10-9-2020 Digital Edition

the rocket

Friday October 9, 2020 • Volume 104, Issue Number 3 • An Independent, Student-Run Newspaper

www.theonlinerocket.com

IN THIS ISSUE:

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Highlights from the private student leader meeting with the PASSHE chancellor

NEWS

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SHUMSKY

'Rock Pride' revived

Slippery Rock celebrates community connection with Homecoming 2020

JOE WELLS / THE ROCKET

(From left to right) Sophomore Hannah Lombard, senior Mya Hitt and sophomore Olivia Carneval paint their spirit board in the quad. Spirit board painting kicked off Homecoming week for participating students.

By Jack Konesky Asst. Campus Life Editor

Slippery Rock University has been hosting a week of events from Monday through Saturday this week in celebration of Homecoming 2020 and the Slippery Rock Community.

Jayne Piskorik, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life and student organizations, has been working with various organizations on campus to bring this communitywide week of events to life.

Hosts such as the University Program Board and the Black Action Society worked to adapt their annual events to provide some sense of normalcy to this year’s Homecoming, Piskorik said.

“I think it’s important for the morale of our campus to host a spirited homecoming,” Piskorik said in an emailed statement.

“Though it might feel strange, it’s an opportunity to show our Rock Pride and celebrate what we love about campus.”

This year’s Homecoming festivities took the form of both hybrid, online and in-person events spread throughout the week.

Though large events such as the Homecoming football game are absent from the 2020 celebration, smaller community-minded events such as Paint the Town and Window Wars remain intact.

“This is an event where organizations volunteer to paint windows on campus and in town to provide a visual representation of

"I think it's important for the morale of our campus to host a spirited Homecoming."

– Jayne Piskorik, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life and student organizations

JOE WELLS / THE ROCKET

Dunkin', one of the many businesses on Main Street participating in Paint the Town, shows spirit and a spooky mood. Paint the Town ties university and communitiy spirit together during Homecoming week.

Homecoming spirit,” Piskorik said. “It was an easy event to incorporate social distancing into.”

That is not to say that all of the classic Homecoming fixtures are not present at all, however, as the Homecoming Court and Friday’s fireworks display will still appear with some alterations. Ballots for the 2020 Homecoming Court were conducted virtually, Piskorik said, but the crowning itself will still take place in person on Saturday.

“We are still doing the crowning of royalty in-person, without an audience,” Piskorik said. “Though it will be missing the energy of the crowd and football game – friends and family can watch the crowning through a live stream.”

Homecoming Committee Chair, Adriana Sykes, explained that the general theme for this year is the Spirit of Slippery Rock. In the aforementioned Paint the Town event, Sykes said that fraternity and sorority members took to Main Street and the SRU campus, adorning storefronts and campus buildings with Slippery Rock icons, such as the beloved Rocky.

“All the community members will get to regularly see that as they drive past, and that makes it really feel like Homecoming,” Sykes said. “Having the paintings on Boozel and the ARC really helps students feel the pride of Slippery Rock.”

Moving such a large celebration to a hybrid format did not come without its fair

share of challenges, Piskorik said. Sykes echoed this sentiment, though, adding that not being able to do some events, and as a result not having to plan them at all, did help to simplify things as well.

“We didn’t get to do the football game or hand out any swag or anything like that, but planning was a little less difficult in that we didn’t have to plan those events, so we were able to focus our efforts elsewhere,” Sykes said.

This week’s Homecoming celebrations will wrap up on Saturday with the Homecoming Royalty Announcement and a guest speaker, Nicole Byer, presented by the Black Action Society, the Homecoming Committee and the Office for Student Engagement and Leadership.

AHN assists SRU amidst pandemic Allegheny Health Network provides guidance with SRU's COVID-19 mitigation plans

By Nina Cipriani News Editor

Slippery Rock University partnered with Allegheny Health Network (AHN) in May to use their consultative services in the development of SRU’s mitigation plans for the fall 2020 semester.

As SRU was finalizing the plans for the upcoming semester, AHN provided feedback and guidance on topics like student health services, emergency management and the COVID-19 response team.

Mitigation, infection control, prevention of disease spread and patient care are

"[The goal is keeping students] as safe as possible, while also maximizing opportunities for engagement."

– Kristina Benkeser, director of student health services

the four main areas in which AHN provides services and assistance to Slippery Rock.

According to Kristina Benkeser, director of student health services, AHN has been a loyal, dedicated partner to SRU in the past and their services are especially important during these times. Benkeser said the health network also offered the best package in terms of the number and quality of their experts.

Benkeser added that AHN was “a logical fit,” as AHN Grove City is the Student Health Center’s first option when referring students to other facilities in the area.

The SRU COVID-19 response team, Benkeser and AHN experts meet on a weekly basis every Wednesday afternoon.

Benkeser reports the meeting’s findings to the president’s cabinet on Thursday morning. Other than this, Benkeser said they remain in contact throughout the week through email.

Citing the fall 2020 return planning guide, SRU follows the guidelines set by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) in regards to social distancing and masks and face coverings, along with the guidance of AHN. AHN provides consultation for “when to call it,” as the CDC can only provide general information rather than specific protocols, according to Benkeser.

“They’re like, ‘Here are things you need to think about,’ but no hard and fast, ‘This is when you shut

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SLOPE

it down.’ ‘This is when you totally stop in-person classes,'” Benkeser said.

For example, when the CDC changed their close contact testing protocols, SRU asked for specific consultation from the infectious disease doctors of the AHN about when the best time would be to test close contacts of those who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Benkeser said this fall 2020 semester is very different than

the spring 2020 semester.

Because of this, Benkeser wanted access to experts who could help guide their decisions as a university, like making sure SRU is abiding by the CDC guidelines or when to move in-person classes to an online format.

AHN also assists SRU in on-campus isolation in the residence halls for students who have tested positive.

Benkeser said a growing concern now is what to do with students who are in isolation

when the semester ends and the residence halls close. She said they will be discussing this at the next meeting.

“We are trying to run the university in a manner that keeps students safe,” Benkeser said. “[The goal is keeping students] as safe as possible, while also maximizing opportunities for engagement.”

Benkeser clarified that although they have started to discuss plans for the spring 2021 semester, nothing is

finalized yet. She explained that most plans for next semester are going to be dependent on the state and federal guidelines, as well as when the finalized academic plans are released.

For more details about student and faculty safety measures, visit the SRU’s website to review the fall 2020 return planning guide.

For an updated number of positive COVID-19 campus cases, visit SRU’s campus COVID cases webpage.

NEWS APSCUF discusses retrenchment

October 9, 2020

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Union president explains faculty layoffs happening at PASSHE universities

By Nina Cipriani News Editor

The Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) hosted a town hall Wednesday evening to discuss the retrenchment happening at seven of the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) schools.

Retrenchment can be defined as a person being dismissed from their job position due to no fault of their own, according to APSCUF President Jamie Martin. This happens when a university decides they need to reduce their workforce.

California, Cheyney, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana, Lock Haven and Mansfield universities are the PASSHE schools with possibilities of retrenchment, or faculty layoffs.

Just some of the numbers for faculty that could potentially be retrenched are 85 at California, 68 at Clarion, 80 at Edinboro and 120 at Indiana.

Martin said there were also letters of retrenchment from Bloomsburg, Kutztown and Millersville, but they have removed those letters.

Reasons for retrenchment In December 2019, Daniel Greenstein, the chancellor of PASSHE, told the PASSHE schools that they needed to come up with financial sustainability plans within the following five years.

Following this, in April 2020, Greenstein accelerated this process by telling the schools they had about two years to become financially sustainable.

Greenstein indicated that PASSHE universities had to return to the student-faculty ratio of the 2010-2011 academic year. This ratio is the main reason for retrenchment at PASSHE schools. The ratio

"I don't understand why [PASSHE students] are less deserving of having smaller classes."

– Jamie Martin, APSCUF president that existed in 2010-2011 was around 21:1.

Greenstein recommended returning to this ratio because it was their highest peak in the most recent academic years. As of 2018, the student-faculty ratio has decreased to 17:1 for PASSHE universities.

Martin added that this process may not sound too difficult, but it is especially difficult to do in a two year time period.

There were about 120,000 students in the state system during the 2010-2011 academic year. Since then, there has been a steady decline in enrollment in PASSHE. “[The decline] was not unexpected because we knew there weren’t nearly as many students in our elementary schools and high schools that would actually come and enter our universities,” Martin said.

When enrollment began to increase slightly in 2009, the faculty numbers increased with it, according to Martin.

However, since that year,

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SLOPE

enrollment has steadily decreased which caused faculty numbers to decrease as well. Martin added that these numbers will continue to decrease with the 20202021 academic year.

How retrenchment affects students According to Martin, it is hard to predict where retrenchment would happen.

If a faculty member from a small department is retrenched, this could result in a department or an entire major to be eliminated.

Class sizes often increase where retrenchment happens to accommodate the decrease in professors.

“I don’t understand why [PASSHE students] are less deserving of having smaller classes, like students at Penn State, and students at Pitt, and students at Temple,” Martin said. “I don’t know why any of you are less deserving of that kind of an educational experience.”

Martin said when she was teaching around 2010, her class sizes had greatly increased. She taught a class of 125 students that would typically have about 45 students. She added that sometimes her classrooms would not have enough desks for students.

Classes with a larger number of students also make it harder for the professor to know the students, Martin said.

“I’ve had students that would go off into careers where they required background checks,” Martin said. “I’ve received calls from agencies wanting me to provide information about a student for a background check, and I would be thinking, ‘I remember I had Angy in class.

I don’t remember Angy ever being a problem in class, but I don’t remember much more about Angy because there were just too many students in that class.'”

Some classes should only have a select number of students in one class. For example, clinical rotations for nursing students can only have about eight students, according to Martin. She said this ratio would have to be accommodated for in different classes.

Retrenchment can also affect the availability of classes, especially as students move further toward graduation, said Martin.

The process of retrenchment To start the retrenchment process, a university’s administration will send a letter to the chapter president to let them know that they may need to retrench faculty.

Individual faculty at the university’s campus would be notified by a retrenchment letter. This letter indicates that the faculty member would be retrenched at the end of the academic year.

Tenured faculty members, or individuals who have

worked at the university for at least five years, must be notified of their retrenchment

by Oct. 30.

Martin said younger and newer members of faculty are typically retrenched first, as long as all of the courses can still be taught in a given department.

How PASSHE is attempting to counteract retrenchment Martin said the point of retrenchment is to work together with the administration to find alternatives.

If a faculty member was getting retrenched, Martin said they would see if there were other classes that that professor could teach, or if there were ways to save money to prevent that retrenchment and reach financial sustainability.

Martin reiterated that the struggle is finding alternatives, but also reaching the 20102011 student-faculty ratio in two years. The only way to do that is to increase students or decrease faculty.

PASSHE chancellor's visit goes virtual Chancellor Daniel Greenstein answered questions of challenges in state system

By Joe Wells Assistant News Editor

In place of a campus visit, Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Chancellor Daniel Greenstein met via Zoom with SRU stakeholders Oct. 1 in an open forum.

Most of the time was spent with Greenstein addressing the problems the state system is facing and their plans to correct the course.

That plan, according to Greenstein, is to get insolvent universities back on their feet to where they are not a drag on the more financially stable schools, like SRU. When Greenstein became chancellor two years ago, only Cheyney University was insolvent, today Mansfield, Edinboro and Clarion Universities are as well. PASSHE also has five other schools that are considered financially unstable.

Greenstein said he did not see the addition of three other schools to the insolvency list as anything to do with his tenure but the trajectory that

"Financial stabilization is absolutely critical. And it's a shortterm thing, there's a playbook. It's not fun but it's doable."

– Daniel Greenstein, PASSHE Chancellor

the system was on when he came aboard.

If the pattern does not change, PASSHE could see Lock Haven and Shippensburg Universities become insolvent and Bloomsburg, East Stroudsburg and Millersville Universities become financially unstable.

That would leave Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities as the only financially stable schools in the state system.

How Greenstein and PASSHE plan to correct the course is a two-fold approach – stabilizing universities’ budgets and increasing faculty to student ratios to their 2010-2011 levels.

“Financial stabilization is absolutely critical,” Greenstein said. “And it’s a short-term thing, there’s a playbook. It’s not fun but it’s doable.”

Increasing faculty to student ratios will allow the universities to operate more efficiently, Greenstein said.

According to slides shown during the meeting, SRU had a ratio of 18.7 students for every faculty member compared to 20.7 students in 2010. Despite being financially sound, the state system has had to penalize universities to meet their goals by moving funding that would normally go to them to insolvent schools to keep them afloat.

SRU President William Behre added that if departments are doing well and not at the exact goal for ratios, they will work to find other ways to solve budget issues.

“I’ll be bold enough to say that if our programs are revenue positive and they’re off by a fraction of a faculty member, I’m not going to ruin a program for a fraction of faculty member,” Behre said.

Behre said SRU’s biggest issues when it comes to ratios are the increased graduate students, new majors that need tweaking and migration of students.

While graduate programs like those in healthcare have ratios far off from the goal, they are very profitable for the university, Behre said.

JOE WELLS / THE ROCKET

PASSHE Chancellor Daniel Greenstein answers student and faculty questions regarding the state of Slippery Rock University and PASSHE as sister schools face challenges. Greenstein met with SRU stakeholders via Zoom on Oct. 1 in an open forum.

They may address the ratio issue by having some departments take on more firstyear seminar courses, he said.

Behre added that they are not only looking at faculty ratios but staff ratios as well to cut costs where they can.

PASSHE is also counting on its restructuring that will have some universities work together in the students they serve.

Currently, PASSHE plans for Edinboro, Clarion and California of Pennsylvania Universities to create a financially stable partnership that can address the changing demographics.

Greenstein said students looking for a traditional residential college experience are declining while 50,000 Pennsylvania students choose an out-of-state online program every year. The hope is, Greenstein added, they can do for Pennsylvania students seeking undergraduate degrees what programs like

Penn State University’s World Campus does for students globally, at a much lower cost.

