March 3, 2023

GOING DANCIN

The women’s basketball team punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament after winning the Summit League title. STORY, PAGE 8-9

Photo by JOCLYN HAVEN (SHE/Her)

MARA WHEATON Lifestyles Editor

(She/Her)

At the March 6 Students’ Associations meeting, senators were addressed by Wellness Center Director Shari Landmark, heard public comments and approved the Fiscal Year 2024 budget.

Shari Landmark

Landmark gave a breakdown of how general activity fees, or GAF dollars, are used to help support the Wellness Center and its daily operations. For the 2022-2023 academic year, GAF was set at $10.79 per credit hour.

Landmark went into a more specific breakdown of how the $10.79 per credit hour is divided within the facility. $3.37 is allocated for operations, $0.17 for group fitness instructors, $0.41 for intramurals, $0.19 for competitive sport clubs, $0.06 for H.E.R.O.H., $1.91 for maintenance and repair and finally, $4.68 is set aside for debt services from both renovations in 2006 and 2016.

Operation expenses include course facilities, any software to keep the Wellness Center app running and purchasing equipment. Landmark

STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION BRIEF

said there is $50,000 set aside in the operations allocation that will be used for upgrading equipment.

With last year’s GAF dollars, the Wellness Center opened the eSports lounge, bought a hack squat machine, six sets of Olympic plates, 10 treadmills, added a skateboard rack and will have the bike repair station up and running by the end of this month.

Landmark also announced the next major project for the Wellness Center.

“We are planning to remodel upstairs, the locker rooms that lead over to the pool,” Landmark said. “We are going to add two additional restrooms upstairs and then remodel bathrooms in the Student Health Clinic and Counseling Center.”

As of now, Landmark said they are exploring the idea of phase three in 2026 when the 2006 debt drops off. There is interest in expanding the fitness floor, adding additional courts and adding another pool.

“We are kind of dreaming and looking forward,” Landmark said.

Public comments

During public comments at the Students’ Association meeting, multiple

people addressed the Senate on behalf of Diversity Liaison Harley Fischer, voicing their support for Fisher and the future of the diversity liaison position to be paid and to become a chair position on the SA board.

Cierra Sazue, president of the American Indian Engineering Society, came out to show her support for Fischer.

“Throughout the school year, I’ve watched Harley work diligently to unite students on campus through outreach, connection and collaboration,” Sazue said. “Because of Harley’s work as a diversity liaison, I have watched student groups on campus specifically promoting diversity flourish.”

Dallas Kelso, president of the American Indian Student Association, also voiced her support for the “significant amount of effort” Fischer has put into this position since its creation.

“I think this position has a lot more potential to serve us good on this campus and also the community … so moving forward thinking about this, please remember that at SDSU, one of the core values is also diversity,” Marge Collins, director in the Office of Multicultural

Affairs and Accessibility, said. Committee Reports

During President Blake Pulse’s committee report, he shared a message by request of the Board of Directors regarding a possible ethics violation by Sen. Hunter Eide.

“I received a complaint from a member of the corporation raising concerns for a possible code of ethics violation against Sen. Eide,” Pulse said.

It was announced at the meeting that Sen. Eide had resigned from the Finance Committee but will still continue his campaign for SA President.

FY2024 budget

Slight changes were made to the Fiscal Year 2024 budget before being unanimously approved by the Senate.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs budget was increased by $3,000 due to an allocation error in the original spreadsheet. The Armed Forces Association was approved for a $1,800 increase and $3,000 was allocated toward funding the diversity liaison position if it were to become a chair position next year.

SDSU event encourages high schoolers as future educators to address shortage

ANNA LOCKREM Reporter

South Dakota State University hosted its annual Educators Rising Expo in the Student Union Friday, March 3.

This all-day event hosted 20 schools, 110 students, 20 chaperones and 25 volunteers which included faculty, students, guest speakers and more.

The Educators Rising Expo planning started back in October by Makayla Griffin, a graduate teaching assistant, and Laura Akerworld, an instructor. The expo has occurred every year since 2019.

Due to the decline of educators on a national and local level, Educators Rising is an organization for high schoolers that works to inspire the next generation of educators.

At the Educators Rising Expo, students could attend breakout sessions, ask questions for current faculty and educators to answer, create new connections, tour SDSU and get a taste of what SDSU has to off er. They also served SDSU’s famous cookies ‘n cream ice cream.

Travis Lape, the state director of Educators Rising, started five years ago to bring students together and help them connect to the world of education. thirty-five schools and 275 students are a part of Educator Rising in South Dakota and that number continues to grow yearly.

Lape’s concern when he took this role was, ‘what are we going to do with teacher recruitment?’

But his concern quickly turned into a realization of what the Educators Rising organization is in place to do.

“Future educators are sitting in our classroom,” Lape said. “In providing guidance and support for current high school students, Educators Rising is helping to ensure we have future

educators to place in future classrooms.”

One future educator in attendance at the expo was senior Emma Murray. Murray wants to double major in Elementary and Special Education after graduating from Madison High School in the spring.

Murray has always known that she wanted to go into the education profession as she has watched her grandparents be mentors for people with disabilities. For as long as Murray can remember, her grandparents took individuals in and helped them navigate society

“I want to be an important person to future students,” Murray said, explaining why she thinks going into the profession is important.

