the shepherd university picket issue 57

115th Year No. 53 WedNesdaY, september 26,2012 First Issue Free

See Contemporary Page 2

INDEX | NEWS 2 | COMMENTARY 5 | ARTS & LIFE 7 | SPORTS 10facebook.com/thepicket

Comment • Like • Share facebook.com/thepicket

$1 Million Nursing Grant Benefits Disadvantaged

StudentsSamantha [email protected] Shepherd University’s de partment of nursing edu-cation recently received the second year award from the HRSA Nursing Workforce Diversity grant program for a total of $1,013,786.The award provides 180 nursing and pre-nursing majors stipends, scholar-ships, and many more op-portunities.The award also consum-mates the Partnership for Academic and Social Stu-dent Success program. The PASS Program aspires to advance the quality of healthcare, depress health dissemblance, and boost the nursing personnel di-versity in the Shenandoah Valley. Dr. Sharon Mailey, chair of the department of nursing education, said, “Our first approval occurred in July 2011, and we received an-other approval in July of this year.” Students are supported through tutoring service, academic and social sup-port, and financial as-sistance. The grant also provides disadvantaged pre-nursing students 30 stipends of $3,000.Academic improvement specialist Wendy Baraka said, “Students are worked with at different levels fi-nancially and academi-cally. They are also offered some great leadership op-portunities.”Social support special-ist Heidi Moore noted the overall significance of the program.Moore said, “The ultimate goals of this program are vastly important in terms of advancing the nursing workforce, expanding on, and empowering the idea of diversity.”Mailey notes there are four goals listed on the project abstract for the PASS pro-gram. The abstract said that the project aims to “1) increase diversity, improve representation of minori-ties underrepresented in nursing competence on campus; 2) increase the number of disadvantaged pre-nursing students eligible to enter into the nursing program; 3) im-prove graduation and NCLEX-RN passing rates for disadvantaged nurs-ing majors; and 4) enhance project participants’ abil-ity to enter into and com-plete a professional reg-istered nursing education program through financial assistance.” Baraka said, “The goals will increase our diver-sity and the advantage of graduation rates. We’ve also seen an increase in students’ grades.”

Students walk in the street to avoid the dangerous sidewalk conditions along High Street during the storm that brought over 2 inches of rain leading to flooding and the university wide power outage on Tuesday September 18th, 2012. Many students were in transit when Shepherd University sent a Rave alert to students at 11:12AM asking students to avoid High Street and use the Pan Tran or personal cars. Rachel Harrison was one of the students turned away from the Pan Tran during the storm that coincided with the bus service’s lunch break between 11AM-12PM. Photograph Don Zumbach

Shepherd’s Center for Contemporary Art: A New Cultural Gateway in the Making

Roxanne [email protected]

Shepherd’s department of contemporary art and the-ater is continuing its mission of moving art into the here and now by focusing on the contemporary as Phase Two of the construction of the new Center for Contemporary Art is underway.The second portion of the building, which is currently under construction, will in-clude a 175 – 185-seat black box theater, a sculpture stu-dio, a scene shop for the new theater, computer labs on the second floor, a costume shop, tech booth, and additional classrooms.The department is hopeful that it will be able to raise the money for Phase Three, which is planned to include a 250-seat end stage, small proscenium-style stage, 250-seat thrust stage, and a 500-person lobby. The lobby would be the largest public space in the area and would include an art gallery and an indoor/outdoor café. The first phase cost $12.5

million with money raised for a long time before construc-tion. The second phase cost $13.5 million. This money for the second phase was all also raised over time by the department of contemporary art and theater, including an anonymous $1 million dona-tion, as well as another $1 million coming from private individuals.Members of the department are adamant that another portion will not be built un-til the funds are raised com-pletely.Ed Herendeen, founder and producing director for the department of contempo-rary art and theater and the Contemporary American Theater Festival, said, “It’s even phased in that each of those theaters that are yet to come can be plopped in one at a time so a lobby in one of the theaters could happen once we raise another $20 million.”

English Gets Creepy

New Curriculum Adds New Courses to Department

See Story on Page 2 Phot

ogra

ph fro

m W

ikiC

omm

ons

Phase two of the art building is beginning to look good, the cop-per siding is shining like a brand new penny. Photograph by B.J. McCardle

See Page for this week’s sporting news.

Robotics Return to Shepherd University

Pg.3

Photograph from WikiCommons

2 the shepherd picket Wednesday, september 26, 2012

page_____ C m Y K 2

NeWs

The building of Phase One helped more than just the art department.Rhonda Smith, profes-sor of art and chair of the department of contempo-rary art and theater, said, “Once we built Phase One, for example, that freed up the entire basement of Knutti so the communica-tions department gained offices. They got a TV station, got computer labs. The music department got a new music education classroom. They got a new piano studio. They got a space where they could archive all their musical documents.”Sara Cree Hall’s theater will no longer be necessary for the department upon completion of Phase Two, freeing up additional cam-pus space. Smith predicts that once the CCA is com-

pleted, the Frank Center will be completely devoted to the music department.The department partnered with the Contemporary American Theater Fes-tival not only to provide students and theatergoers with an amazing space to experience art and theater but also to promote future generations of new art and artists.An additional goal of the completed CCA will be to serve as a cultural gateway into the state of West Virginia. Herendeen formed a vision of the com-pleted CCA about 20 years ago. Herendeen’s vision statement for the project, which holds the estimated time of completion as 2015, provides a glimpse of the future.Herendeen said, “The CCA is a special place: a place

for reflection, meditation, study, education and inspi-ration; a place for listening and hearing, for telling diverse stories—America’s stories; a place for the celebration of the human spirit.”Phase One of the CCA, completed about four years ago, is noted as one of the oddest buildings on campus.Rachel Witter, an English major who was previously considered art as a major, says she likes the look of the building, although she admits that “it’s aestheti-cally very different from the rest of Shepherd, so it doesn’t look exactly like it belongs with the campus.”Many students are unsure what to think about its unique architecture.Brittney Butts, a clinical

psychology major at Shep-herd, said, “I thought it was pretty funny-looking beforehand. Maybe this addition will be an im-provement.”Most students do not realize that the look of the CCA is completely inten-tional, although the color is still changing.Herendeen said, “It’s sheathed in copper shin-gles because copper is an Aztec symbol for sperm and water and rebirth and life, and it changes. Copper starts out bright and shiny. It turns the color you see it, and in ten years, it will be a blue-green, which will then mirror the Blue Ridge in the distance.”The design, which in-cludes very high ceilings and broad windows, was also intended for utility.

Smith cites the need for lots of natural light in art studios, which the high ceilings capture better.Sonya Evanisko, an art professor, believes the building and its new addi-tions will work well for its inhabitants.Evanisko said, “We’re not a historic, traditional pro-gram. So you couldn’t have these innovative thinkers and creative people work-ing in a recreated, his-toric building. We are in a building that inspires us as we move through it.”Phase Two of the Center for Contemporary Art is slated to finish by the end of this semester and pre-miere to the students and community in the spring 2013 semester.

