Highlander 2.18.14

February 18, 2014

Viewfinder: Mr. Misericordia

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Changes to student loan terms coupled with a nasty post-reces-sion economy are causing many students to have more trouble paying tuition bills. Students across the U.S. have encountered problems obtaining Parent Plus loans since changes were made to the system in 2011. Students who had received deni-als to Parent Plus loans have often been due to parents’ problematic credit standing such as a recent bankruptcy filing or home fore-closure. Changes made in 2011 included the denial of Plus loans to parents who recently had a loan go into collection. This forced more students to

find alternative ways to fund their tuition. Jane Dessoye, Director of Enroll-ment Management, said these cir-cumstances are impacting students more frequently. “It’s true that in other years we have had many more approvals in the Plus loans. Students whose parents were approved in the past all of a sudden find themselves ineligible,” said Dessoye. Students can appeal a negative decision before they seek alterna-tive options. “It’s an instant gratification. The family knows immediately if they are approved or denied and if they are denied they are immediately

offered the opportunity to appeal that decision,” said Dessoye. Sylvia Maas and Kathy Pesta, both of Student Financial Services, said students who receive denials for Plus loans often have other government resources. If a student’s parents are denied, the student will become eligible to receive additional unsubsidized federal loans. The amount offered will vary depending on how many credits the student has earned. They may obtain private loan. “Private loans that come from different lenders typically with higher interest rates are less flex-ible or have less desirable repay-ment terms,” said Dessoye.

Maas and Pesta said students should educate themselves on the terms of private loans, and they urge students to ask questions of the private lenders so the students understand interest rates and repayment options. Sometimes, denied students can find a different cosigner, but if the cosigner is not a parent, they must seek an alternative loan route. “Our recommendation is that an alternative loan be a last-ditch effort because of the interest rates and repayment terms being so undesirable. Another thing I recommend students to do is to make certain at the front end that they have

By Brittany Hayes, Reporter

Editor’s note: This story is the second of a three part series examin-ing the construction of a new traffic pattern at the five-way intersection in the Back Mountain. State officials say a planned roundabout in downtown Dallas will make travel easier for pedes-trians and people with disabilities. “I think the roundabout could be potentially confusing for students at first, especially the students who have been attending Miseri-cordia for a few years,” said Liana Kalish, a senior RA at 111 Lake Street, “but I think it can also end up being very beneficial.” The Dallas Five-Leg Intersection Improvement Project, which is set to be completed in 2016, will join all five streets in the heart of Dallas - Memorial Highway, Lake Street, Church Street, Main Street and Machell Avenue - with a single circulating travel lane, which will enable drivers to pass without stopping for traffic lights. PennDOT and Dallas Borough worked together to create the traf-fic pattern that officials say will lessen time drivers waste at the busy intersection. The project is still in the planning stages and no firm start date has been set. Because the university has facilities on both Lake Street and Machell Avenue, many students travel the area on foot. Senior education major Marisa Ferench-ick, who lived in a Machell Avenue dorm, did a lot of walking around Lake Street and she feels the new traffic pattern will make the trek much safer. “I do think it’ll be a benefit but I think it will take time to get used to,” she said. Ferenchick remembers a time when she walked to Weis Su-permarkets and it was a “horrid experience,” she said. She said it was difficult to judge when to cross the street because even if the “walk” symbol was lit, cars continued to turn onto different spokes of the five-way intersection. “I eventually just waited for there to be not many cars and ran across,” she said. Officials say the Dallas Five-Leg Intersection Improvement Project will make the intersection pedestrian-friendly. The project’s official website says the current in-tersection requires pedestrians to cross multiple lanes of traffic, an unsafe situation. In addition, the website states there are currently no ADA-compliant pedestrian amenities. There will be shorter overall crossing distances, and pedestrians will only need to cross one direction of traffic at a time. ADA-compliant sidewalks and ramps will be added. Alexa Cholewa, a junior account-ing major, said she rarely sees pedestrians walking or biking near or around the five-way intersec-tion. She isn’t sure if pedestrians feel walking is too dangerous or whether they will be more confi-dent once it is in place. “In the long run, I think the ac-cessibility to pedestrians could be beneficial, especially with Miseri-cordia growing in size, and it’ll be easier to walk places,” she said. Roundabouts are common traffic patterns throughout the world, but the United States is a little behind on the trend, the site says. There are 90 roundabouts in Maryland, for example, and more than 70 in New York. Pennsylva-nia has only 17. Director of Facilities and Cam-pus Safety Paul Murphy acknowl-edges the heavy traffic during certain hours of the school day, and he feels the roundabout may

help alleviate the pile up. “When you leave class almost anytime in the day, there is a large number of students who go down Lake Street and typically traf-fic backs up at the intersection. And, depending on how many cars can get through the intersec-tion, whether it be five or 10 cars, sometimes there is someone not paying attention and they look up and the light has to change and the line gets longer.” But the construction process may present more traffic woes, said Cholewa. She travels through the five-way intersection 10 times a week on average, to classes Mon-day through Thursday, her part-time retail job at Banana Republic in Wilkes-Barre and her job as an assistant cheerleading coach at a local high school. “I think people are going to get really frustrated – especially peo-ple who commute or people who have to leave campus regularly.” She said she worries that class attendance will decrease among commuters who have to take detours, although official detour plans are not available. “I think attendance is going to drop because people will get frustrated and not be able to make it on time because of the construc-tion, or people aren’t going to be able to work off campus as much because of the construction, they will have to drive through to get off campus and make it back in time for a class,” she said. With the already high volume of commuter traffic, Cholewa won-ders how long it will take her to get under the arch. “I get stuck at lights and that makes me late,” she said. “With the construction process, there is not going to be a way for me to gauge how much time is needed to travel from point A to point B when going through this. No mat-ter where you go with construc-tion it’s never consistent.” Still, Cholewa feels so frustrated by the current congestion she tweets about it on Twitter. She said lately, it seems the traffic lights have not been synced cor-rectly at the intersection. “I actually just tweeted about this - it’s a two second green and a 14 minute red. Since there are five lights, it takes forever. At a regular four-way two can cross through at a time, for the most part, but at the bottom of Lake Street it’s one at a time.” She said she will be happy to see the traffic lights go. “Right now I can’t envision this, but in theory it sounds like a good idea,” she said of the outcome. Ferenchick also leaves campus often as she completes student teaching this semester. While she does not travel directly through the five-way intersection to get to her placement, she worries where the traffic will be detoured during construction. “I feel as though I might get confused as to where I have to go, especially for people who aren’t always driving around the Dallas area. It would confuse them on which way to go,” she said. Murphy said the university plans to work with PennDOT to make the construction phase as trouble-free as possible. “They’ve been very informa-tive and kept us up to speed with public meetings, and I’m sure we’ll have meetings with them and they’ll detail the sequence and what’s going to be shut down. We’ll have to discuss with them alternate travel patterns.” [email protected]

Student Loans Take Costly Turn

Sophomore Nick Ciocchi competed in the swimsuit portion of the Mr. Misericordia event, handing Kit Foley a signed beach ball. Cioc-chi won the pageant that took place in the Lemmond Theater on Feb. 11. Kit Foley, Bruce Riley and Glenn Bozinski judged the event.

