The Arbiter 4.10.18 Vol. 30 Issue 28

Vol. 30 Issue 28

April 10, 2018

IN D EPEN D E NT

NEWS

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2018 Ethos Symposium

ST U D E NT

V O I CE

O F

B O I SE

CULTURE

10

Red Bull fuels BSU Students

STAT E

S I N C E

1 9 3 3

SPORTS & REC

17

Ostrander Track and cross country Star

EVENTS student union building

WED APRIL 11 8:30 am - 4 pm

MEDIA LITERACY CONFERENCE

This conference, put on by the National Association for Media Literacy Education and the Idaho Media Initiative, will discuss journalism, media literacy and civic engagement. Students can register with a link on the event’s Facebook page.

simplot ballroom

WED APRIL 11 2018 ETHOS SYMPOSIUM

5:30 pm

The Ethos Project’s annual event, several students will present their ideas for positive change here on campus. This year’s presentations include topics such as gender neutrality and student consent training. Students can RSVP on Eventbrite.

special events center

THURS APRIL 12 6 pm

BOVI FILM FESTIVAL

The BOVI Film Festival presents student picks for the “best films from around the globe.” The festival is free to attend and runs for three hours from April 12 to April 14.

rec center

FRI APRIL 13 7:30 pm

LASER TAG TOURNAMENT

The REC Center’s annual laser tag tournament pits ten student teams against each other in a test of team coordination and strategy. The winners will receive a “prize beyond their wildest imagination.”

WHAT YOU MISSED ONLINE PHOTO OF THE WEEK

NEWS Since the beginning of the Spring 2018 semester, students have reported four sexual assaults to Boise State. Three of those reports occurred within the past two weeks, and two were carried out by the same suspect.

NEWS The Manitou lot was permanently closed on March 24 due to construction breaking ground for the Micron Center for Materials Research. A new parking lot will be added on Belmont Drive and Manitou Avenue.

NEWS

A Federal U.S. Judge ruled in favor of two Idahoan transgender women on March 5, who stated in a lawsuit that the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) policies were unconstitutional.

Naqsh Mansoor chose to utilize her Fulbright to pursue a master’s degree at Micron School of Materials Science and Engineering, where she is working hard to develop new, sophisticated water filtration systems.” Photo courtesy of Boise State University’s Facebook page.

Editor-In-Chief Brandon Rasmussen editor@stumedia.boisestate.edu Online Editor Taylor Munson onlineeditor@stumedia.boisestate.edu Opinion Editor Jacob Palmer opinion@stumedia.boisestate.edu News Editor Jordan Erb news@stumedia.boisestate.edu News Reporter Ximena Bustillo news@stumedia.boisestate.edu Culture Editor Shannon Brennan culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu Culture Reporter Logan Potter culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu Sports Editor Daniel Gardner sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu Sports Reporter Peter Huguenin sports@stumedia.boisestate.edu Digital Content Manager Axel Quartarone digitalcontent@stumedia.boisestate.edu Copy Editors Evan Fishburn Sophia Uhlenhoff Design Manager Selina Ceballos

ON THE COVER

Pg 10-11

LGBTQ+ advocate and local memoir author Natalie Perry pioneers groups across the Treasure Valley focused on the children of gay, lesbian and transgender parents, as well as sharing her story through writing.

VISIT US ON SOCIAL MEDIA @boisestatearbiter

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Graphic Designers Nabil Rahman Olivia Tocher Sierra Nobley Contact us 1910 University Dr., Mail Stop 1340 Phone: (208) 426-6300 Website: www.arbiteronline.com Distributed Tuesdays during the academic school year.

The Arbiter is the official independent student newspaper of Boise State University, where student editors make all content decisions and bear responsibility for those decisions. The Arbiter’s budget consists of fees paid by the student body and advertising sales. The first copy is free. Additional copies can be purchased for $1 a piece at The Arbiter offices.

NEWS

“DUNGEONS AND BRONCOS” CLUB GAINS POPULARITY ON CAMPUS The club draws 75-100 Boise State students each week to play Dungeons and Dragons Blake Simony | Staff Writer | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Junior theater and communication major Makena Pooley (left) and “Dungeons and Broncos” club advisor Dane Johns (right) play Dungeons and Dragons in Albertson’s Library. Photo by Brandon Rasmussen.

Aaron Gluck, a junior majoring in gaming, interactive media and mobile technology (abbreviated as “GIMM”), decided over winter break of 2016 that he wanted to get back into playing Dungeons and Dragons. He posted on the Facebook group page for GIMM majors asking if anyone would be interested. This simple message ultimately led to the creation of the official “Dungeons and Broncos” club, which now has a membership of about 75 to 100 players.

Although only two people responded

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to the original Facebook message, eight players showed up to the first get-together in February 2017. The idea of forming an official club was suggested during that first meeting. After about a month of paperwork, Dungeons and Broncos became a Boise State club and Gluck became the president.

“I quickly went from (playing) every other week to once a week,” Gluck said.

“And then we started growing.”

The club had about 30 members playing four to five games each week at the end of

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last spring, but the following seasons saw continued growth. Club membership doubled to 60 over the summer, and its presence at the fall Involvement Fair helped it double again to about 120, playing 18 different sessions weekly.

“We were running seven days a week.

Every day you could find a game,” Gluck said. “And we still didn’t have enough sessions running to meet the interest.”

Although the membership has receded to the current 75 to 100 range, Gluck stepped down as president in November since the workload of his position had grown with the club. However, he is currently the club’s webmaster, working on managing the website, which he created on his own. The new president is freshman economics major Tyler Qualls.

While many players are already familiar with the gameplay, Qualls said new players are welcome to come and learn how to play.

Dungeons and Broncos uses the fifth edition of the game. Gameplay happens in groups called campaigns, which contain four to six players plus a “dungeon master.” The dungeon master constructs originally imagined scenes and scenarios within the game that the players must react to. These scenarios take place in either combat or out-of-combat situations. Rolls on a 20-sided dice decide the outcomes, and the nature of each player’s character allows them different ways to interact.

“Maybe you’ll be venturing in a dungeon to kill some vampires,” Qualls said.

“The combat would be fighting the vampires, whereas the out-of-combat might be looking for traps throughout the dungeon.

Usually, a dungeon master will have scenarios planned out beforehand.”

Individual sessions of gameplay lead to the development of each campaign, which may last anywhere from a semester to a year. Even though there currently eight Dungeons and Broncos campaigns, most of them occur within the club’s imagined

world, Sokopin. The dungeon master officer of the club, Tomio Fujno, works to make sure that each of the club’s dungeon masters is well trained and that each of their campaigns fits within the imagined Sokopin reality.

“This home-brewed world we have was made by some of our founding members,” Fujino said. “It represents the work we’ve done over the 10 months that we’ve been playing and the progress within the world.

A good example of this is that we have an event on April 7 to say, ‘yes, Sokopin is changing because new technology is being introduced: we’re getting gunpowder.’”