English Gets CreepyNew Curriculum Adds New Courses to

Departmentalex hale

[email protected] The gospel of all things dark and Gothic is being taught this semester by Dr. Heidi Hanrahan in her new Creepy Lit course.Creepy Lit is an English course that is new here at Shepherd University. The actual title is English 215: The Art of Literature, and Hanrahan is the first in-structor to teach it. This new course will focus on Gothic classics such as Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Mary Shelly’s “Fran-kenstein” as well as a play by Sam Shepard and other “creepy” short stories and poems.Each instructor who teach-es English 215 will get to

invent a new theme for the course and, as such, the topics will vary.Dr. Betty Ellzey, depart-ment chair of English and modern languages, said that the English 215 course was created to give students more options for literature courses. Hanra-han added that the courses were given catchier names to attract people who may be put off by a more serious sounding class.Ellzey anticipates that many different themes will emerge when professors have time to add the course to their schedules.Ellzey said, “If I were to do an English 215 or 216 course, I would like to focus on Arthurian legend.”Hanrahan taught a course

similar to this in the past at other schools.Hanrahan said, “I always enjoyed teaching it and got good feedback from students. If you like scary or weird texts, literature offers you plenty of ex-amples. Talking about and learning just what makes them creepy, having the vo-cabulary to talk about lit-erary technique and form makes them that much more enjoyable.”One of the main changes Hanrahan has made was adding a television element to the course, which she be-lieves will help students become better readers of different kinds of texts. Most students said they chose the course because they enjoy reading dark literature. One student

Contemporary, From Page 1

Construction continues on Phase Two of the art building project. Workers are diligently working on the completion of the building. Photograph by B.J. McCardle

said it is interesting that Hanrahan is not creepy herself and is, in fact, nice and bubbly. Another student enjoys the way the professor teaches the material despite having already read most of the stories.The English department will also be adding English 216: Literature in Context in addition to English 215. The English 216 courses are currently taught by Dr.

Carrie Messenger and Dr. Timothy Nixon. The class is similar to English 215 but puts the text into more historical context. Nixon is teaching a class on witches in literature while Mes-senger is focusing on dys-topia and utopia.Fans of Gothic horror sto-ries may be interested in taking Creepy Lit next se-mester or any of the other new and future English courses.

page_____ C m Y K 3

NeWs

Robotics Returns to Shepherd University

nick [email protected] Shepherd University Ro-botics Club members are preparing to compete in annual robotic competi-tions held in Shepherd-stown, W. Va., and Hart-ford, Ct., during March and April. SURoC builds and refines robots, known as “Mechs,” to participate in special-ized contests during the school year. Mechs are de-signed for warfare or fire-fighting and are awarded points based on perfor-mance in their chosen cat-egory.Mechs are typically made of special plastics, circuit boards, a variety of bat-teries, and other computer equipment. Solar energy could even be a potential power source in the fu-ture. Mechs can cost be-tween $2,500 and $3,000. Some are built using Lego kits, but these are often used by younger partici-pants at competitions.2013 will mark the third year that Shepherd’s de-partment of computer sci-ences, mathematics, and engineering has hosted ShepRobo Fest, a nation-wide robotics event held at the Butcher Center to increase interest in the program and advocate the applications of artificial intelligence in today’s so-ciety. Students are able to display their Mechs’ abili-ties at this event as well as study the designs used by their competitors.There is no age restric-

tion to compete. Teams, however, are placed into different divisions de-pending on age and type of Mech.During Mech-Warfare, two Mechs are placed in an enclosed arena, built to model a city, and must navigate (by remote con-trol) through the build-ings to find their oppo-nent. Neither team is allowed to observe the battle directly. Each team attaches a webcam to their respective Mechs. Live video feed is sent to the competitors’ laptops.The objective of the match is to use equipped airsoft guns to fire at pressure plates attached to each Mech. Each machine is given equal “hit points.” The first team to deplete their opponent’s hit points wins.In the Firefighting event, a single Mech placed in a maze is required to find a candle and extinguish its flame. These Mechs are fully autonomous and out-fitted with infrared sen-sors to detect walls and ei-ther a heat or light sensor to detect fire. There are many possible ways that a Mech can accomplish its task, such as with fans, water, or towels. Points are awarded based on the least number of rooms visited in the maze before reaching the candle room and the ability to easily extinguish the flame.Trinity College of Hart-ford, Ct., also hosts a com-petition similar to Shep-Robo Fest. It is open to international students as well. SURoC placed third,

fourth, ninth, and eleventh out of the 48 senior teams that competed in the fire-fighting contest in April 2012. The team is confident that they can win gold at Trinity’s 2013 competition.SURoC also competed in San Mateo, Ca., at the Ro-boGames during April 20 – 22, 2012.Robotics is not limited to warfare and firefighting, though. It is part of the continually growing STEM field. Scientists around the world are using robots in countless professions to perform tasks impossible for humans.Dr. Seung-yun Kim, assis-tant professor of computer and information sciences and advisor of SURoC, said, “There are so many applications, which is good for students to get a job.”

SURoC is currently work-ing on an autonomous ve-hicle, which uses GPS to navigate. The team is also exploring the idea of bi-pedal robots that can assist humans in daily life.There are still flaws that require attention despite the innovations. Safety is also an issue. A space that can handle the proper equipment is required to build larger Mechs, and SURoC only has two labs to work in.Matthew Tark, a senior computer engineering major and president of SURoC, said, “The biggest problem is finding errors and troubleshooting main-tenance. It requires preci-sion, organization, and ex-ecution.”Tark believes the whole program is dynamic, with

an expanding future and wide variety of applica-tions. SURoC may even be-come involved in the com-munity.

Robotics emerged on cam-pus when the faculty was worried about the comput-er engineering program, according to Kim.Kim said that the faculty “needed to find a way to re-tain these students. We re-searched and found robot-ics is a great tool. Students can use this for life.”The club is open to any per-son interested, although there is only an Introduc-tion to Robotics First Year Experience class. No prior experience is required to join. New members are giv-en the opportunity to learn about hardware, software, or both.

“It’s definitely worth the money that the university spends, especially with the longer, more inconvenient walk.” - Kady Dominick, sophomore

environmental engineering major

“I like having the option to ride the Pan

Tran when I want to. However, they

need to come more frequently, as in

have more buses or make stops every

15 minutes instead of 30.” - Brianna

Miller, senior communications and new

media and Spanish double major

“The new [Pan Tran] route is about the same. It doesn’t inconvenience me. I use the Pan Tran more this year because of the new walk due to construction. I really didn’t use it last year.” - Lauren Webb, sophomore environmental science major

“I ride the Pan Tran because I can never find parking on this side of campus. So I need a ride back to my car in E-Lot near the Wellness Center.” - Patricia Miller, sophomore social work major

V o i c e s i n t h e H a l l

“What Do You Think about the Pan Tran?”

