Washburn Review: April 17, 2019 -Issue 25

NEWS

ARTS & LIVING

FEATURES

SPORTS

United Way Bus Tour

Tulip Festival

Art Exhibit

Makenna Gonzales

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April 17, 2019

Volume 145, Issue 25

washburnreview.org Established 1885

The heart of Paris will beat again Morgan Holloway Washburn Review morgan.holloway@washburn.edu

Around 6 p.m. Monday, April 15 the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, was on fire. Officials consider the fire to be an accident relating to construction.

Before the fire started, the cathedral was working on renovations.

Due to the renovations, many of the treasures of this historical building have been saved. Some of the relics that were saved during the fire include the Holy Crown of Thorns, the Great Organ, the tunic of Saint Louis, True Cross and Holy Nails, the Rose windows, and Descent from the cross. Many of the artworks and sculptures were taken to the Paris town hall.

The Notre Dame Cathedral has been the heart of Paris for over 800 years on Île de la Cité in the middle of Seine, France. The historical monument draws in about 13 million visitors per year, even more than the Eiffel Tower. The cathedral was built in 1163 during the reign of King Louis VII and was completed in 1345.

Tony Silvestri, history lecturer at Washburn University, discusses the significance of the cathedral.

“It’s been called the soul of France. It has so many centuries of history and that cathedral has stood and witnessed the coming and going of kings and armies, the French Revolution, the coronation of Napoleon, all of the revolutions of the 19th century. It withstood a bombing during World War II, Nazi occupation and liberation after World War II and it’s been the iconic sym-

photo courtesy of Press Association

I’m a survivor: This time map shows the overall damage of The Notre-Dame Cathedral. The Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire Monday, April 15.

bol of the city of Paris before the Eiffel Tower was created,” said Silvestri.

With the 1831 novel, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” by Victor Hugo, the interest and love for the cathedral was revitalized.

After the novel re-popularized the cathedral, people began to notice and raise money for the cathedral.

Paul Mismaque, junior double major in marketing and economics, is an international student from Homblières, France. Homblières is about two hours from Paris.

“It’s a pretty big deal. I’m Catholic and it’s a big part of our education. Every time you go to Paris,

you go there because it’s the most visited monument in Europe. Every time we have the pope that comes, he goes there because it is the biggest [cathedral] in France,” said Mismaque.

Silvestri explains that Notre Dame Cathedral is also one of the earliest and possibly the greatest examples of Gothic architecture.

“It wasn’t the first Gothic building, but it was among the first great Gothic buildings. Students of architecture and art historians, medievalists and people who just love European culture, have been fascinated by that building and by its history.

The vault is the ceiling that you see

when look up from the inside and its made of stone. It was made in the Middle Ages and it’s almost all there. Two or maybe three portions of the vault collapsed and one of them was right in the center in the crossing where the spire was.

That’s where the fire was greatest and so that whole area collapsed,” said Silvestri.

Four hundred firefighters, seven firetrucks and 15 hours later, the fire was extinguished.

“Paris has some of the best firefighters in the world. Nobody died, however one firefighter was injured.

The spire of the cathedral was made of wood and lead. Some stories say

the lead was actually raining and melting lead. One of the firefighters happened to be a priest and he ran through the melting Cathedral to get the crown,” Mismaque said.

After this catastrophic event, many people have come together to talk about rebuilding the cathedral.

Several people and organizations have already donated millions of dollars to rebuild it.

“President Macron came out publicly and said, ‘We’re going to do this and we’re going to do it in five years, and it will be better than it was before.’ He has to say that as the leader of the French people, and I think they’ll come together,” said Silvestri.

Mismaque explains that the president is also planning to establish a national subscription or government website for donations.

The Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the many designated UNESCO world heritage sites and have received a lot of support from them during this time. In one of their recent Twitter posts, UNESCO states that they are ready to make their expertise available to authorities, contribute to a rapid damage assessment and support the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Notre Dame Cathedral.

“The damage was significant and it was catastrophic, but as damage to a medieval cathedral goes, this wasn’t a very serious thing. Most of the precious stuff was all saved.

Most of the interior is intact and so on. So the kind of doomsdayers, that are like, ‘Oh, poor Notre Dame, it’s lost.’ No, it’s not. It’s not lost,” Silvestri said.

Washburn School of Law launches third year anywhere program

Students to present at Apeiron

Spencer Brown

It is an exciting time at Washburn this spring, especially as the semester nears its conclusion and the annual Aperion forum draws near.

Apeiron is a great opportunity for students to showcase their academic research, scholarship, creative activities, and community engagement in a professional setting similar to the ones they will encounter in their future academic and professional careers.

The forum offers students the chance to gain experience and confidence while presenting their research, performing artistically and reporting on their community engagement in a public venue.

Apeiron will be featuring 102 students who will be performing or presenting on the day of the event, creating a space where a wide variety of different skill sets and research findings will be on display for much of the day.

Apeiron is set to occur on April 19 at Washburn University. The events will begin in the A & B room in the Memorial Union at 10 a.m. where student registration and poster setup for later events will occur. From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. there will be Fine Arts presentations at the Mulvane Art Museum and the Rita Blitt Gallery. Lasting from 12:35 p.m. to 3 p.m there will be oral presentations at the Henderson Learning Center in rooms 118, 203, 205 and 217.

At 3 p.m., Bruce Mechtly will welcome in the remaining speakers.

Mechtly is a professor at Washburn and he is also the Chair of Computer Information Sciences. He has helped to plan Apeiron for the past

Washburn Review spencer.brown@washburn.edu

Washburn University School of Law brings new opportunities as the school is launching a new Third Year Anywhere enrollment option for future law students. The new program will start to take effect in the Fall of 2019.

In August of 2018, The American Bar Association Council on Legal Education voted to change the amount of distance education a student could participate in in Dean of Washburn School of Law: Carla Pratt photo by Spencer Brown Law schools across the country. stands in front of her bookshelf in her office. Pratt The number of credit hours allowed joined Washburn in the fall of 2018. went from 15 to 30, and for Washburn’s school of law, it now meant enhance Washburn’s already strong that a full year could be dedicated reputation for creating practice ready lawyers.“ Pratt said. “I’m to distance education.

This means that law students who hoping that this option will bring start in the fall of 2019 are able to students great experiences and that start the process of the program. supervisors will speak highly of our Students will have to express inter- students.”

Pratt was also hopeful that this est within their first year, from there they will be assigned an advisor to opportunity would make it possible work with to find externship oppor- for the students to make connectunities in the locations that the stu- tions with alumni all over the world.

“We have a very broad alumni base dent is interested in.

Law students who participate in who are very enthusiastic about this this program are able to go any- opportunity and are excited to take you don’t have that at every law where they want in the state, coun- a Washburn law student under their school.” Pratt said. “In most cases, faculties at other institutions try, or around the world as long as wing.” Pratt said.

However, if there isn’t an alum- are very much entrenched in doing its where the student plans to live nus in the students preferred loca- things in the traditional way.” and work after graduation.

Some law professors have al“This new option will definitely tion, the law student’s advisor will influence students who are looking work with the student to find the ready begun to learn and integrate new online courses to tend to the at different law schools for their fu- right fit for them.

Pratt also praised the faculty and future law students who are particiture.” Senior Jackson Haltom said.

Carla Pratt, Dean of the Wash- their decision to make this an op- pating in the externship.

“I was really thankful to join burn University School of Law says tion for students as many instituWashburn, because the faculty here that she is excited for the potential tions aren’t as willing to do so.

“We have a great student-cen- is willing to think outside the box. of this new option.

“I think this option is going to tered faculty that really was open They are willing to be leaders in leto reimagining the curriculum, and gal education.”

Matt Self

Washburn Review matt.self@washburn.edu

photo courtesy of Courtney Sullivan

Forum for the ages: Apeiron is all about giving students a chance to present their findings and research that they have participated in while pursuing their education at Washburn. Every department on campus partakes in the forum.

17 years and is filling in for Courtney Sullivan, who usually handles much of the planning, this year. He spoke of the meaning of Apeiron in its relation to a forum focused on presenting student research.

“The Apeiron is an ancient term offered by Anaximander of Miletus in the 6th century B.C. that embraces the spirit of this forum. As with the Apeiron, which is infinite and boundless, all inclusive, eternal, and unaging, this forum is designed to be inclusive with respect to student research, scholarship, creative activities, and community engagement,” said Mechtly.

Mechtly went on to emphasize the magnitude of this event and the difficulty he and others face every year when they try to set it up.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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NEWS

washburnreview.org

United Way shows Topeka health Narumi Hishinuma Contributor

photo courtesy of Aaron Barber

Laugh out loud: Sweets By Kate kicks off April 25 at White Concert Hall for the first time ever at Washburn.

The Washburn Opera Theatre worked hard on this unique performance.

‘Sweets By Kate’ coming soon Matt Self Washburn Review matt.self@washburn.edu

Interested in a witty, engaging and comedic opera performance that is relevant to the times? Then “Sweets By Kate” may be for you.

Featuring many of the talented performers from the theater and music departments at Washburn, “Sweets By Kate” is not your average performance. Many hijinks occur during the opera including an encounter with Satan and dealing with an angry town all the while being injected with comedy throughout. There are some very real and relevant conversations that take place in the play concerning sexual orientation and acceptance as the main characters of the performance are a pair of lesbians.

The opera is set in a small town in 1950s and focuses on a lesbian couple, Kate and Elizabeth, who must travel back to Elizabeth’s hometown to take over what was left behind by her father who passed away. The local townsfolk are not supportive of Kate and Elizabeth’s relationship and the couple must overcome the initial difficulties they encounter upon arriving in the town. The couple eventually open a bake shop in the town all the while struggling to overcome the acceptance of the locals.

The opera has been performed elsewhere but this is the first time it will make its appearance at Washburn. The cast includes 17 students who are music majors and minors and is being run by Lara Brooks, lecturer in the music department.

One of the cast members, Sienna Haynes, is a senior vocal performance major at Wash-

burn who will be playing the role of Elizabeth in the upcoming opera. This will be her last performance at Washburn before she graduates and she had some choice words for those who are interested in “Sweets By Kate” or who may be skeptical of it.

