STORIES FROM INSIDE ADVANCED CERAMICS: Students from advanced ceramics gather around the kiln on campus nov. 22, viewing their creations. Fueled with life stories about art, love and hobbies, the class has a lot to share. Learn more about their perspectives on ceramics on p. 5.
Jacob Politte MANAGING EDITOR
The long-standing MetroBus route to Meramec along Watson Road, known by many as the #21, has undergone a massive change starting this week.
The route has expanded beyond Kirkwood, with stops now included in Fenton, specifically at Wally’s and the Amazon Warehouse on the Assembly Parkway.
These stops will add time to the route, with stops at Meramec now only occurring once an hour. Following the stop at Meramec, Bus #21 will continue into Fenton, before returning to Shrewsbury.
Director of Service Planning for Metro Lance Peterson said that the route was extended “to make the Via service more effective.”
For clarification, “Via Metro STL” is an app that lets you hail a vehicle directly from your smartphone using the Via app, and travel to any location within the service zone during operating hours. It’s a shared-ride service.
Peterson said that the college was not informed of the change by Metro, instead saying that Rider Alerts were placed on all buses and at affected bus
stops.
“We have thousands of businesses we serve along the routes,” he said.
“This is why we place notices on buses, papers, radio stations and TV.”
Peterson also said that five meetings were held to receive comments. He said that one of these meetings was held at the Shrewsbury MetroLink Station, the starting point of the #21.
No changes appear to be coming to the other route that serves campus; the #56 (Kirkwood-Webster) will continue
to run as normal. That bus also makes a stop at the Shrewsbury MetroLink Station.
During the week, the first bus on the #21 route will leave that station at 5:08am, arriving at the Meramec campus at 6:01. Stops at Meramec will continue to be hourly until 6:13pm, when the route stops at Meramec about every 90 minutes until midnight. Check metrostlouis.org for the full new schedule.
Remembering Dr. Reni Joseph
Jacob Politte MANAGING EDITOR
Meramec Chemistry Professor Reni Joseph, Ph.D, passed away peacefully on Monday, Nov. 11 in Ballwin. No cause of death was publicly revealed, but she had been battling what was described by colleagues as “a long illness.” She is survived by her husband, Dr. Suresh Mathew and her children Hannah, Jason, and Shayna.
A funeral service for her was held on Thursday, Nov. 14 at Schrader Funeral Home in Ballwin.
Joseph was a long time member of the campus’s Chemistry Department. In her obituary as it reads “As a professor, she was highly respected by her students, always prioritizing their needs and fostering an environment of learning and growth.”
Michael Hauser, a colleague of Joseph’s in the Chemistry department, remembers her fondly.
“I was the first at Meramec to meet Dr Reni Joseph as I was guide when she interviewed with our department,” Hauser said. “I instantly liked her. In the years we worked together, I found her high intellectual ability was surpassed only by her unfailing graciousness. Reni always had a kind word for everyone and was outstanding at working with and for students.”
Hauser also spoke about how supportive Joseph was of him when they discussed academics.
“When we would dialogue about the art of teaching, she never failed to positively support my ideas using one of her favorite words ….’brilliant.’ She was a modest woman, devout Christian and outstanding wife and mother. During her long illness she was always upbeat and positive. Her loss will be felt by many, and I regret that many future students will not have the opportunity to be nurtured and educated by this special person.
View the obituary at https:// www.schrader.com/obituary/ reni-joseph-phd
After c her college would be the dit transferability
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Looking to stay in the state after STLCC? Take a look at some options
RYAN WINZEN News Editor
After completing classes at STLCC-Meramec, some students have plans to move on to other colleges or universities. Some important factors to determine is which school would be the best for transfer, based on the cost, type of programs/majors offered and credit transferability. If your plan is to stay local - in Missouri - check out what Missouri colleges and universities have to offer.
JACOB
Shannon Philpott-Sanders Faculty Adviser X.com “@TheMontage”
To place an advertisement, contact the advertising manager for rates, sample issues, etc., at 314-984-7857.