Although the open world connects the whole club, the nature of the game allows dungeon masters to tailor their specific campaigns to their own style, some being comical and others more serious. Dane John, the faculty advisor of the club, is a dungeon master himself and leads a very serious campaign. His style lends itself to moral problem solving and ethical reasoning. Even lighthearted campaign styles foster this kind of environment.

“One of the things we’re looking into is making Dungeons and Dragons part of a class that goes over morals,” Qualls said. “I’ve talked to a couple of advisors in the (University Foundations) program, and they say it’s possible to get it through, but it probably won’t unless we write up a lesson plan. But we have gotten the ‘yes that it could work.’”

Regardless if an ethics class is introduced or not, the club will continue to play. They also offer some sessions of other roleplay games, such as Shadowrun and Starfinder. Most of the sessions are held in the College of Innovation of Design on the second floor of the library, and observations of sessions are welcome.

“There’s nothing better than sitting down with some friends, rolling some dice and sharing a whole lot of laughs,” Gluck said. “It’s just a blast.”

NEWS

ETHOS SYMPOSIUM RETURNS FOR ANOTHER YEAR

This year’s speakers focus on storytelling and creating inclusivity at Boise State Brandon Rasmussen | Editor-in-Chief | editor@stumedia.boisestate.edu

non. The night’s keynote speaker will be communication major Jana Hockersmith.

While this year’s speakers are a diverse group, a theme of inclusion and social justice runs through the projects set to be presented, with topics ranging from “Gender Neutrality and Inclusivity on Boise State’s Campus” to a “Health and Wellness Vending Machine.” According to senior psychology major Zach Harbauer, The Ethos Project assistant director, while this direction wasn’t specifically planned, this common thread taps into what Boise State’s students are talking about and what they want to change.

“We see storytelling and the opening up to vulnerabilities to be the most effective way to create social change.”

Zach Harbauer, senior psychology major and Ethos Project assistant director

This is The Ethos Project’s third year, and was originally started by a group of students and their advisor, Kelly Myers. Photo courtesy of The Ethos Project’s Facebook Page.

For the past two years, Boise State has been host to The Ethos Project, a student-led organization that works with peers to develop and spread the word about social entrepreneurship. Every year, the Project’s work leads up to The Ethos Symposium, in which selected speakers are given the opportunity to present their

projects to a large audience of potential investors and supporters. This year’s Symposium will take place on Wednesday, April 11 in the Simplot Ballroom.

This year’s group of student speakers includes Makaela Bournazian, Hadyn Bryan, Ty Carson-Eisenman, Noelle Johansen, Reed Osbrink and Ollie Shan-

“That just sort of happened,” Harbauer said. “It’s indicative that students are caring about similar things, and that advocates and those who are using their voice have been focusing on making Boise State a place for all students to call home.

That’s something all our speakers are trying to embody.”

English professor Kelly Myers, the faculty advisor for the project, also commented on this focus on inclusivity.

“We called for passion, and this is where the passion is right now,” Myers said.

“Students want a more inclusive campus community—it’s just in their hearts and minds right now.”

This upcoming Symposium is also distinguished from last year’s in that The Ethos Project decided to change their speaker selection process back to what is was for their first symposium, as last year’s used a nomination process. This process involved members of the Ethos team reaching out to faculty and staff on campus to ask for recommendations on students who are trying to better their communities around campus.

“We’re trying to figure out how to find the students who are doing incredible work under the radar, and we lost that a little bit through the nomination process” Myers said. “The ones who got nominated last year were people who were already being noticed, but the beauty of the first year was that it transformed people’s lives.”

Returning viewers of this year’s symposium may also notice another shift that the Project implemented last summer, in which the organization decided to focus more on the storytelling elements of the Symposium. According to Harbauer, the decision was made in part by looking at which projects saw the most success in the past two years.

“We see storytelling and the opening up to vulnerabilities to be the most effective way to create social change,” Harbauer said. “We haven’t neglected the research part of it, but we want to know the story behind the research.”

Savannah Willits, sophomore urban studies major and symposium assistant director, also weighed in on the storytelling focus.

“We are about sharing people’s stories and the change they can create,” Willits said. “Creating change in the University is incredibly important, and The Ethos Project hopes to provide the audience and the resources to create that change.”

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NEWS

WORK U PROGRAM OPENS UP NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR FALL 2018

The Work U program will be entering its third year of connecting students with experiences outside the classroom Ximena Bustillo | News Reporter | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Each week, students in the Work U program at Boise State meet on Friday to debrief the 10 hours of on-site work they have completed with their assigned employer. The program, led by assistant directors Megan Boatman and Lonnie Jackson, focuses on getting students work-sector experience and education outside of their classroom and degree tracks.

The Work U program, also known as 493U on Student Center, will be entering its third year in Fall 2018. Applications are now open and close on April 20.

According to Jackson, the program originally started with eight students. Since then, it has gained interest of students and employers, creating over 70 job opportunities available in the Fall 2018 semester.

Boatman explained that this coming year, partners will include St. Luke’s, St. Alphonsus, City of Boise, Ada County, Boise Cascade, Boise State University, Boys and Girls Club and Smart Consulting.

Any student in any major can apply to any job opportunity.

“The opportunities are really broad. The program was designed to provide students with non-career track majors experience that also counts as upper division electives,” Boatman said. “For example, I studied public relations and advertising.

There is a lot you can do with those, which is great, but they can be restrictive when students don’t make sure they get resume content so they have experience when they graduate.”

Senior general business and human resource management major Amy Taylor is currently working at St. Alphonsus assisting the Talent Acquisition Team.

“I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to gain experience in human resources and get my foot in the door,” Taylor said. “I have never done recruiting, and I was excited to explore this side of HR.” Taylor works alongside her mentor to screen resumes, set up phone interviews,

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The Work U class meets on Fridays to discuss their week’s work and employment experiences. Photo by Axel Quartarone.

rank candidates and send notes to the hiring managers. She also assists with different projects with other colleagues in the department, attends meetings, job shadows clinical positions and volunteers for engagement nights, as well as other events.

“During Work U, you are paired with a mentor where you are assigned projects while helping them with their daily job duties,” Taylor said. “You are not paid during Work U, but it’s a great opportunity to develop a relationship with your mentor, as well as connect with other colleagues in the department.”

Kylee Wren, a junior communication and Spanish double major, has spent her semester at Zoo Boise as a part of the program.

“I don’t know exactly what I want to do, but I would want to work with coordination and at a non-profit,” Wren said. “I picked this job opportunity specifically

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because it is a non-profit, and it has been better than I expected.”

Wren has worked with her mentor—the volunteer coordinator at Zoo Boise—on volunteer interviews, attended orientation, talked at the zoo team program nights and made powerpoints to educate visitors and volunteers on conservation funds.

“Everyone treats me with so much respect, asks for my opinion and includes me in staff meetings, which I never expected being a college student,” Wren said.

According to Jackson, Work U centers on project-based work and allows students to make real contributions to the organization they are working for.

“There is no textbook and minimal homework because we want them to represent the program well on-site,” Jackson said.

Sophomore urban studies and community development major Savannah Willits

said this experience has helped her work within her major’s areas and on real-world projects.

