the mirror—december 7, 2015/ grad issue
DESCRIPTION
The electronic edition of The Mirror's December 7, 2015 and Graduation issues.TRANSCRIPT
A student refl ection of the UNC community
NEWS BRIEFS
For the week of 12/7/2015
Th e students recognized by UNC’s awards for superior academic achievement and outstanding research in graduate studies will be honored on Friday’s graduate school commencement ceremony. All ceremonies will be broadcast live online. Go to unco.edu/commencement/webcast.asp
UNC’s fall commencement ceremonies will take place Friday and Saturday in the Bank of Colorado Arena in Butler-Hancock Athletic Cen-ter. Th e Graduate School cer-emony will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday. About 220 students are scheduled to receive their master’s, doctoral and special-ist degrees. On Saturday, about 600 undergraduates are sched-uled to receive degrees during the two ceremonies. Th e cer-emony for Monfort college of business, college of natural and health sciences, and college of performing and visual arts will be at 9 a.m. and the ceremony for the college of education and behavioral sciences, the college of humanities and so-cial sciences, and university college will be at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are not required to at-tend the ceremonies, and park-ing is free.
UNC’s Th eatre Arts and Dance program was named the best college theater program in Colorado by OnStage, an online magazine.
Classes for the spring 2016 semester begin Monday, Jan. 11. Th e add deadline for full-semester courses is Friday, Jan. 15th.
A Mental Health First Aid certifi cation course will take place from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Dec. 14 and 15 in Harrison Hall den. Th e course is free for faculty, staff and students. Reg-istration by 5 p.m. Wednesday is required.
Former UNC Professor, Charles “Gil” Schmidt, passed away Nov. 22. Schmidt was an administrator and professor at UNC from 1991 to 2011, when he served as assistant vice president for academic aff airs, vice provost, professor of geography and emeritus professor of geography. A memorial for Schmidt will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, at Bethel Lutheran Church, 328 Walnut St., Windsor.
INSIDE
VVGRADUATION
ISSUE
KEEP WARM, BEARSTHE WINTERISSUE
Breelyn Bowe | Th e Mirror
w2 �News December 7, 2015 | uncmirror.comEditor: Chelsea Hinspeter
MON 12/7Final Exam Week
NEWS CALENDAR
THU 12/10Final Exam Week
10 a.m.-5 p.m.Cap and Gown DistributionRecreation Center
TUE 12/8Final Exam Week
WED 12/9Incomplete Grade Change Deadline
Final Exam Week
FRI 12/11Course Adjustment Deadline for Fall 2015 Undergraduates GraduatingCarter Hall
Deadline for Fall 2015 Undergraduates Graduating to Fulfill All Course Require-mentsCarter Hall
Final Exam Week
10 a.m.-5 p.m.Cap and Gown Distribution
7 p.m.Graduate School Commence-ment CeremonyBank of Colorado Arena at Butler-Hancock Athletic Center
SAT 12/129 a.m.Undergraduate CommencementBank of Colorado Arena at Butler-Hancock Athletic Center
12:30 p.m.Undergraduate CommencementBank of Colorado Arena at Butler-Hancock Athletic Center
By Chelsea [email protected]
Caffeine-injected 20-some-things with bloodshot eyes, illuminated by laptop screens, huddled in the darkened corners of coffee shops have transpired into society’s ac-cepted image of the modern college student. Many would agree that the lifestyle of a college stu-dent doesn’t leave much room for sleep. Stefan Lamb, a UNC alum-nus who graduated with a physics degree, said sleep de-privation seems nearly un-avoidable for college students who are going to school, working and trying to get good grades. “Sometimes I put sleep ahead of other things because I know how valuable or how devastating it is when you are sleep deprived, but some-times you don’t have a choice,” Lamb said. Lack of sleep can arise for anyone with a tight schedule, but there are some people, like UNC alumna education ma-jor Kayla Johnson, who think the reason sleep deprivation is predominant among col-lege students is because it is socially acceptable. “I think it’s avoidable, but I don’t think it’s socially avoid-able,” Johnson said. “I think it’s just something that our culture practices.” Regardless of the reasoning, lack of sleep seems to be a real-ity for most college students—a reality that has the potential to damage one’s health. Michael Todd Allen, a psy-chology professor at the Uni-versity of Northern Colorado, explained that without enough quality sleep, the brain is un-able to restore itself properly. “It’s going to naturally dis-rupt your concentration and you’re going to feel groggy,” Allen said. “You’re going to feel fuzzy-headed. You’re not going
