The Signal Vol. 85 No. 22

FEB. 27 - MARCH 6, 2018

VOL. 85 | NO. 22

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@gsusignal

ARTS & LIVING 7 Social anxiety is a common phenomenon among college students and can hinder your social and academic life. But there are many steps you can take to overcome it.

PHOTO BY HANNAH GRECO & COVER DESIGN BY KHOA TRAN | THE SIGNAL

A NATIONWIDE RESPONSE

GREEN FASHION

DIGITAL DETOX

SPRINGTIME SHINE

Students bring different solutions to the table for tackling gun violence.

Dress well while keeping the environment in mind with these tips.

Your tech buddies may be the reason you're feeling overwhelmed and antisocial.

Athletic teams are grinding to bring championship jewelry to campus.

NEWS | PAGE 5 WWW.GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

ARTS & LIVING | PAGE 10

News 3

OPINION PAGE 12

Arts & Living 7

SPORTS | PAGE 14

OPINION 11

Sports 13

NEWS

2

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

BLOTTER FEB. 21

FEB. 22

He’s acting weird…

A Georgia State student was reported of acting suspiciously around the Commerce Building, around 3:00 p.m.

Police are investigating the claims.

Don’t wanna see that!

A Georgia State student complained of being witness to an individual publicly exposing himself near the Urban Life Building. The case is still active.

Not today!

Two Georgia State students were arrested near the Urban Life Building for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana.

Not the one...

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Christina Maxouris signaleditor@gmail.com

A Georgia State student was arrested after causing visible harm to another student in Building D of University Commons.

executive editor (atlanta) Open executive editor (perimeter) Open Editorial NEWS EDITOR Open

Party animals!

signalnewseditor@gmail.com ASSociate NEWS EDITOR Open signalassociatenews3@gmail.com OPINIONS EDITOR Open signalopinions@gmail.com ARTS & LIVING EDITOR Open signalliving@gmail.com

A staff member complained of smelling marijuana and hearing too much noise coming from a student’s room in Building A of University Commons. The case has been cleared by GSUPD.

ASSociate ARTS & Living EDITOr Samuel Puckett signalassociateliving2@gmail.com SPORTS EDITOR Jerell Rushin signalsport1@gmail.com ASSociate SPORTS EDITOR D’Mitri Chin signalassociatesport1@gmail.com copy editors Alaa Elassar, Sydnie Cobb signalcopyeditor@gmail.com

Doesn’t even go here…

A non-Georgia State individual was arrested for possession of week near T Parking Deck.

Production production design editor Khoa Tran signalprod@gmail.com

Associate production design editor Salinna Phon

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signalprod2@gmail.com

PHOTOGRAPHY photo EDITOr (atlanta) Vanessa Johnson signalphoto1@gmail.com

photo EDITOr (perimeter) Open signalphoto2@gmail.com

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

ASSociate photo editor Julian Pineda signalphotoatl@gmail.com

Digital online EDITOR Danny Varitek

On Feb. 21, over 1,000 members of the advocacy group "Moms Demand Action" showed up at the Georgia State Capitol demanding stricter gun laws in response to the Parkland high school shooting.

signalmanaging@gmail.com ASSociate Online Editor Open PODCAST EDITORS Caleb P. Smith, Charles Wright

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signaladvertisingco@gmail.com STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOR Bryce McNeil bmcneil1@gsu.edu business coordinator Wakesha Henley whenley@gsu.edu STUDENT MEDIA ADVISOr (perimeter) Alice Murray amurray25@gsu.edu

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The Signal Student Center West, Suite 250 P.O. Box 3968 Atlanta, GA 30303 Phone: 404-413-1620 Fax: 404-413-1622 Web: www.georgiastatesignal.com

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018

Georgia State's Student Financial Services faculty and staff webpage is password protected, raising the issue of transparency within the university.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY VANESSA JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

Know your staff After newspaper articles, departments tackle lacking websites CHRISTINA MAXOURIS Editor-in-Chief

I

n January, The Signal tackled staff accessibility within university departments and their inclusion of staff contact information on their websites, prompting website changes from two university departments.

Student concerns echoed the lack of PantherDining’s staff directories first. There were no bulletin boards outlining who the employees of each dining hall were, prompting one student to go on a scavenger hunt to get in touch with a manager.

There was no website containing emails or contact information for the leaders of the department either.

PantherDining vowed to make its faculty and staff more readily available - and clearly known - to the student body, kickstarting two promotional initiatives after collecting student feedback.

“Right now we’re in the process of rolling out our “Meet the Manager” initiative (initially known as Touch the Table), and the initiative is two-fold,” said Nicole Galonczyk, Public Relations specialist for PantherDining.

The first part of the initiative, Galonczyk said, consists of collecting headshots and biographies of the staff and displaying them to students in all dining halls.

“We believe having our management team easily recognizable will help students in knowing who to speak to if they have comments or feedback,” Galonczyk said.

The second part of the initiative, set to launch in March, will include dining hall meet-and-greets for students to ask questions

and meet each dining hall manager.

“This event (held at each dining hall) will give students the opportunity to get to know our managers,” Galonczyk said.

And that, she said, will hopefully help students feel more comfortable expressing their thoughts.

“It’s our job to ensure students have the best possible experience while they’re at Georgia State and food is such an important piece of that equation. We believe connecting our dining hall managers with students will let students feel more comfortable approaching our managers with questions or feedback.”

But a lack of staff directories is not solely a PantherDining issue, and departments across the university have begun to tackle the issue head-on.

FINANCIAL AID

Three weeks ago, Student Government Association leaders brought up the trouble students have been having when trying to get in touch with the financial aid director - because there wasn’t one. That was wrong, however. In fact, the department just recently hired their new director, but students still had no way of knowing.

Newly appointed director of financial aid Aristea Williams stepped into the position in January 2018. While the position was vacant in the fall semester, Williams said there was someone acting as interim-director before that, prior to his contract expiration in August.

Yet there was still no way of telling, as the department also lacks a staff directory page, which Williams found startling.

“It is somewhat surprising that there isn’t something that says who works here, or at least say who we are,” she said.

There is a Faculty & Staff Contact Page within the financial aid website, but it is password-protected. That website, Williams said, is for internal staff use, and that’s probably the reason why it’s inaccessible to students. But that’s the only staff contact list to exist.

Williams noted that she was hesitant to include phone numbers on that directory for staff employees, as that could overflow some inboxes with student emails.

“Honestly, I believe students should know that people are here, I just worry that if you get the person that you think you should contact, that person would be bombarded and no work would get done, [they would] just get bombarded with emails,” she said.

Williams said when she was brought into the team as a consultant last April, her goal was to “right the ship” of financial aid, and a priority was bettering communication with the student body.

“I don’t think our communication was very effective previously, so we can’t say ‘Oh, students didn’t turn this in.’ Well, did they know that they had to? Did they know what was coming up?” she said, adding that they’re now working on getting the word out through social media campaigns.

But it’s more than online communication for Williams, who said representing financial aid should be a 24-hour job.

“We have our staff and they go across campus, even when going to lunch, they wear their name tags. So if someone has a question, they can answer it. And I say, ‘You are always the face of financial aid,’” she said.

STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES

Georgia State’s Student Health Services also got to work after The Signal published

DID YOU KNOW? The Georgia State University Directory gives access to all students’, faculty and staff Panther emails to all members of the Georgia State community.

an article which highlighted the lack of staff information on their website.

Psychological and Health Services Senior Director Jennifer Lee-Barber said shortly after her meeting with a student newspaper reporter, she assigned a member of her team to add a staff directory to the websites of the testing center, counseling services, student victim assistance, Georgia State health clinics and student health promotion.

On adding photos and names of staff members to the website, Lee-Barber said, “It seems like a good addition.”

“What’s up there now doesn’t show you who and where the staff are, and it doesn’t have their email next to their name. We thought that adding the emails to the page would be the most helpful.”

Pantherdining’s Nicole Galonczyk said staff accessibility is a concept all about serving students first.

“Being away from home for the first time is a huge transition and students may not always know who to turn to if they have a question, or a comment, or just need someone to lend a listening ear,” she said. “We always want students to feel heard, as they’re our main priority.

NEWS

4

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

University housing addresses facility issues

Students are raising concerns about inadequate residence hall conditions BRENNA HILBY Staff Reporter

F

or several Georgia State students, facility issues in residence halls have become progressively noticeable.