Still, even with the costsaving moves universities have made already, PASSHE expects to see a 12.5% decrease in enrollment along with $35 million more in loans to keep insolvent schools running.

As for funding from the state, Greenstein said it did not look promising considering that the state is running at a $3 billion deficit.

According to Greenstein, PASSHE still works with lawmakers because it is a partnership, but those on the legislative side want to see the system addressing their problems.

In discussing the PASSHE response to the coronavirus pandemic, Greenstein said he was happy with the direction the system took in allowing individual universities to plan for their communities.

“From my read, things seem to be going fairly well,” Greenstein said.

Behre added that while there have been changes to the plan at SRU on a microlevel, they have been learning every day. While Behre said he is pleased that the infection rate at SRU has been low, he does not see any evidence that the current plan will change much in the future.

He added that a formal announcement about SRU’s plans going forward would be made in late October.

The chancellor was also asked what the system’s responsibilities and goals were relating to diversity and inclusion throughout SRU and PASSHE. Greenstein let ViceChancellor and Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Denise Pearson talk about what she has seen since taking the position back in August.

Pearson said she has spent the last two months talking

with different groups of stakeholders across the system to understand their needs and thoughts on how universities are doing with making their environments as inclusive as possible. She plans to report her findings at the next Board of Governors meeting.

What she has seen so far is that people really want to work toward solutions, she said.

“I feel as though there is an appetite, and a willingness and a commitment across the system to really engage in the work and do more than just training,” Pearson said.

She added that university leaders will need to hold themselves accountable to improve student outcomes and the campus climate.

Greenstein added that the goals of a more diverse and inclusive system are critical components of the system’s goals.

"It's time to step up," he said.

NEWS

A-4

October 9, 2020

POLICE BLOTTER September 24 – University police received a call from residence life for a welfare check of an individual in Building E that may harm themselves. The officer spoke to the person and all was determined to be OK. September 25 – Police conducted a welfare check on a person in Watson Hall. Police officers spoke to the individual, offering resources to assist them.

September 25 – University police responded to an intruder alarm at the SGA Bookstore. The alarm was accidently tripped. Alarm system was reset.

September 26 – Police received a call from the CA of Building B for a possible drug violation.

Officers on scene seized drug and drug paraphernalia. Kyle Killiri, 18, was charged with summary disorderly conduct.

September 27 – University police assisted Slippery Rock Borough police with an intoxicated person at Graystone Manor.

Individual was checked on and refused medical attention.

September 28 – Police received a call from an individual who said they received a suspicious email to their SRU account about a student job application. Individual was referred to their local police department and the FBI. September 28 – Police observed an individual they believed to have an indefinite no trespass order against them, riding their bicycle on the track at Old Thompson Field. Officers confirmed the order through the Student Conduct office. Individual was escorted off campus. Torrie Brown, 28, was charged with summary defiant trespass.

September 28 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested backup at the Giant Eagle parking lot for a domestic dispute. Officers on scene found a male and female having a verbal argument. No action was taken by university police.

September 28 – University police received a call from an RA at ROCK Apartments who said an individual was threatening to harm themselves.

University police and Slippery Rock EMS arrived on scene and transported the individual to Butler Memorial Hospital.

September 29 – Police received an intruder alarm activation at the Fowler Building. Officer

on scene found the building secure and no on inside. Alarm system was reset, and police left a message with Health and Safety about the alarm.

September 29 – University police received a call from staff personnel at the Equestrian Center regarding a female seen wearing a black hoodie, mask and backpack full of apples.

Person was said to be feeding the horses without authorization. Officers on scene could not locate the person. University police will conduct extra patrols of the area.

September 30 – Police received an intruder alarm activation at the Fowler Building. Officer on scene found the building secure and no on inside. Alarm system was reset, and police left a message with Health and Safety about the alarm.

suspected to be a phishing scam. Since the individual’s residence is in the Slippery Rock Borough, university police referred them to Borough police.

October 2 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested assistance with an individual at their police station. Borough police alleged the individual was making statements they would fight with the police if taken to jail. University police stood by but took no action.

October 2 – University police assisted Slippery Rock Borough police with a traffic accident on Elm Street. University police gathered the drivers’ information and handed the scene over to Borough police once they arrived. No further action taken by university police.

September 30 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested backup from university police with a verbal domestic at East Water Street. One individual was told to leave the residence. No action was taken by university police. Two hours later, Borough police again requested backup from university police at the same location.

The individual told to leave was refusing to do so until their ride arrived. Person was escorted from the residence and told to wait at Sheetz for their ride. No other action was taken.

October 2 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested assistance with a noise complaint along West Liberty Street. University police on scene found no loud music to be heard and advised Borough police.

October 2 – University police along with the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) responded to a vehicle accident on Harmony Road. The vehicle was found on its side and the driver out of the vehicle. EMS was on seen but the driver refused medical treatment. PSP is investigating the accident.

October 3 – Police received a call from the CA in Building B who said there was an odor of marijuana coming from a dorm. Officers on scene got no response from the dorm room and referred the case to Student Conduct.

October 2 – Police received a call from maintenance that one of their personal vehicles was hit by a disc golfer in the Founder Lower Commuter Lot. The golfer stated that he accidently hit the vehicle with their frisbee. No damage was reported, and the two individuals exchanged information. No further action was taken by police.

October 2 – Slippery Rock Borough police requested assistance along Kelly Boulevard for an individual chasing juveniles with a pocket knife. When university police arrived, the Borough police had the person in custody. No further action was taken by university police.

October 2 – An individual arrived at the university police station to file a fraud report.

The person received a call at their home they

9 No security deposits!

9 4 different locations - South Rock Apts. on Keister Road or South Rock Drive, Stone Crest Apts., & Main Street Apts.

9 2, 3 or 4 bedroom floor-plans 9 Over 180 apartments to choose from 9 Cable, internet, water, & trash included 9 Stove, microwave, dishwasher, disposal, fridge, washer & dyer included at South Rock & Stone Crest locations 9 NEW! On-site laundry facilities at Main St. location – NO COINS NEEDED! 9 Sofa, love seat, coffee & end tables, TV stand, twin or full size beds, dresser, desk, & night stand included 9 NEW! Bedroom furniture at South Rock!

9 24-hour emergency maintenance 9 Professional on-site management 9 Close proximity to SRU campus 9 Direct-wired smoke detectors 9 Fire extinguishers in each unit 9 Access to Clubhouse 9 Handicap apartments available 9 On-site parking 9 Close to SGA bus stop

October 3 – University police received a call from a bicyclist on Water Tower Hill that shots were fired from a rifle. Police on scene located the person who was found to be setting off fireworks.

October 4 – University police were dispatched to Building A for a highly intoxicated person.

Officers and EMS arrived on scene and transported the individual to Grove City Medical Center. Angelene Piper, 19, was cited for underage consumption of alcohol.

October 5 – University police received a call from a parent requesting a welfare check on their child. Since the person lives in the Slippery Rock Borough, university police contacted Borough police to check on the individual.

Borough police found all to be OK and the person would contact their parents.

COMPILED BY JOE WELLS

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OPINION

Our View

For homecoming, turn your focus back to the community

OPINION

Volume 104, Issue Number 3

220 220Eisenberg EisenbergClassroom ClassroomBuilding Building Slippery SlipperyRock RockUniversity University Slippery SlipperyRock, Rock,Pennsylvania Pennsylvania16057 16057 Phone: Phone: (724) (724)738-4438 738-4438 Fax: Fax: (724) (724)738-4896 738-4896 E-mail: E-mail: therocketnewspapersru@gmail.com therocketnewspapersru@gmail.com

EDITORIAL BOARD Hannah Shumsky

Editor-in-Chief

Nina Cipriani

News Editor

Karl Ludwig

Sports Editor

Hope Hoehler Lesa Bressanelli

Copy/ Web Editor

Keegan Beard

Photo Editor

Aaron Marrie

Multimedia Editor

Joe Wells

Assistant News Editor

Brendan Howe

Assistant Sports Editor

Jack Konesky

Assistant Campus Life Editor

Sam Shiel

Assistant Copy/Web Editor

Hannah Slope

Assistant Photo Editor

Dr. Brittany Fleming

Faculty Adviser

ADVERTISING STAFF Elisabeth Hale Rayni Shiring

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SLOPE

Campus Life Editor

Advertising Manager Assistant Advertising Manager

ABOUT US The Rocket is published by the students of Slippery Rock University five times per academic semester. Total weekly circulation is 1,000 (for fall 2020 semester only).

No material appearing in The Rocket may be reprinted without the written consent of the Editor-in-Chief.

The Rocket receives funding from the SGA Student Activity fee paid each semester by students. All other income is provided through the sale of advertising.

Advertising inquiries may be made by calling (724) 7382643 or by emailing rocket.ads@sru.edu.

CORRECTIONS If we make a substantial error, we want to correct it.

If you believe an error has been made, call The Rocket newsroom at (724) 738-4438. If a correction is warranted it will be printed in the opinion section.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

Our View is a staff editorial produced collaboratively by the entire Rocket staff. Any views expressed in the editorial are the opinions of the entire staff.

It is the iconic week that drives the fall semester. Leading up to the Saturday football game, organizations across campus come together to host events and bring the campus community together. The week ends with the crowning of two homecoming royalty members as students and alumni part ways that evening.

Homecoming week is the embodiment of the classic college experience, even during a pandemic.

And while we may not have that Saturday football game or many in-person events this year, we cannot forget the importance of this Rock Pridedriven week.

Seeing all the people who are proud to be a SRU student, a former alum, a parent of a current or former student, drives The Rock, and that is usually highlighted at the events such as the parade, football game and multiple other events that take place on and around campus during homecoming week. Several organizations

on campus tailored this huge week of events to a mostly virtual format (and marketing it as such), but it is up to students and alumni to get involved in any possible part of homecoming this year.

"If we want any more normalcy, we need to create it by putting ouselves out there and virtually meeting people whose only relation to us is that they chose the same college as us."

This week is especially important to the students new to SRU, whether they are

first-time students or transfer students learning what exactly Rock Pride is.

While it might feel awkward to now start getting involved with school events, especially one like homecoming that is primarily focused on school pride, it is important to do so not to just build a connection now, but for future semesters.

We have been in this pandemic for seven months, and right now, the spring semester will probably look very similar to this fall.

Yes, these are unprecedented and historical times but we have known this type of "new normal" for the majority of 2020. If we want any more normalcy, we need to create it by putting ourselves out there and virtually meeting people whose only relation to us is that they chose the same college as us.

Although homecoming is not exactly what people would have hoped for it to be, attending the virtual events and showing Rock Pride through Zoom and social media platforms is going to be an important aspect for students to still feel connected to campus and hopefully have a sense of normalcy.

In the Quarantine

Let's be real: we all need a way to take time to relax and not worry about classes, especially after this round of midterms.

Even if it is just for an hour, you are making connections and memories about your SRU experience that detract from any of the negativity that comes from a mostly-virtual environment.

Beyond homecoming, if you are living in the Slippery Rock or the surrounding area, make sure to support the community and its small businesses. With many small businesses in the area closing in recent months (including Red Rock Falls, Weiners Gone Wild and Big Shot Bob's), take advantage of the opportunity to support the community while enjoying SRU's food and small businesses.

However, if you are attending SRU at a distance this semester, we hope this week and weekend serve as a reminder for what Rock Pride stands for: a persistent resiliency and dedication that Slippery Rock students know best.

We will get back to that idyllic homecoming week one day, but during these far-fromideal times, remember that one thing is never changing: we are Rock Pride.

Question: What is your favorite memory of being on staff in 2020?

By: Aaron Marrie

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EDITORIAL POLICY The Rocket strives to present a diverse range of opinions that are both fair and accurate in its editorials and columns appearing on the Opinion pages. “Our View” is the opinion of the Editorial Board and is written

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“Our View” does not necessarily reflect the views of Slippery Rock University, its employees or its student body. Columns and cartoons are drafted by various individuals and only reflect the opinions of the columnists.

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Nina Cipriani Sophomore News Editor Altoona, Pennsylvania

Lesa Bressanelli Senior Copy/Web Editor Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Brendan Howe Senior Assistant Sports Editor East Butler, Pennsylvania

“My favorite moment was being in the atmosphere of The Rocket office during print week, hearing Keegan's music and our cowbell when we finished a page."

"The first budget meeting of the semester. It's a fresh start where everything feels so exciting and new and full of possibility. And after long breaks, it's great to see old faces and get to know new ones."

“Our snowball fight in the quad [in the winter]."

OPINION

October 9, 2020

B-2

Political analysts are sleeping on our congressional race

Madison V. King Madison V. King is a senior political science major and an opinion contributor for The Rocket.

Disclaimer: Sen. King is a small donor to the campaign of Ms. Gnibus.

Several times since I started writing for this newspaper, I have written about our hometown congressman, Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler), who has represented Butler County since defeating Democratic representative Kathy Dahlkemper in 2010.

Since his first election, Mr. Kelly has seen exactly one competitive election – after court-ordered redistricting in early 2018, he faced off with Erie lawyer Ron DiNicola in what was widely considered to be a headliner congressional race. Kelly successfully fended off DiNicola by about 5 points.

In the aftermath of that race, people have considered the race just simply out of reach from the Democratic Party, and rated Kelly as largely invulnerable in 2020. Politico, who has had it sitting at Lean R since April, is the only major forecaster to have the race as anything other than Safe Republican. The reasonings behind this are pretty straightforward – DiNicola was considered a strong recruit for Democrats in 2018, and he couldn’t pull it off, even with Gov. Wolf carrying the district by a slim margin. Democratic congressional candidates have largely thought to have hit a ‘ceiling’ in Erie County, the urban center of the district, at around 60% of the vote (DiNicola carried it with 59.32%). The remainder of the

county’s strong rural lean makes it solid Republican territory and trending even deeper red.