MARY BOVE/ THE HIGHLANDER

By Alexandria Smith, Web MasterStudents Party 4 Cancer Research Sophomore Nick Stanovick and his committee want the commu-nity to get ready to Party 4 Life this spring. Party 4 Life is the signature event of the Lucy Fund, a national fund in coordination with the National Foundation for Cancer Research created by Stanovick’s mother follow-ing her diagnosis of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer in 2008. Stanovick said Party 4 Life began as a way for his mother to raise money for metastatic cancer research, but it quickly grew to be a highly anticipated commu-nity event. “[Party 4 Life] was put on in our community once a year in the summertime, and it was just a time for our community to come out and support her and show love for her as well as raise money for her fund,” Stanovick said. From her diagnosis in 2008 to her passing in late 2012, Lucy Stanovick was able to raise over $200,000 for metastatic can-cer research. After her passing, Stanovick was unsure what would happen to the Lucy Fund and Party 4 Life until he teamed up with his friend Jalen Blott. “The Lucy Fund was kind of up

in the air. We didn’t know what was going to really happen with it. So, my best friend and I decided to take the fund over and kind of make it our passion,” he said. Stanovick made it is his mission

to bring his mother’s event to campus. Alongside Blott, Stanovick has received extensive support from his on-campus Party 4 Life committee, which includes sopho-mores Trevor Reed, Amy Bunavage, Lindsay Lapreste, Yalixsa Delgado and Student Activities Director Darcy Brodmerkel. Delgado, who has never been in-volved with an event that benefits cancer research, is very enthusias-tic about what Party 4 Life has to offer. “I really think that Party 4 Life is going to help with [connecting students] because experiencing a Party 4 Life is what really set my

fire. That’s what really made me passionate about this. Regardless of whether or not I’ve experienced or went through cancer or know what it’s like to know someone that’s been through cancer, being

at the Party 4 Life and seeing the passion in their eyes made me real-ize that it is a big issue – especially metastasis,” said Delgado. Stanovick believes that, based off of the response he has received from Delgado and other members of the Party 4 Life committee, col-lege students will be very open to the event. “You just have to tell them what the cause is, and so, here at Mis, I think that our campus is small enough that we can really make this event successful. I know a lot of people on campus. The people I know know a lot of people on cam-pus. Everyone pretty much knows

everyone on campus. So, I think it’s a good way for the campus itself to address the issue of cancer and kind of bridge that uncomfortable gap between the student body and stuff that they don’t want to talk

about,” Stanovick said. Party 4 Life will include guest speakers, interactive dancing, musical chairs and a balloon release that is characteristic of every annual event. “My mom’s signature activity is a balloon release, and her favorite song is ‘Seasons of

Love’ from the RENT soundtrack. So, we play that with the balloons. You can write stuff on them and release them. It’s one of the most powerful parts of the whole event,” Stanovick said. Stanovick notes that while the beginning of the event is going to be more serious as it directly deals with conversations about meta-static cancer, it will lighten as a celebration of life itself. The Party 4 Life will take place March 30 from 4 to 8 p.m. in Insalaco Hall. A $10 donation is suggested, and refresh-ments will be provided. [email protected]

Above is the Lucy fund banner to spread awareness of Metastatic Cancer.

ROUNDABOUT TOBENEFIT PEDESTRIANSBy Ellen Hoffman, Editor-in-Chief

Who’s Your Mr. Misericordia?Continued on page 6

February 18, 2014highlandernews.net2

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The Highlander reserves the right to edit submissions for grammatical errors and length. All submissions must be signed. Letters to the Editor and/or materials for publication may be submitted by any reader. Items can be sent via e-mail.

Ellen Hoffman - Editor-in-ChiefCourtney Garloff - Print EditorArthur Dowell - Web EditorMary Bove - Multimedia Editor

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In the weeks after the passing of staff member Jeff Woodworth, his friends, colleagues and members of the university community are coping with their loss. Paul Murphy, Director of Facili-ties and Campus Safety, decided to take a campus-wide collection for the Woodworth family. Over $3,000 in cash and checks was collected and Murphy, along with Sister Jean Messaros, Vice President for Mission Integration, hand-delivered the collection to his fam-ily on behalf of the university. A Woodworth Family Fund was also created on a “Go Fund Me” Internet site. The fund’s goal is to raise $5,000. The men on campus who knew Woodworth and worked closely with him - Murphy, Facilities plumber Joe Wallace and Facilities Operations Manager Carl Bee-cham - said they remember their friend, whom they called Woody, as man who took the things life handed him without complaint. “He was the type of guy where every morning he would come in, and no matter what weather was, he would always say, ‘It is what it is.’ That was his favorite saying,” said Wallace. “Nothing frazzled the man, nothing.” Woody’s co-workers say he never complained, even if his workload was overwhelming at times. Beecham, Wallace and Wood-worth all come from different working backgrounds. Beecham has electrical experience while Wallace has plumbing and Wood-worth specialized in heat and air conditioning. But Woodworth knew his way around all of the trades, and he looked for ways to

help in every task, friends said. “He really brought so much to our team. He was a great guy,” said Beecham Wallace remembers learning things from Woodworth that went far beyond the building trades. “He was like a second father to

me even though he was only 52 - not only a father figure to me, but also he taught me a lot. He was like a mentor,” said Wallace. While Wallace got a fatherly vibe from his friend Woody, he also admired the way he was a father to his own young boys. Woodworth looked after his family and friends and helped in his community. On the morning after a heavy snowfall, Murphy remembers Woodworth telling him how he would wake up and shovel his sidewalk as well as the sidewalk of his 85-year-old father who lived next door to him and then he would clear the surrounding neighbors’ sidewalks. Then he would go shovel the sidewalk on Academy Street, River Street and the church steps. “And then he was here at 7:00 in the morning and no one knew he did that. He just did it because that was Jeff. It had to be done and he knew it,” Murphy said. Clocks had no meaning to Wood-

worth, Murphy said. There were many days when employees would be on their way out to go home at 5:00 p.m. and Woodworth would be walking the opposite direction. He’d know there was a job to do in McHale Hall or Gildea Hall - and he was going to fix it.

“He was going to do it before he went home because his work was very important to him, and his work was always part of him, that he was always helping people and he helped people by doing his job,” Murphy said. Housekeeping staffer Emma Mul-hern said Woody

would often do a job that she brought to

his attention, and he would get to it without requiring her to fill out an official work request. He even did jobs without anyone tell-ing him they needed to be done: Wallace said Woody had a sixth sense about work that needed to be done. “He would walk in and say, ‘I just found a leak in the boiler room,’ and I’d say, ‘What were you doing in the boiler room?’ And Jeff would reply, ‘I don’t know, some-thing just told me to go over there and I found a leak.’ Sometimes it drove me nuts! We’d all joke about it, but he had that and it was bizarre at times,” Wallace said. His friends said they want him to be remembered as a good man. “He was a saint,” said Beecham. “Just a great, great guy. We didn’t just lose a very talented worker; we lost a friend.” To donate in honor of Woody, visit http://www.gofundme.com/6fxn80. [email protected]

By Matt Scanlon, Reporter

Colleagues Reminisce, Donate

By John Young, Reporter

Leah SantucciCasey SaylorMatt ScanlonTaryn Talacka

John Young

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

The website for donations for the Woodworth family.

