The Sandspur Volume 125 Issue 24

Issue 24 • Volume 125 Thursday, Apr. 25, 2019 www.thesandspur.org

Mental health worsens among students

As more students seek counseling, appointment wait times increase

By Ellie Rushing

A

erushing@rollins.edu

n unprecedented number of students are using Rollins’ mental health counseling services, but the Wellness Center cannot keep up, forcing students in need of psychiatric help to sometimes wait more than two weeks for an initial appointment.

This demand has left some Rollins students concerned about the access and delivery of much needed mental health services to the campus. Even with this demand and waiting times, students say the center’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) program has had an invaluable impact on their lives.

See page 5 for one student’s story about juggling mental health issues with college life.

“We are trying to advocate for getting more resources, but there is a finite amount of resources out on a campus,” said Dr. Connie Briscoe, director of the Wellness Center.

In the last three years, Rollins has had a 55 percent increase in the number of psychiatric ap-

pointments, which is how students can be prescribed medication, and an 18 percent increase in general CAPS appointments, which is talk therapy.

This increase mirrors a national trend in what some psychologists are calling a “mental health crisis.” According to the World Health Organization’s

In 2018, the average wait time for a CAPS appointment was 6.5 days. This year, it is 14 days.

2018 study, nearly one in three college students struggle with a mental health issue. Major depressive disorder was the most common, followed by generalized anxiety disorder and substance abuse.

These national statistics are consistent with Rollins students’ experiences. The top three reasons that Rollins students seek counseling are related to depression, anxiety, and relationship

problems, according to Briscoe.

“I’m not sure I would call it a mental health crisis,” she said, “but I do know that we are seeing more students that are in crisis than ever before, and the severity of what students are dealing with continues to grow.”

Briscoe also said it is impossible to know whether these mental health issues have always been there or if they have recently manifested within students.

“We’re definitely seeing more students who are coming and openly talking about having thoughts of suicide and/or wanting to kill themselves,” she said.

Briscoe identified some good news in that these students in crisis are asking for help.

Yet, when they do need help, they may not receive it in a timely manner. In 2018, the average wait time for a CAPS appointment was 6.5 days. This year, it is 14 days, according to Briscoe.

A student’s wait time increases depending on their specific needs and availability: requesting a certain day, counselor, or counselor gender all play a role in how long they wait. ‣ See CAPS Page 4

A waiting game

Graphic by Francisco Wang Yu

This week in sports Inside today’s Sandspur

Courtesy of Rollins Sports

See Page 8 for a recap of the 2018-2019 Tars season filled with devastating lows and record-breaking highs.

Curtis Shaffer

See Page 3 for Gabbie Buendia’s research on the role of mothers in the American environmental justice movement. Buendia interviewed five women from Florida to Michigan.

2 Established in 1894 with the following editorial:

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019

Housing crunch causes tense selection process Students’ housing options were severely limited by unavailable beds

EXECUTIVE STAFF Ellie Rushing Editor-in-Chief Christina Fuleihan Managing Editor

CONTENT STAFF Alex Candage Head Copy Editor Siobhan Nolet David Smith Hannah Butcher Copy Editors Maura Leaden Assigning Editor Alyssa Malto Headlines Kira Bernhard Photo Editor

DESIGN DEPARTMENT Lya Dominguez Head Designer Dana Wagenhauser Pat Murray Hannah Jahosky Designer Anastasia Rooke Designer / Illustrator

WEB STAFF Kalli Joslin Neny Lairet Katie McCree

Digital Content Editors

BUSINESS & FACULTY Greg Golden

Director of Student Media

Dr. Leslie Poole Faculty Advisor Luis Diego Student Media Graduate Assistant

ADVERTISING

Contact: studentmedia@rollins.edu

Ellie Rushing

After closing a residential hall to start constructing a new one, students had to embrace new living options, like living off-campus or in five-person apartments.

By Caroline Klouse

H

cklouse@rollins.edu

ousing selection did not run as smoothly as usual due to the newly-limited housing options caused by campus construction projects.

Because McKean Hall is being demolished, 220 beds were lost, according to Leon Hayner, senior director of Residential Life & Explorations (RLE).

Students who wanted to live in Strong Hall and Chase Hall next year were initially prompted to move into five-person apartments in Sutton. They are now being temporarily placed in Elizabeth Hall, which is being transformed into a freshman dorm, until more optimal housing opens, which may not come until the summer.