Butler County, the only other county in the district with a sizable population in Butler Township, would be fertile ground for the new generation of suburban Democrats – if not for Kelly’s homefield advantage in Butler County. Prior to serving in the Congress, Kelly served as a member of the Butler Township Council, and more famously ran Kelly Automotive, where I’m sure quite a few of you have bought your cars.

Beyond the partisan inelasticity of the district, Kelly’s homefield advantage in the only other county where Democrats would be competitive, and what was thought to be a weaker recruit in Meadville teacher Kristy Gnibus, it was also widely considered that Pennsylvania would be a narrow state overall in the 2020 election.

However, on almost all fronts, this has turned out to not be the cut-and-dry race that it was previously expected to have been. Kelly’s quality as a candidate has come into question numerous times over this cycle – as far back as 2019, when he claimed to be a ‘person of color,' up to July when it was discovered he took government Paycheck Protection Programsponsored loans to support his car dealership, or even last week when he was one of only 16 Republicans to vote against a resolution condemning QAnon, the controversial and frequently violent pro-Trump online movement; Kelly has found himself in the spotlight significantly more frequently than even in the years prior to 2018, and not typically in a positive light. Kelly himself has largely done very little to mitigate the bad press, doubling down on the ‘person of color’ statement and blaming Gov. Wolf for forcing him to close his business and take PPP money. (Car dealerships were not forced to close in the nonessential business closure order in March, with service stations being allowed to remain open and dealerships being allowed to process sales online until their reopening several weeks later). Beyond even these specific

GRAPHIC BY: BEN FORSTATE (USED WITH EXPRESSED PERMISSION)

events, Kelly has continuously voted to repeal regulations on car dealerships, with an effort to repeal regulations saying dealers cannot sell cars with unfixed safety recalls without notice and another regulation requiring dealers to sell a vehicle at the same price regardless of the buyer’s race making headlines in 2015 and 2018 respectively. However, prior to the 2018 election, these two examples were largely the only major points against his record – and those apparently weren’t enough to justify not sending him back.

Conversely, Kristy Gnibus has showed herself to be a candidate worthy of holding her own, much to the surprise of local political analysts. In a debate with Kelly this past Tuesday, Gnibus made a strong play to political moderates, dissenting with the Democratic Party on numerous occasions, presenting consistent policy situations against an incumbent widely seen as aggressive (and sweaty), and making intentional plays to rural voters south of Erie County, addressing a frequent critique of Ron DiNicola’s 2018 campaign in the process. Outside of the debate stage, Gnibus has

spent plenty of time on the campaign trail (virtually and inperson) in Mercer, Lawrence, and Butler Counties, having even hosted a panel with the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance here on campus this past Wednesday. (DiNicola did not respond to invitations from both FMLA in 2018, when I was on that organization’s executive board, and a planned event with WSRU-FM never panned out). Despite a nonpolitical background (Gnibus is a Meadville-based teacher, single mother, and cancer survivor) and no previous elected or campaign experience (DiNicola had come within striking distance of winning the same seat in 1996), Gnibus has found some success in using her personal background to connect with voters on the trail, not too dissimilar to the campaigns run

by Reps. Susan Wild, Mary Gay Scanlon, Chrissy Houlahan, and Madeleine Dean here in Pennsylvania in 2018. With little crossover support for Kelly remaining since 2018, Gnibus seems likely to run in line with or possibly even outrun Vice President Joe Biden in November.

On that note – let’s talk about Vice President Biden. Prior to the past few weeks, it seemed fair to say Pennsylvania was a tossup state, with most polls showing Biden up between 2 and 4 points. However, in the wake of President Trump’s debate performance and subsequent COVID diagnosis, Mr. Biden has seen a spike in support across the country including here in Pennsylvania, with a Monmouth University poll released today showing Biden up a shocking 11% in the state – with a “worst case” low-turnout likely voter screen still having him up 8%. Yesterday, a poll from Ipsos and Reuters showed him up 5 points, with most of the poll being conducted before Trump’s COVID diagnosis, and before that, two from YouGov and the New York Times showing him up 7%.

This congressional district has a Cook PVI of R+8.

If Vice President Biden is carrying this state by anywhere near 11%, Kelly is in serious trouble – even considering his incumbency. The last Democratic member of Congress this district elected was Kathy Dahlkemper in 2008, having been carried across the line by Barack Obama’s landslide victory; and it’s wholly possible to imagine VP Biden having a similar effect this year, especially considering his sudden and drastic increase in polling across the country in the past week, not too dissimilar to what happened to Senator Obama in the last week of September 2008.

With both a national and statewide environment rapidly breaking towards Biden and an incumbent who may be weaker than originally expected running against a candidate who may be stronger than originally expected, the race here in Pennsylvania’s 16th district is perfect ground for a ‘sleeper’ Democratic flip, similar to that in Oklahoma’s 5th district or South Carolina’s 1st district in 2018. Democrats can accomplish this by breaking through the 60% ‘ceiling’ in Erie County by running up the score in the Erie suburbs to around 60% and closer to 65% in Erie

proper, along with keeping margins down in Butler County by making significant concerted efforts to appeal to Butler Township voters. Additionally helpful would be running up wide margins in New Castle, Sharon, and Farrell, all of which are Democratic towns with large nonwhite populations, as well as Meadville (home of Allegheny College) and Slippery Rock.

Rep. Kelly knows this, too, and his debate performance showed it. Kelly was very noticeably muted compared to his usual self – praising Trump by name only a handful of times, compared to normal speeches where it’s his main approach, making several explicit outreaches to Erie County voters, and using his closing speech to discuss bipartisanship, going as far as to invoke the late Rep. John Lewis, the Civil Rights Movement hero and prominent Democrat who Kelly served under on the House Ways & Means Committee.

(Before his death this summer, Lewis had denounced Kelly’s rhetoric on multiple occasions).

While a poll has not been released since Gnibus released an internal poll this past summer showing her trailing by 8 points (with 13% undecided), it seems plausible that Kelly has his own internals that have him spooked – the theory some of us on Pennsylvania political twitter came up with was that, indeed, the Erie ceiling is starting to develop some cracks.

But regardless of what the final result may be – it seems incredibly shortsighted to consider this race “safe Republican” – and hopefully this message gets to the folks at Cook Political, Inside Elections, RealClearPolitics, and the UVA Center for Politics sooner rather than later. After all, no major pundit noticed this district was competitive in 2018 until midSeptember – perhaps it’s time for another reckoning just like that one.

When reached for comment about this piece, Ms. Gnibus’s campaign responded with “that’s phenomenal – an an accurate statement about the race”. Mr. Kelly could not be reached for comment.

C

Putting the 'home' in homecoming At theonlinerocket.com

CAMPUS LIFE

GRAPHIC BY: KEEGAN BEARD

History and hidden voices

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SLOPE

By Hope Hoehler Campus Life Editor

The Office for Inclusive Excellence (OIE) hosted the fourth Diversity Dialogues: Voices Behind the Movement, discussing monumental movements

that occurred in the United States and the voices that inspired the movement.

Kemoni Fa r m e r, a graduate assistant for multicultural development, facilitated the discussion.

The conversation began with a Kahoot game surrounding education about creators of

well-known movements such as #METOO, Black Lives Matter (BLM), the Stonewall Riots, climate strikes and more.

The goal of the Kahoot was to gain an understanding on participant's knowledge about these movements in history.

Saman t ha C ox , a participant, said that she

realized a lot of movements started before they gained traction.

"The founders [were] being pushed to the background and the people who push it into societal view become what people believe to be the founders," Cox said.

A lot of participants had never heard of the name Claudette Colvin, who was the first women to not give up her seat on public transport during the civil rights movement.

Farmer said that many of the leaders of past and current movements identify as women. He asked participants if they think that leaders identifying as women plays a role as to why the movements and leaders aren't more widely known.

"If I was a male, we probably wouldn't need some of these movements, specifically the MeToo movement," said Keisha Booker, the assistant director of multicultural development.

Booker said that the reason why a movement starts and the people who take over the movements can be completely different.

Agreeing with Booker, Illaria Perry, said that the narrative that is told is usually through those who are seen as successful or winning.

Briefly detailing off the narrative topic, Farmer asked if the participants felt

celebrities played a role in bringing movements to the spotlight.

Multiple participants felt that celebrities reach a wider audience, but felt that sometimes they can damage movements. " In t o d a y ' s s o c i a l media we have a lot of celebrities that have a close connection with their audience, so saying nothing can be damaging, but they can't just hop on a movement to say something," Perry said.

Delving into more relatable means of spreading awareness, Farmer asked if technology plays an affect on movements.

Multiple participants agreed that technology spreads awareness with photos and videos behind the scenes while also providing a different viewpoint.

Although other participants, such as Booker, had a slightly different view.

"Sometimes for me it is a double-edged sword," Booker said. "I can't imagine the Civil Rights Movement in this era.

Some of the movements for us like BLM, we have the technology and we see all these people dying, but it doesn't always do something. Technology is great but it doesn't always get us what we want."

Relating the conversation to colleges, Farmer asked

how participants felt about universities acknowledging different movements.

Cox said that complications may arise when different colleges are based on different foundations, such as all female or religious. "[These foundations] will play into how [the university] approaches different movements in general and how they want to represent the university under one policy or not," Cox said.

Farmer ended the conversation asking the participants what efforts they would like to see specifically from Slippery Rock to give students a voice.

Booker said that she wishes minor movements would become more major movements and have more recognition- such as Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Perry said that it would be nice if university seminar classes held something like a diversity dialogue or required students to participate in one.

"It would be nice to have something that educates everyone, even if they feel like they don't need it," Perry said.

The next Diversity Dialogue will occur Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. discussing religion and spirituality. Information can be found on CORE.

Unity during Pride Month

GRAPHIC BY: RAYNI SHIRING

By Brandon Pierce Junior Rocket Contibutor

The Slippery Rock Pride Center and Women’s Center teamed up to create the #SRUNIQUE social media campaign. This online campaign is just one of the many events offered during the month of October, which is Pride Month and LGBT History Month.

This campaign is run through the social media pages for both the Pride Center and the Women’s center of Slippery Rock University. This event started a few weeks ago with

online polls for students to write in responses. A popular poll was titled #ProudToBeMe, which allowed students to post something about themselves that they were proud of.

Another poll involved students posting GIFs that described themselves onto their social media pages.

Students are encouraged to use the hashtag #SRUNIQUE when they post anything about what makes them unique or why they are proud to be them.

These hashtags are being used on Instagram as well as Twitter.

The main purpose of the #SRUNIQUE campaign is to provide students the opportunity to express

themselves online; by using these hashtags online, students have the freedom to be who they want and share who they are with the world.

Additionally, another main purpose of the #SRUNIQUE campaign is for students to see that they are not alone and that there is a welcoming community of people that are there to support them.

By posting online under the hashtag, students can learn about each other and experience who every person truly is.

Lyosha Gorshkov, the assistant director for the Women’s Center and the Pride Center at Slippery Rock University, is excited about what

events like the #SRUNIQUE campaign can do and what they stand for. “Sometimes people don’t hear each other," Gorshkov said. "We are all humans, but we don’t always listen to each other. We [the Pride Center] see you and encourage you to be true to yourself.�

That is exactly what the Pride and Women’s Centers of Slippery Rock University are aiming for. Students should have the ability to express themselves and should have nothing to fear. This campaign is to amplify those who have been suppressed and to allow them a safe place to share who they are.

Furthermore, providing opportunities such as the #SRUNIQUE campaign has resulted in uplifting spirits and promoting diversity at SRU, which are two of the main goals of the Pride and Woman’s Centers.

Another mission behind the #SRUNIQUE campaign and the “SRU Out & Proud October Events� is to educate all students about the message of unity. Feelings of unity allow students to feel welcome and accepted for who they are. “It is our duty as humans to protect others� said Gorshkov. “We must help others in order to help ourselves.�

By providing online spaces for students to express

themselves, other students can learn to acknowledge their differences and get to really know others, which is precisely one of the goals of the #SRUNIQUE campaign.

Education is one of the best tools to promote unity amongst students on campus, and in an era where an online presence is a necessity, utilizing social media is a great path to success.

Taking the first step is always the hardest, but with great opportunities such as the #SRUNIQUE campaign, students can share who they are with fellow members of their community as well as be proud of who they are.

October 9, 2020

CAMPUS LIFE

C-2

A conversation with Kristy Gnibus

By Hope Hoehler Campus Life Editor

Kristy Gnibus, a candidate running for the 16th district representative against Mike Kelly, spoke to students and faculty in a conversation hosted by the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance (FMLA).

Gnibus, a native from Erie county was raised single handedly by her mother on 100 acres of farm land, learning the value of hard work at a young age.

At 20 years of age, Gnibus was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and expecting her first child.

"At 20 years old, I didn't realize how much government plays a role in my life," Gnibus said.

After Gnibus gave birth to her daughter, she was abruptly kicked off her mother's health insurance because she became a parent herself. She had to forgo certain treatments,

"This is America, we are diverse so we should have diverse leadership." – Kristy Gnibus, candidate for 16th district representative

because she could not afford them.

"It was an eye opening experience," Gnibus said.

With a daughter almost 16 years old and Gnibus cancer free for 14 years, healthcare is a huge issue for Gnibus. "[Healthcare] isn't working," Gnibus said. "It doesn't matter the party.

There is a huge issue here in America that we have with healthcare, it is burdening middle class people."

Attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania to pursue a degree in teaching, Gnibus said that there are no equal educational opportunities for not only her children, but for everyone's children.

"I think 'opportunity' when I think of America," Gnibus said. "How can we truly add to the economy when we are being weighed down by our school loans?

There are so many things that we can do to make sure kids can go to school and make sure the weight of school isn't on their backs."

Gnibus believes that Western PA has incredible amounts of opportunity for the economy, but that they are behind when it comes to technology and renewable energy.

