to do something with animals, preferably, but I also like what I do now, showing people something new and teaching them something about it.”

A4 NEWS EAGLE NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

EDITOR: NINA BARBERO NEWS@EAGLENEWS.ORG

Psych club prepares students for grad school

By Nina Barbero News editor @EN_Barbero

Photo courtesy of Terence Leary (Left to right) SPIOP officers Mike Dunbar, Kenneth Tarnowski , Terence Leary, Jessica Conroy, Taylor Hillman, Jose Tello, Jordan Santos, Ben Peoples

In the first meeting of the school year, Students Promoting Industrial and Organizational Psychology had a turnout of more than 70 students along with psychology program chair Ken Tarnowski, Ph.D. “The students were really pleased to see the support of Dr. Tarnowski,” said SPIOP adviser Terence Leary, Ph.D. Attendants sat in chairs arranged in a circle and listened to opening remarks from each of the officers including new president, Jose Javier Tello.

According to Leary, the purpose of this first meeting was to meet and greet with the members and “to market the exceptional job opportunities and

FGCU slows growth rate

By Madison Hampton @fgcueaglenews Becoming an Eagle just got harder. Florida Gulf Coast University is slowing its rate of growth in exchange for a more selective approach to its applications. FGCU had about a 4 percent growth rate this past academic term, and it plans on cutting that rate to 2.25 percent. With the most applicants FGCU has ever received and the biggest freshman class it has ever accommodated, FGCU will soon slow down its growth rate and will no longer be one of the fastest growing universities in the state. Originally FGCU had a target growth rate of 5 percent per academic year.

Director of Admissions Marc Laviolette said there were two main factors for this. The first has to do with capacity.

“We’ve been having issues with capacity, and by slowing the growth we can accommodate more of the students,” Laviolette said.

There are plans for future additions and construction to meet the needs of a larger student population, but Laviolette said that he does not know how soon they will be implemented.

Laviolette also said that “with the performance based funding, if we [FGCU] can bring in more qualified freshmen, we will be better off down the road.”

The average 2014 freshman profile had a high school GPA of 3.6, SAT score of 1569, and ACT score of 23.

According to the Board of Trustees’ most recent quarterly briefing, the fall 2014 headcount enrollment was 14,673 on the first day of classes this semester. That is 3 percent more than the first day of classes in fall 2013.

Laviolette said that the target number of freshman for fall 2015 is 2,400, which is 150 students less than the target for fall 2014. Freshmen currently make up 29 percent of the student body.

“I think it’s a good thing that it is becoming harder to get into,” said communication major and senior Shelbi Jones. “It makes it more competitive and it allows our school to stay at a certain population.”

While the minimum requirements for an FGCU applicant have not and most likely will not change, FGCU admissions will now be more selective with their acceptances, especially as the number of students who choose to attend the university continues to rise. “We do anticipate it to drop again,” Laviolette said. “But we don’t say we are going to accept a specific percent.”

Because of FGCU’s rolling admissions, along with the influx of recent applicants and the drop in growth rate, applicants are better off getting in their application early.

>> Should FGCU expand? Student opinions on B6

‘Mission Blue’ teaches sustainability

By Tiara Brown @tiabiaboo One professor is bringing her love of the ocean to Florida Gulf Coast Univeristy. On Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m., the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education will be screening the documentary Mission Blue in Edwards 112. Mission Blue is about biologist Sylvia Earle’s discoveries of the fragile state of ocean systems.

As global warming, ocean acidification, rising sea levels and shifting weather patterns stress the natural systems above and below the ocean’s surface, the populations of many commercially exploited species of fish have declined by 90 percent. About half of the coral reefs in the world have disappeared or experienced serous damage and hundreds of coastal “dead zones” have developed. Destructive deep-sea mining activities are becoming more prevalent.

Professor Patricia Fay holds these issues close to her heart.

“The ocean has always been a source of great joy for me,” Fay said. “Every fall I teach my Ceramics 1

>> Parking continued that there are plenty of spaces available for students.

“Any day of the week in Garage 2 the first and second floor are pretty much full, the third floor at best is about half full, and the fourth and fifth floors are empty. So we basically have a half empty garage,” Moore said.

Moore explained how the fourth and fifth floors of Garage 2, located near the Arts Complex, are actually closed off because nobody ever uses them.

“We have a couple of hundred spaces not utilized,”

class, and our first major project is wrapped around the fantastic forms of the coral reef. In the process of setting up the assignment this fall, I discovered that one of my environmental heroes, Sylvia Earle, has launched a major campaign that insists that we rethink our destructive relationship with the world’s oceans,” Fay said.

“What started as an effort to show Earle’s film to my class became, with the help of my colleagues in the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education, an opportunity to bring the film to the campus community. I hope you can come, and if not, please find a way to see this film. In a very real sense, our lives depend on it,” Fay said.

The film is available for live streaming on Netflix, but the screening for Mission Blue will be free to students on campus. Refreshments and discussion will follow the fulllength film. For additional information please visit the Mission Blue website at www.mission-blue.org, and for any further questions about the event feel free to contact CESE Senior Faculty Associates Patricia Fay at pfay@ fgcu.edu and Maria Roca at mroca@fgcu.edu.

Moore said. “The issue now isn’t a shortage of parking spaces, it’s an issue of convenience.”

For students who have difficulty finding a parking spot or leaving the garages due to congestion, Moore recommends parking in Garage 1, Auxiliary Lot 8 or Garage 2. All of which are typically less crowded.

“If people actually started using Garage 2, we would open up the fourth and fifth floor if it was needed,” Moore said. “Garage 2 has plenty of spaces.”

>>Read student opinions on B7

graduate school opportunities in the field.”

This is SPIOP’s second year of operation.

“We will bring it to new heights this year,” Leary said. “We want to get people involved and get people into grad school and get them jobs.”

This year, members of SPIOP can expect a lot of outdoor teambuilding activities, workshops, guest speakers from industries and a lot of preparation for graduate school.

The club hopes to meet once a month. Interested students should contact Tello, Vice President Jessica Conroy or Secretary Jordan Santos through Eagle Mail for more information.

>> Survivor continued might hint to the season’s results. When talking about what viewers can expect, Christy refers to anything that he went through as a mysterious event that will happen in the future.

The theme of “Survivor” season 29 is “Blood Versus Water”, which means that nine pairs of loved-ones will compete against each other throughout the competition, but only one individual will win. Alec and Drew will ultimately be pitted against each other if they make it far enough into the challenge, even if they are placed in the same tribe from the beginning.

“I want to win, but I want Drew to be in the game too, so it’s tough,” Christy said. “You also have to have the mindset that this is an individual game, but there are so many loved ones in Blood versus Water that it’s so different from the normal.”

Christy feels that his biggest strength in the competition will be his experience and awareness of living outdoors in nature. He feels that surviving will be the easy part, but the social context of the game will be the real challenge. His competitive nature between he and his brother may also be a driving factor throughout the show as well. In an interview with CBS, Alec and Drew shared what they thought the other’s biggest weakness would be throughout the competition.

“I see his mouth being a liability,” Drew said about Alec while sitting next to him. “He has diarrhea of the mouth sometimes, and he just needs to learn when to shut the hell up.”

Alec responded immediately by saying, “Well you know, Drew thinks he has it all figured out sometimes, and he definitely doesn’t. That can piss me off.”

Executive producer and game show host Jeff Probst, shared his opinion of each duo in the competition in a preview for the show. When it was time to discuss the Christy brothers, Probst predicted that Drew’s persona might make waves with his competitors.

“He’s cocky, he’s got a swagger,” Probst said. “I think Drew’s biggest obstacle will be Drew. I think he can rub people the wrong way, but it’s unknown if he can quickly reassess and adapt and become a little bit more low key. Alec, I think, is a bit of a dark horse. Sometimes the younger brother rises above and surpasses.”

Christy says that his plan going into the game is to avoid becoming a target. He doesn’t want to come off too strong, but he wants to be socially embedded into the game to keep going.

“Our mindsets will probably change,” Christy said. “It’s Survivor, and anything can happen, so we are just hoping to play as hard as we can and hope for the best. We are going to play hard and smart and get through the tests of physical, emotional and mental strength.”

Although Christy isn’t allowed to discuss the outcome or any specific details from the competition, he can share how it changed his life. His appreciation for his friends and family as well as simple things such as running water, ice cubes and comfort foods like Oreos were almost overwhelming when he first arrived back in the United States.

“I am just so thankful for everything that my parents have provided,” Christy said. “People live in poverty there and to see them not live much better than we did, it was such a realization. You get home and try to live normal again and it took a while. My buddy was about to throw the corner of his sandwich out and I stopped his hand and ate his sandwich. It’s crazy, but that’s how hungry I was out there. It was such an experience and I didn’t realize how strong I was. It was not easy but it was awesome.”

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS NEWS A5

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(Front row, left to right ) Jessica Thomson, Mackenzie Millard, Sarah Stauring, Monica Kohlhofer, Madina Behori, Susan Lobo, Tatiana Rodriguez, Vanessa Watt (Back row) Mackenzie Scott, Francesca Burgos, Jessica Baker, Danilo Capric, Jeffrey St. Firmin, Gabriel Vega, Ian Widner

Photo courtesy of DROP

D.R.O.P. into the fiesta

By Nina Barbero News editor @EN_Barbero Students can experience a night of culture this Friday, Sept. 26 at the fourth annual Fall Fiesta, sponsored by the Dominican Republic Outreach Program.

