RED: 2022 NC State Baseball/Softball — Technician 2/17/22

TECHNICIAN F EB RU ARY 17, 2022

VOL . 102 | NO. 21

RED

2022 NC STATE BASEBALL / SOFTBALL

Contents

2 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

IN THIS ISSUE: page

State received $16 03 NC million for esport arenas

WHAT YOU MISSED: A quick look at the headlines in and outside of NC State

Homefield Apparel releases vintage NC State clothing items On Feb. 12, Homefield Apparel released a new collection of vintage-inspired NC State merchandise.

The line consists of 14 new shirts and sweatshirts featuring Tuffy, Howling Cow and classic NC State iconography like the slobbering wolf.

NEWS page

06

SOURCE: HOMEFIELD APPAREL

Group projects are the worst

Eight people in plane crash near Outer Banks A plane carrying eight passengers, including four teenagers, crashed on Sunday on the NC coast. One body has been found but the search for the other seven still continues. The plane was headed back to Beaufort, North Carolina after a youth hunting trip.

OPINION

SOURCE: THE NEWS & OBSERVER page

What’s on the Table?

10 facilitates discussions

on Blackness, open discussions for students

Los Angeles Rams win 2022 Super Bowl On Sunday, the Los Angeles Rams won the Super Bowl with a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Rams scored a last minute touchdown in the final 90 seconds, securing their victory during the neck and neck game. Pack Pros and Bengals members B.J. Hill and Germaine Pratt both turned in solid performances despite the loss.

CULTURE

SOURCE: NBC page

12

Brittany Jackson carrying tradition of great Wolfpack softball center fielders

The Chester Zoo discovered the birth of a baby aardvark in the enclosure of mother and father aardvarks, Oni and Koos. Though the gender of the baby is not determinable yet, staff named the aardvark Dobby, after the resemblance to the Harry Potter character. The newborn is receiving around-the-clock care.

SPORTS

Events to keep an eye on for the week of Feb. 17

DINNER AND DRAG Thursday, Feb. 17, 7-8:30 p.m.

STATE BALLROOM Free Ever wanted to attend a drag show?

Now’s your chance — the University Activities Board will host one in Talley this Thursday, complete with catered food, a chance to win a raffle basket and, of course, a fabulous performance.

GLBT CENTER CLOTHING SWAP Friday, Feb. 18, 3:30-5 p.m.

GLBT CENTER Free If you’re looking for some free, fashionable secondhand clothing, you’re in luck. The GLBT Center will host a clothing exchange this weekend.

Students are encouraged to donate gently used clothing of their own before picking up fun new pieces from their peers.

FILM SCREENING AND Q&A WITH FRENCH FILMMAKER AMANDINE GAY Saturday, Feb. 19, 1-4 p.m.

WITHERSPOON STUDENT CENTER Free Take a break this weekend and check out Afro-French and Afro-feminist filmmaker, scholar and activist Amadine Gay’s documentary, “A Story of One’s Own,” at the campus cinema.

Gay will lead a discussion regarding her filmmaking process following the documentary.

FLOURISH Monday, Feb. 21, 3:30-4:30 p.m.

BRAGAW ACTIVITY ROOM Free Join NC State Prevention Services and the horticulture department to engage in some horticulture therapy.

By connecting with nature, students will have the chance to work on their physical and mental well-being.

SOURCE: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL

Editor-in-Chief Jaylan Harrington

323 Witherspoon Student Center, NCSU Campus Box 7318, Raleigh, NC 27695 Editorial Advertising Fax Online

First baby aardvark born in British zoo named after Harry Potter character

THE RADAR

919-515-5017 919-515-2411 919-515-5133 technicianonline.com

News Editor Avery Davis

Design Editor Ann Salman

technician-editor@ncsu.edu

technician-news@ncsu.edu

Managing Editors Caryl J. Espinoza Jaen Tristan Tucker

Assistant News Editor Abigail Ali

Copy Desk Chief Allie Remhof

technician-features@ncsu.edu

Assistant Opinion Editor Mari Fabian

Assistant Culture Editor Myra Bari

Sports Editor Nicholas Schnittker

technician-managingeditor@ncsu.edu

technician-copydesk@ncsu.edu

Culture Editor Sam Overton

technician-design@ncsu.edu

Opinion Editor Shilpa Giri

technician-opinion@ncsu.edu

Assistant Sports Editors Wade Bowman Bryan Pyrtle Photo Editor Mollie Mitchell

technician-photo@ncsu.edu

Video Editor Chloe Allen

technician-video@ncsu.edu

Technician (USPS 455-050) is the largest student newspaper of NC State University and is published every Thursday throughout the academic year from August through May except during holidays and examination periods.

Opinions expressed in the columns, cartoons, photo illustrations and letters that appear on the Technician’s pages are the views of the individual writers and cartoonists. As a public forum for student expression, the students determine the content of the publication without prior review. To receive permission for reproduction, please write the editor. Subscription cost is $100 per year. A single copy is free to all students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus. Additional copies are $0.25 each. Printed by Triangle Web Printing, Durham, NC, Copyright 2022 by North Carolina State Student Media. All rights reserved.

technician-sports@ncsu.edu

COVER DESIGN BY ANN SALMAN

News

TECHNICIAN 3

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

NC State receives $16 million for esport arenas ESPORT CLUB EXCITED BUT CONCERNED Christina Grube Correspondent

NC State received $16 million from the state government to build an esport facility and esport truck on campus. The funding comes from a state initiative to cultivate esports in North Carolina. Marc Hoit, vice chancellor for information technology, leads the esport initiative at NC State.

“We’ve been given $12 million to build a facility that can handle esports activities” Hoit said. “Then another $4 million to build what they call the ‘mobile arena,’ which is essentially a truck that can go out to anywhere in the state and bring a competition or activities like that on a short term basis.”

Hoit said he thinks the $12 million dollar arena will be the largest collegiate esport facility in the nation.

tion-style bracket playing for a $350,000 total cash prize. Over 267,000 streamed the event.

The NC General Assembly passed fiscal acts to foster esports in North Carolina, including the Esports Industry Grant Fund.

Similar to the NC Film Grant which supplemented production costs for studios filming in North Carolina, the Esport Industry Grant offers a financial incentive for companies to host esporting events in Raleigh.

The arena will offer hands-on learning experiences to students involved in computer science and game design, as well as students outside the esporting community. For instance, hospitality management students will have the opportunity to plan esporting events and social science circles can continue their research on the effects of esports on cyberathletes, among others.

“We’re building up a network of people

tively with 150 to 200 active members and over 1,500 community members in Discord.

Sukhramani said he is excited for the multimillion dollar arena, but voices concern on the effects of administration involvement in the student esporting community.

“There’s horror stories from other colleges where student-run organizations that had been in esports for years have just been overrun by the schools administration just saying, ‘We want to invest in esports and we don’t care what you were doing before, we’re going to do it our own way,’” Sukhramani said.

While some believe esports aren’t a real sport, Sukhramani described how similar the resources given to both professional athletes and cyberathletes, including personal trainers, sport psychologists, personal chefs and sponsorships.

COURTESY OF MARC HOIT

Esport refers to a multiplayer video game played competitively. Popular esports include Fortnite, Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Rocket League, League of Legends and Valorant, to name a few. Members play from the comfort of their homes but stay connected to team members through live chat applications while they play. For player equality, official esport competitions take place in person at the same facility. Interest in esporting competitions has been growing internationally with live in-person competitions becoming a large draw.

According to Hoit, many believe the Triangle area has potential to be an esport hub.

Just last year, the Raleigh Convention Center hosted the 2021 Halo Championship Series, in which 200 different teams took part. The 32 best teams competed in a double elimina-

who are anxious to use the laboratory, if you will, and go ahead and do what we do best as an educational institution,” Hoit said. “My goal is to make the facility a shared activity.”

Many don’t realize that esports have had a place at NC State through the student organizations. Esport Club President Avi Sukhramani, a fourth-year studying marketing, proudly shares the success of the club.

