In fall 2022, UK’s Johnson Center recreation facility went through a series of upgrades, including the transformation of the racquetball court to an open floor plan and the addition of new equipment.
Every two years, campus recreation completes a survey on student satisfaction. The last survey, done in 2020, showed dissatisfaction with the amount of lifting equipment available to students.
“I think one of the things that the survey was asking for is more rack space, (more) power rack space,” Mark Lattin, director for campus recreation, said.
Casey Gill, the JC fitness director, also noted problems surrounding wait times were evident just by looking around the space.
“Anecdotally walking through the facility, you could see long lines of students waiting to get on those racks,” Gill said.
The center welcomed home new ICONx racks, which are specialized racks for lifting.
“The ICONx racks were customized to maximize versatility while minimizing the footprint of the equipment,” according to the UK Campus Recreation website.
The upgrades began in February 2021 and finished up just in time for the fall 2022 semester. The racks were installed by PLAE
ICONx and are the first of its kind on a college campus.
The new racks allow the JC to exponentially increase its amount of lifting racks.
“Over the last decade or so, we've added more. We went from having two racks to having 13 racks now at the Johnson Center in that timeframe,” Gill said.
The addition of the racks also saw the evolution of space in the JC. What used to be a racquetball court transformed into an area to hold the new ICONx racks.
“Utility was also taken into account when the racks were being placed. (We wanted to see) if we can get as many racks as possible, and assure it could be as multipurpose as possible,” Gill said.
The website also said the racks include space to perform Olympic lifting movements, racks with safety catch options to perform barbell movements, an adjustable bench and pulley, powerback dumbbells and kettlebells.
Reservations to use the racks can be set up using the RecWell Services Portal, which is a system accessible through UK’s campus and recreation wellness website.
The racks have already been utilized and are appreciated by students.
“The racks (in the transformed area) are a bit nicer than the ones they have out,” freshman Ryan Leocata said.
Others also reflected
on the content value of the new equipment.
“The floors are nice and the bars have a good weight distribution,” freshman Kevin Mosby said.
The ICONx racks are an addition which are meant to be unique to university recreation centers at UK.
“One of the visions that student success has for all of all programs is that we are designing and delivering unparalleled services,” Lattin said.
The ICONx racks are open for use in the JC during normal hours, and appointments for use can be made on UK’s recreation services website.
This is Humans of UK, inspired by the Humans of New York Instagram series by photographer and autho Brandon Stanton. This series dives into the individuals of UK as well as their stories, strifes and passions.
UK freshman economics major Lucas Thomas found his passion of DJ’ing at the age of 13 when he began tinkering around with online production software. His interest in music started even earlier than that.
He began playing the trumpet in elementary school, following in the footsteps of his father who once played the instrument. It did not take long for other instruments, such as guitar and tuba, to be added to his repertoire.
By the time Thomas reached middle school, he had exhausted the different ways of messing around with sheet music. He needed something new that could allow him to express more of his creative side.
Cue DJ’ing. His excitement was instantaneous.
“I was focused on all sorts of things where I could express myself,” Thomas said. “Music was a great outlet for that.”
Thomas immediately took to YouTube to find out more, even
buying online courses to learn how to make his own music.
Every step of his day became a routine: go to school, come home, go straight to his room and keep learning.
“There is a lot of practice and time spent at home that people do not get to see,” Thomas said.
By 2018, at the age of 14, Thomas scored some of his first gigs at smaller events like weddings and continued to hone his art. He eventually even took a class with the DJ for the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox.
However, DJ’ing is not Thomas’s sole interest. He has a love for music production in general.
Thomas worked alongside a filmographer for a short film
called “Silent” where he produced the soundtrack that was being sent in as an application to a New York film school.
Thomas was invited to New York to speak about the short film but COVID-19 deterred his trip. Thomas still spoke about the film via Zoom.
As college got closer, Thomas ended up taking a break from DJ’ing to focus on his applications.
When he arrived on UK’s campus for a tour, the spark was reignited.
“The outreach in Lexington is just amazing,” Thomas said.
Since becoming a student at UK, he has been given many connections and opportunities, such as DJ’ing at the pop-
ular Paddock Bar and Patio in Lexington.
“Sometimes you get a tough crowd and seeing that crowd light up is something I really like,” Thomas said.
In terms of creating a setlist that will keep the crowd engaged, he said it is much more complex than one may expect.
“The grand scheme of how it works is that not every song can be mixed with any song. For example, a slower song that is around 75 BPM cannot be mixed well with a song that is around 125 BPM,” Thomas said. “It’s all based on what’s called key matching and beat matching, so every song has to be synched perfectly all the time.”
To suit such a task, Thomas has a library of over 1,000 songs that he uses for different gigs.
Thomas hopes to continue his passion for DJ’ing and music production, seeking to pursue a future career as a DJ.
“I am going to keep pursuing it to the fullest extent and giving it my all,” Thomas said. ”If an opportunity where I can make it a career opens up, by all means I will take it. However, I am also very serious about pursuing a career in economics.”
As for the present, Thomas is fulfilled by the progress he has already made, and said he feels like he “ended up where (he is) supposed to.”
Rayleigh Deaton, editor-in-chief editor@kykernel.com
Hannah Stanley, managing editor
Gray Greenwell, copy editor
Kendall Staton, news editor news@kykernel.com
Cole Parke, sports editor sports@kykernel.com
Samantha Money & Ali Cetinok, asst. sports editors
Gray Greenwell, features editor features@kykernel.com
Karrington Garland, opinions editor opinions@kykernel.com
Jack Weaver, photo editor photo@kykernel.com
Abbey Cutrer, asst. photo editor
Akhila Nadimpalli, lead designer
Allie Hall, asst. designer
Kendall Staton, newletter coordinator
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The Kentucky Kernel won the General Excellence Award for the fifth straight year and placed in numerous news contest award categories at this year’s Kentucky Press Association (KPA) Winter Convention on Friday, Jan. 27.
