issue 32, dec. 10, 2012 - grand valley lanthorn
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Though the cheers and whistles at Sat-urday’s commencement ceremonies came for more than 1,000 Grand Val-
ley State University diploma candidates, the real celebrants seemed to be the people who got them there—the parents both pres-ent and absent.
A university video featured the grati-tude of students for their parents, distin-guished alumna Maryjean Schenk received her award on the same stage where her daughter would momentarily receive a diploma, and speaker Susan Ford Bales spoke fondly of the influence and service of her father and mother, who received an honorary doctorate from GVSU nearly 10 years before.
Ford Bales, daughter of President Ger-ald Ford and Betty Ford, reflected on the life she shared with her parents in the White House and on the public stage.
She specifically highlighted Betty Ford’s public battle with breast cancer and the way her life and the U.S. changed be-cause of the way she handled it.
“I had to assume her official responsi-bilities as first lady,” Ford Bales said. “But more importantly I witnessed my mother battling her breast cancer. She did so in a way that was highly controversial at the time. Nearly forty years later, we take for granted that fighting breast cancer should be done as Mom did: open and candid, without secrets or shame.”
To honor her mother’s honest methods, she requested the audience to raise their hands if they had ever known someone struggling with breast cancer.
‘GO FORTH WITH PASSION’Gerald Ford’s daughter honors parents, students at commencement
ROBERT MATHEWS | GVLAll finished: A GVSU graduate celebrates after receiving her diploma from President Haas. She was one of 1,000 who graduated on the day.
By LIzzy BALBOA GVL NEWS EDITOR
SEE FORTH, A2
SEE CRIME STATS, A2
While many students will be packing their cars and venturing home for some much needed rest after finals are finished, some Grand Valley State University students will stay on campus.
Brandie Tenney, assistant di-rector of Housing and Residence Life at GVSU, said about 200 students will continue to live on
campus for an extended period of time during break.
“Students are required to sign up to stay during the break even if it is just one day and abide by all housing and campus policies during the break period just as they would in the academic pe-riod,” Tenney said.
Students can sign up for ex-tended stay on the GVSU Hous-ing and Residence website.
Many of the on-campus resourc-es and departments, including the Grand Valley Police Department, will still be up and running during the holiday for student use.
“Our patrol schedule does not change during the break,” said GVPD Capt. Brandon DeHaan. “Officers will continue to work throughout the break.”
Also operating through the winter break will be GVSU’s
Housing and Residence Life staff. “Housing staff are on call 24
hours a day and can be contacted via cell phone posted on every door or by contacting GVPD,” Tenney said.
Select dining area and food places on the Allendale campus will also be open during certain.
Deb Rambadt of GVSU Cam-pus Dining said the Lobby Shop and River Landing inside the Kirk-hof Center will be open with re-
duced hours Dec. 17 through Dec. 20 and also Jan. 2 through Jan. 4. Papa John’s Pizza inside the Con-nection will remain open through-out break with altered hours.
For those students living on cam-pus downtown, Rambadt said the Plaza Café will remain open with its usual hours through Dec. 20.
Exact dining hours during break can be found at gvsu.edu/food.
Some restaurants, GVPD to stay open over holiday break
Campus police uses high school crime statistics to help target what is coming next on the college campus
“So today, and in every tomorrow, go forth with passion. Make your confidence and that of my parents in you and your generation a shining beacon of freedom for all.”
SUSAN FORD BALESDAUGHTER OF FORMER
PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORDROBERT MATHEWS | GVL
Words to live by: President Gerald R. Ford’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, gives her commencement address to Grand Valley State University’s fall graduates at Van Andel Arena.
The Grand Valley State University Allendale and Pew campuses both experi-ence some degree of crime, but differ because of their en-vironments.
Capt. Brandon DeHaan, assistant director of the Grand Valley Police Department, said larceny is the No. 1 re-ported crime across all uni-versities. According to the Annual Security Fire and Safety Report of 2012, the number of reported thefts on campus has jumped from 83
in 2009 to 140 in 2011 for the Allendale campus.
DeHaan also said it is chal-lenging to determine specific trends to identify with crime at GVSU because a large chunk of the population, ap-proximately 15 to 25 percent, changes every year. This change is due to incoming freshman, transfer students and graduates.
“Our crime statistics vary from year to year, however we do look at trends that are oc-curring in high schools, which may translate into what stu-dents carry over to college,”
DeHaan said.One trend in high schools
that he has seen is an increase in marijuana use by students.
Drug abuse violation arrests at GVSU have gone up from 34 in 2009 to 63 in 2011.
DeHaan said that overall, the crime rate at GVSU is com-paratively low to other cam-puses that are similar in size.
The university’s Pew Campus reported 21 larce-nies and 2 drug abuse viola-tions in 2011.
Russell Wolff, director of
Larceny, drug abuse violations increase at GV
By RACHeL CROSSGVL ASSISTANT NEWS
By KARA HAIGHTGVL STAFF WRITER
2011
2010
2009
LARCENY OFFENSES
DRUG ABUSE VIOLATIONS
LIQUOR LAW VIOLATIONS
83 129 140
191 157 165
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Volume 47, Number 32
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NEWSA2 DECEMBER 10, 2012
Grand Valley Lanthorn
The Grand Valley State University Stu-dent Senate passed a Title IX resolution along with a fall break resolution at its Thursday meeting.
The guest speaker at the meeting was Dwight Hamilton, assistant vice president for affirmative action in the Office of Inclu-sion and Equity and GVSU’s Title IX co-ordinator. Student Senate recently drafted a resolution to recognize the benefits of Title IX “in regard to athletes, STEM fields, and pregnant and parenting students … as it cele-brates its 40th anniversary as part of the Edu-cation Amendments” the resolution stated.
Hamilton thanked Student Senate for writ-ing the resolution, and for including more than just athletics in what Title IX covers.
“Title IX also prohibits sexual harass-ment and sexual assault, which is the big-gest thing I’ve dealt with since I’ve been here,” Hamilton said.
According to the campus climate survey, 154 people said they experienced sexual as-sault while at GVSU.
“We’re about where you would expect us to be for an institution of our size,” Hamil-ton said.
Even if you aren’t out walking alone when it’s dark out, the stereotypical sce-nario, it doesn’t mean that you are safe ev-erywhere else, Hamilton said, adding that there are a lot of other common places when
people can be sexually harassed or assaulted that people don’t think about.
“We’re creating a false sense of security that if you weren’t outside at night alone that you are safe, but that’s not the case,” Ham-ilton said. “You always need to be aware of your surroundings.”
Hamilton also said GVSU is looking at its procedures and is working to update the student code in ways like more clearly de-fining what “consent” means.
“Far more incidents occur than are re-ported,” he said. “We’re focusing attention on training and what the procedures are. Sometimes faculty members are told (about sexual harassment or assault) by students and they think they can’t tell because of FERPA but that’s not true. I don’t believe by any stretch that the number I receive reflects the number that occurs.”
Also in the meeting, Colette Seguin Beighley from the LGBT Resource Center spoke briefly to thank Student Senate for passing the resolution in support of the cen-ter some time ago, as well as voting to make Carrie Christian, the program coordinator in the center, the Laker of the Year. “This has really leveled the playing field for her,” Beighley said.
The fall break resolution was also passed during the meeting. Some of the data from the senate’s survey was also included.
According to the survey results, about 1,356 students responded and 84.2 percent
said they would be willing to give up hav-ing the Tuesday after Labor Day off for a fall break. Also, 81.5 percent said a fall break would be beneficial for their academic endeavors, 85 percent said having a break wouldn’t hinder their ability to retain class material, and 86.5 percent said it would help to reduce stress levels and therefore help them learn more effectively.