"What is our representative doing to make sure we are still in the game and families can thrive here," Gnibus said.

Healthcare, education, and economy are what Gnibus was very adamant about when she first joined the race, and still is.

"We are seeing all the social injustices that have really been there but are coming to life," Gnibus said. "Things have changed."

The keynote transitioned into a Q&A session with the participants, starting off with the question, "we all know politics often bring the worst out of people, how do you handle the criticism or insults?"

Gnibus said that it helps to laugh at the criticism or

insults, and to try to keep things as light hearted as possible. "[The negative] things really only hurt me if it comes from people I know," Gnibus said. "All the mean things people say with the party I'm affiliated with, it doesn't hurt me a bit."

Gnibus was also asked, "what promoted you to being a concerned and active citizen to being someone in the running?".

Gnibus said that she was working towards her PhD in leadership and became interested in women studies and the impact that women leaders have. She started to become involved with her county party in Erie and was considering the thought of running for an elected position.

At one point, Gnibus rote down everything in her life that had been impacted by the government and eventually attended a group for women that encouraged them to run for office.

"I walked into the room and there were all these elected people already, and I thought that I didn't belong there," Gnibus said. "After I left the meeting I felt that I could change the world.

I couldn't let it go, seeing all these women doing amazing things. I jumped onto something I put 110% in and here we are."

Another question discussed was about Gnibus' debate she had with Kelly Monday night and how she balances gender expectations.

Gnibus said that it was tough with the debate Monday night being her first.

She said that she was nervous with expectations and that everything is different as a women.

"All someone really wants is visibility and to know what you really think, and I said that I was going to give them that," Gnibus said. "People are always going to perceive you one way or another."

SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF HOPE HOEHLER

Candidate for the 16th district representative Kristy Gnibus gives her key note on being a women in politics. Gnibus is running against incumbent Mike Kelly and wants to be a voice for women.

As a women running for an elected position, some questions revolved around women's issues, such as healthcare reform and reproductive rights.

Gnibus said that it doesn't feel strange having a seat at the table and being involved in these issues. She found out that she had ovarian cancer at a Planned Parenthood, and said that her story is very connected to that issue.

"It's incredibly important we have a diverse group of people when writing legislation," Gnibus said.

"It's really stepping into someone's shoes and saying we need to bring more people to the table. When you have legislators that are all cut from the same cloth, that's a problem. This is America, we are diverse so we should have diverse leadership."

Gnibus said that she is excited to run and be part of these important issues for herself and for women.

Also surrounding the idea of being a women, Gnibus was asked how being a women affects her campaign if at all, and what brining a women perspective to the 16th district will do.

Gnibus said that generally women raise less money than

men for their campaigns, and believes it could be because women tend to have a competitiveness between each other, and feel guilt when asking for money.

"We are trying to unlearn to be on the same playing field," Gnibus said.

Receiving plenty of comments on Facebook about her clothes, hair and makeup, Gnibus said that she receives a lot of words that have nothing to do with her ability to be a legislator.

Being a mother of two teenage girls, Gnibus said that they have become more involved in the campaign as the day draws closer, but that she never wants them to do anything involving her campaign or in their life that they feel uncomfortable with.

"I did not do this without them being onboard," Gnibus said. "I just want them to be them, we don't want that cookie cutter thing, we want real."

Gnibus said that if the campaign experience had taught her anything, it is that there is no door that cannot be opened. " Pe o p l e need a representative who is truly

going to show up for them," Gnibus said. "I am fighting for PA 16. I am fighting for my family. I am fighting for my two girls and their future. We need positive changes and this is the election that we are going to do it."

Check your voter registration status

Ways to vote: • Local polling location • Absentee ballot • Mail-in ballot

New pathways in healthcare

SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF SARAH ANDERSON

Students and faculty gather together to listen to the panelist members discuss Trans Embodiment: Mapping New Pathways in Healthcare Institutions. Participants engaged in a conversation about education and navigation of the healthcare system and more.

By Sarah Anderson Junior Rocket Contributor

On Tues. Oct. 6, Dr. Cindy LaCom the Director of Gender Studies Program and their graduate assistant Karter Schachner led a conversation in “ Trans Embodiment: Mapping New Pathways in Healthcare Institutions.�

When asked what the drive was for this conversation, Lacom mentioned the impacts that COVID-19 has had on oppressed groups of people and the conversation commonly came down to capitalism. “That led us to organize a year of programming, this fall and next spring, that focuses on deconstructing capitalism in varied contexts,� LaCom said.

The conversation Tues. night was focused on, as

LaCom said, “how trans embodiment is further marginalized and oppressed because of capitalist institutions like health care and insurance.�

There was a panel of guests who represented a range of experiences, embodiments and perspectives. The panel included Mavon Gumble (they/them), Leslie McMurray(she/her), Atticus Ranck (he/him) and Rae Inmon (they/he). This group ranged from previous SRU students, current grad students, and even some who work in the medical field directly with the trans community. LaCom had expressed their happiness with the panel by saying, “I think we were incredibly lucky to have such articulate and interesting participants.�

The first question of the evening, asked by Schachner, was “What barriers do trans people experience navigating healthcare?�

McMurray, who works directly with many organizations for trans healthcare, started off the conversation strongly by saying, “The big problem with healthcare is that trans people walk into a physician’s office with more knowledge of trans health than the physicians. This needs to change. There needs to be change in the medical curriculum . . . we need to educate doctors�

Gumble added directly after this, “Healthcare is triggering.� They brought up the reality that, “it is easier to just avoid the drama by not going.�

There were many great points made and a bountiful conversation was happening, but Ranck had concluded this part of the conversation with some powerful words.

In response to the question, and piggy backing off of the panel he went on saying, “Every trans

person has some horror story from the healthcare system.� He then brought to the group’s attention that often times, trans people have to be weary of their doctors and their opinions on trans people. He added to his previous statement, “We need to change the atmosphere . . . We need to start educating trans people on navigating the system and sticking up for ourselves.�

The first question had ignited an almost thirtyminute conversation, full of passionate answers and passionate discussion between the panelists.

The second question had been about the medicalization of trans embodiment and how to possibly move forward with a liberating practice.

Inmon had started off the conversation immediately with saying, “The way we think about bodies comes from the capitalism of

insurance.� They went on with many great points, but had finished off with a memorable, thoughtprovoking comment. They had said, “Trans people aren’t a population. We are IN the population.�

Many people may not know this, but it is almost always required to have a diagnosis of gender dysphoria in order to transition. This had started a new path of conversation.

Mc Mu r r a y b r e a k s through the conversation with, “Depression and anxiety aren’t related to being transgender.

They’re related to the way transgender people are treated. The conversation needs to change. These breakthroughs need to be made in the medical field because they’re so respected.

By proxy, society will follow.�

This conversation had made it clear how complicated, difficult and

draining the process for transitioning is.

Ranck added that the medical field makes it feel like, “If you have enough money to go through our steps then maybe we’ll let you be who you are�

The conversation had bounced between the panelists for the remainder of the hour, passion about the topics bouncing off of one another. One of the final statements of the night was from Rae Inmon.

They summed up the conversation of the night by saying, “It would be helpful if we [trans people] were already at the table rather than invited to it.�

Ever yone left the Zoom feeling enlightened with new information, experiences and perspective from the four panelists.

There are two more panels later this fall, reach out to Cindy LaCom (cindy. lacom@sru.edu) for more information on them.

S

Athletic Giving Day 2020 at SRU At theonlinerocket.com

ODE TO SPORTS SPECIAL SECTION

The rise to the top: Soccer's best season How the 2009 men's soccer team made history

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLIPPERY ROCK ATHLETICS

Then-junior defender Tom Pool takes a shot during the 2009 men's soccer season. Pool was an AllAmerican in the 2009 season.

By Brendan Howe Asst. Sports Editor

“You don’t need a lot of attention. You don’t need a lot of press.”

It’s not often that a team that wins 14 of 15 games at any point in a season is considered an underdog, but, even looking back, Mitch Walters makes certain to mention that the 2009 Slippery Rock men’s soccer team paid little mind to external judgements.

A foundation was set the season prior with a 14-7-1 record and an appearance in the NCAA Division IITournament.

Returning from that team were PSAC West Player of the Year Jeremy Deighton, the team’s leader in goals with 16 in 2008, and Toby Bowser, a first-team All-PSAC defender that tied a school record with 15 assists in a single season. First-team AllPSAC goalkeeper Greg Blum would stand in goal having made 103 saves the previous season.

A strong back four and stellar anchor in Blum provided whatever time needed for the attack to break through, even on its slow days. Other games, when the defense wasn’t able to make as large an influence, the offense, spearheaded by Deighton, could, as Wilhelm put it, score goals in bags.

Blum echoed this sentiment.

“If it [were] some games we had to defend a lot, we were committed to defending,” Blum said. “If we had to attack more, we kind of did what [we had to].

We were extremely organized and everybody was willing to do their part, whatever it was, to win.”

“From day one, we just had that feeling that we were going to be successful,” Iain Langstone, a senior forward that season, said.

“Each time we stepped on the field, I had the mindset and the feeling that we were going to win the game.”

Deighton, who would end the season with a league-high of 21 goals and 49 points, had been

dealing with a back injury during the entire preseason. It was only a day before the team’s first game that he was cleared to play, but Thompson and Wilhelm had no issue in incorporating him into the attack.

“Teams would sometimes try to out-possess us and keep us off the ball and we could counterattack and we could play direct with bigger balls into Jeremy,” Wilhelm said. “He could hold it up. He could score off the head […] The team had the versatility, too, to be able to score off of set pieces and then keep the ball in good possession. It was just such a well-rounded group.”

Unexpectedly, the team began its campaign a night early after Salem International withdrew from a seasonopening tournament hosted

by Shippensburg. Nonetheless, The Rock, slotted 18th in the preseason poll, won its first season opener since 2006, 2-0, allowing the Raiders only three shots on goal.

Three days later, Thompson’s squad bowed to then-No. 24 Ashland University. Following that defeat, however, the Green and White wouldn’t drop a game for five weeks, defeating its next nine opponents. During that stretch, Blum would notch as many shutouts (6) as he allowed goals, while also making 39 saves. Also, each Deighton (9 goals, 2 assists), freshman midfielder Benjamin Lloyd (3 goals, 3 assists), and junior defender Toby Bowser (1 goal, 4 assists) helped direct the offense during the win streak.

SRU would dispatch two ranked conference foes that September—No. 16 California (Pa.) and No. 18 Mercyhurst— and climbed to as high as 10th in the national rankings.

“It’s almost like we knew we were going to win,” said Thompson, who coached the program for eight years. “I don’t know how to explain it.

We would show up, we were confident, and the guys were prepared. We were ready.”

“As a player, you’re thinking you can’t be stopped,” said Langstone, who scored four goals and dished out two assists that season.

It was the Vulcans, in a rematch, that put an end to the winning streak in early October.

Again, though, the team would respond with a run, victorious in five straight matches.

In the schedule’s next-to-last fixture, at Mercyhurst, No. 11 Slippery Rock scored in the first minute, but was called for four yellow cards and three red cards throughout the day. Within the contest’s first 10 minutes, Thompson was shown to the locker room, later to be joined by sophomore forward Kenneth Fultz before the first half concluded. Despite finishing the game with advantages in shots and shots on goal, The Rock lost both the game and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s Western Division title to the Lakers, setting up the first of two postseason meetings with MU eight days later.

“What sticks out about that game [is] we lost, 2-1, playing down […] two men for a good chunk of the game,” Wilhelm recalled. “Even though we were down two guys, we were still running the game. We were still creating opportunities. We still had a good amount of the ball.

We had every chance to make that a 2-2 game, even win it, being down that many players, which shows the caliber and focus of that group.”

The next week, for the second time in three games, Thompson and company paid a visit to Mercyhurst, this time for a conference semifinal. After trailing 1-nil for 54 minutes in that playoff game, Iain Langstone was able to find the back of the net.

Anxiety heightened for both teams as the game continued through two overtime periods.

It took an extra eight rounds of penalty kicks, but when all was said and done, The Rock won the shootout, 6-5, and set itself up to host the league

championship game a few days later.

“The fire that was lit underneath us from that second-to-last game really inspired us and enabled us to push through that game,” Deighton said.

In a spirited atmosphere at what is now known as MihalikThompson Stadium, No. 12 Slippery Rock upset No. 1 Millersville in front of over 1,200 fans. As he had all year, Deighton made sure his presence was felt, heading in the game’s first tally off of an assist from Fultz in the 31st minute. The Marauders’ goalie was ejected three minutes later for a handball out of the box on a Langstone breakaway attempt. With some help from Deighton, Langstone would net a goal early in the second period, providing some cushion that would eventually lead to SRU’s third-ever league title. The win, which gave The Rock a 17-3-1 record, matched a school record for wins in a single season.

“It was just one of those games where, if you were going to pick one game to watch all year, that would have been the one,” Wilhelm said. “For it to kind of come to that fruition, my personal experience, being a player and then having the opportunity to coach with Matt, I was elated, but I was also thankful that I was able to have that opportunity. I could coach another 10, 15 years, and never have that opportunity.

All the pieces, all the recruiting, everything, has to fall in place.”

The reward for The Green and White was a fourth meeting with Mercyhurst, who came to Slippery Rock for an opening round game in the NCAA Division II Tournament. It was in this game that theThompson’s team set a school record for wins in a season. Deighton recorded a hat trick with three headers, the last of which came only 1:32 before a 2nd overtime concluded. In the game, Blum also made a career-high 14 saves in helping to a 3-2 victory.

The only problem with the contest that it was the night cap, and No. 14 Charleston, The Rock’s next opponent, played earlier, giving the Golden Eagles more much needed rest.

“I remember going into training the next day, on

Saturday, and the guys couldn’t move,”Thompson said. “Going into the Charleston game, I knew we were tired […] We just ran out of gas.”

