Issue 2_The SpringHillian_Spring23

SHC Community Celebrating First Female President

The week-long celebrations continue for the historic inauguration of Dr. Mary H. Van Brunt as the 39th President of Spring Hill College.

Inauguration week events kicked off March 13 in the student dining hall where the student body celebrated Dr. Van Brunt with some of her favorite foods, including Philly cheese steak. That night, the inauguration week sand volleyball tournament was hosted at the sand volleyball courts.

On March 14, students and faculty had the opportunity to enjoy a tailgate and a friendly game of kickball hosted on Murray Field. On March 15, a community service project was planned. Students, faculty

and staff joined together in a community effort to exemplify the Jesuit ideal of service to others and participated in a campus service project where people helped clean the trails around Mirror Lake.

Senior and Student Government Association senator May Sullivan said, “I liked the events leading up to the inauguration because the students of Spring Hill were able to show Dr. Van Brunt a warm welcome to our Spring Hill campus and show our appreciation to her becoming our new president.”

On March 16, the campus community is invited to the Commissioning Mass by the Provincial, Fr. Thomas Greene, S.J. to commission Dr. Van Brunt as the 39th President of Spring Hill College. The mass will be followed by a coffee reception at Einstein’s. An inauguration golf tournament is also scheduled

at the Spring Hill College golf course after the mass.

The inauguration ceremony will be held March 17 at 10 a.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center. Classes

have been canceled that morning so that students may be able to attend. An inauguration celebration will be held immediately after the inauguration ceremony on Rydex

Commons. At the celebration, students, faculty and staff have the opportunity to enjoy a barbeque cookout and live music.

Biology Department Welcomes Public Health Program

health literacy, and increases awareness of interconnection of public health and their career.”

Spring Hill College Biology Department welcomed the new Public Health Program.

The course was approved the summer of 2022, and was available to all students at the beginning of 2022-2023 school year. Students have the option of adding a public health minor, earn a certificate in public health or enter the masters in public health graduate program.

According to Dr. Fox, the Director of Health Sciences and Public Health undergraduate programs, “the Public Health Program enhances understanding of public health, improves public

The certificate requires 15 credit hours and a minor in public health twenty-six credit hours . While the master’s in public health is an online program, consisting of 39 hours, with an additional 3 hours of public health internship.

Students will also need a 3.0 undergraduate GPA to get into the masters program. If your GPA is lower than requested, graduate record examination scores may be used for conditional admission.

Dr. Deborah Fox, Ph.D works with students in the new public health program which is open to all majors. “The public health program complements the mission of Spring Hill

College to educate and develop students to become responsible leaders in the care and service to others by preparing students to contribute to the critically lacking knowledge of public health in our society.”

Addie D’Aquin, a nursing student with a minor in public health explains why the public health program is beneficial to her, “Being able to add a public health minor to my nursing degree allows me the opportunity to further promote holistic patient-centered health care and allows me to further my knowledge by working with a variety of different settings and working across multiple sectors of health care.”

According to Dr. Fox, this program is especially important for preparing students for future

careers and future pandemics like COVID-19.

“The program can slowly help change the world, one person at a time,” said Trajan John, a nursing student. John adds, “the more knowledge being put into people, the more it’ll

spread, helping us help the world. There shouldn’t be another pandemic, as long as people are serious about it, because COVID showed us why it matters.”

For more information, visit SHC.edu.

Fae Fox

Editor

John White Reporter

Dr. Mary H. Van Brunt sits in her office

Photo Courtesy of Aubrey Gaudet

Models being displayed in lobby of Yancey Hall

Picture by William Polk

Students Complain About Delays in Res Hall Service

and we want to prevent that from happening,” said Merritt.

Some students living in Spring Hill College housing have claimed that Residence Life staff have not addressed what the students believed to be hazardous conditions.

Senior roommates, Katelynn Berteau and Samantha Merritt reported this spring 2023, the presence of what they believe to be mold growing in their current apartment located at Rueben Hall. Berteau and Merrit moved from their previous apartment in Andrews Hall last fall, due to the presence of mold growth.

“I believe it’s important for the school to be more proactive in properly treating mold before it becomes a serious hazard because, as we learned, mold growth can seriously compromise the integrity of the building and spread rapidly,

According to Berteau, she fell ill with a respiratory infection last fall due to accumulation of mold.

