October 27, 2016

The Appalachian BROWN MOUNTAIN LIGHTS

POLICE BRUTALITY PROTEST

PAGES 10-11

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HALLOWEENTH

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OCT.

MOORE THAN ENOUGH

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27 2016

September 22, 2016

THE TEAM Aleah Warner @aleahwarner MANAGING EDITOR

Carl Blankenship @carl_r_blank EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Dallas Linger @dallingerphoto PHOTO EDITOR

Victoria Haynes @victoriahayness CHIEF COPY EDITOR

EDITORIAL MULTIMEDIA BUSINESS

Sammy Hanf @sammyhanf NEWS EDITOR

Jacob Oller @ollerifyouhearme BUSINESS MANAGER

Sydney Spann @spannooo GRAPHICS EDITOR

Katie Murawski @murawskikm A&E EDITOR

Jordan Boles @jorddb MARKETING DIRECTOR

Braxton Coats @brxcoats22 WEB MANAGER

Jason Huber @_jasonhuber SPORTS EDITOR

Olivia Wilkes @theappalachian ADVISER

Angelo Errico @angeloerrico821 OPINION EDITOR Lee Sanderlin @lee_sanderlin ENTERPRISE EDITOR

CRIME LOG CAMPUS OCT. 24

OCT. 21

2 a.m. | Drug Violation LLC A student was arrested for possession of marijuana.

9:34 a.m. | Larceny Wey Hall Under investigation.

OCT. 22 4:39 p.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Belk Hall A student was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol.

OCT. 22 1:58 a.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Belk Hall A student was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol.

OCT. 21 12:06 a.m. | Rape East Hall Under investigation.

OCT. 21 10:26 p.m. | Underage Consumption of Alcohol Justice Hall A student was arrested for underage consumption of alcohol.

OCT. 20 3:09 p.m. | Vandalism Frank Hall Under Investigation.

OCT. 17 12 p.m. | Possessing/Concealing Weapons Stadium Parking Lot Student referral.

Maleek Loyd @maleekstuff VIDEO EDITOR

SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS

App News is a service of the Division of Student Development. Email wilkeso@appstate.edu for submissions with subject line: APP NEWS PAGE. Submissions should not exceed 100 words and must include the event title, date/time, location and cost, and a contact email, phone and/or URL. Announcements will be edited as needed and will run as space allows.

Preference is given for events that are free or have a nominal cost.

WHAT TO DO GET PUBLISHED Calling all artists, writers, designers, musicians! The Peel Literature and Arts Review is accepting submissions for review and possible publication. Final deadline is Nov. 1. Visit thepeelreview.com for info!

VISITING WRITERS SERIES The Fall 2016 Hughlene Bostian Frank Visiting Writers Series will take place with craft talks and readings. Book sales and signings will follow each event.

• Nov. 3: Graphic Novelist Carol Tyler, 12:30-1:45 p.m. Craft Talk in Three Top Mountain Room, PSU. 7:30 p.m. Reading in Turchin Center Lecture Hall, TCVA-1102.

• Nov. 10: Novelist Robert Olen Butler, 2-3:15 p.m. Craft Talk in Table Rock Room, PSU. 7:30 p.m. Reading in Table Rock Room, PSU.

LEADERSHIP COFFEE HOUR The Leadership Development foundation of Student Engagement and Leadership is sponsoring a Leadership Coffee Hour every Monday from 9-10 a.m. in the McCaskey Center - PSU 244. All are invited to the conversation. Coffee and tea will be provided. Please invite others to join us. Every week we select a new topic to discuss about leadership!

at North Carolina Central University on Saturday, Nov. 5.

To submit an abstract or for more information please visit www.sncurcs.org.

FREE LEGAL ADVICE The Student Legal Clinic, in suite 324 in Plemmons Student Union, offers confidential advice, information, and referrals provided by a licensed attorney.

The attorney can meet with any currently enrolled Appalachian State student and can advise students on any issue that is not directly adverse to the university.

Make an appointment by calling (828) 2628284. More information at legalclinic.appstate. edu.

WEEKLY LYRIC OPEN MICS A free and open event for all, Lyric hosts weekly open mics oriented around poetry and other word based art such as music, story-telling, etc. Join every Wednesday from 8:30-10:30 p.m. at 3rd Place.

VOTE.APPSTATE.EDU

ENTROPY DANCE CREW SHOWCASE Entropy Dance Crew is hosting their second annual Fall Scholarship Showcase! Our showcase features performances from dance crews and organizations from across the region to help raise money for the Entropy Dance Crew Scholarship. Come out and support your fellow dancers and a great cause all in one! Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in Varsity Gym, Studio 208.

ASU CAMPUS FARMER’S MARKET Come out and support your local farmers, artisans, and community during the ASU Sustainable Development Student Alliance hosted Appalachian State Campus Farmer’s Market!

We are sponsoring three markets this semester!

The dates are Oct. 26 and Nov. 16.

BOONE CREEK CLEAN-UP Join the ASU Sustainability Council in demonstrating our commitment to sustainability in the community! The Council has adopted the section of Boone Creek that flows past Appalachian Mountain Brewery and Boone Mall.

To fulfill this commitment, we hold creek cleanups twice a year.

We invite ASU faculty, staff and students to participate. Volunteers will receive a 10 percent discount on purchases at Appalachian Mountain Brewery for the rest of the night. Thanks to AMB for being such a supportive community partner! The clean-up will take place Thursday, Oct. 27 3:30-5 p.m.

into the reaping to get someone from your organization to participate as tribute in the Hunger Games! The three organizations that bring in the most cans get an automatic second tribute in the games! Bring in cans to one of the collection boxes (in the ACT Office, or in front of the market in the Union or Trivette) between Oct. 26 and Nov. 17. And may the odds be ever in your favor...

FAFSA DAY The Office of Student Financial Aid will hold FAFSA Day Oct. 29 from 9 a.m. to noon in 265 John Thomas Hall.

THANKSGIVING BASKET DRIVE Campus Activities and Hospitality House would like to provide your organization or office with the opportunity to sponsor a Thanksgiving basket to be delivered to a family in need this holiday season. With your help in App State’s campus-wide basket drive, we can reduce the amount of hungry families in our community. As we embark on the first year of our Thanksgiving basket drive, please help us reach our goal of 300 baskets this holiday season!

By providing a basket, you are committing to completely fill the basket with the items on the attached list. By dividing the list of items among your members or colleagues, you can easily provide an entire basket of food to bring joy to a family in need! Monetary donations should be directed to Nicolas Wright at wrightnt@appstate.edu The basket drop-off location is the McCaskey Center on the second floor of the Plemmons Student Union, Suite 244. Drop off dates: Nov. 14-18 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Office of Student Research would like to personally invite you and your students to submit abstracts of research and creative endeavors (performance, plays, readings, exhibits, displays, etc.) for presentation at the 2016 State of North Carolina Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium (SNCURCS) to be held

This site is a non-partisan resource for students at Appalachian State and the voters of Watauga County. Through this website, students will have access to the necessary resources to register to vote and learn about issues at stake in upcoming elections.

In addition to registration and voting information, all of the voter registration and engagement events being held across campus are housed here. Our vision is to implement voter education activities and increase student participation in local, state, and national voting and election initiatives this year and in future elections.

THURSDAY, OCT. 27

FRIDAY, OCT. 28

SATURDAY, OCT. 29

SUNDAY, OCT. 30

Affrilachian Poets

“The Conjuring 2” (R) Screening

Spooky Duke Race 5K & 10K

Spooky Bonfire

7 p.m.

Legends free

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

8: 30 a.m.

Raley Circle Lot $15-30

7 p.m.

Hippie Hill Firepit Free

“The Conjuring 2” (R) Screening

“Carrie (1976)” (R) Screening

FASFA Day

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

7 p.m.

Greenbriar Theatre $1 door

9 a.m.-noon JET Building

SNCURCS

HUNGER GAMES The 6th Annual Hunger Games is coming on Nov. 18. For every 25 cans that your organization brings in for the canned food drive benefiting Hospitality House, you get one entry

“The Conjuring 2” (R) Screening 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

MONDAY, OCT. 31

TUESDAY, NOV. 1

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 2

THURSDAY, NOV. 3

Leadership Coffee Hour

Practice Interviews with Employers

Etiquette Dinner

9 a.m.

McCaskey Center, PSU

9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Career Development Center

5:30-7:30 p.m.

Parkway Ballroom, PSU

“Kubo and the Two Strings” Screening

“The Exorcist (1973)” (R) Screening 7 p.m.

