The Florida Tech Crimson

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Rebekah DuntzEditor-in-Chief

HOMECOMING ISSUE

President’s Picnic inspires reflection as Catanese era begins to end

Photo by Rebekah Duntz

Anthony Catanese cele-brated the halfway mark of the last year of his 13-year-term as president of the university this past weekend at the President’s Picnic with the community.

“I’ve seen him perform. I actually really like him,” said freshman Maxime Verachtert, a

chemical engineering stu-dent. “I’m sad that I won’t have the chance to know him better because

from the bit that I know of him, he’s an awesome president.”

Catanese announced his retirement to the campus com-munity in an email sent June 17 this year, detailing that his retire-ment would become effective as of June 30, 2016.

“After 25 years as a uni-versity President, here and pre-viously at Florida Atlantic Uni-versity, I’m looking forward to a new phase in my life,” the email said. Catanese also said in the email that he would remain a

faculty member. From noon to 4 p.m., the

President’s Picnic on Oct. 24 fea-tured free food, beer and games to all students, staff, faculty and their friends and family members upon presentation of their Florida Tech ID.

Twitchy, the president’s band, provided live entertainment for the picnic, which set a jazzy, relaxed and familial atmosphere at the event. Catanese is the band’s drummer.

There was something for

everyone — games for children, a bouncy house and ice cream truck, clowns, popcorn, cornhole, free beer on tap and plenty of free food.

Food trucks that carried chicken and waffles and wraps were present, as well as Broken Barrel and Jersey Mike’s Subs.

Members of Alpha Tau Omega and other Greek Life or-ganizations volunteered to handle the event.

Ocean engineering senior and ΑΤΩ member Tyler Hackett volunteered for the fourth presi-

dent’s picnic in a row. “This is a great time every

year, coming and helping out,” Hackett said. “It’s gotten a lot more publicity than it did my freshman year.”

He said everything was “fairly organized,” but the most noticeable difference this year was the change in variety of foods.

Photo of Brett Palaschak at the President’s picnic.

AROUND THE WORLDWhat to expect for Homecoming next week

Rebekah DuntzEditor-in-Chief

Florida Tech will celebrate its students and alumni from around the world during the first week of November for Homecom-ing this year.

‘Around the World’ is the 2015 theme, anyway, as the events will kick off on Nov. 3 and go for a almost a week until that Sunday on Nov. 8.

Homecoming will be packed with events throughout the week: starting with an opening ceremo-nies and the hockey game Nov. 3, followed by Catch Me if You Can presented by College Players and a baseball game on Nov 4.

The Homecoming 5k, host-ed by the Alumni Association and Meg O’Malleys, is on Nov. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m., followed by the talent show that night from 8 to 10 p.m.

The 5k is unique, said Bino Campanini, the vice president for Alumni Relations, because it’s at night, and because they’ve part-nered with Meg O’Malleys.

Runners will have free food and beer at the end of the 5k. It’s $25 regularly, but students get a

discount and can run for $10, and all runners get a free bag of good-ies, and a free technical shirt by Running Zone.

President Anthony Catanese runs the 5k as well.

“We had 320 runners last year, and probably 67 were alum-ni,” Campanini said. “We get some runners and students who like to run. It’s just a kind of fun thing to do.”

On Fri-day evening, Matt and Kim will play in D o w n t o w n Melbourne . Support bands will play be-forehand, and Matt and Kim are expected to play at around 10 p.m., based on past performance, according to Campanini.

About 10 - 15,000 people are expected to attend the show that night, and trolley services will be provided to students. The show is free, but beverages and sur-rounding areas at the Downtown Streetfest are not.

“Before we started doing concerts downtown, they did them at Southgate fields. And it would bring 1,000 people, maybe,” Cam-panini said.

But Campanini said Home-coming isn’t just about Florida Tech anymore — it’s about the whole town.

