First United Methodist Church

Local church’s homeless shelter continues to make a difference.

Muskie Softball

Muskies’ winning streak propels them up the OAC standings.

T H E B L A C K & M A G E N T A Page 8

The Black & MagentaVol. 119, Issue 26April 20, 2015

Kathryn Kellar, Editor-in-Chief

Phi Kappa Phi

Top percent of classes inducted into national academic honorary.

Page 3 Page 5

NC Local church loads up on love

Karysa KentOrbit Media Reporter

The College Drive Presbyterian Church has been serving the commu-nity with the Food Pantry for over 10 years.

They are in the planning stages of

Karysa Kent/Black & MagentaE & K Car Wash and Laundromat will be teaming up with College Drive Presbyterian Church for “Loads of Love” in New Concord.

starting a new ministry project to serve New Concord.

This project will be titled, “Loads of Love.”

The Presbyterian Church sent out surveys asking what assistance the public needed.

According to College Drive Presby-

terian Church Reverend Anne Weirich, 35 to 45 percent of the surveys came back claiming that laundry was what people needed help with the most.

“We’re glad to provide the food but what more could we do,” said Weirich.

She along with 10 other people then had their first meeting about how they could help with laundry.

After discussing possibilities of cre-ating a partnership, a member from the meeting contacted E & K Car Wash and Laundromat for this ministry op-portunity.

The church then made a deal with the owners of E & K Car Wash and Laundromat, Ed and Kelly Jones.

During the allotted discount times, the laundry machines will be set up at a discount price, which is a dollar cheap-er than the actual price.

The event will be in the western end of the building and volunteers of the church will be at the laundromat to di-rect people to the correct machines.

“It’s a way for us to share our spir-it and share our hospitality of Christ through doing laundry,” said Weirich.

She said that the Presbyterian Church will have fundraisers to raise money to get this project started, but the “Loads of Love” project isn’t just about doing laundry.

“As we grow in love we will also grow in our understanding of one an-other,” said Weirich. “Hopefully it will build some new bridges. It will lead us to even more exciting things than do-ing laundry together.”

Weirich said that before the proj-ect starts, College Drive Presbyterian Church will have people sign up for “Loads of Love” and then the discount times will start between early and mid-May.

“I’m just thrilled that we have been able to figure out another way to be helpful just by asking and I hope that creates a pathway to helping to elim-inate all forms of poverty and need,” said Weirich.

The Presbyterian Church will sign people up for the discount laun-dry time, which will be the first four Wednesdays of every month from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Professor gives presentation at AWP ConferenceJie YuOrbit Media Reporter

During the 2015 conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Pro-grams (AWP) in Minneapolis, on April 11, Chair of the English Department Jane Varley gave a presentation. The AWP Conference is the largest literary conference and is held in multiple con-ferences in North America yearly.

This year, more than 12,000 peo-ple attended the conference including 2,000 presenters. The event hosted 550 different scheduled events over the four-day event from April 8 to 11, such as readings, panels and craft lectures. As a member of AWP, Varley has been to the conference 23 times. This is the fifth time she gave a presentation.

In May 2014 Varley was asked to be on the proposal for this presentation.

She got an invitation in August to give a 15 minute speech in a panel called, “A Tribute to Jay Meek.”

Varley was honored to speak at the conference, but was also nervous.

“Because as much as I care, and as much as I love being a part of the cre-ative writing community,” said Varley. “This is a conference with an enormous number of people, and that makes me nervous. And the scope of the confer-ence is so large.”

This panel was held in honor of Jay Meek, who was a well-known Ameri-can poet and died in 2007. He instruct-ed Varley in the pursuit of her Ph.D. dissertation in poetry.

“It was very hard for me to figure out what I’m going to say, because I feel very emotional about it, and I miss him,” said Varley. “Different than in the classroom when you’re giving a

lesson, this is a way of honoring a per-son that means a lot to me.”

Varley shared that Meek played a significant role in the history of poetry and that his poems are worth reading even if he is gone now.

“He was often observing the world, and thinking about how you can feel like a stranger when you are in the world, but you can also feel like a stranger when you are at home,” said Varley. “Sometimes you can feel that you belong in a place you’ve never been before, you can feel at home in a strange place. And I love that two-sid-ed idea.”

Apart from the panel, Varley also at-tended other presentations that she was interested in.

“My philosophy is always about learning,” said Varley. “The more I learn, the better writer I’m going to be,

and a better teacher I’m going to be. This is a chance for me to keep think-ing poetry as an art form, and how I’m going to make poems, [and] teach po-ems effectively.”

Varley said the conference promotes creative writing at an ambitious level.

“It helps writer stay in contact with each other, and keeps the art form alive, keeps it moving forward, keeps us hearing the best stories and poems that are being written and told all over the country,” said Varley.