Greenbriar Theatre $1 door

Lyric Open Mic 8: 30 p.m.

3rd Place

7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

I.G. Greer Auditorium $1 advance, $2 door

Oct. 27, 2016

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION SEEKS TO FORGE PARTNERSHIP WITH UNIVERSITY IN CHINA HALIE HAMILTON NEWS REPORTER

A

ppalachian State’s

Elementary Education program was recently recognized by Teacher. org as the eighth best elementary education program in the United States.

“One of the strengths of our program, especially in comparison to other programs is the fact that we have ongoing field experiences,” Chrystal Dean, elementary education graduate director, said. “This is one of the strengths of the program because a student’s first time in the field isn’t during their student teaching, they have been in the field several times before that happens.”

Lisa Gross, associate professor in Curriculum and Instruction, said that the criteria Teacher.org used in their rankings was based on graduation rate, tuition cost, size of program and

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online availability.

Out of over 780 schools, only two institutions from the southeast region ranked in the top 10: App State and East Carolina.

Jeff Goodman, senior lecturer in elementary education and media studies, said the Elementary Education program is the biggest undergraduate program in the College of Education.

“The real reason we are great is because the students that graduate from our program are capable, passionate and compassionate teachers and go out and change the lives of kids,” Goodman said.

Goodman said his wife is a fifth grade teacher and that he can’t overstate how important her job is.

“Every doctor you go to once had an elementary school teacher, every judge you go in front of once had an

elementary school teacher,” Goodman said. “It is a really important job, it is also a really difficult job.”

Appalachian State’s Elementary Education currently has two partnerships they are cultivating with schools in China. Conversations started last spring when Jesse Lutabingwa, associate vice chancellor and director of OIED, started trying to establish different partnerships.

One of the partnerships is with Wenzhou University and would have students in the master’s program there complete the program at App and then go back to WZU to complete their program. In the end, their students would have two degrees.

The other partnership is with Shaanxi Normal University which is located in Xian, a historic city that used to be the capital of China. Dean

said Shaanxi is considering a partnership where Appalachian faculty would work on professional development in China. Currently there is a national initiative underway in China to improve the quality of their education.

Susan Colby, Department of Curriculum and Instruction chair, and Dean were originally going to leave on Oct. 8 to go to China to meet with faculty from Wenzhou to talk about the masters program, do some presentations and have some meetings in Shaanxi.

However, their trip has been delayed due to complications with their visa. Dean said they plan to reschedule the trip but are currently unsure when they will be able to go. There will be a delegate from WZU coming to the United States who they plan to meet on Nov. 19.

Oct. 27, 2016

MOUNTAINEER SPIRIT DAY

(Top) Freshman theater arts major Maddie Coggin (left) and freshman sustainable development major Devyn Barron (right) dress up to show their Mountaineer pride and battle on the inflatables set up for Mountaineer Spirit Day on Oct. 19.

(Top) Junior management major and APPS executive officer Morgan Nystedt paints a pumpkin for Mountaineer Spirit Day on Oct. 19.

(Top) Freshman Amanda Murray paints a pumpkin at the Mountaineer Spirit Day event on Oct. 19.

(Bottom) Students decorate pumpkins for Mountaineer Spirit Day on Sanford Mall.

(Top) Maddie Coggin (left) and Devyn Barron (right) enjoy the slides set up for Mountaineer Spirit Day. (Bottom) Pumpkin decorating table at Mountaineer Spirit Day.

Photo Credit: Olivia Lepard

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BOYLES Distinguished Lecture

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28 Holmes Convocation Center 10:00 A.M. Featuring Paul Thompson Founder and Chairman Transportation Insight • Class credit may be offered; check with your professors.

• Open to all Appalachian students, faculty, and staff.

• Shuttles will run from Peacock Lot Circle, beginning 1 hour prior to the lecture.

APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY

business.appstate.edu/boyles

#BOYLESLecture

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3 CRAFT TALK Writing and Drawing the Graphic Novel 12:30 - 1:45 p.m.

Three Top Mountain Room Plemmons Student Union

READING 7:30 p.m.

Turchin Center Lecture Hall: TCVA-1102 (please note location)

Graphic Novelist

Carol Tyler

Admission to all events is free and open to the public.

Book sales and signing will follow the talk and the reading.

Join.

Carol Tyler is one of the most important and influential artists to come out of the alternative comics movement of the 1980s. Tyler’s latest graphic novel is Soldier’s Heart: The Campaign to Understand My WWII Veteran Father, A Daughter’s Memoir (2015). Soldier’s Heart describes the author’s damaged relationship with her father, and how his untreated PTSD shaped her childhood and affected her relationships in adulthood. In 2016, Soldier’s Heart received the Gold Medal of Excellence from the Society of Illustrators and received the Slate.com Cartoonist Studio Prize for Best Print Comic of 2015.

Soldier’s Heart was named on Time’s Top Ten Comics of the year list, and Rolling Stone placed Soldier’s Heart on the list of Top 50 Graphic Novels of all time. Tyler’s work has earned eleven Eisner Award nominations.

Professor Tyler teaches Comics, Graphic Novels, and Sequential Art at the University of Cincinnati DAAP School of Art and is a Residency Artist with the Ohio Arts Council.

visitingwriters.appstate.edu

Email managing@TheAppalachianOnline.com

Waive your APP fees with this coupon l`Yl k Y kYnaf_k g^ +(( ! ^gj *().%*()/ d]Ykaf_ k]Ykgf

Oct. 27, 2016

APPALACHIAN STUDENTS PROTEST POLICE BRUTALITY A SAMMY HANF NEWS EDITOR

round 30 students

gathered for a protest that spanned from Sanford Mall to the student

union.

The protest started outside the multicultural center in Plemmons Student Union and ended with group chants echoing across Sanford.

Tessa Jackson, president of the Black Student Association, said she organized the protest to jolt student consciousness on black issues because they are often ignored on campus.

“We sometimes have this bubble on campus that it’s like oh y’know were like not that bad, it’s OK, we’re on campus, we’re safe, but when you get in the real world that’s not how it is,” Jackson said. “When I go home, I live in Winston Salem, I could easily get shot cause I’m a black woman.”

Nicole Flournory, president of Mu Omicron, said the issues raised by the Charlotte uprising and other groups are easily ignored in majority white areas with the problem being exacerbated by media silence about the protests after the first week.

“We wanted to recognize that there are still bodies and people there that are still bringing light to these issues.

They need to remember that there are people that still need donations and food and blankets and water and everything in between,” Drew Wilson, a sophomore public relations major, said. “So we really just wanted to make sure that there is some recognition for the people that are risking their lives out there in the streets of

Tessa Jackson, Drew Wilson and Avery Walter lying down in Plemmons Student Union to protest police brutality Charlotte.”

Throughout the event Avery Walter, vice president of the BSA, reminded participants to take care of themselves if they felt tired or stressed and said that activism is often emotionally draining.

“No one would ask someone who went through a personal trauma to

relive their experience constantly to help educate people, like you would never do that but, for some reason with this movement you do and most of the time no one’s listening,” Walter said.

Jackson said she thought the protest went well and feels optimistic about the events the BSA is planning

going forward.

“I was marching around and I heard it, like I heard people say this is crazy what’s going on, saw people’s eyes drawn to the crowd and that’s what you want you want, to get that conversation started and I think we did exactly what we needed to do,” Jackson said.

LGBT CENTER HOLDS SEVENTH ANNUAL CANDLELIGHT VIGIL SAMMY HANF NEWS EDITOR

ast Monday the Hen-

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derson Springs LGBT Center held a candlelight vigil attended by over 30 people commemorating the lives lost in the LGBT community over the past year.

Standing on a makeshift stage on Sanford Mall the speakers offered stories of lost loved ones and then adjourned to the Multicultural Center to give mourners a break from the evening chill.

Jalyn Howard, president of the Student Government Association, said he spoke to remember the stories of those lost over the last year.

Photo Credit: Sammy Hanf

“I’m not a member of the community but it was great to hear those stories and also to commemorate and remember the people that we lost last year,” Howard said. “I mean I think that for everybody, even if you’re not a member of the LGBT community, it’s good to come out here and show support.”

Kelsey Jones, a sophomore English major, said she decided to attend for the first time because of how important the LGBT community at Appalachian has become to her over the last year.

“It’s important to know that you do have the rest of the community behind your back and it’s OK to feel like you’re able to cry, it’s OK if you cry

at this event and it’s OK that you feel really, really emotional but you have to know that when you come out of it you’ll feel more liberated,” Jones said.