Newspapers across the commonwealth submitted articles and photos for award consideration, and the KPA organized and judged the submissions by category.
For the fifth year in a row, KPA recognized the Kernel with the most prestigious honor in the collegiate class—the General Excellence Award.
Several Kernel staff members also won individual awards. Out of all news contest award categories, the Kernel received 13 firstplace finishes, 11 second-place and 14 third-place, often winning entire categories.
Kernel Editor-in-Chief Rayleigh Deaton took home several of these individual awards.
“I am humbled, thankful and incredibly proud for both the individual and Kernel-wide [awards],” Deaton said. “The staff has been an opportunity of a lifetime to work with. I’m thankful to the judges and my team for making this possible.”
Some of the individual awards came as a shock to the winners.
Abbey Cutrer, the Kernel’s Assis-
tant Photo Editor, won first place in the Best General News Photo category for a photo she took as a first-semester freshman.
“I am elated,” Cutrer said. “Winning an award for it is just something I don’t feel that I de-
serve because I’m so young, but it’s very exciting.”
Much of the Kernel staff is pleased with the outcome of the awards and the reputation it displays for the newspaper.
“For the fifth year in a row I
feel that we have proven to the state of Kentucky and its journalists that we are one of the best newspapers, not only in this state but in all of collegiate America,” Kernel Media Adviser Ryan Craig said.
Best Editorial Writer
1st place - Brooklyn Walters, Gillian King, Rayleigh Deaton
Best Breaking News Coverage
1st place - Sarah Michels
Best General News Story
3rd place - Natalie Parks
Best Columnist
1st place - Sarah Michels
3rd place - Brooklyn Walters
Best Sports Columnist
1st place - Cole Parke
3rd place - Hunter Shelton
Best Sports Story
3rd place - Hunter Shelton
Best Sports Feature Story
1st place - Cole Parke
Best Enterprise or Analytical Story
3rd place - Sarah Michels
2nd place - Rayleigh Deaton
3rd place - Natalie Parks
Best On-Going/Extended
Coverage Story
2nd place - Sarah Michels, Rayleigh Deaton
3rd place - Hannah Stanley, Gracie Moore, Bryce Towle
Best Business/Agribusiness Story
2nd place - Alexis Baker
Best Lede
1st place - Rayleigh Deaton
2nd place - Sarah Michels
Best Video
2nd place - Haley Simpkins
Best Breaking News Photo
1st place - Michael Clubb
3rd place - Maria Rauh
Best General News Photo
1st place - Abbey Cutrer
2nd place - Jack Weaver
3rd place - Jack Weaver
Best Picture Essay
1st place - Jack Weaver, Michael Clubb
2nd place - Michael Clubb, Jack Weaver
3rd place - Jack Weaver, Amanda Braman
Best Sports Picture
2nd place - Michael Clubb
3rd place - Jack Weaver
Best Sports Picture Essay
1st place - Michael Clubb, Jack Weaver
Best Special Section/Best Sports Special Section
2nd place - Staff
Best Sports Section/Page
1st place - Ryder From 3rd place - Ryder From
Best Editorial Page
Kentucky Kernel staff members pose with awards at the Kentucky Press Association Winter Convention on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington, Kentucky.
Best Investigative Story or Series
1st place - Natalie Parks
3rd place - Jack Weaver
Best Feature Photo
2nd place - Jack Weaver
1st place - Staff 2nd place - Staff
Best Front Page
3rd place - Ryder From
The UK Department of Theatre and Dance held its annual dance performance “Rooted Forces,” the third of five faculty-led productions to be put on this school year, Jan. 27-29 in Guignol Theater.
Dancers performed five different pieces, and each held a different story. Some of the performances communicated the struggles and stigma surrounding anxiety, while others showed that despite our struggles we can support each other and overcome all kinds of things.
Each dance was created by a different choreographer with a different vision, and some were fully choreographed by UK students and faculty.
“If we've done it well, every part of the mechanism tonight will be led and run and delivered by students,” Stephen Wrentmore, producer of the season, said.
Though it was a faculty production, the main goal of Wrentmore and the rest of the staff was to make sure students were very involved in every step of the process.
“That relationship with the live event and the performing arts … students receive an experience that we can’t fake in the classroom,” Wrentmore said.
The concert consisted of five different pieces: “Layers…and what’s in between,” “My Head
Lies,” “Unspoken Dialogue,” “Blueprints” and “Lividly .2.”
Theresa Bautista choreographed “Layers…and what’s in between.” She is an instructor of dance within the Theatre and Dance Department at UK and served as artistic director for the show.
Bautista is an artist based out of Louisville, Kentucky, and has been commuting for the last 8 years to teach at UK.
“The students and department are terrific and wonderful,” she said. “It’s definitely worth my time to come to Lexington two days a week to teach.”
Bautista has been brought in as a guest choreographer in some of the department’s past productions, but she said her role as artistic director let her oversee the entire performance.
Bautista said her responsi-
bilities in “Rooted Forces” included working with everyone to make sure all aspects of the show come together.
Michele Haynes, one of the dancers in the “Blueprints” piece, is a senior majoring in theater and minoring in dance.
Haynes said it was nice to come back to dance, since she hasn't done it much since high school. She also said it was nice to work with everyone in the
department and put her all into her performance.