“The opera just shows another loving couple who are experiencing the passage of a loved one and who wish to continue his legacy while dealing with whether the town accepts them,” Haynes said. “Regarding any negative feedback, I invite people to come see the show and support it. All music and performances are made to enrich our lives and challenge us as people. Come see it.”

Brooks also spoke about how unique the performance was in the operatic world. There are few performances like it in the world as it offers a rather different story than one we are used to hearing. It has a surprising number of lead female characters.

“The performance promotes a lot of interesting female lead characters who must overcome challenges in their community that resonate with many people today,” Brooks said. “There is only one other opera in existence that features a lesbian couple. This performance takes a serious topic and is funny while it does so.”

The performance will run on April 25-28.

The performances will be at 7:30 p.m. from April 25-27. The final showing will be at 3 p.m. April 28. Each performance will be at White Concert Hall. Tickets will run at $10 per person while students with a valid Washburn ID will be able to get tickets for $5 a piece. The music department encourages all to attend this quirky performance and witness the talents of the students partaking in the event.

photo file

Girl power: Aperion is this Friday, April 19. Claire Leffingwell, Marissa Meis and Brooke Manny presented last year at Aperion.

CONTINUED: Students to present at Apeiron STORY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “I want people to recognize that this event doesn’t just happen. We work on it for a year.

Several sub-committees are involved with each department that organize the students who will be presenting. It is very much a group effort,” said Mechtly.

From 3 p.m. to 3:45 p.m., after Mechtly speaks, there will be a variety of events such as the recognition of student designers Paritosha Joshy and Christina Noland followed by the introduction of the Last Lecture which will be handled by Garry Cushinberry. The Last Lecture itself shall be handled by John Hunter, the professor of Emeritus of Theatre.

Finally, from 3:45 p.m. to 5 p.m., Apeiron will begin to wind down with poster pre-

sentations and a reception in the Memorial Union room A. Sullivan, who is currently on sabbatical, normally handles much of the Apeiron project every year. She spoke about how enjoyable Apeiron can be.

“I know that as a faculty member, I’m thrilled to watch my mentoring efforts pay off while watching my students perform and present. It’s also fun to meet their friends, relatives, and parents at the reception at the end of the day. They are so proud of the students and the food is always delicious,” said Sullivan.

Apeiron takes place on Friday, April 15 and events will begin at 10 a.m. We hope to see you there!

United Way had a bus tour to help students and faculty gain experience with an interactive discussion about poverty in Topeka.

The tour started at the United Way office and ended at 1527 SW Fairlawn Rd with 25 total spots.

United Way strives to achieve positive sustainable change through education, financial stability and health for everyone in our community by connecting individuals and families to maximize their potential.

Brett Martin, vice president of Community Impact, and Angel Romero, vice president of Resource Development, were the bus tour hosts.

United Way bus tour visited several United Way partner agencies, including the CRC Care Center and the Pine Ridge public housing neighborhood. Pine Ridge features several one-of-a-kind partnerships, including the Family Health Center that serves as a clinical site for Washburn nursing students and faculty.

“We started the tours about four years ago, and really the bus tours were about helping the people who give money to United Way, [and] see how those dollars were working,” said Martin. “And, people from companies who run campaigns, like Washburn University or Blue Cross Shield or any number of companies, we want them to have the opportunities to see the dollars in action.”

United Way’s handout showed the city of Topeka neighborhood composite health map.

After people who attended the bus tour left United Way, a bus passed through Fairlawn, 21st street, Gage, 10th street and the area of Washburn University.

“What we do is we raised the money here through work place campaign, and then we have volunteers who set on panels and they make decisions about where the dollars are going to be invested,” said Martin. “So, I think in many ways it’s hard, because we have really great programs in the community and the volunteers have tough decisions to make about where they are going to invest those dollars.”

The map showed the area of Washburn University which has a risk for health index, intensive care and financial stability impact work, including where Jackson, Jefferson and Shawnee counties need food, rent and utilities as well as healthcare and protection from domestic violence.

“When working an intensive care neighborhood, I think one of the things that’s most crucial is to recognize that no one group can do the work alone so there needs to be very strong partnerships and collaboration,” said Martin.

Once the bus got around the area needing health care, Romero mentioned there is only one grocery store within four miles with many walking pedestrians in the districts.

Following this, the bus stopped at CRC Care Center which has safe home program, city and county partnership, research, educa-

tion and more.

“Community Resources Council links with other collaborative groups to address specific needs in the community. This is accomplished through the development of community-wide initiatives that avoid duplication of services, maximize available resources, implement community plans designed to meet a specific outcome and monitor progress,” according to CRC website.

Later, the bus stopped at one of the Topeka Public Schools for Pine Ridge parents for teachers programs. Attendees looked inside to see what they do for children.

Martin discussed how he likes working with United Way, including meeting and taking care of people.

“This will be a little over three years working here, United Way. I think one of the most memorable times I had is that I work in Pine Ridge and I was able to volunteer that first year being a mentor for one of the students,” said Martin. “I’ve actually been able to mentor him for coming on three years. I wouldn’t have known him otherwise.”

On the other hand, Martin mentioned how important to build relationships between United Ways and some organizations.

“The other thing that is needed is the residence themselves have to be engaged to the works so the residents have to be engaged really from the beginning,” said Martin. “It’s important to talk with them about what they think they need so it doesn’t feel like people are coming and doing work to them. Support for them is to see their own work for them to have ownership of it.”

Moreover, Patrick Early, director of Public Relations at Washburn, participated at the event and said how meaningful the bus tour is for Public Relations and Washburn University.

“Our department actually runs the United campaign for the University. It was a chance for all of us to just get a whole better idea about what’s going on with United Way in these days, and in particular to look at some of the things we are partnered with as a university with United Way and other organizations in town,” said Early. “Deep community engagement is one of the things that makes the university special, and also makes your education special, because our nursing students go to another school for clinical experiences, but not to have the deep level of the engagement in the community clinic in the sources you might deal with in the real world setting.”

In addition, Early specified why he liked the bus tour.

“All these entities working together really make Topeka improvement, and we are very much engaged in the community. We do so many different things that is easy to forget what we do, and we run campaigns for ourselves as well,” said Early. “I am amazed at the number of things that have been done, and at the same time, a little overwhelmed at the things still need to be done.”

April 17, 2019

AROUND CAMPUS Briefs

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By Samuel Cox

Apeiron

Starting at 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 19 in the Memorial Union and Stauffer Commons. This is a forum for the presentation of student research, scholarship and creative activities and community engagement. There will also be a keynote address.

Most students completed these projects as part of the Washburn Transformational Experiences.

Drag Show

Starting at 6:30 p.m. Friday, GAYpril 19 in the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center, Washburn is hosting the first drag show on campus. Queers & Allies, Chi Eta Psi, HALO and WSGA collaborated to make this event possible. If you come to watch, remember to bring your dollars because it is an important part of the drag culture.

Annual Washburn Easter Egg Hunt

The Campus Activities Board kicks off the Washburn Easter Egg Hunt at 9 a.m. on the Union Lawn. The easter egg hunt is open to the community for ages 0-9. The event will end around noon.

Scorch on the Porch

From 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 22 the Memorial Union will be hosting Scorch on the Porch for Earth Day on the East Patio Lawn of the Memorial Union. The $5.50 meal deal includes chimichurri chicken skewers, tabbouleh, dirt and worms cup and water or lemonade. Showbox Money will be entertaining the event with live music. There will also be therapy dogs and cats provided

by Helping Hands Humane Society. The Ichabod Shop also has a half price special on Splash water bottles.

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ut a ring on it: The new designs for the new official class rings were released on March 29, 1957. Graduates could preorder their rings a month before graduation and recieve them for $19.80. Today’s graduation rings start at $500.

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his is war: One of the weirder stories the Review has covered is this activity many Washburn students partook in in the spring of 1985. Washburn students spent their weekends playing a game called “The Survival Game”. They would take necessary survival materials and an air pistol and the last one to not get shot was the winner.

Spice Up Your Room with New Decor

From 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, April 22 the Washburn EcoBods student organization is having a plant sale fundraiser at the south entrance of Stoffer Science Hall. For more information email Dr. Kellis Bayless at kellis.bayless@washburn.edu.

Where are the Women?

At noon Wednesday, April 24 in the Lincoln Room on the third floor of the Memorial Union, Cheryl Childers will give a presentation about women not being included in most textbooks.

Childers will start the workshop with an exercise introducing sex/gender and race/ethnicity into class content for any course an instructor may be teaching, including those that may not be identified as “gender-related.” Participants will help lead the converstaion and brainstorm other possible exercises and ideas.

Author of The Black Panther comes to campus

Ta-Nehisi Coates will be coming to campus from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 25 in Lee Arena. Coates is the author of The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power and Between The World And Me. He is also the current author of the Marvel comics The Black Panther and Captain America. The event is free and open to the public.

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ying in state: The Review took a full page to pay homage to beloved US President and WWII General who passed away on March 28, 1969. Eisenhower is the only president up to date who has his primary affiliation with Kansas. His hometown was Abilene, KS.

Crime Report Weak fence vs strong wind

Case of grand theft auto

10:25 p.m. April 13. A report 7:31 a.m. April 7. An alarm was made from Morgan Hall. An sounded at 1313 SW 21st Street. individual reported a bike had been The southeast fence motion alarm stolen from the Washburn Village. went off and area was secured.

Round two: Fence won

Weekend teaching

1:09 p.m. April 13. A burglary alarm 2:16 a.m. April 8. An alarm was set off in the KBI Forensic sounded at 1313 SW 21st Street. Science Center. An employee in the The southeast fence motion alarm building caused the alarm. went off. The area was secured and the alarm was reset.

Don’t burn your food 1 a.m. April 14. A fire alarm was set Medical Report off in Lincoln Hall. The alarm was 11:46 a.m. April 8. A medical caused by burnt popcorn. report was made from Washburn Institute of Technology Building Arts and crafts project L. The subject was transported to a 1:32 p.m. April 14. A report was local hospital by American Medical made from Lot 9. The report said a Response. license plate was stolen.

Something is missing here

I’ve got my eye on you

8:08 a.m. April 15. An alarm went 7:46 a.m. April 10. A report was off in Morgan Hall. The alarm made from the Petro Allied Health activation was determined to be a Center. The individual reported false alarm. theft.

