I n d ep en d en t
Issue no.
S t u de nt
V o i c e
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B o is e
S tat e
Sin c e
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August
17
2011
Volume 24
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Boise, Idaho
First issue free
Top Stories
Straw polls
It’s too soon to rely on straw polls for political predictions.
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Pro athletes played hard
Turn to sports to see what has happened this summer.
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Gearing up Are your school supplies high-tech or retro?
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Tasha Adams News Editor
Local Boisean Matt Pipkin is going to attempt to break the world record for the longest continuous flight by strapping himself into an airplane that will not touch the ground for 65 days straight. But he isn’t doing it for fame. He isn’t doing it for fun. He isn’t even doing it so he can meet Ellen DeGeneres. He is doing it because he wants to make some noise. “I am using this flight to create a national platform from which to launch an ongoing national campaign about childhood sexual abuse,” Pipkin explains on his Posterous.com site. For nine years between the ages of five and 14, Pipkin was sexually molested by a family friend. He now explains how he grew up keeping the abuse secret until he finally sought counseling in 2009. He opened up about the horrific experience on his blog, and speaking up about his own fear, guilt and shame empowered him to create Commit 65, a grassroots nonprofit movement aimed to encourage victims of sexual abuse to “speak their silence.” The program will raise money to allow Pipkin and others to commit 65 days for the record-breaking flight, 65 hours for an endurance challenge and 65 seconds for making noise. In an effort to bring attention to his cause, Pipkin has partnered with Boise State’s Entrepreneur Club. Together they hope to bring the endurance challenge to campuses across the country. They are currently looking for clubs and organizations at universities nationwide to participate in the challenge. Beginning on Sept. 19 and continuing for 65 straight hours, students will simultaneously paddle a paddle-ball. While stand-
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Matt Pipkin (right) and his father, Chet Pipkin (left), prepare for a 65-day endurance flight. ing on a chair. While the activity may seem random, there is a reason behind it. “It is silly, fun and light-hearted and that is important to Matt,” said Drew Heilman, secretary of the Entrepreneur Club at Boise State and active supporter for the cause. It will also create some clatter, reminding victims to “speak their silence.” Pipkin has some high expectations for the endurance challenge. “By the time it’s over, we expect to see Ellen Degeneres on her show standing on a chair and playing paddle ball,” he jokes on his blog. Immediately after the paddleballing, there will be 65 seconds of noise. For victims of sexual abuse, keeping silent can turn into a heavy burden so Commit 65 is encouraging participants to speak up by creating a little noise of their own. Shout. Yell. Declare. Make noise. Speak your silence.
—commit65.org
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The Arbiter
There are up to 80,000 reports of child sexual abuse each year. Ninety percent of victims never tell anyone.
photo Courtesy Alex Couey
Matt Pipkin, native Boisean and founder of Commit 65.
glenn landberg/THE ARBITER archives
Matt Pipkin (right) and his father (left) test out their airplane.
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One in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
Edina Macic
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One in four girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.
Unemployment leads graduates back home
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Facts about sexual abuse
You see, this was a secret of mine from age 5, when it happened (multiple times), up until I was 14, when I finally told my parents about it one Saturday afternoon, suspecting my heart might explode if I didn’t. I had to get it off my chest, but I was terrified to do it. Why? Because I hadn’t tied my experience with the word “molestation”. No, being as I was 5 when it happened, I had always carried that 5-year old logic with it. I didn’t realize I was a victim, but saw myself as an accomplice. I knew that what we were doing was bad, but I didn’t know what “IT” was. I didn’t even have a title to give it.
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A flight, paddle-balls, a lot of noise for a cause
The career goals and dreams a graduate sets this year may be hard to reach. Recent graduates have realized how tough the real world is with the unemployment rate in Idaho, which stands at a 9.4 percent as of May 2011, according to the United States Department of Labor Statistics. That puts Idaho in the top 25 percent of the nation for high unemployment rates. Although hiring rates have climbed in the past couple of months, the 9.4 percent unemployment rate has some graduates worried and others moving back home. In 2010, college graduate employment rate was 54 percent, which means parents were still in support mode. According to a recent Twentysomething Inc. poll, approximately 85 percent of newly graduated alunmi
nationwide will be moving home immediately after college. The crumpled economy and lack of available jobs has affected nearly everyone including recent college graduates. Morgan Anderson, a 21-year-old Boise State graduate with a mass communication degree, said that in the same month she graduated, she lost her job. “It was very difficult to find a job. I literally can’t tell you how hard it was for me to find one. It’s difficult for recent grads to find a job because everyone would rather have something that money can’t buy: experience,” Anderson said. Anderson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in two years in December 2010, lacking the experience employers needed. She was unemployed for four months and lived with her parents until January of this year. Taylor Little, 23 years old, also has a
mass communication/journalism degree from Boise State. He told The Arbiter he was glad he didn’t have to hunt for a job because he got an early start working for the university, but he sees why alumni are having a difficult time this year. “It’s tough for grads to find a job because a lot of my peers wasted their time on internships that wouldn’t help them instead of trying to play to their strengths, they relied on friends to ‘hook them up’ with something they wouldn’t have to work at,” Little said. Little also said he understands his opportunity was rare, but thinks that if students take their time in school and plan for the future, they won’t face such dire situations after graduation. Hopefully there will be a light at the end of the tunnel by September as the Idaho State Department of Labor stated on its website it looks to create more jobs, especially for those recent graduates.
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