October 17, 2017

THE STANDARD M I S S O U R I S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y

VOLUME 111, ISSUE 8 | THE-STANDARD.ORG The Standard/The Standard Sports

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017

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After Las Vegas: Where do you stand?

HANNA FLANAGAN Staff Reporter @hanna_flanagan

The most stunning of breaking news usually inspires a slew of “I told you so” posts across many different social networks and media outlets.

People often feel the need to defend their beliefs and values in the midst of controversy, rather than express a sense of confusion or a reversal of opinion.

According to psychology researchers, this is known as confirmation bias — a phenomenon that makes opinions and values become more stubborn and concrete. Confirmation bias is the human tendency to seek out and better remember information that verifies pre-existing notions and beliefs.

According to The New Yorker, a Stanford experiment conducted in the 1970s demonstrates this concept perfectly. The study asked students with opposing opinions on capital punishment to respond to two sets of data.

One set of data supported the argument against capital punishment, while the other data set favored the death penalty.

After sifting through the data, students who entered the study in favor of capital punishment said that which supported their own views was the most credible; the same was true for students originally opposed to capital punishment.

At the conclusion of the study, Stanford researchers found none of the students changed their views on capital punishment after reading the data — in fact, the opposing parties felt even stronger about their opinions than before.

This is confirmation bias, a concept senior music education major Sam Van Dielen said is partially to blame for ongoing political debates that seem to be at a stand still.

Van Dielen used confirmation bias to explain gun control reform conversations after the recent Las Vegas shooting — many Americans hold strong opinions about the issue, yet are still unable to find a solution. Moving towards a compromise on gun legislature is difficult when confirmation bias prevents voters from truly understanding the opposing party.

“Personally, I have seen very few instances of people changing their opinions,” Van Dielen said. “Mainly because the people that I follow on social media and the people I am

friends with typically align with what I believe about the Second Amendment and gun control. The news and a lot of popular media polarize us because sensationalism is where the money’s at.”

It is rare for a person to reconsider their longtime values and beliefs about controversial topics after simply scrolling through Facebook or watching the news. But Van Dielen said radical opinion changes are possible when proximity or personal impact come into play.

Van Dielen said these these two factors are likely what prompted Caleb Keeter, a guitarist for the Josh Abbott Band, to tweet out a statement less than 24 hours after the shooting. Keeter, who was on concert grounds when Stephen Paddock opened fire, said, “until the events of last night, I cannot express how wrong I was,” referring to his views on gun control.

A self-proclaimed “proponent of the Second Amendment” his whole life, Keeter said his views changed after fearing he would lose his life to gun violence.

His post caught the attention of major news outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today, as it is extremely rare to see such a humble change of heart about a controversial issue, especially on social media.

“On NPR, actually, they pointed out people that live close to the scene of mass shootings generally are more likely to have their opinions changed,” Van Dielen said. “(Keeter) didn’t think his opinion would be affected but being an eye witness to that event and being so closely tied to what happened must’ve really shaken him.”

Unless someone is personally affected by a situation involving gun violence, Van Dielen said it is unlikely that they will change their opinion on the issue.

He also said a compromise among lawmakers will only be possible when mental health becomes a part of the gun control conversation.

“Gun violence will be curbed when we,

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as a culture, become more keen to mental health,” Van Dielen said. “Pretty much all of the major mass killings of the last 20 years, from Columbine up until Las Vegas, have been committed by people who are on behavior altering drugs … it would make a lot of sense to turn some attention to that.”

Van Dielen said people with conditions such as anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder, are often placed on psychotropic drugs, a type of medication that makes patients especially susceptible to unpredictable behavior. He said society needs to address this concern in order to decelerate gun violence.

Junior english literature major Amber Spencer said the public is numb to gun violence at this point, and therefore, lacks the urgency to find a solution. She said the gun control debate is no longer driven by emotion, due to the large number of mass shootings in recent history.

“I think we have become desensitized to tragedies like this,” Spencer said. “This has happened so much in the last few years that it’s almost like just another thing that happens and we accept it. We saw the same thing after Sandy Hook. Nobody actually tried to unite on sensible gun control legislation.”

Spencer said she believes responsible people should be able to own rifles and hand guns after passing “rigorous training courses and background checks.” But she does not think there is any reason for a civilian to own a machine gun or semi-automatic weapon. u See VEGAS page 2

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Business students tour New York companies, new opportunities HANNA SUMPTER Senior Reporter @hannasumpter Streets streaming with yellow taxis and crowded sidewalks are just some of the views a few Missouri State students took in during their Fall Break.

Seven students traveled to New York City for the weekend to meet members of some of the largest finance and business companies in the world with Kent Ragan, professor and department head of Finance and General Business.

The students began their excursion Oct. 10 and stayed in the city until Oct. 15. Olivia Fernandez, a senior majoring in finance and Spanish, said that while waiting in the airport no one was ready to leave because they were having such a good time on the trip.

Julia McGuire, a senior general business major, said she learned how much she loved living in Springfield because New York City isn’t as glamourous as it appears on television. She also said New York City is far different than the Queen City. u See NEW YORK page 2

Second rape reported on campus this fall CORTLYNN STARK News Editor @Cortlynn_Stark

On Oct. 5, a Missouri State Safety and Transportation received a report of rape in Hammons House.

The incident reportedly occurred on Sept. 15, sometime between midnight and 11:59 p.m. It was referred to another agency, according to the Daily Crime Logs provided by Safety and Transportation. The incident was reported to a Campus Security Authority.

The CSA – who can be anyone from a resident assistant to an athletic coach to a student group faculty advisor who has “significant responsibility for student and campus activities,” according to Campus Safety’s website – then reported the rape to Campus Safety. CSA’s, mandated by the Clery Act, are not responsible for investigating incidents like this.

MSU Vice President for Marketing and Communications Suzanne Shaw said the Title IX is involved with the report and provided multiple support services to those involved. u See RAPE page 2

‘God put it on my heart’ Students brave black mold for hurricane relief CORTLYNN STARK News Editor @Cortlynn_Stark Giant cockroaches and spiders crawl between the rotting crevices of a Houston home encompassed by black mold.

In late August, Tropical Storm Harvey devastated the home – already a work in progress as the owner’s daughter worked to re-do the drywall not updated in at least 40 years before the storm hit. What looked like asbestos lined the insulation.

Missouri State junior psychology major Paige Shockley, along with four other MSU students, saw it all.

“Sending a whole group of young adults down just to work

on their homes for seven to eight hours at a time showed a lot of people how much people loved them and how much God loved them,” Shockley said.

The five left after classes Oct. 11 after 4 p.m. and arrived in Houston around 3 a.m. the next morning. They woke up by 6 a.m. to work with the Christian organization Eight Days of Hope.

They went for one reason: God called them.

Submitted by Paige Shockley The family at the first house they worked barely spoke En- The students bonded over the trip. glish, only a college-aged daughter could communicate with ment science major Jeremy Elam said the daughter was halfway them. Their floor was rotting.

The five spent most of their time at the second house, filled through fixing the house when Harvey struck. u See TEXAS page 3 with cockroaches and black mold. Senior exercise and move-

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Electric bouncer at Club Meyer See page 2

Fraternities set world record See page 4

New expectations for basketball See page 7

2 THE-STANDARD.ORG

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017

Electronic bouncer to be installed at Club Meyer CHLOE SKAAR Senior Reporter @chloeskaar Those late-night hours clocked in at Meyer Library aren’t the highlight of most students’ days. But they’re about to get much better.

After winter break, the library lobby will feature all-new furniture.

BearPass scanners for entry — from 2 a.m.7 a.m. — are in the works. The idea is for extra security when the library is closed, but the computer lab, which is open round-the-clock during the week, is still open.

When tighter security was first discussed, Meyer Library Building Coordinator David Adams said the Student Government Association approached the dean of Library Services, Tom Peters, about the possibility of a BearPass scanner for access to Meyer Library.

NEW YORK Continued from page 1 Another student, Julia McGuire, a general business senior, said she learned how much she loved living in Springfield because New York City isn’t as glamourous as it appears on television. She also said New York City is far different than the Queen City.

“It was really cool to see New York and how other people live — it’s really another culture and a different way of life,” McGuire said.

