The Collegian – April 22, 2016

Flat Stanley!

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Friday, April 22, 2016

Collegian

The

Vol. 102, No. 19

The Grove City College Student Newspaper

Millennials and the media

Kelleigh Huber Contributing Writer

In a world where we are surrounded by various impeding forms of media, a millennial may feel as if there is no escape. Caught between computers, smart phones and social media, what is a millennial to do to avoid a lifestyle dictated by new forms of media?

Professors and media professionals participated in the 2016 Vision and Values Conference entitled “Media and American Culture” in an effort to help college students learn to use media in a healthy way, rather than overuse or abuse it. The conference was held this past Thursday and Friday on campus, significant numbers of students as well as Grove City community members of all ages who were interested in the topics being addressed.

It is not surprising that the conference drew in students: students are willing, and even eager, to find a solution to the problems of the media.

Many recognize that there is a serious problem in terms of the amount of time we spend involved with digital media, but we also recognize the

See related Vision & Values stories, Page 3. significant advances we have made because of it.

We are not the only ones facing this problem, however.

Increasingly more and more adults are getting pulled into the media world. Job descriptions and qualifications are changing, and even the ways of watching TV have changed drastically since our parents’ childhoods.

During Thursday’s lectures, students and community members heard from many professors here on campus, including Drs. T. David Gordon, Caleb Verbois, Bill Birmingham, Thomas O’Boyle, and Mark Hendrickson. Retired professor Dr. Marvin Folkertsma also spoke on how media impacts us wherever we are: home, school and even on the street. Later in the afternoon, Dr. Paul Kengor hosted a panel consisting of Carol Lee Espy, Jim DiSpirito, and Scott Sander, three media experts who have been inMEDIA 2

COLLEGIAN

Students enjoy themselves at the All Campus Bonfire despite a controversy in advertising the week before the event.

Up in smoke Poster pulled over apparent pot reference

Grayson Quay Managing Editor

A series of posters that seemed to endorse the smoking of marijuana were put up around campus earlier this week and later removed.

The original posters, which advertised Wednesday’s All Campus Bonfire, featured a graphic of a bonfire along with the hashtag “#BlazeIt” and the date of the event – 4/20.

The number 420, and the corresponding date (April 20) and time (4:20) are strongly associated in popular culture with smoking marijuana.

Marijuana is banned in the Crimson Student Handbook and is illegal both federally and in Pennsylvania.

Director of Student Life and Activities T. Scott Gordon said he initially approved the poster because he was not aware of the connotation of “#BlazeIt.” “I saw the fire, I saw hashtag blaze it. I thought, ‘That just goes with the fire,’” Gordon said. “I have to stay up on my lingo,” he added.

The three employees working in the print services office on Wednesday afternoon were also unaware of the connection between the date, the phrase “blaze it” and marijuana un-

til this reporter pointed it out to them while asking about the posters.

At some point early this week, the posters were taken down and replaced with new posters that featured a graphic of a fire and the hashtag “#SameFood.”

SMOKE 2

GROVE CITY COLLEGE

Dr. Todd Allen speaks at the Vision & Values Conference.

DiStasi finalist for CIO award Molly Wicker News Editor

Grove City College Vice President and Chief Information Officer Dr. Vincent F. DiStasi ’88 is a finalist for the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s CIO of the Year Award.

He is one of four finalists for the prestigious award in the education category. Finalists were nominated by peers, industry colleagues, staff, supervisors, business partners and customers and selected by the Greater Pittsburgh CIO Group and a steering committee comprised of council member companies.

Past finalists include executives from companies of all sizes, non-profits and educa-

Life

The Lens

E!

Perspectives

Vision & Values speakers address the state of the American media.

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AEX Live packs the SAC with music, pretzels and root bear floats.

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An elderly woman finds a new lease on life with in “Hello, my name is Doris”.

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The case for Christianity’s necessary compatibilism with feminism.

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tion. Each year, the overall most deserving finalist is presented with the CIO Choice DiStasi Award.

DiStasi, a member of the College’s leadership team, oversees all aspects of technology on campus, from the distribution of HP tablet computers on the first day of freshman year to macro-perspective strategic planning necessary to keep Grove City College on the cutting edge of technology.

DISTASI 3

Sports GCC men’s baseball team continues amazing season with winning streak.

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The Collegian

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A glance into the cafeteria Alyssa Jackson Contributing Writer Cheryl Scheidhauer does not get off work until 3 p.m. on Sundays, so she is not able to attend church much of the time. But this is a sacrifice that she must make. She says the kids make it all worth it, and God has a purpose for her where she is.

Sheila McFadden has had a few encounters where she has been cursed at while simply doing her job, but the majority of the time she is met with warm smiles and greetings.

This is a glimpse into the lives of two workers at the cafeterias of Grove City College in Pennsylvania.

Their stories, however, go much deeper than this quick look. For example, Scheidhauer has worked at the College for eight years, but was previously a bank manager and an art museum director. She is now a widow, but is surrounded by family and cherishes time with them.

McFadden has been a hard

worker at the College for 18 years now and previously worked as a crossing guard for Grove City Elementary.

She also enjoys time with her family, especially her oneand-a-half-year-old grandson.

But how would the typical student know the stories of these women if they do not even take time to say hello as they scan their cards to enter the cafeteria?

Emily Yoder, a junior at Grove City College, works in the dish room in Mary Anderson Pew Dining Hall.

For Yoder, the experience of working with the regular employees has been eye-opening and encouraging.

“They’re people too. Many workers have children, families and pets. When they all come through the dish room to put their plates in the dishwasher, they make a point to say hello and ask how our days are going,” she said.

Yoder shared how she became close with a worker who has since moved on to another job. “Her name is Melissa, and we’re actually friends on Snapchat now,”

C-SPAN bus to visit GCC Grayson Quay Managing Editor C-SPAN’s 2016 campaign bus will visit Grove City College’s campus Monday, kicking off the public affairs network’s Pennsylvania campaign tour.

We are honored to be a destination of choice for C-SPAN’s 2016 Pennsylvania Primary Tour Bus,” Jacki Muller, the College’s senior director of marketing and communications, said. “The network delivers a critical public service to the American people with unbiased coverage of Congress, the White House, the Federal courts and the ‘Road to the White House,’ in particular.”

Students, community members and other visitors will have the opportunity to board the bus, engage with interactive multimedia features and

even record 30-second “Voices from the Road” videos, weighing in on the election and other political issues.

The College partnered with local cable provider Armstrong Cable, which helps fund C-SPAN, to bring the bus to campus.

“Armstrong is delighted to once again partner with C-SPAN,” Dave Wittmann, vice president of Marketing for Armstrong.

“For over 35 years, Armstrong customers have had unfiltered access to the political process, extending television journalism into areas once shielded from view.”

The College will host a welcome reception at 11 a.m. Monday in the Colonnade of Carnegie Alumni Center. Refreshments will be provided.

MEDIA volved in radio, television, and music and who have seen the progression of the media world into less reliable, but more relevant media.

Thursday night, Grove City hosted New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. In addition to being a columnist, Douthat is a film critic and an author. He spoke on the conflict between religion and culture and the factors that have contributed to the decline of institutional Christianity. Despite this saddening conclusion, Douthat ended with an optimistic idea, saying that “secularism is weaker than it looks,” and encouraging the audience to ground themselves in their faith.

Friday morning opened up with a presentation from Dr. Paul Kemeny entitled “To Change the World and the Christian College.” Kemeny spoke of the cultural changes in our society today,

Yoder said.

Grove City College is not the only college where there is a relationship between students and workers. Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich. recently published an article on a worker who had a great influence on the students and vice versa.

Stephen Casai, or “Saga Steve,” worked at the cafeteria (called Saga) for over 40 years before he became ill and was suddenly hospitalized. During his time in the hospital, he could not help but wonder if he had made enough of a difference in the lives of the students who surrounded him at the college.

Hillsdale’s Magazine printed a letter he dictated to his friend Heather Tritchka (’98) in which he said, “I felt in my heart that I might leave this world without having made a difference. And then I started hearing from all of you.”

The students sent letters, gifts, meals and phone calls to tell Casai how much he had meant to them. “I have heard from so many people that the simple kindness of smiling while checking peo-

SMOKE Both print services and Gordon confirmed that the posters exist, but neither would release a PDF or physical copy of the poster to The Collegian without the approval of Junior Class President Daniel Peng, who planned and hosted the event along with the rest of the Student Government Association junior class.

Peng did not respond to the

DISTASI He says his goal as CIO is to provide an information technology environment that prepares students for careers, provides faculty with tools for teaching and allows the College to remain competitive.

“Our core business is to provide a learning environment where faculty and students can seamlessly work either individually or collaboratively. In order to do so as an IT organization we must look at all the moving parts and come up with solutions and not just individualized systems,” DiStasi said.