“We try to make it a very cultural event,” said Tatiana Rodriguez, president of DROP. “We’ll have dance lessons, dance contests and we give out prizes.”

For just a $5 ticket which can be purchased at the door, students can eat, learn to dance and enter a raffle to win gift baskets and gift cards from local restaurants.

The money from ticket sales will be used to purchase school supplies, clothing and sports equipment. Members of DROP will take these items to the Dominican Republic over spring break, and volunteer there with an organization called “Acción Callejera” or “Street Action.”

“Street Action is a well-known nonprofit in South America that helps children who live on the streets,” Rodriguez said. The group helps at-risk children, from those

working in the streets shining shoes and selling cell phone cases to those who live in the streets and are addicted to drugs.

“Each year there’s a theme – last year it was ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ We do educational activities.

Since the boys are very hyper, a lot of the activities have to do with sports.”

Last year, the DROP group had boys pick what they want to be when they grow up and then play basketball.

The DROP member would write a list of steps to achieve that goal, and give one step to the boy each time he made a basket. At the end of the game, each boy had the steps he needs to work toward his goal.

“Usually we work with boys,” Rodriguez said. “Because they are the ones found in the streets. The girls there stay at home and take care of things but the boys work to get money.”

Last year, the group was able to bring $6,000 worth of donations to the Dominican Republic, including baseball helmets, gloves and shirts from the Miami Marlins.

“Hopefully this year the events we put on are even more

successful than last year,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez isn’t just hoping for donations and fundraising from the fiesta, however. Two years ago, buying a ticket for the fiesta was what encouraged her to join the club.

“I approached the table to ask what the event was about and I just thought it was an interesting club. I went to the informational meeting, and I was too embarrassed to even raise my hand.”

Now, Rodriguez would like to encourage anybody interested in DROP to join.

“We get super excited when we get new people,” Rodriguez said. The club picks members who go on the trip to the Dominican Republic through a point system. Points are earned through participation in meetings and events, so students who want to travel to the Dominican Republic should join sooner rather than later.

DROP meets from 5:30 - 7 p.m. every Wednesday in Marieb 214, and can be contacted through dropfgcu@gmail. com, or through Twitter and Instagram at DROPfgcu.

The fiesta will take place from 4 - 7 p.m. in Cohen Center room 214.

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Washing your hands, getting the flu shot and eating your fruits and veggies are all part of the recipe that will keep you from getting sick

Five tips to avoid getting sick

By Klaudia Balogh @KlaudiaBaloghPR Do you have students in your classes sniffing, sneezing and coughing? Summer is slowly fading away and we are getting deeper and deeper into fall. Although it comes with cooler weather that Floridians anticipate for, unfortunately the flu tags along as well. Here are some tips for you on how to stay healthy.

As your classes get busier week by week, the last thing you want is to be in bed, sick all day. Getting the flu isn’t a fun, one or two-day sore throat inconvenience.

“It can make you very ill and can linger for a week or more,” said Eileen Dondero, Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioner at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Dondero said it is more likely to see a cold and the flu spread when you have a group of people in close contact such as school or dormitory living.

“I get the flu shot every year,” said Kate Moran, senior English major. She used to get sick a lot when she was younger, so it has become very important for her to keep her immune system strong. She knows there is controversy whether one should

Here are nurse practitioner Eileen Dondero’s five tips to keep you well: Get the flu shot “I cannot stress enough the value of getting an annual flu vaccine,” Dondero said. according to the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, seasonal flu activity can begin as early as October and can last as late as May. The earlier you get it the better. For the most efficient protection, the CDC suggests that people get vaccinated soon after vaccines become available around October.

Flu shots are now available at FGCU for $15 with an appointment.

Eat right Having a nutritious diet will ensure that your body is getting the needed vitamins and nutrients so your immune system remains strong and protects you from catching a cold. Some people might prefer taking additional vitamins, but Dondero believes in natural vitamins found in food. “I am a believer in just plain healthy eating which includes enough vegetables and one or two pieces of fruit a day,” Dondero said.

Sleep Shoot for somewhere between seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Getting a good night sleep will help your body rest, recharge and recover. It’s much easier to get sick if you run on only a couple hours of sleep. Junior English major Kelsey Abell said she usually gets sick twice a year, and it’s during those times when she is very busy and doesn’t get enough sleep.

Wash your hands There are so many things on campus that we use right after someone else has used them such as computers, bathrooms, desks and the list goes on and on. Washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water or using instant hand sanitizers will protect you from germs.

If possible, avoid contact with sick people If you are sick, keep your distance from others in order to protect them from getting sick too.

Dondero said it is more likely to see a cold and the flu spread when you have a group of people in close contact such as school or dormitory living.

get the shot or not, but for her it was worth it. “I haven’t gotten a flu through my durations with the flu shot,” she said.

However, if you do start feeling a little bit under the weather, remember that you don’t have to run straight to the doctor.

Dondero said you could start by getting enough rest and fluids, and treating your symptoms with over the counter products.

Some people might even have some more traditional remedies for cold. Mark Massaro, senior English major, said that when he gets sick, usually once a year, he uses his Italian grandmother’s remedy. He boils water, then when it’s done, he holds his head over it and let’s the steam do the job. He believes sweating it out helps a lot.

“It usually works for everything,” Massaro said.

These tips on how to avoid getting sick might seem like common sense. You probably have heard them quite a bit.

However, we still tend to neglect them sometimes. A little reminder can’t hurt.

Keep those tips in mind, so you won’t be the student walking into class with a box of Kleenex.

Celebrity gossip ‘Honey Boo Boo’s’ parents split, nudes continue, why Khloe and French broke up

By Renee Johnson @EagleNewsEnt Mama June and Sugar Bear’s big split The parents of Alana “Honey Boo Boo” Thompson have officially called it quits.

Mama June ended the relationship with her youngest daughter’s father after she had a feeling he was stepping out on her. Sugar Bear has since been found having an online dating profile on Plenty of Fish with the name “georgiafighter31054.” According to The Daily Mail, the two have been together for 10 years and ironically, they both met on a dating website called “Catfish” in 2004.

Even though they were never officially married, this came as a surprise to fans as

they had a commitment ceremony last May, which sealed the deal for the two. Mama June issued a statement saying, “Sugar Bear and I have decided to take some time apart to figure out some things in our relationship.

We are taking things day by day, but regardless of what happens, the girls will always be our number one priority. We want to thank y’all for your support.” However, the show will continue and Sugar Bear is still said to play a part in episodes to come.

Celeb nude leaks continue Over the past month, a mystery hacker has stolen female celebrity nude photos from their iCloud accounts and has posting them online. The long list of celebs include

Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton and Kirsten Dunst. Recently added to the list are Kim Kardashian, Megan Good, Vanessa Hudgens and newly-wedded Gabrielle Union-Wade.

The thieves have yet to be found, but TMZ reports the FBI is on top of the investigation.

If found, they face a lot of jail time.E! News reports that in 2012 a man was sent to jail for 10 years after he hacked celebrities emails.

Why Khloe and French broke up Khloe Kardashian and French Montana parted ways earlier this month and rumors have been circling about the reason why Khole called it off. The main reason was because she was not over her ex Lamar and that French was too possessive. The Daily

Mail has reported that the real reason could possibly be that Khloe caught Montana texting her best friend Malika Haqq after she went into his phone and saw the texts.

Khloe has yet to comment on the topic.

The Jenners call it quits On Sept. 22, Kris Jenner filed for divorce from her husband Bruce at the Los Angeles Superior Court with the separation date listed as June 2013. TMZ has stated the divorce as being “totally amicable” as Kris filed on the grounds of irreconcilable differences. The two will share custody of their youngest daughter, 17-year-old Kylie Jenner .

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS E & L A7

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Club

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Photo courtesy of blogs.fgcu.edu/campusrec Photo courtesy of Taylor Broad The FGCU Pokémon Club. From left: Taylor Broad (president), Tia Francisco (Southwest Florida Pokemonc oordinator), Ryan Williams (vice president) and a member identified only as Matthew.

Gotta catch ’em all

By Arianna DeCecco @Adececco1 Pokémon wasn’t just an animation and card game fad of the 1990s; it’s being kept alive in The Pokémon Club at Florida Gulf Coast University.

The club was created and coordinated

by FGCU student Taylor Broad.

“Our club meetings are basically a gathering of people. We play the Trading Card Game, watch Anime — in Japanese when available) — play the video game and sometimes host workshops to better everyone in the club,” Broad said.

According to Broad, the best way to get involved in the Pokémon Club is to consistently partake in the meetings and events.

The next upcoming event is Saturday, Nov. 22. The club will host an Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire game release party.

The club will also show the extended, uncut version of both Pokémon movies: “The First Movie” and “Pokémon 2000: The Power of One.” Broad said he decided to start the club to make an impact at FGCU as well as the local community. To make the impact he wanted, he decided to start a Pokémon League that was sanctioned by The Pokémon Company International.

TPCI manages leagues and tournaments around the world. Broad said that bringing this league to FGCU would give students the opportunities to earn transferable scholarships for higher education.

According to TPCI, the scholarships go to the top finishers at the Pokémon U.S. National championships and the Pokémon World Championships.

The scholarship may be applied to the tuition, books, fees, supplies and equipment necessary for courses.

The scholarship amount is decided on an event-by-event basis.

Broad’s goal is to not only help FGCU students achieve these scholarships but also to local kids in the community that are interested.

“The club is 100 percent brand new to the university,” Broad said. “We hope to make a huge impact our first year in operation.”

Broad has been in and out of the Pokémon franchise over the years. Now that he’s in college he decided to get back into it because it’s more fun and complex than it was years ago.