And for one, these issues have become hazardous.

Lola Velichkovsky, a Georgia State international economics major, lived in Piedmont North in the fall of 2017. She decided to move to University Commons after experiencing facility problems in her room that quickly led to personal health issues.

“I did not feel that the health conditions were up to code,” she said. According to Velichkovsky, there was a “lack of ventilation in the bathroom,” which made humidity accumulate in her room, and eventually her “bed sheets started feeling damp, constantly.” She said that her “roommates definitely noticed that their bed sheets were damp” as well.

Velichkovsky said she realized the conditions weren’t as they should be when a friend complained after spending the night in her apartment. That’s when she went to her advisor and requested to move out.

“One night when I wasn't staying in my room, one of my roommate's friends slept in my bed, and he told me that he woke up with a very sore dry throat,” she said. “Then I remember I got a cough, and my throat felt agitated every time I sat in my room, which made it hard for me to sleep.”

Dr. Harry Heiman, a Georgia State public health professor, said some living conditions like black mold can trigger an individual’s asthma, allergies, or other health problems, depending on a person’s sensitivity.

He said that “about 40 percent of childhood asthma is tied to living conditions,” mostly “having to do with issues around moisture and mold and particulates in the air.”

“Conditions that for one person are perfectly fine, for another they may not be,” he said.

Velichkovsky said her health issues persisted while living at Piedmont North, so she saw a doctor who determined her “throat was very agitated” and that “it was likely irritated from some kind of allergy, which could have been either dust from the heater or mold.”

Several students revealed similar experiences with residence hall facility issues in anonymous reddit messages to The Signal.

One Georgia State student said there was “a good bit of mold inside the bathroom vent” in their room in Piedmont North.

Another said the vents in Piedmont North bathrooms are all connected, and that they get “constant deposits of dust from all the rooms, as well as whatever wonderful smells are coming from other rooms.”

“I remember I got a cough, and my throat felt agitated every time I sat in my room, which made it hard for me to sleep.”

— LOLA VELICHKOVSKY, Georgia State student Other students told The Signal about issues they encountered in University Lofts. One student said they’re “dealing with an ant problem at the moment. They seem to be getting in through the bathroom.” The student said they used ant repellent along all of the walls, but have not seen any improvements with the issue.

Another student residing at University Lofts said the space above their shower had “some black mold above it,” and said they “filed a report about it at move in and no one came to check on it.”

So what is the course of action when issues like these are reported?

ADDRESSING THE MOLD

The Georgia State University Housing department said they have received “about 10 reports for this semester of mold or mildew,” and that when they get reports on issues like these, “the staff assesses the area for moisture and conditions that support microorganism growth, and work to fix the problem.”

Lola Velichkovsky reported experiencing health issues induced by the living conditions in Piedmont North.

The department explained their procedure in dealing with reports like these is “preventive maintenance, which includes cleaning and any necessary repairs during times when students are not occupying residential spaces,” and that the maintenance request system is a main way for them to “identify, track and follow-up on issues and to notice any trends, if they exist.”

But Velichkovsky said she made little headway when she began reporting the issues.

When she began putting maintenance requests in, in her view, they were not resolved in a timely manner. After about three requests, “someone finally came at the end of the month.”

They told her and her roomates that they weren't keeping their room cold enough, “even though it was probably at about 65 degrees,” she said.

After no luck with residence maintenance, Velichkovsky said she spoke to one of the Piedmont North resident assistants, who told her “they turned off the ventilation in the bathrooms because people were smoking in there.” She also said the “only reason why the maintenance people came to help” was because she voiced her concerns to a resident assistant.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says mold growth can be controlled by “controlling humidity levels” and “ventilating shower, laundry, and cooking areas,” neither of which were adjusted by residence staff after Velichkovsky’s reports.

“That made me realize that the administration was sacrificing students’ basic comforts because of a couple people who were doing something that they weren't supposed to,” Velichkovsky said.

Eventually, she met with her honors college advisor, who contacted someone who was able to put her on a list for a room change. Over winter break, she was finally approved to move to University Commons.

The housing department said in recent months, reports for

PHOTO BY VANESSA JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

Piedmont North have been handled by the department in accordance with standard procedures.

Velichkovsky said she never received further communication from the department regarding the issues she had at Piedmont North.

IN A NUTSHELL:

The Georgia State University Housing department had 10 reports of mold or mildew in residence halls this past semester, all from Piedmont North.

The CDC says mold growth can be controlled by “controlling humidity levels, thoroughly cleaning and drying after flooding, and ventilating shower, laundry, and cooking areas.”

In 2004, the Institute of Medicine found sufficient evidence to link exposure to both mold and damp indoor environments to “upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheezing in otherwise healthy people, and with asthma symptoms in people with asthma.”

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018

NEWS

5

Responding to the violence

Georgia State students and Atlantans gear up for change CHRISTINA MAXOURIS

On Friday, Feb. 23, the Georgia Senate approved a bill that would allow adoption agencies to reject gay couples and use religion as a justification. Senate Bill 375 has previously raised concerns, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, of hurting Atlanta’s chances of landing Amazon’s HQ2.

Sponsor Sen. William Ligon, said the bill will encourage more religious-based agencies to open up and thus open “as many doors as possible for those children.” But critics of the bill say it would reduce options for children looking to be adopted based on its allowance on discrimination.

A

NATIONAL Sophomore Sara Jane Wardlaw posted flyers throughout campus depicting the names of the victims who lost their lives in the Parkland school shooting.

that they voted in favor of campus carry with women in mind, wanting to keep women safe.

“I feel less safe, and I’m sure many other women feel less safe, teachers students, professors, to know that anybody can be carrying a gun on campus,” she said.

For Wardlaw, preventing something like this from happening again lies in common-sense laws.

“I personally wouldn’t want guns but I know that’s not a realistic compromise. So just making sure that there’s background checks and that people who have mental illnesses won’t be able to get their hands on a gun, the types of guns, we shouldn’t have these AR-15s. We shouldn’t have those. And domestic violence abusers. They’re able to get their hands on guns and that’s something we should take

PHOTO BY VANESSA JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

into consideration,” she said.

For other students, like Madeline Walker, the solution lies in creating communities. Walker put up a Facebook post in the group ‘GSU Book Exchange’ asking students if they’d be interested in joining a ‘hangout’ club aimed at helping students make new friends.

“So lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the school shooting in Florida, and how an issue the shooter had was he was bullied and didn’t have any friends,” Walker posted. “I would really like to start a sort of “hangout” club at Georgia State, where maybe if you are new and struggling to find friends or just want to make some new ones, we could have a group where we meet up every so often.”

Animal-friendly options on campus

With the rise of vegans in the US come more options in dining halls SARA ABDULLA Staff Reporter

A

lmost 5 percent of Americans today are self-proclaimed vegans or vegetarians. The number of Americans who swear off meat has increased by approximately 50 percent over the past decade. The rise of vegans and vegetarians has spiked the demand for plant-based options and there has also been an increase in consumption of vegan options in general, with trends like #MeatlessMonday encouraging consumers to be mindful of how much meat they are eating. With more millennials and Gen-Z vegetarians than ever, Georgia State’s PantherDining has put forth initiatives to make its cafeterias more enticing and accommodating for those adhering to plant-based diets.

A few years ago, some of Georgia State’s vegetarian students complained that the dining hall contributed significantly to their “Freshman 15s.”

Because of the limited options from their meal plans, students turned to diets composed of french

LOCAL New ‘Religious Liberty’ bill passes Senate

Editor-in-Chief

day after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, Georgia State student Sara Jane Wardlaw decided it was time to raise awareness on gun violence around the university’s campus.

Wardlaw, alongside her friend Michelle Brown, put up posters around Georgia State’s campus that highlighted the names of the 17 victims that lost their lives on Feb. 14, 2018.

“We were like, ‘what can we do?’ because we need to do something to make this stop,” she said.

“As students, we have a role to play and to get our voices heard and I think we are able to unify as a group.”

Wardlaw said she’s been in touch with college students across the country who have agreed to put up the same posters on their campuses as well.

Wardlaw also participated in a gun control protest at the Georgia Capitol last week, led by the advocacy organization Moms Demand Action, which fights for gun reform across the country.