“It kind of was a way for me to close a chapter on college, but also revisit an old chapter and dance,” Haynes said.
She said preparing for a performance like this is a lot about relaxing and trusting yourself, she also mentioned all the fun she had preparing to go on stage.
Haynes said she enjoys making people feel things, and dancing makes for a “rewarding experience.”
Several UK students attended the concert, two of whom were seniors who met in a dance class their freshman year.
Lucia Sanchez, a marketing and fashion merchandising major and KRNL fashion co-editor, and Kendall Rollman, a human health sciences major, said they knew some of the dancers and wanted to come support the arts.
“I was just impressed at the length of the duration of the pieces, and the stamina that all the dancers have,” Sachez said.
Both agreed the performances were very impressive, but the second piece, “My Head Lies,” was their overall favorite.
Bautista said she hoped to watch all their hard work come together and wanted the audience to know it's okay to feel their emotions. “I want them to know that it's okay to walk away with questions,” she said.
Sad girl winter is setting into my spine. I’m not a fan of cold weather. And I like to take snow in doses, never lasting more than an hour in the harsh cold it sets upon us.
Unless I can admire it from the comfort of my room, with no desire to venture out, then I am perfectly fine with it for a little while.
But as the days have gotten gloomier and grayer, I can’t help but feel my mood descend into the bottomless pit that is seasonal depression. When I came across Cardi B’s tweet on Jan. 19, I felt so understood.
Three simple words encapsulated my whole mood and how I felt the rest of this cold season would be for me. It was going to be a “Sad girl winter,” and I felt myself fully embracing it.
Although this past week held some semi-sunny days, they were still windy and cold. And when winter graces this campus fully, and the snow days eventually hit later in the winter season, I’m going to miss the warmer days immensely.
Winter in Lexington is beautiful but utterly sad and bare to me. Even though the cold doesn’t stop people from going to class during the week or out on the weekends, afternoons still feel desolate to me when out and about midwinter.
With these things in mind,
I am fully embracing a sad girl winter but not letting it permeate my whole mood this season. I am going to try to find the little joys this winter, and I encourage anyone else who gets naturally sad this season to do the same.
There are so many places
worth venturing to during the winter months here. Some of my favorite places to go are the numerous coffee shops spread out around Lexington.
On gloomy and gray days, Brevede Coffee Co., Third Street Coffee and Coffee Times are great and aesthetically cozy plac-
es for sipping on a hot cortado and cracking open a book to read.
For entertainment, Lex Live and the Kentucky Theatre have a plethora of movies to choose from and act as great pastimes when the weather is less than ideal.
If retail therapy is your guilty pleasure, Vintage Therapy, Sir John and the Lexington Peddlers Mall are interesting places to find unique clothes and knickknacks.
All these places are good ways to get out of the house and still stay out of the cold for longer than necessary. If coffee and retail therapy aren’t your cup of tea, there are other ways to find joy this season.
Mindfulness and meditation are good ways to calm nerves or anxieties that might manifest this semester, too. And journaling is a cheap way to purge insecurities, set goals, and optimize time and future plans.
I encourage anyone who gets sad during the winter months to embrace it, but not wallow in it. Try to find small joys and successes to get you through this time—it will make it go by even faster.
As an out-of-state college student, my tuition at this university is steep – upwards of $50,000 a year. However, thanks to a scholarship that takes care of a large amount of it, I am fortunate enough to reach this height in my educational journey.
But the price for education has always been high, and I’ve always wondered exactly what we are paying for each year. Besides room and board, books and basic school supplies, what else is our tuition money covering?
If you didn’t already know, the 2022-2023 Tuition and Mandatory Fee Assessment Policy and the Additional Program, Course and other Student Fees for 2022-2023 are laid out on UK’s Student Account Services website.
These two documents detail the different costs of a vast variety of fees that students at UK are paying for or have already paid for this academic year.
In all honesty, I expected to be paying a whole lot more than $681.50 in student fees for be-
ing a full-time student this year. I noticed how the breakdown of some fees were for things all UK students would benefit from: Technology, Campus Recreation and the Student Activities Board (SAB) were among those included.
That is, if students fully take advantage of the events, opportunities and activities on campus held by the services listed above. And not all students want to participate in campus life or partake in the services available to us.
I know that as great as Alumni Gym and the Johnson Center facilities are, that last time I stepped foot in either was two years ago. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my experiences at these places, but living off-campus, I don’t feel the need to venture to either for a workout.
And I’ve been to very few events hosted by the SAB in my almost four years at this university. A part of me doesn’t mind that I’m paying for these fees. I understand that without them I might not have been lucky enough to score tickets to Lizzo’s concert coming up on April 22.
I also would not have seen so many movies through WRFL’s Film Club series in Worsham Cinema during my first two years of school here, when I needed to escape from reality for a little while.
I miss those memories and would jump at the chance to go to another film hosted by them in the future.
I wonder how students who maybe weren’t aware of the extra fees would feel. And how students who don’t necessarily want to pay for all these stu-
dent fees if they have no desire to take part in them would feel. These fees are mandatory.
Or broadly, are students understanding and not caring that these fees are mandatory because it helps support the collective community here at UK? Are there other fees that should be reflected in the assessment?
A part of me thinks the option of opting out of the fees and getting a choice in adding them onto your tuition at the start of the academic year should be considered. College is already expensive as is.
If students don’t want to partake in the opportunities, events or the recreational facilities, should they be allowed to opt out? Or is the greater contribution to the campus community more important?