Lead postal clerk Lisa Shaw shows off the new Harry Potter stamps now of-fered by the post office located in Banks Student Life Center. Each book includes 20 stamps and costs $9.80. There is a limited supply of 25 books available.

MU Exposure: Post OfficeFeatures Harry Potter Stamps

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

HOLY MOLDY DORM Six students in Gildea Hall returned from winter break to discover a stage 1 mold contami-nation taking root on approxi-mately two square feet of ceiling drywall in their fourth floor suite. The students are now safely back in their rooms. Campus Safety, Facility staff and a specialized outside com-pany took all the proper steps and precautions, plus some, to ensure that the contamination has been contained, controlled and neutral-ized, officials say. “I can’t stress enough, Miseri-cordia’s response exceeded what was necessary,” said Safety, Health and Environmental Professional Mike Baltrusaitis who heads Scranton’s Hazardous Operations Group for Cocciardi and Associ-ates, Inc. “It was really refreshing to see what was implemented here by the Facilities staff, that they remembered what they learned in their safety training and that they followed it appropriately.” Campus Safety officials called in Cocciardi and Associates, Inc. for consultation and testing once they knew that they were dealing with some form of mold growth on the ceiling drywall. Students who reside in the suite are safe to return. They had been forced to move into other rooms around campus. “There are no occupancy re-strictions for that suite or that building,” said Director of Campus Safety Paul Murphy. The affected area was approxi-mately two square feet in size,

which classifies it as a small size, stage one mold contamination because it covered an area that was less than ten square feet. A stage 2 mold contamination would cover an area from 10-100 feet, and a stage 3 covers 100 square feet or more, said Baltru-saitis. “If you have that [third stage] then that’s when you call a trained contractor and they isolate the area, they hang plastic, contain the area, use air scrubbers that are HEPA filtered, and use very surgi-cal protocols,” said Baltrusaitis. Because the contamination level was relatively small, Campus Safe-ty staffers followed the procedure Baltrusaitis had recommended. “Facilities staff removed the drywall, put it into garbage bags, sealed it up for disposal, and took a HEPA vacuum with a special fil-ter to catch mold spores, followed by cursory wet wiping of solid surfaces,” said Baltrusaitis. “Usu-ally we only go in for re-sampling after level 3, just as a precaution-ary measure, but we went in after everything was done. We did some re-sampling and everything was acceptable by industry standards. It exceeded requirements for level one. A lot of the guidelines that we follow out there, they don’t even recommend doing things like air sampling or anything like that.” Cocciardi and Associates, Inc. is-sued their final report on Jan. 30, reassuring fourth floor residents in Gildea Hall that the contamina-tion had been eliminated. The report included a mold fact

sheet with information and gen-eral misconceptions about “toxic” or “black mold.” “There are a lot of misconcep-tions out there. Back when mold first started to become prevalent, media and even contractors hyped it up,” said Baltrusaitis. “Contrac-tors really got the ball rolling on this. There were some pretty shady contractors that would charge un-knowing homeowners thousands and thousands of dollars to take out just a little bit of mold saying, ‘Oh, this is black,’ and suddenly it’s a toxic mold.” The report gave no indication of the species of mold found in Gildea Hall. As per the mold fact sheet, the Centers for Disease Control does not recommend routine sampling to identify mold species because identifying the mold is not a reliable way to deter-mine health risks. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter. Mold to us is mold,” said Baltru-saitis. “There are different types of mold and there are a lot of misconceptions about different types of mold.” Even though the health risks posed by mold vary greatly from person to person, Campus Safety took no chances when they con-firmed the possible mold. Residence Life was the first to receive a report from students about the concern. “We’ve had concerns brought to our attention before. Obviously anytime a student sees something, it’s always reported to us as mold ,but then we go and inspect it and

By Taryn Talacka, Reporter

FULL OF OLYMPIC SPIRIT Fallon Cooper and her room-mates never expected the Special Olympics to mean as much to them as it did. Seeing the smile on one face made all the difference. Cooper, a sophomore occupation therapy major, said that she and her roommates needed a break from studying on Feb. 8, so they decided to go to Chacko’s Bowling Alley in Wilkes-Barre to watch a friendly cafeteria worker bowl. That’s when she was inspired by friend Sherry Pudim’s smile. “My roommates and I were in the dining hall and Sherry came over,” said Cooper. “We asked her what she was up to for the week-end, and she told us about it.” Other student attended the event, too, and Pudim said she was happy to see them there. Coo-per and her roommates even made a sign that said, “Go Sherry #1.” “My mom was there to cheer me on,” said Pudim. “Twelve students came to see me bowl.” Pudim won a silver medal in bowling this year, but she has won many other medals in past tourna-ments. “I have many medals,” said Pudim. “I have first, second and third.” Pudim said she was originally supposed to be on a team with a few other players, including MU staffer Patrick Cleary. The team ended up split among the bowling lanes. Cooper, who had been to bowling tournaments before, said

that it was different from what she had ever seen. “It wasn’t the usual tournament set-up I knew,” said Cooper. “Her teammate was a couple of lanes down, so I don’t know if they were paired off or in groups.” Cooper felt that there was a feel-ing of teamwork in the air despite the separation. She said the atmo-sphere was incredible. “It felt like it was one huge team taking over the bowling alley,” said Cooper. “If someone got a strike on one, everyone was excited.” Cooper and her roommates were joined by other student volunteers from the area, as well as senior early childhood education major Courtney Bieber and Kirsten Fisher, also a senior early child-hood education student. Bieber has attended the Special Olympics for years. “I’ve gone since I was in fifth grade with my best friend,” said Bieber. “I wanted to see Sherry.” Bieber said her favorite part was watching Pudim get a strike. She said Pudim was very excited about it. Fisher said she, like Bieber, loves the Special Olympics. She said the support players receive is inspiring. “Hugs are always happening left and right,” said Fisher. “It’s beauti-ful and heartwarming.” Fisher said she loves supporting people with disabilities because her career is going to focus around

them. She said events like these strengthen her passion for her career. “I think those types of events are the most amazing due to the people you meet and the lives that touch your heart,” Fisher said. “It’s crazy the vibes people with special needs give off.” Bieber said that there is no way to lose in the Special Olympics. “Win or lose, the participants are so excited,” said Bieber. “They could get last place, and they’d be excited because they’re there and people are supporting them and they just have so much to offer.” Pudim has made it to the cham-pionships in Harrisburg, and has met new friends from the Phila-delphia area. Pudim said she once met Joe Paterno’s wife and took a picture with her. Bieber said everyone should try to make it to the annual bowling event. “I just think taking an hour or two out of your time to go support them is awesome.” Cooper also wished she saw more students at Chacko’s. She said the event needs greater publicity. “Everyone who comes to Miseri-cordia has that innate purpose to want to help people,” said Cooper. “If she told 10 more people, prob-ably eight more people would have actually come.” [email protected]

Continued on page 4

CORRECTIONSIn an article in the Jan. 21 issue, our staff reported Misericordia becoming a part of GI Jobs magazine for military friendliness which was incorrect – Misericordia is a top military-friendly school in Military Advanced Education’s 2014 Guide to

Military-Friendly Colleges & Universities.