to make the right decisions.” Lamb said that because sleep deprivation can harm a person’s mental state, he thinks it can lead to other issues as well. “If you’re constantly in a negative mental state, you’re going to make yourself sick, and if you make yourself sick, you’re not going to sleep as much,” Lamb said. “It’s just like a horrible snow ball effect.” In addition to mental health concerns, Allen also said there are many physical health issues related to sleep deprivation. “If I deprived you of sleep long enough, you’d have ma-jor body system shut downs,” Allen said. “You’d lose the ability to regulate your body temperature and your metabo-lism would go crazy because it would all be an attempt of the body to try to get back to this balance point. Your body’s try-ing to maintain itself without having that ability to rest.” Normally, sleep deprivation affects health at a relatively slow rate, Allen said. But that doesn’t dull the importance of sleep. “In extreme cases, if you had the type of insomnia where you never went to sleep again, you would die from that,” Allen said. While extreme circum-stances of sleep deprivation can have severe results, such a case is highly improbable. Al-though it may be very difficult to catch up on lost sleep, there are ways to offset the effects of sleep deprivation by getting a deeper quality of sleep. “Get yourself in that relaxed state of mind through medita-tion or doing something that you enjoy before you go to bed. It sort of clears your mind and keeps you more relaxed and would help you save energy in general and then also prob-ably be able to sleep better,” Allen said. By avoiding habits such as reading or watching television in bed or having electronics next to one’s bed, Allen said
people are more likely to fall asleep quicker and achieve a deeper sleep, longer. “There are ways that you can train yourself to power nap or get a more deep, relaxed sleep in a shorter amount of time,” Allen said. Power naps are one tech-nique many individuals prac-tice as a supplement to a full night’s rest. “If you can learn to take short naps -15 to 30 minutes- it makes a huge difference,” Lamb said. Lamb also said if he is un-able to get much sleep, con-suming healthy food is the next best thing. While healthy food can help to refuel energy, many students turn to energy drinks or coffee. “The longer you’re awake, the brain builds up certain chemical byproducts from us-ing energy and that chemical is actually what makes you drowsy,” Allen said. “The ef-fect of caffeine and coffee is to
block that chemical.” Although caffeine may quickly and effectively fight off drowsiness, if relied upon too often, people can develop a dependency on the sub-stance and build a tolerance, making caffeine less effective over time. “If you’re not used to drink-ing coffee and you are tired, it will pep you up a little bit, but then people rely on it and they make it a habit, and then it actually isn’t doing anything because your body builds a de-pendency,” Lamb said. Although it may be pleas-ant to think college students are sleep-deprived because of all the hard work they put into their education, there may be some other factors in a col-lege environment that assist in making a sleep-deprived com-munity of young adults. “Alcohol’s a depressant, and alcohol would make you drowsy and sleepy, but it doesn’t allow you to go into
REM sleep, so someone who drinks too much is not going to dream and is not going to get that deep REM sleep they need,” Allen said. Although the lifestyle of a college student seems like a recipe for sleep deprivation, some people think it is a phase of life that will readjust itself naturally over time. “I think that, in the long term, once our priorities are different and we’re not staying out until two in the morning at the bars, then our bodies can slowly adjust back to ‘let’s go to sleep at 10 and wake up at seven,’” Johnson said. Although she does think lack of sleep is an issue among college students, Johnson said it can also be a mechanism for students to force themselves into meeting deadlines and be-ing successful. “If you’re going to succeed and do really well, it’s hard to not be sleep-deprived,” Lamb said.
Is college depriving you of sleep?
THE MIRRORSTAFF 2015-16
Editor-in-ChiefKatarina Velazquez
Production ManagerManuel Perez
News EditorChelsea Hinspeter
A&C EditorLa’Asianee Brown
Sports EditorDylan Sanchez
Photo EditorBreelyn Bowe
Copy EditorMikhala Krochta
Marketing/Social Media Managers
Libby Harrington
Maria Morante
Advertising ManagerHannah Crowley
General ManagerMatt Lubich
MISSION STATEMENTThe Mirror’s mission is to educate, inform and entertain the students, staff and faculty of the UNC community and to train the staff on the business of journalism in a college-newspaper environment.
ABOUT USThe Mirror produces a print newspaper every Monday during the academic year as well as maintains a current web page. The student-operated newspaper is advised by the non-profit Student Media Corporation and is printed by Signature Offset.
