G R A N D VA L L EY
NUMBER NINE HITTER LEADS GV SOFTBALL IN ON-BASE PERCENTAGE SEE A8
ST U D E NT- R U N P U B L I C AT I O N S / / P R I N T . O N L I N E . M O B I L E / / L A N T H O R N . C O M
VO L . 49
THUR SDAY, A PRIL 9
N O . 57
Scholarly contributions
GV CLUB TEAMS TREK TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS SEE A7
| KEVIN SIELAFF
GRADFEST GIVES GLIMPSE OF LAKER MARKETPLACE
GVL
SEE A3 CONDUCTING RESEARCH: Logan Knoper presents his research to another student during Student Scholars Day on Wednesday. The annual
event allows students to learn more from their peers and their faculty mentors. People from all areas of study were represented on campus.
Student Scholars Day exposes campus to academic research BY HANNAH LENTZ NEWS@LANTHORN.COM
ver 400 presentations by more than 600 student presenters lined the Grand River Room, Henry Hall and the Mary Idema Pew Library at Grand Valley State University for Student Scholars Day on Wednesday, April 8.
O
STUDENTS CREATE CIGARETTE BUTT RECYCLING PLAN SEE A6
Student Scholars Day is an event held once each year to celebrate the scholarship and creativity of upperclassmen GVSU students. Representatives from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Mercy Health and the College of Health Professions were in attendance, as well as students. “This is what Grand Valley is all about,” said CLAS Dean Frederick
Antczak. “This is an opportunity to work with your professor and add to your knowledge outside of a lecture hall. You’re actually doing the work that is required of your field of research.” Areas of study displayed at the event ranged from social media habits to medical explorations. One of these projects focused on Drosoph-
SEE SCHOLARS ON A2
Searching for justice Parents visit GV to call attention to violence in Mexico
Focusing on excellent leadership, academics Student Awards Convocation honors students and faculty BY LUCAS ESCALADA LESCALADA@LANTHORN.COM
BY ALEX SINN ASINN@LANTHORN.COM
amily members of some of the 43 college students who disappeared in Iguala, Mexico last September made a stop in Allendale this week on their national “Caravan 43” tour to call for awareness of the violence in Mexico and to share their struggle to find their children. The event was held on Tuesday, April 7 at Grand Valley State University’s Mary Idema Pew Library. Maria de Jesus Tlatempa, a mother of one of the victims, said the students were persecuted by the local police. Her message is to share her feelings of anger and pain and to direct those feelings toward the Mexican government. “The feeling of not being able to help your child in that moment,” she said. “Imagine that.” On Sept. 26, 2014, a group of students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, commandeered buses and drove to the city of Iguala to protest government discriminatory practices. Tlatempa’s son was among them. What resulted was a violent clash with police. Local authorities captured the students and allegedly handed them over to a local gang and blamed the local mayor and his wife for the abduction. Some students were killed in the confrontation. The state prosecutor found mass graves in Iguala, including 28 burned bodies. However, details of the event remain muddy and the families still demand answers. “The government has done nothing to help us,” Tlatempa said. “They have not given us information as to where our children may be.” The families are now working to gain global support for their struggle for justice. “We want to ask you all for your support so that you all know the truth, and so you can tell the real truth,” Tlatempa said. The families don’t believe the government’s official version of events, and they hold out hope their children are alive.
ila Genomics Research. The project looks to take its scientific applications and apply them to human needs. “Everything that we’re doing here can be used to look at human genes and how they express in disease states or in healthy states, and it’s really relevant to human medicine,” said Chris-
rand Valley State University students, faculty and staff gathered on Monday, April 6 at the Eberhard Center for the annual Student Awards Convocation. The ceremony honored GVSU graduate and undergraduate students, as well as faculty, for various academic and leadership achievements, and 112 students received the “excellence-in-a-discipline award,” which honors one undergraduate and one graduate student from each discipline. Faculty members from each department selected the winners. The student must earn a minimum number of credit hours and do so with an exceptional grade point average. Gayle Davis, GVSU provost and vice president of academic affairs, said it is important to recognize how much time students put into their work. “It is a true honor to hear about (students’) achievements, their leadership opportunities, their contributions to the campus community in general,” Davis said. The awards celebrated more than academic achievement. Andrew Plague, Student Senate president, received the Kenneth R. Venderbush Leadership Award. This award recognizes a GVSU senior who demonstrates effective leadership skills and academic excellence in political science. Two undergraduate students, two graduate students and three faculty members received the Glenn A. Niemeyer Award. Davis said the Niemeyer award is the most
G
GVL
| SARA CARTE
F
MISSING: Two parents of missing children were part of a “Caravan 43” discus-
sion at GVSU about the September kidnapping of college students in Mexico.
“Since that day we have lived with that anger – that indignation with our government – and hope that we’re going to find them,” Tlatempa said. “And we’re not going to stop looking until we find them.” Cruz Bautista Salbador, the uncle of one of the missing students, said there are irregularities in the official investigation of the mass graves. “We do not believe the version that they’ve given,” he said. “The action of the government was a simulated action.” Bautista said forensic evidence has not been conclusive in identifying the bodies. He said it was raining the night they were said to have been burned. The amount of materials necessary to burn all of the bodies makes the scenario
graduate showcase 2015 april 15, 2015
nearly impossible, he said. “We demand, as family members, as parents, that the government give us a scientific and real explanation,” he said. The investigators claimed all the students’ materials were burned along with their bodies, and yet their cell phone signals are still active, Bautista added. “We do have reason to believe our students are still alive,” he said. “And so we’re asking you to put pressure on the government and ask them to help us find where our students are.” Families and activists are organizing a march on Sept. 26, as well as action days on the 26th of each month, to keep the moSEE JUSTICE ON A2
Come learn how GVSU graduate students are better preparing themselves for professional success.
gvsu.edu/gradshowcase
prestigious academic honor presented to students and faculty. Niemeyer was present for the presentation of the award. Student recipients must show an excellence in the classroom and extra-curricular activities, as well as demonstrate joy of learning in a community of scholars. Faculty recipients were honored for their loyalty to teaching and having a student-centered approach. Undergraduate students Abigail DeHart and Justin Ebert, graduate students Julie Bulson and Gabriel Kalmbacher and faculty members Craig Benjamin, Rebecca Davis and Linda McCrea received the Niemeyer Award. Nine students received the Thomas M. Seykora award, which recognizes GVSU seniors who have contributed to the campus community. Mark Schaub, chief international officer and executive director of the Barbara H. Padnos International Center, encouraged students to become global citizens. During his keynote address, Schaub spoke on the importance of not just learning about other cultures, but living in other cultures. Students come to GVSU from all over the world, Schaub said, so it is important to make GVSU a place worth going to. He argued that the world lives in each place: every town, city or country has something unique. “Every place is a global place,” Schaub said. “Yet, to appreciate that, to imagine the worldliness of any particular place, one really needs to experience other places and the people that inhabit them.” SEE AWARDS ON A2