Freshman students Carys Davidson-Huxley (‘22) was disappointed and frustrated with the housing options for next semester. “The whole housing process was super chaotic. Strong and Cross weren’t offered online. So, when you went to the office, there was a backlog of people, so you couldn’t get seen at your [appointment] time,” said Davidson-Huxley.

However, RLE eventually gave Davidson-Huxley and her

roommate the option to live in Elizabeth Hall next year. “It was hard to get it, but we spoke with the Office of Residential Life, who was very supportive during this time,” said Davidson-Huxley.

E.J. Broker (‘22) was also placed into Elizabeth Hall after he and his roommate had a similar experience. They were looking for a double in either Strong, Cross, or Holt with no intention of living in Sutton; however, it became obvious that Sutton was his only choice. Broker worked with the RLE office to secure a double in Elizabeth, which would align with the provisions of his scholarship.

Hayner acknowledged the discomfort and frustration that has accompanied the decision to remove McKean. However, there will still be enough open beds for everyone who wants to live on campus. “There are currently 1,300 beds on campus with McKean. However, for the last two to three years, we have been at 92% occupancy with around 1,200 beds,” said Hayner in an email.

In order to compensate for the shortage of beds next year, RLE presented four alternatives: five-person apartments in Sutton, turning Elizabeth Hall into a first-year building with additional triples, allowing non-chapter

members into sorority and fraternity houses with additional doubles, and letting sophomores live off-campus.

With a sophomore residency exemption, “students could apply for the option to live off

Hayner acknowledged the discomfort and frustration that has accompanied the decision to remove McKean.

However, there will still be enough open beds for everyone who wants to live on campus. campus as a sophomore, even though we have a two-year live on requirement,” said Hayner.

These students chose to live off campus, and as Hayner said, “nobody is being forced to live off-campus.”

Even with losing McKean, adding the beds gained through the four strategies will still provide 1,215 beds.

Hayner expects this to be enough beds for all of the students who wish to live on-campus next school year.

There were 70 beds gained from the sophomore exemption housing lottery, 25 beds added from turning part of Sutton into five-person apartments, 20 beds from turning some doubles in Elizabeth into triples, and 20 beds from having Sutton residential assistants double-up and having a few staff members move out of their on-campus apartments.

Hayner recognized that many of Rollins’ students will be living in Sutton next year as their last resort. “After the singles filled up, Strong filled up quickly, and the doubles filled up quickly, what was left at the end of the night was Sutton,” said Hayner.

“Because Sutton is full, we still have people we need to move into rooms as placeholder spaces because they need to have their bill ready to go for financial aid. They will be moved into the upper class buildings as space becomes available,” said Hayner.

Over the summer, spaces in upper class housing typically open up due to changes in students’ living situations and their academic standing with the college.

3

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019

Thesis explores how combining motherhood, Writing Center environmentalism makes the perfect activist hires new

Senior interviews women, learns about environmental justice experiences

coordinator After year-long search, Rollins fills position

By Heather Borochaner

hborochaner@rollins.edu

A Curtis Shaffer

Gabbie Buendia is an environmental studies major. She presented her senior thesis project on women in the environmental justice movement on Tuesday, April 23.

By Ellie Rushing

erushing@rollins.edu

W

hen it comes to protecting the environment, women often lead the way.

Iconic names like Rachel Carson, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, and Marjorie Harris Carr frequently come up in household conversations about the environmental movement—history credits them for their courageous roles in protecting species, landscapes, and natural resources.

But what about the women who came after them, those who still lead the fight today? What do these women across history have in common? What ignites their fiery determination to protect the environment and their communities?

If you ask Gabbie Buendia (‘19), she would tell you it is their motherhood.

Buendia spent nearly eight months researching how women—specifically mothers—play a unique and instrumental role in leading movements to protect the environment. This work was a part of her honors thesis in her major.

The environmental studies major with a minor in sexuality, women’s, and gender studies presented her thesis titled “Earth Mommas: The Impact of Mothers on the Environmental Justice Movement” to an enthusiastic

room of faculty, staff, and students on Tuesday, April 23.

Her 45-minute exhibition was the product of a 90-page paper outlining the intersection of femininity and conservation. Buendia met and interviewed five different women from underserved communities in Michigan and Florida who lead fights for environmental justice.

Environmental justice issues disproportionately affect low-income people and people of color who have little political power.

