The Eagle print edition April 17

the EAGLE SPECIAL EDITION

Freedom to protest? p. 2 THEEAGLEONLINE.COM

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theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

INDEX

3 NEWS

3 Protesting at AU 4 Understanding Title IX investigations

7 THE SCENE 10 AU alum 11 A look at AU’s Bhangra team

12 OPINION

12 Staff Ed: AU’s Report Card 13 Lessons from the editor-in-chief

14 SPORTS

14 Richard Perry: coach and athlete 16 Dynamic duo of goalies

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theEAGLE

NEWS

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

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The state of speech: A look at protesting rights on campus

by Samantha Hogan Eagle Staff Writer

Silence fell over the steps of Mary Graydon Center on Dec. 3, 2014 as 100 students laid in solidarity with Michael Brown, who was shot by a white police officer in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri last summer. The crowd swelled to over 200 as students then marched around campus, saying, “black lives matter.”

In contrast, on Feb. 5, 2015, 40 students who intended to greet members of the University Budget Committee in a Leonard Hall hallway in support of a tuition freeze were confronted by Public Safety officers with handcuffs and told to disband, The Eagle previously reported. The students, who intended to silently hold signs as members of the committee entered a conference room, were told to leave because they had not reserved the space.

Vice President of Campus Life Gail Hanson has since said that the situation was handled incorrectly, and that the incident was an outlier. AU actively tries to maintain students’ right to expression, according to Regina Curran, the assistant director of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution Services.

“I think AU values freedom, whether it’s freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to assemble — I think we give significant value to those,” Curran said.

The Constitution and First Amendment do not fully extend to protect individual’s freedom of speech at private institutions like AU, but the University makes a concerted effort when drafting rules to treat campus like a public space, according to Curran.

Even when student voices are amplified through protest and organized action, the Board of Trustees may not listen. After a Fossil Free AU campaign

drew support from students and professors and passed a referendum supporting divestment by 79.1 percent in April 2013, the Board decided in November 2014 to not divest from fossil fuels. Students disrupted the announcement and condemned the University’s decision, The Eagle previously reported.

The November reaction to the University’s decision to not divest from fossil fuels may fall under a section Prohibited Conduct in the Student Code of Conduct 2014-2015, which includes “intentionally or recklessly interfering with normal university or university sponsored activities,” according to Curran.

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Fighting for our voices to be heard is sometimes a privilege that we don’t always have. — Danielle Washington

“It is one thing to disagree with something your professor is teaching and stage a protest outside their classroom or in some way that doesn’t disrupt with the ability to teach,” Curran said. “It would be a very different thing to stand up in the middle of class and shout for the remainder of the class period in such that the professor couldn’t be heard and other students are losing out on their ability to be in that class.”

Protests on the quad, even when there is the potential of them disrupting some classes with noise, are not typically sent to conduct, Curran said. Also, policies limiting freedom of speech at AU are scrutinized before being added to the student code of conduct, she said.

However, the the demonstrations such as those in December and February have also shed light on the fact that not all students’ voices are equally heard,

Left: Students chant “Black Lives Matter” during a Darkening movement. Photo: ALEJANDRO ALVAREZ/ THE EAGLE. Right: Students protest tution hikes. Photo: BRYAN PARK/ THE EAGLE

according to Danielle Washington, a senior in the School of Public Affairs and a member of the Black Student Alliance.

“I feel as though certain minority students have the ability to have their voices heard---but I believe that this has only happened this year,” Washington said by email. “Over my entire experience I feel as though the voices of minority students have not been heard nearly as much as the voices of white students.”

Much of the recent shift comes from The Darkening, a movement at AU that seeks to foster an environment of acceptance and cultural sensitivity.

eral books on Constitutional law.

The incident in Leonard Hall February did not follow usual protocol, Hanson said. Public Safety are meant to ensure that students are safe, including the ability to walk through halls and doors that are not being blocked by students, she said.

The University’s mishandling of one demonstration is not indicative of AU seeking to limit all speech, rather AU views protest as one way for students to grow as individuals, Curran said.

In 1982, AU signed the University Policy: Freedom of Expression Guidelines that said students have the right to express themselves and dissent, and that the University must protect those rights equally. The guidelines also state that protests and demonstrations shall not be discouraged by force or the threat of force as long as the University is not deliberately obstructed.

This means students should be given equal opportunities to express their views and the University should not restrict speech based off the content of the speech. However, there are also boundaries that students and professors must respect in order to create an environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing their views, Ivers said.

Students, teachers and administrators may be uncomfortable addressing these topics in class and between groups, but no one benefits from silence, Ivers said.

“The voices of minority students are not heard, in my estimation, because as a minority group, the majority group will always have a louder voice to those in charge,” Washington said by email.

Staff writer Sam Bermas-Dawes contributed to this article.

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But despite several public demonstrations against racial insensitivity on campus, bigoted speech has surfaced through anonymous outlets like smartphone app YikYak, The Eagle previously reported.

“For many students of color, getting through AU is a process in itself and attempting to fight for our voice to be heard takes away from our education and shifts our focus from school to other issues,” Washington said by email.

“Fighting for our voices to be heard is sometimes a privilege that we don’t always have.”

One way that student voices are heard is through protest.

“You don’t help people by silencing them,” said Gregg Ivers, who has been a professor of government in the School of Public Affairs at AU for almost 26 years and the author of sev-

shogan@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

AU UNDER INVESTIGATION

by Brooke Evans

Eagle Staff Writer

On March 18, The Eagle reported that AU was added to a list of 104 universities undergoing a Title IX investigation for the handling of sexual assault and harassment claims.

The University faces an inquiry that may last years. The investigation will be conducted by the Office for Civil Rights under the U.S. Department of Education.

“OCR cannot provide any casespecific details while a case remains open,” Office for Civil Rights spokesman David Thomas said.

Since the beginning of 2014, there have been nine reported sex offenses at AU. The University learned of the complaint when the investigation began on March 11, Dean of Students and Title IX Officer Robert Hradsky said.

“We had every intention of notifying the campus community as quickly as we could, so as soon as we were made aware of the complaint, we contacted the Department of Education to get more information,” Hradsky said.

He added that he had not yet seen the complaint as of April 3. The Eagle has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for both the complaint that sparked the investigation and materials the University is required to give to the Department of Education.

“My understanding is that the Office for Civil Rights will not share the actual complaint with us,” Hradsky said in an email on April 3.

A quick guide to what a Title IX sexual violence investigation means:

A deeper look at the federal investigation into how AU handles sexual assault

Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex, according to the Department of Education’s website.

The law is often used to investigate colleges for handling sexual assault poorly.

One key requirement is that colleges respond to reports within a reasonable amount of time. However, Hradsky did not have a timeline for AU’s typical response when asked by the Eagle.

“The University will respond promptly and effectively to reports received related to sexual assault or sexual violence,” he said in a followup email.

In 2011, OCR received a complaint alleging a sexually hostile environment on Yale University’s campus and that Yale had not responded promptly and adequately, according to a press release. The complaint was filed after an October 2010 incident where fraternity pledges chanted “No means yes! Yes means anal!” outside the university's Women's Center.

