Sports// Page 4
Entertainment// Page 6
Special Focus// Page 6
Cross Country returns after 17 years
Local couple met at UMHB 30 years ago
Relive Cru fooball’s best 2017 season moments
Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Volume 162, Issue 8
Trump’s presidency reaches one year
UMHB previews Forever My Girl
By Sarah Ifft Opinions Editor
By Sophia Vierya Contributing Writer A pre-screening of the film Forever My Girl was brought to UMHB before it debuted in theaters by alumna Andi Hale, who helped promote the film. Hale graduated in 2015 with a double major in mass communications and public relations with a marketing minor. She now works for Kyro Center Entertainment, a marketing company in Nashville, Tennessee. Hale’s company has been touring different college campuses across the United States,with UMHB as the last stop. Kyro Center Entertainment made a list of colleges they have worked with in the past. UMHB made the list because of the Red Bus Project that came to the university in 2015. The Red Bus Project is a nonprofit organization in the form of a mobile thrift store. Hale previously interned with the Red Bus Project before moving on with Kyro Centers Entertainment. Sometime back in December, Hale reached out to Tiffany Wurdemann, the director of Student Organizations, to present the project to the student body. Wurdemann expressed how fond she was of Hale, because she was one of the first students Wurdemann met when beginning her career at UMHB. Wurdemann called together resident directors and advisors for thoughts on this opportunity. Because the movie would be aired Friday, January 19, there was question whether it was too soon since the students recently came back from break. Wurdemann thought maybe the romance aspect would be perfect for a Valentine’s Day event, but Hale was very adamant about showing it before the movie hit theatres. In approaching this, Wurdemenn wanted to know the “why” in showing the film. She thought the story of the film was something the student body could benefit from. See Movie, page 3
The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. Hebrews 13:6
Life beyond a diagnosis
Photo by Madeline Oden/The Bells
UMHB student in remission of leukemia, adjusts to life after regimen of treatments Photo by Shelly Andersen Top photo: Sophomore business major Corey Andersen and sophomore public relations Rachael Hopson, foreground left and right, cut bread as they prepare a weekly meal they have with friends in Rachael’s apartment on campus, Friday, January 19. Friend Katelyn Keeling (senior Christian studies and psychology) looks on in the background. Bottom right: Rachael Hopson and Corey Andersen at her high school graduation from Humble Christian School in 2015. See more photos at The Bells: Online.
By Rachael Hopson Contributing Writer As a 20-year-old sophomore business management major here at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, my boyfriend Corey Andersen lives a reasonably normal life. Many would never imagine him as a leukemia survivor, but that is a part of his reality. At eighteen years old, he had just graduated from high school and was looking forward to spending the day at Six Flags with our youth group. Unfortunately, his plans were interrupted the night before when an excruci-
ating pain in his hip had been enough to send him to the hospital. He slept in the hospital bed hoping to pass the time before he was released so he could rejoin the group. He awoke from a nap worried only because he was missing out on the roller coasters, but something else was wrong; his parents’ eyes were puffy and bloodshot. The doctor entered the room and Corey soon realized he wouldn’t be riding any roller coasters that day. The doctor had seen a similar case before – a child brought in with excruciating hip pain and some
similar blood test results. But, he couldn’t be sure. The doctor recommended taking him to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for an official diagnosis. That wasn’t how Corey, or any of us, had hoped the week would go – who would? Corey and I had spent the week at church camp with our youth group. It was a special trip since our anniversary was that week. Friday, July 24, 2015 was supposed to be our roller coaster day, our anniversary of two years dating. Instead of spending the day riding roller coasters with him, I was left at the park with the rest of the
group not knowing what was going on or why he hadn’t been released yet. Our youth pastor, Kirk Godkin, was the one who finally gave me the news. I sat under the shadow of a roller coaster and sobbed. What a terrible way to spend our anniversary. Eventually, Corey’s sister Caitlyn, and I went to the hospital in Longview, Texas – the one that Corey had been taken to from camp the night before. From there, his family and I headed to Houston. Thankfully MD Anderson was only 20 minutes from our hometown of Humble. See Survivor, page 3
Cheerleaders compete in national contest
Photo by Madeline Oden/The Bells Sydney Enos at the cheer showcase with her team before the Univeral Cheerleaders Association National Competition in Orlando, Florida on January 12-18. See more photos at The Bells: Online.
By Madeline Oden Assistant Editor The Crusader cheerleading team has returned from their competition in Orlando, Florida from January 12-18 to sup-
port our basketball and sports teams for the rest of this year. The cheer team came away with 8th place, out of fourteen other contestants in their division. While the team has previ-
ously gone to the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) competitions, this is the first year the team has gome to the Universal Cheerleaders Association (UCA) Nationals competition in Or-
lando, Florida. This is also the first year they went to nationals with new head coach Amanda Wrinkler. This will be the fourth year the cheerleading team has gone to nationals since the team ended their fifteen-year hiatus in 2014. The team took a break from competing last year due to a change in coaches. The team is composed of 19 students, all of which competed in Orlando. The routine was choreographed by Wrinkler and a friend from Oklahoma who teaches varsity cheer. First, they made the skeleton of the routine based on the score sheet and then added on from there after watching the girls’ skillsets throughout the year. Prior to heading to Orlando, the Cru cheerleading team held a showcase event at the Mayborn Campus Center on Thursday, January 11, to show students, faculty and family members the routine they would perform in Orlando. See Cheer, page 3
The U.S. government was back in business Tuesday morning, but on the oneyear anniversary of Donald Trump’s presidency, Saturday January 20, the government was shut down for three days. However, even before the President’s first year began, he had prePresident sented a 100- Donald J. day plan to Trump fulfill his policies. The question is: has he lived up to the expectations he set forth for himself? According to PolitiFact, 46.5% of his promises are in the works while 31.7% have been stalled. While 8.9% of his promises were kept, 5.9% were compromised, and 6.9% were broken. The same source also says that his top five promises are “repealing Obamacare, building a wall and making Mexico pay for it, suspending immigration from terror-prone places, cutting taxes for everyone, and lowering the business tax rate” (PolitiFact). President Trump’s the tax package will go into effect in 2019, but his plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act are still in the works, but The plan will “repeal the penalty on people who might be able to afford health insurance but choose not to buy it” (PolitiFact). President Trump lived up to his plan to increase immigration security, although the wall has not been constructed yet. According to BBC, deportations have decreased on the border since President Trump has taken office. That being said, prototypes of the wall are underway. Many people disagree with the idea of a wall being built on the border of the United States and Mexico. Beau Kemp, a sophomore mass communications major, voices his opinion on the issue. “Instead of focusing on building a wall and possibly starting a war with Mexico (because he says Mexico is going to pay for it, but they already said they’re not going to pay for anything), he should be focusing on the groups that are dangerous to America such as North Korea, ISIS and White Supremacists,” Kemp said. In conjunction with his immigration stances, President Trump also received a lot of backlash for stating in September of 2017 that he was going to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). See Year, page 3