Don’t break the rules

Medical Report

2:10 p.m. April 15. There was 8:15 p.m. April 11. A report was a medical call made from the made from the SW 21st Street and Memorial Union. An indivudal fell SW College Avenue intersection. in the Union.

The traffic stop resulted in a city citation.

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est time: The April 27, 1977 issue of The Review featured students studying for finals. Though this was more than 40 years ago, many students will easily relate to these students in a week or two once they too find themselves studying for finals.

Student Media Editor in Chiefs

Reporters

Ads Manager

Review-Morgan Holloway

Online-Arya Thapa

Josey Trimble

Kaw-Maggie Gile

News-DeyJa Cardenas

Freelance

Bod Mag-Rachel Ciummo

News-Matt Self

Lou Collobert

Online-Joelle Conway

Features-Yash Chitrakar

Dylan Babcock

Editors

Features-Nicholas Solomon

Spencer Brown

Features-Samuel Cox

Features-Kodee Christensen

John Burns

Sports-Alex Landwehr

Arts & Living-Alicia Muniz

Eriko Hiranoi

Design-Cody Dannar

Arts & Living-Mingzhu Zhu

John Martin

Chief Copy Editor

Sports-Seth Burdick

Sarah Miller

Shayn Jones

Sports-Brandon Brownlee

HR Manager

Copy Editors

Designers

Bailey Sater

Adam White

Review-Joshua Irsik

Exec Editor of Student Media

Abbie Barth

Review-Erica Faulkinbury

Kraig Dafoe

Kendra Wicks

KAW-Anna Marie Lauppe

Director of Student Media

Wesley Tabor

Ads-Randi Dofat

Regina Cassell

Dustin Wallace

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OPINION

Editorial: Is Facebook still relevant or is it losing its purpose?

Since the addition of Myspace, social media has become a trend. Everyone wanted to create and personalize their profiles and talk with friends. It was a new phenomenon that everyone was interested in. When Facebook first appeared on the social media scene, it was like an explosion. Everyone was creating profiles, searching for and adding friends.

For years, this was the social platform everyone was crazy about.

Since 2004, Facebook has been a means of communication, sharing of moods, stories and opinions as well as discussions about so many topics.

Users can see and share local and national news, create and share events, chat with friends and family, personalize their profiles and even react to their Facebook friends’ posts.

Now, it seems as if activity is slowly dwindling. Instead of users posting positive information about their lives and their hobbies, Facebook has become grounds for political disagreements and protests with occasional support for local and national tragedies or events.

After the recent tragedy Monday at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, people all over the world started lending their support and raise funds to help rebuild the historical building. Because of the help of Facebook and other social media platforms, the news of this event spread rapidly and people were able to share their feelings about the events, bringing some unity to the tragedy. When people logged onto Facebook, posts about the Notre Dame Cathedral quickly appeared

at the top of everyone’s news feed.

With new social platforms and networking, such as Twitter, Reddit, Instagram and Snapchat, it’s really no surprise that Facebook has lost some popularity, but I think in some cases it still has a purpose.

Yes, people can retweet information quickly and share photos on Instagram or Snapchat with the click of a button, but Facebook is used for more.

From a business standpoint, Facebook is an influencer of marketing and it has the ability to help businesses research and track their audience as well as tools to build brand identity.

With this information, businesses can connect with their consumers, share and post information for their target audiences and lend support.

Facebook also provides a specific community that other platforms don’t necessarily offer. On other platforms, you might not add your parents, grandparents or your crazy aunt, but on Facebook you might. Facebook has the older audience, which helps to stay connected with people of all ages.

In addition, the features Facebook offers continue to grow. In 2017, alone, they launched Facebook Live, Facebook Shopping Tabs, Facebook @ Work and even introduced Snapchat-like filters, proving its agility and eagerness to adapt to user preferences.

Communication on Facebook is one of the platform’s most notable aspects. It allows users to quickly and efficiently exchange information, socialize and react to each other’s opinions or posts.

When it comes to sharing events on social

media to gain awareness about a specific cause or situation, Facebook is easily one of the quickest and possibly bigger audiences to use.

Many have sworn off of Facebook for a multitude of reasons, such as it exhibits a toxic platform, like during the presidential and gubernatorial elections, or that everything they see is negative.

It’s not Facebook that is always negative, but rather who you have on your account. If you have people who are constantly sharing sad or negative memes or information, then you will likely feel that Facebook is a toxic platform. With that said, if you have people who share positive information, you will most likely feel that Facebook isn’t a bad platform to use.

Facebook is used for so many reasons.

Some people use it for good while others use it to start debates or purposely annoy people.

The bottom line is that Facebook is a means of communication, regardless of its positivity or its information.

Users see posts about missing children or pets, tragedies and fundraisers all the time.

This is because Facebook has the means to reach more people due to the wide audience it has. Share positive information unless otherwise needed.

Next time you log into Facebook think about what you use it for. Do a Friends list sweep if you need to, because sometimes it’s for the best. Use Facebook for what it is, which is a platform to connect with friends and family from all over the world at any time of the day.

washburnreview.org

BODS ON THE BLOCK

By Yue Li

What does self-care mean to you?

Tupki Alanazi Biology Freshman “Play some sports. I play volleyball and soccer.”

Opinion: Love is love, it does not define me DeyJa Cardenas Washburn Review deyja.cardenas@washburn.edu

I never really had a defining moment. I just always knew.

When I was younger, my sister and I would stay at my grandpa’s house while my mom worked. One summer morning, in the middle of a PBS Kids episode, I turned to my grandpa and I told him, “I like girls, too, grandpa.”

Without emotion, he said “I know.” We continued eating our duros. Later that week I told my mom while helping her put groceries on the belt, “Mom, I like girls, too.” She simply said “We know baby girl.”

When I finally began my sexual identity journey, I first identified as bisexual until I was 13 when I started discussing with classmates and professors. I went to an open school, which was a non-traditional alternative middle school. The school encouraged youth self-identity. It was when I was attending there that I realized my sexuality was

pansexual. The way I described pansexual to my grandpa was that I am not limited to just men and women. I’m attracted to someone solely because they are attractive to me without sexuality bias. I realized this because I was dating one of my best friends at the time who was a homosexual male. We broke up when we switched schools and I dated one of my first girlfriends shortly after.

When people ask me “what is it like to be pansexual?” I just say “I have more options.”

A common misconception is that people who identify as pansexual don’t have standards, but I do. I have morals, values and expectations. I am fairly picky when choosing a partner. When I do have a partner, the biggest struggle I have faced in my relationships was due to stereotypes. Some of my relationships have failed due to the insecurities that my partners will develop in relation to an assumption or stereotype regarding traits in my sexuality. Common arguments I have had with partners is that they assume that I will be

attracted to anyone and everyone.

Another assumption made about me in my previous relationships is “oh you like girls too, lets have a threesome.” This one is very irritating because even though my sexuality is open, I do enjoy monogamy. After some of my close heterosexual friends have experienced a heartbreak, they will say “I’ll just date girls.” I have experienced being cheated on, lied to and played by both men and women. There is no difference.

One thing I would like my daughter to know while she grows up and develops her sexual identity is that love is love. You will find love wherever and with whoever you find it. I want you to experience all types of love, whatever type of love is the right fit for you. Love helps us grow, change and learn. I will always accept, love and cherish you the way that I hope that you will accept, cherish and love yourself. Take pride in who you are.

My sexuality does not define who I am, it is only a slice of what makes me who I am.

CONFIDENTIAL ADVICE Dear Smalls, I work on campus too, what do you think of your campus job?

-Heathe Dear Heathe, I honestly love my job, I love helping people and I love writing, The Washburn Review has given me that opportunity to utilize both things I love. Granted, I don’t always agree with what my leaders say, but I respect every individual on my team. However, my leaders always ask for the employee opinions and input to help make our experience more enjoyable. They are very understanding and lenient with my life outside of work.

I love my job. If you don’t, I recommend communicating your concerns with your leaders. The problem can not be fixed if it is not approached.

Best, Smalls

James Streder Computer Science Senior “As far as fitness, I’d say working out and taking care of my body. Try to eat healthy food and not fast food all the time.”

Ask Smalls, the ‘know-it-all’ Ichabod Dear Smalls, I have recently heard positive things about dating apps, such as; people are using it to meet friends and connecting. I am new to Topeka, I recently transferred from KU, I’m just afraid that if I create a Tinder, I will receive a bunch of unwanted explicit images, do you know if that’s true?

-Kandy

Dear Smalls, I recently started working out at Colaw fitness and the fitness trainer there recommended that I start on protein shakes. I said of course I’ll start, but I can’t afford protein. Is there any way that I can weight train without drinking protein shakes?

Dear Kandy, It’s rather ironic that I’ve stumbled across this question, my best friend and I were just discussing this. We met someone from our friend group through my friend’s Tinder. I would say, I have fiddled with her Tinder because I was curious about the same question, scrolling through, I noticed that I saw a handful of familiar faces, simply looking for people to hang out with or expand their social circle. I’d have to say, there will be a handful of weirdos on any social media, I think that if you use your Tinder in moderation and respectfully, with clarification that you are only looking for friends, you shouldn’t have to hard of a time.

However, personally, I don’t recommend any social media. I think social media is toxic and time consuming.

Dear Pounds, I am not qualified to evaluate or recommend anything to you; however, I am aware that protein is expensive, I am going to recommend you to this store in Topeka that has saved my expensive lifestyle choices a few times.

Essentially the store sells brand new items, of all kind, half of the retail price. The store is called RJ’s Discount and the address is 3737 SW South Park Ave, Topeka, KS 66606.

Another thing I would recommend is heading over to the rec and asking if they can have a fitness trainer meet with you in private to evaluate you and determine a meal plan!

Keep in mind, you’re not the only one who is in college with college money struggles.

Be safe, Smalls

Jonah Hoertel Psychology Freshman “Try to take steps to better yourself and your lifestyle. I try to take more time to enjoy the things around me.”

-Pounds

Keep it up, Smalls

Mary Andrade History Junior “Doing things that make you happy, just to do it. I like to watch my favorite movie and drink some tea.”