Yale ultimately agreed to improve and publicize university resources for preventing and responding to sexual violence and harassment, the 2012 press release said.

“I think the data is pretty clear that sexual assault is an issue on college campuses, and even one assault is one too many,” Hradsky said. “I think that all colleges and universities have an obligation to look at ways that we can prevent, to the extent that we’re able, any sort of interpersonal violence on campus.”

Following the Department of

Education’s public release of the investigation on March 11, Hradsky wrote a memorandum to the University community on March 18.

“We will work cooperatively with OCR to address the questions they have with regard to this complaint,” Hradsky wrote in the memo.

As AU’s Title IX Officer, Hradsky is “responsible for monitoring and oversight of overall compliance with Title IX,” according to the University’s Discrimination and Sexual Harassment Policy.

During the ongoing investigation, Hradsky said he will remain compliant with OCR by answering questions and providing data about what AU does in regard to following the legal guidelines of Title IX, Hradsky said.

“We have been asked to provide data regarding Title IX complaints received by the University. I expect that we will receive questions about our process for responding to and resolving complaints,” Hradsky said in a follow-up email.

Upon review of documentation about how AU handled the case, a site visit would be scheduled, where OCR members would come to AU to speak to the individuals responsible for Title IX compliance, according to Hradsky.

Since his start at AU in 2009, Hradsky said he has focused on sexual assault prevention and support, hiring a fulltime victim advocate Sara Yzaguirre and sexual assault prevention coordinator Daniel Rappaport, who support survivors of sexual assault and who work with administration to educate the campus community, he said.

What is Title IX?

What does the investigation mean?

Title IX is a part of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits genderbased discrimination in educational institutions that receive federal money, which includes the vast majority of US accredited colleges and universities.

Sexual harassment is part of Title IX discrimination and may include unwelcome sexual advances or sexual violence, which includes rape, sexual assault, sexual battery and sexual coercion, according to the Department of Education’s website.

Investigations begin when the DOE receives a complaint that a university has handled a case poorly. This may mean handling cases too late after a report is filed, failing to alert the community of potential dangers or blocking due process for the accuser and the accused An investigation does not necessarily mean a university has done anything wrong, but some past investigations, including at Princeton and Yale, have forced schools to reform how they report and adjudicate sexual violence on campus.

“We have been working diligently on creating an appropriate mechanism to educate our community and support those affected by interpersonal violence for a number of years. We have had a deep commit to this issue, and we will maintain that commitment,” Hradsky said.

StepUp!, a bystander intervention program, was launched at AU in Summer 2014. StepUp! was chosen to replace the previous Green Dot program after reviewing results from a survey conducted by Professor Jane Palmer showed that a change was warranted.

Following the memorandum on March 18 notifying the University community of the investigation, AU Students Against Sexual Violence wrote a Facebook post expressing concern with how the University has not actively taken enough steps to battle sexual assault, specifically with how survivors file formal complaints.

SASV executive board member Faith Ferber said in an interview with The Eagle that sexual assault education on campus has a long way to go.

“We have required math. We have required college writing. I don’t see why we shouldn’t have required sexual assault prevention,” Ferber said. “I really think that a lot of time it does take more than just one StepUp! training or one Peers training to be able to really fully understand sexual assault and everything that surrounds sexual violence.” bevans@theeagleonline.com

How many schools are currently under investigation?

There are 104 universities on the list of open investigations. The other D.C.-area school on the list is Catholic University.

When did the investigation begin?

The investigation was formally opened on March 11. The University community was not alerted to it until March 18 with the Eagle’s initial report. Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students Robert Hradsky sent out a memo about the report later the same day.

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theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Photo courtesy of Hannah Sieff

STUDENTS BRING WELLNESS SKILLS TO HIGH SCHOOLS

by Jillian O’Donohoe Eagle Staff Writer

National group Peer Health Exchange and its AU chapter have taken on the difficult task of making high school a little bit easier for students across the country.

PHE, a national non-profit founded in 2003 by a group of Yale University undergraduates, is dedicated to providing high school students with the skills to make healthy life choices, according to its website.

The organization typically targets the ninth grade because that is usually the year the most students drop out of high school, according to Janée Walsh, the Washington, D.C., program director for PHE. They also work with one eighth grade class. Next year, they will expand to two more eighth grade classes, and they will evaluate the program to see if it is just as effective, if not more.

“If a student drops out, at least we will have given them this [curriculum] to use for the rest of their lives,” Walsh said. “Or maybe they won’t drop out because they have this information. For example, if a young girl doesn’t make a decision that results in a pregnancy, she has more opportunities to finish high school.”

PHE chapters in D.C., including at AU, currently work with students in D.C. Public Schools and Charter Schools in the city. PHE starts recruiting volunteers in the fall semester. Volunteering is unpaid, but AU students can tie their work to class credit through the Community Service-Learning Program.

Walsh said ideal volunteers have strong leadership qualities and a strong interest in the program. When they go into classrooms, they will teach about three major subject areas: sexual health, substances and mental health.

Through critical-thinking activities

that require students to address the health issues their own communities face, volunteers help students develop the ability to make decisions that work with their health goals and priorities.

It’s also a fun experience for the teachers, according to Hannah Sieff, a junior double majoring in Public Health and Communication Studies.

“I love going into the classroom. My first time I was so nervous and worried that I wouldn’t be able to relate to them [students]. As time has gone on I have become increasingly comfortable in involving myself in their conversations and in their lives,” Sieff said.

Sieff has been involved with Peer Health Exchange since her freshman year and is currently one of AU’s two co-coordinators. They hold the highest position in the volunteer hierarchy, observing the sessions in the classroom, managing lower volunteers and interfacing with the central PHE office and co-coordinators at other schools.

Sieff said PHE educators don’t tell high school students what they should or shouldn’t do. Instead, they have discussions about the consequences of different health issues, both positive and negative.

“These classes often wouldn’t have a health curriculum at all or would lack a quality, comprehensive health education without this program,” Sieff said. “[The students] would go through their lives without a quality health education, and a person’s health affects every aspect of their

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life.”

Once accepted, all volunteers go through extensive training. According to Walsh, making sure volunteers understand the community they’re working in and develop the skills to handle social differences is one of the most important aspects of this process.

“I have seen people completely transform,” Walsh said. “Some people come in as freshmen and haven’t had this kind of opportunity yet. They go from shy, timid individuals to confident, strong public speakers. They take initiative and have no problem working with feedback from their peers.”

Even with slightly different responsibilities, everyone involved in PHE has the opportunity to get into the classroom. They teach from guidelines established in an official curriculum used across all PHE chapters that addresses both general health topics and ones specific to each city.

“Each health educator is assigned a topic to cover in their workshop, but we don’t want them to read from it verbatim in the classroom. What we really want to do is promote conversation,” Walsh said.

Each class begins with a short activity to get students thinking, Walsh said. Volunteers usually ask a “do now” question such as “What are three goals you have for the future?

How could the decision to have sex affect these goals?”

This is followed by a brief lecture, no longer than five minutes long, and

I can guarantee that those volunteer hours are going towards making a difference.