In the Feb. 4 issue, a photo of new writing center director Matthew Hinton was credited to Casey Saylor. The photo credit belongs to Leah Santucci

February 18, 2014highlandernews.net 3News

SAFE Self-Defense February 19, 2014 11-1 p.m. Banks Lobby

Sexual Assault Facts and Education (SAFE) Peer Educators will be hosting sign-ups for students interested in participating in Self-Defense Classes. The course will be taught by SAFE Peer Educator, Danielle Kissane. Danielle will teach a variety of self-defense techniques to promote personal safety in an

effort to end sexual violence.

SAFE Survivor Stories February 19, 2014 11-1 p.m. Banks Lobby

SAFE Peer Educators are encouraging sexual assault Survivors to share their truth about their sexual assault experience. Fac-ulty, staff and students are encouraged to participate by ANONYMOUSLY noting

there experience on a post card sized paper. Family and friends of survivors are also en-couraged to note their experiences to share

with others. A drop off box for Note-A-Secret and Survivor Stories will be located

in Banks from 11-1p.m.

All submissions will be exhibited on CAPS Day April 2nd with a wall dedicated to survivors’ and their family and friends.

Please consider participating and sharing your powerful story.

SAFE Peer Educators would also like to encourage survivors to visit website “Proj-ect Unbreakable” for inspiration on what

to share and how the power of their words can send a message to end sexual violence.

Thank you!

CAPSCORNER

STUDENT ON THE STREETGo team USA! We asked students in Banks Stu-dent Life Center what their favorite winter Olym-pic event is. If you have a question you would like us to ask, email the newspaper editorial staff at [email protected].

“Hockey because I watch the NHL a lot and I like watching players from other countries,” said sophomore Joey Yudichak.

“Figure skating because I think that it takes both creativity and athleticism and it takes strength, too,” said sophomore Sarah Boehnlein.

“Figure skating because it requires a lot of determination to keep trying,” said sophomore Jacqueline McMullen

“Women’s ice hockey because I play ice hockey and one of my friends is on the Olympic team,” said senior Megan Lage.

“I like the ski jumping because I like to see how far they can go,” said junior Jamie Opela.

“Snowboarding because Shaun White’s my favorite Olympian,” said senior Kyle Freeman.

By Nicole Battista, Reporter One simple question can com-pletely change dating on college campuses. Students laughed and discussed consensual relationships during the “Can I Kiss You?” program sponsored by the Safe Peer Educa-tors and Student Activities on Feb. 8. The program is offered by the Date Safe Project, founded by Mike Dormitrz whose sister was a rape victim. Students received pins, tem-porary tattoos, wristbands and wax lips to enjoy as they listened to Dormitrz, a nationally known speaker who travels the country and world speaking to middle, high school and college students as well as military members about dating and intimacy. Some of the topics included consent - and the role of alcohol in sexual assaults. “If someone is drunk, they can-not give consent because there are not 100 percent in their normal state of mind,” said Dormitrz. Dormitrz suggested that stu-dents enlist friends for backup and then to offer a ride home for the intoxicated person. “The creeper will freak out and create a scene and reveal them-selves. Then you will have more than just your friends supporting you,” said Dormitrz. Dormitrz started advocating for victims of sexual assault after his freshman year of college when he found out his sister had been sexually assaulted. “I thought one thing: I wanted him dead,” said Dormitrz. While that response was over-whelming - and the wrong one, Dormitrz said - Dormitrz used humor to lighten the heavy topic and help students learn effective ways to open the lines of commu-nication with students who have been victimized and need to cope. “I do feel the work is a calling. The traveling does not get tiring because I know I’m going some-where to get the opportunity to open minds and inspire a new way of thinking. I get the wonderful honor and opportunity to plant the seed for them to take care of and nourish, “ said Dormitrz.” “I thought that the program

was educational and fun and it kept my attention. I really wish I would have gotten a T-shirt,” said sophomore business administra-tion major Sarah Pulice. Pulice attended the program as part of the women’s lacrosse team. “Most people don’t ask for a kiss. They just go for it,” said Dormitrz. A main point of the night in-cluded students learning not to be afraid to ask. “I most enjoyed that the guy was really down to earth and was really good with a hard topic,” said speech language pathology major Kelsey Rafferty. Before Dormitrz presented his program, he met with members of SAFE Student Educators, Peer Advocates and Resident Assistants to give a demonstration on how to be a student presenter. “I always start out a presentation by asking a simple question to get people connected and involved,” said Dormitrz. “After the training I was excited to see the program and it exceeded my expectations,” said Rafferty. Many students went to both the training and program later that night to see the strategies put into action. “I thought the training was really helpful, because he covered a lot of issues that we as Peer Advocates have to deal with. We learned how to deal with hecklers and how to get people more engaged in what we are saying,” said Rafferty. To end the night Dormitrz handed out T-shirts and gave away copies of the two books that he wrote – May I Kiss You? and Voices of Courage. May I Kiss You? is a guide for dating that offers real life sce-narios to help readers solve any problems that they might face as they date in college. His second book, Voices of Cour-age, features the stories of 12 sur-vivors of sexual assault, including the story of Dormitrz’s sister. Everyone in attendance got the e-copy and audio book of Voices to read. For more information on sexual assault prevention or Dormitrz’s work, visit www.date-safeproject.org. [email protected]