ARTS & LIVING

April 17, 2019

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photos by Samuel Cox

A plethora of colors: Tulips come in a variety of beautiful colors and often change as the blooming season continues. Highly dependent on the weather, tulips only bloom for a few weeks before laying dormant the rest of the year.

All are welcome: Thousands visit Lake Shawnee every year for their beautiful landscape and amazing walking trails that encircle the lake. Good boys, like Tucker, love to see the bright colors and smell the sweet scents provided at all locations for Tulip Time.

Tulip Time Festival says hello to spring Matt Self

Washburn Review matt.self@washburn.edu

To celebrate the arrival of spring, here in Topeka, the Shawnee County Parks and Recreational department is featuring Tulip Time in three exclusive garden locations within the city.

Each of these gardens will be home to thousands of tulips in a variety of colors that make for unique and beautiful displays. The scent and sight of these flowers have attracted hundreds to Topeka every year since the event was started thirty years ago in the backyard of Jerold Binkley.

For years, Binkley shared his home gardens, which he managed with the help of his wife, Joan, with

the public. He desired to expand his love of gardening to create an ongoing, countrywide event called Tulip Time. Binkley unfortunately passed away last year, but he did so knowing that his event will live on as an established springtime event in Shawnee County.

Tulip Time will last from April 5 to April 22 and will feature over 100,000 tulips in the gardens of Ted Ensley Gardens at Lake Shawnee, Old Prairie Town/Ward-Meade Botanical Garden, the Doran Rock Garden and flower beds in Gage Park. Two special events, Tulip Time Festival and Tulips at Twilight, will also take place.

The Tulip Time Festival is held at the lake location in Ted Ensley Gardens and features more than just

flowers every year. Classic cars, food trucks, photography and musical performances can all be found at the festival.

Tulips at Twilight is an ongoing event within Tulip Time that takes place at Ward-Meade Park. The event draws in families and romantic couples every year who wish to gaze upon the forty thousand tulips that are illuminated by candle light and other lighted displays. There will be 30 lighted displays this year, as well as a 15-foot tall illuminated tulip and enormous illuminated flowers along candlelit pathways.

The event will be available every Friday and Saturday evening from 6 to 10 p.m. Admission to the event is $5 with children under five getting in for free.

Mike McLaughlin, the communications and public information supervisor for the event, said that Tulip Time never fails to draw in a crowd.

“Tulip Time draws in about sixty thousand people from 86 cities in 30 states and five foreign countries.

We’ve had people from across the states attend in the past along with visitors from the United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, India and Puerto Rico,” McLaughlin said.

Each display at the gardens is carefully planned and planted by experts who keep Binkley’s dream going strong. One such expert, Traci Podlena, the lead horticulturist this year, has spent much of her life planting flowers and personally enjoys helping to plant the gardens.

“I helped plant the tulips at Ted Ensley Gardens and Duran Rock Gardens. We planted the bulbs in October last year,” Podlena said.

“We’ve got some different geometric designs and did some hearts this year with the tulips.”

Once the blooming season for the tulips is over, the bulbs will be removed from the gardens and sold to the public. The dates for the sale are contingent upon when the tulips bloom this year.

Tulip Time is possible every year due to the efforts of people like McLaughlin and Podlena. They are assisted by a team of volunteers from various businesses around Topeka including Reser’s, Target, Mars, the Friends of Ted Ensley Gardens and the Friends of Ward Meade.

Hayden High School’s Mock Trial team makes history Yue Li

Washburn Review yue.li@washburn.edu

A first-year program, Hayden High School’s Mock Trial team made history as the first Topeka high school to be competing at Mock Trial nationals in over 20 years.

During their rookie season, Hayden’s Mock Trial team placed second at regionals and then second at the state competition. However, the first-place team declined going to nationals. Thus, Hayden was chosen to attend the 2019 National High School Mock Trail Championship in Athens, Georgia.

Two of the three coaches are current Washburn students. Caleb Soliday, junior political science major, and Michaela Webb, senior communications major, were members of Washburn’s Mock Trial team and served as co-captains.

Soliday and Webb served as the President and Vice President, respectively, of Washburn Mock Trial for the 2018-2019 school year. There were two teams this year. Soliday was the captain for one, and Webb was the captain for the other.

Webb became interested in mock trials after attending a camp hosted by Washburn when she was a junior in high school. After transferring to Washburn from Butler County Community College, Webb reached out to

Danielle Hall, director of mock trials and adjunct professor of communication studies, to try out for the team.

Soliday has been involved with mock trials since he was a freshman in high school.

He continued to compete as a college student once he came to Washburn. This year marks his seventh year doing mock trials.

A mock trial is a combination of debate and forensics with theater. Each year, the Mock Trial team is presented with a case of 150 pages and documents that they must study and organize. Part of this process includes sorting facts, creating arguments, adding theatrical components and assigning roles to each of the six members on the team.

“Basically, we get a case and analyze it.

You’re given witnesses, and you put together your own case design like how you would present it in an actual courtroom. We do both prosecution and defense,” said Webb. “The best way to explain it is that it’s just a mock of a courtroom setting… So you get experience in the courtroom and how to try a case.”

Three of the members will role play as witnesses and the other three act as the attorneys.

“For the witness roles, we get to become a character and really play it out. My most memorable role was I was Detective Murdock Nichols, and so I did a New York accent. It was just really fun, and I also got a lot of awards for it,” Soliday said.

Going into each competition, teams are unaware of which side of the case they will be arguing. The Mock Trial team must be prepared to argue both sides. At the invitationals and tournaments, the team is assessed both as a team and individually.

Washburn’s Mock Trial season lasts from August until February, when regionals take place. The top five teams at regionals will then compete at state, where the top five teams in the state go on to nationals.

High school mock trials begins in January and goes until regionals in February. If the team places top three at the regional competition, then they compete at state in March.

The first place team at state advances to the national competition.

Soliday met Travis Lamb, the mock trial coach of Hayden High School, last year when he was judging the high school state mock trial competition. Soliday offered to help Lamb, an alumni of Washburn Law, with the firstyear program at Hayden. Soliday then asked Webb to come to the high school team’s first practice with him. The dynamic duo then became coaches for Hayden after being officially asked by Lamb.

Soliday and Webb had to teach the Hayden mock trial team about the different components of Mock Trial. As a first-year program, none of the students had experience. Each week, Soliday and Webb spent about three

weekday mornings, and sometimes afternoons, working with the team.

“Now, preparing for nationals, it’s a lot more time and dedication because they only have a month until we leave for Georgia.

They have a lot going on and so do we [Soliday and Webb], so we’re trying to put in as much time as we can to get them prepared,” said Webb.

Being a part of the Mock Trial team teaches you about public speaking, organization and professionalism. While it is beneficial for those wanting to attend law school, anybody can join the team.

The parents of a student on Hayden’s team talked to Webb about her impact on their son.

The parents told Webb that their son wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but joining the Mock Trial team helped him find his interest in law.

“That’s always a good thing to hear,” said Webb. “It was more directed towards Caleb and I about how we just fuel their passion for law and really get them interested in all of that. It’s a rewarding experience, for sure.”

The Hayden High School Mock Trial team will compete at the national competition May 16 to May 18 in Athens, Georgia.

Soliday and Webb are fundraising to attend the national competition with their students.

Visit their GoFundMe at gf.me/u/r3sjf6.

photo courtesy of flickr.com

Nationals or bust: The Hayden High School team placed second at regionals and second at state competition as a first-year program. The coaches and team head to Athens, Georgia, on May 16 for the national tournament.

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ARTS & LIVING

washburnreview.org

Sticks and Stones: Discussion of the power of words Kodee Christensen

Washburn Review kodee.christensen@washburn.edu

Words will sometimes hurt.

On Thursday April 4, the Rita Blitt Gallery hosted a discussion on free speech titled Sticks and Stones: The Power of Words, What Can Be Said, What Should be Said and What is Really Prohibited with Professor Jeffrey Jackson, Marc Fried and Laura Bond from ACLU Kansas. The panel discussion was overseen by Kelly Erby as an installment of WU-mester, this semester’s topic being Freedom of Speech and Expression.

The panel began with opening statements from each of the three members on their knowledge of freedom of speech based on their respected careers and expertise.

“There is no concept of hate speech in the first amendment,” began Jackson. “This makes regulating hate speech somewhat problematic. When you think about how the constitution handles speech, we’re talking about two different things. One: what is that particular type of speech and, two: what about the venue in which that speech is taking place.”

Fried and Bond shared similar sentiments in generalizing that freedom of speech was not intended to protect hate speech, but each judgement of hate speech is situationally dependent.

Fried, being on the University Counsel, has heard voices from community and campus members about wanting to include offensive speech as hate speech. He offers the

point that offense is decided by the person offended.

“If we’re consistent with how sexual harassment and other forms of harassment work, it’s not that the person who said it intended for it to be hateful or offensive, it’s how the person who heard it interpreted it,” said Fried.

“The ACLU as an organization has always had a singular view of free speech,” said Bond, “and that’s that it should be restricted as little as possible. That’s derived from Justice Brandeis’ case called Whitney v. California. Essentially he said that the remedy for hate speech, or bad speech, is more speech.

If you let good speech and bad speech get in the same space, the good speech will beat that out.”

After opening statements, the discussion opened to a question and answer session.

An audience of over fifty students, staff and community members gathered in the gallery to add to and gain from the discussion.

Topics brought up in further discussion included subjects such as Title IX, limitations on content in the classroom, fighting words, differences between freedom of speech at public and private schools, recent related events, protecting first amendment rights of students and several more.

The next WU-mester event will be Monday April 8 at 1 p.m., also in the Rita Blitt Gallery located in White Concert Hall. The discussion will be over freedom of press in Indian countries. Be sure to attend to be a part of this important ongoing discussion of freedom of speech.

photos by Kodee Christensen

Classroom discussion: The audience asked the question of how, if at all, free speech is limited in the classroom. The panel told faculty that the content discussed in the classroom can be limited, but for the most part, discussion in response to that content is open-ended while elements of respect can be employed.

Panel of expertise: Panel members (left to right) Laura Bond, Marc Fried and Jeffrey Jackson made up the panel of experts during the Sticks and Stones question and answer session on free speech. Laura Bond is the legal director and interim executive director of ACLU KS, Marc Fried is the Board of Regents Secretary and a member of University Counsel and Jeffrey Jackson is a Washburn School of Law Professor.