Environmental justice is about establishing fair living conditions for people regardless of status, income, or race. Environmental justice issues disproportionately affect low-income people and people of color who have little political power. Their neighborhoods are often targeted as locations for toxic waste companies, fume-emitting facilities, and soil-leaching landfills.

For example, poverty-stricken black and Latino children are more than twice as likely to live near dangerous chemical facilities compared to white children who live above the poverty line, according to a 2016 study by the

Center for Effective Government.

These inequalities are deeply-rooted because of history, but when problems arise, mothers are often on the front lines fighting for justice for their communities, fueled by their natural instincts to care for others and think collectively.

Connecting with communities: Florida to Michigan Buendia’s interviewees included Mona Monroe-Younis, a woman from Flint, Mich. who was pregnant during the city’s water crisis and whose child was impacted by the lead-contaminated water.

Buendia honed in on local issues. She met with Luwanna Gelzer of Parramore, Orlando— an organizer and activist fighting the gentrification and Superfund sites poisoning one of Orlando’s poorest, historically black communities.

Buendia traveled to Apopka, Fla. to meet with Linda Lee, a farmworker who lives with severe health conditions due to exposure to toxic chemicals in the fields.

Buendia continued by interviewing Joy Ezell, a woman fighting to protect her home town of Perry, Fla., a small city that has had its water source contaminated by a large pulp mill.

Not every woman interviewed is a mother biological-

ly—four of the five are—but they each share similar experiences of motherly instincts, passions, and skills, all qualities that fascinate Buendia.

“With environmental activism in particular, there are really strong gender ties between women and the environment that bring women closer to this work,” Buendia said.

“When a woman is carrying a child, they are the environment for their children... When they give birth to that child, they are no longer in control of everything their child is exposed to, and that’s a really stressful experience.”

She added, “Because they understand the experience that everything they put into themselves goes into their child, then they also understand this experience that everything I put into this environment, will go back into me and into my child.”

For women who have not had this biological experience but have participated in other mothering or fostering, a lot of the same skills still apply, like thinking collectively, taking care of others, and viewing the community as an extension of their family.

“Being able to think collectively gives women a really macroscopic view of their community, which allows them to identify ‣ See EARTH MOMS Page 7

fter a year-long search, the Olin Library’s Tutoring and Writing Center (TWC) has hired Layne Gordon as its new coordinator.

Gordon has a doctorate in rhetoric and composition and a masters in English from the University of Louisville. She has written and participated in peer-reviewed publications, applied essays to book chapters, and has presented at numerous conferences on the subject of writing centers.

At the University of Louisville, Gordon taught courses on college, business, and scientific writing while working as the assistant director at their writing center. She was also a writing consultant and peer tutor during her time at Bellarmine University.

Gordon did not respond to various phone calls or emails from The Sandspur.

Rollins began its search for a new director in the late fall and early spring after the previous director, Mary Tripp, was fired from the position as coordinator of TWC after only a few weeks on campus. It is still unknown why she was fired.

The search committee consisted of faculty and staff from across the college, according to Deborah Prosser, director of the Olin Library. She said that both searches proceeded according to Rollins College Human Resources procedures, policies, and protocols, each resulting in “superb” hires.

Mistie Watkins, a Rollins alum, started as the associate coordinator at the start of February. Gordon will start working as TWC coordinator on July 1.

“I am delighted that with the new leadership we have been able to place the [Writing Center] on a course where it will grow with the needs of the college and provide effective, responsive services to the students and faculty,” said Prosser.

4

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019

Courtesy of Rollins Wellness Center

Rollins’ Counseling and Psychiatric Services program is located within the Wellness Center, which is off Fairbanks Road, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

‣

CAPS Continued from page 1 The Wellness Center asks every student that calls to make an appointment whether they are in a crisis or not, and whether seeing a counselor that day is absolutely necessary. The Center offers a 24-hour counselor hotline for after hours.

“On any given day, a student can actually be seen the same day if they feel like what they’re going through is a crisis and they really need to be seen,” said Briscoe. “Most of our students who are calling and getting appointments are saying, ‘I’d rather be seen sooner than two weeks, but I’m okay, I don’t need to be seen today.’”

However, each person defines a crisis in a different way, and some students may not know that they are truly in one.