“I am currently working with the City of Boise’s Innovation and Performance team on different projects which analyze the income ability, budgeting and future projects of the area and compares it to other major cities near Boise,” Willits said.

Willits has also been able to receive internship credit through her major.

Jackson and Boatman explained the program has been successful in helping students network into longer internships and full-time employment with the companies.

“Currently, with how higher education is operating, it is necessary for students to get the experience,” Jackson said. “Work U prepares you, gets your foot in the door and enhances your experience at Boise State.”

NEWS

TAKE A LOOK INSIDE THE BRONCO BATTALION Boise State ROTC program helps develop student leaders Patrick Kaufmann | Staff Writer | news@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Tucked into a corner of the Taco Bell Arena between entrance three and the Arguinchona Basketball Complex, a nondescript sign points to a pair of blue double doors.

Inside, a stairwell emblazoned with words like loyalty, respect and selfless service leads to a world hidden from the rest of campus.

Here is where the work of the Bronco Battalion begins. Operating within the School of Public Service, the University’s Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) helps maintain Boise State’s student retention by developing and maintaining a small core of driven, physically fit and academically high-performing students that influence the campus community.

Currently there are 75 students enrolled in Boise State’s ROTC program. Roughly half are enlisted members in the Idaho Army National Guard or the Army Reserve under the Simultaneous Membership Program, which provides them with tuition assistance, living stipends and scholarship opportunities.

“The focus is on being a student first,” said Sergeant First Class Sean Farina, a member of the program’s support staff.

“Classes are the most important part, and students are expected to maintain at least a 2.5 GPA while enrolled.”

For some people, the first image that may spring to mind about Boise State’s Army ROTC program is the uniformed students they see walking around campus and sitting in classrooms every Thursday.

That’s because Thursday is the day ROTC students participate in lab activities such as land navigation through the Boise foothills, first aid training or marching drills in the Taco Bell Arena.

One day in late March, under cloudy skies that seemed fit to burst with spring rain, lab involved rappelling off the Student Union Building.

As students eagerly awaited their turn to walk off the roof of the Boise State Special Events Center, they stood in a loose

formation beneath the trees just outside of the Communication Building. They spoke casually with each other about classes and plans for spring break while carefully looking over their rappelling equipment and generating curious looks from fellow students passing by.

According to ROTC enrollment officer Ryan Hansen, 70-80 percent of enrolled freshmen and sophomores end up completing the program.

“It’s a sort of test run,” Hansen said.

“Students at that point are not committed to any military service for the first two years.”

The program’s completion rate rises to 92 percent for juniors and seniors, who will commit to contract into the armed services upon graduation. For these students, their ROTC experience serves as a professional internship, preparing them to become military officers. In that way, the education that ROTC students receive is similar to military academies like West Point, while still representing Idaho’s values and Boise’s identity.

“What I have found that is unique about our students is that they’re ‘salt of the earth’ leaders,“ said professor of military science Lieutenant Colonel Tim Slemp. “They’re not overly pretentious or arrogant, but they’re humble and they’re quality people that care about each other and want to see each other succeed, and that’s how our team succeeds. They work hard to be successful, they know that they need each other to succeed and that’s exactly what our program is about.”

According to the ROTC program leadership, teamwork is essential for the students. They begin their ROTC experience as followers in the first two years of instruction during MS1 and MS2, or military science years one and two.

“ROTC is very hierarchical. It teaches you how to be a follower first,” said junior kinesiology major Abigail Cannon, a student in her third year of ROTC. “So when

Military science students rappel off the side of the Student Union Building for a lab on Thursday, March 22. Photo by Patrick Kaufmann.

you are in that leadership position, you have more empathy and sympathy for how you want to lead and how you want others to be able to follow you.”

Once they begin MS3 during their junior year, students will begin to take on leadership roles with increasing responsibilities, according to senior military instructor Master Sergeant Thomas Chandler.

“That’s their key developmental year,” Chandler said. “The largest step in their development is the transition from their sophomore to their junior year.”

Students are placed into positions of leadership during their progression, but these assignments are just part of their learning experience.

“Being in ROTC, we’re forced into leadership opportunities every day,” said junior

criminal justice major Corey Reece, who is also in his third year studying military science. “You have to adapt to it or you’re not going to do well in the program.”

That adaptation can extend to a change in the habits and routines to which they were once accustomed. Students may find that the adjustment tends to set them apart from fellow classmates.

“It’s definitely more challenging than you would imagine, both physically and mentally,” Cannon said. “It’s tapping into your own abilities and being able to discover your depth of character.”

To read the rest of this story, visit our website, arbiteronline. com.

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OPINION

BOYCOTTS: HEADLINE GRABBING BUT ULTIMATELY INEFFECTIVE

Easy to organize, easy to hashtag, hard to actually succeed Jacob Palmer | Opinion Editor | opinion@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Parkland student activist David Hogg (left) has called for a boycott of talk show host Laura Inghram (right) as a result of a tweet Inghram made personally attacking Hogg. Inghram has since apologized, but Hogg continues to push the boycott (Photos courtesy of Tribune News Service).

Boycotts are quite commonplace in the age of social media. The concept behind them is simple. Whenever a company engages in a behavior (political or otherwise) that a certain group of people take issue with, that group will refuse to do any business with that company until the company changes its behavior. It’s a very tempting and attractive idea to get behind, and just about everyone of every viewpoint engages in them.

Most recently, Parkland student activist David Hogg took up the boycott banner against right-wing pundit Laura Ingraham. Ingraham generated controversy by mocking shooting survivor David Hogg for “whining” about his recent college application rejections. The tweet was mean-spirited, in poor taste and should have never been sent. Yet aside from from Ingraham’s poor taste, it was Hogg’s response that captured the most media attention. Hogg responded by listing the

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names of numerous companies which run ads on Ingraham’s Fox News show. Ingraham then responded and apologized for her tweet, but Hogg rejected the apology and continued to push the boycott.

As a result, multiple companies have dropped ads from Ingraham’s show. This might tempt Hogg and his supporters to declare the boycott a success. And while Hogg and his supporters certainly have the right to let their opinion be known, boycotts will not be the most successful route for Hogg to take.

The political world might have been abuzz with the Ingraham story, but it was barely even noticeable to average consumers. According to Marketwatch, all the companies which were criticized for advertising with Ingraham suffered no discernible harm in their public perception according to the YouGov brand index— Fox News being the only exception.

It’s in this data where the weakness of

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boycotts becomes clear: they only work if just about everyone is behind them. In an interview with Northwest University’s Institute for Policy Research, Brayden King, a professor of management and organizations, said most boycotts don’t succeed if they only involve a small amount of people.

“The typical boycott doesn’t have much impact on sales revenue,” King said.

“Think of PETA activists who are boycotting KFC. That’s a boycott that’s not going to have much of an impact on sales revenue.”

Hogg and his supporters aren’t likely to be viewers of Ingraham’s show, so the idea her show will face financial trouble is far-fetched if those who are angry with her weren’t likely to watch her show in the first place.

“The number-one predictor of what makes a boycott effective is how much media attention it creates,” King said. “Not

how many people sign onto a petition or how many consumers it mobilizes.”

