The Appalachian 12/5/19

The Appalachian

Dec. 5, 2019

38,000 Miles and counting Hiker completes Appalachian trial 18 times since 1973 Page 5

WYNter wonderland cookie sales support organization

Non-traditional students: Fair is not always equal

Davis-Gaither leads Mountaineer defense

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News

Dec. 5, 2019

Grant expiration leaves future of inclusive program on shaky ground Hayley Canal | Reporter

The Scholars with Diverse Abilities Program is an inclusive two-year educational program housed in the Reich College of Education and is offered to students with intellectual disabilities. A grant that funded much of the program is expiring, and its future currently remains uncertain.

SDAP is an integrative experience and allows students to sit-in on classes within the university college.

Along with work experience and social support, graduates of the program receive a Collegiate Achievement award.

Grant money from the Department of Education, and additional funding from Western Carolina University, covered the first five years of the program, which began in 2011.

In 2015, Anna Ward, current director of the program, wrote a grant for the next round of funding with help from the special education program.

“I’d written grants that were two or three pages, but this one was 48,” Ward said. “We got it.”

Currently, App State provides 25% of the funds required to provide

support, space and education for the 10 SDAP students. In a meeting with Provost Darrell Kruger, Ward confirmed that the university will continue to supply this portion of the funding.

“I genuinely believe that the majority of people see this as a good thing and want it to continue,” Ward said.

“But when it comes to allocating resources and money, everyone is really

scrambling for the same budget.”

The money supply Ward applied for runs out this school year, leaving the future of SDAP up in the air. The SDAP office will soon see if it is eligible to reapply for another five years of funding through the Department of Education in April.

The program came about in the middle of a national push to create

Clay Medlock sings karaoke at the SDAP Christmas Party Dec. 2.

Hayley Canal

more educational opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities, Ward said. Its creation occurred partially in response to the 2008 Higher Education Opportunity Act, which prompted the U.S. Department of Education to fund programs similar to SDAP at universities across the country.

Including SDAP, three programs exist within North Carolina’s higher education institutions to create inclusive educational spaces for people with mental disabilities. The other programs include the Supporting Transition and Education through Planning and Partnerships program at East Carolina University and a Comprehensive Transition Program at UNCG. Robert Neeb, a music therapy student and graduate assistant with the program, said the inclusive environment SDAP provides benefits more than just its students.

“When I was going to high school, you’d see students with disabilities working in the special education classroom, which is fine, but when you have an inclusive environment you be-

gin to see how well it works,” Neeb said. “And you wonder, why haven’t we been doing this all along?”

In his work with SDAP, Neeb has grown close with student Clay Medlock, a second-year SDAP student. Although students in the program frequently study and work alone, they are offered support through class modifications, specialized classes, graduate assistants, volunteer supports and job opportunities.

“I love my class experiences; (volunteer) supports are awesome; grad assistants are amazing,” Medlock said. “(Neeb) is leaving in December because he’s graduated, and I’m very devastated (because of) that.”

Medlock’s sister and brother-inlaw, who graduated from the university, inspired him to come to App State.

He often toured and attended games prior to applying.

Read the full story on theappalachianonline.com

Misuse of safe ride brings operating hour changes, frustration from students Emily Broyles | Associate News Editor Mountaineer Safe Ride changed its operating hours this semester, leaving some students confused and frustrated with the transportation system.

Students’ misuse and dependency on safe ride in recent years has left App State’s public safety department feeling the same.

According to App State’s parking and transportation website, “The mission of the Appalachian State University Mountaineer Safe Ride service is to provide safe and secure transportation for students during the evening hours.”

Safe ride now operates from 9:45 p.m. to 2:45 a.m., starting two hours later than it did last year. This is also the same time buses stop running during the week, except for Night Owl Routes.

Director of Public Safety and

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Chief of Police Andy Stephenson said safe ride is focused on helping students who feel unsafe walking on campus at night, especially when buses are not running. He said those who abuse the system and name it a “taxi service” have caused safe ride to reevaluate how it operates.

“We’re taking groups of athletes to dinner. We’re taking groups of people to the edge of campus, so they can go to their off-campus party,” Stephenson said. “You’ve got four to six people with you; why are you calling safe ride?”

Stephenson said while this year the transportation system has dealt with misuse, last year’s operating hours brought this misuse to light.

“It’s not sustainable in the shape it was in when we inherited it. Last year we were running 500 calls a

night for a ride. There’s no way all of that has something to do with safety.

It’s people who don’t want to walk because it’s raining or want to walk because it’s cold,” Stephenson said.

Stephenson said public safety has seen a drop in ridership and calls to safe ride after AppalCart Night Owl routes were introduced earlier in the year, which run Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

Regan Duke, a former safe ride employee, said most calls came in between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. last year.

She said employees are not as affected by the change in operation hours, but it can be “slightly sucky” for students.

“It can be scary for some people to have to walk across campus at night by themselves and safe ride is a great solution,” Duke, a sophomore religious studies major said. “It is un-

fortunate that some people abused safe ride and just used it as a taxi for them and all their friends, or an excuse to not have to walk.”

Summer orientation and word of mouth taught freshman Hunter Kendrick that safe ride will assist students for reasons besides safety, such as transportation to on-campus locations.