Gael Senter, co-president of Transaction, said the event provides valuable catharsis for the queer community.

Carson Beam, administrative coordinator in the LGBT Center, said holding vigils for those lost is important because it lets other LGBT folks know they’re not alone.

Todd Carter, director of development at The Hospitality House, said he has come out to speak for the last few years and feels it’s very important to have events like this because of how

difficult it can be to find a queer community in the High Country.

“If we’re not out here talking about it and being vocal about it then the bigot wins and I can’t ever let the bigot win,” Carter said. “The bigot causes kids to kill themselves, how can I stay silent?”

Carter said he spoke to the crowd about the importance of voting to inspire those in attendance to rid our legislature of the bigots that passed HB2.

“We can’t be silent, we have to keep going and we have to vote the bigots out,” Carter said. “It’s not hard, go to PSU starting on the 27th and vote.”

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Oct. 27, 2016

SUSTAINABILITY JUST GOT SPOOKY T

Interns Bettina Roden and Melissa Needham putting up decorations in prepartion of the event.

SYDNEY WOLFORD A&E REPORTER

he basement of East Hall is rumored to be spooky. Most of these rumors revolve around the residence hall and home of the Office of Sustainability being haunted by ghosts of former students.

On Thursday, East Hall will try to live up to the rumors when the Office of Sustainability converts the residence hall into the Sustainable Spooks Haunted House.

Eleven student interns with the Office of Sustainability were tasked with creating a fun, interactive way to get other students interested in sustainability.

“Sustainability is in every part of our lives, so why not make it part of a holiday?” freshman intern Steffey Guigou said.

Samantha Smyth, an intern and sophomore hospitality and tourism management student, said Sustainable Spooks is a fun awareness raiser and team bonding opportunity. The interns and the Office of Sustainability wanted to raise awareness for various universal sustainability concerns and resources that the office provides on campus. Each room will have a different sustainable issue like deforestation or global warming as its theme, and will be like “a big art installation,” Smyth said.

The room themes are not the only sustainable aspect of the 8

haunted house. Each room’s decorations were constructed from unused Halloween items, recycled materials from East Hall, all of the interns’ personal recyclables, natural materials and thrift store finds.

“We thought of materials we can get a lot of that we can combine in a spooky way,” Smyth said.

The interns created the room theme ideas, provided the materials and assembled all of the decorations. But the interns are even more excited to start a dialogue about sustainability, Bettina Roden, an Office of Sustainability outreach fellow, said.

“A lot of the times you talk about sustainability, it ends up being kind of serious, and a lot of times people don’t want to hear it,” Roden said.

Roden said the haunted house would give students, faculty and community members a chance to learn about sustainability in a way that would not activate defense mechanisms because the goal is to bring awareness to the sustainable issues.

Because Halloween tends to catch attention for people, combining sustainability with Halloween would allow for creativity and an open dialogue about sustainable issues, Roden said.

“I think I could say for all of them it’s probably an amazing experience to take something that is

so serious and turn it into a fun and exciting event,” Roden said.

The Office of Sustainability and the team of interns are not trying to force people to think a certain way, but they want to “create awareness and a community connection” through the haunted house, Roden said.

Melissa Needham, a senior sustainable development student and outreach intern for the Office of Sustainability, said community connection is a vital part of encouraging sustainability.

Needham wants students and community members to stop by the office to ask about any events or programs going on throughout the year, which is why there will be free food and drinks after the haunted house. The interns are given a lot of freedom in what they determine as outreach, so having an interactive way to educate others about sustainability is exciting, Needham said.

Halloween is especially an important time for people to be aware of sustainability, Needham said.

“There’s a lot of waste that’s accumulated around Halloween with new costumes and trash,” Needham said. “I think there’s a lot of potential in reducing our waste.”

Besides creating awareness for sustainable issues, the interns put a sustainable spin on a classic Halloween activity to scare people,

freshman intern and nutrition and foods major Gaia Lawing said.

“We hope we scare the crap out of them,” Lawing said.

Sustainable Spooks will be in the Office of Sustainability, the basement of East Hall, on Oct. 27 from 8-10 p.m.

Instead of monetary admittance to Sustainable Spooks, the Office of Sustainability asked attendees to bring canned goods or miscellaneous items to donate to the free sale. The free sale contains leftover goods from the Big Sale in the fall, canned food and new and used household items.

There are food pantries and a food bank located on campus that Smyth hopes more students will learn about and donate to after the haunted house. The office also has a compost pile at the Living Learning Center and gives out trash and recycling bags to everyone who tailgates for football games.

The Office of Sustainability also receives shipments of gently used books from Anne Belk Library.

The library cannot throw away or get rid of the books since they are state property, so the Office of Sustainability is selling the books for one penny as a donation to the office.

The office interns will collect food for the food drive on Oct. 26 at the campus farmer’s market from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Photo Credit: Sydney Wolford

Oct. 27, 2016

Members of The Nth Degree Gallery at one of their annual Halloween costume parties and open art hangings.

NTH DEGREE GALLERY’S HALLOWEEN SHOW OPEN TO ALL ARTISTS ADRIENNE FOUTS A&E REPORTER

he Nth Degree Gallery

T

and Studios on King Street is hosting its 18th annual “HalloweeNth” costume party and open art hanging, beginning the night of Oct. 31 and continuing on Nov. 4 during the First Friday Art Crawl.

Nth’s Halloween show is an annual community show where anyone is invited to submit one to three pieces of art to hang in the gallery. No submissions are turned away and all artists are represented.

“The open hanging gives all artists in our community the opportunity to exhibit their work without restriction,” James Geary, a member of Nth Degree, said. “Artwork has been sold by artists as young as seven years old.”

The amount of submissions for the Halloween show varies from year to year, said Brian Lee, an Nth founding member, but they always get enough.

Geary said that they generally receive between 75 and 100 pieces for the open hanging.

This year’s “HalloweeNth” exhibition is called “Strange Nth Things” after the popular TV show “Stranger Things,” in keeping with Nth’s tradition of playing with the names of horror movies or shows. The art does not have to follow a Halloween theme, however.

“It’s always one of the best shows of the year for us because it’s such an eclectic mix of art,” Jamie Goodman, a former member of Nth, said. “It always comes together so beautifully and ends up being a really beautiful representation of the artists in the community.”

The exhibition first opens Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. with a costume party. The art

Photo Credit: The Nth Degree Gallery

is shown again the following Nov. 4, during downtown Boone’s First Friday Art Crawl.

“People put us on their Halloween circuit that night,” Goodman said. “People come through with amazing, creative costumes, and it’s a really awesome atmosphere.”

The Nth Degree, a non-profit, underground gallery and studio, was started nearly 20 years ago by a group of artists in Boone who wanted a studio space.

They found the location for Nth on King Street, above Art Mart and across from the Post Office, and worked on it for about a year before it was ready, Lee said.

Nth is run by a small group of members who keep up the gallery and studio space, plan exhibitions and help local artists display their work, often for the first time. The gallery, according to its website, is an outlet for “unknown, unshown, up-and-coming, contemporary and even controversial” art in the High Country region.

The overall focus of Nth Degree, Lee said, is showing artists who may not have an opportunity to show anywhere else.

Except for the Halloween party, Nth Degree’s gallery is only open during the First Friday Art Crawls, and displays work from one or more local or regional artists. Nth also hosts a fundraising show for the gallery once a year, in which members’ work is displayed.

Those who want to be members of Nth, or who want to display their work there, can come to the open meetings that the gallery holds each Monday at 8 p.m.

“If you keep coming again and again, and we believe that you’re serious and a good fit, we will vote on whether or not you get in,” Lee said. “You gotta bug us, same thing with having a show here. You really have to convince us that you’re serious, because the Nth members do a lot of hard work for free.”

The Halloween party and open hanging usually brings a lot of people in, Goodman said, and Nth has gotten

several artists and members as a result of the Halloween shows.

Displaying artwork in a gallery setting can be very beneficial for developing artists, Geary said, because it gives them the opportunity to talk with other artists about technique and allows them to compare their pieces to others.

“It can also give you the unique opportunity to be a fly on the wall,” Geary said. “You can hang around and listen to what other people are saying about your art without them knowing you’re the artist.”

In a way, Goodman said, the Nth gallery has been a “stable force in a changing world.” Lee said that Nth has shown quite a few artists, and has likely changed quite a few lives.

“It has ebbed and flowed with the different artists and members that have come through, the different trends of art that have come and gone,” Goodman said. “The Nth was never about growing as in making money; it is about growing friendships and connecting with artists.”