DiStasi was nominated for the award by Rodney Thompson, senior account executive with All Lines Technology/ LAN Tek, a leading provider of

and how the individual can choose to respond to those changes. Also that morning, Drs. Stacy Birmingham, Andrew Harvey, and Eric Potter spoke on different disciplines: Birmingham on the media’s impact with STEM careers for women, and Harvey and Potter on changes in poetry resulting from media transformations.

Dr. Caleb Verbois opened up Friday afternoon with a discussion on “Living and Thriving in a Post-Christian America.” His talk gave millennials multiple options and paths they could take for the future as they learn to handle the culture around them: fight, flight, or assimilation.

All plans, according to Verbois, will fail for different reasons. His new approach is one of renewal, in which we learn to understand the importance of God’s sovereignty over all and acknowledge that there is a moral problem in America.

Throughout the afternoon, Drs. Mark Graham, Michael

ple in for meals meant so much to them.”

Like Casai, Scheidhauer and McFadden certainly care for the students they encounter every day. They too hope to make a difference in the lives of students. Both said enthusiastically that they enjoy their jobs, and that the students are the best part.

How can students start making a difference for those who do so much for us?

Scheidhauer and McFadden said if there was one thing students could do to make their job a little better it was as simple as pushing chairs in and clearing dishes, and having patience when the scanners mess up. This small adjustment on the part of the students would not only be helpful to the workers who serve, but it could also help cultivate good relationships between students and workers.

The least students can do is smile and say hello. As “Saga Steve” witnessed, even something as small as this can make a huge difference in the lives of those who graciously serve us.

Collegian’s request for a PDF of the original poster, but a smaller version of the poster was found discarded next to the student mailboxes.

Gordon said that the posters were removed when the planners realized that the original posters were “wrong” and “a mistake,” while junior Linnea Peters, who also helped plan the event, said the posters were taken down after a student complained. enterprise technology solutions and service headquartered in Warrendale, Pa. The company is the College’s IT services and HP hardware provider and works directly with DiStasi and his team.

“We have been working with Vince for 12 years now and knowing how much he has embraced information technology, it has been a pleasure to work with him and his whole team.

Part of what I think makes Vince a little bit special is that he is not just a CIO by title only, he is involved in everything that is associated with IT for Grove City College,” Thompson said.

The final awardees will be announced at an event on April 21 at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field.

Coulter, H. Collin Messer, Jason Edwards, Gary S. Smith, and Todd Allen gave talks on issues ranging from the news, to man’s dislocation from his culture, to the idea of “success” in America. In addition, Grove City College coach Sean Severson spoke on how sports have been influenced by the media.

Also joining the Friday speakers was Dr. Felicia Wu Song, an associate professor at Westmont College.

Dr. Song’s lecture was based on her recent research on “mommy blogging,” particularly geared toward women interested in social media as a profession, but nonetheless speaking to general issues regarding family and gender.

On Friday night, a concert was held in Crawford Auditorium. Michael Logen, a Nashville-based musician, visited campus not only to perform but also to speak, along with Espy and DiSpirito, on the Christian message behind his lyrics and music.

The Intercollegiate Studies

Institute also played a part in this year’s conference, inviting students from other campuses to take part in our conference here at Grove City.

Six students from schools in the region came to join with Grove City students for Friday’s and Saturday’s lectures.

Saturday’s lectures consisted of Jeff Coleman, a media consultant at Churchill Strategies, Diana Besoiu, a 2004 Grove City graduate and a social media professional working at PNC and College President Paul J. McNulty ’80, who shared his personal experience in media and gave students practical advice for learning how to handle the world of media.

Campus was busy this weekend due to the relevance and significance of an issue that affects every age range, from those who are just trying to make it through these changes to those who are anxious to become a central part in the rise of new media.

April 22, 2016

Election update Alison Kjergaard Contributing Writer

New York’s Democratic and Republican primaries, which took place Tuesday, had citizens waiting for with bated breath for weeks beforehand.

New York has historically had a large number of Democratic voters, making it one of the most important states for Democratic candidates.

There were 247 delegates for the taking for the Democratic Party, of which Hillary Clinton secured 139, having won 57.9 percent of the vote.

Clinton, a former New York senator, has considered this primary to be a “homecoming” of sorts.

Despite Clinton’s clear victory, Sanders had a stronger showing than the polls had predicted. Sanders came away with 106 delegates after gaining 42.1 percent of the vote. Clinton now stands with 1,930 delegates, while Sanders trails with 1,189, but despite a recent string of victories, this loss in New York could finalize Sanders’ defeat. To become the nominee, he will have to win the majority of the remaining delegates in the coming states and sway a significant number of Clinton’s superdelegates, which outnumber Sanders’ 502 to 38, to his side.

Either candidate would need 2,383 total delegates to secure the Democrat nomination.

The state of New York also offered up 95 delegates to the Republican nominees.

Trump dominated the primary coming in with over 60 percent of the vote (89 of the delegates) with Kasich coming in at a very distant second with 25 percent (three delegates) and Cruz receiving only 14 percent of the vote and gaining no delegates.

Trump now stands with 840 delegates, Cruz with 559 and Kasich with a 146.

This win was a big one for Trump and put a sudden stop to Cruz’s recent winning streak, but nothing is finalized; a candidate must obtain 1,237 delegates to secure the Republican nomination. It is still uncertain if Trump will be able to secure the 392 delegates he needs to secure the nomination before the national convention this summer in Cleveland.

Next week, several eastern states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island, Maryland and our very own Pennsylvania, will hold their own primaries.

Pennsylvania’s primary will be this coming Tuesday, April 26.

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April 22, 2016

Life

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Conservative Christian discusses the ‘mushy middle’ NY Times columnist speaks at Vision & Values

Josh Delk Staff Writer

The Center for Vision and Values held its annual conference on campus this week, which was ambitiously titled “Media and American Culture: How the Church, Ideas, Elites, and Technology Shape Society,” and featured some of the biggest names in the world of conservative media.

Speaking on Thursday night was Ross Douthat of the New York Times, a stalwart in the new age of conservative journalism and the youngest op-ed columnist in the history of the paper. From his unique experience as a conservative Catholic speaking to a largely secular and liberal audience, Douthat shared his insights on religion and culture in America.

Today’s culture, Douthat argued, is a blend of less aesthetically-minded authentic folk culture and the artistic highbrow culture of societal elites.

During the national revivalism of the 1950s and the heyday of Billy Graham, Christianity typically did well between these two cultural extremes.

As a result of the sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s, a rift developed between the Christian sexual ethic and mainstream culture.

This led to a political polarization of Christians in America into camps on the Left and Right. In the 1980’s, leaders like Jerry Falwell sought to unite the “moral majority” of conservative Christians under the banner of the GOP, a major milestone in the institutionalization of politics and organized religion.

Douthat finds fault with this line of thinking, and noted that in a world where everything is seen through the lens of Left and Right and many people are skeptical of politics, aligning faith with one political ideology will lead people to dismiss religion as well.

Our country has certainly seen a decline in Christianity in the 21st century, but there is more to the story. According to Douthat, what is happening is a weakening of institutional religion. While America’s religious roots run deep, people are increasingly less likely to pursue organized, traditional religion. Although Christianity has been weakened, our society is nowhere near a so-called “secular dystopia” decried by many conservative scholars and media pundits.

Douthat expounded on his analysis of this trend found in his 2012 book

Journalistic bias Pittsburgh Post Gazette circulation manager speaks at conference

Caleb Harshberger Life Editor

Tom O’Boyle, circulation marketing manager for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, spoke last Friday in Rathburn Hall to a Vision & Values Conference audience regarding blatant media bias in journalism, particularly in regards to the recent legalization of same sex marriage.

In his talk, entitled “Slouching Towards Same-Sex Marriage,” O’Boyle argued that the introduction of social media has intimidated journalists into adopting a more biased approach to media and to see themselves as advocates rather than reporters, giving less priority to the facts and more to the cause of progressivism that is championed on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

“Truth is on life support today,” he said.

This bias is particularly disconcerting, he explained, as the media play a large part in shaping cultural change.

“The leading edge of media these days – and I say this regrettably – is social media … Social media is the front lines in the culture wars.”

O’Boyle said that he so disdains social media that he does not personally participate in any of it.

“I despise it so much. There are some things I can’t do,” he said.

Anyone interested in asking him more about his position on this can find him on LinkedIn. He moved on to discuss the implicit bias in print journalism today.

“There’s an undisciplined lack of rigor in the news business these days,” he said.

To demonstrate the point, he showed headlines in numerous newspapers the week same-sex marriage was legalized. The vast majority of papers, including in the New York Times, simply echoed the hashtag of LGBT groups on Twitter, “Love Wins,” accompanied by pictures of couples recently given the right to marry.

Gasps and murmurs could be heard throughout the room.

“That is not journalism,” O’Boyle said.

Many of the newspapers at the time featured numerous articles in favor of the recent legalization, with

little to no credence given to opposing opinions despite the sizeable portion of the population that may hold them. He went on to quote numerous journalists who simply no longer believed in the value or even the possibility of unbiased journalism.