Office Address: 823 16th St.Greeley, Colorado 80631
Phone Number: 970-392-9270
3�NewsDecember 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
By Riley [email protected]
The addictions to constant so-cial media updates have millennials hooked. If 20 year-olds aren’t tweeting, they are browsing, updating, liking and sharing videos, pictures and posts. With the Internet dominated by se-lect social media sites, can we give the thumbs up to an up-and-coming me-dia platform? Use of social media has grown astro-nomically and become part of the daily routines for approximately 2.026 bil-lion users according to Kadie Regan, a reporter for Social Media Today. With an average of 1 million new social me-dia users per day, the market for fresh and new media sites is booming. “The use of social media has be-come second nature for so many peo-ple,” said Deanna Helton, a senior ge-ography and geographic information science major. “It’s an industry that, in today’s day and age, will never go out of style.” Mix Of, also referred to as MXO, was introduced to college campuses a few months ago. Originally, MXO started out as a dating website for college students. Joy Kearney, the co-founder and president of the social media site, ex-plained how with feedback from us-ers, MXO evolved from a dating app to a social networking site for students with an “.edu” email address. “We enjoy getting feedback from our users because the app is for stu-dents, so we take all advice and alter the site as needed,” Kearney said. “As of now, the app is a bulletin board for students to interact. However, with the
advice from our students, we will be adding additional features.” “The next version will have the abil-ity of a bulletin board; finding your ‘mix’, which allows students to find other students with the same interests; as well as the newest feature, that will allow students to upload photos on the ‘campus pulse’ section,” she continued. “This allows you to see photos of what is currently going on on your campus.” With the website just starting out, advice is crucial for success, especially coming from its target audience. According to the Pew Research Cen-ter, in January of 2014, 89 percent of 18 to 29 year-olds used social media. With a massive population checking and interacting with social media on a daily basis, MXO takes great interest in what their users are saying. Unlike other social media platforms, MXO presents itself as a networking tool—something that is becoming more desirable to students on campus. “At one point [social media] was the only way I could stay connected,” said Austin Rogers, a self-proclaimed social media connoisseur and junior English major with an emphasis in secondary education. “People make fun of me for checking my social media so often, but that’s how people reach out to me. I use it as an organizer. If an event needs to go public, I can post it. Or I can reach out to ask questions to people I don’t often see or get a chance to talk to.” With millennials thriving off of the instant gratification of social me-dia, MXO aims to be a one-stop-shop of sorts. Kearney said the site aims to be a mix of various social networks that es-tablishes an online community for all college students.
10 things college students
should do over Winter Break
#1 Sleep.
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Social networking site for students launches onto college campuses
4 �Arts & CultureDecember 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
Editor: La’Asianée Brown
WED 12/9
3-4 p.m.Tai Chi: Moving for Better BalanceCandelaria Hall
6-8 p.m.Basketball Rock Band Informational MeetingFoundation Hall
8:30-9:30 p.m.Hello My Name Is/Chaos Comedy ShowAtlas Theater, 802 Ninth St.
ARTS CALENDAR
4-6 p.m.Annual Campus Holiday PartyUniversity Center-Fireside Lounge
THUR 12/10
MON 12/712 p.m. Oral Comprehensive Exami-nation, Brian Claxton, Jazz StudiesSkinner Library 124
Listening sessions address campus diversity By Trevor Reid [email protected]
On Nov. 12, University of Northern Colorado President Kay Norton sent out an email to UNC community mem-bers expressing “a continuing obliga-tion to actively work to make UNC a welcoming and inclusive community.” The email was a response to the ra-cially charged incidents at the Univer-sity of Missouri and other universities across the nation, as well as the protests sparked by the incidents. In the email, Norton announced she would be hosting listening sessions for both students and faculty to speak about their experiences regarding di-versity and inclusivity on campus. “My initial reaction was ‘okay, here’s another letter from another president,’” said Andrés Ramirez, graduate assistant at César Chavez Cultural Center. “But after being at some of these sessions, I think it’s been a good opportunity.” Ramirez facilitated the listening session at the César Chavez Cultural Center, where students brought up re-sources the cultural centers are lacking. It was mentioned and visually displayed on a TV screen that César Chavez Cul-tural Center still has unpaved roads, putting people at risk of injury.
Instead of each identity receiv-ing a cultural center of their own, the Kohl House serves as the center for both Asian/Pacific American Stu-dent Services and Native American Student Services. The listening sessions were also held at Marcus Garvey Cultural Center, the Women’s Resource Center, the Uni-versity Center and Butler-Hancock Sports Pavilion. A problem mentioned at one of these listening sessions was that the LGBTQ community has a resource office, but no cultural center, so queer-identifying students don’t have place of their own for a listening session. “There are a lot of separate issues, but they’re all about identity,” Norton ex-plained after the last listening session. “Because you’re talking about human behavior on an individual basis, [there are] things you can’t just pass a rule against—it’s a great challenge.” To address this challenge, stu-dents expressed demands for re-quired diversity training for faculty and administration. Programs such as Safe Zone train-ings and diversity and inclusivity train-ings are given on a regular basis at the university. Though student staff are re-quired to attend these trainings, faculty and administration typically have no such requirements.
