Thursday, December 13, 2012
College Students and the Election
College Students and the Election
With the presidential election at
hand, both candidates look to aim to the young generation in America as their
votes are vital to winning an election. Many students look at the election in
plenty of ways, as so many people have different thoughts and ideas.
Photo by: Jake O'canion
Will Roberts, a very involved
political science major said he loves the election time of the year. “It’s
awesome to see how things work out and all the different views you get from
different people. People get so competitive and crazy over everything. I’ve
seen people end friendships and stop talking to each other due to a slight
difference in views. It’s crazy, but you’ve gotta love it”
As Zack McMahan talks about the
elections, he shows little to no interest, “I feel like my one vote is not
going to matter. There are so many people voting already and with the Electoral
College me voting for Romney in a Romney state isn’t going to make Romney win
any more than he already will have won. I just feel like people try to get too involved
and want to force their ideas and views upon you. It’s extremely annoying and
makes no sense. We all want to make a lot of money and none of us want to be in debt, but with the candidates available
I don’t think neither one of them are going to change what happens to the
country.”
In such a diverse country and
amongst college campuses where diversity is always huge, it is easy to see the
big difference in ideas and thoughts.
Article by: Joe Roberts
Photo Credit: Lucy Madison, CBS News
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
New Parking Rules at Avila
New Parking Policy at Avila
As many people know, the parking
situation at Avila is far from perfect. With a land locked university
surrounded by neighborhoods, it is hard
to make the parking at the university any better. As the year began many
parking tickets were being written all over campus. This is something that was
kind of frustrating for people with the fact that people were parking in the
only places that were open.
Recently however campus safety (the
people who write the parking tickets at Avila) changed the parking policy.
Campus Safety employee, Matt Francois explained the new rules.
“It used to be all you had to do was
meet with Darby after getting multiple tickets and you could get your ticket
situation taken care of. But now you get five or more tickets you get a boot
put on your car and you also have to have a meeting with Darby. It is also 50
dollars to get the boot removed and after the fifth ticket it is an automatic
tow.”
Matt
also stated that there is a positive to this new rule for people that lived on
campus stating, “From 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. students can park in any spots on campus
except for the handicap spots.”
Campus safety employee: Matt Francois
Photo
Taken By: Joe Roberts
As you can imagine reactions were mixed with these new rules.
Freshman K.C. Moorman reacted saying, “I don’t like the new rules at all. It’s
unfair. I pay $30,000 a year to go here I should be able to park where I want. We
need more parking spots if they(campus safety) wants to have such strict rules.”
Freshman Ben
Walker stated “I kind of feel like it’s kind of redundant because if you have
four parking tickets that’s kind of embarrassing anyway.”
As the reactions differ, one thing is for sure, people should
strive to stay under four tickets, as the fifth becomes drastically more
expensive.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Mid-term Week at Avila!
Here at Avila mid-terms have quickly
approached us and are now in full swing. As many students know this is one of
the more dreaded times of the year. With all the studying and in many students
case, cramming, it becomes a very stressful week. However, some people feel
different than others about mid-terms. Some people have five of them and other
people have none. Some students embrace them and are ready to take them head on
while others completely dread them.
Mid-terms
can also be harder for people who are student-athletes as they have to go to
practice every day and participate in games as well as trying to find time to
study and do as college students want to do so drastically, sleep. I went out
to ask a few students how they felt about mid-terms and the approaches they may
take to help make mid-terms a little better.
Freshman
football player Ben Walker stated, “Mid-terms are awful, especially being a student
athlete. I try to study as much as possible in the small amount of free time I have
but it’s difficult. I’ve had to pull a couple all nighters and really show
myself some will power and studying as much as possible to get the grades I want.
I can not wait for them to be over so I can get on to fall break.”
Kim Monk,
in the picture on the right replied saying, “They stink, I don’t like them at
all. I understand why we have them and the teachers perspective in giving them
but I would definitely prefer to not take them. I think a bunch of small tests
over the material we are learning would be much more effective and better for
students over one big one. I can not wait for them to be over!”
Lastly, I
spoke to Morgan Trokey, on the right in the picture above, “I don’t have any”
Morgan said, “but I bet it would suck to have to take any. I’ve only had my
whole college career and it was awful, so I feel bad for the people that have
them.”
As you can
see mid-terms are not very popular for the students here on campus. They cause
even more stress on them than they already have and also prove to be pretty
difficult. But as they week is halfway over the students are becoming more and
more optimistic and realizing how close the week is to being over. Just a
couple more days till fall break.
Avila Eagles Football Gets First W!
Above Eagles tight end Colton Bourland scores a crucial touchdown before halftime while the
clock winds down
Photo credit to the Avila Eagles Football Facebook page
Saturday, September 29th
the Avila Eagles traveled to Lindsborg, Ks to take on the Bethany University
Swedes. The Eagles were very confident going in to this game hoping to get a
win. To start the game the Eagles drove right down the field and scored with
ease. Shortly after that the defense got solid stop giving the ball back to the
offense. It started out looking good for the Eagles but play got sloppy.
