Liberty champion october 15 2013

Tiffany [email protected]

The Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow and Dorothy all take their iconic stance as they pre-pare to skip down the yel-low brick road. Samantha Baker and Jake Ryan lean in for an anticipated kiss on a table with a birthday cake with 16 candles. Tim Tebow kneels in prayer in celebra-tion of another touchdown pass. Each of these scenes is portrayed through deco-rations on the third floor of

DeMoss Hall. Professor Todd Smith,

director of the Visual Com-munication Arts program at Liberty, teaches Arts 330, a sculpture class that in-troduces sculpture making techniques and concepts of sculpture. The sculptures are displayed around cam-pus, particularly on the third floor of DeMoss.

At the beginning of each fall semester for the past five years, Smith has assigned his students to work in groups to complete these sculp-tures. Each group chooses

a famous scene, painting or photograph from history to portray. Smith said these sculptures help the students and the public to see iconic scenes in a different way.

“How many of us have seen the Wizard of Oz where they are going down the yel-low brick road?” Smith said.

The uniqueness of the sculptures guides people to stop and look. Students use various materials such as cardboard, wood, PVC pipes, Saran Wrap, Cling Wrap and packing tape. Smith said students are attracted to the

sculptures project every se-mester it has been a part of his curriculum.

“I always stand back and watch, and students are tak-ing their phones out,” Smith said. “They are taking pic-tures, and you can see they are sending them to people.”

Smith said he believes the interest in the sculp-tures stems from a God- given desire.

“(God) made us to enjoy beauty, and it’s all around us,” Smith said.

See ART, A3

INSIDE THE CHAMPION

Freedom 4/24’s Run for Their Lives was held Oct. 12.

The Liberty men’s DI hockey team splits weekend games.

Liberty student starts East West, a successful wedding film company.

SportsNews FeatureNewsOpinionSportsFeature

A1A4B1B10

A10 B1 B8

Sam Ponder succeeds at ESPN B6 B1

30thTuesday, October 15, 2013

Volume 31 • Issue 6Liberty University Lynchburg, Va.

Today: Partly Cloudy 72/53 Tomorrow: Partly Cloudy 74/54 libertychampion.com‘83

‘13

libertychampion.com

Men’s Soccer wins in overtime 4-3

Ruth BiBBy | LiBeRty Champion

TUBING — The Office of Military Affairs hosted family activities at Snowflex. See story on page B8.

LauRen adRianCe | LiBeRty Champion

SCULPT — Students’ art projects grace the ILRC.

Parkings lots close due to construction

Iconic scenes decorate halls

30 years of storiesChampion remembers past

Each year arts students make saran wrap sculptures to diplay in the ILRC

Dylan [email protected]

As Liberty University continues to be blanketed with new and continuing con-struction projects, the administration will be making a slew of parking changes, pri-marily near the Reber-Thomas Dining

Hall and Bailey Lot, which is between the baseball and football stadiums.

The Bailey Lot has 170 parking spaces blocked off because of construction. The Bailey area is a primary area of change because of the new vehicular tunnel that is being constructed under the train tracks nearby, according to Vice President of

Research and Analysis Richard Martin.One of the biggest construction proj-

ects, which will help address the campus’s parking issues, is a new 1,400-car parking garage going up next to the Reber-Thom-as Dining Hall, Martin said.

According to Martin, to make travel to and from Reber-Thomas and the parking

garage, Reber-Thomas Drive will be con-verted into a two-lane road.

The parking spaces for cars and mo-torcycles along Reber-Thomas Drive will be relocated to the first row of Speakman near the bookstore,

See PARKING, A10

Sophia [email protected]

Melanie [email protected]

As Liberty University’s Homecoming weekend arrives, the Liberty Champion newspaper celebrates its 30th anniversary and reflects on how it has changed — from the publication’s first advisor to its current advisor.

In 1983, when Liberty was called Liberty Baptist College, Ann Wharton was hired to be the first faculty advisor for the new uni-versity newspaper. She then recruited a team of students to assist her in creating the pub-lication.

“Our first editor, Lawrence Swicegood, was an excellent editor who stuck to the proj-ect through thick and thin throughout the first year,” Wharton said. “We applied Jerry Falwell, Sr.’s exhortation – don’t quit.”

Wharton also said acquiring a rou-tine was critical during the first few weeks of publishing.

“We had to be prepared to have things turn topsy turvy in a minute,” Wharton said. “As the owner of the Pawn Shop from Pawn Stars says, ‘You never know what will come through that door.’”

During that time, technology and the printing process was not up to speed like it is today. According to Wharton, editors were required to make a dummy for each page, indicating where each article, photograph, headline and graphic would go.

See ANNIVERSARY, A2

f a m i l y f u n

ANNIVERSARY continued from A1

Because of that, the writers had to write to the length by de-termining the words per inch.

“The photographer had to shoot, develop, print and then size each picture so that the original photo could be de-creased or increased in size to fit the hole in the layout,” Wharton said.

According to Wharton, her favorite part of the Champion was working with the students.

“Teaching them, guiding them and preparing them in such a fundamental way for their future was rewarding to me,” she said. “We applied ethics reinforcing our worldviews and faith.”

Wharton trained professor Deborah Huff to take over her role as advisor of the Champion in 1996, Huff said. According to

her, the newspaper has made changes in technology, web pres-ence, photography, printing and staff, but, most importantly, in its coverage of events.

“Students are affected by what happens in the community, and the community is affected by what the students do,” Huff said. “It is kind of neat that our paper is going off campus and not just restricted to on cam-pus. Of (all) the changes, that is probably the biggest one. People in the community read us.”

The newspaper has covered several newsworthy events, Huff said. She remembered when the staff pulled together to put out a special tabloid that was a tribute to Dr. Jerry Fal-well, Sr. after his death.

“We had already put our last issue to bed,” Huff said. “We were done for the spring, and (the staff) came to me and said,

‘Mrs. Huff, we have to do a pa-per.’ They went to work, and in 24 hours, they had a beautiful tabloid dedicated to Dr. Falwell … I stayed with them, but they did it themselves. They wanted to do it, and that inspired me and encouraged me. More than 80,000 copies of the tabloid were distributed, which was the largest run ever.”

According to Huff, her main goal as the advisor for the Champion is training champi-ons for Christ in the newsroom.

“A lot of our students that are on staff are going to wind up in public relations, some of them are going into journalism, some of them are going to go into broadcast,” Huff said. “So, to me, it’s important that they take those communications skills and their Christian faith with them wherever they go. That is my goal.”

Overall, Wharton and Huff agreed the purpose of an ad-visor is to teach and provide a laboratory where students can mature and become successful.

The Champion staff now publishes 22 issues per academic school year, unlike the four is-sues that were published when the Champion originally started.

To view historical copies of the Champion between 1983-2012, visit digitalcommons.lib-erty.edu/paper.

HAHN is the news editor.

OELRICH is the social media editor.

Liberty Champion/A2NEWSOCTOBER 15, 2013

VISIT THE CHAMPION’S WEBSITE AT LIBERTYCHAMPION.COM. CHECK US OUT ON FACEBOOK.

1. PAINTBALL HOSTED A TOURNAMENT IN SUPPORT OF SARAH MCKEOWN.

3. D2 MEN’S HOCKEY BEAT TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, 6-1.

2. STUDENT ACTIVITIES HOSTED THEIR FIRST DORM OLYMPICS, OCT. 12.

Chamber promotes

Marken honored

People were encouraged to mingle at “Business After Hours”

Student earns history award for paper


HISTORY — Marken loves to read and learn about past events.

hannah LipsComB| LiBeRty Champion

NETWORKING — Local business women socialize with each other over refreshments.

Nathan [email protected]

The Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Com-merce hosted “Business After Hours” Thursday, Oct. 10, where local businesses and Chamber members were encouraged to network in order to build lasting business relationships within the Lynchburg community.

Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College served as the venue and welcomed business rep-resentatives from around Lynchburg to network among the museum’s collection of 19th and 20th century works.

According to Mike Lewis, director of sales for the Chamber, this is the first time the Chamber has held “Business After Hours” at Maier Mu-seum of Art.

Lewis said he believes many locals are unfamil-iar with what Lynchburg has to offer, thus the rea-soning for choosing this venue.

“The idea is to give our business community — our members — a chance to see some of the things about Lynchburg that they may not be as familiar with as they should be,” Lewis said.

Lewis said that promoting business networking is always the “subtext” of any event hosted by the Chamber.

“Anytime we get several Chamber members together, there’s always the opportunity for new business contacts,” Lewis said.

Liberty University alumnus Benjamin Walls of Walls Insurance Agency was among those repre-senting local businesses taking advantage of this opportunity.

“With this industry that I’m in, it’s all network-ing, and since I’m not from (Lynchburg), this is very important to get to meet new people — people who

have been here for years, who are more established,” Walls said.

Not only were business representatives able to network, but they were also able to meet the new president of Randolph College, Dr. Bradley “Brad” Bateman. Bateman said he entered the position July 1 after serving six years as provost of Denison College in Ohio.

According to Bateman, “Business After Hours” was a chance for locals to see what is in their own community. Bateman also noted the venue as cul-turally significant.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity for us to have the business community on campus get to see the Maier Museum ... one of our real gems,” Bate-man said. “We have one of the best collections of 20th-century American art in any small college in America.”

Martha Johnson, director of Maier Museum of Art, addressed the crowd following an official wel-come by Bateman. Johnson shared a brief history of the museum and its intended purpose during the Cold War as a safe haven for pieces from the National Gallery, a government project known as Project Y.

According to Johnson, the museum, which was still under contract with the National Gallery, was renamed Maier Museum of Art in 1983 following a generous donation by the Maier Foundation of West Virginia.

Following the remarks, four door prizes were awarded to local businesses, including the Liberty Champion.

For more information on “Business After Hours,” visit lynchburgchamber.com or call (434) 845-5966.

SKAGGS is a news reporter.

Kristen [email protected]

Karissa Marken became the third student from Liberty Uni-versity’s history graduate pro-gram to win the Nels Andrew Cleven Founder’s Prize when her paper, “Autonomy Imposed: Virginia During the English Civil War,” was chosen by the Phi Alta Theta (PAT) National Honors Society in September 2013.

According to Dr. Samuel Smith, the director of the his-tory graduate program, Liberty graduate students have received this national honor for the past three consecutive years.

The Nels Andrew Cleven Founder’s Prize was created in the 1920s in honor of Nels Cleven, the founder of PAT, an American history honors society. According to the PAT website, only graduate students who are members of PAT are eligible to be chosen to receive a cash prize for their exceptional historical papers.

According to Smith, Liberty began its own chapter in 1985 and received the PAT Best Chapter Award in 2012.

At a very young age, Marken said she became aware of her love for history.

“When I was in middle school … we were assigned to read about the Stuarts dynasty in England,” Marken said. “There was a double-page spread, and I fell in love with those pages. I re-member very clearly what they looked like, and it was an aspect of history that I knew nothing about and found fascinating. That sparked a love of British history in me.”

Marken said she also has a deep love of Virginian history because she grew up in Rich-mond.

“Growing up in Virginia, you just kind of have history all around you … My grand-parents lived in Richmond, and coming home from there, we would follow the path of Lee’s retreat from Richmond to Ap-pomattox,” Marken said.

According to Marken, her in-terest in these two aspects of his-tory gave her a passion and deep interest for her paper topic.

“That is one of the reasons I enjoyed writing this paper so much, because it allowed me to combine my love for British his-tory … with my love of Virginia history,” Marken said. “It was a neat connection that I never made before.”

Marken said that, while re-

searching this topic, she found that no one had really studied the information by itself. Al-though it was often mentioned in the context of Virginia, there was very little in-depth informa-tion regarding Virginia’s role as a royal colony in the 1640s.

“My natural curiosity spurred me onto it, because I wanted to learn more, and it just wasn’t easily out there,” Marken said. “Not much had been done on it before, so I did come up with some original conclusions.”

Smith said the graduate pro-gram encourages students to do just as Marken did — to look for gaps in the historiography where there may not be very much information and try to fill those gaps.

“I think the sophistication of her argument is very impres-sive,” Smith said regarding Maken’s paper. “She takes a problem and evaluates it from all different sides and throws in a lot of really interesting context and comes out with an idea that this is an imposed autonomy.”

According to Smith, the Lib-erty history graduate program is the only fully accredited graduate program in history from a conser-vative evangelical perspective.

“We stress that one of the most important things in be-ing a Christian historian is to be truthful … and also give the Christian principles and Chris-tian history a fair hearing, and that is not often done in the secular setting … We believe that Christianity and a bibli-cal approach to history frees students up to really have real academic freedom. If you have a dedication to the scripture and a dedication to the truth, that frees you up to follow evidence wherever it goes.”

Marken said she feels her in-struction from the program has benefited her immensely and is due the credit for the national honor she received.

“The Liberty history gradu-ate program offers me guidance that is valuable,” Marken said. “When I am compared to stu-dents across the country, I saw that I am able to compete with them and measure up. It was re-ally neat to see that the things that I have learned in graduate school are legit.”

