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A class project of CMA 304

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Men’s lacrosse team struggles with weather, opponents

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By Amir Abdelrady//The Hood College Men’s lacrosse team experienced a rough start to their 2016 season due to snow, but now enter the third week with one win and two losses.

“Working around the snow was difficult,” said Brad Barber, head coach of the team. “With limited field time, it’s hard to implement a full-field, game scenario during practices, and it’s even harder to work the players’ with such little space.”

Along with multiple practices being cancelled or rescheduled before the season had begun, Hood’s season opener against Southern Virginia was cancelled on February 13th, due to inclement weather.

Junior captain, Nick Masucci felt very strongly about the cancellation of the season opener against Southern Virginia.

“The snow at the beginning of the season was really frustrating because it caused us to miss a lot of practices on the field, and even our first game,” said Masucci. “We didn’t get a chance to practice what we planned to execute during the season.”

“Having an extra game to play during the beginning of the season is always a good thing,” Barber adds. “It gives the players a chance to get out any butterflies and really get a feel for the field as it was in fact some of the players first collegiate level game.”

Lacrosse team

Members of the Hood lacrosse team.

The following week, the Blazers faced off against Rosemont on February 21st, but lost in the last few seconds 10-9.

“We could have won that game, and we should have,” said senior defensive captain, Tucker Palmer.  “We were up five to two at the half, but we just couldn’t hold the lead. Everyone was too tense.”

The Blazers were able to overcome their rough start as they clenched their first victory over Immaculata University ten to six on February 25th.

“The guys didn’t fold at all after the half, they came out knowing what they wanted, and followed through with the game plan,” Barber said. Palmer would seem to agree as he said “, the team went in with more of a game plan. We got ourselves ahead early in the game, and we simply stayed up.”

[Read more…]

Student art show brings life to bare walls of Tatem Hall

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By Katie Harmis//

The Hood College Annual Student Juried Exhibition was a relaxed evening admiring art and their artists. Art students from photojournalism, Photography two, and sculpting exhibited their photos and sculptures for people to enjoy and bring life to a blank white room. The open walls were lined with vibrant photos and sculptures that brought dimension to an otherwise flat space.

Bonnie Monnier, a photojournalist student, hung lovely portraits she had taken of her sister.

“I named the mirror portrait ‘Eunoia’, meaning beautiful mind, because that is what I want my photo to convey.” Bonnie says she loves to photograph nature and she always tries to challenge herself.

“I try to get inspired by everything,” she said.

Through the front doors of Tatum are many photographic pieces that make up Frederick County. From snowy barns and open fields to animals and city structures, the students did a wonderful job of capturing the natural beauty of Frederick.

But the photo that stood out from the rest stole the show. “Pomegranates and Cup”, by Justin Fox, is an elegant portrait that gained much attention and the prize for Best of Show.

“I chose pomegranate seeds because I liked the way the light shined on them.” Justin is an ambitious Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) and studio art major with a photo concentration and plans to pursue marketing.

Student art in Tatem Hall.

Student art in Tatem Hall.

Professor and professional photographer, Tim Jacobsen is very keen on students sharing their work in the gallery.

“This is a great opportunity for students to debut their work and it gives them a chance to see what others are doing as well.” Tim says the gallery gives encouragement and competition to enhance the experience.

Chris Hamby, a photographer and graphic designer expressed absolute delight towards the students’ sculptures and photos.

“I’m here to support my friends,” he says, “their work is eye catching and modern… I’m just speechless; they are truly eye catching.”

Jenna Gianna, a graduate student, won first prize for her sculptures named “Shells”.  Jenna says she developed a love for sculpting after graduating college and returned to school to follow her newly found passion.

Lew Dean, undergraduate, won first place for “The Stag” painting. Second place was awarded to Leigh Anne Brader, undergraduate, for “Body Image, Inspired by Matisse.” Cameron Tate, undergraduate, came in third place with her print image “Omeri”. Janet Greer won the graduate student Best of Show prize for “Vase in Randi’d Red”.