Just look at the Florida Tech banners throughout Downtown Melbourne to see the difference,

he said.“Watching a show with 500

students might be enjoyable, but watching a show with 10,000 people — that’s much more enjoy-able,” he said. “The atmosphere, everything. I think it’s just a great a partnership.”

On Saturday, the day will be a big, long day for many, with a

parade in the morning, followed by a tailgate, then the football game, and finally the student carnival in front of Crawford.

“This year, one of the biggest changes we did was we’re replac-ing the dance with a carnival,” said Erica Richardson, the assistant director of student activities.

The carnival will feature many multicultural games and foods to fit with the ‘Around the

World’ theme, and to celebrate Florida Tech’s diverse body of students.

“ H a n d s down, it is the carnival that is definitely some-thing students

should not miss,” said Likitha Somasekhar, homecoming chair, in an emailed statement. “They are going to be a part of the amaz-ing multicultural extravaganza. We have a lot of games organized and a lot of different varieties of international food.”

The homecoming committee is planning to bring a giant ferris

wheel, tons of food trucks and other games and carnival experi-ences for the students, according to Richardson.

“Since we have a wide popu-lation of international students, I am sure not all of them know what a carnival is, so it will pull a huge crowd,” Somasekhar said.

At the same time students experience the carnival, the Alum-ni Association will be hosting its annual Homecoming Gala for the alumni, where each college will present an award to an outstand-ing alumni. Usually about 560 alumni attend the gala, according to Campanini.

The events are hosted by Student Activities and the Alumni Association. The Student Ac-tivities budget for homecoming is $60,000.

Companies or organizations sponsoring homecoming events are Geico, Audi, Hilton Melbourne Rialto Place, Meg O’Malleys, Mel-bourne Mainstreet, and Student Government Association, accord-ing to the website homecoming.fit.edu. v

But Campanini said Homecoming isn’t just about Florida Tech anymore — it’s about the whole town.

And now a haikuFrom the Crimson staff to youHappy Halloween.

THE FLORIDA TECH

CRIMSONFALL ISSUE 9 OCT. 27, 2015

OPINIONS2 -october 27, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

You may have seen stu-dents de-stressing on the campus grounds with dogs, at the health expo giving mental health info or tabling around campus for depres-sion awareness. This may have led you to wonder who these students are, and why they do what they do.

For starters, this student or-ganization is called Active Minds, and they are looking for new mem-bers. However, before you join, it’s important you know more about the organization.

Active Minds is a national organization to help bring aware-ness about mental illnesses on college campuses, and we have a local chapter here on Florida Tech’s campus! They also work to decrease the stigma around mental

health problems. What is a stigma? A stigma

is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person. The stigma around mental health is often that it should not be talked about, it is abnormal and it is not “that big of a deal.”

However, many college students do or will struggle with a mental health issue at some time throughout their life. They are most often going to experience this struggle in college. That’s why it’s important that students know about mental health and also know they aren’t alone.

This is where Active Minds steps in. Their mission is to spread mental health awareness through-

out college campuses to increase knowledge and to help students not feel alone in their struggle.

So how has the Active Minds Florida Tech chapter actu-ally played a role in doing this? Here at Florida Tech, Active Minds hosts awareness events throughout the year to bring attention about mental health.

As mentioned, they take time to bring pets to help students de-stress during final exams and also teach the importance of tak-ing time to engage in self-care in stressful times.

They also take time to in-form students about mental health in general by having a table at the yearly health expo. At these events, Active Minds also pro-

vides various campus, local, and national mental health resources for students.

Active Minds is a great way to get involved and learn more about mental health. You also get to share that knowledge you learn by interacting with other students on the campus. So if you feel like you might have some good ideas of how to spread awareness around Florida Tech, or simply want to learn more and get involved in helping, definitely give Active Minds a try.

Information regarding this student organization can be found on OrgSync, or you can contact them at: FITactiveminds@gmail.com. You can also get more infor-mation at: www.activeminds.org.