“We’re sort of starting to gain a little notoriety in the collegiate esports niche,” Sukhramani said. “Our Rainbow Six team, which is No. 1 in the country right now … has earned somewhere around $35,000 over the course of their lifetime. … It’s crazy because nobody really knows outside of the people who are in the club. I don’t really get to talk to people about it.”

The esport club plays eight games competi-

“It’s a sport in its own sense,” Sukhramani said. “It’s competitive, it takes a lot of hard work, it’s a lot of practice, it’s a lot of hours and it’s a lot of grind. If you see a football player training for six to eight hours a day in the weight room, eating right, making sure their hand-eye coordination is good, their body mechanics are good, esports cyberathletes … are doing the same thing behind a computer. They have to eat right, they have to keep their body right so they can think straight.”

Hoit continues to search for suitable locations for the arenas and expects a ribbon cutting no sooner than 2024. In the meantime, the University plans to construct a pilot version of the arenas to increase student interest and general input on arena design.

Pandemic leads to surge in academic misconduct cases Emily Vespa Correspondent

The Office of Student Conduct has seen academic misconduct cases triple since the pandemic began. Thomas Hardiman, the director of the Office of Student Conduct, cited the shift to asynchronous education as the primary explanation for this increase.

According to Hardiman, before the pandemic, there were approximately 275 cases of academic misconduct per academic year, which includes the fall, spring and two summer terms. In the 2020-21 academic year, the Office of Student Conduct handled over 700 cases of academic misconduct.

With the return to in-person education in fall 2021, cases of academic misconduct seem to be gradually decreasing, although they remain higher than the pre-pandemic average, Hardiman said.

The NC State Code of Student Conduct establishes four types of academic misconduct: aiding and abetting, cheating, destruction or removal of academic materials, and plagiarism. According to Hardiman, before the pandemic, the most common academic misconduct cases were evenly distributed between plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration and cheating.

Hardiman said an academic conduct violation known as “Cheating C” has has become overwhelmingly prevalent and contributes to a great number of the academic misconduct cases reported during the pandemic. Cheating C is defined in provision 8.2 as “using materials, equipment or assistance in connection with an assignment, examination or other academic exercise which have not been authorized by the faculty member, including but not limited to, notes, calculator or other technology.”

Hardiman attributes the growth in Cheating C cases to virtual learning, which provides a greater opportunity for students to access unauthorized resources.

“When you were sitting in a class and the faculty member is there and students are there, it’s really obvious if you pull out your cell phone and you start to Google an answer,” Hardiman said. “That is an academic faux pas. People would call you out in a second. But when you’re in your bedroom alone doing that, it’s only your own integrity that’s going to stop you.”

While heavy reliance on online education may enable students to engage in academic misconduct, their digital footprint can sabotage attempts to cheat. According to

MISCONDUCT continued page 4

News

4 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

$60M Power Forward project to upgrade NC State’s electrical distribution system Esme Chiara Correspondent

NC State is currently undergoing a $60 million electrical distribution system upgrade project called “Power Forward.” The project aims to upgrade the current electrical system on Central and North Campus in four phases, with the fourth phase to be completed by 2025.

Some parts of the current distribution system are up to 60 years old and in need of an upgrade. The goal of the Power Forward project is to do just that, ensuring the campus’s power supply is defined by four words located prominently on the project website and on signs found around campus: safe, reliable, self-healing and futureproof.

Doug Morton, the associate vice chancellor for facilities, explained the meaning of some of these words as part of the project’s ultimate objective.

“It’ll be safer for the electricians; it’ll be more resilient, meaning it’ll be in protective conduits that are sealed and in manholes that are big and open so you can see what’s going on there,” Morton said. “The switches will be above ground and encased in a metal box and will also be what we call self-healing. It’s a little bit of a misnomer.

It’s really self-isolating.”

This self-isolating system Morton referred to is known as a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. SCADA systems allow users to remotely collect and process real time data, directly interact with

MISCONDUCT

continued from page 3

GRAPHIC BY GLENN WAGSTAFF

Hardiman, online resources such as Chegg, a tutoring site, work with the Office of Student Conduct and provide the names, dates and times that students accessed unauthorized resources.

In early 2020, 200 students who used Chegg during their Statistics 311 final exam were accused of cheating.

Faculty members have also modified tra-

GLEN WAGSTAFF/ARCHIVE

A sidewalk closed sign sitting in front of a compactor tells pedestrians to use alternate paths to avoid the construction on Hillsborough Street across from D.H. Hill Library on Wednesday, July 5, 2017.

issues through human-machine interface (HMI) software, and record any problems in a log file.

Morton says how the system will ultimately save time for electricians and create shorter power outages. “[If] a squirrel chews through this cable, that short in the circuit, instead of taking down the whole system, it’ll take down a very small part of the system because the switches we have in there will detect where there’s a fault and the system will isolate that

fault automatically,” Morton said. “Then, when we dispatch electricians to fix it, they know exactly where to go and how it’s been impacted.”

Apart from focusing on what’s currently there, Morton said the project also aims to create extra room via an empty cable conduit to accommodate the growing campus.

The Power Forward project started as the development of a master plan about 10 years ago. While the overall objective of each phase is complete, the later phases are still

ditional classroom practices to accommodate online learning and reduce cheating.

Annika Jauch, a third-year studying microbiology, said her teachers have adapted expectations for asynchronous instruction, such as making tests open note and using reporting software to monitor virtual tests.

Hardiman said asynchronous education leads students to feel isolated from faculty and assume more responsibility for their learning, which can motivate them to utilize unauthorized resources. He said stress is the number one reason students commit Cheating C violations.

“It’s really easy for someone to pull out their cell phone or open up a new tab in their browser to be able to search their answer, especially if they’re panicked in real time,” Hardiman said. “The tools are literally at their fingertips, and it’s difficult to make the choice to say no to that.”

Olivia Ahner, a first-year studying nutrition science, said faculty could help reduce academic misconduct in asynchronous virtual classes by checking in on students frequently and offering more support so students don’t feel the need to use unauthorized resources.

Hardiman said preventing academic misconduct is the responsibility of both

students and faculty.

“We always go back to that shared relationship,” Hardiman said. “The faculty member has to establish some reasonable safeguards and set the expectation around academic integrity for their course, but then it’s also the responsibility of the student to uphold this.”

Jauch said while faculty can impose safeguards to identify students who engage in academic misconduct, it may be hard to convince students under stress to uphold academic integrity.

“For students, it’s really a personal decision whether or not you cheat,” Jauch said.

“I don’t know if there’s much you can do about that.”

Although college can be demanding, Hardiman said maintaining academic integrity provides valuable learning opportunities and builds character.

“I think it’s far better to earn an ‘F’ than to be given an ‘F,’” Hardiman said. “Be proud of that ‘F’ you earned. I think back to my own academic experiences, and there’s something to be said about trying really hard and still not getting a good grade; it makes you proud of that grade. You might have worked your butt off for that grade and there’s something to be said about that.”

being further developed by the design team.

“So the chancellor helped us find the money in resources in the campus, mostly what we call facility and administrative charges on research grants.” Morton said. “We hired one design firm to show us what it would take and then one construction manager to do it.”

The project is currently in its first phase, which is set to be finished in 2023. Right now, construction is focused on establishing a duct bank, which is an underground pathway for conduit-housed cables. Jake Terrell, the project manager, provided the current location of construction that started at the Sullivan cell substation.

“We get our power, ultimately a big point of delivery from Duke Energy, we knock the voltage down, and then it goes into these cables through the duct bank,” Terrell said.

“We’re proceeding down Sullivan Drive with the duct bank, and we will eventually make our way to Dan Allen, and then we will head south on Dan Allen and towards Western Boulevard.”

When asked about the effects this project will have on faculty, staff and students, both Morton and Terrell said construction detours and power outages are inevitable.