The 2016 Student Art Exhibition is located in Tatum’s lobby until March 6th for everyone to enjoy.

Performance draws attention to sexual discrimination

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By Shanayah Braithwaite//

Hood College presented a benefit reading of V-Day’s, “Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and a Prayer: Writing to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls,” on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23 in Hodson Auditorium.

The book is a collection of monologues by world-renowned authors and playwrights, edited by Mollie Doyle and Eve Ensler, V-DAY founder.

Proceeds raised from the event went to the Heartly House, an organization that helps Frederick County residents who have been impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse.

The benefit performance was presented as part of V-Day’s One Billion Rising for Justice campaign, a global call for women survivors of violence and those who love them to gather safely in places where they are entitled to justice and release their stories through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, sit-ins and testimonies.

Ellie Blaser, a junior at Hood, performed, “The Aristocrats,” by Kate Clinton. “It’s basically just women telling their stories about sexism that they’ve faced – maybe on a personal level, maybe on a global level, and the different ways stuff like that can happen and have negative affect,” she said.

V-Day organizers have changed laws to protect women and girls, funded rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters, educated their communities, and raised over $ 100 million for groups working towards ending violence and serving survivors and their families (V-DAY, 2014).

Members of Hood College’s Feminist Student Union (FSU) and the V-Team, Eve Ensler and part time and full time members of V-Day, teamed up to make the event possible by directing, managing backstage, and performing a variety of monologues.

[Read more…]

Safe Harvest provides a Halloween treat for Frederick kids

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Frederick kids dress as Mario and Lluigi

Frederick kids dress as Mario and Lluigi. Photo courtesy of Katie Stout.

By Katie Stout//

Each year, Hood College hosts Safe Harvest, an annual autumnal celebration that occurs around Halloween, providing local children in Fredrick, with a safe haven to trick or treat.

Hosted by Hood’s Mortar Board Society, Safe Harvest “provides children ages 12 and under the opportunity to enjoy a safe and fun-filled evening of games, arts and crafts, and trick or treating on Hood’s campus,” according to the society’s public relations chairwoman, Sienna Bronson.

This year’s annual Safe Harvest was on Oct. 28th. The Mortar Board Society organizes the event, but the whole Hood College community comes together to make it happen. Students are encouraged to buy candy to either donate or hand out to kids when they walk around the college’s five dorms.

[Read more…]

Students find release from stress and comfort in a furry friend

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By Ashley Trovato//

An Emotional Support Animal is, according to the writers at anxiety.org, and The National Animal Registry, “an animal that, by its very presence, mitigates the emotional or psychological symptoms associated with a handler’s condition or disorder.”

At Hood College, students are allowed to have a hermit crab or goldfish. They are also permitted other animals, but have to go through the CAAR Center first.

Megan Poole, a senior at Hood College, recounts her experience in obtaining permission to bring a service animal on campus. “It was awful.” Megan said, “The process should not have been as hard as it was.”

Poole is diagnosed with PTSD, severe clinical depression/anxiety, and ADHD. She was permitted to have an animal last year, which was a guinea pig named Angel, and it took over a month to obtain permission. Since she stopped seeing a psychiatrist, residence life and CAAR took that privilege away.

[Read more…]

Monthly movie series offers a break from the classroom

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By Chris Hamby//

The flickering image on the silver screen.  Being immersed in breathtaking surround sound.  “Let’s all go to the lobby to get ourselves a treat.”

Nothing beats going to the movies and watching the latest feature films on the big screen.

At Hood College, students and faculty will take a break from the ongoing chaos of schoolwork to attend the college’s “Blockbuster Movie Showcase” series; which will mark its eighth year on campus.

Every semester, members of the Campus Activities Board screen a monthly series of popular second-run major feature films, along with select cult favorites.

Films are screened at Hodson Auditorium, located inside Rosenstock Hall on campus.  Select movies are also projected on an inflatable, oversized screen at the softball field during the spring and fall seasons.

[Read more…]

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.”

[Read more…]

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.

[Read more…]

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.”

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.