According to TPCI, Pokémon tournaments are live events that give players the opportunity to compete against each other in the Pokémon trading card games or the Pokémon video games.

In these games the player takes on the role of a young Pokémon trainer. The trainer travels all over this universe catching and training Pokémon and battling against other Trainers’ Pokémon.

Although the Pokémon Franchise was created in Japan in 1996, the first Pokémon video games were not released until 1998.

The main goal of the games is to become the Pokémon League Champion.

There are many other tasks to accomplish throughout the game including catching and cataloging all of the Pokémon within the game’s world.

In the Pokémon trading card game, players build decks around their favorite Pokémon and then play against each other sending their Pokémon into battle to prove who is the best Pokémon Trainer.

Broad said that in the future he would like to host the Fort Myers City Championships to bring people from around the state to compete and qualify for the World Championships.

FGCU now hosts The Pokémon Club on campus in Merwin Hall 110 from 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays.

Get involved at FGCU

By Renee Johnson @EagleNewsEnt Being a college student isn’t just about getting up and going to class. It also includes getting involved.

There are many ways to get involved around campus: sporting activities, clubs and organizations. Whatever your interests are, Florida Gulf Coast University will probably have it covered.

Intramural sports may be fun for someone who wants to get involved in sporting activities. They have volleyball, flag and fantasy football and even

basketball.

As far as social interaction is concerned, FGCU has a club or organizations for everyone. They range from chemistry club to debate club.

Organizations like fraternities and sororities are also great ways to socialize.

Each Registered Student Organization can be found online at studentservices.fgcu.edu/ StudentInvolvement. There you will find a brief description about each club, as well as contact information for a club representative.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS E & L A8

Club

Photo courtesy of Hannah Johnson

Members of the Photography Club attend a portrait workshop at Koreshan Park.

A snapshot of the Photography Club

By Cayla Sloan @CaylaSloan The Photography Club is one of more than 300 registered student organizations at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Hannah Johnson, president and one of the founding members, started the club so that other students could have an opportunity to learn more about the art of photography.

I love that there are so many excited members that want to take part in this,” Johnson said.

James Greco, a photography professor at FGCU, is the club’s advisor. FGCU has photography classes but not many and the photography club is, in a way, a substitute for that. Students who are not able to take a photography course can join the club and get the same experience.

The Photography Club hosts many

workshops for its members to learn more about photography and to improve on his or her skills. Workshops include guest speakers such as professional photographers that help teach members more about photography.

Different workshop topics include lighting, portrait, camera basics and night and flash photography.

For some of the meetings, the photo club takes field trips to scenic locations. “It helps students get out of the classroom and into the community,” Johnson said.

Members of the photography club are able to earn service-learning hours. The club’s officers post volunteer opportunities on the club’s page under the student involvement tab on FGCU’s website.

The opportunities are for non-profit organizations that either want pictures of an event or something posted on the organization’s website. These are volunteer

opportunities; however, some of the jobs may be paid.

The club hosts photography contests.

Prizes are handed out to winners and runner-ups.

The Photography Club contains members from a variety of majors. Many are art majors, but some are the complete opposite. Club member Reinaldo Horta, an environmental engineering major, considers photography to be more of a hobby than a potential career path.

“It’s something that I enjoy to do all the time,” Horta said.

By being apart of the club, Horta has learned what it takes to shoot photography.

“The Photography Club has made me more quick with a camera,” Horta said. “It’s pushed me to have a camera on me at all times. It’s helped me observe every detail of everything that I see everyday and to look for opportunities to take good pictures.”

According to the photography club profile on the FGCU website, its mission is to offer FGCU students an opportunity to interact with others with common interests and to expand their knowledge and developing skills. It allows members to interact with the community and develop a portfolio.

The Photography Club meets every other Wednesday in Ben Hill Griffin Hall, room 111 at 5 p.m. The next meeting will be Oct. 1.

Students that are not able to attend the photography club meetings can stay up to date by following the club’s Instagram (@ fgcuphotographyclub) or Flickr (@FGCU_ photography).

Anyone who is interested in joining or wants to know more information on the club can email the president Hannah Johnson at hljohnson9758@eagle.fgcu.edu

Netflix movie review

A case for defending the public defender

By Oliver Seibert @EagleNewsENT “Everyone is in an emergency state, all the time,” Travis Wright said.

“Gideon’s Army,” a documentary available to stream on Netflix, follows Travis Wright, a public defender in Atlanta, Georgia and two other public defenders as they handle the tasks required when you are working for 120-200 defendants at a time while being paid a little more than a school teacher. However, you would be hard pressed to find a public defender who didn’t pay his way through college and law school without student loans, which means this altruistic career does not come close to paying the bills.

We follow a case for Wright and Brandy Alexander. Each tells a story of a kid who was with the wrong people at the wrong time. While there is an argument for the term “guilty by association,” there is no argument for ruining a person’s life for a crime they did not commit. The story told within this documentary eventually begins to overshadow all of the depressing and hard to swallow facts that remain unknown to the overwhelming public who speak so

highly of “justice for all”.

Within The United States, there are 12 million people arrested each year, but there are only 15,000 public defenders. If divided equally would be around 765 clients for each attorney per year. Any person with common sense can realize that with such a large workload, errors must happen frequently.

However, each case is entirely different with its own challenges of proof or the lack there of. If there is not someone there to point out the disparities in a case, how can this country expect its citizens to trust in its system?

Public defender Brett Willis continues on the subject, “You realize very quickly that when 90 to 95 percent of defendants being charged plead guilty to something it is because the system is designed to force them to plead guilty and it punishes their failure to comply,” Willis said. “This is the way it really works. You go to jail charged with an offense by whatever a police officer thinks you did.

They set a bond, and if you’re poor that means you don’t get out and you sit and sit and sit. You may have lost your house, your kids may need sustenance and you may have been taken out of school. All of the things

that would happen if you were summarily plucked from your life. You have such a tremendous pressure to plead guilty. It’s all about lessening penalty. That’s what we do.”

In Wright’s case, the documentary follows an orphaned teenager named Branden who is accused of robbing a pizza man with a knife. It’s Wright’s impression that fingerprint evidence from the scene would prove advantageous for his client. But fingerprints are rarely used in cases of poor suspects because the state would rather not waste the money. What Wrightdoes to get around this bureaucracy proves the lengths he must go to learn such an important fact that sadly the state finds so unimportant.

Travis tricks the D.A. into testing them by making them believe they are incriminating Branden. I will not leave any spoilers within this review, but I will say that while taking notes on this documentary I wound up forgetting all about them after only a half an hour of watching because the stories pull you in all the way until the very end.

Director Dawn Porter does a phenomenal job at telling such an unspoken story within modern day America. Naming the movie after the trial of Gideon vs.

Wainwright, where a man sued the justice

system after losing a case he was forced to fight on his own due to his low economic standing. Gideon won unanimously, safely procuring the right to a public defender for all those suspects of the future being accused of crimes by the state.

The tragedy is that public defenders are a necessity within any justice system that strives for fairness and impartiality; however, they are treated with such abandonment in this system. After watching this documentary you cannot help but question the system of crime we live around all day. Wright and Alexander seem to be remarkable examples of the kinds of people this career breeds and listening to the wisdom and patience preached from these brave men and women is inspiring at the least.

The importance of this documentary is that it opens you up to the inner workings of this present system. This documentary also begs you to question what our government can do to make the common suspect’s day in court more honest and fair because maybe one day it could be you or someone you care who must prove their innocence in a room of law and order.

FGCU Bower School of Music performs ‘Music of Saint-Saëns’

By Allie Taylor @AllieTaylorEN The Bower School of Music & the Arts is offering a concert for faculty and guests on 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25 as the kickoff for the 2014-15 artist series with “The Music of Saint-Saëns.” This event will be held at Florida Gulf Coast University’s U. Tobe Recital Hall inside the Music Building.

“The Music of Saint-Saëns” features the works of French composer Camille SaintSaëns, including “Variations on a Theme

of Beethoven for Two Pianos,” “Caprice on Russian and Danish Airs” for woodwinds and piano, “Septet in E-flat Major” for strings, trumpet, and piano, and “Carnival of the Animals,” as featured in Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” (1940).

Performer and Director Michael Baron arranged the concert.

“I chose the music of Saint-Saëns for this concert because I was looking for a program that would showcase as many faculty members as possible and also be entertaining for the audience,” Baron said.

“All the pieces also make use of the piano so it is a great mixture of entertaining pieces.”

Performers include members of the Naples Philharmonic and Bower School of Music’s own Michael Baron and Priscila Navarro on piano, Patrick Neal and Geoffrey Day on violin, Lisa Mattson on viola, SiCheng Liu on cello, Matthew Medock on string bass, Suzanne Kirton on flute, Judy Christy on oboe, Paul Votapek on clarinet, Matt Sonneborn on trumpet, Troy Jones on percussion, and conducted by David Cole “It is always a pleasure to perform with

such talented and spirited professionals,” Jones said. “I am looking forward to this collective experience of sharing this wonderful music [with] our audience.”

Tickets are $25 and are available online on the Bower School of Music homepage or at the door the night of the event. Tickets include the concert and post-concert dessert reception. Doors open one hour prior to the show. For more information, contact Michael Baron by phone at 590-7209 or by email at mbaron@fgcu.edu.

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Tabby Tindell breaks FGCU’s all-time scoring record with 25 career goals.