I think as an institution, UK would like students to recognize that these contributions are for the greater student body, but I also don’t think individuals should pay for fees they personally do not benefit from or care to utilize. I think the choice should be up to us to make.
By Alexis Baker and Michael Smallwood features@kykernel.com
Perfect North Slopes will host College Nights on Friday, Feb. 3, and Saturday, Feb. 4.
The lodge is widely renowned as a popular spot to ski, snowboard and snow tube. College Night will make the experience more accessible for students who are often on a tight budget.
Upon showing a student ID at College Night, students will receive a discount on activities and equipment.
“Perfect North Slopes is a ski area in Southeast Indiana offering Skiing, Snowboarding, and Snow Tubing,” Perfect North Slope’s website said. “We offer ski and snowboard lessons, equipment rental, delicious food options and a ski lodge where you can swap stories about your day on the snow.”
A little over an hour and a half drive from UK, it is the closest skiing resort to campus.
Kameron Mullins, a UK sophomore majoring in marketing with a minor in media arts studies, has been attending Perfect North Slopes for the past five years.
Mullins has been to Paoli Peaks in Indiana as well but, when comparing the two, he said Perfect North Slopes provides more variety.
“Paoli is a lot smaller,
I think it’s better to learn there, but Perfect North it’s got more of a variety. It’s got more terrain parks, the center stage, a bunch of bunny hills and stuff like that,” Mullins said. “(Perfect North Slopes) is very friendly to all levels of learning … If we had to relate it to schools, that’s a private school and Paoli is a public school.”
According to Perfect North Slope’s calendar of events, a 4 p.m.-midnight lift ticket will be $50, an 8 p.m.-midnight lift ticket will be $40, ski/snowboard rentals are reduced to $24, and snow tubing is $25 after 4 p.m. for up to two hours.
Compared to regular pricing, the general admission price for an eight-hour lift ticket is $72. A night of savings puts money back in students’ pockets that they can spend on necessities or other extracurriculars back in their college towns.
While the facility is accommodating for those invested in spending their day on the slopes, Perfect North Slopes also provides an environment for a casual day with friends. This environment can predominantly be seen on College Nights.
Steven Benson, a 29-yearold student at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis has been to the slopes for the past five seasons and participated in the
College Nights.
“Sometimes the rental fees can be a lot if you can only make it out here for a few hours, but with the reduced price it allows a lot more friends to come out here in bigger groups,” Benson said. “Overall I’d say it’s a really fun time and a great opportunity for new people to experience the slopes.”
Perfect North is home to both experienced skiers and snowboarders as well as beginners.
According to Perfect
North’s snow report, there are a variety of trails categorized as easiest, more difficult, adv. intermediate, most difficult and experts only. This allows for a separation of skillset and a more enjoyable time at the slopes for all participants.
Maxwell Ricks, a 20-yearold student at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, has been to Perfect North for several years but has recently started snowboarding.
“I like learning new tricks,
adventuring off the path, finding new jumps and places to snowboard,” Ricks said.
Many slope participants use their time to develop their skills to become serious about skiing and snowboarding.
“You can be a little discouraged by your first couple days. Don’t be afraid to fail,” Benson said. “Practice might not make perfect, but practice definitely makes improvement … before you know it, you’ll be riding like you’ve been riding for forever.”
Self-dubbed misogynist Andrew Tate is impacting the way that young men treat women and view masculinity.
Tate is a 36-year-old internet personality and former kickboxer. Now, he owns Hustlers University, which has online courses aimed at men who want to grow their wealth quickly.
In 2016, Tate was in the British reality show “Big Brother,” but was taken off of the show for rape and sexual violence allegations. Amidst these allegations, a video of Tate beating a woman with a belt surfaced on the internet, which he said was just a “kink thing” and wasn’t abuse.
Members of Hustlers University are encouraged to share videos of Tate on social media to recruit new members, with a commission incentive.
Because of this, videos of Tate being openly misogynistic started to circulate on TikTok around August.
Among Tate’s statements included him explaining what he would do to a woman if she were to cheat on him, to which he said, “It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck.”
Tate states that women should not be allowed to drive or leave the house and that they are a man’s property.
He also believes that fe-
male rape victims have to take responsibility, and he dates younger women because they are impressionable.
Along with his discussion of women’s inferiority to men, Tate earned a ban from Twitter in 2017 for posting homophobic and racist slurs. His account has since been reinstated by new Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
The culmination of his alle-
gations and comments came in December, when Tate and his brother were arrested in Romania on rape and human trafficking charges.
Tate’s outward disdain for women is reaching millions of young, impressionable boys. Studies have shown that social media heavily impacts the vulnerable minds of children and young adults.
Tate is spreading ideals that are extremely harmful to minority groups and glorifying domestic abuse towards women. His masculine persona can make young men believe that in order to be a man, you have to support abuse and violence.
Since Tate has declared himself a self-help coach, the effects of his courses can start small. His members might begin by
changing small aspects of their lives, like going to the gym and working harder.
But the effects of Tate don’t stop there. Business Insider shared a Kentucky educator’s statement about how boys are talking about girls in school.
Allie Chmielewski said that she has heard boys saying they wish to go back to the 1950s when women didn’t have many rights.
She also recalled boys saying that “women take care of (men), but we’re gonna control you.”
I’ve heard many guys at UK laugh at Tate’s harmful comments. To me and many other women, these aren’t jokes.
It’s disconcerting to think about men following after Tate’s domestic abuse. Seeing a man who preaches masculinity and abuses women both verbally and physically has had terrifying effects on young men and boys.
There are plenty of ways to be an influencer and have an entertaining platform that teaches other men how to grow their wealth and careers without being abusive towards women.