The Rock led twice against Charleston in the Atlantic Region final, but the thirdseeded opponent ended Slippery Rock’s season by the score of 3-2.

“Every game was fun, every game was exciting,” Wilhelm said. “There was some drama.

But, just with our opponents there in the PSAC tournament being Millersville and Mercyhurst, […] it was just kind of setting that stage of who the premier programs were at that point in time in the PSAC.” Since Slippery Rock won that playoff tournament eleven years ago, all but two PSAC finals have featured at least one of the three schools and eight league trophies have been distributed between the trio of programs.

“That was probably the toughest loss in my career,” Blum said. “We didn’t expect to lose. We had such a great year that everybody wanted to just keep on going […] [For Coach Thompson and Coach Wilhelm], it was a good way to go out.”

Wilhelm believes that, if the team had advanced past the University of Charleston in that second round, Slippery Rock had a favorable chance of reaching the national semifinals, at least.

Following the heartwrenching loss in the NCAA Division II Tournament, up until the holidays, Wilhelm said, the expectation was that things would carry on the way they had the previous three seasons. It wasn’t to be, however.

Thompson soon cleaned his office and headed south to national runner-up Lees-McRae College. Wilhelm also left to focus on club coaching.

“It really didn’t hit until Matt had an interview and, basically, liked the situation,” Wilhelm said. “He was going to a program that had very good funding and a nice location for his family.

It just seemed he right choice, probably, for him in the bigger picture at that point in time.”

“If I could go back and do things, I probably would’ve ended up staying at Slippery Rock and trying to push on from

where we left off,” Thompson said. “I just felt like I’d taken them as far as I could maybe. It was time to move on and move up the ladder.”

Still, a lot about Slippery Rock soccer can be told and understood from that championship season.

“As far as I’m concerned, that was just an extraordinary season; one that I don’t think [had] really been seen since the 70s and really, probably, hasn’t been seen since then,” Wilhelm said.

Deighton touched upon the fact that private schools such as Gannon and Mercyhurst, with more funding, have an easier time attracting players.

“I feel like in 2008 and 2009, we were able to set the standard of you don’t have to have full scholarships to do well in that conference,” said Deighton, who continued on to play for the Pittsburgh River Hounds for three years after graduating.

“What you need is solid coaching and solid role players.”

“I think that [2009] season is kind of the season to beat for any future teams,” Blum said.

Blum, who would play for the Pittsburgh Riverhounds after graduating in 2010, earned NSCAA All-America and firstteam All-Region honors. He also was a Daktronics second-team All-Atlantic Region honoree and was named All-PSAC for the second year in a row. The goalkeeper finished second in the conference in saves (97) and shutouts (8).

Junior defender Tom Pool, who played and started in 21 games, earned third-team NSCAA All-American, firstteam NSCAA All-Region, and All-PSAC accolades. He finished the season with three goals and one assist.

Walters, who started all 23 games, accounted for two assists and one goal, and also earned NSCAA third-team All-Region honors, Deighton earned a PSAC Athlete of the Year award for a second consecutive season and went on to play for the Riverhounds as well.

Thompson, before leading Lees McRae to an appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament the next season, was named as the PSAC Coach of the Year for a third time.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SLIPPERY ROCK ATHLETICS

Then-senior forward Jeremy Deighton jumps into the air for a potential header during the 2009 men's soccer season. Deighton scored a league-high 21 goals in 2009.

SPORTS

D-2

October 9, 2020

Sushi and sumo wrestling Former Rock offensive lineman makes his mark in Japan

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROCK ATHLETICS

Former Slippery Rock offensive lineman Ian Park, a transfer from Northwestern, lines up during practice at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium during the 2017 season. Park spent one season at Slippery Rock before earning a minicamp invite from the Philadelphia Eagles.

By Karl Ludwig Sports Editor

In Japan, if you stand at six feet tall, you're going to get some looks while walking down the street. If you're 6-4 and weigh 315 pounds, they're going to think you're a sumo wrestler. At least, according to Ian Park, "people think I'm a sumo wrestler."

Nope, he's just the starting left guard for the Lixil Deers -- the Deers being based out of Chufo, Tokyo, Japan.

Starting for the Deers is the culmination of a long, winding road from Upper St. Clair High School to Northwestern University to Slippery Rock University to the Philadelphia Eagles minicamp to the Baltimore Brigade (only for a week) to finally settling in Tokyo -- hopefully for a while now.

However, this story begins in Philadelphia, rubbing elbows with Hall of Famers and being bull rushed by some of the best.

Philadephia Eagles minicamp, 2018 After leaving Northwestern in 2017 because of eligibility issues stemming from a couple of injuries during his time as a Wildcat, Park wound up playing his final collegiate season in Slippery Rock. A Division II All-American, who didn't allow a single sack during his year-long stay in small-town PA, Park earned an invite to the Eagles' minicamp. A real NFL chance with the defending Super Bowl champs.

"It was a dream come true," Park said. "Just because of my history of injuries, I didn't know if it would be possible.

[The Eagles] were coming off a Super Bowl, and I was in the room with Hall of Famers -- I had practice with Hall of Fame guys -- and it was just cool to see how they operate on a day to day basis."

In an offensive line room during camp with guys like Lane Johnson, Jason Kelce, Brandon Brooks and Jason Peters, Park was learning from some of the best in the business. However, that meant on the other side of the ball, guys -- maybe beasts is the more appropriate word -- were just waiting for rookie linemen trying to earn a spot on the team.

That meant five-time Pro Bowler -- 2018 first-team

All-Pro defensive lineman -Fletcher Cox was waiting for Park. It... well, went about as expected.

"My guard got beat," Park explained, "he got blown back, and there was a pile behind me.

Fletcher [Cox] gave me a bull rush, and I went down. But on the first hit, I thought had him... I didn't."

It was the NFL, a cutthroat business with the best players on the planet, and those kind of things are the norm for first round picks and undrafted free agents alike. Park was just happy to be a sponge, soaking up as much knowledge as possible.

Park learned from Chris Long and Michael Bennett, got to know Super Bowl hero Nick Foles (a pretty cool guy) but the best was learning from Eagles' offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland. The techniques he learned from Stoutland have been put to good use, even if it wasn't originally how Park expected.

In the end, the fairytale came to an end as a concussion saw Park's name on the injury report before finally being cut during preseason. While Park wishes he could have stuck around, he's glad he got the chance to just go; the experience made him a better lineman and prepared him for his next opportunity.

However, unlike most undrafted Division II prospects who wind up not making the roster, Park found a way to make a name for himself. It just didn't come through football.

A viral video of Park singing the Halo theme song found its way to the Eagles' social media sites, gaining millions of views for his opera-like rendition of the popular XBox game's theme.

"It was right after rookie minicamp, I had been there for maybe three days, and the media had come up to me in the locker room and asked me if I could do [the Halo theme song] for them," Park said. "I did it, no one was around."

The "performance" came before the veterans were around when just the rookies were at camp. It wasn't until the first team meeting when the rookies and vets mixed that Park started to get looks. He said it started with a look and turned into a laugh.

Even Eagles head coach Doug Pederson had to get in on the fun.

"We had a practice at Lincoln Financial Field, I was walking into the tunnel, and coach Pederson looked at me -- I don't who he was talking to, media or something -- and he just starts the, 'Ooooh oh ooohhh.' He just looks at me and starts singing [the theme song]."

While Park's role as "the Halo guy" may have earned him a few fans across the NFL fandom, it's ultimately proven to be a bit embarrassing. He's a football guy first and foremost, yet even some of his teammates pull up the video now when he meets new people. It's one of the first links that pop up when you search "Ian Park".

It's a memory from a time in Philadelphia where Park experienced a lot, learned even more, but ultimately moved on.

Finding a way to the X-League, 2019 The X-League, the top flight of professional American football in Japan since 1971, only employs four international players per team, typically two on offense and two on defense.

It's not easy to get a chance to play out in Japan, usually requiring an endorsement from a respected mind in the industry.

Park sent the Lixil Deers an email, and it worked.

"I went on the X-League website, I looked up teams -the rule is you can only have two [international] players on offense and two on defense -and searched for teams," Park said. "I found an opening, well, I didn't find an opening, I perceived there to be an opening with the Lixil Deers.

I sent them an email, and they responded to me the next day."

OK, let's back up really quick first.

Park's brother, Alex, played college football at Dartmouth University in the early 2010s, and through a connection that Dartmouth had forged with the X-League, Alex was getting looked at by teams in Japan. He didn't accept any offers, but he did point his younger brother in the direction.

Flash forward to Park's time in Philadelphia, while he was on the IR, he was scrolling through YouTube in his hotel room one night and

the X-League popped into his mind.

"I thought to myself, 'I'd love another opportunity to go to the NFL and keeping playing,' but the reality was that I didn't have any tape, I got hurt in camp, and when you have no tape it's hard to get back into the league," Park said.

Park took a detour on the way to the X-League, signing with the Baltimore Brigade in the Arean Football League in April 2019. But with the X-League still in the back of his mind, he decided to quit after a week, before playing his first game. It's an X-League policy that if a player plays a regular season game in another professional league, that player is exempt from signing in Japan.

As Park sees it, it would be like Adrian Peterson signing in the X-League; it's to keep parity among teams.

Right, back to the timeline.

After sending some emails to X-League teams, Park honestly didn't expect to hear back. But after Lixil got back to him, he was flown to Atlanta -- where the Deers head coach has an office -- for some meetings and an interview. The interview went well and after seeing some game tape -- from Slippery Rock, of course -- Park was flown out to Japan and eventually offered a contract.

The chance of a new experience in a brand new land was a huge opportunity for Park, but the decision to ditch the AFL for the X-League also came down to money. Gotta make a living somehow.

Aside from having games every other week, which means a bye week every other week, and the chance to have fun in Japan, the money in the X-League is pretty good. For Americans at least.

Life in Japan, 2020 Park has been able to cross two mountains in Japan off his hiking list: Mt. Fuji and Mt. Takao. The hiking list may also stop at two after the experience on Mt. Fuji.

After a seven or eight hour trek up Mt. Fuji, through the night, Park reached the top to find clouds obscuring the view and rain beating down.

His reward for reaching the summit? Another four hour hike back down.

Park still frequents amusement parks and the

batting cages (Japan has a strong baseball culture), but perhaps the best part of life in Japan, he finds himself just walking around.

"I look at things I've never seen before, like just the way the buildings are built, the people, the lights," Park said. "There are so many things I could say, just exploring new areas."

One of the best parts about being in Japan -- Tokyo especially -- is the food.

"The food is really good," Park said. "The sushi here is fantastic; I've had the sushi in Pittsburgh, it's... ehhh," Park said. "Even if you're not a fish guy, you come out here, with the freshness. It's just better."

Of course, it's not all fun an games in Japan. Actually, it's a lot business. A loooot of business.

Up until the last decade, the X-League was literally a business.

Players were contracted by the team's sponsor, being paid to work for the company while playing football on the side.

Some teams in the league have begun transitioning to club teams. Most Americans are brought out to Japan purely to play football, Park said. That's the case for him, which is a situation he couldn't be happier about. The same can't always be said for native players.

"The Japanese players are not paid to play ... does that make sense?" Park asked. "Can you believe that? When we're not playing a game, we have practice Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday. These guys come out and they play and they work full time."

The worker mentality, the business-like approach to life permeates the American football culture in Japan.

Japanese players work long hours and sometimes spend even longer hours out on the field.

Park has a helluva lot of respect for his Japanese teammates.

Unexpectedly, the football culture in Japan is different than in the United States.

According to Park, for one it's smaller. But damn if it isn't passionate. "[The fanbase is] small, but it's strong. College football is pretty popular here too," Park said. "I had an opportunity to go to the national championship last year; it was about 40 or 50

thousand people in a baseball stadium. It was interesting."

College teams in Japan typically practice from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. six days a week.

After practice meetings can sometimes keep players at the facility until at least midnight.

"The rules are the same, but their football culture is a little bit different than America," Park said. "For example, I've been to several college games, visited college practices, the culture and the work culture, with people in their regular jobs, it kind of carries over to the football culture. That mindset of working hard and putting in long hours."

With the NCAA in place in the United States, practices are strictly limited and enforced.

With no such party in Japan, practices can go for as long as they want, whenever the want.

And it's fully padded, hardtackling practice, too.

For Park with the Deers, every weekend practice feels almost like a minicamp in the United States. It's grueling but fun; he loves it. He still tries to find ways to cut practices shorter, but he said no one ever listens to him.

The Deers' first game is just weeks away now, slated for Nov. 3, and Park is gearing up for his second season now with the team. After adjusting to the language barrier last season, which was helped by most of the football terms being said in English, the offense is using a lot of numbers and signals this season -- which helps him out.

All Park has to do make sure he has Japanese numbers memorized, but he admitted that when he's gassed in the huddle, it isn't hard to forget a word or two. He's slowly learning the language. If he has it his way, maybe he'll pick up a bit more as time goes on.

"As long as I'm feeling good, and I can get an opportunity, I'm going to [stay out here]," Park said.

"It's a year by year thing for me; I'd like to be here next year."

It's been a long road to Tokyo, but Park is happy. He's playing football, he's eating sushi and he's exploring a new land.

He's living the American dream in Japan.

SPORTS

October 9, 2020

D-3

The absence of Rock sports Slippery Rock student athletes cope with a lost season

By Tyler Howe Senior Rocket Contributor

Over the course of the past six months, there has not been a single Slippery Rock athletic team that has played. In the spring, sports were canceled and at the time there was hope for those seasons to be played in some fashion. At the time, it looked as if those sports could be played in front of no fans. But reality soon hit the entire country and things were put in perspective a lot more.

Life as we know it has been altered and the date for it to go back to normal has not been set yet, but as time goes on it starts to become less hopeful that the day normal life comes back is anytime soon. When normal life went in early March, so did Slippery Rock sports.