There were about 444 faculty members that responded to the survey, as well, and although not as strongly as the students, the
faculty seemed generally in favor of the pro-posal. Of those who responded, 79.4 percent of faculty agreed that they didn’t think a fall break would hinder their students’ ability to grasp and retain class material, and 49 percent said a break would help to reduce their stress level and help them teach more effectively.
The student senators said they look for-ward to next semester and are making goals for things they hope to accomplish.
Student Senate passes Title IX, fall break resolutions
ARCHIVE | GVLNew resolutions: Student Senate Jack Iott and the cabinet listen to a guest speaker recently.
bY SArAH HIlleNbrANDGVL STAFF WRITER
She commended her moth-er’s courage to tell the world about her disease and noted it as a public service. “You raised your hands without shame and without fear,” Ford Bales said. “Ladies and gentlemen, thank you. A finer tribute to Betty Ford and her public fight against breast cancer could never be.”
She detailed the public service of her father, who served as a military and po-litical leader during rough times of U.S. history.
“Americans were initially unsure of where or how the son of Grand Rapids could lead them,” she said. “But Americans witnessed a mo-ment of renewal when Gerald Ford laid his hand on the Bi-ble and swore to protect, pre-serve and defend the consti-tution of the United States.”
The former president led the recovering country away from the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, an act that his daughter recognizes now as an act of service.
“Grand Rapids and its insti-
tutions, including this univer-sity, formed the core of Ger-ald and Betty Ford’s lifetime of service,” Ford Bales said. “And not surprisingly, it’s from this community that I inherited their passion for public service and their commitment to im-prove the lives of others.”
She then challenged the graduates to an equally influ-ential life of generosity.
“Graduates, I’m sure you’re aware that pundits and social critics are often critical of your generation,” she said. “They claim this new gen-eration is unlike the so-called greatest generation. They gave so often, sacrificed so
much, and your generation, they say, is selfish and un-willing to sacrifice.”
But Ford Bales holds a dif-ferent perspective.“Perhaps it’s because I listened to Dad’s stories of his service as a naval officer and then as Commander-in-Chief send-ing young people into harm’s way,” she said. “Perhaps it’s because I watched Mother comfort countless young women who had breast can-cer or encourage and reas-sure young patients and their families overcoming addic-tion at the Betty Ford Center. Or perhaps it’s because I’ve been able to work side-by-
side with numbers and num-bers of your remarkable gen-eration on a variety of public service projects.”
She paid tribute to all young people in the military—particularly those seated at the commencement ceremo-ny—for their contributions to the country, but requested that more graduates participate in acts of public service.
“So today, and in every tomorrow, go forth with pas-sion,” Ford Bales said. “Make your confidence and that of my parents in you and your generation a shining beacon of freedom for all.”
FORTHCONTINUED FROM A1
CRIME STATSCONTINUED FROM A1
security at the Pew Campus Security and Regional Center, said high school trends don’t generally trans-fer over to the Pew campus because their residents are mainly upperclassmen or non-traditional students. Pew campus has only two housing facilities including Secchia and Winter Hall, with just 30 freshmen living on campus.
“The environment is a lot different here than in Allendale,” Wolff said. “The Pew campus is in an urban setting, which comes with gangs and home-less people. We have more concerns with homeless people on campus, as well as young people in the surrounding areas committing larcenies. In a way, we’re simi-lar to the Allendale
campus but in another way we’re quite dif-ferent.”
Wolff said he tries to educate students on the Pew campus about urban settings and ur-ban issues.
“I have younger college kids used to urban settings and don’t seem to strug-gle,” Wolff said. “I have students from smaller towns in a rural community that have more trouble, I have different reac-tions depending on the environment the stu-dent comes from.”
For further infor-mation on crime sta-tistics, go to www.gvsu.edu/publicsafety and click on “Crime Statistics” under quick links. To call GVPD in Allendale or Pew Campus Se-curity, contact (616) 331-3255 or 616-331-6677, respectively.
ROBERT MATHEWS | GVLEnd of the road: A GVSU student shows his diploma off at the end of the commencement speech.
NEWS A3DECEMBER 10, 2012Grand Valley Lanthorn
Rough and tough. Built with muscles that can withstand any-thing. A “real man” is someone who is ultra-macho, super cool and ex-tremely violent.
MarcQus Wright is setting out to show people that this statement isn’t always true.
As an assistant living center di-rector at Grand Valley State Uni-versity, Wright takes on much more than just his housing position. Serv-ing as an adviser to the College Men’s Group and as a mentor to Brothers: The Black Male Scholars Initiative, Wright “brings a strong sense of professionalism, education and dedication toward creating so-cial justice,” said Theresa Rowland of GVSU’s Women’s Center.
Leading the College Men’s Group alongside Brian Bossick since fall of 2011, Wright said he hopes the students they meet with will continue to follow through with the group’s mission “to explore and discuss the culture of masculinity and manhood, while raising aware-ness and actively working to create environments free from violence.”
In October 2010, the U.S. De-partment of Justice awarded the Women’s Center at GVSU $265,000 within its Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Grant that was de-signed to strengthen the university’s response to sexual assault, stalking, dating and domestic violence to en-hance collaboration among campus and community partners. Under the direction of this grant, one of the as-pects of the College Men’s Group is to work with male faculty, staff and students to stand up and take a role in ending violence against women.
“We are fortunate to have Marc-Qus and other men on campus pro-vide leadership in engaging men in discussions around societal and be-havioral norms of men and mascu-linity,” Rowland said.
In October of 2013, a College Men’s Conference will be hosted at GVSU to provide men awareness and knowledge to aid in violence
prevention. Wright said the confer-ence will also look to “spark action aimed at creating cultures free from violence, especially men’s violence against women.”
Open to all male students, fac-ulty and staff, the conference will ultimately include learning about how societal gender scripts impact a man’s development, discovering the influence of mass media and gender stereotypes, and gaining awareness and knowledge of men’s roles as preventers of sexual violence. Men will be able to register for this con-ference in late summer and early fall of 2013.
The College Men’s Group has also participated in a variety of programs throughout this semester. It will con-tinue to have twice-monthly meetings that will resume in January.
In addition to this organization, Wright also mentors a group that he helped start, Brothers: The Black Male Scholars Initiative. Sparked by numerous conversations with colleagues across campus, the needs of black men were discussed with Wright and other men. Com-mon themes were mentorship, both personal and professional develop-ment and academic success. Wright met regularly with staff and fac-ulty members Patrick Wilson, Sean Huddleston, Damon Arnold, Louis Moore and Quincy Williams to de-velop a plan of action, which even-tually developed into the group’s mission: To significantly increase GVSU’s retention, progression and graduation of black males.
“My passion for working with men has come through education on the topic,” Wright said. “Ten years ago, I am uncertain if I would be ready to serve in such a capacity. Through awareness and knowledge I have come to understand the im-portance of working (with) men on understanding how they can shape their own lives versus living up to society’s hyper-masculine and vio-lent standards. As a black man I understand how difficult it can be to adjust to a predominantly white college or university. This is why
my dissertation will focus on black men. There is so much more we can learn in order to help more black men become successful. I want to give back what was given to me when I was in college. Without the mentorship and guidance of many I am uncertain that I would be where I am today.”
Brothers is presently looking to participate heavily in Martin Luther King week as well as submit a pro-gram proposal for leadership summit.
The group meets on Thursdays
once a month with active involve-ment in service projects as well as a variety of other programs.
“My hope is that in both instances students will stand up to become in-volved in these initiatives,” Wright said. “I hope they see the value and decide to contribute as well as get-ting more men involved.”