Record-breaking weekend for FGCU women’s soccer

By Kelli Krebs Opinion editor @TheReal_KKrebs and Kyle Dabrow @EagleNewsSports The Florida Gulf Coast University women’s soccer team travels to Jacksonville to face the University of North Florida at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26, then to Philidelphia to play the LaSalle Explorers at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, as the squad’s new all-time scoring leader looks to extend her record.

Sophomore Tabby Tindell became the women’s soccer program’s all-time leading scorer after contributing two goals in a 3-0 shutout against CSU Bakersfield this past Sunday afternoon.

“This is an amazing feeling,” Tindell said after the Eagles’ second shutout of the weekend. “I’m really happy about it, but I’m trying not to focus on it.”

Although she was fully aware of how close she was to breaking the record, it wasn’t Tindell’s ultimate goal for the afternoon.

“I thought to myself that (breaking the record) would be nice, but it wasn’t like ‘All right, I’m going to go get it,’” she said.

“Tabby has been unbelievable,” coach Jim Blankenship said. “Tabby is a very, very motivated kid and a very humble kid.

We’re blessed to have her, and I believe she’ll continue to do incredible things because

she’s grounded and focuses more on our team doing well.”

Both of Tindell’s record-breaking goals came in the first five minutes of Sunday’s game, giving the Eagles an early 2-0 lead on the Roadrunners. Her first goal came in the third minute after breaking away with an assist from Paulina Speckmaier to ease past Bakersfield’s goalkeeper.

Just after an announcement of her tie with 2010 alum Amber MacCall’s career goals’ record, Tindell immediately sent another ball into the back of CSU’s net to claim her newfound title. The recordbreaking goal marks the 25th of her FGCU career and 10th goal this season for the Ocala native. “(After the first goal) I was getting really excited about it, especially since we scored so early in the game,” Tindell said. “We got really amped, and the second goal was just a lucky spot I was in. Shannen took a great spot, and it just so happened to bounce right in front of me, so it was pretty convenient.”

MacCall, an Estero High grad, held the all-time leading scorer record prior to Sunday’s game with 24 goals in her three seasons with the Eagles.

Later in the first half, Speckmaier pushed FGCU’s lead with another goal for the Eagles in the 25th minute to give the Blue and Green a comfortable 3-0 lead and a chance to allow all of FGCU’s players to see field time.

“These games are always hard,” Tindell said. “It’s easy to get pumped up for teams like Texas A&M and Miami cause those are such big schools and you want to play.

“But it’s the smaller schools that go unnoticed that are the ones to sneak up on you and really hurt you in the season,” Tindell continued. “It was a great game. I’m glad we got to get out of here with a win.”

Wofford falls 3-0

The Eagles defeated the Wofford Terriers Friday night, 3-0. Shannen Wacker was the first on the board, scoring three minutes into the second half. Tindell added two more goals for the Eagles in the 56th and the 72nd minute of the game.

Despite a slow start in the first half, the Eagles were able to overcome their first-half offensive shortcomings and break the tie game with three second-half goals to win the match.

“The first half we played well, we just didn’t get any goals” Blakenship said. “The second half, I thought our attitude was better, especially being aggressive. Overall, we were a step faster.”

Blankenship had high praise for Tindlell for her performance against Wofford.

“She’s been unbelievable.,” Blankenship said. “She’s had so much success. I thought she played well the whole game, and we needed those goals.”

The first half of the game, the Eagles

and the Terriers could not put the ball in the back of the net. FGCU persistently tested Wofford goalkeeper Shonte Campbell with 12 shots in the first half. Hannah Washko was the only player to attempt a shot for the Terriers on Eagles’ goalkeeper Brittany Brown in the first half. Washko’s shot on goal would be Brown’s only save of the game.

It did not take long for the Eagles to score their first goal after halftime. In the 48th minute, Wacker capitalized on a Tindell pass into the box and put the ball in the back of the net. It was Wacker’s second goal of her senior season and 23rd of her career.

The Eagles’ offense did not let up after the first goal. In the 56th minute, FGCU scored again. Tindell scored a header off of a corner kick, served from Ashley Parks.

Tindell scored again in the 72nd minute after receiving a pass from Parks which Tindell chipped high over Campbell and into the net to make the score 3-0. Tindell scored her 7th and 8th goals of the season and now has 23 career goals.

The Eagles dominated the Terriers on shot opportunities in both halves. At the end of the match, the Eagles had a 29-1 shot surplus over the Terriers. Wofford’s Campbell had ten saves, four in the first half, and six in the second half. Brown would only record one save from the first half of the match.

Read a feature story on Tabby Tindell, B3

The week ahead in FGCU Athletics

9/24 M Soccer at FIU 7 p.m.

9/27 Volleyball Stetson 7 p.m.

9/26 W Soccer at North Florida 7 p.m.

9/28 W Soccer at La Salle 1 p.m.

9/26-28 M Tennis Georgia Tech (Atlanta) All Day

9/28-30 M Golf Gridiron Golf Classic All Day

9/27 Swimming and Diving Blue and Green Scrimmage 10 a.m.

9/29-10/5 M Tennis 9/29-30 W Golf ITA Men’s Johnie Imes Invite All-American Championship All Day All Day

EDITOR: JILL HIMMELFARB SPORTS@EAGLENEWS.ORG

B2 SPORTS EAGLE NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

Cross Country

Eagles head to Louisville Classic after finishing fourth and seventh in Gainesville

By Rebecca VanEtten @rebeccavanetten The Florida Gulf Coast University men’s and women’s cross country team heads to Kentucky to compete in the Louisville Cross Country Classic on Saturday, Oct. 4.

“Louisville is going to be a large meet,” coach Cassandra Goodson said. “It is going to be a great opportunity for the team to get a large-meet experience…

It’s strong competition that can push them. I’m excited to see how they respond and who steps up.”

Both teams competed in the Mountain Dew Invite this past Saturday. The men’s team finished fourth with 137 points. Georgia Tech won the event with 41 points,

followed by the University of Florida with 51 points and the University of North Florida in third with 60.

Freshman Troy Clark led the men’s team in the 8K, finishing with a time of 25:32.84. He finished 20th. Junior Nathan Kandie finished 30th with a time of 25:57.92 and sophomore Courtland Bernard followed closely with a 25:59.11 in 31st place. All of the Eagles that competed in the 8K finished within the top 50.

“Troy is a great person and he worked incredibly hard over the summer,” Goodson said. “It is great to see all of his hard work pay off.”

The women’s team finished seventh out of 13 teams with 205 points. UF won the meet with 35 points. Georgia Tech finished second with 67 points and UNF finished

third with 90 points.

Senior Brooke Sill led the women’s team by finishing in eighteenth place with a time of 17:58.35. Junior Courtney Corradetti finished 42nd with 18:34.60. Also finishing in the top-50 was junior Lauren Tarovisky in 47th place with 18:37.99. According to the FGCU athletics website, the women’s team had their fastest team average to date.

“The women’s average time improved significantly from last year,” Goodson said. “I think it is a combination of bringing in new people…and the returners have improved as well. It is a good culture, good environment and they work hard and deserve all that they are getting.”

Eagle News’ Top 25 Pick ’em Date

Time

Home

Away

Line*

Manuel Navarro Justin Kane

9/25 9/25 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27 9/27

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#24 Oklahoma St. #15 Arizona St. #12 Georgia #9 Michigan St. #25 Kansas St. #19 Wisconsin N.C. State #6 Texas A&M #5 Auburn Washington #22 Ohio St. #13 South Carolina #17 LSU #10 Ole Miss Syracuse Iowa St. #21 Nebraska #18 USC

Texas Tech #11 UCLA Tennessee Wyoming UTEP USF #1 Florida St. Arkansas Louisiana Tech #16 Stanford Cincinnati Missouri New Mexico St. Memphis #8 Notre Dame #7 Baylor Illinois Oregon St.

Oklahoma St. (-13.5) UCLA (-5.5) Georgia (-17) Michigan St. (-30.5) Kansas St. (-27) Wisconsin (-33) Florida State (-21.5) Texas A&M (-9.5) Auburn (-32.5) Stanford (-7.5) Ohio St. (-14.5) South Carolina (-6) LSU (-43) Ole Miss (-19) Notre Dame (-12) Baylor (-21) Nebraska (-18.5) USC (-11)

Oklahoma St. UCLA Tennessee Michigan St. UTEP Wisconsin N.C. State Texas A&M Auburn Stanford Ohio St. South Carolina New Mexico St. Ole Miss Notre Dame Iowa St. Illinois USC

Oklahoma St. UCLA Georgia Michigan St. Kansas St. Wisconsin Florida St. Texas A&M Auburn Stanford Ohio St. South Carolina New Mexico St. Ole Miss Notre Dame Baylor Illinois USC

*- Line is as of Noon on Tuesday

ASSOCIATED PRESS COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25 FLORIDA STATE 3-0

1

TEXAS A&M 4-0

UCLA 3-0

NEBRASKA 4-0

OREGON 4-0

2 3

BAYLOR 3-0

11

STANFORD 2-1

7 8

GEORGIA 2-1

12 13

LSU 3-1

17 18

OHIO ST 2-1

4 5

9 10

ALABAMA 4-0

OKLAHOMA 4-0

AUBURN 3-0

6

NOTRE DAME 3-0

MICHIGAN ST 2-1

OLE MISS 3-0

16

SOUTH CAROLINA 3-1 USC 2-1

MISSISSIPPI ST 4-0

14 15

ARIZONA ST 3-0

WISCONSIN 2-1

19 20 BYU 4-0

21 22 23

EAST CAROLINA 3-1

OKLAHOMA ST 2-1

24 25

KANSAS ST 2-1

Photo courtesy of Huffington Post

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS SPORTS B3

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Features

Sill shines on FGCU’s women’s soccer and cross country teams

By Rebecca VanEtten @rebeccavanetten In senior Brooke Sill’s first cross country race, she was so far in front of the other competitors that she got lost.