And since then, every sport from baseball to football to field hockey and soccer has been canceled. And the cases of COVID-19 that have popped up in Slippery Rock and other schools that are in the PSAC have made it obvious that the decision to postpone the fall seasons was the right one.

“It’s been difficult not seeing my best friends every day and not having a set time to work out, and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone every day and I know practices are serious but they’re like an outlet, and I’m really looking forward to having that outlet that I don’t have right now again,” So p h o m o r e w o m e n’s soccer player Kayla Swope said.

Swope played a pivotal part in The Rock women’s soccer team’s success last fall and helped led them to a PSAC championship.

Sw o p e s c o r e d t h e game-winning goal against Edinboro in the championship game and Swope scored in an NCAA playoff game, and anyone in the stands at those games probably would not have thought that those would be the last goals she would score for over a year for The Rock.

Because of COVID-19, teams haven not been able to have the entire team on the field for a practice since March and by the time any sport is played at Slippery Rock, it will have been nearly a year since those teams last played an organized game. The last organized games that were played were the end of the winter season. The last games that were played at Morrow Field House were on February 29, when both the men’s and women’s basketball teams dropped contests to Mercyhurst.

But the last time that teams who were supposed to play in the fall, such as the women’s soccer team, was able to have a full team practice was around that same time.

“When you spend all year preparing for something and it just doesn’t happen, it kind of hurts and Every time you work out, you’re working towards a football season and for it not to happen it just sucks,” Junior football player Nick Stazer said. “There’s a lot of things in life that we take for granted, like being able to go see my grandparents

and now I haven’t been able to see them in long time and I’m thankful to have such a great family that I want to go visit.”

Teams have had to adapt to the changes that this has brought one way or another, and those changes have included a lot of the same as students who do not play sports.

For some, they may never play another game or have another match for The Rock. For example, Pia Bruckmayer who played for The Rock tennis team but was never able to get a full season under her belt at Slippery Rock.

COVID-19 has changed the entire landscape of all sports, and that does not exclude Slippery Rock.

This stretch will be the longest seen in a long time without any Rock sports playing. The Rock football team last played a game on December 14, and that game was a semi-final to the National Championship, so the layoff for most teams in the PSAC will have been well over a year by the time spring rolls around.

“It’s definitely been hard and I think I speak for all athletes when I say that we miss being in that competitive atmosphere, and it’s been especially hard for our team because we love spending as much time as we can together during practices and lifts, but it has been nice because we’re finding new ways to be active and we can still have small group lifts and sessions on the field, but it has definitely been a challenge,” Junior women’s soccer player Jordyn Minda said.

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

The Slippery Rock women's soccer team celebrates with the PSAC championship trophy after defeating Edinboro last November.

Minda, like Swope, was a huge part of the team’s success last season and a year after being named first-team All PSAC, Minda has not been able to be on the field in a competitive game with The Rock since the loss in the NCAA tournament back in November.

The hope is that in the spring, things will get better and there will be some form of a season for those fall sports that

were not able to play.

But there is also the possibility that we will not see spring sports for the second straight year due to COVID-19. As of now, nothing is set in stone and nothing will be as the climate will need to be seen closer to the date that sports are supposed to start. If sports are able to be played in the spring, there would likely be abbreviated versions of the volleyball, football,

women’s and men’s soccer, and all other fall seasons.

Through all of the uncertainty, one thing remains certain and that is that someday Rock sports will be back, and we will be back to seeing our favorite teams on the field or the court. But until then, players will continue to push through like they have. But as that time continues to go by, it solidifies that everyone misses Rock sports.

Campagna joins the Wild Things Five rushing touchdowns leads Rock past the Fighting Scots

By Brendan Howe Asst. Sports Editor

There’s a saying in independent baseball, Joe Campagna says.

You get here to get the hell out of here.

Getting here wasn’t much of a problem for the former Slippery Rock University infielder, a two-time PSAC West honoree. After a fantastic career with The Rock, one in which he started 160 games, hit 28 homers, and drove in 125 runs, Campagna was hopeful of getting selected in the 40-round Major League Baseball Draft.

“Having two very good years [at SRU], I thought for sure, ‘I’m going to get drafted,’” Campagna said. “I got invited to all the pre-draft workouts. I got invited to the Pirates’ one. I had phone calls and everything. It was disappointing sitting there and watching your name not get called, especially when you had [all of those accolades] all underneath your belt.”

St i l l , h owe ve r, h e wanted to continue taking the diamond.

“After I graduated, I got together with Coach Messer and we were weighing out options and things to do […] if I didn’t get drafted,” Campagna says. “We all knew that I wanted to play past college.”

Messer, who’s coached baseball at Slipper y Rock University for 35 seasons, was able to get in touch with the Utica Unicorns of the United Shore Professional Baseball League (USPBL).

After going undrafted, Campagna agreed to go to New York’s Mohawk Valley and suit up as a Unicorn.

“It was a lot of Coach Messer,” Campagna says.

“It says a lot about the man and his family that they’re willing and they’re caring enough for their players, even whenever I can’t really benefit him anymore other

than saying […] I played professional baseball […] that he’s willing to go that extra step to help the guys that he brought into his program.”

Campagna’s stint in the Empire State didn’t go as planned.

“It was rough in the USPBL for me, personally,” Campagna says. “I was doing really well to start off with. I had four bad games, and they ended up releasing me after four bad games.”

Campagna admits his release from Utica gave him an extra push to key in on parts of his game and himself that he needed to improve upon.

“I just came back and worked my tail off,” says Campagna, who lost 25 pounds after being cut.

“A lot of what’s defi ned me is that I haven’t always been the underdog, but there’s been a lot of people that have doubted me […]

I take that personally, sometimes. I go and show you wrong.”

It was a humbling experience, putting things into perspective for the former six-time AllRegion selection.

“I didn’t believe that I should’ve been in an independent league, anyway,” Campagna said.

“I thought that I should’ve been getting drafted and playing in affiliated ball.

Whenever that happened, it was honestly a wake-up call. I’m very thankful that it happened.”

Having just finished playing with the Fort Lauderdale Superstars in the spring, including a game against the most storied organization in the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO), the Kia Tigers, Campagna got word from Washington Wild Things General Manager Tony Buccilli that a four-team league was being put together and was invited to join.

The managers of the Superstars also managed with the Sussex County Miners of the Can-

REBECCA DIETRICH / THE ROCKET

Former Slippery Rock infielder Joe Campagna stands at the plate during a game in 2017. Campagna signed with the Utica Unicorns coming out of college before signing with the Washington Wild Things in 2020.

Am League and, with a solid showing in Florida, Campagna thought he would be signed. It ended up that Buccilli reached out first.

“First off, I have to give it to that league,” Campagna says. “With all the stuff that happened, they did a fantastic job of keeping us safe and doing all the necessary safety protocols […] to give us a platform to play and showcase our ability […] They did everything correct.”

With the Steel City Slammin’ Sammies in the umbrella league, Campagna recorded a .303 batting average, hit fi ve

home runs, and notched a dozen RBI. He got to play alongside his cousin, John Sansone, a former Florida State Seminole who played in the Cincinnati Reds’ minor league system.

After his summer with the Yinzer Baseball Confederacy, it was announced that Campagna signed to play for the Wild Things’ 2021 roster. For the 2019 D2CCA AllAmerican and New Castle native, it’s a heartening feeling to play close to home. Having off each Monday, Campagna looks forward to driving an hour to spend time with his parents and his dog, Koda, a three-year-old German

Shepherd-Husky mix.

“I’m very excited to get going and get playing with them,” Campagna said.

“I love the management, the coaching, the staff, and everything. I’m used to that ballpark because Cal U plays there. It’s comforting.”

He continues, envisioning the crowd as he suits up for the Frontier League team.

“It’s really cool to be able to see some familiar faces that come to the games, too, as fans,” C a m p a g n a s a y s “ It’s going to be really cool to see them and be one of the guys that they know coming to the games.”

Though, he doesn’t forget that his hope is that this stop is a temporary one, a mile marker on the way to larger things.

“I’m looking to get in there, come out the gate hot, and do whatever I can to help the team win,” Campagna says.

“And then, personally, hopefully get signed to an affiliated contract out of there.

I f t h a t d o e s n’t e n d up happening this year, I want to win a championship with the Wild Things […] I think it says a lot if you can go out there and grab a championship.”

SPORTS

D-4

October 9, 2020

Team of destiny: The riverboa Slippery Rock football battles to

By Karl Ludwig Sports Editor

The official capacity of Andre Reed Stadium, the home of 2019 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference runner-up Kutztown University (sorry, couldn't resist), is 5,600 people.

5,817 people packed into the tightly compacted facility on Nov. 16, 2019; a screaming mass of maroon and gold huddled beneath the monstrous maroon press box over the home stands, hundreds who lined the chain-link fences just outside the track and the brave souls who trekked across the state to support their team in the small bleachers directly across from the ravenous home crowd.

For the sake of clarity, the food truck parked parallel to the opposing side ran out of food by halftime, the winding lines reached the window just to find out that the hot dogs and hamburgers were sold out. A much-needed cup of hot chocolate was impossible to find. Alas, that's beside the point.

Nestled in the middle of the Kutztown campus, Andre Reed Stadium is sandwiched by a parking lot on the home side and some tennis courts and the Kutztown Student Recreation Center on the other, but with both endzones open to the elements, the winds gusting at 20 miles an hour made the brisk 37-degree afternoon feel particularly arctic.

Even with the sun beating down from a nearly cloudless, bright blue sky, it was freezing. It was perfect for the PSAC title game between Slippery Rock University and Kutztown.

Slippery Rock defensive coordinator Domenick Razzano called it a beautiful day, a true college football atmosphere.

For three hours, er, two hours and 55 minutes, SRU and Kutztown were at the center of Division II football and the fight for the PSAC title. *** Slippery Rock's first drive of the second half started off in typical fashion. SRU quarterback Roland Rivers III found two of his favorite wide receivers, Cinque Sweeting and Jermaine Wynn, Jr., for connections of eight and 11 yards, respectively. Wynn's 11-yard catch and run turned into a 26yard pick up after a personal foul on a Kutztown defender.

Suddenly, SRU was on the Kutztown 41 yard line.

A designed run for Rivers lost four yards, and he was sacked on the following play. On 3rd-and-18, Rivers found his favorite target, Henry Litwin, for four yards. Slippery Rock head coach Shawn Lutz called on the punt team, and Kutztown got the ball back.

The trio of Kutztown quarterback Collin DiGalbo, running back Abdul-Hassan Neblett and tight end Jack Pilkerton pushed the Golden Bears' offense to the opposing end zone in eight plays, and Kutztown took a 35-21 lead over Slippery Rock midway through the third quarter.

Down 14, uncharted waters for a team that hadn't trailed once after halftime in any game all season, in a hostile environment, Slippery Rock's offense took the field again.

With the Harlon Hill favorite under center and one of the most explosive offensives in all of college football, no one on the SRU sideline was sweating... yet. And it didn't have to do with the blustery winds either.

A Rivers-Litwin connection once again pushed Slippery Rock into Kutztown territory, but on the very next play, a deep shot from Rivers was caught in the swirling wind and fell into the outstretched arms of a Kutztown defender. The first turnover of the day for Rivers.

Gulp. Is it feeling hot out here? *** Despite an undefeated regular season, Slippery Rock had hosted the PSAC title game against West Chester University

the prior season. Shuffles papers awkwardly. So, SRU was forced the drive across the state for a rematch of the 2011 PSAC title game.

A lot was on the line for Slippery Rock -- and for Kutztown -- as, despite going unbeaten all season, SRU had risen only as high as 8th in the country. Kutztown lingered behind at 13th, so the winner of the contest likely picked up a first-round bye in the national playoffs.

"We were both in to make the playoff, but if we won, we had a chance to be the No. 1 seed," Lutz said. "There was so much on the line."

However, according to Lutz, the biggest pressure for Slippery Rock was continuing its unbeaten streak. No team in the history of the program had ever gone 11-0.

While Slippery Rock and Kutztown had met in an ill-fated 2011 clash, the most recent contest had come in 2017, when a 42-34 Kutztown victory knocked SRU out of the national playoff picture. So, it was personal. It was also the biggest game Lutz has ever coached.

"It goes down in my book, in my career over 20 years, as the No. 1 game I've ever coached," Lutz said. "Because of everything we overcame. We never took the lead until 20 or 30 seconds left in the game."

For Razzano, the game was so much more than a game.

It was reaching the peak of a mountain that hadn't been climbed in years (just four years but it felt like 40), escaping the snowstorm to find the sun shining on a beautifully cold Andre Reed Stadium.

"We wanted that championship so bad," Razzano said.

"Before the game, you sit there and you think, 'it's right there in front fo you.' My God, you're thinking about, 'we can go after this, we can reach our hands out and take this.'"

A 2009 graduate, Razzano returned to Slippery Rock in 2014 as the linebackers coach before being promoted to codefensive coordinator in 2015. SRU won the PSAC title in 2014 and 2015, and for Razzano, it felt like the norm. This was how every season was going to feel. Well, not exactly.

Slippery Rock let 7-4 and 8-3 seasons in 2016 and 2017 go by, finishing in the middle of the PSAC-West both seasons, before getting blown out by West Chester in the title game in 2018. Suddenly, it was tough to remember that triumph over West Chester in 2015.

As Razzano said, that title was right there for taking. Who wanted it more?

With two Harlon Hill nominated quarterbacks under center, the first half went about as well as expected defensively.

As Lutz put it, whoever had the ball led.

However, the Slippery Rock defense was up to snuff in the first couple of possessions, outside of allowing a 21 yard dash to Neblett on Kutztown's second possession, holding the Golden Bears to just six plays and two punts. Razzano was feeling pretty good.

However, that's where the game went off the rails, turning into a bit of backyard football.

"They scored on that third series, I think they drove 70, 75, 80 yards and that was the first of five consecutive series that they scored," Razzano said.