—Hannah Sieff

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then a class activity. Walsh said that during the communication and advocacy workshop, volunteers would ask students to go to the center of the classroom and designate each corner of the room as a type of communication like texting, talking on the phone or speaking face to face. Volunteers read prompts, and the students have to decide what type of communication they would use in each situation.

“This activity really engages students and every classroom is different. It’s fun for the educators because they never know what they’re going to get,” Walsh said.

At the end of class, students have the opportunity for quiet reflection, privately responding to personal questions that often ask them to use the decision-making skills they have learned.

While Sieff ’s position requires a great deal of her time each week, PHE has easily become one of her top priorities, she said.

“About a month ago, I had to miss a weekly observation and couldn’t go to a workshop,” Sieff said. “One of my co-coordinators went in my place, and when she came back, she told me that the students continued to ask where I was and they kept saying they wanted Hannah to teach. As a co-coordinator, I don’t even teach the sessions, but just hearing that my presence makes a difference in their learning was so amazing.”

With other experience working in public health policy, Sieff said that her volunteer work with Peer Health Exchange has provided valuable insight to compliment the skills necessary to work for governmental policies.

“A person can have an incredible idea, but if they don’t have experience with that population firsthand, that idea will be less effective,” Sieff said.

“I can guarantee that those volunteer hours are going towards making a difference.” jodonohoe@theeagleonline.com

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theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Incubator designed to help AU business grow

by Deanna Mudry Eagle Staff Writer

The Kogod Entrepreneurship Incubator has been helping AU students and alumni turn their ideas into real-world ventures since it opened in fall 2014.

Although part of Kogod, the Incubator is open to students and alumni from any of AU’s schools and colleges. The Incubator assists students and alumni in developing ideas for new businesses by providing mentors to coach them through the entrepreneurial process and providing funding to cover business costs.

Professor Tommy White, co-director of the Incubator, said there has been a history of entrepreneurship and smallbusiness education at AU, and the new program helps to give more structure and robust financial backing to student startups.

“Students have always been coming up with ideas,” White said. “They do it in their dorm rooms, they do it in apartments, and we have now given those students an outlet and a place to come to explore them further and to get guidance and support along the way.”

The Incubator also serves as a place for students to develop new ideas for profit or non-profit entrepreneurial ventures and gives them a chance to test them and hopefully turn them into a commercial product, according to White.

“If you’re involved in entrepreneurship

or starting a company, or if you want to be, you can come here,” Professor Bill Bellows, who is also co-director of the Incubator, said. “If you’re a founder, you can use this as your own private company. If you’re a student who would like to have an experience in entrepreneurship but you don’t have an idea yet, you can work with one of our teams.”

The Incubator also helps students to pay fees. Every venture accepted to the program receives $1500, which they can use for many things but often use for legal costs, White said.

Some products that have already been developed through the Incubator are unFused, an online tutoring service, Shelf, an app that helps people find their favorite nail polish brands and colors and Agora, which uses virtual reality to create interactive webinars, according to Bellows.

“The idea itself isn’t our first thing,” Bellows said. “It’s more of ‘Who is this team? How committed, how driven are they to making something happen? And if we brought them in ‘Does the idea have the legs to stand for a long time?’”

Philip Olive, an AU graduate student earning his Master’s in Sustainability Management, and Brendan Doherty, graduate of the University of Colorado, are co-founders of Storganize, a company which photographs and tags all the items in someone’s storage unit.

It then uploads them to the company’s website for customers to send to their home, another location, to be junked, donated or sold.

“It’s like Amazon but for your personal items,” Doherty said.

In November 2014, the Incubator launched its “What’s The Big Idea” entrepreneurial pitch competition. The founders of Storganize sent in a video and won the competition.

Storganize is now a supported ventures, and Olive and Doherty work on their business fulltime.

“This is venture number four, possibly number five

“Students have always been coming up with ideas. They do it in their dorm rooms, they do it in apartments, and we have now given those students an outlet and a place to come to explore them further and to get guidance and support along the way.”

for me,” Olive said. “So we’ve been trying to work on a venture or an entrepreneurial venture for the past year and a half, two years almost.”

The Incubator has helped them by providing a place to work, a stipend to help develop their product and, most importantly, mentorship.

“Being in the Incubator with other entrepreneurs, other students and groups, it’s really energizing to be able to talk through some of the problems that you’re having with other people who are going through similar things with you,” Olive said. “Also to see them experience successes, see how they overcome setbacks and failures, it’s really inspiring.”

Ultimately, the Incubator wants to allow these startups to go out and truly become a live business, according to Bellows.

“Our next goal is to put you in front of venture capitalists, and if you’ve ever watched ‘Shark Tank’ you know it’s a very grueling process,” Bellows said. “We need to know that those students are really willing to do that.”

Once in the Incubator, when a venture is ready, the faculty will pair students with a mentor who is either a general entrepreneur who's been very successful or someone who has a specialization in the venture’s industry, according to White.

“We’ve got alumni who are in their 60s and 70s who are thrilled to come in here and talk to these students and just hear what they’re up to and share ideas and mentor them, so it’s just so cool,” Bellows said.

Right now, Olive and Doherty’s venture Storganize is in its Alpha testing stage, in which the product is being tested on previous customers.

In this stage, Olive and Doherty are trying to get their process, tagging system, client communication and product pitch perfected.

At the end of March, Storganize began hiring for a variety of jobs on its website, and Olive and Doherty hope to grow their company and launch a full regular service to new customers on a limited basis starting in June 2015. dmudry@theeagleonline.com

What is the Kogod Incubator?

The Kogod Incubator is a project open to all students and alumni, not just those from Kogod.

The Incubator supports accepted students’ startup ideas through both money and mentorship.

Students and alumni are also allowed to use the Incubator’s space to develop new commercial ideas.

How do start-ups gain entrance to the Incubator?

Those looking to get the Incubator’s support must first answer a set of preliminary questions about their ideas.

Ventures then receive a formal application.

He added that the most important criterion that is considered is the willingness of a venture’s team to see the idea through — not the idea itself.

How many are accepted?

Thirty-five to 45 percent of applicants are accepted to the program. About 14 applications have been accepted total since the opening of the program in January 2014.

theEAGLE

theSCENE More than skin deep:

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

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campus colorism

by Brianna Williams Eagle Staff Writer

Picture two girls sitting across from each other both trying to figure out if they are the same race and why the other looks the way she does. Each girl is judging the other based on the color of her skin.

These questions and thoughts touch on the topic of colorism. Colorism is a form of intra-racism, racism within a particular race group in which lighter skinned people of that group discriminate against darker skinned people of the same group, according to Sybil Roberts, an American University professor of theatre and performance arts with a concentration on the black diaspora and its historical background.

What is colorism?

Colorism is a schema that extends back to slavery in America, according to a Washington Post article. Historically, the lighter-skinned slaves were treated as house slaves and seen as “better” and “more acceptable” than their darker counterparts. Darker skinned slaves worked in the fields doing more manual labor, Roberts said.

“Colorism is a term that we’ve seen come in as early as the 1900s, prominently the 1920s,” Roberts said. “It recycles itself every couple of decades. What it fundamentally means is, it’s a kind of intraracism.”