The poster for this year’s Halloween show, “Strange Nth Things.”

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Oct. 27, 2016

PROFESSORS RESEARCH THE MYSTERIOUS BROWN MOUNTAIN LIGHTS

Brown Mountain overlook. Elevation here 2760 ft.

KATIE MURAWSKI A&E EDITOR

ne night in the middle

O

of July on the twisty and rugged road of NC Highway 181, two Appalachian State astronomers believe to have caught on camera one of North Carolina’s unexplained mysteries, the Brown Mountain Lights.

There are many myths and stories surrounding the lights and their origins.

The common ground these stories share is the description of the lights as orbs that appear then disappear while staying stationary in the same spot in the sky.

Daniel Caton, a physics and astronomy professor and the director of observatories at Appalachian State University, has been chasing the Brown Mountain Lights since late 1985. Caton and R. Lee Hawkins, Appalachian State’s observatory engineer, set up two cameras at one site to attempt to document the lights.

Camera one looks at Brown Mountain from the Gingercake area and generally runs dusk to dawn while sometimes starting late, and camera two looks up Linville Gorge from the south only runs midnight to 5 a.m. due to the expenses of the satellite internet connection, according to Caton’s research website that is attached to his Appalachian State website, BrownMountainLights.org.

Caton said the lights have been mainly reported in three different locations surrounding the Linville Gorge area: Wiseman’s View off the Pisgah National

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Forest access road, the Brown Mountain Lights overlook marker on NC Highway 181 and at the Lost Cove overlook at mile marker 310 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Caton became interested in researching the lights and had a file on them ever since he moved to Boone. He said in the mid-late 1980s he had an intro astronomy student claim he had seen the lights and filmed them. The claim interested Caton and he started going out to Wiseman’s View, about an hour drive down the mountain, to take a look at the lay of the land. Although his former student never gave him the video, Caton joined forces with Hawkins in 1999 to try and document the lights.

Caton recalled upon a time where they thought they caught the lights on the camera at looking down at Linville Gorge. Caton describes it as a “brief pulse of light” and a “fan of faint light” that had a flashbulb duration. Caton describes this encounter as a “Did-yousee-that?” moment. Others claim to see sphere shaped orbs of light dance across the mountain’s skyline and even as close as 20 feet away.

“Lee and I saw a glimmer of light one night when we were out there,” Caton said.

It was impossible to tell what it was, Hawkins said, finishing Caton’s sentence.

It was not the firework type displays that people often describe, it could have

easily been a flashlight in the woods, Hawkins said.

On an unrelated night, while coming back from the Asheville area, Caton decided to stop by the site. As he was staring out he looked up and saw a very bright light, brighter than any star.

“Even brighter than Venus. It did not move, it just stayed there for several seconds and dissipated,” Caton said.

“That is about as close I gotten to seeing the lights.”

A video of the lights captured on July 16-17 from 9:40 p.m. to 5:37 a.m. showed something that does not look like anything they have seen before, Caton said. The stationary light appeared in the same area with no lateral movement between exposures, four times in a span of 20 minutes. Caton said people got excited about that, “but we wanna see more before we get too excited.”

Viewers can look at footage from the camera feeds in real time on Caton’s website. He explained that the videos are built every day from both cameras by stitched together 30 second long exposures, one after the other all night.

He said they are made up of about one thousand clips. Caton also said in a 30 second exposure almost anything moves, airplanes and even stars trail with the Earth’s rotation.

July’s video “just did not show any streaking, unless it moved, reappeared or was coming dead straight at us,” Caton said. Which is unlikely because

if an airplane were doing that it would peel off one way or the other unless “it is not only approaching us but diving into us, so to maintain line of sight, it would move up, and [the video] did not show that.”

Hawkins agreed and said they had two cameras at that site to reject false positives and this appeared on both cameras at the same locations. To put this in perspective, they have a couple million images and so far have only seen unusual things on four of those images.

All this to say it certainly doesn’t happen at the rate people think it does, Caton said.

Hawkins and Caton have been out to Wiseman’s View and the NC Highway 181 overlook together and separately a total of 30 or 40 times. Hawkins said they mostly find that 99.9 percent of the people who go there expecting to see the lights and to them any light they see is a Brown Mountain Light. He said that they take a telescope or binoculars with them to examine the lights and by using those instruments, they find that the sources of lights come from campfires, people with lanterns walking around the gorge or car headlights and tail lights.

“Especially ATVs on Brown Mountain and even such crazy things as out of focus dust when taking a photo at night,” Hawkins said. “That is a popular ghost theory; when you take a flash photo at night the out of focus blobs

Photo Credit: Katie Murawski

Oct. 27, 2016

One of four images that captured the suspect light on the night of July 16-17. It appeared four times over about 20 minutes. The light is the one in the middle, above the distant horizon. look like ghosts but they are not ghosts.

It is just dust in the air that your camera can’t focus on.”

Other things Caton and Hawkins have noticed is that the people who claim to see the lights do not have any conception of scale.

“They haven’t been outdoorsy types, they don’t understand where people can and do walk in the woods,” Caton said.

“They think there is no way people can be walking in that rugged area.”

Caton also suggests that another reason why people report false sightings is because they spend most of the time inside at night and they do not know the nightscape.

Caton said they began to get cynical in 2006, and started to think all the reports were bogus. But after Caton did an interview with an Associated Press reporter from the Triad area, “Then I started getting emails from people detailing close up encounters,” he said.

“One who had seen it in the parking lot. It is one thing to be confused about something that is a thousand feet away and then it’s another thing to see this thing 20 feet away.”

That is when Caton and Hawkins started to think that the descriptions of the encounters started to sound like ball lightning, which is something they do not yet understand and Caton said that is how they got back in the game.

Peter Soulé, professor of geography and planning, wrote in an email that ball lightning is thought to be a magnetically held together concentration of corona discharge, similar to St. Elmo’s Fire. St. Elmo’s Fire is a concentration of sparks that has often been seen on a ship’s

mast, power poles or pointy objects like flag poles. With electrical discharge, like a bolt of lightning, there is charge separation. “For ball lightning, the positive, sparking charges are thought to be held together magnetically,” Soulé wrote.

“I’ve never seen it, but have had a number of my students describe it to me as a ball of sparks that moves and floats about, likely by micro wind currents.”

Unlike other groups, Hawkins said they think that if the Brown Mountain Lights does exist, there is a physical explanation for it.

“We are not looking at this from the mythical or ghostly point of view that has a metaphysical explanation but no physics explanation,” Hawkins said.

“This is not the way we look at life and science.”

Leigh Ann Henion is a travel writer from western North Carolina that went on a trip to the camera site with Caton and Hawkins and a couple other scientist about three years ago.

“The notion of mysterious lights hovering over mountains got lodged in my mind as a child growing up in North Carolina,” Henion wrote in an email.

She didn’t know much about the Brown Mountain Lights when she started looking into the phenomenon for Our State Magazine in May 2014.

Henion then published her 2015 book, “Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World” about how she chased natural phenomena around the world to “reawaken my sense of wonder,” she wrote.

She went to the Serengeti to see wildebeest migrate, the Arctic for the

Photo Credit: Daniel Caton and Lee Hawkins

northern lights and Venezuela for the everlasting lightning storm. Even though the Brown Mountain Lights are not in “Phenomenal,” she wrote that they are thematically connected.

“I was amazed to realize how much and yet, in the scheme of things, how little we know about our home planet,” Henion wrote. “It might seem like we live in a done-over world, but there’s plenty left to be explored. Earth is full of marvels and mysteries. We just have to pay attention.”

Henion wrote that the research Caton and Hawkins are doing with the lights are a reminder that science is a never ending process of discovery and

not merely rote memorization.

Despite not knowing for sure how to explain the Brown Mountain Lights, Henion wrote they pull people out of their living rooms, into the natural world.

“You might not see floating, glowing orbs if you go out to Brown Mountain tonight,” Henion said. “You might see a shooting star, a moon halo, or some other extraordinary thing you’ve never thought to search out.”

Henion encourages seekers and cynics to make time to stare into the night sky, and suggest that by doing this, “you are opening yourself to the possibility of awe.”

Footage from Camera Two looking northward up the Linville River from near the mouth of the Linville Gorge. About half the length of the 14mile Gorge is seen. Landmarks identifications by Ed Speer and Mike Fischesser.

11

Oct. 27, 2016

STEPPING UP FOR JUNALUSKA

(Top) Sisters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated performing their routine.