Murray said her grandparents, as well as her preschool teacher, have been important people in her life, and still 18 years later, their impact has motivated her decision to pursue education. She hopes to leave a mark on the world and help people by being an educator.

Anna Karabon, director of the School of Education, Counseling and Human Development also attended the Educators Rising Expo. She started her professional career as an early childhood and public elementary school teacher.

“SDSU graduates 150 students with teaching degrees each year,” Karabon said. With that, Karabon explained that 70% of students who graduate with a teaching degree teach within a 50-mile radius of where they grew up. SDSU teaching programs know the importance of educators in our society.

Karabon made it clear that an appreciation for teachers needs to change to combat the need for future teachers.

“Participate in shifting the narrative as a society,” Karabon said.

Collegian photo by ANNA LOCKREM Students and other guests mingle during the Educators Rising Expo at SDSU Friday, March 3. The event hosted speakers, breakout sessions and more aimed to help possible future educators.

Students’ Association

GRACIE TERRALL Co-Editor-in-Chief (She/Her)

Elections for Students’ Association are coming up March 21. As President Blake Pulse and Vice President Anna Shane end their term of leadership, two new candidate tickets are competing for the position. Here’s a look at Hunter Eide and Carter Howell’s presidential campaign.

Eide has served on SA for two years in the College of Natural Sciences. He’s worked on the government affairs committee, communication committee, board of directors and until recently, the finance committee.

“We want to bring the student voice forward and prioritize students with our role and continue to have that student voice shared with administration to improve the student experience here at SDSU,” he said.

Howell has not served on SA, but he is involved with hall government, FFA and the finance, insurance and real estate club. He is from Lithia, Florida, and studies agriculture business and business economics.

“Hunter was telling me about his campaign, and I took an active role as hall government president this year, and I kind of wanted to take a step up after that,” he said. “Hunter talks about what his passions were and we felt that they aligned.”

Eide and Howell’s campaign centers around three pillars: create, connect and commit.

They hope to raise awareness for resources on campus like free legal aid in the NESS School of Management, Jack’s Cupboard and create opportunities like handing out two diplomas for two degrees and hosting a fall graduation ceremony.

Eide said it can be costly and inconvenient for students who graduate in the fall to return for the spring ceremony, especially for international and out-of-state students.

“From beginning to end of your SDSU experience, we want to maximize every single day because we know that whether it’s a South Dakota resident and you’re paying $48 a day to come to school on average before scholarships and financial aid, Minnesota at $52, and out of state resident at $58, or international student at $128,” Eide said. “We just want to make sure that every single day, that dollars count.”

Under their connect pillar, Eide and Howell hope to connect students with better wifi connections on campus, mental health resources and create ways for students and faculty to interact. This semester, Eide

Create. Connect. Commit.

headed the “Lunch and Learn” event hosted by SA, where students get a free meal and can mingle and network with their professors.

Eide and Howell will also commit to funding the newly created diversity liaison position, no increase in the General Activity Fee cost and free feminine hygiene products in the Student Union bathrooms.

Howell said he hopes they can be a voice for the constituents and commit to hearing their ideas and feedback.

“The two of us, we can’t possibly think of everything that can be improved at the school, but really committing to hearing the students and their ideas is one way that we can get a broader knowledge of what students really want to happen at the school,” Howell said.

Sen. Maddie Fitch from the College of Nursing and Sen. Ryder Mortenson for the College of Agriculture Food and Environmental Sciences nominated Eide and Howell for the presidential position at the Feb. 13 Students’ Association meeting.

“I think they both have a commitment to SDSU that

will take students very far,” Fitch said. “I think they see the need across a lot of platforms and they’re willing and ready to advocate for students in those senses.”

Photos SUBMITTED Hunter Eide and Carter Howell are running for Students’ Association president and vice president.

Presidential Candidates

The Students’ Association elections begin March 21 this year. As President Blake Pulse and Vice President Anna Shane complete their tenure of leadership, two new candidates are vying for the position. Here is a look at Nick Grote and Trinity Peterson’s campaign.

Grote is a second year junior and serves as a College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences senator. He’s worked on the strategic internal communications committee, academic affairs and was the vice chair for the finance committee.

“I have a ton of experience managing finances and I think it’s really important that we do that responsibly,” Grote said. “I think I’ve built up those skills quite nicely and am able to make decisions for others. And you know, Vote Grote is a good tagline, it’s fun.”

Peterson is a senator for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences. She serves on the Senate communications committee, university food service advisory committee, finance and the Student Union advisory committee.

Grote and Peterson’s campaign focuses on three platforms: invent, impact and inform.

Under their invent pillar, Grote and Peterson want to create tangible achievements that benefit students during their term. Peterson is currently working to get a second scoreboard installed at the Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium across from the student section. Grote recently introduced legislation and is working with administration to bring electric scooters to campus.

The pair hopes to impact SDSU by creating more healthy food options and more food service hours, ensure the diversity liaison position is funded and secure in the Senate and advocate for the removal of the lockdown browser camera scan for remote exams. Recently, a student at Ohio State University sued the school for invasion of privacy.

“That court case found that it was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment, its unreasonable search and seizure,” Grote said. “We don’t want SDSU to get a lawsuit and we also want to protect the rights of the students. Getting rid of a camera scan of a room would is a really big thing. We want to promote student privacy.”

