PROFESSOR, IUP GRADUATES, STUDENTS, CO-AUTHOR PARENTING BOOK

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News Editor: Heather Bair zzzx@iup.edu

(Megan Donny/The Penn) The book “Your Kid’s World Today: Parenting One Step Ahead” was co-authored by Dr. Erick Lauber and students of the journalism and public relations department.

Professor, IUP graduates, students co-author parenting book

Marty Weaver

Staff Writer zglx@iup.edu @mrweavs

Several IUP students and alumni co-wrote and published a book with journalism and public relations professor Dr. Erick Lauber.

The book, “Your Kid’s World Today,” lists May 2020 graduate Katie Mest as a co-author alongside Lauber. The other contributors are Seth Woolcock, Lily Whorl (2019 journalism and public relations graduates), Desmond Brown (2020 journalism and public relations graduate), Morgan Rhin (2020 marketing graduate) and Megan Donny (senior, fashion merchandising and journalism and public relations).

“Your Kid’s World Today” is a compilation of 53 articles and blog posts from the website Lauber ran with the students called DecodingTodaysYouth.com, according to Lauber.

He said the blog was created as a result of a grant he received about two-and-a-half years ago to meet with parents to discuss substance abuse problems in today’s youth.

“We designed what we thought was an excellent program, and we bought pizza and soda, and we had Walmart gift cards, and we got almost no attendance,” Lauber said. “We just couldn’t get parents to come talk to us.”

He said face-to-face meetings just weren’t working.

“And that didn’t sit well with me because I’ve got three kids,” Lauber said. “They went through school; I know their issues; I know the world is different today than it was when I grew up.”

“The initial concept was opioid-prevention-based,” Woolcock said.

But, that changed when Lauber and the team found out that many parents have quite a large knowledge gap concerning today’s youth. So, they switched courses with the blog.

“The premise is to tell parents things that they should know about their kids that they just don't,” Mest said.

According to Mest, the blog discussed things like technology, mental health issues and “how parenting has evolved” since today’s parents were teens.

Since college students were only a few years away from being teenagers, they helped Lauber understand what issues today’s youth are facing.

So, he brainstormed with his team of students about what methods would best reach parents, which led to the blog.

“Posts about newer topics like vaping and TikTok got lots of traction online because parents don’t understand them,” Lauber said. “The blog posts would get ‘hundreds of clicks’ on Facebook, but since not everybody uses Facebook, the idea for a book came about.”

His team took the best things from the blog and added some new content for the book.

However, writing a book wasn’t all peaches and cream.

The hardest part of converting a blog to a book, according to Mest, was figuring out what to do with the links in the blog posts. Online, readers could click all the links that were referenced to find different articles, but that wasn’t an option in print, so the team had to come up with a way to circumnavigate that.

Lauber also said that laying out the book proved to be difficult.

“Katie Mest just stepped up to the plate and did a lot of layout,” he said.

“Another issue was making the content in the book ‘evergreen,’ or be as valuable today as it will be a few years down the line,” Woolcock said.

Both Mest and Woolcock cited their work with Lauber as being integral to launching their careers.

Mest got experience with search engine optimization (SEO), which led to her current job as SEO specialist for Storage Asset Management in York.

Woolcock said that, from his training as a journalism student, working with Lauber taught him the concept of demographics and target audiences and led him down more of a public relations and marketing path.

“I made my own brand… that wouldn’t have gotten a start without Dr. Lauber and his teachings,” Woolcock said.

“It was really cool to work with Dr. Lauber on this project because a lot of skills that he taught us in his multimedia courses were the same things we applied to the blog in different projects,” Mest said.

Mest and Woolcock had some advice to share with IUP students.

“In general, students should take advantage of opportunities presented by professors,” Mest said.

“It’s nice to experience that when you have a team behind you who understands where you’re coming from,” she said.

“No matter how good you think you are at something, there’s always room to improve,” Woolcock said. “Accept feedback and don’t be afraid to go back and fix things.”

“Digital is such a powerful way to go [in regards to journalism and public relations],” Woolcock said. “It’s a great way to give yourself a platform.”

Though, he also advised not to focus solely on internet-based career paths.

There is value in having “something solid, something physical to read,” he said.

Even though the book is published, Lauber isn’t planning on slowing down.

Since the book was planned months in advance, there isn’t a lot of information regarding COVD-19, but publishing another book with that information isn’t the wisest decision, either. COVID-19 may not be as big of an issue in the time it would take to write and publish another book.

“The problem, of course, is being timely,” Lauber said.

“You have to play the game of ‘where is the energy gonna be best spent.’”