Over 1,500 people participated in the protest and took the chance to talk to legislators about new bills that could address the issue.

“Throughout the whole protest, we were constantly told that ‘nobody is trying to get rid of guns, that’s not the goal of the protest, that’s not the goal of Moms Demand Action’. The goal is to make sure that the people who have guns are responsible gun owners,” Wardlaw said.

Wardlaw got the chance to talk to Rep. Brad Raffensperger, who was focused on schooloriented solutions and emphasized that it was up to individual schools to set precautionary guidelines.

“I didn’t think he responded the way I had hoped he would. He still was talking about how it was the school’s responsibility,” Wardlaw said. “If it’s the school’s responsibility, why are we allowing campus carry at Georgia State? That seems to negate every precaution. If you don’t want guns on campus, don’t allow guns on campus.”

According to Wardlaw, Raffensperger told her

NEWS BRIEFS

fries and salads. In response to the many requests from the student body for more plant-based options, the dining staff turned to Leslie Knapp, the hall’s registered dietician, to develop a new menu and work on wellness initiatives, like improving labelling practices on foods.

“Through Leslie, we connected with the Humane Society of the United States and participated in a one-day plant-based training for our cooks and chefs. We worked with Chef Wanda White from the HSUS while our staff were introduced to over 100 new plant-based recipes,” Nicole Galonczyk, PantherDining’s public relations specialist, said.

Galonczyk also said the dining halls have implemented vegan stations with at least three hot vegan options daily, have started offering vegan deli-style salads and now provide milk alternatives in all the halls.

Sai Maddali, a Georgia State freshman vegetarian, said that while he is always able to find something he can eat in the dining halls, the options are inconsistent.

“I’ve noticed sometimes that the options to choose your own food at those [shifting vegan] stations dwindle based on what time of the day. If it’s nighttime, you might not have almond or soy

milk,” Maddali said.

According to Galonczyk, PantherDining has started incorporating new technologies to promote variety-rich diets for both vegans and those who don’t adhere to plant-based diets. The staff is hoping that students who usually stick the meat options venture to plant-based food as healthy alternatives.

“We utilize FoodPro which allows us to track our recipes and each ingredient that makes up a dish.

We also use local vendors, ensuring that our food is always fresh and nutrient-rich,” Galonczyk said regarding diversity in food options.

Maddali said that overall, he loves the dining halls for their social atmospheres and ease.

“There’s always going to be some complaints, but it’s great to remember the efforts the dining hall goes towards providing a healthy meal,” Maddali proclaimed.

Galonczyk said the halls will continue to pursue avenues that allowed them to offer more healthy and plant-based options to students.

“By the end of February, we are working to provide at least one vegan dessert and offer a house prepared vegan dressing in each dining hall daily,” Galonczyk said.

Sheriff accused of overlooking Parkland shooter’s red flags

Florida Republican lawmakers are calling for the suspension of Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel for “incompetence and neglect of duty” prior to the high school shooting, according to The Washington Post. They accuse Israel of failing to maintain “a culture of alertness, vigilance and thoroughness amongst his deputies,” and as a result failed to protect students and teachers from dying. Israel responded by saying that while the department did not properly follow through on the red flags, he should not be held personally accountable.

GLOBAL Over 16 Turkish women to hang for IS ties

An Iraqi court found 16 Turkish women guilty of joing the Islamic State (IS) and has sentenced them to death by hanging, according to BBC. The women confessed to marrying IS fighters and providing aid to the group, as well as helping carry out terrorist attacks. The sentence comes as part of a series of trials of hundreds of women that have been detained and are suspected of being supporters of the Islamic State.

In early February, another Turkish woman was handed the death penalty and 10 others were sentenced to life in prison.

NEWS

6

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Including our leaders

New Georgia State plan tackles lack of diversity in faculty ASHTON PACKER Staff Reporter

I

n 2016, there were double the amount of white tenured professors to black tenured professors at Georgia State, a statistic in stark contrast when compared to the university’s nationally ranked student diversity.

Part of the school’s 2011 overall strategy was to establish a diversity plan for the school population. Designed to promote racial and gender diversity among faculty, the plan ended in 2016. But one year later, Dr. Jim Ainsworth, chair of the University Senate’s multicultural committee, realized that the faculty demographics had not changed.

According to Jessica Siemer, SGA Academic Affairs Committee Chair for the Atlanta campus, Ainsworth came to SGA with the realization that “the diversity portion of the strategic plan really had no diversity in it.

We didn’t actually see an increase in diversity among faculty after the plan,” Siemer said.

Ainsworth then asked several students, some from SGA and some who were not, if they felt that having a diverse faculty actually mattered to them. The consensus, Siemer said, was that it did matter.

“The idea of having role models and the idea that people tend to feel more comfortable approaching teachers that look like them,” is what made the lack of diversity among faculty so impactful, Siemer said.

The issue raised concerns among faculty and SGA boards, which led Georgia State University President Mark Becker to act. This time, the university created a new committee designated specifically to manage diversity among faculty instead of letting the problem fall between the cracks of a larger plan.

The committee, created in 2017, now operates on new guidelines and oversees every aspect of diversity.

The problem, Siemer said, is not in blatant racism, but in “inherent biases that come with people.”

Helping to spearhead the endeavor is Dr. Kavita Pandit, Georgia State’s Associate Provost of Faculty Affairs. Her office, which follows the guidelines of the newly crafted diversity plan, works with teachers to manage their progress and assist in aspects of human resource.

The Office of Underrepresented Faculty, led

by Dr. Cora Presley, declined to comment.

ROOT CAUSES

According to Pandit, the lack of diversity among faculty is rooted in three causes: the pipeline problem, the hiring process and implicit biases.

The “pipeline problem” is the lower rate of minority students going to graduate school and becoming qualified enough to become professors in the first place. Pandit also said that the hiring process could reduce diverse hirings, as many professors are recruited by word of mouth. Implicit biases, much like Steimer said, can hold diversity back without malicious intent.

“When someone reviews applications, they may put their own bias on the applicant, thinking ‘oh, this person’s name sounds a little different, or this person went to this institution.’ With this kind of bias, minority candidates could unknowingly be weeded out by,” Pandit said.

To combat these factors and promote advancement in young and minority

Georgia State is known for its diverse student body, but there is disproportionate representation within faculty and staff.

professors, Pandit said the Office of Faculty Affairs works on faculty development, which she said, “finds ways for faculty to feel valued, improve their skills, become better teachers, become better leaders, and mentor each other.”

Pandit said that Georgia State has also launched the “Pipeline Project”, which works on encouraging diverse students to pursue graduate programs and become professors.The Office of Faculty Affairs has also put together resources for search committees on how to recruit, select, and hire diverse professors and offer classes on how to interrupt bias.

President Becker has established the commission for next generation faculty, which, according to Pandit, pursues innovation to increase diverse faculty numbers. “What can we do to bring in the very best and diverse faculty and make sure that they want to stay?”

Pandit asked.

Though the diversity plan explains clear steps in allowing the “pipeline” to include diverse students from graduate programs, one professor, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Most of us feel that the administration is less focused on pedagogy and faculty

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH GRECO & SIDEBAR DESIGN BY DIANA TAVERA | THE SIGNAL

development than we would like. We are really disappointed in the low levels of financial support for graduate students.”

Even if that problem did not exist, the same teacher said, “The hiring budgets will not allow us to hire new faculty at all right now.”

But French professor Mathias Guerreiro said that diversity was not an issue for him as, “we are a diverse group of French instructors. I am from France, I have colleagues from Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Haiti, Iran, Romania and the U.S.”

Professor Demographic Statistics aSIAN PROFESSORS

51.6% female 48.4% male

bLACK PROFESSORS

66.8% female 33.2% male

WHITE PROFESSORS

49.8% female 50.2% male

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018

Talking through social anxiety How to survive college with social anxiety

VICTOR SLEDGE Staff Reporter

L

et’s have a conversation about social anxiety. This is obviously a bad idea, but dry your palms and stop avoiding eye contact because it won’t be that awkward to get through. College is the breeding ground of networking and establishing new connections.

But for some students, just saying hi may be harder than you think.

WHAT IS SOCIAL ANXIETY?

Social anxiety is the nervous or uncomfortable feeling people experience in social situations. The awkward stuttering, long rambling and clammy hands you get trying to have an average conversation—small talk—is social anxiety.