So if boycotts like Hogg’s aren’t likely to affect Ingraham’s career financially, how can they play out in the realm of public perception? This is where another problem of boycotts lies. If the boycott is formed around a divisive political issue, it can actually backfire and generate more support for the target.

This was seen in the controversy surrounding the fast food restaurant ChickFil-A and the controversial comments its President Dan Cathy made about samesex relationships, calling them immoral and “inviting God’s judgement.” As a result, many LGBT organizations called for boycotts and protests of Chick-Fil-A. Some city officials in different parts of the country even announced their intentions to block construction of new Chick-Fil-A locations.

But instead of the restaurant feeling pain from this backlash, its sales instead soared. Conservatives who either agreed with Cathy’s traditional marriage views or thought it wrong to malign the whole chain due to a statement from one person, rallied around Chick-Fil-A. Many restaurants sold out of food during Chick-Fil-A appreciation days. The support the chain received dwarfed any attempted protest or boycott.

Hogg runs the same risk of backlash by starting boycotts against pundits he is in opposition to. Certainly he has every right to be angry at Ingraham for her petty attack, but how can he and his supporters more effectively rally for their cause instead of trying to attack any opposition?

The answer lies in what the supporters of Chick-Fil-A so successfully engaged in: not a boycott, but a buy-cott. Instead of trying to hurt people or organizations you disagree with, support people or organizations you agree with. It’s more productive, more positive and more proactive than getting into fights with political pundits.

OPINION

THE NRA’S BLINDFIRE

The NRA is taking the wrong approach to the gun control argument Patrick Kaufmann | Staff Writer | opinion@stumedia.boisestate.edu

NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Photo courtesy of Tribune News Service.)

The debate surrounding gun control is important, and includes varying perspectives from both extremes. Feelings on the issue run deep, and uttering the words ‘gun control’ can elicit more of a rise than mention of the events when cause the debate.

Both sides have merit and relevance.

The idea legislation against gun ownership would reduce gun violence isn’t realistic, and attempts to enforce such legislation could prompt a revolt among the millions of gun owners across the country, not to mention several states where gun ownership is prevalent. A 2017 Pew Research article reported 42 percent of American households own firearms, and Idaho is ranked seventh in the nation with an estimated 55 percent of its citizens owning guns, according to a 2014 report on gun ownership statistics.

On the other hand, an argument for

regulating access to guns can be made in view of the increasing frequency of mass casualty events involving firearms. The lack of dedicated and selfless leadership has led to formulaic offerings of platitudes, hand-wringing and vague promises after each mass shooting. That absence leaves families of victims with no comfort and survivors with no satisfaction, and perpetrators of these events often die prematurely, keeping their intent forever hidden.

Intent is the operable factor in gun violence situations. One may obtain a gun one day and take the opportunity to commit violence, or one might keep firearms their entire life and never fire in anger. Intent is required for any weapon discharge, so it’s reasonable that if society can agree on intent as the causal factor, it can tolerate lethal weapons. Trust between those with and without guns could allow

interaction with no more regulation than between drivers and pedestrians.

Building that trust is a task the National Rifle Association (NRA), a nonprofit organization advocating for gun rights, is failing at. Founded in 1871, the NRA was created in response to poor marksmanship within the military ranks and to promote and encourage rifle shooting on a scientific basis, according to the brief history of the organization found on the NRA website.

On the NRA website, visitors scrolls through a marquee highlighting attacks against the NRA, the Second Amendment and gun owners. Clicking on an article leads to presentations from NRATV, the multimedia format featuring discussions like: “Joe Biden doesn’t understand the constitution,” “Clear backpacks won’t make up for sheriff’s negligence” and “Media uses Parkland kids to recreate hippie generation.”

The arguments put forward by the NRA compel without hyperbole. But leadership involves influencing others to accomplish a task, and narrow and one-sided perspectives are likely to influence only a specific audience. None of the presentations mentioned above make any effort to reach out to the opposition.

The NRA has enjoyed success over time, but given current divisions in the U.S., their inability to appeal to broader audiences may result in diminishing bang for their buck. Without adequately open-minded leadership, the NRA’s adherence to one course of action continues an established and fruitless pattern.

Following every gun violence incident comes a call for action to regulate firearms. It is admittedly a knee-jerk reaction, understandable considering the subject matter. Then comes a constant barrage on social media to anyone not living under a digital rock advocating for gun rights, the Second Amendment, gun-owning families, boys and girls and assorted pets with guns, and the NRA. Those in opposition are

condemned as snowflakes or worse, with vitriol surpassing the vulgar and shifting into the morally repugnant.

In fairness, it should be noted that gun rights advocates do not share all of the blame. David Hogg’s recent refusal to accept an apology from a conservative pundit who had disparaged him speaks more to teen angst than to a campaign for public safety. Many gun control supporters are quick to use immature strategies while

“The NRA has enjoyed success over time, but given the current divisions in the US, their inability to appeal to broader audiences my result in dimishing bang for their buck.” citing unsupported claims.

Trust is not founded on threats or insults or in contentious environments. It requires small acts of faith rewarded with good will and compromise sought without agenda. Trust between thirteen colonies helped define our nation. Trust is what has seen America through long nights of conflict internally and beyond our borders.

Winning that trust is key to developing solutions to the conflicts America faces.

Organizations espousing principled leadership must extend those principles to both sides of this conflict. Attacking victims of gun violence because their experience has provoked a reaction to legislative inaction is counterproductive to building trust. Here is where the NRA can become leaders of an American effort to set aside differences and work together.

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F E AT U R E

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Local author Natalie Perry shares her call to action for closeted families Logan Potter | Culture Reporter | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Author Natalie Perry was only 12 years old when the future of her family was changed indefinitely. Her father, Darrel Perry, came out to her immediate family as gay. Out of fear of losing his job as the chief judge of the Idaho State Court of Appeals, Natalie’s father urged his family to stay closeted for two decades. Since her family’s emergence after hiding the truth behind closed doors, Perry has written a book, become a strong advocate for families in the LGBTQ+ community—especially young adults, such as students of the university—and has become one of the keynote speakers at the 2018 TEDxBoise

“My biggest message is: regardless of whether my personal experience is similar to yours, your story matters.”

Natalie Perry, LGBTQ+ advocate and author conference on May 5.

“Growing up closeted was challenging at times. It’s difficult to not be open with your friends, teachers and coworkers about your family,” Perry said. “It was even harder when I did eventually trust a few people and lost them because they thought my family was a sin. In my teens, I was disowned by my own grandfather and told we were no longer welcome in our church.”

While obstacles were prominent throughout her life, she said she was also “blessed with an incredible extended family.” Her parents divorced but remained friends; her father met his partner, Jerry, shortly after and now 34-year-old Perry

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believes that in some ways, the closeted family life made them stronger as a unit.

That’s why, in 2015, Perry began to write her memoir “Dad #1, Dad #2: A Queerspawn View from the Closet.”

“I was inspired to write my book because, in some ways, I’m in a unique position,” Perry said. “While there are still many living in the closet, I was fortunate enough to finally be able to step out of it. I also have a family who is comfortable with and supportive of me sharing my story.”