Jace Weileman, one of the current occupants, reported having no issues in the apartment until he recently noticed a bubble forming in the bathroom ceiling due to a water leak. According to Weileman, he put in a work order regarding the leak in early February, but received no response from the school. The leak progressed over the span of a week and resulted in a larger bubble with mold growing on the ceiling.

“The bubble came out of nowhere and continued growing. The back side of it eventually popped, but the damage is still there,” said Weileman. He and his roommates are still waiting to hear back from Residence Life staff regarding the issue.

Last fall, Senior Resident Advisor Aaron Foster had a hole that formed

in the ceiling of his Andrews Hall apartment. While the hole was repaired, Foster recently reported what he believed to be mold or mildew on his bathroom ceiling. Foster claimed mold on the ceiling has been an ongoing issue since October 2022.

Foster also said, “My air conditioning has been out for two weeks now and has been over 80 degrees in my apartment regularly. My work order has not been addressed and with the warmer, humid weather this week, I expect part of the mold growth can be attributed to that.” According to Foster, the air conditioning problem has existed since February.

According to Director of Residence Life and Community Standards Nathan McQuinn, his staff has been working to address the housing facility issues. “When I get a report, it is a priority for me. For example, I had a student in my office yesterday for a mold concern.

After I collected information, I called facilities in front of the student so they knew it would be resolved as soon as possible.”

A change has been noticed by senior Brandon Bonvillain. Bonvillian reported what he thought to be mold in his bathroom during the fall

semester of 2022. Maintenance staff dealt with the situation by painting over the alleged mold. Bonvillian has not had any problems since.

To report possible mold problems or any other issues in your dorm, contact reslife@shc.edu.

New Housing Process Affects Residents of SHC

Spring Hill College Residence Life staff and students adjusted to the new housing selection process.

The new housing selection process was released this spring semester and students saw a change in the process. Residence Life staff has new hires, including Nathan McQuinn who is the Director of Residence Life and Community Standards, and Lexus Pickett who is the new Housing Operations Manager. With McQuinn having been here just over six months and Pickett here for only two months, Residence Life staff has fresh eyes and new perspectives on the housing selection process.

According to an email sent out by Residence Life this past March, rising seniors still have first

priority to their housing selection and after it goes down the line by credit hours. However, the big change this year is rising juniors and sophomores had the opportunity to pick to live in one of the apartment complexes that Spring Hill has to offer, specifically the Fairways Apartments. Moreover, a designated rising senior could choose to live with a rising junior or sophomore and place them into their Fairways Apartments. These are drastic changes compared to past years because Fairways Apartments used to be only reserved for seniors.

Spring Hill rising senior Sasha Falch said, “Fairways is senior privilege. I believe only seniors should get to live in the Fairways Apartments. They have done their time, and it is a Spring Hill tradition that seniors get the privilege of living in senior housing.

McQuinn said, “when it comes to equity in the process, the students

that have the most credits will be able to choose the rooms first. If the goal of Spring Hill is to produce graduates, and leaders, that is the thing we should be using to measure who picks rooms first is the number of credits somebody has, progressing towards that goal of graduation.”

The first round of housing selection opened March 10 at 6 p.m. for rising seniors who had previously filled out the housing application for the upcoming academic year. Students who failed to submit the application prior to selection were not guaranteed an early spot for choosing housing, resulting in a smaller chance at achieving their desired arrangement.

Not all students were upset with the change in the housing selection process. Spring Hill rising junior Gavin Johnson said, “I am very happy to be living where I am next year which is the Fairways Apartment. I feel students should be able to live

@shcstudentmedia newswire.shc.edu

SHC MEDIA TEAM:

The SpringHillian Editor: Fae Fox

Art Director: Nate Polk

Advertising Manager: Samantha Gonzalez

BTV Producer: Natalie Williams

BTV Director: Beau Reed

anywhere as long as it doesn’t affect anyone.”

According to McQuinn, Residence Life will address any issues after each selection weekend and after the entire process. Additionally, Residence Life plans on helping anyone who did not participate one-on-one in the room selection process and an evaluation

will be sent out to get feedback so Residence Life can improve their process for next year.

For more information email Residence Life at reslife@shc.edu. edu.

shcmedia@shc.edu SHC

Reporters: Samantha Brosseau, Ben Gerety, Samantha Gonzalez, Peyton Horkavy, John White, and Kate Zeller

Advisors: Stuart Babington and Gary Wolverton

Juniors Jace Weileman and Alex Theriot discussing the water damage in their apartment in Andrews Hall Picture by Samantha Brosseau

Samantha Brosseau Reporter

Peyton Horkavy Reporter

Fairways Apartments on campus Picture by William Polk

Spotify is Better Compared to Apple Music

Spotify has to offer.