Despite the confusion, she got back on track and ended up winning the race.

Sill is far from lost on the cross country team. She finished first at the Stetson Hatter Invite and then fifth at the South Florida Invite the next week. This past weekend, she continued to lead the team by finishing in the top 20 at the Mountain Dew Invite.

“I didn’t expect it (the win) because I didn’t know what it was going to be like or how fast I was going to be able to go,” Sill said. “I started off in the front because I was anxious, so once I was in front, I just wanted to win it. I just kept going. There was lots of adrenaline.”

The lack of experience in cross country has not given Sill a disadvantage.

Cross country head coach Cassandra Goodson thinks that it has helped her in competition.

“I think Brooke is a tough competitor.

She has never run cross country before but it turned out to be a positive for her.

She goes in with no expectations and that is refreshing. She gets along with the girls and I think everybody feels encouraged by her performance.”

Along with her success on the cross country team, Sill also plays on FGCU’s women’s soccer team. Her soccer coaches recommended for her to run cross country. They talked to Goodson and were

Sill

Tindell breaks records and continues to push for success

able to work out the opportunity for Sill.

Goodson set up time trials for some of the girls from the soccer team that were interested in running cross country. Sill was one of the candidates who met the time requirement.

“Brooke ran very good time and she earned her spot on the team,” Goodson said. “Brooke really impressed.”

As a result, Goodson helped Sill create a training program for the summer to get her prepared for the fall. Sill can log 20 hours of practice and playing time a week for both teams. It is essential for her to stay healthy during the season.

“You have to make sure that you take care of your body,” Sill said. “It’s kind of nice because cross country is in the morning and soccer is after that so you can get it all done in the morning.”

The hardest part about being a dualathlete is the amount of travel Sill has to do for both teams. There are some days when she comes back from a soccer game and has to leave right afterwards for a cross country meet.

Despite the strenuous schedule, Sill is still able to find a happy medium between the two sports. Soccer and cross country are similar in the physical aspect, but each sport requires a different mindset.

“Cross country you don’t have to think as much whereas in soccer you have to be really focused on everything from your touch to who’s coming,” Sill said. “In cross country you just run so it is kind of more relaxing.”

With both seasons coming to an end in November, Sill’s experience as a dualathlete is helping to prepare her for her future.

“I’m learning a lot about time management and I think that will help me with future jobs,” Sill said. “Obviously I have to juggle homework and travel and practices so that’s nice. It’s teaching me a lot of discipline.”

EN Photo/Kelli Krebs Tindell breaks against CSU Bakersfield defender.

By Matthew Walzer @matthewwalzer24 Florida Gulf Coast University Women’s soccer sophomore Tabby Tindell has built a very impressive resume.

Since arriving on campus last year, Tindell has set the career-scoring record for women’s soccer with 25 goals, beating Amber MacCall’s record from 2009.

Tindell has also received A-Sun Conference Player of the Week honors three times this season. Tindell also holds singleseason program records for goals (15) and points (34).

Despite these accomplishments, Tindell says there is always room for improvement.

“It’s definitely an honor to be able to do all of this with the team,” Tindell said. “But it just motivates me to want to do it more, so I can help my teammates and myself get further and further.”

Tindell said her most memorable game was last year’s opener against The University of Arizona. The Eagles won 2-1

with Tindell scoring both goals.

Tindell grew up in Ocala and started playing soccer at around age 7 after her mother introduced it to her. She has stuck with it ever since.

“All of my friends were playing it, but as I get older it turned into something more serious,” Tindell said.

Tindell said the team’s main goal is to win the conference championship and make a bid for the NCAA tournament.

Despite visits to the University of Florida and Florida State University, Tindell fell in love with FGCU during recruitment because of its small size and proximity to home.

“I wanted to go to a smaller school so I could be closer to home and my family,” Tindell said. “I visited here, and I fell in love with the campus and the coaches.”

Tindell also received interest from Stetson, St. Leo, and Nova Southeastern.

Despite the college success, Tindell is focused on her major in exercise science and would like to be a physical therapist.

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B4 SPORTS EAGLE NEWS WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24

Volleyball

Sept. 19

FGCU Alabama St.

3 0

FGCU statistical leaders Kills: Jessica Barnes 10 Aces: Eleonora Kazarian 4 Blocks: Lauren Tutwiler 4

Sept. 20

FGCU UMKC

2 3

FGCU statistical leaders Kills: Vanessa Benke 16 Aces: Vanessa Benke 4 Blocks: Olivia Mesner 4 Eleonora Kazarian Lauren Tutwiler

EN Photo/ Kelli Krebs Gigi Meyer assists ball to teammate during the Missouri-Kansas City match.

FGCU FAU

1 3

FGCU statistical leaders Kills: Katarina Stepanovic 14 Aces: Liene Mellupe 3 Katarina Stepanovic Blocks: Katarina Stepanovic 6

FGCU goes 1-2 during the home-opening weekend

By Dylan Schmittler @dylansfgcu The Eagles will begin the Atlantic Sun schedule at home against Stetson at 7 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 27.

For the first time in the 2014 season, the Florida Gulf Coast University Volleyball team got the chance to play at home inside Alico Arena. This past weekend, the Eagles took part in the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites Volleyball Classic, facing Alabama State, Florida Atlantic and Missouri-Kansas City.

This weekend also marked the home debut for FGCU’s new head coach, Matt Botsford. Botsford was most recently the top assistant coach at Colorado State University from May 2012 to February 2014 before arriving at FGCU. He is looking forward to creating a legacy and winning a few games with FGCU. “A few more wins like that and we will be happy,” Botsford said after Friday’s victory over Alabama State.

The weekend results drop the Eagles to 5-7 overall on the season.

Eagles fall to FAU

FAU defeated FGCU three sets to one (25-22, 25, 17, 23-25, 25-22) to end the weekend at Alico Arena.

Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer made a special appearance to see his daughter, Gigi Meyer, play at Alico Arena against Florida Atlantic. Setter Gigi Meyer

was honored prior to the game. Since the Buckeyes and Urban Meyer will be at Michigan State on Nov. 8, the night of FGCU’s senior night, FGCU held a ceremony for Gigi Meyer on Saturday night.

“I am very appreciative of all the opportunities she has had. It has been a great run,” Urban Meyer said.

The opening of the match started fast and furious. Both teams were looking to show their dominance early. After 20 points, the set was tied 10-10. The Owls scored the next three points to take a 13-10 lead. The Eagles kept fighting back, eventually tying it up at 20-20. FAU outlasted the Eagles to take set one 25-22.

The Eagles got off to a shaky start in the second set. They quickly found themselves trailing 12-5. They used a 3-0 run to close the deficit to 12-8. The Eagles were still trailing 17-13 when Botsford called a timeout.

The Eagles fell behind 2-0 after dropping the second set 25-17. Olivia Mesner and Eleonora Kazarian each had three kills in the set for FGCU. Katarina Stepanovic and Liene Mellupe led the Owls with four kills each in the set.

The Eagles jumped out to a 6-2 lead to open the third set. FAU knotted up the set at 10-10. The Eagles soon fell behind 18-13.

The Eagles managed to tie the set at 20-20.

The Eagles pulled off the third set 25-23 to extend the match to a fourth set. The Eagles carried the momentum into the fourth set.

They took a 9-7 lead as FAU called a timeout.

FAU withstood the charge and took a 17-12

lead in the fourth set. The Eagles never gave up and clawed their way back into the set.

FAU eventually won the set 25-22 and won the match 3-1 over FGCU.

Missouri-K.C. wins thriller

The Eagles lost a heartbreaking match to UMKC 3-2 to start off Saturday’s doubleheader at Alico Arena.

The Eagles and Roos played a back-andforth first set. In the end, UNKC won the set 25-23 and took a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Eagles rebounded to win the second set 25-19. This evened the match at 1-1. They continued the momentum winning the third set by the same 25-19 score. It looked as if the Eagles were going to win this match.

The Eagles got off to a good start in the fourth set, jumping ahead to a quick lead.

Then, Vanessa Banke was injured midway through the set. During the middle of a play, she collapsed on the floor clutching her left knee. The Eagles were not able to recover and eventually lost the set 27-25. “We did not have anybody step when we needed,” Botsford said.

The Eagles continued to struggle without Banke, eventually losing the fifth and final set 15-10.

Alabama State gets blanked

The Eagles started the Botsford era with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-18) victory over Alabama State. This win also evened up the Eagles record at 5-5. Jessica Barnes led the Eagles with 10 kills in the match.

Whitney Masters led the Eagles on defense with 12 digs. Gigi Meyer had 26 assists and two service aces for the match. The Eagles finished 12 service aces and seven service errors for the match.

“I thought we served great. That was our biggest advantage. Producing 12 aces with only seven errors is uncommonly good and I liked how aggressive we were back there,” Botsford said.

After a hard fought first 20 points, the first set was tied at 10-10. Then, the Eagles took control of the set and the match. They won four of the next five points to take a 14-11 lead. The Eagles ultimately won the first set 25-18. Jessica Barnes and Vanessa Benke led the Eagles with three kills in set one.