Editorial views expressed or content contained in this publication are not necessarily the views of St. Louis Community College, the Board of Trustees or the administration.
The Montage is a student publication produced seven times per semester at St. Louis Community College - Meramec, 11333 Big Bend Blvd., Kirkwood, Mo., 63122.
One copy of The Montage is free of charge. Up to 10 additional copies available, $1 each, at the office of The Montage, SC 220. Bulk purchases may be arranged with circulation manager.
Editorial policy: All letters should be no longer than 500 words and must include identification as a student or faculty member, phone number and address for verification purposes. Phone numbers and addresses will not be published. All letters are subject to editing for content and length. All letters submitted will be published in print and online.
Proud
Lucas Segall Staff Writer
The time has come for students to start looking to transfer to other schools.
Stephanie Ferguson, MAE, Coordinator of Transfer Pathways, provided a list of transfer tips and tricks for students to follow on their journey. When asked what the best way for students to stand out on their college applications is, she talked about a variety of ways to do so. First, she tackled scholarship essays.
“As far as standing out in essays for scholarships, it's going to be something that's more unique and personal to that student,” Ferguson said. “You know, everyone's going to write about the same thing; you want to stand out as the biggest thing.”
As for transfer applications, she said that the most common factor considered is your transfer GPA.
“Usually,” she said, “if you've completed 24 credit hours at a college or university, you can transfer in, most commonly with a GPA of 2.0 to 2.3 or higher.”
“Most schools will have merit-based scholarships, which are based on your GPA,” Ferguson said. “So you'll get the most money out of just doing well in school, which is really awesome.”
For students earning their associate's degree and planning to move on to a four-year program, there are excellent opportunities to receive substantial scholarships. Ferguson mentioned Truman State as one example.
BRENDAN SMITH STAFF WRITER
Within STLCC Meramec’s student center, at the top of the stairs to the second floor, there is a sign in a window that reads “TRIO Lab,” but what is TRIO? TRIO is a government sponsored program that allows first generation students to receive support in the form of academic advising, transfer planning, tutoring, financial aid advising, and the ability to attend social and cultural events put on by TRIO staff.
“I would describe it [TRIO] as a one-stop-shop. It is a student support service on campus, we help students in a variety of ways,” TRIO student support services Meramec manager Bisheng Ahmed said, “The main focus that we have is in the academics area. We help them with academic advising, anything from registration, students come to us for transfer planning, career advising, and we have a tutoring and mentoring program.”
TRIO isn’t exclusive to the Meramec campus though. With programs at Forest Park and Florissant Valley, as well as two programs to help middle and high school students get to the next level of education.
“If you have an associate's degree and you transfer to Truman, they take fifty percent off of their tuition,” she said.
For students who are worried about their classes transferring to other schools and want to ensure that the time they have spent will be worthwhile, Ferguson shared the top five schools for transferring credits. These schools are Lindenwood, Maryville, Mizzou, and Webster. Most, if not all, of the classes students take at STLCC will transfer for credit to these in-state colleges.
Ferguson also shared a really interesting program called MOS, which allows students to swipe through scholarships like a dating app, “Giving students the opportunity to pick and choose which scholarships they think would best fit their needs and personalities.” The website address for this program is https://www.mos.com/.
When making an account, you tell the app your name, address, age,
“We have TRIO programs that support college students, that would be Student Support Services, and then we have a pre-college group, that’s Talent Search and Upward Bound, that serves middle and high school students,” district director of TRIO programs Sanela Mesic said. “We are a college access program, we serve first generation college students, and our goal is to help students in middle school get to high school, in high school graduate high school and enroll in college, and our college students to graduate and transfer.”
“My TRIO advisor helped me register for classes, outlined each class I would take for every semester I was going to be at STLCC, and even allowed me access to this outline, so I could refer to it whenever I wanted, and we could make changes as needed. Now I didn’t feel like I was in the middle of an ocean with nowhere to go, at least now I could see land,” Jack Bene, Lab Supervisor for TRIO Meramec and TRIO graduate said. “My TRIO advisor was also the one that convinced me to go into engineering as I always had a love for science and was good at mathematics, however I thought being an engineer was for smart people and I didn’t think I was that.”
gender, sexual orientation, major of interest, along with other things. The app uses this information to present the student with scholarships that best apply to them.