(Bottom) The brothers of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated hold the Black Power stance in solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

MAKAELAH WALTERS A&E REPORTER

he energy in the Schae-

T

fer Center for Performing Arts was tense Saturday night, as people awaited entrance to the auditorium for National Panhellenic Council’s Homecoming Step Show. The line of eager black students and members of Greek life, active and alumni alike, wrapped around the lobby twice. Doors for the show opened at 7 p.m.

Lights in the auditorium were dim as people waited for the show to begin.

The music for the evening was brought

by DJ Diesel from 102 JAMZ, a hip-hop station located in Greensboro. He played remixes of hip-hop songs both old and new as the audience was waiting.

The audience danced along and eventually settled in time for the show to start.

The show began with a roll call in which the emcee for the evening, Jaelyn Felder, president of NPHC’S executive board, called out the name of a Greek organization and members responded with the call unique to their organization.

The sororities and fraternities represented in Saturday night’s roll call included Alpha Kappa Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, Omega Psi Phi, Delta Sigma Theta, Phi Beta Sigma, Zeta Phi Beta, Sigma Gamma Rho, Iota Phi Beta, Chi Sigma and Chi Epsilon Sigma.

Only five of these organizations performed.

Three competing sororities and two

12

fraternities competed for a grand prize of $1,000.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was the first sorority of three to take the stage in the competition. Although Appalachian State’s chapter of the organization did not perform, sisters from North Carolina A&T University stepped in their place.

Their performance was followed by Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, the first of two fraternities competing that night.

Phi Beta Sigma traveled to App State from Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina to perform.

Sean Griffin, chapter president of Phi Beta Sigma at Livingstone College, said their performance was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

“We felt like the theme of police brutality brought attention to something very important,” Griffin said.

The three brothers who stepped in this performance were dressed in bright orange prison uniforms. In between each step routine there was a short sketch portraying instances of prison wardens harassing their inmates.

Phi Beta Sigma ended up placing first in the competition, winning $1,000 for their organization.

“Honestly, I was ecstatic that we won,” Griffin said.

This is their second first place win.

Phi Beta Sigma recently won a competition on their own campus in Salisbury.

The second sorority and third performance of the night was Delta Sigma Theta.

These sisters had a video that accompanied their performance. The video had a haunting theme featuring a creepy doll.

“Our show kind of stemmed from the theme of Chucky and Anabelle,” Aubria Myers, junior sociology major and vice president of NPHC, said.

Myers said they wanted to keep the theme relevant to the season and Halloween.

“Being on stage was a rush and everyone backstage was pretty nervous,” Myers said.

In between each performance there was a short intermission.

Trey Edgerton, graduate business administration major and chapter advisor for the Alpha Alpha Rho Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, said this was his favorite part of the show.

“I really liked in between, when the DJ would play songs and people would dance and stroll,” Edgerton said. “It unites everyone and makes the environment flow.”

Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity was the last fraternity and fourth performance of the night.

Their routine featured their signature shimmy that got a response from the audience.

Shimmying and strolling are different from stepping, though the two are often combined in performances.

“Stepping involves precision and making your own music, but strolling is moving to existing music,” Griffin said.

The final competing sorority that performed was Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Alexis Williams, junior communications and public relations major, said that she and her sisters started practicing a little over a month ago for their performance.

“We had practice every night for two hours at least and several dress rehearsals,” Williams said.

Williams said they did this to get used to their costumes. Their attire in their performance included pink capes, tutus, and face masks.

“We wanted to do a theme that would be fun to watch and perform and we felt like it incorporated all of our personalities,” Jae Amoah, senior marketing major and stepshow committee chair, said.

The sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha took home the trophy for first place out of three sororities.

“I’m proud of the AKAs and their clean show, but in all honesty, I am happy it is over because I get to sleep again,” Myers said.

Williams said to be able to win in front of so many Alpha Kappa Alpha alumnae and win was amazing.

“This was our first step show and the win was awesome,” Williams said. “At the end of the day our goal was to get out there and have fun.”

Half of the proceeds from NPHC’s stepshow ticket sales went toward purchasing markers for the graves for Junaluska, Boone’s historically black community.

Photo Credit: Makaelah Walters

Oct. 27, 2016

Freshman offensive line Victor Johnson meets sophomore running back Jalin Moore at the endzone after Moore's touchdown.

“MOORE” THAN ENOUGH A

SOPHOMORE RUNNING BACK JALIN MOORE EMBRACES THE SPOTLIGHT JOHN ROBERTSON SPORTS REPORTER

fter losing senior

standout running back Marcus Cox in week three vs. Miami, redshirt sophomore Jalin Moore has emerged on the scene to keep the Mountaineer run game as its most effective weapon.

With the ground game being a key component of the App State offense and Cox being the number two active rusher in the FBS, it was essential for someone to fill the running back slot effectively and keep the run game strong.

Moore has done just that.

“We hate that Marcus is out, but obviously when a guy is out at any position the next man up has to step up and Jalin has definitely done that,” running backs coach Stu Holt said. “I would say that we are surprised, but we have seen him every day for a while now and we know what he can do. He’s done a great job.”

In the final four games of his freshman season, Moore rushed for 528 yards including a breakout game

against Idaho where he rushed for 244 yards filling in for Cox, after having only 32 carries in his first nine games.

His strong finish earned him a spot on the Sun Belt All-Freshman team.

Moore had his breakout game this season in the first start of his career against Akron, rushing for a total of 257 yards, the most of any running back in the Sun-Belt this season. The standout performance earned him the honor of Sun Belt player of the week.

“It’s been a great process so far.

Throughout the season I’m still picking things up and hopefully I can do greater things in the future,” Moore said. “I need to keep improving on my game, I’m still lacking in a few areas I’d like to improve on.”

Moore has already made his mark in Mountaineer football history as his 257-yard performance against Akron ranks sixth in school single game rushing history, surpassing his performance against Idaho last season that ranked ninth.

Already scoring six touchdowns and running for 774 yards on 147 attempts just seven games into the season with four starts, Moore sits second in the Sun-Belt and 22nd in the nation in total rushing yards.

Only gaining 59 yards in his first two games of the season, his 715 yards gained in the past five meetings have astonishing numbers for a “backup” running back. Moore credits his success to the ones who don’t have a chance to fill up the stat sheet: the offensive linemen.

“I love them to death,” Moore said.

“I thank God for giving me the ability and my offensive line for opening up those holes.”

There is something unique about the relationship between members of the backfield and offensive lineman. The relationship between Moore and senior lineman Parker Collins is nothing short of that. Moore makes it a priority to show some love to the guys up front working hard to make his success

possible.

“We talk everyday about how we can’t wait grind together and be the best we can for each other,” Collins said. “The other day at practice he came over and gave each of us a hug for about a minute a piece. It’s a very special relationship.”

Coming into the 2016 season, profootballfocus.com ranked the App State offensive line number three in the country behind Stanford and Notre Dame. During the 2015 season, the Mountaineers had the highest run-blocking rating of any team in the FBS. Moore has rushed for 100 plus yards in each of his previous four games and scored all six of his touchdowns on the season in that four-game stretch.

Moore and the Mountaineer offense look to continue their dominance throughout the rest of the season even with the likely return of Cox this week, with hopes of reaching their second bowl game in back to back years.

Junior quarterback Taylor Lamb hands the ball off to sophomore running back Jalin Moore.

Photo Credit: Dallas Linger

13

GAME DAY APP STATE VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN (5-2, 3-0, SUN BELT) (4-3, 3-1, SUN BELT)

SEASON RED ZONE SCORING PERCENTAGE

SEASON POINTS PER GAME

88% 88.89% 25.3 SEASON AVERAGE PLAYS PER GAME

29.14

MAKE OR BREAK STAT RUSHING YARDS PER GAME

380.1 419.4 197.6 263.9 PIGSKIN PICK EM’

JASON HUBER Sports Editor The Appalachian 21-13

APP STATE VS. GEORGIA SOUTHERN #4 WASHINGTON VS. #17 UTAH #7 NEBRASKA VS. #11 WISCONSIN #3 CLEMSON VS. #12 FLORIDA STATE #15 AUBURN VS. OLE MISS

CARL BLANKENSHIP Editor-in-chief The Appalachian 20-14

SHERI EVERTS Chancellor App State 19-15

JAYLN HOWARD President SGA 19-15

GREG CALARCO Sports Director WASU 23-11

TRAVIS STANLEY Apps Sports Bar Host APP TV 20-10

QUESTION AND ANSWER This week, The Appalachian's sports editor and Georgia Southern student newspaper The George-Anne's sports editor asked and answered questions for each other about their respective school's football teams before Thursday night's matchup.