Can I Kiss You?By Courtney Garloff, Print Editor

That white stuff everyone is tracking indoors on shoes and boots isn’t residue from rock salt - it’s calcium flakes and students are complaining about the mess while officials say it’s safer than the material it replaced. Third year pre-DPT students Al-exa Plevyak and Julianne Munda said the flakes are making a mess on carpets and floors. “It got on my shoes and got in my rug,” Munda said. “It ruined my rug.” Plevyak said the calcium stuck to her shoes. “I had to pick it off with a pen-cil because it was like six inches thick on the bot-tom of my shoe. It is disgust-ing,” she said. Ground-skeepers remove ice with a combina-tion of materials - rock salt on parking lots and roadways and calcium on side-walks. These are the “most effective and most efficient cost-wise” to use, according to Laurie Finnegan, Grounds Manager, who said it’s the calcium that gets tracked into buildings. “Grounds does not intentionally make a mess with the calcium,” Finnegan said, “and our priority is to keep the walkways safe for all students, staff, faculty and visitors.” Munda said she notices the anti-slip material most when the surfaces are clear. “Where is the salt when we need it?” she asked. Finnegan said calcium is only used during a significant weather event - not a light dusting of snow. “We only put it down when we slide.” Finnegan asks that people con-sider the weather when getting dressed and wear proper footwear. “It is Northeastern Pennsylva-nia. It is going to snow. There are going to be ice some days. We do the best that we can do,” Finnegan said. Calcium is used as spot treat-ment on wet ground or when the temperature drops below freezing. Finnegan said workers want to avoid laying “a huge line” of salt on surfaces. Pre-treating sidewalks with a mixture of calcium and water in the form of a brine is not an option, she said, because brine is

distributed by a spray tank, which the university does not have. “All steps have to be salted as soon as they are shoveled, and if the snow is falling slow enough we keep up. That way it is kind of like a pre-treat,” Finnegan said. Calcium is distributed by a ma-chine called a Gator, and wherever the Gator cannot go workers use shovels to put down the calcium by hand. Munda said a pellet-like product called UREA was used before the

university replaced it with calcium. Finnegan said UREA “would only melt in be-tween certain temperatures, like if it was only 28 degrees outside, the product would not work.” In addition, UREA pellets would clump together and passersby would slide on the product. As of now, the university is well stocked with anti-slip material. Between 30 to 40 tons of the

salt remains in storage,. Staff has ordered 137 tons in compari-son to roughly

200 ordered last year. There are 36 buckets of calcium in the doorways. Calcium flakes can damage concrete in concentrations and can also irritate wet skin, accord-ing to The New York Landmarks Conservancy website. Grass damage is inevitable, Finnegan said, whether it is from the salt or the machine. She said calcium is safer than other products. Rock salt, otherwise known as sodium chloride, releases a high amount of chloride when it dis-solves, according to the New York Landmarks Conservancy website. It can damage metal and concrete. It also could be extremely dam-aging if it were dumped acciden-tally in solid, large chunks into a body of water, Community Rela-tions Coordinator Department of Environmental Protection of the Northeast Regional Office Colleen Connolly said. ”When local municipalities clear their roads of snow, they cannot dump that snow in creeks or streams because of the concen-tration levels of sodium chloride still in the rock salt,” Connolly said. “However, by that time the sodium chloride has been broken down and poses a minimal threat to streams or other bodies of wa-ter that may run near roads.” [email protected]

Education Conference Comes to CampusBy Melanie Quintanilla, Reporter

SAFETY FIRSTWITH ICE REMOVAL

For the first time, Misericordia will host the Pennsylvania State Education Association for Stu-dents regional conference. This professional development workshop on Saturday, Feb. 22 will focus on topics relevant to students majoring in education such as learning styles, classroom technology and the benefits of PSEA membership. Education majors from Blooms-burg University, East Stroudsburg University, Marywood University, Keystone College and University of Scranton will attend the event, and non-PSEA members may also attend. “A membership costs $30 and the cost for members is $10, so if you are not a member and want to be one it would cost $40. So those who were not members previously would be able to sign up for the same cost that it would be to just attend the conference,” said Misericordia SPSEA chapter president Amanda Sutton said. PSEA protects the rights of its members and supports them. “I attended the state-wide PSEA Student conference last year and I realized that Misericordia did not have a chapter for PSEA stu-dents. I was elected to be the vice

president of the Northeast region, so when I heard that we needed a location for the conference, Misericordia was my first thought. What better way is there to kick off the start of our chapter than with the regional conference right on campus?” said Sutton. Sutton said she wants to share her experiences at the conference with other students interested in education careers. “I wish that I would have gotten into this during my first year at Misericordia, but through doing this now I am hoping that all education majors will have the opportunity to learn, network and have as great of a time as I did during my first conference.” “Another reason why this con-ference is important is because education majors from Miseri-cordia University and the other schools can really benefit from the topics covered by our speakers and also from joining PSEA in general. This is the first real event for our chapter so we are hoping that it will be informational and fun for all who attend,” Sutton said. Workshop presenters will pro-vide students with informational handouts, resources and referenc-es, and students can also receive

job-search guidance, including effective interviewing strategies and instruction on how to build a portfolio. “I just recently joined PSEA when I heard that this conference was coming to Misericordia,” said senior education major Marisa Ferenchick. “It is always good to be involved with something you’re passionate about to further your knowledge.” The conference will include a panel discussion by the Wyoming Valley Children’s Association on “A Day in the Life” of a special education preschool. Speech language pathologists and oc-cupational therapists will be on hand to explain what it is like to work with the children and answer questions. Senior education major Holly Welsh said the PSEA conference will be her first. She said she is interested in learning more about the field and networking with students and professionals before she graduates this semester. “I think [the conference] will also provide underclassmen students with important information that will help them throughout their next few years in college. It will also allow them to become more

involved with PSEA, which I think will definitely help them develop important professional skills.” Being a member of PSEA offers many benefits. Students can be covered by additional liability insurance and also be eligible for legal support. Students are also eligible to com-pete for the PSEA Lucy A. Valero Scholarship and the NEA-Retired Jack Kinnaman Scholarship. “Being a member of PSEA is also an excellent addition to a resume for future teachers,” said Sutton. “I do know that I have more legal protection because I am a mem-ber. I also receive discounts from a variety of businesses. This is nice for me because I am a college student so I am on a tight budget,” said Welsh. Ferenchick said learning from the personal experiences of others is a great way to prepare oneself for a future career. “It’s always nice to be in a place with others who share the same passion that you do,” she said. Students who are a member of PSEA can attend the conference for $10. Non-members pay $40. [email protected]

Mike Dormitrz presents “Can I Kiss You” in Lemmond Theater. MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

A photo illustration of a bucket containing the mixture of calcium and salt used for snow and ice removal.