The National Social Anxiety Center (NSCA) reported that approximately 12 percent of Americans (that’s around 15 million people in this country!) will experience social anxiety at some point in their life.

It’s not uncommon. The National Social Anxiety Center (NSCA) reported that approximately 12 percent of Americans (that’s around 15 million people in this country!) will experience social anxiety at some point in their life. And even though it’s something many will experience, when it’s happening, you feel like it’s you’re all alone in the world.

Some symptoms of social anxiety may include

a physically uncomfortable reaction to social situations, overthinking how you’ll approach every word you say in a conversation, or not being able to function conversationally at all.

Though these are just a few symptoms, social anxiety can look different in everyone. While you get a shaky voice speaking to a professor, someone else may fumble their words every time they meet someone new. It depends on the kinds of circumstances each person is intimidated by.

Whatever the case, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America reports that more than 30 percent of the 15 million Americans affected will not seek treatment until about a decade after the symptoms arrive.

Officials at the NSAC suggest that the core of social anxiety is the fear of judgement. The insecurity or self-consciousness someone with social anxiety feels is a function of the fear of them being judged as awkward, an “other,” or just offbeat from everyone else. And, ironically, the reaction to that fear is often what causes the awkwardness.

BEING SOCIALLY ANXIOUS IN COLLEGE

Being socially anxious as a kid might be brushed off as being shy, but once you’re standing in front of a lecture hall giving a presentation in college, it’s clear that the problem is bigger than shyness or intimidation. There are so many triggers around a college campus that a student with social anxiety has to face in order to succeed not only in their classes, but personally as well. And the added pressure coming from mandatory class presentations and daily interactions with new faces is no help.

The NASC points out some of these common occurrences students see on a regular that may trigger someone with social anxiety.

Performing for an audience, interviewing for a job, presenting, asking or answering questions in class— the list goes on. A major issue is that those uncomfortable situations can negatively

impact students’ grades if they suffer from anxiety.

For example, someone with social anxiety is most likely going to drown in a group-work situation. Communicating extensively, sharing ideas and arranging to meet up outside of class can all become overwhelming and extreme triggers for someone with social anxiety.

Students’ defense mechanism of maybe staying quiet or never having strong input can come off as carelessness or failure to prepare with the other group members. And even past that, if it’s a presentation, they may not have the skills to contribute to the conversation at the right points, so it’s all a potentially detrimental process.

But casual social scenes are often inevitable in college. Partying, meeting friends for lunch or even talking to a roommate can be stressful for someone struggling with social anxiety, often prompting students to miss out on important social experiences. The stress can put a damper on a student’s social life if it’s difficult for them to reach out and get to know more people.

TALKING YOURSELF OUT OF SOCIAL ANXIETY

While social anxiety isn’t like a common cold you can just get rid of in a couple days, there are some ways you can work at feeling more comfortable in social situations. What’s more is that even though clinical help is the best first step to take, there are things you can do that may be a little more feasible on a college budget.

Firstly, share your thoughts. A friend, a professor, a coworker or anyone who can stand by your side during social engagements can be a useful resource if they know what you’re struggling with. A friend my help introduce you to some people they know you’ll mesh well with.

A professor may be little more understanding of you struggling in class discussions and not fail you on presentation requirements. It may be difficult to talk to someone, but it’s important to remember that social anxiety is a common phenomenon and nothing to be ashamed of.

Finally, here’s the last thing someone with social anxiety wants to hear. Put yourself out there! Start out simple but encourage yourself to build up to larger social situations and challenge yourself to talk and interact with more people.

One good conversation does not make a social butterfly, but it goes a long way for your confidence. Start slow, like by asking a question to your professor one-on-one to spark a small exchange or just greet whoever you sit next to in class, or learn to smile at passersby.

Whatever the case, social anxiety does not have to be the end of your social life, academically or personally. With clinical options, as well as personal strides you can make to step out of your comfort zone little by little, networking, making friends and working collaboratively is still possible.

ANXIOUS ICONS

It happens to the best of us! Even the celebrities you never imagined struggle with social anxiety: Olivia Munn - Her social anxiety triggers trichotillomania, which caused her to pick her eyelashes.

Zayn Malik - His anxiety after becoming a solo act crippled him to the point of missing shows.

Adele - Won’t do festivals because the anxiety of being in front of that big of a crowd, and is scared she won’t deliver.

Barbara Streisand - This legend allowed her stage freight to keep her from performing on stage for 30 years, after she forgot the lyrics to her song once.

DESIGN BY DAO NGUYEN | THE SIGNAL

Music’s powerful role in the lives of today’s youth

A world of influence

AUTUMN BOEKELOO, JALEN JENKINS & CHRISTINA MAXOURIS Staff Reporters & Editor-in-Chief

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isten to the lyrics, have you noticed how they’ve impacted your life? How they motivate, discourage or relax you? Music is a powerful influence in the lives of youth, and often comes with a culture students are eager to delve into and become a part of. Sometimes that culture can be a force of positive influences, and other times, those lyrics may drive youngsters towards detrimental lifestyles and habits. The Signal tackled three musical genres in order to understand the culture associated with each kind of music, and how it can impact easilyinfluenced ears.

1

Rap: Not about the streets anymore

In the mid 1980s, gangster rap was born. Putting gangs, violence, sex, and drugs center stage, rap was a genre unlike any other. Back then, the struggles of the streets were a reality, but today many artists rap about these issues because it’s a money-maker.

“What hip hop started off as was people actually telling their story, or reflecting on what they were actually going through. Now it’s transformed into people who’s not even going through this shit.

Rapping about things they’ve never done, probably will never do, and influencing kids to do things that they’ll never do,” R&B singer and songwriter Michael Stokes told The Signal.

Artists in the studio today have no idea about the struggles that rappers in the 1980s and 1990s had to overcome. “Most of the kids that are rapping nowadays came up in two-parent homes in the suburbs,” he said. But two-parents households is a luxury that a lot of youth in black communities don’t have today.

“I grew up in the projects, and when we went to do certain things, we listened to a certain kind of music,” he said. Stokes lost his mother at the age of 2, and saw his father go to prison by the time he reached fifth grade. “If they don’t have the parents, [the kids] are always going to be influenced by the music or the streets. And I think nowadays it’s worse to be

influenced by the music than the streets.”

But the artists shouldn’t always be held accountable for their words, according to M-80 who has worked with Waka Flocka, Gucci Mane, Future and Lil Wayne among others.

“They do what they do to get their money and feed their family, but at the same time, it’s like, at what cost?” said music producer M-80 who has worked with Waka Flocka, Gucci Mane, Future and Lil Wayne among others.

He said there’s an obvious influence coming from rap music, but the responsibility lies on individual strength, and from parental guidance.

“You can blame the music. But if you’ve got parents, then I feel like it’s up to the parents or the adults in your life to kind of put a foot down on what it is that they’re letting you be exposed to,” he said.

According to Georgia State student and rapper Kashii Dopeass, negative influences can come from all types of music, but rap hears the most about it.

“Rap gets the negative stigma,” she said. “Because of the system of supremacy and the already existing stereotypes about the black community. And when youngsters get exposed to a reality of family members in jail and gangs become their new families, they look around for new sources to learn from.”

For such an aggressive style of music, hardcore and punk music are usually not associated with violence. The roots of punk music is from a sense of rebellion from the norm, and with rebellion comes a community with likeminded individuals. In Schism Fanzine #1, a popular hardcore and punk fanzine based out of New York in the 80s, New York hardcore band Warzone says this about the hardcore scene: “In unity there’s power, in power there’s chance, to make a positive change.”

Warzone had this belief in the 1980s, and from their mindset and similar mindsets, it became a staple in the hardcore guidelines.

The goal? Helping people understand that being rebellious isn’t always about violence and hatred. Justin Little, member of the Atlanta hardcore scene, said the music is all about reflecting the positive ideals of the people.

“Ideals vary from person to person, and they are reflected by the music, and it aims to create change in the outside world,” he said.

The music can be fast and angry-sounding, and that may be because that person is frustrated about the way the world works, or how they see the world. Just because the music is intimidating does not mean the ideas are negative.

Tanner Rowan, another member

of the Atlanta hardcore scene, says the first thing he thinks of is not hardcore itself but all the movements that it has harbored over the years.