The conference also serves as a window to connect writers all over the country to each other. In addition to attending the conference, Varley also read poetry in a coffee shop with her younger brother, and gave a book sign-ing for her three books in AWP’s Book Fair, which was running at the same time to the conference.

NewsPage 2 Christine Holmes, News & Managing Editor

Rachel SchlarbOrbit Media Reporter

The 84th annual Scholarship Recog-nition Day was held in Brown Chap-el, kicking off Parents’ Weekend. The event was held on Friday, April 10.

The categories that students were recognized for were top five percent, Dean’s List, academic awards, and ac-ademic organizations.

Gene Alesandrini is Chair of the Communication, Media, & Theatre Department and was the speaker at the ceremony because he won the William Oxley Thompson Award for Excel-lence in Teaching in August.

He congratulated the families and professors of students, along with the students themselves.

The ceremony lasted a little over an hour and included students from the first year class through senior class.

“It went really well,” said Alesan-drini. “People initially look at the pro-gram and realize how many names are there, but the reality is that [there are] student[s] who performed really, really well and they deserve the recognition.”

When Alesandrini was sitting on stage he felt pride as he watched past students accepting their awards.

“Recognizing so many students from past classes was very gratifying,” said Alesandrini. “I think I was as ex-cited for them as they were for them-selves to see them rewarded for their hard work.”

He felt that his speech was a suc-cess.

“It went really well and I had a re-ally good time and [my speech] went very well with the audience and for the most part it was fun to do,” said Ale-sandrini.

After the ceremony Alesandrini had a few compliments on his speech.

“[I felt], proud it was fun, I enjoy it, because I like speaking like that, but it makes you feel really good if you think people enjoy in what you have to say,” said Alesandrini.

Every year the winner of the Wil-liam Oxley Thompson Award for Ex-cellence in Teaching makes a speech at the beginning of Scholarship Recogni-tion Day.

The winner sits on the stage with President Anne Steele and Vice Presi-dent for Academic Affairs James Cal-laghan.

The Scholarship Recognition Cer-emony was one of the many Parents’ Weekend events for 2015.

Alesandrini addresses academic standouts

Rachel Schlarb/Black & MagentaGene Alesandrini, 2014 recipient of the William Oxley Thompson award for Excellence in Teaching addresses a room full of student achievers and their families in Brown Chapel on April 10.

Students display abilities during Parents’ Weekend talent show

Christine Holmes/Black & MagentaEmily McKinley and Dylan Parker hosts the 2015 talent show during Parents’ Weekend, keeping the crowd laughing with jokes and costume changes.

Rae Lyles performs slam poetry during the talent show.

Chase Strawser sings and plays guitar in the first act.

Maria ConforteOrbit Media Reporter

Muskingum’s national leadership

honorary, Omicron Delta Kappa, organized the Talent Show that was held in John Glenn Gym on April 10 at 8 p.m. as one of the scheduled Parents’ Weekend activities.

Muskingum students had the chance to show off their talents on stage in front of other students and families to see.

There were a total of 11 performances and the show lasted approximately one hour.

The show was hosted by sophomore Dylan Parker and senior Emily McKinley. The emcees entertained the crowd with jokes and costumes changes between performances.

“Emily and I sat down at one point and made a joke based on what each person was doing, and we improvised some things,” said Parker.

There were posters around campus with the name and email of the organizer, so students could contact ODK and arrange an audition slot.

On Wednesday, April 8 students had the opportunity to rehearse and it was open to the public.

For the event, student displayed

talent through music and vocals. There was a drum performance, two dancing performances, a Lady Gaga imitation and a poem recitation. For the intermission “DJ Ace,” junior Aaron Eno, provided the audience with music.

“[The performances] are always great. It amazes me what kind of talent we have here at Muskingum,” said Parker.

The winner of the show, selected by a panel of judges, was dance group Black Ice with their dance routine. The prize was $100. Second place went to Sam Steinher with his drums act and $75. The third place went to Hannah Gregory with her guitar and singing performance. She won $50.

Lindsey Grafe sings and plays piano as the first solo performance.

News Page 3Kathryn Kellar, Editor-in-Chief

This is Volume 119, Issue 26 of The Black & Magenta. The Black & Ma-genta is published weekly except during school holidays. Contact (740) 826-8189 or email bandm@muskingum.edu for subscription information.

Editorial StaffEditor-in-Chief: Kathryn Kellar

News & Managing Editor: Christine HolmesSpecial SectionsEditor: Kandee FerrellSports Editor: Chris MorganOpinion Editor: Kandee FerrellWeb Editor: Josey JamesCopy Editors: Lindsey Kreamer & Brenna BusbyCirculation Manager: Nick LambesFaculty Advisor: Lisa Marshall

Phi Kappa Phi inducts top studentsYuanna LiuOrbit Media Reporter

The Phi Kappa Phi initiation ceremony was held in Walter Hall on Sunday, April 12. There was one faculty initiate, Associate Professor of Religion, Peter Gosnell. He was also the keynote speaker in the ceremony. Thirty students from different majors were also initiated into the honorary.