Rose [email protected]

SURoC President, Matthew Tark show’s us a collection of Mechs that the team has built. The team has big hopes for this years competitions that they will participate in. Photograph by Ryan Franklin



page_____ C m Y K 4

COmmeNtarY

facebook.com/thepicket

mR. [email protected] week, a ran-dom person walked up to me and asked, “How’s the weather?”This question was asked a lot last Tuesday when Shepherdstown was hit by a pretty severe thun-derstorm that knocked out power to much of the town, including Shepherd University. According to our fearless leader, Presi-dent Suzanne Shipley, the power outage was due to “sparking power lines.” The outage lasted fewer than 2 hours. RAVE lit up like the Fourth of July with updates (I’ll

get to them in a bit).The reaction to the way Shepherd handled the situation was mixed. People were happy the power was turned on in a decent amount of time, but students ques-tioned why Shepherd would keep classes going with the weather get-ting worse (the weather didn’t get worse). Before I dissect Shepherd’s lat-est weather “disaster,” let’s take a quick look back at recent weather events that hit campus.A few years ago, Shep-herd was slammed with a pretty big snowstorm, in which we got about a foot of snow. Shepherd’s

response? F it, we’re go-ing to have school. The result? Nobody showed up to class. Of course, there was the infamous Snowmageddon of 2010, in which we got A LOT of snow. Shepherd can-celled classes that week. There have also been problems with the water main in town that affect-ed students on campus.This brings us to last week’s storm. How did Shepherd handle it? Actu-ally, I think they handled it pretty well. While it wasn’t perfect, Shepherd did a decent job of getting things fixed so that they didn’t have to close down campus. With that said, there were some glar-

ing problems with how the operation was run. First, Shepherd, please stop with the constant RAVE messages, espe-cially the ones that don’t give any real helpful in-formation. A couple of the RAVE messages given out were common sense (ex-ample: don’t walk down High Street because of the flooding). They were useless for the most part. The other problem that affected most of the cam-pus was that the network was down. While I under-stand that a computer network takes a while to get back online after a long shutdown period, it shouldn’t have been

down as long as it was. The library was hit the hardest. You couldn’t get on the Internet or print papers off for class. It was chaos. The worst part: it wasn’t even fully re-solved until the next day.As I mentioned earlier, I give Shepherd University credit for how they han-dled the mess last week. My only concern is that if this kind of thing happens again, will Shepherd be able to respond in a time-ly matter so that a day of classes or business is not lost? With winter com-ing, I fear that this could just be the beginning. For Shepherd’s sake, I hope they’re prepped for a coming storm.

Do We Really Need More Art Buildings?

chelSea [email protected]

Shepherd University has seen many new developments recently, some at the height of controversy. As many students know, Shep-herd currently has two art buildings on campus. There is the Frank Creative Art Center and the Center for Contempo-rary Art. While it is no secret that adding a second art build-ing to the campus raised some eyebrows by and large, we still may not have seen the worst yet. According to Shepherd’s Web site, the Center for Contemporary Art was intended to be not just one building but three separate ones, all spread out into three phases. Each phase would be a different construction project, as proposed in the school’s most current master plan. The first building was completed in 2008.

The second building is still in the early development stages, although its completion was set for November of this year. The third building, based on Shep-herd’s website, is still reliant on future funding. Although the first phase of the CCA was built by state funds, both the second and third phases are set to be privately funded. Although the CCA was a much-needed asset to the growing art department, there’s much debate over whether the other two buildings should even be priorities. Since we already have two art buildings, there seems to be a ridiculous re-dundancy in adding two more. There are many other projects that could take precedence over ensuring that phases two and three of the CCA are completed on schedule. One of them would

be to address the consistent issue of overflow housing on campus. Liz Sechler, the Residence Life director, stated that there were about ten students that didn’t have housing at the begin-ning of this semester. While those students anticipate to all be placed accordingly by next week, it’s still a growing problem that needs resolution. Ten people may not seem like a huge number, but any indi-vidual expecting to pay for an enjoyable college experience shouldn’t have to live crowded like a sardine for the first couple weeks on campus for any reason.Instead of focusing on complet-ing the final two phases of these art buildings, Shepherd should convince the private funds to aid in the overflow housing issue. Not only would it be money well-spent; it would be delivering a

handful of students from any un-comfortable means in the future so that they can have the college experience they were promised. Another option that has been less conceived by Shepherd-stown itself would be to add a parking garage to our campus. Parking has been a growing problem on this campus for a number of years. While a park-ing garage decays the historic look of the town, it seems a lit-tle absurd that three modern, sleek art buildings would not. While the intentions of add-ing more art buildings would be a positive for the growth of our art department, there are many other needs that need to be answered now instead of later. The extra state-of-the-art classrooms can hold off for a bit longer, while some of our more urgent problems should not.

Mr. Gamer: Shepherd and the Weather

Construction on the new Contemporary Art Building. These Construction Workers are working to finish assembling the outside wall. Photograph by Michael Keplinger


page_____ C m Y K 5

COmmeNtarY

Emergency Precautions: What to Do in the Case of a Shootingnathan [email protected] light of all the recent shoot-ings that have taken place within the last couple months, finding out what the police do and what they want from us sounded like a good idea. Recently, I had the privilege of interviewing Ed Boober, chief of police, and Alan Perdue, gen-eral counsel. Not only was the interview very helpful, but it is good to know that men such as these are here for our protec-tion. They genuinely care and are ready to do what is neces-sary in order to maintain the peace and protection of the pub-lic, especially the faculty, staff and student body at Shepherd. In the event of an emergency, students, faculty and staff will be alerted through e-mail and texts around every half-hour to keep them posted on what

is going on. This is a very ef-ficient way of keeping stu-dents and others from going out to see what is going on.According to Chief Boober, there are three theories on how to deal with this kind of emergen-cy situation: hiding, running or taking action. Very often, the best option is to just hide and prepare yourself. The doors of the classrooms can be locked from the inside. According to studies done by the FBI and Se-cret Service, a gunman will just move on rather than try to find something to open the door. If students are in their dorms, staying in them may also be the best option. If there is a clear way of escape, however, and there is not imminent threat of danger, students and others are asked to take that way while they have a win-dow of opportunity but to ex-ercise caution in the process.

Taking action is for if you don’t really have any other choice. Use anything at your disposal to defend yourself. When they say anything, they mean anything, from a pencil to a water thermos.Now, when all this is going on, the police are given strat-egy and directed by an execu-tive, which is where Alan Per-due comes in. Through this process, better coordination and strategy can be attained. Being able to think things through is very important, and that’s just what the job of the executive is in this case.In the case of such an emer-gency, students are also asked to contact the authorities as soon as they can. The quicker they can crack down on a situ-ation, the fewer people will be hurt. Using the call boxes, your phone or any other means of communication is essential.

Another thing students are asked to do is to report any suspicious activity around cam-pus. There was such a case re-cently, in fact, when the county had sent people to check on propane tanks on campus, and someone reported suspicious activity around them. It was nothing, of course, but, had it been someone else who wasn’t supposed to be there, some-thing bad could have happened.Knowing what to do in an emergency situation is very im-portant, especially in knowing how to help out the police since they are here for our protec-tion. Cooperating with them is high priority. If we can all ex-ercise these precautions, we’ll be building a safer community, a better place for living and a place that exercises prudence when an emergency takes place.

It’s Time for the Right Hope and Change in 2012

Zach Rounceville

[email protected]

With this upcoming election, voters can choose to go one direc-tion or the other. It comes down to the notion of being informed on the issues and making the right decision on Election Day. “Hope and Change” and “For-ward”—these are the messages that the Obama campaign has decided to tote around over the past several months. The funny thing is, both of these campaign slogans convey a misguided message and convey the opposite of what the real-ity of the situation actually is. It may not be Obama’s fault that there are a lot of issues that need addressing now, but at the end of the day, he is the sitting president, and these problems have occurred during his presi-dency over the last four years. The situation has not gotten better. All people have to do is

ask themselves, “Am I better off now than I was four years ago?” The Romney campaign, on the other hand, promises to move the country in a different di-rection. Mr. Romney seeks to reduce taxes and increase and promote the growth of free en-terprise. He also plans to give the states more flexibility in their lawmaking instead of let-ting Washington bear the bur-den of solving every problem. He seeks to provide initiatives for hard work and the ideals of capitalism in order to stabilize the economy and reduce the national debt, which is around $16 trillion and growing. As much as we want to blame a particular candidate specifi-cally for this nation’s problems, it is important to take a step back and look at the big pic-ture. The president himself, of course, can sign specific bills into law, ones that are both favorable and unfavorable.