To find out more about the Col-lege Men’s Group or Brothers, con-tact MarcQus Wright at [email protected]
The Man Who Runs iT allGVSU staff member mentors men, teaches to stand against violence
ARCHIVE | GVLFighting back: MarQus Wright speaks at the “Walk a Mile In Her Shoes” event earlier this year. Wright has set out to fight popular stereotypes on GVSU’s campus.
BRIEFSn e W s
Clock tower holiday performance comingOn Dec. 12 from 1:30-3 p.m., people will have the opportunity to go to the top of the Cook Carillon tower to view the top of the clock’s inner workings and components. University Carillonneur Julianne Vanden Wyngaard will welcome visitors during the annual open tower visitation. Vanden Wyngaard will answer questions and perform a concert of captivating holiday music. Visitors will also receive free refreshments as well as the opportunity to sign up to win door prizes.
Vanden Wyngaard will also perform her annual Christmas Eve Carillon Con-cert on the Beckering Fam-ily Carillon on Monday, Dec. 24 at 9:30 p.m. at the Lacks International Plaza on the Grand Rapids Pew Campus, 401 West Fulton Street. This particular concert will feature a wide array of traditional holiday music from around the world, including Austri-an, English, French and Ger-man carols along with other holiday music as well. Free concert parking will be open in the DeVos and Winter lots, and the concerts are free and open to the public.
Business dean named presidentH. James Williams, dean of the Seidman College of Business, as well as professor of accounting, was recently chosen to be the next president of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. This appointment became public on Dec. 5. Williams came to Grand Valley State University in 2004, where he has helped position the Seidman College of Business as a premier business school in the Midwest.
With this position, the school of business created a full-time master of busi-ness administration degree, which provided students with a paid fellowship and study abroad. This college also completed the William Seidman Center in down-town Grand Rapids.
This $40 million building will contain the Seidman Col-lege of Business, the Small Business Technology and the Development Center as well as the Van Andel Global Trade Center. In addition, Williams assisted in establishing the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation as well as the Center for Leadership and Innovation.
AHA names GV ‘fit-friendly’The American Heart Association has recently recognized Grand Valley State University as a Platinum Fit-Friendly Worksite for 2012. President Thomas J. Haas, Provost Gayle R. Davis, and Associate Vice President for Human Resources D. Scott Richardson received the award from the AHA on Dec. 4 at the DeVos Center on GVSU’s Pew campus. Qualifications for being named an AHA Fit-Friendly Worksite include promoting a wellness culture, offering physical activity options, and offering a wide variety of healthy eating options.
Women’s Commission meeting todayThe Women’s Commission will meet on Monday, Dec. 10, at noon in the Kirkhof Center, room 1142. Sue Sloop, work life consultant, along with Beth Evans, human resources representative, will talk about the school’s maternity leave policy. For further information on the Women’s Commission, go to their website at www.gvsu.edu/wcommission.
Faculty named service award recipientsSeveral faculty and staff members were honored and recognized for their years of service and dedication to Grand Valley State University at the annual Service Award and Holiday Gathering. Awards were granted to 40-year, 35, 30, 25, 20, and 10-year faculty members involved in service work.
BY leah MiTChellGVL STAFF WRITER
ROBERT MATHEWS | GVLIn the works: Workers install the railing on the automated book retrieval system inside the new library.
WHAT HAS FOUR FLOORS, AN OUTDOOR PATIO AND MICHIGAN’S LONGEST FIREPLACE?
VISIT THE LANTHORN.COM FOR AN EXCLUSIVE INSIDE LOOK THE NEW MARY IDEMA PEW LIBRARY, COMING TO THE ALLENDALE CAMPUS IN SPRING 2013.
TAKE THE TOUR I WWW.LANTHORN.COM ROBERT MATHEWS | GVL
Graduation is a weird time. It’s a period where you’re excited because, hey, there’s no more pop quizzes or research papers to ever do again.
You know what I was most worried about going into graduation on Satur-day? Not who I’d walk with or what I’d go do after — I was worried about what pose I was going to do when the camera caught me after shaking T-Haas’ hand.
I went with the Heisman pose — fitting, considering I’ve kind of been the GVSU sports guy and the award was given to Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel on Saturday — but unlike Johnny Football, it’s now ex-ams and out for myself and so many other graduates.
Graduation is a process, and it’s one of the most polarizing processes in life. You hate college sometimes, but you love it most of the time — it’s one of those things that you just tend to take ad-vantage of.
Not that taking advantage of what’s presented is a bad thing. College is all about going out, meeting people and making mistakes. That’s why you go to college — not only to prepare yourself for your career, but also to work out all of the kinks in your life, too.
Think about it this way, it’s a whole lot smarter to learn to hold your alcohol now than to find out a few years down the road at your company’s holiday party that when you drink Jäger things tend to not go well for you.
Believe me, I got to work as the sports editor here at the Lanthorn for one and a half years and I used that title in every way pos-sible. Whether it was talk-ing to the Red Wings’ after
their Red and White game or traveling to Georgia last week to cover GVSU soccer in the NCAA Final Four, I found a way to take advantage, too.
I suppose, in some ways, I was the unluckiest of charms for GVSU athletics. My tenure came at a time where soccer went from winning national champi-onships to coming up short late and football became, well, mortal for the first time in our young lives.
Maybe it’s better for all you sports fans that I get the heck out of here, right?
The whole experience of college is an internal battle for your mortality — and it’s a battle you don’t recognize until it’s too late. Graduation is the last hurrah, and at that point, you really start to look back and realize that the last four years are over
Freshman year? You’re naïve and easily moldable.
Sophomore? One year in and you’re a, perhaps cocky, individual who lives
off-campus and exudes what you think is cool.
Junior year? Now you realize that your entire soph-omore year is, for the most part, impossible to replicate with actual success. You’re nearly grown up.
Once you’re a senior, you look at yourself in a totally different light. You’re basically over the fun and now think more about what job you’re go-ing to apply for, not what beer you’re going to drink.
Then, you’re done.I really can’t tell you
what comes next because, quite frankly, I don’t know either. What I can tell you is take life as it comes.
You’re going to miss college, and it’s going to happen eventually, so don’t take advantage of the life you’ve got now because, as Ferris Bueller said best, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
Graduation is inevitable, but enjoy college while you can
The Year of the YOLO: Our lives in 2012
First off, we’d like to say congratulations. Whether it took you 10 years or four, if you’re one of the 1,000 students who
crossed the stage at Saturday’s commencement ceremony, you survived the unforgiving world of higher education, and you’re one degree – and a whole world of wisdom – better off than you were on your first day at Grand Valley State University.
It’s a tough time for graduates, not just at GVSU, but nationwide. With record unem-ployment numbers that seem to improve only marginally with time, recent grads are staring into the face of a real world that looks much
different than they’ve always imagined it would be.
There’s a very real reality out there that it’s time to face, graduates: you will probably not get the job you thought you would right out of the gates, some will not even get the internship you hoped you would, and many of you will probably have to move back into your parents house and sleep in the bedroom you thought you’d never return to.
However, this is not the time to dwell on where you might not be, but rather, the time to think about how far you’ve already made it – about how many hardships you’ve already
endured, and how many obstacles you’ve already overcome.
Commencement speaker, Susan Ford Bales, did a great job surmising the attitude that our generation faces.
“Graduates, I’m sure you’re aware that pundits and social critics are often critical of your generation,” she said. “They claim this new generation is unlike the so-called greatest generation. They gave so often, sacrificed so much, and your generation, they say, is selfish and unwilling to sacrifice.”
But here’s the thing: Despite (or, perhaps in spite) of those record unemployment num-
bers, record amounts of student loan debt and negativity from the people who got us into this mess, we have worked – and continue to work – tirelessly toward a degree that so many people have told us will not mean anything, just because we believe in a better world.