Being masculine has nothing in common with abuse, and it’s time that men stop believing that.
Tate and any person who preaches abusive masculinity or hateful ideals has no place in the media that affects young people so strongly.
Windy, gray and freezing cold — that’s been the trend for January weather at the University of Kentucky.
When walking to class feels like crossing the Arctic tundra, it can be especially difficult to get out of bed for some students.
Sufferers of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), defined by the American Psychological Association as “a type of depression that lasts for a season, typically the winter months, and goes away during the rest of the year” have been struggling on campus lately.
According to Matt Southward, research assistant professor of psychology at UK, symptoms of SAD include general sadness, oversleeping, fatigue, lack of energy and motivation, self-isolation, lack of interest in usual passions, overeating and, in extreme cases, suicidal thoughts.
Southward said the causes of SAD are not certain but are thought to be primarily a combination of biological and environmental factors, whereas common depression is often brought on by stressors in people’s lives.
Shorter days and less sunlight may trigger a chemical change in the brain. Other factors that may come into play include vitamin D insufficiency
and confused circadian rhythm from the lack of sunlight, Southward said.
SAD is more severe than the average person’s tendency to feel down when the weather is unpleasant.
“It’s when it starts to be that level of impairment,” Southward said. “It’s making it hard for you to do the things you care about, to be with the people you care about, to function in the ways you want. That could be a good indication that you’re experiencing a clinical condition rather than the pretty typical slowing down that happens.”
Katie Mushkin, sophomore at UK, was diagnosed with SAD her senior year of high school and said her feelings of impairment start around November of each year.
“It takes away a lot of my motivation and my energy,” Mushkin said. “I find myself less willing to do things. It’s harder to get out of bed, go to my classes, do things with my friends or want to go out.”
This is out of character for Mushkin, who is vice president of recruitment for her sorority Phi Sigma Rho and spends her summers counseling a summer camp.
“I work at a summer camp and have to be at work by 6:45 (a.m.), and it was so much easier for me to do that than it is to even get up on the weekends and get lunch or something during the
winter,” Mushkin said.
Freshman Zoey Drexel’s SAD also makes it difficult for her to get out of bed despite her love of being outdoors.
In the winter, Drexel misses being able to get fulfillment from spending time in nature. She hopes to work in a national park one day.
“I find happiness outside. Being outside is one of the biggest things for me. And when it’s colder, it’s just not as enjoyable,” Drexel said. “So that definitely makes it more difficult just to get going. Once I’m up, it’s easier, but like, I just want to
be in bed all the time.”
Each winter, Drexel finds herself caught up in a cycle many with SAD can relate to. She doesn’t have enough energy to get out of bed and hang out with friends, but because she isn’t seeing her friends as much, she misses the energy she usually gets from them.
“So when I’m having a more depressive episode, I tend to self-isolate and cut off those friendships,” Drexel said. “Being the extrovert I am and how I prosper off of friendships, it’s harder to do as well when I’m not taking care of myself.”
Mushkin also sees her friendships impacted by SAD.
“It’s hard to make myself want to go to the library or go out with my friends,” Mushkin said. “So I find myself canceling plans a lot because I just have no energy to go do things. I spend less time with them and sort of pull away.”
Drexel said her grades tend to suffer during the colder parts of the semester because of her low motivation. She also has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which doesn’t help mediate the effects of her SAD.
Continued from pg. 10
ADHD makes remembering and completing tasks difficult on its own, so the combination of ADHD and SAD can be especially hard to manage. Southward said a combination of disorders can make the manifested symptoms stronger.
“You start adding other disorders on it and they start to multiply their effects,” Southward said. “If you add anything to (SAD), it will probably exacerbate it.”
Mushkin also experiences exacerbated effects of SAD due to her anxiety.
“I think the anxiety makes the SAD worse because when I get anxious about something during that period, it tends to be a lot more debilitating than when I am otherwise in a good headspace,” Mushkin said.
Southward said col-
lege-aged people may be at increased risk for SAD. SAD occurs in 5% of the U.S. population and most commonly starts in young adulthood (ages 20-30) according to Mental Health America.
Having dealt with SAD since high school, Mushkin said it has worsened since coming to college.
“I think college was a lot worse because I wasn’t living at home, I was spending more time by myself and I was having to be outside a lot more, so I had to deal with the weather a lot more than when I was living at home and being inside at school all day,” Mushkin said.
There are many ways SAD can be combated, varying in effectiveness from person to person.
Southward said SAD can be treated with cognitive behavioral therapy, sunlight
replacements like vitamin D supplements and light boxes and psychotropic medications.
For college students specifically, Southward suggested that a consistent sleep schedule be established. He said students should try to wake up at the same time every day to balance their circadian rhythm and maximize energy in the dreary winter months.
Southward also said students should try and socialize even when it’s hard to go outside.
“Really rely on that social network,” he said. “Plan activities, commit, say, ‘Hey, it does feel crappy out, but let’s do something together.’ I think that social activity can have a really nice buffering effect during these kinds of months.”
Mushkin and Drexel both said that seeing their friends helps them feel better even on
days they woke up feeling antisocial.
For Mushkin, sticking to a schedule and focusing on “the little things that don’t necessarily depend on the season” help the most.
“I find it better to have little things to look forward to,” Mushkin said. “I love being able to wear shorts and T-shirts when it’s warm, so I’ve tried to pick out a cute outfit that I want to wear that’s suitable for the cold weather and would make me feel better about being outside when it’s not feeling great.”
