The Appalachian April 9, 2021

The Appalachian

April 9, 2021

Change at sunrise Youth-led advocacy group approaches congresswoman on climate change Jake Markland | Associate News Editor Sunrise Boone, a youth-led environmental advocacy group, rallied outside of Congresswoman Virgina Foxx’s office Wednesday, pushing Foxx to sign their “Good Jobs for All” pledge.

The Sunrise Movement, founded in 2017, is an American youth movement with over 400 chapters fighting to end anthropogenic, or human-caused, climate change.

On Wednesday, Sunrise hubs across the country rallied together and called on President Biden and local representatives to sign their “Good Jobs for All” pledge, agreeing they will work to pass legislation to guarantee jobs for all Americans.

“This first step is helping combat the 18 million people who are unemployed,” said Skye-Anne Tschoepe, hub coordinator for Sunrise Boone. “It’s laying the groundwork for clean jobs for everyone.”

By pushing politicians to sign the pledge, the Sunrise Movement hopes to create a “just, sustainable and people-centered” economy.

“It’s basically pushing for policies that would make it easier for people to find good jobs and green jobs,” said Emily Gottlieb, social media coordinator for Sunrise Boone.

Congresswoman Foxx left her Boone office around 9:30 a.m. while the members of Sunrise Boone were setting up a banner in the parking lot.

While the congresswoman and the group did not speak in person Wednesday, Foxx responded to the group’s inquiries via email that morning.

Family business on ice: new sweets on King Street

Luke Combs concert postponed again due to COVID-19 restrictions

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Alex Brodie, a student at App State and member of the Sunrise Movement’s Boone chapter, helped mount a protest outside Rep. Virginia Foxx’s (NC-05) office building.

Max Correa

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News

April 9, 2021

Bailey Gardin, DJ Evans elected next year’s student body president, vice president Jackie Park | Editor-in-Chief

Jake Markland | Associate News Editor

Bailey Gardin and DJ Evans will serve as the student body president and vice president, respectively, for the 2021-22 academic year.

“I’m a first generation college student, now the president of a (predominantly white institution),” Gardin said. “This is a really cool moment.”

Gardin.Evans won the election with 64.03% of the vote, or 910 of the 1,421 total votes, compared to Adam Zebzda and Jenn Banh’s 34.69%, or 493 total votes.

Write-ins made up 1.26% of the results, or 18 votes.

SGA Director of Elections Ardeshir Pirzadeh will certify the results later this week.

His certification will come after both campaigns have had the opportunity to file and resolve complaints against the opposing campaign. This period is known as the “due diligence” period and lasts four academic days, according to the SGA elections bylaws.

However, Pirzadeh says the likelihood of someone contesting this election is low. He also said he’s happy with the elections and campaigns both tickets ran.

“We were able to run a complete election with a debate, campaigning and everything that normally happens, so I can’t complain at all,” Pirzadeh said.

Two referendums and 20 Senate seats were also filled in the elections.

Zebzda and Banh both currently serve in SGA as the director of external affairs and a multicultural affairs senator, respectively. The two are also both involved in the Town of Boone government.

The pair said they’re sad at the results, but proud of the campaigns both tickets ran.

“This was more than just winning a title for both of us,” Zebzda said.

“Whatever we can do to help them out and support them, we’re more than willing to do so.”

Read the full story online at www.theappalachianonline.com

Bailey Gardin (right) and DJ Evans (left) will serve as student body president and vice president, respectively for the 2021-22 academic year. The pair won the election with more than 66% of the vote.

Andy McLean

SGA elections seat 20 senators, pass two referendums Jackie Park | Editor-in-Chief

Jake Markland | Associate News Editor

Voters passed two referendums and elected 20 senators to the App State Student Government Association Monday.

The race, which also elected the next student body president and vice president, had 1,421 votes in its largest-voted race and 242 in its smallest.

In one referendum, 69.24% of voters said yes to making the director of diversity and inclusion and the diversity and inclusion committee permanent and constitutionally-protected parts of

the App State SGA. In the other, 72.27% of voters said they supported a $2 student fees increase to go toward the Renewable Energy Initiative. The REI initiative is a “student-led, student-funded organization that seeks to install renewable energy and energy efficient projects on campus,” according to the ballot.

Bailey Shannon earned 93.02% of the 983 total votes for special interests and service initiatives senator.

Shannon, a junior environmental sci-

The 2021 SGA elections featured a hybrid elections results review with JJ Brown, Jeff Cathey, and Devin Mullins joining virtually over Zoom. A process that is usually accomplished in person.q Andy McLean

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ence major, is currently a special interests and service initiatives senator.

Nadine Jallal earned 97.95% of the 244 total votes for the multicultural affairs senator. Jallal, a sophomore English, secondary education major, is currently a multicultural affairs senator.

Evan Martino, Benjamin Negin, Mary Blake Harris and Gabe Montalbano earned seats as sophomore class senators with 26.25%, 24.88%, 24.88% and 23.97% of the 242 votes for sophomore senators. Negin, Harris and Montalbano currently serve as freshman class senators. Montalbano is also the senate parliamentarian.

Madison Harris, Trey Blackwood, Madison Neisz, Riley Cullen, Melanie Jordan, Zannah Kukral and Brayden Benkiel-Robinson will serve as junior class senators next year. Harris earned 18.24% of the vote, Blackwood earned 18.04%, Neisz earned 14.92%, Cullen earned 14.73%, Jordan earned 12.97%, Kukral earned 10.63% and Benkiel-Robinson earned 10.43% of the 378 total votes for these seats. All of these winners currently serve on SGA – all as sophomore senators, except Cullen, who is a junior class senator. Black-

wood is also chair of the student senate committee on rules. Cullen is also the chair of the student senate committee on external affairs.

For senior class senators, Chloe Vaughn, Benjamin Gonzalez Jr., Connor Schlaline and Cameron Helms earned seats with 27.85%, 25.72%, 24.88% and 21.53% of the 801 total votes, respectively. All of these students currently serve on SGA: Vaughn and Helms as junior class senators, Gonzalez Jr. as a senior class senator and Schlaline as chair of the senate committee on rules.

Lillian Hlavin and Connor Ranes respectively earned 55.21% and 44.78% of the votes to serve as honors and academics senators. Ranes, a sophomore psychology major, currently serves as an honors and academics senator. Hlavin is a sophomore political science major.

Samuel Gass, a junior sustainable development major, earned 93.63% of the total 219 votes to serve as the College of Fine and Applied Arts senator.

Gass is currently a College of Fine and Applied Arts senator and chair of the student senate committee on sustain-

able development.

This year’s election had a low turnout of 1,421 voters compared with last year’s all-time high, which SGA Director of Elections Ardeshir Pirzadeh says exceeded 2,500 total votes. He said the senate elections this year were “less than satisfactory.”

Pirzadeh says he will recommend that the next director of elections hold elections for senate seats in the fall – this year’s election filled just 20 of 80 total seats.

SGA hosted elections this past fall too, but that isn’t typical, Pirzadeh said.

Plus, in the fall, 160 people declared candidacy for those 80 seats.

“We’re going to have to do a good bit of work for the remainder of the school year,” he said.

Pirzadeh says that this year, while students are going through so much due to COVID-19, is when student representation should become even more important.

“Given everything, I understand.

But, at the same time, we really should be pushing for more interest and advocacy this year than ever before,” he said.

News

April 9, 2021

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Members of the Sunrise Movement’s Boone chapter advocated for Rep. Foxx to sign the “Good Jobs for All” pledge, which pushes for investment in unionized jobs addressing climate change, systemic racism, and economic inequality.

