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A class project of CMA 304

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Sneezing, coughing are the sounds of the cold season

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By Kaylene Wright//

Students are beginning to feel it in the air. The sniffles during class, the embarrassing and constant coughs, and that saying among friends, “Don’t get to close to me, I’m sick.”

Cold season has begun. The months September through April generally have the more illness than other months. This is because people stay indoors due to the lowering temperatures outside. Cold weather itself does not cause illness, but people congregating indoors causes easy spread of germs from person to person.

Campuses are among the germiest places. Students live in just about as close quarters as you can get. Students share bathrooms and dining halls, and their own room with their roommate or roommates.

“The most common illness that we see in Hood’s Health Center are eye, ear, nose, and throat complaints,” Teresa Cevallos, director of health services at the Hood College Health Center, said. “The reason that they are grouped together is that it is not unusual for a student to have a sore throat along with an earache or nasal congestion.”

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Coblentz takes home the pink spoon

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Coblentz won the coveted pink spoon in Policies for Dollars.

Coblentz won the coveted pink spoon in Policies for Dollars.

 

By Chloe Scott//

As an annual tradition, Hood College hosts “Policies for Dollars,” for freshman to show their pride and fierce competition among the residence halls. On the evening of Oct. 26, campus residents initiated the nights’ festivities with a battle on the quad.

The event entails residence halls participating in a competition for extra House Council money and the Pink Spoon. The main events for the evening included an obstacle course, chants, skits and jeopardy. With the assistance of House Council Officers, first-year students, who served as representatives, were tasked with the main duty of planning and coordination for the four main events. Each event can help the hall gain points to win.

When seeing all the excitement, and hearing the chants from students on the quad proceed through Whitaker Campus Commons, Senior Maya Gonzalez recalled her experience with “Policies for Dollars”. She was sad to say that the tradition of the event is slowly dying. “Students are losing interest, especially upperclassman who had their first experience three years ago. I don’t know why it’s dying out, but if we could revamp ‘Policies for Dollars’ for better understanding of it, we could possibly strengthen it for future first-year students,” Gonzalez said.

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Chapdelaine becomes college’s 11th president

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=qLMkCgD-ItQ

By Carly Berkowitz//

Students, staff and guests stood in honor and applauded as Dr. Andrea Chapdelaine took the stage to officially become the 11th president of Hood College.

The ceremony started at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, in the Hodson Outdoor Theater on campus.  The autumn wind was cold against hands and faces, but the reception of the guests from the Hood community was still warm as the long-awaited ceremony began.

Chapdelaine officially began her work as president back in July, but now, with great celebration, pomp, and circumstance, it becomes official.

“I’m very passionate about small liberal arts colleges,” Chapdelaine said in an interview prior to the event.  She expressed her interest in the challenges and opportunities Hood presents, as well as the Hood community.  “I want us to continue to be a strong institution so I will be working on continuing to gather resources, with primary interest in improving the academic experience of the students.”

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Black Student Union shows MLK film

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By Rachel Noguera//Racial prejudice and brutality recently have made headlines all over the country. Hood College’s Black Student Union (BSU) has organized various programs and demonstrations, such as the Pillars of Injustice, in order to raise awareness for this issue. The multicultural affairs department of Hood decided to take a different approach by showing the Academy Award winning film, King: A Filmed Record…Montgomery to Memphis, dedicated to illustrating civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life.

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Campus Activities Board keeps students busy

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By Kaijia Gao//Campus Activity Board(CAB) is a very popular club that organizes events and activities for students at Hood College, May Madness is the biggest event coming this year.

CAB is formed by six executive members, 20 board members, a club chair and a club adviser. The club always makes sure to organize an event on campus or off campus at least once a week. CAB has held several big successful events like May Madness, Messiah semi-formal dance, Fall Frenzy, New York trips and pool parties.

Le Nguyen, the associate chair of series events, said “When we run an event, we use half an hour or one hour to set up time. And we usually need five people running an event.”

Nguyen said CAB try to keep a variety of different events on campus, so the club does not repeat the same events in one semester.

Annie Mercer, the Campus activities board chair, said, “The way that we do our events is we have a kind of list in our head that students traditionally likes. We get together, and we think about all different things that we have done in the past and then we look at our calendars see the best way to put these on the calendar. ”

Nguyen said the CAB members goal is trying to do their best to make more new trips and game shows for the students.

To set up an event, club members also need to think about the budgets. For big events, like trips, it takes about $1,000. If there is not enough money for the event, CAB will delay that project until next semester or later.

“We do not have an endless budget, so we do have to make concession on things and we try to plan larger events and events that do not cost much money,” Mercer said, “and I don’t know how much money we have exactly.”