LEAH SANTUCCI/THE HIGHLANDER

February 18, 2014highlandernews.net4 Sports

Title IX, a federal law which prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions as part of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972, is often a dormant topic, but it is playing a big role at a university with growing athletic programs, not the least of which is football. The law was set in place to help women participate in school and athletic programs. Before the law was implemented, few women competed in sports. Title IX states that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educa-tion program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” This mandate is instrumental in making sure the university keeps gender equality in check at all times, including scholarships and participation opportunities for sports. Athletic director Dave Martin said there are three main parts to Title IX, which the school must comply with to receive benefits. The university met all three before the addition of football. “In order to be in compliance with title IX, you only have to meet one of those three prongs. Here at Misericordia, there was a time we met all three of them. Now with the addition of football, the first prong is propor-tionality. In other words, the number of students partici-pating in athletics should be in direct proportion with your student en-rollment. At one point we were, but now with the addi-tion of 100 more guys on campus we’re still okay. Any-one who has football doesn’t meet that prong, and that’s not a big deal because you only need to meet one of the three to satisfy.” The second component of Title IX requires an effort on the school’s part to expand athletic programs, and Martin said the school passes with flying colors. “In the last 10 or 11 years we’ve added women’s lacrosse and women’s track and field, both indoor and outdoor. We’ve added tennis and we’ve added women’s golf. So we have shown over the course of recent history that we have expanded our offerings for women, or the under populated sex, if you will,” Martin said. The third element requires the school to cater to the needs of the underrepresented sex in the school. “The final prong, which is a little ambiguous because it’s a little difficult to measure, deals with accommodating the interest and ability of the underrepresented sex. Two and Three are probably tied closely together, but in the MAC, we are one of only two schools that offers every single sport that the conference holds a championship for. So I would say that it’s pretty safe to say that we are accommodating the interest of our men on campus,” Martin said. Although women make up the majority of the school’s popula-tion - 69% female, 31% percent male - Martin said the men are not underrepresented, as long as both genders receive the same treatment. “I think they key is making sure that we are giving equivalent opportunity to both. It doesn’t have to be identical opportunity, but equivalent opportunity, and there’s no question we’re doing that. I think the thing that speaks volumes for us is that the only one of two schools that offers every sport the MAC has a champion-

ship in. So that’s big. We’re put-ting opportunity out there for our students,” Martin said. Martin added that funding within programs is also fair for coaches and athletes. “The other thing that I would say in terms of funding with programs and access to services is we have policies in place as it relates to meal money, travel, it doesn’t matter if you’re a male or a female, or what sport you’re on. If you’re a football player or a field hockey player, we have policies in place so we’re dealing with all of those types of things even-handedly. So we’re in good shape as it relates to that. So we’re consistent across the board with our funding of our programs,” Martin said.Cheerleading Not Included Although Title IX covers all sports programs, the university does not recognize the cheerlead-ing squad as a sport, and therefore cheerleaders are not eligible for Title IX benefits. According to head cheerleading coach Tara Sinclair, cheerleading is not considered a sport because it is too subjective. “Traditional cheerleading is sup-posed to be on the sideline, but it’s evolved so much over the years that there is that piece of tradi-tional cheerleading where you’re cheering on the team and you’re like an ambassador maybe more than other athletes, but the ath-

letic part is really intense in regards to cheerlead-ing com-petition. But that is subjective, so it’s just two-and-a-half minutes and you’re scored based on what judges see. So there’s not a score, there’s not a tally, and I think that was the problem,” Sinclair said. Sinclair said as a result of not being recog-

nized by Title IX, cheerleaders are denied funding that athletic programs receive. “Well, I think that funding that comes in from title IX is distrib-uted to sports teams and since cheerleading is not considered a sport, we don’t benefit from that, and I think that’s a struggle every-where with universities. I will say it’s a lot of work to develop a pro-gram and we have a pretty well-developed cheerleading program. We have good numbers, partici-pation and success rate. But not having funding for competitions and having to raise that money is a lot of work,” Sinclair said. Even so, Sinclair said the school and Martin do a tremendous job in helping the cheerleading squad succeed. “I will say our athletic depart-ment is really good to us. Dave Martin tries to work with us and make sure we have what we need if we’re ever lacking,” Sinclair said. Although cheerleading is not a sport in the eyes of the NCAA, Martin said cheerleading is treated as one at the school. “We treat cheerleading here as a varsity sport. Now, it’s not an NCAA sport, but we do treat it as a varsity sport. They have to abide by all of the rules and regulations that other athletes on campus have to,” Martin said. Sinclair is torn over whether cheerleading should even be of-ficially labeled a sport and receive Title IX benefits. “I’m very conflicted over it. I’ll say that I think if it were consid-ered a sport, what I don’t like is that I think the focus would be-come more on competitive cheer-leading, and traditional cheerlead-ing would fade. They’re athletes, definitely, but I feel like it’s more than a sport,” Sinclair said. [email protected]

Stepping on Court at Right Time

Bree Grzech

Joe Tagliarini

SPORTS PROGRAMS MEET EQUALITY

LAW REQUIREMENTS

ELLEN HOFFMAN/THE HIGHLANDER

it’s not mold, it’s something else. We see a lot of issues,” A.J. Nudo, Assistant Director of Residence Life said. Once Res Life realized that mold growth was likely, staffers handed the case to Campus Safety. “We get the issue in, we look at it, but then we report it over to Paul Murphy’s group [Campus Safety], and say, ‘Here’s what the student’s saying to us. We’ve looked into it and your staff needs to come in and take a look at it because they are more knowledge-able on these things, and there’s somebody else that needs to come from an outside contracting group maybe,’” said Nudo. He added that while some cases can be handled by the staff, others require outside help. “Anytime we have situations like this, where we need an outside agent that we deal with to come in and to verify so it’s not just saying ‘It’s not this or it is this.’ We have an outside company come in, experts, and do air sampling and testing on the specific areas where things are seen and then they’re able to better tell us, ‘Hey, this is what you’re dealing with and here’s how you should go about correcting these issues.’” He added it’s important not to inflame situations simply because they involve mold. “It’s the word itself. I think people hear it and everybody gets frightened that it’s everywhere, it’s rampant, and that’s not the case,” said Nudo. “That’s what it is. It’s scary, people see it, they hear the word.” [email protected]

By Rob Evans, Reporter

First year cheerleader Carly Sees per-forms during a break in the men’s basket-ball game Feb. 6.

By Rob Evans, Reporter The men’s basketball team is playing well at the right time after an inconsistent start to the regular season and going 0-2 in conference play. Since the sluggish start to conference play, which saw the squad fall to Wilkes University in overtime and to a gritty Manhat-tanville University team, the team has won seven of its last eight contests while asserting itself as one of the front-runners to make it in the Freedom Conference Tournament. Head Coach Trevor Woodruff said there is no secret formula to the team’s recent success. Instead, the veteran-filled squad is finally coming together. “No secrets,” Woodruff said. “We just played better defense collec-tively, and we just had a different guy every night step up and make a big play for us.” Woodruff said the team’s battle-tested experience enabled the squad to win tight games during its string of successes - four of six victories came by two points or less or were decided in overtime. “Experience is worth its weight in gold. It takes time to get it, and that’s why it’s difficult to have, but these guys have all played in big games. Matt (Greene), Joe (Busac-ca), Cael (Evans) and (Anthony) Sergio have all played at least a little bit on that team that won a championship two years ago, and Steve (Ware) has played plenty of minutes so his experience is fine. But that experience is probably as good as a reason as any,” he said. One of the players who has taken his game to another level in recent weeks is junior Busacca who lifted the team to victory over perennial powerhouse Delaware Valley University and FDU-Flor-ham University, hitting the game-winning basket in each game. Busacca, who has become more than just a role player in his fresh-man and sophomore years, scored 27 and 23 points in those games, respectively. “What I’ve liked is that when he’s aggressive he’s very difficult to contain. He can get to the bas-ket. He can make mid range jump shots. His three-point shooting has improved as well, but what I’d like to see him do more is be consistently aggressive. It seems like it’s almost game to game – he’s aggressive and then he’s not aggressive, so I’d like to see more consistency out of him because when he’s aggressive we’re a bet-ter team,” Woodruff said. Busacca, along with all-confer-ence teammates Greene and Ware, will have to maintain their levels of play given the list of teams at atop of the Freedom conference. As it stands, five teams have