Max Correa

In the message, Foxx thanked the group for contacting her and listed out several pieces of legislation that she has worked on to combat joblessness and counter the impacts of COVID-19.

“Please know that I have duly noted your request,” Congresswoman Foxx wrote. “Rest assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind should the House consider relevant legislation in the future.”

Foxx’s work is not as bold or as sustainable as it should be, Tschoepe said, adding that Foxx should be doing more for workers’ rights and sustainable jobs.

Members of Sunrise Boone tried to enter the congresswoman’s office but were told they could not come in without an appointment. Rather, they posted a physical copy of their pledge on Foxx’s door.

As supporters of the Green New Deal, Sunrise Boone members said that properly addressing the climate crisis will create millions of jobs.

“The Green New Deal is perfectly in line with Sunrise’s goals, and it’s to stop climate change and to create millions of sustainable jobs, good-paying jobs, unionbacked jobs,” said Alex Brodie, recruitment lead for Sunrise Boone.

Brodie said these goals should not be partisan issues, saying that Congresswoman Foxx is “out of touch with her constituents” by not signing their pledge.

The youth group members said they will continue to work for better jobs in the area.

“We’re not done. Sunrise Boone is going to be sticking around,” Tschoepe said.

Student brings bipartisan voter registration initiative to campus Abi Pepin | Senior Reporter After opening an email, sent to all government and justice studies majors, an App State student was accepted for a fellowship that is allowing her to take their initiative to North Carolina.

Secure the Ballot, a South Carolina organization, focuses on expanding voting availability for young voters.

According to it’s website, the programs “encompass the full spectrum of voter engagement, education, registration, mobilization and protection.”

Secure the Ballot provides tools and resources for people to safely and securely vote.

McKenna Daley, a sophomore political science major, has been involved with Secure the Ballot since December.

Daley said her and her team are focusing on getting high school, college and rural students registered to vote.

“Our first push in North Carolina started in January and it was just me and a group of four other people,” Daley said. “We quickly re-

alized that wasn’t going to work so we are going to start campus hubs.”

Daley said campus hubs is a club across universities throughout North Carolina to form a root for the future of the organization.

Daley is starting the first one in North Carolina in the fall.

“Right now, since we are so new, we want to just become involved throughout the community,” Daley said. “We want the community to know who we are and what we’re about.”

In the 2022 election, there will

be an open senate seat for the first time since 2004 in North Carolina.

Daley said the club will focus on pushing students throughout the community to registered to vote by organizing canvassing events and phone banks but also reaching out to high school students.

“I think that’s a really unserved population in terms of trying to get them to register to vote,” Daley said. “We want to push into the classrooms and talk about the importance of registering to vote and how they can.”

Daley said she hopes that will allow high school students to be set up for success when voting after graduating.

Before the fall semester, Daley is focusing on recruiting politically-minded students to be on the leadership team. After recruitment, Daley will apply to the official club charter for Secure the Ballot, to make App State’s club official.

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News

April 9, 2021

Breaking the model minority myth Asian American students react to racism in South, disregard from community

Club Hub on the second floor of the Plemmons Student Union oversees rooms for several organizations at App State such as the Black Student Association and Latin-Hispanic Alliance, however the Asian Student Association has not been able to commandeer a space.

Kara Haselton

Xanayra Marin-Lopez | Multimedia Editor Students involved in the App State Asian Student Association shared a statement to their Instagram with condolences for the Atlanta Spa attacks and plans to meet with Willie Fleming, the university’s chief diversity officer, to address concerns.

On March 16, a white gunman opened fire at three massage parlors in the Atlanta area. Eight people died, including six people from the Asian American community.

This shooting belongs to a string of crimes against people of Asian descent, which have increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stop AAPI Hate recently reported 3,795 incidents from March 19 last year to February 28 of this year. Anti-Asian racism during COVID-19 has spiked due to the virus originating from Wuhan, China.

Ruby George, president of ASA, said the group wrote the statement to make the Boone community aware that they exist in a predominantly white town.

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“ASA is here as a resource, a safe space for other Asian students on campus,” George said. “It’s hard to find a community here.”

According to 2019 data by the United States Census, the racial makeup of Boone is 93.4% white. Asian people make up 1.3% of the population and none are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

For George, it was important to not stay silent and complicit.

She said she has never necessarily felt “unsupported” on campus, but the university has never taken much interest in the Asian Student Association.

George recalled an instance where university administration told her because students of Asian descent have higher retention rates, they are not a priority for resources and attention.

Last academic year, George approached administration asking for a space in the Plemmons Student Union. Other cultural organizations like Black Student Association and

the Latin-Hispanic Alliance have their own spots designated in Club Hub on the second floor. “(Administration) was like ‘We aren’t gonna prioritize a space because we are limited in space and Asian Americans aren’t our concern on campus’ pretty much,” George said.

The Appalachian reached out to University Communications director Megan Hayes; however, she did not know about the incident. Intercultural Student Affairs, Fleming and other campus organizations have reached out to ASA to offer support, but George says she doesn’t know what the group needs.

“A lot of people keep reaching out and ask ‘How can we support you?’ I feel like it’s a very loaded question - honestly, I don’t really know how to answer that in so many words,” George said. “When you haven’t had ‘support’ for God knows how many years and now suddenly everyone wants to give you support, what do you ask for?”

The group has never had a working relationship with Fleming, but George said she would address the alleged comments from administration to him.

On March 18, Fleming sent a statement to students in support of Asian Americans.

“App State strongly denounces cultural racism and xenophobic actions, ” Fleming wrote.

ASA met with Fleming on March 25. A statement was posted to their Instagram after the meeting.

The organization asked for a town hall meeting where the community can air out grievances and discuss the Atlanta attacks. George said she hopes members of the Asian American community show out and take up space in the public forum.

“At the end of the day yes, I am Asian American and I’m a part of the Asian community, but I am not the Asian targeted by COVID-19 racism.

I’m not East Asian,” George said.

ASA requested that Chancellor Sheri Everts be in attendance.

Everts addressed Fleming’’s message on a March 26 Board of Trustees meeting.

“His words were especially meaningful, as he called upon the entire App State Community to stand together in solidarity to help bear the burden so many Asian Americans have borne unsupported,” Everts said.

Both the SGA cand the Black at App State Collective have released statements standing in solidarity with the Asian American community.

Korbin Cummings, director of diversity and inclusion for SGA penned the support statement in a post on Instagram. The Davis-Hunter administration denounced the racist and xenophobic actions of the Atlanta attacks.

Cummings is also a member of

the Black at App State Collective. The group’s statement read that “We must not allow prejudicial rhetoric to divide communities of color in the fight to end white supremacy and racism.”

Both organizations say they have reached out to ASA to offer support.

George also alleges that a member of ASA was harassed in the Walmart of Boone. Allegedly, someone spewed racist remarks at the student regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

ASA finance chair Geethma Pathirathna also recalls the incident.

She said a man in Walmart called the member a racial slur.

When you haven’t had ‘support’ for God knows how many years and now everyone wants to give you support, what do you ask for?

Like George, Pathirathna also said she doesn’t feel supported by the university.

“In my personal experience, what I’ve seen is that the university knows that we’re there, thinks that we’re small and that we’re self-sufficient,” Pathirathna said. “And that we kind of work under this model minority myth that we’ll come to this university, take classes, get our degree and then leave.”

Read more online at www.theappalachianonline.com

News

April 9, 2021

International Appalachian’s annual 5K goes global Hollie Moore | Reporter

From Boone to Brazil, App State students and people around the globe are running for a cause through the International Appalachian’s annual Coffee Buzz 5K. INTAPP, a student-run organization intended to encourage App State students to study abroad, will hold its ninth annual Coffee Buzz 5K between April 4 and 18 for the App State community “anywhere in the world (they) are located.”