This year, adviser Don Miller left, so Gretchen Nonemaker is the new adviser who works along with the club.

“I think she’s a lot younger, so she connects with us better. And she’s a lot more open to new ideas and new possibilities. She is really flexible and open-minded, ” Nguyen said.

Mercer said Miller and Nonemaker look at things differently, and she added “I really learned a lot from Don, but I think Gretchen has lots of great ideas, so I am really excited to see those great ideas coming this year.”

This year, CAB planned some new ideas like paintball, putt-putt, zip lining and many other interesting events.

Many students participate in the events that are organized by CAB.

“I went to many trips before,” said Minha Kim, an exchange student from South Korea. She said after she joined the events that were held by CAB, she got into the community very quickly.

Kim said “They gave me opportunity to go outside.” She continued “I learned American culture from the activities, and saw what kind of things people do here. It was awesome to have a chance to really experience American culture. I really like it.”

Students complain about snow policies

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By Jared Bileski //Students at Hood College are concerned about the college’s policies toward snowstorms. Students living on campus are not as affected, but commuter and off campus housing residents are most certainly affected when the white stuff hits.

“Sometimes the drive to campus just doesn’t feel safe,” says junior Jack Zuckerberg. “With the amount of snow we’ve had this winter I get concerned.”

Zuckerberg is a resident at the sunset apartments, part of Hood’s off campus housing. Many residents there have cited issues with the parking situation at the complex, and the roads leading to campus. “Compared to the campus snow clearing, it’s night and day,” noted Zuckerberg.

The first major snowfall this semester on Feb. 17 was met with a two hour delay, and then a decision to close the school. Many students took to social media platform Yik-Yak to voice their displeasure with the lack of immediate cancellation.

“I had to dig two feet of snow away from my back bumper after the last storm” said Hood Junior Tucker Palmer. Students have been very skeptical as to how Hood decides to close the school and what those criteria are.

Many have speculated that Hood is being overly cautious after having too many snow days in early 2014. Hood’s inclement weather policy states “the College makes every effort to remain open at all times.” However, many students’ ideas of weather safe to stay open in differs from the campus safety definition.

Commuter students seem to be getting the brunt of the problems, as they are the ones who have to face road conditions.

This year, the Frederick County Government has changed the way the roads are plowed. The website says, “Due to budget concerns … we are changing the way we plow roads. We will plow 2 lanes on all roads so that cars may pass. We will not be clearing curb-to-curb as we have done in the past seasons.”

This is has sparked concern in some commuter students who drive every day. Some have found that 7th Street is better to use to reach Hood than Rosemont Ave. “It’s always easier to get to, and less snowy” said commuter student Evan Clough.

Frederick County’s Priority County Roads Map notes that “Emergency Service Access” is a top priority for snow clearing. This suggests that 7th street and roads leading to Frederick Memorial Hospital would be cleared first, benefitting traffic bound for Hood.

Hood’s Director of Facilities John Wichser says that on campus, he “felt [Hood Facilities workers] did a good job at clearing pathways on time.” The campus facilities team works to clear snow on campus, which only helps resident students.

Students agree. “For the time it too clear all of that snow, I was impressed,” said Junior Tai Foster. “Campus was easy to get around after storms – it was never an issue.”

Dealing with more snowfall than usual can be difficult for cities on the east coast, some of which only get no more than a week or two of heavy winter weather. Better snow removal equipment costs money to maintain, and is expensive to keep if it will only be used for one month.

Is Football in Hood’s Future?

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By James Brown//Hood College may soon be welcoming its own football program in the near future. Hood athletic director Tom Dickman says there has been conversations of their being a football team as early as the fall of 2016. Dickman noted that there are many factors that will influence the start of a football program.

The beginning of starting team would consist of finding a coach. Dickman would like to have a coach selected a year before playing. The process of finding a coach would be “advertised but we would possibly look for a local high school coach with connections within the area for recruiting purposes.” After finding a coach, the Blazers would need to find players willing to play in a brand new program. The players recruited to play football would potentially impact campus life by increasing class size and the amount of space in the dining hall and dormitories would decrease. The athletic facilities would need expanded as well. The Hodson Fitness Center would need to be bigger to accommodate an entire football team. BB&T arena would also need to add an additional locker room to the facility.

Dickman isn’t sure exactly where the team would play but said that the Blazers could rent a local football field to play its games. Dickman believes that the team could practice on the turf field if football lines are painted on it. However, it would be difficult for the team to find field time due to the schedules of other fall sports like field hockey and soccer. The lack of day light could also be an obstacle to work around.