And if you can’t find it in your heart to go out there and do it for an ideology, then do it because you’ve got something to prove. Do it because no matter how impossible it seems, you’ve already defeated impossible odds – and that, all by itself, is a testament to what you are capable of.
EDITORIAL
The ultimate goal of the Grand Valley Lanthorn opinion page is to stimulate discussion and action on topics of interest to the Grand Val-ley Community. Student opinions do not reflect those of the Grand Valley Lanthorn.The Grand Valley Lanthorn welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three vehicles of expres-sion for reader opinions: letters to the editor, guest columns and phone responses.Letters must include the author’s name and be accompanied by current picture identification if dropped off in person. Letters will be checked by an employee of the Grand Valley Lanthorn.
Letters appear as space permits each issue. The limit for letter length is one page, single spaced.The editor reserves the right to edit and condense letters and columns for length restrictions and clarity.All letters must be typed.The Grand Valley Lanthorn will not be held responsible for errors that appear in print as a result of transcribing handwritten letters or e-mail typographic errors.The name of the author may be withheld for compelling reasons.The content, information and views expressed are not approved by nor necessarily represent those of the university, its Board of Trustees, officers, faculty and staff.
ANYA ZENTMEYER Editor in ChiefAUSTIN METZ Associate EditorBRIANA DOOLAN Community Engagement ANGELA COROLLA Advertising Manager
The student-run newspapers at Grand Valley State University
Lanthorn
HATS OFF
“I’m practicing trombone and piano, and working. I might see The Hobbit and could see family and friends.”
DAVID ARCHAMBAULTFreshman, music Jenison, Mich.
“Practice violin, start a paper for the winter semester, and catch up on sleep.”
KRISTA VISNOVSKY Freshman, violin Sparta, Mich.
“Chillin like a villain, quite possibly at the Holiday Inn.”
NICK CHINZI Senior, therapeutic recreation Clinton Township, Mich.
“Hanging out with friends, working and having surgery.”
ANGELICA FURMAN Senior, therapeutic recreaton Waterford, Mich.
“Bake Christmas cookies, spend time with family, friends and my dogs. Not Studying!”
KAYLA pEDROLINI Senior, spanish and recreational therapy Portage, Mich.
QUESTION OF THE ISSUE
GVL OPINION POLICY
EDITORIAL PAGE BOARD
WHAT ARE YOU PLANS FOR THE HOLIDAY BREAK?
GVL EDITORIAL CARTOON I BY DAN SILLS
VALLEY VOTE: LAST ISSUE’S QUESTION:READ THE BLOG:Are you staying on campus over holiday break?
www.lanthorn.com/blog Vote online at lanthorn.com
“GRADUATE STUDENT VOICE”BY LAYNA EDINGTON
Do you think students should be excused from class for religious observance?
YES 67% NO 33%
I have heard the rumors. 2012, end of the world type stuff. There’s been whisper-ings of a Zombie Apoca-lypse. And we mustn’t forget that Mayan calendar predicting all sorts of cataclysmic events. I want you all to rest assured that should the world end, we have accomplished a lot this year. Let’s take a look back at the year of the YOLO...
To start things off, Snooki (of Jersey Shore fame...shame?) had a baby. Some of you may very well believe this falls under the Mayan calendar “cataclys-mic events” category. I would have to agree. I can
only wonder how long it will take before she tries to spray tan her son.
In technology this year, Apple released the iPhone 5- and all of the self-proclaimed Apple junkies promptly peed their pants. On the flip side, Samsung released the com-petitive Galaxy phone, along with a particularly strategic commercial that managed to give Apple the finger. Yes, that finger. (It’s worth a quick trip to YouTube if you have yet to experience the hilarity).
You have probably forgotten, but we also had a presidential election in 2012. Both sides fought dirty, people lost Facebook friends, and Big Bird was dragged into things. Presi-dent Obama secured the re-election, and immediately tweeted a picture of himself hugging his wife that went viral. Our president tweets.
Oh yeah, and so does the Pope...
Athletically speaking, we watched the London Olym-pics a few hours after we had all found out who won the day’s events (tape delay - grrr, NBC). The United States came out on top, beating Chi-na (You can dive, but we can do everything else! Hah!). The U.S. was not quite as success-ful in the apparel department; however, putting forth what could possibly be deemed the worst opening ceremony uniforms. Of all time. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all.
In music, well, we had quite the year. Drake (a.k.a. Jimmy from De-grassi) popularized the word YOLO (you only live once) and subsequently caused college students all over the country to do ridiculously stupid things with their one life. Also, the South-Korean artist PSY released the song Gangnam Style, and it’s accompanying video went
viral like a bad flu. Trust me, everyone and your grandmother knows the dance. Oh...she knows it.
Finally, if there is any proof that the Mayans were right with their apocalypse theories, it is the “Honey Boo Boo” reality show. That sad excuse for entertainment murders the only brain cells we have left after the whole YOLO debacle. I am an admitted reality television junkie, and I even I can’t stomach Honey Boo Boo.
All joking aside, we are so lucky to live in a country where we can have a year like this, where we can buy an iPhone 5, or watch Honey Boo Boo...if we must. We are alive, well, and free to do as we please. As we move into 2013 (provided the Mayans are wrong and we can defeat the Zombies), lets make sure to re-member how lucky we Grand Valley students truly are.
OPINIONA4 DECEMBER 10, 2012
Grand Valley Lanthorn
BY BRADY FREDERICKSONGVL SPORTS EDITOR
BY CHRISTINE COLLERANGVL COLUMNIST
With commencement behind 1,000 Grand Valley State University graduates, it’s time to reimagine your future as even brighter than you did when this began.
Have you seen Buddy the Elf strolling around the Grand Valley State University campuses lately? We assure you, he’s not an end-of-the-semester stress-induced hallu-cination.
Buddy has been brought to life at GVSU by student Dave Westra, who has become the character for the past three years as a stress reliever for himself and his fellow students around the end of the fall semester.
If you tell Westra you like his cos-tume, he’ll tell you that it is, in fact, not a costume. After all, what else is Buddy the Elf supposed to wear?
Three years ago, when Westra first transferred to Grand Valley State University from Grand Rapids Com-munity College, people would ran-domly stop him just to tell him he looked like Buddy. After consulting with some friends who were behind the idea, he decided to go ahead and purchase the outfit and has since be-come the campus Buddy.
“Sometimes I feel like Buddy the
Elf has become more of a beloved Christmas character than Santa,” Westra said.
Westra picks two days the week before exams to dress up as Buddy the Elf – one day for his Allendale classes and one day for his classes downtown. He only does the two days at GVSU because he doesn’t
want to over-kill the joke.“Literally at the end of the day
my cheeks are sore from smiling all day long because I can’t help but smile when I’m Buddy the Elf and everybody is running up to me and smiling,” Westra said. “I think the thing that makes it worth it though is the number of people that come
up to me, who say ‘You just made my day’, especially when it’s al-most exam time.”
Westra said he loves the movie “Elf” and he watches it every year before he dresses up to get into character and re-memorize lines. If prompted, he will quote the movie.
This year when he was dressed up downtown, he accidentally knocked over his drink and said, “I’m such a cotton headed ninny muggins.”
Westra also makes it a point to hop across the lined crosswalks while in character.
“My main goal when I’m dress-ing up is to match the character as much as possible,” he said.
When it comes to being Bud-dy, Westra has to plan double the amount of time to get places be-cause he is constantly being stopped for pictures. He was stopped five times just walking from West B, where he is a Resident Assistant, to the Kirkhof Center.
His Buddy the Elf days weren’t limited to GVSU this year, he also planned to go downtown and pass
out hot chocolate to homeless peo-ple with a couple of friends while dressed in character.