The nationwide TRIO program has helped many first-generation students through all stages of college preparation, and TRIO Meramec hopes to be part of that success.
“We are experts in first gen students, and that is what TRIO is for nationwide. It is to serve first gen students, students who are Pell [Grant] eligible, and students with disabilities. Other staff are working with students if they hear through conversation some of the struggles a student is having, and then they realize the student is a first gen student, the next step is to get them into TRIO,” Ahmed said, “TRIO nation wide is a model that works to help students graduate and get degrees.”
Jacob Politte Managing Editor
DON SINGLETON STAFF WRITER
TOP LEFT: The owners of the Pan Pa’ Ti Bakery pose for a picture at the Festival on Tueday, Nov. 26, 2024. The bakery, located within THE DISTRICT facility in Chesterfield, describes itself as a “family-owned Venezuelan Artisan Bakery, where every bite tells a story.” At the event, the two sold various kinds of Stuffed Bread Cachitos and Dount Style Minibombas. The Chesterfield bakery is open from 8am-2pm every Wednesday through Friday, and from 7am-12pm on Saturdays.
TOP RIGHT: Meramec students participate in a “flamenco” dance led by instructor Marisel Salacruz on stage in the Meramec Theatre on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. The “flamenco” dance originated in Spain, and is described as a “passionate, emotional, and expressive dance that’s considered a symbol of Spain’s identity.” It’s characterized by its rhythmic style, vigorous actions, and use of hand clapping, foot stomping, and castanets
BOTTOM LEFT: A booth selling Pro-Palestinian merchanise was present at the event, along with another booth that sold “Palestinian Sweets and Treats.”
As we enter the cooler months, we are stepping out of our sandals and into more weather-appropriate shoes—looking to take it up a notch? From retro sneakers to different silhouettes of boots, the shoes listed below will ensure you keep your best foot forward.
Retro sneakers began taking the place of the platform craze from 2019 to 2022 last year with the Adidas Samba, but as we learn and grow, we are leaving the samba on the Pacific Sunwear website. The Adidas Taekwondo is set to take center stage this winter. As seen on celebrities like Blackpink’s Jennie Kim and influencers like Madeline Argy and Noah Miller, the 2000s-born shoe was re-released this year and is winning the retro sneaker trend.
If you’re still grieving the death of the Samba, the Taekwondo offers a similar slim profile while deviating from the late Samba. There are many other retro sneakers to choose from like the Nike Cortez, New Balance 530, or Reebok Club C, if slip-on shoes aren’t your preference.
Boots boots boots! Whether you prefer the classic UGG or are looking for more edge with Steve Madden, everyone needs at least one good pair of winter boots. Last season, Moto and Cowboy boots dominated the trend cycle, and they aren’t going anywhere. This year, the color scheme is changing slightly.
Instead of jet black or bright red boots, fashionistas are opting for deep burgundy or medium to dark brown boots. Consider suede, kneehigh or suede knee-high. A great suede
option is UGG, though not knee-high. The trending styles this year are the Goldenstar Clogs and Platform Ultra Mini.
Love it or hate it, the ballet flat trend is here to stay, a cult classic. We saw the resurgence of ballet-inspired fashion on Miu Miu’s fall/winter 2022 runway, paired with heavy-knit socks, which provided a refreshing spin on the quintessential shoe style. Maison Margiela introduced a split-toed “Tabi ballerina” back in 1989 in their spring/ summer collection. As time progresses, the tabi flat persists as the consensus among those who are up-to-speed on the current trends.
BONDING OVER CERAMICS: At left, an advanced ceramis student finalizes one of her class projecs. Middle: Bill Foster pours materials into a barrel. At right: One of Phillip Finder’s students perfects her mugs in the Meramec ceramics lab.