The biggest obstacle would be the start up fees. The team would need a minimum of three full time coaches, a locker room, and equipment. The effects on campus life would also require money to be spent. Dickman believes the fees to start a program would build up quickly and be expensive but couldn’t give an estimate.

Dickman believes that the community, student population, and alumni would embrace the football team. Football offers an athletic event as well as a social event due to traditional tailgating which could lure in more fans. In order for that to be possible more parking would have to be put in place which is yet another expense.

Around campus, students believe that a football team would benefit the school. Sophomore Alex Villegas believes that a football team would be a great addition to Hood athletics. Villegas said “it would be nice to see a football team at hood. I would definitely go to games and tailgate if that would be allowed. That’s something I think a lot of students would be interested in.” Sophomore Nick Druelinger is in favor of a football team as well saying “”I think a football team energizes a campus. Games are an event everyone can look forward to. People from all circles go and interact and have a good time.”

Hood would play in the Division III Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC). There are currently 10 teams within the conference with football programs. Stevenson University and Misericordia University are the last two teams within the conference to add a football program within the last 10 years. Misericordia struggled this season ending the year with a record of 1-9. Stevenson was successful this past season finishing 8-3 while winning the ECAC Southeast Bowl.

Circle K holds cutest baby contest to combat tetanus

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By Jeanne Robinson//The Circle K International Club raised enough money to vaccinate 97 women against maternal and neonatal tetanus during their inaugural cutest baby contest held Feb. 16 – Feb. 20.

Members of the club collected donations and shared information via their board in Whitaker for the week with the baby pictures of four professors who had given their image for the fundraiser. Students and faculty “voted” for their favorite baby with any spare change or cash they had to offer, and learned of the effects of maternal and neonatal tetanus.

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Hood College nursing degree expands to four-year program

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By Nadji Grizzle//In the upcoming Fall 2015 semester, Hood will welcome undergraduate nursing students for the first time in school history. In doing so, Hood College becomes the first school in the immediate area to offer a four year nursing program. The program was created and designed to complement the two year BSN completion program which began in 2011, designed for registered nurses who already have an associate degree.

Kelly Watson, assistant professor of nursing, explained.

“Hood College started a BSN Completion program about 4 years ago, answering a need from Frederick Memorial Hospital to increase the number of Bachelors prepared nurses. This program is designed for the working RN (registered nurse) to complete the degree on a part time basis in about 2 years.”

“Once the BSN program was advertised, students started to inquire about a 4 year program. Since there are no other 4 year programs in Maryland within our immediate area, Hood began the process for approval of a Pre-licensure 4 year program. The new 4 year program will begin in the fall of 2015.”

Watson teaches Dimensions of Professional Nursing, Trends in Health Care Delivery, and Health Assessment in the BSN Completion program, and had a big part in development of the new four year program. She says the general reaction to the program has been positive, and that many students have inquired about admittance.

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Hood campus deals with repeated snow storms

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By Jake Wynn// Repeated mid-winter snowstorms put down close to two feet of snow across the Hood College campus and the Frederick area over the last weeks of February and early March. The snow found many different opinions among students and staff at Hood.

“It stinks,” said junior Julia LeClaire while walking across campus with a group of friends, on February 21 . “We are always getting this snow on the weekend when we don’t have classes.” The timing of that storm seemed to be on many students minds. “What’s the good of snow if you don’t have classes to get cancelled,” said senior Keegan Woche.

The Frederick area received between 8 and 10 inches of snow on February 21 according to the National Weather Service. The snow started early in the morning and lasted all day, creating a nightmare on area roads. It ranks as one of the largest snowstorms to impact Central Maryland in the last five years.

Tractor clears snow in front of Alumnae Hall.

Tractor clears snow in front of Alumnae Hall. Photo by Jake Wynn.

Campus safety officer Greg Sulby differed from many students on the opinions about the this winter’s snowstorms. “With storms occurring on the weekend, it gives us more time to clean up and not worry about having as many faculty and students around on campus,” he said.

The snow did not stop many students, and a few snowmen appeared and snow ball fights broke out across campus. “If it is going to snow, and I’m sick of this winter, we are all better off with it on Saturday instead of a Tuesday,” Sulby said.

With minimal cancellations due to the snow, SGA President and senior Tim Hulyk agreed with Sulby. “Lately we have had a lot of events during the week that have been cancelled due to the winter weather. With snowstorms like this, we don’t have that problem,” he said.

Of course, there were also those who are just done with winter all together, and they ventured to stay inside and out of the cold. Senior Caroline Schuetz pined for warmer days. “I’m ready for summer and a trip to the beach,” she said. “But until then, I’ll stay warm with some hot chocolate and Netflix.”

One of the Coldest Februarys on Record [Read more…]

A class project of CMA 304.