However, in the grand scheme of things, it is Congress that makes and reviews everything that reaches the president’s desk. It is important that the lawmakers on Capitol Hill come to a consensus on what is best for the citizens of this nation. Presidential candi-dates can campaign to vow for change on certain policies, but at the end of the day, he or she must work with Con-gress to get things done. It cannot be a one-sided battle. With this in mind, it is time for a change in Washington. Who-ever is elected president come November must find a way to work with Congress, and Con-gress in turn should find a way to work with their president. It should not be an ideologi-cal battle of wills and debates. Although there have been in-stances in our history where Congress and the president functioned sufficiently while being aligned to different par-

ties, that is not the case now. When asked about the im-portance of a good relation-ship between Congress and the president, Jessica Earle, a political science major, said, “It is crucial for Congress and the president to work together to solve problems. Although differences of opinion are a reflection of constituent pref-erences, if there’s too much dissention in Congress, it leads to legislative gridlock.” This country is facing a myr-iad of issues such as an ever increasing national deficit, increases in college tuition, healthcare, immigration, and conflicts overseas. It is impera-tive that Congress and the president work together in a collaborative effort. Democrats and Republicans have to come together to fix these issues to get this country back on track.

Dear Editors:The otherwise informa-tive article about travel abroad in The Picket barely mentioned the plans for a trip in spring 2013 to Shakespeare’s Italy. This is a chance for students to earn up to six hours of credit AND to travel to Shake-speare’s Italy. Anyone interested, including non-students and fam-ily members, will also be welcome to join the group. Whether Shakespeare himself ever visited Ita-ly, many of his plays have Italian settings, and the locations that he wrote about correspond closely with the dramatic texts.

Verona is, of course, the home of “Romeo and Juliet.” It is also the location of Shake-speare’s early comedy “Two Gentlemen of Ve-rona.” In addition to the usual tourist sites, the group will visit the Villafranca Scaliger Castle, where the prince summoned the heads of the feuding Capulet and Montague families.Venice today is still closely connected to the historical background of both “Othello” and “The Merchant of Venice.” In addition to the Doge’s Palace, where Othello presented himself be-

fore the Senate, the group will seek out the private meeting place of Desdemona and Othello, as described in the text.Also, the group will see Shylock’s penthouse, located in the Jewish ghetto, and pass by Por-tia’s residence at the Villa Foscari, known as Belmont in the play. In Florence, in addi-tion to the Uffizi Gal-lery and other attrac-tions, travelers will be able to follow the paths of Bertram and Hel-ena as detailed in “All’s Well That Ends Well.”In Padua, the group will

visit the Church of San Luca and the nearby ca-nal bridge where much of “The Taming of the Shrew” takes place.In Rome, the itinerary will include locations al-luded to in “Julius Cae-sar,” such as Area Sacra, believed to be the site of Caesar’s death; the Ro-man Forum, where Ant-ony gave his funeral ora-tion; and Palatine Hill, where Caesar lived. Also, the group will visit the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountains and many other places of interest. There will also be ample free time for travelers to explore on their own.

The tour will include round-trip airfare, air-port taxes, accommoda-tion in 3-star hotels, ex-pert tour guides in each location, pre-booked admissions to muse-ums and cultural sites, breakfasts each day and most dinners, as well as transportation by pri-vate coach for airport transfers and inter-city travel. The total price should be about $3,500.For more information, contact Dr. Jim Lewin at 304-876-5269 or e-mail

[email protected].


page_____ C m Y K 6

COmmeNtarY


Taylor Lucas- News Designer

Haley Shapiro- Commentary Designer

Annie Ellis- Arts and Style Designer

Naomi Craver-Sports Designer

Samantha Jones- Advertisement Designer

Follow us on :

www.facebook.com/thepicket

WenDY [email protected] Is High Street a hazard zone for college students to have to pass through on a daily basis in order to get to their classes?” This is a ques-tion that runs through my mind when I think of the sidewalk safe-ty here at Shepherd University.Nick McNutt, a construction worker working on this side-walk project, believes that High Street is fairly safe, what with the stop signs and warning lights.His crew started this project, to his knowledge, because of foot-ball traffic, and the road brings in more students to various spots on campus. He states that the main problem is that people, es-pecially college students, do not obey the general safety rules. At

the end of the project, the tun-nel will ensure that this is where they need to cross. The construc-tion workers have found a mas-sive amount of rock and had to use dynamite to clear it. If there are no more disruptions, the project should be done in early December. Shepherd student Ashley Reim-nits claims that, on the con-trary to what McNutt said, High Street is indeed dangerous. This is the main crosswalk for stu-dents and, at night, they cannot see clearly because the street is not well lit. Last year a student was struck and severely injured by an oncom-ing vehicle, and the year before a boy was struck as well. This shows that High Street is not safe for stu-dents to have to cross every day. Now there is a new sidewalk by

Thacher and Shaw Halls. Reim-nits feels that the school is tak-ing the right steps in order to make students feel safer not only during the day but also at night. While I agree that pedestrians walking do, in fact, hold a respon-sibility in sidewalk safety, High Street is not safe late at night. On my way back from H-Lot, there are no street lights to help guide me to the other side of campus. Drivers on the road sometimes become reckless at nighttime be-cause they think that nobody is out walking around that late. However, during the day, walk-ers do not pay enough attention to their surroundings. Even though it may seem like a childish rule, everyone needs to look both ways when crossing the street. Not ev-

ery driver is going to stop at a stop sign, regardless of the law. I believe that the tunnel McNutt and the other construction work-ers are creating is a wonderful safety precaution. Students rac-ing to make it to class on the other side of campus are in such a hurry that they do not take the necessary precaution themselves. Initially, the tunnel will be a sure and easy way to make it to class and not have to worry about the oncoming cars. The tunnel will be lit so students can see in the darkness and will not have to worry about reckless driving at night. Coming and going will be a much easier process than ever before for college students and families that live nearby.

Sidewalk Safety: Just For Kids?

EDITORIAL

Shepherd students have to watch out for ledges, rocks, and bricks that are no longer level on the High St. sidewalk in Shepherdstown. Because of the underpass construction this is the only way to travel from East to West side of campus.