The necessity of such trainings, ac-cording to students, stems from an overall lack of diversity on campus. Statistics from fall 2014 show that 56 percent of students identified as white, and only 11 percent of faculty designated themselves as black, His-panic, American Indian, Alaska na-tive, Asian, native Hawaiian or other pacific islander. Students voiced concerns about what these numbers say about campus diver-sity, both for students and faculty. Other issues included insufficient fi-nancial aid and health insurance cover-age for low-income students, the inabil-ity of the campus salon to serve black students and a general sense of dismis-sive treatment toward minorities. When asked about a time she felt dismissed as a low priority, Nor-ton drew on her experience with gender discrimination. “I do understand not being heard from that point of view,” she said. “I became aware of [gender discrimi-nation] when people first started say-ing to me, “you might not be able to do that because you’re a girl,’” Norton said. “At first, it was just a shock. Then later in college, as I thought about what I should do, I knew what I didn’t want to do, which were the stereotypical roles for women: secretary, nurse or teacher. That’s why I went to law school, because
I was interested in how power is distrib-uted in this country—how people get things done. Then later on in my career when I’d be in meetings, and I’d suggest something, [there would be] silence—nothing happens. Twenty minutes later, some guy says [the same thing] and ev-erybody goes ‘Yeah, man, great idea!’ That’s been the bulk of my experience.” “Then you should come from that place of compassion of knowing what that feels like and make this campus better so that doesn’t happen to us,” re-sponded sophomore English and politi-cal science major Tori Pettis. Norton said she will communicate details about the initial steps to ad-dress student concerns the first week of spring semester. “This is not the end,” Norton said. “I know there are things we can do now that will join the Campus Climate Ini-tiative in moving us all forward.” Kourtney Bellard, outreach and de-velopment coordinator at the Marcus Garvey Cultural Center, emphasized the fact that the listening sessions are only the beginning. “This is the spark of a change that we want to ricochet across campus and university-wide,” she said. “We’re not going to stop until we can make that change that the students really need. We’re all in this together.”
Staff Report [email protected]
Two student-run comedy groups are coming togeth-er for one end-of-the-year show. “Hello My Name is…” is a sketch comedy show, and “Chaos” is an improv com-edy group. Combined they are “Hello My name is… Chaos.” On Wednesday night, the two groups will put on a show consisting of four sketches, four improv games, a short video and musical numbers. Ken Womble, associate profes-sor of theatre arts, and Mat-thew Herrick, musical theatre assistant professor, will be per-
forming in the opening sketch. Hannah Carmicheal, president of “Hello My Name is...” spoke about producing the show and her personal aspirations.
Why did you decide to pro-duce a show so close to the end of the semester?
It is a nice way to wrap up the semester in a positive way. It gives students a break in finals week to relax and laugh.
What is one of the most mem-orable moments of producing the show?
The most memorable for me is being able to create art with new people. It has been great
to collaborate and build with both our material.
What are your future perfor-mance goals?
My future performance goals are to hopefully feed myself with the art I do and to get on Saturday Night Live. So… ei-ther one. Or be a waitress.
Do you perform in any shows produced by the performance and visual arts school?
I was just in the musical “Sun-day In the Park with George” by Sondheim, I was in “Jackie and Me” and I also do a lot of student produced work as well as directing.
Comedy show provides one last laugh
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The University of Northern Colorado will host fall commencement ceremonies Friday, Dec. 11, and Saturday, Dec. 12, in the Bank of Colorado Arena in Butler-Hancock Athletic Center, south of the intersection of 14th Avenue and 20th Street.
VUNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO
FALL COMMENCEMENTDecember 11 & 12, 2015
WHERE
FRIDAY, DEC. 11
SATURDAY, DEC. 12
The graduate school ceremony will be at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. About 220 candidates are scheduled to receive their master’s, doctoral and specialist degrees.
About 600 undergraduates are scheduled to receive their degrees during two ceremonies Saturday, Dec. 12.
The ceremony for the Monfort college of business, college of natural and health sciences and college of performing and visual arts will be at 9 a.m.
The ceremony for the college of education and behavioral sciences, college of humanities and social sciences and university college will be at 12:30 p.m.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GRADUATING MIRROR STAFF
You made it! But you all will be missed. Good luck on your
journey into the “real” world! And don’t forget about us little
people at your old college newspaper. -Katarina Velazquez, Editor-in-Chief
Cassius VasquezMark HarroCorrell Comer
Kyle O’NealHannah Crowley
2 Fall Graduation 2015 December 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
By Riley [email protected]
As the semester winds down to an end, some students are eager to say their farewells to professors and fellow classmates. For oth-ers, the end of the semester is a bittersweet conclusion to the year, where saying goodbye is anything but easy. After having been part of the Monfort Col-lege of Business faculty since 1968, Professor Allen McConnell will retire from UNC at the end of the academic year. After earning his bachelor’s of business administration and master’s degree in ac-counting at the University of North Dakota, McConnell ventured south, where he became a professor of financial accounting. In addition to his career as an educator, McConnell acted as an advisor for Beta Alpha Psi and the Professional Accounting Associa-tion, an honorary organization for financial information students and professionals. He also founded the Theta Psi chapter at UNC. While this particular chapter has received
national superior recognition under McCo-nnell’s direction, McConnell is personally known by his students for his character and dedication to his students’ success. “Professor McConnell is a great role model who I admire,” said Beta Alpha Psi and The-ta Psi reporting secretary Jennifer LaPorte, a business major with an accounting em-phasis and minor in nonprofit administra-tion. “He has greatly influenced my life. His dedication to teaching and love for students is incredible.” During his years as a professor, McConnell has received various awards from UNC in ad-dition to other institutions. In 2003, McConnell was hon-ored by the Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants as a “CPA Making a Difference” for his exemplary work with students, as well as his community and professional service. In the classroom, McConnell actively engages with students, helping them to succeed throughout their academic careers by offering insight, encour-agement and advice. “Professor McConnell consistently has a smile on his face and is always willing to help
students with their educational, professional and personal lives,” said Matthew Schoewe, a business accounting major and student of McConnell. Schoewe described having Professor Mc-Connell as a “pleasure” when he had to take advanced accounting. “After 16 years of involvement and the one who started our Theta Psi chapter, McCon-nell’s retirement will greatly affect the pro-gram,” LaPorte said. “McConnell has been very active with Beta Alpha Psi and the Pro-fessional Accounting Association students, helping lead them to the career path of their choice and encourage opportunities like in-ternships to gain professional experience.” In his 48 years of teaching, McConnell seems to have perfected his craft. Most stu-dents are grateful for his mentoring, but the feeling appears to be mutual. In his biogra-phy, McConnell states that he considers his greatest achievement at UNC to be the many lifelong friendships he has developed with students from his classes. “We look forward to continuing McCon-nell’s legacy and watching the organization and students grow even more,” LaPorte said.