The students visited company headquarters of businesses including Goldman Sachs, Bloomberg, Ernst and Young and New York Life. They were led on tours and told about the many opportunities these companies have to offer to students headed into the business field.

“It really showed us the opportunities that are out there for us and that from Missouri State, we can compete for jobs even at huge companies in New York,” Fernandez said.

VEGAS Continued from page 1 Sam Gardner, a senior biology major, also said he does not think it should be legal for the average person to own weapon accessories like bump-stocks, triggers or cranks, as these materials essentially enable semi-automatic firearms to function as fully-automatic weapons.

Due to the fact that Paddock’s attack was exacerbated by a bumpstock, Gardner said he would not be

As of now, the scanner is installed, but not activated.

There’s not an exact timeline yet of when they’ll be up and running. First, Computer Services has to complete the programming.

“Until Computer Services programs a list of who gets access with a BearPass, we won’t have a set date of when (the scanners) will be up and running,” Adams said.

And, ideally, once they are up and running, they’ll keep students and staff in the library safer as the night goes on. “(The BearPass scanners) will make sure that during the hours from 2 a.m.- 7 a.m., when only the computer lab is staffed, only people currently affiliated with the university can get in,” Adams said.

The goal is peace of mind, Adams said.

“Occasionally, we’ve had issues of people sleeping in the lobby (of the library) and

While visiting Goldman Sachs the students were also able to meet an MSU alumnus who currently lives in New York and works for the company.

“I think sometimes when you’re in Springfield, you think you’re in a bubble where you maybe don’t know there are a lot of options out there,” Fernandez said. “So, this is a really cool way to see opportunities that we do have and what we can seek out after we graduate.”

When the students weren’t touring companies they were able to take full advantage of their free time: visiting a taping of “Good Morning America”, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Modern Art, the Charging Bull statue in the Financial District, the 9/11 Memorial, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and even managed to catch a Broadway showing of “Phantom of the Opera.”

While visiting “Good Morning America” the students met and took photos with the cast member Robin Roberts.

“Meeting Robin Roberts and seeing the filming of “Good Morning America,” that was probably my favorite part,” McGuire said.

surprised to see legislation banning this device in the near future.

With somewhat of a unique stance on gun control, Gardner said he thinks these accessories are practically useless to the average citizen, but also considers himself a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.

Gardner said he has been around guns his entire life and is very much against any attempt to remove them from society.

“I just feel like a right that I was granted at the birth of this country shouldn’t be taken away,” Gardner said.

While explaining the specifics of the gun control debate, Gardner said

camping out there during inclement weather,” Adams said. “And, even just two or three times a semester, there’s been muggings in the area.”

While that trend isn’t common, it’s a growing concern after the computer lab moved to the first floor. Since the lab is open all the time, the lobby is, too.

So, Peters said, the idea of a BearPass scanner for extra security became logical.

“If you’ve got a big paper due or a test tomorrow, you might be in there pretty late,” Peters said. “It’s not perfect (security), but it’s better than just having open doors, from a security standpoint.”

And, though the library is always staffed, the scanners will help its workers keep a better handle on what’s going on. “(The lobby and the lab) is a big, open space for just a few people to be monitoring,” Peters

said. “Making sure the people inside (at night) are affiliated with the university doesn’t totally mitigate the chance of violence ... but we will do what we can.”

And, for those that are affiliated with MSU, campus police and policy can be applied to their presence/behavior — the same isn’t always true for community members in the library.

But, during the day, those community members will still be welcome to use the library and its facilities.

Peters said there is a final piece or two to add to the scanners before they’re fully up and running, but students should expect plenty of notice before they’ll be required to have a BearPass to get inside.

Students should look out for signage around the library or an announcement in the university’s weekly newsletter.

Submitted by Kent Ragan

From left to right: Bingyi Liu, Levi Fischer, Joshua Lake, Dr. Kent Ragan, Robin Roberts, Olivia Fernandez, Brianna Hanneken, Julia McGuire and Alexis Wallace “Otherwise, I loved seeing Ellis Island and I will soon graduate and begin their journey into their careers. loved seeing ‘Phantom of the Opera.’”

“I think the biggest thing I took away is The biggest takeaway for the students on the trip was focused on the future, as they what my career could be, seeing where it could

there is a lot of confusion about terminology. Especially in post-Las Vegas conversations, Gardner said the word “silencer” is misleading many Americans.

“Outside of Hollywood, there is no such thing as a silencer. They don’t completely muffle the shot, they just decrease the decibel level from the bullet leaving the barrel. You can still hear it, but it’s not a total assault on your eardrums,” Gardner said. “The correct term is suppressor ... they’re far from silent.”

Hannah Brashers, a senior piano performance and English literature major, said another broad misconception about the issue is that all

liberals are simply anti-gun.

“I still believe in the Second Amendment, I still believe that Americans should have the right to have firearms,” Brashers said. “Yes, liberals and moderates want gun control, but we don’t want to take away your guns.”

Brashers said that she thinks civility is important and understands that some people are not ready to talk about gun control after a tragedy like the one in Las Vegas. But at the same time, Brashers said if we do not talk about it now, real change will never happen.

“Well, when is the right time?”

Brashers said. “I think the time is now.”

RAPE Continued from page 1

“A timely warning was not warranted,” Shaw said. “The Title IX office provided multiple support services sources to assist those involved.”

MSU’s Counseling Center offers free counseling for students, you just need to make an appointment by calling 417-836-5116.

According to MSU’s Title IX Resources, students can also call a 24hour hotline at 417-864-7233 to speak with a crisis counselor with Victim Center and Harmony House.

Weekly Crossword © 2017 King Features Syndicate

ACROSS 1 Chevy Equinox, e.g.

4 The enemy 8 Pharmaceutical 12 Corroded 13 Wise one 14 Simple 15 Guard of a sort 17 Leading man?

18 Unlikely loser 19 Every crumb 21 Illustrations 22 Frank 26 Pamphlet 29 Peruke 30 Regret 31 Kind of mark or tag 32 A welcome sight?

33 Bouquet holder 34 Guitar’s cousin 35 “Monkey suit” 36 Feelings, informally 37 Old salt 39 Shell game need 40 Affirmative 41 Yellow-flowered herb 45 New Zealander, informally 48 Elvis hit 50 Green land 51 Approximately 52 Ostrich’s cousin 53 Rumble faction 54 Adolescent 55 Witness DOWN 1 Cutting tools 2 Hexagonal state 3 Kill a bill 4 Unisex garment 5 “I -- Anyone

Till You” 6 Id counterpart 7 Billion-dollar seller 8 Handed out hands 9 “Awesome, dude!”

10 “Born in the --” 11 Workout site 16 Trainer 20 Journal 23 Colorless 24 English river 25 The Bee -26 So 27 Croupier’s tool 28 On the briny 29 Candle matter 32 Suspect’s pic 33 Article of food 35 Placekicker’s pride 36 Lillian of mail-order fame

38 Losing power, like a battery 39 Obey a comma 42 Mid-month date 43 Arrive

44 Chills and fever 45 Small barrel 46 George’s brother 47 Be victorious 49 Raw rock

opinion 3 THE STANDARD Google expands Home and Pixel platform, expense becomes issue TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017 | THE-STANDARD.ORG

JONATHAN PETESCH Columnist @thepeach1999 For the past few years, Google’s focus seems to have been on improving and finding new uses for their artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology. This was shown last year when Google unveiled its Pixel phones with their new Google Assistant built-in, which promised to revolutionize the way we interact with our devices. This assistant would also become the focal point of the Google Home smart speaker which allowed the use of Google Assistant as a sort of standalone device in your home. Now, a year later, Google is attempting to revolutionize once again with a new array of products.

On Oct. 4, Google showed off its new Home Mini, Home Max, Pixel Buds, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, all prominently showcasing Google Assistant in their feature sets.

Starting with the Home Mini, Google now offers this device as an equivalent to last year’s Google Home, but in a smaller form. Like its older sibling, you can use Home Mini to control all your smart-home devices with your voice, as well as any command you can use on your phone. Since it’s a speaker, you can play music directly from YouTube Music or Google Play Music. At $49, a fraction of its older sibling’s

price, this seems like a good deal for a decent speaker with assistant capabilities and the ability to play music. However, Google wasn’t done.