One exception to this rule, O’Boyle pointed out, was the Washington Post, which ran an informative headline with numerous articles from both sides of the aisle.

“The Washington Post headline got it right,” he said.

“All maligning aside, journalists do remarkable things around the world, and some of them pay with their lives … I knew one of them personally,” he said, referring to Danny Pearl, a journalist with the Wall Street Journal who was captured and beheaded by Al-Qaeda in Pakistan.

There are many great reporters who risk their lives for the inherent worth of journalism and for the values that a free press must live by.

O’Boyle himself experienced the dangers that can come with the job when he was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in Berlin and frequently travelled to communist-controlled East Berlin for his stories, hiding his notes in his socks at checkpoints.

It is for these reasons that the cause of journalistic impartiality is extremely personal and important to him.

“The press in the U.S. is in very deep trouble,” he said.

Printed journalism in this country is experiencing an existential crisis, despite the fact that it constitutes up to 80 percent of the news coverage in the country.

“It is being subsumed by the idiotic values of the new media … as well as the social media variant,” he said.

O’Boyle pointed to a correlation between social media activity regarding same-sex marriage and increasing coverage by journalists.

Many students and new media journalists believe it is their duty to advocate for progressive causes and end up being led by social media rather than the facts, O’Boyle argued, claiming that this state of affairs is a threat not only to the credibility of journalism but also to freedom in this country.

entitled “Bad Religion, How We Became a Nation of Heretics.” There he described the “mushy middle” between atheism and Christianity that includes nominal Christianity, lukewarm faith and the loosely spiritual.

The rise of social media and the communication revolution has contributed to this middle ground. Online, the entire diversity of the world became readily available, reinforcing the idea of many in the “mushy middle” that with so many religions around the world, “how could I believe that only one religion has the corner on the truth?”

Cultural relativism has thus led to spiritual and theological relativism, as tailored, pick-and-choose religion has become vogue; as consumerist and relativistic as the culture that conceived it. Douthat suggested the film “Eat, Pray, Love” as a perfect analogue to the spirituality of the elite upper-class, who view religion as a lifestyle accessory. This view has become much more popular than something as simple as attending a church service, as the culture has distanced itself from what it sees as the hypocrisy and political incorrectness of the church.

Christian ideas still permeate the

culture, Douthat insists, but there is discontinuity between orthodox and contemporary views.

The modern culture war is being fought by the liberal upper class and conservative Christians, fighting for the support of the big, heretical middle.

In the midst of this bitter feud, Douthat suggested that the only solution is for the Christians to offer a counter-culture that is accessible to the secular public but preserves its Biblical authenticity and morality.

Christians, he argues, must be both more and less involved in politics: involved enough to enact change for good and engage with the broader society, but disengaged from the cutthroat partisan politics that discourage conversation.

In his talk on Thursday and his writing for The Times, Douthat presents a refreshingly big-picture context, while remaining true to his convictions and challenging his largely secular and liberal audience.

Whether giving in-depth analysis on domestic policy for the NY Times or critiquing films for the National Review, Ross Douthat is helping to forge a new relevance for conservatism in the 21st century.

New majors, minors

New avenues for Biology, CompSci, Engineering students Victoria O’Brien Contributing Writer In a recent press release, Grove City College announced that they will be offering several new majors and minors in the 2016-2017 academic year.

In the Hopeman School of Science, Engineering, Mathematics, the Department of Biology will be offering three new majors including Health, Molecular Biology and Conservation Biology. Biology majors make up 10 percent of the student body, but these students often have very different career paths in mind. The three distinct majors are a repackaging of courses that already exist but are tailored toward careers in medicine, research and conservation application.

Dr. Jenkins, a professor of Biology, said “As a department, we looked where our students were going after college and wanted to highlight certain programs that would better prepare them for graduate school or future occupations.”

Out of the current 160 biology students, ten have made a switch to the three new majors.

The Departments of Computer Science and Communications and Visual Arts are introducing a new minor in Computer Game Design and Development. Students who obtain this minor will be foundationally educated on the fundamentals of game design, development and critique. The Computer Science Department in conjunction with the Entrepreneurship Department will also be offering a minor in High-tech entrepreneurship. This minor is geared toward students who have an interest in tech driven business ventures.

Dr. Birmingham, chair of the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Departments, said “Both of these minors are multidisciplinary, allowing students of all majors to use their general elective hours purposefully and accessibly.”

According to Birmingham, the Departments initially collaborated in November of 2015 and both minors were successfully approved in December.

Under the provision of the Depart-

ment of Computer and Electrical Engineering, GCC is proud to offer a Robotics minor to students interested in hands-on learning as well as practical design and programming.

The Robotics minor equates to a capstone project for seniors. Those obtaining this minor will be educated on the integration of robotics with an ethical and Christian worldview.

Students will also have the opportunity to achieve a minor in Medical Physics. The Physics Department is making a conscious effort to provide students with a minor that correlates with job interest in radiology, nuclear medicine and nuclear engineering.

“The new Medical Chemistry minor helps prepare students who want to pursue the medical field get a more specific and relevant education,” Dave Tarnish, chemistry student of 2017, said.

The Department of Political Science has recently added a Pre-Law minor. According to Associate Professor of the Political Science Samuel Stanton, the Pre-Law minor will aid students seeking identifiable skills that the American Bar Association requires for those attending law school.

“The minor involves courses in several departments that develop reasoning and logic skills, communication skills, and some basic understanding of the U.S. Constitution, ethics and philosophy of law,” Stanton said.

Dr. Caleb Verbois, assistant professor of Political Science, is the new Pre-Law Advisor. In order to further assist students pursuing law school, Verbois is in communication with lawyers in Grove City College’s administration, including President McNulty.

Through the utilization of Junior Crimson Day, the Office of Marketing and Communication has notified 1,100 students of the Grove City College’s new majors and minors.

Perspective students will learn more about these wonderful opportunities through flyers and postcards as well as digital marketing outlets including emails, phone calls and the College’s webpage.

The Collegian

April 22, 2016

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Festival frames campus art Kelsey Patton Contributing Writer On Friday, April 15, the Grove City Arts Festival took place on campus, hosted by an arts committee led by senior Andrew Irving.

The South Lobby of Mary Anderson Pew Dormitory and Old MAP, adorned with white lights and filled with student and faculty art, was transformed into an impressive art gallery for the weekend. A crowd gathered around student musicians providing background music in Old MAP and student helpers served appetizers on platters to attendees.

The event lasted from 7-11 p.m. on Friday evening and some of the art was displayed throughout the weekend until Sunday afternoon.

Students across campus submitted pieces to be shown. Many mediums were represented, including prints, photographs, cuts, sculpture, watercolor, marker, graphite, scrap art and mixed media.

The event, previously put on by the campus group Project Eve, used to focus on art created by women. This was the first year in a while where the Arts Festival included art by both men and women. At the beginning of last year, College President Paul J. McNulty ʼ80 called a meeting with the leaders of arts organizations on campus and asked them to form a committee and put together an Arts Festival that would feature both student and faculty art.

This year, four weeks before the event, the committee found out that Project Eve was no longer participat-

Seniors, it is time to scramble. Your Special Someone has failed to materialize. With just three weeks left in the semester, it is time to find an Average Anyone.

“Hey, you! Remember me? We met freshman year.

Date me? Marry me?” If they are a desperate senior like you, they will probably say yes. Then you can both focus on finding a job and a place to live or something.

As for the rest of you, let’s talk strategy. It is too late for our beloved seniors, but scramble they must.

You, on the other hand, can learn from their mistakes. Never again will you be surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of single people, ages 18-22, who most likely share your faith, politics and socioeconomic status. Better yet, half of us are the opposite gender, almost all of us want to get married one day, and none of us have anything to do Friday nights. Match.com would go berserk if all of us signed up, “You have 1,000+ matches within a 1 minute walk!”

You and your crush(es) are eerily similar, and connected in dozens of ways

by Grove City. Most likely, you go to the same HUMA classes, eat in the same cafeterias, love the same ministries, walk the same sidewalks and have several mutual friends. Grove City College is a safe, alcoholfree campus, and maintains a roughly 1-to-1 ratio between men and women. The GCC network guarantees

ing in the event. The students quickly gathered and submitted art, organized details and tied up loose ends, all in time for Friday. This year, the resident artist was Grove City College Professor of Music Dr. Joshua Drake, whose watercolor pieces were featured in a room of South Lobby.

Junior Justine Marsheck submitted a photograph she took for a final project in a photography class while studying abroad in Costa Rica in the fall. The picture includes her at the center, dressed in rainbow-colored pants and doing a yoga pose with a bright yellow building in the background. She says that she wanted to capture a moment of “stillness” in such a busy and “vibrant” city.

Marsheck wanted to display her art in a more professional and safe setting where people would truly appreciate it, instead of just posting it on social media. Sophomore Daniel Pieffer submitted various pieces as well. When asked about where he draws his inspiration, he explained that he sees beauty “even in the sad things in life.”