App State student and former INTAPP member Landon Hill passed away in the fall of 2011 after contracting bacterial meningitis while studying abroad in Spain. His memory holds strong in the INTAPP organization

through the Coffee Buzz 5K, combining his two favorite things: coffee and running.

In a normal year without COVID-19, INTAPP would include a coffee cup in the logo and serve coffee after the race, along with water, bananas, and pastries. This year, the event will take on a virtual format, so coffee will only be incorporated into the logo, said Karen Marshall, INTAPP adviser.

“The turnout has been good, it’s not a huge crowd but there are still a couple people on campus who knew Landon,” said Ginger Hill, Landon Hill’s mother. “The run is definitely keeping his memory alive. We are very honored and pleased that INTAPP has continued this.”

Participants are asked to donate a minimum of $10 to the Landon Hill Memorial Scholarship to enter the 5K. INTAPP partners with the Office of International Education and Development to offer this scholarship to students who are interested in studying abroad and demonstrate a financial need.

Registration ended Thursday. participants can compete until April 18. The event’s new virtual format has opened a new opportunity for INTAPP and would-be participants outside of Boone, Marshall explains.

“Right now we have two people registered who are in Germany and one is in Brazil. It’s INTAPP people spread out around the world,”

said Marshall. “The great thing about doing this virtually is that it has allowed us to realize we can incorporate the alumni.”

Marshall said that in the past, the Coffee Buzz 5K has brought in a pretty steady crowd, between 60 and 80 participants. With the 5K now virtual, INTAPP is depending on social media and the #IRunWithLandon hashtag to spread the word.

“We really want people to register and raise as much money as we can for students to go abroad soon, they could be abroad this fall,” said Scott Spickard, the INTAPP outreach chair.

State prisons struggle with COVID safety, vaccination reluctance Ethan Hunt | Reporter The North Carolina commissioner of prisons addressed vaccine reluctance, COVID-19 safety challenges, and the struggles incarcerated people and prison staff face in a Zoom presentation to the App State community Tuesday.

Todd Ishee, North Carolina commissioner of prisons, said that when the pandemic began there were a lot of “unknowns.”

As the pandemic unfolded, prisons struggled to adapt to changing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, lacking personal protective equipment and sanitation supplies, Ishee said.

“People throughout the prison system, both our staff and offenders, began to get sick pretty quickly,” he said.

To combat this, the incarcerated population was organized into cohorts — family-sized units that ate, slept and lived together. Incarcerated people’s movements within the prison were restricted and mask mandates were put in place. Visitation was eliminated and air ionizing filtration systems were installed.

No person currently incarcerated in Watauga County has contracted

COVID-19, but 10 staff members, including deputies and detention staff, have gotten the virus, said Watauga County Sheriff Len Hagaman.

Hagaman said most of the staff has been vaccinated already and the rest will get it now that all North Carolina adults are eligible for a vaccine.

People who are incarcerated in Watauga County seeking the vaccine could receive the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine beginning April 7.

Nursing staff gives vaccinations in the detention centers.

Prisons, which are separate from county systems such as Watauga County Detention Center, started vaccinating incarcerated people and staff in January.

Ishee said that the prison system did an internal survey of its staff members asking who was interested in the vaccine. Of the 16,000 people employed in North Carolina prisons in January, 17% said they would like to get vaccinated.

After the survey the state’s prison system began educating its staff members about the vaccine and offering incarcerated people incentives, such as sentence reduction credits and commissary dollars to those who par-

ticipated in the vaccination program.

Ishee said around 50% of the staff is now willing to be vaccinated.

As of April 7, 1,751 staff members were partially vaccinated and 4,623 were fully vaccinated. In the incarcerated population, 12,158 people were partially vaccinated and 2,884

Of the 16,000 people employed in North Carolina prisons in January, 17% said they would like to get vaccinated ... were fully vaccinated. Nursing staff gave vaccinations in the prisons.

Ishee said he expects between 65% and 75% of offenders to accept the vaccine, but that they’re still “flirting” with the remaining 50% of the staff who have said they will decline inoculation.

As of April 6, the North Carolina prison system had 10,006 total

cases of COVID-19 among offenders and 57 total deaths among both offenders and staff since March 2020.

Ishee said most of the spread through the prison systems has come from staff and new offenders arriving from other institutions.

He said there are concerns that staff will quit if the system makes vaccines mandatory. Correctional facilities lost 700 employees because they contracted COVID-19 earlier in the pandemic. Currently 120 employees are still out and one-third of nursing staff positions are unfilled.

Ishee said prison administration has to be “sensitive,” but has not ruled out mandatory vaccinations.

Cohorting incarcerated people has had side effects: rehabilitation efforts suffered as prisons were unable to hold classes. Visitation was also eliminated until video visitation was implemented in fall 2020, Ishee said.

However, the cohorting system has brought some benefits. Because offenders have been unable to move freely throughout the prison, gang activity has decreased. Extortion and victimization are also down, Ishee said.

To combat the lack of PPE,

prisons began making their own using existing prison industries. Ishee said “luckily” North Carolina has the third largest correctional industry in the United States, including chemical plants with the ability to make necessary soaps and disinfectants.

Prisoners earn between $1.25 and $3.00 a day for work in these industries, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

In April 2020, the North Carolina prison system saw its first COVID-19 related death and the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the Department of Public Safety, calling for the release of offenders due to unsafe conditions brought about by COVID-19.

The suit was settled in January and the DPS agreed to release 3,500 incarcerated people over the next six months. Around 800 have been released so far, Ishee said.

Read more online at theappalachianonline.com

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News

April 9, 2021

Chick-fil-A closed until June for renovations Cameron Stuart | Reporter For the next two months, students will have to find new ways of getting their fix of chicken sandwiches and waffle fries.

Chick-fil-A Boone temporarily closed starting on March 31 at 10 p.m.

They announced the closure on their Facebook page March 29, sharing that the restaurant will get a remodel after 17 years of continuous business.

The page stated the process will take 6 to 8 weeks if all goes as planned.

Many students love Chick-fil-A and were sad to hear of its temporary closing.

“I’m pretty upset because it’s one of the fastest fast food restaurants and they have pretty good food health-wise,” said Kate Smith, a junior. “They have a bunch of options compared to all the other fast food restaurants in Boone.”

Chick-fil-A is normally open until 10 p.m., which Smith said she likes because it is one of the few options she has for food when she gets off work at 9 p.m.

Because Chick-fil-A is a popular fast food chain in many people’s hometowns, Smith said the Chickfil-A in Boone can help provide a sense of comfort to students and give App State students from different places something to bond over.

Junior Nathan Paciorek wrote in an email that he feels mostly fine about Chick-fil-A’s decision, adding that the fast food chain consistently has good service and food. “(The renovation) gives Chickfil-A a chance to improve their business further,” Paciorek said.

After ordering Chick-fil-A on March 31 and hearing about the closure later that day, App State alum Jack Sanders joked with his friends about selling their leftover food.

Sanders posted a picture of

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his cup of Dr. Pepper on Facebook group page App State Classifieds, writing, “Gently used Dr. Pepper from Chick-fil-A. Still about onethird full,” and started the “bidding” at $10. His post garnered almost 600 reactions and over 100 comments.

“I’m personally not very upset at all that they’re closed for renovations; I’m more of a Zaxby’s guy myself,” Sanders said. “But I do know that there’s lots of people here in town who are devastated that they

won’t be able to get their chicken minis in the morning for the time being.”