PAT was created March 17, 1971 at the University of Arkan-sas and has more than 350,000 members, according to the PAT website.

HINES is a news reporter.


Apple picking trip packs adventure Slick roads and an immobilized bus could not keep Student Activities from enjoying Carter Mountain Orchard

ART continued from A1

“And so when we see beau-ty, we are experiencing an incredible facet of who God is.”

Each sculpture is ac-companied by a descrip-tion about the moment it depicts as well as the story behind it. Smith believes that the story each sculp-ture tells is important.

“To me, one of the big-gest aspects of any art is

its storytelling capacity,” Smith said. “Everything has a story. And I think that is the beauty of what these sculptures do. They tell a story.”

Among the sculptures seen on the third floor is a replica of “The Kiss,” a photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt. The photo-graph shows a sailor kiss-ing a woman in Times Square while celebrating the end of World War II.

Uriah Atwood, a junior

in Smith’s class, is a part of the group that created the duplication of the photo-graph. Atwood said he be-lieves that this project has not only benefited him, but also other artists.

“Spreading works and sharing good art is the very least I hope to gain, and maybe we can even inspire some other artists to make something,” Atwood said.

Shortly after the first few days of class, students are given about a month to

complete their sculpture. They work together to combine all of their ideas, according to Atwood.

Carolyn Cardinale, a senior whose group du-plicated the last scene from “Sixteen Candles,” said she gained group experience as well as ex-perience working with unique materials.

“We learned a lot about the importance of working as a team and maintaining communication so (that)

the project was effectively completed,” Cardinale said. “Working with pack-ing tape and Cling Wrap was a new art medium for us, so there was a lot of tri-al and error as we figured out what the best method was.”

In his office, Smith has a visual of a book that was made into a bird-like sculpture. He showed his art students the piece and told them the idea behind the figure is “knowledge

takes flight.” This idea, along with the idea be-hind the Cling-Wrapped sculptures, is to ultimately provide a new way to look at art.

“I want people to ap-preciate the arts in gen-eral,” Smith said. “They can appreciate how art can be different, and may-be to see something in a different way.”

SAMUELS is a news reporter.

Visit our homepage frequently for weekly menus, calendar of events and news you can use.

Giddy to be the belle of the ball again. When kids get enough food to eat, they have

the energy to focus in school, play with friends,

and, well…be a kid. But when they go hungry,

none of these are possible. So join us in our

partnerships with Share Our Strength® and YSA

(Youth Service America), and help fight for the

16 million children in America who are at risk

of hunger. Because every child deserves the

chance to grow, learn, and have the first dance.

Together, we can Take Hunger Personally®.

Facebook.com/SodexoSTOPHunger

TH — TH

Bring in a non-‐perishable food

item to Reber-‐Thomas Dining

Hall during regular dining

hours to show your support!

Reber-‐Thomas Dining Hall

Tobi [email protected]

A recent trip of more than a dozen students to Carter Mountain Orchard in Charlottesville, Va. nearly reached an abrupt end when a bus came close to overturning.

Students aboard the bus for the Student Activities Apple Picking Trip experienced an unexpected turn of events when the 50-seat passenger bus became stuck in the mud and nearly fell down the side of Carter Mountain. The incident caused a backup of traffic all the way down the road.

Liberty student Sean McDade and his group of friends decided to follow the bus up the mountain when they saw the nar-row road. McDade said he was fortunate to have made that decision when he saw the bus tilted on the side of the road.

“There was no way that bus was going to make it up that road,” McDade said.

Student Activities said that although approximately 12 students attended the event, the large bus was chosen in prepa-ration for the many students who regis-tered for the event but did not arrive for the trip.

Student Eric Keyrouze said that as soon as he saw the bus turn, he knew they were never making it up the mountain.

“When I watched the tires spin out in the mud, I knew we were going to have to

walk,” Keyrouze said.Keyrouze, who had hiked Sharp Top

that morning, said that he was a little sore already. According to Keyrouze, it was a little annoying to make the trek by foot in the rain.

As Keyrouze walked, he said he stopped and told curious bystanders stuck in traffic what was going on with the bus.

“Yeah, our bus was stuck,” Keyrouze

said. “They’re pulling out now.”Keyrouze said car passengers encour-

aged him as he walked.“You better get some apples out of

this,” a man in a van told Keyrouze.When Keyrouze finally made it up the

mountain, he said he rejoined McDade, Laukaitis and Elizabeth DeMeo.

Though the rain scared off most of the participants, it did not keep McDade and

his group of friends from picking apples. McDade’s friend Josh Laukaitis said he

never planned on going apple picking in the first place but decided to tag along when his other plans were canceled due to the rain.

“My favorite part of apple picking has to be the people you go with,” Laukaitis said. “They always make it more enjoy-able.”

DeMeo said the rain added to the ad-venture.

“It made apple picking a little more challenging,” DeMeo said. “It was defi-nitely a memorable experience because of it. I mean, the people on the bus won’t forget it either.”

The group hiked through the rows of trees as they picked Granny Smith and Winesap apples while observing the view of Charlottesville below.

“I just wanted to have an adventure,” Keyrouze said. “I was getting apples out of the trip no matter what.”

According to Keyrouze, after sliding around in the mud, the group emerged with a handful of apples.

Keyrouze, who is originally from up-state New York, said that even though they were not like the apples from back home, he was still glad to have walked away with a little reminder of home.

WALSH is a news reporter.

Tobi Walsh | liberTy Champion

STUCK — Students waited more than two hours for assistance while traffic halted.

David Van [email protected]

For decades, many have looked to Hollywood as a sort of citadel, where mas-ter storytellers produce great works of amazing fiction, capturing the hearts and minds of the audience. I of-ten find myself entrapped in a suspenseful story, imagin-ing myself within the har-rowing situations of the hero.

However, a noticeable trend has been occurring, and it involves movies like “Fast & Furious,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Saw” and many others.

Recently, several news sources reported three more installments will be made for “The Fast and The Fu-rious” series. That means that we will be seeing install-ments seven, eight and nine of “The Fast and the Furi-ous” series.

A fifth “Pirates of the Ca-ribbean” will also be gracing the screens of theaters ev-erywhere, even when a large majority of moviegoers, in-cluding myself, thought the third film would have ended the swashbuckling movie se-ries just fine.

Even though the movie

industry continues to make sequels, I believe the greater potential for movies that challenge us to think deeper and examine our own lives is found in new, ground-breaking movies. Though sequels might prove to open the wallets, original movies have the capability to open minds.

Stephan Schultze, cine-matographer and executive director at Liberty’s Zaki Gordon Cinematic Arts De-partment, talked of how it comes down to the people who watch the movies.

“What’s changed is who goes to the movie and how many people go to the movie,” Schultze said. “The industry generates 60-70 percent of revenue in the foreign market. When I or someone else make a movie, we only make 30-40 percent of our money in the domes-tic market.”

Schultze went on to talk about the risk of making a single movie tailored for American culture, which would cut off possible view-ership overseas, therefore virtually chopping potential revenue in half.

“Because the studios are in the business of making

global films, they have to take global ideas, things that translate and play as well in the United States as they would in Europe, in a tent in Afghanistan, in India or in Russia,” Schultze said. “You name it — it’s got to be ac-cessible to a global market.”

Movies like “The Fast and The Furious,” reach a very wide audience, all the way from Brazil to Australia with a few stops along the way. According to Internet Movie Database, the sixth movie made more than $238 million in the U.S. and nearly $789 million world-wide Sept. 5, 2013.

Or take “Pirates of the Caribbean,” which made more than $241 million in the U.S. Sept. 25, 2011 but more than $1 billion world-wide Nov. 25, 2011.

When I look at the numbers and listen to the experts, I realize Hollywood is part citadel for master storytellers and part bank. Looking at the numbers, sequels simply satisfy audience craving for entertainment.

If there is a demand for sequels, then the demand will be answered.

“Nobody really is in

anything strictly for the art except the artist,” Schul-tze said. “Anybody who is taking that art and making money on that art has to look on the return on invest-ment, and they have to do the math.”

According to Schultze, smaller, singular movies do not have the distribution power that large studio pro-ductions have.

“Those don’t have the broader reach because they don’t get the distribution that studio films create, but that really is where the market is today,” Schultze said. “I think there will be a returning of the studios to smaller films probably in the next 5-10 years, because it’s a natural cycle.”

As movie industry profes-sionals like Schultze exam-ine the market in order to better understand the op-portunities it holds, I look to it with eager expectation. It is my hope that as we jour-ney through life, we will be inspired and uplifted with novel, encouraging stories of valor that challenge us to be better than we can be.

VAN DYK is an opinion writer.

Gabriella [email protected]

E pluribus unum. The Latin phrase, inscribed into the Seal of the United States, is one of our nation’s first and greatest mottos. Translated into English, the expression reads “out of many, one.”

Out of many states emerge a single nation.

Or so was the intent when an Act of Congress adopted the Seal of the United States in 1782. But instead of the majestic picture of a united people depicted on our seal and crest, we are instead finding a nation divided, overcome by petty partisanship.

News of the government shut-down has doubtless made head-lines around the world. But how many of us realized just how personally the shutdown would affect our own lives?

I, for one, did not take notice until I was forced to reschedule my weekend plans to visit Wash-ington, D.C., and when Peaks of Otter was no longer open for hiking.

Stop for a moment and take a look across our nation: Family and friends are on furlough. Na-tional parks are closed. Museums and memorials are barricaded, and government sites are shut down.

These are but small ripple effects of much larger compli-cations. As students, do we un-derstand the gravity of the core problems facing our country?

It is tempting to brush off the issue and give a quick quip about it not being our problem. But as students and future leaders pre-paring to enter the workforce, the government issues plaguing our country are very much our problem.

Perhaps the greatest lesson to be learned amidst our nation’s executive crisis is that we do indeed have a voice, and we need to be aware of how we are using it.

If you voted in the last elec-tion, you are responsible for the placement of our current con-gressional members. And if you abstained from casting a vote, you too placed people into power by refusing to use the voice you have been given.

As students in Virginia, we have an upcoming opportunity to use our voices to say some-

thing meaningful. The guberna-torial election, taking place Nov. 5, is important not only for Vir-ginia, but for the United States as a whole.

According to Dan Balz from The Washington Post, Virginia’s gubernatorial race has national stakes.

“For Republicans looking to-ward 2016, it is a real-time test of the challenges a full-throated conservative will face in the swing states that decide presi-dential elections,” Balz wrote. “There are good reasons to pay attention. In each of the past nine gubernatorial elections, Vir-ginians chose a candidate who represented the party that did not hold the White House. If that pattern is broken this year, Republicans will be asking why.”

For those wondering how to make a difference and how to effect change — start with a vote. Register for the upcom-ing election and make decisions consciously and intentionally. Who we elect and who takes of-

fice has powerful effects for the people of this nation.

As Bishop Kevin J. Farrell warned in his Red Mass address on Capitol Hill, divisive arguing and selfish behavior will do noth-ing but tear our nation apart.

“Today we are more like Ba-bel than Pentecost, we are more about confusion than wisdom, more separate in and by rheto-ric than united,” Farrell said. “We may disagree. But there can be no place for derision or smugness. When we respect dif-ferences of opinion in dialogue, we respect and revere the differ-ences that provide variety and

give texture to this great country of ours.”

Regardless of which party you side with, something must be done to safeguard our future from falling back into its current state of dissension. The govern-ment shutdown will not last for-ever. It will reach an end. When it does, I hope our generation remembers what has happened and makes the necessary steps toward changing the future.

FULLER is the opinion editor.

OPINIONA4 OCTOBER 15, 2013

It is one of those lessons that can take years to learn, and some people go a lifetime without learning it. Peo-ple hate change.

It makes no difference whether or not the change is good or bad. The smallest differences in a time-hon-ored routine can make anyone bitter,

but it is amazing how much finding a way to accept change can improve your outlook on life.

Having said that, there are few forms of change more annoying than construction. Most people ac-cept construction as a necessary evil, but loud noises and congested roads certainly lead to their share of head-aches.

With all the construction projects happening at Liberty University, it can sometimes seem like complaining

about construction is the official pas-time of Liberty students. Despite the temporary inconvenience it causes, I believe these students are missing the point.

As an employee of the Liberty Bookstore, I have met countless Liberty alumni who return to cam-pus wide-eyed and amazed at the amount of growth that has come to Liberty Mountain. Once the initial shock wears off, the great majority of those people say they love how much their school has improved and wish they could have had access to all the school offers today.

Instead of focusing on temporary inconveniences, we should be thank-

ful to be attending a Christian school that provides so many positive chang-es for its students to enjoy.

In my short three years in Lynch-burg, I have witnessed a new addition to Williams Stadium, a new Liberty Baseball Stadium, the additions to the Liberty Mountain Snowflex Cen-tre, a new library and much more.