PHOTOS BY NINA GOMEZ
NINA GOMEZ STAFF
Ayoung intern riding along a median, gets out, crawls down into the ravine as police are coming after her and then she pops up and takes a picture. Her picture is printed as a banner headline photo, all across the front page of the St. Louis PostDispatch. The picture? Jimmy Michael getting blown up on the highway during the Mob War in St. Louis during the ‘80s.
There was a bomb in his car. “Right before rush hour they blew up one of the mobsters on highway 55, back in the ‘80s that’s what was happening in St. Louis,” said Kathy Kuper while concentrating on molding her clay project in the back of room HE-132, the ceramics room.
The advanced ceramics class at STLCC-Meramec, meets once a week on Fridays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It currently consists of around less than 15 people. Most of the students are retirees and/or returning members of the class for over four years, and some that are brand new to the class. There are some that have photographed mobsters getting blown up and gotten nominated for a Pulitzer prize for photojournalism during desegregation, a married couple who own a local ginger liqueur brand, and some that say they have been here “210 years.” There are also some like Cindy Lamboley who smiles, shows her crafts and promises the clay seeds she’s making “are not turds,” but are a replica of her garden plant.
There are also some who have their own at-home ceramics studios like Christine Raquepaw who was a graphic designer and illustrator. “I have my own at home, but I just wanted to take a class and learn some new stuff and hangout with some other people, I’m usually by myself at home,” she said. The instructor, Phillip Finder, assigns them prompts. However, they have the freedom of deciding whether
to follow it, be inspired by it, or go a completely different direction. Their projects can take about anywhere from a couple weeks to a month to complete. Finder shows them the prompts with thematics through a slideshow. “We saw some really interesting antifoot pieces that were kind of fun and unusual. I don’t know if anybody did anything exactly like those. I doubt it, but they did inspire people to kind of think about the possibilities. That’s kind of what we start with, the possibilities. Don’t you think Christine?” said Bill Foster, a returning student in the class, as he turned over to his classmate. She smiled and agreed and began to show her work.
Raquepaw’s ceramic piece is making a replica of her grandparents’ house in Nebraska with all four sides of it and she said it’ll hold up photos. “I’m going to do the cows I could put on clay and fire or people in the windows,” she said as she quiets down when she specifies, “my grandparents and stuff.” Foster responds with how much he loves that idea.
She thought of the idea because, “Everything else I came up with was really sad and this was a happy memory, something to remember.”
Her project allows those who see it, a gateway into a personal memory for her, she said. It is a story to tell through her art. The real house was in a little town in Nebraska where her Polish immigrant grandparents lived. Raquepaw remembers visiting them for two weeks in the summers. “You wouldn’t think that was the most wonderful place on earth, but it was,” she said as she laughed.
Raquepaw remembers what she describes as her childhood wonderland, a big yard with a big garden. She laughs because they had no hose but they had chickens, geese and a pony at some point. “But if anybody influenced me in my life it was them,” she said.
Raquepaw liked how they lived, they didn’t have a lot of money, but they were very good to all their grandkids and very involved in their Polish immigrant community in their church.
She said they were very grounded. “It wasn’t about ‘Keeping up with the Jones’ or anything, it was just taking care of people and my grandmother made beautiful quilts,” she said as she remembers the time her grandma gave out slips with corresponding quilts she made for all the grandchildren for her 50th wedding anniversary. “I was probably eight, but I got the best quilt.”
When she finishes showing her work she looks over to Foster’s work, points and says, “That is a whole ‘nother level.”
Foster is not only a returning student but is also married to mobcapturer Kathy Kuper. He says they have been together 46 years since she moved in after the first date, and are still together in their ceramics class at opposite ends of the table.
Foster’s work also reflects a story that he says is near to his heart. “It reminds me of a simpler, creative time with my son. Now he’s 35 he’s got his own life and we still get together, still very close. But it’s never as simple as it was. When everything’s a wonder, new, different and exciting, and so this kind of captures that,” he said.
His project is what he describes as a tall mythical mountain that is also a cave with intricate smooth curves that look carved by the wind with fantasy creatures and faces surrounding the piece. It has a variety of different entrances both big and small with windows and gargoyles. “It will have this crystal with a rose window in it that will reflect colored lighting inside when the sun shines on it,” he said.