By Julia [email protected]
Graduating at the end of the fall semester is a popular concept, especially to students experiencing familiar woes of senioritis, but having a job lined up after the graduation ceremony is usually of greater importance than walking across that stage. Renée Welch, the director of Career Services, explained that the best career fit depends on the values of the student who is searching. “We can help them gain clarity in those values,” Welch said. Career Services makes a point to identify each student’s indi-vidual values for a job by focusing on potential income, location and a variety of other details. “UNC offers a lot of opportunities to find employment after graduation” said Brandon Vela, an education major. “I know they always have the teacher fair, where principals and office workers come in from tons of elementary schools to interview you.” This Teacher Employment Fair, offered through Career Servic-es, is one of many student aids which are designed to identify and clarify a student’s preferred future career. Steve Wixom and Vela are both graduating this year and ma-joring in education. Wixom will be student teaching music classes
at Cheyenne Mountain Junior High and Air Academy, teaching at each school for eight weeks. Meanwhile, Vela will be going into his practicum at Westridge Academy, a small charter school in Greeley. While student teaching and practicums are more like “man-datory internships,” according to Vela, both are necessary steps to getting a job in the education field. Often times, students are offered full-time jobs at the same schools they start with as student teachers. Vela said UNC did a good job counseling students through the job-hunting process and helping to place education majors at their preferred schools. Welch and the staff at Career Services help students by taking their vague thoughts and goals and funneling them down into a specific career path. “It’s like a blend of coaching and counseling,” Welch said. She explained that students often think the answer to their problems will be a simple yes or no. “It takes a lot more than that,” she said. Welch explained that varying advice regarding a student’s ca-reer can come from a variety of sources—professors, counselors or trusted guardians. She said the most important thing a person who is job searching can do is be active and get out and meet people, rather than just scrolling through jobs online. Welch said searching passively can be harmful because by not
participating actively in the community, students can miss oppor-tunities to forge connections, which may lead the way to many more unique job offers. “UNC does a good job of getting you ready to search for work,” Wixom said. “We write our resumes and cover letters as well as participate in a mock interview as we get close to the end of our degrees.” Students can schedule an appointment or drop in to Career Services 12-3 p.m. Monday through Friday. The office is located on the second floor of the University Center.
Are graduates ready for the ‘real world?’How UNC, Career Services helped students prepare for life after graduation
Saying farewell to retiring professorUNC professor and teacher of 48 years’ retirement to impact programs, UNC as whole
Photo courtesy of Beta Alpha Psi, Theta PsiAllen McConnell and his wife, Carol, pose at the professor’s rec-ognition event Tuesday evening in the Panorama Room.
3Fall Graduation 2015December 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
Final words with departing Bears
What is your most memorable moment at UNC?
My most memorable moment at UNC... I have a lot of great memories from the school, so this question is rather difficult, but I would probably have to say that my most memorable moment is a speech I gave my freshman year in front of 200 students in the basics of public speaking class. The speech was about suicide prevention and awareness. Pre-paring and presenting that speech showed me that I have the abil-ity to present effectively in front of people and I can make a posi-tive change in my community and in the lives of others.
How have you seen the culture in Greeley grow and change?
Since beginning my journey at UNC, I have seen the Greeley community and the students begin to connect more and bond through school and community programs and events. I have seen the issues of social justice come to the forefront of UNC priorities and that has begun to positively impact the rela-tionships that various groups of students have with administra-tors and Greeley city staff and businesses.
What are your future career goals?
I would like to go into motivational speaking and present to young people about suicide awareness and prevention. I would first like to go to graduate school to do more research about cur-rent suicide awareness and prevention education offered to peo-ple under 25 and see how that can be improved.
What piece of advice would you leave for upcoming seniors?