“This has always been kind of a stress reliever for me and hopefully for others around campus,” Westra said.
The first year Westra did Buddy the Elf, he tried to establish him-self as the ‘campus Waldo’ the fol-lowing semester, but was trumped when a student who transferred to GVSU dressed up as the character the next year.
If it wasn’t for the logistics of it, Westra would have also liked to dress up as Pacman and have people dress up as ghosts and chase him around campus or do something with Mario, Bowser and Princess Peach, he said.
“I’m not going to be here next year, so someone is going to have to do it,” he said. “Someone who looks like Buddy the Elf is going to have to step up. It’s got to be a tradition big-ger than just me. There’s got to be a Buddy the Elf.”
‘Buddy the Elf’ lookalike brings smiles to GV campuses
HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING GUIDE
ROBERT MATHEWS | GVLBringing smiles: GVSU student Dave Westra walks through Kirkoff dressed as Buddy the Elf. Westra has dressed as Buddy to bring smiles to campus.
BY KARI NORTONGVL LAKER LIFE EDITOR
Having trouble thinking of gift ideas for those special people in your lives? Instead of spending your precious
time off getting stresesd out, take a look at the Lanthorn’s Holiday gift guide, and see if we can’t lighten your load this holiday season.
THE ARTISTThe techie is the person that has the all of the latest gad-
gets. This person is completely wired into the world around them, so why not help them enhance their experience? Here are the three top choices for gifts for that tech-savvy friend that we all know and love.
THE PERFECT GIFT 1) ETIP/ Smart Touch Gloves are the best thing to happen to
this generation since glittens became a hit last winter. With the specially designed tip on the thumb and forefinger, these gloves allow you to interact with any touch-screen device without taking your gloves off. This gift is sure to be a hit in these cold winter months. You can find these wireless wonders at the North Face for around $45 or Target from $7-15 if you aren’t looking to break the bank.
2) When it comes to technology, you can never have too much free space and there’s a flash drive for everything. You can impress your friends with a MIMOBOT USB flash drive in almost any Star Wars character you can possibly imagine. Choose from the classic characters like Vader, Artoo, Boba Fett or a Storm Trooper. These 2-16 gb beauties can be found on Amazon and are perfect for anyone who enjoys the Star Wars saga.
3) Coming in onyx black or graphite, a Kindle is the perfect gift for any student. Less than 6 ounces, the Kindle is a great way to carry around your books without the weight and hassle. With a Kindle you can even start purchasing E-books and lighten the weight of that heavy backpack, and with the price of $69 (comparable to the $99 Nook) it’s a deal you cannot pass up on, and you can even upgrade to the Kindle Fire, where you can download not only e-books but numerous apps, much like your average tablet, for $159.
LAKER LIFE A5DECEMBER 10, 2012Grand Valley Lanthorn
BY MEGAN BRAXMAIERGVL STAFF WRITER
THE PARENTSParents are usually there for you at all
times, always willing to bend over back-ward in order to provide for you and make you happy, yet they seem to be the hardest people to shop for. Having trouble think-ing of ideas this holiday season, hopefully this will help.
THE PERFECT GIFT 1) Back in the day giving your parents a
present meant making them something, that doesn’t have to change. With Pinterest, you can look up the newest recipes and make them a tasty dish – don’t forget the dessert. Your mom will enjoy being able to take a break and rest for once and will probably be excited to try out the recipe on her own in the future. As for your dad, he can never turn down a free meal, especially if it includes some delicious chocolate cake that you’ve been waiting to try.
2) Marriage and kids are hard, so plan a date night for your parents to take a break from reality. Your mom and dad were your taxi drivers growing up and throwing money at you left and right so you could go out with friends, do them a favor and be their chauffer. Drive them to the Rosa Parks ice skating rink and pay for them to go ice-skating and pick up a hot dog at the Dog Pit or a hot drink from Biggby’s. You won’t
have to spend more than $20 and they’ll be grateful of it.
3) Has your dad been eyeing the newest golf balls but refuses to buy them because he thinks they’re too pricy? Now’s the time to splurge and get him something he wants. Titleist is at the top of every golf-er’s list, ranging from $40 - $50.
THE MUSIC JUNKIE The music junkie is constantly rocking
headphones, hops from genre to genre, and has those jazzed-up playlists with bands most of us have never heard before with the perfect song to cure the wintertime blues.
THE PERFECT GIFT 1) Keeping up with your music guru’s fa-
vorite band can be impossible when they’re always finding new material. If you have a true connoisseur on your hands, help them expand their record collection with a gift card from Vertigo Music. This music haven has shelves stacked with EPs and LP’s from every genre imaginable. After spending a few hours perusing bin after bin of vinyl records ranging from old school collectibles to new age indie-alternative, it’s unlikely that they’ll be leaving empty-handed.
2) Considering the apocalypse is ap-proaching, you and your music junkie can dance like your lives depended on it at The Pyramid Scheme’s Retro D’Luxe: End OF The World Eve Edition on Dec. 20. DJ Jef Leppard will be spinning old school jams that span the decades accompanied by a trippy light show and cheap brews, which will leave your junkie stuck in a musical trance on the dance floor.
THE BOOKWORM The bookworm is an intellectual;
someone who has been preparing for col-lege finals since they were seniors in high school, setting down the Xbox controller in favor of an essay to write or test to study for. While the intellectual studies a reading break is sometimes needed, the bookworm inside of them loves curling up in a knit
blanket to read a classic with a cup of tea or coffee by his or her side.
THE PERFECT GIFT 1) Author Potter Styles has come up with
a “Q & A a Day: 5-Year Journal “ available on websites such as Amazon.com. Each day the journal asks the reader to write their answer to the stated question once a day for five years and when you finish, you start over. It’s a great gift idea for expanding the thought process but is entertaining as well.
If writing isn’t the intellectual’s/book-worm’s calling, try a useless facts or ran-dom knowledge book such as The Book of Strange Facts and Useless Information available online or at a bookstore, he or she will be sure to learn a thing or two.
2) Barnes and Noble bookstore sells a variety of book lights that clip onto the book and are available in an array of colors, some with flexible necks to bend closer or farther from the pages. Most run on batteries that’ll last up to 100 thousand hours but depending on the individual, the intellectual or book-worm may need more so save them the trip and pick up a pack of batteries from any gas station, grocery store, or drugstore. Short on cash? No worries, at Barnes and Noble, book lights are less than $10.
THE ARTISTThe artist’s history notes are covered
in doodles instead of dates, and her or she usually carry more sketchbooks than textbooks. The artist is always coming up with new ideas to solve problems, decorate, and create aesthetic works whether it be written, audial, or visual.
THE PERFECT GIFT 1) For the multi-talented artist, no
gift is better than Hobby Lobby’s 164 piece deluxe art set complete with drawing pencils, broad markers, water-color paints, oil pastels, brushes, and colored pencils. If you’re tight on cash, Hobby Lobby also has an 89 piece art set for $20.
2) While working, a hot cup of tea is a must-have. Amazon.com as a vast assortment of tea infusers for the artist/creative thinker to use while working pe-dantically on his or her latest art project - the sharky (shark fin) tea infuser, the DCI tea rex, the deep tea diver, or a yellow submarine .
3) Projects and classwork can be long and tiresome with minimal breaks. Snack foods, such as fruit for vigor or granola bars, from the nearest Meijer will benefit an artist to keep him or her inspired, energized, and creating.
Still having trouble coming up with other gift ideas for your artist? Try Etsy.com, where people from all over the world sell their handmade items such as jewelry, artwork, clothing, etc.
