NT Daily

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Sunny 102° / 77°

Howdy Y’all UNT researches Texas accents Arts & Life | Page 3

Key Contributors Scouting the UNT football team Sports | Page 5

Thursday, September 6, 2012

News 1, 2 Art & Life 3, 4 Sports 5, 6 Views 7 Classifieds 8 Games 8

Volume 100 | Issue 05

ntdaily.com

The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas

UNT student, soldier Junior kills competition recognized for service JASON YANG

Senior Staff Writer His rugby teammates call him Stevie D. During warm-ups, Stevie D. is just another member of the UNT Rugby Club. Sgt. Steven Davidson, 2012’s “Military Times” Soldier of the Year, remains humble about his accomplishments. But the UNT freshman – who earned the commendation after saving the life of a man suffering from heat exhaustion during a 120-mile hike in the Horn of Africa – shows a quiet heroism in everything he does, from his military service to his community outreach to his academic life. More than anything, Davidson hopes his story will inspire others. “I believe there are thousands of soldiers who deserve this award more than me,” he said. “What I have to do this upcoming year is represent well and bring honor to this award by community involvement and getting other service members involved.” Davidson was born in Columbia, S.C., on June 2, 1991. He moved from city to city until his parents divorced in 2005, when he went to live with his mother, Brenda, in Justin, Texas. He at tended Nor th West High School in Justin, where he worked as an athletic trainer. After deciding football wasn’t for him, he

PHOTO BY MICHELLE HEATH/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Sgt. Steven Davidson tightens the tie of his dress uniform at home. After saving a fellow soldier in the French-run desert warfare course, an intense 10-day 100 mile march, Davidson earned the title of 2012 “Military Times” Soldier of the Year. quit the position. Davidson joined Alliance Rugby, a non-profit youth rugby program in North Texas, and fell in love with the sport. He enrolled at North Central Texas College in Corinth in 2009. Shortly after beginning at

NCTC, Davidson discovered the high cost of college, and enlisted in the Army that October to ease the financial burden.

PHOTO BY DENVER CHRISTIANSEN/INTERN

Junior middle blocker Courtney Windham has been a pivotal part of the Mean Green volleyball team’s quick 7-2 start this season. See more on page 6

See SOLDIER on page 2

PHOTO BY TYLER CLEVELAND/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

PHOTO BY ZAC SWITZER/SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Student Government Association President Rudy Reynoso listens to SGA Vice President Justin Wood speak Wednesday during the first meeting in Room 116 of Sage Hall. Senate members have an opportunity to attend the National Convention on Nov. 2.

Computer science freshman Jesse Stauffer is the creator of ClassChain.com, a school-based networking site that helps easily connect classmates from specific schools.

SGA holds first meeting Freshman creates site BEN PEYTON Staff Writer

The St udent Government Association focused on f inalizing internal positions during its first Senate meeting of the fall semester. Business junior Adam Hasley, who previously held the position of Chairman of the External Committee for SGA, was elected Senate Speaker over emergency administration and planning senior Nicholas LaGrassa and exercised his new position for the remainder of the meeting. “I have a group of people [the SGA senate] who want to be here and that are efficient,” Hasley said. “Now we have to become inf luential.” Valuing st udent input and increasing the student body’s awareness of SGA are both goals of President Rudy Reynoso and Vice President Justin Wood’s platform.

Criminal justice sophomore Marcos Torres, who has served as a senator for two years, was elected to speaker pro tempore over pre-political science sophomore Austin Campbell. Journalism sophomore Lauren Smith, who ran unopposed, was elected as secretar y. The Sergeant-at-Arms election will be postponed until the Supreme Court reaches a decision on a term-length dispute. Senator LaGra s sa wa s elected Sergeant-at-Arms for a one-year term in February, after Senator Torres stepped down. The Supreme Court will decide whether or not to adjust SGA bylaws to align the SGA’s position terms. T he Elect ion Board and the Supreme Court were also confirmed at the meeting. A spokesman from the UNT Mean Green Racing team, which is currently building a car for the

2013 SAE International Collegiate Design Series, spoke to the SGA about the team’s ongoing project. Formula SAE is a st udent racing car design competition that began in 1979 at the University of Houston. T he s p oke s ma n e n c ou r aged students to join the Mean Gr e e n R a c i ng t e a m. T h e project should be completed by April, and students can follow the team’s progress on their Facebook page at Facebook.com/ UNTMeanGreenRacing. The team will be presenting some of their work and a demonstration of an SAE car on Sept. 13 in Discovery Park Room 345 and will have a tent at Apogee Stadium at Saturday’s football game. The SGA has received 70 freshmen intern applications for the fall semester. Applicants will be narrowed down in the weeks to come.

to connect students ELEANOR SADLER Intern

Classes full of nameless faces, a campus sprawling more than 875 acres and a new learning environment are a few concerns that pre-computer science freshman Jesse Stauffer took into account when he created ClassChain. com. Stauffer designed ClassChain, a free social networking site open to all college students with a university email address, to make the transition from high school to a large university easier and to help students of all classifications connect. Stauffer began testing the site June 20 and officially launched it Aug. 6, just in time for the beginning of the fall semester. He said his main complaint with other social media sites was the difficulty he faced in finding

classmates. “I realized that there wasn’t really any way for me to connect with people that I didn’t necessarily know, but that I experienced in everyday life,” Stauffer said. “So I looked around for that a little bit, and when I didn’t find it I made it myself.” ClassChain stands out from other social networking sites because it only shows its users students from the same university. The site provides a social dashboard that links members’ other social media networks – in one click, users are directed to other members’ Facebook or Twitter pages. This allows users to find classmates easily on ClassChain. “These are people that you see in your classes and groups and dorms, and it’s not just a random guy that adds you from China,” Stauffer said. After members input class and course information on their profile,

they are automatically grouped with other students enrolled in the same course and section. With the class and group chatter feature, users can converse with students in the same classes, and make specific groups for class projects and more. Mechanical engineering freshman Adil Dadabhoy said the chatter was his favorite service on ClassChain. “It’s a good way to find other people in your classes and make study groups,” Dadaboy said. Students on ClassChain can customize and create new groups, ranging from freshman orientation groups to religious organizations to UNT clubs. Radio, television and film freshman Chase Cakmis said that being able to join, create and see all the open groups has been the site’s most useful feature.

See CHAIN on page 2

Inside New vice provost for UNT-International News | Page 2

Choir heads to South Korea Arts & Life | Page 4

Mean Green coach sounds off Views | Page 7


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