While Perry’s story has the potential to be a positive force to members of the LGBTQ+ community, there are many others whose stories are left untold.

According to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law, 22% of the LGBTQ+ community in Idaho has children, the fourth highest percentage in the country.

Taking into consideration the history of conservatism in Idaho, it’s no surprise that this statistic isn’t more widely acknowledged. It is in part because of this political suppression that Perry chose to write her memoir.

“My hope in writing my book is to educate people by inviting them into my life. It’s important for people to understand the difficulties people experience when their families are invalidated and face discrimination, and I also think it’s imperative that people know these actions aren’t only experienced by those who are LGBTQ+ themselves, but also by entire families.”

Wanting to share her story, however, did not come without nervousness regarding the reactions of the rest of her family.

After all, this story was about Perry’s closeted family, not solely her closeted lifestyle. Since presenting the idea to her family, she said she has been fortunate enough to gather supportive and positive responses to the entire process of writing a memoir.

In reference to Perry’s book, her father said, “When Natalie mentioned wanting

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Advocate and author, Perry keeps her lines of communication open on her website, natalieperryauthor.com. Photo courtesy of Natalie Perry.

to write a book about being raised in a closeted, gay environment and the challenges that having such a secret can create for the children, with the hopes of reaching out and helping others, I could not have been more proud. Realizing that for her to tell her story she would also have to,

in some small way, tell the family’s story, I remained totally supportive of her.”

After her father’s retirement in 2014, he was finally able to be legally married to Jerry without concern for a loss of his career as a result. In January 2015, not long before the United States Supreme Court

F E AT U R E deemed same-sex married couples fully entitled to the same rights as any married couple, Darrel and Jerry were wed. Perry said she always knew she would see marriage equality in her lifetime but had never thought her dads would see it in theirs.

“As a gay man, I struggled at times when I was younger. I am happy to see that things have changed; people across the world realize people are people, love is love and all any of us really want is to be accepted, understood, valued and, most of all, be loved unconditionally,” Jerry Marmon, Perry’s “Dad #2” said. “I am hopeful that Natalie’s will be the story

“...all any of us really want is to be accepted, understood, valued and, most of all, loved unconditionally.”

Jerry Marmon, “Dad #2” of Natalie Perry

that inspires children and family members who find themselves on the same path.

Keeping family intact is very important, and it can be done. If Natalie’s story helps one child, one parent or one family, then her book is a success.”

Perry saw a shift in their lives; where there were once negative repercussions because of her dad’s sexuality, there now was positivity that she said her family never expected. From this positive atmosphere came Perry’s desire to do something more for the community in which she lives: Boise. She was surprised when she started to advocate for LGBTQ+ families and found that there were little to no resources in the Treasure Valley. Because of this shock, she said she wanted to create more

of a community for families.

This desire to create widespread acceptance affects more than just adults. Boise State students whose families identify within the LGBTQ+ community have the potential to also benefit from Perry’s advocacy around the Boise area. The first group Perry pioneered is called Treasure Valley Queerspawn, which is run exclusively through Facebook. Also seen in the title of her book, the term queerspawn is “an identity term for people with at least one LGBTQ+ parent or guardian.”

“Many ‘family’ resources focus on the needs of parents, and while those are important, it’s also essential that we have spaces specifically for queerspawn to connect with others like us,” Perry said.

“We have many unique challenges and experiences, and these aren’t always things that people understand if they don’t hold this identity.”

Perry also works with the Family Equality Council and COLAGE at both the regional and national levels, and she has created a second group, this time on Meetup, called Treasure Valley Rainbow Families, which focuses on hosting events for LGBTQ+ parents, queerspawn of all ages, youth and young adults who also identify within the community. Perry believes “it’s important to have a community for families” on the spectrum, but that it is also “vital for youth” and young adults to know that having a family is an option for them if they choose that path.

These groups are among the first steps to expanding LGBTQ+ progress in Idaho. The “Add the Words” movement is centered on one phrase: sexual orientation and gender identity. Since the project began in 2010, the focus has focused on adding these four words to the Idaho Human Rights Act, prohibiting employers to discriminate against individuals regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation or gender identity. A long-fought war in the

Natalie Perry, her sister Katie and their two dads, Darrey and Jerry, are closer than ever since their closeted lifestyle. Photo courtesy of Natalie Perry.

state legislature, Perry hopes her work will encourage others to share their stories and validate the movements and ideologies that wouldn’t be considered traditional in places such as the Treasure Valley.

“My biggest message is: you, your identity and your experiences are valid.

There is a lot of diversity in the queer-

spawn community. When we share our stories with others like us, there are almost always some areas that we relate to and others that we don’t. Regardless of whether my personal experience is similar to yours, your story matters,” Perry said.

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C U LT U R E

EXCUSES, EXCUSES...

Expanding on excuses heard from students and why they make them Issabelle Spaulding | Staff Writer | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Chances are that most students have not followed through with their New Year’s resolutions at this point in the year.

From the early days of schooling when children their first fib to their kindergarten teacher, to the later days of college when a hungover 20-something-year-old lies about a migraine, students have been making excuses from the beginning. These tall tales range from “I’m sick” to “my dog ate my homework.” Perhaps it is time to explore these excuses on the teacher side of things and why students feel the need to lie.

Although students have legitimate issues to deal with at times, they lie in certain situations. This can cause a dilemma for professors.

Doctor Roberto Refinetti, the chair of the Department of Psychology, stated that students have likely gotten away with excuses a lot growing up. Refinetti reasons that students cut corners when they are unable to handle certain situations. This makes it hard to tell if something coming from the student is fake or legitimate.

“Nobody’s going to tell the truth. You learn that you have to lie and the question is, how much can you lie? And in what situations can you lie? And again, why do people lie, because they learn that it’s okay to lie to a certain extent,” Refinetti said.

Because excuses range and vary by situation, students have come up with a very broad list. Temporary lecturer Christopher Michas believes the excuse can also depend on what exactly the student is trying to excuse, such as an assignment versus an absence.

“Sometimes it’s not an excuse, sometimes it’s a valid reason. I think it has to do with saving face to a certain extent, or not having to,” Michas said. “It’s harder to say ‘look, I’m exhausted and I don’t wanna show up for class’. In a way, I would almost respect that more.”

However, the responsibility is not just on the student. Professors contribute the other 50 percent by having concise

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standards and presenting their courses in a clear way.

Senior lecturer Kimberly Henderson explained her methods of negating the need for students to make up these lies in the first place. She tries to prevent the situation from taking place by having flexibility in the classroom, open office hours and clear communication.

“I try to remove the opportunity for students to lie or feel the need to have that fear. I think they’re afraid of missing points and having a poor grade. I think the inherent fear is the psychological experience of stress,” Henderson said. “But it’s not on me to decide whose excuse is better; the burden of proof is on the student.”

Students make excuses to cover the fear, anxiety and sometimes shame they face by not completing the task at hand. Sophomore environmental studies major Rebecca King said the truth could be stretched to a certain point when making excuses.

King believes that students start making excuses when the burden of assignment gets really heavy or prior engagements are deemed as more important.