Phi Kappa Phi is an honor society that recognizes and encourages superior scholarship without restriction to a specific area of study and promotes the “unity and democracy of education.”

The top 7.5 percent of juniors, top 10 percent of seniors, and top 10 percent of graduate students can be recognized as members of Phi Kappa Phi.

“I am very excited,” said President of Phi Kappa Phi and Head Womens Soccer and Tennis Coach Mary Beth Caudill. “It is my first year to be the president of Phi Kappa Phi. It’s a prestigious honor for the students to be inducted. It’s pretty significant to be recognized as the best in their class, regardless of their respective discipline.”

Membership in Phi Kappa Phi can look good for students pursuing their education further after Muskingum.

“It is beneficial for students when applying to their graduate schools if they are members of Phi Kappa Phi,” said Caudill.

The society’s motto is translated to, “let the love of learning rule humanity.” Phi Kappa Phi’s mission is “to recognize and promote academic excellence in all fields of education and to engage the community of scholars in service to others.”

The induction ceremony was one of the many events included in Parents’ Weekend.

“[I’m] definitely proud of their accomplishments, to be the top students in their class,” said Muskingum University father of a Phi Kappa Phi initiate Ferdinand Avila Sr. “It means a lot to their future. What I taught them is just not to be afraid of failures. They should be willing to try, and be willing to fail. I believe it will help students to succeed in the future. It is okay to take some risks. Just move forward and learn how to go with that.”

Parents and families gathered for the ceremony along with all of the student inductees.

“What we parents have to do is be involved and aware of what [their students] are doing,” said Avila Sr. “Make sure that they follow their passions and their dreams.”

In the ceremony, Gosnell gave a speech about the difference between wisdom and knowledge.

After the speech, Associate Professor of Business, Gary Golden described the symbol of Phi Kappa Phi. Every new member was given a cord, pin, certificate, and an information package.

Being inducted into Phi Kappa Phi is an honor that inductees are grateful for.

“I am deeply honored,” said American Studies and History major, who was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi at the ceremony Rebecca Angert. “It makes me feel I am appreciated [by] Muskingum University. Also it makes me feel I accomplished much here.”

The Phi Kappa Phi induction ceremony is held in April every year.

CMT Department awards presented to studentsBrenna BusbyOrbit Media Reporter

April 11 brought the annual year-end banquet to the Communication, Media, & Theatre (CMT) Department.

Students involved in any of the three areas including majors, minors and scholarship recipients, were invited to attend, along with students involved in WMCO, Orbit TV, The Black & Magenta, Forensics, and Theatre.

Chair of the CMT Department Gene Alesandrini reflected on the year’s ups and downs.

“It was a great year in terms of [the] accomplishments of our students,” said Alesandrini. “It was a bittersweet year because we lost a really close colleague [John Kuhn]. It was a difficult year at times because we were at part-staff. Dr. Harman and Dr. Rao were on sabbatical [in the spring semester]. But,

everybody pulled together in all those capacities and really, really worked hard to do a fine job. So I would have to say it was a really phenomenal year in terms of people working really hard and pulling it all together.”

Alesandrini began the evening with opening statements and then turned the podium over to Instructor of Communication and Director of Forensics Rachel Pollock.

She recognized Forensics students for their work this year, along with communication majors and graduating seniors.

Associate Professor of Communication Lisa Marshall recognized the media students.

The Editorial Staff of the Black & Magenta were given certificates commending their work this year.

For WMCO, the year’s trainees were recognized first. The WMCO Operations Management Team (OMT), the overseeing management staff made up of students for the station, were also recognized.

Each month, the WMCO Program Director (this semester’s Program Director is Brian Clements), nominates three students and then the general staff votes for the one to receive Broadcaster of the Month.

Then at the banquet, Marshall announced who she chose to be Broadcaster of the Year from the six

Broadcasters of the Month from this year.

This year the award went to Promotions Director Kayla Rausch.

“I don’t want to ever think about it as winning an award,” said Rausch. “I’m just doing the things I love.”

Rausch is proud of the work she has done over her three years in the CMT department.

“I just really enjoy being involved in this department in all [of its] different aspects,” said Rausch.

Associate Professor of Digital Media Design Tom German recognized Orbit Television award recipients. Similar to the WMCO style of choosing Broadcaster of the Year, German announced his choice for Orbit Television’s Broadcaster of the Year.

This award went to Community Calendar Director for both Orbit Television and WMCO Karysa Kent.

Despite her Broadcaster of the Month win, Kent didn’t see the award coming.

“I was very shocked and surprised,” said Kent. “I wasn’t expecting it.”

Even though her win wasn’t expected, she was content to take it.

“I was just very shocked and very grateful, and thankful and I appreciate it so much,” said Kent. “I’m really happy right now, I’m giddy.”

