THE
M O N TA G E Soulmate Search:
How a screen alters attraction
Graphic by Dalila Kahvedzic
Do dating apps lead to successful relationships? Dalila Kahvedzic Editor-In-Chief
As Miley Cyrus states in her song “Someone Else,” “love is patient, love is selfless, love is hopeful, love is kind, love is jealous, love is selfish, love is helpless, love is blind.” Is love really all of these things? According to Google, love is an intense feeling of deep affection,
but according to dating apps such as Tinder, love may come after one decides to swipe right. Whether someone decides to swipe right or not, love is something we all crave. Love can be multiple things; a relationship with a grandmother, a relationship with a sibling or a relationship with a partner. Love is patient. A person waits for love and when they have it, it stands the test of time. Is this the right time to do this, when is it the
right time to make the next move? Love is selfless. Love is hopeful, love is kind. Is it? Love is jealous, love is selfish, love is helpless, love is blind. Is it? Love is communication. It is the interaction one gets from their significant other on a daily basis as they go about their normal routine tasks. Communications professor Chris Smejkal said that in today’s society, people gravitate more towards communicating through
a screen than in person because it requires less commitment. But what about somebody’s true, unpolished self that is seen when it is a face-to-face interaction? The old-school feelings of touch, chemistry and energy? Seeing somebody’s edited and polished photo that they post on a website versus seeing them in person are two completely different scenarios. How much information can one really pull from a photo and a short bio on tinder, versus a two-
VOLUME 51, ISSUE 9 | THURSDAY FEB. 11, 2016 | www.meramecmontage.com
minute conversation in person? When interaction is in person, the nerves kick in. The awkward silences happen and the typical conversation about mediocre topics, such as the weather, begin to fill it. Which one proves to be better? Anonymous surveys were taken and submitted by students on the Meramec campus to show us what happens on these dating apps when there is no in-person, faceto-face communication involved. Story on Pgs. 5-6
NEWS
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Adjunct Faculty Union approved by Board of Trustees
Part-time instructors organize to seek fair treatment in STLCC’s academic structure Katie Hayes News Editor
Adjunct Instructor of English, Glenna Gelfand, has taught at Meramec for the past 12 years. Although her employer remained consistent, her workload did not. Adjunct professors across the country continue to push for a stable workload, sick days and healthcare — in short,unionization. In November 2015, the adjunct faculty at STLCC voted to unionize. The decision was approved by the Board of Trustees Jan. 15 and adjunct faculty met with their unionization group, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Feb. 6 to begin contract negotiations. “Even though we have a contract for the semester, it’s not a binding contract,” Adjunct Professor of English Glenna Gelfand said. “In theory, I could hear from the administration tomorrow that I’m gone. And that can’t happen if I have a promise, or a contract that goes for a year that says, ‘you are promised two classes each semester for this coming year’ or whatever it is. It goes semester to semester and it’s not binding. And it’s not always guaranteed.” The semester contract adjunct faculty at Meramec currently sign is not legally binding. Should classes be cancelled due to low enrollment, adjuncts are the first to lose classes. Previously, it was assumed that this was beneficial to both parties since adjuncts could also leave should a better opportunity present itself. “It’s not common for an adjunct to leave in the middle of a semester,” Assistant Chair of STLCC-Meramec English Department and Assistant Professor Rich Peraud said. “It’s very common however, to shuffle the schedule in the two or three days leading up to a semester. It happens almost every semester.” It was previously assumed that part-time employees would move on to become full time. Gelfand, however, has taught part-time on and on for 12 years, and said securing fulltime employment is difficult. “if someone like myself, or any number of my colleagues, are asked back year in and year out, we’re obviously doing a good job, so why shouldn’t we be paid what everybody else is paid for that same job?” Gelfand said. “Why shouldn’t we have sick days? Why shouldn’t we have medical care if we want it? Why shouldn’t we
Photo by Katie Hayes
Adjunct English Instructor Glenna Gelfand teaches her Introduction to College Writing class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:30 p.m.
be able to buy into health care?” Although part-time faculty may not work full time at one institution, that does not mean they do not work full time. “Another big problem with the adjuncts is that, often times, some adjuncts who want to get into teaching, they might be teaching as an adjunct at three or four institutions outside of St. Louis
“I think we’re only stronger as a college when we’re organized.” Community College,” Peraud said. “They might teach two classes for us, They might be teaching one at Webster and two over at SWIC. So they actually have more of a teaching load than full-time faculty, and they’re getting paid less, they have no benefits, they’re traveling.” Not all adjunct faculty wish to secure full-time employment, however. Peraud said there are part-time faculty with full-time jobs, who teach on the side. “It’s a tricky balance,” Peraud said. “Let’s say you were an adjunct for us, and I can only give you one class. Is it worth your time and energy to drive out here to teach a class two days a week, three days a week, for 16 weeks, knowing that it’s not that much money. I try to respect that for
EDITORS Dalila Kahvedzic Jason Waters Katie Hayes Brittney Farrow Katie Leicht Christian Hargas Marissa Diercks Ashley Biundo Christaan Eayrs
Editor-In-Chief Production Manager News Editor Opinions Editor Art & Life Editor Sports Editor Graphics Editor Photo Editor Faculty Adviser
Proud member of Feb. 11, 2016
faculty who can teach more.” Even those who want to teach more however, are kept at part-time hours so institutions aren’t required to offer them health benefits. “Adjuncts can only work a certain number of hours because if they work over that number of hours, they would be considered full time and we have to offer them health benefits and health
care insurance,” Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Janet Walsh said. “That’s why they’re part time, so we don’t have to offer those health benefits.” Walsh said that most parttime employees don’t anticipate having those benefits, but expect them as full-time faculty. However, she also believes that adjunct faculty unionization is a positive. “I’m all for making sure that we treat people the same and fairly,” Walsh said. “It’s a document and an organization that helps us be fair. So that we have equal rights and equal working conditions for all of our employees.” There is a union for full-time faculty at Meramec as well. While full-time faculty unionized with National Education Association
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(NEA) almost 35 years ago, parttime faculty unionized with Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Gelfand said unions were not originally interested in representing adjunct faculty. “NEA was not interested in unionizing us, and now that they see the movement across the country, they are now starting more and more to unionize adjuncts,” Gelfand said. “They said that adjunct faculty’s needs conflicted with those of full-time faculty needs and I don’t agree with that.” Former STLCC-NEA President, and currently Professor of Communications, Doug Hurst said he supports adjunct unionization at Meramec. “I think we’re only stronger as a college when we’re organized,” Hurst said. “So I’m all for rights for all faculty.” Hurst said he hopes one day all faculty will be under the umbrella of NEA, but also said he does not believe the joint resolution between the full-time faculty and STLCC will be affected by the new contract between parttime faculty and the college. “The joint resolution is board policy, so those are rights that we have negotiated over a period of almost 35 years of negotiating as a union,” Hurst said. “So those can’t be changed. The college can’t take those away from us unless they break our contract.” Currently, the joint resolution between full-time faculty and the college allows full-time faculty to teach overload. This means
that faculty may teach more than full time — specifically they may teach up to 18 extra credit hours per two semesters. What teachers are paid for overload is not based on salary at Meramec, but instead increases whether they are an instructor, associate, assistant or full professor, respectively. “Your best resources are your full-time faculty,” Hurst said. “The best resource we have is the full-time person. So I’ve always supported, if there is available overload, or available summer classes, that the full-time faculty person should have access to those.” Walsh also said she did not have an issue with overload. “Education today is unfortunately I think kind of looked at like a business, a corporation,” Hurst said. “So we need an organized wing to support our rights. It puts out a better product if you want to look at it like that. And having an organized labor force of the teachers supports that.” The problem with overload from an adjunct faculty member’s perspective though, is those extra classes have the ability to make their workload less stable. “I think that the tide has turned and more and more institutions are allowing for adjunct unions or it’s happening whether they like it or not, but I think it is important for students to realize that ultimately, this affects the quality of their education and it affects their future employment opportunities,” Gelfand said.