Their third platform, inform, focuses on notifying administrators about student needs and informing students about what is happening in the Senate, like the General Activity Fee (GAF) Strategic Plan.

Every four years, SA is in charge of allocating a portion of the GAF dollars to student organizations on campus. Next year will be the time to review and confirm the budget for the next four years.

“There’s a ton of work that goes into this, and it’s a huge responsibility that the next administration is going to be charged with,” Grote said. “It’s important and we need people who have been around the block and can handle this responsibility.”

Another area that Grote and Peterson would like to inform students about is the mental health resources on campus. The South Dakota legislature passed HB 1076, which provides the Department of Health $2 million to support mental health programs.

“What we really want to do is connect students to services in the community, and maybe even expanding to Sioux Falls if need be,” Peterson said. “We want to just compile that information so it’s easily accessible to students so they know the phone numbers and what counselors are available and what insurances they might accept. This is a really big struggle for students.”

Sen. Hayden Bentz and Sen. Katelyn Mahan nomi-

Invent. Impact. Inform.

Nick Grote Involvements Honors College

Deans Student Advisory Council, CEO Club

Owns Grote Enterprises

Trinity Peterson Involvements

Honors College

Admissions Ambassador

Little International

nated Grote and Peterson for the presidential position at the Feb. 13 SA meeting.

“They’re wonderful people, and I think they’ll do excellent things for SDSU,” Bentz said. “You see time and time again, the resolutions that they support and things that they’re pushing for on Senate are going to impact the day to day lives of every single SDSU student.”

GRACIE TERRALL Co-Editor-in-Chief (She/Her)

Nick Grote and Trinity Peterson are running for Students’ Association president and vice president.

Photo by GRACE PETERSON

Virtual reality shows new ways of teaching

JACK MCCARTY Reporter

Virtual reality headsets made their way into SDSU classrooms this fall, and they have had a variety of effects on students.

One main concern when it comes to brand-new cutting-edge technology like this is the cost. According to Greg Heiberger, associate dean for student success in the biology and microbiology department, this hasn’t cost the student body anything.

Heiberger said that the headsets came through a grant by Meta and Victory XR, an Iowa-based company who is working to put VR headsets in classrooms and college campuses. He also said that all the VR labs are funded by donors and that the total income for the program is multisource.

Heiberger claims that this program is “not going to cut physical classes right now.” He is optimistic for the future of VR in the classroom.

“We are only a year into this,” he said. “Even if it is just as good as a face-to-face experience, it is still better than a 2D setting in remote and distant education.”

Dennis Hedge, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said that this technology can be used for a variety of different classes.

“There are opportunities to utilize the technology in a number of different programs and fields, spanning the sciences, humanities and arts,” Hedge said. “An individual’s response with VR/AR is driven far more by the quality of the experience itself as opposed to the technology platform. It’s important as we advance in this area to emphasize quality of experience at every turn.”

A few students, like sophomore electronics engineering and technology student Trey Frost, think using VR headsets will benefit some students and help them connect better with the subject matter.

“I feel they can be a great way to demonstrate real life examples for visual learners,” he said.

Also a sophomore electronics engineering student, Evan Gilbertson approves of VR in certain classes.

“I think it is a good idea for laboratory use,” he said.

Sara Madsen, senior lecturer in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, gives her nuanced perspective on how this new technology is affecting students directly.

“It’s kind of been a mixed bag,” Madsen said. “I think in general the students are receptive to it, but they’re concerned VR affects their grade and assessment of them. Some of them love it, and some of them like it but they get kind of sick, tired or dizzy.”

Madsen also commented on VR’s relative inaccessibility and the steps that she is taking to overcome it.

“I try to choose lessons that are not an optical overload. For instance, we could go to the pyramids or mars, but to teach there and ask students to do organic

chemistry there would be absolutely exhausting,” Madsen said. “What we’ve been doing is going into creator rooms which gives them an opportunity to relax.”

Heiberger also said that the programs that they are using for classes are also available in a 2D setting as well to help accommodate certain individuals.

“The VR we are doing at SDSU, we are teaching in it. We are actually doing things in VR, and we are doing concepts that are relevant to the organic chemistry curriculum and we are teaching those concepts,” Madsen said. “People think that we cannot teach in VR; I disagree. We are teaching in it. The question is are they learning, and that’s what this year has been about for me.”

Submitted Photo

A virtual rendering of The Campanile seen through the virtual reality headsets on canmpus

Band director reflects on historic year

was all excitement and exhilaration, but mainly relief, he said.

“There comes a moment where you just want to do it,” Kessler said. “You want to stop making phone calls and sending emails and rehearsing, and you just want to go. It’s just time to go.”

On the day of the parade, he was moved by all the support of the Pride supporters that came to New York.

“I have always viewed the band program as ‘the front porch’ of the university,” said David Reynolds, the director of the School of Performing Arts. “Outside constituents and Dr. Kessler do a great job leading the Pride of the Dakotas to embrace that role.”

SAM SCHAUER Reporter

Kevin Kessler has had a storybook year as the director of the Pride of the Dakotas, and that story continues as he shifts to pep band season and educating.

Kessler has a doctorate degree in music education, is an alumnus of South Dakota State University and teaches many instrumental music classes for music and non-music majors. While he teaches classes, he is also in charge of the Pride of the Dakotas, the SDSU pep bands and is the director of concert band.