If you or someone you know has been struggling with a mental illness and feel you may need as-sistance, do not be afraid to ask for help by contacting the student counseling center CAPS.

To request services, call 321-674-8050 or walk into the center, which is located next to the student health center, on the corner of Country Club Road and University Boulevard.

Also, check out CAPS’ groups and outreach events on the website at www.fit.edu/caps, as well as other helpful links on a variety of college issues. CAPS is just one of many resources at Flor-ida Tech that supports maintaining a happy and healthy you! v

CAPS Column: Check out Active MindsKendra Bartel

CAPS Outreach Columnist

CAMPUS LIFE3 -october 27, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Science Fiction is down to earth with FITSSFFFEATURE

Two rooms tucked in the back of Evans Hall hold a treasure trove for anyone willing to look.

Behind the f irst door, adorned with the “geek letters” ΨΦ♣ of one of Florida Tech’s old-est organizations, is a collection of 148 board games and several shelves’ worth of DVD’s.

Behind the other door is the biggest fantasy and fiction library on campus, said William Gordon, a junior.

The Society for Science Fic-tion and Fantasy is an on-campus student group dedicated to the appreciation of science fiction and fantasy, according to the organiza-tion’s description on the school website.

Gordon is the librarian of FITSSFF (pronounced “fit-siff”), and has been a member of the club since his freshman year. He said he wishes more people on campus knew about their extensive collec-tion of books, games and films.

Nicole Ballman, president of FITSSFF recalls attending her very first meeting, which she was invited to by a member.

“It was like coming home. I was star-struck when I went to my first meeting,” Ballman said. “These are my people.”

As president, Ballman wields an ornate staff. “It’s a sym-bol of my power,” she explained.

The organization has about 40 members and meets every Fri-day at 6 p.m. in Evans Hall.

Ballman described FITSS-FF’s meetings as casual and friend-ly. Students are welcome to join at any point throughout the year. “We just try to make a really accepting and welcoming environment for everyone,” she said.

The organization is host to many events and campus activi-ties throughout the year, including

their frequent Open Game Days and LAN parties.

Open Game Days, dedi-cated to the celebration of all things board games, are the biggest events FITSSFF hosts, Ballman said.

Games seen at the event may range from classics like Monopoly, to tabletop roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons, to novelty installments like the Powerpuff Girls game, which Gordon said is his favorite. “It just brings a smile to my face every time we play it,” he said.

“It’s an open event to ev-erybody on campus, so it’s not FITSSFF exclusive,” she said. “We have some regulars who are not members of the club, but they come every month for the game day.”

On some of the school’s three-day weekends, FITSSFF in-vades Crawford Tower’s 4th floor and sets up an array of computers for LAN parties.

“We’ve got a bunch of rout-ers and LAN cables and plug computers into each other and play video games all day and all night,” said William Cirillo, a graduate student in Computer Information Systems.

About 40 people attended the last LAN party, coming and going throughout the event, and up to 60 routinely show up for Open Game Days.

Other events include “Magic: The Gathering” trading card game matches and tournaments, a trip to a renaissance faire in the spring, and Pokémon day, which was founded by Ballman.

“Only a couple of people came to the [Pokémon] learning session,” Ballman said, “but for everybody to get together and play, we had fifteen or so.”

Cirillo said that members often start events based around their interests. “We had a Pogs committee for about seven hours,” Ballman joked.

Events usually take place

on Saturdays, which Gordon said makes them convenient to attend while still handling his academic schedule of obligations.

The organization also has a tech committee, which keeps members up to date on recent in-novations and happenings in the technological world.

Despite these offerings, a primary challenge members face is advertising their organization to the campus.

Cirillo serves as head of FITSSFF’s advertising commit-tee, which creates and flyers and promos for their events.