DiGalbo found Pilker ton for an eight-yard touchdown to open the scoring toward the end of the first quarter, but Rivers found Litwin on a 22-yard rainbow toss to even the score before the end of the quarter. Buckle up.

Slippery Rock and Kutztown traded scores, seven touchdowns being scored after the 3:09 mark of the first quarter. With a couple of ticks under two minutes in the half, Rivers found Wynn in the back of the endzone, their second

touchdown connection of the half, and SRU evened the score at 21 all with just 1:30 left on the clock.

The ensuing Kutztown drive was the first time Razzano felt frustrated.

Of course, Kutztown returned the kickoff 40 yards, the Golden Bears starting at midfield. Razzano lamented the last Kutztown possession of the first half, remembering the Slippery Rock defense forcing a 3rd-and-8 from the SRU 13 yard line with 33 seconds in the half. The Golden Bears' kicker was a question mark and forcing a fourth down could have provided a way for SRU to get to the locker rooms all tied up.

Razzano said the Kutztown called a play on that third down, and he called a timeout to talk things over.

"I knew exactly what they were doing because immediately before we called a timeout, they showed us their formation, and they made a shift in that formation," Razzano said.

"They motioned to an empty set. So when we were in the huddle with the guys, we called a – Jermaine Wynn, Jr pressure. I knew they were going to motion to an empty set when they came out, and they did, so went sent a sixth man pressure and hit the quarterback. He threw a helluva pass to the back of the end zone to the tight end."

DiGalbo dropped back, evaded pressure, and fired a bullet to Pilkerton in the back of the end zone. Kutztown retook the lead and had scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions.

Lutz felt some pressure at the half, and after a tough first half, there was a tiny bit of tension in the locker room. Some calls hadn't gone Slippery Rock's way, the DiGalbo-Pilkerton connection had struck twice in the first half and SRU was hundreds of miles from home.

However, Slippery Rock was down just one score, and Razzano made sure to tell the defense that Kutztown wasn't taking SRU to the woodshed. It was a battle, and he felt that his defense was the more talented unit.

"It's one thing if you're in a game, getting physically manhandled," Razzano said. "They're running all over you, receivers are just making better plays over the defensive backs. That wasn't the case. We were making mistakes, and they were capitalizing on those mistakes."

"It's top two, and two," Wynn said. everything that y for, all the blood in the offseason and the summer way up until that

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October 9, 2020

D-5

at gambler's surprising choice the final seconds to make history

Defensive end Chad Kuhn, linebacker Brad Zaffram and safety Dalton Holt headlined a talented, passionate unit, but it was another voice that rallied the team before heading back out onto the field.

"I remember [Khadir] Roberts stepped up, and he said the same thing to the defense," Razzano said. "'Hey, guys, we gotta stop panicking. We gotta stop blaming this, blaming that; we gotta do our job, and we'll win this game.' And that's exactly what happened in the second half."

Wynn felt like the scoreboard didn't determine a thing; the team didn't feel like it was down. With a couple of adjustments, Slippery Rock would be right back in the game.

Ha l f a n hour to go.

Wynn and the high-powered Slippery Rock offense was taking the field.

What could go wrong? *** "I mean, I was a little nervous," Lutz said.

"When they went up 1 4 , I wa s nervous but nobody else was. They said, 'we're r., SRU senior wide receiver gonna get this, we got this.' It's really what we've been through and what we've practiced and guys going through the situations and the scenarios."

However, Lutz admitted that having Rivers at quarterback made 14 point deficits feel like 14 point leads. He had just made so many big plays throughout the year. It was time for the Rock defense to make a stand.

"After that [touchdown to make the game 35-21], we were in control the rest of the game," Razzano said.

Well, sometimes the adage "bend, don't break" comes up big, too. After Rivers' interception, the Kutztown offense drove the length of the field, including what appeared to be a back-breaking 53-yard scamper from DiGalbo, to set up a 4th and 20 at the Slippery Rock 33 yard line. DiGalbo's ball fell incomplete. We might just have a ballgame.

"You give up 28 points in the first half, you give up touchdowns on five consecutive series, and I don't know a lot of defenses that have the toughness and resilience to stay in it," Razzano said.

Entering the fourth quarter, Slippery Rock trailed by 14 but were driving into Kutztown territory. A few plays later,

d it's not number "That feeling -you've worked d, sweat and tears -- in the spring -- it led all the t exact moment."

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT (CLOCKWISE) SRU linebacker Brad Zaffram breaks up a pass intended for Jack Pilkerton SRU running back Charles Snorweah dives into the end zone for the game winner SRU quarterback Roland Rivers III lines up under center SRU wide receiver Henry Litwin runs up the field SRU defensive end Chad Kuhn tosses Abdul HassanNeblett to the ground SRU's Cohen Russell, Chris Mohra and Garrett de Bien huddle on the sideline

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEEGAN BEARD

Rivers tosses his fourth touchdown of the afternoon, a high arcing ball to the corner of the end zone for running back DeSean Dinkins, and it's a one touchdown game.

Three and out for the Kutztown defense. The tide is turning, as Lutz said, and he's certain that the Golden Bears could feel it. The defense was getting to DiGalbo, cutting off Pinkerton and making stops in the backfield.

Slippery Rock was driving once again, cruising across midfield with a steady mix of Dinkins' runs and Rivers' check downs. The drive stalled at the Kutztown 26 yard line, and Lutz decided to go for it on 4th and 10. The play breaks down, and Rivers takes off for the sticks, battling for those 10 yards but the ball is popped loose. Kutztown recovers.

The defense was called upon again, but Slippery Rock wasn't just playing Kutztown anymore. The clock was starting to tick down, just over six minutes remained in the game.

"If we allow one of those Kutztown drives to extend, I'm not so sure Roland [Rivers] would have had enough time to put a drive together at the end of that game to win," Razzano said.

Another first down could have iced the game for Kutztown, Razzano admitted.

Two yard rush, a misfired ball, and a tackle in the backfield.

The Slippery Rock defense made their stand. Just under five minutes left in the game, and Wynn trotted onto the field, standing around his own 30-yard line.

Late into the game, Wynn said his biggest focus was just making sure he secured the ball, secured another Slippery Rock possession. It's a close game, he thought, don't try to do too much.

But in the back of his mind, he knew he wanted to make a play, give Slippery Rock the spark it needed.

That spark came in the form of a 59-yard punt return to the Kutztown 11 yard line -- but it almost didn't happen.

When Wynn watched the ball soar toward him, Kutztown's punt team was bearing down on him -- hard. He raised his hand ever so slightly but put it down immediately.

"I heard no fair catch whistle, and when I caught the ball, I had two guys converging on me," Wynn said. "They both hit me, but I was able to keep my balance and spin out of it and turn the punt into a big play."

The ensuing drive amounted in negative yards, and a 4th and 13 opportunity to tie the game or a field goal to cut the lead. Anyone familiar with Lutz -- having watched him go for a 4th and 10 earlier in the quarter -- would have expected the chance to let his offense go for it.

"I think if you remember right, I went for it on one fourth down (and didn't get it) because I'm pretty much a riverboat gambler," Lutz said. "I go for it a lot on fourth. And I think people thought I was crazy toward the end of the game, we kicked a field goal. A lot of people thought they were gonna go for it."

Kicker Jake Chapla ran onto the field, struck a 31-yard field through the uprights, and Slippery Rock trailed by four. Lutz trusted his gut, knowing he needed to get something out of the drive, and it paid off with point.

Even if the offense wasn't necessarily happy about ceding to the special teams unit.

"Everyone on the offensive side of the ball wanted to go for it, and I'm pretty sure everyone on the team did, but coach Lutz -- he's a game manager," Wynn said. "Ultimately, he makes the calls and he made the right one, I think."

With a few ticks under four minutes left in the game, trailing by four, the Slippery Rock defense once again took the field, and for the third straight possession, forced a three and out.

"It wasn't just us playing good defense, that wouldn't have been enough," Razzano said. "Playing good defense in that second half wouldn't have been enough. We played great defense in that second half."

The scoreboard read 2:06 when Rivers and the offense took the field at their own 35 yard line.

Rivers methodically pushed the ball down the field, connecting on mid-range passes with Litwin and Wynn, as Slippery Rock worked down to the eight yard line with 30 seconds left in the game.

The only question, at least to Wynn, was who Rivers was going to toss the ball to for the game-winning touchdown. Except, the play call was a run designed for Charles Snorweah.

"When we got the signal, and I saw that it was a run play, initially, I was like, 'aww, come on, coach!' Wynn said. "You gotta put it in the hands of one of your receivers right now, but once I looked at the defense, I realized why he called it. I knew right then and there."

Snorweah took a handoff from Rivers, ran through the trenches and dove into the end zone with 25 seconds to go. Slippery Rock's first lead of the game.

"The game-winner was a run play on [second] down," Lutz said.

"We knew we had a timeout. We had passed so well, so we were going to run the ball, call a timeout, and on fourth down, throw the ball. We liked the play on [second] down and they gave us the box that we needed and there it was."

Wynn didn't even see Snorweah cross the goal line, he was too busy laying a hit on the defensive back ahead of him. Wynn ran full speed at the Kutztown safety, trying to hit him as hard as he could, to create a lane for Snorweah. He found it.

"For us to cap off an undefeated and be down the entire game is something I'll never forget," Lutz said.

Kutztown got the ball back, a good return off the kickoff had the ball at their 37 yard line. A few plays later, with two seconds on the clock, Kutztown lined up for a field goal, the game winner. It wasn't even close.

The scoreboard read: Golden Bears: 35, Visitors: 37. Three zeros lit up the time block. *** The 2019 PSAC title felt a little better for Razzano than the ones in 2014 and 2015. Don't get him wrong, the 2014 title was his first, but 2019 was just special.

The season wasn't over, Lutz admitted that Slippery Rock could have lost to Kutztown and still made the national playoffs. But he knew his team had to win, losing wasn't an option.

A grudge match against Notre Dame College loomed later in the year, but for Lutz, the more memorable game was easy to determine.

"That Notre Dame game was a payback game, that was crazy, but to me, Kutztown was more memorable because of what it stood for," Lutz said.

With his family in the crowd, cheering him on as he made it to the peak of the mountain, the pinnacle of PSAC football, Wynn didn't pause to think about where the euphoria of winning was on his list of athletic achievements.

"It's top two, and it's not number two," Wynn said. "That feeling -- everything that you've worked for, all the blood, sweat and tears in the offseason -- in the spring and the summer -- it led all the way up until that exact moment."

From the moment West Chester defeated Slippery Rock at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium in 2018, the road back to the top was clear. It wasn't easy, it never is, but the pathway was laid out before them.

The only ones who could stand in the way were themselves.

All Slippery Rock did was redeem themselves, without losing a single game. All they did was make history along the way.

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D-6

October 9, 2020

Rock XC prepared for lack of season Head coach and wide receiver discuss what matters to them

By Madison Williams Junior Rocket Contributor

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

Rock cross country runners compete during the Akumni Meet last August. The men's and women's cross country teams placed sixth and fourth, respectively, in last season's PSAC championship.

Slippery Rock University had to suspend all fall sports this semester until December 31, leaving the men’s and women’s cross-country teams disappointed over the loss of their season and the chance to bring more NCAA Championships home to The Rock.

Slippery Rock crosscountry coach John Papa isn’t letting COVID-19 and its regulations stop his teams from preparing for a possible indoor track season in the future. In his 34 years at SRU, Papa never would’ve imagined following up a women’s outdoor winning title year with no season at all. However, Papa is keeping a good attitude and is hopeful for the future of his seasons despite COVID-19.

His teams are having voluntary practices, allowing those who can safely contribute a chance to remain in shape. Papa says the teams are “fortunate for what they can do.” When asked about the decision on fall sports within other leagues, Papa mentioned how high schools are trying it out and how it is a great possibility for SRU. He also believes that the administration did what they could to avoid taking the heat and he continues to “honor their decision.” Since both cross-country teams are given the opportunity to practice, they are ready for PSAC gameplay at any time.

“We’re staying ready,” Papa said. “If a season is a go, we will certainly be ready.”

Even so, the 2021 season could very well have a big question mark by it as well. With indoor events, remaining six feet apart could become an issue, and spectators likely will still not be allowed to be present.

Cross country, not being a contact sport -- like football or soccer -- can hopefully remain in the realm of Pennslyvania State Athletic Conference play.

A lack of season won’t affect Papa's 2021 athletes who will not be graduating. For some of Papa’s senior studentathletes, this whole situation has been devastating, and others just don’t care, as it is for the safety of everyone.

“Down the road, they may look back and think about how this final season was stolen from them,” Papa said. “All me and the underclassmen can do is rally around them in high hopes.”

With more time on his hands, Papa is still keeping busy with recruiting, Zoom calls and practices. There are roughly 15 recruits on campus for Papa throughout the semester.

When there isn’t a recruit to show around the campus, Papa is still busy on Zoom.

Papa regularly calls the PSAC via Zoom to hear the latest update on COVID-19 and the outcome of sports.

In addition to Papa, assistant multi, pole, jumps and vault coach Bill Jordan and assistant coach of throws, Megan Shadeck, have stayed busy as well, training 40 distance runners for the upcoming season. Also, Papa FaceTimes with current and incoming athletes to do mental health checks and assures his athletes are doing well academically.

Overall, the cross-country team is optimistic about the future and Papa is ready to take on another season at The Rock when the time comes.

"We're staying ready. If a season is a go, we will certainly be ready."

– John Papa, SRU XC coach

Breaking the stigma of mental health in sport SRU club hockey coach shares his experience with mental health

By Karl Ludwig Sports Editor

It would not be a stretch to call 2020 one of the hardest years, collectively, for Americans in recent memory. Aside from the obvious with COVID-19 lockdowns and the more than 190,000 deaths (as it stands), racial tensions are at the highest level since the Civil Rights era, the sky above San Francisco is a smoggy orange and it seems like every month brings about new tragedy and hardship.