Looking toward the future, Irving, who was in charge of the entire event, says that the committee hopes to include this event along with other events as part of a beauty theme on campus. The committee is looking to invite speakers to speak on Christian aesthetics as well as offer talks and other events for chapel credit.

Irving says that his aim is to explain more fully why Christians believe that beauty is “objectively transcendent and not in the eye of the beholder”.

you have everyone’s email address and all of us are required to live on campus. It is perfect… perhaps a little too perfect (Send me your own conspiracy theory).

Grove City College, for better or worse, is one of the most homogenous campuses in the country. We all dress nice, vote Republican, respect our parents and use words like “gosh” and “darn.” Never again will you spend so much carefree time with so many likeminded singles.

Why do seniors scramble? Because they suddenly realize the real world is not full of nice people who love C.S. Lewis and androgynously wear boat shoes.

Recognize the moment, organize your priorities and decide that now is the time for action.

Away with the Senior Scramble; it is undignified. Instead, I propose the Sophomore Search. Here are the ground rules: 1) Date broadly Grove City College dating quickly becomes exclusive.

Having a girlfriend/boyfriend is a nice High School Musical status symbol, but resist the temptation of monogamous dating. Spend time one-on-one with different people in whom you have interest before you lock it down with someone for months.

2) Do Not Gossip Friends, do not gossip about your friends’ relationship troubles or successes.

Small-campus Grove City College loves to plan your wedding as soon as possible, but this puts enormous pressure on even the most casual interactions. It is nerve-wracking knowing there is an invisible cloud of amateur experts analyzing your every move. Give your friends the privacy they deserve.

3) Girls, Ask Guys Out Please, girls, do not waste your four years in college waiting dutifully for The Pursuer because of antique notions about ‘Biblical dating’ left over from the culture wars. Not all guys are take-charge-types, and few girls have the time to wait around in friendship limbo.

Girls, do not be afraid to initiate a date, and make him clarify his vague intentions. This dance is girls’ and guys’ choice.

4) Stop Evaluating The purpose of a date is to get to know another person.

Meaning, there is no need to evaluate their potential as a spouse before you even get coffee. Everyone deserves the chance to make a one-on-one first impression. If you are interested, make a date. Stop making judgments from afar, it is creepy.

5) Dating Is Awkward Yes, dating is inevitably awkward. But the purpose of dating is to find someone to spend the rest of your life with, not to stay friends with every girl or guy you have ever met. You should expect to be disappointed, perhaps heart-broken, by your dating relationships.

You should also be willing to break things off when your feelings have changed.

That is the great thing about getting married, then you will not have to go on dates anymore!

Seniors, keep scrambling.

Sophomores, start searching. Your time at Grove City College may be the best time in your life to meet someone special.

PHOTOS BY TARA STEINHEISER

A new adventure Graduating Grovers ponder the future

Marion Luckett Contributing Writer College. Yes, it is only four years out of a person’s entire life. A single millimeter to a 12-inch ruler. It may be a small portion of someone’s life journey, but an integral part nonetheless. Four years of work, fun, friends, laughter, hardships and joy.

For some, college is about to being. There is a world of unknown possibilities and excitement that awaits the eager freshman. Rising sophomores are simply glad to no longer be the “fresh meat” of the campus, while juniors await their final year and frantically search for internships for their last summers in college.

And then we have the seniors – the “big dogs” of campus, the ones who are so close to graduating and living in the real world that they can almost feel their leather diplomas in their hands.

Some, like senior Daniel Criswell, are “excited to be done with this chapter of life,” while others, such as seniors Logan Hammerschmitt and Josh Funyak, are experiencing the “bittersweet” emotions of leaving Grove City College.

Dave VanMatre, a senior accounting major, feels as though his time at Grove City College has fostered personal growth. Dave said he is looking forward to getting mar-

ried and starting a job after graduation.

When asked if they would do things differently if they could go back to freshman year, seniors’ thoughts vary.

Funyak wishes he had “made a more conscious effort to get out and meet more people,” while Criswell says he would not change a thing.

“Everything happens for a reason,” Criswell explained, “and [that] has shaped me into the man I am today.”

For students still pushing through their four years at the College, awaiting their own glorious moments of graduation, a few seniors have some advice.

“It is easy to become focused on the limitations that are imposed upon you as a student … reacting to these things appropriately is [important],” VanMatre said.

“Look toward the future but do not dwell upon it. Senior year will be the fastest nine months of your life – enjoy it.”

Times here at Grove City College can be stressful, aggravating, upsetting and may even lead some students to consider giving up and dropping out. Criswell, however, encouraged the students of this campus to invest in relationships that will “last forever,” while Hammerschmitt urged fellow Grovers to “do the things you love, and love the things you do.”

Entertainment

April 22, 2016

Page 5

Pick of the Week

Human Performance Sam Farley WSAJ Contributor

Grove City Students gather in the Student Union to enjoy live tunes at AEX live. More photos on Page 7.

Jake Sziraky

CLAIRE DOBRANSKY

AEX live blows away crowd

Entertainment Editor Beautiful weather, great music and rootbeer floats – what more could you ask for on a Saturday night at Grove City College? The men of Alpha Epsilon Chi hosted their annual AEX Live event this past Saturday, April 16 with an excellent line-up and music from all tastes and genres.

AEX Live offers much more variety than your average coffee concert, with the acceptance of more group performances than individual sets. Various bands were represented at this well-attended event which gave a

good number of students an opportunity to display their musical talents.

Junior Luke Negron and his band, “Sum Young Guys,” were a hit with their bluesy rock style.

“AEX Live is kinda the epitome of Grove City student band performances,” Negron explains. “There were several points in our set that came together really well, and hearing the audience start to cheer and scream made each of us band members really excited … when we caught each other’s eyes there was this look that said it all without words, it was like, ‘Heck yeah, this is awesome.’”

The crowd certainly enjoyed their unique stylings, along with other bands that were able to perform during the evening.

As the end of the semester draws near, many senior members of AEX were able to participate and enjoy this event for the last time. Senior Evan Broome, a performer and member of AEX, said, “As a senior, this year’s event was especially sentimental for me. I had the privilege to be a part of the last set … It was so much fun playing songs that really got the crowd into the set. We also played ‘Rivers and Roads.’

The atmosphere during this

song was incredible and it may go down as one of my favorite college memories.”

With a crowd of almost 200 students, AEX Live was a highly successful event on a beautiful weekend. The event offered a nice alternative way for students at Grove City College to unwind as the stress accumulates in correlation to the amount of days in the semester dwindles. It was a pleasant way to spend a Saturday, listening to live bands play as we could enjoy simple pleasures like rootbeer floats, the company of our friends and the warm almost-summer sunshine shining down on us.

Students present film festival Dana Gilchrest Contributing Writer

This year, the Grove City College Department of Communication and Visual Arts will be hosting the first annual Creating Communities Film Fest. Through the week of April 25-29, five documentary films will be shown at 5 p.m. at the Guthrie Theater, with a discussion session following at Sweet Jeanie’s. Admission to this event is free, but there is a suggested donation of $5, which will go entirely to the Grove City United Way, an organization dedicated to improving the community of Grove City.

Each one of the Documentary films will focus on a different topic. The lineup of these documentary films is as follows:

“Alive Inside” Monday, April 25 Dan Cohen, founder of the nonprofit organization Music & Memory, fights against a broken healthcare system to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from it.

“Food Inc.” Tuesday, April 26 An unflattering look inside America’s corporate-controlled food industry.

“Salam Neighbor” Wednesday, April 27 Two filmmakers fully embed themselves in a Syrian refugee camp, providing an intimate look at the world’s most dire humanitarian crisis.

“Cyber Seniors” Thursday, April 28 A film about senior citizens learning about computers from teenage mentors and the connections made both on and offline.

“Poverty, Inc.” Friday, April 29 Fighting poverty is big business. But who profits the most?

This documentary film series is a celebration of the impact that narrative can have to initiate change and social awareness. Join us for an educational and inspirational experience.

(All film summaries taken from IMDb. com)

The 2nd member of the GCC trinity Jake Sziraky Entertainment Editory Grove City College students have a wide variety of interests that makes the term “Grover” slightly ambiguous. Many are devoted and fascinated by athletics, while others are enthralled with the concept of producing beautiful works of art, and to make it even more confusing, sometimes the two overlap.

However, the typical Grove City College student will rally behind three icons: the archetypes of Reagan, C.S. Lewis and Jesus. As much as I love Jesus, I cannot find a way to sneak him into the Entertainment section, seeing as there are no spiritual films in theaters right now.

And most students of the

College mcare only about Reagan’s career as our 40th President of these United States, and not his career as an actor. This leaves C.S. Lewis, who quite fortunately is an excellent candidate for such a section.

C.S. Lewis is a much-beloved Christian author of both fiction and non-fiction.

He is quite familiar with young adults and children for his “Chronicles of Narnia” series. This is a series of books that, on the outside, appear to be simple children’s fantasy tales about another world full of magic and fantastic creatures. The story often revolves around the concept of human children from Earth experiencing the magical world with their fresh eyes.