Q: Appalachian State has had some big games against Top-25 teams this season, including a home game with Miami. How have those games impacted the Mountaineers this season?

Q: Who’s been the MVP for the Mountaineers this season?

Offensive statistics were not the most polished when looking at the Mountaineers first three games with two being against Top-25 teams, but after all-conference running back Marcus Cox was injured in week three, backup running back Jalin Moore has become the heartbeat for the Mountaineers. Ranked 21st in rushing yards in the country and 774 yards in just four games, Moore has proved to be the MVP and allowed App to not rush back Cox from injury.

Since transitioning to the FBS, the Mountaineers have faced power-five schools in Michigan, Clemson, Tennessee and Miami. Traveling to Tennessee in week one this season, the Mountaineers put up a fight taking the Vols to overtime before falling 20-13. That game alone has given the Mountaineers a huge confidence boost knowing they can compete with a Top-25 team, but it also gave them more motivation to not Q: Who on Georgia Southern’s be looked at as just a “Group- team worries you the most for of-Five” team. Getting blown Thursday night’s game? out by Miami at home was tough, but the motivation to Instead of just one player, the not be counted out has helped whole Eagle’s rushing attack us win four straight since. worries me the most. Despite holding the Eagles to 188 yards rushing last season, the Q: What’s the general feeling on App State’s campus about Mountaineers have had some Georgia Southern and its defensive mishaps this year football team? and the rushing game is probably the most threatening. With Georgia Southern week has be- five players holding over 200 come a tradition. Playing three rushing yards on the season, years in a row now on Thursday that is what worries me most. night, Mountaineer fans have become known for using the Q: Who’s the X-Factor for the hashtag #FailSouthern when- Mountaineers the for Thursday ever Georgia Southern loses a night’s game? game. The Eagles have been the biggest rivalry since we entered the FBS with them. The X-Factor on the Mountaineers will be junior linebacker Eric Boggs. Boggs had a breakout season in 2015 and has folQ: Since 2000, Georgia lowed up this year so far with Southern is 6-3 against App 57 tackles, two sacks and one State in Paulson Stadium.

What about Paulson makes it interception. Boggs should be tough for the Mountaineers able to put a lot of pressure to win there? alone on the Eagle’s defense.

App State is known for being dominant at home. Holding a 12-3-1 record against the Eagles in Boone, it has been no different in the matchups between these two teams. Just being in the atmosphere of their own fans in Boone gives us motivation and I think Georgia Southern fans do the same for the Eagles in such a big rivalry.

Q: What’s your prediction for who will win and what the score will be?

Even though App State is 16-1 in their last 17 Sun Belt games and it has taken the last three Sun Belt opponents 179 minutes to score a point, I think this game will be a very close one. My prediction is App State 24 Georgia Southern 17

Jason Huber is the Sports Editor of The Appalachian.

Q: In comparison to App State, Georgia Southern has had a smooth transition to the FBS level from the FCS and capped off their first bowl eligible season with a GoDaddy Bowl win just as App won the Camellia Bowl.

What has kept you guys winning throughout the transition?

Q: Why should the Mountaineers be so worried to play in Statesboro?

Just look back to the last time the Mountaineers came here in the 2014 matchup. The Eagles won 34-14 and pretty much dominated every aspect of the game. I imagine App will be looking to get some revenge Honestly, it was the players. and silence a probably sold The senior class now is one of out crowd at Paulson Stadium. the most resilient I’ve seen.

They’ve had three different Q: Aside from the run game, coaches in the last four years. what is the most dangerous They were apart of the win part of the Eagles team? against Florida, the Sun Belt Championship, and the GoDaddy Bowl win last season. The ability of the defense and special teams to force turnovers. The defense has picked Q: Where would you put off opposing quarterbacks App State in terms of Eagle rivalries? Would you say it six times and recovered eight has changed since the FCS fumbles and just last week to FBS transition? against New Mexico State, the the special teams recovered I’d say they are by far our big- a kickoff and blocked a punt gest rival. I don’t think that it’s which helped seal the win. changed since the transition, The special teams unit saved but there is a little more na- the game against UL Monroe tional attention on it. The fact when they blocked the potenthat both teams came into the tial game-winning field goal.

FBS and rocketed to the top of the Sun Belt has kept the Q: What’s your prediction of rivalry relevant and heated. the game and what will the score be?

Q: The Eagles are known App has undeniably had the for their rushing attack. Why better season so far. But Geordo you think App State has been able to keep the Eagles gia Southern is playing with running game in check the their backs against the wall last few matchups? and in Paulson Stadium. It’s going to take a lot of things to Last year App out-rushed happen, but I think the Eagles the Eagles 231-188. The Ea- will win an ugly, low-scoring gles are built around run- contest. Final score: Georgia ning the ball, and when they Southern over App State 20-17. can’t, they are very beatable.

Q: Who has been the Eagles MVP this season?

Surprisingly, it’s been our kicker, Younghoe Koo. Statistically, he’s been almost perfect. He’s 13-13 on field goals and has missed just one extra point all year. The Eagles wouldn’t have won the games against UL Monroe or New Mexico State if he would have missed on any kicks.

Robert George is the Sports Editor of The George-Anne.

Oct. 27, 2016

THE ANCHOR IN GOAL A

Junior goal keeper Sam Steyl made four saves and faced 18 shots total during the 4-3 victory over South Alabama on Sunday.

ADAM HOTHERSALL SPORTS REPORTER

16

something voted on by the team as far as a representative that embodies what SAAC stands for. As far as community involvement, as far as academic excellence and as far as being a great teammate it was Sam 100 percent.”

The difficulty of managing time between school and sports is a hectic challenge, but Strickland realizes the importance of having a player who works as hard as Steyl.

“To academically have her GPA and take the classes that she takes to prepare for medical school I just think she’s just an all-around incredible person,” Strickland said.

Alongside all her personal accomplishments, Steyl’s desire to be a great teammate and giving credit to the ones around her causes her to stand out.

“I’m so glad that I am on this team, I know that I wouldn’t be where I am at today without them and their support, every single one of them from the freshman all the way to the seniors,” Steyl said.

The conference tournament is approaching and Steyl loves the direction of the team and has high expectations for the postseason.

“I think our defense has figured it out,” Steyl said. “We have made a few changes and it’s really important to have the dynamic that our team has, so hopefully we can keep moving forward.”

ed

Sa v

women’s soccer team march into the Sun Belt conference tournament as the number four seed next week in Alabama, they are led in goal by junior leader Sam Steyl who has been a key factor in her first year as a starter.

Steyl has started in all 16 games that she has played in, accumulating 1,449 minutes and being the rock of consistency for the women’s soccer program.

“She has made some big saves that we wouldn’t expect her to make,” head coach Sarah Strickland said. “They’re saves that you expect the goalkeeper to make and there are some that you are grateful that they come up with.”

The 2016 season has greater importance to Steyl than prior years as she was the backup her freshman and sophomore seasons at Appalachian. After the graduation of former starting goalie Megan Roberson, she was handed the keys to the starting goalkeeper’s job.

“I didn’t play for two years so pushing myself, getting better in practice along with supporting the team from then until now was very important,” Steyl said. “It’s hard coming from not starting to starting and learning to adjust to that and also following up the goalkeepers before you.”

There have been plenty of improvements that have occurred from her early days at App State, but for Steyl, the leadership and communication aspects of her game have made the biggest jumps.

“Sam has always been a great shot stopper but her communication as far as organizing the back line in a more commanding presence and even throughout the season she has improved on that as well,” Strickland said. “I think she has definitely developed into a leadership role that would be commanding from the net.”

Steyl said as a goalkeeper it is very important to be loud and have her teammates respond to her because she has a view of the entire field while the other players are running all over.

“From when I got here to now I have

definitely had to get louder so that my team can respond to me, hear me and trust me,” Steyl said.

Averaging a .702 save percentage and having plenty of success in her first full season starting, no one seems to be surprised, including her high school coach Kim Montgomery.

“It does not surprise me in the least that Sam is a key role player for the Mountaineers women's soccer program, she is an amazing goalkeeper and an even more amazing young lady,” Montgomery said. “She is driven and dedicated in every sense of the word and I know she will do whatever it takes to continue to improve and anchor her team in the goal.”

Despite shining for App State this season, Steyl’s love for the game dates all the way back to when she was four years old and finding her spot in goal shortly after that.

“I got into soccer because both of my older siblings played so I just got dragged along into everything,” Steyl said. “The first year that you have goalkeepers we didn’t have one on our team so our coach started rotating kids through and he put me in for a game and I loved it, so I stayed there since I was seven."