Me n t a l h e a l t h i n America is at an alltime low, with countless factors attributing to depression, anxiety, stress and suicidal tendencies among Americans at every age group. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 1 in 5 Americans suffer from mental illness, 1 in 25 Americans suffer from severe mental illness, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among Americans aged 10-34.

Me n t a l h e a l t h i n sports especially still is not taken as seriously as needed, evidenced just Thursday (on National Suicide Prevention Day no less) by television sports personality Skip Bayless. Bayless would go on to essentially call Dallas Cowboys' quarterback Dak Prescott weak for opening up about his mental health struggles

during quarantine after the loss of his brother to suicide. It was that exact kind of ignorance that needs to be eliminated from the world of sports.

The stigma around student-athletes in sports, especially men, and their mental health is so toxic, so overtly ignored, that, according to Athletes for Hope, "with young adults, especially college athletes, the statistics are startling: 33% of all college students experience significant symptoms of depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions. Among that group, 30% seek help.

But of college athletes with mental health conditions, only 10% do."

The fight against mental illness among all people but especially studentathletes is going to be just that: a fight. *** The coronavirus pandemic has been hard enough on the American people, people across the globe, without factoring in outside stressors.

For Slippery Rock club hockey head coach Dave Grimm, aside from being unable to interact with the student-athletes that he has grown so close to during his four years as head coach, Grimm is a full-time parent to two small children and spends the rest of his time as a registered nurse to help fight the pandemic.

The dog days of the quarantine for Grimm,

between working fulltime at the hospital and juggling his two- and four-year-old sons, were a tough time. If he was not at work, Grimm said his boys really knew how to keep him busy. It was overtime most of the time.

When the weather was not ideal, he had to deal with two young kids literally bouncing off the walls.

The transition from just living a normal, prepandemic life (remember those days? yeah, me neither) to having to quarantine for weeks at a time was hard for the boys to understand.

"My four-year-old was playing hockey and all of the sudden, no more hockey practice, can't even go to the playground," Grimm said. "And he doesn't understand, you try to explain to him, and he's like, 'dad, I have hockey tonight.' It's like, 'no, bud. There are germs out there, so we can't play hockey.'"

Okay, so the rinks in the United States are not open. Let us just go to Russia to play hockey, right? At least, that makes perfect sense to a fouryear-old. It just does not quite work out that way.

The two-year-old at least did not really get the situation at all.

Aside from entertaining the boys, Grimm spent the rest of his time working as a nurse, which is almost where this story of mental

health awareness truly begins. *** After graduating from Slippery Rock University in 2007 with a degree in exercise science, having played all four years on the SRU club hockey team, Grimm fulfilled his military obligation by serving on active duty as an officer in the US Army.

Grimm entered the Army as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were reaching their peaks, he said, and he truly became aware of the importance of mental health during that time.

"Being a nurse, we were getting a lot of folks back who had spent time in [the] war zone, and we were starting to see the PTSD, the depression and the anxiety," Grimm said.

The men and women Grimm served with, in high-pressure war zones in the Middle East, were expected to show no signs of depression or anxiety; they were soldiers and acting as such was the mentality.

"When [my fellow soldiers'] mental health went, the physical health went with it," Grimm said. "There didn't seem to be enough resources to go around."

The transition to civilian life for Grimm was hard because, although he looked forward to getting out, the bonds -- or lack thereof -- with his fellow servicemen and women

led to a lot of downtime. It mind. But a lot of times, wasn't hard for depression in these two cases, those to set in. people hide it so well, too "I had seen enough well. people struggle with "My one friend, he [depression] that I was was probably one of the able to notice the changes most outgoing -- he was in myself, notice the path I definitely the funniest was on," Grimm said.

-- guys I've ever been While Grimm said he around," Grimm said. "He would not say he was not was always light-hearted, afraid to reach out for help, always quick with a joke he knew he needed to talk and everybody loved being to someone. The threat of around him. You would spiraling was too much. have never thought there He stressed how important was anything wrong." it is to admit that you do All too often, it is the not feel yourself, that you ones you would never feel down. expect that you need to "[Having m e n t a l worry about. health issues] does not *** mean you are mentally I n 2 0 1 6 , Gr i m m weak," Grimm said. "It's assumed an assistant a physical thing, there's coaching position with the a chemical imbalance; Slippery Rock club hockey sometimes you need team, before ascending to medication, sometimes head coach the next year. you need therapy. But one Grimm has served as the way or the other, you do head coach since 2017, a need help." decade since last playing a Grimm said sometimes game for SRU. while dealing with mental Having been around health problems, there the team for roughly five seems to be something years now, after being missing. In Grimm's case away from the team for now, that rings louder nearly a decade, Grimm than ever. has tried to provide a space "Personally, I had two to his student-athletes friends commit suicide where they are able to not long after they had come to him or assistant deployed," Grimm said. coaches if they do not feel "And you'd never know comfortable talking to from [outward looks], anyone else. That means they never mentioned they topics like struggling in were having a problem; the classroom, feeling they never reached out and overextended in their lives said they were struggling." or having a hard time with In the wake of such depression or anxiety. tragedies, Grimm said many questions SEE ROCK PAGE D-8 immediately spring to

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October 9, 2020

D-7

Rock volleyball waits like everyone else Lokash hopes her incoming class will make the wait worth it

By Tyler Howe Senior Rocket Contributor

In 2019, the Slippery Rock volleyball team complied a 7-23 (2-16 PSAC) while dealing with injuries all season and had looked to use this season to get back on track with the new talent being brought in and the players that had been missing got healthy. And the decision came down to postpone the fall season. And The Rock volleyball team’s plans were washed away like those of every other team in the PSAC. “It’s been a little bit frustrating because for players like Jayln Willard, who was injured last October, she hasn’t been on the court since then, and we’re trying to make the most of the situation and we’re getting some more one on one time with the kids, but I think they’re missing each other,” SRU head coach Laurie Lokash said.

The last time Rock volleyball won a contest over a year ago, as they ended the season banged up and dropped every game after their win against Lock Haven which brought The Rock to 7-7 (2-1 PSAC) when they won the game on Oct. 4 of last year. After the game, they dropped 16 straight games.

Willard, who was a senior this season, was one of those players that got injured at around the same time as the last win for The Rock, and since then hasn’t been in a real game.

“I think that [our team's] ability to adapt during this time will be evident when we get back together, because we have voluntary hours in the gym and we have some people trying to get as much in as they can and then there’s those who’re content to have what they have. And we have weight training programs, where you’re either doing it or you’re not,” Lokash said.

KEEGAN BEARD / THE ROCKET

Rock volleyball players, Sophie Vardell, Zoe Rivet and Gabby Huck, (left to right), look to block a returned ball against Clarion last season. Slippery Rock suffered through an injury plauged 2019 season.

The team had bi-weekly meetings over the summer and had a Zoom meeting once a week to keep up with the players and their progress in training. The workouts during this time are voluntary and most of the team has been able to attend liftings. Lokash has been able to get players on the court for around three hours a week, but the team is limited to just eight hours of work together.

From a recruiting standpoint, the landscape has been altered as the process

of recruiting has obviously been changed like everything else since there is not huge tournaments going on that The Rock and other schools can recruit at. Players have had to adjust and have had to call The Rock and other schools to find out if The Rock is offering what they want in a school.

The upperclassman still have not had a chance to see the freshman yet, but as time goes on, the upperclassman are getting to see the freshman on the court. As

is the case for most teams, the incoming pieces that are coming in have not been able to be on the court with the entire team yet due to restrictions that have been set forward by the PSAC. Overall there are seven incoming freshman: three setters (Peytan Gullickson, Taylor Fellers, and Emily Wetzel), a defensive specialist (Kate Lachendro), an outside hitter (Shelby Brownfield), and two middle hitters (Jiley Berger and Maryellen Berger).

Overall, Lokash thinks that the incoming class could make a splash as soon as they hit the court. Among the seven, Lachendro has really impressed the upperclassman in the short time that she has been around them according to Lokash. And the other six will all be competing for starting spots when they get back to court as well.

The PSAC currently has talks to have a season, although the extent of the season is still unknown. The

hope is to have the longest season possible, because the teams in the PSAC want to be able to have their seniors play, because they are not extremely confident in that many seniors would return.

The goal is to at least have a PSAC tournament, which would include every team and would take place after a few regular season games.

The Rock volleyball team, like every other team, is excited to finally get back on the court when that time comes.

Giving Day in a new way Slippery Rock finds new ways to raise money for athletics

By Aaron Marrie Multimedia Editor

With the on-going pandemic that has been affecting the countr y since March, funding has been an issue for a lot of Americans and organizations.

Many restaurants and businesses have closed, even some within the Sl i p p e r y Ro c k a re a , but Slippery Rock Un i v e r s i t y ' s a n n u a l Giving Day is something that allows for alumni, family members, community members, and others to donate to a club or cause that matters to them. When it comes to athletics, Slipper y Rock athletics will be hosting a Giving Day of their own on Friday.

As it is Homecoming season, usually tailgating and parades would be filling the Slippery Rock area before preparing for the football game, u s u a l l y a g a i n s t I U P, where Slippery Rock's fans would show support for their team. This year, however, is different as the fall sports season has been postponed for all sports.

Athletic Director Paul Lueken hopes that even though fans cannot tailgate and celebrate this weekend, that people will still consider helping out Rock Athletics and consider donating.

"Reconnecting with alumni and friends of the athletic program is important," Paul Lueken said.

Lueken also explained that funding helps g o t o w a rd s a t h l e t i c scholarships and that revenue has been tough since last March.

Lueken hopes for a good turnout for giving day but understands that

the current atmosphere is hard.

"It's tough because there is so much in the world right now and if this can distract folks a little bit and make them feel good about their alma

mater or their favorite team," Lueken started.

"That would be good. We are just hoping at least to generate a little bit of excitement that way."

Lueken also added another way to help is to

show your Slippery Rock pride.

"We have some alumni ambassadors for each sport that are going to help reach out to alumni to encourage them to participate," Lueken

said. "Meanwhile we want alumni to help us spread a good word about Slippery Rock University a n d Ro c k At h l e t i c s .

There might be a star student athlete in their community that they can

say 'hey have you thought about Slippery Rock?'"

Giving day will begin Friday October 9th. For more information about donating visit https://rockathletics. com/ or @Rockathletics on Facebook and Twitter.

GRAPHIC BY: HANNAH SLOPE

SPORTS

D-8

October 9, 2020

Rock Hockey prioritizes mental health CONTINUED FROM D-6

"I was happy they were comfortable enough to come to me, and say, 'Hey coach, I'm having a rough time with this, this and this,'" Grimm said.

"That's one of the big things we try to promote early on when we recruit student-athletes, when we get into the fi rst couple weeks, it's okay to not feel ok, and when you're getting like that, our door is open 24/7."

While that first interaction might be oneon-one, purely coach and student-athlete, Grimm said if someone needs further help, he will get them the resources that they need.

Part of the stigma, in Grimm's eyes, lies in just playing a major contact sport -- football or hockey -- where everything is 100 miles an hour and physicality is demanded.

Grimm said no one wants to be looked at as being "weak."

"Just because you're having some depression, some anxiety, it's alright," Grimm said. "A lot of people have those problems, it doesn't mean you're weak. We see it on the ice, we see it in the gym, we know you're not weak. You're just having a hard time."

Sometimes, it is not just the fear of looking weak, it is the fear of having playing time slashed from speaking about how they're feeling.

"We've had players in the past who didn't want to say anything because they were afraid that -not while I was the head coach, while I was the assistant coach -- it was going to impact their ice time and didn't want to say anything," Grimm said.

At the end of the day, Grimm and the rest of Rock hockey simply want their student-athletes to be successful. Physically, mentally and all-around healthy.

Grimm said that if you are struggling, please do not hide it. No one will think anything less of you for speaking out.

Outside of Slippery Rock, Grimm has gotten involved with the It's A b o u t t h e Wa r r i o r Foundation, a non-profit which assists post 9/11 veterans. President Steve Monteleone is a Butler High School and Slippery Rock University graduate himself. "[Monteleone] started it for veterans who served and want to stay active in the community and have that bond," Grimm said.

"But the main purpose is to help those who got out [of the service] with physical or mental issues."

Th e Foundation off ers many opportunities to its members, such as physical therapy with Thomas Burnett and therapy/ counseling through Sanderson Psychological.

The IAWF also offers outreach through sports and outdoor/hunting programs.

"We do a charity outing once a year, it's usually Memorial Day, and that's to benefit the families of fallen police officers, raise money for scholarships for their kids and to help their families out and help their families get through tough times," Grimm said. "That organization has done a lot, so it's been nice to be involved in that." *** In re s p o n s e t o t h e mental health crisis which has struck Slippery Rock too many times in the past

PHOTO COURTESY OF R.A. KILLMER

A member of the Rock club hockey team competes during a game in the 2017 season. Dave Grimm has served as the head coach of Rock hockey since 2017.

c o u p l e o f ye a r s , t h e university has upped its response with town hall meetings, commissions on mental health and new opportunities to reach out for help.

Grimm believes that the social media presence has allowed students to see the oppor tunities better than before.

"If you do need help, and you want to seek help,

you need to know how to find it," Grimm said.

Rock hockey has gotten wonderful support from Robert Ogoreuc, the team's academic advisor and a Slippery Rock University professor of physical education, and his wife. With studentathletes in majors across SRU's offerings, there are many professors offering support, but Grimm said

the impact of Ogoreuc has been substantial.

Like any coach, Grimm had hoped to be back on campus this fall, finally getting back on the ice with his team. Circumstances outside of his control forced a stoppage of all varsity and club sports at Slipper y Rock this season, with many student-athletes unable

to truly return to campus.

Without organized hockey this fall, you can bet on Grimm being there for his studentathletes -- whether it i s t h ro u g h Zo o m o r however he can be there.

If you have an interest in joining the It's About the Warrior Foundation, you can check out its membership page.Â