Thanks to Cirillo and his committee, FITSSFF was awarded for Outstanding Promotional Idea by the Office of Student Activities, which Cirillo said was for the hilar-ity of one of their designs.

FITSSFF was also awarded Organization of the Year for 2014-2015.

The organization also partici-pates in campus events, including Relay for Life, where they are known for their eye-popping dis-plays. “We put out a bunch of our board games and DVD’s. We even have an audio CD that will let you learn Klingon,” Ballman said.

The organization’s meeting room, Evans 202, has a mysterious Bar across one of its windows, a feature none of the other windows share.

“We do not know the pur-pose of The Bar that graces that window,” Cirillo said, “but it is an official member of the club.”

Ballman confirmed that someone even pays dues on The Bar’s behalf. “Capital T, capital B. That’s how The Bar is spelled on the membership card.”

FITSSFF is on Facebook (facebook.com/groups/fitssff/), Orgsync (search: Society for Sci-ence Fiction and Fantasy), and Reddit. (reddit.com/r/FITSSFF). v

Alex CoultrupManaging Editor

Photos by Alex CoultrupTop: William Cirillo, advertising commitee head. Bottom: William Gordon showing the board game collection in the office.

Humans and Zombies battle on Florida Tech Campus

Humans vs. Zombies (HvZ) is starting to become a staple of Florida Tech life.

The campus-wide tag game is played once per semester and attracts a lot of attention from players and non-players alike.

The game can be as simple as an old fashioned cops and rob-bers game, or as complicated as the players want to make it.

The basic principle is this: humans must avoid being eaten by zombies, but zombies must eat humans to survive. If all humans are infected by zombies, then the zombies win, but the humans win if they resist the zombies long enough to make them starve to death.

Humans are allowed a va-riety of choices to defend them-selves, including foam dart blast-ers, foam melee weapons, and even balled up socks (preferably clean) that can act as grenades.

If a human tags a zombie with any of the available weapons, they are inactivated for fifteen minutes. Zombies are required to touch the human with two hands in order for them to be “turned.” Humans and zombies will soon be spotted in massive groupings, sometimes carrying out missions well into the night.

Humans are identified by an orange bandana worn around their

arm, while zombies are identified by an orange bandana worn on their heads. Zombies must report their kills to moderators, who keep track of the casualties us-ing the HvZ website. If a zombie does not make a kill in 48 hours, they are considered starved and can no longer turn a human.

This year, a pirate theme will permeate the game, with the zombie virus coming from an advanced form of scurvy.

Caitlin Bigelow, the public relations director of Florida Tech HvZ, commented on how this will influence players’ looks and weapons, insisting that the new flintlock foam blaster is the weapon of choice for pirates.

On the expected numbers for this year’s game, Bigelow said, “It depends a lot on the incoming freshman and how they respond, but around 50 so far have signed up.”

In the past, games have reached numbers over 100, and that number could easily be sur-passed in the future.

Chris Gorgia said, “It’s just a giant game of Dungeons and Dragons, so come out and have fun!”

To participate, contact any of the moderators, find the HvZ at Florida Tech page on Facebook, or email hvzatflori-datech@gmail.com. v

Will Henderson Staff Writer

Photo by Alex Coultrup

The situation in Venezuela is bad in its entirety, politically, economically, socially and even in sports. Armed robberies out-side your house, scarcity of food, products and a coin which value is constantly dropping.

How can a situation like that at home affect your experience here at Florida Tech?

Most Venezuelan students agree that it mostly affects them economically. Students live in a constant concern about finance, counting every penny and every expense.

“I always think about how

are my parents financially, how much damage am I doing by studying here, would it be better if I was studying back in Venezuela.”

These are the thoughts run-ning across the mind of Roberto Silva, a Venezuelan student, but also shared by many of Venezu-elans.