I can only imagine what the future holds for Liberty, and I would never trade a minute of the construction it took to get there. I fully expect to return to Liberty 10 years from now and marvel at new facilities that I wish would have been available to me when I was a student, and I would not have it any other way.

LEASURE

by Greg Leasure

Vote in Virginia’s governor election

Movie sequels see increased showtime

The upcoming gubernatorial race will hold significant consequences for the future of our state and our nation

AbigAil bock | liberty chAmpion

SPEAK OUT — Students should participate in the upcoming Virginia election.

google imAges

STOP SEQUELS — Series like “The Fast and the Furious” limit the industry to tiresome repitition.

ote“For those wondering how to make a difference and how to

effect change — start with a vote.— GABRIELLA FULLER

Tyler [email protected]

According to a Huffington Post article by Joy Resmovits, Ameri-ca’s educational performance has fallen behind international levels.

Resmovits reported that in an exam known as the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), Americans performed well be-low the international average on math, reading and problem solv-ing, lagging far behind top per-formers.

There are many methods that people and agencies have imple-mented to try to halt the decline. According to the National Edu-cation Association (NEA), re-warding teachers and schools that produce students who do well on achievement tests is a popular so-lution. However, I doubt its true effectiveness.

Another approach the NEA has found America implementing

to fix the issue has been to impose more external testing — an ap-proach that I believe lowers aca-demic standards. This method makes schools appear successful, but it fails to help students suc-ceed. If anything, I believe they feel less inclined to put forth ef-fort because they know they can obtain the same grades with less work.

“For years, states around the country dummied-down stan-dards to make it look as if stu-dents were more prepared for success after graduation than they actually were,” Joel Klein said in a New York Post article. “Raising standards will mean we now have a more true measure of how well our students are learning.”

Unfortunately, success seems to be defined by the number of graduates a school spits out, rather than the students’ caliber. According to Amy Weisberg, a teacher and columnist for the Huffington Post, students are

hardly encouraged to excel when the teachers’ only ultimatum is to pass as many as possible. Pupils are rushed through their educa-tion, taught to take standardized tests without truly learning.

“The current focus of educa-tion is on results, as in test results,” Weisberg wrote. “The powers that be have deemed it the sole measurement for students’ suc-cess, and when the scores don’t add up, the finger of blame is pointed squarely at teachers.”

When success is measured in numbers, quality is sacrificed for quantity.

It would be naïve to submit that declining education qual-ity and standards is the root of Americans’ misfortune. But it certainly exacerbates our prob-lems. The issue is not only limited to youth either — adults’ outlook is grim, too.

PIAAC was given to “157,000 adults in 24 countries and re-gions,” Resmovits wrote. “Most

participants took the test at home and could use computers to help with answers.”

“Americans scored 270 in lit-eracy on average, compared with 296 in Japan,” Resmovits wrote. “In numeracy, or math, the U.S. scored 253, below the interna-tional average. The oldest U.S. adults were close to the inter-national average, but American adults in every other age group performed far worse than the world average.”

Addressing the problem is eas-ier than solving it. First, I believe it requires a level of personal re-sponsibility. We should acknowl-edge our individual lethargy and support positive changes within the education system.

Weisberg presented five signifi-cant steps on the path to effective education. Some of the steps in-cluded early education, support and funding for teachers and stu-dents, and parent accountability, according to her article.

I do not fully agree with all of her opinions or ideas for imple-menting her steps, but supporting teachers and students and hold-ing parents accountable seem to be decent places to start.

All things considered, I would argue that the U.S. has a long slog ahead, no matter what corrective path it follows.

BEASTON is anopinion writer.

Sara [email protected]

For those of you praying for our gov-ernment, bruising your knees from count-less hours of repeating Obama’s name to God and hoping for divine intervention, let me write a few more concerns on this prayer list of yours.

As we all know, or should know, the government is currently shut down in-definitely. According to washingtonpost.com, the House and Senate must agree on 12 appropriations bills to fund the fed-eral agencies and set spending priorities. Basically, this year, the men in Congress could not agree, so they shut their doors and went home.

The House attempted to pass a bill that would delay the funding of Obamacare for one year, but anytime Obamacare is threatened to be delayed, the Senate does not pass the bill. In theory, Congress could pass a stopgap budget — continu-ous resolutions — to keep the government funded, but of course they could not agree on what this stopgap would include, so it did not happen.

According to washingtonpost.com, fed-eral workers were divided into excepted and non-excepted groups. Managers at federal agencies determined these ranks. Approximately 800,000 non-excepted federal workers were sent home.

So, who does the government consider essential? Those still working include 1.3 million federal workers, 1.4 million active-military members, 500,000 Postal Service workers and workers within independent-ly funded agencies.

According to nbcnews.com, the shut-down is costing $12.5 million an hour, $300 million a day and $1.6 billion a week. Hey, taxpayers, you foot that bill.

But here is a bit of good news, members of Congress will continue to get paid re-gardless of the shutdown. It is a law.

What really hits home for me is the fact that members of the military are di-rectly affected in multiple ways. With the shutdown, the Veterans Benefits Admin-istration cannot process education and rehabilitation benefits. For the 3.6 million veterans who are awaiting their compen-sation, if the shutdown continues for two or three weeks, veterans might not receive disability claims and pension payments.

Families of five U.S. military men who tragically died did not receive benefits be-cause of the government shutdown. Ac-

cording to cbs.com, death gratuities for service members typically total $100,000, which pays for any funeral bills and travel expenses for families.

“I was irritated at first, since my grand-parents are receiving veteran pay, and they don’t have another source of income due to both of them being retired,” Tay-lor Wright, active duty Marine, said. “An-other thing, some of the guys I’m with aren’t getting as much from veteran affairs for their college classes, and they are do-ing online classes. To those who died and aren’t getting anything, (it) is completely irresponsible on the government’s part.”

The knowledge that families went without pay when they were grieving is infuriating.

When I was a senior in high school, my brother Jacob was involved in a tragic motorcycle accident. I got the call on a rainy Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. By the next morning, my other brother Aaron, who is an active Navy sailor, and his wife were flown from Japan and stood by my side in that stuffy hospital room.

My brother Aaron was on American soil 14 short hours after I initially got the call about the accident. My brother Jacob passed away a week later. Aaron and his wife, Brittney, stayed for a month with us, grieving.

The idea that family members of these five men were not able to be together at such a tragic time is heart wrenching. I cannot imagine being so far from my loved ones during such a time of need. I can honestly say I survived the death of my brother because of God and the support of my family, which always stood by my side.

According to latimes.com, the Fisher House Foundation, a Maryland-based nonprofit, gave the five families the money they needed, with the Department of De-fense promising to pay the Fisher House Foundation back.

The fact that a nonprofit had to pay these funds instead of the Department of Defense is embarrassing for all of America.

“(Those in government) are going behind the backs of the men and women who are defending this country,” sophomore Joshua Hounsell said. “I think that is very wrong, and if something is not done, we will lose the support of our military, honestly.”

The news of the military cutbacks was not received well for those who are serving.

“It is sad to think that all that we do for the military and this country is not put into consideration when they cut funds from my unit and cut certain benefits,” Marine James Turner said. “(It) makes me think sometimes, ‘Why would someone start tak-ing from the ones that protect the U.S.?’”

Obama realized his mistake and signed H.J. Res 91 Oct. 10, which, according to navytimes.com, allowed the government to pay the death gratuities to military families.

Thanks, Obama. All better now? Not quite. Let us look at the other ways the military is affected by the shutdown.

According to militaryfamily.org, along with veterans’ pay, retirement checks could be delayed or reduced in October. Education centers supporting service members and families will be closed. Tuition assistance will not authorize or grant newly added classes, and those tak-ing classes with a lower level of credits will not receive full financial coverage. Military treatment facilities’ hours will be reduced, and workers will be limited for on-base health care. Finally, units

may be required to pay for all travel costs associated with the recall to duty stations.

Drill weekends have also been can-celed for those in the reserves. Accord-ing to military.com, the shutdown has affected the military men and women’s morals and readiness by restricting their test flights and other drills necessary for training.

“I am in charge of three Marines, and when I had to tell them that we were not supposed to show up for (training) duty, the reaction I got from them was not the best,” Turner said. “My Marines love to train, and when they were told there will be no training, they were at a loss of words. They had a hard time swallowing it all via phone call.”

Because Congress cannot agree, we all must pay the consequences, especially the men and women who protected their freedom to disagree. If the men in Con-gress do not stand behind our troops, I would definitely welcome them to stand in front of them.

Liberty Champion/A5OPINIONOCTOBER 15, 2013

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Low education standards cripple U.S.Americans must find a more effective way to combat substandard international averages in education

AbigAil bock | liberty chAmpion

Shutdown affects military familiesThe government’s inability to reach an agreement is hurting the people who most deserve our protection

photo provided

HOME AGAIN — Aaron Warrender is reunited with wife Brittney and son Conner.

“Because Congress cannot agree, we all must pay the consequences.

— SARA WARRENDER


LaHaye encourages wellness Three-part health seminar allows students to learn simple steps for stress prevention from health professionals

Macklyn Mosley | liberty chaMpion

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER — The seminar, entitled “Why Weight: Food for Fitness,” informed students about healthy eating habits.

Marybeth [email protected]

The LaHaye Student Union continued its Health and Well-ness Series committed to keeping the college student’s fear of the “Freshman 15” at bay Wednes-day, Oct. 9.

The three-part series focuses on lifestyle changes that students can make to reduce stress with simple steps to better their health and wellness.

The first edition to the Well-ness Series began this semester, Sept. 11, with a seminar on fit-ness and tailoring a personal program.

“It’s important to have the information and to be aware of wellness and the nutrition that so many students struggle with,” Jamie Swyers, the associate di-rector of fitness at the LaHaye Student Union, said.

Robin Quay, who spoke at the second event of the series Wednesday, is a registered Lib-erty dining dietitian. She has been working for Sodexo for six years and presents students with various ways to get their daily nutrition.

During her seminar “Why Weight: Food for Fitness,” Quay told students why starting healthy eating habits in college is important.

“Fifty percent to 75 percent of health issues in this country are due to dietary issues,” Quay said. “What you do now is going to af-fect what you do later, especially the things that you eat now.”

Quay presented students with three main points and encour-agement with finding healthy food to eat in the Reber-Thomas Dining Hall on campus.

Her first point was to always

plan ahead. According to Quay, a student should plan out meals before eating them. All the meals and menus for Reber-Thomas Dining Hall are posted on liber-tydining.com in advance.

“We do not plan to fail. We fail to plan,” Quay said.

Another point was to eat regu-larly. Quay said eating can actu-ally help with stress if the food eaten is nutritious. She said to stay away from unhealthy carbo-hydrates found in white bread,

pasta, rice and drinks such as so-das, juices or sports drinks. Quay encouraged students to read the labels on protein or nutrition bars, and try to keep the ingre-dients on the label to four or five.

Lastly, Quay mentioned that no one can do it alone.

“You have to rely on God’s power,” Quay said. “Share it with a friend to keep you ac-countable.”

The students were given reci-pes for healthy nutrition bars and

“A Simple Guide to Good Eat-ing,” which states being healthy starts with the definition of car-bohydrates, proteins and fats.

“I did not know how bad protein bars were or how many healthy choices there are to eat on campus,” Rachel Edrington, a communications student who attended the event, said. “I will definitely start reading the labels from now on.”

According to the LaHaye Stu-dent Union, all Liberty faculty,

staff and students are welcome to attend the event where they can expect to learn more about fit-ness, nutrition and wellness each month in the aerobics room. Re-freshments and multiple prizes are also provided for the guests.

The last edition to the series, “T.H.I.N.K. Your Better Way to Better Health,” will be presented by Dr. Annette Florence Nov. 13, according to the Splashpage.

DINGES is a news reporter.

Campus crime rate remains consistentPolice say annual report displays no drastic increase or decrease in prohibited behaviors throughout the yearJoshua [email protected]

Liberty University released its 2013 Campus Crime Report Oct. 1.

The annual crime report, which is compiled by the Liberty University Police Department (LUPD), provides important in-formation on Liberty Univer-sity’s Campus safety and crime statistics. According to Police Chief Col. Richard D. Hinkley, the crime rate has been consis-tent over the years.

“If you look at the stats, it al-ways flows up and down a little bit, but we haven’t seen a huge jump or a huge decline in any-thing else,” Hinkley said. “Even though we have seen a fairly large increase in population over

the last several years, we haven’t seen a huge increase in crime.”

Hinkley said that although the university’s increasing growth of students is a good thing, it has caused a rise in alcohol misdemeanors.

“The one that we see more of-ten than not is the alcohol viola-tions, which is very typical across most campuses,” Hinkley said. “And we’ve seen a jump in that because our population went up. But it was something that, per-centage wise, is probably around the same.”

According to Hinkley, the pro-cedures for assembling the report have been consistent over the years, though more detail tends to get added in the subsequent years.

“Every now and then, the fed-eral government changes what

has to be reported,” Hinkley said. “For instance, in this year’s report and the last two years’ re-ports, there is a very large thing in there which is on fire. What fire suppressant systems are in residence halls? How many fires did you have in residence halls? That information was required, so it just adds more information and more detail to that report.”