Right after revealing the Home Mini, Google unveiled the Home Max, a Google Home speaker which was made specifically for music.

Home Max offers the same feature set as any of the other Google Home devices, but with a professional-level speaker, even going so far as to have a physical auxiliary input so you don’t have to use Bluetooth.

When I saw this, I had a “take my money already” reaction. That was, until I saw the actual price of $349. Now yes, technology, especially sound equipment, can be expensive, but Google is still marketing this product to general consumers who normally don’t have $350 to spend on a speaker. As wonderful as this product seems to most people, we won’t be able to actually get our hands on it, due to Google’s choice of price.

Google then moved onto another assistant focused device with the Pixel Buds, a pair of Bluetooth earphones with Google Assistant built-in, but with the coolest feature announced: instant translation. Pixel Buds connect to your Pixel 2 and let one person speak and hear through your Pixel Buds in one language, while the other can speak and hear through the Pixel 2 phone it is connected to. The onstage demo

The reality of changing your major

they showed worked very well, though we’ll have to see how well it will work in real world testing.

As cool as these new Pixel Buds sound, by themselves they are $149, mirroring Apple’s AirPods which received a lot criticism for their price of $159. On top of that, to use the highly marketed instant-translation feature, you also have to have a Pixel 2, which ranges from $649 to $949 for a Pixel 2 XL. That means a minimum of $800 and a maximum of $1,100 just to use one feature of the earphones. Most people don’t have that kind of money to spend on just two devices, so I guess most people won’t get to use this cool new feature for quite a while.

Finally, Google announced what everyone was waiting for, the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. With my Nexus 6P coming to the end of support for Android updates, I was really hoping Google would shine through and make a perfect replacement for my 6P which I’ve come to love so much. To my surprise, they delivered nearly flawlessly with the Pixel 2 XL. I’m a person who loves big phones, so the 6-inch Pixel 2 XL makes sense for me. Google made the bezels smaller in true 2017 fashion and added the feature I can no longer live without: dual front-facing speakers. I hate cupping my hand around my phone to redirect sound to me, so front facing speakers have been a must

have of mine since I got my Nexus. Google also updated the internals to 2017 standards and redesigned its Pixel Launcher to have the Google search bar at the bottom, which I’ll have to see if I like. That is, I’ll have to see if I like it if I can somehow afford it. The Pixel 2 XL starts at $849, once again abandoning Google’s Nexus signature feature of affordability.

The Nexus line showed that premium devices didn’t have to come with a premium price tag, but since releasing the Pixel line, Google has shied away from that mentality and created high-end, high-price-tag devices. With the Pixel devices being very similar to Nexus devices, there’s no reason for this jump in price, but it looks like Google doesn’t care as sales continue to roll in.

Google knows it will still sell all of these devices, even if they do have high prices, so there is no need to lower them. From an economic standpoint, Google product consumers seem to have an inelastic demand, so price doesn’t affect them much.

However, I can’t afford these devices, so I guess I’ll stick to my Nexus for now, until Google realizes not all of their consumers have $1,000 sitting aside every year to send to them for a new phone.

Man on the street “What is your favorite part about MSU so far?”

Quotes and photos by Katie Haynes

SABRINA MERRILL/THE STANDARD

ALI SPIES Columnist @AliceTheSpy Coming into college, I just knew my major was exactly what I wanted to do in life and there was no way I would change it. I knew I would love it and thrive in the major, and live a happy life with my career. I was very wrong, and I couldn’t be happier that I was.

As a freshman, I was a theatre tech major with an emphasis in stage management. I stage managed shows in my high school, I was good at it and I loved it. So when I came here, I expected to fit right in and work well in my classes and production assignments. For some reason though, I just didn’t understand a lot of the work I was doing, and found it very different from what I did in high school.

I realized what I did in high school was almost assistant direct, instead of stage management. I would help the director figure out what she wanted the actors to do, where they should be on stage, how their lines should be delivered and things like that. I would also do a lot of organizational stuff, like a stage manager would, but it was still not like here.

One of my favorite things from working on theatre in high school was building such a close

TEXAS Continued from page 1 “She had to completely restart,” Elam said.

“It’s just amazing how hard she worked on her own and then to have all that work literally be for nothing because of the storm.”

At the third home, they worked with an elderly woman, probably in her late 80s, Shockley said, who lived alone. They were the fourth or fifth group sent to help her.

“Before and after our work at each home, The Standard Physical address: Clay Hall 744 E. Cherry St. Springfield, Missouri Postal address: 901 S. National Ave. Springfield, MO 65897 Newsroom: 417-836-5272 Advertising: 417-836-5524

relationship with my fellow students in the shows and the teachers who helped put them on. Recently, my teacher’s mom passed away.

Us students, even the ones in college, all got together and pitched in money for flowers and to donate to the medical expenses. We received an email from her after, telling us how surprised and touched she was seeing how much we cared about her.

I realized what I really want to do. I switched my major to theatre education; I want to teach high school theatre. I know there may be controversy around education right now, as well as a lot of people telling me “but you’ll have to work with high school kids,” and I know these things are challenges. However, if I can impact one student like my teachers impacted my friends and I, I think it’s worth the struggling.

I was nervous about switching my major since I am a sophomore. I was told by another student that I would be very behind, which stressed me out. Looking at all the courses I need to take, there are a lot, but I don’t think I will be very much behind and I think I will be getting a lot out of my courses.

If you are debating switching your major, but are scared you will be too behind, all I can say is to just do it. You might just make one of the best decisions for your future.

we prayed with the residents, and this lady praised God with tears in her eyes for sending us all, and I knew in that moment that I was in the right place for fall break,” sophomore music education major Jessica Leutkemeyer said.

They spent at least eight hours working each day in Houston and spent the last day packing lunches for families in need.

“We were told that gutting just one home would cost a family over $8,000 for a contractor to do the same day’s work we did,” Leutkemeyer said. “I feel we all took a direct part in not only saving these people that money, but also in giving them hope for rebuilding their

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homes and reminders that God’s love is greater than any burdens keeping them from moving forward.”

The five met at Cru, MSU’s chapter of a Christian organization for students, when Shockley spoke at a meeting on Oct. 5, asking if anyone wanted to join her mission to Texas.

They left six days later.

“I was trying to plan this trip on my own initially and nothing was working out,” Shockley said. “At one point I was like ‘Alright God if you want me to go here, you’ve got to take care of this.’”

“After that he just took care of that. He pro-

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vided people to go, God provided a vehicle for us to go, he provided a place for us to stay, he provided an organization for us to work with.”

Though it was his first time attending Cru, sophomore biology major Tristan Soto knew he had to go when hearing about the trip.

“Before I went on this trip, I was feeling lost,” Soto said. “I felt like I didn’t have a direction in life, but going on this trip really opened my eyes to how fortunate I am. I built some amazing new friendships, and I found myself in God. It’s a great feeling to know someone up there always has your back, even if you don’t have your own.”

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017 | THE-STANDARD.ORG

Guinness World Record for longest baseball game broken by FIJI, Theta Chi MEGAN BURKE Senior Reporter @Megs96_ Tents and hammocks littered the trees on the outskirts of the stadium; cars lined the gravel parking lot from end to end just beyond. They slept in shifts, in their car back-seats if they had to; sore and exhausted, they prevailed for over three days.

The stadium lights, visible from the highway through the pouring rain, marked the grounds where history was

made at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 15.

Missouri State University fraternities Phi Gamma Delta (FIJI) and Theta Chi broke the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous baseball game by six hours. The 80-hour baseball game lasted 248 innings and totaled a score of 569-412, with Theta Chi winning.

Junior marketing major and FIJI member Zac Fletcher, who came up with the idea, said the score did not matter to them and their goal was just to have fun for a good cause. The game raised money for the charity

United Service Organizations, which is both FIJI and Theta Chi’s national philanthropy.

Fletcher said they raised around $20,000 of their $30,000 goal through ticket sales, sponsors and donations.

Players were required to raise donations through contacting businesses and family members.