The best piece of advice I have is this: be open and willing to change and actively seek other perspectives. I say this because when we open our minds and become accepting of other ideas and concepts, we can grow much more easily and we can find quite a few more opportunities than when we close our minds. I began my college career thinking I knew enough, I didn’t seek other perspectives or try to learn from others. But the moment I started being more open and accepting, I found that I can learn so much from others and I have become more confident. I have been able to advocate for and help more people than just myself.
Adam “Bubba” Gardner | Communication studies major
Photo courtesy of Adam Gardner
UNC students share their memories, future plans post-graduation
What is your most memorable moment at UNC?
One of the most memorable moments I’ve had while attending UNC was studying abroad through Monfort College of Business in Trieste, Italy.
How do you feel about contributing to the art scene in Greeley? I have had two “First Friday” photography shows, but have also been a part of the school of art and design’s annual juried shows in the spring semesters. Over the last four and a half years I have be-come an established wedding and portrait photographer all over Colorado. How have you seen the art scene in Greeley grow and change?
Growing up in Greeley, the art scene has dramatically changed over the course of my college career. I remember just a few lo-cal places had galleries on “First Friday,” but now that downtown Greeley is growing, there are more locations for artists to show their work. It would be great if every local business could feature artists.
Can you talk more about why you decided to do wedding pho-tography?
There is something magical about a wedding that I can never get enough of. Seeing the raw love of a bride and groom is the best part of my job. I love being able to capture stories that will be passed on to generations after generations. I told myself in the beginning that I would never do anything that I didn’t love to do, and I love being a wedding photographer.
Do you plan on staying in this theme of photography?
I plan on having a camera the rest of my life. I don’t know if I will be a wedding photographer forever, but I will definitely docu-ment life around me and share my adventures with my friends and family. I am excited to graduate so I can have more time for other areas of art.
What piece of advice do you have for upcoming seniors?
For all the upcoming seniors out there, just stay positive and re-member sometimes you just need to take a day to relax and drink a latte.
Hannah Swick | Art & design major with an emphasis in visual
communication design
Photo courtesy of Hannah Swick
4 Fall Graduation 2015 December 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
Staff [email protected]
UNC athletes leaving their footprints
**All photos courtesy of UNCBears.com
Men’s Basketball: Cody McDavis McDavis saw gradual success in his playing throughout his time as a Bear. Th e 6-foot-6-inch man averaged 5.9 points per game. In 2013-14, McDavis was named the Bears’ most improved player and continued to improve, earning a Big Sky all-academic selection in the same year. McDavis will graduate from the Monfort College of Business with a degree in business administration.
Women’s Basketball: Jamie Derrieux A redshirt for the 2014-15 season, Derrieux was a Big Sky all-academic selection in April of 2014 and has appeared in one game so far for the 2015-16 Bears, scoring her two points of the year against the University of Denver aft er an injury. Derrieux played in 13 games as a true freshman and started 26 of 28 games in the 2013-14 season, averaging 8.1 points per game. Derrieux will graduate with a business marking degree and a minor in pre-law.
Football:AJ Battle UNC’s defense has a hole to fi ll with the absence of defensive back Bat-tle. Battle had fi ve pass break-ups and an interception this season for the 6-5 Bears team. Battle played in all 11 games for this season, recording 60 tackles. Bat-tle’s most memorable play of the season came against Sacramento State, when Battle recovered a fumble and ran it 26-yards for a touchdown. Bat-tle will graduate with a sociology degree from the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Brock Berglund In 2011, Rivals.com ranked Berglund the 15th best dual-threat quar-terback in the nation, and he was also the third best player in Colorado. It appeared that Berglund might be UNC’s quarterback, but an injury in 2014 earned Berglund a medial redshirt, ultimately allowing redshirt freshman Jacob Knipp to take over the starting role. Berglund will graduate with a degree in political science.
James Davis Davis made an impact as a true freshman back in 2011, playing in 10 games and recording 28 tackles. As a senior in 2015, the defensive back recorded 37 tackles and an in-terception, bouncing back aft er receiving a medical redshirt for an injury he received in 2014. Davis will graduate from the College of Humanities and Social Sci-ences.
Thomas Singleton Singleton was a redshirt in 2012 and played in 11 of 12 games the following year, making 19 tackles. In 2014, Singleton was put on an island and made the most of it, playing in 10 of 11 games help-ing the Bears create one of the most dominate defenses in the football championship subdivision. As a junior, Singleton recorded 77 total tackles, the third highest on the team, and grabbed a single interception and had fi ve pass breakups. Singleton will graduate with a degree in communication studies.
Chris Urbaniak Aft er redshirting in 2011, the Bears defensive-end Urbaniak showed why he was a fi rst team all-conference selection in high school. Urbaniak recorded 28 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in 2012. In 2013, he continued to be a presence with 26 tackles and another fumble recovery. Urbaniak will graduate from the Monfort College of Business with a degree in business administration.
Leilon Willingham Th e transfer from the University of Central Florida made his fi rst appearance as a Bear in 2012, playing in 10 games, recording 37 tackles and three pass breakups. His most memorable moment came against Colorado Mesa, when Willingham ran back a 30-yard fumble for a touchdown. In 2013, Willingham was second on the team in tackles, nearly making the re-cord books with 98 tackles. Willingham will graduate with a degree in communication studies.