Alesandrini and Associate Professor of Communication and Theatre Ron Lauck introduced the awards for the Theatre area.

For the first year an award was given in memory of Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication John Kuhn. The John Kuhn Memorial Theatre Award for Service to the whole cast and crew of “Bye Bye Birdie.” The cast and crew were a few weeks into the production when he suddenly had a heart attack and the students have continued on with the show in his honor. The banquet was held in the bottom of the New Concord United Methodist Church at 5:30 p.m.

Brenna Busby/Black & MagentaOrbit Media graduating 2015 seniors are honored at The Communication, Media, & Theatre Department Banquet on April 11.

Community CornerPage 4 Christine Holmes, News & Managing Editor

Brenna BusbyOrbit Media Reporter

Ken Blood, a member of the East Muskingum County School Board, was honored at the last board meeting for his 20 years of service.

Blood is also a Professor of Athletic Training and the Head of the Athletic Training Department at Muskingum University.

Superintendent of East Muskingum Schools Jill Johnson commented that his advisement helped them through many projects.

Johnson also joked about his involvement in replacing chalkboards with dry erase boards to the school buildings.

Aside from the evolving technology, Blood had a very specific reason for getting involved with the school board in the first place all those years ago.

“My original motivation was what was wrong with public education, what has kept me here is what’s right,” said Blood.

After 20 years on the job, Blood does not regret his decision to get involved.

“It was a blessing to be apart of [for all those years],” said Blood.

He remembers sitting on the audience side of the room before becoming a board member. For two years before becoming a member he went to the meetings, only missing one meeting during that time.

“There is a responsibility that you just can’t describe until you live it,” said Blood.

He recalled sitting in the lobby during the executive sessions and being curious about the happenings on the other side of the door.

“There is something incredibly humbling about sitting over on this side of the room [that is different than the other side],” said Blood.

Blood believes that his job requires more than just monthly meetings.

“It’s a responsibility that transcends this room, it is a responsibility that out there in the community people look at you and say, ‘okay, you represent something, you represent an organization, you’re representing an entity,” said Blood.

President of the East Muskingum School Board Matt Abbott reminisced about late-night phone calls between the two and the bouncing of ideas across each other over the years.

Abbott also said he was grateful for Blood’s usually calming responses.

“What you have done in the past is a great segway for what we are looking to do in the future,” said Abbott.

Over the 20 years that he served on the board he had been involved in five different levy votes, numerous faculty hirings, several additions being constructed on varying school buildings and installing video cameras in the East Muskingum School District buses.

The meeting also consisted of other business, including The Footprint Project with consultant Lori Overmyer.

Overmyer is Vice President of Goettler & Associates, a firm that counsels other organizations on fundraising discussed with the board a recent survey of about 30 people, over the possibility of building a Track and Field facility for East Muskingum Schools.

The East Muskingum School Board has their next meeting on Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. at the District Center at 13505 John Glenn School Road in New Concord. Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month and includes a recess.

Blood gives 20 years to East Muskingum schools

Jonnie NeuhartOrbit Media Reporter

The weather is getting warmer and students are starting to feed the ducks on Muskingum University’s Campus, but there are a few things to keep in mind about feeding ducks to keep them and the ecosystem healthy.

Erica Canter, The Wilds Lead of Visitor Operations, said that one of the most common foods that is fed to the ducks is white bread, but the bread is not healthy for them at all.

“It’s the junk food equivalent of the duck world,” said Canter.

Dana Hatcher, Animal Nutrition Manager for the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, said that most people usu-ally feed ducks, crackers, potato chips and french fries, but these foods do not allow the ducks the nutrients that they need to live and can lead to disfigured wings, body parts function properly, broken bones and more.

The only food that is appropriate for ducks is commercial feed that is spe-cially formulated for the ducks that can

be found at feed stores like Tractor Sup-ply or Rural King.

C a n t e r said that feeding the ducks, even if it is the spe-cial feed has a negative impact on the ducks in the long run, because the ducks will eat the food that is almost handed to them instead of the natural grasses and leaves that they normally eat in the wild.

“Are you going to want to go out

Lay off the breadand quackers

and work for your food, or you’re going to want to go through the drive through at McDonald’s and have it right there,” said Canter.

Canter thinks that feeding the ducks has a negative impact on them.

“We don’t want them to lose their instincts, and their natural foraging ability, so unfortunate-

ly how fun it is to feed ducks, your best bet [is] to just ob-serve safely from a distance,” said Canter.

She said people may enjoy ducks because

there are cultur-al icons like Daffy Duck and because

they are cute and have pleasing temperaments.

“They can be very friendly especially as we

all know here at Muskingum,” said

Canter. “They are very friendly and I think

that we like to connect to any type of animal, and when they

make it easy for us to connect to them we really like that.”

The most common type of ducks in the Muskingum area are Mallards and the area also has a lot of geese.