Photograph by B.J. McCardle

Individuals can be proac-tive, intelligent, and so-cially alert of situations occurring in the world. A group of people, however, are slow to respond, dumb, and not socially aware of anything around them. Do not misunderstand, though, this is not a rhet-oric founded on bashing people and how they live their lives. This is sim-ply a call for awareness. People tend to ignore or look away from problems that do not pertain di-rectly to them. In a way, we have become a coun-try that has developed a severe case of narcissism, focusing purely and de-liberately on ourselves. For example, according to the United States De-partment of Agriculture, 16 million children lived

in food insecurity in 2010. The U.S. Census Bureau reported that 16.4 million or approximately 22 per-cent of children in the U.S. live in poverty, yet most people do not do anything to make a difference. Across the world people are killed mercilessly, and we look over their deaths. The UN estimates that more than 20,000 people have been killed in anti-government protests in Syria, an estimate that is modest to say the least. Here on Shepherd Uni-versity’s campus, while there is no pointless bloodshed, there are ad-junct professors who are paid significantly less than assistant or associ-ate professors, and yet these adjunct professors carry a large portion of the

class load across campus. Start an awareness group on campus, confront Shepherd’s administra-tion about problems on campus; there are limit-less issues that can be addressed. There is pow-er in numbers, and with the help of your fellow students, any and every issue can be resolved. As formerly said, people can be active; groups are usually not quick to react. However, The Picket believes that Shepherd is the type of academic campus where its students have the ability, as a group, to become social activists throughout the univer-sity, across the coun-try, and internationally.

REMINDER!

OCT. 12Last day to applyfor May graduation!

OCT. 26Last day to wihdrawalfrom a full semester class!


page_____ C m Y K 7

arts & stYLeAppalachian

Fiction Competition Announces

Winner

SaRah [email protected] Rebbecca Morris, a stu-dent at Shepherd Univer-sity, won the Appalachian Fiction Writing Competi-tion award this year for her story entitled “Folk Tune.” Morris is a junior Eng-lish literature major at Shepherd University with a minor in Appalachian Studies. She is a native of Fayette County in Ansted, W. Va. Morris said she has “wanted to be a writer since [she] was a young girl” in middle school. While studying English literature here at Shep-herd, Morris decided to change her minor to Ap-palachian studies in or-der to hone her writing style to appeal more to the Appalachian audience. As a native of the heart of Appalachia, Morris is aware of the challenges and the hardships that the people of Appalachia face, and she wants to reach this audience and the opposition to this au-dience with her writing.Morris decided she wanted to be a writer because she “has always felt as though writing is a great way to express yourself,” and she wants people to un-derstand and empathize with the people of Appa-lachia and their culture. Morris said, “I so des-perately wanted to write about this region to high-light the great people and the history we have here.”Morris admitted that she almost did not enter this story into the competi-

tion but finally did, just thirty minutes before the deadline, at the encour-agement of her mother. Morris’s story is about ris-ing above the common pit-falls that inevitably present themselves to the inhabit-ants of Appalachia—and the myth that maybe you can’t avoid these issues. Howev-er, the heroine of her story proves that this is not true. Her heroine deals with the grief of losing her childhood best friend to these pitfalls and the pain that accompa-nies the realization that the people who you thought you knew may not be the people that you thought they were.The reader never learns the name of Morris’s heroine, but you feel you know the heroine just the same. She lives next door to her grand-ma and spends all of her time with this influential woman. The story is punc-tuated by the grandmother singing “Bye, Bye, Baby Bunting” to the heroine—a common folk tune in Appa-lachia (and a song that Reb-becca’s real life great-grand-mother sang to her) and, I think, a key factor in the sto-ry. This punctuation of this story with a comforting song is a reminder of the stead-fastness of the people of Ap-palachia and their charac-ter—the heroine holds fast, even in the face of adversity.Morris’s writing is heartfelt and sometimes colloquial (in a good way) and speaks to the people of Appalachia. Her writing embodies many of the issues that face the people not only of West Vir-ginia but also of Appalachia.

SaRah [email protected] may have already no-ticed that Shepherd Uni-versity campus is swarming with all things Appalachian. Each fall Shepherd Uni-versity hosts a weekend of activities devoted to Appalachian culture, bet-ter known as the Appala-chian Heritage Festival.As many may or may not know, West Virginia is this only state that is entirely engulfed in the region desig-nated as Appalachia. So for the students, faculty, and residents of Shepherdstown, this festival is especially poi-gnant because Appalachian heritage is their heritage. This festival is designed to give the people of this re-gion, and beyond, a better

understanding of the culture

surrounding our beau-tiful mountain state.In 1998, Shepherd Uni-versity and the West Virginia Humanities Council conspired to create a program that would highlight and recognize the talents of contemporary writers and photographers from the Appalachian region and the program has be received with great en-thusiasm and success.Dr. Sylvia Shurbutt notes that this program has become “a real coup for Shepherd because the West Virginia Cen-ter for the Book has continually chosen our Writer-in-Residence as their Writer of the Year.” This program was designed to act in concert with the Ap-palachian Heritage Festival. So instead of

The Appalachian Heritage Festival

A Preview

SEPT. 24 MON.

7 p.m. Screening of Sundance Grand Jury Prize-Winner “Winter’s Bone,” with Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes, at Reynolds Hall. The event and community discussion is co-sponsored by the Shepherdstown Film Society. Dr. Amy DeWitt, discussion leader.

4 p.m. “Midwifery in the Mountains: An Appalachian Community Network,” Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies. Lecture and discussion with Dr. Pam Edwards, spon-sored by the Appalachian Studies Program.

7 p.m. “Waking a Celebration of Appalachian Storytellers and Musical Prelude: ‘The Antholo-gy of Appalachian Writers and Photographers, Ron Rash Volume IV,’” Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies. Sponsored by West Virginia Center for the Book.

8 p.m. “Anthology” reception and book signing, Scarborough Library Reading Room.

SEPT. 25 TUES.

SEPT. 26 WED.9 a.m. Literary discussion with Martinsburg, Jefferson and Berkeley Springs students at

Martinsburg High School.10:30 a.m. Laskas reading at Martinsburg Public Library and reception.7 p.m. “The Writing Life with Gretchen Moran Laskas,” Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative

Studies. Event sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and the Shepherd University Foundation. The writer discusses her work, the writing process, and her journey toward authorship and publication.

SEPT. 27 THURS.3 p.m. Writer’s Masters Class with Gretchen Moran Laskas, Robert C. Byrd Center for Legis-

lative Studies, until 4:30 p.m.8 p.m. Scarborough Society Lecture and Awards Ceremony, Erma Ora Byrd Hall. “Build-

ing Bridges, Past and Present: West Virginia Storyteller, Gretchen Moran Laskas,” Erma Ora Byrd Hall. Event sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and the Shepherd University Foundation. Laskas receives Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Award and presents her keynote address, followed by reception and book signing. The West Virginia Fiction Competition awards will also be presented by Laskas.

SEPT. 28 FRI.8 p.m. Appalachian Heritage Festival Concert. Reading of award-winning work of fiction.

West Virginia Fiction, 17th Annual Appalachian Heritage Festival Concert, Frank Center. Friday’s concert showcases banjo virtuoso Adam Hurt with Beth Hartness; winner of the West Virginia Fiction Competition, Rebecca Morris; and string band The Fox Hunt. Tickets are as follows: $15 (general); $10 (seniors/Shepherd staff); $5 (children). Free for Shepherd students with valid Rambler ID.

SEPT. 29 SAT.

8 p.m. Appalachian Heritage Festival and Concert, Frank Center. Saturday’s concert features bluegrass legends The Seldom Scene. Concerts are hosted by John Lilly. Tickets are as follows: $15 (general); $10 (seniors/Shepherd staff); $5 (children) Free for Shepherd students with valid Rambler ID.

For more information, please visit the websites for the programs at www.shepherd.edu/passweb/festival.htm and www.shepherd.edu/ahwirweb.