“I don’t know many people that use safe ride for emergencies,” said Kendrick, an accounting major.

“Sometimes it’s cold outside and I don’t want to walk to (West Campus).

I live on (East Campus).”

Kendrick said he only uses AppalCart to get to the Leon Levine Hall of Health Sciences for classes.

He said while he feels entitled to use safe ride for whatever reason, he understands that safety comes first and

wants safe ride to inform students on who the transportation should be meant for.

“Sometimes you call safe ride and you have to wait 20 minutes because people are using it for an unintended purpose,” Kendrick said.

Stephenson said with the options of late night AppalCart hours and safe ride driving passengers who legitimately feel unsafe, the culture of the transportation system in Boone is slowly changing.

“Safe ride’s an important thing to me. There are students who do have legitimate fears about (walking on campus alone at night) and we want to be there for them,” Stephenson said. “I just want it to be what it was meant to be and not catered to groups of people who really are just too lazy to walk.”

Dec. 5, 2019

Cookies for a cause

News

Western Youth Network and Appalachia Cookie Company form partnership to benefit the nonprofit Tucker Wulff | Reporter Alonha Ketchum, a long-time mentee in Western Youth Network’s mentor program describes her experiences with mentors as “amazing,” and Appalachia Cookie Company partnered with the organization for the third year in a row to bring funding to an organization close to her heart.

According to WYN’s website, a portion of the proceeds from WYNter Wonderland cookie sales go to WYN to support the organization’s vision to “transform our High Country Community by nurturing and empowering our children so that they live healthy, engaged, and fulfilled lives.”

Founded in 1985, WYN is a nonprofit organization aiming to provide an array of programs to youth in the High Country. WYN has five core initiatives which include mentoring, after school programs, summer camp, high school success and community health.

The mentoring program at WYN is one of the programs that requires more constant support from the com-

munity, Jennifer Warren, WYN’s executive director, said.

The mentor program offers a free opportunity for youth aged 6 to 17 to engage with an adult for at least two hours per week over a 12-month period. Matches of one mentor and one mentee typically celebrate their mentorship with anniversaries and some form of graduation at the end of the mentorship.

The mentor program not only requires community support for funding, but also is a source of volunteer mentors, said Angela McMann, director of mentoring.

Mentors come from the Boone community and from App State, McMann said.

“Many of our mentors are students, and so they tend to go get food a lot,” though mentor sessions may involve a wide variety of activities, McMann said.

The activities are not necessarily the most important aspect of the men-

torship but rather the connection between mentor and mentee. McMann said it is vital to each mentorship that the mentors are “people with the desire to connect with kids.”

The proceeds from the partnership with Appalachia Cookie Company are expected to go to WYN’s general fund, Caroline Davis, events and operations coordinator at WYN, said.

However the general fund “tends to float the mentoring program more often,” McMann said.

The mentor program was grant funded from its start until the grant was removed from North Carolina’s state budget in 2009. McMann said since then, the mentor program has relied on donations and fundraisers.

This need for funding and volunteer mentors has grown since 2009 along with the continual rise in popularity of the mentor program, McMann said.

WYN’s mentor program currently has 75 matches in Watauga County

and 10 matches in Avery County.

According to WYN’s 2018 annual report, 191 youth were served by the mentoring program throughout 2018.

Ketchum, a senior at Watauga High School who plans to attend App State, has been a mentee in WYN’s mentor program since she was in elementary school.

Ketchum has had multiple mentors since she joined the program and “they have all been really great experiences,” she said.

Ketchum said she specifically appreciates having advice and guidance from an older person outside of her family.

“I think teenagers just have a problem talking with their parents,” Ketchum said.

Ketchum said her parents “didn’t always have the time or money” to do special activities like “getting a coffee or seeing a movie” and the mentor program is “one way that children can still have those experiences.

Ketchum said one of the best aspects about the mentor program is its ability to give children the “opportunity to get out of their home.” She said this is particularly significant for children who would otherwise “never be able to.”

WYN places importance on ensuring that a mentor and mentee are a good match before they officially assign pairs.

The mentor program aims to create “life-long friendships,” said Charlene Grasinger, who is the assistant director of mentoring and a mentor herself.

Grasinger said WYN wants mentors to get an “oh yeah that’s my person” feeling from their mentorship.

“There’s not really a formula for who goes together,” Grasinger said.

“Not every kid matches with every person.”

Read the full story on theappalachianonline.com.

talking about though is a question of priorities.”

Behrent said more priority should be given to student wellbeing, so it would be better to increase fees for Student Affairs instead of Athletics.

“I understand athletics’ needs, but there’s a lot of units that have needs,” Behrent said. “Now is the time, I think, to use that money for more pressing priorities.”

The increase in the athletics fee would generate an additional $685,000 annually.

The increase would move athletic training interns to full-time. It would also enhance student-athlete nutrition, fund mental health initiatives, support scholarships and support operating expenses.

Gillin said having more mental health resources for student athletes is “really helpful.”

The athletics fee at ECU, a comparison school according to App State athletics, is $773 according to an ex-

planation of main campus tuition and required fees from ECU. “If the fees are for an intended service to benefit students, I guess that makes sense but also at the same time, I feel like if they’re going to charge people they should make it more publicized as to what they are making better about the campus,” said Sydney Childress, a freshman theatre arts major.