BY RACHEL MCLAUGHLINGVL STAFF WRITER
BY KARI NORTON GVL LAKER LIFE EDITOR
BY JESSICA SMITHGVL STAFF WRITER
BY RACHEL MCLAUGHLINGVL STAFF WRITER
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JESSICA ACCARDO
Crowds of children packed into the Grand Valley State University fieldhouse with their parents on Sat-urday to attend the first ever Winter Wonderland event.
The Winter Wonderland event was located on the east side of the fieldhouse arena. Lights were strung along the windows, and a young woman in a Santa hat sat at a table, greeting people as they entered.
As people entered, they received a ticket for the two-hour event, which could also be used to attend the back-to-back men’s and wom-en’s basketball games against Ohio Dominican University at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.
Children got the chance to get their picture taken with Santa and with Louie the Laker, and to enjoy free milk and cookies.
“The Winter Wonderland event is a marketing promotion. We do pro-motions all the time. Today is Winter Wonderland, so Santa came,” said Doug Lipinski, Associate director of athletics for marketing. “This is actually the first time Santa came, so fans could come get pictures with Santa and Louie the Laker.”
Jaime Smoes, a resident of Coo-persville, said she came to the Win-ter Wonderland event so her niece, Alaina, could see Santa and Louie.
“We got the e-mail for the event and came out. Alaina is more excited to see Louie than Santa,” Smoes said.
Though the photos with Santa and Louie might have been the main at-traction for the kids, many families stayed for the free basketball games.
Michael Huner, a Grand Rapids resident, brought his sons Tiago and Juan to the event to see Santa as well.
“We came to see Santa and catch the double header basketball game,” Huner said. “I was also motivated by the fact that the game was free.”
The event was a success, bring-ing many families out and offering ways for people to get involved in the GVSU community.
Kevin Vanderson, GVSU senior and intern for athletic marketing explained that the Winter Wonderland event was
directed toward kids to get more fami-lies to go the basketball games.
A lot of work was put into setting up this event, and some local compa-nies helped out as well: Meijer spon-sored the activities, Country Dairy sponsored the milk provided and Bosch’s Christmas tree farm provid-ed all the real trees at the event.
“We had to get trees from Bosch’s Christmas tree farm, and we had to get a Santa Claus. We had to set up a floor plan for the event,” Vanderson said. “We also got posters and dis-tributed them to elementary schools in the area to get more people to come to the event,“
Families from all around the area attended, and many children left happy that they got to see Santa, as well as Louie - the free cookies and
milk probably didn’t hurt either. Hopefully Santa will decide to
visit Grand Valley again next year. [email protected]
GVSU FAMILY HEALTH CENTER
Call 616.988.8774or Visit Us Online www.gvsu.edu/fhc72 Sheldon Blvd. SE – Grand Rapids, MI
Welcoming GVSU Students,Faculty & Families
Primary & Specialty Healthcare
shladderWe Would Love To See Your Work in...
A Student Journal of Art and WritingSubmit Your Creativity!!
art. photo. fiction. nonfic. poetry. drama. [email protected] Deadline Dec. 17th 2012
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Winter Wonderland event brings families to GVSU
JESSICA HOLLENBECK | GVLWish list: Lai’lonnye sits with Santa and tells him what she wants for Christmas. GVSU let children take photos with Santa and Louie the Laker.
BY JACKIE SMITHGVL STAFF WRITER
NEWSA6 DECEMBER 10, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn
Santa Claus, Louie the Laker bring smiles to local children
This is actually the first time Santa came, so fans could come get pictures with Santa and Louie the Laker.”
DOUG LIPINSKIASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
OF ATHLETICS
“
SPORTS Grand Valley LanthornB1 DECEMBER 10, 2012
M. BaskEtBallGlIaC North standings
GVSUWayne StateHillsdaleFindlayMaloneMichigan Tech.Ferris StateSaginaw ValleyWalsh Lake SuperiorTiffinAshlandNorthwoodLake ErieOhio DominicanNorthern Mich.
W. BaskEtBallGlIaC North standings
AshlandGVSUFindlayNorhern Mich.Michigan Tech.NorthwoodFerris StateWayne StateMaloneSaginaw ValleyHillsdaleTiffinLake SuperiorLake ErieOhio DominicanWalsh
M. sWIMMINGWayne StateGVSUIndianapolisAshlandLewisLake ErieFindlay
SHORTSS P O R T S
Eight lakers Recognized academicallyEight student athletes on Grand Valley State Univer-sity’s softball team were named All-America Scholar Athletes by the National Fastpitch Coaches Associa-tion on Dec. 6.
To qualify for the award, students needed to reach a grade point average of 3.5 or higher in the 2011-2012 aca-demic year.
Seniors Kayleigh Ber-tram, Emily Jones, Maggie Kopas and Katie Martin all earned the award, along with juniors Tonya Calkins and Miranda Cleary.
Two players from last season, seniors Andrea Nicholson and Carlie Raisu-tis, were also recognized for their academic excellence.
Under head coach Doug Woods, GVSU went 45-15 last season with a GLIAC-best record of 24-8. The Lakers finished the season ranked 25th in the NFCA poll.
Dilanni Named Midwest Coach of the YearGrand Valley State Universi-ty women’s soccer coach Da-vid Dilanni has been named the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Mid-west Coach of the year.
Dilanni’s career winning percentage (.885) is currently the best in the history of Divi-sion II women’s soccer
DiIanni led the Lakers to a record of 20-2-3 this season, bringing GVSU to a fourth consecutive NCAA Final Four appearance.
In his 10 years as head coach, Dilanni has a career record of 197-18-17. The Lak-ers have won the GLIAC title for eight straight seasons, and have won 51 straight home games.
Seniors Ashley Botts, Ashley Mira and Chelsea Parise earned NSCAA and Daktronics, Inc. All-America selections in 2012 under Coach Dilanni.
STANDINGSG L I A C
4-03-03-13-13-13-13-12-12-21-31-31-31-30-20-40-4
4-03-13-13-13-13-13-12-12-11-21-31-31-30-20-40-4
872.0801.0540.5493.5283.0242.0227.0
Carlson Ngong envi-sioned his spot on the Grand Valley State University club men’s volleyball team even before he left his na-tive country of Cameroon in West Africa for Allendale last fall.
Apprehensive about play-ing a sport in college, Ngong was intrigued by the sport of volleyball, which was com-pletely new to him. He won-dered if he could play and if he would be able to contribute to the team’s success. Little did he know, he was exactly what GVSU was looking for in a student athlete.
“Before leaving Camer-
oon for Grand Valley I con-tacted coach (Todd Allen) to let him know I would like to join the team,” Ngong said. “He was so nice to me that when I got to GVSU one of the first places I tried to lo-cate was the gym.”
Assistant coach Mike Lozier said that the team has benefited from Ngong’s presence this year. Lozier said his combination of ath-letic ability and willingness to learn are exactly what the coaches want from a new player.
“The guy can just jump out of the building.” Lozier said,” He’s up there hitting and he is literally head and shoulders above the guys on the other
team — it’s unreal.”Ngong’s natural athletic
ability and his desire to get better have propelled him to a starting spot on the men’s ‘A’ team. Playing the role of right side hitter, Ngong has found his place on the team and feels like he’s contribut-ing solidly as he continues to progress in a sport that is so new to him.
“I look forward to working on basics, which are the most important, and sometimes I neglect them in my passing and setting,” Ngong said.
There have been some adjustments for Ngong along the way, which have made his experience on the team diffi-cult at times, but interesting.
“Carlson lives in Holland so getting to matches can be difficult for him.” Lozier said, “Coach Allen picked him up at 5:30 a.m. so he could make it to the match.”