Recent events: Melissa Posey asks a question regarding the recent discussions of controversial guest speakers on campus, specifically Ben Shapiro and Collin Kaepernick. Panel member Marc Fried said that, while he claimed to have limited knowledge of either situations, to that knowledge he did not believe that anyone from the university said that they [Shapiro or Kaepernick] could not come speak on campus because of what they were speaking on.

Thoughtful questions: Many staff and students gathered to listen to the panel and gain some insight into free speech on campus.

Standing up and speaking up: One word of advice given by panel member Kara Kendell Morwick was to speak more. When we speak up over the bad speech with good speech, good speech is often louder.

April 17, 2019

FEATURES

‘Art for Thought’ Union gallery Mingzhu Zhu

Washburn Review mingzhu.zhu@washburn.edu

An “Art for Thought” exhibition featuring Sexual Assault Awareness Month, partnering with Counseling Services, is being presented through Thursday, April 18 at the Memorial Union. It features art and poetry by Michaela Butterworth, a mixed media artist, and Dennis Etzel Jr., an English professor at Washburn.

“We need to build a campus of consent,” said Etzel. “As a collective humanity, we need to stop all forms of oppression.”

Every April, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center coordinates the national Sexual Assault Awareness Month campaign.

It aims to raise public awareness about sexual violence and educate communities on how to prevent. The campaign theme, “I Ask,” champions the message that asking for consent is a healthy, normal and necessary part of everyday interactions, according to NSVRC. Lindavista Benitez, a freshman history secondary education major, watched the exhibition as she went by the union.

“Many people don’t understand what sexual harassment is or know much about it,” said Benitez. “At first, I didn’t know much about it until I learned about it more, and it gave me more awareness that this happens on a daily basis here, at work, and outside.”

The exhibition presents many studies and statistics about sexual assault. Sexual assault can happen in homes or a public area. 63 percent of sexual assaults occur at the home of the victim and 18 percent in public areas.

Only 15 percent of victims report to police and one in ten perpetrators are convicted.

According to NSVRC, one in two women and one in five men have experienced sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime. One in five women have experienced completed or attempted rape in their lives and 41 percent of women reported experiencing physically aggressive street harassment. One in six boys are sexually abused before age 16.

Among college women, nine out of ten victims of sexual assault knew the person who sexually assaulted them.

“Statistically, one out of four women in college will be sexually assaulted,” said Et-

zel. “That means we are all effected by this horror that we know someone who has survived even though we don’t know they have survived.”

Michaela Butterworth’s art works are also presented at the exhibition, including an art piece “Handmade with Love.” Butterworth is an Australian mixed media artist living in Topeka, Kansas. She works as an instructional designer and facilitator for the Department of Revenue. She’s an advocate for survivors of domestic violence, sexual abuse, human trafficking, child abuse and narcissistic personality disorder abuse.

People who walk by the exhibition can feel free to take a copy of the book “Ichabods Speak Out,” which was created by different departments in Washburn and edited by Dennis Etzel, Jr. and Jericho Hockett, a professor of psychology. It’s a collection of poems that speaks up and out against sexual assault for publishing consideration.

Etzel is also a TALK Scholar for the Kansas Humanities Council and he leads poetry workshops in various Kansas spaces.

“Speaking about it and against it shows people who have survived that they are not alone,” said Etzel. “It also shows others this is a serious epidemic.”

Be aware: April is the National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The “Art for Thought” exhibition featured art and poetry against sexual assault.

First Friday Artwalk gives Topekans something to do

photo courtesy of GoTopeka.com

Get down on Friday: On the first Friday of every month, North Topeka turns into a hub of entertainment. As a way to support local businesses, Topeka began this initiative in 2010.

Mingzhu Zhu

Washburn Review mingzhu.zhu@washburn.edu

The First Friday Artwalk is an event that arts connect puts on that takes place in the city of Topeka and is held on the first Friday of the three months of March, April and May. This city-wide event gives local artists a chance to display their art in businesses all over the city. The day is filled with art, live music, food and drinks from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The event takes place in downtown Topeka, Westboro, Brookwood and north Topeka, also known as NOTO. One of the most popular sections for First Friday takes place in the up-and-coming arts district of NOTO. In this district there are 18 different local businesses that participate in the artwalk. Each of those businesses work directly with different local artists and give them the opportunity to set up and display a gallery.

The event itself is substantial in stirring up business and foot traffic for the local business owners. DeAna Morrison, owner of aMUSEd Gallery, talked about how she gets in contact with local artists for her gallery.

“I’ll have an application process for anyone that wants to come in, and after that I’ll have a call for art and let people come in and be a part of certain themes.” Morrison said.

Each month the theme for the art walk changes, for the month of April the theme was “Light it up blue,” however, most businesses follow the themes lightly.

BODS ON THE BLOCK

“It’s just a matter of putting in an application. This month we have eight different featured artists,” Morrison said.

Jennifer Bohlander, owner of Matryoshka Tattoo, actually moved to NOTO because she initially started to show her artwork there.

“I started showing work down here [NOTO], and I said to myself ‘I want to be a part of this’,” said Bohlander.

After she decided to open up her tattoo shop in NOTO, she packed up all her things and moved there as well. Bohlander also explained how the first Friday artwalk can make or break a business in NOTO. “For some of these smaller businesses, first Friday is do or die for them. First Friday really helps these smaller businesses,” said Bohlander.

Business for these local businesses really ramps up as a result of the artwalk by helping and displaying local art, in turn the businesses gets more customers in their store.

Bohlander also owns a restaurant across from her tattoo shop with her husband.

It quickly became evident that the business owners that participated in the first Friday walk cared a lot about their community of NOTO and especially local art. Every business owner left me with the phrase “enjoy your time here” and a suggestion to which local business I should visit next. There was undeniable passion for the ever-growing area, the community and giving local artists an opportunity to be seen.

By Nick Solomon

What is the best genre of music?

Lydia Vincent Junior Social work “I don’t think that one genre of music is necessarily better than any other, because it’s totally subjective. I listen to everything pretty much.”

Randee Wisdom Freshman Education

photo by Mingzhu Zhu

7

“I think that everyone should give every genre a fair chance because there is going to be at least, probably, one song you like within every genre.”

Yash Chitrakar Junior Literature “I have plenty. It depends on my mood but I do listen to a lot of rock, funk, indie, rap. It’s hard to choose, especially because there’s so much variation within one category.”

Kate Salmonsen Senior Nursing “Pop, today’s hits, because it keeps me going.”

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FEATURES

washburnreview.org

Washburn Clarinet Studio Recital: Showcasing musical talents Mingzhu Zhu

Washburn Review mingzhu.zhu@washburn.edu

Washburn University Clarinet Studio Recital featured students’ performances at 6 p.m. on April 4 at Carole Chapel. The recital was put on by the clarinet studio and the Department of Music. Karen Benda, lecturer of Clarinet, helped organize the recital with pianist Cathy Altman as the accompanist.

Victoria McManus, senior music education major, was one of the students who performed at the recital.

“It’s so much fun,” said McManus. “The best part of this major is being able to perform and share the music with everyone else.”

Elizabeth Fleischman, freshman music performance major, was one of the student performers.

“In our preparation, we learned what do we need to do more, what do we not need to do,” said Fleischman.

The recital began with Benda’s introduction.

“Both majors, minors and non-majors, everyone taking lessons gets ready to perform,” said Benda. “Our Clarinet Studio Recital is where we get an exposure of playing before we go and do this as an exam at the end of the semester.”

Eight students, all taking clarinet classes, showcased their clarinet skills at the recital.

“Being able to perform with others takes a bit of the edge of anxiety off, especially for the younger students in the studio,” said McManus.

Danielle McEathron performed Nocturne

by Luigi Bassi (1833 – 1871). Emili Folster played Concerto No. 10 in B-flat major, Andante Sostenuto by Carl Stamitz (1745 – 1801). Max Ashworth presented Sonata OP. 167, Allegretto by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921). Victoria McManus performed Concertino in D minor by Lerroy Ostran-

photo by Mingzhu Zhu

Talented clarinets: The Clarinet Studio Recital is presented each semester. Eight students performed at the recital.

sky (1918 – 1993). Dakota Jeter performed Fantasy for Solo Clarinet by Malcolm Arnold (1921 – 2006). Shelby Castor played La Clemenza di Tit: Parto, Parto K. 621 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791).

Elizabeth Fleischman performed Sonata Op. 167, Allegretto, Allegro animato by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 – 1921). Kristina Hernandez performed Fantasy by Philippe Gaubert (1879 – 1941).

“This is probably three months worth of work for the basic clarinet piece,” said McManus. “This [performance] is one of my

better ones. It’s my last one so it’s the better one.”

The Clarinet Studio Recital takes place toward the end of each semester to show students’ skills. It’s for upper level clarinet classes. It’s often in mid-April, but this year it was a bit early. In the fall semester, it’s usually in November.

“I know myself and Dakota are both performance majors. We’ll go on probably to a master’s program,” said Fleischman. “This also will help us to prepare something and present something.”

The clarinet studio at Washburn has much to offer students in their musical journey. The Department of Music offers performing opportunities in the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, University Band and numerous chamber music ensembles including the Clarinet Ensemble.

“For me, this recital was an extra performance to play for a crowd before I am tested on my ability to perform a recital at the end of this month,” said McManus.

Miku Motoi’s interactive art project brings people together Kodee Christensen

Washburn Review kodee.christensen@washburn.edu

Oh, the places we’ve been.

Senior Japanese international student Miku Motoi took an interesting approach to the interactive sculpture assignment for her Advanced Sculpture class with Benjamin Wills.

Motoi’s project is just one of several interactive sculptures that have made their presence on campus and some still to come.

“This course explores several different methods of how to create art and the differences between a contribution and a collaboration,” said Wills. “All of the students in the class are making artwork that, in order to be successful, needs to interact with all members of the class. Each student has a different week for their project, and we’ve seen some crazy cool ones so far.”

Among the student-made projects that have taken place so far are the “Hello I am” sidewalk chalk sculpture, a quilt, animated paintings and performances.