“If you can give a detailed enough excuse that sounds convincing to a teacher, you just bought yourself a couple extra days,” King said. “It’s a fine line, though.

It’s about how much you communicate with your teacher and how much effort you put in.”

Henderson discussed the variations of excuses that come from students. While some are legitimate reasons for not finishing or coming to class, others are not so much. Sometimes it can be difficult to decipher what is true and what isn’t with these stories.

“I’ve had students get thrown in jail over the weekend and not be able to complete an assessment,” Henderson said.

Henderson also said that there are multiple excuses that are far from real. Excuses such as: “I was sick, computer crashed, I was in the wrong time zone so I didn’t fin-

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Student’s excuses can range from the classic lie of “my dog ate my homework” to real and legitimate stories. Graphic by Olivia Tocher.

ish it on time, someone died and I didn’t know it was due.”

As a lecturer, Michas explained he as has heard several excuses from students that have been fully legitimate.

“I got a text the other day that the student wouldn’t be in class because he or she had to go bail a roommate out of jail. The jail one happened often, and in this case it

was totally valid,” Michas said. “And I’ve had dogs eat books on three occasions.”

“Just be honest,” Michas said. “On both sides, the instructor should be honest about his or her expectations, and students should not make excuses. Explanations are fine, but don’t make excuses.”

C U LT U R E

RED BULLS AND BRAVE BROS

Boise State students participate in a Red Bull adventure Arianna Creteau | Staff Writer | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

It’s challenging enough to travel across Europe for a week. Boise State sophomores Clayton Long, Garrett Dahl and Michael Parnell are planning to not only travel across Europe starting on April 10, but also they will do so using Red Bull as their only currency.

The team, named The Pineapple Crew, secured a spot in Red Bull’s “Can You Make It challenge” and will “adventure” against over 200 hundred college students from over 60 countries to win a “oncein-a-lifetime experience from Destination Red Bull” by earning points and making it from Rome to Amsterdam in seven days using only Red Bull as currency. The Pineapple Crew is one of 18 teams from the United States.

“If we win this competition, we win another trip, which is fine with me,” Long said.

Along the way, teams complete tasks from an adventure list and compete in checkpoint challenges. To win the entire competition, they are required to visit at least six checkpoints and have the lead in a three-point system. The point system is divided into three areas, including the adventure list, the checkpoint challenges and the number of social media likes on Twitter and Facebook.

They must complete checkpoint challenges to earn more cans of Red Bull, an important tool for the coming days.

Before starting out, the team will be equipped with 24 cans of Red Bull and a smartphone to document their experience and share with followers back home. The phones they are given are only used to share the trip online, and they can only call an emergency number and the Red Bull team.

Thinking about cheating? Think again.

No money is allowed, no personal phones can be used or borrowed, travel cannot be pre-organized and all traveling and challenges must be completed together. If any rule from the code of honor is broken,

A team of Boise State sophomores prepare for a Red Bull-fueled adventure across Europe. Photos by Michael Parnell.

teams are disqualified and are then responsible for returning home on their own.

The Pineapple Crew learned and were encouraged to participate in the adventure from one of their friends who currently works at Red Bull.

“He texted us a link, and it was about a week before it was due, so we just threw together a video real quick, submitted it and we got past the voting stage. We got over 1,000, votes and were top eight in the Mountain West region, then we got chosen,” Dahl said.

Some advantages they hope to capitalize on while competing against other teams includes their adaptability, their experience in the cold and harsh sleeping conditions and Dahl’s persuasion skills.

Food wise, they’ve been told they can bring “a reasonable amount of snacks.”

Long says that they plan on bringing as many pop tarts and ramen noodles as they

can. After they complete challenges, Red Bull will provide them with more meals.

“We’ll probably get into trouble with some people over there, just ‘cause we’re going to be hopping on trains without paying,” say Parnell.

People can give things to teams for free, but running out of Red Bull is something to avoid at all costs.

“What happens if you run out of money? It’s the same thing,” says Long.

If they are unable to succeed, they will have to call Red Bull and be flown to Amsterdam, but they won’t be able to win the grand prize if they can’t complete the journey.

While train-hopping and not sleeping can be stressful, they still have to worry about one more thing: school. They’ll be gone for 10 days and will be missing eight school days, coming back just right before finals. Most of their teachers have been

flexible with their schedules others; not so much.

“I had to drop a class,” Dahl said. “He [the professor] said if I missed this week I was going to fail, and I was like, “I’ll see you next semester.’”

They haven’t packed yet, but they’re learning phrases in different languages, studying the possible locations they may go and finishing as much schoolwork as they can before the trip begins. Friends have been loaning gear, and while a majority of those in their circle are overwhelmingly supportive, if not jealous, there are a few questioning the safety of the trip.

“The more I talk about it the more ridiculous it sounds,” Long said.

Students can follow and support The Pineapple Crew on Facebook and Twitter as well as visit their team page on Red Bull’s website.

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C U LT U R E

GRABBING A LATE-NIGHT SNACK

Biscuits and gravy restaurant brings a new take on a classic American treat Kolton Gammie | Staff Writer | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

New pop-up restaurant presents a new late-night snack. Photo courtesy of Graveyard facebook page.

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All-night and late-night restaurants have often found success offering affordable meals to those gallivanting into the morning. Boise has limited options when it comes to these late-night snack runs, and the search for grub can turn fruitless fast. Attempting to provide this level of convenience is the recently opened and appropriately named “Graveyard.”

Graveyard is a pop-up restaurant in downtown Boise that aims to provide a variety of flavors to satisfy those late-night hunger pains. Pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants that help newer chefs gain exposure. These shops are commonly found in larger cities, and because of the low amount of capital required to get started, they often boast experimental menus.

For this particular pop-up, the menu focuses on Graveyard’s specialty: biscuits and gravy. They serve a handful of variations of the dish such as the “Fun Guy” and “Polenta Poutine.” Each dish has its own unique twist on the classic and aims to cater to many different tastes.

“I’ll have people who don’t really like biscuits and gravy come try one of our variations and be surprised to find how much they enjoy it,” owner Zachary Clark said.

Along with biscuits and gravy, Graveyard offers a four-cheese mac and a rotating special for those who aren’t in the mood for biscuits. The dishes come in large portions and can include eggs and bacon upon request.

Graveyard is operated by Clark and Freitag who work for Zen Bento during the day. This can make running Graveyard late at night a bit difficult. Because of this, the shop has taken to alternating weeks of operation.

Despite this, the two-man crew works tirelessly, handling all customers who come their way. Clark cooks every meal himself and ensures you’ll never be disappointed while Freitag is the smiling face that mediates your descent into deliciousness.

The Graveyard’s concept has undergone many renovations. It all started when Clark posed the idea of opening a pop-up.

“When Zen Bento remodeled, they added a walk-up window, which was rarely used. I figured this was our opportunity,” said Clark.

This window provided the perfect location for the pop-up venue to serve it’s growing customer base late into the night.

It allows for an almost food truck quality of quick service and accessibility.

“I’ll have people who don’t really like biscuits and gravy come try one of our variations and be surprised to find how much they enjoy it.”