THE MONTAGE To place an advertisement, contact the advertising manager for rates, sample issues, etc., 314-984-7955. 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. 314-984-7655. One copy of The Montage is free
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NEWS
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T.E.A.C.H Missouri Scholarship program rewards STLCC students Passion for early childhood education blends work and play Dalila Kahvedzic Editor-In-Chief
T.E.A.C.H Missouri Scholarships (Teach Early Childhood Missouri Scholarship), is designed to help students who are working full time and want to receive their degree in early childhood education, Assistant Director of the program Penny Mosher said. “It’s a very underserved professional field,” Lang said. STLCC Students Alyssa Dudash and Alexis Book are both recipients of this scholarship and work at Mary Margaret Day Care Center. Director of the day care center and mother of Alyssa, Carmi Dudash, thinks T.E.A.C.H. Missouri is a great program. “It gives the teachers the opportunity to go back to school and get educated. I have three teachers here on the scholarship plus another one at a different location so without that they probably would not be in college,” Dudash said. This was confirmed by Book, who has been working at the center for five years and said she would not have gone back to school if It was not for her job and T.E.A.C.H. Missouri. She is now two classes away from finishing her degree. “I just like working with kids,” Book said. “I really like planning lessons and activities.” Book plans to teach Pre-K because the conversation level is interesting, she said. Working at the day care center and being in this field forces her to have a positive attitude. “I like working with kids so I like being here. It allows me to step out of my comfort zone. I open in the morning – I’m not a very big talker to begin with - so that makes me push myself and not want to retreat,” Book said. Student Alyssa Dudash has been studying since fall 2013
on various STLCC campuses, including online classes. “I’ve grown up at this day care, I started working here when I was 16 and decided that this is what I wanted to do,” Dudash said. She plans to work with pre-k kids as well. “They’re old enough to understand things that you do with them but they’re young enough where they’re fun and cute,”Dudash said. “They’re still vulnerable.” Working with kids makes Dudash’s life happier, she said. A lot happier than her friends who have other jobs that do not involve children. Dudash’s favorite aspect of doing what she does is her ability to make an impact on the kids. “The impact on their life that’s made, especially since a lot of them come from different home lives that aren’t so great and that goes away when they’re here.” If it was not for T.E.A.C.H. Missouri, she would not be where she is. “It’s expensive when it’s coming out of pocket and that scholarship is the best thing ever, I try to tell everyone who’s interested at school about it because it’s so good.” The T.E.A.C.H. Missouri Scholarship is a very unique scholarship, Lang said, especially since it is really the only scholarship out there that is for folks in the field. “This scholarship is for early childhood professionals, not for elementary Ed or high school teachers, that reason being is that this profession is usually working full time and to get scholarships you usually have to be going to school full time,” Lang said. “Well if you’re working full time you can’t go to school full time.” T.E.A.C.H. Missouri Scholarships partners with various other programs such as the department of social services and Missouri accreditation to provide students with these scholarships, Director Beth Ann Lang said.
STLCC students and T.E.A.C.H. scholarship recipients Alexis Book (pictured above) and Alyssa Dudash join children for story time before lunch at Mary Maragret Day Care.
Photos by Ashley Biundo
Children at Mary Margaret Day Care Center gather in the morning to share their favorite stories with one another. This daycare employs three students in the T.E.A.C.H. scholarship program who curerntly study early childhood at STLCC.
This scholarship has been in Missouri since the year 2000 and is available in 24 other states including the District of Columbia, Mosher said. There are eligibility requirements to apply for the scholarship, Mosher said. These requirements include a high school diploma or GED, the student has to work with children directly from the ages of 0-5 for at least 30 hours a week and cannot make more than $15 per hour as a teacher/assistant and $16.50 as a director/owner. “We don’t look at previous grades, we don’t ask folks to send in transcripts, we take people where they are at and try to move them forward,” Mosher said. For students who want to join the military, the military does agree to pay for some of the schooling, Mosher said, but you agree to go into service. “Sweat equity,” Lang said as she laughed. The eligibility applies only to licensed childcare programs. For liability reasons, T.E.A.C.H Missouri cannot work with unlicensed, unregulated or license exempt. “This is because money is accepted from the state and we go by what their rules are,” Lang said. Students can apply for this scholarship online at teachmissouri. org and the application process is not hard, Lang said. Students go to the website, fill out an application and send it in. The application then goes through the approval process to meet the eligibility requirements and a contract is sent to the recipient which is good for one full year or three semesters, Mosher said. “There is no dollar cap on [the scholarship] so if someone is going to UMSL, we pay whatever the 75% of it is for them to go to UMSL,” Mosher said. “We ask that everybody during that one-year time take a minimum of nine hours, they must successfully complete nine hours with up to fifteen hours.” If students choose to take more than nine hours per semester
to get done faster, they can, but the program only covers 15 hours per year, Mosher said. Students can keep renewing their contracts until they are done with their education. “[Renewing a contract] is a very simple process. As long as they have been successful with their classes we will keep renewing them,” Mosher said. T.E.A.C.H. Missouri helps students receive associate and bachelor’s degrees, they do not provide services for the graduate level. “Once someone has completed a contract with us, the way the scholarship is designed is that it is a scholarship and we ask that the center they’re working at pay a small portion; 10-15 percent of the cost of the tuition and books as well,” Lang said. “But in return when someone completes a contract with us then they are asked to stay and work at that facility that sponsored them anywhere from six months up to a year depending on the level of scholarship that they receive.” The kind of qualities students should have is the passion and dedication, Mosher said. “We’re definitely looking for that initial passion and that dedication to caring for young children and beyond that, we are also looking for people who want to be professional, who want to see themselves on the same level as people who work in - not only grade school and high school - but even, I would say, I want to see folks who are viewing themselves as people who can even teach at a college level,” Mosher said. A lot of folks go into the early childhood education field because they love kids and they have a passion for working with them, Mosher said, but unfortunately because of low wages, that is not enough to keep folks going. “You do get burned out. It seems like after six, seven, ten years folks can get kind of burnt out in the classroom,” Mosher said. One recipient by the name of Alicia is a perfect example of one of their success stories, Mosher
said. Alicia started out as a single mom who dropped out of high school but decided to get her act together and get her associates degree. She then went on and got her bachelor’s degree and now owns two childcare programs in St. Louis with a master’s degree in the works at Webster University, “She is very much a success story,” Lang said in agreement. “We are very proud of her.” It took her awhile to find herself and get things going, Mosher said. But once she did, she kept her commitment and love of children and her two centers both teach in the style of Reggio-Emilia. “It’s the two towns in Italy where it was formed, Reggio and Emilia,” Lang said. Reggio-Emilia is another style of teaching, Mosher said. It is very childcentered and child-constructed. “She’s taking a very unique approach, she’s trying to be a leader, she is out there looking for other resources and other grants,” Mosher said. “She’s someone that is a professional, she’s used herself as a leader; somebody who wants to not only be in the classroom but lead the whole profession forward.” To increase the quality of care is their main goal, Lang said. “If you’re going for efficiency certificate, we’re there. If you want to get your associate’s degree, we’re there. If you want to get your bachelor’s degree, we’re there,” Lang said. “Our whole goal is to increase the quality of care for the families and for the children and to do that by the quality, the understanding, the knowledge and skills that the early childhood staff teachers have. By doing that, we’re building into them.” Funding is currently available for this program so now is the time to apply, Mosher said. “We would really love to hear from people and see what we can do for them,” Mosher said. “The really amazing thing is that after 16 years, we have the evidence. We can show that people do; they learn, they excel, it moves forward,” Lang said. “This program changes lives.” Feb. 11, 2016