Motoi decided to take her project beyond just her classmates and is trying to interact with the entire campus. Her sculpture is a hand-painted world map on a presentation-style board she built with the help of Wills. She brought some sharpies and sticker dots with her and began wheeling the structure around campus asking people to mark the places they’ve been with a sticker and their name or initials. Motoi said that the project

took her about three hours to create.

“I thought it would be cool if the smallest person makes the biggest piece and I’ve been to a lot of countries, so I thought it would be fun to see where everyone else has been,” said Motoi. “My goal is to create a large colorful model showing where people have travelled to. I want to get everyone from campus [to participate], and I’m trying.”

A group of people gathered around Motoi’s sculpture to see what was going on and then were excited to pick a sticker or a few to mark where they had been. Motoi’s project is a great example of how our differences can bring us together. People from several different countries were participating in the project and got to interact with each other as they did.

Five continents have been represented So far with large portions of people adding their dots to Europe and Southeast Asia.

“I’m surprised by how many people haven’t been to other countries but it’s cool to see where they have gone,” said Motoi. “There are a few that have been to Russia and Australia.”

Motoi will be walking around campus again next Wednesday so that more people can contribute to the sculpture. She hopes to keep adding to the piece and use it in her senior exhibit next semester. If you’re out and about on Wednesday, keep an eye out for Motoi and her rolling sculpture so that you can add your dots to the places you’ve been to on the map and become a part of this interactive piece of art.

photo by Cody Dannar

Dot-to-dot: Senior Miku Motoi’s sculpture shows the places that many Washburn students and community members have traveled. Motoi decided to take her project beyond the classroom.

photo by Kodee Christensen

Make your mark: A Washburn student smiles as she places her sticker on Asia. A visual representation of all the places we’ve been to is a creative way to look back on experiences and history.

photo by Kodee Christensen

Tiny but mighty: Senior Miku Motoi stands in front of her art project as someone adds their name to the sculpture. Motoi jokes that, as the smallest person in her class, she wanted to create the biggest sculpture.

photo by Kodee Christensen

Give me a boost: A kid is lifted to reach the map so that he can place his sticker on the sculpture of the world. People of all ages, nationalities and affiliations with Washburn wanted to help Motoi with her project.

April 17, 2019

FEATURES

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photo courtesy of Warner Brothers

DC’s best: Without a doubt, “Shazam!” is one of the most enjoyable superhero films I have seen in recent memory, let alone the best DC film since the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy. Pictured is Zachary Levi as Billy Batson’s alter ego, Shazam.

‘Shazam!’: A breath of fresh air from the DC Universe

Nick Solomon

Washburn Review nicholas.solomon@washburn.edu

I will just get it out of the way, “Shazam!” is one of the most refreshing and well done superhero films in years. Out of all places, DC finally managing, in my opinion, to one up Marvel is one thing I thought I wouldn’t see in a very long time but they did it.

Directed by David F. Sandberg, “Shazam!” is about Billy Batson, an orphaned street kid that is given the power to switch into an adult male with a variety of superpowers, such as the usual super strength, flying and some other more unique things. Portraying Billy is Asher

Angel with his alter ego of Shazam being portrayed by Zachary Levi.

The two are joined by Freddy (Jack Dylan Glazer), one of Billy’s foster siblings, as well as Grace Fulton, Faithe Herman and Ian Chen with Mark Strong portraying the villain, Dr. Sivana.

The thing that stands out immediately, and what sets the film apart, is its willingness to be stand-alone, as well as the positivity and wonder the film possesses. While other DC universe-isms are just part of the background and those being in the same universe are touched upon, it is a very tenuous connection at best, and leads to a more free feeling experience. The film is surrounded by a sense that it is not bound to some

grand profit-based plan that lasts until the writers get themselves into a corner, or people stop seeing the movies, and its purpose is just to be a fun, well done film.

When I say it gives a sense of wonder and positivity, the best, most apt comparison I have seen is that it evokes the same emotion as the classic Christopher Reeve/ Richard Donner ‘Superman’ films.

This is achieved through the protagonist, a positive message and a kid-oriented storyline that works.

Usually kid-oriented storylines lead to near constant cringing from older folks, but this was so balanced and well done that it was miles more than only tolerable.

The core characters and cast are

what make this film work so well. It is validating to see Levi in a huge, successful role, as a huge fan of his series “Chuck” since elementary school, and he is perfectly cast as a kid in a superhero’s body. While there is the unrealistic trope presented of a young boy refusing to accept that he is the “chosen one,” it sort of works for Billy’s character, and Shazam basically acts like a kid would act in an adult body that happens to have super powers, and Levi pulls it off incredibly well.

Dr. Sivana is a very well-done villain. He has what all great villains possess, a sense of relatability and connection that the average Joe can connect with, but he deals with it in not the most acceptable way. If

Billy gives into the power fantasy in a positive, if-flawed teenage boy way, Sivana uses it in a negative way, but there is an understanding that makes him a strong character.

He is also given a combination of cartoonish villain traits that makes him an even more interesting mixture of a character.

In case you didn’t already see, I absolutely recommend “Shazam!”

It is a breath of fresh air, and saying it’s simply an average “superhero movie” with the contemporary connotation that has, would be a huge disservice. It evokes the feeling of a classic superhero film, and has to be one of my favorite comic book films ever made.

‘Missing Link’: Visually impressive claymation simply misses the mark Samuel Cox Washburn Review samuel.cox@washburn.edu

A light hearted take on the linear evolution of ape to man.

Hugh Jackman (Sir Lionel Frost), Zoe Saldana (Adelina Fortnight) and Zac Galifinakis (Mr. Link) star in claymation about an adventurer and a sasquatch in search for acceptance.

Laika Animation Studios has released widely loved films such as “Coraline,” “Corpse Bride” and “The Boxtrolls.” Along with Director Chris Butler, best known for “ParaNorman” and “Kubo and the Two Strings,” adds to his porfolio with “Missing Link.”

“I wanted to set it up like it was this old, classic Hollywood romantic adventure story,” said Butler in an interview with Polygon.

“Whenever I’m writing anything, I like to play in very well-established genres.

I like to walk well-trodden paths, if you like, but I do like to try and do

a little subversion because that’s the joy of telling stories, is that you put your own spin on it.”

Missing Link draws from a treasure trove of classic themes. It’s an adventure story set in the Victorian times, but it’s also an impressively self-aware, updated piece. Each character, breaks the mold of typical 19th century’s moral rigidity, priggishness, and prudery.

The vilains are the Aristocracy, those men who tell tall tails of their days as young adventurers and remain stuck in their ways when hearing the prospective adventures that may await Sir Lionel Frost.

Frost hopes to obtain living proof of the missing link between ape and man showing a link to our past, a connection to our present and a bridge to the future. This would be the greatest discovery of the century and surely give Frost the recognition he deserves.

Mr. Link, pretending to be a child from the U.S., writes Frost requesting that he come to Washington State to discover the ever-illusive sasquatch.

Together they travel across the globe to a place where not only Frost can gain fame, but Mr. Link can find his long-lost family.

It’s fitting the evolutionary ladder be made with stop-motion animation, the painstaking process by which models and puppets are photographed to create the illusion of movement. In form and content, it’s a movie about fighting obsolescence. The perfection of the com would not provide its viewers the same imaginative experience that filled the screen with “Missing Link.”

The characters are lovable and the score sets the movie apart.

Unfortunately, the climax of the film was never reached and I was left wanting more.

The trailer and promotional videos released had me waiting to go to the theater and watch what looked like a great movie for everyone. With amazing effects and story lines following Jackman and Saldana. With the energetic hilarity and mischief Galifinakis brings to the film set, it seemed an impossible miss, but indeed it was.

Not one time did I release an audible laugh. Occasionally I laughed at the brief moments I had already seen in the trailer, but beyond that it was nothing more than average.

The storyline builds to such potential in the final act, but like the lackluster comedy, it leaves the majority of viewers unfulfilled and frustrated.

I am not dissapointed in going to see the film, but I am dissapointed with the amount of time and money that went into the making of this film and the result was just average.

This movie launched last week and sits in 9th place at the box office with an estimated $5.8 million. This is the weakest launch ever for a film on more than 3,200 screens. I believe it is due to the dissapointment relayed by its critics like myself.

I give this film 3 out of 5 top hats just for the masterpiece that is claymation.

photo courtesy of polygon.com

‘Skyrim’ streamlined: While still very much a mobile game with an annoying paywall, “Blades” is not without merit. Pictured is the player about to dispatch an enemy in one of the game’s dungeons.

‘The Elder Scrolls: Blades’ An inconsistently fun grind

Nick Solomon

Washburn Review nicholas.solomon@washburn.edu

After the release of “Skyrim” in 2011, Bethesda has slowly lost touch with fans. “Fallout 4,” while a good game, by no means lived up to the Fallout standard, “Fallout 76” being utter garbage, and it comes as no surprise that they have decided to release a free mobile game to make more money.

The game has merit, but unfortunately with some all too common trade offs that will turn off many players.

This comes in the form of “Elder Scrolls: Blades,” developed and published by Bethesda. It takes place in a setting somewhere between the high fantasy setting “Oblivion” had with Cyrodill, and the more Nordic “Skyrim,” and you play as an unnamed “Blade,” a member of some special force of warriors.

Blades has three core modes.

There is the main mode, town. The basic gist is that you have a home base that needs repair and upgrade, and so you must go to various places to collect materials to fix up your settlement. There is also abyss, a roguelike die and start all over mode, as well as a multiplayer mode. I have yet to unlock the multiplayer, abyss offers a nice change of pace from town.

This is all an actually refreshing loop rather than not. Rather than being the usual strategy type mo-

bile game, it has a first person perspective. Don’t be mistaken, you won’t be using an Uzi 9 millimeter or a 40-watt plasma rifle, you’ll be using melee weapons like swords, shields as well as magic and ranged weapons.The basic loop of the game’s combat is going from enemy to enemy, slashing at them, and going through various dungeons, to find the materials. There is also the much needed leveling system with skills entwined as well.