The second set started much liked the first one. Both teams were able to get off to good starts. After 14 points, the set was tied at 7-7. FGCU then took command of the set. The Eagles used a 6-2 run to take a 13-9 lead. FGCU still led 20-13 when Alabama State took another timeout. The Eagles convincingly won the second set 25-15 and took a 2-0 lead in the match. Olivia Mesner and Jessica Barnes led the Eagles with four kills each in set two.

FGCU started the third set strong, winning five of the first six points. The Eagles were still leading 18-13 when the Hornets took a timeout. The Eagles won the third set by a score of 25-18.

Men’s soccer

Eagles head to Miami without any wins after home stand

By Rebecca VanEtten @rebeccavanetten The Florida Gulf Coast University men’s soccer team heads to Miami to play Florida International University on Wednesday Sept. 24.

FIU is coming off a 2-1 win over San Diego state on Friday and are 2-3-1 for the season. Senior forward Quentin Albrecht leads FIU with 25 shots and three goals for the season.

FGCU lost 1-0 to the University of Washington on Thursday and had a doubleovertime 0-0 tie against Brown University on Saturday. They are 1-3-3 for the season.

attempt with another shot a minute later but Brown’s goalie Mitch Kupstas saved it.

The eagles’ last effort came from senior Xavier Silva in the last minute of the game.

He missed the goal to the right and the eagles had to settle for their third tie of the season.

“At the end of the day, we took that game almost as a training session,” Butehorn said. “We have to figure out how to play against teams that sit in against us and stack up against us. We have to be smarter in breaking them down… We have given up one goal, that’s the most we have given up in any game. We are playing against some really good teams, so we need to score more.”

Brown game scoreless

Washington a battle

FGCU trailed Brown in shots for the first half, with five to their six. Noticing that Brown was weak in wide back positions, Butehorn changed the formation from a 4-42 to a 4-4-3 at the start of the second half to create more goal opportunities.

As a result, FGCU had 13 shots to Brown’s four in the second half. They dominated overall with 18 shots to Brown’s 10, forcing the bear’s goalkeeper to make seven saves.

In the first overtime, senior Henry Peganos came close to a goal in the 92nd minute but hit the post. Junior Rodrigo Saravia tried to capitalize on Peganos

“It’s unfortunate with college soccer that you play games back to back and don’t have time to spend on necessities and improvements that we need to make,” FGCU head coach Bob Butehorn said. “We know we have the guys that can score goals, we just have to get them more in tune with how they move. We are going to work on that and scoring goals is going to come.”

In the game against Washington, FGCU led the first half in shots. Sophomore Isaiah Madrid led with three shots. The closest FGCU came to a goal in the first half was freshman Arion Sobers-Assue’s shot in the 27th minute. It was saved by Washington’s

goalie Spencer Richey. Madrid followed immediately with another shot but his attempt was too high.

The eagles had many opportunities in the second half. Senior Santiago Echeverri led the eagles with five shots but was not able to secure a goal. With five minutes left in the game, Washington’s Mason Robertson scored a goal off an assist by Justin Schmidt.

“I give credit to Florida Gulf Coast University because that was the best game we have played all year or the best team we played all year,” Washington’s head coach Jamie Clark said. “They pushed us and had a

couple good chances to win it. It was so close that one goal was going to win it either way.”

Despite the loss, FGCU goalie Nathan Ingham finished the game with a career-high nine saves.

“It was a good call to a soccer game no matter how you put it,” Ingham said. “Both teams had chances, both teams did good things, made big saves and it was all-around good play. It is good for the fans and good for the culture here at our school. We can play with any team in the country and I think we proved it again tonight.”

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS SPORTS B5

Listen to this Ship

It’s time for Goodell to go

By Matt Shipley Assistant sports editor @matthshipley At the helm of every business should be an individual with values and morals that only bring success.

The National Football League is not just a game where 11 guys try to push a ball passed a white line, it’s a business.

At the helm for the NFL is Roger Goodell — at least for now.

Goodell has been the commissioner for the NFL since 2006 and has seen much criticism for his actions over the past few years. Most recently has been Goodell’s response to the multiple domestic violence charges to different players in the league.

One of the more recent charges has been towards Baltimore Raven’s running back Ray Rice for throwing a punch at his fiancé in an elevator months ago. Goodell claimed he was not aware of what went on inside the elevator until the video of security surveillance during the incident was released by TMZ weeks following.

This simply cannot be true.

Rice was suspended for a measly 2 games prior to the release of the video when Goodell changed the suspension to an indefinite amount of time. The NFL is a multi-million dollar corporation that would be crazy to have not received that video before the rest of the public.

A few years ago, Sean Payton, head coach of the New Orleans Saints, was suspended for an entire season due to “bounty gate,” where the team was found putting bounties on opposing teams quarterbacks and running backs. Payton claimed he didn’t know this was occurring in his locker room causing Goodell to respond with the suspension and saying ignorance is no excuse. Not only is he not following his word, Goodell is lying about the fact that he knew of the Ray Rice video.

There are multiple reasons why Roger Goodell should resign as the commissioner of the National Football League. Just watch the draft every year and you will see Goodell booed by the fans every time he steps up to the podium. The man’s credibility is gone which makes it hard for fans of football to like him.

Goodell is out of second chances.

There have been multiple incidents over his eight-year tenure thus far that have not panned out for him in the long run. Multiple cases have been reported this year alone involving domestic violence and other felony accounts with his athletes. If your athletes cannot follow the United States law, what makes you think they will follow the rules of the NFL? Many other athletes not going through issues with the law have had a lot to say on this issue as well.

Twitter has been a big platform for the players of the NFL to speak their mind on Roger Goodell and other issues occurring every year.

The league surrounds the players’ actions on the field. Their actions on the field, however, would not be possible without the actions they take off the field. Even though these men are playing football, it is their job and a happy worker is a successful one.

Don’t just take it from me, former New England Patriot Tedy Bruschi is one supporter of Goodell’s resignation. In a statement following the commissioners most recent conference, Bruschi said “In my personal opinion, being a former player that spent 13 years in this league trying to do the right thing, I want a new commissioner to go out there and say the right things and be that leader because right now Roger Goodell is not that and I don’t think he can ever be that.”

Violent arrests this season Jonathan Dwyer Domestic violence Adrian Peterson Child Abuse Greg Hardy

Domestic violence

Ray Rice

Domestic violence

Ray McDonald

Domestic violence Photo courtesy of Wilson

Dunne’s Doghouse

NFL players struggle during big games in week three

By Ryan Dunne @ryandunne81

Tennessee Titans quarterback: Jake Locker

The struggles for quarterback Jake Locker continue as he once again finds himself in the Doghouse after a disappointing performance against the Cincinnati Bengals this past weekend. I do understand that yes it was the Bengals, and that they do have a good defense, especially at home. But there is no excuse for a quarterback who is most likely not the future of the franchise.

Locker completed only half of his passes and threw two interceptions in the process and only had 185 yards in the air.

That won’t get the job done and his future is in serious doubt with the Titans. Locker did suffer a wrist injury during the game, even though reports have said that they aren’t sure when the injury occurred, and his status is questionable for the upcoming road test as the team travels to Indianapolis to face a Colts team coming off a huge win against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Look for the Titans to start Charlie Whitehurst if Locker can’t go.

Locker

Houston Texans quarterback: Ryan Fitzpatrick

The Houston Texans had an opportunity to start 3-0 against the New York Giants who looked awful in the first two weeks of the season, but that all changed after quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick threw three interceptions in the game to give the struggling team their first win of the season. In Fitzpatrick’s defense, he was without his starting running back Arian Foster to carry the load, but that shouldn’t take away some of the blame. Fitzpatrick threw interceptions into double coverage and were horrible decisions. I know Fitzpatrick isn’t the future for the Texans and they probably will only stick with him until recently acquired

Fitzpatrick

quarterback Ryan Mallet is ready to go, but you still have to perform like you want to keep the job, especially in a weak division like the AFC South. He will get a chance to redeem himself as the Texans head back home to face a Buffalo Bills team with some questions of their own at quarterback.

Buffalo Bills quarterback: EJ Manuel

22 yards on 19 carries. That’s an average of 1.2 yards a carry. Even though the Redskins defense may look great stopping the run, the high powered Chip Kelly offense is made for the run to help setup the play-action pass, which is why the Eagles kept going to McCoy. But McCoy is known for being quick, for being elusive, for being “shady.”

He didn’t look any of those things this past weekend in a game that was won through the air and not on the ground. As weird as this sounds, thing should get easier for him as the team travels to San Francisco to face a 49es team whose defense has been exploited the past couple of weeks.

I really don’t want to write about Manuel because I may be one of the few people that think Manuel has the potential to be a great quarterback in this league.

Yes, I said potential, that’s the key word. But this weekend he didn’t show he was progressing in the right direction during their meeting against the San Diego Chargers. While his stats on paper didn’t look bad, completing 23of-39 for 238 yards and one touchdown, the film shows that he wasn’t entirely in rhythm with his receivers. Receivers Robert Woods and Sammy Watkins, who have big play potential, caught a combined five passes and were targeted 16 times as a duo. Now you can credit that to the defense all you want, but the great quarterbacks always find a way to get their guys the football and Manuel was unable to do that consistently.

He has to spend with his receivers in practice getting in sync to make sure they are ready to go for Sunday as they head to Houston to take on a Texans Walk In Only - Low wait times defense that has shown they can be great.