4
OPINIONS
Back to the future: netbooks for a new generation
Marketing the device with Android operating systems could give it new life Ian Schrauth Staff Writer
Ever since Microsoft released Windows 8 back in 2012, it was almost the end of the line for the netbooks. Therefore, companies decided to stop selling netbooks; however, there is one way that netbooks can come back to life, and as a software development major, I believe Android is the answer. The reason that I feel that android is the answer and iOS is not the answer is because Apple tends to make their operating systems closed source. For example, if you would like to install Mac OS X on a dell laptop, it is not possible to do so without breaking Apple’s User End License Agreement. Android is more open source, and it is available on many different kinds of phones – including phones by Samsung, and LG. Android is an operating system for phones and tablets only, but it would be the perfect operating system for netbooks. Think about it: the phones that we use today have less than 1GB of RAM, so it would run faster on a netbook. If companies would add a touchscreen onto the device and flip the screen, like to Lenovo Ideapad Yoga, you might be able to bring the netbook back to life as a netbook-tablet mixture. I feel like this would be a great
invention, because the netbook was a great machine at the time. They were portable, small and they worked well for business meetings. If you have it with Android, you could use it before the meeting to play your games or talk to your friends, and when the meeting starts, you could use it to take notes and record the conversation. Another reason why I think that it is good for the market is because it is cost effective. Before, they made the netbooks with an Intel atom processor, and Android runs on ARM. ARM tends to not cost that much, so they could make it cheaper to sell these, and make more people happy. Another option could be that you may have a touch screen netbook that will not flip, that you may enjoy it as a regular mini laptop. If you have a data plan, you could have the option to make calls form the laptop with the built in microphone, or with a headset with a microphone built into it. This also applies to video calls with Skype with their built in webcam. Now what about the ports? I feel it would be less cost effective if you only let it have ports: a port for the power, the sound and the micro SD card. I interviewed Gail Fike, who was with me at a Launch Code meeting, and she had said she could see it turning into a tablet, but not with a good market;
Bring more than a brain to class
Graphic by Marissa Diercks
however, if Microsoft adds apps for the android, it would possibly do well. She had also said that it would not be a phenomenon, but it might if they offer something different alongside it. I both agree and disagree with this statement. the reason that I agree with the statement is because if the companies that offered Android on netbooks do offer something different, it
might turn into a phenomenon. The reason I disagree with it is because it just might be good for the market. I mean, think about it. You have a laptop that you can fold over and that is about the size of an iPad mini, you have the choice of using a keyboard on-screen or using a keyboard that is physical. It is lightweight, and it can be used anywhere if you have data. It sounds like a tablet, but it is even better.
Personally, I like to have a physical keyboard because I tend to have big fingers. A lot of people feel that way because that is just how we have grown. We have big fingers, and a keyboard the size of a netbook would do the trick. Android on netbooks can be the next big thing in 2016. It can be even better if we transform form the original netbook, to the netbook that might shape the future.
scholarships or paying out-ofpocket. Why anyone would waste their money to come to school everyday just to argue and look elementary in class is beyond me. Students need to understand how simple it is to just listen to what the professor asks of you. If your professor wants the fringy parts of notebook paper torn off before turning in an assignment, do it. If your professor does not want students talking during
lecture, do not talk. If your professor wants you to write in pencil why argue? If you personally do not like the rules, drop the class or switch into a different one. You have no right as a student to try and make the rules, or even throw them to the wind. Your professor has gone through many years of studying and preparing to be in the position they are today. Don’t be the immature annoyance your classmates are dreading to sit next to.
Being respectful in the classroom is more than it is made out to be Katie Leicht Art & Life Editor
Since first attending Meramec in the fall of 2013, I can honestly say I have had some of the best professors the school has to offer, and never in the past two-and-ahalf years has it ever crossed my mind to disrespect them in any way. Call me old-fashioned, but is having and displaying respect in the classroom too much to
ask? Is it impossible to portray? Lately, I have noticed some students being beyond disrespectful to their professors during lecture and class time. This disrespect includes talking back to them, disagreeing with the professor’s rules during class time and completely disregarding what the professor asks of the student. I personally do not think it is difficult to follow the expectations and rules that are given in the classroom. Yes, this is college and
yes, students should have freedoms. But I do not think that disagreeing with the type of paper the professor wants you to use in class – among other things – is losing freedom. Those who think goofing off is still “cool” like it was in high school are extremely ignorant. Arguing with the expectations of the professor is immature and basically pathetic. As a student, you have paid your way to be here, whether that entails receiving grants,
Illustration by Chloe Smith
Feb. 11, 2016
OPINIONS
5
Rose-colored glasses: the fine line between sexy and suffocating The dangers or mainstream media shaping our perceptions of relationships Brittney Farrow Opinions Editor
I can easily recall the most horrifying moment of my life without a second of hesitation. For most people, the most unsettling memory they have revolves around fear; the stomach-clench following a bad accident; the flinch of a blinding scare; the ache in their bones that comes from worrying about the safety of a loved one. Mine was nothing like that. The most cringe-worthy moment of my life happened when one of my 17-year-old coworkers gushed about the ending of her favorite book series: a notorious, well-known bestseller called “50 Shades of Grey”. While I am usually not one to spoil book conclusions, I feel no guilt in saying that “50 Shades of Grey” ends with the two main characters – Anastasia Steele and Christian Grey – leaving their purely-sexual relationship behind to get married and have children. It sounds romantic at first; the idea of two people meeting and falling in love at a slow-burn pace and eventually entering into a legally-binding partnership is the sweet coating of a candy that the media has been feeding us for years. That is not what worries me though. What worries me – what makes my skin crawl – is that
girls as young as my coworker are entranced by the notion that the relationship characters like Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele had is something to covet – something to pine over and aspire to. There is not enough space in the entire issue to cover why I find a problem with that, but I will break it down in the simplest of terms: abuse. Several years ago, I watched my best friend from college struggle through an abusive relationship, and while the aftermath of that was awful, nothing was as grotesque as the moments in which she had no clue she was even being manipulated. Before her boyfriend struck her – before she was crying to me on the phone and expressing her fears in hushed whispers – she was blinded by her new love. So much so, that she never had a chance to see the warning signs. His jealousy, which kept her from her friends and family; his control, which dictated what she wore and when. She was too enamored by the warm, tender moments to confront her frantic instincts, and by the time she finally did it was more than a little too late. I did not need to finish “50 Shades of Grey” because I, like so many people, had already seen it happen in real life. Teen literature and Young Adult fiction plays a powerful