Lauber is also considering going into podcasting with a new team of students to reach an even larger audience. He likes educating the public, especially parents, he said.

“I would recommend to IUP students to stay in touch with your younger siblings and be a role model and help discourage the kinds of behaviors that we know are not healthy,” Lauber said.

4 September 9, 2020 News “And the winner is...” IUP sports production nominated for coveted college award

Olivia Carbone

Staff Writer kxxw@iup.edu @ThePennIUP

Seventeen communications media students have exciting news to share with future employers and with the university: a regional award nomination.

The IUP Communications Media department is one of the top programs in the state that provides hands-on experience that prepares students for the job world.

It is no surprise that a group of students is nominated for this award.

The nomination comes from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). The Mid-Atlantic Region accounts for Pennsylvania, New Jersey (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) The IUP Sports Production was nominated for the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences award.

and Delaware.

This is the first time IUP students have been nominated for

one of these awards.

IUP was nominated for the College Production Award for live sports broadcasting.

In order to have an opportunity to film the sports games, students must take communication media 360- digital sports production which is taught by Chair of the Communications Media Department Dr. Gail Wilson. The live production nominated is the Coal Bowl where the Crimson Hawks defeated the California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans on Oct. 5.

“The students said, from the start of the semester, they wanted to win production awards,” Wilson said reflecting on the student’s commitment.

“Being nominated for this award is an honor and demonstrates how hard these students worked to reach their goal.” (iup. edu)

Because the class is an in-thefield course, it is unable to be offered this semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While taking this class, students learn typical sports production jobs: audio, camera operators, color commentary, directing, graphics, play-by-play commentary, producing, replay operator, and sideline reporting.

Wilson teaches the course, Chris Barber is the broadcast engineer and communications major Sean Seaman (junior), directed the crew.

IUP-TV has been covering sports production for almost 20 years. At first, the productions were done on by student volunteers but in 2007, the communications media department created a course for students to be formally trained. Now, their productions can be viewed via live stream and the PSAC Network.

Fomer IUP sports production students have been employed with companies such as, ESPN, AT&T SportsNet, and Altoona Curve. Before the jobs offers, the students have interned with teams in the MLB, NFL and NHL.

The Student nominees enrolled the class or who volunteered to work on the production include: Braeden Appleman, Mackenzie Aucker, India Bey, Tristen Borland, Jordan Brasin, Colton Brooks, Tyler Como, Katie Dotts, Jackie Gillis, Elliot Hicks, Johnny LaVan (volunteer), Vania Mason, Josh Nixon, Josh Rupeka, Sean Seaman, Jake Slebodnick (volunteer) and Kaylee Wenderoth.

(Facebook) The crystal pillar, given to the school for each winning entry.

A crystal pillar is awarded to the school for each winning entry.

The chapter received 71 entries in seven categories for the College Production Awards, of which 33 received nominations. We are very proud of these students. For more information, please check out this link: www.iup.edu/news-item.

September 9, 2020 5 Fall is in the air in Indiana, IUP

(Pixabay)

The COVID-19 virus has arrived on IUP.

COVID-19 on campus, students concerned

Emily Loose

Staff Writer gtkw@iup.edu @ThePennIUP

Despite the new safety measures being taken, COVID-19 is making an appearance at IUP.

As of Tuesday, Sept. 8, 23 students have tested positive for the virus. These students have been quarantined, and those they may have been in contact have been made aware.

Despite being told, there is plenty of criticism coming from students and faculty about the way it is all being handled by administration.

Students have said that IUP is not doing enough when it comes to the cases or reporting on them.

Kyle Chastulik (music) has been very outspoken about his views on IUP’s handling of the situation.

“In all seriousness, IUP majorly messed up by not mandating or supplying tests before the school year started,” he said. “The case count is only low because it only gets updated weekly. Also, nobody knows if they have it or not because there’s no resource for students to get tested on campus.”

The weekly updates that Chastulik mentioned are put on IUP’s website every Monday. It is under criticism by both students and faculty.

One professor who asked not to be named said that there should be more frequent updates.

“Once a week is not enough for keeping us in the know,” the professor said. “Like news outlets, we should hear every day just in case a lot of cases start popping up at once.”

Another issue for students is that employees allegedly only need to self-report.

“Also, employees don’t have to be listed on the dashboard,” Rose Mazey said. “It’s based on self-reporting. “I know of at least one employee that was positive, but it isn’t on the dashboard.”

Claire Shemon (biology) said she found an issue with the lack of mandated testing due to the struggle some have just to get the test otherwise.

“It’s all so messed up the number of actual cases on campus and in the U.S. in general is much higher than the resorted amount because of the restrictions involved with getting a test,” she said.