“I think of the many submovements that kind of emerged out of it like straight edge, veganism, etc. To say hardcore is a movement is cliché, but it really is in the way it embodies so many smaller movements,” he said.

Hardcore’s sense of community has given it the power to grow and spread different movements that can make a positive change on an individual like veganism as well as straight edge, which could better someone’s life by discouraging them from using drugs and drinking alcohol.

In an interview with Pitchfork, Martin Sorrondeguy, singer of seminal Latino punk band Los Crudos, talked about using his band in the 1980s to raise awareness of immigration and deportation issues within his community.

“It was the first time for a lot of these communities—like feminists in punk, queers in punk, Latinos in punk—where there was finally space and time for these issues. We didn’t talk about vegetarianism. …We talked about immigration, something that was very real to us.”

Hardcore’s community is a force for change.

3

Country Music: Alcoholism and sexism normalized

In the urban hustle of Atlanta, country music tends to sit modestly below other genres in popularity. While several country songs speak of the red Georgia clay and the sweet smell of apple pie, there is a growing downfall of the once folk-inspired music.

In modern songs, the trend of alcohol consumption, sexism, and trucks rules the country community. While songs about jacked-up automobiles are not much of a detrimental factor to society, alcohol abuse and humiliating women is a steady problem.

The ignorance of the severity of alcohol abuse is not just to blame on country music. It’s consistent within lyrics of rap and pop songs alike. However, country has predominantly showcased alcohol as a “normal” and “effective” way to deal with problems. In Eric Church’s song “Drink in my Hand,” he says, “I got a 40-hour week of trouble to drown… all you gotta do is put a drink in my hand.” Lyrics like this can convince listeners that the typical life of an American can be draining, so daily problems will simply fade away with alcohol.

Similarly, sexism is a recurring theme in modern country songs.

For example, Luke Bryan’s chart-topping song “Country Girl (Shake It for Me)” off of his (not surprising) album called “Tailgates and Tanlines” is about exactly what you think it is. Yes,

none other than the notorious naïve small-town girl with an attractive body dancing in front of men. This topic occurs regularly in male-sung songs for the same reason alcoholism does—in the country music culture, having an enjoyable time starts with sexually enticing women and hard liquor.

As degrading as it may be to women, sexism remains a norm in the country music world to keep the money coming.

However, despite its recent uprising of promoting adverse behaviors, some artists continue to make country music the way early artists intended. For instance, country icon Carrie Underwood speaks about genuine topics regarding the unsettling life of divorced parents, cheating, and finding peace through spirituality. In this light, relatable topics Underwood covers can be influential to help listeners deal with or to find peace in oneself.

Country music has a lot of catching up to do within the modern world. Women’s rights are on the rise, alcohol addiction is leaving families in shambles, and people are turning to eco-friendly cars. Artists and producers can pretend abusive behaviors are “pleasurable” and continue living in the fairytale world where America is flawless, but statistically speaking, with country music declining, those unrelatable ideologies will not last long.

DESIGN BY KHOA TRAN AND DEVIN PHILLIPS & PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONS BY VANESSA JOHNSON | THE SIGNAL

2

Hardcore and Punk: A Vehicle for Change

ARTS & LIVING

10

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

Ecology minded fashion and you

Learning to dress well and be ecologically ethical too

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thursday, march 1 Daughter of the Regiment The Atlanta Opera presents Daughter of the Regiment Feb. 24 - March 4. This charming show is sure to light up the Cobb Energy Center.

SECOND-HAND THRIFT

Jon Peraza is a vegan student who also buys second hand clothes as often as possible. He said if you have to buy new clothes, research the impact of the materials you buy and the company they come from. The production of animal products for clothing is something Peraza finds gross and exploitative.

“Those workers tend to be immigrants, people of color who are widely mistreated, working in brutal conditions where they’re desensitized to

FRIDAY, march 2 Thrift shopping is a great way to obtain cute clothing options without harming the environment.

violence against animals,” Peraza said.

Ecological and ethical options do exist, but can be expensive. And even those that do claim to be ethical, if operating under the same globalized business model as their competitors, consume a glut of oil and can have questionable labour practices.

“Companies that claim to be vegan typically have slightly better benefits to workers,” Peraza said. “A lot of vegan clothes are still produced in sweatshops, etc. If you cannot buy clothes, by any means, I encourage you to do that.”

INVESTMENT SHOPPING

Possibly one of the best options available to you is to buy items that last, thus preventing the waste of replacing it. Buying a quality coat worth

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JULIEANN TRAN | THE SIGNAL

mending or shoes with soles that can be restitched can not only save you money, but also reduce the waste you create globally as you circumvent consumption.

“Making clothes, transporting it, all of it, requires a massive amount of infrastructure and energy,” Peraza said. “Cotton needs to be harvested, watered, etc. So if you can make it last, that’s like one less shirt that has to be made.”

Schurman says mending clothes yourself is a great skill to learn. Buy a seam ripper, learn a hem stitch from YouTube and those tools will get you through a lot of wear and tear.

“You can take out hems, you can put in a new hem and then a button. Learn how to sew on a couple different kinds of buttons,” Schurmann said.

Staff Reporter

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arvel’s Black Panther laughed at even the highest expectations as it landed in theaters, grossing $242 million domestically over the four-day weekend. Ryan Coogler, director, along with a star-studded cast dripping in Pan-Africanism including Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya and the Black Panther himself, Chadwick Boseman, have made history and an instant classic.

Where do you start with a film this epic?

Firstly, it goes without saying that Coogler and the cast brought the action. Without giving any spoilers (for those reading from under their rock) the fight scenes were enthralling, showing not only the force that is the Black Panther, but also showcasing the unmatched ferocity of the women of Wakanda.

Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o), is a sly, sleek spy with a regal presence and an enemy you don’t want to make. King T’Challa is enamored by her beauty and valor, but she still maintains her position beside him in battle, unjaded by the flattery. Also fighting alongside T’Challa is the Dora Milaje, a group of warrior Wakandan women led by Okoye (Danai Gurira). Running the dazzling show of vibranium-powered

Come out and see our Atlanta Hawks face off against the Golden State Warriors this Friday at Philips Arena. Watch Klay Thompson and Steph Curry mop up after our home team.

saturday, march 3 Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival For our students over 21, or those with fakes (shh, don’t tell Spillane), you can sample 60 beers, 40 bourbons, eat delicious BBQ and listen to live music at Atlantic station. Just don’t say we sent you.

Country Music Festival

Black Panther hits the mark afrofuturism is Shuri (Letitia Wright), who is the Princess of Wakanda and a techno-genius with guns at the ready. Depictions that are sure to inspire little girls of color to beat up the boys on the playground for years to come (because of course, for Wakanda, they’d “do it without question”).

Also, the complexity and attention to detail in every aspect of Black Panther is not only mesmerizing to watch, but also very thoughtprovoking. Erik Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) is maybe the most difficult character to grapple with (especially on the edge of a waterfall). He seeks the Wakandan throne after he has lived his life on the outside, seeing how complacent Wakandans have been to the struggle black people face around the world.

Is he a villain? Is he an anti-hero?

Whichever one he is, he’s a damn good one.

He may be a radical descendent of royal blood, but the energy in the audience when he speaks of the pain he’s seen people that look like him go through radiates with familiarity.

The complex characters that refuse to fit into a box in Black Panther make it so much more than a regular superhero blockbuster.

From T’Challa’s confliction with his ancestors, to the unapologetic, robust black femininity, to a “villain” who’s just a bit too relatable, the depth of the film is something audiences will want to dive into over and over again.

Hawks vs Warriors

sunday, march 4

Wakanda Forever!

VICTOR SLEDGE

Wednesday, feb. 28 Watch the Atlanta Hawks take on the Indiana Pacers. This NBA season is packed with fun and you don't want to miss it.

ook, we all want to serve looks and snatch wigs, but if you’re not careful, you could be serving up carbon emissions with a side of petrochemicals.

Buying new clothes is risky business, ecologically speaking. A cute “fast fashion” fit from Zara or H&M could produce waste in the form of textiles, pollution and the oil involved in its transportation.

VEGAN CLOTHING

feb. 28 - march 6

Hawks vs Pacers

SAMUEL PUCKETT

Associate Arts & Living Editor

Buying second-hand clothes is a great way to avoid waste. Meg Schurmann is an economics major and thrift store connoisseur who made it her new year's resolution to reduce her carbon impact as much as she could. Now, all of her shopping is done second-hand and wherever she goes, she brings her own eco-friendly bags.