However, Morton said those who are to be affected will be made aware ahead of time due to the slow moving process of digging trenches for the duct bank and replacing cable.

“It’s very slow moving,” Morton said.

“You’ll see it come into your neighborhood, you’ll see the disruption and signs that talk about safety, resiliency, self-healing and futureproof. That graphic will be up, and it’ll be obvious to people that it’s coming.”

Terrell explained how the academic and business buildings will be affected and notified. He said the construction and power outages won’t be a surprise for those working in the buildings either.

“We will identify the target dates for these transitions ahead of time, we’ll coordinate with the building occupants to know what their needs are,” Terrell said. “If something is deemed absolutely critical, we will provide a generator to back it up, but even to hook up a generator is not always seamless. … There will be power outages, but we’re working to make it as seamless as possible.”

To learn more about the Power Forward Project and sign up for emails about traffic impacts, visit the project’s website. There are also questionnaires located on the website for facilities liaisons and business managers to fill out about concerns for research and projects in their buildings.

News

TECHNICIAN 5

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Rain, shine or rising temperatures, Climate Office serves NC’s growing needs Jameson Wolf Staff Writer

The North Carolina State Climate Office (NCSCO), housed in NC State’s College of Sciences, bridges the gap between science and everyday experience by providing accessible climate research, analysis and education across the state.

Science and research connected to climate are becoming more vital as climate change accelerates and poses new threats across the globe. This makes the NCSCO’s job complex, requiring extensive interdisciplinary partnerships as well as diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

Though addressing climate change is not the only goal of the NCSCO, Kathie Dello, the office’s director, explained that it impacts every area of the office’s work in one way or another. “[Climate change] is the topic of our generation, of my generation, of your generation,” Dello said. “It’s a part of everything that we’re working on and we’re doing. All jobs are climate jobs.”

The NCSCO works with diverse partners from developing streamlined fire data tools with the North Carolina Forest Service to helping the NC Department of Transportation gauge construction conditions based on rainfall.

The office’s current research includes work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to effectively incorporate climate change considerations into their endangered species status assessments as well as partnerships with frontline communities across the Carolinas to develop climate solutions where climate change is most threatening.

As a Public Service Center, the Climate Office focuses on the application and accessibility of research rather than just the data.

Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis said this application is what makes the NC-

SCO’s work so important across the state.

“I think plenty of groups on campus are doing research, and unfortunately, a lot of that research never really makes it into any useful project or product,” Davis said. “I think one thing our office prides itself on is [that] a lot of the research we do is ultimately geared toward those applications.”

The NCSCO also functions under the belief that data should be open to the public.

Associate Director Sheila Saia said one of her goals throughout her work is transparency and accessibility.

“I’m very passionate about open science and publicly accessible data and reproducible research practices,” Saia said. “I think that there is a ton of data and research being done in climate science that should be publicly accessible and transparent to scientists and the general public.”

To this end, the office provides a number of data resources that are open to the public. The North Carolina Environment and Climate Observing Network (ECONet) provides data from 43 weather towers across the state measuring 12 different atmospheric and soil parameters including temperature, humidity, precipitation and solar radiation.

This data can be accessed by anyone at any time for any station across the state.

In addition to ECONet, Cardinal is a new data retrieval system that provides a streamlined interface to request specific climate or weather data.

The Climate Blog also promotes accessibility and communication of climate information. Including its monthly wrap-up of major weather patterns over the past several weeks, the blog features major weather events, ways in which the changing climate can affect everyday life, and research being done by the office.

“We’re a public service center for the state of North Carolina, so part of our job is mak-

COURTESY OF KATHIE DELLO

ing sure that the public in North Carolina is aware of what’s going on with our weather and our climate,” said Davis, who runs the blog.

This mindset extends into higher education as well, as the office utilizes the energy and interest of several undergraduate and graduate student interns. Davis began working with the office as an undergraduate summer intern 15 years ago.

The Office has a major focus on education. It works closely with K-12 educators to develop curriculum that helps students interact and pay attention to climate from a young age.

“What we’re teaching is just [to] be good stewards of the environment,” Dello said.

“We’re getting a lot more of these lived experiences from kids connecting when they see it’s cold and rainy outside and what’s going on in the day to day to understanding fun-

Nova and Comet - Comet in paradise

Pearl Knight, staff cartoonist third-year studying art and design

damentals of how the atmosphere works.”

On top of research, education and communication programs, Dello said NCSCO is North Carolina’s one-stop shop for all climate related curiosities or concerns, fielding climate questions of all sizes and scopes.

“We get questions from somebody who is planting their garden and wants to know if it’s a good time to put in the tomatoes,” Dello said. “Or from parents of a bride who want to know if it’ll be safe to have an outdoor wedding seven months from now. We also get truly big questions about North Carolina’s future climate and what that means for infrastructure, what that means for public health.”

The NCSCO is working to welcome everyone into the task of understanding and addressing the climate in order to develop effective climate solutions.

Opinion

6 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Group projects are the worst

It ’s 10 p.m. A not her busy day is coming to a close, but before you can settle down to relax, you need to do one last thing.

Your group project, which counts for a chunk of your Lauren Richards grade, is due by midnight.

You’ve done your part, but Staff Columnist there’s something not sitting right with you. You go to open the document to make sure everything is in order, but then you notice it: someone hasn’t done their part. In a panicked frenzy, you scramble to do all their work before the fast-approaching deadline.

What I just described is a scene familiar to many of us. Group projects are the bane of students’ existence, but many instructors love to hold them on a pedestal.

There is much intrinsic value in group work, as sharing work responsibilities with others is a necessary tool for professional development. However, when handled inappropriately, group projects tend to foster stress and cynicism more than effective teamwork.

What makes group projects a behe-

moth task is the very thing they intend to promote — working with other people.

From navigating everyone’s schedules to delegating tasks, group work is hard to manage, especially for a college student who has enough on their plate as is.

Furthermore, individuals coming into a group project bring their own unique approaches, which can be a good or bad thing.

Although there is usually no issue when placed among reliable students, situations like these aren’t always guaranteed.

In most group projects, there is usually at least one person who does a majority of the work. Most of the time, it’s not because of individual choice, but because not everyone contributes to the project equally. For anyone who has held this dreadful position, it can be easy to harbor negative feelings toward group work.

There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon — social loafing. According to this idea, individuals participating in group activities tend to put in less effort than they would alone. Social loafing particularly affects groups with high achievers, as they are often the ones

expected to pick up the slack.

Even when work is divided evenly among the group, these projects typically involve little collaboration. In a majority of my experiences, everyone goes their separate ways once delegated a task, sometimes asking questions when help is needed. When this happens, it’s not a group project anymore but working alone with other people.

It’s important for instructors to assign better group assignments so students can derive the most benefit from their collaborative experiences. While creating a group project that effectively ensures both individual accountability and collaboration is challenging — it’s not impossible.

One way instructors can rebuild students’ trust in cooperative assignments is to require them to log their individual progress as well as the group’s. This way, students are able to keep track of what they completed, and the instructor can ensure everyone is staying on track.

Because there’s a chance for students to lie about the amount of work they completed, instructors should also require

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

peer evaluations. This gives everyone in the group the opportunity to rank or rate one another in terms of their contributions. While peer evaluations typically happen after an assignment is finished, having students complete one earlier can help them identify where they need to improve.

Group projects that account for much of a student’s overall grade are not the only ways to promote collaboration.

Small team building exercises can be incorporated into everyday classroom activities. For instance, one assignment for my English 101 class involved working with the people at my table to create a fake news article. This low pressure assignment instilled the same benefits of a larger scale group project without all the stress.

Whether you love to hate them or hate to love them, group work is not going away anytime soon. In order to alleviate some of the resentment, professors must adjust the way they approach these assignments. Only then will students be able to reap the full benefits of collaborative activities.