a chance to make the Freedom Conference Tournament, but only four spots are up for grabs. Woodruff said the team needs to take things day by day. “Well, I think anything is pos-sible when you look at it. There appear to be two teams at the bottom who have a difficult road to get back into it, maybe a third depending on what happens, but the top five are definitely all in the mix and can be anywhere from the top seed to out, and anywhere in between,” he said. Woodruff believes his team hasn’t reached its ceiling yet. “Hopefully we haven’t played our best basketball. I don’t think we’ve played well enough at this point to win a championship, so we’re going to have to get better. We’ve got to focus on wining each game individually. I think winning at home is imperative, and if you can steal one or two on the road it’s a bonus, but we’ve definitely got to narrow our sight line a little bit and just focus on what is directly in front of us,” Woodruff said. Junior Evans said the team will take each day one at a time. “It’s been tough,” Evans said. “We’ve been working every day at practice and coach lets us know, no matter how many games we win, we play each game on the day it is and we don’t look in the future. So we always want to be 1-0 and not look at the overall streak that’s happening in the moment so we’re always focused on the next team and that’s all our goals are. All the little pieces add up. It’s like a puzzle. You put the little pieces in and it adds up overtime. Hopefully we can get to the championship this year.” Evans felt what it was like to win a championship during his fresh-man season, and he is determined to get back there this year. “That feeling was unbelievable. I didn’t win anything in high school so coming here my freshman year and winning a championship for all the hard work we put in that year was unbelievable and that feeling of cutting down the net is something that you can’t picture - you just have to experience it. There are a couple of guys on the team that have had that taste of winning it all so we’re eager to get back. We have the talent on the team to do it, it’s just whether we put the pieces together and do it.” Woodruff said this team can be described with many adjectives, but it is a group that is as talented as any he has had. “Frustrating. Inconsistent. Talented. All of those words are fitting of the team but, we cer-tainly have the potential to put it all together. No question.” [email protected]

MOLD, CONTINUED

Continued from page 2

STEPPING OUT OF THE GAME, INTO THE REAL WORLD

By Arthur Dowell, Web Editor There comes a time when every-one has to give up something, and for many - even most - student athletes, that’s sports. Coaches at division III schools have told athletes one thing over the years: they are students before they are athletes, so many are not jolted by their jilting of sports. Some find their majors too de-manding for sports commitments, and others lose interest and instead choose to focus on clubs and organizations. This may be the case on many of teams, as seniors are not taking up roster spots as much as younger classes are. Senior swimmer Bree Grzech said she is glad swimming is over for her. “It’s been a long 16 years of swimming. It’ll be nice not to have to do off-season workouts and not have to worry about next season.” Senior baseball player Joe Taglia-rini has the opposite emotion as he prepares for his last season. “I honestly cannot believe it all is coming to an end. I have been playing baseball for my entire life, and I cannot imagine how it is going to change my life when this season is over.” Emotions run high for players who reflect on moments they cherish and the friendships they have made with teammates. For Grzech, it all hit her hard on the team’s last home meet against Albright College. “Us and Albright don’t get along, and realizing I would never swim again really hit me. I cried more at

that meet from all the emotions than I did at my senior meet.” Baseball season has yet to start, but Tagliarini knows that senior day will be the moment he knows the emotions will hit him.

“Seeing your teammates and their parents walk down the base-line is difficult to go through and once it’s my turn to walk down that line, it will be a rude awaken-ing for me. As for my career, it will hit me on the last game we play.” With their competitive days coming to an end, both athletes mentioned an interest in coaching their respective sports and giving lessons to younger people who share the same passion. Both may even help at the college level as grad assistants. “I hope that the future teams have as much fun and desire to win as much as my previous three teams,” said Tagliarini. “With the coaching staff that MU has and the player they bring in, I feel this will continue to be great. I would like to see MU progress into a powerhouse for baseball where players come in expecting to win and then have that success.” Before they both officially move on from their playing days at MU, they acknowledge everything they’ve encountered in their tenure will be things they carry with them forever. The lessons and memories are things they will both will cherish and hope to share with others. Grzech will never forget the fun times she had with the members of the swim team. The freshman buzz cuts, the floats after practice, and her personal achievements will stay fresh in her mind. [email protected]

Top, junior Cael Evans takes a free throw shot during the second half of the game against Wilkes University.

Left, senior Matt Greene looks to pass the ball to a teammate during the game against Wilkes University where the Cougars walked away with a 72-61 victory.

Bottom, junior Joe Busacca looks for an open teammate to pass the ball during the first half of the mens game in the Anderson Center.

ELLEN HOFFMAN/THE HIGHLANDER

February 18, 2014highlandernews.net 5Sports

By Josh Horton, Reporter

Senior basketball players Matt Greene and Hannah Seely may play on different teams, but they have similar, uniting goals. Both Seely and Greene recently scored their 1,000th point of their career, and both hope to hold a Freedom Conference Champion-ship banner in late February. “I’ve worked extremely hard for four years and it has always been one of my goals.” Greene said. “Winning has always been more important though. I came in to college with the mentality to do whatever it takes to win whether I had to score or not. I must give the majority of the credit to my coaches and my teammates. My coaches put me in a position where I can have the most success and my teammates were the ones to get me open and pass me the ball.” Seely celebrated the milestone alongside her sister, Justine, a first year forward. “She wasn’t sure she wanted to play in college, but I’m glad that she chose Misericordia and chose to play,” she said. “I’m really proud of her. There’s something bit-tersweet about being able to be on the court with her as she’s starting her career while I’m ending mine.” Both the men’s and women’s teams won Freedom Conference Championships in the 2011-2012 season. Although both teams lost in the first round, the men to New York University and the women to Tufts University, both players said it was their favorite moment as a Cougar. “It was easily the best experience I’ve ever had playing basketball. The amount of effort our team put in to that season was outstanding. Our leadership was exactly what it needed to be and we had great role players to fill in the spots,” Greene said. “Going to the NCAA tournament and playing against NYU was an insane atmosphere. It was filled with students and many fans that came out to support us. It was truly an experience that I can never forget.” Seely said it was a rare feeling ev-ery player should feel at least once in their careers. “Nothing compares to winning the MAC championship. It’s a feeling that I can’t explain, but I’ll never forget,” Seely said. “I hope the underclassmen on this team get to experience that before they graduate. They deserve to know what that feels like.” Greene said coach Trevor Wood-ruff is the biggest reason he has enjoyed so much success over his four years. “He has been hard on me since the day I’ve walked on this campus,” Greene said. “He never allowed me to become comfortable and satisfied with my game and that’s how my game has elevated tremendously.” Greene added that lessons he learned off-court are equally valu-able. “One thing I’ve realized over the past four years is that he’s been teaching me more about life than he is teaching me basketball,” Greene said. “He would never al-low me to skip or show up late to