“We’re a little short of the goal, but it’s still an incredible amount of money — more than we’ve ever raised for a philanthropy event in the past,” Fletcher said.

MSU president Clif Smart,

who spoke about the MSU public affairs mission before the game and threw the first pitch, vowed to write a check for $800 if the fraternities made it to 80 hours.

“It’s been a lot more fun than I expected. Just the respect that each team has for each other. We’re out here for a good cause,” sophomore FIJI member Austin Huels said. “The USO helps a lot of military families and veterans. Supporting them in any way shape or form, whether it be monetary, u See BASEBALL, page 5

‘Ruined for regular life’: Travels reinforce passion for English professor NOAH STANDISH Staff Reporter @NoahjStandish Photos submitted by Erin Kappeler

The water on the shores of Greece is transparent. The sand is glistening with the kiss of saltwater, as a 7 a.m. sunrise paints a picture of serenity on an island 90 miles off the coast of Athens. At a cool 65 degrees, Missouri State University Assistant Professor of English Erin Kappeler sits comfortably under the shade of an adjacent terrace.

She’s writing, reading and filing away a mental portrait as deep as she’s able, but there aren’t enough hours to capture the scenery she would later describe as stunningly gorgeous and idyllic.

“I’m ruined for regular life,” she writes.

Five days earlier, Kappeler stands at the foot of the Pantheon, an ancient temple in the heart of Rome embodying the spirit of a massive ancient empire. Amid a relentless 90-degree heat, she’s speechless and dwarfed by towering concrete walls unlike anything she’s seen.

“The layering of history in that city was stunning,” she said. “It’s something you just can’t experience to the same extent in the U.S.” But it was just one day on a summer expedition that saw her wander from Amsterdam to Prague and everywhere in between.

Three months earlier Kappeler sat in her office on the second floor of Siceluff Hall, reading formal invitations from the American Comparative Literature Association and the Modernist Studies Association.

Two committees had requested her expertise for conferences slated for the upcoming summer in the Netherlands.

After the English Department and the College of Arts and Letters offered their support, Kappeler had two presentations in her near future –– with two different roles.

The first role was to further two ongoing projects based on the works of Mary Austin and James Weldon Johnson, two American writers aligning with her research area of American Poetry and Poetics.

“That concentrated research time is really crucial,” Kappeler said. “It’s good to have the writing time, but it’s also beneficial to talk to other academics to dig into research.”

It wasn’t until after the first conference concluded that the second role became clear: six weeks of summer solitude before the second conference and time to focus on both scholarly and recreational writing.

“You kind of just need mental space sometimes in order for creativity to happen,” Kappeler said, recalling the train rides and picturesque scenery. “For me, the travel is helpful in that it gets me out of my routine.”

And travel she did.

Thousands of miles from Springfield to the mountains of Athens, the cobblestone streets of Rome and the interwoven streams of Zurich –– the final residence of her literary muse, Hilda Doolittle.

But Kappeler’s most meaningful desti-

MEGAN BURKE/THE STANDARD

FIJI and Theta Chi celebrate after setting the Guinness World Record for longest baseball game.

SOCIAL MEDIA: Is it affecting our mental health?

MARY KAY GAGNEPAIN Staff Reporter @mkay4545

Above: Syros, Greece. Below: Kappeler in Berlin.

nation came in Vienna, inside the former residence of Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud. The founder of psychoanalysis has a recurring role in her lectures for Critical Approaches to Literature.

She described her visit to the apartment — now a museum — as surreal.

“I’m always talking about his theories in an abstract way to my students, and this was about bringing that mythic figure down to the person himself,” Kappeler said. “So many of the authors I work on were patients of Freud or they worked with Freud or they were interested in Freud –– this is where those conversations actually happened.”

Professors in the English Department are often furthering literary research between the spring and fall semesters and actively searching for relevant conferences is an essential part of its ongoing process.

English Department Head W.D. Blackmon described MSU’s role in this process as one of active encouragement, pointing to travel-funding opportunities, international representation and experiences being passed on to students.

“Missouri State is quick to help if it’s a good project because while the professional feedback helps their research, the work also helps their students,” Blackmon said.

“In (Kappeler’s) case, she’s putting the university on an international stage, but the experience she gets is also something she can bring back into the classroom.”

Blackmon called the conferences a portrayal of literature’s practicality and an example of the relationship between research and education.

“Some may see studying literature as a bit dry, but it’s quite the opposite,” Blackmon said. “It’s really the meat and bones of our country’s history.”

He also offered praise toward Kappeler’s approach to lectures, citing a cordial atmosphere and an ability to connect with students of varying backgrounds –– recalling when it had first caught his attention months ago during an evaluation period.

“After one of her classes, I saw her talking to three students by a water cooler, and they seemed to have come from very different backgrounds,” Blackmon said. “I went to a meeting, and I came back over an hour later and they were still talking. I just thought, ‘Wow that must have been some class.’”

Kappeler, an alumna of Princeton University and Tufts University, joined MSU in fall 2016 after headlining the Undergraduate Literature Conference in the spring.

Now in the middle of her third semester teaching in the English Department, the Iowa native is happy to call Springfield her second home.

“The faculty in (the English Department) has been incredible, the students are extremely hard working and everyone’s been so welcoming,” Kappeler said. “MSU does a great job in supporting our teaching and making sure that we have the resources we need for our research, and that just reinforces that the institution values its faculty.”

Kappeler’s previous positions include teaching at the University of Maine at Farmington and Bentley University, and as a graduate student at Tufts University.

She cites the experience as essential to her u See KAPPELER, page 5

“It is like this constant dark shadow behind you. … When you go outside on a bright day and you turn around, it’s following you, and you remember you can’t get away from it.”

Zack Dodson, undeclared freshman, is talking about depression — a dark shadow that haunts many students at MSU. “No matter what situation you are in, it is always there pulling at the back of your mind and bringing you down,” Dodson said. “It is one of the worst feelings ever –– as much as you try to ignore it, it’s still there.”

“Depression” is a mental health disorder characterized by a persistently depressed mood which impairs one’s daily life, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Recent studies funded by the National Institutes of Health at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have said the more time young adults use social media, the more likely they are to be depressed.

“I definitely think that because of the nature of social media, it can lead people to be more depressed or isolated from other people,” Erika Brame, a new MSU media specialist said.

“Seeing those premade, specialized shots of other people can really make them feel left out or make them feel like they are not a part of the group –– which is kind of what social media does, it creates this jealousy factor,” she said.

That jealousy social media creates can cause feelings of tension and distress, especially among individuals struggling with depression.

“For someone with depression scrolling through Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, and seeing how damn happy everyone is, how great their lives are and all the big things they are doing, you take it and (compare it to )your own life,” Dodson said.

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine concludes that high exposure to unrealistic images of peers on social media causes feelings of envy and the misleading belief that others lead happier, more successful lives.

“We measure ourselves by what we perceive others are doing. Although, perception is not reality,” Gary Iman, MSU communications instructor said.

“I think when we are younger

we do more measuring against each other.”

Social media is a compilation of all the good, fun and exciting things we experience in our lives — most of it isn’t even a reflection of what we do on a daily basis.

“I think social media is not reality at all,” Brame said. “Personally, if I don’t have anything positive that may improve the lives of others then I won’t post.

And that’s not real, because so much of my life is difficult or painful or hard to experience.

So, of course, it’s a warp of reality.”

This understanding that the lives we carry out on social media are not actually how we live day-to-day is one that is rarely realized.

“You just don’t even think about it, why would you, you’re not going to post something that makes you upset,” Dodson said.

“Even I would only post pictures of these cool, awesome and fun things I did. But, in reality, I am tearing myself up inside.”

The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine also stated that people who already suffer from depression are turning to social media to fill a void.

The selective exposure theory says that you will choose things that fall in line with your beliefs and you’re going to follow things that fall in line with how you view the world. Therefore, you’re only going to consume that type of information, Brame said.

If one is already creating a lens of depression then they’re going to then follow those things online and continue to feed that depression, thus creating an endless cycle.

“Depression is a downward cycle and feeds on itself until the depression cycle is stopped,” Iman said.

But, this cycle can be stopped.

“You just must keep fighting, you can’t keep it in the dark,” Dobson said. “It isn’t going to go anywhere, it isn’t going to disappear in one day.