role in the formation of a young person’s perception of what a relationship should be. For many teenagers, high school is the beginning of their romantic lives. It is at this time that they are most susceptible to misinformation, simply due to a lack of experience. “50 Shades” manages to soften the blow of its titular character’s creepiness by packaging it as BDSM; “Twilight” – the novel which inspired the former series – also manages to brush past its main character’s stalking and emotional abuse by playing it off as the actions of a wellmeaning, protective boyfriend. In “50 Shades,” Christian Grey repeatedly violates the requests of his romantic partner, either by following her to work and social events against her wishes or dominating the boundaries of their nonconsensual sex life. Underneath the sex-saturated dialogue and erotic language author E.L. James uses is a persistent problem: nothing about the relationship is healthy, and the parallels it draws to real-life abuse are troubling. I am aware of how some people will distort my concerns. To some, my unapologetic cynicism and hard-headed feminist ways are enough to prevent the acknowledgement of the real issue at hand. Even still, the widespread romanticism of
Illustration by Brittney Farrow
abuse is a topic that needs to be addressed on a more regular basis. BDSM is perfectly acceptable if those involved in the relationship feel comfortable practicing it, but “50 Shades” is not BDSM. It is a dangerous, horrifying form of abuse hidden underneath Christian Grey’s obvious wealth and luxurious lifestyle. As an anxious person, I am troubled by nearly everything. Nothing, however, keeps me up
at night like the fear that one day my 17-year-old coworker, or a handful of girls like her, will wake up thinking tracked calls and forced sexual encounters are love. I cannot change much. I cannot stop publishers from printing bad romance novels and screenwriters from turning them into movies. What I can do though is encourage us to open our eyes and be more aware of these dangers – before it is too late.
Donate life: why everyone should consider becoming an organ donor Give a gift of hope to save and enrich lives Evan Carlen Staff Writer
Transplantation is one of the most remarkable success
stories in the history of medicine; a success I witnessed firsthand through a recent personal tragedy in which I lost a great friend. Through this hardship I found deep closure in knowing that my
friend did not die in vain, but in fact saved two lives through donating his heart and liver to those who would have died otherwise. He transcends death through the lives he saved
Graphic by Marissa Diercks
and
the hope he cultivated. Transplantation gives hope to thousands of people with organ failure and provides many others with active and renewed lives. In fact, according to donatelife. net, one person can save eight lives through postmortem organ transplants of the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and intestinal tissues as well as positively impact upwards of 50 people through eye and tissue transplants. With all this hope lingering for more than 123,000 people on the transplant waiting list, what is stopping so many of us from donating? Many people take shelter behind the veil that is religion, saying life is not to be tampered with or that the integrity of the body must be maintained for the afterlife. Sorry guys, but the church is built upon the helping of others – which by definition is tampering with life, albeit a positive tamper. Why not positively tamper in a way that could save a handful of lives? Also the Pope himself is a strong proponent of organ transplants and is even quoted saying, “organ donation is a testimony of love for our neighbor.” This is the same pope that is pro-cremation, which most would agree leaves little “integrity” in its wake. This is not the whole story; what is most striking to me is the large disparity between the number of people who say that they support donation in theory
and the number of people who actually register. I believe this is because many supporters have a pre-conceived notion that they are invincible and will not ever have the opportunity to donate. Oops, you tripped over reality and now have missed your chance to save lives. This is why I would like the government to get involved and make donating an opt-out system instead of the current opt-in system. This would make everyone a donor by default unless the family refused the procedure process. This would not only remove the difficult decision during an even more difficult time for the family, but it would also eliminate the fact that most people do not think about postmortem circumstances while still alive. “Unless you’re personally touched by the issue – unless you have a child that gets a virus and suddenly needs a new heart – you don’t really think about it,” said Adam Vasser, a 30-year-old teacher who received a new heart himself at age 13. Currently more than 123,000 men, women and children are waiting on organ transplants to save their lives. Thousands more are in need of tissue and cornea transplants to restore their mobility and sight. Register to be an organ, eye and tissue donor today – not when you go to get your license renewed, and help provide hope to those who wait. Your organs make a difference. You make a difference. Feb. 11, 2016
INDEPTH
6
Dating, Apps & Sex
Tinder trauma
I met a girl I did not even think was cute. I just needed an ego boost. Now we are getting married.
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This is why It was my sister. the real they should show d not lie profile picture an about their age.
I matched with a guy on tinder but when I met in real life it was not him, it was a girl.
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I’ve only had girls hit on me through Facebook. I do not do online dating because I could get catfished, kidnapped and my life could be ruined.
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Anonymous surveys submitted by students on campus shed light on the dilemmas of modern dating applications.
The four types of attraction
Information from Psychology Today
Brittney Farrow | Opinions Editor What is attraction? A powerful force in its own right, attraction is as abstract and complicated as any relationship. It is the spark that pushes partners towards each other. A small component of the evolution of humankind, attraction is not magic or fate, but rather a very scientific formula infused with basic biology. Scientifically speaking, there are four parts of attraction.
looking for a romantic or sexual partner, health and status are the signs a human body and mind will seek out first. Without status or health, attraction would not exist; but what do those words signify? Health is simplistic. When seeking a mate, candidates are assessed based on not only their physical attributes – such as appearance, mannerisms and smell – but also on mental capacity. Status is both internal Health & Status and external. Internal status Deep down at the bottom of the pyramid focuses on confidence, of attraction consists skill sets and belief systems the foundation, which whereas external status relies solely on status and is more about a potential health to be its legs. When partner’s career, material
Facts About Kissing:
possessions and visual markers. Due to social evolution, human beings highly value wealth because it signifies a secure future for any potential offspring; regardless, studies have shown that internal status creates more long-standing relationships.
Emotional
If a romantic partner shows good health and promising status, the emotional component of attraction comes into play. Emotional connections include the element of trust and how developed a potential partner’s emotional intelligence is. Uniqueness falls under this category, and is part of
the reason some potential mates are preferred over others.
Logic
Finally, at the very top of the pyramid is logic. Logic determines how good of a match a partner will be. It determines how closely two different sets of goals and ideologies align, and how compatible they will be as a result. The greater the alignment, the greater the attraction. It is important to note, however, that in instances where social media and the internet is involved the pyramid is inverted, meaning logical connections usually occur first.