One change to the report that Hinkley suspects will be made is the reporting of stolen goods due to numerous people asking about how many property crimes the uni-versity has. Despite this, Hinkley said the persons crimes on Liberty’s campus have been very low.

“Almost all of these (crimes) have something to do with peo-ple,” Hinkley said. “And our persons crimes on this campus

have been very low for a long time because I think we have students here on this campus for a particular reason. The Chris-tian attitude and the values make a big difference.”

According to Hinkley, the crime report serves the primary purpose of meeting federal regu-lations that are specified in one of LUPD’s guidebooks.

“There is just a specific list if you want to compare what (crimes) are out there,” Hinkley said. “We do those particular statistics for the three most re-cent years. In other words, the 2013 report has statistics on the same sets of crimes for 2012, 2011 and 2010.”

Hinkley said compiling the report involved contacting local law enforcement, people within

the university and the Office of Student Conduct.

“We talk to those who are called ‘Campus security authori-ties’ and get their data, compile it all together and put it in one big report,” Hinkley said. “Then we publish not only online and email it to everybody, but we have to report those statistics to the Department of Education. They are the ones responsible to collect that data.”

The report covers the three previous calendar years from Jan. 1 - Dec. 31. Anything adja-cent to Liberty’s property is re-ported to the Lynchburg police, and the Lynchburg police are not involved with the campus crime report.

JANNEY is a news reporter.


Registration deadline approachesAfter 5 p.m. tonight, Virginia residents and students will not be permitted to sign up for voting in the state

Elliot MoshEr| libErty ChaMpion

VOTE — The above voter registration map displays various counties throughout the voting district.

In David Platt’s new book Follow Me, readers learn whether they are truly saved according to biblical standards and discover what it really means to be a Christian.

This eye-opening book is a must read for everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

FollowMeBook.org

Available through bookstores and online retailers.TYNDALE and Tyndale’s quill logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

AWAKEN TO THE CALL


The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 5 Virginia election is today, Oct. 15, ac-cording to the Virginia.gov website.

Virginia.gov states that any-one who would like to vote in the election Nov. 5 must regis-ter before 5 p.m.

The City of Lynchburg, which includes Liberty Uni-versity’s campus, has had 505 new registrants to vote in the months of August and Sep-tember of this year, according to the Virginia.gov website.

Students living on cam-pus who are registered to

vote in the Nov. 5 election will do so at the polls set up in the Vines Center be-tween the hours of 6 a.m. – 7 p.m.

For students who are regis-tered to vote but do not live on campus, they must vote at the designated polling stations de-noted by the map to the right.

Students have been able to register on Liberty’s campus since the beginning of the school year. For those who are still interested in registering to vote, they can register online at vote.virginia.gov.


III - 5

III - 3

III - 2III - 4

II - 4II - 3

II - 2

II - 1

IV - 3 III - 1

IV - 1

IV - 2

I - 1

IV - 4

I - 5I - 2

I - 3

I - 4

Ward III:Lynchburg Public LibraryThe Vines CenterSheffield Elementary SchoolHeritage Elementary SchoolHeritage United Methodist Church

Ward IV: Elks LodgeSandusky Middle SchoolMemorial Christian ChurchLinkhorne Middle School

Ward I: Moose LodgeBedford Hills SchoolFirst Presbyterian ChurchRivermont Presbyte-rian ChurchFirst Christian Church

Ward II:St. Paul’s Episcopal ChurchRobert S. Payne SchoolJubilee Family CenterFairview Christian Church

For more information, visit lynchburgva.org

VOTE


Archives | Liberty chAmpion

REMINISCING — Archives show Dr. Jerry Falwell, Sr. riding a bull, meeting with Ted Kennedy and the drama students performing “Dirty Work at the Crossroads.”

Mark [email protected]

Melissa [email protected]

James [email protected]

More than 2,800 guests will flood Liberty University’s cam-pus for Homecoming weekend Oct. 18 - 19, according to Tyler Falwell, the university’s director of alumni relations.

Alumni and students will have the opportunity to attend mul-tiple events and cheer for the Flames as they take the football field to battle against conference rival Coastal Carolina University in the Homecoming game Oct. 19 at 3:30 p.m.

At 1 p.m., the Homecoming Parade will begin on Evans Bou-levard near Green Hall and trav-el down University Boulevard

before concluding near the circle dormitories.

According to the Alumni Re-lations Web page, in addition to Saturday’s Homecoming Parade and football game, scheduled athletic events include ice hock-ey, soccer, volleyball and field hockey.

The homecoming football game and other athletic events will not be the only activities available to alumni throughout the weekend, according to Fal-well. Several events, such as a carnival and tailgate on the back lawn of the Hancock Welcome Center and a 5k race at Camp Hideaway, will give visitors the opportunity to experience a vari-ety of activities throughout their stay.

“Your athletes have an op-portunity to participate in the race that is taking place at Camp Hideaway that weekend,” Fal-

well said. “Families have carni-vals with tons of rides and prizes. Really, there is something for ev-erybody.”

According to Elizabeth Karr, event supervisor at Student Ac-tivities, she has been pleased with the results of recent Homecom-ing weekends.

“We always receive really posi-tive feedback from students and alumni after our Homecom-ing weekend events,” Karr said. “These events are very popular and provide a great deal of com-munity and school spirit for both current and past students.”

The success of last year’s homecoming is becoming evi-dent in this year’s registration numbers, according to Falwell. In 2012, 800 guests had regis-tered for Homecoming weekend at the beginning of October, but at the same time this year, more than 2,800 visitors had signed up

to attend. Alumna Michelle Goodacre,

of the class of 2012, said she will be one of the many guests at-tending Homecoming 2013.

“I look forward to seeing how Liberty has changed since I graduated,” Goodacre said. “I want to see the progress of the campus, and I look forward to doing this all while being able to meet up with old friends.”

According to Falwell, the goal of his office is to not only show off Liberty throughout the week-end, but develop a deeper rap-port with alumni like Goodacre.

“Everything we do is for rela-tionships and to keep the Liberty experience alive,” Falwell said. “We need the alumni to put a face behind the office, (to have) somebody they know they can reach out to when they have a need or concern, or move to a new location and want to find

a local church that is Liberty-connected, or want to know the alumni in their area.”

Alumni will have the opportu-nity to build a relationship with the Alumni Relations office and reunite with classmates as Liber-ty celebrates Homecoming with more than 20 separate events, according to the Alumni Rela-tions Web page.

For more information on Homecoming or to register for the weekend, visit liberty.edu/alumni/homecoming.

TAIT is the asst. news editor.

SKINNER is a feature reporter.

EBRAHIM is a news reporter.

HOMECOMING

“Gail Emerson, Miss Liberty 1985, waves to

the crowd...— LIBERTY CHAMPION, 1985

“LU strong safety Joe Seamster strips the ball away from Southern Connecticut State’s Bob Bartone

during action in the Homecoming football game.— LIBERTY CHAMPION, 1985

Alumni and students celebrate the past with a parade, football game and more than 20 other campus events

Past


“The Jerry Falwell Library is nearing completion and will

include a robotic book retrieval system.

— LIBERTY CHAMPION, 2013

Ruth BiBBy| LiBeRty Champion

GROWTH — Liberty is the largest evangelical university in the world and continues to expand both in student body and on-campus facilities.

Present

Future

“Students gathered at the bonfire Friday, Oct. 5 to get pumped up for

homecoming weekend... — LIBERTY CHAMPION, 2012


“The works of our hands are only a reflection of the hope that is in our hearts,” Caleb Lee, the owner of East West, a nontra-ditional wedding videography company, said. “It turns out that people are extraordinary, and sharing meaningful stories is effortless.”

After spending two years at Liberty University as a commu-nications major, Lee realized the plan God had put on his heart. He opened East West in 2010 to help tell the stories of couples in a more artistic manner.

“When I was 16, I had the calling to offer my time to make films for an international char-ity, Allow The Children,” Lee said. “It was while in Nepal that God put the desire in me to start a business in which I could tell other meaningful stories. As I looked around the (film) industry, I saw that wedding videography rarely was a craft that couples valued or had a high standard of quality.”

According to Lee, he now re-ceives hundreds of requests to film weddings across the Unit-ed States each year but tries to limit himself to 30 weddings per season.

“To make a film that will re-main meaningful for the decades to come means that I will make an effort to personally know each couple in the months leading up to their event,” Lee said. “After all the Skype video chats and coffee shop conversations, by the wedding day my couples feel like we’re family, and that allows us to capture the intimate moments

that our work is known for.” East West’s work can be seen

on Style Me Pretty, Once Wed, Bravo TV, Wedding Chicks, South Asian Brides and more, according to their website.

“I feel so fortunate that East West has grown at such an out-standing rate since 2010,” Lee said. “Every day, I get new op-portunities to work for unique clients all over the U.S. Much of our growth I owe to blogs … who often showcase our films and spread our work to their 2 million readers.”

Lee currently hires two free-lancers to help him film wed-dings — Liberty sophomore Eli Perdew and former Liberty stu-dent Josh Etheridge.

According to Perdew, he has known Lee since the age of 13 and started helping with the company shortly after it opened. Perdew explained that East West’s tactics for filming wed-dings is differ from other com-panies.

“We look at wedding films very differently than the normal person would look at a wedding film. It is a movie,” Perdew said. “Their day is the story … with the couple and (their) families as the main characters.”

East West wants to capture the beauty of the nature of a wed-ding without the need of perfec-tion, Perdew said.

“We don’t want to take away from their day at all,” Perdew

said. “It is not taking photos. We don’t want anything to look posed. So I guess that is the big-gest goal, to capture the natural beauty of the day that is already there and not have raw footage, but more of a storyline begin-ning to end when you watch it each time.”

Etheridge said he first gained knowledge of filming by work-ing for the Liberty Godparent Home (LGH).

“My film work started with creating short films and captur-ing moments and testimonies at (LGH),” Etheridge said. “I am very grateful for the op-portunities I have had through Liberty University.”

According to Etheridge, after meeting Lee early this year on a cinematography project, he earned the opportunity to be-gin working with East West on a regular basis.

“My favorite part about work-ing for East West is the ability to travel and create with likeminded artists,” Etheridge said. “As God himself is a creator and makes new things everyday, I think he is pleased to see us create wedding films for people to view for the rest of their lives.”

Lee also said he is grateful for his time at Liberty and being able to meet others with a simi-lar mindset.

“I am so thankful for my ex-perience at Liberty University, which allowed me to connect

with other creatives who are not only passionate about their careers but recognize the divine accountability for their work,” Lee said.

According to Lee, who is not sure what the future holds for East West, he puts his full faith in God’s hands.

“I have tried not to set person-al goals that may interfere with the vision God is slowly giving me for my business,” Lee said. “My team and I are excited that

we are getting more opportuni-ties to work for clients who are passionate about telling mean-ingful stories and are allowing us to capture their projects with the same attention to detail that we use for weddings.”

To see the work of East West and for more information, go to eastwestproduction.com or @calebjordanlee on Instagram.



Photo Provided

ARTISTRY — Etheridge and Lee film weddings across the nation.

Les schofer | Marketing

BASKETBALL — Schofer has been capturing the beauty of Liberty’s campus since 1973.

Vines photographed

Filming from one coast to anotherCaleb Lee started East West when he saw there was a need for more creativity in wedding cinematography

Mark Tait [email protected]

The Vines Center has played host to Liberty basketball and volleyball games, as well as many Convocation services and events throughout its 23-year history, according to its Web page.

Les Schofer, Liberty’s senior photographer, has captured many of the happenings in the Vines Cen-ter, and he recently photographed the facility from a different perspective — the top of the dome.

According to Schofer, he used a lift and boom

pole, which is visible on the top of the photo, to climb to approximately 15 feet below the top of the Vines Center roof.

The photo is one of many shots Schofer has captured throughout his time at Liberty. The se-nior photographer has been taking photographs at Liberty since 1973, only two years after the univer-sity was founded. As Liberty’s staff photographer, he has watched the university grow and change through his camera lens.

TAIT is the asst. news editor.

PARKING continued from A1

while the Zip Car spots will be moved to the Green Hall Trans-fer Center.

Martin said more changes are coming to the Reber-Thomas parking lot, as 200 parking spaces will be closed off, and the walkway between Reber-Thomas and the Bailey Lot will be shut down.

Zone 1 parking pass holders should not be greatly affected, according to Martin, even with a reduced number of parking spots.

“I expect to have enough zone 1 parking available for existing zone 1 permit holders on normal class days,” Martin said. “But things will be really tight after 10 a.m. Mondays-Thursdays.”

Martin said when there are a lot of guests, zone 1 parking may become unavailable during the afternoon, and permit hold-ers may need to park elsewhere.

“During heavy visitor days, some zone 1 permit holders may find it necessary to park in Bailey or Doc’s Diner,” Martin said. “I would strongly recom-mend that Doc’s Diner or Lib-erty Mountain Drive parking area be used since the access into and out of Bailey will be limited by the vehicular tunnel project.”