Though it is not mandated, IUP’s health center does offer testing for COVID-19. Some of the cost may be covered by insurance.

However, despite cases rising, not all students are as worried.

Jared Schafkopf (info systems and decision sciences) said COVID-19 is similar to the flu and that others are worrying too much about the virus.

“People get it and get better,” he said. “IUP is way too strict and we need to return to semi-normal with some safety precautions.”

“There’s not really a way to handle it,” said Dorothy Braid (human development). “It is spreading like crazy, but it’s bound to happen.”

One of the new precautions being taken at IUP is asking students to report any behavior they see going against the safety guidelines that have been set up. Students found going against guideline standards may face the Student Conduct Board.

There is no certainty in whether or not cases will continue to increase, but the outlook on the future remains mixed.

(Marty Weaver/The Penn) After a long, hot and humid summer, this weekend’s mild and dry temperatures were perfect for hiking. IUP’s Co-Op Park boasts hundreds of acres of woods and a 10-mile hiking trail, including a five kilometer one. If you want to attempt a hike, make sure to bring plenty of water, inhalers if necessary and a quarantine buddy. And even if you stay off your phone (which is strongly recommended), make sure to bring it with you in case you get lost. Watch your step, but don’t forget to look up. You’ll be surprised at what you find. The Co-Op Park has two entrances: one along Diamond Road, the other at 239 College Lodge Road. The park is open every day from dawn until dusk.

(Facebook) David Klein (left) became know as The Candyman through his invention of the famous jellybean, “Jelly Belly.” Gene Wilder (right) played the candyman known as Willy Wonka in the 1971 movie, “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” the inspiration behind Klein’s contest in which the grand prize is a candy factory.

Willy Wonka contest to give away candy factory as its grand prize

Heather Bair News Editor zzzx@iup.edu @ThePennIUP

Fans of “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” (1971) and “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” (2005), will be able to experience what Charlie Bucket and the rest of the kids did, thanks to a real-life candy maker.

David Klein, one of the original inventors of the Jelly Belly jelly bean, has created a scavenger hunt, in which the grand prize is $5000 and a candy factory.

However, according to CNN, there is mystery surrounding the contest itself.

Unlike the 1971 and 2005 movies, based off the book by Roald Dahl, Klein is selling $50 tickets to enter the treasure hunt.

The tickets are available in all 50 states, however Klein told CNN he is still working on putting the treasure in all the states.

One player or family will find the gold-colored dark tag (not a golden ticket, much like the movies) based on a riddle they receive. Whoever finds the dog tag will win the $5000 prize.

With the grand prize of the candy factory building, winners will also receive a candy-making course at the University of Wisconsin.

Klein will offer his expertise in confectionery, if necessary, he told CNN.

Some people are concerned that this is a scam, due to the mystery surrounding the contest itself.

On the Facebook group for the challenge, some users have commented on the fact they believe it’s a scam. However, Klein is adamant the contest – and the promises – are legit.

The other problem is that nobody knows quite where the factory is located.

Candyman Creations, Klein’s own factory, is located in north-central Florida, but it recently operated in a second location of the Gulf Coast.

In the Facebook group, according to CNN, Klein said the factory would be in Florida but did not specify where.

The contest is based off the 1971 movie, “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory,” which centers around an ecentric candyman named Willy Wonka who starts a contest in order to find someone to take over when he decides to finally retire.

The movie follows the five contestants and their guardians as they tour the factory, come in contact with some strange creatures, and find out who comes out on top in the end and will win a “lifetime supply of chocolate, the candy factory and more.”

The children in question are Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen) and Augustus Gloop (Michael Boellner).

The cast was rounded out by big-name actor Gene Wilder as the famous candyman himself, Willy Wonka.

In 2005, famous director Tim Burton (“The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Dark Shadows” and more), recreated the cult classic, renaming it “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory.”

This time around, some things were changed to give the film more depth and even a bit more creepy feel. With more graphics and a more in-depth look at Wonka’s personal life and childhood, the 2005 version felt more real than the classic.

This time, Burton had a star-studded cast as Freddie Highmore played Charlie Bucket, AnnaSophia Robb as Violet Beauregarde, Julia Winter as Veruca Salt, Jordan Fry as Mike Teevee and Philip Wiegratz as August Gloop.

Pulling the cast together as everyone’s favorite candyman was Johnny Depp as Mr. Willy Wonka.

Guest appearances in the movie were by Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Bucket, Missi Pyle as Mrs. Beauregarde and Christopher Lee as Dr. Wilbur Wonka.