Ryan Marini (‘21) is a student who lives with severe anxiety and depression. She said that when she makes her CAPS appointment she may not be in a crisis, but waiting two weeks to see her counselor may send her into one. Marini has taken three medical leaves from Rollins because of her mental health, and using CAPS has been an integral part of her time here.

She recalled an incident earlier this semester when she had to wait three weeks to see her

preferred counselor. She knew that she needed to get in for an appointment, but in that moment, did not think she was in a crisis.

“I just needed to see her,” said Marini, referring to the CAPS counselor she has been seeing for nearly two years. “It was like one step down from a crisis. For me, in my personal definition, a crisis is that you feel like you have no other options. I wasn’t at that point.”

“It was so frustrating. I just didn’t know what to do because at that point things were already snowballing and I really needed someone that had context,” she said, “someone that knew my backstory and that could give me the advice that would be most accurate.”

So, she decided to wait. “The wait just allowed things to get worse,” she said.

Increased crisis intervention Marini first started using CAPS after her professor referred her to the program, something that is becoming increasingly common as knowledge about the center increases and the stigma around mental health issues lessens. From 2017 to 2018, CAPS referrals by faculty and staff increased by 300 percent.

This referral service is just one of the ways Rollins identifies and monitors at-risk students.

The college has three tiers of intervention teams that identify and work with students who may be in a crisis, and the offices involved intervene at elevated levels.

These intervention teams are different than CAPS in that they do not offer clinical therapy, but instead monitor at-risk students and help them find the resources they need.

In the last three years, the Office of Student & Family Care has seen a 165 percent increase in its intervention cases. This office is the first step of intervention, and it works with any student of concern.

“They are like that first tier of identifying whether something might be going on with a student,” said Briscoe. “Through their office, we hope that we can identify things as early as possible before they get to a crisis point.”

If the student remains at a level of elevated concern, and their plan with the Student & Family Care office does not improve their mental health, then the Care team, which is made up of administrators from different departments, may intervene.

This team has seen a 56 percent increase in cases over three years.

The highest level of intervention is the BETA team, which looks at whether a student is a threat to themselves or the community. This team has not seen

any increase in its intervention cases.

Expanding support, staff As the number of students in need of care increases, the staff within the Wellness Center has only slightly increased.

Last fall, the center saw 341 students for a total of 1,925 appointments. On average, the center sees between 100-150 CAPS appointments each week, according to Briscoe.

The staff that manages the thousands of appointments each year is small. There are currently five full-time counselors, including Briscoe, and five part-time graduate students working two to four days per week.

This is a counselor-to-student ratio of 1-to-312.

If it is seen that a student needs additional resources outside of counseling, like medication, they are referred to the college’s two contracted psychiatrists, who come to campus for a combined eight hours per week.

Nationally, a 2018 Healthy Minds Study found that 23 percent of all students are taking psychiatric medication, up from 18 percent in 2016.

Additionally, there are three licensed nurse practitioners on staff who are permitted to prescribe medication. Nurse practitioners are responsible for prescribing medication to students

with mild to moderate mental health needs, while the psychiatrists work with students with more intense or less understood needs.

Since Briscoe assumed her position in July 2014, she has advocated for increased staffing, funding, and campus outreach.

In the last five years, a substance abuse counselor, second psychiatrist, outreach coordinator, and third nurse practitioner were added to the staff.

Few of these positions are permanent, though. The positions for the second psychiatrist and dietician, who are each on campus for only four hours per week, do not have permanent funding.

“I hope to one day receive permanent funding for these two contracted positions, but the gift funds have allowed us to provide these valued services for our students for the past two years,” said Briscoe.

The Wellness Center is actively studying various intervention models to lessen wait times while providing the highest quality of student care. “There’s no perfect model. We are determined to figure out what the best model for Rollins might be,” said Briscoe.

If you are in need of after hours crisis counseling, call the Wellness Center’s 24-hour, toll-free number 833-848-1761 to be connected to a counselor.