According to Martin, the walking times should be rela-tively similar no matter which parking area mentioned above is chosen.

New parking permit assign-ments for zones one through four have been suspended until after College For a Weekend in November, according to Mar-tin. He said the administra-tion wants to make sure their response to construction and parking changes has been ad-equate before assigning new passes.

The hiatus on issuing of new parking passes has proven dif-ficult for some. Liberty junior Mandy Wine expressed frustra-tion that the only parking per-mit she is allowed to purchase is for the Residential Annex Park & Ride. Wine said she shares a

carpool permit with her room-mate but has wanted to get her own pass so she can drive to school with ease.

Martin said improvements are also planned for making the zone 4 parking lot on East Campus bigger and bringing more transit coverage to the area.

According to Martin, the new residence hall tower being built on Champion’s Circle should not account for a large increase in parking needs, as it is only replacing existing dorm rooms. Even so, Martin said, the new residence hall is next to the East Campus pedestrian tunnel, so students could park with ease in zone 4 if needed.

FRIBERG is a news reporter.

FYI

Zone 1 parking has expanded to remaining parking

spaces in Bailey and into Zone 3.

All new parking permits will be

issued to the Resi-dential Annex Park & Ride permit (A2) or an applicable auxiliary campus permit until further

notice.

Regents Parkway will close between the Sonic entrance

and the tennis facilities, and the

Sonic entrance on Regents Parkway

will also close.

“ The works of our hands are only a reflection of the hope that is in our hearts.

— CALEB LEE

SPORTSOCTOBER 15, 2013 B1

Field Hockey Volleyball Golf M. DII HockeyLiberty App. State

9 1High Point Liberty

3 0Liberty Temple

6 1

W. DII Hockey

M. Soccer vs. PresbyterianOct. 18 @ 6 p.m.

W. Volleyball vs. Charleston Southern Oct. 18 @ 7 p.m.

Field Hockey vs. LongwoodOct. 17 @ 4:30 p.m.

Football vs. Coastal Oct. 19 @3:30 p.m.

M. D1 Hockey vs. Davenport Oct. 18 @ 7 p.m.

WE’LL SEEYOU ATTHEGAME

SRU Liberty

6 1


USE YOUR HEAD — Sam Dunnick (2) heads the ball upfield against Winthrop.

Fall victory

Men’s hockey flips switch

Overtime thriller

Haley [email protected] [email protected]

The Liberty Flames men’s Di-vision I hockey team split a week-end series with the University of Arizona Wildcats at the LaHaye Ice Center, October 11 and 12.

Arizona 5, LU 1Despite outshooting the Wild-

cats, the Flames could not hold off the fellow American Colle-giate Hockey Association (ACHA) top-25 team, conceding the game, 5-1, Friday, Oct. 11.

With the victory, the 19th-ranked Wildcats handed the No. 10 Flames their first defeat of the season.

“It’s definitely tough to lose our first game of the season, but with this loss, we take lessons from the game with us and use them to further develop our skills overall,” Flames freshman forward Charles Williams said.

Halfway through the first pe-riod, Arizona’s Andrew Mrumes scored the Wildcats first goal on

a power play. The Flames quickly responded with a goal from Wil-liams on assists from senior defen-semen Jackson Kuhn and sopho-more forward Bram Erickson.

The Flames fell behind when Arizona’s Ansel Ivens-Anderson managed an assisted goal from Michael Ferreira to finish out the first period with a 2-1 lead. Lib-erty could not seem to gain speed through the neutral zone and struggled to score throughout the rest of the game.

“We definitely needed to tight-en up defensively and move the puck quicker to get a transition on Arizona’s forecheck,” junior defenseman Cam Bakker said. “When we get shots, we need to shoot to score, capitalizing on our opportunities.”

The Wildcats managed to add two additional goals by the end of the second period, giving them a 4-1 advantage going into the third period.

“The team worked to keep a positive energy on the ice, but we struggled because we weren’t get-ting the bounces we needed and came out flat,” Williams said.

Overall, the Flames outshot the Wildcats 38-28, but Arizona goaltender Steven Sisler made 37 saves against the Flames.

LU 5, Arizona 2Less than 24 hours after suffer-

ing its first loss of the season, the

men’s hockey team looked to be doomed to a similar fate Saturday night, allowing Arizona to score a power-play goal to go up 1-0 less than two minutes into the game.

However, from then on, it was

See SWITCH, B2

Courtney [email protected]

“I couldn’t tell you what was running through my mind,” sophomore Tyler Bullock said about scoring the winning goal in the sec-ond overtime. “All I know is I ran straight to the bench, but didn’t have to run far before they all met me on the field, and we celebrated as one.”

The Liberty Flames (5-5, 2-3 Big South) were looking for a win Saturday night against the Winthrop Eagles (7-3-1, 1-2 Big South) to keep their playoff chances alive.

Sophomore Tim Harbison put the Flames on the board in the 38th minute, giving Liberty a 1-0 advantage. Six minutes later, Harbison led the Flames to a 2-0 lead with a corner kick that found its way into the back of the net.

“It always feels good to contribute to the vic-tory by scoring, but I was just so pleased with the fight and determination from everyone on the field,” Harbison said.

Liberty goalkeeper Jeremy Lee held the Ea-gles scoreless until the 78th minute. Winthrop’s Adam Brundle put the Eagles on the board on a penalty kick. Seven minutes later, Pol Sole’ soared one in from the top of the box, tying the game 2-2.

In the final minute of the contest, the Flames had a chance to finish with a corner kick op-portunity. The Eagles kept the Flames from scoring, sending the game into overtime.

The Flames were determined heading into overtime, firing four shots in a 10 minute time frame and did not allow the Eagles a chance to score.

With help from midfielder Tanner Wilcox, Bullock was able to find his way to the goal for the winning score in the 104th minute of the game, giving the Flames a victory golden-goal over the Eagles.

“I felt ready to make a difference in this game, and I knew everyone on this team was

See THRILLER, B5

Derrick [email protected]

A cold, rainy and windy afternoon proved to be a negative factor for both the Liberty Flames and the George Washington Colo-nials lacrosse teams Satur-day, Oct. 12. While the el-ements were against them, the Flames were able to pull out an 11-8 victory due to a second quarter surge.

With 9:49 remaining in the first quarter, Lib-erty scored first with a goal from midfielder Stephan Schnabel. However, the Colonials answered with a goal of their own from attacker Lars Chinburg, tying the game at one. Mo-ments later, Chinburg add-ed his second goal, giving the Colonials the lead.

Although George Wash-ington held possession for most of the first quarter, Chad Moore put another goal in the net for the Flames with 2:31 left.

“When it’s rainy and wet, it always takes ev-erybody some time to see what their stick is doing differently,” Head Coach Kyle McQuillian said. “So for us to adjust and adapt to our surroundings took us a while. We really nev-er got rolling, there was a little (momentum) in the second quarter … but I’m not sure if we completely found our rhythm.

In the second quarter, the Flames were able to string together multiple goals to gain a cushion over the Colonials. Mid-fielder Bryce Mrakovich and attacker Ryan Miller led the barrage, scoring four of the Flames’ five goals that quarter.

Goalie Ethan Kamholtz and the defense were stin-gy, only allowing one goal in the quarter. They also neutralized Chinburg for the rest of the game.

“Kamholtz was the best addition we had last year,” McQuillian said. “I think he is going to continue to be that for us. I think peo-ple underestimate having a strong goalie … We are go-ing to rely (on him) a great deal this season, especially since our transition to Di-vision I (DI).”

By halftime, Liberty held a 7-3 lead, but the Colonials fought back. In the third quarter the Colo-nials scored three goals, in-cluding two from attacker Charles Frattini.

See FALL, B5


BIG HITS — Liberty rebounded to thrash Arizona in game two.

4th place inRod Myers Invite

Lacrosse sets the Colonials on fire

Tom [email protected]

Ever since he was a five-year-old boy, Mike Brown always dreamed of play-ing in the NFL. Brown’s dream became a reality when he signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars May 7, 2012.

Despite making it into the NFL, Brown de-scribed his journey as a wild scenario that he has been able to take advan-tage of thanks to former Liberty recruiting coordi-nator and wide receiver coach Charlie Skalaski and former teammate Ra-shad Jennings.

Jennings, who was a run-ning back for Liberty from 2007-2009, has been in the NFL since 2009 and was teammates with Brown for one season.

“(Jennings) going through what he went through and playing in the NFL and coming back in the offseason helped prepare me what to expect and what to prepare for,” Brown said. “So I’m very thankful to have him put me through that process.”

Despite not being draft-ed, Brown received a train-ing camp invitation from the Jacksonville Jaguars as a wide receiver, which opened up the opportunity for which he had always been looking.

Although he was a Wal-ter Payton Award candi-date at quarterback for Liberty his junior and se-nior seasons, Brown most-ly played wide receiver his freshman and sophomore seasons, and the experi-ence at both positions has helped his transition into the NFL.

“(Getting) that experi-ence at quarterback al-lowed me to know … how certain things ran (and) just helped me better un-derstand what it was like from the other side when it was time for me to go to receiver.”

After impressing the Jag-uars, Brown signed with the team as a free agent and managed to make the team’s practice squad dur-ing the 2012 season.

Brown made his debut for the Jaguars Aug. 10,

2012 against the defend-ing Super Bowl champion New York Giants in a pre-season game.

“That was the first time it really hit me,” Brown said. “I was out there, and you look across the field in warm-ups, and you’re like ‘Oh, that’s Eli Man-ning. That’s Victor Cruz,’ and you see all those big-time guys you sit down and watch on TV growing up.”

Despite being slightly starstruck initially, Brown is embracing the chance to play across the field from star players.

“It is definitely a bless-ing to be here, but at the same time, you have to remember that you are here for a reason as well,” Brown said. “It’s very ex-citing to have this blessing and opportunity to be able to compete (against) those guys and those type of guys that you kind of look up to and learn from.”

Despite playing in the preseason, Brown was on the practice squad for the team’s first 14 games, but was finally called up to the 53-man roster and made his NFL debut against the New England Patriots Dec. 23, 2012.

Although hindered by injuries early during the 2013 season, Brown man-aged his first career catch Sept. 8, 2013 against the Kansas City Chiefs.

“When you have pre-season games, you have some catches, you have some success and, you know, you kind of car-ry that same mindset,” Brown said. “But to finally get a catch in a regular sea-son is exciting, something I was really happy about. I’m looking forward to get-ting out there and keep on getting better.”

Brown recorded a ca-reer-high four catches for 49 yards versus the Denver Broncos Oct. 13.

Although Brown is busy in the NFL, he still takes time out to follow the foot-ball program at Liberty and is excited about the direction of the team.

“I think (Head) Coach (Turner) Gill is doing a really good job there,” Brown said. “We lost a lot of guys from the year that

I graduated ... They ended up a little shaky last year, but they ended up com-ing on late in the year and getting another confer-ence championship … so I think it’s very exciting to follow. It’s my first time being been able to follow Liberty as a fan, so it’s good. I miss (playing for Liberty), but it’s definitely very exciting.”

Brown credited the coaching staff at Liberty for much of his on-field success.

“I think our coaches did a good job overall, just with the way they ran the program,” Brown said. “Everything was set up like a professional program. (Former Head) Coach (Danny) Rocco did a good job with that. His schedule is very similar to the way the schedule here is now. It’s very organized.”

Like any player, Brown has long-term goals, but for him, the short-term goals are the ones that help him to fulfill even bigger dreams.

“(I) take it one day at a time,” Brown said. “I’m not too big on long-term goals. Obviously, yeah, you have long-term goals, but I’m more of a short-term type of guy, I just focus on the next day and what I can do tomorrow to get better from what I did today. So I think if I focus on it that way, what you want in the long run

will definitely come.”Brown may have ful-

filled his dream of playing in the NFL, but for him, this is only the beginning of the dreams he had as a

five-year old boy.“(I)’ve come a long, long

ways,” Brown said. “But you know, the way I see it, I still have a long ways to go.”

FOOTE is the asst. sports editor.

SPORTS Liberty Champion/B2OCTOBER 15, 2013

Striving for greatness at next levelFormer Flames QB and Walter Payton Award candidate plays wide receiver for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars

SWITCH continued from B1

all Liberty. The Flames won the contest in a resounding 5-2 vic-tory. The Flames counted on balanced scoring, as five differ-ent players contributed with five goals. Lindsey LeBlanc and Ca-leb Grow led the team with two assists each.

After a one-sided start, the course of the game was reversed when team captain McCombe

buried a shot from a LeBlanc pass to tie the game at 1-1.

“As a captain, you want to lead by example,” McCombe said. “It’s nice when you can go out there and put one in and get the guys going. It was a great play by LeBlanc.”

Arizona allowed Liberty to take the lead at the 15:11 mark in the second period, as Erick-son sneaked a backhander past Wildcats goalie Sisler. Later in the second, assistant captain

Kuhn took a pass from LeBlanc and put it past Sisler to give the Flames a 3-1 advantage.