Part of the increase in the campus security fee will go toward installing a campus-wide electronic door access control system. “(The new system) will allow every building on campus to be controlled electronically,” App State Chief of Police Andy Stephenson said.

“It really makes the campus more secure after hours.”

Stephenson said each department would be able to decide who could access buildings after hours.

The increase will also help convert App State into a 911 call center.

Stephenson said when someone calls 911 from a campus landline or cellphone, the call goes to Boone Police, which transfers the call to App State Police or responds itself.

“That is not acceptable for us,” Stephenson said. “We cannot have our 911 calls from campus going to an outside entity.”

Once the system is in place, Stephenson said calls from campus properties and landlines would go to the

App State Police dispatch center instead.

The increase will also fund campus-wide security cameras and the purchase of a threat assessment software.

This is the first time the UNC System Office has allowed an increase to the campus security fee since 201516.

Read the full story on theappalachianoline.com.

Board of trustees approves increases to student fees, tuition for incoming students

Moss Brennan | Editor-in-Chief The App State board of trustees approved increases to five mandatory fees, and tuition for incoming undergraduate and graduate students on Nov. 22. Tuition for current students will not change.

The fees still need approval from the UNC board of governors.

Five dollars of the athletic fee will support the marching band.

“We’re always trying to make sure that whatever we do is representative of our students and make sure that we think about our students first,” Athletic Director Doug Gillin said.

“We want to make sure that we’re taking care of our student athletes the right way, whether it’s health, wellness, safety, et cetera.”

Faculty Senate Chair Michael Behrent spoke against the athletics fee increase during the business affairs committee meeting.

“I obviously support our athletic program and our student athletes,” Behrent said. “I do think what we’re

-Educational and technology: increase by $25 to $601 -Athletics: increase by $30 to $813 -Student activities (student union): increase by $11 to $239 -Student activities (Ed, Rec & REI): increase by $14 to $400 -Campus security: increase by $10 to $40 -Incoming undergraduate resident: increase by $129 to $4,371 -Incoming undergraduate nonresident: increase by $580 to $19,629 -Graduate resident: increase by $147 to $4,986 -Graduate nonresident: increase by $557 to $18,828

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News

Dec. 5, 2019

New App State research shows Latina women more likely to be deported Hadasa Rivera Marin | Reporter

A recent App State research project found Latina women who form part of a family are three times more likely to be deported than their male counterparts.

Cameron Lippard, chair of the sociology department, completed research about integration and treatment of Latinos in North Carolina, which led him to these findings.

His initial research in 2014 looked at women as being on the “front lines” of discrimination, and it eventually led to his current research.

Anna Biache, a senior sociology major, assisted Lippard in his research and said she wanted to focus on women and their experiences during deportation.

“This research looks at using data collected through immigration cus-

toms enforcement,” Lippard said.

The control and border protection agencies release data every year to share the rates of arrests and deportations. Lippard said they used this data to see if there was a difference between women and men who were part of a family unit when they were arrested and whether that resulted in an expedited deportation.

Lippard said they used an existing data source that was compiled through Syracuse University using a program called Trac. The website takes various government reports and distills them down into data points so they can be analyzed.

Lippard said their research dates back to Dwight Eisenhower’s administration and continues through today.

“We’ve lived in an era of de-

portation since probably Eisenhower.

We’ve had extensive rates in the millions every year for deportation,” Lippard said.

Lippard said since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the agencies have focused on Central American families.

“We tend to focus on Latinos or Hispanic families as the source of issues with immigration, even though we have other problems,” Lippard said.

Biache said the current administration has restricted a lot of its data, so they can’t actually see how many deportations and arrests are currently happening.

“Our numbers drastically dropped the years that Donald Trump has been president, which obviously isn’t accurate because that’s one of the

things he’s running on, the immigration control,” Biache said.

Lippard said he has witnessed “fathers and mothers being deported,” and native-born children forced to stay with relatives legally living in the United States or placed in the foster care system.

“Maybe politicians and the public will realize that these are real people, and they’re really going through a situation which is unjust. To be separated from your kids because of documentation is quite horrific,” Lippard said.

It “shouldn’t be a surprise to folks” that people immigrate to the U.S. because it is prosperous and seen as a land of opportunity, Lippard said.

Biache said mothers play an important role in traditional Latino fam-

ilies, and when they are absent or removed for any reason, it increases stress and is traumatic for children.

He said when Latina women are deported, it’s usually because they’re the ones out in public, signing kids up for school or taking them to their medical appointments. It’s not because they’ve done anything “illegal, dangerous or harmful,” Biache said.

“You would hope that our United States administration, Congress, would sit up and listen to those things instead of listening to what seems to historically run immigration policy, which is rhetoric, what people think versus what is actually happening,” Lippard said.

Dec. 5, 2019

“Labor of love”

Hiker completes 2,200 miles on the Appalachian Trail

Warren Doyle is an Appalachian Trail fanatic. Since 1973, Doyle has hiked the trail a total of 18 times, founded the Appalachian Trail Institute and even spent a night in jail after hiking off trail.

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Since 1973, Warren Doyle has completed the Appalachian Trail 18 times in his sneakers from Goodwill. He never filters his water from the river and is content with sleeping on his poncho each night.