Emotional
1 - Philematology is the science of kissing. 2 - The first documented appearance of a kiss was in India 3 - One minute kiss burns 26 calories 4 - In wet kisses, men pass testosterone in saliva to their partner. Testosterone is the only true aphrodisiac
Feb. 11, 2016
Logic
Status
Heal
INDEPTH
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Page Design by Jason Waters
Face-to-screen: a new era of dating Katie Hayes | News Editor
Dating apps may have redefined the dating field for millennials, but apps such as Tinder or Grindr especially changed the landscape for younger millennials — the generation who never experienced life before texting. “If you were attracted to somebody and wanted to make some kind of contact, most millennials right now are going to communicate online,” Communication Professor Chris Smejkal said. “They’re going to make some kind of initial contact online. Usually it’s just to kind of see what’s out there.” There is a stigma attached with the millennial generation — that they feel less confident in-person than previous generations. “We are seeing that people, especially men, are becoming more and more shy around women, especially younger men,” Smejkal said. “There’s a lot of research that says men are becoming more shy in making that initial move. So the old conventions of asking somebody out on a date are not the same now.”
In a face-to-face interaction, there’s a lot more that could go wrong. There’s a lot of variables you can’t control, so a lot of younger people really gravitate towards that online account because it’s something they can control a little bit more and it requires less commitment initially, Smejkal said. Although the information on dating apps may be accurate and the images real, it is not the whole of a person. “A lot of our online interaction and our online face is manipulated to make ourselves look the best possible way we can look,” Smejkal said. “So the downfall of that, is it may not be your true self, the unpolished self.” Jody Martin de Camilo, a reproductive physiologist and professor of biology at Meramec spoke on flipping through accounts on dating apps. “You can meet more people and it’s instant gratification,” Martin de Camilo said. “You can flip through 1000
pictures in an hour, rather than going out and trying to meet somebody. And, at least with men, men are so visual, that they can flip through those pictures rather quickly. The drawback is, how much can you really tell from a short bio on Tinder and an image?” Although Martin de Camilo does not think it is possible to chemically fall in love over a dating app, it is possible to feel an attraction. “You can get that release of that adrenalin to drive yourself to keep going back to see what they’ve written,” Martin de Camilo said. “So if you have a connection with somebody, you can get that drive. That adrenalin, that release will only last for a certain amount of time until you meet. Once you meet them, it’s either going to go forward or not, because once you meet them, that connection will be there or not.” Although the time to meet differs for all dating app users, there is a common thread. Smejkal said we do not like to be around people
who do not self-disclose much because they have more power than we do in the relationship. “The main thing that tends to happen, is when you feel like you can trust that person, there’s research that suggests that when you selfdisclose online — through Tinder or whatever, and you feel like you can trust that individual — that’s when people feel more comfortable then to have that face-to-face interaction,” Smejkal said. When, and if, that face-to-face interaction happens, having a basis for a relationship is easier for some people than meeting in-person first. “You have conversation starters built in a little bit that might not be there in a face-to-face interaction,” Smejkal said. “I definitely do think that may be a benefit to some people.” However, the majority of the information we take in about another person comes from a face-to-face interaction. “You know, when you’re online with somebody you
only get really that onedimensional view of them whereas when you’re face-toface with somebody there are so many other variables that aren’t online,” Smejkal said. “The old-school variables like touch, chemistry, pheromones, that 3D object in front of you, that energy you feed off of each other that you might not be able to get online. I think that’s a big component.” Martin de Camilo said a two-minute conversation with another person tells you a lot about them, while a still picture does not necessarily give someone the full picture. “I don’t think there’s one great way to meet, because you can hear stories of people who have met on match. com and they’ve had a great relationship or you can hear of people who have met in a bar or met in a classroom,” Smejkal said. “People have been set up on a date and you can hear in any one of those scenarios, relationships that have worked well and relationships that have failed. So I don’t think there is any one good way.”
Student Poll - Marriage on Campus
lth
“How important is marriage to you right now?”
55.56%
Said “Low Importance”
33.33%
Said “Medium Importance”
11.11%
50%
of students consider marriage a major life goal.
0%
are currently Married or Engaged.
29
is the average earliest age students said they would be willing to get married.
70%
Plan to get married, 30% Do not.
Said “High Importance”
Poll of 10 students ages 18 - 24. Feb. 11, 2016
ART & LIFE
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“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can
do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” -Martin Luther King Jr. February: Black History Month Calender
Campus hosts events to recognize diversity: past and present Katie Leicht Art & Life Editor
Black History Month, also known as African American History Month, was created in 1926 in the United States. During that time period, historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History announced the second week of February to be “Negro History Week.” Woodson was quoted in 1926 on this new event in history when he said, “If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” All upcoming events are free and open to the public. For more information or accommodation requests, please call 314-984-7593 or email sreinhadrt11@stlcc.edu.
Feb. 17
Feb. 22
New World
This event is a discussion pannel on social justice in America.It is held on Wednesday, Feb. 17 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Meramec Theatre, moderated by Mysha Clincy. This discussion is designed to initiate open and impactful dialouge about the issues of race and justice in America. Other topics of discussion will be discrimination, racial profiling and policing.
This event is held on Monday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. at the LorettoHilton Center for the Performing Arts at Webster University. Join Meramec’s Black Students in Education and Empoerment Club as they engage in topics on race relations in America and Canada with the founders of #BlackLivesMatter. Transportation is open to students who wish to attend. Contact Stephen Anderson at sdanderson@ stlcc.edu to reserve your seat.
This event is held on Thursday, Feb. 25 at 12 p.m. in the Meramec Theatre. A one-act play about three refugee women from Afghanistan, Bosnia and the Republic of the Congo who come to St. Louis hoping to create a new world by healing their old-world wounds. This play is put on by Lee Patton Chiles, directed by Vivian Anderson Watt, presented by Gitana, in partnership with the Center for Surivors of Torture and War Trauma.
times before this,” Wilson said. Wilson personally enjoys donating, but does not particuallry like needles. “I like the fact that when I donate I save lives,” Wilson said. Wilson has never gotten
“I like the fact that when I donate I save lives.” sick or nauseous from giving blood before until this event. “There were other distractions in high school when I gave blood, like people being loud in the gym, but not in here,” said Wilson. Wilson did not have to make an appointment
Photo by Katie Leicht
Anna Kremer getting her arm prepared to donate blood.
Feb. 11, 2016
Lunch and Learn III: Writing & Speaking for Change!
U.S. Founders and International Ambassador of #BlackLivesMatter
Meramec welcomes the Mississppi Valley Regional Blood Center
On Tuesday, Feb. 9, Meramec held a blood drive hosted by the Mississppi Valley Reginal Blood Center which was open to the public. The event was held in SC 200 and was part of the Black History Month events held on campus. The event was co-sponsored by the National Technical Honor Society and the Meramec Campus Community Building and Wellness Committe. Students of all ages and races walked in ready to face the needle. Student Rachel Wilson said this was her first time giving blood at this location. “I’ve donated multiple
Feb. 29
Do Lives Matter?