Junior Sally Matal is one of those students who goes to Chickfil-A for breakfast almost every day to get her daily chicken minis and iced coffee, and is already ready to get her “breakfast routine back.”

“It will be nice for them to have a modern update, but I also think it would have been smarter to wait and do this in the summer when the stu-

dent population for the most part is gone,” Matal said in an email.

The two nearest Chick-fil-As to Boone are located in Wilkesboro and Lenoir.

Wilkesboro store owner Mark Eller thinks his store might get more business due to the Boone Chick-filA’s temporary closure.

Eller said his store gets customers from Boone that “travel through here regularly,” and will likely see even more Boone guests as a result.

“I think it’ll give people time to support other businesses or small businesses,” Smith said. “Hopefully it’ll give people a chance to go out and find other places to go other than Chick-fil-A.” The Appalachian reached out to Boone Chick-fil-A before publication, but did not hear back.

Usually filled with lines wrapped around the building, the Chick-Fil-A on Blowing Rock Road is now filled with construction supplies and portable toilets as it closes to renovate the location.

Samuel Cooke

A&C

April 9, 2021

Bonding through business

King Street Hawaiian ice business brings family closer

Jaclyn Bartlett | Reporter For one family, shaved ice is more than a refreshing treat for the summer, it’s a business that brings them closer together.

Local Hawaiian-themed shaved ice business J&J’s Hawaiian Ice opened a new location on West King Street last month, with over 25 flavors, including sugar-free options.

“Everybody is welcome here,” said manager Vanessa Saufley. “It’s just always going to be a fun, upbeat environment for people. It’s a nice treat to have in the summer.”

Saufley is 21 years old and has worked for her parents Jacqueline and Jeremiah Smith’s business since she was 15, hence the J&J name.

The Smiths started the business in the summer of 2015, first with a tent and later with a concessions trailer they set up across the Boone Walmart. They also sold their icey concoctions at App State functions like sorority or fraternity events and sports games.

They have wanted a permanent location for a while, so when the opportunity opened up, the Smiths decided to finally go for it.

“We mainly wanted a store on King Street, and that opportunity came about this year, so we grabbed it,” Jacqueline Smith said.

Jeremiah and Jacqueline Smith started the business as an additional way to support their large family of eight children, alongside Jeremiah Smith’s construction business, Craftsman Who Care. Another motivation behind the business was creating something they could do as a family.

“They really just started it so that we could all spend time with each other,” Saufley said. “But it was also just something that you just don’t see around here.

Nobody had anything like that around here for at least several years.”

Jacqueline Smith said all but the two youngest of her eight children have taken part in the family business.

“I like it because we could always involve family,” Jacqueline Smith said. “It was always a fun time to take the children and interact with the customers. It’s just a family-type environment.”

The family also works together in creating the menu, coming up with their own unique flavor combinations.

“They’re all different combinations that we’ve just

made throughout the years, and we all worked together and came up with the names,” Saufley said.

There are stories behind the names as well. Saufley said Hawaiian Pippi, a mixture of cherry, banana and blue raspberry flavors, is named after her sister, and Bahama Mama, with mango, pineapple, pina colada and orange, is named after her mom.

“Anytime I recommend anything to anybody, it’s usually the Hawaiian Sunrise which has guava mango orange in it,” Saufley said. “And it’s just so pretty too. It looks exactly like a sunrise. It

tastes amazing.”

Customers can choose one of the family’s flavor combinations or come up with their own. They can also add toppings such as coconut shavings or sprinkles.

The shop is currently open noon to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

“It’s just a family business,” Saufley said. “We just like having those values, making people feel welcome.”

e c I d e v a Sh

Graphic by Efrain Arias-Medina jr.

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A&C

April 9, 2021

PLAYLIST OF THE WEEK When it rains it pours Luke Combs concert postponed again Ansley Puckett A&C Editor

Graphic by Camryn Collier

A global phenomenon offering fans seamless choreography, addictive beats, and extremely talented performers, K-pop has taken pop culture by storm. Coined “Hallyu,” or the Korean culture wave, K-pop rose to popularity after the expansion of South Korea’s radio broadcasting and the country’s exposure to American pop music.

Acts like Seo Taiji and Boys with their hit 1992 track “I Know” helped fuse South Korean culture and American-style pop music, innovating musically and exposing listeners to tracks covering topics outside of the norms at the time. Now, K-pop has gained extreme popularity outside of South Korea, and groups like BTS have become household names. Bringing $3.6 billion to the South Korean economy and dominating award shows, BTS and K-pop have become a fan powerhouse unlike any other.

Covering a wide range of genres, including rap, bubblegum pop, rock and more, K-pop has something for everyone. With groups like BLACKPINK, EXO and SEVENTEEN, it’s easy to find a K-pop group to love. So, here’s this week’s playlist honoring K-pop and its continuously changing and unforgettable music.

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Ansley Puckett | A&C Editor App State and Boone fans face another concert disappointment after Luke Combs announced his May 1 performance at Kidd Brewer Stadium will be rescheduled.

On Monday, Combs announced via Twitter that his performance in Kidd Brewer Stadium will not happen due to North Carolina COVID-19 restrictions.

Combs didn’t announce a new date but, all tickets will be valid for the rescheduled date.

According to a campus wide email, App State and Live Nation will provide details for refunds once a rescheduled date is announced if ticket holders cannot attend the new concert date.

Gov. Roy Cooper recently announced an increase in the mass gathering limit, increasing venue capacity for live performance to 50%.

Kidd Brewer Stadium, which can seat 30,000 people, could allow 4,500 fans. However, mass gatherings outdoors are limited to 100.

Combs’ performance at The Rock was

originally scheduled for May 2, 2020, and the singer rescheduled for May of this year because of the pandemic.

Fans took to Twitter to express their disappointment in Combs rescheduling the show a second time.

“I don’t mind waiting, even though I’m dying to get out to this show. Postponed is a lot better than canceled,” Jonathan Bym wrote on Twitter.

In an Instagram story, Combs encouraged fans to keep an eye on their inbox and his social media for the updated performance date.

“Trust me, I’ll be holding onto my floor seat,” Twitter user Connor Collette wrote.

Fans can check the Ticketmaster website for more information and the Live Nation website for the rescheduled date once decided.

A&C

April 9, 2021

Creating conversation Counseling Center fosters dialogue on inclusive classrooms Kenedy Singletary | Reporter In an effort to create more inclusive classrooms, the Counseling Center hosted the “Beyond the Books: Creating Race and Culture-Inclusive Classrooms” workshop, where faculty and staff learned ways to talk about race and inclusivity in the classroom and foster dialogue around these topics.

LaTonya Summers, assistant professor of clinical and mental health counseling at Jacksonville University, spoke to App State faculty and staff about creating racially and culturally-inclusive classrooms.

Summers said educators are adept at creating classrooms where students with different learning styles can succeed, but said, “the real question is, ‘how well are faculty and staff at creating learning spaces where students who are radically and culturally different can thrive?’”

Summers kicked off the conversation by asking faculty and staff to answer the question, “What were you told to focus on in the classroom?” Some of the responses included how they were taught to focus on the relationship with students, and others were taught to focus on multicultural competence and diversity.

Faculty member Gayatri Titus said she learned to focus on diversity, while Deborah Phillips said she learned to focus on the material, not the students.

In the chat function during the workshop,

faculty and staff admitted reasons why they avoid discussions of race and culture in the classroom.

Some of the reasons included the fear of having perspectives dismissed, wanting to treat everyone equally, and ensuring that they are sensitive to all contexts that make experiences unique and different.

