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Utah State University
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Logan, Utah
Today is Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 Breaking News
Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is convicted of being an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-yearold cousin. Page 2
Campus News
The Army ROTC performs field training exercises. Page 4
Features USU students get a chance to see a rare Japanese dance form. Page 14
Sports
Three USU hockey players refine their skills in Chicago. Page 5
Opinion
EVAN PARKER
In fall 2005, eight students and a professor died in a van crash between Tremonton and Logan. Today, on the second anniversary ...
USU remembers By ARIE KIRK news editor
Two years ago today, 10 USU students and their instructor went on a field trip to Box Elder County to look at farming equipment. As they were returning to Logan, a tire blew out on their vehicle. The 15-passenger van rolled four times, killing the instructor and eight students. “I remember getting on the freeway and I was just talking to some of the guys when I heard the tire blow out. I looked forward and we were going off the road. That is the last I remember,” said Robbie Peterson, one of two survivors. Two years later, Peterson said the accident is still something he thinks about everyday. It is, however, getting easier to deal with the reality of the deadly rollover. “It is hard to believe two years have gone by. I think life is just kind of starting to get where I can move on. I mean, I will always remember what happened. I will always remember those lost but life is getting a little easier,” he said. The eight students killed in the accident were Steven Bair, Dusty Fuhriman, Justin Gunnell, Justin Huggins, Jonathan Jorgensen, Curtis Madsen, Ryan McEntire and Bradley Wilcox. Instructor Evan
Parker was also killed. Jared Nelson and Peterson survived. USU President Stan Albrecht said, “On this second anniversary marking the loss of (eight) wonderful students and their instructor, we continue to feel the pain and emptiness of that day, Sept. 26, 2005. These fine students and their instructor remain in our hearts and our thoughts. We pay our deepest respects to them. We express our ongoing sympathy and support to their loved-ones. We also wish to convey our gratitude for the progress of the two student survivors, Robbie Peterson and Jared Nelson.” To mark the anniversary, the Agriculture Technology Club sponsored a tractor procession Monday. A tractor donned with wreaths, representing each casualty, led the parade of nearly 20 tractors. The event also kicked off Ag Week. Because the rollover occurred on the first Monday of Ag Week in 2005, Tiffany Evans, director of Student Involvement and Leadership Center, said the parade will be the Monday of every Ag Week to memorialize the lost students and instructor. “The parade will be a long lasting tradition so each and every Ag Week, from here on out, will begin with a tribute to the victims in the
accident. This is the most appropriate way to begin Ag Week,” she said. “Ag Week, 25 to 30 years from now, is going to begin with a tractor parade that will represent this event in the university’s history.” USU is also in the process of designing a memorial for the victims, said Noelle Cockett, dean of agriculture. The memorial of bronze panels will reflect the talents of the nine people killed and will hang in the TSC. Once the new agriculture building is completed, the memorial will be displayed there. Cockett said people should not focus totally on the gloom of the anniversary. She said she believes this memorial will help move the attention to the achievements of the instructor and students. “The news of the accident came blow after blow after blow and what I experienced was incredible sadness,” Cockett said. “This (memorial) will help represent each victim and also represent what they did.” Bruce Miller, department head of Agricultural Systems Technology and Education, said the Agricultural Machinery Technology Program lost half of its enrollment in the 2005 accident.
BRAD WILCOX
CURT MADSEN
DUSTY FUHRIMAN
- See CRASH, page 3 JONATHAN JORGENSON
“Celebrating life is valuable and on the memorial of the van crash, we get a chance to remind ourselves just how valuable life is.” Page 13
Almanac Today in History: In 1580, Francis Drake of England, returns to England, becoming the first successful British navigator to circumnavigate the Earth, ending an almost three-year expedition. He lost four ships along the way.
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JUSTIN HIGGINS
RYAN MCENTIRE
STEVEN BAIR
JUSTIN GUNNELL
School image overhauled in outreach campaign By MORGAN RUSSELL staff writer
USU’s ongoing communication campaign is improving its recruitment efforts by telling USU’s story through the eyes of the individual student. “We are looking to reflect the importance of the individual student and research opportunities that USU presents to prospective students,” said John DeVilbiss, USU’s public relations and marketing executive director. “We want to engage students to think USU by applying their individual goals to the opportunities available at USU.” DeVilbiss said he hopes the theme of individuality is implemented on recruitment brochures and posters hanging in high schools around
Utah, which are mailed out to future students. “It’s on a Post-it note, lined paper or a school binder. We created a look and a feel for students that stands out from other publications and institutions as well,” he said. This new look for fall semester tells the individual story of outstanding students – including their goals, passions and reasons for choosing USU – by encompassing the students in their own personal element, doing what they love on campus, in classes and for fun in Logan. “Once people see what USU has to offer, worldclass research with a location and setting that is unparallel to other schools,” DeVilbiss said. “It’s a place where students can really be themselves. Realizing our strengths and weaknesses helps us to look at the messages that we want to share
with future students, current students, faculty, parents, alumni, donors and legislatures.” Admissions, DeVilbiss said, is using the theme very well to engage students to apply their goals in life to think USU. He said Admissions is still in the discovery stage, and communication is an ongoing process. But, he said the theme has been well-received and very popular through giving enough needed information to future students such as college costs, campus life and academics in a student format. “In the process of this new individual look, we have created a similar look and feel which students can recognize the same kind of theme
- See IMAGE, page 3