The Charles Drew Blood Drive Katie Leicht Art & Life Editor
Feb. 25
to give blood for the event. “I just walked right in and donated,” Wilson said. After donating, Wilson’s snack was a bag a Chex Mix to help regulate her blood sugar. Another student, Anna Kremer, came in with a friend to give blood. Kremer went through some online paper work before she was able to give blood. Kremer also had her blood pressure and temperature taken before she sat in the chair to donate. The phlebotomist, a person trained to draw blood from a patient for clinical or medical testing, transfusions, donations, or research, then prepared Kremer’s arm to donate the blood. Kremer did what any other person wanting to donate would go through before donating. According to the Mississppi Valley Regional Blood Center’s website, one would need to complete a physical screening and questionnaire, then a phlebotomist would lead you to a donor bed. The phlebotomist would help you onto the donor bed and cleanse the area on your forearm where the needle would be inserted. A one-time use kit is used for each donation. The entire process is about 8-12 minutes. The Mississippi Valley Reginal Blood Center is located at 9860 Watson Rd., St. Louis for anyone who was not able to donate during this drive and is still interested.
This event is held on Monday, Feb. 29 at 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Meramec’s Student Center, room 125. The event is presented by Sir Ervin Williams III. It will cover and display the importance of writing for change in development of self and society. The host, Sir Ervin Williams III, actor and poet, will share his life story along with inspirational poems and encouragement to the soul.
Campus Spotlight:
Jacob Hensley
Photo by Dalila Kahvedzic
Student Jacob Hensley is a self-taught guitar player who has been playing for seven years. Guitar Hero was his inspiration which introduced him to different types of music. “My dream is to be an artist and travel,” Hensley said.
“My favorite thing about music is the way it makes me feel. Music allows me to just unload all the weight that’s on my shoulders, I write my songs and it’s a good outlet.” Jacob likes to reside outside of the school bookstore.
ART & LIFE
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A Desire for Change: Former Flight Attendant lands at STLCC After earning a living at 30,000 feet for eight years, student drafts a new plan Dalila Kahvedzic Editor-In-Chief
Heather Lemon did not spend her teenage years at parties or social gatherings, but up in the clouds. At 19, she became a flight attendant and continued to do so for eight years. Flying has led her across the country until she decided to land and pursue a career as an interior designer at STLCC. Lemon’s parents were pastors and her father was a traveling minister, so they went on some missionary trips to China, Hong Kong, London and traveled all around the United States, Lemon said. “We traveled a lot so it really gets in your system, you kind of become a gypsy and you’re always wanting to move,” Lemon said. Lemon’s favorite part of traveling was getting to see different cultures and people, she said. “Getting out of the same 1-mile radius that we live in,” Lemon said. “I really liked that feeling of knowing that I got to go out and see a lot of different stuff and being not so sheltered. It’s the fear that holds people back.” You know a good area and a bad area, Lemon said. You are not going to go down a dark alley anywhere. If a place looks like one where you can get in trouble, you probably should not be there, she said. After these travels and before she decided to become a flight attendant, Lemon studied at St. Charles
She was the youngest flight attendant in the group, she said, and to become one she had to go through six weeks of training. “You had to get 100 percent on every single test and you get tests daily,” Lemon said. Tests involved CPR training, having to know FAA rules and procedures such as emergency exit training. One test was to get all passengers off the plane in 60 seconds, Lemon said. After six weeks of training was finished, the last part of training took place on an actual plane, Lemon said. “So you spend six weeks in a book and doing all these things and pretending, and then you get on a plane and some of the trainers are really hard core and not helpful,” Lemon said. “You get out there and it’s like, okay – go.” During this trip, flight attendants were graded and if they did not pass, they did not receive their certification, Lemon said. Lemon received her certification and was eventually able to build her schedule however she wanted to, typically working four day trips and being off two or three days at a time, she said. She was based in Chicago so not being home was hard at times. Lemon would try to get standby flights home that were free and fly an open seat. Although she missed home, she loved to fly, she said.Her favorite part about flying was that her environment was always changing. “I wasn’t sitting looking out at the same window at the same tree
Photo by Dalila Kahvedzic
Heather Lemon working on a floor plan for a loft project in her Interior Design II class located in the Applied Science Building.
Community College for a year. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do, I was flunking out of all my classes and I was wasting my parents’ money,” Lemon said. “I found the job in the paper and I was just like – I’m gonna do that.” Lemon said her parents were very supportive of her decision and she could not have done it without them.
all day long,” Lemon said. “Out my window was always different, if it was snowing and cold and disgusting in Chicago – in an hour or two hours I could be in Florida where it would be hot and sunny.” If passengers were difficult, that was okay. “In a couple of hours they would all be gone and you would never see them again,
Submitted Photo
Heather Lemon when she worked for United Express Airlines, preparing to leave from Washington Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C.
that was your saving grace,” Lemon said as she laughed. There may have been some dreadful passengers, but there were also good ones. Lemon reflected on one passenger that had acted strange, she said. “She had a cast on her arm and she was trying to put her bags away – she was making these faces as if she was in pain,” Lemon said. Lemon offered to help put her bags away. The passenger then sat down and began to cry, she said. Her sister had died of cancer and she was on her way to the funeral. During the flight, the woman shared pictures and memories of her sister, Lemon said. “I feel like that was a cool situation – just being able to be there and hopefully make her experience a little bit better,” Lemon said. If passengers were scared to fly, Lemon would try to help them as well. “I know it can be really scary when you think about it but I don’t think about it, it’s something I do every day. I believe in God and I believe if something were to happen I know that I’m going to a better place,” Lemon said. “It’s like driving to work every day, it’s my job. We sit there, we take off and we land. I have faith in our pilots and I have faith in myself too,” Lemon said. There is a difference between fear and real issues that we should think about so that we do not get hurt or make the wrong move, Lemon said. “I feel like when thoughts are coming at you in waves – you can’t do this or you can’t do that or what if this happens – all these what-ifs, I feel like that’s fear and I feel like most of the time those are our insecurities,” Lemon said. “But I do think when it’s a very small voice inside, kind of like a scratchy feeling, a red flag feeling, a feeling that just stops you – ‘no, not right now this isn’t right’ – I believe that's the feeling to follow. Because if we let our insecurities AKA-feargovern our lives, we would never get anywhere. So I try not to listen to those thoughts saying 'I can't do something, or what-if ' and instead I try my hardest to listen to that
quiet voice on the inside that guides me in the right direction.” Lemon enjoyed her job until about the age of 23 or 24, she said. She bought a house and thought – why am I paying this house payment when I am only there two days a week? You get tired of not sleeping in your own bed, she said. “I really loved it and I loved traveling and I loved the people I worked with,” Lemon said. “But it wasn’t fulfilling. I felt like I was really sitting in limbo, you know? I saw my life being a lot different than it was, I felt like I was just waiting around for something to happen that wasn’t happening yet.” Lemon thought that she would be married and have kids by the time she was 30, she is now going on 28, she said, as she wondered if she got it right. “I was in a 2-year relationship with this guy that I was madly in love with; I was going to marry him,” Lemon said. “That completely fell through and it was devastating,” Lemon went through a bad depressive period because of this. “It’s frustrating because you’re like ‘well I don’t want to put this on him – he doesn’t deserve me to be depressed over him,’ but unfortunately that’s what happened.” Lemon’s ex-boyfriend was a pilot, so she stayed an extra two years because she wanted to be with him, she said. “So then I started planning my life around him and being like – ‘well I’m going to do what he wants to do even though I’ve been wanting to leave here and start doing something else,’”Lemon said. After that, a ‘light bulb moment’ came, she said. “‘You’re just going to keep putting your life on hold and in limbo until what? Until you’re 40? You’re 50?’” Lemon said. “Screw that.” She had been waiting around for a good five years with her life on hold, she said. “I know that the right person is out there for me and I know that he wouldn’t want me to sit and wait around for this long,” Lemon said. “I said no, I’m going to go to school and do some things that I like.”