However, as most people

within the Christian community know, the stories are not solely intended to be entertainment for its audiences, but are also written in parallel to many Biblical stories.

The most famous of these parallels is the sacrifice of the Great Lion Aslan for the traitorous child Edwin. This clearly mirrors the sacrificial love exhibited by Christ and his crucifixion. C.S. Lewis has written several other fiction stories, such as “Till We Have Faces,” “The Screwtape Letters” and his space trilogy.

He is also a celebrated author of non-fiction works that work directly with Christianity instead of just alluding to it. “An Experiment in Criticism” discusses the proper way for someone to interact with art. He tells

us that we are to learn from art and not to warp it into our own meanings. Another nonfiction masterpiece is his “A Grief Observed.” This is basically C.S. Lewis dealing with the loss of his wife and all the raw emotions that went into it. Both are hailed in high esteem by scholars and consumers alike.

In conclusion, C.S. Lewis is a renaissance man who is capable of creating fantastic worlds and yet can still write in a way that relates to us in the real world. He is certainly worthy of the high esteem that most Grove City College inhabitants lay upon him.

His writing style is diverse and vast enough to keep even the most avid reader occupied for a long time.

In the past, Parquet Courts have released albums that have had their significance, their styles and their personalit; but in their most recent album, Human Performance, Parquet Courts seem to have branched out further into lesser known waters while still remaining true to who they are.

On past albums, Parquet Courts have been most notably distinguished by fast paced, distorted low-fi rock that has been distinctly put together into tight fitting sequences and rhythms. Human Performance takes a shift away from that. This album is a bit more eclectic in sound and driven in different ways. They maintain songs similar to Content Nausea and Everyday It Starts, but they’ve begun to have a more formalized sound with driving bass lines, slightly more clarity and a bit more of an upbeat track. There are notable shifts in songs like One Man and No City that have underlying bongos which typically wouldn’t fit in well at all, but characterize the song into a notable track.

Singles like their track Berlin Got Blurry show another transition within their music structure.

This album maintained a good medium of new style and old style that both had great singles.

Their old style was much similar to Dust, another single released by Parquet Courts, but their sound noticeably grew in tracks like Berlin Got Blurry which emphasizes refrains, bridges and strong transitions within the song itself.

On the other hand, Dust was much more repetitiously based and filled with plays on words.

Parquet Courts has a unique approach towards songwriting.

Their lyricism is always very playful, tricky and unique. They always seem to easily hit topics that are hard for some bands to approach. On Human Performance they manage to go from reminiscent heartbreak to police violence to identity crises. It’s an album that’s well put together but also very spread out at times.

Through this album they weren’t afraid to explore new sounds, new ideas and overall have a new approach to what they are as a band.

Page 6

Through the Lens

Childrens Theater

April 22, 2016

Flat Stanley

April 22, 2016

Through the Lens

AEX Live

Page 7

The Collegian

April 22, 2016

Page 8

Schmidt and the cougar

http://c.fastcompany.net/

An elderly woman rediscovers life with a younger man

Jonathan Thomas Contributing Writer

How would you react if a lady in her late sixties tried to fit in with the culture of the millennial generation and actually had some success?

That is one of the many unique experiences we see the character of Doris Miller go through in the movie “Hello, My Name Is Doris.”

Throughout the film, Doris (played

by Sally Field) falls in love, creates a new identity for herself, overcomes some difficult challenges and gains a much better grasp on her life in some of the oddest ways possible.

She is a single woman in the later years of her life who, up until recently, had been living with and taking care of her mother. The death of her mother provides quite a shock for Doris, since being her mother’s caretaker had been the main focus of her life. Now she has to go through a big

transition into a whole new stage.

This is a lot easier said than done for Doris. She is a borderline hoarder and does not want to get rid of anything that has the least bit of sentimental value to her.

The thing that gets Doris wanting something new in her life, though, is developing a crush on the new, handsome guy at the office, John (played by Max Greenfield). At first, she has no idea how to communicate with him, which leads to some awkward sexual comedy scenes, many of which are daydreams Doris has of what she wants to happen between her and John. However, once she gets some help and encouragement from her best friend, Roz, and Roz’s granddaughter, Vivian. Doris learns more about John by creating a fake online profile and friending him on Facebook. She then begins to try to imitate his interests.

Before you know it, she is dressed

in bright, neon colors at a technopop concert with John. Although you might expect someone like Doris to stick out like a sore thumb in a context like this, she is completely embraced by the culture and is even asked to be on the cover of the singer’s new album.

The concert leads to Doris meeting John’s friends and starting to hang out with all of them from time to time.

They all seem to enjoy her company, and Doris starts to feel like she might have a shot with John. Unfortunately for Doris, however, reality does not quite align with her daydreams, and she comes to realize that things will not work out between them.

On top of that, Doris’s family wants her to move out of her mother’s house and get rid of her clutter.

It is very hard for Doris to cooperate at first, since she does not want to let go of her mother. We see in an emotional scene between Doris and her

brother that her mother was the only family that she felt she had for a long time, but her brother reveals to her how much he cares about her and the rest of the family and that he wants to help her.

The great thing about “Hello, My Name Is Doris” is that even though the movie centers on a woman in her late sixties, the foundational moral of the story can easily apply to young people. Regardless of Doris’s age, it is still a “coming of age” story. Doris lets go of her past and her daydreams and takes a hold of her life. She also realizes that it is up to her, not someone else, to change her life for the better. Even though it is easy to write off the film as simply a weird movie about an old lady falling in love with a younger man, there are many savory aspects that make it worth the watch.

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Perspectives Between Christianity and feminism

April 22, 2016

Evlyn Roper

Contributing Writer I read a lot of articles written by Christian women, proclaiming “I am not a feminist and I’m proud.” Although they receive criticism for their opinions, I can understand their perspective; at one point, I too was proud to stand for traditional values. But now, I believe differently.

Before I became a feminist, I hated the idea of standing against men, rising together as united women and taking on the world. It seemed like everything I stood for as a Christian opposed the beliefs of feminists around me and I struggled to understand how my Christian friends could claim to be both.

What I did not realize was that the movement I stood against was a distorted version of a movement that I did not understand. Once I took it upon myself to learn, my perspective changed.

For those who do not understand, here is a breakdown: there have been three “waves” of feminism, and we currently reside within the fourth.

The first wave fought for basic rights, like voting and working, and happened in the early 20th century.

The second wave, when things got more “radical,” happened during the civil rights movement(s). This wave took on the difficult task of women’s sexuality and reproductive rights, along with a slew of other problems.

Although many equate this wave to a horde of sexually-charged women burning their bras (which actually never happened), this time brought about the proposal of the (ultimately unsuccessful) Equal Rights Amendment and shed light on issues like marital rape and domestic violence.

Then came the third wave, or as I like to call it, the breakdown. This name fits

for two reasons: first, there was a breaking down of barriers and a celebration of all women, and second, there was a breakdown of stereotypes, allowing feminists to wear heels and lipstick because they could choose what it meant to be a woman.

If you have time, I suggest reading about all of these movements since these are only brief snapshots of their ideas and achievements.

Now, we live in the fourth wave.

Building upon the ideas of the second, the fourth is the most inclusive wave yet, even including men in the discussion.

This wave has taken off the blinders of the third wave and can now see problems in American society and around the world, opening the movement up to entirely new and far more serious problems than it has yet faced.

It is in this wave that I have chosen to be a feminist. As I look at the progress women have made before me, several truths are evident. At the heart of this movement, equality and justice fight for a voice.

In a way, feminists fight for the world God originally created. Before sin entered the world, God created Adam and Eve to take care of his creation together.

After Christ came, he called all his followers to act according to his nature.

Attributes like love, patience and humility are not gender specific; in fact, the only “roles” ever assigned by God are to children when they are called to obey their parents.

Like the women in the feminist movement, women in the Bible are fighters; they took on challenges and acted against the status quo for the sake of something greater. Throughout the Bible, a relationship with God elevated women above the roles society demanded of them.

Deborah led the nation of Israel and Priscilla led the Christian Church; both Esther and Rahab put their lives at risk to save a nation. None of these women accepted defeat and all lived according to God’s plan instead of the one dictated by the status quo.

Read the Bible and one truth will always be clear: God has never been traditional nor has he followed “traditional values.” Tradition in our modern world is as unjust as tradition in biblical times.

Both men and women are put in a box and because of the historical foundation of most societies, women are viewed as “less than.”

In the United States, women are objectified by the media and limited in the workforce. Women who choose to have families are told they are living a partial life and women who choose to work are told they are selfish.

Outside the United States, girls are mutilated in the name of culture and married off before they can enjoy childhood; women are captured and sold to the highest bidder; young girls are shot for attempting to receive an education.

All the while, the movement that fights against these injustices struggles to gain support because “feminism is bad.”