This divide is still evident in today’s society by how certain shades are treated or seen differently within or outside of the black community.

Colorism at AU Colorism isn’t just historical. It happens on college campuses too, including AU. Taylor Dumpson, a black freshman in the School of Public Affairs, finds the entire concept puzzling.

“Why does a color associate with certain words?” Dumpson said. “Why does light associate with being better? And why is dark associated with being bad?”

Brendan Norwood-Pearson, a black sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences believes that everyone should be conscious of this issue.

“It serves as a reminder that we do not

Photo Illustration; BRYAN PARK/THE EAGLE

live in a post-racial society,” NorwoodPearson said. “It’s something that everyone should be aware of or have some type of idea about.”

Women have to deal with colorism in society more than men do, Roberts said.

She said she believes that darker-skinned women have to deal with symbolic annihilation, when a certain group of people only see images of themselves as negative or not at all, which further perpetuates intraracism on both ends of the spectrum.

Roberts also said she believes the main recipients of this intraracism, women, must learn to appreciate their own beauty and that of their sisters, in order to decrease the chances of colorism among black women.

“But if I say, I want in Vogue [magazine] more people who look like Lupita Nyong'o, I want that right along side people who look like Zoë Saldana, right along side people who look like Zoë Kravitz, right along side everybody else; I want the spectrum,” Roberts said.

Some students of color said they did not think about colorism and its effects prior to coming to AU because of the backgrounds and environments in which they were raised. Being at AU allowed several of them to see colorism firsthand

outside and within the black community.

“Light skins are supposed to be mad emotional and make these faces when they take their selfies,” Norwood-Pearson said. “Dark skin people are supposed to be more rough and not really care. It’s honestly not true and it’s going to hinder us more than prosper us in the outcome.”

Farah Saunders, a light skinned black junior in the School of Communication, can attest to people in the black community at AU judging her based on her skin tone.

“It never really hit me until I got here,” Saunders said. “It never really hit me until I started being questioned by other black people. It’s one of those things too, where you get questioned by those who you think are your own people.”

Being questioned by one’s own race plays a part in the separation of not only colors but cultures.

“I think the separation between colors within the African Diaspora on campus definitely affects the overall experience a freshman has coming into a campus,” Dumpson said. “It’s difficult to find your one blend in that entire group. If people aren’t speaking to each other and separating themselves by culture, some people just end up in the middle like, where do I belong?”

Many students have voiced their opinion regarding the cultural tension between the various ethnic groups in the black community such as the Black Student Alliance, African Student Organization and Caribbean Circle.

“We get mad at other races thinking stereotypical things about us, and we sit there within our race and make stereotypical views on each other,” Norwood-Pearson said. “It’s pretty counterintuitive in the sense that we’re trying to negate this colorism movement and we have colorism within our own race.”

Colorism not only stems in society but creates division on AU’s campus between students of color and non-students of color, according to several black students.

“I wonder if they think of me any differently compared to a darker-skinned person,” Saunders said. “They know that I’m black but I’m almost closer to their complexion than a dark-skinned person.

So do they look at me the same, as one of their counterparts?” bwilliams@theeagleonline.com

D

on Mike Mendoza can be seen managing the internship program in the School of Communication dean’s office, but that’s just his day job. When he’s not busy in McKinley, Mendoza is hard at work curating acts for and performing in his very own cabaret.

Mendoza is an AU alumnus himself; he received his bachelor’s degree in musical theater and broadcast journalism in 2010. After graduating, Mendoza started working while also getting involved in the D.C. performing arts community. He was having trouble finding any substantive roles to showcase his talent for singing and performing. Most of the roles in musical theater for Filipino men were in the ensemble or simply stereotypical characters rather than what Mendoza describes as a real Filipino person.

“You have to find a way to showcase yourself because it’s not gonna come to you,” Mendoza said.

Instead of getting discouraged, Mendoza decided to take matters into his own hands.

In the summer of 2011, Mendoza started developing his own cabaret project, “La-Ti-Do.” Cabaret is a form of entertainment that features singers, dancers, poetry and drama. Cabarets are usually held in restaurants or pubs as performers do their pieces on the floor with the audience while people dine.

Mendoza was testing out his own show at various locations around D.C. while simultaneously performing in local productions when he met his future co-host, fellow actor Regie Cobico. The future co-founder of “LaTi-Do” had an extensive background in spoken word. Cabico has been featured on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” as well as MTV’s “Free Your Mind” Spoken Word Tour. He has also won several National Poetry Slams and is published in various anthologies.

The two men blended their passions

to collaborate on a new project that combined music and spoken word.

“La-Ti-Do” officially debuted in 2012 and was met with critical acclaim by D.C.’s artistic community.

Initially, Mendoza and Cobico had to scout talent and enlist the help of their performer friends to put together a show. After they started to gain a

“You have to find a way to showcase yourself because it’s not gonna come to you.” reputation, singers, actors and spoken word artists began approaching them for the chance to be a part of the weekly cabaret.

Unlike most performances in D.C., “La-Ti-Do” runs every every week rather than every month, which means Mendoza is constantly producing. No two shows are ever the same; each week different artists are featured as guests or spotlights and co-hosts. Mendoza and Cobico always set aside five minutes for themselves to perform a song or recite a piece.

“We don’t want to be on a pedestal away from our performers,” Mendoza said.

The purpose of “La-Ti-Do” is to give artists the chance to showcase their

talent t o the D.C. performing arts community and network with other performers and producers.

“We book people on the principle that you are good, that you know your art,” Mendoza said.

As a performer, Mendoza understands the struggles of the business, so “La-Ti-Do” serves as his gift to fellow artists and performance lovers.

Even while working hard to put on an amazing show each week, Mendoza has time to help out at his alma mater.

In 2014, Mendoza returned to SOC to manage the SOC Dean’s internship office. He is also the registrar for the World of Communication program.

However, this does not mean that he is any less involved in La-Ti-Do. In fact, “La-Ti-Do” started touring in New York City in 2013, using its alumni network to secure a venue and performers. Now the New York version is steadily building up its reputation while featuring Broadway actors, composers and singer/ songwriters.

Mendoza said he hopes to grow “La-Ti-Do” into an organization with different chapters in major cities all over the country. Right now, he has his sights set on Los Angeles.

“La-Ti-Do” happens every Monday at 8 p.m. at James Hoban's Irish Restaurant & Bar. Mendoza encourages

SOC BY DAY

all aspiring performers to get involved, even AU students.

Mendoza also said he thinks many people in the musical theater and spoken word community believe “La-Ti-Do” fills a void because it is more structured than an amateur open mic night but not as highly professional as a staged production.

“La-Ti-Do” provides a place for artists to go to network with one another and showcase their work. It is so beloved by the community that last month when Mendoza and Cobica lost their space, artists and major theaters in the area all came together and, within five days, ensured that “La-Ti-Do” would have a venue, Mendoza said.

Based on the overwhelming positive response Mendoza has received over the past three years, his show has

CABARET BY NIGHT

By Jean Vozella

“

Eagle ContributingWriter

...we want to be a place where any and all artists and organizations can feel they can self-promote and also connect with others.

