News | 2
Opinion | 5
Religion| 5
Lifestyle | 6
Celebrating the graduating Class of 2020
Letter from the Editor: A journey of learning
God is calling us to live by faith: Learn from Habakkuk
Enjoying your summer break from home
April 30, 2020 Collegedale, Tennessee
Southern Accent
Vol. 75 Issue 23 Online Edition
The student voice since 1926
Student teachers adapt to working online with their students Sam Oliveira Staff Reporter After Southern Adventist University moved to online-instruction for the rest of the 2020 winter semester, many programs—including student teaching that require off-campus practicums—faced uncertainty about how they would continue. Pheobe Maciel, a senior English education major, was one of those students. "When I left Southern two days before spring break, …they told me that I was still going to come back and teach at Collegedale Academy. It became apparent that Collegedale Academy was not going to be open and that I wasn't going to easily be able to return to Southern,” Maciel said. “I was just kind of wondering what's going to happen. … It’s not something that you can just do from home, because you need a student in the classroom." According to Director of Teaching Krystal Bishop, “All programs across campus have had to rise to the challenges. Our challenges are somewhat unique due to the fact that much of the learning takes place in K-12 classrooms, and that was abruptly ended.” Despite the rapid changes, Bishop said the situation shouldn’t hold seniors back from graduating in May as all of Southern’s student teachers still have placements. “All students will graduate according to their scheduled completion. We were able to provide placements for each of them. And even though the requirements have gone through some necesSee STUDENT TEACHING on page 4
Fighting on the front lines: How Southern community healthcare professionals are impacted by COVID-19
Medical masks sit on a surface. Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
Madi Reinschmidt Staff Reporter Healthcare professionals across the United States continually face extreme circumstances while working on the front lines to fight the virus. This issue has affected Southern students and faculty with healthcare workers in their families as well. For many, direct exposure to the virus brings added stress to life at home. Healthcare workers have had to take extra precautions to keep their family members safe. “My husband is a nurse practitioner and works at a family office,” nursing professor Kerry Allen said. “He
My family is very wary of who we let come into the house and where we go when we leave. wears a mask when he is at home and conforms to social distancing from our family. He has also been keeping a distance by living in the basement.” The issue becomes even more prevalent when there are family members who are more susceptible to catching the virus. “Providing for a household with a newborn grandson, and a daughter who has Crohn's during the outbreak of COVID has been stressful for my mother, who is a nurse,” said
Serving Palau:
The student who stayed behind
Alexis Lavertue, senior mass communication advertising major. “Because we have a newborn in the house—my nephew—there is added stress about bringing germs in from outside. My family is very wary of who we let come into the house and where we go when we leave.” Beyond the worries of health, many healthcare professionals have faced financial struggles as well. “The reduction in my mom’s work hours has caused our family financial stress and has
Kelly Gustrowsky Staff Reporter Despite the threat of COVID19 around the world, Student Missionary Joe Mixon opted to remain in Palau, the tiny group of islands in the Pacific Ocean north of Australia and east of the Philippines. “[I chose to stay in Palau because] school is still happening online and the kids need me here to keep going,” he said. Mixon, working on his master’s in Global Community
[I chose to stay in Palau because]...the kids need me here to keep going. Development, teaches freshman geography, sophomore world history, junior U.S. history, and senior government. As of April 29, there were no suspected or confirmed cases of in Palau. As of April 29, there were no suspected or confirmed cases of COVID19 in Palau, according to the country’s ministry of health. The lack of cases convinced
Mixon to stay; however many others went home due to the uncertainty of flights. According to Christian Bunch, Student Missions Director, 37 Student Missionaries went home after spring break, including three from Palau. Even though Palau has not been affected yet, Mixon said See PALAU on page 4
See HEALTHCARE on page 4
Southern alumnus creates new company to produce protective equipment Cheyenne Wilson Staff Reporter
Joe Mixon with his students in Palau. Photo courtesy of Joe Mixon
forced my mom to find other means of income as a travel nurse,” Lavertue said. “The thought of my mother working in a local hospital wasn't as threatening as the thought of her traveling to a different state for work. “When she first applied for the travel nursing position, they wanted to send her to New York City, New Orleans, or other locations saturated with COVID,” she continued. “Although she declined those offers and settled with one in North Carolina, it is stressful knowing she'll be out on the front lines, still fighting for her family, but now much further away.”
Southern Adventist University alumnus Seth Hill started a new company called Kinetik Sourcing to produce Personal Protective Equipment in response to the coronavirus pandemic.Since the company began, Hill has sold 50,000 units of PPE – both to hospitals and other consumers in need. Hill started at Southern with a construction management degree, but after going on a mission trip he decided that he wanted to pursue business. He started his entrepreneurial journey with Swayy – an insulated hammock and camping gear company. “I knew that I wanted to do something different with my life,” Hill said, “I realized that I really liked creating new things, creating brands and designing things people would flock to.” With his establishment of Swayy, Hill decided to create Kinetik Relations - a consulting company in Asia. But with the escalation of COVID-19 in Wuhan, Hill’s colleagues in Asia asked if his company could start providing masks to the area. “We shipped them protective equipment,” said Hill. “I reached out to a couple of my friends who worked in health care just to gage the need [for masks] … it was a barrage of emails of
I realized that I really liked creating new things, creating brands and designing things people would flock to.
people inquiring about getting PPE.” The increasing demand for protective equipment has made Kinetik Relations – now renamed Kinetik Sourcing– more successful than Swayy. “We’ve made more revenue in two weeks [with Kinetic Sourcing] than Swayy has made in its entire life,” Hill said. Kinetik Sourcing now serves various businesses and hospitals including Dominion Senior Living Center, Morning Pointe Senior Living and several clinics across the U.S. Hill has also been providing masks to the common public on the direct consumer info and order page on Swayy’s website. Hill claims to lower the price by grouping individual orders into one, larger order. He said this provides a “competitive price” so consumers can buy what they need without paying too much for an excessive amount of masks.
See PPE on page 4