In 1974, Doyle founded the Appalachian Trail Institute, a five-day program for trail thru-hikers, which has a 75% completion rate. Thru-hikers are hikers who attempt to finish the trail in one season.

Doyle said he does this out of a “labor of love,’’ which means there is no money involved with the program — just a love for the trail.

“The love for what happens when people who are working together to interact with all that natural beauty. I believe there is a lot of human beauty in it, too. When human beauty interacts with all that natural beauty, they can become more beautiful themselves,” Doyle said.

Doyle said his fascination with the trail began in college when he wanted to challenge himself by attempting to set a record for his first thru-hike of the trail. He averaged 30 miles a day and reached the summit in just over 66 days.

“I had to test myself. How much could I give up? I wanted to find out who I was, and what society was making out of me,” Doyle said.

Halfway through his first expedition, Doyle said the trail changed him while spending consecutive days walking in 90-degree heat.

“I certainly wasn’t looking forward to another day of it, but I had to continue to walk. When I came upon this rock that was in the shade of

the only pine tree that I had seen on this ridge for miles, I just rolled up into a ball on the rock just to get the coolness and I fell asleep,” Doyle said.

When he woke up, he turned on his transistor radio to a music station as he hiked and each song spoke to Doyle, like “Climb Every Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” and “The Impossible Dream” from the “Man of La Mancha.”

Doyle said the lyrics “To try when your arms are too weary, to run where the brave dare not go,” from “The Impossible Dream,” made him realize the impacts the trail had on him.

“I just started bawling. Tears were streaming down my face, and they were coming down so much they were just dripping on the ground,” Doyle said. “I knew I had lost all my emotional fat right around the corner when there was a Girl Scout troop coming. I didn’t try to walk away or wipe away my tears. I just kept walking, and all they saw was this 23-year-old just sobbing.”

Doyle said the trail molds people if they accept the gifts of the trail, such as self-reliance, tolerance and humility. As a retired professor at George Mason University and Lees-McRae College, Doyle said the trail teaches the critical thinking skills higher education should teach.

“It’s one of the few things that I’ve encountered that doesn’t know any prejudice or discrimination; (the trail) treats everybody the same,” Doyle said.

Just like a professor would specialize in a subject, Doyle chose to specialize in the Appalachian Trail. Hiking the trail over and over again taught

A&C him the rhythms of the trail, where every challenging part is, where all the best camping spots are and where people quit the most.

With this knowledge, he created a unique plan for the Appalachian Trail Institute called the “Circle,” which is a vow hikers make to complete the trail together.

Circle members are expected to follow all the white blaze markers, start and finish the trail at the same time and reach the finish. If one person drops out, the circle is broken, and the group loses its goal.

The community-based hike has had a 100% success rate for seven groups that have attempted the trail.

At the end of the Appalachian Trail Institute program, Doyle offers his predictions for the participants planning on going on the trail. He judges level of comfort, threshold of pain and level of temperament.

“Most importantly is the level of temperament. If you try to conquer the trail, and see it as an adversary, the trail is going to win,” Doyle said.

Doyle specializes in the psychological demands of the trail and emphasizes the importance of trusting the trail and accepting its difficulty.

“You have to form a healthy relationship with the trail because that’s who you’ve chosen as a companion, but in this case you have to follow his rules. Not your rules,” Doyle said.

His approach to the trail and life, Doyle said, was influenced by Appalachia poet and activist Don West. West mentored Doyle as a college student and taught him the practice of practical poverty.

“Poverty is practical when you can choose it.

I have a choice of choosing poverty, which gives me the freedom to be a nomad,” Doyle said.

Doyle said practical poverty is refraining from all equipment stores, shopping at the dollar store for trail food and choosing to live a low-budget life.

He has devoted himself to practice practical poverty in his thru-hikes by challenging hiking

norms, like only bringing one pair of socks or eating only Little Debbies and Chef Boyardee on the trail. Doyle said this is his way of turning a fact into a myth or a myth into a fact.

“One time, the fact I wanted to turn into a myth centered around food. I said, ‘I’m not going to have any solid food for 13 days.’ That is easy when you have five pounds of protein powder,” Doyle said.

Doyle said he challenges official rules of trails, whether it’s putting a bathtub in a stream along the Appalachian Trail or sleeping at non-camping areas. In 1978, Doyle spent a night in jail after hiking Mount Katahdin, the summit of the Appalachian Trail.

“In the 1970s, the Baxter State Park Authority wouldn’t let you climb Katahdin in the rain. It was the only mountain in America that prohibited climbing when raining during the summer. I decided, as an act of civil disobedience, to climb Katahdin in the winter without a permit,” Doyle said.

Doyle opted out of the $20 citation to spend the night in jail. He said it was an embarrassment for the park authority, and they later changed the law.

Doyle said many sacrifices are made in order to hike the Appalachian Trail. He said he is able to balance normal life and trail life by returning every five years to thru-hike again.

“I try to balance both worlds without becoming trapped in either of them. I don’t want to be hiking 24/7, neither do I want to be chained to a desk all the time,” Doyle said.

Despite finding the trail enjoyable, Doyle said he has accepted its difficulty. He said he never recommends thru-hiking the trail and feels it is his life’s work to facilitate but never encourage people to hike the trail.