It is a chemical imbalance in the brain, so you can’t just get rid of it.

“So, stop not talking about it and make people realize there is something going on and something needs to change about the stigma behind it. We need to talk about it more, we need to find more solutions.”

Three dudes. Three mustaches. One team.

CHLOE SKAAR Senior Reporter @chloeskaar It all started with a mustache, dreadlocks and a camera.

Missouri State graduates Austin Elliot, Chris Olson and Josh Pfaff started with a skill and a vision as students. The friends turned it into their dream job.

And that job is taking them all over the country. Sometimes, all over the world.

Locke and Stache, a Springfield-based media company, shoots film and photography.

From music videos to commercials and marketing, the three are visual storytellers.

Though they’ve been an official company since January, Elliot and Olson visualized Locke and Stache for about five years.

“It kind of got started around the time Austin had this big mustache and I had dreadlocks,” Olson said. “Someone made a joke about naming ourselves that

and it sort of stuck with the idea we had.”

Some of their first action in the world of film and storytelling meant creating wedding videos and shooting BMX — which they don’t do too much of anymore.

They started filming documentaries and disaster-relief marketing videos for Convoy of Hope where they met Pfaff, as he interned there.

Pfaff said Elliot and Olson were motivators for him to get an internship at Convoy of Hope.

“I wanted to get a chance to work close with them,” Pfaff said. “That, and the idea of learning more about the nonprofit side (of film).”

And it proved a good start.

The three worked with people and footage from Haiti, the Philippines, Lebanon and Uganda.

They traveled as well.

After working together for some time at Convoy of Hope — and, more importantly, work-

ing well together –– the trio uncovered a certain potential.

Pfaff asked Olson and Elliot to assist with his senior thesis, “Counting to 1,000,” which received Best Action/Thriller/SciFi Student Short at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards in 2016.

After “Counting to 1,000” proved a success, the group wanted to see what was ahead.

So, the winter after that, they dedicated their talents full time to Locke and Stache.

Since January, the group has worked mainly with advertisers and marketers in the area. Olson said about 95 percent of their projects are commercials, a good amount of which are local to the Springfield area.

More recently, they shot a music video for a fellow MSU graduate, Brook Linder. With Linder directing and Locke and Stache shooting, the group got the collaborative experience they seek.

“Sometimes we get to work

Photos submitted by Locke and Stache

with a production company, too,” Pfaff said. “So, it’s not about competition. It’s about how we can make something as a team.”

And, because Locke and Stache is based in the Midwest, Elliot, Olson and Pfaff get the best of both worlds.

Because they’re centrally located, traveling for shoots is typically simple and cheap. Pfaff estimated that 70 percent of their work takes place outside of Springfield, but, since the area hosts a sizable amount of new

businesses and entrepreneurs, they’re there for the up-andcoming projects, too.

Olson said projects with outdoor footage are his favorite, though that usually means shooting with equipment that can fit inside of a backpack.

“We’ve been going to Portland and Florida to get footage for a new line of fishing gear for Gerber (Gear) Knives,” Olson said. “Which is always fun … traveling is definitely an exciting part.”

Other projects, like a promo-

tion for Otis Technology’s gun cleaning products, came to the group through their own promotions on Instagram.

Pfaff said getting to help agencies with promotions while still doing personal projects was their dream starting out, and what they’re thrilled to still be doing now.

“It’s nice to have the freedom that, when there’s something we see value in, we can focus on it, too,” Pfaff said. “So we can still take time for our passion and creativity.”

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017

THE STANDARD

THE-STANDARD.ORG 5

Monty Dobson: Instructor seeks to uncover ‘America: From the Ground Up’ EMILY JOSHU Editor-in-Chief @EmilyJoshu It translates to “Journey of the Dead Man.” Jornada del Muerto, a stretch of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro from New Mexico City to Santa Fe, surrounds itself in desert and has spiked plants that can puncture human skin and car tires all the same. No water can be found.

This is where Dr. Lemont “Monty” Dobson finds himself digging beneath one of the most dangerous American roads, in order to uncover the past.

“We found that for hundreds, if not thousands of years, they had been using this place … and had been stopping there, in this really inhospitable environment, and that was interesting — and exciting.”

Dobson, a per course instructor of American history at MSU, laughs at his own understatement.

While many instructors choose to show documentaries as part of their curriculums, Dobson goes a step further — he created his own.

"America: From the Ground Up,” is inspired by Dobson's teaching experience and the lack of resources available for what he wanted to accomplish.

It’s a PBS documentary where Dobson travels the United States to uncover history from an archaeological perspective.

While giving a lesson on the Cahokia civilization — which is today across the Illinois border outside of St. Louis — he was surprised when he couldn’t find resources in the U.S. dating later than 1991, which Dobson said, became the genesis for the project.

In 2010, he only intended to produce one film, but once he began to broaden his scope, that first documentary became a pilot episode.

“This project grew out of my teaching experience and how I teach my American history courses,” Dobson said. “(After) three seasons, there will be 18 episodes, and that, basically, is the structure of the way I would teach American History.”

Six episodes are out now, and another six episodes are expected to air in the spring.

Dobson spent six years in the Navy before attending college. His education later took him to the University of York in the United Kingdom, where

he received a doctorate in archaeology.

Dobson, also a research assistant professor at Central Michigan University, was honored as an Inaugural Scholar from the School of Public Service and Global Citizenship following season one.

This project’s impact goes beyond the scope of his classroom; the MSU History Department has caught on as well.

“The department values these projects as they help bring history to the public,” Dr. Kathleen Kennedy, head of the History Department said. “His work is one example of how faculty in our department, and across the university, step outside the university to engage the public in historical thinking and content.”

Despite working as a series creator, executive producer and lead writer, Dobson’s focus concentrates on forming a connection between archaeology and history.

“I tend to look at history as something that’s connected to a lot of other things,” Dobson said.

“Ideas are the things that get passed down and re-interpreted by different generations.”

Each season of “America: From the Ground Up” highlights the three major colonizers in North America: the British, the French and the Spanish.

Twelve states, two Canadian provinces and 35 archaeological and historical sites.

“We use these to connect the influences that France had on what ultimately becomes the United States,” Dobson said.

And that’s just the first season. The next two take the viewer into Spanish impact on the U.S., the third — still in the works — delves into the original 13 colonies.

Dobson’s eyes light up as he describes these historical sites.

He retells his adventures at the mound complexes that have stood in Louisiana since the first settlers’ arrival, or the southwestern pueblo migrations. The main question he asks: “How did we all get here?”

Research and writing for one season takes three to four years, and filming takes four to six weeks. A day of filming lasts 10-12 hours.

“Filming is the fun part at the end of the hard work,” Dobson said. “By the time you get to go out in the field and film, it’s actually just really interesting and a lot of fun be-

BASEBALL Continued from page 4 counseling or therapy. They support those who support us.”

Sophomore Theta Chi philanthropy chair Abdillahi Dirie said it all started out as just about getting in the Guinness World Record Book, but now has become much more as the charity game will “affect a lot of people and last more than just 80 hours.”

The game started on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Barnhouse Field and Event Center in Springfield.

Fans bought tickets to the initial nine innings, which FIJI led 13-5.

Initial planning for the game started over a year ago when Fletcher proposed breaking the record previously set by his father, Jeff Fletcher, and his Men’s Senior Baseball League team at 74 hours.

Fletcher said his dad’s team started the tradition seven years ago and they try to break their own record by a couple hours each year.

“To break it by six hours, it's an awesome feeling to just be pushing it that far,” Fletcher said. “I knew these guys had it in them the whole

Photo submitted by Monty Dobson

Monty Dobson, who teaches history as a per-course instructor at Missouri State, travels to various American historical sites to reveal the connection between history and archaeology.

This is one of the most important benefits of travel and international interactions, to bring the peoples, cultures and the past alive for the viewers.

—Dr. John Chuchiak cause I get to go out and talk to people whose work I admire, who I may have read, and some of them I know already.”

Besides Dobson, the team consists just a handful of collaborators: co-writer and co-producer Dr. Andrew Devenney (Central Michigan University), historian of the American West Joshua Koenig (Western Michigan University), producer and director Dan Bracken (WCMU public media), a couple of students at CMU and a couple interns.