“

potential to make it very far.

Mendoza said he hopes to grow the show’s partnerships with other local community organizations like Shakespeare Theatre Company and Studio Theatre. Eventually, he said, he wants “La-Ti-Do” to be the D.C. version of New York’s famed 54 Below nightclub.

“We're unique in the fact that we don't compete with theater or spoken word programming in town because we are multi-disciplinary, so we want to be a place where any and all artists and organizations can feel they can self-promote and also connect with others,” Mendoza said. jvozella@theeagleonline.com

10

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Uniting students and athletes onscreen

By Bryan Park Eagle Staff Writer

Sabrina Naimark was driving back home from work in Panama in 2008 when she turned on the radio and heard an announcement calling for volunteers at the Panama Special Olympics. Three days later, she sat on the sidelines watching the athletes compete and fell in love with the experience.

Naimark, who now works on the Social Impact Summit team for the Special Olympics, decided at that moment that she found her life’s calling.

“Just being able to be there and seeing the kids and athletes all the time, I loved it,” Naimark said.

Naimark, who graduated from AU with a major in film and media arts in 2014, is directing a series of minidocumentaries from the beginning of March until May that will involve AU students and athletes with disabilities from local high schools. Each student will be paired with an athlete with a disability and will create a short profile documentary that Naimark will collect for her series.

The documentary series will be presented during the annual Special Olympics GenUin Social Impact Summit in

Los Angeles. The summit will run from July 23 to 27, during which participants will present their ideas to receive funding.

“It’s not about us helping people with disabilities or them needing help,” Naimark said. “It’s about including people with disabilities in every event.”

Documentary filmmaking was Naimark’s unwavering goal from the moment she attended college. She entered AU in 2010 and immediately enrolled in the film and media arts program, where she began applying her skills to help raise awareness for non-profit organizations. Since August 2013 she started working in D.C. for the local Special Olympics branch in preparation for the 2015 GenUin summit.

During one particular game, Naimark remembered the girl having a new enthusiasm to play. She said that other coaches told her to not put the girl in because she would cause the team to lose. Naimark promptly told them that she didn’t care.

When the girl got on to the court, Naimark saw her score on her first shot. The stadium erupted in cheers.

“It was the most amazing feeling ever,” Naimark said. “I could have died after that day, and I would have died happy.”

Naimark said that she wants to share her experiences with the students at AU and said she hopes her project will be the opportunity.

“The only thing people with disabilities need is opportunity and hope,” Naimark said. “And I hope my video will give them that hope.” bpark@theeagleonline.com

11

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Student band Accidental Ghost floats between genres

By Tanner Hackney Eagle Staff Writer

It goes without saying that AU’s campus is full of talent. But at one of the nation’s most politically active schools, the arts sometimes get overlooked.

Accidental Ghost, a group of students at AU who play and write their own unique style of music, is living proof.

The band consists of Joey Kaitany (lead vocals), Sam Krause (guitar), Alli Vega (guitar/vocals), Matt Wright (drums) and Caroline Salant (bass, vocals).

Formed in the fall of 2013, Accidental Ghost started when Krause and Vega, the two guitarists, met online before their first semester at AU. They later met on campus and immediately started writing songs, despite

being short three vital members.

“It was just like us quietly sitting in the room trying to come up with a guitar part,” Vega said.

Wright soon came into the picture after Krause noticed Wright’s Facebook cover photo of him sitting behind a drum kit.

Kaitany joined the lineup as the permanent vocalist when she met Krause doing sound tech for a musical. The two hit it off during downtime in the dressing room, bonding over music.

“I’ve never been in a band, I’ve never considered myself a musician, but I’ve always written music and lyrics for myself and close friends and decided I might want to join a band,” Kaitany said.

Since its infancy, the band went by several names including Finished by May, Katzen Dogs and TGR//STRPS. It wasn’t until Vega fell off her bed and

got tangled in her sheets, accidentally looking like a ghost, that the band’s name came to be The band is working on its upcoming EP “Loud & Clear” in the recording studio in the Kreeger building on campus. It’s also planning for a show in April.

Accidental Ghost’s sound is difficult to pin down. It’s part atmospheric, part pop-punk and part indie-alternative, all of which stem from the band’s clean guitar tones, crystalline vocals and layered songwriting approach.

Incorporating elements of pop, jazz and punk - to name a few - Accidental Ghost seems to transcend genre and just write music.

“Each genre is like an ecosystem, and we’re all just like transplants from different places…growing in the same garden,” Wright said.

When the band formed, it had no

intention of being pop, punk or pop punk.

“We don’t really have an end goal,” Wright said. “We’re just making music and seeing where it takes us.”

When asked why people should listen to Accidental Ghost, the band all agreed that its genre diversity and experimentation sets them apart from the rest.

“Sometimes bands are too scared to stray from being only a punk band or only a punk band,” Vega said.

With such diverse influences and stylistic fluidity, Accidental Ghost has the potential to appeal to multiple music fan bases.

As a constantly evolving musical force, Accidental Ghost is just getting warmed up.

“So basically, join us on our musical journey,” Wright said. thescene@theeagleonline.com

Arts collective The Free Canvas explores D.C. culture

By Emily Bader Eagle Staff Writer

Denis Sgouros found his passion for art blogging for AmLit Magazine during his senior year at AU. After graduating from the School of International Service in 214, Sgouros turned his passion into a career. He is the co-founder and editor of The Free Canvas, an online news periodical that gives readers an inside look into DC’s art scene. Its writers cover local shows, direct and edit films, meet with directors of art galleries and cover cultural venues.

Sgouros co-founded the publication with George Washington University senior Patrick Smith, a registered arts dealer and antique appraiser. The two came up with the idea for The Free Campus at Teaism just over a year ago.

And The Free Canvas has stayed true to its roots: all of its staff writers are

AU or George Washington University word out and get people to experience alumni or students. the arts.

“We thought up the name for “[We] offer a full media service TFC right then and there at package for art galleries Teaism,” Sgouros said. and venues in the D.C. “I recall wanting to area looking for more include the word exposure to the ‘Canvas,’ he came D.C. community,” up with ‘Free’ Sgouros said. and thus The Along with Free Canvas was media services, born.”

Sgouros and The Free Smith hope Canvas isn’t to catalogue just about all the D.C. publicizing metro area and promoting art galleries, the arts. They so that anyone call themselves can easily access a “a cultural the multitude of marketing firm.” places to discover The publication’s next the arts in their project is working on neighborhood. giving art galleries and art The latest art scene venues more opportunities to get the Sgouros suggests: the Coalition for

the Arts of the Dupont Underground.

It’s exactly what it sounds like - the Coalition has worked towards getting a network of underground tunnels in Dupont dedicated to the arts. The Free Campus just covered this venue on its website, and Sgouros said it’s a pretty cool experience.

Sgouros said that The Free Canvas is always looking for students who have found their passion for art.