“It’s hard, walking the whole trail. It’s not recreation. To me, recreation is easy; it’s a pleasure. If you decide to walk the Appalachian Trail, it becomes a task,” Doyle said.

A&C

Dec. 5, 2019

Applied Design professor helps students make clothing good as new Georgia Privott | Reporter Fashion industry pollution is one of the leading causes of waste in America, according to EKOenergy.org. The Apparel Design and Merchandising program makes sustainability a focal point within the classroom by teaching students how to reuse and recycle what they already have.

Adjunct instructor Mary Ray, in the Department of Applied Design, created the Mending Initiative four years ago. The purpose of the Mending Initiative is to provide a space for students to learn how to fix their clothes from other students.

“The Mending Initiative is the first step to making our campus and our world a more sustainable place,” Ray said. “The first step we can take as consumers to fix the environmental problem of clothing waste is to fix our clothes so they don’t end up in the landfill. We want to show students how to mend and repair their own clothes so they don’t feel the need to let them go.”

Olive Whelan, senior apparel design and merchandising major, said if a $30 shirt is bought and one month later a hole forms in it, instead of tossing it out and it no longer holding meaning, one can learn how to fix it and love that piece once more.

“Especially for App State, we push for sustainability. So, as students, we should be more aware that our consumerism of clothes is one of the largest problems for pollution in the world. The more aware we make ourselves, the more we are decreasing our carbon footprint and making our campus one step clos-

er to our goal for sustainability,” Whelan said.

The students in the Sustainability in the Apparel Industry class run the initiative. Each student is required to assist in leading one initiative each semester as an assignment. Ray said students first learn how to mend their own clothing items. Then, the students become the teachers.

Whelan said the initiative is meant to help students, faculty and staff become self-sufficient by placing power into their hands and fixing a situation themselves.

“As a student in the program, I find it easier to teach others because it helps us in gaining experience, but also having the chance to explain the craft to others all in one,” Whelan said.

She said breaking the concept down for others oftentimes makes it concrete for the majors.

“It is truly beneficial for both parties.

Both major students and other App students learn to love their clothes again while gaining a new type of self-appreciation and confidence,” Whelan said.

For the last initiative of the semester, the Apparel and Merchandising Club joined with the student initiative coordinators to assist students in upcycling items.

“As humans, we have an innate need to fix things ourselves and be creative. Sewing not only provides that but it can also make you feel so powerful and in control. It all starts with that first step to fix a button on a jacket or mend a hole in your pants,” Whelan said.

Mary Ray is an adjunct instructor in the Apparel Design and Merchandising department and the creator of the Mending Initiative. Now in its fourth year, Ray suggests that the initiative and fashion as a whole play a role in "making our campus and our world a more sustainable place."

Dakota Ussery

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Sports

Dec. 5, 2019

Between children and school Nontraditional students struggle to find support Laura Boaggio | Reporter When the alarm goes off at 5 a.m., she gets herself and her children ready for the day, packs their lunches, drops them off at school and drives another hour and a half to her school. After her class ends at noon, she drives home, finishes what homework she can and picks her children up from their after-school program. Driving back and forth to practices takes up most of the evening, followed by more schoolwork — the children’s and hers.

The next day, she does it all over again.

Nicole Young is a senior computer science and statistics major and lives in Burnsville with her 10-year-old, 8-year-old and 5-year-old children.

“I have a big whiteboard, so my daughter does her homework, and I do my homework,” Young said. “I make sure they see the importance of this. They’re sacrificing a lot of time with me, and I want them to see how hard I’m working.”

Young said she feels supported by her peers but wishes professors would show more understanding toward her busy lifestyle. She said professors have written off her late work as procrastination rather than a sign of busyness at home.

“They try to be fair across the board (with students), but fair is not always equal,” Young said.

Amber Skylar Norris, a senior computer science major and mother of three, said it is hard for professors to make exceptions to maintain fairness, but it is also difficult for her to find a balance between being a mother and student.

“Am I going to miss this event for my kid or am I going to miss doing my assignment?”

Norris said.

Norris said both professors and students have a hard time empathizing with her because she is in a different stage in life most students are not experiencing yet.

“It can be kind of ostracizing at times to be around traditional students,” Norris said.

Young said the lack of time she has as a

student and mother makes it hard to socialize with other students and connect with other moms in the area. She said an organization for student moms is ideal, but it is hard for any mom to run it with the limited time she has.

Amber Mellon, a lecturer in mathematical sciences and mother of three, said resources exist in the community for mothers but are hard to access with a busy schedule. One of those resources, The Children’s Playhouse, tries to work with busy mothers’ schedules.

The Children’s Playhouse is a Boone nonprofit children’s museum with nine play areas for children. Activities are STEM-based, meaning they incorporate science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Some programs include cooking, gardening and music classes. The Children’s Playhouse offers scholarship memberships based on income level and provides free memberships to first-time mothers until the child is 18 months old.

Memberships are transferable to family members and babysitters if parents are in class or at work.

“I always felt (Boone) was an easy place to connect with people, even coming in as a brand new resident myself two years ago,” The Children’s Playhouse operations manager Claire Parnell said.

Mellon said she always felt her children were safe in Boone, which is why her family moved here. When her children were younger, they would walk on King Street by themselves, and her 14-year-old daughter rides the AppalCart to school.