The crew usually consists of five or six members at a time. When filming on active archaeological sites, Dobson brings along only a handful of people who can move quickly.

The production team must be stretched and so are the locations and funds. Dobson maximizes all he can of a location and resources available due to small budget sizes.

For Dr. John Chuchiak IV, director of the Honors College and professor of Colonial Latin American history, Dobson’s journey has given him a fresh

time. I was on cloud nine when it happened.”

Originally, the plan was to play an inter-fraternity game but they couldn’t find enough guys from FIJI who were able to play so they reached out to Theta Chi. “I thought it was a great idea because campus-wide we’ve kind of been seen as rivals, and I didn’t like that, because I know that we’re very similar in the things that we do,” Fletcher said.

In order to attempt the world record, the fraternities had to go through a long application process. Student Body President and Theta Chi President Brandon McCoy and FIJI President Blake Kobel worked together to apply to Guinness.

The fraternities were required to have umpires, scorekeepers, two witnesses, and video evidence at all times. Volunteers, many of which are members of fraternity and sorority life, filled all of these positions. To take video, they alternated two GoPros throughout the game.

“We need to prove beyond any shadow of doubt that we played for 80 hours continuously,” sophomore Theta Chi member Tim Weber said.

Weber said he was the only committee member who didn't play in the

perspective on perseverance in the face of adversity. “(Dobson’s) often difficult journey in fundraising and shopping around his documentary series and pitching it to such a vast amount of funding institutions has definitely shown me the value of persistence and perseverance, in the fact of the mounting difficulties facing the research and teaching of the humanities,” Chuchiak said.

These challenges, Chuchiak says, are what make this project successful.

“Both by his successes, and how he faces and deals with his challenges, and sometimes even the failures, he has modeled for me how resilience and perseverance are necessary in the pursuit of anything worth doing,” Chuchiak said.

The show mainly targets students as its primary audience. The majority of episodes follow a similar format. Dobson speaks on camera about the episode and its greater context.

He says he hopes viewers will learn something but also be

game but instead took on other roles as an umpire, running errands, planning meals, and preparing evidence for Guinness.

“As everyone got more tired, it got easier because people weren’t as uptight and just more relaxed, but also just exhausted,” Weber said. “While I was umpiring I was asking everyone ‘what’s the sorest part of your body?’ and each of them said something different.

“One of them said his achilles, one said his neck, one said their back,” Weber continued. “You don’t get a lot of sleep and it’s a lot of physical exertion, so 80 hours felt longer. Now that it’s over, it’s great that we did it.”

Each team had a different strategy to break up the time between players.

Theta Chi rotated three teams of nine with three hours on, then six hours off. FIJI rotated two teams of 12 with three hour shifts during the day and six hour shifts during the night.

Fletcher said he checked the Farmer’s Almanac five months ago when planning started. He said the weather was “beautiful baseball weather” throughout Fall Break and only the first night and the last posed any problems.

During the first night, the teams experienced major fog. Then the last

entertained.

But history can be found right outside campus.

“Even in Springfield, we’re standing on a place on-campus where people have lived for most of the last 5,000-8,000 years,” Dobson said. “You can take a walk down South Street toward Park Central and move from a Civil War battle site to a Trail of Tears site to the site of one of the first recorded gunfights in the Old West to a site where you’re at the birthplace of Route 66.

“That’s a massive chunk of American History in five or six blocks. And most places in America are like that,” Dobson continued. “We need to develop a culture where we really appreciate the rich past that we have.”

Kennedy said Dobson is more than willing to share his knowledge of history with students and colleagues, and that shines about him.

“He is affable and generous as a colleague,” Kennedy said.

“He has expressed a willingness to go above and beyond his role as per course by taking on interns for his public television series on first Americans.”

If he had to sum up the project, Dobson would do it simply with a smile on his face. “(It’s) a lot of work and a lot of fun,” he said. “Early mornings, late nights, difficult environments but just incredible fun.”

MEGAN BURKE/THE STANDARD

FIJI member Zac Fletcher, who planned the world record breaking baseball game between FIJI and Theta Chi, throws a pitch during the 80th hour of the game. few hours rain came pouring down on the diamond, leaving the teams running through the mud and the rain as they sprayed each other with champagne after hitting the 80-hour mark.

“I was out there pitching; bases were loaded,” Fletcher said. “One of their big guys Ben Sullivan came up to bat and a guy over here yelled at him ‘Ben, if you hit a home run right

now I’ll donate $10 to the USO. I look at him and say ‘Ben, I’m going to curve you one real well.’ It was the third pitch, went right down the middle. He hit a grand slam about 350 feet out towards left. It was really satisfying.

“We’ve made great friends with a lot of these guys. We’re all one team out here.”

KAPPELER Continued from page 4 learning how to better connect with students of differing backgrounds and perspectives.

“One of the most important things to remember is that you really have to have different strategies for different classrooms,” Kappeler said. “My experience has definitely informed my teaching style and just being aware of the need to understand who’s in my classroom and making sure that I’m always transparent about my expectations.”

Assistant Professor of English Jonathan Newman reinforced the importance of collaboration and learning from scholarly presentations. He recalled a recent conference in which he presented at the University of Ghent in Belgium.

“Any conference influenc-

es my teaching because they’re usually the only chance I get to see other scholars teaching about what they do,” Newman said. “I definitely crib any presentation technique or idea that I think will translate to my own classroom.”

Newman also teaches Critical Approaches to Literature and works alongside Kappeler on the literature program committee.

“Dr. Kappeler is an amazing colleague who has brought intellectual energy and a generous engagement with students to this department,” Newman said.

Kappeler’s discussion-based lectures are often regarded by students as an extension of an affable personality, as she’s found a niche

A Grecian flag blow in the wind in Syros, Greece. in the English Department for undergraduate students taking classes including Critical Approaches to Literature and Literature, Culture and Conflict.

“I just love how she structures her classes,” senior cre-

Dobson strives to give a voice to local and specific history — or events and individuals that may not have been talked about much before.

“What I try to do with this is take that local story and put it into a broader national and international context,” Dobson said. “We tell local stories in a big picture.”

This connection between cultures, the past and history is what Chuchiak says brings the project alive.

“This is one of the most important benefits of travel and international interactions, to bring the peoples, cultures and the past alive for the viewers,” Chuchiak said. “The series focus on the interdisciplinary use of all of these fields together, is for me, the most important take away from his series.”

When students watch the show, Dobson hopes they see that their potential stretches far beyond the walls of a classroom.

“Don’t just get a little box, get a big box,” Dobson said.

Season 2 of “America: From the Group Up” tentatively airs March 23, 2018, on PBS. The series is funded in part by a Project Partnership with the Missouri Humanities Council.

ative writing major Annie Wampler said. “Dr. Kappeler provides a balance between historical context and modern interpretations of texts, and I’m happy to recommend her to a friend.”

Wampler, who’s currently

enrolled in Kappeler’s Surveys of American Literature II course, cited cultural awareness and a personable approach to lectures as her favorite aspects of Kappeler’s teaching style.

“Dr. Kappeler is excellent

at letting students lead discussions and come to their own conclusions, but helping nudge in the right direction when it’s needed,” Wampler said. “Her experiences in other countries and universities lead to greater understanding of different cultures that she can then pass on to her students.”

Kappeler credits the support of her parents and the works of early-20th-century American poet Hilda Doolittle as key inspirations for her interest in American poetry and literary research. If she’s not in Siceluff Hall with her office door open, students may find her volunteering locally or working on her research at The Coffee Ethic. “If it’s a day that I’m feeling productive,” she said with a chuckle.

But if you can’t seem to find her, try checking the shorelines of Greece. She might be sleeping along those transparent waters.

6

THE STANDARD

sports

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2017 | THE-STANDARD.ORG

Weather delay, fake punt wash out Bears’ upset bid

File Photo by Ryan Welch/The Standard

Bears’ head coach Dave Steckel ALEC McCHESNEY Sports Editor @Alec_McChesney

File photo by Collin O’Connell/The Standard

The Lady Bears huddle up during a contest in the 2016 season

Fruendt, senior class ready to lead Lady Bears one last time Conference Tournament, advancing to the National Tournament.