“Although we are doing a variety of different things with TFC, our core passion is to support and promote the arts in D.C.,” Sgouros said. “For the tourist, the long-time resident, the student, the family man or the business woman. The Free Canvas ultimately exists to draw you to the arts.” ebader@theeagleonline.com

12

theEAGLE

OPINION Staf f Editorial: Ranking AU

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Athletics:

B-

AU’s varsity athletic teams all had a very good year, with men’s and women’s basketball, wrestling and women’s volleyball all advancing to the finals in their respective league tournaments. However, there’s clearly a huge disparity between the quality of the varsity teams at AU and the number of students who attend the games. AU ranked second to last in Patriot League attendance, and women’s basketball was 1,000 people below the Patriot League average for attendance. AU may not be a sports-centric school, and there’s only so much that can be done by players or advertisers to draw crowds. However, we feel that a greater interest in sports could be beneficial to creating a more united spirit and collective identity for all AU students.

Health & Wellness

Campus Events:

Campus Culture:

C+

A-

D+

We split our evaluation of AU’s overall health and wellness for this year into three categories: the Counseling Center, Student Health Center and Wellness Center. Out of these three services, we feel that the Wellness Center has benefitted the students the most. Daniel Rappaport and Sarah Yzaguirre have done tremendous work in help sexual assault survivors, and the wellness center’s many other programs have also been beneficial.

On the other hand, the Counseling Center and Student Health Center have suffered from long lines and lack of staff. The University needs to acknowledge that mental health is a serious issue on this campus by hiring more stuff so that students do not have to wait multiple days or weeks just to get an appointment.

We felt that Student Union Board did a great job of bringing cool acts that students actually wanted to see this year, like Broad City and Run the Jewels. The Kennedy Political Union also did a great job on smaller-events, bringing speakers, like Janet Mock with Women’s Initiative and Martin O’Malley, although their bigger events have been lacking. There’s also a steady flow of interesting people coming to campus each week at smaller venues, as well as a lot of fun each week through smaller avenues, like the Halloween movie screening and carnival on the quad. We only hope that KPU is able to bring more relatable and interesting big-name speakers in the future.

In the past year, a lot of necessary conversations have started at AU around national issues. We’ve begun serious discussions on everything from rape culture to racial microaggressions, but discussion alone is not enough. These discussions on important issues can get lost in petty squabbling or no real change will result from them. Social media, like Yik Yak, has provided a platform some of the harmful ideas that have been festering on our campus for years, and now that we can see the problem more clearly, we need to actually create solutions.

AU has progressed admirably in LGBTQ+ issues over the past decade, and now we hope that racial and women’s issues can be treated with the same amount of respect. -E

How can we stop accepting bureaucracy?

by Shelby Ostergaard Eagle Columnist

It’s almost time for spring registration at AU. Which, for me, means yet another round in the ring with AU Central.

Maybe round in the the ring is too strong a phrase. But after having my inbox once again stuffed with at least 10 ‘service requests’ and ‘service request closures’ for what seems like a simple problem, it doesn’t feel like it. Because every semester there is a problem and no problem is easy to fix.

Every single one of them turns into a battle. Me vs. The Bureaucracy.

Every semester that I’ve been at AU, AU Central has been unable to access my tax returns. This inability then turns into a delay in my financial aid.

When I call with a question, I’m directed to fill out the same online form, over and over Wagain, even though it has never worked. Every time I’m assured that this time it will be dif-

ferent, now I’ve filled out the correct form, now it’s all fine. And a few days later, I get an email informing me that because my tax returns still can’t be accessed. I won’t get financial aid this semester. Then I go tearing down to the AU Central office where I’m assured, once again, that it’s all fine.

Rinse and repeat, until I’ve requested the IRS sends a physical copy of my tax returns to me and gone and handed it to AU Central myself.

I’m not blaming AU Central employees for this, by the way. This system isn’t their fault. It’s not really anyone’s fault—that’s why it’s called a system. In fact, I always feel horrible for the employees who have to talk to me about this (or similar issues I’ve had like it) every semester.

Because I will freely admit, I am a horrible customer in these situations.

I’ve cried, I’ve yelled, I’ve been really

sarcastic. And I know that it’s not a good way to react—but being told you might not be receiving financial aid for a semester is really, really, really scary. I cannot emphasize this enough. First you’re having a run of the mill day, and then you go to AU Central and all of a sudden you’re trying to figure out what you’re going to do if you don’t go to school for the semester.

Of course, there is always the possibility that I am the only person who has this issue, or similar issues, every semester when I try to register for classes. Please totally ignore this column as the ramblings of a bitter student who can’t keep her paperwork in order if I am. But from what I’ve heard from other students, I just don’t think I’m the only one. edpage@theeagleonline.com

13

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Letter from the Editor: Three things I learned from leading The Eagle

by Heather Mongilio Eagle Editor-in-Chief

I was the editor-in-chief of The Eagle for 382 days, and I’m not going to lie, the year and 17 days I spent as editor-in-chief were some of the best and worst days of my life. (All 21 years of it.) During that time, I have laughed, cried, stressed and smiled more than I had in the three years at AU prior to taking on the paper. But I left the paper in the competent hands of Shannon Scovel, and I can’t wait to see what she and her staff do next year.

Reflecting on the past year, as well as my other three years as a student journalist for The Eagle, is no easy task. But there are definitely a few lessons I had to learn the hard way that I want to pass on to the future student journalists.

Understand the criticism but also that you can’t make everyone happy.

There were well-deserved criticisms this year. It was no secret that I chose to retract a staff editorial earlier this semester. What I learned from that situation is mistakes happen. When they do, figure out what went wrong in the system, fix it, breathe and move on. The breathing is the most impor-

tant part. It's never fun to admit that you were wrong or that the material you allowed to be published had a factual flaw, but it is important to be 100 percent honest with the readers.

At the same time, you have to be true to the paper. People will want ask the EIC to remove articles all the time because they don't like the content, or it was written in a way that they didn't like. Stand firm. The job isn't to make everyone happy. It's to make sure students are informed, the content is objective and that the staff sought truth and accuracy.

One of the editors-in-chief before me said, "Criticizing the news media is as American as apple pie." People love to voice their opinions of news articles, and the AU community is no different. To the people who insult the paper, please remember the staff is made up of your classmates. They are working extremely hard and doing their best while balancing full course loads, internships and jobs.

The student-journalist balance is hard At AU, students take on multiple activities. Life isn't complete unless you are interning, taking a full course load, working and joining a couple clubs.

Working on a student newspaper is no different. The staff members intern, work, play sports and go to class. But what makes us different is that we are acting as professionals while learning.

Let's breakdown "student journalist."

The first word is student. We are all paying to attend AU. And note that student comes first, as it should. After all, you don't pay tuition to be part of a school newspaper. But the student aspect is important because as a student journalist, you live and breathe what you report. The people you interview are your classmates, professors and administrators. The topics you write about also affect you. Potential conflict of interest is everywhere.

So what happens if you write an article about a group or professor that doesn’t tell a positive story? Does that mean you can't take a class with that professor or join that group? Do you lose friends from the stories you write? I don't have the answers, but these are problems student journalists deal with every time they write a story. I'm happy to say that we have never stepped away from a story because of the negative consequences. But I know people who have lost friends from reporting. There were a few professors whose classes I couldn't take

and a few activities I couldn't join because I wrote stories about them.