Mellon has had student mothers in her classes and while she adheres to her attendance policy, she tries to communicate with those students if any issues arise with their children.

“I’ve had professors willing to let me take things at a different time so that I was still able to be there for my kids,” Norris said.

App state (11-1, 7-1 Sun Belt)

Game 13 | Saturday, Dec. 7 | Noon | ESPN Kidd Brewer Stadium | Boone, N.C.

University of Louisiana at Lafayette (10-2, 7-1 Sun Belt)

Game Notes:

Although the Mountaineers went to Lafayette on Oct. 9 and knocked off the Ragin’ Cajuns 17-7, App State head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said both teams have changed throughout the season. “They’re not the same team we played, I think they’ve improved tremendously since the first time we played,” Drinkwitz said Monday morning. “To assume that the game will be similar in nature to the one we played previously would be a false narrative going into the game.” The 10-2 Ragin’ Cajuns will be gunning for a win over a team they’ve never beaten with the conference championship on the line. The Mountaineers will need to play a focused and complete game to hoist the trophy in front of their home crowd for a second straight season.

Rematch

Home-Field Advantage

Dominance

Not only will Saturday’s showdown be a rematch from earlier this year, but it will be a rematch of last year’s Sun Belt Championship. In 2018, the Mountaineers defeated Louisiana 30-19 in the championship game. The Ragin’ Cajuns are 0-7 against the Mountaineers and have never come within single digits of winning.

After routing Troy, App State once again secured home-field advantage for the Sun Belt Championship. The game has been held at Kidd Brewer Stadium both years of its existence.

However, playing on the home-field might not be such an advantage for the Mountaineers as they’re 6-0 on the road, but 5-1 at The Rock.

App State won the Sun Belt title three years in a row and will aim for four on Saturday. In this dominant stretch, the Mountaineers have lost just four conference games, going 29-4, and have defeated Sun Belt opponents by an average of 22.4 points per game.

POINTS PER GAME

PLAYER TO WATCH

38.92 OPP. POINTS PER GAME

18.75

YARDS PER GAME

437.1

OPP. YARDS PER GAME

321.2

#5 Thomas Hennigan Junior Wide Receiver Last week against Troy, Hennigan set new career highs with 11 receptions and 140 receiving yards.

Hennigan will need to continue taking on a larger role following the loss of star receiver Corey Sutton after he tore his ACL. The Mountaineer offense is starting to fire on all cylinders as junior quarterback Zac Thomas also earned a new career high against Troy with 326 passing yards.

POINTS PER GAME

38.83 OPP. POINTS PER GAME

17.83 YARDS PER GAME

500.3 OPP. YARDS PER GAME

369.8

Sports

Dec. 5, 2019

Linebacker Davis-Gaither enjoys senior year success

The

Zack Antrum | Reporter Despite a transitional year with the coaching change, the App State football team is enjoying some of its greatest success since moving up to Football Bowl Subdivision competition. Head coach Eliah Drinkwitz preaches the same goal every week: go “1-0,” meaning to win each game.

Senior linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither is one of those players who resonates with “10,” and is one of the anchors on a defense that has grown all season.

After totaling 49 tackles in his first two seasons, Davis-Gaither enjoyed a breakout junior season, in which he registered 105 stops and earned a second team all-Sun Belt selection. Davis-Gaither is currently second on the team in tackles with 85, tied for second in sacks with 3.5 and also has one interception.

However, it has not been an easy road for him, and his performance this year is the result of years of hard work and dedication.

“Just watching old film from 2016, I did a full 180,” Davis-Gaither said. “I have to give thanks to Coach DJ (Smith), my position

coach, and the strength for always putting in work and not letting me accept just being mediocre.”

Along with his value on the field, DavisGaither is well aware that his role off the field is equally important as a senior. He said he knows it is important for him to make sure his teammates and fellow linebackers are well prepared for whatever challenges they face throughout the season.

“I always get in the younger guys’ ears and show that it’s never an easy road starting out. We’ve all been there where it was rough,” Davis-Gaither said. “I’m always trying to build them up and put confidence in them because that’s what I lacked when I was first coming in.”

His teammates see the benefits of having him around in both the locker room and on the field. Fellow senior and all-Sun Belt linebacker Jordan Fehr has developed a unique partnership with Davis-Gaither, and the two of them have become one of the most successful duos in the conference.

“I love playing next to Akeem. He’s a great guy off the field, especially, and on the field, we work really well together,” Fehr said.

Davis-Gaither and his teammates are not the only ones that have noticed his growth and success over the years. App State alumnus and outside linebacker coach Smith, who joined the coaching staff in 2016, has seen him grow as a player and a leader. He has also developed a very close relationship with Davis-Gaither.

“He really takes care of the young guys and just really helps me out in making sure guys are lined up on the field and just being that extra coach on the field,” Smith said. “We just kind of gelled together with that underdog mentality, and a lot of people counted us out, and we grew together.”

As the season comes to a close, DavisGaither will play a huge part for the Mountaineers as they look to achieve their goals of winning a conference championship, a bowl game and most importantly, going “10” each week.