“I attended the workshop to provide support to Summers while also showing that these workshops are valued,” said Dominique Hammonds, an assistant professor.

Hammonds said the workshop gave faculty and staff space to be vulnerable and honest while learning how to create these environments in their classrooms.

“Having important conversations like these allows for space for vulnerability and honest dialogue,” Hammonds said.

Summers also introduced the various stressors related to race that faculty and staff should be aware of, like frustration, irritability, defensiveness and sudden mood changes.

“To communicate with all students, it is important to be able to recognize these stressors because they can help identify why a student is not willing to open up to faculty and staff in and out of the classroom,” Summers said.

Read more online at www.theappalachianonline.com

Review Ansley Puckett | A&C Editor In a romance set against the unlikely backdrop of a retirement home, love blooms between an old soul and a seemingly unorganized slacker in what is the complete opposite of a meet-cute.

In USA Today Bestselling Author Sally Thorne’s third book, “Second First Impressions,” Ruthie Midona is stuck – stuck in Providence Retirement Villa, the same place she’s worked for years – uptight and afraid. When a new company buys the villa with promises to change it completely, the owner’s louder-thanlife son, Teddy Prescott, stumbles into her life.

Tall and covered in tattoos, Teddy contradicts Ruthie’s tidy personality in every way, and to make matters worse, he mistakes her for an old lady at first glance. Hurt and embarrassed, Ruthie must find a place for Teddy at the villa while he saves up for his own tattoo studio, and Ruthie has the perfect job for him.

The 90-year-old Providence residents Aggie and Renata Parloni have gone through more assistants than they can count during their time at Providence Retirement Villa, and Teddy Prescott is now next in line for the job. Ruthie prepares herself to watch the ultimate payback unfold before her eyes while also juggling the persistent persuasion of Melanie’s, the new office temp, offer to help her get back in the dating scene.

However, Teddy’s time as the Parloni’s assistant and Ruthie’s new love life is not what she expected.

Ruthie finds herself succumbing to Teddy’s charm and humor, but can he help her save Providence and the endangered turtles that roam the grounds from the Prescott’s bulldozers of change?

“Second First Impressions” is a romance filled with unexpected

Graphic by Camryn Collier themes and insanely cute moments. Told from first-person point of view, Ruthie is an extremely likable main character fully fleshed out by her dreams of becoming a veterinarian, her subtle humor and a childhood trauma that has followed her into adulthood.

Although set in a retirement home, Thorne’s book is anything but boring, and she moves the story along with Ruthie’s journey to feeling her age again and her development into a confident character.

Not only does Ruthie rediscover love, but she also rediscovers friendship in her relationship with Melanie.

Their bond keeps the story from the woes of the “you need a man to save you” love story and turns it into a story about opening yourself back up to the possibility of love in all areas of your life.

With a little bit of something for everyone, “Second First Impressions” leaves you satisfied, surprised and somewhat wistful for more details. If it weren’t for the well-done and satisfying wrap-up of the story, the book would be at risk for an almost unrealistic, rushed happily ever after ending, but it was almost too cute to merit complaints.

“Second First Impressions” is a lighthearted story about taking risks and opening yourself back up to love after trauma. Great for fans of romance and character development, the book makes no groundbreaking statements, but it’s a cute read nonetheless.

“Second First Impressions” will be available for purchase on April 13.

LaTonya Summers, assistant professor of clinical and mental health counseling at Jacksonville University, speaking to App State faculty and staff virtually about ways to create racially and culturally inclusive classrooms.

Kenedy Singletary

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A&C

April 9, 2021

LIGHTS CAMERA FOOTBALL Best friends create film about famous football figure Sabrina Hess | Reporter Sheffield and Wilson said that despite the film’s unusualness, they hope their admiration for Orgeron will still shine through.

The film, titled “KiD O,” centers around the early life of Louisiana State University football coach Ed Orgeron. The film focuses on 14-year-old Orgeron growing up in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, as he struggles to decide between his love of football and his love of poetry.

App State junior Wesley Sheffield and senior Wade Wilson said a 60 Minutes interview of Orgeron inspired them to make the film. They later decided to base “KiD O” solely on the interview.

Sheffield and Wilson, who are best friends and roommates, attributed much of the film’s success to their friendship. Wilson said he thinks he and Sheffield work well together.

“Wesley is a lot more extroverted, and I can put pen to paper. We’ll hit a weird creative period, and we’ll make something,” Wilson said.

The pair has not aimed for historical accuracy when making “KiD O.” As far as they’re aware, Orgeron never had a passion for poetry growing up; Wilson came up with the idea when they were brainstorming together, thinking it would be funny.

Parks Lewis, who plays 14-year-old Oregon in the film, said Sheffield and Wilson dragged him into the film.

“I first saw a graphic that said: ‘Kid O: Starring Parks Lewis’ on Wade and Wesley’s Instagram story, so I texted them, and they were like, ‘Yeah, you’re the main character in a movie,’” Lewis said.

Lewis, who later agreed to join the cast after seeing the graphic, said it’s been a lot of fun to film. Sheffield and Wilson have also enlisted the help of roughly 40-45 friends in total to work on the film in some capacity.

The group of students has only been working on the film for a month, and they hope to have the film ready for showing by mid-May. Sheffield and Wilson have been keeping much of what happens in the film under wraps, even to their friends involved with the film. The pair said they want

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their friends to be surprised when they all watch it in May. Laura Buck, the poetry writer and official linguist on staff for “KiD O,” said she likes that much of the film will be a surprise.

“I love surprises, and I love Wesley’s art. I think he’s a great artist,” Buck said. “I’m excited to see the final product.”

Buck has also loved how much she’s learned while working on the film. Buck, who is pursuing a minor in Linguistics, said she applied her minor when researching the specific Louisiana Creole that people speak in Lafourche Parish. Buck has used these findings to help inform the poems that she writes for the film.

“I’m finding new words that I’m including in the poetry to mark where it’s from,” Buck said. One poem that she has written, titled “Louisiana and Nature,” used the Louisiana Creole word “araignée,” which means spider in English.

Sidney Moore, who plays Ed Orgeron’s love interest, Adelaide Babet, in the film, said the film has given her the opportunity to explore a field that she isn’t studying at App State. Moore is an advertising major, but she has been able to explore her love of acting through “KiD O.” “I’ve always dreamed of becoming an actress,” Moore said. “I absolutely have not minded being in front of the camera. As odd and dysfunctional it has been, I’ve enjoyed it.”

Sheffield and Wilson said that despite the film’s unusualness, they hope their admiration for Orgeron will still shine through.

“I think Ed O has a level of grit that you really like, he has a type of character or persona that is really good at winning football games, and it’s just awesome to see it,” Sheffield said. “Honestly, we’re making this out of respect for him.”

Sheffield and Wilson said that despite the film’s unusualness, they hope their admiration for Orgeron will still shine through.

Andy McLean

Sports

April 9, 2021

Bigfoots bring summer baseball to Boone

Summer baseball is coming to the High Country this year with the Boone Bigfoots set to play their inaugural season. Beaver Field at Jim and Bettie Smith Stadium, App State baseball’s home field, will be the summer home of the Bigfoots Courtesy of App State Athletics

Connor Davidson | Associate Multimedia Editor Every summer, all across the country, summer baseball teams give college players a chance to develop their skills and have fun doing so.

Boone will no longer be left out of the fun thanks to its new collegiate-level summer baseball team, the Boone Bigfoots.

The idea for the team came from owner Bob Wilson, who saw an opportunity to bring summer baseball to Boone last summer amid shutdowns and quarantines. Wilson also wants to help App State by putting all profit toward the Appalachian State Athletic Scholarship Fund after spring sports were cut short.