Although Kessler is busy directing the pep band and the Pride, he still loves the atmosphere the members give off on game days.

“Like the members, I enjoy the performances,” Kessler said. “I think anybody in an ensemble like that just enjoys the roar of the crowd, enjoys their part in the game day culture and atmosphere. I’m the same in that regard.”

During Kessler’s time as a student at SDSU, he participated in groups like the Pride, the symphonic band and even worked at KSDJ. While he was involved in many activities, he cared a lot for the Pride and its members.

“I came from a very small school and didn’t have experience with how a large marching band works,” said Andi Fouberg, president of the Alumni Association and former Pride member with Kessler. “It was good to have people like him to help make it all work.”

Kessler graduated in 1998 and

worked at Brandon Valley High School. He had many roles at Brandon Valley before leaving in 2012 for a graduate teaching assistantship to get his doctorate at the University of Iowa.

While at Iowa, he directed the pep bands and a concert band while taking classes for his doctorate.

“It was a fantastic time down there,” Kessler said. “I learned so much, and it set me up so well for this job.”

After graduating from Iowa, Kessler was hired at SDSU in 2015 to oversee the Pride and pep bands.

“Kevin loves the Pride, and knowing someone who loves it that much was going to take it over was, and still is, exciting,” Fouberg said.

The start of the 2022-2023 school year started off an emotional one for Kessler as he got the opportunity to conduct the national anthem at the Iowa-SDSU football game.

Kessler said the original plan was the Pride was supposed to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2021, and then bring the Pride to the

Iowa-SDSU game this year, but with the pandemic pushing everything back, it wasn’t feasible.

Kessler and the Iowa marching band director are close friends, as they went through the assistantship together. He said they were both disappointed he couldn’t bring the Pride down, but his family was still going to the game.

“He said, ‘well you’re still going to conduct the anthem,’” said Kessler. “It was a great honor … it was something I never got to do as a graduate teaching assistant.”

Kessler said the football game was fun to watch and be involved in, but his focus was on the 2022 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“The hardest part of all of it was I knew in late February of 2020 that we were going to go,” Kessler said. “We kept it quiet for 13 months before finally making the announcement at the end of April 2021.”

What came next was months of preparation and funding before leaving for New York. When they got there, it

Kessler thought he was only going to have to think about Macy’s, but he noticed the football team kept winning. After the team had won against Montana State, Kessler and the pride were ready to go to Frisco.

“You can make a choice,” he said. “You can either be tired and go ‘ah man, we’re going to have to do this again,’ or ‘hey, we get to do this again!’ There are a lot of schools sitting at home wishing they could do this.”

When the Jacks won, Kessler knew what a historic year this was for SDSU, and he couldn’t remember the last time SDSU was featured on two national stages.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find that in the same year,” he said.

As for an alumnus, Kessler is amazed this year happened, and considers it a win for many SDSU alumni.

“When we switched to Division 1, it didn’t just affect athletics, but the whole university,” said Kessler. “It has been an extraordinary period of growth for the university … I’m really fortunate to have watched it from the outside looking in, and then coming back and to be a part of that. I’m very grateful.”

Kevin Kessler

Photo by JOCLYN HAVEN (She/Her)

Kevin Kessler practices with the pep band before the Omaha v. SDSU men’s basketball game Saturday for the Summit League Tournament.

NEVER A DOUBT Jacks cruise to first conference title in 4 years

Story by SKYLER JACKSON

The South Dakota State women’s basketball team celebrates its 93-51 win over Omaha in the Summit League Tournament championship game March 7 at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls. With that win, the Jackrabbits punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament as an automatic qualifier. It will mark their 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Photos by JOCLYN HAVEN

The South Dakota State women’s basketball team capped off a dominant regular season with a complete performance in Tuesday’s Summit League Tournament championship game at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

The top-seeded Jackrabbits (28-5) crushed No. 6 seed Omaha (15-17) 93-51 to win their 10th conference tournament title and first since 2019. They will also make the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in program history.

“I thought we played incredible basketball here over the last several weeks, not just this weekend,” Jacks coach Aaron Johnston said. “We’ve played well for a long period of time and that’s taken a lot of focus and concentration and effort. Really looking forward to what comes next.”

It seemed inevitable that the Jacks would win another Summit League title, given the right circumstances. But winning the conference championship had eluded the Jacks over the last few years, largely because of injuries.

In 2020, the Jacks were poised to win a third-straight conference title. But Myah Selland suffered a season-ending injury just nine games into the season. Still, the Jacks advanced all the way to the Summit League title game, eventually losing to top-seed USD.

Selland again suffered a season-ending injury the following year late in the regular season. The Jacks still ended the COVID season with a 14-0 conference record. But Selland’s injury was too much for the Jacks to overcome and they were upset by eighth-seeded Omaha in the quarterfinals.

Both Selland and Paiton Burckhard were on SDSU’s last team to win the Summit League championship. But after coming up short the last few years, they wanted their last seasons as Jackrabbits to include a conference title.

“I think we’ve been through a lot together and (Burckhard) has picked me up through all of those,” Selland said. “We talked about how we’ve missed this feeling and we want to do it again.”