Aaron EnoOrbit Media Reporter

During Parents’ Weekend Omicron Delta Kappa hosted several events, one of which was Relay for Life. President of Relay For Life at Muskingum University McKenzie Hagy helped put the events together.

“We are trying to intermix some local entertainment with Relay For Life to make it a bigger community and to raise awareness,” said Hagy.

The 20 hour event featured the music of the local New Concord band Blue Mercury, as well as the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia band, Surreal.

They held the event in the Recreation Center gymnasium. People listened to music, participated in a raffle, bought T-shirts, made luminaries, and walked around the gym.

“It’s really just an event to support people, remember those we have lost and also [to] help celebrate those continuing their fight,” said Hagy. “Maybe not [to] celebrate [them] but [to] give them motivation to keep fighting.”

The lights went down and the luminaries went up, each in memory of a specific person with a name, photo, or memory written on it.

“The luminary ceremony is a very somber event,” said Hagy.

All the names listed were then read aloud, and those participating were asked to walk in silence.

The walk lasted 20 hours. It started on Saturday at 6 p.m. and ended at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Relay for Life is a national organization that seeks to raise support and awareness for cancer and those impacted by it.

The event promoted the hashtag #WTF, which stood for Win the Fight.

This was the fourth year Hagy was part of Relay For Life, the second year she was on executive board, and the first year she that she served as president. Hagy and her group are trying to raise awareness for cancer around campus and the community.

“I think it would be great if we had some more support,” said Hagy. “I think cancer itself affects many people so it’s always great to have the larger community to come out and support us.” This year the group raised over $600 towards Relay for Life.

Relaywinsthe fight

Seminar Spotlight Page 5Kandee Ferrell, Special Sections & Opinion Editor

Local church opens shelter for Putnam area homelessKandee Ferrell Orbit Media Reporter

On the corner of Pierce St. and Putnam Ave. in Zanesville, the First United Methodist Church is a working church and shelter for the homeless.

In 2012 the First United Methodist Church opened the homeless shelter Within the first nine months 125 people stayed and they accounted for 1,244 nights stayed overnight.

“The need is there in the community so we decided we were right in the heart of Putnam and there was the empty side over there where the parsonage used to be so thought we’d just go ahead and use it,” said one supervisor of the shelter, Mary Moody.

The parsonage was originally used to house a preacher and his/her family, but the church had been using it for storage prior to opening the shelter.

The property needed repairs in order to make it livable for those in need.

“It needed new bathrooms and the doors on the fire escape and the outside doors needed redone and plastering, and all kinds of things needed to be moved so there was room over there,” said Moody.

The shelter features four rooms that are used as bedrooms with 20 steel cots.

Men are required to sleep upstairs while women sleep downstairs. Women are not permitted to go upstairs at

Kandee Ferrell/Black & MagentaThe First United Methodist Church on Putnam Avenue in Zanesville.

any time. The property does not have showers or wash utilities. All blankets were donated by Economy Linen after a hospital refused one shipment.

After donating the blankets, Economy Linen continued to wash the blankets each week.

The shelter is supervised solely by volunteers, which includes Moody, Laura Crislip, and the main supervisor, Matt Ackerman.

April marks three years open for the shelter and over the course of its operation, there have been upwards of 200 people staying each year.

The number of residents has climbed each year and as of February 2015, 56 people have already needed to stay in the shelter.

The church still operates with worship hours and those who attend the church services make most of the donations to the shelter.

“[If] somebody sends $5 a month they know we need help and they’re trying to help,” said Moody. “People don’t realize that a little bit means a lot.”

Although the shelter has only been open for three years, the church has also operated a ‘Free Store’ where people can get food and other products at no cost.

In 2014 the free store was open 137 days and served 12,574 shoppers.

“We already had success with our free store which we’d had over 4,000

families that shop at our free store,” said Moody. “We opened that in 2006.”

Unlike the Salvation Army, First United does not require drug testing or check for a warrant, which leads to higher rates of residents.

“When you think about it you think you really have no clue like the people that lost their job at home and everything, they didn’t know they were going to be homeless,” said Moody.

The First United Methodist Church doesn’t simply offer a place to stay, but they actively work with residents in order to get what they need to become more financially independent.

“The Salvation Army, they say they have a lot of helping to get people out of the situation but you don’t really see it,” said resident at First United since October 2014, Michael. “You don’t see it in the people that go there, actually moving on. You see people like Liz and her husband whose only moving on was moving to a different shelter because they really didn’t get the help they were getting there that they needed to get.”

The shelter pays their utilities strictly with donations. The cost of insurance alone is $2,000 according to Moody. They also have an exterminator come in every two weeks in order to keep bed bugs and other infestations under control.

The shelter recently acquired a dryer for new residents’ clothing in order to kill the bed bugs that they get from

being outside for extended periods of time. All food provided to residents is made by volunteers outside of the shelter as well.