McCoy

Manuel

Philadelphia Eagles running back: LeSean McCoy

Talk about stopping the run to set up the pass, that’s what the Washington Redskins did this weekend against the Eagles and making sure running back LeSean McCoy didn’t beat them on the ground. McCoy probably had his worst game ever as an Eagle racking up

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OPINION

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EN Photo / Morgan Bowen The recently renovated library lawn is an example of FGCU’s recent renovations.

Cutting back

Keeping a close-knit community a better option

By Stephanie Rieselman Florida Gulf Coast University has no doubt come a long way since the birth of Dunk City. Since the men’s basketball team made it to the Sweet Sixteen in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, the possibilities have seemed endless for FGCU. As a student who has lived in the Fort Myers area since middle school, I have seen firsthand how far FGCU has come over the years. But with the recent boost in applications, it appears that FGCU is destined for big things.

However, that growth may soon come to a temporary halt as the University has recently announced its decision to reduce enrollment due to a lack of available space.

While the school’s rise in admissions undeniably adds the potential for opportunities as well as a raise in revenue, it’s all too obvious that these changes are happening too fast for the school to keep up with.

David W. Martin, the certified public accountant and auditor general for the state of Florida, stated in the University’s audited financial statements from late June 2013 that FGCU grew 4.7 percent in this fiscal year, while its liabilities grew to 31.1 percent.

This just shows how the University’s growth cannot keep up with its debt. It only makes sense that the school would want to start cutting back.

The fact that FGCU already sits at around 15,000 students (which is closing in on the 20,000 student cap for enrollment) proves that change is needed. Reducing enrollment would mean more selectivity in the students who are allowed in, which would improve the standard of students.

A reduced enrollment could allow FGCU to keep its close-knit community by staying small.

I know from my own experience the whole reason I chose to attend this University was because it had a smaller campus.

Coming from a smaller, private high school I know how people assumed I was sheltered away from the real world. People thought I wasn’t going to succeed in college having lived

those four years in such a secluded environment.

Going to a smaller high school challenged me not only academically, but personally as well. I was held to a higher academic standard all while being able to maintain my values and not lose my identity in a mass of students. This is the main reason I wanted to apply to a smaller college like FGCU.

“

...It’s all too obvious that these changes are happening too fast for the school to keep up with.

”

I know I was right in my decision because I experience those same things here. Another reason why remaining a smaller school is favorable for FGCU is because it allows students to have more one on one time with their professors.

Students are a name, not a number.

I experience this when I sit in my classes that range from 20-50 students, rather than 200 students. I am more productive and accomplish more in a smaller classroom where I don’t feel as overwhelmed.

In bigger schools, it is easier for students to lose themselves and feel unimportant among so many other people. Here at FGCU, every student counts. I don’t believe I would have experienced this attending a bigger school.

Even though I favor FGCU staying a small school, it is undeniable that growth is inevitable in the future. It has already come so far from what it used to be, and it will be interesting to see how far it will continue to grow in future years, but only once the University is ready.

Bigger is better

Private funding offers opportunity for University expansion

By Matthew Acton @MjActon1 On Sept. 16, Florida Gulf Coast University Vice President for Administrative Services and Finance Steve Magiera presented to the Board of Trustees a new plan to reduce growth in enrollment at FGCU for the next six years.

The plan is posted on the FGCU Board of Trustees website.

On Sept. 17, The News-Press reported that the Board of Trustees had approved the plan.

According to the plan, FGCU will reduce the number of students allowed to enroll during that time because of lower student state funding. Also, the limits are supposed to allow FGCU to adjust to a greater emphasis on performance-based state funding.

The plan limits the annual growth in student enrollment to 2.25 percent across all segments of the student population, including resident, non-resident, graduate and undergraduate.

The per-student funding, according to the plan, is used for additional classroom buildings. If total funding stays the same or decreases and the number of students’ increases more buildings are needed but the money is not available.

This is all very dry but seemingly simple, right? Reduce the number of students, and, even if the total funding stays the same, the amount per student increases. Fewer students means less need for classroom space, so there is more money to build what we need for the students that we have.

That sounds good, but I think the university is better served in the long run by not concentrating on squeezing every penny out of state funding.

What about private funding?

According to press releases on the FGCU website, Holmes Hall, Lutgert Hall and Sugden Hall are examples of buildings on campus built at least partially built from of private funds.

I’m sure there are several more buildings that could be built and furnished in this way if FGCU attracted the eyes of wealthy donors interested in funding quality higher education.

How would we do this?

FGCU needs to attract students. We do not have the name recognition or reputation of an Ivy League or even a larger state school to bring elite students here to study. Our athletic program

is growing thanks to our success in basketball, but we do not have the scholarship funding yet to draw the elite athletes.

First, we need to attract more prestigious scholars to add to our already quality faculty. Higher quality faculty scholarship will lead to higher quality education, which will attract higher quality students.

Second, we should not exclude students from the surrounding communities who may not have the flashy high school academic record of AP classes and 4.0+ GPAs. These mostly older students may not have the résumé of elite high school students, but they may thrive in a high-quality academic environment.

Under the new plan I believe these students would likely be squeezed out.

If we attract more of the best teachers and students FGCU will be a better academic environment, which will attract private funding. If we limit enrollment and try to squeeze every penny out of the state funds we have, FGCU will become a stagnant academic environment.

In a thriving overall academic environment, if FGCU wants to build a reputation in certain fields of study, for instance, the environment, it can be an elite academic institution.

Meanwhile, state funding will not

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If we attract more of the best teachers and students, FGCU will be a better academic environment...

”

completely disappear. The Florida state constitution under Article IX, Section 1 states that, “Adequate provision shall be made by law for the establishment, maintenance and operation of institutions of higher learning.” As long as FGCU is a public university, public funds will be available.

We just can’t rely on them solely because “adequate” just isn’t as good as “excellent.”

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 EAGLE NEWS OPINION B7

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Photo by James Greco

FGCU Campus Rec offers activities for students such as wakeboarding and wake surfing with Campus Rec’s boat.

Plenty to do instead of partying

FGCU earns well-deserved No. 2 ranking among clean-fun schools

By Lauren Smith @LSmithPBG This past week Florida Gulf Coast University was voted No. 2 on University Primetime’s list of “Top 50 Schools You Don’t Have to Party to Have Fun.” Many students wonder if we really do deserve that: What is there really to do after 10 p.m. or on a rainy day?

Here’s the thing: We do deserve it.

Our school is one of a few schools that offer so many programs and activities for us to enjoy. So why aren’t we as students taking advantage of it all?

One of the biggest attractions here at FGCU is our famous waterfront in North Lake.

With its beautiful white sand, swimming area and various watercraft available for students use, the waterfront is a popular spot for all students.

On any given day you can find at least 20 to 30 students paddleboarding, canoeing, kayaking or swimming in the lake. You can find even more students lying out on the sand catching some sun while they relax or study for a class.

In North Lake, we also have the recreation center, volleyball and basketball courts. These fun activities are a great way to have fun with your friends while keeping in shape and staying healthy.

FGCU also offers an off-campus low- and high-rope obstacle courses. This course is a fun and daring adventure for students who are seeking a bit of a thrill.

Newer additions to FGCU’s campus are the arcade areas in Eagle Hall and the SoVi pool in South Village. These new amenities give freshmen fun alternatives as oppose to spending their nights going to house parties.

Our school also has an awesome programming board. At least once a week they host an event that’s open to all students and is usually a great time.

These events range from smaller gatherings, such as movie nights, speakers and open mic nights, to larger events such as “Winter Wonderland” and “Wacky Wednesdays.”

There are also off-campus options that won’t break a student’s budget. Many of the restaurants and business in the surrounding area, especially Gulf Coast Town Center, have special student discounts.

Pita Pit, Burger 21 and Bar Louie are just a few examples of the businesses that support our school and students. Each of these businesses either offer a multitude of student discounts or coupons, or they have specialty nights when a student can get cheap food, such as dollar burger nights at Bar Louie.

We also have Fort Myers Beach available to us as well. Many organizations host events on the Beach, and it is known as a popular hangout spot in the area.

We are incredibly lucky to attend the school that we do. We have so many options in extracurricular activities that are safe and fun.

I believe that we definitely deserve the No. 2 spot on the lis, because Eagles know how to have a good time.

Park your problems somewhere else

By Megan Turetsky @MeganTuretsky It seems as though one of the biggest problems plaguing our student body is not academics or social life but a much larger issue parking.

Everyday I see people complaining on Twitter that they circled the parking garage for ten minutes seeking a spot, or simply skipped class because they didn’t want to find parking although I’m sure that those who skipped class simply scapegoated parking.

I’ve been a student at Florida Gulf Coast University for close to four years and a commuter for three of them. During my entire collegiate career, I’ve never had an issue finding a parking spot.

Seldom do I seek a spot in Parking Garage three (behind Merwin) or four (near Lutgert) because I know that they are busy.

Rather than driving around a busy parking garage, I’ve found that it is much easier to find a spot in a less-crowded garage or simply park in the auxiliary (dirt) lot.

Students constantly complain that they don’t want to park in these garages because they are far away, but maybe if we were slightly less lazy we wouldn’t have this problem.

While you may be seeking someone to placate you and say that parking is really awful, it isn’t me.

Whether you believe in evolution or the Big Bang Theory, it is understood that most of us are given legs that make us capable of walking.

Unless you have a physical handicap that makes you incapable of walking far distances, I see no reason why anyone is complaining about walking to his or her car. You might as well channel that energy to something more worthwhile like complaining about that terrible exam grade you definitely didn’t deserve.

I’ve heard many people say that they do not want to park somewhere else because they think it will make them later for class, however circling a packed parking garage for 45 minutes searching for a parking spot is probably the reason that you’re late (or waiting in line at Starbucks).