An injury to freshman point guard Paige Meyer late in the year seemed to affect SDSU in the conference title game last year, where they again lost to USD.

This year, everything finally came together for the Jacks. They ran through their Summit League competition in the regular season, going 18-0 and out-

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

• Manna Mensah, Kansas City

• Paige Meyer, SDSU

• Elena Pilakouta, Omaha

• Myah Selland, SDSU

• Haleigh Timmer, SDSU (Championship MVP)

GAME NOTES

• SDSU’s 93 points were the most a team has ever scored in the title game.

• Haleigh Timmer averaged 17.7 points in SDSU’s three victories in Sioux Falls.

scoring opponents by an average of over 27 points.

“I think all throughout the year, we’ve been thinking, ‘boy, we’ve had such good success, we don’t want to have a bump in the road now,’” Johnston said. “This team got through the mental part of that, and they were really focused and determined to come down here and play well in this one and I’m glad it worked out for them.”

They were overwhelming favorites to win the Summit League Tournament. They opened it with a 28-point win against St. Thomas and followed that up with a 27-point win against Oral Roberts in the semifinals.

Against the Mavericks, the Jackrabbits proved right away why they were 25.5-point favorites. They ended the first quarter on a 10-0 run and led 21-8 after one. From there, it was essentially over. The Jacks continued to increase their lead, which was as big as 30 in the first half. At halftime, the score was 44-16 Jacks.

Despite facing that deficit, Omaha continued to fight. But the Jackrabbits were too much for the Mavericks to handle and in the end, SDSU walked away with a 42-point victory. The 93 points they scored were the most a team has ever scored in the Summit League title game.

Sophomore guard Haleigh Timmer led the Jacks with 18 points shooting 7-8 from the field and 4-4 from 3-point range. After efficient performances throughout the weekend, Timmer was named tour-

nament MVP, an accomplishment she credits to the depth of the team.

“I think our team does a good job of just staying focused in those moments and we all just play off each other so well,” Timmer said. “It could be anyone’s night on this team, we’re so deep.”

Meyer scored 16 points and had four assists, Burckhard had 14 points and Selland added 11 on 4-of-6 from the field.

As a team, the Jackrabbits were efficient, shooting 62% from the field and hit 13-of-19 3-pointers. On the defensive end, the Jacks blocked seven shots, four from Tori Nelson and three from Kallie Theisen, and forced 17 Omaha turnovers.

For the Mavericks, Katie Keitges was their only player to score in double

figures, finishing with 11 points. Polina Nikulochkina scored eight points and Elena Pilakouta and Aaliyah Stanley each added six.

It was a poor shooting night for the Mavericks. They shot 34% from the field, including only shooting 21.4% in the first quarter and 18.2% in the second.

Now SDSU looks ahead to the NCAA Tournament. They are a projected 12 seed by ESPN Bracketology. But the team believes it has potential to make a deep tournament run.

“I think this team has a lot of potential,” Burckhard said. “I think being able to come out on top in this tournament definitely put our foot in the right direction and we’re ready to go.”

Jackrabbit sophomore guard Haleigh Timmer drives for a layup in a Summit League Tournament semifinal game against Oral Roberts March 6. In that game, Timmer scored 25 points and shot 8-of-12.

Museum exhibit details life during the Dust Bowl

ALYSSA BERENTSCHOT Copy Editor

A new exhibit called “Drowning in Dirt: Joseph Hutton and the Dust Bowl” offi cially opened in the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum to the public Feb. 27. The museum will house the exhibit until August 2024.

The exhibit features many different aspects of the dust bowl from the eyes of Joseph Hutton who was a soil scientist and taught at SDSU from 1911 to 1939. Stories from other families during the dust bowl are also on display.

Dale Potts, an associate professor of history in the School of American and Global Studies, spoke at the grand opening event March 6.

“All of the elements come together in ‘Drowning in Dirt: Joseph Hutton and the Dust Bowl’ to tell a story of the early days of soil science and the promotion of knowledge about soil health,” Potts said. “It is a history of Joseph Hutton, an individual who cared deeply about soil health, how soils were used and how Hutton strove to assist farmers in protecting their crops and keeping their soils in place.”

The exhibit also includes interactive aspects in an effort to appeal toward younger audiences despite the Dust Bowl happening almost 100 years ago.

“Joseph Hutton was a scientist, a photographer and a writer. He was passionate about sustainability of the soil so that farmland would always be able to provide food,” Gwen McCausland, director of the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum, said. “This is through the eyes of a soil scientist he was promoting and predicting the destruction of the soil and the issues going to happen a decade before the 30s.”

The exhibit features a historical house covered in dust, an interactive house that

tells different stories, a truck that shows how families migrated, a prototype of a way to get rid of locusts and many different pictures with stories from different families.

There are also photos and objects that allow people to see what it looked like to have everything covered in dust including food.

The truck in the exhibit tells the stories of different families that moved to different parts of the country due to the loss of their crops.

“I liked the house that is covered in dust, because it is how the houses looked during the dust bowl,” Grady Erickson, a sophomore agronomy major, said.

All of the displays for the exhibit were donated and the collection was completed in 2016 when Hutton’s family donated the rest of his belongings to the museum including photographs and research notes.

“It is very important to illustrate South Dakota State University’s long-standing history for innovative work in agriculture and related fields,” Potts said.