Schurmann says thrift store selections can vary wildly, but jeans are a consistent go-to for her.

“The thing about buying jeans at a thrift store is you have to not think about size at all.

You just have to grab jeans if you think they’re gonna fit, put them to your waist and try them on,” Schurmann said. “Finding your size is less important than finding your cut.”

events not to miss

Whether you’re a country music fan or just country-curious, you can take a trip to Canton and check out this knee slapping good time.

monday, march 5 Squad of Coke All week, through March 9, you can buy four tickets to the World of Coke for $50. Just venmo each other, get your tickets and go to one of Downtown Atlanta’s most iconic tourist attractions.

GRADE

A+ VERDICT Black Panther is iconic. Showing actors from countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Guyana, and the U.S., the diversity of Pan-Africanism shines through so beautifully. The audience gets to see an African country far advance past the rest of society, a concept audiences have been proud to see.

tuesday, march 6 Perfect Arrangement This gay farce will have you laughing in the aisles. Go visit Theatrical Outfit downtown (not a far walk from Aderhold) and pick up your tickets.

More events and info at georgiastatesignal.com.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018

ILLUSTRATION BY DEMETRI BURKE | THE SIGNAL

Mental Illness: Know the signs, seek help Georgia State student talks about his treatment experience

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JAMES FOX Staff Reporter

James is a journalism major on the Downtown campus. He likes MMA and being outdoors.

When he can’t get outside he spends his free time reading and writing. He grew up in East Atlanta and loves his city.

Tweet JAMES!

@KingJames21usa

’m sick of seeing people use mass shootings as an opportunity for a political debate. Every time there’s a mass shooting, everybody gets up on a soapbox and starts screaming about gun control. If you support the right to own a firearm, you’re a heartless monster. If you support gun control, you’re stupid and you hate America. All this yelling back and forth changes nothing — if some madman wants to go on a killing spree, he can go down to Costco, buy a bag of fertilizer, and build a makeshift bomb. We need to look for the root of the problem so we can stop something like this from happening again.

The first question is, why would anybody do something like this? It’s difficult to predict the behavior of a mass shooter because they are so rare. According to a 2001 study titled “Offender and Offense Characteristics of a Nonrandom Sample of Adolescent Mass Murderers”, some common traits are a history of depression and antisocial behavior. More importantly, there is usually a life-shattering event that causes these individuals to crack. Most killers fall into three distinct types: “the family annihilator, the classroom avenger, and the criminal opportunist.” Nikolas Cruz, the Floridian school shooter who ran amok on Valentine’s Day, is the second type.

Cruz was an extremely hateful person. When you see how he talked to his closest friends, it’s easy to see why he wasn’t very popular at school.

In the time leading up to the shooting, Cruz expressed racist and homophobic attitudes in an Instagram group chat. His friends thought it was all in good fun when he said, “Shoot them [gay people] in the back of the head.” They thought Cruz was just making some edgy jokes, even when he wrote, “I think I’m going to kill people.”

He gloated about killing small animals, and even posted a picture of a disemboweled frog publicly on Instagram. You’d think something so sick would set off an alarm, but people just thought he was weird. One of the people on the group chat said Cruz “seemed nice but also had some

mental issues.”

Cruz was an orphan adopted by Roger and Lynda Cruz, an affluent family. Roger died in 2004, leaving Lynda to take care of Nikolas and his brother Zachary until she died of pneumonia last November. In some of his online rants, Cruz would spit on the memory of his birth parents.

“My real mom was a Jew. I am glad I never met her,” he wrote. His parents left him $800,000 in a trust fund he would’ve had access to when he turned 22 years old. The money will now be used to pay his legal fees.

While Cruz was diagnosed with ADHD, depression and autism, this kind of behavior is not typical for people suffering with mental problems. We shouldn’t throw everybody suffering from these disorders into the same lot as one evil son-of-a-gun. A study from the National Center for Health Statistics shows less than 5 percent of all gun-related deaths in the last decade were perpetrated by people diagnosed with a mental illness. Most people suffering with mental disorders are not dangerous, so if somebody you know has these issues, don’t be afraid or cut them off. However, if your friend shows signs of antisocial behavior such as self-harming or harming animals, it is vital that you get them help.

The problem is that getting treatment for mental health issues can be very difficult in the U.S. Many people who struggle with mental illnesses are undiagnosed. In 2016, Cruz was sent to the Henderson Behavioral Health mental institution for an emergency evaluation. This was after a Snapchat video of Cruz surfaced in which he cut his arms and said he was going to buy a gun. The evaluation determined he was stable and Cruz was sent home. If he had been hospitalized that day, would we be talking about him today?

Unfortunately, this is not uncommon.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, it’s estimated that about about 6 percent of adults aged 18 to 25 are suffering from severe

mental illness in the U.S. Of those, only about 52 percent are regularly receiving treatment.

“They just don’t want to do it,” Georgia State freshman Cortez Beato said.

Cortez suffers from bipolar disorder, and he has first-hand experiences with the struggle to find good treatment. Back in 2016, Cortez put a loaded gun to his head to commit suicide. His mom intervened and took him to Peachford Behavioral Health. He describes the experience as helpful.

“You’re allocating a lot of hours in your day to solely that,” Cortez said. “It’s going to change something. There were interesting people there and some good professionals who helped me. I just couldn’t do it very long cause it was expensive.”

Two weeks of in-patient treatment at Peachford is $5,850 out of pocket. With insurance, it varies. Many insurance companies don’t cover it at all, but the ones that do typically cover up to 40 percent of the cost.

Prior to his hospitalization, Cortez saw a psychologist who prescribed his medication.

“It wasn’t hard to get an appointment, it was just really expensive, like $500 for the first meeting, then $100 a session after that,” Cortez Beato said.

“I wanted a therapist too. I just wanted somebody I could talk to, but it was too expensive.”

The costs are ultimately why Cortez discontinued treatment. After that, Cortez’s condition got progressively worse. “It definitely affected me because I went to prison. Also, my dad had it and he killed himself. That’s one of the main reasons they said I had it,” he said.

Today, Cortez said he wishes he was able to stay in treatment. “Yeah treatment’s definitely a good thing,” he said. “It made me more aware of it [bipolar disorder], and I could try to change my behavior.”

Georgia State offers counseling and mental health services to students on campus, something that Cortez was happy to hear and said he was so far unaware of.

EDITORIAL

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GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

editorial

Turning it off and back on again It’s time to consider a digital detox

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ecently, we’ve had more and more professors experimenting with asking the class to put all their tech devices away. Chances are, you’ve had this experience as well — an increasing number of professors (including those from Georgia State) are banning laptops and phones from lectures altogether.

We’ve all heard the argument about information retention and learning before. A significant amount of research has gone into proving that students remember lecture material better when they write it down. But something we’ve neglected to discuss is technology’s steady impact on social anxiety and how that’s impacting the classroom.

The prevalence of social media is undeniable.

Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat command a total of over a billion daily users. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, many believed the internet would help those with social anxiety, due to its ability to create new personalities and anonymous interactions. But studies are showing that the inundation of technology in our

lives is actually creating social anxiety. We, by and large, prefer digital communication over in-person interaction, harming our ability to develop deep interpersonal relationships.

Think about how often you’re alone in public and start flipping through your phone, looking for interaction. We’re addicted, and a single still moment triggers that disquieting stir. We’re not lonely. We’re not.

The trend is obvious in classrooms today. When students are so busy absorbing a professor’s lecture and furiously regurgitating it into Evernote, we’re less likely to engage with the lecture. “Can anyone tell me the difference between normative and affective commitment to an organization?” the professor asks the class. Deafening silence.

We could all benefit from a serious conversation on our needs and expectations about our constant digital connection. Does your work have a demanding load of emails or group chats? Do you feel heavy thinking

about unread messages? Set boundaries! You have a responsibility and an incentive to advocate for yourself.

It's clear your academic and professional performance can be as impaired as they are improved by these technologies.

Set times throughout the day where you must be by yourself and make it clear to those who count on you that you won't be reachable during that window. If this feels too strict or too harsh, consider the alternative where you are expected to be reachable 24/7.

Ironically, our phones can help us address this issue. There are a myriad of apps on either the iOS and Android markets that can help us monitor our screen time or find some peace and quiet.