The Wildcats scared the Flames early in the third as Murmes notched his second power-play goal of the game just a minute into the period. Only 20 seconds later, the Wildcats had a five-on-three power-play when Flames goalie Blair Ben-nett cleared a pass over the glass.

The Wildcats could not con-vert on a 1:40 two-man advan-

tage, missing a chance to capital-ize on an exposed net. Bennett also made several gritty saves, turning away 26 of 28 shots in the game.

“(Bennett) kept us in the game. He’s been strong for us for three years, so it was nice to see him play so well,” Flames Head Coach Kirk Handy said.

The Flames gave themselves some breathing room with 13:32 to go in the period on a power-play goal. Ryley Egan took a cen-

tering pass from forward Robert Ward and zipped it into the back of the net. Williams sealed the game with just under four min-utes left, scoring a goal to give the Flames a 5-2 win.

The Flames will host the 12th-ranked Davenport Panthers Oct. 18 and 19 and will travel to Tuc-son, Arizona for a rematch with the Wildcats later this season.

JONES and TICHENOR are sports reporters.

Photo Provided | rick Wilson/Jacksonville Jaguars

IN STRIDE — (Top) Brown runs a route versus the Philadelphia Eagles in a pre-season game earlier this year. (Bottom) Brown made his first NFL catch versus the Kansas City Chiefs September 8, 2013.


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Big South open for takingJonathan [email protected]

As Liberty heads into Home-coming 2013 weekend, the football team begins prepara-tion for the much-anticipated showdown against their rival, the No. 6 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

Saturday’s matchup against Coastal Carolina will begin a four-week stretch of Big South conference games. The stretch will be followed by a noncon-ference game. The Flames will conclude with their regular season with the fifth and final conference game.

The Flames defense has been strong during the first six games of the season. Cur-rently, Liberty’s defense is ranked No. 6 in the nation, giving up only 16.7 points per game. Defensive back Kevin Fogg is currently 11th in the

Football Championship Subdi-vision with three interceptions, while fellow defensive back Walt Aikens and linebacker Scott Hyland lead the Flames in tackles.

Offensively, running back Desmond Rice has had a posi-tive impact in the backfield, and Liberty has also received help from wide receiver Darrin Peterson. Rice leads Liberty with 401 yards on the ground and six touchdowns in six games. Peterson leads the team in receiving yards with 401. Peterson has also notched four touchdowns and two 100-yard receiving games.

Coastal Carolina enters this Saturday’s game undefeated at 6-0 (1-0 Big South). They are coming off a strong 42-7 vic-tory against Gardner-Webb. The Chanticleers are led by running back Lorenzo Talia-ferro, who is fifth in the nation

in rushing with 835 yards and third in touchdowns, reaching the end zone 13 times.

Liberty, currently sitting at 3-3, has the advantage of coming off a bye week, which granted the Flames extra prep-aration for Saturday’s game. Since 2003, the two teams have split their 10 games with five wins apiece.

After Saturday’s game against the Chanticleers, the Flames will travel to Boiling Springs, N.C. to face Gardner-Webb. Gardner-Webb stands at 4-3 (0-1 Big South), com-ing off a loss to Coastal Caro-lina. After the Gardner-Webb game, the next matchup for the Flames will be against Virginia Military Institute (VMI). VMI is 1-5 (0-1 Big South), and com-ing off a streak of four straight losses. A matchup with the Presbyterian Blue Hose 1-4, (0-0, Big South) will follow the

VMI game.After Presbyterian, Liberty

has its final nonconference game of the season against Brevard (2-4). The game will be the Flames third straight and final home game of the season. Liberty’s final Big South game will come against the Buccaneers. Charleston Southern is currently unde-feated at 7-0 (1-0 Big South). The matchup between Liber-ty and Charleston Southern will be an exciting conclusion to the Flames season.

According to liberty.edu/flames, tickets for reserved and premium seating are sold out, leaving only general ad-mission.

HUSKER is a sports reporter.

LIBERTY FOOTBALL C O N F E R E N C E S C H E D U L E

Liberty vs. Coastal Carolina

Liberty vs. Gardner-Webb

Liberty vs. VMI

Liberty vs. Presbyterian

Liberty vs. Charleston Southern

Oct. 19 3:30 p.m.

1:30 p.m.

3:30 p.m.

3:30 p.m.

11:00 a.m.

Oct. 26

Nov. 6

Nov. 9

Nov. 23

Emily [email protected]

With Liberty in pursuit of an invita-tion to join a Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference, the Flames will play several highly ranked FBS opponents in the coming years.

The Flames football team is currently a Football Championship Subdivision program and is hoping to graduate to FBS play in the next few years, accord-ing to Athletic Director Jeff Barber.

Liberty will continue the tradition of opening its season against FBS foes in 2014. After falling in three consecutive years against N.C. State in 2011, Wake Forest in 2012 and Kent State in 2013, the Flames hope to reverse their streak in 2014 as they take on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Barber said the game will give Lib-erty “an opportunity to compete at the highest level.”

In 2015 and 2016, the Flames will take on additional FBS opponents. Ac-cording to the fall 2012 edition of the Liberty Journal, the Flames football team will play West Virginia, which is in the Big 12 Conference, in 2015. The Flames will battle another Big 12 team, the Baylor Bears, in 2016, according to fbsschedules.com.

Also in 2016, the Flames will head to Blacksburg, Va., to play the Virginia Tech Hokies for their first game in his-tory against an FBS opponent from the same state, according to the Liberty Journal.

For more information about the Flames football program, visit liberty.edu/flames.

BROWN is a copy editor.

Football schedules FBS foes

The Flames hope to win their second straight conference championship this year

Greg [email protected]

The Liberty Flames baseball team stayed busy during the summer of 2013. After winning the Big South Conference Tournament in May and finishing sec-ond in an NCAA regional, Flames play-ers spread out throughout the country to keep playing and improve their skills, but three members of the team had bigger plans for their summer.

Josh Richardson, Trey Wimmer and Ryan Cordell all packed their bags and headed off to start their professional ca-reers within days of being selected by the San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers respectively in the June Major League Baseball Draft.

After completing short workouts in Ari-zona, Wimmer, Cordell and Richardson were assigned to separate Rookie League teams where they competed against play-ers with similar levels of experience. Wim-mer shared playing time behind the plate in Montana with the Great Falls Voyag-ers, while Richardson spent most of his time pitching in Oregon for the Eugene Emeralds before earning a promotion to the Padres’ low-A level affiliate, the Fort Worth Tin Caps.

“It was great,” Richardson said of his August promotion. “I was definitely blessed with what I was able to accom-plish in that rookie season. I got to play against Cordell, John Niggli and Ian Par-mley, former teammates at Liberty. It was cool to see them in (professional) ball as well and play against them.”

According to Wimmer, being drafted had been a dream of his from an early age.

“When I started playing at four years old, my dad says I wanted to play profes-sional baseball,” Wimmer said. “Obvi-ously I knew there were 32 teams. I just wanted to play for one of them.”

Richardson’s path to professional base-ball was much more indirect. According to him, he always envisioned himself play-ing shortstop, but after some help from the coaching staff at Liberty, he found his home on the mound.

Richardson said his transition into pro-fessional baseball did require a few adjust-ments, and it only took one hitter for him to discover a necessary change.

“The seams are a little bit lower than the NCAA balls, so it just got away from me, and I hit him right in the ribs,” Rich-ardson said. “It kind of flustered me a lit-tle bit. I was like, ‘There’s no way I started my pro career by hitting somebody right here.’”

Richardson soon showed his ability to get hitters out with the different seams, but he and Wimmer both found a lot more differences between college and the minor leagues than just the ball.

“Obviously in Division I baseball you have a lot of great pitchers, but in the draft, they just take the best of those,” Wimmer said. “So it’s kind of like seeing a Friday night guy every day.”

According to Wimmer, a longer sched-ule and frequent bus rides — the longest of which was 16 hours — required more energy than normal. In the midst of his hectic first season, Wimmer also found the time to go home and get married.

“The White Sox were nice enough to give me five days off,” Wimmer said. “So I flew out on Friday, and I came back on a Tuesday.”

Fortunately, Wimmer said the Voyag-ers catchers shared equal playing time throughout the year, allowing him to only miss out on one potential game behind the plate.

Both Richardson and Wimmer will report to Padres and White Sox Spring Training in early 2014. Although they will not find out their assignments for next year until March, Wimmer hopes to advance to the low-A level Kannapolis Intimidators or the high-A level Winston-Salem Dash. Richardson said he expects to spend next season at low-A level Fort Worth or at high-A level Lake Elsinore Storm.

For now, the two will spend the offsea-son living and working out in Lynchburg while they prepare for their second full season of chasing their dream — to some-day play Major League Baseball.

LEASURE is the editor in chief.


Making progress in minor leagues

Photo Provided

FIELD OF DREAMS — Wimmer played in the White Sox farm system.

After being drafted, a trio of former Flames continue their journey toward the pinnacle of the sport, the MLB

Photo Provided

DEALING — Richardson received a promotion after spending the year in Oregon.

FALL continued from B1The Flames were able to put one goal on the board and held a slim 8-6 lead heading into the fourth.

Liberty capital-ized on penalties and miscues from the Colonials. With 6:22 left in the game, the Flames pushed their mar-gin to three goals when they scored with a man advan-tage. Three minutes later, attacker Kurt Tobias put another goal through the net after Mrakovich slashed through the defense and found Tobias open five

yards away from the goalbox.

(T)his is the first time we could do anything this sea-son,” McQuillan said. “It shows us a lot that we need to work on once we get to the spring. It is always a success when you come away with a victory.”

The Flames and Colonials are newly formed conference foes since Liberty moved up to DI in the South Eastern Lacrosse Confer-ence. They will play each other again April 5, 2014.

BATTLE is the sports editor.

Tory [email protected]

The Lady Flames women’s soccer team came out of bad weather with a 2-0 win Saturday, Oct. 12, thanks to two goals scored by Rebecca Smith and Crystal Elmers.

Liberty (9-4-1, 4-1-1 Big South) took on the High Point Lady Panthers (5-8, 3-3 Big South), a Big South opponent, in the game, marking the halfway point in Liberty’s 2013 conference schedule. The game was plagued by rain, particularly in the late minutes of the game when even seeing across the field was a challenge. Nevertheless, Liberty found a way to score goals and play tough defense.

With 1:45 left to play in the first half, Smith received the ball approximately 30 yards out from the goal and struck a laser at High Point goalie Jesse May. The ball hit perfectly off the crossbar and bounced into the goal for a 1-0 Liberty lead.

The second goal came at 70:18, when Elmers took the ball on the right side of the field. With no defenders in front of

her, Elmers lined a shot from 25 yards out that hit off the left cross bar and rico-cheted into the net. The goal was assisted by Erika Troutman and Geena Swentik. Both Elmers’ goal and Smith’s goal came from good teamwork.

“I thought both goals were opportu-nistic,” Head Coach Jessica Hain said. “I think that our girls were looking to shoot, and one of them was actually against the wind (in the first half) … it was just a great looking goal,” Hain said.

Liberty controlled the second half, quickly clearing balls and not allowing any breathing room for High Point on corner kicks. Additionally, Liberty made the most of offensive opptunities. High Point did not give Liberty many clean looks, yet the Lady Flames still found a way to put the ball in the net.

Liberty goalkeeper Holly Van Noord also had a game to remember. According to liberty.edu/flames, Van Noord record-ed a conference-leading ninth shutout of the season. Van Noord also matched a Liberty record, tying Karen Blocker (2012) and Natalie Mayer (2001) for the

single-season shutout record.Despite all the positives for the Lady

Flames, sophomore defender Alex Mack left the game with an injury 10 minutes into the second half. Hain was uncertain about the status of Mack’s injury but is certain that her absence will be felt.

Liberty will continue conference play

with a home game against Virginia Mili-tary Institute Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. Liberty’s five remaining games in the regular season are all conference games.

ABRAHEMSEN is a sports reporter.


All-around contribution leads to winCourtney russo| Liberty Champion

SLICE AND DICE — Sophomore midfielder Brittany Aanderud dribbles the ball between two High Point defenders Saturday afternoon.

Swim team eyes ‘Ring before spring’

THRILLER continued from B1

ready to go out (and) score some goals and get the W,” Bullock said.

Liberty outshot Winthrop, 23-14. Lee recorded seven saves on the match to Winthrop’s nine.

“This win means a lot to me and the team, because now we have kept our hopes alive in the Big South,” Har-bison said. “I have always had faith in our group. I just feel like we have got-ten caught at some crucial moments in games. So it meant so much to win a

game like that with so much on the line.”

Liberty will take on the Howard Bi-son on Tuesday, Oct. 15 in hopes of keep-ing their winning streak alive.

“A former player from Liberty spoke to us before the game about how playing for God number one, playing for family (the team) number two and playing for Liberty University third will bring you success,” Bullock said. “And I think we proved that today.”