As a Christian, I am proud to be a feminist and I am proud to stand against this injustice, both domestic and international.

When people ask me what I mean when I claim to be a feminist, I want to explain the entire history. I want to show them the rates of domestic violence and rape; I want to explain how difficult it is to see so many women treated as second-class citizens.

But I cannot always do that.

So instead, I have a new answer: “I am a Christian, so of course I’m a feminist.”

A terror to who?

Colin Freyvogel Contributing Writer

Imagine yourself on a backroad in a backwater Missouri intersection. It is two in the morning and all the roads are deserted. You blow through the stop sign at the intersection and continue home, no one the wiser of your act of rebellion.

According to many Christians, you have just committed a treasonous act of usurpation against both God and man, waged impious war against the holy authority established by God during the foundation of our world.

To disobey any edict of man is to err, unless it directly contradicts what the Bible says, so says Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2.

Except that it does not.

Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 make no such stipulations about whether we should follow the laws when they veer from biblical principles; it is something that we assume.

Peter’s indictment to “obey every ordinance of man” leaves no room for disobedience, yet at the time, Christians would violate the laws regarding religious practices: they would not participate in the Roman idolatry, and when the authorities told the apostles to stop spreading the gospel, they blatantly ignored the restrictions and continued to continue in their Christian duty.

Nearly everyone agrees that Christians do not need to follow every edict of man; there are exceptions. So the question becomes, “What ordinances should I follow?”

A complete exegesis of the relevant passages is not something easily done in 700 words, but the quickest way to answer the question is with another question: to whom has God granted the authority to make moral law?

If God has granted that to the state, then Christians are under the obligation to follow all of the government’s commands.

If God has reserved the capacity to create moral law for Himself, then any

command to follow earthly law should be understood as for expediencies’ sake, and not merely because it is government.

Looking at the social context surrounding the passage in Romans 13 can give us a bit of insight as to Paul’s intent. The Roman Empire was in turmoil. Nero, a genocidal maniac, was in charge, there was constant fires, rioting and looting, raping and plundering.

Nero’s crimes against humanity weighed against him: he arrested, humiliated, burned, blamed and made a sport of slaughtering Christians and other criminals of the state.

Yet Romans 13:3-4a says, “Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.”

It is also obvious that Nero did nothing but be a terror to good and a lover of evil.

So why did Paul write this? Because the admonition was twofold: give the Roman government no reason to persecute you – do not join the lootings, do not help burn Rome and let your example as a Christian shine brightly.

If we understand Paul’s command in context, it appears much more as a cry for Christians to obey the government’s commands for expediency’s sake than for moral reasons.

Otherwise, the state is given the

power to choose what areas of life are moral and which are amoral: the speed at which you drove in your car was a judgement call – do not put anyone’s life at risk becomes “don’t drive over fifty-five otherwise you’re acting immorally because God put me in charge and I said so.”

Before you go out and rob a bank because you are a Christian and have the liberty to do whatever you want because you are not bound by earthly authority, keep in mind that Paul’s call is for us to be held to the highest standard.

Pay your taxes lest you wind up behind bars, which is not the best way to be an effective minister for Christ.

Follow the speed limit, lest you pay unnecessary fines, which is a poor way to be a steward of God’s wealth.

This position has few practical ramifications apart from giving Christians the liberty to pay as few taxes as possible into knowingly wasteful programs like Social Security.

In terms of respect, however, it maximizes our respect for God’s sovereignty by retaining the creation of moral law for God and his people, while allowing government just authority to provide justice, defend the nation and police the streets.

Page 9

100 Campus Drive Grove City, Pa. 16127 collegian@gcc.edu gcc.collegian@gmail.com

Editor-in-Chief Patty Folkerts

Managing Editor Grayson Quay

Section Editors News Molly Wicker Life Caleb Harshberger Entertainment Jacob Sziráky Perspectives Colin Combs Sports Joe Setyon Photography Julia Williams

Design Chief Nate Pittman

Copy Chief Gabrielle Johnston

Copy Editors Erin Pechacek Angell Fonner Becky Tzouanakis

Section Designers Karen Postupac Margaret Heidenreich Bri Doane Laura Counihan

Staff Writers Stephen Dennis Thomas Kutz Kayla Murrish Breanna Renkin Annabelle Rutledge Bradley Warmhold Tim Hanna Meg VanTil Elizabeth Broderick Jon Matt Josh Fried

Staff Cartoonists Rachel Leung

Photographers Andrew Irving Rebekah Wheat Cameron Holloway Kirsten Malenke Ryan Braumann

Advertising/Business Manager Reagan Georges

Staff Adviser Nick Hildebrand The Collegian is the student newspaper of Grove City College, located in Grove City, Pa. Opinions appearing on these pages, unless expressly stated otherwise, represent the views of individual writers. They are not the collective views of The Collegian, its staff or Grove City College.

GREEN EYESHADE AWARD

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This week’s award goes to designer Gabrielle Johnston for her dedication and hard work on the Collegian.

The Collegian Green Eyeshade Award honors student contributors who have demonstrated consistency and excellence in their work.

April 22, 2016

The Collegian

Page 10

Who says you can’t go home?

Grayson Quay Managing Editor

Stacking the deck

rollingstone.com

Colin Combs

Perspectives Editor Presidential elections are a strange affair. Here we are, trying to determine who will be the next leader of the United States, the man or woman with the largest military power in the world and nuclear weapons at his or her fingertips.

Instead of having a king who is raised from birth learning how to effectively rule a nation, we choose a leader from the general population.

In theory, a democracy should be looking for the best person for the job. Yet, for some reason, we condense this whole process to two people, those who have clearly purchased their attention instead of meriting it.

Republican and Democrat: these two gigantic monoliths dominate the entire political landscape. We are forced into a two-party system, regardless of whether we like it or not.

All too often, people find themselves voting not for the person they like the most or think will do the best job, but the “lesser of two evils.”

The United States was often referred to as “the Great Experiment” when it formed, but no matter how you look at it, this is a failure.

Part of the problem is that we have become a two-party system. Not only do we naturally box politics into this binary, but even within these groups, choices are extremely limited.

To be a “serious” candidate, it is much more important to have name recognition and charisma than to have the public interest in mind.

How else can we explain the existence of politicians like Trump or Clinton?

Would they have ever gotten as far on a different name?

Worse still, two-party politics has made the public apathetic. Some try to blame this apathy on the moral corruption of the people, and that may or may not be true, but is a system that corrupts the public morale not a failure of the Great Experiment?

How can someone become excited about an election when they are forced to choose between two people they care little about and who cares little about them?

When I am one man among

hundreds of millions, why should I be so deluded as to think that my vote will push things one way or another?

Even if we ignored presidential elections and just went to local elections, your vote will still count for nothing.

It is much easier to simply vote along party lines, checking a box simply for having an R or a D next to the name, than it is to actually research candidates well. When your influence counts for so little, why bother anyways?

Honestly, if you vote this way, then your vote is truly just wasted effort.

Politicians, successful ones anyway, realized this long ago. The real trick to staying in power is not to demonstrate to the people that you are the best candidate, but to make the right friends.

This is one of the reason things like unions are still around. Unlike a hundred years ago, unions today have a terrible reputation. Only a mere 6.7 percent of the private sector today is unionized. No one cares about them.

Yet in spite of that, politicians brag about union support anyways. Why? Because unions have pet issues that they want passed and will support a candidate on that alone.

If you want real political power today, then my suggestion is to become a swing vote. Do not vote on party lines; you will only be ignored. Instead, find the issue most important to you and vote on that and that alone.

If you do that, then suddenly you become part of an untapped group of voters, and politicians will race to you. You will probably lose out on the other issues, sure, but there is no real way to guarantee everything you want in the first place.

In short then, do not let yourself be tied to the twoparty system. If the person you like the best is in a third party, vote third party.

Even when your guy loses, which he undoubtedly will, the fact that you are out there voting on issues that are not being properly tapped into will get attention.

Do not be scared of wasting your vote, because your vote is a wasted vote anyways. Might as well vote the way you feel then, right?

When I got to college, I decided that I did not mind where in the world I ended up as long as it was not back home in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Last week, I interviewed for a job three blocks from my childhood home.

Sometime in middle or high school, I developed the idea that there were two types of people: the successful students who go off to college and then get a job somewhere far away and the losers who never “make it out” of their hometown.

But perhaps “developed” is the wrong word. It might be more accurate to say that I “absorbed” this dichotomy, because our culture makes it inescapable.

The American frontier made us a people unique in all of history by giving us a seemingly endless negative space into which we could escape. In our literature, this escape is an ever-present, if not always desirable, possibility. Huck Finn lights out for the territories, Natty Bumppo makes his home in the wilderness and Rabbit Angstrom runs from suburban mediocrity.

In Jack Kerouac’s autobiographical novel “On the Road,” the protagonist spends the entire book rushing back and forth across the country before finally settling down with a woman in his home city in the last ten pages.