“People get into summer baseball for different reasons,” head coach Ryan Smoot said. “In my few weeks knowing Bob and the couple times I’ve talked to him, I’m not sure anyone has

ever gotten into it for more selfless reasons than him.”

Smoot, a former player and current volunteer assistant for the App State baseball team, was named Bigfoots head coach Feb. 22. He played summer baseball in college and understands everything a player can gain from this experience, such as getting chances to create new relationships and develop as a player. On March 11, the Bigfoots partnered with App State, allowing the team access to the Mountaineers’ facilities.

“Their development is of the utmost importance for them,” Smoot said. “Having the resources, the field, the cage area, the locker room that they’re going to be able to get their work in and develop as players, that’s huge.”

The Bigfoots are a member of

the brand new Textile League, consisting of eight teams across North Carolina and Virginia. Eligible players for leagues like this one are college athletes with eligibility left or graduating high school seniors. Some teams in the league are brand new, while others are coming in from other leagues, but the mission remains the same for everyone. “(The leagues) are there to give players a place to play in the summer and develop, and also give those communities and those places a summer experience,” Smoot said.

The way players are recruited to the team is mostly through connections Smoot made playing summer baseball and coaching for App State.

Every year, a pool of players nationwide looks to play summer baseball, so Smoot started building his 25-man

team by reaching out to college coaches and seeing if there were any players who wanted to play for the Bigfoots.

“I've been fortunate that our staff here at App has a lot of connections in the state and then the region to some coaches who have players that kind of fit what we’re looking for,” Smoot said.

One corner of the country some Bigfoots players come from is Southern California, where outfielder Miguel Abascal plays for Biola University. Abascal and Smoot played together two summers ago in California, so when Smoot reached out asking if he wanted to come to Boone and play for the Bigfoots, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

“I’m very excited to go down there, experience a little bit of that culture, try to get to know the city a little bit and that area,” Abascal said.

“I’m also just looking forward to playing. I feel like with COVID and stuff, everything’s just been so limited.”

A unique experience that summer baseball brings is the opportunity for players to stay with a host family. The NCAA forbids paid living expenses for college-level athletes, requiring the team to rely on the community to house its players. Host families provide players with housing, a place to do laundry and serve as a guide to an area they may not know too well.

“It’s a really cool opportunity to meet some people to have a relationship that can last longer than just a few months in the summer,” Smoot said.

“There’s a lot that the player gets out of it.”

Read more online at www.theappalachianonline.com

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Sports

April 9, 2021

Mountaineers step toward next level at 2021 pro day

Former App State standouts (from left) Shemar Jean-Charles, Ryan Neuzil, Noah Hannon and Zac Thomas participated in the program’s annual pro day April 1. “This is something we’ve all been looking forward to since we were kids,” Jean-Charles said.

Courtesy of App State Athletics

Silas Albright | Sports Editor

Cameron Burnett | Senior Reporter

Former App State football standouts Shemar JeanCharles, Zac Thomas, Ryan Neuzil and Noah Hannon participated in the program’s annual pro day at the Sofield Family Indoor Practice Complex April 1.

“It was a dream come true just to have this opportunity to perform at a pro day,” Jean-Charles said. “This is something we’ve all been looking forward to since we were kids.”

Jean-Charles weighed in at 184 pounds and hit 19 reps in the 225-pound bench press. At the start of offseason training, Jean-Charles was in the single digits for bench press reps. He finished the 40-yard dash in 4.47 seconds and maxed out his vertical leap at 35 inches.

The cornerback from Miramar, Florida, earned first team All-American honors from the Walter Camp Football Foundation for his 2020 performance. As one of the nation’s top defensive backs, he ranked first in the FBS in both pass breakups (16) and passes defended (17). PFF College named him the Sun Belt Player of the Year.

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Three-year starting quarterback Thomas impressed during his workouts. Coming in at just over 6 feet tall and 205 pounds, he showed his quickness in the 40-yard dash in 4.59 seconds. Thomas finished his career with 19 rushing touchdowns and showed scouts why he was able to score so much.

“I (had personal records) in everything … it’s very promising to see that, and you get a lot of feedback from scouts on what I need to improve in my game,” Thomas said. “I was very pleased with the way I threw the ball, it was coming out of my hand very well.”

Thomas finished his career with a 32-6 record as a starter, which is good for the third-most wins in App State history. On top of the wins, Thomas is also top five in program history in touchdown passes, passing yards, total yards and total touchdowns.

Neuzil, an offensive lineman who came off the bench in his first two games as a freshman before starting the final 44 games of his App State career, knocked out 30 reps

on the bench press and ran the 40 in 5.09 seconds. At last year's NFL Combine, 30 reps would’ve ranked in the top five of offensive linemen and his 40 time would’ve been in the top 10.

“It was really good, being able to show that I was able to put on about 15 pounds and still perform very well, and still be able to do the drills with the added weight,” Neuzil said.

Neuzil was named a second team All-American in 2020 by PFF College and the Sporting News. Starting all 12 games for the Mountaineers at left guard in 2020, the Bradenton, Florida native helped App State rank seventh in the nation with 264.9 rushing yards per game. Neuzil also recorded 50 knockdown blocks in the 2020 regular season.

Hannon, an undersized offensive lineman, made a position change and looks to play fullback for an opportunity in the NFL. Hannon was a two-time All-Sun Belt offensive lineman and started all 52 games during his career, ranking third all-time in starts at App State.

“I got a couple calls over a couple of weeks from some teams and they’re all saying the same thing: ‘What do you think about playing fullback?’” Hannon said. “I started training for (fullback) which is why I’m not the 272 (pounds).”

Hannon weighed in at 238 pounds and ran an impressive 4.68 second 40-yard dash. After dropping around 30 pounds in a short time, Hannon has made the position change fast and also didn’t drop a pass during his drills with Thomas from the backfield.

The quartet is happy with their performances and will continue to prepare for the NFL Draft, which takes place April 29-May 1.

Former App State first team All-American cornerback Shemar Jean-Charles sprints during the 40-yard dash at pro day April 1. Jean-Charles finished the 40 in 4.47 seconds. He weighed in at 184 pounds and maxed out at 19 reps on the 225-pound bench press, and his vertical leap was 35 inches.

Courtesy of App State Athletics

Sports

April 9, 2021

“Identical”

Sutton brothers build together in Boone Cameron Burnett | Senior Reporter Super senior wide receiver Corey Sutton decided to opt-out of the 2020 season to take time to rehab from his knee injury that sidelined him late in the 2019 season. Now, returning to the team, he is no longer the only member of the Sutton family on the roster.

Freshman wide receiver Coen Sutton is the brother of Corey and committed to App State as a 3-star recruit. The pair are almost identical in size, both weighing in at 205 while Corey Sutton is one inch taller than Coen at 6-foot-3.

“It’s funny to watch Corey and Coen because they run the same exact routes, it looks like identical twins … Corey is just a lot more mature and ahead of his time,” head coach Shawn Clark said. “It’s fun to watch Corey coach up Coen and see him take that in, he’s like a sponge right now.”

These two brothers are not the first Sutton family members at App State. Their parents, Clarence and Shannon Sutton, are both alums and Clarence was teammates with Clark during his Mountaineer career. Clark and Clarence Sutton were members of the 1995 Mountaineers who finished 12-1 and won the Southern Conference. Now, the family legacy continues and the family won’t have to travel far to see their sons play.

“I think it’s good for both of my parents that they didn’t have to come to two different schools,” Corey Sutton said. “A lot of our family members went here so I think it’s good, more than just being at the school (my dad) played at, just having us at the same school is a good upside.”