This is not a life or death issue, so it does not need to be treated as such. I know we all have those typical “college problems” but finding a parking spot isn’t one of them.

If you actually bother to spend five minutes thinking ahead, you’ll find yourself complaining a lot less.

iOS 8 not up to standards, but I like it

By Justin Kane Editor-in-chief @ByJustinKane Apple finally took a step in the right direction with iOS 8, but they also took a few steps back.

Apple’s much-anticipated iOS 8 was released a week ago and it’s been met with some very mixed reviews. From people having to delete apps or music (or the update itself deleting pictures) to the lengthy time it took people to download, it hasn’t been Apple’s most positive release.

Apple really dropped the ball on the release. A lot of people are displeased with iOS 8. According to Forbes magazine, as of Sept. 23, only 31.5 percent of users were running iOS 8, and that’s not good for Apple.

The size of the file is over 1 GB. For people who aren’t familiar with technology-storage, that’s a lot. In comparison, the first iPhone was a 4 GB phone. They need to dramatically shrink the size of the file so that people, especially those who have 16gb phones, don’t have to delete everything to get the new update. Or what they could do is offer cheaper iCloud storage so people don’t lose their stuff.

Also one thing that has always bothered me is the fact that you can’t delete the apps that come with the phone.

You know the apps I’m talking about: notes, contacts, passbook, podcasts, etc. That’s a bunch of space that could be used for other things, but instead they are impossible to get rid of.

Despite the negativity, Apple’s sales are through the roof. They presold 10 million iPhones — that’s a record and it beat the 5s presale by 1 million phones. As flawed as the release went, people are still going to buy the iPhone.

Stores are selling out left and right, and a certain editor-in-chief has been contemplating buying one for a week now despite some of the negativity of iOS 8.

OPINION

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American horror story The ISIS crisis hits close to home

Photo by The Denver Post Carmody Middle School students left their classes to protest changes in their history teachings in Denver, Colorado.

An ISIS militant waves the group’s flag.

By Megan Turetsky @MeganTuresky It seems as though issues with Middle Eastern affairs have quickly become the most prevelant controversy in the media today. For the most part, people have become lapsed from foreign affairs, but this is not an issue to shy away from.

The problem with this mindset is that this is a problem that will be prevalent in years to come. This burden will be on our shoulders and we’ll be the taxpayers and voters that will deal with the situation bestowed upon us by generations past.

We’ve all been watching the news and been informed that the United States of America has entered into a war with ISIS, but are we actually in a war?

Why are we even calling it a war?

President Obama recently declared that the United States, along with the help of several Middle Eastern allies (when did Middle Eastern countries become allies?), would be launching an airborne attack against the leaders of ISIS. The media immediately began covering the issue as a war; however, using that rhetoric seems rather questionable.

Before discussing whether or not America should be involved in the situation in the Middle East, I believe it is important to understand what it is that we are doing.

Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states, “Congress shall have the power to … declare war.” For the United States of America to enter into war, the President

Photo by NBC News

must have support of Congress (although this never seems to happen the way it should).

The United States has only formally declared war five times against 11 nations, and has entered into extended military combat with Congress’ stamp of approval 13 times. There has been a minimum of 125 occurrences in which the USA has been involved in undeclared wars without the authorization from Congress.

Congressional members have done an exceptionable job at reaching across the aisle to continue what they’re great at doing—absolutely nothing. This is evident after the past session, so what I am about to say may be surprising.

A full debate on the issue of Islamic extremism is necessary before we do anything. I am well aware that midterm elections are coming up, so this is probably not something that congress wants to do, but I do believe that it is necessary in order for the interests of Americans to be heard.

This is a bipartisan issue, and not a question that can be answered through simple polling.

On one hand, we have seen this before.

President Bush entered America into the Iraq War in 2003; we did not declare that it was complete until 2011. It does not seem as though much was accomplished through this eight-year ordeal. In fact, it seems as though our previous efforts in the Middle East have further destabilized the area.

Major differences lie between Eastern and Western values. The nations of

the Middle East have been at war for thousands of years, and pushing our style of government on these countries isn’t working.

On the other hand, we have seen this before.

The United States of America has been threatened by Islamic extremism before.

We all remember 9-11, and there have been terroristic efforts even more recently.

ISIS is slaughtering thousands of people in the Middle East and there have been other attacks linked to radical Islam all over the world.

If the government chose to do nothing and terrorism continued, specifically on American soil, then there is justification for further military combat.

These are just some of the points that can be made when thinking about this issue. There are also financial and humanitarian implications that should be addressed in regards to this issue— and many others.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 states that “U.S. forces must be withdrawn from hostilities within 60 days of the time a report is submitted.” This means that congress must approve the use of military force prescribed by President Obama after 60 days or the troops need to go home.

Whether or not congress wants to address this issue, they need to. Far be it from me to expect anything from Congress, let alone a vote that seals the fate of America in the future, but this is a job duty that can’t be put off (like everything else they do).

No, we don’t have a drinking problem TV reporter’s speculation unfair, misleading

By Cait Schall Assistant Opinion Editor @Caitlin Schall This week I came across an article from local news channel, Fox 4, that roused my interest. The article was written by Julian Glover and entitled “Does FGCU Have a Drinking Problem?”

Glover’s initial argument he uses to paint FGCU as a school going downhill due to alcohol was the recent death of 19-yearold Austin Vonckx. Glover addresses that the police report stated that Vonckx was “possibly intoxicated.”

Glover’s argument concerning the possible intoxication of the student ,however, was based on pure speculation.

In fact, the cause of death came out just three days after Glover’s article was printed and, according to the Naples Daily News, showed that Vonckx’s death was not alcohol-related at all and was due to a medical anomaly that doctors are calling a pulmonary edema, If Glover had waited for the autopsy report to come out before making such rash and tasteless accusations, maybe he would have written a more credible story.

Glover also goes on to address FGCU’s 839 disciplinary actions concerning alcohol infractions and uses the example “like underage drinking.” However, Glover fails to acknowledge the strict rules in place regarding the posession of alcohol at

certain events, such as FGCU basketball definite, and as a learning journalist I find games. it unwise and misleading to base an entire An alcohol infraction can be anything article off of speculation. from a minor in possession to a student Aside from being a journalist, of age having a glass of wine while having reporters have a moral responsibility as dinner in certain dorms. I have witnessed human beings to respect the family of cases where students were written up for Vonckx. By using his death as an arguing having a cooler in the bed of their truck point, Glover drew attention away from containing unopened alcohol they planned the devastating truth that a mother lost to bring to an event off campus. her child. She and the rest of Vonckx’s I highly doubt that all 839 alcohol family and friends are now suffering due infractions last year were a result of FGCU to reports such as Glover’s painting the having a drinking problem and I most student’s death in a light that is just untrue. certainly do not believe it to be an accurate My heart goes out to the family and reflection of the student body. friends of Austin Vonckx, and I promise Unless Glover went back and that the truth is not going unheard here on researched all 839 infractions and campus. the students who committed them, interviewed each student and assessed their drinking history, he has no concrete proof of there being a correlation of these 839 infractions to students having a drinking problem on campus.

All facts aside, I found Glover’s article to be morally wrong and an injustice not only to his audience but also to the family of Vonckx. Glover manipulated a recent tragedy in order to portray FGCU as something it is not.

He based his arguments off of pure speculation and accredited it to statistics he did not fully research or back up. He makes his main argument based on a possibility. Last time I checked, the word Scan this QR code for a direct link to Glover’s article. “possible” does not describe something as

Can’t erase history

By Alex Boyer @AlBoyer During the past week, high school students throughout the city of Denver, Colorado, have been walking out of their classes in an effort to protest changes in curriculum by the Jefferson County School Board for their Advanced Placement United States history lessons.

Hundreds of students from multiple high schools in the area with a variety of signs lined the streets last Tuesday and Wednesday arguing that the history of their country should not be censored and kept from them.

Controversial subjects such as slavery, women’s suffrage and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II are just a few of the topics up for removal from lesson plans in an effort to portray the United States in more of a positive manner.

At the end of the week, teachers were calling in sick and students organized a protest that Friday.

Although nothing has been set in stone yet, the fact that our history is being almost altered just to make our country look more respectful is a scary thought.

If the government is trying to make changes in the curriculum of high school students, we can only wonder how this will affect what will be taught to college students in the future.

How are we supposed to learn from our past mistakes if we choose to ignore them? History is bound to repeat itself if we just shut these topics out completely and pretend they never happened. Our students deserve to know exactly what went on, no matter how good or bad it makes the United States look.

These events are the heart of our history, and the people who fought for these rights, grieved during the wars, and lost family members and friends deserve to be recognized and respected.

The Jefferson School Board hopes to introduce more topics that promote obedience, patriotism and respect for authority, and while pride for our country is definitely something that should be promoted, teaching “obedience” to young adults seems extreme.

Events such as this force me to think of those classic novels from high school, George Orwell’s “1984” and Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” both are centered around a society where the government chooses what exactly is taught to the citizens of the world. Though I do think this is an extreme comparison, this does make me question if our fate will be anything similar to this if our history curriculums become more and more censored.

No matter how hard anyone tries, you cannot rewrite our history. It is a person’s right as a citizen of this country to know the whole truth about what happened and it really upsets me that our government is attempting to take that away from us.

The disorder and strife that fellow Americans suffered through in the past is something that shouldn’t be hidden. It is not right to virtually erase the people who were an essential component to how the U.S. is today. If you eliminate something from a textbook that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.