They do so in order to avoid involving the Muskingum County Health Department, which would cost money that they simply don’t have.

They are only able to provide Muskingum County as much as the donations they receive can fund.

“That’s how we’ve stayed open…because of the generosity of people we know and friends,” said Moody. “We’ll take help from the city or any organization. Nobody has jumped to help us. When they have fundraisers and they say we’re raising money for the homeless I think ‘who’s going to get it because we have homeless right here at the church. We had 56 of them last month.’”

The shelter has no required time limit in which residents can stay.

Although it’s not meant to be a permanent residence, they do not turn anyone away.

Crislip said that many of the residents are simply waiting for federal assistance.

“Sometimes the government takes its time and you have to fight with them and so they’re very understanding about that,” said Crislip.

The First United Methodist Church will continue to house those who are homeless or in need. They are open seven days a week.

Kandee Ferrell/Black & Magenta Blankets provided by Economy Linen are piled up awaiting their free weekly wash.

On Thursday, April 9 there was a massive storm on campus. For those who were startled awake in Kelley Hall they then heard a fire alarm go off around 6:30 a.m. except for the students who live on

the basement floor of Kelley, which presents a very good question.

Why didn’t the whole building’s fire alarms go off?

At first it seemed like the fire alarm going off may have been a prank, but the alarm going off was due to lightning striking the third floor of Kelley Hall.

Students were then ushered out of the Kelley-Patton joint lobby into the pouring rain.

Students were left confused and half-awake standing out in the pouring rain.

An RA then told students to go to the nearby Phi Kappa Psi porch.

Once that porch was filled, other students went further down onto the Alpha Sigma Alpha (ASA) porch. Students were loud enough that members of ASA came out to the porch

and asked what was going on. After hearing what had happened

the ASAs offered to let the students come inside.

Then all of the students were told that they had to go to Finney Hall because those students were not allowed outside due to the severe weather.

At that point the students had been outside for at least 10 minutes during the same bad weather.

Ironically at that moment the rain got worse.

Students were stuck in the Finney Hall lobby for at least 20 more minutes with no information given by RAs or Area Coordinators (ACs).

The takeaway from this situation is that RAs and ACs were dealing with a truly unique situation.

The question that is important to ask is why did the RAs not initially realize that being outside in bad weather was not a good idea?

After the incident RAs were then asked to patrol Kelley Hall throughout the night to check that the fire alarm would not go off again.

This demonstrates that Student Life is trying to learn from the mistake and figure out what to do for a future situation.

As a four year college student it is easy to see that this situation is unlike

Kandee FerrellSpecial Sections/ Opinion Editor

Kathryn Kellar Editor-in-Chief

OpinionPage 6 Kandee Ferrell, Special Sections & Opinion Editor

Letters to the Editor The Black & Magenta staff encourages Letters to the

Editor. All letters must include contact information and a name to be considered for publication. Letters will not be published anonymously. Letters must be 200 words or fewer to be considered. The staff reserves the right to edit for style, grammar and space. We will not publish any letter that we consider potentially libelous. If you have questions or would like to see how The Black & Magenta is put together, please e-mail bandm@muskingum.edu. This is a student publication. Opinions expressed in the editorials, columns are those of their authors and do not necessarily represent opinions of The Black & Magenta or Muskingum University.

Lightning leaves students groggy and soggyKelley residents spent a morning in the rain after fire alarm was set off by lightning strike

Christine Holmes/Black & MagentaLightning flashes near Montgomery Hall during one of the storms on Wednes-day, April 8.

Senior year as told by Kandee Once you graduate it all gets easier if you’re one of the lucky few of us

According to Jaison Abel and Richard Dietz of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, only about 62 percent of col-lege graduates are working somewhere that actually requires a college degree.

What’s even scarier than that, only 27 percent of graduates are working in their field of study.

So…basically college students across the nation are crapping their pants trying to find a job right now. Now, there’s hope in larger cities but apparently it’s not much of an im-

provement. That sucks. The generation that is the most motivated to achieve higher education is the very genera-tion that ends up spending their time folding clothes at the local department store.

The economy could be to blame but there may be another culprit: us. The sheer amount of successful young adults mean there aren’t many jobs and there are tons of people applying for them, each qualified with that bright shiny degree.

But there’s hope, people. There are jobs out there that require what we’ve worked so hard for.

That framed diploma isn’t just for gazing at or holding while you cry. You just need to network until your smile is permanently pasted on your profes-sional face.

Muskingum University has a pret-

ty strong network and it can definitely come in handy when students look to-ward the workforce.

Impressing the faculty and admin-istration might be the most important move students make in college.

People like Janet Heeter-Bass and Rod Lang know people. Not to men-tion, they and many others on the

campus really want to help students. Muskingum faculty and administration actually care about students and their futures.