His project was inspired by Finder’s “reliquary” prompt, when the Catholic church used art containers to hold a relic from a saint or other things. Foster’s reliquary being the clay snails and dragons he would mold with his son that he has kept for around 31 years. “When my son was four years old, he’s a bit on the ADD side, so we had to keep him very busy, so we frequently did art with him. I worked with him, and we spent the day molding clay into mythical creatures,” he said.
He plans on making it as interactive
as he can and giving it to his son as a gift.
Kuper, his wife, has made a reliquary in honor of the cicadas, an unwanted pest to most, but adored by her. She likes how they come up to “sing” to her. “We thought they were wonderful,” she said.
Her project has what she calls a “Fred Flintstone” look with unconventional open slots that could hold the dead cicadas that she brought from home in a Tupperware container. It’s got a long real trunk that connects with the piece and a clay mantis that’s bigger than the slots. “I have a feeling for the natural world,” Kuper said.
She adapted the look after the class had a “critique session,” where they seem to know her well enough to say that her first model was “too uniform.” “People said - you know that doesn’t really follow what you do best. So then I tried it again,” she said.
The class critiques are just another way where this community and their stories can help build one another, shape the other’s piece and help each other create their best possible piece. “People have a lot more experience than we do. And so they’re always willing to share suggestions for how to go about doing something in a different way than we’ve ever thought of. I was talking about the glazing and multibisquing with Christine this morning and she’d never heard of that before,” said Foster.
They describe each other as honest, constructive, creative and friendly. They all report satisfaction with the class and Foster claims he leaves the class happier than when he enters. He and Kuper emphasize that this also depends if the project is going good or not. “I’ve had some pieces- I think we all have- that come out with something wrong with them,” Foster said.
“I’ve never had that happen,” said Raquepaw.
Foster changed his look and said, “Hey I heard about that crack in your roof.”
They burst out laughing in a room filled with conversation.
beatrice johnson staff writer
Sixty years of The Montage has come and gone, and with that, another story “From the Archives.” In this issue, we’ll be taking a look back 26 years into the past at a time where technology began to play an even bigger role in our daily lives.
The December 8, 1988 issue highlights a variety of issues, including the upcoming holiday season and the impact of technology on education.
Telecourses were courses taught over television, usually using VHS tapes. Telecourses allowed students with less consistent schedules to learn by watching their lectures and then proving their knowledge by completing tests or other activities.
Similarly to virtual classes today, telecourses were not without their flaws or criticisms, as the piece “Telecourses spark heated debate” pointed out.
Professors criticized the high level of maturity and motivation required to get what is expected out of a class, while others praised the accessibility of the classes by allowing students who might not otherwise have been able to take a class.
Additionally, this issue highlighted a new class that teaches about working with synthesizers, music instrument digital interface (MIDI) and other electronic music technology using Mac
computers. We can see the themes of these classes reflected in our modern day music classes since modern day musicians continue to utilize MIDI and synthesizers in their music creation.
A piece about the future of technology in the toy industry can be found on the centerspread. The author wrote of the fall of “high technology toys” and the return of traditional toys for the 1988 holiday season.
While this trend didn’t prevail as the toy industry continues to have many successful “fad” toys as the author would call them, the call for an end to “fad” products has continued, with movements like the growing sustainable fashion movement. “Fad” toys are usually toys used to promote new shows or vice versa, as exemplified in this story by Mattel’s Masters of the Universe which promoted the He-Man toy line.
Accompanying this piece can be found an illustration, which shows a myriad of parodies of popular toy brands of the time, including but not limited to the Transfarmer (Transformers), an Attitude Bear (Care Bears), and AIDS Victim Barbie. Some non-gift-related items such as scotch tape, cigarettes, and Sud Z beer all decorate the tree, whose base is a WWII military surplus Jeep tire.
This issue is a sort of snapshot of the time, and gives an interesting insight into the thoughts and ideas of people as they enter a new technological age.