Drexel is a primary caretaker for Wildcat Service Dogs and said that having a constant fluffy companion is an effective coping mechanism. The responsibility of caring for her dog gets her out of bed and her dog’s energy improves her mood.
“(The dogs) are so good and it’s really easy to say, ‘Oh you’re antsy? Okay, time to get up and move,’ and just get the blood flowing,” Drexel said.
While SAD looks different for everyone, Southward offered advice all sufferers of SAD and other mental illnesses can use.
“With depression, it is really easy for us to blame ourselves or to feel like ‘I can’t do things, so it must be my fault.’ Recognize that this is something that is not uncommon and it’s not a personal failing,” Southward said. “Be compassionate about ourselves, and then extend that to each other.”
For mental health support and resources on campus, visit https://www.uky. edu/counselingcenter/.
With the second ever varsity season for Kentucky STUNT just around the corner, it’s hard to imagine the season will mean more to anyone than Caitlin Barenbaum.
One of six seniors on a team of 40 athletes, Barenbaum’s entire collegiate experience has been intertwined with the STUNT team on campus, beginning her journey with the team years before it became a varsity sport for the university.
Having been on the cheerleading and softball teams for Grayslake North High School in Grayslake, Illinois, Barenbaum was no stranger to hard work heading into college.
Her journey with STUNT in particular was unexpected for even Barenbaum herself, with her story with the program beginning the same way many stories do for college students: being bored freshman year and simply wanting to be involved in something on campus.
Originally looking at joining the club softball team on campus, she came to discover STUNT, which was a club sport at that time, and after a quick call to her high school cheer coach, she was set on joining.
“She (Barenbaum’s high
school cheer coach) gave me the rundown on everything and told me what it was and I was like, ‘Alright, I’ll go try out,’” Barenbaum said. “Once I made the team, it just went from there. I took over as president of the club at the end of my freshman year and kind of helped the path to us becoming a Division-1 sport, so it’s been a dream come true really.”
With the club earning “recommended sport” status her freshman year, Barenbaum dedicated much of the next year working hard to turn that recommendation into a reality and ensure that STUNT would be a varsity sport.
“That (recommended sport status) came with a lot of different club meetings as to what it actually meant and the different steps through that,” she said. “A lot of talking to the right people. I was in contact with Miss Sandy Bell a lot throughout that process and just asked her what she could tell me. There was a lot she couldn’t tell me so it was always kind of a struggle, but keeping in touch with her and really getting those different connections made it so that we kept STUNT in her head and we could keep moving up.”
Being an ambassador for the club was far from all of Barenbaum’s work to ensure STUNT would receive varsi-
ty status, with the then-sophomore working hard as president to ensure the team as a whole followed all university guidelines and didn’t find itself in any trouble that would put varsity status at risk.
“(I had to) make sure it was a program that they (UK) wanted to represent,” Barenbaum said. “As much as it was a lot of work, it was also pretty easy because most of the girls that were on the team really wanted this too, so I think that communal drive we all had to become Division-1 athletes was really helpful, because no one wanted to screw it up. No one wanted to be that person. Everyone got a guideline that everyone followed nearly to a tee.”
Finally, Barenbaum’s efforts paid off Sept. 10, 2021, when UK Athletics announced STUNT as the newest varsity sport on campus. Barenbaum, after all her hard work, had the news broken to her through an Instagram post.
“It was actually kind of funny because no one from athletics could tell us until the official press release went out, so I found out through Instagram,” she said. “My mom called me and was like, ‘Did you see this?’ and I was like, ‘See what?’ She told me to open Instagram right now and so I did.”
While her campaigning
had paid off, the work was far from done, with the announcement not only adding a ton of excitement but also posing many questions that needed to be answered.
“The next day (after the announcement) I was sitting in meeting after meeting with everyone in athletics trying to get everything organized,” Barenbaum said. “It was kind of a crazy process and it was really exciting.”
The promotion to varsity status also meant a promotion in amenities, with the team moving out of their old practice building in the Seaton Center and into Memori-
al Coliseum.
“We got to move over to Memorial to practice and that was, like, a huge deal,” Barenbaum said. “(We had been practicing) in Seaton, so we had these little tiny mats that we were rolling out every day. Our first day in Memorial, we all just walked around looking at everything. I think we’re really appreciative that they put us in this position and gave us the opportunity because truthfully, even as president, I felt like I was doing everything I could but we weren’t quite sure it was going to happen.”
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Barenbaum said her biggest motivating factor that kept her going was just wanting to leave something behind and leaving her mark on the campus.
“This will be my legacy,” she said. “I think just leaving something behind (pushed me to keep going), and not only pushing myself but pushing these younger girls because I know how hard it was for us to get here. Practicing outside in the snow during COVID with masks on and way too many hoodies. Just the difference from then until now, it’s really something that I want to make sure everyone else knows, like what it took to get here so that legacy and that journey isn’t forgotten about.”
Barenbaum added that the day she found out STUNT had earned varsity status is her favorite memory from her entire collegiate experience.
“Yes, I want to graduate and get my degree and all of those things but I had to keep working towards that and (it felt) like the work is done,” she said. “I just needed to let it happen so I think that day was huge. I finally accomplished what I wanted to do.”
UK STUNT’s second varsity season, and final season for Barenbaum, is set to kickoff on Saturday, Feb. 4, with the annual Blue-White scrimmage. The team will then take a trip to Texas for the Dallas Baptist Tournament, facing off against Arizona State, Jessup, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State from Feb. 16-18 to begin the regular season.
When diving into the world of baseball, the plight of the minor league player is one that has been well-documented as a story of overcoming hurdles and defying the odds.