Let’s give the Olympics the hype they deserve Every two years, I am jumping-out-of-my-seat excited when the Olympic season starts. From keeping track of qualifying athletes, checking out medal designs to impatiently Chloe awaiting the opening cereAllen mony, I start talking about Video Editor the Olympics months in advance. So after talking about the 2022 Winter Olympics I was surprised to find out many of my peers weren’t planning on watching the Olympics at all.

In fact, only 150 million people watched the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, compared to the 198 million viewers of the 2016 Rio Games. This was interesting for me to learn as someone who loves to watch the Games, and I think we need to start watching the Olympics more.

Something I love about the Olympics is the wide variety of sports played. At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics there are 109 events across 15 disciplines being contested and the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics hosted 339 events in 33 different sports — the most in Olympic history.

This kind of variety ensures that everyone can find something they enjoy watching.

Personally, I love watching figure skating and snowboarding, but I’ve also gotten into watching skeleton, a new sport I dis-

covered recently where the athlete slides down an icy track on a sled going headfirst.

The Olympics can be a great excuse to socialize and have fun with your friends.

You can have an Olympics watch party, whether it’s for one sport or multiple, or for the opening or closing ceremonies.

You can go all out — make lots of party food, do themed decorations and even use a whiteboard to keep track of each attendee’s favorite athlete/team.

You can also use the Olympics as a way to make new friends. My friends and I have developed a pattern of putting the Games on the television in our lounge and asking random people who walk by if they want to watch with us. To our joyful surprise, some of the people have actually taken us up on our invitation and we had a great time watching and getting to know each other better.

There are also a lot of Olympians who are part of Generation Z. Winter Olympic medalists Nathan Chen, Chloe Kim, Ayumu Hirano, Karen Chen, Yuma Kagiyama, Eileen Gu, Shoma Uno and Su Yiming are just some of the 2022 Olympians born in or after 1997, making them part of Generation Z, the same generation as many of us at NC State. In my experience, it’s a really fun experience to watch people my age go out and do amazing things on

an international stage like the Olympics.

One of my biggest reasons for watching the Olympics is how they function as a beacon of unity and peacemaking. The mental refresher and all of the good news that can come with the Olympics is really important for our mental health, as it can help balance out all of the negative news we consume.

A great example of unity shown at the Olympics is the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. In 2018, the winter Olympics were hosted by South Korea during a time when relations with North Korea were tense.

However, the two countries decided to put their tensions aside for the Games and marched into the opening ceremony under a unified flag and name, being announced simply as Korea. The two nations also came together to form a unified women’s hockey team. The team didn’t win any medals, but it certainly won the hearts of the world as a beacon of peace and togetherness.

One may find it hypocritical to applaud shows of unity and peace when the governments of the very countries that are making these shows don’t ref lect those values. It’s a fair criticism and one that I find myself making at times as well.

However, it’s important to remember that the Olympics aren’t managed by national governments.

The Olympics themselves are managed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), an apolitical global organization and within the countries themselves, Olympic participation is managed by the national Olympic committees. The organization of the Games is in the hands of the IOC and the host country’s national Olympic committee, forming an Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games to handle the managing of the Games.

While the organizing committee may have involvement from public officials, it ultimately answers to the IOC, meaning the Games really have little to do with the governments that are involved.

So why not watch the Olympics? It’s an experience that only happens once every two years, or four for the Summer Olympics, and you get to watch some pretty amazing athletic feats. Not everyone will be an Olympics mega-fan — even I can’t keep up with all of the Olympic sports.

But it can’t hurt to turn on primetime a few times throughout the Games and cheer for your favorite athletes, whether you already have one in mind or just choose one at random while you watch.

If you want to watch the 2022 Winter Olympics before they close, you can catch coverage on live TV through NBC and USA or on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock.

TECHNICIAN 7

Opinion TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Disappointed this Valentine’s Day? You should change your mindset

Recently, I came across some interesting data about Valentine’s Day. Regarding spending, men spend around $130 and women spend $100.

The survey also reports, “One in 10 (10.6%) admit the wrong Olivia or an unwanted gift could Pagach Correspondent have a negative impact on the relationship.” Conversely, only 38% told their partner what they actually wanted. So, if you felt disappointed, ask yourself if you made the fatal flaw of thinking you did not have any expectations and then not communicating them to your partner.

OK, so you were let down. They didn’t plan anything special enough or they forgot to get you flowers. All of your friends posted about their romantic nights and gifts and you feel your experience was inadequate. Rather than sulk and compare yourself to curated pictures of couples that are not you, there’s a solution to

not having these post-Valentine’s Day blues: be clear about what you want.

However, I have to admonish the premise of buying things and doing things just for the sake of some instilled societal expectation. All of these articles that go on about describing your expectations are actually emphasizing defining your budget. All of these gifts and occasions cost money.

If you want flowers, chocolates or jewelry, those are symbolic gifts and not necessarily meaningful ones. They exist purely to satisfy consumption and obligation. Let’s at least be honest about the fact you want those things for ceremonial, social status and materialistic reasons. Anything beyond dinner and flowers seems excessive and unnecessary to show someone you love them. Your expectations are driven by consumption and comparison.

Recently, I got so annoyed hearing a male friend tell me Valentine’s Day was commercialized nothingness that lost all meaning. But

he was right in many ways. It’s similar to the corruption of Christmas as well as everything else beautiful. It’s definitely questionable to put so much pressure and significance on a day.

In an article from Bustle, the author discusses different love languages and how people place different amounts of emphasis on holidays.

Maybe your partner thinks affection is better shown throughout the year, rather than through a box of chocolates on a random day in February. Ask yourself, what makes Valentine’s Day important to you? Is it validation or love? Make sure your answer is ethical or at least something you don’t mind justifying putting undue pressure on your significant other for.

In the midst of this consumer mania, I was curious to find out the origin of Valentine’s Day. It’s not entirely clear who St. Valentine was.

There are a few possible candidates, but somehow it became mainstream. The poet Geoffery Chaucer mentions “Seynt Valentyne’s day” in a poem in 1375. Charles, Duke of Orleans wrote

Capitalist monster

Sunshine Chang, staff columnist A fourth-year in design studies

the oldest known valentine in 1415, which goes, “I am already sick of love, My very gentle valentine.”

I like Bustle’s advice of simply using this holiday as “a good opportunity for you to prioritize spending time together.” Additionally, reading some of these historical valentines, I wonder if couples nowadays should try writing something for the other. Our generation has definitely deferred romance largely to texting.

We also use gifts to cover up a lack of effort.

It’s the thought that counts with poetry, and I think that’s what all romantic gestures should be measured by.

So next time you get mad at your partner for not stepping up to the occasion, keep these things in mind. Communicate your expectations from the get-go, and try not to compare yourself to others. Everyone loves differently, so once you find out what works best for you and your partner, stick with it and don’t let anyone tell you it’s not enough.

Culture

8 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

AACC’s What’s on the Table? facilitates biweekly conversations on Blackness Tristan Tucker Managing Editor

What’s on the Table? is a biweekly conversation-based space offered to students through the African American Cultural Center (AACC), which is located on the third floor of Witherspoon Student Center. During the event, students are welcome to come and share stories and happenings with one another, as well as discuss what it means to be Black.

According to Isaiah Lucas, the program coordinator of the AACC, What’s on the Table? is meant to be a healing experience for students that isn’t grounded in solutionsbased dialogue. Essentially, according to Lucas, it’s a space for students to air their grievances without judgment and without having to worry about finding a solution for said issues.

“I would describe What’s on the Table? as a space that the African American Cultural Center facilitates to allow Black folks across

campus to find a space to heal, to find a space to grieve, to find a space to select celebrate, to talk about key topics, to talk about trauma, to have a space just to be Black, be existing and have a space to be relatable with other people who are going through like-minded situations,” Lucas said. “This space is not solutions-focused; it’s a space for us to just have conversations.”

Occurring every other Friday, What’s on the Table? officially resumed conversation on Friday, Feb. 4 and will continue through the rest of the semester.