TYREE is a sports reporter.

Liberty rebounds from a Radford loss to defeat High Point 2-0, earning their fourth Big South victory

Jacob [email protected]

Liberty’s women’s swimming and diving team has high ex-pectations for its upcoming sea-son after placing second in the Coastal Collegiate Swimming Association the previous two years.

In only the fourth season of Liberty’s swimming and div-ing program, Head Coach Jake Shellenberger has assembled a team with many members from a 2012 team that ended the sea-son ranked 37th in the nation.

“I don’t have goals for the team,” Shellenberger said, ex-plaining his coaching philoso-phy. “(This) is good in a coaching sense because they make up the goals on their own. If a coach

says, ‘OK, here’s the goal — win a conference title,’ that’s a coach’s goal, but it doesn’t come from the team.”

Shellenberger explained the benefit of this coaching method.

“If it’s (the coaching staff ’s) goal for them, they don’t own it,” Shellenberger said. “But if it is their goal … we can hold them accountable, and we can say, when training gets tough or when they are hurting and tired, ‘Remember your goals. You said to us you want to do this.’”

According to Cori Gary, a ju-nior team captain, the team has a unified goal.

“We want first this year,” Gary said. “We finally have seniors on the team. We want to get them a ring, because if you win the con-ference, you get a ring. So that’s

our thing — ring before spring.” Liberty will face a challenging

schedule this year as they take on teams from the Big 10, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Southeastern Conference.

“The Big 10 is the fastest swim-ming conference in the country,” Shellenberger said. “So any time you are racing against Big 10 competition, you know that you should be in some good meets.”

In order to build up the swim-ming program, the team brought its first diver, Courtney Fox, in during the offseason.

“It’s a very interesting situa-tion,” Shellenberger said. “We rent board time from University of Virginia (UVA), and she goes up there on the weekends and dives. So no coach, no boards, but we have diving.”

In addition to Fox, Shellen-berger is excited to see how other transfers and freshman swim-mers can help the team.

The Lady Flames opened their season at the Virginia Tech Swimming Challenge where they defeated the Radford High-landers 267-81 and the James Madison Dukes 197.5-157.5. However, Liberty came up short against ACC opponents the Vir-ginia Tech Hokies 228.5-115.5 and the North Carolina Tar Heels 262-87.

Senior Emile Kaufman had an impressive day in the pool, highlighted by a first-place finish. Kaufman won the 50-yad breast-stroke with a time of 28.49. She placed second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:17.41) and third in the 50-yard butterfly (25.26).

Liberty’s team of Kaufman, sophomores Kendall Hough and Jess Reinhardt and junior Meghan Babcock also finished first in the 200-yard medley re-lay.

Reindhardt placed first in the 50-yard butterfly with a time of 25.12 as well.

Liberty will travel to East Lansing, Mich., to face Michi-gan State and Illinois Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. The Lady Flames only home meet is against Vanderbilt Nov. 8 at 5 p.m.

TELLERS is a sports reporter.

Courtney russo| Liberty Champion

IN THE ELEMENTS — Forward Julia Delagatti advances the ball upfield.

ruth bibby | Liberty Champion

LOCKED IN — A Liberty player winds up for a shot.

Greg [email protected]

Liberty University graduate Samantha Ponder wasted no time in climbing the ranks of the sports broadcasting world.

After reporting for the Flames Sports Network (now the Liberty Flames Sports Network) during her senior year of col-lege in 2009, Samantha Ponder worked at the Longhorn Network and Fox Sports before starting her current job at ESPN, where she is most known for being a part of the popular Saturday morning show, “College GameDay.”

“There’s really nothing like ‘College GameDay,’” Samantha Ponder said. “It’s one of those things where it had been de-scribed to me before I ever did it, but un-til you get out there and you just see the crowd and the insanity that’s there at four in the morning, it’s just something special.”

In addition to “College GameDay” Sat-urday, Samantha Ponder said her weekly schedule includes feature stories early in the week, reporting at a game Thursday and “College Football Live” Friday. When the college football season ends, she will take the court as a basketball reporter for ESPN’s coverage of college basketball and later the NBA Playoffs.

“I’m usually on a plane six to eight times a week, so you definitely get your frequent flier miles up, but it comes with the gig,” Samantha Ponder said. “If there is a nega-tive, the travel would probably be it, but it’s certainly not worth complaining about.”

According to Samantha Ponder, sleep can be hard to come by, but her passion for sports and the people she meets along the way make it all worthwhile.

“I think what’s fun about this job are just the people you get to meet, and that’s not just your Urban Meyer and your LeB-ron James type people,” Samantha Pon-der said. “It’s more the regular people that you meet at the sites. We have such a cool crew for ‘College GameDay’ … It’s kind of developed into a family, and when you spend that much time on the road, you need that.”

Samantha Ponder said that her faith in God, much of which she credits to her parents’ guidance, has also helped

her shrug off the constant pressure that comes along with working in such a com-petitive industry.

“It takes away the worry that I think is so prevalent in this industry, that constant paranoia that people aren’t going to like you, or what are people going to say on Twitter or online?” Samantha Ponder said. “I have lucked out that I’ve gotten to work with some people who share my faith, right now on ‘College GameDay’ working with a guy like David Pollack who loves the Lord and loves his family can be an encouragement to me.”

Despite only graduating four years ago, Samantha Ponder replaced popular sideline reporter Erin Andrews last year on “College GameDay.”

“I don’t think I have some sort of for-mula that makes you successful in this in-dustry,” Samantha Ponder said. “I know one thing for sure, and that’s this: if you treat people right along the way when you’re an intern and when you feel like you’re not doing anything important, that will make a difference in the long term.”

According to Bruce Carey, the senior

producer for the Liberty Flames Sports Network who worked closely with the re-porter at Liberty, Samantha Ponder’s suc-cess on and off the camera can be traced back to her ability to create good relation-ships with the people around her.

“The thing about (Samantha Ponder) was the fact that she could relate to any-body, whether you were a college student, a coach or a player, whoever you were,” Carey said. “Instantly, she had the ability to figure out what made you comfortable. That’s really unusual.”

Samantha Ponder, originally a Phoenix native, interned for ABC Sports in New York City for three years before coming to Liberty. According to Carey, the two met before football season began, and Saman-tha Ponder wanted an opportunity to do sideline reporting.

“After talking with her for a while, I re-alized she had kind of the trifecta,” Carey said. “She had the looks, the personality and the sports background. She had ev-erything that I was looking for, but she was basically untried. So I put her on the sidelines for our first football game that

year, and she just hit a home run.”As if Samantha Ponder, formerly Sa-

mantha Steele, did not have enough football in her life, she married Christian Ponder, an NFL quarterback for the Min-nesota Vikings, in December of 2012.

Samantha Ponder did admit that her career has progressed faster than she ex-pected it to, but she attributes all of her success to God.

“I think the cool thing about that as a believer was to see that that’s no big deal for him,” Sam Ponder said. “He made the moon and the stars. Getting a 22 year old or 23 year old a job that she thinks is cool is no big deal for him.”

Despite all of Ponder’s recent advances in the professional realm, she said she feels content with where she stands.

“I have learned in my brief adult life that the more I plan, the more things go wrong,” Sam Ponder said. “So, right now, I’m just trying to appreciate the opportu-nities that I have and be grateful for that.”


FEATURE Liberty Champion/B6OCTOBER 15, 2013

Alumna excels as ESPN sportscaster

Photo Provided | Allen Kee/eSPn imAgeS

ON CAMERA — Ponder hosts “College Football Live” at Clemson with David Pollack (middle) and Desmond Howard (right).

Since graduating in 2009, Samantha Ponder has gained national fame while reporting on college sports

RE-ELECT RON GILLISPIE FOR SHERIFF

Employees and Auxiliary

CAST YOUR VOTE ON NOVEMBER 5

endorse Sheriff Ron Gillispie’s re-election for Sheriff of Lynchburg.

Ron’s extensive experience, integrity, leadership, faith and commitment

for Sheriff of Lynchburg.

EXPERIENCE MATTERS!

Thank you for your support and vote. rongillispieforsheriff.com

Donald T. Sloan

Scott Gillispie

Gene Wade

Mark Lacy

Timothy White

Margaret Rogers

Wilfred Dorsett

Larry White

Gregory T. Berry

Keith Sandridge

Jennifer Jones

Arthur Pedigo

Shad Hudson

Cody McCulloch

Todd Hunley

William Lee

Marvin Jones

Robert Perrigan

Beverly Rice

Danielle Cook

Tyrone Watson

Karla Wooldridge

Rick Hughes

Grant Viar

Mark Wood

Danny Pugh

Sam Guthrie

William Hutcherson

James Crawley

William Brown

Ray Lacy

Gordon Taylor

Ralph Smith

Tim Hooper

Tommy Carter

Larry Bachman

Paul Royal

Mike Thomas

Yvonne Davies

William Stevenson

Wayne Duff

Andy Vest

Mike Staley

Mary Jennings


Come celebrate The Liberty Champion’s 30th anniversary at Homecoming!

Open House Friday, Oct. 18 from 1-4 p.m.

in the Champion O�ce

Tailgate Saturday, Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

before the football game

Register online with the Liberty University Alumni Association at:

www.liberty.edu/alumni

Clubhouse reopens with new nameGreg [email protected]

Liberty University cut the rib-bon on the newly renovated East Campus Clubhouse, which was renamed David’s Place, Friday, Oct.12.

According to the David’s Place Web page, it now includes a Jam-ba Juice restaurant, a game room featuring five gaming stations equipped with 46-inch televisions and PlayStation 3 consoles, a 24-seat movie theatre, new heat-ing systems for the outdoor pool and heaters for the deck area. In addition to the new features, the facility also includes multiple tele-visions, seating areas and billiards tables for students to use.

Freshmen Ashley Locklear and Bethany Thomas had never been to the new David’s Place before it was renamed, but said they enjoyed the opening night by taking advantage of the new Jamba Juice.

“I think it’s really nice that there are a lot of places for us to go so (that) we’re not all crowd-ed in one place,” Locklear said. “It’s just nice to have a variety so we’re not eating (at) the same place every day.”

Liberty President Jerry Falwell, Jr. said that when the old David’s Place building near the Bailey parking lot was torn down to make room for the Liberty Base-ball Stadium last year, his wife, Becki Falwell, had the idea to have the East Campus Clubhouse take on the David’s Place name.

Before cutting the ribbon and allowing students to explore the updated facility, Falwell took a few minutes to explain the sig-nificance of David’s Place.

Falwell said that David DeM-oss attended Liberty in the 1980s before he was killed in a car ac-cident during his senior year in 1986, but his outgoing person-ality and love for those around

him influenced many people. For that reason, the old David’s Place building, which was origi-nally a student hangout spot, was named after him following its construction in 1986.

“David (DeMoss) was always fun to be around, and his life was loving Jesus and loving peo-ple,” Deborah DeMoss Fonseca said. “And it just showed in ev-

erything he did.” Fonseca and David DeMoss

are two of seven children of Arthur S. DeMoss, for whom the university’s main academic building is named.

A wall near the entrance of David’s Place now features notes written by people whose lives were influenced by David DeMoss, including the resident

assistant on his dorm, Liberty graduate and frequent Convoca-tion speaker Vernon Brewer and people he worked with at the Billy Graham Evangelistic As-sociation.

“(David DeMoss) was on the tennis team here at Liberty,” Fonseca said. “Two or three guys wrote from the tennis team, and they said he was a great tennis player. But what really stood out was what a profound love he had for the Lord and how he wanted to make sure that other people knew the Lord too.”

Fonseca said she heard stories of her brother’s constant focus on the needs of other people. When he attended Liberty, the dress code required male stu-

dents to wear ties to class, and according to Fonseca, David De-Moss felt bad that some of his friends did not have enough ties. Every so often, he would buy a box full of ties and hand them out to some of his friends.

Fonseca said she hopes that students will be reminded by the David’s Place name of the importance of being focused on eternity and building relation-ships with God and other people.



GOOD AS NEW — David’s Place, formerly the East Campus Clubhouse, features entertainment and a Jamba Juice.

“David was always fun to be around, and his life was loving

Jesus and loving people.— DEBORAH DEMOSS FONSECA

FREEDOM continued from B10

Every year, runners are en-couraged by Freedom 4/24 staff members to have a sex-trafficking victim’s name writ-ten on their arms as inspiration during the race.

Many runners ran with Hunt’s name written on their arms in last year’s Run for Their Lives race. According to Hunt, the gesture gave her hope.

“Last year, I cried the whole time,” Hunt said. “I was hon-ored and speechless.”

Liberty University student Emily Becker ran her first 5k to help fight human trafficking alongside friends.

“I thought the race was good and how I expected it to be,” Becker said. “It was easy with encouragement from friends.”

The Run for Their Lives race allows all different kinds of people to participate in the run, whether they are devoted ath-letes who have been training for been training for the race or not.

According to Becker, other than running a few times, she did not train intensely for the race, but she was still able to run for half of the race.