There are some immediate issues. The movement is extremely floaty and uncomfortable, and the combat’s hit detection is extremely wonky. There are also time barriers placed in artificially to make you pay to progress. This is how it works, the chests you find have time countdowns to actually get the chests open. Those range for hours on end, and it leads to gameplay that is so slow and annoying, especially for impatient folks like me that want instant gratification. It doesn’t help that the only alternative is to pay to instantly unlock them. While it is a fair trade off for a free-to-play game, it still is annoying, however Bethesda already lowered the time countdown a few hours.

Overall, “Blades” is much more accessible and interesting than I expected it to be. There are so many free-to-play shovelware games that are so much worse, and while the gameplay is just as repetitive as other free-to-play mobile games out there, fun can be had in Blades, preferably in short bursts.

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SPORTS

washburnreview.org

Student-athlete leads Xavier De Leon nationally ranking team providing spark for WU baseball Seth Burdick Washburn Review seth.burdick@washburn.edu

If you have not noticed yet, the Ichabod tennis team is performing exceptionally well. So well in fact that they have jumped all the way up the national rankings to the number 6 spot after putting up an 18-1 record. Helping lead the charge for the nationally ranked tennis team is senior, Makenna Gonzales. Before attending Washburn and playing tennis, she attended Arkansas City High School here in Kansas where she gained her love of tennis, even though it was not a hub of tennis.

“We did not really have a country club for tennis, so it really was not much tennis there except for high school tennis.

Growing up in Ark City [Arkansas City] was good. It was small, so there was not all that much to do,” Gonzales said.

Before she came to Washburn to play tennis, she and her best friend, senior Ally Burr, were playing tennis together all the way back in elementary school.

Since then, they have never been separated from each other.

“Makenna is one of my best friends, we’ve played together since we were in elementary school. She is loyal and extremely hardworking. Honestly, just the trust that I have in her and knowing that she will always be there for me no matter what it might be; tough weights, not hitting well or something else. We always have something to laugh about and it makes my career here so much better to have played with her,” Burr said.

Tennis has been in Gonzales’ blood since she was young. After playing tennis for so long, tennis becomes more about the people you are with than yourself.

“I love the team aspect of tennis. I love cheering everyone on and that kind of stuff,” Gonzales said.

Like the recent NCAA student-athlete commercials have shown, outside of school and tennis there is not much free

time for Gonzales these days.

“I just started nursing school actually, so I still have three more semesters of that after I get done with this semester,” Gonzales said.

Once Gonzales finishes up her degree, she is not sure exactly what she wants to do moving forward.

“I might keep going to school to get my masters, but I’m not really sure if I’m going to do that or not yet. Then, hopefully get a job somewhere,” Gonzales said.

Even though tennis has been able to take Gonzales all over the country, she wants to see more than just the United States.

“I would love to travel. I would love to go to Spain. I want to go skydiving,” said Gonzales.

Being in a sport for more than ten years can make you learn a thing or two. For Gonzales she has learned to never stop.

“I’ve learned in tennis that you should never give up no matter what, because there’s always a chance for you to come back,” Gonzales said.

photo by Seth Burdick

Hit it: Senior MaKenna Gonzales winds up to smash the tennis ball. Gonzales and Co. have won the MIAA Championship for tennis.

Javis Larson finds his fit at WU Seth Burdick Washburn Review seth.burdick@washburn.edu

As the spring season for baseball is underway, the Ichabods have recorded a record of 8-13. Helping lead the Ichabods this season is senior outfielder Javis Larson. Larson has led the team on the year with a .333 batting average.

Before having a standout season for the Ichabods, Larson grew up in the beautiful state of Colorado. While the mountains added a nice back drop to look at, as Larson said, the competition was not as good as the scenery.

“Growing up in Colorado was awesome. You got the mountains there and tons of things to do. So that was kind of nice,” Larson said. “In high school, competition was not that great. Playing on the travel ball team during the summer opens your eyes up to better competition and better players from different states.”

While he loved playing baseball at the club level, he wanted to continue to play in college. That choice led him to a community college.

“I originally went to Butler Community College in El Dorado. I started there and the coaches kind of hooked me up with Coach [Harley] Douglas,” Larson said.

While Larson did not choose to come to Washburn to start his collegiate career, Douglas is happy that he is here now.

“Javis is a competitor and you know what you are going to get from him every time out,” Douglas said. “He plays the game with passion and a desire to be the best he can.”

That passion is what has driven Larson this far in his career.

“The competition is always a key factor. The team aspect is always a plus.

Then you get the feeling when you are up at the plate. It’s just you and the pitcher and that’s an amazing feeling as well,” Larson said.

When Larson is not at school or on the diamond, you can find him out in the woods of Colorado.

“I like to hunt and fish quite a bit, anything outdoors really. I love to hunt water fowl, but turkey season is coming up so I’m more focused on that right now,” Larson said.

Even though Larson is listed as a senior, he still has one more year left of school on his plate. While he attends Washburn for another year, you can bet that Larson is savoring the last moments of college before he graduates.

Even though baseball has taken Larson all over the country, he still has places that he wants to visit.

“I haven’t been to the ocean yet, so I am probably gonna see that sometime, that’d be cool. California or Hawaii, somewhere like that would be really cool,” Larson said.

Brandon Brownlee

Washburn Review brandon.brownlee@washburn.edu

Every sports team needs a sparkplug. For a basketball team that might be the point guard. On a football team it may be a quarterback or a receiver. In baseball the spark usually starts at the top of the batting order in the form of the leadoff hitter.

Washburn baseball has that fire starter in junior shortstop Xavier De Leon.

“He’s just a guy that’s always dancing and always has a smile on his face,” said freshman Chance Ragsdale.

“He’s also just a straight-up good hitter and gets on base for us, so that’s why he’s in the leadoff spot.”

De Leon started playing baseball around the age of three and has loved the game ever since. His favorite part is that it reminds him to laugh, have fun and just enjoy playing the game.

De Leon has gradually moved north during his three years in college to arrive here in Kansas, and more specifically at Washburn.

He hails from Austin, Texas, where he attended Stony Point High School. He is the son of Celestino and Heather De Leon and has four siblings. Both of his brothers, Andrew and CJ, and one of his sisters, Lauren, are older than him leaving his other sister, Ariana, as the youngest of five children.

This year is De Leon’s first year at Washburn after spending his first two seasons at Redlands Community College in El Reno, Oklahoma. During his freshman season, he appeared in 47 out of 51 games, hitting .281 with 17 RBI. As a sophomore, De Leon led the Cougars in runs (50) and hits (64) while sporting a .352 batting average.

After his sophomore season, Washburn started expressing interest in De Leon, so he came on a visit and liked what he experienced.

“I liked the campus, I liked the place, loved the coaches and all the people, so I decided to come here,” De Leon said.

De Leon is a business major with a focus on marketing. He has goals of someday working in advertising for a business.

What he loves about Washburn more than his studies is the family atmosphere among the student body, more specifically the bond between the athletes.

“I like how close everyone is and how we all support each other,” De Leon said.

“Soccer supports baseball, football supports baseball and baseball supports everyone else, so I love that aspect.”

De Leon’s life isn’t all about baseball. In addition to his avid video game addiction and hanging out with his friends, he loves to travel and hopes to do more of it once he graduates from college.

He currently has a running bucket list on his phone of things to accomplish someday. Top of the list is seeing LeBron James play in person before he decides to call it a career. Another extensive goal that will take some time is wanting to visit every continent on Earth. Currently, he only has Europe checked off thanks to a trip to Italy.

Baseball has given De Leon a chance to give back to the younger generation and help kids just like himself.

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” De Leon said. “If they [kids] are younger than you they are basically going to look up to you and they are just so excited to have older people helping them.”

Now De Leon is helping to lead the Ichabods as they come off a series victory over the weekend and look to keep that momentum rolling. The men will tackle another weekend series in Hays to face the Fort Hays State Tigers.

photo by Brandon Brownlee

Slingin’ it: Xavier De Leon makes a throw to first after fielding a ground ball. De Leon has been Washburn’s lead off hitter and starting shortstop all season long.

Briefs Baseball After an away series in Hays, Kansas over the weekend, the baseball team was able to pick up three more wins (7-6, 16-8, 13-2).

This moves their current record to 18-17. The Bods return home to play a three-game series this weekend against Emporia State University beginning this at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 18 at Falley Field.

A game was played Tuesday evening. Scores were not yet released.

Softball With doubleheaders against University of Nebraska at Kearney and Fort Hays State University, the Bods came out of the weekend with two wins and two losses. This moves their record to 22-20 as they go into their double headers in Oklahoma this weekend, scheduled for a doubleheader against Northeastern State University at 2 p.m. beginning Friday in Tahlequah, and a doubleheader against University of Central Oklahoma at noon Saturday in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Track and Field The track and field Bods participated in the KT Woodman Classic down in Wichita, Kansas over the weekend.

During competition, both men’s and women’s team collectively came away with 7 top-five finishes including two event winners, three NCAA provisionals and two school records. This sets them up positively going in to the Long Beach State Relays beginning Thursday, April 18 in Long Beach, California.

BODS ON THE BLOCK

By Seth Burdick

Will the Royals make the Playoffs?

Blake Frey Undecided “I do not think the Royals will make the playoffs. They just are not good enough to beat the better teams in the league yet.”

Kyle Kersten Management “No, they only have like two or three starting pitchers who can actually pitch solidly.”

Thomas Llewellyn Biology “No, as far as hitters go, Whit Merrifield is doing most of the work.”

Max Flower Nursing “No, they literally just lost 10 games in the row to start the season.”

Tennis

Golf

The men’s tennis team found a victory against Lindenwood University Friday (7-0) and Ouachita Baptist University Sunday (4-1), but fell to Southwest Baptist University Saturday (1-6). Their record stands at 12-5.

The women’s tennis team picked up two wins over the weekend, defeating Lindenwood University 7-0 Friday and Southwest Baptist University 4-3 Saturday. Their record is currently 20-1.

Both teams will compete against Midwestern State University Texas this weekend in Falls, Texas.

The golf team competed in the Bearcat Invitational earlier this week. Final scores have not yet been posted. They are scheduled to appear in the MIAA Golf Championships Tuesday, April 23 in Monkey Island, Oklahoma.