The bulk of Hutton’s research on soil conservation is still being promoted today and helps more people learn about soil conservation.

“Drowning in Dirt: Joseph Hutton and the Dust Bowl” is funded in part by a grant from the South Dakota Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and by the Friends of the Museum membership fund.

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Photos by ALYSSA BERENTSCHOT

(Above) The display titled “Moving Items” shows the typical things families would carry with them as they moved. (Below) This model of a grasshopper poison speader was invented in 1930 to combat the locust plague.

“Drowning in Dirt: Joseph Hutton and the Dust Bowl” opened in Ag Museum Feb. 27

(Above) The newest exhibit in the Ag Heritage Museum,“Drowning in Dirt: Joseph Hutton and the Dust Bowl,” is on display from Feb. 2023- Aug. 2024.

Wermedal leaving SDSU position after over two decades of service

JACOB BOYKO News Editor (He/Him)

Associate Vice President of Student

Affairs Doug Wermedal’s time at South Dakota State University is coming to a close. Last week, it was announced that Wermedal took the position of executive director for the Associated School Boards of South Dakota. The Collegian sat down with Wermedal to reflect on his SDSU legacy.

How did you get your start at South Dakota State University?

I suppose the very first step was joining hall government at Hansen Hall way back in 1982. Hall government involvement led me to being an RA (called CAs today) in Pierson Hall. Being an RA led to being a hall director, and grad school at Eastern Illinois University. From there I worked in different student housing positions at the University of North Dakota, the University of NebraskaKearney and Emporia State University in Kansas before returning to SDSU.

How long have you been here and in what roles?

My undergraduate stint at SDSU was from 1981 to 1985 and besides being an RA, I was a Collegian columnist and was very involved on the Hobo Day Committee, where I met the lovely and talented future Mrs. Wermedal when a friend and I made a bet on who could ask her out first.

What part of this experience has been the most memorable?

You would have to let me use the next three issues of the Collegian to cover that question. Some things do stick out though: speaking to a room full of probably more than 200 international students Sept. 11 after the first tower fell and assuring these bewildered and angstfilled students that SDSU would support them in the days ahead. Then going back to my office and watching the second tower fall.

Telling a 94-year old father that SDSU had decided to name a residence hall after his deceased son who was one of the first casualties from South Dakota in the Vietnam war, Josef Thorne, who Thorne Hall is named after. This father was so moved and even 40 years later, the loss was still so fresh you could feel it coming off him in waves. It was a privilege to honor his son’s service and sacrifice and to see how deeply meaningful it was to him.

The great “Heat Apocalypse” of 2011

in which several consecutive days of 100+ weather pushed temps in un-air conditioned halls over the 110 degree mark. We spent more than $500,000 in three days and air-conditioned every room on campus in less than a week.

Sweating the details of budget and project completion of 10 residence facilities, original construction on the Wellness Center and one expansion, a half-dozen expansions of the Union.

The pride of knowing these campus assets, easily more than $100 million in construction, will be in place for generations of students (including both of my own children) and knowing I was part of the team that helped make each of them a reality. Pretty gratifying stuff.

What has your role in student affairs taught you?

Always keep in mind the central, most fundamental, most essential aspect of what you are trying to do, and then mea-

sure every action, plan, outcome by this core thing. For student affairs, it is simply serving and advocating for students. Keeping this in mind helps me steer the ship for more than 20 years and also have some fun along the way.

How does your daughter, Danielle, feel about soon being the only Wermedal left at SDSU?

My entire family has degrees from SDSU. My wife and I, our daughter Dani and our son Drew, who completed his natural resources park management degree in December. So, you are right, in one way or another there have been at least two Wermedal-types, usually three and on occasion four Wermedals circulating on campus for more than two decades. Dani is more than able to sustain the family name and abiding connection to SDSU.

What do you hope to accomplish at your new job?

In some way this is simply a continuation of my work at SDSU, it’s just another segment of the educational path that leads to individual personal success. There are some obvious starting points in terms of workforce development ensuring we have teachers to do the most important instructional work. In the next breath, is the closely related issue of teacher compensation. I will be happy with my efforts if at the end of my time with ASBSD, teaching has become a more common career goal for South Dakota high school students. What does South Dakota look like if no one wants to teach? We all have to care about that.

Doug Wermedal’s yearbook picture from his senior year at SDSU in 1985.

Doug Wermedal’s current SDSU staff headshot.

School of Design to host two travel studies in spring

MADISYN SHEESLEY Reporter

Over 50 students are set to travel with the School of Design this spring and summer to either Kansas City or the United Kingdom.

Beverly Krumm and Peter Reichardt, lecturers in the School of Design, will be leading the travel study opportunities, which are the school’s biggest student engagement trips since the pandemic.

Krumm’s travel study will be a weekend trip to experience Kansas City Design Week. She is taking 36 students, which she says is a large number.

“Thirty-six is quite large,” she said. “I was ecstatic when I hit 20!”

Reichardt is taking 23 students for a three-week trip to the United Kingdom. All the students enrolled are from School of Design programs, although any major can be involved.

He attributes the large number of students involved to countries being back open after COVID-19, and students are eager to “get back out there.”

Macie Geppert and Raena Visness, two sophomore graphic design majors, are traveling to the United Kingdom with Reichardt. They both said they are excited about studying overseas and were drawn to the U.K. trip to explore the country’s design culture and spend time with their friends.