Attending high school at Ardrey Kell in Charlotte, North Carolina, Steyl is not only a talented goalkeeper, but she also takes great pride in the classroom.

Her senior year in high school she decided to forego her last year of soccer to graduate early and get a head start to her college education.

“I remember the day she came into my office and told me she was graduating early and would not be playing high school soccer her senior year, I cried,” Montgomery said. “That is how focused and committed Sam is to her academics.”

Not only did she take the responsibility of being engaged in her academics in high school, but college as well being the leader in the classroom and community for the App State women’s soccer team.

“Sam is in charge of our Student Athlete Advisory Committee role,” Strickland said. “She has been that way [Taking responsibility] and that was

3 SHUTOUTS

70 .2%

s the Mountaineer

FIRST FULL SEASON AS STARTING GOALIE

HAS ALLOWED 1.74 GOALS IN 16 STARTS

HELPED LEAD APP TO A .500 RECORD

Photo Credit: Emory Kumpe

Oct. 27, 2016

FRESHMAN GOALIE SAVES THE SEASON S

Freshman goal keeper Jake Agnew at the Alumni Soccer Stadium on Sept. 24 in Davidson, North Carolina.

MICHAEL PIGG SPORTS REPORTER

ince taking over as

starting goalie against Winthrop just eight games into the App State men’s soccer season, freshman goalie Jake Agnew has put the Mountaineers in good hands, proving to be a key factor despite being

just a freshman.

Starting the season with senior Jaron Bradley as the slated starting goalie, Bradley was injured in preseason giving sophomore Jake Chasteen the starting nod. During a game against Longwood in September, Chasteen went down with an injury that gave Agnew a chance to fill in and he has not looked back since.

“I was disappointed with the injury of Chasteen,” O’Keefe said. “But I knew the replacements we had as goalies were

3 SHUTOUTS

.4% 82 ed Sav

HAS ALLOWED 0.64 GOALS IN 10 STARTS

NAMED SUN BELT DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK TWICE THIS SEASON

RANKED SECOND IN THE SUN BELT IN SHUT OUTS COMPLETED

Photo Credit: App State Athletics/Tim Cowie

really tight together so I knew any of them could have stepped up and Jake [Agnew] has.”

With four shutout games in only six starts, Agnew was named Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of The Week two weeks in a row and has helped the Mountaineers get back to winning.

Despite coming in as starting goalie so strong, Agnew knew the change from high school to college sports was going to be a challenge.

“The big difference from high school to college was the physicality of the game,” Agnew said. “You are not just going to come in here and physically dominate a game like you would in high school.”

Agnew has not been anything less than dominate in his nine starts. Allowing only six goals, Agnew's stellar performance has helped the Mountaineers go (3-3-3) since he has taken over as starter.

“Preparation and training is the main keys to being successful in the goal,” Agnew said. “I watch a lot of game film on the other team and I know my teammates will have my back on the defensive end.”

Teammates and fellow goalies on the roster have been a very important part in Agnew’s success, mainly because of their will to push each other every day.

“People do not get to see just how close these goalkeepers are,” O’Keefe said. “We do not have a goalkeeper's coach so we rely on the four of them to push each other every day to make each other better.”

Agnew gives his teammates the credit for his success and his two Sun Belt defensive player of the week awards, calling it a “complete team effort.”

“The back line is really close off the

field because we are always together,” Agnew said. “I feel like this gives us an advantage on the field because of our chemistry and we know we can trust one another because the bond we formed off the field.”

Having the confidence of his teammates gives Agnew opportunities to try things he might not usually do because he knows they will always have his back.

Despite having this early success, O’Keefe sees the bigger picture in Agnew’s game and knows that there is a lot to improve on to take his game to the next level.

“I want to see him take on more of a leadership role,” O’Keefe said. “As a goalie I want to see him call out defensive shifts that to make it easier on our back line, but at the end of the day he is a freshman and these are skills that you have to learn, not practice.”

Agnew is not shy when talking about things he and the team could improve on.

“As a team, we need to continue to execute the game plan O’Keefe puts out for us,” Agnew said. “[The players] individually have to stay mentally prepared or locked in during the game. That way I can make the crucial saves for our team.”

One thing O'Keefe said you cannot teach that Agnew was born with is his competitiveness. “[Agnew’s] goal is to pitch a shutout every game he plays,” O’Keefe said.

“When the opponents score on us you can tell he takes it to heart and he always takes the blame and never blames anybody else.”

Although the Mountaineers have only seen a sample of Agnew, there is plenty to be excited for, and if he is able to stay healthy and continue to improve his game, Agnew will have a long and successful career at App State.

17

Oct. 27, 2016

DEFENSIVE LINEMAN SIMS SHINING ON A TALENTED APP STATE DEFENSE

Junior defensive line Antonious “Tee” Sims grabs ODU senior quarterback David Washington. Sims had two sacks which contributed to App State’s 31-7 victory.

TYLER HOTZ SPORTS REPORTER

ntering the season, the Mountaineers

E

knew they could have one of the best pass rushes in the Sun Belt Conference, but few would predict who would be sitting atop the stat sheet in sacks.

Even though defensive lineman Tee Sims, a redshirt junior from Covington, Georgia, made his first start a few weeks ago in a 24-0 win over UL Lafayette, he leads the Apps with six sacks this season. Sims’s impressive play also puts him second in the Sun Belt Conference in sacks, just behind senior defensive end Randy Allen from South Alabama.

Starting his career at Georgia Military College, Sims played everything from running back as a freshman to becoming a defensive standout his sophomore season. During his sophomore campaign, Sims led Georgia Military with 21 tackles for loss, and was also tied for the team lead in fumble recoveries and forced fumbles.

Attending Georgia Military, it was his goal to play Division-I football, and with support from everyone around him, he was able to make his dream come true, accepting a scholarship to play for the Mountaineers.

“I’m telling you, when I was younger, I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it but they [his mother and grandmother] kept me motivated, and I kept working hard and offers came in and App State showed me love so that’s

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why I came here,” Sims said. “I ended up here and they have treated me like family.”

As soon as Sims arrived as a junior, he was given an opportunity to get some in-game experience, including recording five stops against Howard.

Sims, however, would only get to play in four games due to an Achilles injury.

Luckily, Sims was able to take an injury redshirt, and is listed as a redshirt junior this season. Even though Sims was injured, Sims said his teammates and people around him kept telling him “not to let the injury phase him,” which is exactly what Sims did.

“People kept telling me if I would complain about the injury then it would slow me down, so I knew I had to keep the mentality that my leg was fixed and that there was nothing wrong with it so I could [try to] go hard every play,” Sims said.

After missing spring practices, Sims was able to come in healthy for practice over the summer. With months of preparation, Sims learned the defense and got plenty of reps to have a breakout season.

Kicking off an impressive 2016 campaign, Sims recorded a sack on the road at Tennessee and from there he just continued to create havoc in the backfield. Sims followed up that performance with two sacks at home against Old Dominion and then two weeks later he recorded two more sacks on the road against Akron.

Finally, in a mid-week conference

matchup at UL Lafayette, Sims got his number called in the starting lineup for the first time as a Mountaineer. Fittingly, Sims added another sack to his stat sheet, helping the Mountaineers sack the Ragin’ Cajuns five times.

“One thing that you can’t teach is extremely good get-off; he is very explosive and his first step is very quick,” defensive line coach Mike Ivey said.

“As an offensive lineman, it makes life really tough when that guy in front of you can move faster than you can move.”

Starting for a Division-I team has been a long journey for Sims, but he knew that it was an avenue he was going to take in order to be successful.

“When I was at GMC, that was your goal was to make it to somewhere big time in D-I football,” Sims said. “Once the D-I offers started rolling in, I felt finally like I was getting recognized for the D-I talent I thought I had.”

Coming from a small town like Covington, Sims was told early on that he would have to play either baseball or football because his mother told him that he “wasn’t going to end up in the streets.” With his uncles serving as examples before him, Sims chose football as his path towards a better life.

Dominating on the football field at Eastside High School, Sims was named Georgia Region 8-AAAA Defensive Player of the Year his senior season, even after missing two-and-a-half games.

Eastside High School has produced

its fair share of college standouts, but one player and friend that Sims remembers from his high school days is Sheldon Rankins, a defensive tackle who played his college football at Louisville and ended up going in the first round of the NFL Draft this past year.