5

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019

Quick facts about mental health in college students

15%

of students are currently affected by anxiety in the United States

23%

of students are taking psychiatric medication

20%

of students use mental health services provided by universities

30%

of students diagnosed with depression would drop out of college if they could not receive treatment

39%

of students are experiencing a significant mental health issue

67%

of students who seek counseling services claim that the services improved their academic performance

75%

of students are open to using mental health services provided by universities

75%

of adult psychiatric illnesses start before the age of 25

Sources: “Counseling Counts” from Business Officer, “More College Students Seeking Mental Health Care” from HealthDay, “Campus Mental Health Campaigns are working, so Where are all the Counselors?” from The Quad, and “One in Three: The Student Mental Health Case Worsens” from Leadership Exchange

Anxiety, depression overpowers this student, but counseling helps

Wellness services plays integral role in her college experience

By Ellie Rushing

I

erushing@rollins.edu

t started with initial stress over everyday tasks—cooking, cleaning, paying bills. It was painful, but it never affected her work or overall ability to function.

When Ryan Marini (‘21) started college, the stress snowballed into crippling anxiety and clinical depression that has forced her to take three medical leaves from Rollins. “Everything is overwhelming. It’s this intense feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop for an entire semester,” she said.

Marini’s severe anxiety is centered around grades and exams, stemming from family pressure and the need to be academically perfect. “Every paper is a catastrophe. Every exam is the end of the world,” she said.

“My depression is still there, but anxiety is louder. When I’m not at school, my anxiety on a day to day basis is about normal, and small things that don’t feel as cataclysmic. But my struggle with school is grading.”

She enjoys her classes and understands the concepts she learns, but when an exam is placed in front of her, she said it’s as if it’s written in another language.

Even for take-home exams that are open notes and open book, nothing makes sense. The anxiety haunts her, lurking over her shoulder as she reads each question and creeping into her mind. It makes her doubt every answer. One take-home exam leads to an 18-hour breakdown.

“The anxiety is crippling. That’s just the way it is.”

Rollins’ Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) program has played an integral role in Marini’s attempt to maintain her mental health during her rollercoaster-like experience at Rollins. However, the wait times she has faced to see her counselor have also worsened her mental health at times.

Marini started at Rollins in fall 2014 but has had to take three separate medical leaves due to her chronic mental health issues.

During midterm week of her second semester on campus, she had a panic attack that sent her to the hospital. She took the rest of that semester off to focus on

her health.

She returned the next fall and began using CAPS after being referred by a professor, something that is becoming increasingly common– from 2017 to 2018, CAPS referrals by faculty and staff increased by 300 percent.

Marini said that at that time, in fall 2015, she had to wait one week to see someone who met her needs. “When you have specificities, it makes things worse. I wanted to see a female counselor, which made things worse,” she said. Her first counselor did not mesh well with her personality, but the second one did, and she has been seeing her ever since.

“My anxiety was so bad that walking across the street to go to CAPS was an effort.”

The next four semesters went relatively well. Marini attended Rollins and used CAPS, but her anxiety slowly worsened.

“Usually, it just affected school, but it was starting to affect work as well, which it had never done before,” she said.

Her peers and mentors advised her to take the fall 2017 semester off, but she did not want to lose her housing and on-campus employment. She finished that semester, and started back in the spring again, but this time her anxiety was on overdrive.

“I had stopped going to classes, stopped doing everything, basically,” she said. “My anxiety was so bad that walking across the street to go to CAPS was an effort.”

She made it through that semester, but failed nearly every one of her classes. She knew she had to take time off to help herself. She took her second medical leave that next semester in fall 2018.

This semester, she returned but took a third leave because of how poorly her classes and overall health are going again.

During her leave last semester, she got into a car accident that

nearly hurt her to the point of disability.

When she returned to campus in January, she tried to make an appointment with CAPS, but because she wanted to see the counselor she spent two years working with, she had to wait three weeks for an opening.

To Marini, having her specific counselor was very important. She spent two years building rapport and history with this woman, and switching to someone else to get in sooner would not have been beneficial to her mental health, she said. “It’s so important to have a counselor who knows you and knows how to tell you advice the way you need it.”

The Wellness Center asks every student that calls to make an appointment whether they are in a crisis or not, and whether seeing a counselor that day is absolutely necessary. The Center offers a 24-hour counselor hotline for after hours.

Marini personally defines a crisis as having no other options, and in that moment, she did not feel she was at that point. Nonetheless, she was still incredibly frustrated and knew that her mental health would continue to deteriorate as she waited.

To counteract the wait, she ended up seeing a second therapist outside of Rollins, someone that she had seen two times during her medical leave; however, they did not have that background information or understanding of who she really was. It just did not satisfy what she needed from a counselor in that moment.