SPORTS

April 17, 2019

Softball splits against FHSU on senior day Brandon Brownlee Washburn Review brandon.brownlee@washburn.edu

The Washburn Ichabod softball team wrapped up the home portion of their schedule Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader against the Fort Hays State Tigers. Saturday was also senior day where the Ichabods recognized six seniors: Emilee Baker, Megan Deiter, Taylor Kirk, Savannah Moore, Samantha Stallbaumer and Ashley Ruder.

After a slow offensive beginning to game one, the Ichabods opened the floodgates in the fourth and fifth innings with three in fourth and eight in the fifth to earn the runrule victory, 11-2. Fort Hays State controlled game two getting out to a 6-0 lead. The Ichabods made a late push but couldn’t complete the comeback and fell by a final score of 6-4.

The Tigers scored the first two runs of the game on a pair of solo home runs in the second inning, but those would end up being the only two hits and runs of the game for Fort Hays State.

Washburn starter, Raegan Hamm buckled down after the home runs and kept her team in it until the offense was able to get going.

“I was really proud of her for that,” said freshman Maddie Stipsits. “It wasn’t the greatest start, but she adjusted and kept us in it.”

The bats finally came to life in the fourth inning when Winter Henry checked in at third base for a lead off triple and came home to score on a single by shortstop Taylor Kirk. Stipsits tied the game at two apiece with an RBI single, centerfielder Samantha Stallbaumer gave Washburn the lead with a single of her own.

The Ichabods made a slight adjustment offensively that ended up making all the difference.

“We just decided to start swinging at good pitches,” said third basemen Savannah Moore. “We were going af-

ter the first good pitch rather than waiting and getting down in the count and once we started doing that everybody started hitting.”

The fifth began with a single by Moore followed by a double by Henry and a walk to Kirk loaded the bases.

Right fielder Ashley Ruder doubled to knock in two runs before Stipsits knocked in another two with a single to right.

Two more singles loaded the bases and set up Moore for a walk off grand slam to right center to cap an eightrun fifth inning and an 11-2 run-rule victory.

The home run for Moore was a relief to help contribute offensively.

“It was pretty awesome,” said Moore. “I hadn’t hit great all day, so to get that hit was amazing. I just tried to keep it simple, hitting that first good pitch and not going for the home run. It was nice that it happened, but we don’t usually go for those, we’re just trying to go 60 feet.”

Game two saw the Tigers take advantage of three Washburn errors to put runs on the board. Fort Hays State scored in four of seven innings with two of their six

runs being unearned.

Trailing 6-0 heading to the bottom the sixth, Washburn’s chances looked slim.

It did not stop them from fighting, however. Left fielder Brianna Fuchs started the inning with a single and came around to score on a single by Henry.

Kirk doubled sending Henry to third, but the throw to third was wild and went into the Tiger dugout allowing Henry to score.

The Ichabods tacked on one more on a fielder choice groundout by sophomore Bri Francis to cut the lead in half headed to the seventh.

Another run scoring double by Henry made the score 6-4. Washburn loaded the bases with two outs, but Kirk struck out swinging to end the game.

Despite only surrendering two earned runs, freshman Bailey Zuniga took the loss in the circle.

The split moved Washburn’s record to 22-20 overall and 13-5 in the MIAA where they are currently third in the standings.

The Ichabods will be on the road Friday to take on Northeastern State for a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m.

Andrew Beckler shares strong golfing bond with his father Brandon Brownlee Washburn Review brandon.brownlee@washburn.edu

In three spring meets, the Washburn Ichabods golf team has claimed two first place finishes alongside a ninth place finish at the tough Las Vegas Desert Classic. It has been a complete team effort getting off to such a great start but one individual who stands out is junior Andrew Beckler.

Beckler is a homegrown Topeka guy who has lived here his entire life. His parents are Tony and Karla Beckler. Tony is a dentist who owns the Topeka Smiles dentist office. Karla works for Tony doing various jobs around the office. Andrew is the middle child with two sisters, Brooke and Darci, on either side of him.

He attended Washburn Rural High School, who is known for being a dominate team in the Centennial League as well as the entire 6A classification.

As a sophomore Beckler was crowned as the individual Kansas 6A State Champion.

In his career he won three individual city championships in the city of Topeka. Not all of his success was individually however. During his four years in high school, he helped extend Washburn Rural’s team Centennial League championship streak to seven consecutive years.

In addition to his success playing for Washburn Rural, he also placed highly in several other Junior and Amateur tournaments that he competed in individually.

Beckler’s college career began at Kansas State where he played two seasons before redshirting during his junior year. In his time at K-State, he recorded one top-20 finish at the Big 12 Championships and finished his freshman year with the team’s third best stroke average at 73.68.

Eventually, Beckler decided that he needed to make some changes and made the choice to come back to his hometown.

“I just didn’t really see my place on the team at K-State anymore,” said Beckler. “It just wasn’t a good fit for me and I knew that I had Coach Stromgren here, who coached me my freshman year of high school, so I knew this would be a good fit for me if I came here.”

The Big 12 has some of the best college golf in the country with the likes of Oklahoma and

photo by Brandon Brownlee

Relay: Senior Ashley Ruder tags the bag at second and makes a turn to first. Ruder came up with a big two-RBI single late in the game one victory.

Sporting KC salvages 2-2 draw Seth Burdick

Washburn Review seth.burdick@washburn.edu

On Sunday, Sporting KC took on the New York Red Bulls, three days after a heartbreaking exit in the Concacaf Champions League. Sporting took the lead early on, but would eventually find themselves in a 2-1 hole.

In the final minutes of the match, the 16-year old, Gianluca Busio scored his third goal of the year to keep Sporting at a tie.

The match would end in a 2-2 draw.

Early on for Sporting it looked as if they may steamroll their competition like they have done at home for most of the year.

After multiple missed

shots early on Sporting was still at a 0-0 deadlock until the 24 minute. After midfielder Graham Zusi collected the ball on the sideline to throw in, forward Krisztian Nemeth found forward Johnny Russell open who raced past his defenders and sailed the ball into the net to give Sporting a 1-0 lead.

For most of the first half, New York was not able to conjure up many looks.

Early on in the second half, they got even with Sporting. A little while later, New York would give themselves the lead after a diving header from a beautiful cross that went around two Sporting KC players.

For the rest of the half,

photo by Seth Burdick

One-two pass: Forward Johnny Russell collects the ball just inside the box. Russell would later give Sporting a 1-0 lead.

Sporting was not able to find the equalizer, and it looked as if they were not going to get it. That was when forward Gianluca Busio saved the day. After defender, Graham Zusi’s shot was deflected, Busio found himself alone in front of the goal and sent home the tying goal.

Sporting KC would end the game salvaging a 2-2 draw from Sunday’s game.

For defender Andreu Fontas, Sporting could and probably should have ended the game on a happier note.

“For us, it’s not good enough. We want to win always. I think we had a great first half. We deserved to score more goals. I think maybe it would have closed the game. When you play against teams like the New York Red Bulls, everything can happen. In the second half, I think we weren’t good enough.

They scored two goals and then I think it’s a good thing that we find power from out of nowhere to go and get the result. We were so close to winning

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it again with the (shot off the) crossbar by Daniel. A lot of positive things but also things to work on and keep working to be better,” Fontas said.

After scoring the game-tying goal for Sporting, manager Peter Vermes was only positive about Busio.

“I say it all the time, he’s not 16. He’s like 25.

He’s a very mature kid.

He gets it. He’s always in the game and he understands what the game needs. He’s an important player for our club and at the same time he’s making big strides in a short period of time,” said Vermes.

After scoring in three straight games, Busio knows that he needs to focus on the game and not on the personal accolades.

“They keep me humble.

Everybody on the field, they’re old professional guys. They teach me how to be humble. If I get a big head, they’re going to knock me down a couple pegs. The guys around me keep me humble,” Busio said.

Oklahoma State routinely competing for national titles, and the experience Beckler gained playing in that conference has helped some of his new teammates at Washburn.

“His big time tournament experience helps not only his own confidence but also the rest of our team,” said senior teammate Nathan Roy. “He can definitely play under pressure.”

Beckler feels the pressure not only on the golf course but also in his studies. He is currently working on a double major in finance and marketing and coupled with being a collegiate athlete, there isn’t much time to spare.

Eventually, Beckler sees himself being a financial advisor for personal finances and helping people with their retirement plans.

He recently completed an internship with CFG Retirement Advisors Inc. in Topeka and said he really enjoyed that experience and will look to pursue something similar after college.

The game of golf has always been bred into Beckler’s life. His father is a huge golf fan and coincidently Andrew was born on the same day that Tiger Woods won his first Masters Championship.

“My dad has always put golf into my life,” said Beckler. “He’s put other sports in my life as well, but that’s what I chose and that’s what I’ve loved since day one.”

Beckler was a golf-only athlete in high school and chose it over other sports for one specific reason.

“I like the individual aspect,” said Beckler. “It’s all on you. You can’t blame teammates. You can’t blame refs. You can’t blame coaches. It’s just you and the golf ball; can you get the ball in the hole and beat the golf course?”

The bond that Beckler and his father share through golf is a special one. Many of Beckler’s best memories in life and future goals center around the game of golf.

Since the time Beckler was five years old, he and his dad have been vacationing to Tucson, Arizona. On every trip they make they always play the same golf course that is a favorite between the two.

“Every trip we take out there is kind of a special memory for me and him,” said Beckler.

The top destination on both Andrew and his father’s bucket list right now is making a trip to Augusta, Georgia together to watch the prestigious Masters Championship.

Beckler claims if he gets to make that trip that he will die a happy man.

In the meantime, Beckler will be on the course himself trying to help the Ichabods finish out the spring season strong and bring home an MIAA Championship trophy and beyond.

photo courtesy of WU Sports

Watch it fly: Junior Andrew Beckler watches his tee shot sail down the fairway.

Golf has been in Andrew’s life since the day he was born so it’s only fitting that he finding success.

Tennis Gallery

photos by Kendra Wicks

Warm welcome: President Farley shakes hands with the women’s tennis team before their senior day events. The team recognized four graduating senior athletes.

Celebration time: Freshman Luke Howard celebrates winning his doubles match with partner Raul-Alin Dicu. The duo won the No. 2 doubles spot 6-0.

Hard hitter: Junior Madison Lysaught fought through her singles match on April 5. Washburn defeated Northeastern University 4-3.

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