Since arriving on campus, Coen Sutton has been learning at a quick pace from coaches, as well as shadowing his brother who is spending his fourth season with the program. Sutton averaged 20.1 yards per catch during his high school junior season before his senior season was derailed by the pandemic.

Coen Sutton committed to App State in July of 2020 and made the decision solely by himself, where Corey Sutton said he didn’t want to impact his brother’s decision.

“I wasn’t leaning him (to come to App) really and I didn’t come here at first either, but (Coen) knew what it was though, from watching me up here and telling him about it,” Corey Sutton said. “It was really his decision, but when he told me he wanted to do that, of course I was with it.”

With all starting wide receivers from the 2020 season returning, Coen Sutton will likely not see many snaps but will spend a large portion of the season learning from the

App State fans have grown to love star wide receiver Corey Sutton over his career with the Mountaineers for his highlight-reel catches and game-changing plays. Now, Mountaineer fans have another Sutton to cheer for: Corey’s younger brother, Coen, is a freshman wide receiver on the team.

Courtesy App State Athletics/Cooper Quickel

likes of his brother and super senior wide receiver Thomas Hennigan. “(Coen) can watch me work and we can make each other better, it’s a good thing. I’m more focused on this being my last year, but it’s good from a developmental standpoint having him here,” Corey Sutton said.

For Corey Sutton, this season will be a comeback story after spending more than a year without a snap in the Black and Gold, and he wants to make the most out of his final opportunity, especially with his brother watching from so close.

“I haven’t had a full season except for 2018 here, but it’s 2021 now and I’m a whole different athlete right now. It’s time to go out there and just let everything fall how it’s going to fall,” Corey Sutton said.

Now, with spring practice in full swing and the pair practicing together, the 2021 season will be a huge moment for the Sutton family, who has such a strong legacy up in Boone. Corey Sutton is cur-

rently tied for fifth in App State history in receiving touchdowns with 17 and will look to inch closer to the record held by Brian Quick, the highest NFL Draft pick in App State history, with 31 touchdowns from 2008-10.

Coen Sutton wants to live up to the expectations that come with the family name, and has made strides early in practice in Boone.

“I’m just watching everything (Corey) does and translating it to my game, because our games are so similar, and just trying to use that to better myself,” Coen Sutton said. “The culture here is so different, it’s such a family environment, Coach Clark is just such a cool head coach and I love him. I’m just looking up to all these super seniors and trying to build off them.”

The Mountaineers will continue spring practice as the season continues to inch closer to its start in September vs. East Carolina at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, the home of the Carolina Panthers.

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Sports

April 9, 2021

Appalachian FC hosts final open tryout,

home opener set for May 7 Alex Urquiza | Reporter Appalachian FC hosted its final open tryout Saturday April 3 at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex as the club prepares for its season opener.

“It’s been a long but fun process in terms of the player recruitment, the next phase now is finalizing the roster and making sure we got a good introduction to the training schedule as we lead into the first game,” head coach Dale Parker said.

The players warmed up in four groups for training drills. One group was a goalkeeper kicking and catching drill and the three remaining groups were passing and dribbling drills for the outfielders.

The tryouts hosted two sets of eight versus eight scrimmage matches on half of a regulation soccer field for 15 minutes, with a water break afterward. Another set of eight versus eight scrimmages occurred for 15 minutes with two sides switching fields. After the time passed, the players received another water break. The tryouts finished off with a traditional 11 versus 11 on a full regulation field.

The tryouts brought in 40 players, reaching the maximum number of participants for the second time. Ten of these players were called back from the first open tryout, with the remaining 30 coming from a mix of different backgrounds.

Christian Romero from Thomasville was one of many players who tried out for the inaugural squad.

“I’m trying to get to the next level.

I’m working hard, putting in the hours, and hopefully you know, I got dreams I wanna achieve,” Romero said. “The league they are in seems competitive, so we were like ‘alright, let’s go see what it’s about’ and yeah, I enjoyed it, it was a solid 9.”

Riley Rittle, a Boone local who is a senior at Watauga High School, also tried out for the squad.

“The team is great, even if a couple of people including myself don’t make it, it was just a fun experience and the team is going to be great,” Rittle said. “It’s amazing that it is coming to Boone with App State men’s soccer team getting cut last year, it’s fun to

have another team out here to cheer for.”

Only a handful of players from the open tryouts will make the squad, according to Parker, as they are only looking to fill in the final roster pieces that are missing.

“Overall it’s been a good two tryouts, I think this one, we really hit the peak in terms of level compared to the first one,” Parker said.

Appalachian FC currently has 12 players on its roster, which will be finalized in the next week or two, Parker says. Most players have signed behind the scenes, and six of those players are former App State men’s soccer players.

“I’ll never say never, but I find it unlikely at this point to recruit players outside of tryouts,” Parker said. “We hit a good number of players if you add in the players that we saw also today.

Unless players drop out or a superstar we don’t know about that reaches out to us, I don’t see us doing much more recruitment.”

May 7, Appalachian FC will host its first home game against the Tri-City

Forty soccer players came out to Appalachian FC’s final tryout. “The team is great, even if a couple of people including myself don’t make it, it was just a fun experience and the team is going to be great,” said Watauga High School senior Riley Rittle, who tried out for the team.

Alex Urquiza

Otters, kicking off the King of The Mountain youth soccer tournament that is being held May 8 and 9.

“I’d much prefer the first home game to be a league game to get everybody happy and to get everybody buzzing about the season, but at the same time, it’s also the opening day of the Youth Tournament in the area which is massive,” Parker said. “If we can get

Appalachian FC hosted its final open tryout at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex in Boone April 3. “Overall it’s been a good two tryouts, I think this one, we really hit the peak in terms of level compared to the first one,” head coach Dale Parker said.

Alex Urquiza

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people coming out and provide good soccer entertainment in the evening, I think it’s great for the kids to come out and watch.”

Appalachian FC will play two exhibition games against the Tri-City Otters on May 7 and 9. The first game will be played at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex and the second game at the TVA Credit Union Ballpark, home of the Tri-City Otters at Johnson City Tennessee. The exhibition games are designed for Appalachian FC to experiment with their squad where they will find out what their best starting eleven is according to Parker.

“The philosophy will stay the same, but with the players we have, we need to find the right formation and right balance,” Parker said.

Appalachian FC will have its first game in club history on Saturday, May 1 against Metro Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky in their National Premier Soccer League opener.

Opinion

April 9, 2021

caleb’s

CONCEPTS

The world of

tradeoffs

Caleb Garbuio | Opinion Editor

An election’s goal in a democratic society is to convince as many people as possible that a politician represents their interests. If enough people believe their promises and vote for them they win the election. Yet, elections always end and constituents naturally expect their champion to give them what they promised. After all, a promise without substance is an empty one, and politicians must honor promises if they hope to get reelected.

There’s only one problem: solutions result in more problems.

Take the debate about lockdowns following COVID-19. Many governors imposed statewide lockdowns to halt the spread of COVID-19 to prevent people from dying from the disease.

Despite some studies showing the restriction’s effectiveness, there are peer reviewed studies that show side effects: COVID-19 restrictions are correlated with other adverse health problems. Some of these problems include an increase in alcohol sales and lethal drug overdoses resulting in the highest number of vehicle-related deaths in 13 years. However, the biggest criticism of the restrictions was its effect on the economy. Unemployment is a stressor and prolonged stress is associated with worse health outcomes. Preliminary research found that the long

term effects of COVID-19 will result in the deaths of 800,000 people over the next 15 years, while the Center for Disease Control found that from March to October COVID-19 was responsible for 198,081 excess deaths.