Venezuela uses the currency Bolivar Fuerte and they have a very strong exchange rate policy with the US dollar. Because of this, many Venezuelans turn to the ‘Dolar Negro’ option, literally translated to Black Dollar. To get an idea, officially $1.00 is about 6.35 BsF (at the time of this writ-ing), but on the black market $1 could be worth around 800.00 BsF.

The minimum wage in Ven-ezuela is 7,421.68 BsF. Changing

this figure into dollars, with the black market exchange rate, it gives something around $10 a month.

It is much more than the economic problem affecting the Venezuelan students. Every day, they get up without the security of their families being safe.

“The sole fact of stepping outside your home is a danger, there is no certainty of coming back,” Elizabeth Ball said.

Another student, Karla Mar-quez, mentioned, “The feeling that your family can die at any mo-ment, and you not knowing what can happen is simply horrible.”

It is common for Venezu-elan parents to hide some national occurrences to their children; they do not want them to experience

more trouble. Knowing the dis-tance at which they are, in which not much can be done, it’s hard for both sides. All this creates a feeling of anxiety and constant uncertainty in which Venezuelans live in every day.

Although the situation is so bad, some people can still take something positive out of the whole issue. Ball left Venezuela a couple of years ago, before things were as bad as they are now because he had to move to different countries before attending Florida Tech.

“It is both a burden and a motivation, you feel like going back and make your country a better place”

When asked, what would you like people to know about Venezuela, Ball answered, “Ven-

ezuela has amazing people, people who really want to do good things. Venezuela is much more than the current government and situation, you cannot judge my country by it.”

We all go through difficult times in our lives, especially in college, which involves many dramas and conflicts, but there are people who have it a bit more difficult.

Despite the many conflicts and hardships their families and friends at home may be facing, the faces sitting next to you in class continue to study on. v

Gio Benitez TorresStaff Writer

Venezuelan students continue to study, despite conflicts at home

And now a haikuAbout parties that ensue- Alcohol is fun.

Halloween is hereDo you have a costume yet?Go surprise your friends.

4 - october 27, 2015 The Florida tech crimsoncampus life

5 - october 27, 2015 The Florida tech crimsoncampus life

Picnic: story from page 1

Last year, the buffet made it easier to grab food and keep the lines short, but there was only a small menu to choose from. The tradeoff, he said, to having a vari-ety in foods is longer lines.

“It was great. The lines were very long, like maybe 30 minutes in each line,” said senior in mechanical engineering, Felipe Andrade. “The last one took like an hour. That was for the chicken and waffles.”

And by 3 p.m., the free beer was gone.

Genise Reed, a Melbourne local whose brother works at Florida Tech, said it was all gone by the time she got to the picnic at about 3 p.m. Reed has attended the last three President’s Picnics.

“Maybe tickets instead of wrist bands would be a good idea,” Reed recommended, so a maximum number of beers could be set for each person. “It’s good. Compared to last year, there were

way more people. And there were different vendors too so that was good.”

Despite the lines, Andrade said he would rate the picnic a 9 out of 10.

“Oh, it was very nice,” he said. “You could find a lot of fun stuff here to do.” Andrade and his friends stayed well after the picnic was over.

“I think it was very good to say maybe a kind of goodbye to him because it’s his last party here [as president],” Andrade said about Catanese. “It’s a very good college and you just have to enjoy what he did for us.”

Verachtert particularly en-joyed watching Twitchy and said he thought Catanese seemed like a “cool president.”

“It’s too bad, but it’s natu-ral that he has to retire,” said Verachtert. “I hope that the next president will do just as good of a job.” v

Twitchy performed at the Panthereum for much of the time at the picnic on Oct. 24. Photos by Rebekah Duntz

Lines at the picnic ranged from 30 minutes to over an hour.

FIT Buddies: community service through friendshipFEATURE

Friendship is something ev-ery human being desires and needs in life. A good friend or buddy is someone who will not just give you good advice but will listen, one who will laugh with you and cry with you, and one who loves you for who are and not for who are not.