This was a scary decision to make, Lemon said, after having been away from school for almost ten years. “I think that it was scary but just being a flight attendant and going to make that choice, it was something to be scared of because it was the unknown, but I didn’t have that red flag feeling of –‘this isn’t right’ – I just dove right in and that’s the same thing I did with this.” Lemon is very happy with her decision, she said. Lemon’s favorite aspect of interior design is to be able to create a lovable space, she said. A space that reflects who you are and how you want to feel in that space. “It became such a big deal to me because, you know, I wasn’t in my own space traveling so much, I was in hotel after hotel after hotel with other people staying in these generic furnishings and sometimes they were very depressing, and [had] gross stock photos that are stupid that nobody should ever ____ (37:20),” Lemon said as she laughed. Something that she has gained from her job as a flight attendant is confidence, Lemon said. Confidence in herself, her personality and who she is as a person. “When I started this job I was way more shy and almost introverted so it really pushed me out of the nest to be like – ‘now you have to talk to people and you have to stand in front of people. This is your plane, you’re in control of it and if something happens you’re the person everybody looks to,’” Lemon said. If she did not have her job as a flight attendant, she does not know if she would have matured as fast as she did, Lemon said. “The job I’m in now, I’m the lowest man on the totem pole and I used to be head honcho so it’s weird – that shift – but it’s humbling,” Lemon said. She is now more confident in herself and her new career choice, she said. “I’m not going to live my life [through] fear. I would rather go out and live life,” Lemon said. Feb. 11, 2016
TRANSFER YOUR POTENTIAL You’ve worked hard. And Southern Illinois University Carbondale has all the resources, faculty and support you need to take your initiative further. Our admissions counselors will help make the transfer process as easy as possible. You can even visit our transfer page to see exactly which of your classes transfer, so there’s no confusion about where you stand – or our support. Start here:
siu.edu/transfer
? g n i r r e f s n sted in Tra
Inteerrseity of Missouri–St. Louis
Transfer
Univ
Christy Hummel Transfer Specialist
askchristy@umsl.edu 314-516-6943 Office hours for STLCC Meramec students: Mondays & Thursdays
“I can help with all of your questions about transferring, scholarships and what it’s like to be a Triton!”
CHOOSE
Call 314-984-7575 for an appointment 9:00 am – 6:00 pm Advising Center – Clark Hall
Serious education. Serious value.SM
SPORTS Christian’s Corner Christian Hargas Sports Editor
Archer Consistency: Basketball keeps rolling The season did not start well for the Archers basketball program. The men’s team began the year losing eight of their first nine games and the women lost eight of their first ten. Inconsistency and a high quantity of mistakes from both sides contributed to their slow starts. As the fall 2015 semester came closer to an end, and an intervention took place for both programs. They have not only gotten back on the winning track but have been playing exceptional basketball over the last month. The Archers currently have a record of 10-13, but that record is misleading considering how well they have played as of late. Despite losing their last two contests to Missouri StateWest Plains and North Central Missouri, they have amassed a 9-5 record since starting off 1-8. These men have averaged 75.6 points over their last 11 games, they were averaging 62.6 points over their first 12. The Lady Archers surpassed the .500 mark for the first time since Nov. 6 after defeating North Central Missouri by 22 on Feb. 6. Their recent conference loss to the Mineral Area Cardinals brought them back to .500 at 12-12. They have also played very well over the last month winning 10 of their last 14 games. Through the first 10 contests this year, the Lady Archers were averaging 59.6 points per game which contributed to their 2-8 start. They are averaging 78.6 points per game over their recent 10-4 stretch. Head Coach Shelly Ethridge said she believed her team would find more consistency during the second half of the season. Based on their recent performances, she was not lying about that. 10-13 and 12-12 do not scream excellence in most fans’ eyes. It would appear to be more mediocrity than anything, but look deeper into those records and there is a clear difference on the surface. Both Ethridge and men’s coach Terry Collins have these athletes believing in themselves and their recent performances are indicating very positive signs for the near future. While the players control their own destiny from this point forward, the fans can become a part of the ride by going to support these athletes. Both squads host their final home games of the season on Feb. 13 against Wentworth Military Academy. The Lady Archers tip-off at 2:00 PM EST in their annual Cancer Awareness Game and the Archers follow at 4:00 PM.
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Lady Archers lose conference game to Mineral Area Cardinals Poor shooting percentage and 16 offensive turnovers result in 68-60 loss Christian Hargas Sports Editor
The STLCC Lady Archers lost their conference matchup, 68-60, to the Mineral Area Cardinals on Monday, Feb. 8. The Lady Archers were coming into the game winners of 10 of their last 13 contests. There were several mistakes made early in the game that contributed to the loss, Head Coach Shelly Ethridge said. “Well, I do not think we played a good game,” Ethridge said. “The first quarter, in particular, really set the tone because it did not look like we were ready or prepared for the game. But our kids fought and battled.” With Mineral Area Cardinals ranked fourth in the nation this was going to be a tough contest, Ethridge said. “We had every opportunity to win this game, but we did not execute and we certainly had a bad night of shooting,” Ethridge said. The Lady Archers shot 32 percent on field goals and 12 percent on three-point shot opportunities. Freshman Guard Shania Thornton was one of the leading scorers with 12 points. Freshman Guard Sheena Bourne-Buckley added 12 points and Sophomore Guard Shiana Carrington led the team with 13 points. Trailing 31-25 heading into the half, there were some adjustments that were made to improve their chances in the second half, Ethridge said. “Well you know, the biggest adjustments we needed to make were just getting back into transition and getting the ball to slow down,” Ethridge said. “We had a few miscues where we had some people left completely unguarded, so that was also a big discussion that we had during our halftime talk.” Sophomore Forward/ Center LaShonda Brewer
Photo by Ashley Biundo
Guard Sheena Bourne-Buckley was perfect from the free throw line in 34 minutes of action in the Lady Archers 68-60 loss to the Mineral Area Cardinals.
scored 10 points off the bench. “LaShonda Brewer had a great game for us tonight,” Ethridge said. “Getting the ball back to our side a little more in the second half was critical for us, so it was good to get to see her [Brewer] do that. I thought our kids showed a lot of character because they always fight and give themselves opportunities to come back.” Based on the second semester performance thus far, a good lesson was learned from this loss, Ethridge said. “You know, there have not been a whole lot of games where we have had to play coming from
behind since the second semester started,” Ethridge said. “This will be humbling for us and will give us a little more fight and grit that we need going into the region tournaments. This was a good game for us to have because it can prepare us for potential ‘come-from-behinds’ and the importance of winning a game.” The Lady Archers record dropped to 12-12 following the loss to Mineral Area. Winning 10 of their last 14 games has the team feeling good about themselves despite being at .500 right now, Ethridge said. “I most certainly like where
our team is right now,” Ethridge said. “I do not think we have peaked yet, so that is good. And I think we are approaching that [peak], so hopefully we can hit that peak when we are in the region tournament.” The Region XVI Tournament is Friday and Saturday, Feb. 26 and 27 in Joplin, MO. The potential opponent has yet to be determined but the Lady Archers feel like they have good momentum, Ethridge said. “They have come a long way. So as long as we keep progressing over the next four games, I think going into the region tournament we will be pretty confident,” Ethridge said.