Owner Zachary Clark After many discussions about what to serve, the duo settled on the American Classic.

“I told him if you’re going to do it, go all in,” said Freitag.

Together they worked through the details and created what Graveyard is today. It is early in its lifespan, but Freitag and Clack assure customers Graveyard still has more in store and will continue to grow. The duo looks toward the future and exploring growth plans that may even involve a food truck.

Graveyard is­—for now—a pop-up restaurant, and so the days and times of operation will often change. Conveniently, Clark regularly posts on Facebook and Instagram before the latest openings. Most recently Graveyard was open on March 23. Interested students can visit Graveyard B&G on their Facebook page.

C U LT U R E

AN OPEN LETTER TO ZOOEY DESCHANEL

An ode to the last television character we actually liked

Shannon Brennan and Logan Potter | Culture Section | culture@stumedia.boisestate.edu

Dear Zuzu, Now as much as we love you, we feel like you are at a little bit of an unfair advantage as far has being a human goes. You Deschanels are a group of ridiculously talented people. You were basically born with the guarantee of success with your mother’s acting talents paired with your father’s cinematography. Your parents are obviously awesome; it takes true legends to name their child after such a fantastic J.D. Salinger character. Even your older sister is an amazing actress by her own right.

Before the days of “New Girl” we first found out about your family through your sister Emily and her show “Bones” (even if Shannon did stop watching after Sweets died); but let’s not chalk all your success

up to genetics.

We weren’t sure how to tell you this, but here it goes: you are a beautiful human inside and out. Your quirky personality and big blue eyes make it impossible for us not to love you.

“New Girl” is fantastic and Jessica Day is a superhero. If you were to walk into Shannon’s house at basically any hour of the day, someone would be on the couch watching the “New Girl.”

While we have loved every season thus far, we are worried about this last season that starts today. It is going to be so sad to see the show end, but we are basically rejoicing that Jess and Nick ended up together—Logan might have gone as far as to sue the writers if this love story fell apart (but with this last eight-episode season,

there’s always a chance). This is stuff we are not at all down for.

Basically all shows of this sitcom nature have ended poorly—“Cheers” had a classically terrible last season, “Friends” slowly started to circle the drain and basically everyone hated the last episode of “How I Met Your Mother.” We are just hoping for more from you guys. Please, please don’t let us down.

That said, we recognize you didn’t write the show singlehandedly, therefore we won’t blame you if our worlds come crashing down in the next two months. Well ...maybe just a little.

In summary: your beautiful face and the last TV show we really loved aside, we desperately want to know what is next for you. Now that the show is over, are you

going to change your look like so many stars choose to do after the close of a longheld role? What big roles are in the future for you? We loved you in “500 Days of Summer,” and we need to see more of you on the big screen.

While some of us (mostly Logan) has never really listened to your music with “She and Him,” we’d just like to say that you have a beautiful voice that was basically made for singings lullabies. How are you so talented at everything that you do?

It’s not fair.

APRIL 10, 2018

With love, Logan and Shannon

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SPORTS & REC

A DAY IN THE LIFE: MADISON ANTHONY Meet softball player Madison Anthony Delaney Brassil | Staff Writer | news@boisestate.edu

are on the road, we have study hall together to make sure that we have time to get all of that done.”

10:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

“I usually get in an hour (of studying) after weights if I can, then I head back to my room, get ready and go to class,” Anthony said.

The senior has a respectable class load of four classes for her final semester. In this time slot, she attends Perspectives of Communications, where she learns about communication contexts and applications such as how to build a resume.

Anthony poses for a team photo. Photo courtesy of Boise State Photo Services.

Senior communication major Madison Anthony is a third baseman for the Boise State softball team. She transferred here this fall from Oregon State University, and before that she played for North Idaho College. The Vancouver, Wash. native is currently batting .379 for the Broncos, with 12 doubles, five home runs and 27 runs batted in (RBIs). Her slugging percentage is at .612, the third best on the team. On the defensive side, Anthony has 29 putouts, 46 assists, a fielding percentage of .962 and only three errors all season.

Anthony gave a glimpse into her life as a student-athlete, and her experience transferring to Boise State to become a Bronco.

6:30 a.m. – 7:30 a.m.

Anthony will wake up early and eat breakfast before going to lift weights with the team. She usually gets some protein in by eating a bowl of oatmeal with brown sugar and walnuts, then gives herself some time make sure she is prepared for weights.

“I make sure I’m ready to go and focused in,” Anthony said. “Even though it’s

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just weights, it’s a big deal to have the right enthusiasm coming in and to be ready to get work done.”

7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.

Weights will usually last about 45 minutes to an hour, where the team works on building strength in order to perform their best on the field. The team has 37 home runs this season, a task that requires the pure strength and skill to launch the ball at least 220 feet away from home plate (and, obviously, over the fence).

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Next, Anthony will attend a study hall for about an hour to make sure she stays on top of her classes. She mentioned that other players attend study hall for anywhere from three to six hours a week. If she isn’t able to go to study hall before practice, then she will after practice.

“We have a lot (of homework), but coaches make sure we have enough study hall time,” Anthony said. “Even when we

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11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

After her one on-campus class, Anthony spends the rest of the morning working on her three online classes before practice starts.

“I am taking a visual communications class, sport intersectionality and Communication 160 (communication and culture),” Anthony said.

1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

With her classes and studying out of the way, Anthony is ready to change gears and start softball practice. From 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., practice is optional, and players can get in some individual work. At 2 p.m., the whole team meets for a full-on practice. “(Where we practice) depends on the weather,” Anthony said. “Like today, when it’s kind of rainy, we will start here (the Caven-Williams Sports Complex) and then see how it goes, and most of the time we end up outside to get in some hitting.”

6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.

After a full day, Anthony heads home to get some dinner and relax. Her go-to meals are brown rice and chicken with asparagus or broccoli. On nights when she is feeling lazy or not wanting to cook, Anthony will go to Whole Foods and get something

from its food bar.

6:30 p.m. – on “I usually find some time to sneak in some Netflix,” Anthony said. “Right now I’m going back through Grey’s Anatomy, even though I’ve seen it like three times.”

In her spare time, Anthony enjoys hanging out with her friends and their dogs. Other than that, she is resting and recovering, making sure her body is ready to go for the next practice and/or game.

“I have a friend on the football team who has a dog named Boss,” Anthony said.

“I’m always with him; I watch him a lot for (his owner).”

As a transfer student, Anthony has enjoyed the different environment that Boise has to offer. She appreciates the diverse Idaho weather patterns, mentioning how the heat when she first moved here quickly turned into snow, which she hadn’t seen in awhile. Also, Anthony is impressed with the community’s engagement in Bronco athletics.

“I love how much the people here are so involved in Boise sports,” Anthony said.

“I came in right during football season so I got to see how crazy that is. Then we got so much support during fall ball, and I loved seeing how many people come out to the games.”

The determined and experienced senior, who has a diverse background given the past teams she has played for, is hoping to finish her final season strong. The team is currently in conference play and has 16 regular season games left, 10 of which will be home games held at Dona Larsen Park.