But many of us will agree that a good friend doesn’t easily come around, so when you meet someone like this in life cherish them.

Taylor Jones, vice president of F.I.T. Buddies, said, “Many of the buddies have been in this club for many years, way longer than any of us have been at F.I.T., and this club has given them a place to make lifelong friendships as well as to integrate them into our

campus community.”President Camille Bobiak

shared her hopes for the future of the club. “If you are just looking to do community service, that’s great,” she said. “We would like volunteers to return and continue their commitment.”

Becoming involved with the club is a good way to better both the community and yourself, Bobiak said. “I think this is more than community service. We are peer buddies.”

There are several fun ways to get involved with the group, and the application process isn’t complicated.

Applications are currently being received for more peer bud-dies in need. General information pertaining to one’s fitting to a fu-ture buddy is what is required (i.e. name, school, year, and hobbies),

no special or extensive training is necessary.

F.I.T. Buddies is a new club to the Florida Tech community. F.I.T. Buddies’ mission sets out to connect people with intellec-tual and developmental disabilities (IDD) of Brevard County with Florida Tech students, who don’t have IDD, for the purpose of build-ing up friendships by way of fun and support.

Seven members were pres-ent for the new club’s Oct. general meeting. There is an undoubtable, strong level of friendship amongst the seven ladies, who are also known as peer buddies to their IDD buddies.

They were joking about past events spent with their assigned buddies, good times spent outside of class (with each other), and even planning on getting together to

prepare for future schedule events to ensure the event was more fun and better organized compared to the previous year.

Unlike any typical, mo-notonous meeting in the order of attendance, discussed agenda, and adjournment, the meeting illustrated a better example of a what it could look like for seven like-minded students and friends to come together to do what they enjoy doing: helping others feel as though they are part of a com-munity.

There are three core events held per year: the Halloween Party, Back-to-School, and Movie Night and in addition to parties and game nights.

Jones feels that there is a small group of students who keep the club afloat; however, she feel that the main improvement would

be seen in terms of how many members stick around and main-tain involvement for more than one or two events.

“The student body could help with this by coming out to one of our events to see what we are all about,” she said, “and hope-fully loving it as much as we all do so the club is able to grow and get even better in the future.”

Jones said that being a Peer Buddy has had a huge positive impact on her time at Florida Tech.

“FIT Buddies is a club un-like any other on campus,” she said. “My experience with the buddies has been so rewarding and I am lucky to call them my friends. I hope other students give the club a shot, I promise you won’t regret it.” v

Shantel HannaStaff Writer

Halloween HorrorsNot really full of sorrowsEat more sweets today

When you Trick-or-TreatBe nice to the little kidsDon’t take their candy

Halloween Haikus

SCI/TECH7 -october 27, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Registration System and Countermeasures attempt to Reign in Drones

Chris PangalosStaff Writer

Photo by Wikimedia Commons

The process of purchasing and flying drones may soon be-come more complicated.

Federal regulators have de-cided to put a registration system in place for unmanned aircrafts that will require even hobbyist drone owners to register their de-vices with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

This decision is due to air safety concerns that arose after re-cent incidents of drones interfering with firefighting, sporting events and manned aircrafts. The system is expected to be in place by the upcoming Christmas holiday.

According to the FAA’s press release sightings of un-manned aircraft have doubled between 2014 and 2015.

U.S. Transportation Secre-tary Anthony Foxx said, “Regis-tering unmanned aircraft will help build a culture of accountability and responsibility.”

FAA Administrator Mi-chael Huerta said, “When they don’t fly safely, they’ll know there will be consequences.”

It still hasn’t been deter-mined exactly how this registra-tion system will work. Jonathan Rupprecht, a drone attorney, published an article on his website raising several issues with the registration such as how damaged drones will be identified, how the FAA or DOT have jurisdiction over a drone that is inside a build-ing and not being used.