Yes, the student journalist balance is hard, but I bet anyone on staff would tell you it's worth it.

These are some of the best times of your life What I've said so far may sound negative, but reporting for and leading The Eagle was the best part of my college career. I have loved most of my time at the paper and AU. Yes, there were rough patches of stress and deadlines, but, for the most part, working at the paper meant hanging out and laughing with friends, while getting to tell some amazing stories and maybe make some positive change at the University.

I worked with a great staff, who spent countless hours in a windowless room churning out award-winning content purely for the love of journalism and The Eagle. And I happily call each member my family. We started traditions of playing music during news shifts (Booty Dew, anyone?) We talked about our life problems. We ate good food (frequently, food that I made.) And we created work that won national and regional awards.

What more could you want? hmongilio@theeagleonline.com

Quick Take: Tuition hikes needed for AU to make necessary investments

by Walter Francis Quick Take Columnist

The warning signs appeared early.

When the construction on the new Tenley campus of the Washington College of Law fell behind, we watched as money went down the drain. When the demolition of the Nebraska parking lot began, the autumn winds carried the faint sound of coins plinking away. When the administration announced the development of a post-graduate engineering program, students felt an instinctive pain in their back pockets.

We all knew the tuition hikes were coming.

In order for a university to maintain

its standing in the world it must grow academically, institutionally and even physically. AU prides itself on cultivating a faculty of individuals who not only have years of experience in their respective fields, but are at the cutting edge of their areas of expertise. Hiring these dynamic professors and incentivizing the teaching profession to keep them here, costs money.

In order to grow academically, AU must create new academic programs, such as the expanded gaming design degree that debuted in fall 2014 and the anticipated engineering program, carried out in tandem with Columbia University. Physically, the University needs more space to hold these classes and to house the flood of new students as AU grows in popularity.

All of these factors contributed to the need for a larger budget for the

University, and thus the tuition hikes.

Students are understandably frustrated at the rising cost of attendance. AU is one of the most expensive schools in the country, and 83 percent of students receive either need or meritbased financial aid. With the majority of student population receiving some sort of in-house financial aid, it is necessary for the Board of Trustees to consider the welfare of their students when making such decisions.

I am satisfied that they have done so.

In addition to the increased tuition, AU also cut the University’s budget without altering the amount of money available for financial aid. In fact, 30 percent of the new revenue stream from the increased tuition will be applied to need-based aid. The adminis-

tration also talked the Board of Trustees down from a 6 percent increase to a 3 percent increase in the cost of attendance.

This exhibits the Board of Trustees’ willingness to work with the administration to find a compromise between the university’s financial needs and those of its students. Of course, the agreement reached is no miraculous situation that pleases all parties involved, but this solution led to a increase that was smaller than I expected.

Yes, the tuition increase makes it more difficult for students’ to afford a higher education at AU, but the money is being used to create and sustain an exceptional academic environment, as well as increasing the value of our degrees as the schools grows in stature and influence.

SPORTS

14

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

Double duties: Richard Perry, the wrestler and the coach

By Vincent Salandro Eagle Staff Writer

Pursuing a post-collegiate wrestling career was never the plan for Richard Perry, at least not initially. Neither was coaching. As a freshman studentathlete at Bloomsburg College in Pennsylvania, he was initally focused solely on building off his sucessful high school career where he won two state titles in Connecticut.

Perry went 110-30 in his four years at Bloomsburg, set the school record for longest winning streak with 31 straight wins his senior season and was a three-time NCAA Qualifier.

It was during his collegiate career,

which included extended training in the off-season, that Perry discovered passion for freestyle wrestling. This newfound passion, coupled with an inner drive to succeed, led Perry to pursue a career after college as a freestyle wrestler.

Despite small technical differences between collegiate wrestling and freestyle wrestling, including the absence of moves from the bottom position in freestyle wrestling, Perry said his adjustment to the different style was not difficult.

“

Wrestling Team. Perry won a gold medal and the Outstanding Wrestler title at the Bill Farrell International Tournament, a silver medal in the Dave Schultz Memorial Invitational and, most recently, a bronze medal at the Alexander Medved International.

For some athletes, the task of competing in highly respected international invitational tournaments would be difficult enough, but for Perry, that’s only half of his job. Perry also works as an assistant coach for the AU Wrestling

Loving the sport and wanting to continue to wrestle is a major part.

“I was always taught wrestling is just wrestling,” Perry said. “You’ve got to go out there and put points on the board and be stingy. For my style of wrestling, I think it [freestyle] compliments me more than the collegiate style of wrestling.”

In the short period Perry has wrestled post-collegiately, he has already experienced high levels of success in freestyle wrestling. This success has allowed him to travel with the USA

”

team, primarily working with the upper-weight wrestlers.

AU head coach Teague Moore first saw Perry compete at Bloomsburg while coaching at Clarion University in Pennsylvania. Moore and Perry’s paths crossed again last year when Perry, a senior in college, wrestled current AU sophomore Jason Grimes at the Northeast Regional Championships in the 86kg freestyle competition.

Perry’s coach at Bloomsburg his senior year, Jason Mester, knew Moore from coaching against him while Moore was at Clarion. Mester and John Stutzman, who was Perry’s coach during his first three years at Bloomsburg, contacted Moore and offered glowing recommendations of Perry when they heard Moore was considering taking Perry as an assistant coach.

“I think for me, the key thing that they both said was [he was] extremely mature for his age,” Moore said.

“When I met him and sat down with him, that definitely came through.”

Perry brings an interesting dynamic to the AU team, having been a collegiate athlete and currently being a competitor himself.

“Me being just out of college, I understand a lot of what they’re going though, whether it’s on the mat or off the mat,” Perry said. “I can be that guy to them and try to bridge the gap between athlete and coach, because I am both.”

Moore said he believes that Perry’s

words really resonate with the athletes because he was a successful collegiate athlete and continues to be competitive internationally.

“You get the level of respect that he commands from our guys has a lot to do with how he’s doing on the international circuit,” Moore said.

“Seeing his success and now seeing him as one of the top prospects on the Olympic level, I think for our guys there is a reassurance for them because this guy [Perry] is in my corner.”

Grimes says that Perry’s career and the success he has achieved internationally make his words have greater weight to the upper-weight wrestlers he works with.

“He knows what it takes to become one of the best guys in the country, and he’s in shape, and he’s always training, which makes it better,” Grimes said.

While Perry enjoys his role as a coach and a competitor, sometimes it is difficult to strike a balance between Perry’s lofty personal goals and his role as a mentor and coach to the collegiate athletes.

“If I’m training for myself, I want to exhaust myself and push myself to the limit,” Perry said. “But if I am helping them [the AU Wrestlers], I don’t really want to beat up on them or have them beat up on me because we’re preparing to compete.”

Perry said his passion for coaching developed over the summer when he worked with the Warsaw Team X Wrestling Club in upstate New York.

“I knew I wanted to coach after college, but after working with these kids and feeling all the overall raw emotions of the coaches that I’ve never felt before, it was really an eyeopener that this is what I really want to do, whether it be now or in the long term,” Perry said.