BY michael chaRtuk [email protected] an interesting preview, the actual mov-ie “Branded” is a night-mare of false starts, poor technique and one too many lightning strikes. The trailers promised a supernatural thriller about brands taking pos-session of people and fighting among them-selves. However, noth-ing could prepare you for this bizarrely bad movie.The brand monsters that attracted me didn’t ap-pear until the last 30 minutes of this 106- min-ute headache. The rest of the film plods through one plot line after anoth-er. The biggest problem with this film is direc-tion. The plot just can’t

Branded Movie ReviewA Modern B-Movie

settle on one idea and most of the plot lines are never brought to a resolution. The setting is Moscow, so of course communism is pres-ent along with the idea the Lenin was the first mar-keter, and though repeat-ed enough, this plot point ultimately doesn’t mat-ter. The conflict between communism vs. democ-racy, marketing vs. “uh, no marketing,” is attempted, but the concepts seem too smart for this dumb movie and the messages get con-fused and muddled. The actual villain in the film is also found wanting.The plot is hard to nail down but here’s a brief rundown. Misha Galkin (Ed Stoddard) is a Russian marketer with a British ac-cent. He works in a market-

ing firm for Bob Gibbons (Jeffrey Tambor). There are numerous flashbacks through Misha’s past, all narrated by a female nar-rator. The overall effect is less documentary and more “Desperate House-wives.” One flashback tells the story of how Mi-sha worked with Bob in ratting out communist criminals using the power of marketing to publicly display the criminals—a smart tactic if employed correctly, but sadly it’s played off as comical and never mentioned again.The actual human villain (Max von Sydow) is as half-baked as the rest of this movie. He is an un-named marketing guru on a far-away island who plans to use numerous

public marketing strategies to make fat the new “sexy” and help the (apparently struggling) fast food com-panies make money. This could be interesting, be-cause if they could shift an entire culture’s perception, just imagine what else they could do! Once again, the idea is too smart. Step one is to change Moscow’s per-spective of beauty and step two is “Sweet! Fat chicks!” That’s it. No greater ambi-tions, no conspiracy, just fake ads featuring chunky models instead of skinny ones. “Branded” would make a great selection for Bad Movie Night since it perfectly illustrates what not to do when directing. The screen ratio randomly changes in unsubtle ways, producing black bars on the

top and later on the sides (did they forget they were filming in wide screen?) while the edits were decid-edly PowerPoint-esque. Every angle just jumped into the next without any transition or pause. The longer speeches were ac-tually pretty good and were a brief glimmer of hope, but then something stupidly wacky would happen and kill that light.Going into this movie expecting $14 worth of thriller is the wrong choice. Save yourself and wait for a cheap rental with friends. Then this disaster sure-ly wouldn’t disappoint.I give it 1 out of 10 stars only because of Jeffrey Tambor’s performance.

just activities that span the last weekend of September, there are activities involving Appalachia and the arts planned for the en-

A woman crossing the footbridge to her parents home in Tucker County, West Virginia. This photograph was taken in June of 2012, and is still the only access they have to their home,

very Appalachian.

Photo by Sarah Ridgeway

tire week of Sept. 24 – 29, 2012.

Photograph by Don Zumbach


page_____ C m Y K 8 page_____ C m Y K 8

arts & stYLe


This Year’s Appalachian Writer in Residence

Gretchen Moran LaskasBY SaRah [email protected] would like to introduce this year’s Appalachian Writer in Residence, Gretchen Moran Laskas, and her award-win-ning novel, “The Midwife’s Tale,” to the students of Shepherd University. She is

the recipient of the Appa-lachian Writer of the Year Award, a West Virginian and an Appalachian. Las-kas was born and raised in Philippi, W.Va. She is an eighth-generation West Virginian, but she now re-sides in northern Virginia. She attended the Universi-

In conjunction with my interview with Laskas, I read “The Midewife’s Tale” as part of my research and I found her novel to be wonderfully written and very poignant. Read-ing Laskas’s story was a journey through all the emotions most dear to human experience; hard-ship and happiness often keep close company. Her book is about two of the

ty of Pittsburgh, where she graduated with a degree in literature and philosophy in 1992. She met and married her husband, Karl Laskas, here and then proceeded to travel the north eastern re-gion of the U.S. with him, “a la Little House on the Prai-rie,” as she called it (travel-

Q: When did you start writing and why? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

Q: How do you feel about being named the Appalachian Writer of the Year?

A: I’ve always told stories, from the time I was small. In my living room there is a framed piece that my mother swears is my first “writing.” It says, “Once upon a time there was a petty girl named Grethen. THE END.” I hope I meant to write “pretty” and since I misspelled my own name, I’m going to go with that. (And I’m still a lousy speller, even today!) I was four. It’s also worth noting that I capitalized “the end.” I knew then what the most important words to a story (from a writer’s point of view) are! I wrote all through elementary, middle and high school, but not through college. By then, I’d pretty much internalized the idea that writers couldn’t make a living doing it, so it was pointless. When my husband went to graduate school, I started writing seriously. But it took ten years and 12 re-writes before my first novel, “The Midwife’s Tale,” was published.

Q: If an aspiring writer asked you for the most valuable piece of advice you could give, what would you say?

A: “READ READ READ!!!!!!” You have to know good writing. You have to know the rules, whether you’re going to follow them or make your own path. If you read good things, it will teach you how to make your own work better.

A: I’m very honored by it. I cried when I got the e-mail.

Q: What do you think of the Appalachian studies program at Shepherd University?

A: I think of Appalachian as cultural. There are things that I do that are very Appalachian. I’m something of a fatalist. I have a dark sense of humor. I know my Bible very well. I have a quick temper. These are all things that have been part of the Appalachian culture going back as long as anyone has been writing about what is Appalachian. Of course, that quickly brings us to the idea of stereotype—and I also am very much stereotypical of the region: my father went to a one-room schoolhouse, my grandmother’s family were whiskey bootleggers, and I’m my own eighth cousin. To some extent, as a writer, the stereotypes are easier to work with than people having no opinion of the region at all—it’s easier to work with people knowing something about the region than people knowing nothing.

A: Without the work of Appalachian scholars, I couldn’t do the work that I do. Before I write a novel, I research the time period, the language of the area, the geography, the medicine used, the clothing they wore, even the obituaries that were written about them. It’s true that I use family history a great deal, but that’s only the beginning of my quest. Without the work of Appalachian scholars like those here at Shepherd University, I could never write with the attention to detail or the authenticity that is so important to me.

Q: What was your inspiration for writing “A Midwife's Tale”?

A: A family story—almost all of my stuff comes from family stories. In this case, it was from stories of babies born that just sort of disap-peared. Some of the stories were really ugly; some of the stories were truly tragic. And these aren’t only from my family. There is a tradition in Scot-Irish legends about babies buried underneath hearthstones of houses that goes back not only in Appalachia, but all the way to ghost stories told in Ireland and Scotland. I was haunted by this part of our cultural history, and I knew I wouldn’t stop feeling haunted until I’d written it all out.

great phenomena of the hu-man race: faith and love.The story is centered on a girl named Elizabeth Whiteley, who comes from a long line of midwives. She is headstrong, faithful, and steadfast. Eliza-beth doesn’t know where her heart belongs, but she tries her best to follow it through-out the pages of this novel. She constantly questions herself about what is right and wrong and she is a true

survivor—all traits that are integral to the people of the Appalachian region.Elizabeth must decide whose footsteps she will follow. She fiercely loves her mother, but her moth-er lacks the faith that Elizabeth seems to feel in her soul. No matter their faith, Elizabeth can-not justify some things that they view as neces-sary evils in their trade.