There’s also the question of what combination of parts qualifies as a drone, the frame, flight controller or sum of all the parts and if removing one would exempt it from registration.

A task force will develop recommendations for the registra-tion, including what unmanned aircrafts are small enough to be

exempt and how the process can be streamlined for commercial operators. Their full report is due by Nov. 20.

On Oct. 6, the FAA proposed a record fine of $1.9 million to a company known as SkyPan In-ternational which used drones for aerial photography. According to the Chicago Tribune, the FAA ar-gued that SkyPan endangered lives and property during 64 unauthor-ized flights in New York.

According to the FAA, the drone was being used commercially without being registered, not having a certificate of airworthiness and lacking required reporting equip-ment such as a transponder and two-way radio.

Another drone regulation is-sue has been that police don’t have an effective means of stopping drone flights unless they’re able to find the operators.

A company known as Bat-telle Innovations is attempting to remedy this with its Drone Defender, a rifle shaped device that uses radio control frequency disruption to interfere with the drone’s communications.

According to their press release, their device uses a point-and-shoot system with a range of 400 meters.

Battelle says that the drone’s communication is disrupted so that no remote action can occur. While it’s implied that the drone will land safely, this is entirely dependent upon the drone’s own built in safety protocols for when no radio control is being received.

While typical large hobby drones do have routines for landing safely on their own, cheap models or custom programmed drones may simply fall to the ground, which poses a hazard to any people or property below. v

From Crimson to you:May your spooky dreams come trueHappy Halloween

the Florida tech crimson

october 27, 2015SPORTS

Audrey GangloffStaff Writer

Andrew ShipotofskySports Editor

Panthers race at Head of the Charles Regatta

Photo by Alex Coultrup

Florida Tech’s rowing teams flew to Boston to face the nation’s best in the Head of the Charles Regatta.

Over two days, the Panthers raced in the Men’s Championship Doubles, Men’s Championship Four, and the Women’s Collegiate Four as well as Men’s Alumni Eight.

The Regatta, which was es-tablished in 1965, is a 3-mile race down the Charles River around five turns and under as many bridges. The event is the most well-attended regatta in the world, attracting over 11,000 athletes and 400,000 spectators each year.

The Panthers started their weekend with an entry into the Alumni Eight event with a boat that included eight alumni and their former coach and current athletic director, Bill Jurgens.

“It all really started with calling our former rowers in do-nating to our new rowing center we are looking to construct,” said

Jurgens. “As it grew, some of them started calling others and this cre-ated an interest in getting together, which turned into ‘let’s row in the Head of the Charles together.’”

While the alumni team fin-ished near the end of the pack, it was about something a lot bigger than the race. Jurgens explained that coaches and athletes form a bond that lasts forever and this race was about getting together as a family once more.

“When you coach a group of people, you create bond that lasts forever, “ Jurgens said on racing with his former athletes. “You spend a lot of time — six days a week, up to fours — and they’re never forgotten.”

The alumni plan to hold more events like this in the coming future. “I mentioned to the men and wom-en’s alumni that in the future we are going to really try and get multiple boats in each event,” Jurgens said.

Following the alumni race, Nikola Selakovic and Kevin Coyle raced to the sixth fastest time in the Championship Doubles event with a time of 17:52.579.

To make that place even

more impressive, their finish was second overall overall among col-legiate teams and included beat-ing schools across the Division 1 spectrum.

In a doubles event, the to athletes work together to move the boat at their top speed, but the the rower sitting in the boat’s bow-seat must also focus on steering down the course.

“We beat some boats we didn’t expect to team, but we fin-ished about where we thought,” said Coyle. “Being one of the lighter crews, the head wind was really difficult for us to overcome.”

Coyle, who earned a seat on the United States Junior Na-tional Team in 2013, has raced the Charles many times. Going back to his high school days, he has been in charge of maneuvering the boat down the race.

Coyle has raced the course four times and steered twice.