Living in less than ideal circumstances and making less than ideal wages for a chance to hold onto a dream — that one day the athletes can achieve their dreams of playing in the MLB, no matter how unlikely.
While it’s a story wellknown by the casual baseball fan, the sport has another subset of people with a love for the game who give it everything they have for a chance at accomplishing their dreams: volunteer assistant coaches.
For years, college baseball has refused to allow a third paid assistant coach, leading to a phenomenon known as “volunteer coaching,” in which those with a dream of making it in coaching take on all of the workload of normal coaches without a wage or benefits.
UK volunteer assistant Nick Ammirati is one of those coaches.
“We’ve probably lost a lot of great coaches over the years just because financially they couldn’t continue to coach,” Ammirati said. “Those people have worked basically for free for a long time. It’s called a volunteer position but it’s a full time position.”
Ammirati, dubbed “Ammo” during his playing days, started his journey as a player, playing at Panola College in Texas, which led to him being drafted by the Miami Marlins.
Opting to return to college, Ammirati transferred to Mississippi State, where he played two seasons and helped the Bulldogs to a runner-up season in the College Baseball World Series in 2013.
He said his stint in Starkville would ultimately change his life in ways he never could have expected, with one of Ammirati’s coaches on that team being none other than Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione.
“I had the privilege of coaching Nick Ammirati at Mississippi State so here’s a track record there,” Mingione said.
“I watched how he evolved, I
watched him go from a player to a college coach and now an SEC coach. He was the starting catcher on our 2013 national championship runner up team, so I watched the way he interacted with (everyone else) and he was a huge piece of that puzzle.”
Ammirati came to decide coaching was his calling almost immediately after his playing career ended.
He didn’t shy away from the reality of what being a volunteer coach entailed, detailing the difficult journey he’s undergone.
“I’ve gone periods of six months without getting a paycheck,” Ammirati said. “You just got to find ways to make money out of it. A lot of people teach lessons on the side to teach younger kids. A lot of guys have other jobs and where they have
to work which is tough because you’re at baseball all the time.”
Ammirati also touched on how the salary often isn’t the worst of the volunteer position, with the lack of health benefits being a big factor as well.
“(Benefits) give you peace of mind,” he said. “A lot of great coaches had to be like, ‘I can’t do this anymore. I want to start a family.’ It’s hard to have a child without health care.”
With the situation seeming bleak after five years of demands, college baseball fans across the country rejoiced when it was announced in January that the NCAA Division-1 Council approved a measure to turn all volunteer positions into full-time coaching positions without recruiting constraints.
“As long as I can remember, there were volunteer coaches,” Mingione said. “I would venture to say that the other 13 head coaches in our league were all probably volunteers at one point. It’s definitely going to open some doors at all levels.”
With Kentucky baseball set to kick off the 2023 season Friday, Feb. 17, in Elon, North Carolina, coaches and fans alike will be able to enjoy the season not just for the entertainment it provides but also with the knowledge that it will be the final season without a third paid assistant.
The legislation allowing volunteer coaches to become fulltime paid coaches is set to go into effect on July 1.
Kentucky mens basketball defeated Ole Miss 75-66 on the road in Oxford, Mississippi, on Tuesday night, with veteran point guard Antonio Reeves stealing the spotlight.
The transfer from Illinois State racked up a season high of 27 points against the Rebels with 18 of those points coming from beyond the arc. In total, Reeves shot 66% (8-12) from the field and 86% (6-7) on 3-pointers.
Coming off the bench, Reeves wasted no time getting started, scoring within just two minutes of stepping onto the court around seven minutes into the game.
Before Ole Miss could even adjust to his presence, Reeves had nine points on the scoreboard, only missing one of his field goal attempts in the first half.
Reeves’ hot streak continued as his point total kept growing early in the second half, with the Wildcat doubling the number of points he had already put up to allow Kentucky to find itself with a 14-point lead over the Rebels in the closing minutes.
After a relatively slow offensive start for Kentucky at the beginning of the game, the fire that Reeves brought to court no doubt contributed to the Cats finding their footing more in the second half.
Following Reeves, who led all scorers, Jacob Toppin finished
the night with 18 points while Oscar Tshiebwe found himself with his 54th career double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, likely having been able to take advantage of the spacing created by Reeves forcing the Rebels defenders to guard the perimeter as well as the paint.
In addition to his success behind the line, Reeves made all five of his free throw attempts in the winning effort, improving his free throw streak to 21 points.
Reeves’ 27 points marked the fourth highest total by a Kentucky player off the bench in the John Calipari era. It’s also the most points any Wildcat coming off the bench has racked up since PJ Washington’s 28 points against Auburn in March of 2019. Since coming to Lexington in the offseason, Reeves has been one of the more consistent players for the Cats. Tuesday’s matchup against the Rebels marked his eighth game in a row recording
a double-digit point total and his 17th time all season.
His 27 points was just seven shy of his career-high of 34 points that he knocked down for Illinois State last season against the Valparaiso Beacons.
While at Kentucky, Reeves’ previous season-high came against Texas A&M on Jan. 21, when he led the Cats with 23 points.
With the Ole Miss win, Kentucky improved to 15-7 overall
and 6-3 in the league. The win also meant, after breaking its 28game home win streak against South Carolina earlier this month, Kentucky have claimed victory in their past three away games and five of their last six games period. Reeves and the rest of the Wildcats will return home this weekend to host the Florida Gators inside Rupp Arena on Saturday, Feb. 4. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST and can be watched live on ESPN.
Kentucky womens basketball looks to build on its second SEC win of the season as the Wildcats travel to face No. 1 South Carolina, who stands at 21-0 this season, in Columbia on Thursday.