Team president Mike Marcineak was one of the first guys on the team to meet Ngong. They met that first day Ngong wandered into the gym and Marcineak introduced him to the world of men’s volleyball.
Realistically, Ngong isn’t at much more of a disad-vantage than his American counterparts. Most of the team is made up of players who have not played orga-nized volleyball before in their lives. Marcineak only
noted two players who had played club volleyball prior to coming to GVSU.
“I don’t think that learn-ing the game has been too hard for him.” Lozier said. “His athletic ability makes up for a lot of the technical faults in his game and his willingness to listen and be coached has made him into a good player for us.”
The team traveled to Adrian College this past weekend, winning their match against Adrian in two games. Ngong made the trip with the team and experi-enced an American first — a Wendy’s cheeseburger.
Coming to AmericaCameroon native thrives for club volleyball
Grand Valley State University has a reputation for having strong athletic programs - a
reputation that even extends overseas. The GVSU men’s swim team
currently features four athletes that hail from other countries: Freshman Juan Delgado (Venezuela), sopho-mores Milan Medo (Slovakia) and Sven Kardol (Netherlands), and ju-nior Erik Aakesson (Sweden).
How these athletes end up at GVSU is an example of how the Internet can be a powerful recruiting tool.
“I talk to some of the guys mainly through email and things like that,” said head coach Andy Boyce. “I’ll give some of them a call, tell them about the school, and tell them about the team and they end up coming to Grand Valley, which is nice to see.”
It is common for recruiting agen-
cies to help student athletes overseas find colleges that fit what they’re looking for in a potential university. From there, students can look at a list and decide what schools they want to apply for.
“There’s a student organization that helped me find a place in the states that lets me do what I wanted to do in school and also has a good sports program,” Kardol said. “They gave me a list with nine schools on it and I applied at four schools. One of them was Grand Valley and I ab-solutely loved it.”
For Medo, GVSU was not his first choice. Medo initially wanted to compete at the Division I level, but when that was not an option for him, he became interested in the strong swim tradition at GVSU.
“I was trying to get into a Divi-sion I school for swimming, but I wasn’t receiving any real good of-
fers,” Medo said. “I heard about Grand Valley online. I found it on collegeswimming.com. I checked the rankings for the men’s swim-ming team and Grand Valley was ranked pretty high. I sent an email to the coach with my times and he was interested in getting me there and I was interested in going there.”
Swimming at GVSU is vastly different for Medo and Kardol com-pared to their homelands. For Kar-dol, he has found the competition to be more consistently difficult.
“Competition is different here,” he said. “When I’m home, I’d race against kids from ages 8 to 25 or old-er. Back home I could swim against an eight year old. It’s definitely more competitive here. Everyone’s at the same level. Honestly, it’s more fun to be here and compete than it is to be back home and compete.”
Making a potential recruit feel
comfortable and wanted is always im-portant. For Boyce and GVSU, it can be more tricky when visiting with po-tential recruits is nearly impossible.
“I saw he was real interested in me and Coach Boyce actually called me on my phone,” Medo said. “I re-ally had a good feeling about it and him. I’m really confident I made a good decision that I came here.”
GVSU is not the only school that has international people on their roster. If you look at the swim ros-ters of other schools in the GLIAC, you will see that it isn’t all that rare to see international athletes.
“It’s commonplace,” Boyce said. “Ashland has several guys from overseas. Wayne State has a good portion of their team, men and wom-en that is international as well.”
GloBal affaIR
GV swim team has international flavor
Bo aNDERsoN | GVLWe are the World: With some help from (from left to right) junior Erik Aakesson, sophomore Milan Medo, freshman Juan Delgado and sophomore Sven Kardol, the Grand Valley State University men’s swimming and diving team has seen early success this season with the help of four swimmers from outside the U.S.
S W I M M I N G
BY BRYCE DEROUINGVL STAFF WRITER
BY JUDSON RODRIGUEZGVL INTERN
M . V O L L E Y B A L L
Get Caught!Reading the Lanthorn
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Class/ year: junior, 2014
Why jon
reads the lanthorn:to keep up ongv sports.
Shout out/quote/advice:go lakers!
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SPORTSB2 DECEMBER 10, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn
The Grand Valley State University indoor track and field coaching staff is making lists, checking them twice and will probably find out who is right for their men’s
and women’s teams when they host the GVSU Holiday Open on Friday at the Kelly Family Sports Center.
With the Laker Early Bird under their belt, each squad has had a performance to as-sess where they are in their
training. By the time the gun goes off for the GVSU Holi-day Open, they will also have had two weeks to practice and work toward better marks.
“Early on, you are just working through the train-ing cycle,” said GVSU
men’s and women’s head coach Jerry Baltes. “I think what we saw that first meet is that we definitely have a lot of work to do, but there is plenty of potential. It’s a process, take it day-by-day and hopefully you get a little bit better each meet.”
The GLIAC conference championships and NCAA indoor track and field na-tional championships are obviously a couple of the most important meets of the season. The GVSU Big Meet, which attracts top competition from across the country, is as well. But the GVSU Holiday Open is not to be taken lightly. It will be the last meet for the Lakers until Jan. 11 and it provides one last chance for each student-athlete to compete before holiday break.
“In this meet, it would be good to hit a provisional time, or if you could hit an automatic time, then obvi-ously all the better,” said junior sprinter Logan Hoff-man. “We’ll go on a down
cycle, just a little bit, through the Christmas season. Then we’ll pick it back up and come back early from break to practice.”
Hoffman is part of the men’s 4x400-meter relay team that fell a couple spots short of the national cham-pionships last season. Along with redshirt freshman Dan-iel Pung and juniors Mo-hamed Mohamed and Na-thaniel Hammersmith, they anchor the men’s team this year and are looking to be a force in getting the men back on the national stage.
They will be looking to improve on their third-place finish in the Laker Early Bird, where they crossed the line in 3 minutes, 17.39 seconds.
For some people, heading into holiday break will mean staying active on their own. They will need to be equally motivated to training in this winter hiatus after all the work they have put in up to this point in the season.
“Now everyone is getting
more consistent. Everyone is more comfortable, even with the little things they need to work on,” said se-nior thrower Sam Lockhart. “There are also things they need to work on over the winter break and we will probably be doing a little more conditioning.”
In a week that features final exams, the GVSU Holiday Open could be that competitive release for the student-athletes after sever-al stressful days of studying. Even with practice and other commitments, there remains one message and focus in-stilled by the coaches.
“The most important thing we stressed this past week and over next week is academics and making sure we take care of those,” Bal-tes said. “It is important to try and go out and finish the semester on a positive note. Headed into break, hopeful-ly we can keep our kids fo-cused and get as much work as possible in.”
Season’s GreetingsLakers prepare to close out 2012 with GVSU Holiday Open
ROBERT MATHEWS | GVL
T R A C K
BY zach SepanikGVL staff writer
Striders gonna stride: sophomore Jessica Janecke runs in a recent indoor track and field meet at the Kelly family sports Center. Janecke and the rest of the Grand Valley state University indoor men’s and women’s track and field teams will aim to end the semester on a postive note with a good showing at the GVsU Holiday Open at 3 p.m. this friday at the Kelly family sports Center.
SPORTS B3DECEMBER 10, 2012Grand Valley Lanthorn
On the wrong side of an 11-4 run in the second half, one key play for the Grand Valley State Univer-sity men’s basketball team flipped the momentum in their favor.
Sophomore Kristers Zeidaks stole the ball on the defensive end and threw the ball ahead to classmate Ryan Majerle, who found Zeidaks for the momentum changing two-handed dunk.