“I was also seeing someone else outside of Rollins. I’m lucky enough that I have the ability to do that. But I also didn’t have a choice. There was a three-week wait,” she said. “Seeing someone for two months and asking them for advice is much different than seeing a counselor for two years and asking them for advice.”

Marini said that CAPS has been an integral part of her success at Rollins and that its resources should be made more accessible for all students. “If I didn’t have CAPS,” she said, “I don’t think I would have made it this far in college. I would have dropped out.”

6

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019

Letter from the editor: Thank you, goodbye, never give up

By Ellie Rushing

A

erushing@rollins.edu

t times, my college experience feels like a tumultuous, fogged memory—the late nights, painful essays, and crammed studying. But one thing has always remained especially clear: my role within and undying love for this paper.

So, here it goes: this is my final note as Editor-in-Chief of The Sandspur.

I joined the staff three years ago, writing sports and opinion with little understanding of what sort of impact a student newspaper could truly have.

Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to hold the editor-in-chief position for two years, and each one of the 48 issues I helped produce taught me an invaluable lesson.

If I had to name one point of advice for all students, especially my staffers, it’s this: If you never try, you’ll never know.

As student journalists, it is our responsibility to ask the questions nobody else wants to.

We owe it to our fellow students to feel uncomfortable asking administrators difficult questions.

If we do not, who would? Maybe the question would lead nowhere, but if we didn’t try, we would never know. And if we never knew, we would never be able to give the students their needed information.

My reporters and editors tried everything they could to make an impact these last two years, and it has paid off. Some thought it was impossible to turn the short-staffed newspaper at a college with no journalism major into something that was impactful, but we did it. We tried.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Student journalists don’t ask for much, especially recognition. We do this work for the good of our community, often receiving harsh criticism, late-night phone calls, and little sleep with little pay. We know our role, and we love every second of it.

So, thank you, Rollins for letting me take on this role for the last two years. Thank you for reading our stories, for being our sources, and for supporting our journalism. Without your support, The Sandspur would be nothing. And without The Sandspur, I would not be who I am today.

To the dedicated few who helped me get to this point, I would like to say thank you: To Christina, who is one of the strongest people I have ever known. You experienced immense emotional pain, but stayed there for me, for our staff, and for our community. From the moment you stepped in the newsroom, you had my back.

You are brave and courageous, and I could not have done this without you.

To Alex, who I know will keep fighting the good fight. You can and will lead this paper to more greatness. Believe in yourself, ask more questions than necessary, and always stand up for your reporters.

To Maura, who I know will do more than she thinks she can.

You were always a calming voice when my emotions were high.

I know you will continue to be that guiding force for the rest of the staff next year.

To Dana, Greg and Leslie, Who trained and supported our staff, and provided the resources to get us to the next level. Your advising and support made me confident in my leadership.

To Lya and the design team, who put up with my incessant last-minute design changes and always made things look better than I envisioned. Without you, our print product would be half of what it is today.

To Henri, who always called me “boss” and whose phone call explaining why his story was late could be cued on the dot every Sunday night. Thank you for taking on the role as a sports writer with open arms and a full heart. P.S. Do your homework.

To Heather, Zoe, Caroline, and all my other reporters, who I know will never give up on their stories. You have a responsibility unlike any other person on this campus. Keep giving a voice to the voiceless. Do it with love, passion, and humility.

To the rest of the newsroom, I love you and I am so proud of you.

To every Sandspurian before me, thank you for keeping this paper alive so that I could experience its greatness. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

Former Sandspur Editor Ellie Rushing can be reached at ellerush92@gmail.com. After graduation, she will intern for the Philadelphia Inquirer. From there, keep in touch to find out.

Curtis Shaffer

Ellie Rushing (right) and Christina Fuleihan have acted as The Sandspur’s editor and managing editor for two years.

A fond farewell from the managing editor

By Christina Fuleihan

cfuleihan@rollins.edu

A

s I rummaged through bins of old Sandspur issues with our staff in preparation for the newspaper’s 125th anniversary, I was in awe of decades worth of material. Thousands of staff members have worked diligently over the years to memorialize our school’s history. And, I am so honored to have played some small part in keeping this tradition alive.

The yellowing pages from past Sandspur issues chronicle hundreds of years of Rollins’ past. The great peaks and valleys that this school has faced are preserved in real-time. Inspecting these issues makes it clear just how large of a role the Sandspur has played in protecting Rollins’ legacy. Under Ellie Rushing’s fearless and dedicated leadership as editor-in-chief, we have tried desperately to restructure The Sandspur into a more investigative news source over my tenure as managing editor.