Tea

The Point of No Return Tommy Mozier | Opinion Editor

Senior linebacker Akeem Davis-Gaither has had quite the career in his time playing for the Mountaineers. After his breakout junior season with 105 stops, Davis-Gaither currently has 85 and will likely be a major contributing player to the team’s success in the postseason.

Megan McCulloh

From “1-0” each week to 11-1 with a shot at the Sun Belt Championship and beyond Silas Albright | Sports Editor

With the regular season over, App State football has two games left to attain its long-term goals.

As fans have gotten used to hearing over the course of the season, the Mountaineers place a huge focus on going 1-0 each week.

“Coach Drink says it all the time: ‘Just keep going 1-0 every week,’” said junior wide receiver Thomas Hennigan. “We’ve just bought into that

mentality, and it’s worked out for us.”

In fact, this mentality has worked out so well that the Mountaineers have recorded two of the biggest wins in program history this year, as well as reaching uncharted territory in the three main college football rankings.

Focusing on going 1-0 each week was just App State’s way of staying focused to complete its larger, long-term goals of winning the Sun Belt

The Mountaineers have won week in and week out through their “1-0” mentality that Coach Drinkwitz has drilled into the team. Junior wide receiver Thomas Hennigan has subscribed to this mentality and believes it has “worked out” for them this season.

Tess Orr

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Opinion

Dec. 5, 2019

and a bowl game — a feat that is now expected in Boone after the past few seasons.

“Our stated goal is to win the Sun Belt Championship and a bowl game with class, integrity and academic excellence,” first-year head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said during his introductory press conference at the beginning of the season.

App State has won bowls in each of the last four seasons and has won at least a share of the Sun Belt Championship for the past three. The Mountaineers have the chance to extend both of those streaks at home against Louisiana on Dec. 7.

“Any time that you have a group that’s been through something before, you always kind of trust that you’re the more experienced team,” Hennigan said. “You’ve been there before, so you know what to expect, and any time you know what to expect, you know how to handle a situation. We were in the same exact position last year, we just (have) to duplicate what we did last year.”

Aside from the experience that makes this team so battle-tested, the Mountaineers also understand the importance of having their teammates’ backs and trusting each other.

“We’re super close. It doesn’t matter if you’re a starter or scout team, we’ve got one of the closest groups in the country,” said junior wide receiver Corey Sutton. “We trust everybody else and we make sure everybody’s good.”

Between Hennigan, who leads the team with 54 catches and 673 yards, Sutton, who leads the

team with seven touchdown receptions, and juniors Malik Williams and Jalen Virgil, the App State wide receiving corps is one of the deepest groups on the team.

The Mountaineers lost Sutton for the remainder of the season after he tore his ACL against Texas State on Nov. 11. “(There’s) obviously competition in the room, but nobody is envying anybody else,” Sutton said. “We all want everybody else to be successful.”

Although this year’s squad has a chance to be one of the best teams in App State’s history, success isn’t new for the program.

“It’s been great. App’s always had success since I can remember,” Sutton said. “My dad played here in ‘95, so I’ve always been apart of the App program, and they’ve always been successful just because of the culture that they have here.”

App State boasts one of the best resumes in the Group of Five and will look to make another statement against 10-win Louisiana in the conference championship.

“Everyone’s been through it, we’ve been going at it since the beginning of the summer really, just full go,” Hennigan said. “Just keeping that 1-0 mentality and being able to finish strong is going to be the biggest thing that’s going to eventually get us the ring in the end.”

Each morning, I open my laptop or phone and scroll through the headlines on The New York Times, The Washington Post and then hop over to Fox News. It began as an exercise to see how different media sources framed a story, something I learned from a professor this semester.

The two legacy newspapers and Fox News agree on little, frame stories differently and often report entirely different stories. But they are similar on one issue.

Some may remember when, back in early November, a group of 11,000 scientists came together to warn of a “climate emergency.” All three news outlets reported it to varying degrees. The Washington Post ran a short letter to the editor, which hoped the new study would finally break governments out of their stupor and act.

But then the news cycle moved on. Impeachment proceedings ramped up.

Elections happened. Another forest fire in California. Thanksgiving. The emergency was dropped from our minds.

I reviewed the same three news sources again before writing this. Around 7 a.m. on Dec. 1, The Washington Post published an Associated Press story about the United Nations secretary-general warning of a “point of no return” on climate change that is “hurtling toward us” and government actions are “utterly inadequate.” By 6 p.m. the same day, it was off the Post’s home page entirely.

The New York Times and Fox News did not report the AP’s story or report on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ warning themselves. To AP’s credit, the story was still on its front page the evening after publishing — under two impeachment stories.

Once again, the news, and our attention with it, moved on. Traditional news values tell aspiring journalists to always search for a new angle or story that will engage readers — don’t rewrite the same story. In a struggling industry, we are told to meet readers where they are, even if that means burying the fate of our planet under the Jeffrey Epstein saga. Sex sells; the planet crumbling before our eyes does not.

As news consumers, we are at the mercy of media conglomerates telling us what they believe is most important by making some news more visible than others. The editors at the New York Times chose a story about snow sports in China as one of their “Editor’s Picks” the same day Secretary-General Guterres’ warning was reported by other outlets.

Climate change isn’t new, nor are the warnings that are growing louder by the day. If the warnings all sound the same, that’s because they are. Each dramatic example of climate change, be it a hurricane, forest fire or a heat wave, is just rehashing what climate scientists have been telling us for years. Their message has not changed, but we just won’t listen and with enough repetition, we will tune it out.