In what has become com-monplace at GVSU (7-1, 4-0 GLIAC) basketball games, Zeidaks’ dunk sparked a 9-2 Lakers run and GVSU re-mained in control for the rest of the game, as it won its sixth-consecutive game, defeating Ohio Dominican University (3-5, 0-4 GLIAC) 67-58.
“It gives extra adrenaline to everybody, as much as it does to me,” Zeidaks said about his dunk. “We kind of go harder after every energet-ic play like that. It’s natural.”
Sophomore Ryan Sabin managed to score 15 points. Sabin has scored in double digits in every game this year except for one. Senior Breland Hogan led GVSU with 16 points, including a perfect 8-for-8 from the free
throw line. “I kind of noticed instead
of being a distributor a little bit, I had to be aggressive to get my guys motivated,” Hogan said. “It worked out in the end. I really like shooting free throws. Easy baskets, I mean, it’s free.”
The Lakers led 35-30 at the half and padded their lead with an 11-4 run to start the second half, giving GVSU their largest lead of the game, 46-34. However, Ohio Dominican would fight their way back into the game before falling by 11.
“I thought Ohio Domini-can played well and really gave us a challenge,” Wes-ley said. “Happy to get the win. That being said, our defensive awareness wasn’t that good and I thought of-fensively we missed a lot of easy opportunities.”
The win on Saturday for GVSU was their second GLIAC win of the week-end. On Thursday, the Lak-ers used a huge 26-1 second half run on their way to de-feating Tiffin University (3-4, 1-2 GLIAC) 66-52.
Zeidaks was a part of the play of the game in this con-test as well. He was on the receiving end of an alley-oop pass from Tony Peters, and
Zeidaks threw down the dunk over a Tiffin defender and was fouled on the play. He would convert the free to complete the three-point play.
GVSU managed to con-tain one of the conference’s best scorers, Tiffin’s Joe Graessle, who entered the game averaging 23.2 points per game. Graessle managed to score 23 points, but on 7-of-22 shooting. Most of his points were in garbage time when the outcome of the game was already decided.
“(Graessle is) one of the top scorers in the con-ference,” Wesley said. “He makes a lot of dif-ficult shots. He’s a tough matchup. We tried to limit him as much as we could.” Five Lakers scored in dou-ble figures, with Zeidaks leading the way with 12 points and six rebounds. Se-nior Tony Peters provided a spark off the bench, record-ing 11 points in only 14 min-utes of action.
“I thought our guys came off the bench and got it go-ing for us in the second half,“ Wesley said.
GVSU will look to add to its six-game winning streak when they travel to Hillsdale College on Saturday.
Sweep SucceSSLakers extend win streak to six after weekend sweep
The Grand Valley State University wom-en’s basketball team is getting hot heading into winter break.
The Lakers put together a dominant showing in their two home games last week with wins
over Tiffin University and Ohio Dominican University, winning by a combined 48 points.
GVSU struggled offensively in the first half against Tiffin (3-4, 1-3 GLIAC), shooting just 24 percent from the floor despite a 15-3 run to start the game. The Lakers’ lead was cut to only five points at the break, up 21-16.
In the second half, the Lakers got it going on both ends of the court.
GVSU came out of the locker room with a 10-0 run and dominated defensively, keeping Tiffin off the board for more than four minutes.
“Our defense has come a long way. It’s tremendous,” said GVSU head coach Janel Burgess. “In order to be successful we’ll need to hang our hat on defense.”
The Lakers went on to win the game 59-38, using a balanced offensive attack. Se-nior Briauna Taylor led the Lakers with 10 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
It was a similar story against Ohio Do-minican (3-4, 0-4).
The Lakers once again held a 21-16 lead at halftime, and exploded for another huge second half.
“In the second half we’ve been able to work the ball around better,” Burgess said. “We’re really trying to work on our offensive flow.”
GVSU poured in 44 second half points en route to a 65-38 win. Taylor almost recorded her fourth double-double of the season, scor-ing nine points and nine rebounds. Classmate Lauren Stodola led the Lakers with 11 points, adding three assists in the win.
The Lakers’ depth was the difference in the game, as 12 different Lakers scored at least a point.
“It’s all coming together,” Taylor said. “We’ve been able to take the success we’ve had in practice into games, and our bench
has been able to step up and play some im-portant minutes for us.”
Burgess said she was impressed with her team’s depth.
“It’s pretty neat to have your newcomers come in and be so productive,” Burgess said. “It challenges our team to improve in prac-tice during the week. I think we’re going to keep finding out who we are as a team.”
Forward Kat LaPrairie has been able to provide an offensive spark off the bench this season with her ability to connect from long range. She’s made .533 percent of her three point attempts this season (8-15), third-best in the GLIAC.
“Kat brings energy,” Burgess said. “Her ability is tremendous, especially when she plays well on both ends of the court.”
After holding their opponent to only 38 points in consecutive games, the Lakers (7-1) moved to second place in the GLIAC standings with a 3-1 conference record. Their only loss came to the top ranked team in the country—Ashland (4-0, 10-0).
“Our goal is to be the best we can be on a daily basis,” Burgess said. “But we’ll need to be better next week.”
The Lakers will travel to Hillsdale (Sat-urday, 8 p.m.) and Findlay (Monday, 8 p.m.) before returning to Allendale for a five-game homestand, which begins on Dec. 29.
Women’s basketball runs through Tiffin, Ohio Dominican
In front of a packed Kelly Fam-ily Sports Center, Grand Valley State University’s men’s Lacrosse team handed Davenport University a hard fought 16-14 defeat.
“It was a great back and forth battle, there were lots of forced turnovers, lots of goals in transi-tion, and lots of back and forth battling,” said senior Jake Seiler. “It was a physical game and it was back and forth the whole game.”
The game, which was recently scheduled and played as a benefit game, was played to help raise money for the Seiler family, who recently lost their family home to a fire.
“It was back and forth until halftime when we were tied 9-9,” Seiler said. “We were able to build a little bit of a lead, I think it was about 15-10 and then they ended up having a few goal run.”
The close game came as no sur-
prise to the Lacrosse community as over half of the recent games between the two teams have been decided in overtime.
Even though the game was played against cross-town rivals, the fan turnout exceeded all ex-pectations.
“It was absolutely insane how many people were there,” Seiler said. “We moved our benches that we normally sit on which are four-row benches and we had about forty yards of them on the track. We stacked them on the track so we had those full, the stands were full, and there were people stand-ing. I have never seen the stands that full ever.”
For Seiler and his family, the turnout and the donations were completely overwhelming.
“It is just humbling, awesome, and a blessing, and it’s so hard to put it into words how lucky I am to be a part of the lacrosse communi-ty in West Michigan,” Seiler said.
“It’s such a tight community and even between two rivals like Dav-enport and us to see the commen-tary and sportsmanship between the teams and how many people came out to support us.”
In the coming days, the Seiler family will be moving into a cot-tage on Lake Macatawa, which they can live in free of charge until their house can be rebuilt.
Seiler and his family want the public to know how thankful they are for all the generosity they have experienced in the past week.
“I just want them to know how grateful I am to be a part of such a great community,” Seiler said. “I just want everyone to know how
wonderful everyone has been and how humbling it has been to see how great people can be and how people can come together for a great cause.”
Benefit game a success
JESSICA HOLLENBECK | GVLWith authority: Sophomore forward Kristers Zeidaks finishes a fastbreak dunk against Ohio Dominican this weekend. Zeidaks added 18 points and 10 rebounds during the two weekend games.
GVSU CLUB SPORTS | COURTESYDefensive stops: Jake Seiler makes a stop during a game last season.
BO ANDERSON | GVLEarly dominance: Junior forward Dan Crandall dribbles in a recent game. Crandall finished with nine points and four rebounds in the Lakers’ win over Ohio Dominican on Saturday.
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