Forming a strong connection with them could mean the difference be-tween getting the job and leaving col-lege without options. The ‘Muskie Hi’ is a greeting you’d be smart to adopt.

any other. This situation has to be one of the most unique over my four years here, including a campus lockdown, bomb threat, and several snow days.

As a Muskingum University student

it is good to continue to see that Student Life is being proactive about these types of situations in order to ensure that all students on campus are kept safe.

Sports Page 7Chris Morgan, Sports Editor

Chris MorganSports Editor

Mens Lacrosse falls at home against OAC rival

Kathryn KellarEditor-in-Chief

The Muskie Mens Lacrosse team fell hard to Capital in their home match on April 11. The final score of the

match was 18-5 and was the first OAC home loss for the Muskies.

Head Mens Lacrosse Coach Nick Gallagher, said that the team tries to improve as the season goes on.

“Our mindset every day is that we

have to get better,” said Gallagher. “We’ve got a group of talented athletes that are not quite lacrosse players yet, but our guys have been working very hard for the past year and a half, almost two years and they have been getting a lot better. So we want to progress every day. Every day we do something a little bit different. Every day we try to bring a new skill in, and just try to get better as a group.”

Scorers for the Muskies were soph-omore attacker Andrew Buchbinder scoring two goals, first year midfielder Zach Kern also scoring two goals, and first year midfielder Ian McGougan scoring the last goal for the Muskies.

In total, the Muskies attempted 22 shots, as well asserted 43 ground balls throughout the match.

“We had a bunch of keys,” said Gal-lagher. “I thought that Andrew Buch-binder did a great job…Zach Kern had a couple of goals. He played very well. Unsung hero guy [was] Brock Yackey, number 13, He does a heck of a job. He’s an incredible cheerleader for the group and he just wants success for ev-ery guy on this team. Other than that we played both of our goalies. I think that they did okay. Our midfield did a pretty good job defending them. They

are very talented down low, so we couldn’t hang with them for a little bit. But I thought that we played very well in the first early quarters there.”

Muskie sophomore keeper Taylor Masterson started out the game for the first and second quarters, during which he made eight saves and also lost nine goals to the Crusaders.

First year Phillip Dappen took over in the second half and recorded 12 saves but also surrendered nine goals to Capital.

Gallagher knows that they also have things to improve on as a team.

“I think that the next thing is we’ve got to stay composed a little bit,” said Gallagher. “We have got some guys who tend to get a little too down on themselves, so as team we’ve got to stay up and be positive. Every time we step on the field is a new opportunity for us and every time we get out as a group we’re blessed to at least be on the field playing.”

The next Muskie Mens Lacrosse match is set for Wednesday, April 22 against Baldwin Wallace University.

That game will be the second-to-last game of the season for the Muskies, followed by the season finale on April 25 against John Carroll away.

Kathryn Kellar/Black & MagentaTucker Haas (right) runs back on defense against Capital on April 11.

Captain’s Quarters What should fans expect from the NBA Playoffs?The end of

the NBA regular season is quick-ly approaching, so it’s time to take a look at the playoff pic-ture.

The playoffs are always an exciting time for many fans, with constant

upsets and often times the series will last all seven games a lot of the time.

Let’s start with the Eastern Confer-ence.

The Atlanta Hawks have cemented themselves at the top spot in the East, playing their way to a dominant sea-son. The closest team to the Hawks is the Cavaliers, who sit nine games out.

Speaking of the Cavs, LeBron James and company have clinched the second seed already so James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love will likely get some much needed rest until the play-offs begin.

Then things start to get a little tight-er the rest of way down the line.

The Toronto Raptors currently sit in the third spot, but also have the same record as the current four seed, Chica-

go. The two could easily flip spots in certain scenarios, but if things stay the same the Raptors would get the higher seed due to tiebreakers.

Washington looks to be stuck at the five seed with a 46-34 record. After the Wizards comes the big drop off in the conference.

The Milwaukee Bucks clinched a playoff spot in the East with just a .500 record currently, and despite losing top draft pick Jabari Parker for the season early on. The team has made a quick turn around under Jason Kidd and look to make some noise in the bottom half.

The Boston Celtics have sealed up the seventh seed in the East, which also secures the first round match-up of Boston and Cleveland.

This should be a good match-up for the Cavs, based solely on the talent lev-el and how hungry the Cleveland fan-base is.

Boston may think they have a chance, but let’s face it, they really don’t.

Sure the Celtics won both games against the Cavs in a home-and-away scenario over the weekend, but coach David Blatt didn’t play a lot of his top guys.

James, Irving, and Love all sat the majority of the games, and Boston took

advantage of the Cavalier backups.Then Ohio native Evan Turner

opened his mouth and all but doomed the Celtics’ chances.

You can’t give a player like James that kind of ammunition to fuel him during the playoffs.

The last seed is still up for grabs with Brooklyn and Indiana vying for the final spot.