“We’re not having the conversations to find answers to our questions, but provide them the space for the questions to be asked,” Lucas said. “It’s a thought-provoking space, you learn a lot in this space.

It’s really a time for us to come together and heal as a community. That would be the best way to describe it for us, to heal as a community to talk about our collective trauma. And it’s also a place to celebrate

CHANCELLOR’S CREATING COMMUNITY AWARDS Recognizing Excellence in Diversit Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Nominate by March 7 at GO.NCSU.EDU/CCCA

EMMA DIMIG/ARCHIVE

Naomi Ejim, a fourth-year student studying interdisciplinary studies and genetics, expresses herself during What’s on the Table? in the African American Cultural Center Living Room in 2018. What’s on the Table? is a biweekly meet-up held for members of the NC State community to share perspective, provide support and discuss pressing issues in a safe environment.

The Freedom to Dream: Re-Rooting, Re-Imagining, and Reconnecting our Black Communities Join us as we focus Black History Month on student connection and community building through events meant to foster spaces for students to reconnect with their peers on campus.

FEB 15

HERmonies: Black Sounds, Black Voices, Black Movement

FEB 22

TikTok TED Talk

FEB 25

Karaoke Game Night

FEB 25

March Like Martin

View the full event details at go.ncsu.edu/bhm

TECHNICIAN 9

Culture TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

who we are.”

Lucas said What’s on the Table? has been occurring for more than a decade, and the timeframe for meetings is always consistent for a reason.

“It’s situated as a very intentional time frame,” Lucas said. “Because when you think about all that we go through during the week, Friday is a great way to close out the week to reflect on the week that we just had and to really build up the energy to make it through the next week.”

During one What’s on the Table? meeting in the fall semester, students talked about microaggressions they faced on a day-today basis one NC State’s campus. The room was full of sympathy for one another and offered an enlightening discussion that lasted for about an hour.

At the beginning of every meeting, students sign in and have a few minutes to congregate and exchange greetings with one another. Within minutes, you’ll have made several new friends who are eager to speak with you. Despite being a predominantly Black space, students of all backgrounds are welcome to attend.

During the aforementioned session, all students and faculty were respectful to one another, avidly listening to each others’ dialogue. To demonstrate the togetherness of the program, Lucas, as well as several other faculty members of the AACC, such

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

as angela gay-audre and Andaiye Qaasim, the director and assistant director of the AACC, respectively, all sat in on the session and were a large part of the conversation.

But the AACC’s faculty aren’t the only ones facilitating discussion. A large portion of the conversation relies on the organization’s AYA Ambassadors.

According to the AACC’s website, AYA is the adinkra symbol for endurance and resourcefulness, something that the AYA Ambassadors implement in their work as they cultivate skills and help members develop.

Max Fennell, a third-year studying psychology, is one of these AYA Ambassadors.

According to Fennell, there is an application to become an AYA Ambassador and these students make sure conversations don’t go off the rails and help guide participants.

Fennell said that one of her favorite aspects of What’s on the Table? is the range in which conversations can fall, with topics varying from lighter to heavier discussion matters.

“I do find all of them engaging,” Fennell said. “Since anything could be on the table, sometimes we have like heavy, deep conversations. And sometimes it’s like, lighter stuff. I know one of the heavier conversations I liked was [we] were speaking about desirability in the Black community. And

I like that, because it’s something I could relate to. And then we also have fun conversations, just like whatever’s going on on Twitter. And those are always fun because it’s less emotionally taxing, you’re able to just laugh with friends, basically.”

What’s on the Table? is meant to be a healing experience for students that isn’t grounded in solutions-based dialogue.

According to Lucas, the AACC doesn’t just randomly select topics for students and peers to discuss. At the end of each meeting, participants receive assessments on

that week’s topics, allowing them to offer their thoughts about that meeting and what they want to talk about in the next meeting.

“We’re intentional about figuring out and understanding what the community needs are, how we protect the community needs and create conversations that are impactful for the people that we serve in our communities,” Lucas said.

Some recent conversations include the weaponization of Black hair, how the Black population is disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and what that looks like at NC State, according to Lucas and Fennell.

“I feel like it’s a space where we center Blackness,” Fennell said. “And we just have free-flowing discussions about anything that’s on the table, and we just discuss what’s going on. It’s a safe space, no judgment, and you’re able to listen to the opinions and ideas of other students on campus, mainly Black students.”

What’s on the Table? next meets Friday, Feb. 18 on the third floor of Witherspoon from 3-4:30 pm. Lucas invites all students to come and join in on the genuine discussion.

“It’s a space where we are very real,” Lucas said. “We are 100% transparent, we have real talk, we have real conversations. And for people who want to come out … be prepared to embark and then engage in a conversation that’s going to be transformative.”

321 Coffee counts down to opening at new location on Hillsborough St. Caleb Jolley Staff Writer

The story of 321 Coffee is one of love, inclusivity and growth. Founded by former NC State students seeking to provide employment to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), 321 Coffee is opening its first standalone coffee shop at 615 Hillsborough St. within the coming months.

With an existing storefront at the State Farmers Market, 321 Coffee welcomes visitors into an uplifting and cozy space as baristas take and prepare orders from a fullscale coffee and espresso menu. With the hot or iced coffee, decorations reminding you to “elevate others,” and smiles shared between customers and baristas, you’re sure to find something to brighten your day.

Between this location and a cafe at Pendo, a software company in Raleigh, 321 Coffee employs over 30 baristas who have IDD. The company has grown substantially since its inception in 2017, when two first-year students began to “think and do” something about a problem they saw in the community.

“We recognized that there was a significant lack of opportunity professionally for people with disabilities, and so that was really what we set out to change,” said Lindsay Wredge, co-founder and CEO of 321 Coffee.

“We started originally as a student organization … with just renting folding tables from Talley and setting up and serving coffee really anywhere that would let us. … It’s just been really cool to see the number of ways the company’s evolved since the true folding table beginnings.”

As part of its evolution, 321 Coffee now roasts its own beans and supplies coffee to over 50 companies. In addition, the company also sells packaged coffee and merchandise online. Through its shops and roasting operations, 321 Coffee has found many ways to expand employment for individuals with IDD, but there’s still room to grow.

“We get so many people coming to us looking for employment,” Wredge said.

“We’ve got a waitlist that grows every day.

Over 50 people are on it, people in the community who want a job and want a job at 321 Coffee. It’s bittersweet. I’m really proud that we’ve built a company and a culture where people want to work … but at the same time, it’s sad that we aren’t able to create those jobs quite yet. So that’s one of the things that we’re excited about as we grow is to just create more job opportunities.”

With the addition of the new storefront, 321 Coffee has identified increasing

321 continued page 10

321

COFFEE Location:

1209 Farmers Market Dr. Market Shoppes Slot 48 Raleigh, NC 27603

Monday - Tuesday:

Closed

Wednesday - Friday:

10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Saturday:

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Sunday:

9:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.

GRAPHIC BY ANN SALMAN

Culture

10 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

working hours for current staff and adding new members as a priority. continued from page 9 Sitting in a courtyard near the intersection of Hillsborough Street and Glenwood Avenue, the cafe is at a prime location to enter the downtown Raleigh market.

“The shop at the Farmers Market is open five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday,” Wredge said. “We’ll see a little bit of a different traffic pattern at the downtown shop. We plan to be open seven days a week. I think we’ll see pretty steady days on the weekdays, Monday through Friday, just with all of the office activity that exists right there.”

321

COURTESY OF LINDSEY WREGE

Aside from business, the new location will also increase community engagement between employees and customers alike.

“I think really becoming ingrained in the downtown Raleigh community … [is] something that everyone’s really looking forward to,” said Michael Evans, co-founder and CFO of 321 Coffee. “[It] could just be a spot where people are always able to go and be a part of our 321 Coffee community.”

According to Wredge and Evans, the company plans to continue expanding 321 Coffee through more company partnerships and the possibility of an additional shop in the Triangle area. No matter the next steps, 321 Coffee will continue to do what it does best: uplifting others one job, and one coffee at a time.