5�Arts & CultureDecember 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
LIGHTSLights bring a festive glow to any holiday home. Not only are there white lights, there are multi-colored lights or any other color you can imagine. They are a cheap addition to your holiday home with costs ranging from $2 to $10 a box, depending on the amount or style. Once they are hung, they can stay there year-round.
HOLIDAY ITEMSEveryone celebrates the holiday season in different ways. A tree is one way to bring Christmas to the house. Bringing in a traditional holiday item lends a fes-tive attitude to any apartment or home away from your parents’ home. It’s a great centerpiece for individuals hosting present exchange events.
LET IT SNOWFilling wall space with stockings, snowflakes or holiday family pictures make great conversation pieces. It also provides a sentimental time to share with room-mates as you decorate and design. This is also a great opportunity to put all those DIY projects from Pinterest to use. DIY projects are often cheap and can be modi-fied to your liking instead of having to buy a generic decoration from the store.
Holiday how-to: Creating a festive home
Photo courtesy of Ciera Wills
SURVIVING THE GIFT EXCHANGEExchanging presents can be fun among roommates and is always an opportu-nity to show how much you appreciate their friendship. However, as college students, giving and receiving gifts are always tricky when living on a check-to-check budget.
Be sure to follow these gift giving (and recieving) tips:
1 Specify if you cannot give. This way, your roommates are not dropping gift hints for gifts they will never receive. It also makes for less awkward gift exchange.
ƖƤStay within your budget. Small but thoughtful gifts are essential for gift exchanges. Items like socks, candles or food are everyday items that double as gift options.
3 Always say thank you and be appreciative. Again, everyone is not rolling in the money during this time of the year. It’s important to remember the gift giver is spending their hard earned money to make you feel special during the holiday season.
6 -SportsDecember 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
Editor: Dylan Sanchez
For next-day game recaps, check UNCMIRROR.COM
SPORTS CALENDAR
YELLOW = HOME GAME
BLUE = AWAY GAME
WED 12/9
7 p.m. Women’s Basketball vs. Colorado State UniversityBank of Colorado Arena
All DayTrack at Wyoming Power MeetLaramie, Wyoming
TUES 12/8
All Day Track at Colorado School of Mines Early Bird MultiGolden, Colorado
7 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. York CollegeBank of Colorado Arena
THUR 12/10
All Day Track at Colorado School of Mines Early Bird MultiGolden, Colorado
FRI 12/11
All Day Track at Colorado School of Mines Early Bird MultiGolden, Colorado
SUN 12/13
All Day Track at Colorado School of Mines Early Bird MultiGolden, Colorado
MON 12/14
5 p.m. Men’s Basketball vs. Colorado State UniversityBank of Colorado Arena
Senior etched into UNC record book
By Zach Blackburn [email protected]
The volleyball team has three seniors getting ready to take the next big step in their lives. Se-nior defensive specialist Meagan Garcia reflect-ed back on her time at the University of North-ern Colorado. “I’ve enjoyed my time here,” Garcia said. “UNC has a great department, and everyone from the athletic department to the janitors care about your success and want to stay involved.” Garcia is a business marketing major from Platteville, Colorado, and she said her time at UNC with the volleyball team was very special. “What I have enjoyed the most was getting to be a part of a team with 14 amazing girls,” she said. “We don’t really have a lot of time to ven-ture out and participate in clubs on campus, so our team is our form of sisterhood. We support each other and love each other, and from that we have gained everlasting friendships.” Garcia also reflected on winning the Big Sky championship last year with her team. “It was such an awesome feeling,” she said. “You work so hard for something—workouts in
the spring, sacrificing our summer to workout and get better—and it’s so rewarding to see it pay off. It’s so amazing to come back to the Greeley community after a great victory and find that the whole community was rooting for you.” Garcia said she loved playing in Butler-Han-cock for the fans and for the community, and she was grateful for the opportunity to play for a program that has a winning and strong culture. “The fans are dedicated to the team through-out the season’s highs and lows, and they make an effort to get to know you on a personal level,” Garcia said. After four seasons, Garcia said she had a lot of fun and will have many great memories to look back on. But Garcia said she is focused on finishing her academic career strongly—now more than ever. “I’m thinking about applying to grad school,” Garcia said. “I want to move to Denver and get my foot in the fashion industry. I really want to start working for a high-end retailer like Nei-man Marcus or Nordstrom and work my way up the ladder to eventually become a buyer or marketing executive.” Garcia moved into fourth place in Division-I history in digs with 1,271, averaging 2.96 digs per set throughout her collegiate career.
Breelyn Bowe | The MirrorSenior volleyball player Meagan Garcia finishes her collegiate career in fourth place for UNC Division I history with 1,271 career digs.