Perry also has long term plans for his competitive career. His ultimate goal: an Olympic gold medal. Moore said he believes Perry is well on his way to achieving his Olympic aspirations.

“In one year, he has gone from just basically another guy that’s out there training to one of the top contenders [internationally],” Moore said. vsalandro@theeagleonline.com

15

theEAGLE APRIL 17, 2015

An Introduction to Nationals Baseball Autographs

By Jennifer Reyes Eagle Staff Writer

Every Sunday, two Nationals players will sign autographs from the top of the Nationals dugout starting one hour and ten minutes prior to first pitch.

Fans must obtain a free voucher to participate in the autograph sessions. Available after gates first open (Two and a half hours before first pitch), a limited number of vouchers will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis at Sections 109 and 142.

Can’t Miss Promotions

Nationals Park

Pups in the Park: April 18, May 23, June 3, June 21, Sept. 3, Sept. 26 The Nationals allow dog owners and their dogs can enjoy a game with proceeds going to Washington D.C. Humane Society Night Out: June 17 A night dedicated to LGBT community with portion of the ticket cost benefiting Team DC’s Scholarship Fund allergies Bobbleheads Giveaway: On these select days the Nationals will distribute bobblehead figures of the most popular players of the team. May 4 (Livan Hernandez), June 4 (Ryan Zimmerman), July 5 (Stephen Strasburg), Aug. 30 (Jayson Werth), Sept. 25 (Jordan Zimmermann) Jayson Werth Chia Pet: Aug. 5 The Nationals will distribute a Chia Pet figurine of Jayson Werth where the plant will grow into his signature beard.

One of the most modern stadiums in Major League Baseball, Nationals Park was built in 2006 and is located in southeast Washington D.C near the Anacostia River waterfront.

Nationals Park is metro accessible with the Navy Yard- Ballpark Yellow Line stop conveniently placed two blocks away.

For all home games, the center field gate will open two hours prior to first pitch, all other gates open one hour prior to first pitch.

Nationals Park has a capacity of 41,418 people. Nationals Park has been home to not only the Nationals but to other special events like 2015 NHL Winter Classic, various

Earned Run Average, (ERA) A calculation to evaluate how many earned runs a pitcher gives up per nine innings.

Batting Average, (avg.) – Measures the performances of batters where number of hits are divided by at bats.

Home run, (HR)- A ball hit out of the stadium, while fair, is a homerun. There are four types of home runs: a solo-home run, two-run home run, three-run homerun and a grand slam.

The amount a home run is worth correlates with how many players are on base, the batter counting as one.

Runs Batted In, (RBI)- The amount of runs a player produces based on his hits at bat .

Batting

Pitching

A .250 is considered average,

A starting pitcher to have a quality

while the best hitters in baseball

start usually goes six innings or

hit .300 and above. The home

more with three or less earned

run leaders each season usually

runs. Depending on your place in

hit 35 HR or above along with 90

the rotation you have difference

RBI and above.

ERA expectations. An ace, first in the rotation, usually has a 2.99 ERA and lower. The middle of the rotation is expected to have around 3.00-3.50 ERA while the fifth starter is viewed as the weakest pitcher.

Inside the Cage: Freshman goalies build off each other’s support

By Shannon Scovel Eagle Staff Writer

Courtesy of Julia Hester/ Photo Collective

Rose Redfoot leaves lacrosse practice every day covered in bruises.

The freshman lacrosse goalie, who wears nothing but a chest protector, helmet and gloves, defines her success by how often she can successfully throw herself in front of a small, yellow rubber ball that can move up to 80 mph when shot by a skilled teammate during practice or opponent during a game.

“Everyone always says goalies are crazy, but I just try not to think about it,” Redfoot said. “I’m covered in bruises. It’s worth it.

It hurts sometimes, but there is nothing like having a really good save, it’s the best feeling.”

She has experienced numerous broken fingers during her career as a goalie, and she also broke her foot making a save in high school when a top-ranked player launched the ball low to the ground and split Redfoot’s foot in half. The injuries, however, don’t usually occur when she tries to make a save, Redfoot said. Instead, they are more likely to happen when she steps out of the goal to make a play or pass the ball to a teammate, Redfoot said.

A North Carolina native, Redfoot has started in every game so far for the Eagles. Despite being one of the youngest players on the field, she has embraced her position with vigor and confidence, citing previous experience as a starter as a critical element to her success.

“Even as a freshman in high school, I started, so I’m kinda used to that being younger and playing up,” Redfoot said. “When I was in sixth grade, I played on a high school team so I’m used to playing with older people. It’s a lot of pressure sometimes, but when you’re out there, it doesn’t matter what grade you’re in. The senior defenders are working really hard in front of me and I trust them, so it doesn’t really matter.”

As an elementary school student, Redfoot became immersed in lacrosse under the guidance of her mother, who coached lacrosse in North Carolina.

In addition to lacrosse, Redfoot also dabbled in field hockey and volleyball in high school, playing one season of each. Her true passion, however, laid in lacrosse, and she committed to AU during her senior year of high school.

Standing 5’9, Redfoot covers the goal with her long limbs and lean frame, and she uses her height to her advantage.

Back-up freshman goalie Taylor Dumpson admires Redfoot’s skills, and she tries to learn from her teammate every day. Dumpson however, also brings a different set of skills to the Eagle line-up.

“You have to realize what your strengths are, so like with Rose, she’s good with up high, but for me, ‘cause I’m short, I’m better low,” Dumpson said.

Dumpson, a walk-on for the Eagles, primarily played defense in high school but switched the back-up goalie position under the suggestion of head coach Emma Wallace. She has enthusiastically accepted her new role, grateful to have the opportunity to play for AU. Dumpson, despite playing in the back-up position, saw playing time against Mount St. Mary’s University on March 11, and she also played against Bucknell University on March 28. While on the field, Dumpson said she feels pressure inside the cage, but the support of her teammates inspires her to perform to her potential.

“I’m afraid to mess up, so I just have to block it out, but everyone on the sidelines is definitely, like, so positive and pep me up beforehand like ‘Taylor, you got this. You’re good,’” Dumpson said.

The two young athletes, Dumpson and Redfoot, work together in practice, and Dumpson works to pick up techniques from her teammate during their workouts.

“We definitely switch a lot during practice, so we get the same kind of sets, and I also stand behind goal, so

I see what she does, so that I do that,” Dumpson said.

The Eagles look to improve upon their 5-12 record from the 2014 season, and the freshman goalies hope that their team chemistry and positive mentality will allow them to see success.

“Again, with the stress of being a goalie, this team is so supportive, it helps a lot even when we do mess up, like ‘it had to get through us, you’re fine,’” Redfoot said.

Redfoot will continue to risk bruises and injuries in her position as the starting keeper for the Eagles, but she chooses to focus on the challenge of each game, rather than the danger of the position.

“I always think ‘just be faster than the ball,’” Redfoot said. “If I just repeat that in my head, I’m not thinking about what I’m actually doing.”

Sscovel@theeagleonline.com

BRYAN PARK/ THE EAGLE