However, the truth is that this newspaper has always been a treasure.

Looking back at my past four years at this school, there are so many defining moments that stand out. Rollins will be missed. But since the first moment I joined this staff as a freshman, The Sandspur has been a staple to my story. While running a weekly publication with so few staff members entailed a lot of hard work, it has well been worth it, and the dedication from our staff members has shown through time and time again.

Our school’s mission of global citizenship and responsible leadership permeates throughout so many aspects of student life. However, The Sandspur is at the heart of it all.

It is within these pages that the students’ voices are repre-

sented, that the accomplishments of the community are highlighted, and that light is shed on some on the pressing campus issues.

Our staff works tirelessly to ensure that we are able to publish stories that need to be told. We do it because we understand the immense value of this publication—and we are so proud to be able to give the various facets of this community a voice.

In a post-truth era of fake news and alternative facts, it can be difficult to work in journalism.

Distrust ravages the discipline. Though I am well aware

that not everyone reads The Sandspur every week, it is important that this publication continues to flourish. While other student publications flounder and dissolve, ours must continue to stay strong. Even if it only serves a small service to the community, a free student press must always be preserved at all costs. So, fellow Rollins students, I hope you protect it well, now that we’re gone.

Here’s to another 125 years.

Christina Fuleihan was the managing editor of The Sandspur.

7

From design to copy, senior staffers wish future Sandspurians good luck

By Lya Dominguez

I

ldominguez@rollins.edu

By Siobhan Nolet

J

snolet@rollins.edu

n all honesty, my time with The Sandspur stemmed from a mild meltdown I had at the end of the Spring 2018 semester, during which I convinced myself I had not been involved enough in college.

This was untrue, but regardless, it motivated me to apply for the position of head designer for the school paper.

Although my time with The Sandspur has been short and was the result of a rather spur of the moment (see what I did there) decision, I am so incredibly glad that I found myself a member of this team. I have been able to learn more about myself as a leader by watching those around me guide this talented staff towards great accomplishments with grace. It has been such an honor to play a role in the process of delivering important, newsworthy information to the student body.

As I pass on this position to another young designer and watch the new executive staff prepare for the year ahead, I am thrilled to see what they do with their talent and hard work. Farewell to The Sandspur, and here is to the next wonderful 125 years for this publication!

oining The Sandspur team is one of the best decisions that I have made during my four years at Rollins. As a Copy Editor for The Sandspur, I have seen how my academic skill set translates into “real world” ability for the first time.

My job here has provided me with the confidence that the skills I have developed and the knowledge I have obtained during college are strong enough to carry me into the next stage of my life.

I would like to thank The Sandspur for the invaluable editing experience it has provided me; it has truly been a pleasure to develop my editing skills while reading up on Rollins’ current events at the same time.

I would also like to thank current Head Copy Editor Alex Candage for all that ze has done, and will continue to do, for the publication.

I am so grateful to have seen The Sandspur improve during my time as a copy editor, and I know that it will only continue to get better after the torch has been passed.

Lya Dominguez was the Head Designer for The Sandspur.

Siobhan Nolet was a copy editor for The Sandspur.

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019 ‣

EARTH MOMS Continued from page 3 the issues that they’re facing in their community,” Buendia said.

“They can identify the issues in their community as environmental justice and not just as an isolated event.”

All of this information was gathered via interview transcriptions, which she read through, evaluated, and organized based on similarities in the women’s perspectives, as well as previous research studies on their communities.

Buendia said that the most common similarity between her interviewees’ experiences is the fact that they no longer trust their government: “They took all the precautionary steps to protect their children [from harmful environmental exposure], but the government and other people that are supposed to be obliged to do that, did not. That was a big frustration for them.”

“Spending time with each of these women was really inspiring and showed me how my values for environmental health and equality can be incorporated into

a career, involvement in activist spaces, and even in my daily life through my interactions with others. I feel so fortunate to have met all of them,” Buendia said.

“Gabbie has been a strong advocate of women’s and gender issues, and around issues of sustainability.”

Buendia’s passion, background Standing 5-foot-1 with a soft yet affirmative voice, the Filipino-American 22-year-old resembles the strength of those she researched.