While most songs can be found on both platforms, Spotify has a plethora of podcasts available within the app while Apple Music requires a separate streaming service for podcasts. Spotify’s podcast selection also allows users to upload unreleased songs in a special format that cannot be found on Apple Music, which I belive makes Spotify better.

Spotify is a better streaming platform for music than Apple Music.

There has been an ongoing debate between Spotify and Apple Music users about which platform is worth your while. I personally believe Spotify is the winner of this debate due to the wide variety of music, podcasts, and personally curated playlists

Another difference between Spotify and Apple Music is that Spotify allows users to collaborate with each other when creating playlists. This is beneficial for friends who want to share music with each other and for people working within an organization to collaborate music within a group. Senior Ellen Moonan said, “One reason I use Spotify is because you can share playlists with other people and it allows them to collaborate on it and add

music of their own.” Moonan stated that Spotify has made it easy to create a collaborative music playlist for her sorority recruitment and invite parties. Both services offer a plan for students to stream music at a low cost, but Spotify’s student plan is $4.99 a month while Apple Music’s student plan is $5.99 a month. Additionally, Spotify allows free listening with advertisements, while Apple Music offers a one-month free trial only after you provide information for future payments. Although the difference in cost may seem small, it makes a big difference to students looking to save as much money as possible. However, some students would disagree. Senior Maddie Knightly said, “Apple Music allows my family and me to listen to music all under the same plan and was a cheaper option. It also has better sound quality than other platforms.”

Additionally, Spotify offers a unique feature called Spotify Wrapped, which allows users to view their listening history throughout the year. I believe, this gives Spotify the upper hand in terms of social media influence because Spotify Wrapped gets people talking

want to join to see their results.

To learn more about both streaming platforms and draw your own conclusions, visit spotify.com and apple.com

Campus Living Not Needed for College Experience

States as a whole.

March 10, Residence Life sent out an email notifying students about room selections. It left many upcoming sophomores, juniors, and seniors very confused. A U.S. News article from fall of 2021 showed that 70 percent of Spring Hill College Students lived on campus, which is in line with the roughly 60 percent of students living on campus in the United

EDITORIAL POLICY:

Many people feel that living on campus can be easier, as students are provided with food, a bed, furniture and are close to their classes. Though this does not take into account the cost of everything else that will be needed like the actual price of room and board on a college campus. Being on campus allows students to interact with each other and allows them to be more involved on campus as well. Making friends can also be easier while living on campus because students are sharing rooms and living close in proximity to each other. It tends to be one of the first things thought of when students think of the college experience.

In my opinion, living on campus is not necessary for the college experience. Yes, living on campus gives you a closer proximity to things happening on campus, but it is not the most

important. I still live at home and have for my entire time at Spring Hill. First and foremost, I don’t have to worry about room and board cost, saving thousands of dollars a year. I also do not spend as much on food because I eat with my family and save more money. How you are in campus life depends on how involved you want to be. I personally have been more involved some years versus others. One of the major reasons for this is because of COVID-19 and other personal reasons. I have stayed on campus when there was an event and it was the easiest thing to do, but making friends can take a bit more initiative when not living on campus. This is due to not being near other students all of the time. I think that the differences for living on or off campus can be mainly decided based on where you are coming from. I don’t live too far from campus.

The SpringHillian is published four times this semester from January to May. The views expressed herein do not represent the views of Spring Hill College and are not the views of the faculty, administration, staff or students. They are the views of the individual columnists.

Although, I live closer to campus, some do not, so living on campus is a personal choice

with pros and cons in both directions.

SUBMISSIONS:

The SpringHillian publishes guest submissions at the discretion of the student-editor and section editors. Submissions should be less than 300 words, and editors reserve the right to edit the submissions for length and content. Original writings should be mailed or delivered to: Studenteditor, The SpringHillian, Communication Arts, Spring Hill College, 4000 Dauphin Street, Mobile, AL 36608. Submissions may also be sent as emailed attachments to: shcmedia@email.shc.edu.