Indiana has the current lead, but the Nets are lurking in the wings.

The Pacers are just a game ahead of the Nets, and have been very resur-gent in the last week with the return of Small Forward Paul George.

The Pacers look to make a final push with two games to go, secure the final spot with a squad that hasn’t lost since the return of George.

It really would be amazing to see George and the Pacers do well after the horrific injury that George suffered.

Look for Cleveland and Atlanta to be the two teams vying for the right to play in the NBA Finals.

Now to the West.Golden State sits on a throne at the

top of the standings with a 65-15 record led by Stephen Curry and company.

The Warriors have a 10.5 game lead on the two-seed, the defending cham-pion San Antonio Spurs.

Behind the Spurs are the Los Ange-les Clippers in the third spot.

The Clippers could make a push to get past the Spurs, but San Antonio is looking like the defending champions that they are, going unbeaten in their last 10 games.

The rest of the conference is a mix of the Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, and New Orleans Pelicans. The Pelicans are the only team not to clinch right now, while Memphis and Houston could swap places based on results.

What makes the West interesting is that the Oklahoma City Thunder are lurking in the wings waiting to strike. They have the same record as the Peli-cans, and Russell Westbrook is looking to lead the team into the playoffs.

If Westbrook is successful, fans might just see reigning MVP Kevin Durant play in the post season.

Regardless of whether the Thunder make it or not, it looks like the confer-ence belongs to Golden City.

The potential match-up of the War-riors and Spurs in the conference finals looks very enticing.

It’s setting up to be a very exciting post season in the NBA, and it should live up to the hype.

SportsPage 8 Chris Morgan, Sports Editor

Muskie Softball stays hot, moves up OAC standingsChris MorganSports Editor

Muskie softball has been on a hot-streak of late, and have begun their march up OAC standings after string-ing three straight sweeps together over the last week and a half.

The team is currently on a sev-en-game winning streak, and is hoping to keep the momentum moving for-ward.

The Muskies started to heat up on Saturday, April 11 when OAC rival Ohio Northern came to New Concord.

The match-up was the first between the two since the Muskies won the 2014 OAC Tournament title on the Po-lar Bears’ field last season.

The Polar Bears came to Donna J. Newberry Field looking to return the favor, but were turned away by the Muskies in two straight games, as the Muskies won 4-3 in eight innings in game one and then again 8-7 in game two.

Both games ended in walk-offs for the Muskies, but not both in the tradi-tional way.

In game one, the two teams traded blows throughout the contest, going into the eighth inning tied at three.

Winning pitcher Haylea Debolt shut down the Polar Bears’ effort in the top half of the inning, bringing the Musk-ies to the plate.

The Muskies proceeded to load the

bases after senior Jaclynn Hess drew a two-out walk. Then Jessie Matthews came to the plate and drew a walk off losing pitcher Kirsten Lightel to win the game with a walk-off walk.

Game two was more of the same with the Polar Bears coming back from a three-run deficit to take the lead 7-6 in the top half of the seventh inning.

The Muskies got a runner on base when Payton Bevard reached by way

of an error with one out in the inning. After Sarah Browning struck out to

give the Muskies two outs, first year Amy Clark blasted a two-run walk-off home run to win the game.

Jess Poff was credited with the win as the fifth Muskie pitcher in the game throwing 1.2 innings of relief to end the game.

The Muskies hosted Wilmington the very next day, jumping all over the

Quakers winning 13-0 in five innings in game one, then 7-0 in game two.

Sarah Browning was effective both in the circle and at the plate on the day, starting game one.

She pitched all five innings of the first game, only allowing three hits on the day.

Browning then helped her own cause by hitting a grand slam in the fourth inning.

The Muskies put up 10 runs in the inning to get their total to 13.

In game two, Head Coach Kari Win-ters played with the lineup, letting sev-eral backups get some playing time in the win.

Senior Kristin Gill got the complete game shutout, giving up only three hits and striking out three.

The Muskies got wins six and seven on April 14 by going up to Alliance and sweeping Mount Union.

The Muskies won game one 8-0 in five innings, then came back in game two winning 11-2 in the nightcap.

Gill and Browning both got wins on the day while Kelly Martin and Clark both belted home runs in game two.

The wins brought the Muskies’ re-cord to 17-15 on the season and moved the team into a three-way tie for fourth place in the OAC with Otterbein and John Carroll.

The Muskies will continue to try to move up the standings as the 2015 sea-son winds down.

Chris Morgan/Black & MagentaSarah Browning delivers a pitch against Ohio Northern April 11.

Womens Lacrosse in action with first OAC home game

Brenna Busby/Black & MagentaStephanie Haeuptle looks to pass to a teammate to set up the Muskie offense against Otterbein on April 8.

Brenna Busby/Black & MagentaKarla Escobar lugs the ball past two Otterbein defenders in the Muskies’ first OAC home game of the season April 8.