Apps like Headspace, Offtime and Forest can coach you to find the balance that's healthiest for you. Start with five minutes of guided meditation or ten minutes of phone-free studying and you’ll be surprised where it takes you.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018

Jonathan Wolff leads the pack

The new head coach for the men’s tennis team Jonathan Wolff coaches on Tuesday Feb. 20.

PHOTO BY JORDAN BRACE | THE SIGNAL

What first year Head Coach Jonathan Wolff brings to the court BLAKE CORRIGAN Staff Reporter

T

he defending Sun Belt men's tennis conference champions are under new leadership this season. Well, sort of.

Jonathan Wolff, a Florida native, is leading the team this year as the official head coach after spending three months last year as the interim head coach following Brett Ross’s departure.

Wolff has always had an affinity for tennis.

With an older brother who played the sport and parents who were a driving force, the game seems like a natural fit for him. While he was around the sport for most of his young life, Wolff describes himself as a late bloomer, saying he didn't really get serious about tennis until he was around 13 years old. However, Wolff says the late bloom was a blessing in disguise because it prevented him from getting burned out from the sport, keeping his passion fresh heading into college.

The young athlete would go on to attend Wake Forest, where he would not only excel on the court, but academically as well. He was even named a team captain in his final two seasons with the Demon Deacons, proving his leadership skills well before he would be named Georgia State head coach. After his playing career at Wake Forest ended, Wolff went on to hold various jobs while obtaining his masters degree, but all roads seemed to lead back to tennis. He would later return to Wake Forest where he worked as an assistant coach for a number of years.

This position as an assistant is where Wolff would meet friend and mentor Brett Ross. Ross later became the head coach here at Georgia State and provided Wolff the opportunity to come here as an assistant coach, an opportunity Wolff would make

the most out of and later turn into a head coaching position.

Senior standout and team captain Sebastian Acuna from Miami Beach, Fla. describes Wolff as a head coach who is very caring towards his players and is someone always willing to listen. Acuna also admitted that Wolff “knows when to put his foot down when he needs to”.

“While I’m still young and can play at a high level I kinda wanted to just give it a shot [coaching] before I start getting older.”

— JONATHAN WOLFF, Tennis Coach Wolff is very aware of this and described it as one of the biggest transitions he had to make from assistant coach to becoming the head coach of the team.

Wolff said he has to “run a tighter ship” as the head coach but also understands the the biggest key is “trust in the leadership because at the end of the day everyone wants the same thing - to win.”

Freshman, Kevin Huynh echoed Acuna’s statements saying Wolff is “very strict when it comes down to things like practice and matches but all around he’s a really great guy.”

Wolff brings the best of both worlds to his players — harshness on the court and friendliness off it, something players like Huynh have come to appreciate. Wolff needs all of his players to be bought in if they hope

to defend their Sun Belt Conference title this season.

The men’s tennis team opened the 2018 season with a tough stretch of games, something Wolff scheduled intentionally. In the early portion of this season the team has faced off against some high profile schools such as Cal Poly, LSU, Auburn, Clemson and Louisville. While, these big school names may seem daunting, Wolff never felt that his team was out of a match or at a disadvantage.

The team picked up a big win over LSU but dropped matches to Cal Poly, Auburn, Clemson and Louisville, but used them as learning experiences and tools to improve according to Wolff.

“We want to be in top shape come conference time,” Wolff said.

Matches against tough opponents like those are sure to help. After a rough start to the season, the team flipped the momentum in their favor two weekends ago with some huge victories in Jacksonville, Florida. They went a perfect 2-0 two weekends ago defeating North Florida and Charlotte 4-3 and 5-2 respectively.

While the team played good as a whole, Coach Wolff pointed out one player in particular who stood out-- Kevin Huynh, who brought the much needed clutch factor. Huynh had two clinches on the weekend which Wolff described as “really big for a freshman”, but Huynh didn’t take all the credit. Instead, he deflected it on his teammates and coaches who he said kept him calm under pressure.

The team continued to build on this recent monteum shift with an a convincing 4-1 victory over South Alabama on Feb. 25 to open conference play. This victory plays perfectly into the plan Wolff formulated before the season — play the best opponents early to be ready for conference matches.

With the toughest portion of the schedule behind them the team is in a good spot heading into more conference games in the next phase of the seasons. This is in large part due to Wolff ’s leadership, the weekend sweep and the overwhelming victory over conference foe South Alabama.

The Panthers now play their next three games in Atlanta, featuring two home matches versus USC Upstate and ETSU, as well as a matchup against Georgia Tech which Wolff described as a tricky one. With Georgia State being a mid-major, these home matches are something Wolff and the players have come to cherish.

“It’s great to have that crowd out there supporting our guys,” Wolff said about the home crowd.

Combining Wolff ’s leadership with a nice home stretch and team confidence being at its highest point yet, the Panthers have positioned themselves to be a force to be reckoned with not only in the Sun Belt, but the NCAA as a whole for the remainder of this season.

WOLFF’S JOURNEY Holds a Master's Degree in Sports Administration from the University of Miami While at Wake Forest, Wolff was ranked in the top 40 in both singles and doubles by the ITA Currently leads the Panthers who are ranked number 47

SPORTS

14

Meet the eight teams competing in the spring this season.

GEORGIASTATESIGNAL.COM

PHOTOS BY UNIQUE RODRIGUEZ, JULIEANN TRAN, AND JORDAN BRACE | THE SIGNAL

Spring Sports in full swing The Panthers have eight teams competing this spring CHRISTIAN CRITTENDEN Staff Reporter

The spring sports season at Georgia State is in full swing, and all teams are geared up and ready to go for the long season they have ahead of them. Eight teams are competing in the spring this season; if you count men’s and women’s basketball during their March competition, there will actually be ten teams competing this spring.

Every year in sports, teams show up right before the season starts, pronouncing their goals of winning big, but in reality, those goals aren’t realistic. Things are different here at Georgia State, because some of the school’s strongest teams compete during the spring season. All of them will be looking to win, but just a few of them have a legit shot at winning big. That is not to knock anyone because you never know what can happen, but here are some things to look out for this spring.

NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

Both the men’s tennis and golf teams will be looking to recreate their magic from last year and repeat as conference champions. However, they will have to do so behind new head coaches. The tennis team is headed by coach Jonathan Wolff, who was an assistant last year. There is some familiarity with the players, but there is still an adjustment between the two roles.

“I would be lying if I said that assuming the head coaching role did not come with a different form of pressure than when I was an assistant coach,” Wolff said. “Fortunately, I have learned a tremendous amount under the previous head coach (Brett Ross) as he has prepared me for this opportunity over the past three seasons.”

Chad Wilson is now the coach of the men’s golf team after he takes over for Joe Inman, who is now the director of golf.

Wilson is in his first year as a head coach, but has experience as an assistant coach; he has inherited a pretty good team, so his transition shouldn’t be that hard. The team returns all but one player from last year’s squad, including senior twin stars, Alex and Max Herrmann. But with the roster he has comes heightened expectations.

“We have a great team that’s deep with talent,” Wilson said.

“Teams like this do not come around often, and anything less than making it to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the NCAA Championship will be disappointing.”

Both teams have gotten their season’s underway. The golf team

has only played in one tournaments so far-- the All-American Intercollegiate in Houston. The team didn’t do that well over the three-day period with its highest finish being 14th on day three of the tournament.

The tennis team has played in over ten matches so far this season, and their record is right around .500. The Panthers will play in a few more matches before Sun Belt Conference play starts with a matchup against Georgia Southern.

ON THE DIAMOND

The baseball and softball teams are both coming off disappointing finishes in the conference tournament last season.

Luckily for the softball team, they were able to make it to a postseason tournament.

Both teams’ return stars; the baseball team brings back pitcher Hunter Gaddis, while the softball team has Ivie Drake and Megan Litumbe back for one more season. For the softball team, it’s now or never. They are consistently good posting multiple 30 win seasons over the past few years, but this is the last year that Drake and Litumbe will be playing. Coach Roger Kincaid said himself that these are the two of the best softball players that the school has seen.

The team has rebounded from their shaky start. They have played some stiff competition this season, and it will continue as the season progresses. By the time that conference play rolls around, they will have faced several nationally ranked opponents-- Michigan, Florida, Florida State, Alabama and Auburn.