“I’m hoping to bring back new design culture to incorporate into my work,” Geppert said.

Visness is looking forward to practicing drawing and sketching. She said she is going to bring back more knowledge about sketching architecture and sketching in the moment.

Since the travel studies are required for each of the School of Design majors, many students have had to hold out because of COVID. Krumm said many cur-

rent seniors had planned to go on one of the three-week trips which kept getting canceled. The need for those students to get their credits helped boost the numbers too.

These studies are just one appealing part of the SDSU design programs. Both Krumm and Reichardt said that the travel opportunities are more appealing to students whether it’s a deciding factor or not.

“It (SDSU) offered a major that involved two of my major interests, such as art and computer design,” Geppert said.

Visness saw the school as a perfect fit for her personality.

“The program fit my personality and it works well with other majors,” Visness said. She is double majoring in graphic design and public relations.

Krumm said the event staff was excited to host students from South Dakota because no one from the state has attended the conference. She said she’s excited to participate in different workshops during the trip.

Reichardt is excited to experience the trip with his students.

“It is really something special,” he said. “It’s quite a unique experience in regard to an educational experience because they are transplanted into this strange, new, fascinating place.”

He says that he loves the culture and history that are present everyday and is excited to see the country through the students’ eyes, as most of them have not traveled outside the Midwest.

“The wonderful thing about the U.K. is we don’t have a language barrier, and so it makes it a very approachable first-time international travel experience for students,” Reichardt said.

Reichardt agrees that the trips will help broaden students’ experiences. He said that traveling out of the U.S. will help students experience different cultures

and be more confident in travel.

The trips will also help grow the School of Design. Reichardt said the trips will create growth toward networking through other schools. They will also grow the school’s outreach and opportunities.

Krumm said that she knows the School of Design has been growing as an important part of SDSU and hopes the numbers stay that way.

Krumm and Reichardt mentioned that the School of Design is very important to SDSU. Reichardt said that he can’t imagine a university that wouldn’t have a design program, because design is a very important component to everyday life and helps broaden studies and bring creativity to campus.

Collegian photo by JORDAN RUSCHE (She/Her) Artwork by Hailey Christenson and Cora Harris featured in the School of Design Ritz Gallery in Grove Hall. The artwork is part of their thesis exhibit called “Metanoia.”

TOURNEY BOUND RECORD-EIGHT JACKS QUALIFY FOR NCAA TOURNAMENT

Gordan in his final match 2-0.

Wrestling in the 157 weight class and placing fifth was Swensen who finished the meet going 3-2. After winning his first two matches, he lost his next two matches to No. 1 Jared Franek of NDSU and Jason Kraisser of Iowa State before beating Oklahoma’s Jared Hill in his final match for fifth place.

Carlson finished third in the 141 class going 4-1 with his only loss to No. 4 ranked Carter Young of Oklahoma State 4-2. Coming into the meet ranked 5th, the Minnesota native won his last match after it came down to a tiebreaker, winning 4-3 against Iowa State Cyclone Casey Swiderski.

Also coming in third was DeVos in the 174 weight class. After getting a first-round bye and losing to No. 3 ranked Sam Wolf of Air Force, DeVos went on a 3-0 run beating Andrew Berreyesa, Julien Broderson and upsetting No. 5 Tate Picklo of Oklahoma 6-1 in his final round.

Cade King and Tanner Jordan were selected as at-large bids Tuesday. King finished the night in seventh place going 1-2. King lost his first and third matches but beat No. 8 ranked Anthony Carman of West Virginia in his second match.

After finishing the Big 12 Conference tournament, SDSU will be sending eight wrestlers to the NCAA Division 1 National Wrestling Championship.

After marching his way to the finals to make himself South Dakota State’s first Big 12 Conference individual champion, Jacks’ own Tanner Sloan came just short in a 2-1 loss in the final round against University of Missouri wrestler Rocky Elam in the 197 weight class.

Sloan came into the meet ranked No. 1 in the 197 weight class. He started 2-0 with both of his wins coming from pins to Caden Gerlach in the first round and Carson Berryhill in the second. To add

even more to his resume for the weekend, the Minnesota native beat No. 4 ranked Luke Surber of Oklahoma State with a 12-1 major decision. Just as it played out in the rankings, Sloan wrestled in the finals against No. 2 ranked Elam before losing by one point in a tiebreaker, after the extra two-minute period of overtime.

South Dakota State finished the meet with 86.5 points and took the sixth place spot in the tournament with Mizzou who took first at 148 points, 2nd place was Oklahoma State with 134 points and rounding up the top three was Iowa State with 129 points. Oklahoma took fourth 97.5 and finishing fifth was North Dakota State with 89 points.

“I was happy,” said head coach Damion Hahn. “Happy with the effort,

happy with where these guys are mentally and physically. That’s the biggest thing.”

Hahn says that if they can monitor their sleep, monitor their nutrition and their weight, he thinks that it is “cruise control” from there on out.

Clay Carlson, Cael Swensen, Tanner Cook, Cade DeVos, A.J. Nevills and Sloan all qualified for Nationals.

Cook finished the night in 8th place in the 165 class, losing to OU Sooner Gerrit Nijenhuis 8-3, with a tournament record of 2-3.