As the offensive drive started with
a 20 yard completion it was looking good till the wide receiver fumbled the
ball giving it back to the Swedes. Turnovers were the biggest story of the game
for the Eagles. As they had five total turnovers which kept the Swedes too
close in the game. Going into halftime the Eagles were trailing 19-14 despite
dominating in every aspect of the game. As the team came out in the second half
they were a different team and shut out the Swedes both quarters, having a
second half score of 21-0 and winning the game 35-19.
I asked the offensive line coach
Matt Jones what he thought of the game and also getting that crucial first win
of the season, “We played a very good and formidable opponent in Bethany but
came out and scored easily to start the game. However, we played very sloppy
and beneath our potential giving up many turnover that kept them in the game.
Despite the turnovers though our defense played awesome and stopped them from
scoring, keeping us in the game. We went into halftime trailing but had a very
positive halftime and came out and won the game. The win was needed and it felt
good to get it. Last year we didn’t even score a touchdown till week three and
didn’t win a game till week seven, so were much more progressed this year. I
preach that success and confidence goes hand in hand and after having a little
bit of success in getting that W, we are
now getting more confident and are ready to get many more wins this season.”
I also asked a couple of offensive
lineman their thoughts on the game and getting a W in the stat column. The
first person I asked was left guard Jesse Ruiz, “We’ve played a lot of close
games so it was to finally get over the hump and come out with a much needed
win.”
Clay Driskill, freshman
guard/center was next, “We needed the win to get our season started. It was
good to get a win vs. a quality opponent like Bethany, it have us the boost of
confidence we needed.”
Avila played Baker on Saturday and
had a little hiccup but they play Culver-Stockton this Saturday for homecoming
and hope to get a big win. Hope to see everyone out there to support the team.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
A Day We Will Never Forget
September 11, 2001. A date that
needs no words said. A date that will forever live in the hearts of Americans.
On this day the largest attack of American history occurred, killing thousands.
When people hear this day, they remember exactly what they were doing, what
they were thinking, it’s as if time stopped and these memories were implanted
in our brains. I interviewed three people to see what they were doing on this
day and their thoughts.
As I asked the first person, who is actually
my dad, a now 57 year old retired firefighter, Mike Roberts. It’s hard for him
to talk about as he lost friends and so many of his brothers in the fraternity
that is the fire department. He said he had just gotten off work and gotten
home where my mother, who works night shifts was sleeping. He turned on the
news and was shocked, he could hardly believe it was real and begin to freak
out as we woke my mother. Very soon after his captain called him back into work
where he stayed glued to the television waiting to see what would happen next.
He voice still shutters as he talks about this day and all that happened. Blake
Hadley, a junior dietetics major is the next person I spoke to. He was in
fourth grade on the day of this event. He said out of nowhere it seemed like
everything in the school froze. He was called in from recess and everyone was
silent. The teachers, he said, were telling everyone to stay calm as they
turned on the T.V.’s. He had no clue of the seriousness of these attacks and
was sent home as the rest of the school was. When he got home his grandmother
made lemonade for him and his sisters. He was confused and full of questions
and just didn’t understand. Lastly, I asked Zack McMahan, a full time 20 year
old union worker. He said he didn’t know what happened at all that day. He was
in class and was told he was being sent home and was happy. He got home to a
crying mother trying to keep calm for her children. He said he remembers asking
his mother “why can’t we go to Afghanistan and blow up their tallest building?”
A child, shocked and confused, just as the entire country was.
As I write this story, I look back
and remember exactly what I was doing. I was in Mrs. Hawbwitzels fourth grade
class. She came in and told everyone to quiet down and turned the T.V. on, right
before telling everyone we would be leaving soon. I was clueless. I was picked
up by my mom as we went home and called my dad to tell him we love him. I was
scared but mostly confused and worried for my dad. I didn’t understand. This
day is one I will remember forever, one of the biggest pieces of history I have
ever been alive to remember and see.
September 11, 2001, a day we will never forget.
Food and Activities Kick Off School Year
Food and Activities Kick Off School
Year
Thursday, August 30th kicked off the academic year
here at Avila. The day started off with Mass for anyone wanting to come. After
a very good ceremony that wrapped up with a prayer to have a good year everyone
was welcome to come eat a delicious lunch that included some amazing fried
chicken and bratwurst. People were welcome to come eat and check out a few of
the campus organizations offered to students. There were balloon animals being
made and massages given to those who needed that kink in their shoulder
removed. It was a nice opportunistic day for the students and after a snow cone
it was safe to say I had a good day as well.
Avila Athletic Band
Avila Athletic Band
I
looked forward to checking out and interviewing someone from the Avila Athletic
Band Thursday, October 30th at the Avila Kickoff. Unfortunately I
could not find them anywhere. I went to the office of the drum line, asked all
around, and even tried to look up an email and had no luck. For this, I
apologize as my coverage of this is definitely not up to par. However, as the
school year continues and I have more opportunities to get some interviews in line I will be
covering the band. I will be covering them all semester and look forward to
bringing you the best coverage possible of this awesome organization.
Joe Roberts
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