“Every year is interesting, always a little bit different, but it’s exciting because it gives the race a whole other element,” Coyle said.

The Panthers finished off the successful weekend with the

Women’s Collegiate Four. In a crowded field of 35 teams, the Panthers finished 16th overall with a time of 20:40.791. Of the rowers who competed, senior Taylor Troy is the only one who has competed at the Head of the Charles in the past.

“Among the girls, we don’t feel like we could have done any-thing more,” Troy said. “We came in the best same shape we could and put everything we had out there. These girls like Morgan [Billig], we worked out everyday, sometimes two to three times a day, during the summer. I just knew they were going to put all their heart and everything they had into this race.”

“I’m a veteran here and someone who probably has some of the most experience. I have been rowing for eight years. Some of these girls have only been row-ing for just a year or are just now having four years under their belt,” Troy said.

The Charles competitors all had previous rowing experience of at least three years.

“It’s crazy to see how far they have come in two to four years,” Troy said. “I can’t believe how

much effort and growth I have seen from these girls in the sport.”

While the Panther women finished off their fall season in Boston, the men will race once more this semester: November 7-8th at the Head of the Hooch in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Both teams stressed the importance of continuing to work hard and hone their craft with the ultimate goal of winning a National Title come spring.

In the Men’s Championship Four, the team finished in ninth place with a time of 16:43.734. That performance allowed the Panthers to Ivy League Schools Brown, Harvard, Penn, and Cor-nell.

“It’s always exciting to watch your teammates compete,” Coyle said about watching his teammates the next day. “You know what it feels like going down and the pressure they are feeling at the same time. Also it’s exciting to sit there and to watch them row and objectively observe.” v

Volleyball team prepares for season’s final challenges

Volleyball is coming down from a weekend of season highs at the South Region Crossover as they roll into their second round of conference play.

Amy O’Brien, head coach, said that sweeping Mississippi College, a Gulf South Conference opponent, gave them some extra motivation and confidence.

“It was nice to get those three wins under our belt, espe-cially since we’re just going to face tough competition from here on out,” O’Brien said.

Barry University and No.

17 Palm Beach Atlantic brought tough competition to the table this weekend as the Panthers fell short with two losses on the road.

“Our goals in these next couple of weeks are winning on the road and that takes a lot in this conference,” O’Brien said. “We have the athleticism, we have the team, and we have the drive to get there and that what’s gonna be re-ally important coming up.”

Senior middle blocker, Alea Hamm, is currently leading the conference in blocks. Her mentality mirrors the mentality of the team — they’re showing up to play, and to

play hard, at every game and every practice, she said.”

“We have the mentality of we have to go all out in practice,” Hamm said. “We have to practice new shots and we have to go out and execute in practice. We are playing practice like we are in our championship game.”

O’Brien said that in the first round of conference play, the team was focusing intensely on their strengths.

“Second round of confer-ence we’re going to focus on our weaknesses and where we need to improve on to be able to beat

these teams,” O’Brien said. “We still have strengths but our biggest weakness right now are going to be serve, receive and defense in back row so we’re really taking the time out in practice to focus on our weaknesses to get them to the level where they need to be.”

O’Brien said that in order to make it to post-season, the Panthers need to work really hard to win games on the road. She admit-ted that this is tough during this stressful part of the semester, when athletes have midterms on top of everything else.

“But this is also the most

important time,” O’Brien said. “It’s time to bunker down and really focus on what matters and not letting outside distractions get to you. We have to have that aggressive mindset to go out there and that’s what I think is going to push this team to the next level.”

As student-athletes, Hamm and her teammates aren’t phased.

“We haven’t let it affect us on the court. Everyone is still excited coming to every practice. Were still going hard,” Hamm said. “Check your problems at the door and work hard on the court. We got a good thing going.” v

Taylor Troy carries her boat toward the launch site on the Charles River before the race.