Q: What does being Appalachian mean to you? How do you feel about the stereotypes people often make about this region? How do you respond to these stereotypes in your own experience?

Although Elizabeth shuns her profession at times, she realizes that she sometimes has to choose between per-sonal integrity and the peo-ple that often have nowhere else to turn. Laskas’s story is like blackberry wine: the first sip may seem tart, but as your taste buds adjust, it lingers on your tongue, thick, sweet, and complex. This book explores the in-tricate relationships of the

people of Appalachia: their relationships to one another, to the land, and to themselves. Laskas’s novel is yet another ex-ample of a great writer from our own backyard. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about this place and the strong people who climbed up into these hills and made homes for themselves.

ing around the country in a covered wagon, in a more modern style). They finally settled in North-ern Virginia in 2001 dur-ing the publication of “The Midwife’s Tale.” I had the privilege of in-terviewing Mrs. Laskas.

Snakes AlivePhotos by Don Zumbach

Photograph from GretchenLaskas.com

Sam Bouchoc

Ashley Fischer

Julie Johns

Holly Ruggles

arts & stYLe

page_____ C m Y K 9


Summer Adventures 2012

Sept. 15

Entry #1-The Beginning

This day marks the fourth consecutive month that I’ve been homeless. I’ve been able to lead a normal college life, except that each night I don’t know where I am going to rest my head to sleep. I’ve slept on floors, couches, beds, on a gravel patio, beside a pool, on a roof, next to train tracks, in the cab of a few semi-trucks, in trains, in strangers’ vehicles, on a boat, and in bus stops, just to name a few places. I have, during this time, cycled around Europe and hitchhiked across the United States from coast to coast with only my own guidance to follow. You might be wondering, “Who is this person?” Is it some burly outdoors man? No. Is it a rich kid with endless summer options? No. I am just an optimistic adventurer with the knowledge that the world is at my fingertips whether I have only a little bit of money or none at all! I’m just an average 22-year-old college girl who decided to get out of town for the summer. It all happened so suddenly. During the final exam week during last spring semester of 2012, I decided to go to Europe and explore various countries on a bicycle—and I had never even been outside of the United States before!—and I had the high hopes of leaving to fly out to Barcelona in Spain on May 14. During this final week, I was not only busy with trying to plan such an adventure, but I also had exams throughout the week and had to move out of my apartment by the end of the week! After finals week, I spent many sleepless nights in the 24-hour room of the library (as I have no computer of my own) planning proposed routes and trying to contact people via the Couch Surfing and Warm Showers websites for free places to stay. (Couch Surfing is “a volunteer-based worldwide network connecting travelers with members of local communities, who offer free accommodation and/or advice” and the Warm Showers website is similar except that it’s focused more towards touring cyclists.) Even with two weeks to plan routes, find places to stay, and get all the equipment that I thought would be necessary (panniers, rain gear, tent, sleeping bag, bicycle tools, etc.), I was still running about in a frenzy on the day that I was to board the plane. I was scheduled to depart in the afternoon; that morning was awfully rainy. I made my way to the 24-hour room for some last-minute schedule checking. Then I ran through the rain to the post office to see if some of the last few items I had purchased online arrived. My panniers finally arrived. I hurried, soaking wet, back to my friend’s double-wide trailer where I had been staying the past two weeks. My mom was waiting there to carry me away to Winchester, Va. My dad was then going to take me the rest of the way to the airport in Washington, D.C. I hastened my pace and loaded my equipment into her car and packed everything in a medium-sized cardboard box and a little light backpack as we drove down to Virginia, all while the rain was still dumping down from the sky. We made it to Winchester and met up with my father and he whisked me away to the airport. I wasn’t sure if we would make it on time and fell asleep on the way there. My grandparents always say that you want to get to the airport at least three hours before your flight is scheduled to leave if you are traveling internationally, and here I was arriving with just under an hour left prior to departure! I checked the cardboard box, said good-bye to my dad and continued into the terminal. After successfully pass-ing through a few security points and waiting around a little, I boarded the airplane and was on my way to Barcelona!

eliZaBeth [email protected]

STRANGER THAN FICTION

by Brian Ardel

Submitted Photo


10 the shepherd picket Wednesday, april 25, 2012

page_____ C m Y K 10 page_____ C m Y K 10

spOrts


Week in and week out, the Shepherd Rams’ open-ing game loss to the Ship-pensburg Raiders is look-ing farther and farther away. On Saturday, the Rams traveled down I-79 to take on the University of Charleston Golden Eagles. Shepherd emerged from the game victorious with a score of 16-10.For a little bit, the game looked like anything but an easy Saturday afternoon. The first scoring happened with 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter, when Charleston kicker Puma Nuredini made a 22-yard field goal. Charleston ex-tended their lead with 9:48 left in the second quarter, when quarterback Maurice Leak of Parkwood High School in Waxhax, N.C., found Shaq Williams of George Washington High School in Charleston, W.Va., for a 27-yard touch-down.With 31 seconds left in the half, the Rams finally responded. Senior corner-back Keon Robinson re-turned an interception 48 yards for a touchdown. Freshman kicker Ryan Earls added the point after

touchdown. Heading into the half, Shepherd trailed Charleston by a score of 10-7. However, the Rams had definitely turned the mo-mentum in their favor.Shepherd took the lead for good with 10:17 remaining in the third quarter. Junior Jihad Rasheed, the former University of Michigan running back, scored on a six-yard touchdown run which Earls followed with

a point after touchdown. At this juncture in the contest, the Rams led the Golden Eagles 14-10. Ju-nior defensive end Howard Jones pressured Charles-ton quarterback John Knox in the end zone, and Knox picked the unwise decision of grounding the football. This led to a Shepherd safe-ty, which took the score to 16-10 with 12:21 remaining in the game.

Shepherd junior running back Michael Haynes led the team in rushing, gaining 104 yards on 24 attempts, which was good for an aver-age of 4.3 yards an attempt. Senior quarterback Bobby Cooper completed 11 of 27 passes for 88 yards. His leading receivers were se-nior Larry Lowe and sopho-more William MacKenzie, who had three receptions each. Cooper was coming

off a performance last week which netted him West Vir-ginia Intercollegiate Ath-letic Conference Offensive Player of the Week honors. Shepherd gained 303 yards of offense on the day, com-pared to Charleston’s 191 yards.Junior punter Troy McNeill had an outstanding day. He punted seven times for an average of 38.7 yards, with four of his punts landing inside the 20-yard line and two punts that traveled more than 50 yards. Ju-nior linebacker Dominique Dixon of University High School in Westover, W.Va., led the Rams in tackles, with eight. Next up for the Shepherd Rams are the Concord Uni-versity Mountain Lions. Last season, Concord dealt the Rams one of their only two losses on the season. There is no doubt that the Rams are looking to rem-edy the result of the con-test from last season. This year, Concord has to travel to Shepherd, and hopefully they will leave Shepherd-stown feeling like Shepherd felt when they departed Athens, W.Va., last season.