Nevills went 2-2 in the 285 class in the meet. He started the tournament off hot at 2-0 before losing 16-1 in a tech fall to No. 1 ranked Wyatt Hendrickson in his third match from Air Force and Tyrell

South Dakota State sent a total of ten wrestlers to the meet, with 125-pound Jordan, 133-pound Derrick Cardinal and 149-pound Alek Martin all being eliminated.

Both Jordan and Cardinal won their first matches with Cardinal beating the No. 7 ranked wrestler but lost their next two, with both finishing 1-2. Martin went 0-2 at the meet losing to No. 2 ranked Colin Realbuto 8-2 and Isaiah Delgado 5-4.

The NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Championships will be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma from March 16-18. Brackets and pairings are set to come out Wednesday, March 8.

MARSHALL MINIHAN Sports Reporter

Photo from GoJacks

This is where you put your caption. Include full names, grade, and detailed description of the photo accurately depicting what is going on.

Season ends in sadness for Jacks

EVAN PATZWALD Co-Sports Editor (He/Him)

Monday night ended in heartbreak for the Jacks as the men’s basketball team’s comeback attempt vs. their rival NDSU fell short in the semifinals of the Summit League Tournament. The Bison controlled the game essentially from start to finish, leaving the game with an 89-79 win over SDSU, ending their season.

NDSU advances to play Oral Roberts in the championship game Tuesday night.

The Jacks will not be back in the NCAA Tournament this year and says goodbye to its three seniors, Alex Arians, Matt Dentlinger and Aaron Fiegen. What Arians will remember most about his time in Brookings will be how close the team was throughout his tenure.

“Coming to this school, I knew that everyone on the team was close and that’s how it’s been ever since I’ve been here,” Arians said. “I’ll definitely miss being around them, but I’ll definitely be following these guys for as long as I’ll follow the Jacks.”

No. 3 NDSU led by as many as 21 points Monday night and used a 17-0 run in the

first half to get out to an early 21-6 lead 10 minutes into the game. The Jacks stormed back with a 10-0 run over their own to cut the Bison lead to one at 25-24.

The Jacks took their only lead of the night with four minutes left in the first half on a pull-up jumper from Arians to make the score 29-27. NDSU took a six-point lead into the break and extended that lead over the course of the second half, leading 74-53 with seven minutes left in the game. SDSU finally started getting some stops on defense and pulled within six points with under a minute left but ran out of time, ending the Jacks’ season.

SDSU was out-rebounded in the game 37-24, with 22 of the Bison’s total coming from Grant Nelson. His rebound total was a Summit League Tournament record for a game.

“They got us in the paint early,” coach Eric Henderson said after the loss. “Seventeen of their first 20 points were in the paint. The rebounding has been a concern of mine for the whole year. We need to make sure that we get better at it. We got out-rebounded again tonight and that was a big part of it early.”

Just when the Jacks looked like a run was about to start, the Bison always had an answer on the other end and that proved to be the difference. Nelson finished the game with 20 points, along with his 20-rebound night.

Sophomore guard Zeke Mayo attempts a layup during the Monday game. The men’s team lost 79-89 against NDSU Monday night, ending their season at the Summit League Championship.

Collegian photos by JOCLYN HAVEN (She/Her)

After shooting 1-10 in the first half on 3-pointers, the Bison shot 7-10 in the second half. The threes didn’t start falling for the Jackrabbits until they had already dug themselves a big hole.

“They gave us a lot of challenges when we were playing defense,” Henderson said. “When you have a 10, 12-point lead, you’re able to play a little freer and we needed to get a little closer where the basket got a little smaller for some of those guys. But give them credit, they made shots and they scored.”

In Arians’ final game wearing the yellow and blue, he had a team-high 20 points and added six rebounds. Dentlinger had 11 points and two rebounds.

Zeke Mayo struggled again shooting the ball on the night, shooting 5-for-17 from the floor and finishing the game with 18 points. Matt Mims had a careernight scoring, finishing with 19 points, shooting 4-for-7 on 3-point shots.

“Zeke’s a tremendous player and obviously he’s disappointed with how he played but we had our backs against the wall a few times this year,” Henderson said. “I told our guys in the locker room that what I’ll remember most about this team is how they dealt with adversity. We dealt with a lot this year and to finish second in our league in the regular season, and how we dealt with tough times was pretty special.”

Arians credits part of their fight to the fans and atmosphere that always show up to Sioux Falls for the tournament.

“The fans are electric and amazing,” he said. “They’ve had our back every step of the way and I’m proud to say that I’ll be a Jackrabbit fan for life.”

After the game, Henderson didn’t say whether they would be participating in any other postseason tournaments but said would look into it if he felt it was right for the program. He said he is looking forward to getting back at it with the guys in the summer and working with them again.

“How we’ve done it within our program, we don’t really have captains,” Henderson said when talking about the future of the team. “We expect all of our guys to represent our school with great character. We have five traits that we talk about all the time that keeps us together. It’s just kind of a next man-up mentality.”

(Above) Alex Arians goes for the layup in the quarterfinals against Omaha. The men won that game 63-55. (Below) Matt Mims moves down the court during the semifinals against NDSU.

Photo by JOCLYN HAVEN (She/Her)

Alex Arians goes in for a layup during the Omaha vs. SDSU Summit League Tournament game on Saturday.