“We’re just excited to give the baristas especially more of a chance to dive deeper into the community,” said Taylor Coletta, a manager at the 321 Coffee Farmers Market location. “I feel like a lot of neurotypical people don’t expect [the baristas] to be able to like, converse with them. They don’t expect them to be able to make their coffee.

And so it’s just really cool to watch as the communities combine.”

The new space is currently under renovation to prepare for opening in mid-to-late spring 2022. With roughly the same size footprint as the farmers market location, customers can expect a similar shop experience but with plenty of outdoor seating to gather and converse in.

Until then, spirits at 321 Coffee will remain high, per usual.

“I like when you open and we have more work opportunities to do at the new location,” said Amanda Singer, a barista at 321 Coffee. “321 Coffee is one of my favorite shops. A lot of the [other] baristas who work here, they help me so much. They helped me do the steamer, they just taught me how to use it, and I realized I really love doing this.”

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Wild Earth promotes plantbased pet food in the Triangle Olivia Winston Correspondent

Even though we often pay close attention to our own diets when it comes to eating healthy, what about our pets?

Wild Earth is a plant-based pet food company promoting clean and highquality dog food, and has a co-located headquarters in Durham, North Carolina and Berkley, California.

“We started Wild Earth back in 2018 with a mission to make high-quality, cruelty-free pet food,” said Ryan Bethencourt, the CEO of Wild Earth.

“We worked with a lot of veterinarians and scientists and product development people. We launched in 2019, actually, on Shark Tank, which was fun. I closed Mark Cuban, and he has been an investor in Wild Earth since then.”

Bethencourt, who eats on a plant-based diet, wanted to create a pet food that has the same high-quality, high-protein nutrition that we would expect for ourselves.

“I have a 12-, nearly 13-year-old German Shepherd — her name is Lady,” Bethencourt said. “I really wanted to develop products for her and for other dogs that were just cleaner, that I felt good about feeding them.”

Wild Earth will be one of only a few pet food companies in the Triangle that promote sustainable food.

“One of the things that, from a broader perspective with Wild Earth, we are trying to do is we really want the Triangle to become a future of food hub,” Benthencourt said. “We are really excited about that.”

Why would we feed something to our pets that we wouldn’t eat ourselves?

- Ryan Bethencourt

Mike May, the territory manager at Wild Earth and an NC State alumnus from the Poole College of Management, focuses on organizing events in the Triangle area.

COURTESY OF MIKE MAY

“We did about 98 events last year, just from July to December,” May said. “We are heavily focused on RDU, so that’s where our … Durham focus really falls into play.”

May said his favorite part of working with Wild Earth is helping out the animals.

“It is so cool to work with a company that aligns with my mission, my own personal mission and values, and everyone on the team seems to share that,” May said.

“That’s probably the coolest thing, to be honest. You can’t put a price on that.”

Wild Earth’s events include pop-up markets, farmers markets and festivals. The company has made an appearance at Shop Local Raleigh, Durham Central Park and Durham Bulls Bark in the Park.

“We wanted to make something that was clean, complete, plant-based,” May said.

“We feel good about giving it to our fur babies. And there’s just a lot that goes into it: sweet potatoes, chickpeas, oats, spinach, blueberries, real food.”

Bethencourt said he and May believe in

Wild Earth so much that they have eaten many of the products themselves. According to May, the company’s most popular commercial is a clip of Bethencourt eating Wild Earth’s dog food himself.

“Why would we feed something to our pets that we wouldn’t eat ourselves?”

Bethencourt said. “That’s a really strong principle for us.”

Wild Earth is currently looking to partner with NC State students or anyone who’s interested in the mission and values of the company.

“We are always looking out for people to be a part of events, to be a part of the mission, speakers, ambassadors,” Bethencourt said. “We think that plant-based is a movement, for the environment, for the animals, for the people, for the planet.”

Wild Earth products are available on its website, Amazon or Chewy, delivered straight to the consumer. If you are interested in learning more about getting involved with Wild Earth, visit its website or apply as a field brand ambassador.

TECHNICIAN 11

Culture TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

The history of Black History Month at NC State Jameson Wolf Staff Writer

On the cover of the Feb. 26, 1986 special issue of Technician, Martin Luther King Jr., depicted in graphite by graphic designer Benjamin Bolton, passionately preaches with a raised fist. Above him reads: “We are not makers of history. We are made by history.” In the bottom left corner is the label “Black History Month Special.” This was the first acknowledgement of Black History Month on NC State’s campus, historic in every way.

Though U.S. presidents began to officially recognize Black History Month in 1976, acknowledgment of the month was slow to reach NC State’s predominantly white campus. A decade after the month’s first official recognition, Black history was being made in abundance at NC State. Within a fiveyear period, the University saw its first Black student body president, Kevin Howell, Technician’s first Black Editor-in-Chief, Dwuan June, and back-to-back Black winners of Miss NCSU.

community that we said ‘Hey, this is Black History Month, let’s not forget it,’” June said.

That first issue included a letter from the then-Editor-In-Chief Barry Bowden titled “Discrimination is still a reality,” a comprehensive list of Black organizations including fraternities, dance groups and academic societies, and a feature on cover artist Bolton, a Black basketball player who used art as escape from the stresses of campus life.

This issue initiated 45 years of Black History Month festivities at NC State. Each February for the next four decades, Technician published a Black History Month special highlighting notable Black students, faculty and alumni, prevalent issues regarding Black culture, and events such as film showings or guest lectures.

With the growth and relocation of the African American Cultural Center (AACC), Black History Month programming expanded beyond campus journalism. In 1989, NC State’s Black Repertory Theater established the Ebony Man competition which occurred every February and was meant

ditions were heavily criticized by white students across campus. There were accusations of reverse racism, in which students accused the AACC of exclusionary behavior, calling the Ebony Man competition counterproductive. Published columns debated the necessity of such programming, with inflammatory coverage from Technician leading to the creation of the Nubian Message.

Sister Souljah’s visit in particular caused controversy among students and staff alike.

A musician and activist, Sister Souljah was seen by many as extremist and condoning of violence. One student compared her philosophy to Adolf Hitler’s while others saw her unapologetic affirmation as empowering and inspiring.

Familiar debates as to the value and ramifications of celebrating Black History Month were also discussed on campus during this time. In one of the earliest issues of Nubian Message, students discussed the implications of Black History Month being the shortest month of the year, ultimately concluding that while not enough in and of

SWATHI KARTHIK/ARCHIVE

Jason Miller, an NC State English professor, presented “When MLK and the KKK Met in Raleigh” on Jan. 15, 2020 at Witherspoon Student Center. Afterward, photos from the event were displayed at the African American Cultural Center gallery.

“We had history lining up out to the street,” said June, who served as editorin-chief of Technician’s Vol. 70 during the 1989-90 academic year. “That’s what I remember most about that time — just watching it unfold in front of us.”

In the Technician office in 1986, June, then the assistant news editor, decided alongside other Technician staff that it was time for more recognition and planned Technician’s first Black History Month special.

“It was the first time as a paper and as a

to uplift the Black male image through the display of Black excellence.

In 1990, the NC State bookstore began an annual Black History Month celebration which included displays of significant works

by Black artists, lectures from prominent Black faculty and student poetry readings.

The University hosted several significant guest speakers including Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison and Sister Souljah.

These events were not without pushback.

In the early 1990s, many of the early tra-

itself, Black History Month was vital in the holding of space for remembrance.

June said despite the importance of Black history celebration, the truly vital work lies in incorporating comprehensive Black history into K-12 education. “[Black History Month] can potentially be a crutch,” June said. “In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be a Black History Month.

It would be taught in our schools all year.”

In the late 1990s, Black students made up almost 10% of the student body, a number

that has been steadily decreasing since the turn of the century, now sitting at 6.4%. This is a drastic decrease that is consistent with national trends across universities.

In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be a Black History Month. It would be taught in our schools all year.