practice just like he would never let me skip or show up late to class or anything. I truly am lucky to have such a great mentor.” Seely has played under two coaches in her years as a Cougar, first for former head coach Tom Griffith and now for coach Allison Kern. It wasn’t always easy trying to adjust to a new philosophy, but she says she has learned from Kern. “It wasn’t necessarily easy to adjust to different coaching styles, but it was worth it,” Seely said. “I can’t express how grateful I am for everything that coach kern has done for me individually, for us as a team, and for this program.” The similarities between are underscored by the fact that they both come from basketball families. Seely’s uncle was her high school coach and her grandfather doesn’t miss a game. “My grandfather lives to watch Justine and I play, which I think is another reason what makes playing with her so special. He is so proud of us and reminds us everyday of how happy it makes him to be able to come and watch us,” Seely said. “He actually got lost on the way to the kings game and didn’t make it on time to see my 1000th point, which ironically is possibly the only time he’s missed part of a game ever.” As the regular season winds

down, the players are starting to realize they only have a few games of collegiate basketball left. Seely said she will miss the feeling she gets when she walks onto the floor. “I love when we walk on to the court and you know that the person standing next to you wants to win as badly as you do,” Seely said. “These next few games are critical for us and that might make some people nervous, but I know my teammates and I are excited to have a few more chances to battle it out. I’ll definitely miss that feel-ing of playing with a purpose.” Greene said there is nothing like lacing up your shoes and playing with your teammates, but ironical-ly enough, he will miss something most players dread – the first day of practice. “There’s nothing like walking into the gym on that day knowing coach is going to make you run until you can’t stand, yell at you to get in a better stance, tell you to give better effort,” Greene said. “Every time I laced up my shoes and put a jersey on, I was going to give it my all for my brothers and my coaches. They’ve put so much time and effort into me that letting them down was not an option. Even though this is my last year of playing competitive basketball, I refuse to let it walk out of my life.” [email protected]

GREENE, SEELY JOIN 1,000 POINT CLUB

Top, Hannah Seely dribbles down the court with Sam Baro run-ning by her side. Seely reached her 1,000 point at King’s College. Bottom, fans hold up the “Green-E-Meter” a countdown to Greene’s 1,000 point reached at home against Wilkes University.

MARY BOVE & ELLEN HOFFMAN/THE HIGHLANDER

Campus was hit by winter storm Pax, the second major storm in two weeks, which caused all classes to be cancelled and offices closed on Feb. 13.

MU Exposure: Winter Storm Pax Impacts Campus

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

Viewfinder: Women’s BasketballLeft, senior Katie Drayton passes the ball to a team-mate from center court in an attempt to get closer to the basket. The Cougars won the home game 78-76.

Bottom left, first year Shan-non Croasdale carries the ball down the court during the women’s game against Eastern University on Feb. 12 in the Anderson Sports and Health Center.

Bottom right, junior Amanda Greene takes a three-point shot during the second half of the women’s game against Eastern University.

The women’s team has one regular season game remaining, away against Manhattanville and then it is scheduled to participate in the Freedom Championships at the end of the month.

MARY BOVE /THE HIGHLANDER

February 18, 2014highlandernews.net6

Clockwise from top, the contestants wait for the results of the competition. The event was postponed to Feb. 11 due to a snow storm.During the swimsuit competition, junior Luke Atkins strikes a pose. Atkins performed a dance to One Republic’s “Counting Stars.”Sophomore Zach Sabaday flexes for the crowd in his bathing suit and coconut bra. Sabaday channeled Miley Cyrus for the talent portion of the show.Trever Reed, a sophomore, dances with sophomore Nick Stanovick and friends. Reed placed second in the competition standings.Sophomore Corey Hanabach competes in the question-and-answer portion of the night. The contestants answered two questions, one about Misericor-dia University and another more personal question.

Viewfinder: Students Compete For Mr. Misericordia 2014

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

absolutely exhausted grant eligibil-ity before they even look at loans,” said Dessoye. Grants are awarded on both the federal and state level and can help subsidize students’ tuition. Maas and Pesta said the university also offers payment plans to stu-dents whose tuition is not covered by financial aid. Students can set up an interest free payment plan with Sallie Mae, but this plan includes breaking up the remainder of the tuition into three payments, pay-ments that aren’t always possible for students to make out-of-pocket. For many students who already have loans - interest rates are rising. “The interest rate right now is tied into the ten-year Treasury note, and experts claim that the value of that note will go up. Now, how much it will go up is being debated hotly,” said Dessoye. Dessoye said one of the only good thing about rising rates is they can-not change again for a year. “Once they set it for a year the rate for that year is locked in. It won’t change. At least you’ll know, going into the process, what the current rate will be,” said Dessoye. Interest rates won’t have an im-mediate effect on students, but they will lead to higher payments when the bills come due. Federal officials are considering requiring students who take loans to complete a more intensive educa-tion program during both entrance and exit counseling. Now, students are required to take entrance counseling before first applying for federal loans, and they complete an exit counseling program when they leave school. Dessoye questions how effective counseling is because students seemingly complete it without a lot of thought. “It’s really not a very good system in that a student simply checks boxes and say, ‘Yes I agree to these terms’ and you really have to wonder how closely they look at those terms. We fear that students go into the process not being very educated,” said Dessoye. Another proposal for entrance and exit counseling is to require uni-versities to become more hands-on with helping students fully under-stand what they are agreeing to. This would require the financial aid office to provide more education to students. “For instance, there’s a sugges-tion that colleges should be re-quired to give information relative to student loan balances, interest rates, repayment terms, repayment options, those kinds of things,” said Dessoye. Dessoye believes that if universi-ties are required to spend more time educating students about student loan terms, students would benefit. “Anything, any information that’s shared more proactively with a student to teach them about their rights and responsibilities as a borrower are really good ideas,” said Dessoye. Maas and Pesta want students to know that there is no such thing as too much information when it comes to borrowing. Students who are unable to make ends meet with their tuition bills are told to check out alternative scholarship websites as well. These sites can provide students with scholarships tailored to their exact specifications. Dessoye recom-mends FastWeb.com. “Through FastWeb a student completes an online autobiographi-cal sketch that talks about things such as what they are majoring in, extracurricular activities, leader-ship roles they have had. When a student submits the profile then FastWeb gives the student a print-able list of scholarships that either identically match or generally match the profile,” said Dessoye. It should be noted that going through such websites is the stu-dent’s responsibility. Another proposed change would allow students to dispute the amount owed on their federal loans, a right they do not have now. If a student defaults, they are required to repay the amount specified regardless whether the amount is accurate. “So the one proposal is that if a student does dispute the amount that is claimed to be owed then they have the opportunity to have that proved to them – that this is a valid debt,” said Dessoye. A similar proposed change could lower payments for students who default. Currently, students must pay a 1% rate, but the change would tie repayment to students’ incomes. [email protected]

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