This is certainly a rejection of escape, but it is a phony one. After insisting for 300 pages that truth, God and authentic life can only be found on the road, Kerouac shoehorns in a Beatrice figure to save his fictional counterpart from his endless wanderings.

The book’s ending implies lifelong, stable marital bliss, but Kerouac and his actual wife (on whom the dream girl was based) were divorced within a few months of the ending being written.

Literary examples are helpful, but non-English majors reading this article need not despair or doubt the pervasiveness of these ideas in our culture. The distinction between losers who stay home and winners who move away permeates popular music just as strongly. In “Born

MODERNDAYMS.COM

to Run,” Bruce Springsteen sings “Baby this town rips the bones from your back.

It’s a death trap, it’s a suicide rap.” Or, for any philistines who may not be familiar with The Boss, take the following lyrics from Adele’s “Hello”: “Did you ever make it out of that town where nothing ever happened?”

The cultural message seems clear. Small-town America offers nothing but boredom, inauthenticity and spiritual stagnation. Apparently, that is all I have to look forward to.

But could there be another way?

In his essay “Henry Caudill in the Cumberlands,” Wendell Berry praises Caudill for returning to his hometown in Eastern Kentucky and using the law degree he earned at a distant university to defend his birthplace from the ravages of the coal industry.

College students in general, myself included, seem to give very little thought to the possibility of using our educations to give back to the place that molded and supported us for 18 years. Instead, we are meant to leave our families and neighbors in the dust and allow strangers to come in and take our places, even as we move to their hometowns to replace them. Would each community not be better served by those who, from birth, have known the place and loved

the people (or at least some of them)?

Monks of the Benedictine order, which was founded in the sixth century, all take a vow of stability, which involves “give up the temptation to move from place to place” because “the idea that things would be better someplace else is usually an illusion.”

In that sense, the United States is one of the least stable nations on earth. A 2013 Gallup poll found that 24 percent of Americans, one of the highest rates in the world, had moved in the past five years. We seem to be obsessed with the idea that things would be better someplace else.

In her song “Teams” (if I may be permitted another cultural reference), Lorde sings “We live in cities you’ll never see onscreen.”

Aside from a few seconds in the 2011 flop “I Am Number Four,” no one has ever seen Beaver Falls, Penn. onscreen. It is, however, still the place where I grew up and went to school. I took my first Communion, drank my first beer and had my first kiss in Beaver Falls, and I did all of those things in the company of other Beaver Fallsians.

It may not be glamorous, but my hometown deserves my love and God-honoring work as much if not more than any other place, and I am not ashamed to offer it.

April 22, 2016

Sports Coming on strong

Page 11

Track and field teams excel at Westminster invite

Carolyn Eckendorf Staff Writer

The Grove City College men and women’s track and field team competed on Saturday, April 17 in the Westminster College Invitational at Burry Stadium in New Wilmington, Pa. The women’s team finished 13th out of 25 teams while the men finished fourth. It was a beautiful afternoon filled with personal records for some and improvements for others.

Head coach Todd Gibson was very pleased with the athletes. He said he “felt like it was a great day overall.

There were lots of seasonbest times and great finishes in a loaded field.” Many of the athletes participating were from scholarship-level schools, as well as some of the best DIII programs in the region. ​The women had four athletes finish in the top six, which scored Grove City 16 points. There were some performances that stood out on the track, such as junior Lydia Keiper in the 5000, who

placed fourth with a careerbest time of 18:49.32. There was also freshman Elizabeth Donahoe in the 800, placing 11th with the best season time for the Presidents’ Athletic Conference of 2:25.40, and junior Liv Green in the 1500 with a time of 5:03.90 placing 10th. Senior Allison Blain placed sixth in the 400 with a time of 59.80 seconds to knock more than a second off her career-best time.

The field also had other successes. Sophomore Margi Haiss finished fourth in discus with her best mark of 36.68 meters. Freshman Rachael Mossgrove said before the meet that she would “love to get over 30 meters, seeing that my best is around 29 meters.” She had her best mark of 30.76 meters, finishing 17th.

Competing in the javelin event for the first time, freshman Erin McGann’s finished sixth with a mark of 31.77 meters. Sophomore Brooke Beatty placed 10th in shot put with a throw of 10.60 meters and junior Melanie Packard cleared 3.25 meters in pole vault, placing 11th.

“The fact that it was the warmest track meet we have had and that we performed well in hot conditions is a good sign,” Coach Todd Gibson said.

For the men, they had one of their best meets of their season. Dan Christiansen won the 5000 with the best time for the PACs this season with 15:08.09, qualifying for the ECACs. Freshman Ryan Budnik also competed in the 5000, finishing ninth with a time of 16:16.21. Junior Nick Betz finished second in the 110 hurdles in 15.55 seconds, and was also part of the 4X400 relay with junior Ryan Buchalter, who also took fifth in the 400 with a time of 49.74 seconds, sophomore Quaide Simek and senior Brandon Ward. They placed third with a season-best time of 3:25.4.

Though Betz had finished as high as second in the 110 hurdles, it was one of the slowest of his college career.

He pulled his hamstring midrace and still did not give up to finish the event. Betz qualified for the NCAA National Championships and ended

up placing 13th overall in the indoor season so he is “hoping to qualify for Nationals again for the outdoor season, but I’ve been bit by the injury bug lately.”

Sophomore Drew Thibault and junior Andrew Mascio finished strongly in the 3000 steeplechase. Thibault placed third with the conference’s best time of the season of 10:00.10 and Mascio placed fifth with a time of 10:09.00. Brandon Ward also competed in the 400 hurdles, placing seventh with a time of 58.80, very close to the senior Dane Mossgrove, who finished with 58.82 in eighth place.

Senior Joshua Dunsworth had the best time of his career, breaking two minutes in the 800 with an 11th-place time of 1:59.17.

For the field, Quinton Reed led the Grove City throwers with a third-place marking of 53.25 meters in the javelin and a 12.77-meter marking in the shot put, putting Reed in an 11th-place finish.

“These performances typically would have been winning times or all top 3 times

GROVE CITY COLLEGE

or distances, but with the size of the meet (for example 97 women’s 800 runners when a large field is typically around 28-30) these performances were outstanding,” Coach Gibson said.

The Grove City College Wolverines will compete Thursday, April 19 at 1:30 p.m. at the PAC North Quad as part of the Slippery Rock University Open.

Player Spotlight

Micah Burke

Bradley Warmhold Staff Writer

GROVE CITY COLLEGE

As enthusiastic fans looked on, the men’s lacrosse team took on the University of Dayton.

Rising above a defeat GCC men’s lacrosse keeps the faith after loss to the Dayton

Claire Dobransky Contributing Writer On Saturday, April 16, the Grove City College men������ ’����� s lacrosse team suffered a heartbreaking loss against the University of Dayton, the team’s greatest rival, on Thorn Field. The men entered into the game with a 7-3 record, defending their third place ranking in the MCLA East CCLA Division II section and hoping to hand top-ranked Dayton their third loss of the season.

The only home game of the season, Saturday’s game was named Senior Day, honoring all of the senior players on the team. Hundreds were in attendance, which created a contagious energy on Thorn Field; cheering, clapping and whistling resounded from families, students and friends in the stands.

Grove City started out strong with a 6-2 lead in the first quarter. By the end of the first half, goalie Ben Dumm defended the net with nine saves, which resulted in a score of 7-4 with Grove City in the lead. Beginning the

second half, Dayton came back determined, which resulted in five more points by the end of the third quarter.

Grove City came back equally fierce, ending the third quarter with three more points and a 10-9 lead. With a tie of 10-10 in the fourth quarter, the University of Dayton scored with three minutes left in the quarter. Grove City continued to play passionately with a ball possession in the last two minutes of the game. The game ended with a Grove City loss.

With an immense support from the crowds, the Grove City College men’s lacrosse team walked off the field with their heads high. The Grove City scorers were David Hall (4G), Daniel Casselli (3G, 4A), Josh Calhoun (1G) and Taylor Mack (1G). Dumm had an impressive total of 24 saves by the end of the game.

The anticipated rival game was covered on the MCLA official snapchat account by senior Daniel Criswell and Brooks Hammond, a former Grove City College lacrosse player. With an estimated 36 hours of account control, Criswell and Hammond re-

corded the student body’s anticipation for the day, and included an inside look of the Grove City lacrosse team and live feed from the game.

“The focus was to showcase our guys and the buildup to a huge game for the squad,” Criswell said. “It was also great marketing for Grove City College because each snap was viewed by 3,0004,000 people.” Although the game resulted in disappointment, the Grove City men’s lacrosse team still garnered significant attention for the College.

Although losing can easily hurt one’s pride and heart, senior captain Dave Hall believes the team has a strong future ahead of them: “I think the strong first half against Dayton shows us that we can play with the top teams in the country, but we have to play a full game and can’t take our foot off the gas.”

Despite Saturday’s loss, the Grove City College men’s lacrosse team will continue to remain passionate and persistent, but most importantly, will keep their focus dedicated to playing for an Audience of One.