“I know some people who have come out and made it to the league [the NFL], and they were a year ahead of me so they signed D-I and I knew I could do it too,” Sims said. “They paved the path for me and worked me harder and kept telling me to keep my head on straight, so I have to thank them.”

Sims also has made many close friends at App State, most notably with fellow junior defensive lineman Caleb Fuller.

“Our practices aren’t very easy so we have to come together and find a way to get through it, and a majority of the time it is through the bond that we have with each other,” Fuller said. “You hear us yelling and screaming and it gets our blood flowing and gets us energized to find ways to get better throughout the course of the year.”

With his hard work and patience, Sims has cemented his role as a starter on the App State defense. Looking forward, he looks to help lead the Mountaineers to further dominance on the defensive side of the ball.

With five games remaining and a Sun Belt title on the line, Sims and the whole defensive line know they have to bring their best from “the junkyard” to the football field.

Photo Credit: Keith Cline/Appalachian State Athletics

Oct. 27, 2016

WHY THE NFL RATINGS WILL CONTINUE TO SUFFER JASON HUBER SPORTS EDITOR

I

n the midst of the most

talked about and controversial presidential election ever, the National Football League has seen one of their biggest rating drops since 2008 and they need to be worried.

The league is known for having ratings drop in election years, but there is a different feel this time.

Down 11 percent across ESPN, CBS, FOX and NBC viewership through the league’s first six weeks, this is nothing new for the NFL. Ratings have slowly been dropping the last few years, but more than ever now in 2016.

Because of the multitude of internal and external factors that have been taking place to drop the ratings, the NFL needs to be concerned. There are a handful of issues that require fixing, and it all starts at the top with commissioner Roger Goodell.

Goodell has been in charge of a front office that has given the NFL a bad reputation since beginning his tenure in 2006.

Due to issues of domestic violence, the mishandling of concussion protocol, suspensions, oversaturation, Thursday night games producing non-competitive bouts, various investigation mishandling and now the National Anthem protests, Goodell has become the one of the most hated professional sports commissioners in recent history.

While not everything is Goodell’s fault, he has still failed to use his executive power to solve elongated issues through progressive practices. Unlike NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who has earned fans’ respect by handling distracting situations, like banning

Jason Huber is junior journalism major from Huntersville, North Carolina. former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling being recorded saying racist remarks and removing the NBA all-star game from Charlotte due to HB2 protests.

Instead, Goodell has been linked to negative protests with the Patriot’s DeflateGate, the Saint’s BountyGate and lack of suspensions for domestic violence, ultimately tainting the league’s once respected name.

Not only has the NFL been linked to these negative controversies, but they have failed to take any kind of responsibility for the mistakes they’ve made. The NFL has consistently denied any wrongdoing, thus causing fans to feel like they have no influence.

Trying to compete with the NBA’s constant expansion overseas, the NFL has had games played in London the last three years, and are planning to play in Mexico and China. But this attempt at international expansion is unnecessary.

For a league that is already so nationally known, it just creates oversaturation and makes little sense in countries that don’t care for football as a culture.

Since former running back Ray Rice was suspended for two games over elevator footage that surfaced of him punching his wife, fans were outraged in the lack of punishment the NFL placed on Rice. The Baltimore Ravens later

cut Rice and he hasn’t seen NFL action since.

Former Carolina Panthers defensive-end Greg Hardy was also accused of domestic abuse, but unlike Rice who hasn’t played and has become a voice for victims, Hardy was given a second chance by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. Despite Hardy’s disarrayed lack of showing any remorse for his inexcusable actions, which obviously was detested by the majority of fans.

Now, the league is under scrutiny with kicker Josh Brown admitting to abusing his wife. Journal entries of Brown’s disturbing descriptions of his domestic abuse were recently released, even though he was arrested in May 2015.

Once again, the NFL had a chance to do right in a situation but instead displayed ignorance and it took a week for the New York Giants to cut Brown. All to hide the true faces of their revered players.

Not only have issues been off the field, but on the field as well. Once known as the most physical game to play, football has now become soft.

Penalty flags have been tossed around carelessly, and players and fan bases have become sick of the league constituting every minor action during a game.

Early retirements from star players such as wide receiver Calvin Johnson and running back Marshawn Lynch have exemplified the league’s player mistreatment. They told late night hosts and news outlets that their choices are due in large part of the NFL not placing player safety first and foremost.

Through the first six weeks, officials have assessed 1,288 penalties compared to 1,357 all of last season. Penalties have

been increasing at an astonishing rate and it is not just a coincidence. The NFL wants to have control over all their players, and fans have taken notice.

Just three weeks ago, New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. told reporters he is “not having fun anymore” while playing the game that has always overcome him with joy and purpose. Part of the reason for that is because all of the countless fines being thrown at players, including OBJ’s seven in two seasons, for overly conservative concerns.

The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry that basically owns a day of the week. Fans look forward to Sunday to root on their favorite teams, and all they want the NFL to be is an enjoyable, uninhibited pastime.

Instead, the NFL has become a Pandora’s box of controversy. Many are saying ratings are down because of the presidential election or the National Anthem protests, but that isn’t the case.

The real reason is because the NFL has forgotten about the one thing that directly correlates to their profit margin: their loyal fans.

Current TV contracts for the NFL are expiring in 2021 and 2022 and will be up for renewal to air NFL games, but the league doesn’t seem to be overly concerned.

“There a lot of factors to be considered,” Goodell said. “We don’t make excuses. We try to figure out what’s changing.”

However, the NFL has every reason to be distressed if the league and its unjust leader don’t change the way they are running things.

WHY THE NFL WILL BOUNCE BACK IN TV RATINGS BROOKS MAYNARD SPORTS REPORTER

S

uper Bowl XLIX in 2015 was the most viewed league championship, with 114.4 million people tuning in to watch the Patriots vs. the Seahawks. In 2016, 111.9 million viewers came back for more, with this turnout still being the third largest in the championship’s existent. With these numbers in mind, it’s hard to believe that National Football League ratings are down 11 percent through the first six weeks of the current season.

And yet when you take into account other variables outside the league it isn’t.

There are plenty of reasons why people might be turning games off or failing to watch them at all. The most obvious of these is the upcoming presidential election.

Over 80 million people watched the first debate, the highest since Reagan vs.

Carter, and had nearly 20 million more viewers than Obama and Romney did during their first debate.

Another affecting circumstance is the current playoff picture in Major League Baseball. The Cleveland Indians won

Brooks Maynard is junior journalism major from Raleigh, North Carolina. their last world series in 1948 and the Chicago Cubs haven’t won a pennant since 1945, whilst looking to end a 108 year-long world series drought.

Among the more controversial reasons, a poll taken in early October had 32 percent of people say they were less likely to watch the NFL because of the recent player protests.

The NFL should be concerned about their ratings drop and desperately need to change their old ways, but with time their ratings should bounce back.

As the World Series and the election come to a close, the NFL will have much less competition for attention and this will naturally bring viewers back to football. These things are out of the NFL’s control but to really increase their ratings to what they once were the league will have to take action on other fronts.

In reference to the recent player’s protests of the national anthem, those viewers may never come back. NFL players are citizens of this free country and should be allowed to peacefully protest through whatever platform they choose, regardless of what others think of how they practice their right.

The NFL may not like it but there comes a point where you can’t deliberately silence your employees, and I don’t remember a single player getting asked to give up their freedom of speech to be in the league.

What the NFL can control, however, is changing the way the game is played, especially through officiating. The number of penalties in an NFL game has been increasing over the past few years and there is nothing a fan hates more than a flag-happy referee. While flag-throwing is actually down slightly from last season, referees still average nearly two more penalties per game than they did in 2013.

Player celebrations are another issue pertaining to the rise in unneeded penalties. But the NFL has never been known for driving a ‘classy’ product, and most

fans probably wouldn’t consider themselves a civilized clientele. Even players like Terrell Owens, who felt widespread hate, definitely drew fans to watch games because of his outrageous personality.

One last thing the league can do is cut down on the product. Your average fan can access the NFL from anywhere, while flicking between regular season games three times a week. In-week analytics, live-streaming coverage and the recent increase in mobile apps allow fans to get their football ‘fix’ whenever they want. By cutting down on the amount of product allowed to the market, their average viewership per event will increase.

The NFL has countless in-league and societal reasons to be of concern for their business, but most of these problems are solvable. Current league commissioner Roger Goodell has been inflexible on making necessary changes in the past.

Mr. Goodell said earlier this week the NFL “will not make excuses” but it remains to be seen whether he will be able to put his own success, regarding his over $30 million salary, on the line for the salvation of the league.

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