She is one of five valedictorians for the class of 2019, having maintained a perfect 4.0 GPA while acting as co-lead coordinator of the Sustainability Program, work study for the Lucy Cross Center, and an advocate for underrepresented students.

Even more notably, she

was a Doris Duke Conservation Scholar, a competitive two-summer program at the University of Michigan that supports diversity and inclusion in the environmental field. It was during this program that she found her passion for environmental justice.

Her thesis became the perfect combination of all her interdisciplinary activities and studies.

“Through her thesis, Gabbie amplifies the voices of the activists she interviewed, and sheds light on crucial environmental problems, especially those affecting communities of color,” said Dr. Margaret McLaren, professor of philosophy and a member of Buendia’s thesis committee.

“Her thesis beautifully combines her major in Environmental Studies with her SWAG minor with its emphasis on gendered and racial dimensions of environmental justice,” McLaren said.

“Throughout her time at Rollins, Gabbie has been a strong advocate of women’s and gender issues, and around issues of sustainability.”

8

The Sandspur • April 25, 2019

A year in sports: Looking back on fall, spring athletics Despite some setbacks during the 2018-2019 athletic season, sports teams showed solid performances

Courtesy of Rollins Sports

By Henri Balla

A

hballa@rollins.edu

s another season draws to a close for Rollins Athletics, we look back at some of the most memorable moments and to what the future has in store for the Tars.

Fall was an eventful part of the season. Women’s soccer bounced back in style from a disappointing 2017 campaign. It came third in regular season and reached the conference semi-finals. It also made it to the regional playoffs, where an overtime heartbreaker against Lee University prevented the team from

wreaking further havoc in the NCAAs. Men’s soccer enjoyed its best start in years, but then failed to keep up the pace and narrowly missed postseason.

Swimming had four representatives in the NCAA tournament, where Beatriz Olivieri (‘22) broke the school’s 200-yard freestyle record and won the 200yard butterfly consolation final.

Thursday, April 25 marks the beginning of postseason for both lacrosse teams. Women’s lacrosse enters the Sunshine State Conference (SSC) tournament ranked third in the latest DII poll, with an intimidating 14-1 record. On the other hand, men’s

From swimming to lacrosse to golf, each team demonstrated talent and dedication this year.

lacrosse has gathered significant momentum since the beginning of the month and finished its regular season in style with a 14-9 win over Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Tennis will soon take part in the SSC tournament. The men’s team is up against Embry-Riddle, while the women’s team faces Lynn University.

After conceding in the past three series, the softball team went from table leaders to fourth in the SSC. Regardless, it has demonstrated the talent and strength of character to turn this season into a successful one.

Meanwhile, the baseball team is still fighting to consoli-

date its postseason fate, with the odds looking well in its favor.

Both women and men’s golf came fifth at the SSC championships, as they prepare to impress in the NCAA Super Regionals and National Championships.

Earlier in the term, women’s basketball managed to turn heads by reaching the conference semifinals, whereas the men’s team fell short of postseason play.

The cross country Tars showed significant progress under its new leadership; however, much improvement needs to be done. Likewise, the volleyball team also has lots of space for improvement; although, with

returning players and quality transfers, the future seems exciting.

Additionally, in the most academically demanding conference in the nation, Rollins student-athletes also post impressive performances in the classroom. An astonishing 362 student-athletes were part of the Athletic Department’s Honor Roll in the fall semester, recognizing those with GPAs of 3.0 or better. Fourty-two student-athletes had a perfect 4.0 semester.

With solid performances and a desire to continue to get better, faster, and stronger, the Tars have plenty of reasons to look forward to the future.

ROLLINS DINING IS SERIOUSLY SUSTAINABLE

What Rollins Dining has done SO FAR across their dining operations • 2006 & 2007 Styrofoam eliminated • Fall 2008: Compostable, plant-based items incorporated • Fall 2010 Plastic wrapped straws replaced with paper wrapped straws • Fall 2011 Reusable to-go containers placed in The Marketplace • Fall 2014 Disposable dinnerware was eliminated/replaced with China in all catering events • 2015 & 2016 Plastic bags were removed from facilities, Chico Tote Bags were offered instead • Fall 2017 OZZI containers implemented • Fall 2018 Plastic straws were eliminated and replaced with paper/pasta straws and sippy lids.

• 2018 & 2019 Plastic bottle beverage reduction began in facilities across campus

Check rollins.edu/dining for more details on sustainability initiatives at Rollins