Another Week, Another WinmattheW muRPhY | [email protected]

(footballpractive 9-13(2).jpg) Cut Line goes here. CREDIT GOES HERE.

After winning their first game against West Liberty on Sept. 12, the Shepherd women’s soccer team fol-lowed it up with a loss in overtime against Concord, 2-1. This was the Mountain Lions’ first win after start-ing 0-4. The Rams fell to 1-3 on the season and 1-1 in the WVIAC.Concord jumped ahead first when sophomore forward Alyanna James scored at the 23:02 mark. It was her second goal of the season, with the assist coming off the foot of freshman for-ward Kari Simon. They went into the half up 1-0. Shepherd came back to tie it 1-1 at 62:27 on a goal from freshman forward Ky-lie Duffin off an assist from sophomore midfielder Lexi Vondrak. This also marked Duffin’s first score of the young season. The game

stayed tied for the rest of the 90 minutes and forced overtime. This was the first overtime for both teams. Kari Simon proved to be vital once again as she gave Concord the win at 97:30, the feed coming from sophomore goalie Kaitlyn Wasylko, who also had sev-en saves on the day. The Rams’ goalkeeping du-ties were split between ju-nior Elizabeth Wise and senior Tessa Jones. Each had two saves. Concord had a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks, while Shepherd had the edge on shots, 13-12. Shepherd hosted their next game this past Saturday against David & Elkins with both teams going 120 minutes without scoring a goal. The Senators had more shots with 18 to the Rams’ 13, as well as more

corner kicks, 4-3. Even in a tie, the star for Shepherd was senior goalkeeper Tes-sa Jones, who recorded ten saves to the Senators’ soph-omore goalie Ashley Win-kelspecht, who had eight. The tie keeps Davis and Elkins undefeated at 7-0-1, 2-0-1 in the WVIAC. Shep-herd moves to 1-3-1, 1-1-1 in the WVIAC. The Rams venture on the road for the next six games starting Sept. 23 when they face California University at 5 p.m. The Vulcans are 5-2 overall and 3-1 in con-ference. If the Rams want to win, they will have to use sophomores Haley Hen-derson and Erin Hogan as well as freshman forward Janelle McCann. All three have combined for 30 points so far.

Women’s Soccer Fails to Build on

MomentumSean o’BRien | [email protected]

PHOTO BY BENJAMIN MCCARDLE

In other news and notes from the Shepherd Univer-sity athletic department, congratulations to senior quarterback Bobby Cop-per for being awarded the WVIAC Offensive Player of the Week Award after his outstanding play against Seton Hill. Cooper helped lead the Rams to a 42-6 win over Seton Hill by com-pleting a career-high 24-28 passes for 286 yards and four touchdowns. Finally, the Shepherd baseball team and athletic department will say good-bye to head coach Wayne Riser. The announcement was made this week that Riser will be moving on

to become the new head coach of Mary Washington University. Riser has been the skipper of the Shep-herd baseball team since 1991 and since then has amassed an astonishing record of 509-395-2. Coach Riser, who won three WVI-AC titles (2004, 2009, and 2012) in his time here, also has the most wins for any coach in any sport in the history of Shepherd athlet-ics. It goes without saying that the Shepherd athletic department wishes noth-ing but the best for coach Wayne Riser in his future endeavors, and he will be greatly missed by everyone at Shepherd University.

Rams News and NotesJoSePh kaYe | [email protected]

Bobby Cooper & Wayne Riser PHOTOS BY SHEPHERDRAMS.COM

11 the shepherd picket Wednesday, april 25, 2012

page_____ C m Y K 11

spOrts

After suffering two disap-pointing losses to #14 Gan-non and Bloomsburg, the Shepherd University men’s soccer team looked to stop the bleeding with a win over the Concord Univer-sity Mountain Lions. From the start of the match, play was generally even and both teams were unable to record a score during the first half. However, junior midfielder Kevin Doyle, who has been virtually unstoppable this season, scored on an assist from his teammate, sophomore for-ward Ricky Johnson at the 77:57 mark of the game. The Rams managed to hang on, despite attempts from the Mountain Lions to tie, and win 1-0 over Con-cord in Athens, W.Va. Both teams recorded nine shots; however, Concord had the edge in corner kicks 4-2. The win brought the Rams to 1-0-0 in WVIAC play and dropped the Concord Mountain Lions to 1-4-1. On Sept. 20, the Rams journeyed to Lafayette, Pa., to close out a lengthy stretch of away games with a match against Chestnut

Hill College. Despite a bal-ance in shots, corner kicks, and fouls, the Chestnut Hill Griffins possessed the ball for a majority of the game and left Shepherd constantly playing defense. The Griffins scored at the 35:41 mark to take a 1-0 into the halftime break. They added an insurance goal at the 82:44 mark to seal the win and hand the Rams their third shutout loss of the season.Unfortunately, Shepherd endured a second straight shutout, their fourth of the season, just two days later on Sept. 22, when they faced David & Elkins University at home. The team struggled on both sides of the ball, including goalkeeping, in which they had been strong up to this point. They managed only 11 shots while David & El-kins had 23. Four different players went on to score for David & Elkins, helping them improve their record to 6-1-0. Shepherd fell to 3-4-1 and 1-1-0 in the WVI-AC conference play after the shutout loss at home.

Men’s Soccer Moves to

3-4-1JoSePh kaYe | [email protected]

The Shepherd Rams volley-ball team looked to get on the right track this week after starting the season at 4-4.After coming off heart-breaking defeats against Slippery Rock and Kutz-town in the PSAC cross-over tournament last week, the women’s volleyball team looked to rebound against Lock Haven Uni-versity on Tuesday night. Despite a solid effort, the Rams came up short, losing the best of five series 3-2 to the Lady Eagles. Junior Kayla Walker supplied 14 kills and 9 digs, while

Senior Kasey Mercier had 11 kills and 12 digs. Senior Sara Michael added 36 assists and 12 digs for the Rams. The Rams fought through adversity but couldn’t hold off the Lady Eagles. Due to transportation problems, the game sched-uled against West Virginia Wesleyan was postponed and rescheduled for Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. It was slated to be the first WVIAC Confer-ence game scheduled on the season. On Saturday, the Rams traveled to Fairmont, W.Va., to take on the

Fairmont State Falcons in a WVIAC conference showdown. The game was scheduled for 1 p.m. This game marked the first inter-conference battle between Shepherd and its conferences foes. Unfortu-nately, the Rams fell short again, dropping the set in a 3-0 decision to the Falcons 25-20, 25-23, and 26-24 respectively. This loss drops the Rams to 4-8 on the season, mark-ing their fifth consecutive defeat. The team resumes play on Tuesday, Sept. 25, when they travel to Seton Hill for another conference matchup at 7 p.m.

Shepherd Volleyball Weekly Recap

Zach Rounceville | [email protected]

above: (_MG_0190.jpg )Cut Line goes here. CREDIT GOES HERE

left: (_MG_0283.jpg )Cut Line goes here. CREDIT GOES HERE.

Wednesday, april 25, 2012 the shepherd picket 12

page_____ C m Y K 12

adVertIsemeNt

the shepherd university picket issue 57

Documents

nursing program

nursing competence

nursing personnel

nursing majors stipends

students grades

pass program

partment of nursing

increase diversity