High Rent is a Serious Problem Rent Control is Never a Solution Caleb Garbuio | Opinion Writer

Boone is split into two groups: permanent residents and students. Yet, both groups struggle to find cheap, affordable housing in a decent location.

According to 2017 U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the average household in Watauga County is 2.35 people; per capita income is $24,545; and the median income is $41,541.

However, around 28.3% of Wataugans live in poverty, meaning 15,831 people live in a household earning between $16,910 and $21,310 based on the county’s average household, according to Data USA. This is problematic when analyzing the cost of a one-bedroom or two-bedroom apartment. According to Apartments.com, the cheapest one-bedroom apartments in Boone for non-students goes for $890 per month, totaling $10,680 a year. The cheapest two-bedroom apartment for non-students is $625 per person a month, $1,250 total, $7,500 or $15,000 a year. This means that some residents are spending 50.12% to 70.39% of their annual income on rent, depending on their living conditions.

App State will grow to 20,000 students by 2020. This means the price of housing will rise, according to the economic Law of Demand.

This influx of students may benefit some local businesses, but it is unlikely that the wages of workers will increase at a level of inflation brought on by the students. This means that lower-waged workers will make the same amount as before and deal with higher rent prices.

Clearly, something must be done to assist our community’s most vulnerable members.

However, there are often unintended negative consequences to well-intended policies, economist Adam Smith said. Therefore, policies that sound good on paper may have negative consequences that can make problems worse.

Rent control, a mandated cap on the amount of money landlords are allowed to charge, is one example of a policy that sounds good in practice. However, based on any empirical metric, it does more harm than good because it operates as a price ceiling: restricting the number of houses available while damag-

ing producer profit margins should it be placed below market equilibrium. Market equilibrium is the market efficiency. The number of houses available for rent will go down because producers will be unwilling or unable to increase the number of properties available for rent.

Herein lies the problem: housing is scarce because students and residents have to compete to find suitable housing. Imposing rent control would decrease the number of houses available for individuals to rent because it would result in more people looking for rent in relation to housing available. Furthermore, rent control would operate as a barrier to potential property rental development because potential producers would struggle to break even with their operating expenses.

This has real-world consequences: high rent in San Francisco forced city officials to impose rent control on landlords resulting in a shortage of rental property, according to Market Urbanism Reports. In essence, rent control is bad for both tenants and landlords because it restricts market forces from enabling prices return to a manageable level.

It is the duty of local government to protect vulnerable members of our community.

Therefore, something needs to be done to alleviate the financial burden that rent puts on those members of society.

A solution to this problem could include government legislation and free market forces. Say, for instance, the government offers rent-controlled apartments to qualified individuals. This offering would subsidize the gap between the regular amount owed from non-assisted apartments while simultaneously drafting legislation to attract investors to invest in property rentals with tax incentives.

Should this result in a shift in the overall supply of apartment development on par with demand, the price will drop to more affordable levels, according to the Law of Supply.

Once this level is reached, the amount of government assistance needed will decrease.

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Et Cetera

Dec. 5, 2019

Dec. 5, 2019

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ACROSS 1. Wooden box 6. Mimicked 11. Deputies 12. A word with the same set of letters 15. Commands 16. Arouse 17. Disencumber 18. Quantify 20. Big wine holder 21. Part in a play 23. Leave in a hurry 24. Expunge 25. Holly 26. Iridescent gem 27. Center 28. Arid 29. Hair goop 30. Vice ___ 31. Pinkish flower 34. Stone fruit 36. Buff 37. Frosts 41. Learning method 42. Large luxurious car 43. Sheltered nook 44. Portend

45. A flat mass of ice 46. Was cognizant 47. Era 48. Defamation 51. Anger 52. Rays of sunlight 54. Electrician 56. Ancient Greek mistress 57. Small islands 58. Purposes 59. Gush forth DOWN 1. Open one-horse carriage 2. Puzzler 3. Citrus drink 4. School session 5. Anagram of “Sees” 6. A small handbook 7. Unreactive 8. Filly’s mother 9. It comes from a hen 10. Chauffeurs 13. A type of rhododendron 14. Distribute 15. German iris 16. Increases

19. Type of poplar tree 22. Kill 24. A heavy damask 26. Brute 27. Chief Executive Officer 30. Italian for “Wine” 32. Gorilla 33. Domesticated 34. Wind sock 35. Rats 38. Any cone-bearing tree 39. Tallest mountain 40. Waste conduit 42. Andean animals 44. Hit hard 45. Emergency signal 48. Search 49. Auspices 50. Coarse file 53. Bleat 55. Grippe

Finals Appalachian State University #25 Football vs Louisiana - East vs. West Champions 12-3pm Kidd Brewer Stadium

Men’s Basketball vs. University of North Carolina Charlotte 7-9 p.m.

Holmes Convocation Center

Monday, Dec. 9th

Finals

Tuesday, Dec. 10th

Finals

Wednesday, Dec. 11th Finals Thursday, Dec. 12th

Finals

Appalachian State University Men’s and Women’s Track & Field vs Appalachian Open 5-7pm Holmes Convocation Center

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