On a team dominated mainly by juniors and seniors, freshman third-baseman Micah Burke has had an explosive start to his collegiate baseball career. Despite being one of the youngest players in the starting lineup, Burke has been a cornerstone for Grove City College’s offense, which has been averaging 9.44 hits-per-game and 6.26 runs-per-game.

The Arizona native currently boasts a team secondbest batting average of .376, right behind junior powerhouse Matt Waugaman at .381, a team third-best 32 hit, and team second-best 7 doubles. Along with his offensive prowess, Burke’s defensive skills at the hot-corner have proven to be instrumental in Grove City’s long stretch of success. His 44 assists from the field are currently second-best on the team, behind sophomore utility player Drew Landis with 57.

In last week’s weekend series against Presidentss Athletic Conference rival Waynesburg University, Burke’s bat came alive in support of a series sweep for the Wolverines. In the course of three-games, Burke went six for 12, including tw2 doubles in game 2 against last year’s PAC co-pitcher of the year Brian Resnik. “[Last week] against St. Vincent I kind of slowed down [my bat-speed] a bit,”

NEXT STEP overcoming these challenges, trying to be the same team, but still a better team.”

The women’s water polo team has focused their practice time on developing what they saw go well during a game.

“We had a lot of moments [during the previous tournament] that coach and the team were looking for, and we’re looking for the things we did well in practices, so when we play that team again

explained Burke when asked about his success against Waynesburg.

“I was behind on the ball, and coach said I was too long on my swing, so I choked up on the bat and I made sure in the Waynesburg series to stay quick to the ball.”

When asked about his recent success at the plate and on the field, Burke contributed his development to first-year interim head coach Matt Royer’s coaching.

“He’s been a big influence.

He’s top as far as knowledge goes, he’s been around it for such a long time, and he’s earned my respect and taught me things that I didn’t know before. He’s also been a very good example of a good leader too.”

With an overall record of 20-7 and a PAC record of 12-2, Burke and the Grove City baseball team are on track for a possible seed in the PAC baseball playoffs and a single-season wins record. With 12 games left in the regular season, the Wolverines only need to win half of them if they want to tie the single-season wins record of 26, currently held by the 2011 baseball squad.

The Wolverines will begin next week with an away doubl-header against Bethany College on Tuesday and an away weekend series against Thomas More College, who is currently first place in the PAC. everything comes together,” Parks said.

Those who have never watched a water polo match may not realize the intensity involved.

“Most people don’t realize before they see it how aggressive it is. You go out and put everything you’ve got into a game. I’m very focused and aggressive and confident in myself in the pool,” Parks said. “Once people see the sport, the have a lot of respect for it.”

The Collegian

April 22, 2016

Page 12

On a tear

Baseball team continues red-hot streak Zachary Rader Contributing Writer

Grove City College baseball is on fire as the team tears through the middle of its season. The Wolverines, after losing to St. Vincent College in a doubleheader on April 13, won the second game to start their four-game winning streak. The Wolverines have batted a team average of .345 during this streak.

After losing the first game of the doubleheader, the Wolverines took the lead early in game 2. It was a lead that would last until St. Vincent came back with a fourrun inning to make it 4-2.

Grove City, however, did not let things get out of hand. In the bottom of the inning, the squad came back to tie the game at 4-4.

Later on, Grove City’s freshman Shane Hammel hammered a two-run home run to put the Wolverines back on top. This started off a four-run inning that put Grove City over the edge, as they won the game 8-4.

Grove City then started their three-game series with Waynesburg University, which included a game on April 15 and a doubleheader on April 16.

The Wolverines traveled to Waynesburg on Friday

Junior Nolan Meyers had three hits and got the win in relief in a recent game against Waynesburg University. to face the Yellow Jackets.

Waynesburg took an early 4-1 lead, but in the top of the third inning Grove City came back with a six-run inning. The game was tied for a long time, and then in the top of the eighth Grove City took the lead for good with a four-run inning. The Wolverines ended up victorious by a score of 12-10 in nine in-

Spotlight on Pittsburgh

Pirates, Steelers dominate ’Burgh sports Michael Cole Staff Writer The spring season is officially underway, and that means a lot of things for Pittsburgh sports fans. First of all, it means that they have had time to adjust after a heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional playoffs. The Steelers played hard, but they were not able to contain Von Miller and the soon-tobe Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos.

Although the loss was difficult, fans now have a chance to focus on the NFL draft and the future of the black and gold organization. The Steelers do not have one of the higher picks in the draft, currently they are in possession of the 25th overall and the 58th overall pick. However, there is still potential for the team to get some underrated prospects.

Last year the Steelers took Bud Dupree, an outside linebacker out of the University of Kentucky, in the first round and chose Senquez Gonzales, a cornerback out of Mississippi, with their second round pick. While Dupree was on the roster and played in every game, making an immediate impact, Gonzales was not as fortunate. He did not see any time on the field, and right now he is noe even one of the active players on the Steelers roster entering the 2016 season.

The Steelers have a big opportunity to get a diamond

in the rough with this year’s draft.

In other Pittsburgh sports news, the MLB season is underway and the Pirates are ready to roll. Last year, the Pirates finished with a record of 98-64 and seconddin the NL central. They made it to the playoffs,tbut the team lost to the Chicago Cubs in the wild card game.

The Pirates are trying to improve on their finish last year as they have started off the spring season 9-3. They were able to sweep the Angels in the first three-game series, and they have been able to take the majority of the games in all of the series except for their most recent one against the Colorado Rockies. All of this success has led them to being first in the NL central.

The future could prove difficult for the Pirates. On April 18h the black and gold will begin a seven game road trip in which they will travel to both St. Louis and Cincinnati. The Cardinals are currently 7-5 and ranked second,right behind the Pirates in the NL Central. The Reds are also conference rivals and are 6-6 through 12 games. They, like the Cardinals, will be tough opponents as the Pirates have to play them through four straight road games.

The spring will be exceedingly busy for Pittsburgh sports fans and they will have a lot to take in with both the NFL offseason and the beginning of Major League Baseball.

nings.

The good times continued on Saturday, as Grove City swept the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets, beating them in both games in the doubleheader. In game 1, the pitching was amazing, only letting up one run in the top of the third to the Yellow Jackets.

The Grove City bats came alive, as the lineup scored six

runs on nine hits, and they took the first game 6-1.

The second game would prove more challenging, even though the Wolverines jumped out to a 4-0 lead through the third inning.

Waynesburg battled back, closing the lead to one as they scored three runs in the top of the fourth. The Wolverines extended their lead

GROVE CITY COLLEGE

to 7-3, until Waynesburg scored a run in the top of the sixth. However, they would not catch Grove City, whose team won for the fourth consecutive time, 7-4. Grove City College looks to take this momentum forward to finish the season strong as they try to push through into the playoffs.

Taking the next step Water polo team competes in CWPA Championships

Alyssa Baldwin Staff Writer

Last weekend the Grove City College women’s water polo team traveled to New London, Conn., for the Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III Championships.

The tournament was a twoday event hosted by Connecticut College that resulted with Grove City taking fifth place nationwide.

This year the CWPA Championships were a wild card, but most teams in the conference were relatively even.

“There’s not any team that’s a standout for this conference,” senior Ashley Parks said (Worthington, Ohio/ Thomas Worthington). “We were always a very strong team, so we’re competitive, but this year you don’t know how any game will go.”

The Wolverines began the quarterfinal round Saturday morning competing against Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, a local rival. Grove City lost 14-6, but the team turned it around for the second match against Utica College where they pulled a 6-0 lead during the first half, and won the match with a score of 12-7.

Junior Abby Jank (Worthington, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) scored four goals, junior Grace Klimek (Oakdale, Pa./South Fayette), sophomore Maggie Blume (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) and freshman Abby Spicher (Erie, Pa./McDowell), each scored twice; sophomore Brynna Bartlett (Olive

DAVE MILLER

Junior Abby Jank was great for the Wolverines in Grove City’s regular season finale. She scored six goals against Penn State Behrend.

Branch, Miss./St. George’s) and freshman Megan Crutcher (Lancaster, Pa./ Lampeter-Strasburg) each scored once. Seniors Ashley Henderson (Lansing, Mich./ Lansing Christian) and Parks each had five assists.

Sunday morning Grove City played Monmouth University to determine fifth and sixth place. The match did not start out in Grove City’s favor, with the score at 5-8 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. But during the last eight minutes of the game, Grove City scored five goals to Monmouth’s one, resulting in a final score of 10-9.

During the final 17 seconds of the game, Parks scored

the winning goal that led to Grove City’s win. Blume scored three times, Jank and Spicher scored twice and Henderson and Barlett each scored once.

The tournament marked the end of Henderson and Park’s collegiate water polo careers. Both graduate this May after playing all four years and co-captaining the 2016 team.

“This season has been full of challenges and trials, especially recently as two starters had been injured, and were not able to finish out the season,” Parks said. “Our whole season has been about NEXT STEP 11