Spring Hill College student browsing Spotify Picture by Peyton Horkavy

Samantha Gonzalez Reporter

Samantha Brosseau Reporter

Senior Samantha Gonzalez microwaving in her home Picture by Samantha Gonzalez

about the streaming service, and more people

Around The Hill

Lucy Herbert and Mya Falgout sword fighting in Sigmalympics

Picture by Fae Fox

Career Development hosting career week, providing a Mardi Gras themed event

Picture by Kate Zeller

Senior Kassandra Fairly serving in a match against Univeristy of Mobile

Picture by Samantha Brosseau

Beau Reed gets ready to throw a strike during practice for the Intercollegiate Team Championships Sectionals

Picture by Kate Zeller

Dr. Mary Van Brunt talks to students in the caf during common hour

Picture by Fae Fox

Around The Hill

Tri Delta celebrates their win at Sigmalympics

Picture by Fae Fox

John Webb preparing for a pitch during a JV baseball game against Frontier Community College

Picture by Peyton Horkavy

Students celebrate during an intramural basketball game

Picture by John White

Members of Lambda Chi Alpa Fraternity compete in Sigmalympics

Picture by Fae Fox

Members of Delta Chi face off against Sigma Chi in an intramural dodgeball game

Picture by Peyton Horkavy

Theology Professor Reflects on 19th ISIP Trip

Samantha Gonzalez Reporter

aspect.

Dr.

Stephen Wilson, Ph.D

is a theology professor who has been going on International Service Immersion Program trips for 19 years.

One day Wilson was in the cafeteria and was approached by Maureen Burgin, a previous head of campus ministry. She asked if Wilson would like to accompany some students to Belize over spring break. More specifically it was to Belize City, Belize and after saying yes, Wilson’s first ISIP trip began.

Before ISIP, there was a Habitat for Humanity group on campus where teachers would accompany students to places like North Carolina to build houses for service. ISIP is international and trips either focus on immersion or service. For example the trip to the Dominican Republic is purely immersive where students find out more about what is happening in the country versus mainly focusing on the service

Additionally, this year those who went to Belize city helped to build a house. The house dedications at the end of the Belize City service trip involved building a house with Hand in Hand Ministries really mean a lot to Professor Wilson.

“Seeing the joy it can bring to a family along with the singing of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song doesn’t usually leave a dry eye in the group,” said Wilson.

When asked which of the places visited was his favorite Wilson said, “Consistently, Punta Gorda, Belize. It’s not as structured as Belize City and allows for more freedom and exploration.”

Wilson goes on the ISIP trips, “for the mission of this college, creating people who are called to be leaders in service to others, these trips can be a broader aspect to the Spring Hill movement and most every student could benefit from ISIP”.

Wilson wasn’t always going to be a theology teacher. While in undergraduate school, he was actually a history major. During his break between

undergraduate school and graduate school he had to make a decision on what exactly he wanted to study and became stuck between history and theology he said, “during the hiatus I found myself more interested in reading theology over history, so it became

kind of a no brainer to go into theology.”

When he accepted the job here at Spring Hill College he emailed his friends and family, “I got a job… at a catholic school… in the south!”

Wilson looks forward to

continuing ISIP trips in the future and if money and anything else were not an issue, he would love to take one to Sub Saharan Africa one day.

Basketball Intramural Season is Underway

Kicking off the second day of the month long intramural basketball games, the International Boys team took home a win after beating the Delta Gamma team. Intramural coordinator for Student Involvement, Caleb Lyght expressed the importance behind the creation of intramurals on Spring Hill’s campus as it builds the college’s community. Lyght said, “this gets people who are already involved in something to do even more things, and also gets people who are not involved to do something else on campus.”

This year, the intramural sports program has seen an increase of the Lady Badgers getting involved and creating teams of their own. Lyght said, “It’s a little minor, guess you could say increase, but we have two girls’ teams now,

as supposed to last year. We only had one girls’ team.” The increase could influence more to join in the festivities, as involvement is the epicenter of events similar to this one.”

Black Student Union President Vaughn Terrel, ignited the first game with his team, Millionaires in Training. They won and defeated the Sigmas 60-26. Vaughn’s presence in intramurals goes beyond playing for his own team, as he agreed to coach the Delta Gamma team.

Vaughn said, “We didn’t get the results we wanted, but we did have a goal of scoring twenty points, and the girls did a great job at excelling at it. It’s been a wonderful week, and i’m excited for week two.”

Zariel Jordan, game official, participated to gain volunteer hours for her graduate school application. Jordan said, “I feel like I have all the power right now, because I know that this is the biggest intramural sport that we have at the school… People get mad and fussy at me, but I

don’t care. I’m just here.” Jordan added by asking players to not “bribe the ref” due to concerns of monetary persuasion.