That experience still guides them today.

Though it seems like just yester“When we won a championship day, Missouri State Lady Bears’ head our sophomore year, we really had coach Kellie Harper has been at the three senior leaders that set a tone helm in Springfield since the start of every single day and that’s something the 2013 college basketball season, we really can remember and know the guiding the Bears to three straight feeling of what it’s like when we have postseason appearances. a great day and a bad day,” Fruendt “Year five has come so fast,” said.

Harper said. “It has really flown by, “We have really high goals and I but I really do love being here in think we’ve done a good job of letting Springfield and being at Missouri everyone know that these are our State. I have enjoyed every minute of goals, and either you are on board or it.” you are not.”

And although the Bears have seen Though the unit provides stability considerable success during Harper’s and leadership, Fruendt’s scoring tenure, she believes there’s room for ability will likely fuel the Lady Bears’ improvement — as a coach and for offense all season. The senior, who the program. spent her first two seasons at MSU as “I am constantly trying to evaluate a spark plug off the bench, averaged where our program needs to go, and 16.7 points, 5 rebounds and 2.1 assists thus, where I need to go and what I per game in 2016-17. need to do and who I need to be for Those numbers led Fruendt to our players,” Harper said. “I need to earning First-Team All-MVC honors, be me, but how can I make them and potentially, will result in her better and how can I be better for being selected as the MVC Preseason them?

Player of the Year.

“I think you are constantly growing “With her experience and what she as a staff and as a program, you’re is able to do as a player, everyone constantly changing and hopefully, we respects her work ethic and her will be clicking again this season.” competitiveness and motor, it’s To click in the 2017-18 season, always going,” Harper said. “Our fans Harper will rely on her four seniors: appreciate it, and so do her teamguards Liza Fruendt and Lee Ann mates, and we are going to look for a Polowy and forwards Audrey Holt and lot out of her this year.”

Aubrey Buckley.

But for her senior year, Fruendt is The quartet has combined for 139 focusing on more than just scoring. starts over the last three seasons and “There was a lot of things in the won the 2016 Missouri Valley offseason I tried to focus on, but ALEC McCHESNEY Sports Editor @Alec_McCHesney

mainly, it was being the senior leader that we need and being that center of it and stepping up for everyone else, while knowing that everyone has my back,” she said.

“Game-wise, I’m trying to be more aggressive with my mid-range jumper rather than just relying on the 3-ball, and the defensive end is important.

From day one, Harper has set that standard, and if you don’t play defense, you won’t play.”

Additionally, Harper wants the Lady Bears to become more team focused on the offensive end, improving their offensive efficiency in a big way from a year ago.

MSU averaged just 11.3 assists per game, while turning the ball over 16 times per contest. On average, the Lady Bears made a little more than 23 field goals a game, meaning there were double-digit buckets with no assist.

And with senior point guard Lexi Hughes — who averaged a team-leading 2.7 assists per game — graduating, the Lady Bears must transition to a team-oriented offense.

“We felt like what we needed to work on from last year was our offensive efficiency and how we could take our offense to a higher level, so we have worked very hard on that since the end of last season,” Harper said.

The Lady Bears play the Maroon and White Scrimmage on Oct. 28, their lone exhibition match against Lindenwood University on Nov. 5 and open the regular season against Ball State on the road on Nov. 13.

One hour and 39 minutes is all it took for the game to be flipped upside down.

After competing with No. 14 Western Illinois for close to 55 minutes, the Missouri State Bears had the Leathernecks right where they wanted them.

Trailing 35-30, the ball on its own 43-yard line, MSU had 5:53 remaining in the contest to take the lead, pull off the upset and make a statement halfway through the 2017-18 college football season.

Then, the weather hit.

A thunderstorm, which lasted nearly two hours, hit Macomb, Illinois, resulting in a 99-minute weather delay. And during the delay, the Bears and head coach Dave Steckel had the perfect opportunity to devise a gameplan to come out victorious.

They didn’t.

First-and-10: Sophomore quarterback Peyton Huslig handed the ball off to senior running back Calan Crowder, who returned following the weather delay after exiting earlier in game, and he lost 4 yards on the play.

Second-and-14: Huslig targeted senior wide receiver Malik Earl, who caught an MSU single-game record 14 passes on the day, deep down the left sideline. Two Leatherneck defenders enclosed on Earl, and after nearly being intercepted, the pass fell to the ground.

Third-and-14: Huslig attempted to find senior tight end Erik Furmanek to no avail.

Fourth-and-14: The Bears lined up to punt the ball away, as sophomore punter Brendan Withrow stood 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

With three timeouts and five minutes remaining on the clock, the Bears had the opportunity to swing field position. Instead, the ball was snapped directly to junior running back Nick Masoner.

WIU snuffed out the play and stopped Masoner before he made it back to the line of scrimmage.

Turnover on downs.

Two plays later, WIU junior running back Steve McShane rushed for a 39-yard touchdown, extending the Leathernecks’ lead to 12.

“We go three-and-out, and I make a bonehead call on the fake punt,” Steckel said during the postgame radio interview.

“When I called a fake punt, they got into a different look.

“That’s 100 percent on me and nobody else.”

When Huslig got the ball back, the Bears turned the ball over on downs once more. And in just over four minutes after the weather delay ended, WIU scored its second touchdown to take a 49-30 lead.

Sophomore cornerback Darius Joseph, who finished the game with seven tackles, failed to complete the game as he was ejected in the final minutes for two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

And just like that, it was over. The Leathernecks crushed the Bears’ hopes of pulling off the biggest victory in Steckel’s tenure.

Prior to the delay, the Bears played their best game of the season, in all three phases of football: offense, defense and special teams.

Huslig and Earl connected 14 times for 145 yards, and Earl rushed for a 30-yard touchdown on a double-reverse in the second quarter.

Crowder rushed effectively for the Bears before exiting with an injury, picking up 71 yards on 10 attempts.

Redshirt freshman wide receiver Rickey Nichols provided the most exciting play of the season, as he blocked a WIU punt in the second quarter and returned it for a touchdown. The score gave the Bears a 14-7 lead, and Earl’s TD run extended it to 14 points.

After struggling in recent games and missing a 42-yard field goal, sophomore kicker Zach Drake connected from 44-yards out in the third quarter.

The Bears dropped to 1-5 on the season, and with South Dakota State coming to Springfield on Oct. 21, Steckel and the Bears will be desperate for a victory.

Leamy after loss: ‘Our plans are to win this freaking league’ Story and photo by: MEGAN BURKE @Megs96_

In a bitter loss against Drake University, the Missouri State University men’s soccer team fell 2-1, breaking its seven-game winning streak and giving up its first conference loss at home on Oct. 14.

“It was a tough game,” head coach Jon Leamy said. “We knew it was going to be. Boy, they can counter attack and get you when you least expect it.

It wasn’t our night.”

MSU took the pitch with energy creating chances in and around the Drake 18-yard box.

The Drake defense kept a stronghold clearing multiple good chances within the first 20 minutes.

In the 21st minute, a Drake forward cut the ball past an MSU defender and took a close shot just outside the 6-yard box. MSU senior goalkeeper Liam Priestley dove far in the air, grabbing the ball at full extension.

Junior forward Ryan Mer-

edith scored for Drake off a ball played by junior midfielder Paul Ciszewski in the 34th minute, putting Drake in the lead 1-0 and breaking MSU’s 6-game shutout streak.

Three minutes left in the first half, MSU sophomore defender Ben Stroud received a yellow card after fouling a Drake player.

MSU failed to capitalize any of its chances in the first half; Drake kept hold of the 1-0 lead at halftime.

Taking the pitch for the second half, Drake came out with ferocity immediately going to goal only to be called offsides.

MSU responded by pushing chance after chance on the Drake defensive line, striving to get through and put one on the board.

In the 68th minute, MSU junior forward Conor Ingram broke away from the last Drake defender just outside the 18yard box. He cut the ball as the Drake goalkeeper Caden McCullough came out. Ingram slotted the ball past McCullough, scoring his seventh

goal of the season.