In the end, the race is fo-cused much more on the cause to end human trafficking and to save women and children than on winners or times.

“The work of Freedom 4/24, the freedom that we are able to bring to countless women and children around the world is di-rectly related to the size and suc-cess of our Run for Their Lives events,” Spaulding said. “The registration fees and additional donations received are the life-

blood of the work we do.” According to the Freedom

4/24 website, Jacob Booth, 15, finished first in the 5k in a field that included 1,028 runners.

For more information about

Freedom 4/24’s Run for Their Lives race or about the organi-zation, visit freedom424.org.

BUNNER is a feature reporter.

Katey [email protected]

The Office of Military Affairs wel-comed Liberty University and the sur-rounding community’s military members and their families to its Military Fam-ily Fun Day Saturday, Oct. 12 at Liberty Mountain Snowflex Centre.

Despite the clouds and the rain, fathers, mothers and children, as well as active duty, reserve and retired military mem-bers came to enjoy free ski and snowboard rentals, tubing and a barbeque lunch ca-tered by Sodexo.

“The event has gone so well,” Ashley Eskridge, Military Affairs outreach coor-dinator, said. “In spite of all of the rain, I’m impressed with how many people showed up.”

Children of all ages screamed and laughed as they rode down the hill on in-ner tubes. Even the struggle to stay upright while sliding down Snowflex’s slippery turf failed to erase the grins from their faces.

“I think it’s so nice that (Liberty) is do-ing this,” Alissa Sarate, a military wife who traveled from Florida to visit her husband in the Fort Lee area, said. “It’s always encouraging to get a lot of mili-tary families together, especially with all the events happening with the govern-ment shutdown. Sometimes it’s easy to feel alone, but events like this are great for bringing people together.”

Inside the lodge, people enjoyed stay-ing warm and dry while eating pulled pork sandwiches, hot dogs and other picnic foods. Outside, most activity circulated around the bunny hill — a foreboding mountain to kids under three feet tall. Between the sweat and the rain, their clothes were soaked and their hair dripped into their face.

“We were expecting to get wet, just … not so soaked,” James Kelley, U.S. Air Force veteran, said. “It was a good oppor-tunity to get (the kids) out here and see if they actually like skiing or snowboarding.”

Snowflex held the first family fun day in 2011. In the first year, about 200 guests at-tended the event each semester. This year, the rain did its best to keep people away, but past attendees knew it would be worth it to come again.

“Even with the rain, it’s been a great day so far,” Heather Harris, who has at-

tended several previous Military Family Fun Days, said. “Everything that is done is always first class.”

The event gave military members a safe place to allow their kids to play and the unique opportunity to connect with other military families.

“I find this to be a positive influence for the kids,” Kelley said. “Hopefully, one day we’ll have them come here to Liberty.”

If Kelley’s kids do come to Liberty, Mil-itary Affairs will be there to assist them.

Eskridge said that all the Military Affairs workers have a great heart for serving mili-tary students, both residential and online.

“We love to honor the military because of the sacrifices they make every day,” Es-kridge said. “We are also very supportive of the military families, because while the men and women are deployed, the spous-es are the ones who are at home taking care of things.”

Military Affairs intends to continue the Military Family Fun Day tradition next semester close to Easter. It will also host

Military Appreciation Week in November with events such as a candlelight vigil to honor the fallen, a special military appre-ciation Convocation and a care-package drive for deployed soldiers.

For more information, visit the Military Affairs Web page through liberty.edu.

ROSHETKO is a feature reporter.


Sam Chappell | liberty Champion

INSPIRATION — Many runners choose to have victims’ names written on their arms during the race.

ruth bibby | liberty Champion

DOWN THE MOUTAIN — A rainy day made for even faster slopes for families to enjoy on the bunny hill.

ruth bibby | liberty Champion

TUBING — Many toddlers enjoyed their Saturday on the slopes.

Snowflex hosts military families

SCAREMARE continued from B10

is in charge of the students who pres-ent the concluding message. Students from his contemporary youth com-munication class preach the gospel to visitors.

“These are students who are trained in public speaking, called to ministry, and are now getting the chance to step out and preach,” Brown said.

According to Brown, thousands come to Scaremare each year expect-ing a night of spooky entertainment, but many leave surrendering their hearts to Jesus.

“I’ve been doing this for years, and I’ve watched a 10-15 percent spiritual return by attendees,” Brown said. “So out of every 1,000 people who come through, we generally see 100 people give their lives to Christ.”

According to Vandegriff, the min-istry of Scaremare is something that should not be missed.

“The reason we do Scaremare is to engage lost people with the reality of life and death,” Brown said. “This could be one of the few times in some-one’s entire life that they hear a brief, yet clear presentation of the gospel. I want those in the Liberty family to know that that’s why we do it,” Brown said.

Tickets for Scaremare are $8, but col-lege students with a valid ID can attend the event for just $3 each Thursday.

For more information on Scare-mare, visit liberty.edu/scaremare.

SHERLOCK is a feature reporter.

Lynchburg community military members enjoyed a soggy Military Family Fun Day on top of Liberty Mountain

Sam Chappell | liberty Champion

VICTORY — The finish line was located at Lynchburg College.

FYI More than 6,500 people

were in attendance during one of Scaremare’s busiest weekends on record last year, Oct. 12 and Oct 13. According to last year’s

records, more than 300,000 people have visited.


WHAT: Fall FestivalWHERE: Liberty University Equestrian Center, Lone Jack Road, Rustburg, Va.WHEN: 1 p.m. DESCRIPTION: Student Activities is hosting a day full of horseback riding, games, pumpkin painting, hay rides, food and more. Liberty.edu/campusrec

WHAT: Farm Fall Festival WHERE: 5500 Mollies Creek Road, Glad-ys, Va.WHEN: Every Friday and Saturday 10 a.m.- 10 p.m.DESCRIPTION: Auburnlea Farms will be offering a corn maze, straw maze, walk-through puzzles, five-acre pumpkin patch, hay rides, farm tours, a 40-foot slide, corn cannon, pedal tractor track, outdoor movie nights, live music (Satur-days), and dances on the pasture. Auburnleafarms.com

WHAT: Halloween Show at the School-house WHERE: 131 Old Colony Road, Madison Heights, Va.WHEN: 6 p.m.DESCRIPTION: There will be pumpkin carving and decorating, costume con-tests and live music by Singleside, Ju-piter’s Incense, The Handsome Bandits and Diesel & Dixie. Information on this event and bands is available on Facebook.

WHAT: Boulevard Pumpkin Festival WHERE: N. Boulevard and West Leigh Street, Richmond, Va.WHEN: 12 - 6 p.m.DESCRIPTION: Celebrate with Rich-mond’s festival in your best Hallow-een costumes and enjoy local food, music and the chance to celebrate community.

Virginia.org

WHAT: Howl-O-Fest at Kings DominionWHERE: 16000 Theme Park Way, Do-swell, Va.WHEN: After darkDESCRIPTION: This family-friendly amusement park turns into a park full of zombies, fog, creatures and pitch-black thrill rides after dark. Visitors can enjoy Halloween-themed shows in their theaters or walk through haunted trails. The event is only recommended for ages 13 and up.

Kingsdominion.com

WHAT: Fall Fun Fest at Hyland Heights Baptist Church (HHBC)WHERE: 11452 Wards Road, Rustburg, Va.WHEN: 12 - 8:30 p.m.DESCRIPTION: HHBC will host an eve-ning of fun with hay rides, cake walks, candy machines, rock walls, laser tag, silent auction and food, including Barbeque and Brunswick stew.

hhbc.net

FEATUREOCTOBER 15, 2013 B10

Careerfairs


NIGHTMARES — A new year brings new scare tactics as the haunted-house-style event aims to reach unsaved people.

Scaremare screams begin

Ashley [email protected]

Hope and excitement filled the air as more than 2,000 people gathered at Lynchburg College Saturday, Oct. 12 to participate in the Freedom 4/24 Run for Their Lives race.

According to relevantmaga-zine.com, Freedom 4/24 is an or-ganization that collects money in $24 increments to buy young girls around the world a night of free-dom from sexual slavery. Registra-tion for the race buys a young girl the chance to be ministered to in a Freedom 4/24 safe house, where they are given the chance to live permanently.

According to freedom424.org, this is the 5th annual Run for

Their Lives race in Lynchburg, which consisted of a 1k Kids Fun Run and a 5k run/walk. Fifty kids participated in the fun run, and more than 1,000 people partici-pated in the 5k.

According to Freedom 4/24 President and Executive Director Tim Spaulding, the outcome of the race was fantastic.

Runners said the hills on the course were challenging, but it was all worth it in the end.

“The course was much harder than I thought it would be,” par-ticipant Kylie McMichael said. “The hills were worse than the ones on Liberty University’s cam-pus, which is where I usually run, but it was worth it.”

Sara Hunt, a former human trafficking victim, spoke before

the race began and encouraged runners with her story of being saved from human trafficking.

Hunt encouraged women who are going through a tough time to

lean on Jesus and establish a good support system.

See FREEDOM, B8

Lynchburg runs for freedom

The Liberty-run haunted house ministry marks its 41st year of existence with new frightsDillon [email protected]

Liberty University crept its way into October with the open-ing of the 41st annual Scaremare Thursday, Oct. 10. The event, which draws tens of thousands of people each year, will run every Thursday through Saturday for the rest of the month.

Scaremare is one of Liberty’s unique ways of bringing the gos-pel to the unreached by way of spine-chilling entertainment. At-tendees go on a frightening jour-ney through a series of mysteri-ous situations, including spooky houses, dark woods and people

in terrifying costumes. The trail ends with a clear presentation of the gospel.

Last year marked Scaremare’s 40th anniversary, which brought several major changes to the event. This year, attendees can ex-pect to experience something to-tally different, according to Steve Vandegriff, Scaremare director.

“Let’s just say we have turned things around, and I’ll leave it at that,” Vandegriff said. “If people think they know how it goes, they won’t anymore.”

Last year, Scaremare attracted more visitors than ever before, with approximately 26,000 peo-ple in attendance. This year, the

Scaremare staff is shooting for an even higher number of visitors.

“A big part of this high number is due to the fact that we had nine dry nights, and we live and die by the weather,” Vandegriff said. “This year, we expect an even higher turnout, but we are keep-ing our eyes on the sky.”

According to Vandegriff, Scare-mare attracts groups of people who travel great distances for the event.

“People use Scaremare as a travel destination and make a weekend of it,” Vandegriff said. “I’ve seen groups come all the way from New Jersey and Florida.”

In order to put on an event

this size, Scaremare runs on vol-unteers, which come exclusively from Liberty.

“We generally need about 150 students per night to run Scare-mare,” Vandegriff said. “Most of these students do this to fulfill their Christian/Community Ser-vice requirements. We get a good amount of students from all dif-ferent majors and classifications.”

At the end of Scaremare, par-ticipants are brought into tents to hear the gospel presented by Lib-erty students. Richard Brown, an assistant professor of Youth Ministries,

See SCAREMARE, B8

Sara [email protected]

The Liberty University Career Center is hosting the Health Professions and School of Communica-tion & Creative Arts ca-reer fairs over the next two weeks, inviting all Liberty juniors, seniors and alumni in pursuit of jobs or intern-ships. Both fairs will be held from 1 p.m.-4 p.m. in the Reber-Thomas Dining Atrium. The Health Pro-fessions Career Fair will be held Oct. 22, while the School of Communication & Creative Arts Career Fair will be Oct. 29.

According to the Ca-reer Center’s website, the Health Professions Career Fair will include 20 em-ployers. Carilion Clinic, offering full-time and part-time jobs and internships, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, offering full-time and part-time opportunities, and the Medical Center of Central Georgia, which will offer internships, will be at the fair.

According to Courtney Tate, employer relations coordinator, the Medical Center of Central Georgia is the second-largest hos-pital in Georgia and gives students an opportunity to expand their skills.

“(Employers) who (are) coming to this fair, they all have openings,” Tate said. “I think, before, there weren’t as many options to get internships and jobs, and this time, there are a lot of opportunities for students to move forward with an internship or job. So, that is really exciting.”

The School of Commu-nication & Creative Arts Career Fair will include 18 employers. Among the companies that will be represented are ABC 13-WSET (internships), WDBJ Television (intern-ships), the National Jour-nalism Center (internships) and The Lynchburg News & Advance (internships).

“Our director (Richard Glass) has been very in-tentional about getting a wide range of employers and also some of the larger companies that might have more opportunities for students,” Ryan Andrews, career counselor at the Ca-reer Center, said.

Students are encouraged to visit the Career Cen-ter for résumé critiques, instruction on how to in-troduce themselves to em-ployers or to receive help in taking steps to prepare for future careers.

WARRENDER is the feature editor.

FYI The next issue of the Liberty

Champion will highlight the career fairs available to

students for the remainder of

the year.

Sam ChappeLL | LiBeRty Champion

RACE — Participants ran with aiding sex-trafficking victims in mind.

Liberty champion october 15 2013

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