The matchup will be the second time the two teams have played each other this season, with South Carolina defeating Kentucky 95-66 inside Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 12.
The earlier meeting between the Gamecocks and Cats remained close through three quarters of play, with the score at 59-51 going into the fourth. Unfortunately for head coach Kyra Elzy’s team, USC would go on to outscore UK 36-15 in the final quarter to pull away for a lopsided victory.
Something worth noting for Kentucky is that the 66 points scored on South Carolina is the second-highest total any team has scored against the No. 1 team in the nation this season with only No. 2 Stanford scoring more with 71 in an overtime loss.
Since the loss in Lexington earlier this season, Kentucky is 2-2 in its last four games with losses by one point at Mississippi State and three points to Auburn at home.
The Wildcats also recorded a win at Florida and a 23-point
win over Missouri in their last time out, meaning the Wildcats should have plenty of confidence heading into Columbia as opposed to the eight-game losing streak they were on prior.
Jada Walker, Blair Green, Maddie Scherr and Robyn Benton all scored in double figures against Missouri as Kentucky went for 29-56 from the field and hit eight 3-pointers. The Wildcats also forced Missouri into 22 turnovers.
Regardless of the offensive burst from the team, the Wildcats will be leaning heavily on Scherr on Thursday, with the former Oregon Duck having recorded two 20-plus point games in a row, bringing her season average up to 10.9 points per game.
Scherr also leads the conference in assists per game with five and is the only player in the conference averaging at least five in three statistical
categories with 5.7 boards per game and five assists per game as well.
Regardless of Scherr’s impressive feats, Benton is currently leading the team in scoring with 18.4 points per game in conference action, having scored double-digits in every game she has played in this season.
Walker is also coming off an 18-point performance that helped lead Kentucky to victo-
ry on Sunday, averaging 13.7 points per game so far this season.The sophomore point guard also leads the league in steals with 51 and steals per game at 2.4.
Walker also has the second highest free-throw percentage in the SEC, hitting from the stripe 82.7% of the time.
With the Wildcats standing at 10-11 on the season and 2-7 in conference play, the situation is still dire, but not impossible as last season proved.
Just one year ago the Cats went on a nine-game run during February and March to make the NCAA Tournament and even claim an SEC Championship, last defeating eventual National Champions South Carolina, with the win over the Gamecocks standing as the Wildcats’ last ranked victory.
With memories of last season still fresh in the minds of many on Elzy’s squad, the Wildcats will be hoping that history repeats itself this season.
Two wins in the SEC now mean the Cats can start having the confidence to go on a run once again, but it will be no easy feat, with the undefeated reigning champions standing in their way.
Tipoff inside Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina, is set for Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. EST and can be watched live on the SEC Network.
Kentucky mens basketball defeated Ole Miss 75-66 in Oxford, Mississippi, on Tuesday, improving to 5-1 in its last six games.
Despite the eventual victory, it was a slow one to start against the Rebels. With an ice storm brewing outside and news breaking that freshman point guard Cason Wallace would be out with a knee injury, the energy inside The Pavilion was low.
With Wallace averaging 13 points in his last four games, his absence was one that Kentucky would have to adjust to.
Regardless of Wallace’s absence, Ole Miss had injuries heading into the matchup themselves, being without its two biggest threats with Matthew Murrell, who averages 14.9 points per game, being out due to injury and Daeshaun Ruffin, who averages 9.5 points per game, who stepped away from the team due to personal reasons.
Stepping up in place of Wallace was Sahvir Wheeler, who recorded only a single bucket in the first half but provided three assists.
In the first half as a whole the Cats scored just 32 points, going 11-25 from the field with Antonio Reeves leading Kentucky with nine points.
The biggest concern for head
coach John Calipari was likely Oscar Tshiebwe’s lack of influence on the game at the halfway point, with “Big O” having shot the ball just four times in the first half and only scoring four points.
The Cats were able to pull away in the second half in large part due to Tshiebwe, who surged back with nine points and five rebounds to earn his 53rd double-double of his career.
Jacob Toppin also had a great second half, scoring 12 points after going 4-6 from the field.
Reeves once again led the Cats in their second half pull away, scoring 18 points and going perfect from beyond the arc, hitting all three of his 3-point attempts.
Reeves’ 27 points on Tuesday also meant the Illinois State transfer has recorded a double-digit point total in the last eight games, also marking the 17th time this season.
The inspired performance likely prevented Kentucky from suffering a potentially season-crushing result, with the Cats’ resume simply being unable to handle two losses to the bottom two teams in the SEC.
With Reeves showing he can take charge as a primary scorer, many Kentucky fans surely took a sigh of relief regarding injuries, with the performance showing just how many options
Calipari has on offense. Even more encouraging for the Cats is that CJ Fredrick still hasn’t played his best basketball, recording zero points in Oxford.
Regardless of the bounce back win in Oxford, another slow start for Kentucky is something to be wary of as the season progresses and as the Cats look to solidify themselves as a NCAA tournament
team.
Tuesday night very well could have served as a trap game for the Wildcats, with injuries and a low energy level going in creating the perfect mix for a road upset.
Luckily for Calipari’s squad, Reeves’ spectacular shooting performance pulled them ahead just enough to avoid yet another potential disaster.
The Wildcats will still need
to improve how they start games going forward, welcoming a dangerous Florida team into Rupp Arena on Saturday. With the Wildcats currently projected as one of the last four into the NCAA Tournament, any loss could spell disaster for Calipari’s Cats.
Tipoff against the Gators is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 4, and will air live on ESPN.