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Interested in performing in an ensemble? All Meramec students may participate. No audition is required!
ENSEMBLES – CORE42CREDIT!
Music 131 – Concert Choir*
Music 132 – Orchestra
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Music 138 – Jazz Combos All ensembles hold a seat/part assignment hearing during the first rehearsal. *Members of the Concert Choir may audition for the Chamber Singers/Jazz Choir For more information, contact Music at Meramec Dr. Jerry Myers, Program Coordinator, gmyers34@stlcc.edu, (314) 984-7638
JACK JURSNICH OPINIONS EDITOR
Donald Trump has been elected the 47th President of the United States, and the nation has erupted in both cheers and tears. Republicans have taken the House and Senate majority, and left-wing pundits are in shock to see not only Trump’s landslide win but also his win in the popular vote, too.
For as much as liberal media (CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC) equated Trump to Hitler and facism, their reaction to Trump’s win is a little less dramatic than they made it out to be. I thought they’d be in hiding from ‘the next Hitler’ but they were a lot calmer than I anticipated. They were more surprised to see that Trump won bigger than he did in 2016 and 2020, especially in groups like women, blacks, and hispanics, but a lot of pundits so far have attributed this increase in Trump voters to things like misinformation and “uneducated white women.”
For some time, left-wing media and their contributors have been calling Trump supporters dumb and uneducated, even President Biden called them all “garbage” just days before the election. But given the seismic shift in Trump voters since previous elections, especially in
demographics that usually vote blue, it’s hard to attribute this shift to stupidity, rather I think it’s just that people aren’t buying what the left is selling.
Democrats would call Trump voters racist yet they were the ones who put white men into a box by coming up with White Dudes For Harris. Democrats would call Trump voters sexist, yet they tried appealing to male stereotypes like football and gaming, and viewed women voting for Trump as neither “strong” nor ”intelligent.”
Every chance liberal media got to throw some weak shots at Trump, they took it. Trump said earlier this month essentially that Liz Cheney should see war herself if she really wants to put boots on the ground, but liberal media lied and clipped this to make it look like Trump wanted her executed. Trump said earlier this year that he’d be a “dictator on day one,” and liberal media spun it as an admission that he’d be a dictator, when really what he meant is that he’d overturn policies by executive order just like Biden and every other president did before.
I could go on for hours about what out-of-context, braindead take that the left wants to attribute to Trump, but my point is that if Democrats had a solid shot they could throw at
IAN SChRAUTH STAFF WRITER
We have all heard of luxury brands, such as Coach, Versace, and Louis Vuitton. You may also own a product from one of the brands I listed. It may be because it’s a status symbol in your friend group to have one of these products, or it may be because you simply like the Tabby Shoulder Bag that Coach sells.
As an individual who has purchased a couple of Coach products in the past, I agree that they are high quality and look good. However, what if I told you that luxury brands such as Coach and Versace are meant not only to prey on
our psychology but also to keep you poor?
First, these brands are not targeting the millionaires of America. No, they are targeting the people who want to look rich, such as middle- or lowerclass people who do not have much in their savings accounts. They’re selling you a costume so you can pretend to look rich, even though that’s not what rich people typically look like.
A good example I like to use in this case is the design choices of people like Steve Jobs. Jobs was famous for his black turtleneck and jeans and kept that look when he presented himself until his passing in 2012. If you look up a photo of Jobs, do you see him with Gucci flip-flops or his wife with a
Trump then it would have worked. He has gone through the courts and the hectic media sphere for years yet he still walks out stronger than he’s ever been before, meanwhile Kamala Harris can’t even make it to an interview on time. Only one of these candidates held themselves like a leader, and this election overwhelmingly has decided that that person is Donald Trump.
So the left can keep saying that Trump voters aren’t strong and educated enough, but no matter how much they try, they can’t gaslight
the intuition of half the country into believing that they’re not smart enough to know what’s right. The people can’t prove it, but they know when they’re being lied to. Liberal media can call Trump a “threat to democracy” all they want, but on election night, it was democracy that proved them wrong. I think the best news out of this election is not just Trump’s win, but that the increase in support over the past eight years is perhaps an indication that the American people are starting to wake up.