Lady Archers Upcoming Games Feb. 13 - Wentworth Military Academy - 1:00 p.m.
Feb. 26 - Region XVI Tournament Joplin, MO. - TBA
Feb. 15 - at Three Rivers Community College - 5:00 p.m.
Feb. 27 - Region XVI Tournament Championship Joplin, MO. - TBA
Feb. 20 - at MCC-Penn Valley - 2:00 p.m.
Lady Archers defeat Washington University’s JV Bears Turnovers key in dominating 79-46 home win Christian Hargas Sports Editor
The STLCC Lady Archers defeated the Bears of Washington University JV 79-46, on Wednesday, Feb. 3. Guard Shiana Carrington led the team with 23 points scored, 11 rebounds and one block. Guard Shania Thornton scored 19 points while leading the team in minutes with 31. Forward/ Center LaShonda Brewer led the reserves with eight points scored. The Lady Archers forced 20 turnovers and scored 30 points off turnovers. They shot 47 percent on field goals, 71 percent from the free throw line and collected 48 rebounds. They never trailed and led by 34 with 4:42 left in the game.
Photos by Dalila Kahvedzic
Sheena Bourne-Buckley (pictured left) scored eight points in the Archers’ 79-46 win over Washington University’s JV team. Head Coach Shelly Ethridge (pictured right) talks strategy during a time-out.
Feb. 11, 2016
SPORTS
12
Archers lose conference game to Missouri State-West Plains Grizzlies, 75-53 Turnovers, fouls and inconsistent field goal shooting contribute to 22 point loss Christian Hargas Sports Editor
The Saint Louis Community College Archers lost, 75-53, to the Grizzlies of Missouri StateWest Plains on Feb. 3. Prior to the contest, the Archers were winners of nine of their previous 12 games before losing backto-back games for the first time since early December. Head Coach Terry Collins said there was more than one problem that contributed to the 22 point loss. “We did a very poor job of running the floor, sprinting back on defense and then running the fast break on offense,” Collins said. “We just did a poor job of running the floor tonight and it cost us.” Freshman Forward Aleksa Ocokoljic said the team did not execute what Collins wanted from them. “The first thing he wanted from us was to play tough defense because they [Missouri StateWest Plains] are a really good team,” Ocokoljic said. “They have a lot of fast breaks, and they are scoring around 89 points per game. So, we needed to play tough defense and we just didn’t.” There were inconsistencies in offensive positioning throughout the game when they needed to have better position on the ball, Ocokoljic said. “We did a little bit of that, but not enough,” Ocokoljic said. “Everybody wanted to have a onegame show, so we didn’t execute our offense like we usually do. Our shooting was not accurate, that just happens. Somedays you can shoot well and other days you do not.” The Archers trailed, 29-14, in the second quarter before finishing the first half on a 10-1 run. In the second half, STLCC was outscored 45-29. There were no halftime adjustments, Collins said. “We never executed any part of our game plan the whole night,” Collins said. “There was no need to change anything because we did not execute the plan that we had, we just never did.”
Staying sharp was a major inconsistency, Ocokoljic said. “We needed to be focused on what was happening,” Ocokoljic said. “When everything was going down, we just were not as focused as the other team.” The Archers shot 39 percent on field goal shooting and turned the ball over 17 times. Sloppy play in the first half prevented momentum from carrying on into the second half, Collins said. “What really happened was that both teams played poorly in the first half,” Collins said. “Whoever was going to play well was going to take control of the game. They [Missouri StateWest Plains] took control while we continued to play poorly. They just dominated us from the very beginning of the second half, and that was the game.” Sophomore Guard Nate Rigmaiden led the team in scoring with 15 points. Sophomore Guard Marcell Lee led with nine offensive rebounds. The Archers had eight players on the floor for the game. Fatigue among the starters was another contributing factor to the struggles, Ocokoljic said. “We had eight or nine players and five of them are playing around or over 30 minutes,” Ocokoljic said. “They [starters] just get tired. When the starters get tired, they might make more mistakes because they just run out of energy or lose a little bit of focus.” Following this loss, and last Saturday’s loss to North Central Missouri, the Archer’s record stands at 10-13. They fall to 0-5 against conference opponents this season and are 3-7 at home. With a record of 5-6 on the road, the team seems to enjoy more success playing away from STLCC, Ocokoljic said. “Personally, I think we play a lot better on the road,” Ocokoljic said. “I just feel like myself along with everyone else on the team feels more confident when we play away from home and our scores reflect that.” During the fourth quarter,
Photo by Patrick Niehaus
Freshman Guard Jason Johnson scored six points, had one offensive and defensive rebound and one assist in the Archers’ 75-53 loss to Missouri State-West Plains.
the STLCC and Missouri State-West Plains benches cleared as words were exchanged between the two teams. Nothing was made of it, Collins said. “That did not have any effect on the game,” Collins said. More frustration occurred during the fourth quarter as the Archers fans began to display hostility toward Collins, questioning his ability to coach the team and his management of the game time roster. Collins said he
was not affected by the fans remarks. “That stuff does not bother me,” Collins said. Some of the players did not take to kindly of the remarks toward their head coach, Ocokoljic said. “I did not like it,” Ocokoljic said. “Everyone is a general after the fight, after the battle. In this case, they are generals from the side. They are not on the court, they do not feel what we are feeling. We always try to give them what they came to see, but sometime it
does not happen. But if they are not supporting us as they should, then that is on them. We cannot let that get inside of our heads.” The Archers are 9-5 in their last 14 games. Overcoming a conference loss in the question on the team’s mind, Collins said. “We will have to see if we are tough enough to come back from a really poor performance,” Collins said. “We may not have that toughness or we may have it, but we will find out soon.”
Archers Upcoming Games Feb. 13 - Wentworth Military Academy - 3:00 p.m. Feb. 15 - at Three Rivers Community College 7:00 p.m. Feb. 18 - at Mineral Area College - 7:00 p.m. Feb. 20 - at MCC-Penn Valley - 4:00 p.m. Feb. 26 - Region XVI Tournament Joplin, MO. - TBA
Photo by Patrick Niehaus
The benches cleared following an altercation between STLCC and Missouri State-West Plains in the third quarter.
Feb. 11, 2016
Feb. 27 - Region XVI Tournament Joplin, MO. - TBA