To anyone interested, students have the opportunity to

Members of Delta Gamma go up against the International Boys Picture by John White watch the games with friends or simply enjoy the space with your fellow badgers. Schedule changes can occur as students have other requirements on campus.

To see the schedule,

bookkeeping, bracket and more on the intramurals, visit the website IMLeagues using an account associated with Spring Hill College and your school email.

Dr. Wilson and his group at a river in Dominican Republic Picture by Fae Fox

John White Reporter

Men’s Bowling Team Rolls Into Sectionals

Kate Zeller

Members of the Spring Hill College men’s club bowling team traveled to Smyrna, Tennessee to compete in sectionals for the ninth year in a row.

The Bowling Badgers were one of 20 teams playing in sectionals. On the first day, the Badgers knocked down 6,070 pins, placing 14th, knocking down 77 more pins than Wright State. On the second and final day of sectionals, the Badgers moved down one position to finish 15th place, rolling a grand total of 12,057. Senior Brandon Bonvillain said, “the conditions were rough and we didn’t finish where we wanted to, but I am very proud of our

team.” Bonvillain added that this tournament showed the younger players what to expect and what is needed to become a champion in the sport of bowling.

In preparation for sectionals, junior Colin Beddingfield said, “We will do spare drills, we will be bowling on lane patterns that we expect to see at sectionals and we just keep each other up. If we’re down, we build each other back up and keep the good positive energy.” Beddingfield added that head coach Ben Hoefs has a lot to do with the success of the bowling team.

Hoefs stated, “Well what I expect from my athletes is that when they get on the approach to do the absolute best that they possibly can. Mentally get themselves ready to prepare themselves to throw the ball correctly, if they don’t, then we come back and try to make

our spares. I just ask for the most effort out of all of my athletes. As far as the goal is, obviously we would like to make it to nationals. We got to be in the top four, which is a long hard road and if we clean our

frames up, we got a chance to get there.” Hoefs said that he started this bowling program 10 years ago, and each year gets better and better.

For more information on the Badger Bowling team, visit https://shcbadgers.com/sports/ mens-bowling.

Sandy Badgers Celebrate Senior Night with Win

Reporter Samantha Brosseau Reporter

The Sandy Badgers senior night celebration completed with a continued winning streak as the team accomplished two wins against cross-town rival, University of Mobile. Although the team members have 11 games left in the season, they have been reminiscing about their time spent with each other as the senior players prepare to end their final season. Reflecting on her volleyball career at SHC, fifth-year senior volleyball player Kassandra Fairly said, “I think a big part of what I will miss is playing with my sister. We played together in middle school, high school and now in college. A lot of the girls that I’ve met along the way, just the environment of competing together and competing for something and then being able to cheer on each other and feel like even though you’re not fully a part of that win on that court, but you’re still part of the team win. I think just the dynamic of teamwork is something that I’ll miss a lot about playing here at Spring Hill.” Fairly added that working together as a team is something

she will miss about playing at Spring Hill. Fairly’s sister, junior Jessica Fairly, will keep the family’s name on the court as she enters her senior year in fall 2023.

SHC Alumna, Coach Sarah Senft was once teammates with the seniors that are graduating after this season. Senft said, “It has been really neat watching them grow and develop as women on the volleyball court and off the volleyball court. I know they are all going to do

great things. They do a really good part of being leaders on the team on the court and off the court. They’re always leading the cheers on the court, they are always siding out, winning us games. So, their leadership and their ability to be functional without me in it is pretty awesome.”

Senft is confident in her player’s abilities considering their achievements from past years, but she is always looking for improvement as well. Senft

said, “I guess my big goal is making sure each point we are improving, and hopefully that will lead us into a successful end of the season.”

In the past two years, the Sandy Badgers have placed second in the AVCA. Coach

Sarah Senft and Kassandra Fairly said their goal is to place first this year and bring home a win. For more information on the Sandy Badgers visit shcbadgers. com/or follow their Instagram, @shcvolleyball.

Sophmore Lucas Hendrix rolling his ball down the lane

Picture by Kate Zeller

Redshirt Junior Linnea Beger (Left) and junior Brooke Borgmeyer (Right) celebrating a point

Picture by Natalie Williamson

Redshirt Sophomore Lily Mascari serving Picture by Natalie Williamson

ON THE SPOT