- Dwuan June

Kwesi Brookins, an associate professor of psychology and Africana studies and the director of the Africana studies program with a doctorate in psychology, has been with the University in some capacity for over 30 years and said the decrease in the percentage of Black students could reduce the number of celebratory events such as previously held Brotherhood dinners in conjunction with neighboring historically Black colleges.

“I don’t know how it might be connected to the numbers, but certainly when you have a more critical mass of students those events are more likely to happen,” Brookins said. “When you lose numbers, I think it makes Black History Month and what it signifies that much more important.”

Looking forward, Andaiye Qaasim, the assistant director of the AACC, is intent on filling the gap created by the declining Black student population. Coming off a year of virtual Black History Month programming, she is committed to building community support and student involvement.

“As we’re talking about community building and supporting Black student leadership on campus, one of my goals for next year will be thinking about Black History Month as fully student-thought and student-led as well,” Qaasim said.

Dr. King’s quote displayed on the cover of that historic 1986 issue of Technician is a challenge to Black students and white students alike: do not allow history to decide.

Learn it so that you do not repeat it. If there is one consistency in the celebration of Black History Month at NC State for the past 45 years, it is the indisputable importance of understanding historical Black experiences in predominantly white spaces.

“History is not just passed,” Brookins said.

“History is being made everyday. Decisions we make in relationships that we have matter every moment.”

Sports

12 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

Brittany Jackson carrying tradition of great Wolfpack softball center fielders Bryan Pyrtle

Assistant Sports Editor

A stark reality in college sports is the limited time that student-athletes have to play at the collegiate level. Although the NC State softball team experienced significant roster turnover this past offseason with plenty of graduations and transfers, fifth-year outfielder Brittany Jackson is looking to help take the program to new heights.

After four seasons as a mainstay in center field for the Kansas Jayhawks, Jackson made the trip east to play for the Pack while also pursuing an MBA. Despite growing up just outside of Dallas-Fort Worth in Mansfield, Texas, Jackson feels right at home at NC State.

“NC State is a home away from home,” Jackson said. “It offers so many great things. I wanted to get my master’s and MBA, so that was the first thing that I looked for, and the second was the culture of the team. The coaches told me how well and how together the girls are, and so I instantly fell in love when I visited.”

On the diamond, Jackson enters the lineup with big shoes to fill. For the first time since 2017, Angie Rizzi is not patrolling center field for the Pack at Dail Softball Stadium, but Jackson is prepared to carry on the NC State tradition of impactful center fielders.

“I talked to [Rizzi] about the ins and the outs,” Jackson said. “I think I’m able to showcase my ability and what I have to offer. I think that’ll help the team [go] a

COURTESY OF NC STATE ATHLETICS

long way because we all work together.”

That aspect of playing as a team is a central theme for the Wolfpack this season.

With Jackson joining a handful of other incoming transfers as well as the incom-

ing freshmen, cohesion on the diamond and in the dugout will be paramount to the team’s chemistry.

“Our culture is the strongest and the best that has ever been since I’ve been here,” said

head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift. “Some people might look at that type of roster change, but it’s been amazing because it’s brought in experience. It’s brought in a heightened confidence, a maturity level.”

Patrick-Swift has preached the “home run mindset” since she took the helm at NC State in June 2018, and that philosophy is really taking off within the program both on and off the field. Graduate student shortstop Randi Farricker led the ACC in individual home runs and the Pack also topped the conference in that category as a team, but for Jackson and many other players, the home run mindset transcends softball.

“It’s pushing you to go out there and do your best no matter what,” Jackson said.

“That’s a culture that I bought into very quickly because I can go out there, give my best, do what I want … hit a home run.

That applies to what I do in life, in school and with my family. I think that’s a great motto to live by, no matter what.”

Jackson is already making a difference in the Wolfpack’s first five games, all at the River City Leadoff in Jacksonville, Florida.

Jackson leads NC State in on-base percentage and sits second on the team in OPS, just .086 behind graduate student outfielder Carson Shaner.

Although the Pack had little trouble disposing of their opponents at the event, outscoring them 23-12 despite losing a 1-0 pitchers’ duel to Western Carolina, Jackson is shaping up to be a leader in the dugout during her time at NC State.

Matt Willadsen excited for baseball season after offseason development Will Thornhill Staff Writer

Coming into the 2022 season, the Wolfpack baseball team is ranked as high as No. 7 in preseason polls, and its pitching staff is a strong part of why. Returning sophomore right-handed pitcher Matt Willadsen as a weekend starter is a big reason many are excited about this NC State baseball team.

Willadsen started 13 of his 18 appearances last season and was 5-3 on the year with a 4.73 ERA in 83.2 innings pitched. Willadsen was a crucial part down the stretch of the regular season where he pitched a completegame shutout against Boston College and recorded 28 outs in a doubleheader against

UNC-Chapel Hill.

These performances earned him the opportunity to pitch in the ACC Championship game, NCAA Regionals and the NCAA Super Regional-clinching game at Arkansas. Willadsen was scheduled to pitch against Vanderbilt in the College World Series, before the NCAA canceled that game.

“Last year, he and [sophomore left-handed pitcher] Chris Villaman grew up during the season as much as I’ve ever seen two players mature during the season,” said NC State head coach Elliott Avent during media day on Feb. 9.

One of the things Willadsen wanted to improve on in the offseason was fastball ve-

locity. To address this, the Holly Springs, North Carolina native trained at Driveline Baseball in Washington.

“I thought it was pretty good being around the same type of people who want to take it up to the next level just like I do,” Willadsen said.

Going into last season, Willadsen had to earn his spot as a weekend starter, but after a great 2021 season, it’s up to him to prove that he was not just a one-season wonder.

D1Baseball.com ranked Willadsen as the 37th-best starting pitcher in the country going into the season.

MATT continued page 14

I think we do have all the pieces that fit right in order to win the ACC Championship.

- Matt Willadsen

Sports

TECHNICIAN 13

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

Sam Highfill poised to step up, fill leadership role in 2022 Wade Bowman

Assistant Sports Editor

After his exceptional play and heroic performances a year ago, sophomore righthanded pitcher and infielder Sam Highfill has established himself as one of the marquee players on this Wolfpack baseball roster.

Highfill’s 2021 season was one to remember, with the second-year freshman at the time making a team-high 16 starts on the mound while leading the team in ERA and a 9-2 starting record. His run in the College World Series was equally, if not more, impressive — tossing a two-hit shutout in a career-high 7.1 innings pitched and stepping up to bat 3-4 in separate games against a star-studded Vanderbilt team. Despite the successes and unfathomable levels of media attention, Highfill prefers to keep a lower profile on the diamond. “[The attention] was new, it was really different for me,” Highfill said. “It’s not something that I’ve ever really had happen, and it’s not something that I really love. I guess I kind of like just flying under the radar, it’s what I’ve done for most of my life. … I try not to think about it too much, I try to just stay focused on playing baseball.”

No matter how badly Highfill wants to lay low and focus on his game, the bright lights are going to shine on one of the team’s most promising players. He and sophomore right-handed pitcher Matt Willadsen have set the bar high for themselves in the eyes of Wolfpack faithful. NC State’s preseason No. 10 national ranking has much to do with the talent found in the squad’s bullpen, with the potential success of the team moving forward relying heavily on these two individuals.

It’s no secret there were lessons to be learned after last year’s College World Series appearance for the Pack, but one that jumps off the page is Highfill’s ability to handle high-pressure situations.

His composure is one of the tools in his pitching arsenal, which expanded massively during last year’s storybook run. With all the improvements he made on the mound throughout last year, Highfill wanted to turn his attention to a different aspect of his game in the offseason.

“This offseason I was trying to be a leader for my teammates,” Highfill said. “In the fall I wasn’t throwing, I took a few months off after a long year. I was in the weight room mainly, but I was out of practice. I was just trying to help the other pitchers, we have so many new guys that I was just trying to make sure that they’re as prepared as possible.”