“I want to make sure this is my best season out of all of them,” Anthony said.

“I want to see this team grow. They’ve worked really hard to get to where they are now, and we are working to make sure this program continues to follow along the lines of what Coach Ball wants it to

TRACK AND FIELD STAR BREAKS COLLEGIATE RECORDS

SPORTS & REC

Allie Ostranders’ legend continues to grow at Boise State

Josh Arace | Staff Writer | news@boisestate.edu

Track and field isn’t the first sport many would expect from someone growing up in Alaska. However, for Boise State track star Allie Ostrander, she defied the odds.

Growing up in Kenai, Alaska, in a running club with her parents and watching her sister’s track and field practices, Ostrander officially began her track and field career in middle school when she joined her school’s team.

Track and field in Alaska is a bit different than it would be in most states. Because of the harsh climate, outdoor season doesn’t start until late April, and it’s much less common for teams to train year round for track, rather opting to do things such as ski or play basketball. Outside of track, Ostrander also participated in basketball and soccer, with soccer occasionally overlapping with the track and field season.

“Once that gun goes off she has as much competitive spirit and toughness as anyone I’ve ever coached” Cory Ihmels, track and field head coach

When deciding between colleges, Ostrander says she chose Boise State because she enjoyed the foothills in the area and saw them as a great place to be able to run and continue her training. Ostrander also said she saw something special about the program.

“It was exciting-the program seemed to be on the rise, and really building behind Harkey and Ihmels,” Ostrander said. “I thought it would be fun to be a part of that.”

In her freshman season, Ostrander made

it clear why she was recruited to Boise State in the first place. She came into Boise State and found success immediately, becoming the 2015 Mountain West Cross Country Champion, Mountain West Conference Cross Country Athlete of the Year and Mountain West Cross Country Freshman of the year. On top of the in-conference awards, Ostrander was also a 2015 NCAA Cross Country All-American and the 2015 NCAA Cross Country National Runner-Up, sealing one of the best cross country season by a freshman ever in Division I Cross Country.

“Her attention to detail and her tenacity in competition are probably the two things that really stand out. She wants to be really good, she wants to be great,” cross country and track and field head coach Corey Ihmels said. “Once that gun goes off she has as much competitive spirit and toughness as anyone I’ve ever coached.”

Following her successful freshman season, Ostrander competed in the 2016 USA Track and Field Olympic trials. Racing against some of the best runners in the world, Ostrander managed to place eighth when all was said and done.

“I was honestly just starstruck standing on the line with some of the people that were in my race,” Ostrander said recently. “It was a really good experience and I think it was valuable to my growth as a runner. I hope I can go back.”

Ostrander faced a bit of a setback entering her second collegiate season, having to redshirt for both the indoor track and field and cross country seasons due to injury. Though being sidelined was tough, Ostrander kept her head up while facing a hurdle in her career.

“It was really hard but I kept remembering what it felt like to compete and how I wanted to represent [Boise State] well so I just focused on what I could do,” Ostrander said.

Returning for the 2016 outdoor track and field season, it was apparent that

Ostrander races at Boise State. Photo courtesy of Boise State Athletics.

Ostrander’s hard work getting back to full health had paid off. She ended up winning the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field 3000m steeplechase, with a time of 9:41.31. It was just the fourth steeplechase she had participated in in her career. On top of becoming the steeplechase champion, she was also named to the 2017 All-Mountain West Outdoor Track and Field team in the 5000m.

Currently in her third season with Boise

State, Ostrander still is setting new bests for herself. In a recent race at the Stanford Invitational, Ostrander set the fastest time in the 3,000m steeplechase by anyone all season with the record time sitting at 9:38.57. With much of the season and her career yet to go, the sky is the limit for her.

“I think it’s just a matter of time before she reaches a level where she is just above and beyond,” Ihmels said.

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SPORTS & REC

BOISE STATE FOOTBALL STAR AWAITS NFL DRAFT

Credrick Wilson discusses his time at Boise State and his future ahead Autum Robertson | Staff Writer | news@boisestate.edu

Wilson sprints past defenders. Photo by Axel Quartarone.

After recently attending the NFL combine Boise State’s former wide receiver Cedrick Wilson is getting ready for the 2018 NFL draft. Wilson grew up in Memphis, Tennessee where he was an all-state quarterback who didn’t received any FBS offers. He later committed to Coffeyville Community College in Kansas as a wide receiver.

“Memphis isn’t a big football city.

You’re going to have a few good athletes because it’s down south, but Memphis is predominantly a basketball city,” Wilson said.

Wilson Joined the Broncos in 2016, and it didn’t take long for his presence to be felt in Boise, earning an All-Mountain West honorable mention and academic All-Mountain West for his junior year campaign. His senior year was another successful season as a Bronco. Wilson was named a team captain, set the Broncos’

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single season receiving record with 1,511 yards and became the 12th Bronco to receive an invitation and compete in the senior bowl, where he impressed by showcasing his route-running ability.

“I sat there right before the season started and said to the guys, ‘we need a championship—I don’t care how we get it, what we do or what we go through to get it. We just need to get it,’” Wilson said.

Wilson talked about what his time at Boise State meant for him, saying it was mostly about his passion for the sport itself.

“Not everyone comes to Boise State to go to the NFL. I came here because I knew I was going to play in the NFL—I came here to pick up on the work ethic and grit part of football,” Wilson said.

Wilson was able to accomplish a lot in only four years at the position of wide

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receiver. He claims being successful at switching positions was one of his greatest achievements in football. Wilson ended his career at Coffeyville with 1,674 yards and 27 touchdowns, and ended his career at Boise State with a total of 2,640 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Nathan Carroll, President of the Corral—Boise State’s student section in the Albertsons Stadium—thinks Wilson will have success at the next level.

“Cedrick had a really great two years at BSU. He went for 1,500 plus yards last year, which shows his high level of production,” Carroll said. “I think he’ll make a nice NFL career for himself. Cedric is a guy that can play on the outside or in the slot. I could see him having a Jordy Nelson—type career if he ends up with a good fit.”

Growing up, Cedric’s father Cedrick Wilson Sr. played in the NFL for both the

San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers as a wide receiver. Wilson had originally gone to Kansas to play baseball and football but quickly dropped baseball to put all of his energy into one sport.

“I was definitely going to choose baseball over football. I was better at baseball.

My dad wanted me to play baseball not football,” Wilson said.

The 2018 NFL draft is now just a few weeks away and Wilson is projected to be drafted in round four or five.

“I don’t really care where I get drafted at,” Wilson said. “It’s an opportunity that most people don’t get. It’s gonna be an honor just to be drafted.”

By the end of April, Wilson’s life will be centered around football. Oddly enough, Wilson said he doesn’t really watch any sports until the playoffs, but his favorite team is the Minnesota Vikings.

Puzzle 1 (Very hard, difficulty rating 0.94)

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Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Mon Sep 18 15:11:27 2017 GMT. Enjoy!

SAT U R DAY | A P R IL 1 4 T H 2 0 1 8 | 1 0 A M - 1 0 P M | J U L I A DAVI S PARK

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