The baseball team only won 20 games last year, so that they will look to rebound from that. Head coach Greg Frady is now in his 12th season with the team. The team returns Gaddis, a pitcher for Team USA during this past summer; its top hitter catcher, Nick Gatewood; and with the addition of freshman Ryan Glass, the outlook for this season is bright.

The Panthers won their annual Atlanta Challenge this season and dropped a disappointing game to Auburn in the ninth inning. The team will also have in-state matchups with Georgia later on this season, on March 20.

TRACK & FIELD

The track and field team wrapped up its indoor portion of the season with the Sun Belt Indoor Championships. The Panthers placed eighth in the tournament; the highest individual finisher was Rashell Reid, who placed third in the weight throw. She was also named third-team All-Sun Belt Conference.

The Panthers will start their outdoor season in March at the Gamecock Invite in Columbia, South Carolina.

WOMEN’S GOLF

The women’s golf team has played in one tournament--the Amelia Island Collegiate--so far this season. They finished eighth out of the 15-team field. Freshman Chloe Howard finished seventh individually. Howard is a part of a trio along with Harmanprit Kaur and Jemima Gregson, who will lead the Panthers this season.

The Panthers are off until March 16th when they travel to Mobile, Alabama, to compete in the Bama Beach Bash.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

The Panthers are off and away with their 2018 campaign. They are hovering right around the .500 mark on the season, and will be looking to recapture the magic from two years ago when they won the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The team will be led by senior Kristin Rehse, who has had a pretty solid career at Georgia State. The won 13 matches last season, and are on pace to win around 12 or 13 so this season, with six already and around 13 more matches to go this season.

With eight teams competing this spring, it should be a fun time around Georgia State.

NOTABLE DATES AND NEWS INSIDE GSU ATHLETICS Women’s basketball Sun Belt Championship: March 6-March 11 Men’s basketball Sun Belt Championship: March 7-March 11 10 teams compete this spring Freshman Ryan Gaddis homered in his very first at-bat with Georgia State baseball Football’s spring practice opens on March 7 Blue-White game set for April 7

SPORTS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2018

15

Excelling academically and athletically

panther of the week

Rhett Harper discusses challenges of a top student-athlete D'MITRI CHIN

Associate Sports Editor

I

t is rather captivating to watch student-athletes excel at a dynamic level in their respective sports, but it is even more fascinating when they prove to be a dual-threat — exceeding expectations in the classroom as well.

During halftime of the Georgia State men's basketball game, when they squared off against UL Monroe on Feb. 10, several student-athletes at the university were recognized for their astounding GPAs. Rhett Harper, senior pitcher for the baseball team, had an overall GPA of 4.15.

Harper spoke with The Signal about their accomplishments of being top scholar-athletes.

PHOTO BY GEORGIA STATE ATHLETICS

JULIET JAMES WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Forward Juliet James enjoyed a career week in her short Georgia State career.

She snagged a career-high 17 rebounds against Texas Arlington last Saturday, nearly half of Arlington’s total. She also scored five points in 30 minutes. Two days earlier James fell one point shy of a double-double to go along with 10 rebounds against Texas State. James’ nine points was another career-high at Georgia State for her.

Rhett Harper

The Signal: Explain the challenges of being a top scholar, as well as being an athlete?

Harper: The hardest thing for me was just time management and trying to get in studying with classes, practice, workouts and all of that. I think that's the hardest part for me. Being able to manage my time and make sure I get enough studying to go into class ready and be prepared for my tests and exams.

The Signal: What are some techniques you have regarding time management?

Harper: I like to have a planner and just write down what I need to do for that day or that time.

And then after class, I just try to re-think what I did that day and then move on to the next day and what I need to prepare for, for class the next day.

The Signal: What career field do you plan on pursuing if being an athlete doesn't pan out for you?

Harper: I'm looking into a year in the [business] accounting field or the finance field, but I haven't specified yet. But I'm a double-major in finance and accounting.

The Signal: What has been your most significant accomplishment as a scholar?

Harper: I think the biggest accomplishment was

Rhett Harper proves that students can excel as athletes, as well as top scholars.

maintaining a 4.0. This will be my eighth semester here at Georgia State, and having above a 4.0 is a big accomplishment.

The Signal: What motivates you to be the best student-athlete that you can possibly be?

Harper: I think it goes along with the coaches

PHOTOS BY JULIAN PINEDA | THE SIGNAL

pushing you to be a student first because they're here to make sure you get your degree. And just make sure you have a life past sports. And along with that goes my parents. They've always pushed me since I was little to get good grades, so I think that's the most important thing.

Getting your daily greens?

Men’s golf makes appearance at a place they frequent JERELL RUSHIN Sports Editor

T

he Georgia State men’s golf team finally has familiarity on their side again. They will travel to the Grand National Golf Club for the Tiger Invitational, hosted by Auburn, a place where they’ve finished in the top five for three straight years.

This return comes after a disappointing 14th place tie in the All-American Intercollegiate, the very first match of the spring season. Grand National can serve as an unofficial home for the Panthers since they will not play at the Berkeley Hills Country Club in Duluth, Georgia during the spring.

“The good thing about the course is I’ve been on it plenty of times and a lot of guys that are already on the team have been on it a lot of times as well,” head coach Chad Wilson said. “So, it won’t be like the last course we played. It was brand new to all of us. We’ll have a better idea of what the challenge will be for our team.”

Wilson is in his first year at Georgia State, but their 3rd (2015) and 5th (2016, 2017) place finishes

at the Tiger Invitational brings some comfort to the table.

Sophomore Josh Edgar’s performance at the season-opening All-American Intercollegiate is another encouraging sign. Edgar left the AllAmerican 1-under par, good for a tie at 35th overall out of 99 competitors.

“Josh was an individual for us last week, so he didn’t play towards the team. But he beat everybody on our team. We felt like he deserved a chance to go into Auburn in or lineup.”

Alex Herrmann had a rocky start to the Humble, Texas event, but along with five birdies, he shot 3-under 69 on the final day. Herrmann isn’t pleased, but Wilson sees a turnaround effort on the horizon, so Herrmann will play in Tiger Invitational.

“He didn’t play the way he wanted to play, but we saw enough good things out of him that we’re going to be very comfortable putting him in our lineup,” Wilson said.

In 2017, Herrmann shot Georgia State’s secondlowest round at the Tiger Invitational with a 2-under par.

Nick Budd and Severin Soller are two other Panthers participating in the Tiger Invitational.

Budd and Soller placed 52nd and tied at 50th

respectively in the previous match.

Although Soller is a transfer from the SEC’s Mississippi State, he has never played at the Grand National, where Auburn calls home. In fact, Soller is one of the few Panthers on the 2017-2018 team who hasn’t played there.

Including Auburn, a handful of teams who competed in the All-American Collegiate will be at the Tiger Invitational.

“In the southeast part of the US, there’s so many great golf courses and a lot of these teams want to play on those golf courses. So you tend to see the same teams a lot in this area,” Wilson said.

Tying for 14th place out of the 18 teams is not a sharp performance, even for a season-opener.

However, numbers may not lie, but they don’t tell the entire story either.

Herrmann said the wet conditions at AllAmerican made play last longer than usual, as balls didn’t get much roll, in turn causing higher scores.

He still contends neither the course nor grounds crew were the reason for the team’s outing.

The Tiger Invitational is a great chance for this talented Panthers squad to get their footing settled before they enter midseason. The match is in Opelika, Alabama and stretches from Sunday, March 4 through March 6.

SPORTS BRIEFS Men’s Basketball — Sit at 20-9 overall and 11-5 in the Sun Belt. Three Panthers scored in doublefigures to lift Georgia State 77-50 over Texas State. Lost 89-80 to Kervey Harvey (28 pts) and Texas Arlington.

Women’s Basketball — Two-game winning streak snapped with a 62-40 loss to Texas State. Panthers held Bobcats under 40 percent shooting but shot 25.4 percent themselves. Juliet James had 17 rebounds in a 62-57 loss at Texas Arlington.

Beach Volleyball — Went 2-2 to begin the season in the Stetson Tournament. No. 12 Georgia State defeated No. 15 Stetson but fell to No. 8 South Carolina. The Panthers won and lost games against Eckerd and Florida State respectively.

correction — Bullet Journaling 101 was written by Autumn Boekeloo.

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