While lockdowns may have been effective at preventing COVID-19, they created a host of additional problems.

This concept is known in economics as the opportunity cost, or what you are giving up to get something else. This idea is best illustrated by the saying “there is no free lunch.”

If your friend buys you food, despite your not denting your wallet, the same cannot be said for your friend.

The same holds true for society. Despite many of us not paying directly to use roads, fire departments, etc. we still pay through taxes. We give up our money, and in this example, get something in return. Yet, we have less money in our pockets. Is this a bad thing?

You may not like having to pay to use roads since the government took some of it in the form of taxes. However, with that money exchanged, you are able to use transportation services.

There is no such thing as a perfect world. There are only alternatives. The goal of public policy should be to maximize the benefits while reducing the consequences.

Man, Machine and Math Can we automate reason?

Jakobe Bussey | Reporter In the modern world, terms like machine learning, artificial intelligence and intelligent systems have become ubiquitous, and rightly so. There has never been a time in human history that we’ve had the raw power to fully utilize neural networks so seamlessly, and the results have been astonishing. True, this is far away from artificial general intelligence, the holy grail of artificial intelligence research, but the tricks our cutting-edge systems can do are worth noting.

Indeed, the question for this century does not appear to be “what can artificial intelligence do?” It seems closer to “what can’t artificial intelligence do?” The limits we place upon this technology seem to collapse just as quickly as we put them up.

There was once a time where one could guess that a computer could never play a game like chess at a high enough level to stand a chance against a grandmaster. The raw human emotion interspersed during a chess match seemed simply too daunting to replicate. Yet that idea was toppled last century at the hands of Deep Blue, the chess playing super computer that defeated Gary Kasparov, one of the greatest chess players in history. Even the arts, the bastion of human expression and the inner reaches of the soul, have been under barrage by the fascinating advances in language processing, prediction models like GPT-3 and not to mention that an AI-generated painting sold for over $400,000 in 2018. With the humanities in its crosshairs, it seems almost comical to assume that mathematics, the most numerical and computationally extensive field, would be safe from the onslaught of AI… but perhaps not.

The conversation surrounding whether one could automate mathematics and create a program that can execute mathematical reasoning on a creative level has been hotly debated in mathematical circles for quite some time.

But, to understand the depth of their debate, one must make the distinction between “doing math” and the central function of a mathematician, constructing proofs.

A mathematical proof is a methodical stream of logic that argues for the verification of a certain “conjecture.”

Once this proof is validated, it becomes a theorem (like The Pythagorean Theorem or The Fundamental Theorem of Calculus), which can be used by other mathematicians to make more proofs. In some respects, mathematical proofs are analogous to the theories generated in other scientific fields. However, unlike the other scientific fields,

mathematical proofs require a great deal more precision in their creation, as they are more intimately linked with logic in a way that most other scientific disciplines are not.

A mathematician cannot simply assume that a property holds even if he has witnessed a million instances where it has. He must rigorously prove the property from the logic itself. It is that logical reasoning that undergirds the writing of proofs, but could we possibly implement this high-level reasoning into a computer?

This is not a trivial question, even taking into account the trouncing AI has given to other fields. Paul Cohen, a late mathematical logician and Fields Medalist, espouses a view that is most comparable to a mathematical philosophy called “Formalism.” One of the central elements of this perspective is that ultimately mathematics is just string and symbol manipulation and thus easily applicable to computation. However, the Platonist view that seems to grip most mathematicians today stands in stark contrast with this opinion. The Platonist perspective provides mathematics with a more ethereal quality, stating that mathematics has eternal and unchanging properties; This makes mathematical proof more of an exercise in discovery as opposed to simply shifting different symbols around on paper. This doesn’t necessarily eliminate the plausibility of machines writing truly exceptional proofs, but it certainly doesn’t seamlessly support the case for automation like the Formalist view.

Now is advanced statistics running on a high-end supercomputer really all that is required to prove (or disprove) the Riemann Hypothesis? Probably not, but the world of technology is constantly evolving and, if machine learning engineers further incorporated logical systems into their algorithms, there could be a time in the future that we could prove exceptional things with our computer companions. How far or close we are to that time remains to be seen

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Et Cetera

April 9, 2021

Raising the Carb

JACKIE PARK

Recipe by Sophia Lyons

Pasta is a time-honored favorite dish, and for good reason. It’s an ideal vehicle for many kinds of sauces, ranging from tomato-based to creamy, meat or no.

Carbonara is a super easy final form for pasta: it doesn’t require a long ingredients list or cook time, and its flavors appeal to even picky eaters.

Although this recipe isn’t authentically Italian, it comes together quickly with ingredients many people already have in the fridge. Onion, garlic, bacon, Parmesan cheese and eggs come together in a creamy sauce that coats spaghetti noodles well, but small, ruffled pasta even better.

Use whatever pasta in your pantry, and don’t try to cook the sauce faster than recommended in the last step – scrambled egg pasta isn’t quite as good as creamy carbonara.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

editor@theappalachianonline.com

EDITORIAL MICKEY HUTCHINGS

SILAS ALBRIGHT

SOPHIA LYONS

CALEB GARBUIO

EMILY BROYLES

ANSLEY PUCKETT

MANAGING EDITOR

CHIEF COPY EDITOR

• 1 small onion • 2 cloves garlic • 5 strips bacon • 1 egg • 3 egg yolks (Save the whites for something else or discard)

• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving • Ground black pepper • Salt • 8 ounces pasta (1/2 box) • Parsley for serving, if you like

OPINION EDITOR A&C EDITOR

NEWS EDITOR

Very Easy Carbonara 2 to 3 servings 30 minutes total time

SPORTS EDITOR

MULTIMEDIA ANNA MUCKENFUSS

XANAYRA MARIN-LOPEZ

JESSE BARBER

EFRAIN ARIAS-MEDINA JR.

APPALACHIAN WEEKLY NEWS PRODUCER PHOTO EDITOR

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR GRAPHICS EDITOR

BUSINESS SHELLY BANZ

BUSINESS MANAGER

business@theappalachianonline.com Step one: Getting started Dice the onion, mince the garlic and slice the strips of bacon widthwise to make small 1/2” strips. Beat the egg and egg yolks, then stir in the Parmesan cheese, a pinch of salt and as much ground black pepper as you like (it should be strongly peppery). Bring a pot of well-salted water to a boil.

Step two: Starting with the sauce When the water starts boiling, add the pasta and cook for 4 minutes less than package directions, or until it’s still a little crunchy in the middle. Don’t pour out the pasta water. Put a cold skillet on a burner and put in the sliced bacon. Turn the burner to medium heat and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to prevent burning, until the bacon just starts browning. Add the onions and garlic and saute over medium heat until the pasta is done or the onions start to brown, whichever comes first.

Step three: Finishing the pasta Add the undercooked pasta and one cup of the reserved pasta water to the skillet. Simmer for a minute or two, and turn the heat off. Slowly pour one cup of the reserved pasta water into the egg mixture, stirring all the while to prevent scrambling the eggs. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet, stirring, and turn the heat to medium-low.

Step four: Bringing it all together Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly or using tongs to toss the pasta, until the mixture reaches a texture you like, 5 to 6 minutes – it’ll thicken as it cools. The sauce starts extremely watery, but the egg slowly cooks and thickens the sauce; don’t try to speed up the process or the eggs will scramble in the pasta. Just keep tossing over medium-low until it gets there. Taste and adjust for seasoning before serving with more Parmesan cheese, ground black pepper and parsley as desired.

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