With the game tied 1-1, both teams scrambled to pull ahead and put one on the board.

Sophomore midfielder Antonio Sanchez made it happen for Drake, putting one past Priestley and putting them ahead 2-1 late in the match.

As Leamy yelled with enthusiasm, MSU scrambled to pressure Drake with just minutes remaining. MSU failed to finish multiple opportunities including two corner kicks, one in the very last seconds.

Drake won the game 2-1, making its Missouri Valley Conference record 1-3-1 and 4-9-1 overall.

“They’re better than what the records showed,” Leamy said. “Where they’re at in the league right now, we knew they were going to come in here and try and hit us with the kitchen sink, and they did.

They played a good game and we take our hats off to them.”

MSU now holds an 8-3-1 overall record and a 4-1 record within the MVC. The team matches up against Drake

The Bears react to their first MVC loss of 2017 to Drake on Oct. 14. again on Nov. 4, in its last game before the MVC tournament.

“Massively disappointed; it’s a bitter defeat,” Ingram said. “Fortunately we had a good start so it’s still in our

hands to win the championship.”

Three MVC matches remain in MSU’s season. In their upcoming match, MSU faces Valparaiso on Oct. 24 in Indiana.

“The guys have been on a good run,” Leamy said. “We’re gonna get things back again.

We’re still sitting in a pretty good spot in this conference and our plans are to win this freaking league.”

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Church on 2017-18 Ice Bears expectations: ‘It’s about time’ keep climbing

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a game than its opponents.

That number in 2017 must rise.

There’s no reason the Bears shouldn’t finish with 10 or more rebounds per game than their opponent.

“We should out rebound everyone,” Church said. “That’s what we should do, and look to push the ball.”

It’s not just a team motto, as Lusk believes Church could be one of the more dominant rebounders in the Valley on the glass. As a sophomore, he only averaged 5.8 rebounds per game. For Lusk, that number must rise.

“We are challenging Church to take that next step because I think he can be a really dominant rebounder,” Lusk said.

Expectations are high for the Bears from the outside, but they might be even higher within the locker room itself.

But the expectation isn’t long-term just yet, it’s all about the process.

“I feel like we have not been thinking about it, we have just been thinking about getting better every day,” Rhodes said. “Expectations for the season are very high, but we are just staying level-headed.”

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Add in senior transfers Tanveer Bhullar and J.T. Miller along with junior transfer Reggie Scurry and the team features at least nine athletes who could play big minutes on any given night.

Scurry, who transferred from Northern Oklahoma Tonkawa College, stands at 6-foot-5, 213 pounds, but he has already made a lasting impression on his teammates and coaches.

“Reggie Scurry with that athleticism … we go at it every day,” Church said.

“Who can dunk the most? Who can jump the highest?”

He’s caught the attention of Lusk, too.

“Reggie has been really good for us,” Lusk said. “I think Reggie can move around; I think Church can move around. I feel much more comfortable with our depth (at small forward and power forward.) The competition and depth is much better.”

With Church, Scurry, Johnson and Bhullar, who checks in at 7-foot-2, 278 pounds, the Bears should — must — dominate the glass on a nightly basis.

Rebounding was a strength for MSU in 2016, as it averaged 5.7 more rebounds

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File photo by Megan Burke/The Standard

Junior Obediah Church throws down a dunk against Drake in 2016.

The Missouri State Ice Bears keep rising in the American Collegiate Hockey Association rankings this season.

With a record of 7-5-2, the Ice Bears have climbed seven spots from where they originally appeared on the list, ranking 18th.

“If we keep playing well, we’ll keep climbing in the rankings,” Ice Bears head coach Jeremy Law said.

“We’ve played some really good games against some of the Top 10 teams in the country.”

MSU has kept most of the losses this season close, and Law thinks that has helped the Ice Bears in the rankings.

But it doesn’t mean they don’t want to improve and add some more wins to their record.

“We need to play more consistently,” Law said. “Although we’ve been playing well against some top-ranked teams, we need to get some wins against them, too.”

Senior co-captain Alex Turin agrees with Law, but he thinks the team’s change in attitude represents one of the team’s greatest strengths.

And having a new coach has made a big difference.

“We have more chemistry this year,” Turin said. “With a new coach, we have different systems and every one is just kind of more on board this year.”

The entire team has enjoyed the Bears climb in the rankings — even those off the ice.

Senior co-captain Brendan McClew has not played this season, rather, he’s watched his team climb the rankings from the stands due to injury.

“It’s been really exciting,” McClew said. “The guys have been fun to watch.”

However, McClew returned to the ice on Saturday.

“I’m glad to be back on the ice with the boys,” McClew said. “I really had to control my emotions being back out there.”

Although McClew en-

joyed the weekend, considering he made his return, the Ice Bears dropped two games.

On Oct. 12, it looked as if the Ice Bears would have a solid weekend, as they defeated previously undefeated No. 16 Arizona 2-0 on goals from sophomore Zane O’Bryan and junior Travis Barrett.

The Ice Bears played their best game all year, Law said.

“I was very pleased with the way the guys played that night,” Law said. “I think it was the win that we were most pleased with the whole season.”

The fun ended there, as the tough competition continued throughout the weekend.

When the Bears went to play Arizona State University — a team ranked No. 20 — they couldn’t keep their momentum going.

“We just didn’t play well,” Law said. “I think a lot of it was just bad luck and bad decision making.”

On Friday, the Bears fell 5-4, giving up the last goal in the final 10 seconds.

And Saturday, they fell 5-3, despite an attempt to battle back in the third period.

“The weekend was a little bit of a speed bump for us,” McClew said. “But you’ll have that, it’s not always rainbows and sunshine.”

Turin said the team needs to play more complete games and stay out of the penalty box. He thinks if they play games where they get the momentum going sooner in the game, there’s no doubt they can continue to climb in the rankings.

The Ice Bears hope to see more games like their game against UA this upcoming weekend.

The Ice Bears will face Saint Louis University at Mediacom Ice Park starting Friday at 7 p.m.

They will wear their pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness. After the game Oct. 21, they’ll auction off the jerseys and proceeds will go to Breast Cancer Foundation of the Ozarks.

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“Expectations for the season are really high.”

That’s obvious.

But Missouri State’s senior wing Jarrid Rhodes said it a few different times before Bears’ practice on Oct. 5.

Junior power forward Obediah Church shared the same sentiment: “We should win it all, from a team standpoint, that’s what we should do. With all of this new talent and all of the returning talent, we should be at the top.

There’s a lot of excitement on campus, as well.”

Their leader, head coach Paul Lusk, believes it, too. “(Our expectations) are to be really good. We have high expectations, and I think we have a chance to be a very good basketball team. … We feel like we have a really good team and are prepared to make a jump.”

With the Bears’ Maroon and White scrimmage just 11 days away and the regular season opener against Western Kentucky looming, MSU continues to hit the practice floor in quest of the Missouri Valley Conference crown.

Another week stands between us and the MVC preseason polls, but most expect MSU to find itself in the top two of the league — especially with Wichita State leaving for the American Athletic Conference.

“Even before that (WSU leaving the MVC), we thought we had a really good chance going into this year,” Lusk said.

“We want to play very good basketball and have ourselves in prime position for the Valley.”

It’s more than just talk for this 2017 bunch, however, as the roster boasts the most talent on an MSU team in recent memory.

From seniors Rhodes, Ronnie Rousseau III and Alize Johnson, who recently found himself in the first round of a 2018 mock draft by HoopsHype, the Bears are loaded at the top.

“It’s unbelievable,” Church said.

“It’s unbelievable the talent we have this year. We are just ready to put everything together and get things rolling to get ready for the first game.

“It’s about time.”

With all of the talent, the Bears enter a rare win-now mode, where winning the Valley might be the only result to please fans.

“We don’t shy away from that,” Lusk said. “Our guys are really good guys, we have worked hard. We have a lot to prove. It’s preseason polls: It does not matter where you are picked, it matters where you finish. But, it’s better than the alternative.”

So, why are the Bears expected to improve so much? They are bringing back so much talent, including four starters from a season ago in Rhodes, Church, Johnson and junior guard Jarred Dixon.

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ALEC McCHESNEY Sports Editor @Alec_McChesney

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