Leadership roles for this Pack9 unit have certainly been up for grabs with many of

DAVID TRACEY/TECHNICIAN

Freshman pitcher Sam Highfill pitches against Louisville on Saturday, March 20, 2021 at Doak Field. Highfill pitched four and twothirds innings, giving up two earned runs on four hits while striking out three. The Wolfpack lost 6-3.

last year’s big names making the jump to the pros. Individuals like Tyler McDonough, Jose Torres, Evan Justice and Jonny Butler were just a few of the centerpieces of last season’s team that made their way to the pros at the conclusion of last year’s CWS. The departure of key offensive players from last year’s team leaves gaps open in the hitting department. Many were left to wonder if Highfill would be seen in a twoway capacity in the upcoming season after his batting performance against MLB talent Kumar Rocker in the College World Series, but Highfill was quick to define his role for this year.

I’ve always said about Sam Highfill since he’s been here, he’s just a baseball player.

- Elliot Avent

“Hopefully, it doesn’t come down to a situation like that again,” Highfill said. “I haven’t taken any swings so hopefully it’s just on the mound.”

There will always be a sliver of hope to see Highfill recreate the performance he had in the Pack’s last game of the CWS, and that versatility is what makes him a premier play

for this unit heading into the year. A large portion of that versatility can be attributed to his baseball-oriented mind, which has drawn praise from coaches and teammates alike.

“I’ve always said about Sam Highfill since he’s been here, he’s just a baseball player,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “Sam just has a high IQ for the sport that he’s playing. He competes at a high level without getting flustered. Nerves are a part of any game that you play; whether you’re on the first tee at Augusta or you’re preparing for a Final Four run in basketball, nerves are part of everything. Sam tempers that as well as anybody we’ve had here, and he’s always done that. He’s an amazing person and a very good baseball player.”

Wolfpack baseball has a lot to prove in the upcoming year after its abrupt exit from last year’s CWS that left many Pack9 fans itching for more. With all the question marks surrounding this team’s now relatively young core, Highfill is poised to be a surefire star for the rest of the unit to feed off of early in the year. His experiences on the field, in the most intense situations, are the makings of a crucial centerpiece for a Wolfpack unit that lost so many of them in the offseason.

The first on-field look at Highfill since June 2021 comes in the Pack’s season and home opener against Evansville on Friday, Feb. 18. The opening pitch is set for 3 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ACC Network Extra. For live coverage of the matchup, and many more of the Pack9’s games to come this year, make sure to follow @TechSports on Twitter to stay up to date on the No. 10 team in the nation.

Pack softball’s Logan Morris healthy, primed to shatter records Tristan Tucker Managing Editor

Though the 2022 NC State softball roster is filled with several new faces, head coach Jennifer Patrick-Swift and the rest of the coaching staff know the importance of having veteran play surrounding the team to help acclimate these new faces.

Enter fifth-year infielder Logan Morris, who’s been in NC State’s program since transferring from USC Upstate in 2019 and will look to help lead the team as it paces through the rest of its season.

“When we first started talking and started the recruiting process, it was clear that she had kind of the mentality, the mindset and potential to come into this program and do really well,” Patrick-Swift said. “And so yeah, it was the combination of obviously, you know, as a coach you’re looking for who can help you based on black-and-white numbers. But that’s only the first part. And the second part is getting to know them, what are they about, and I just felt really good vibes with her and an ambition to really be the best and excel at this level.”

Morris’ decision to come to NC State reflects the kind of program that Patrick-Swift has constructed over the years: a rigorous culture founded on respect. According

LOGAN continued page 14

Sports

14 TECHNICIAN THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

“[Willadsen’s] focus on baseball now is totally — I continued from page 12 don’t k now how I can define it being different — just locked in on baseball,” Avent said.

Willadsen came to NC State as a two-way player, but after his shortened freshmen 2020 season because of COVID-19, he began to focus on being a pitcher only, a decision that has turned out well so far during his collegiate career. “[Willadsen] came in as a two-way player, he quickly made a decision as [sophomore right-handed pitcher Sam Highfill] did, to be a pitcher only,” Avent said. “I think both of those guys see themselves pitching in the big leagues one day.”

A good pitching staff can take a team a long way in baseball, but the offensive production needs to be there too. As confident as he is in himself, Willadsen believes in his teammates as well.

“I think we do have all the pieces that fit right in order to win the ACC Championship, but a lot of things need to fall in place for that to happen,” Willadsen said. “I’m excited to see what can happen.”

Expect Willadsen to get his first start of the season this Saturday, Feb. 19 or Sunday, SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN Feb. 20 during NC State’s opening series of Freshman pitcher Matt Willadsen pitches during the game versus the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday, May 22, 2021 in Doak Field at the season against Evansville.

Dail Park. The Wolfpack lost to the Seminoles 15-11.

MATT

to Morris, that respect was a huge reason she continued from page 13 joined the Pack in the first place, a decision she’s continuously thankful for. “[The decision to transfer] meant everything for my career, it meant everything for my life,” Morris said. “My numbers have gone up, I enjoy the people I’m around, I enjoy the city of Raleigh. It has just been everything for my career and life-wise.”

In just three seasons, Morris has already had an accomplished and decorated Wolfpack career. She ranks top 10 at NC State in career slugging percentage and on-base percentage; her 26 home runs at NC State rank ninth all-time and her 102 RBIs are eighth. Morris is the school career record holder for sacrifice flies and has the most in a single season. Further, the fifth-year infielder’s .608 slugging percentage last season ranks 10th all-time for a single season.

But Morris isn’t taking this season for granted despite her achievements. The infielder underwent labrum surgery in May and, according to Patrick-Swift, is entering the season fully healthy for the first time since coming to NC State. “[The surgery] definitely taught me some life skills,” Morris said. “I need patience. I like to do everything at 100%, just hit the ground running. But I try to pull me back a little bit like, ‘Logan, this takes time, things aren’t going to be healed in one day.’ And I think what is really going to be big for my softball season this year, is take it day-byday, take it game-by-game and take it pitchby-pitch.”

With Morris able to slow the game down for herself, Patrick-Swift is looking to her to

LOGAN

DAVID TRACEY/TECHNICIAN

Redshirt junior infielder Logan Morris celebrates her home run against No. 15 LSU on Friday, April 16, 2021 at Dail Softball Stadium. Morris went 2-3 with three runs batted in as the Wolfpack won 3-1.

transmit these leadership qualities and lessons to other newer members of the roster.

“Over the years when [Morris] kind of solidified herself as a staple in the lineup, that’s kind of when you’ve seen her grow,” PatrickSwift said. “When the other third basemen or shortstops are standing there, and they’re taking reps, she’s talking to them on the side about ‘Hey, do this, this play goes here, the ball goes here.’ And that’s something that every year has increased more and more in taking charge of the infield … she’s just really blossomed and come out of her shell.”

Outside of being a good locker-room presence, Morris is looking to expand other areas of her game besides her batting ability.

Patrick-Swift said that when the coaching staff recruited Morris, she embodied a “home run mindset,” and that while she has dominated in that area, she has even more to offer.

“But it’s about so much more than that,” Patrick-Swift said. “Stepping up to plate, knowing it doesn’t matter who’s in the circle, [she] expects to do the best thing [she] can and you know, in one swing score at least one run. And I really think that’s when she took off. And so coming into this season, she is one of the keystones of this program … and the amazing culture that we have now. Our culture is better now than it’s ever been since I’ve been here. And she’s a huge part of that.”

Now fully healthy for the first time in her Wolfpack career, Morris has a chance to continue to climb in the record books.

“Oh, it’s awesome,” Morris said. “But [there’s] some unfinished business, some other records I’m looking forward to, so we’ll keep that grind going. That’s for sure.”

Comics

15 TECHNICIAN

TECHNICIANONLINE.COM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2022

When it comes to trauma

Kiara Bush, staff cartoonist third-year in design studies and statistics

See page 9