Versace handbag? No.
This is the same case for all of the other ultra-rich people in the United States, like Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates. None of them flaunt these designer brands; they instead keep it casual. I believe these people don’t buy luxury brands because they don’t need to prove they’re rich. We already know Bill Gates is a millionaire.
This leads me back to the point that luxury brands are made to sell us the idea that we can look rich by selling us overpriced wallets and expensive handbags.
Designer brands also have successfully hijacked our need to fit in and display a token of status in our society with overpriced goods.
We want to be seen as the richest person around us, but the only problem is that there is always going to be someone who will one-up us in status, title, or anything else.
And that’s just life. There’s always going to be someone who has something you don’t have.
I can give a good testimonial to this: when I self-published my first book in High School, there was another author who was in a grade below me who would always get media attention, interviews with the High School newspaper, TV interviews, and Radio show appearances, while I was left trying to promote my book while making $7.25 an hour at Taco Bell.
It’s really easy to get caught in the cycle of chasing something that someone else has.
And this cycle of chasing something will keep a lot of people poor.
Jacob Politte MANAGING EDITOR
It’s been a few weeks since Donald Trump won the presidential election, and his administration is starting to take shape. Many of his picks have raised eyebrows and alarms, even if some of them ultimately have already failed or stepped aside, like Matt Gaetz as attorney general. One pick that is likely to be confirmed, but will also have ramifications, is the appointment of Linda McMahon for Secretary of Education.
For better or worse, I’m intimately aware of Linda McMahon’s activities outside of politics. I’ve openly talked about my love of pro wrestling in these columns, as well as my disgust when it’s warranted. Recently, in the last year, I’ve talked about the allegations against Vince McMahon, who was credibly accused of sex trafficking and was fully exiled from the company he created as a result (after previously being exiled briefly in 2022 for other sexual misconduct and embezzlement). But he didn’t create and run the company to the heights of success that it reached alone.
Scan the QR Code to read the rest of this piece.
LUCAS SEGALL STAFF WRITER
On Wednesday, Nov. 6th, the Archers played their first home game of the season at the Forest Park campus, securing a sweeping victory over Missouri Baptist University’s junior varsity team with a final score of 100-50.
After the game, Assistant Coach Miles Nettles, a former Archers basketball player himself, gave his thoughts on the game.
“I liked the energy in the gym,” said Nettles. “This was probably the most people we had for our first home game in a long time.”
Nettles has been coaching at STLCC for the last eight years, and was part of the coaching staff when the Archers secured the Region 16 D2 championship title last year.
“I am looking to get back to where we were last year with this new group of guys,” said Nettles.
The team is almost a completely new roster, with only one player from a previous team two years ago as a familiar face.
That familiar face is #5, Alijah Carter. The sophomore from Maryland Heights
averages 11 points per game and has averaged 102 points across the season thus far.
“I feel like we got a good chance of being where we were last year,” said Nettles, “as long as we stay consistent and stay locked in on what the goal is.”
Since the first game, the team has gone on to continue its success, suffering only one loss during the season as of Dec. 3.
That loss came in a game against State Fair Community College on Nov. 20, where the Archers only came up short by 7 points.
The team will play 4 more games after this issue’s publication.
At home, they’ll take on Kaskaskia College on Dec. 8 at 11:00am and Southwestern Illinois College on Dec. 17 at 7:30pm.
Away, they’ll take on Lewis and Clark Community College on Dec. 13 and Spoon River College on Dec. 19.
More games against Moberly Area Community College, Highland Community College and others are scheduled for the month January.
The team will continue their season into late February, with potential NJCAA conference games occuring in late February and early March.
Overall: 46-16
Matches: 62 PCT: .742
Overall: 8-1
Matches: 9 PCT: .889
Overall: 4-9-3
Matches: 16 PCT: .344
Overall: 7-32
Matches: 39 PCT: .179
Overall: 0-9
Matches: 9
PCT: .000
Overall: 10-3-1
Matches: 14 PCT: .750