The movies were based off the famous Roald Dahl’s children’s book, “Charlie & the Chocolate Factory” and “Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.”

There’s no talk as to what condition the candy factory from Klein’s contest is in, but that is something competitors have pushed into the back of their minds.

There’s also been no confirmation as to whether or not the candy factory will contain a chocolate river, Oompa-Loompas or a great glass elevator, but maybe adjustments can be made.

Get ready for a sugar rush to solve the riddle and you could be the next Willy Wonka.

“History has its eyes on you” Influential figures make today go down in history

(Facebook)

History was made on Sept. 9 in different years by different influential figures of our times. Top Left: On July 4, Congress signed the Declaration of Independence, making us a free country. At the time, we were still known as the United Colonies. However, a few months later, Sept. 9, they officially renamed the United Colonies as “The United States of America.” Top Right: Alexander Twilight became the first African-American to graduate from a U.S. college on Sept. 9, 1817. Twilight graduated from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, with a bachelor’s of arts degree. He also was the first African-American elected as a state legislator, working in the Vermont House of Representatives. He was the only African-American elected before the Civil War to state legislature. Bottom Left: On Sept. 9, 1908, Orville Wright of the Wright Brothers made the first, one-hour airplane flight in Fort Myer, VA. The brothers had promised their father they would fly together, but regulations stated there would be no solo-flying, so Orville had a family friend flying with him at the time. Bottom Right: Queen Elizabeth II has been a long-reigning monarch. As of Sept. 9, 2015, she has been the longest-reigning monarch with 63 years and 7 months under her belt. She has surpassed her great-great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.

Opinion

(NeedPix)

The concept of Feminism meaning equality for all has turned into the idea that it only means equality for women.

‘We Too’: Feminism means equality for all, not just women

The feminist movement is fighting for equality for everybody, especially women, but that means men should be included in that fight.

A few weeks ago, I was sent a video of what appeared to be a social experiment – with humorous undertones – that depicted a woman on a subway. She would sit next to men, put her hand on their leg or knee, and keep a straight face.

In the video, the men are smiling, even laughing. Some of them show a look of shock at first, but after a few seconds, they smile, laugh, exchange glances with their buddies and don’t attempt to remove the woman’s hand.

Now, the woman is young, maybe twenties and is pretty. Which shouldn’t be a factor, but it is. If the situation were reversed, however, the woman would appear uncomfortable, scared, maybe even threaten to call 911 or go as far as to hit the guy touching her without her permission.

The video was a bit of an eye-opener to me.

I grew up in a town where women mainly stayed home, stayed by their husband’s side, raised the children, kept out of trouble, etc. Sure, occasionally there would be the two-parent working household, but that was rare.

Rape and sexual harassment were things in “the big cities,” not there. The feminist movement was something you quietly were a part of, not something you advertised.

It wasn’t until I started college and made a new friend group that I realized, as a very close friend said, “women have more power.”

I wasn’t sure what he’d meant by that. Was it sarcasm? Was it a belief? We talked extensively and I saw what he meant. In a way, women do. Women can call rape and say a man raped them and, automatically, the man is arrested and presumed guilty. Even if he is innocent, he’s presumed guilty for the sole fact he’s a man and a woman is accusing him of rape.

If a man accuses a woman of rape (yes, it happens), then the woman is presumed innocent and the man is called a “sissy”

or he’s told he “should have enjoyed it.”

A Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study found that 1 in 71 men in the U.S. have been raped or had an attempt in their lifetime. In the same study, 1 in 21 men were forced to penetrate someone else, usually an intimate partner or acquaintance. A study performed by the School of Public Health at Boston University found that 30 percent of gay and bisexual men experienced at least one form of sexual assault.

The numbers are greatly different than those of women. Approximately 1 in 5 women reported a completed or attempted rape.

All this means, though, is that women are more likely to report the attempt or completion of a rape, whereas men are not. Again, it ties into what my friend said; women have more power.

If the feminist movement is going to fight for equality for all people, men are included in that. I’ve heard time and time again that feminists “hate men.” For some, that does appear to be the case.

If a man tries to help the movement, at first it is assumed he has a hidden agenda. Maybe to find “easy” targets? But after he, for lack of a better term, “proves himself,” he’s accepted as a member of the movement.

To me, feminism is about equality, yes, but it’s also about having common sense. Yes, rape happens to members of different genders, but it seems more problematic and more worrisome if a woman is raped over if a man is raped.

If you’re going to fight for equality, it shouldn’t matter who you are. Women have more power, so shouldn’t we be fighting against that, too? If we want to have equality, make sure you’re fighting for everyone’s equal rights, not just one groups.

Brought to you by: Heather Bair News Editor

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