Staff [email protected]
The 2015 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Aca-demic All-District football teams have been released to recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances both athletically and in the classroom. Both junior linebacker Bryan Stans-bury and junior safety Tyler Bloyer
have earned first team NCAA Division I District 7 honors. Stansbury, a junior college transfer from Santa Rosa, has started in seven of the eight games this season for the team and has recorded 32 tackles, includ-ing 2.0 for a loss. He recorded a season high of eight tackles in the loss against Southern Utah University. Bloyer has been a part of the pro-gram since 2012 and is an important piece of the Bears’ defense at safety. He has played in all eight games this year, and he racked up 32 tackles, 1.0 for a
loss, three pass breakups and his first career interception in week 2 against Houston Baptist. Both student-athletes are in the top five on the team with well about a 3.5 GPA. To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale at his or her current institution, and must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games this season. The Academic All-District teams are
divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the fifth year of the expanded Academic All-America program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I), and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Di-vision II and NCAA Division III par-ticipants, while the College Division Academic All-America Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.
Garcia ends her volleyball career as one of UNC’s greatest defensive specialists
Two Bears earn All-District honorsBloyer and Stansbury make NCAA Division-I District 7 All-Academic team
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7-SportsDecember 7, 2015 | uncmirror.com
Men’s, women’s basketball fall on the road By Kyle O’[email protected]
Women’s Basketball The University of Northern Colorado wom-en’s basketball team lost to South Dakota State 66-62 on Saturday afternoon in Brookings, South Dakota at Frost Arena. The Bears (5-3, 0-0 Big Sky) rallied from a 15-point deficit with about seven minutes left to pull within one point, with less than two min-utes left in the game after a three-pointer was made by junior guard Katie Longwell. Unfortu-nately, UNC could not complete the comeback. South Dakota State built its lead during a lopsided second quarter. The Jacks outscored Northern Colorado 31-14 in the pivotal quarter. At halftime, UNC trailed 42-29 and the SDSU lead remained at 13 points following a third quarter in which both teams scored just ten points apiece. Three UNC players scored in double fig-ures with Longwell leading all scorers with 17 points. Longwell also tied her career high with five made three-pointers off just seven attempts. Joining Longwell in double figures were senior guard Kyleigh Hiser with 11 points and junior forward Kourteney Zadina with 13. Northern Colorado shot about 44 percent from the field and a blistering 46 percent from beyond the three-point arc. The Bears’ bench certainly did their part, scoring a combined 32 points. The women’s basketball team plays its next
game against in-state rival Colorado State at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night at the Bank of Colorado Arena.
Men’s Basketball The University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball team lost to the University of Cali-fornia- Riverside 77-66 on Thursday night at the SRC Arena in Riverside, California. Despite a combined 42 points from freshman guard Jordan Davis and junior guard Jordan Wilson, the Bears (1-6, 0-0 Big Sky) couldn’t overcome a balanced attack from the Highland-ers en route to their fifth straight loss. UC Riverside never trailed in the game and held a lead of at least 20 points for a large por-tion of the game, peaking at 28 points in the sec-ond half. The Bears managed to make the game more manageable in the latter parts of the second half. Behind Wilson and Davis, UNC went on a 25-8 scoring run to end the game. The High-landers’ lead was reduced to single digits with 20 seconds remaining after Wilson hit a three-pointer to make the score 75-66. Scoring has not come easy for UNC with the absence of the team’s leading scorer, junior guard Cameron Michael, who missed his third consecutive game after suffering a concussion. The Bears did not shoot the ball particularly well, but shot a better percentage from thee-point range than they did from inside the arc. Northern Colorado shot just under 37 per-cent from the field and 39 percent from deep. The Bears’ bench failed to pick up the slack in Michael’s absence, scoring a total of five points.
Redshirt sophomore center Jeremy Verhagen joined Wilson and Davis as the only UNC play-ers to score in double figures with ten points.
Northern Colorado plays its next game against York College at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at the Bank of Colorado Arena.
Photo courtesy of Rob TrubiaThe University of Northern Colorado women’s basketball team nearly overcame a 15 point deficit on Saturday night, but fell short to South Dakota State University.
Wrestling wraps up 2015 schedule in VegasBy Chris Bolin
Northern Colorado wrapped up the 34th an-nual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Sat-urday, with Trey Andrews (125) being the only bear to place, finishing eighth. After receiving a bye in his first round match Friday, Andrews won three of his four matches to advance into the second day. On Saturday, he won his first match of the day by a medical for-feit by his opponent, guaranteeing that he would place in the tournament. In his next match, he faced Paul Petrov from Bucknell University, who he had defeated at last year’s Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. This year, however, Petrov came out on top, defeating Andrews by a 10-5 decision, putting him into
the seventh place match. In the seventh place match, he faced off against David Terao from American University, who he had faced earlier in the tournament. Despite a late comeback by Andrews, Terao was too much to handle again, closing out Andrews’ tournament with an eighth place finish. “Trey wrestled a great tournament,” head coach Troy Nickerson said. “Coming in un-seeded and finishing eighth—it’s a tough weight. Anytime you come in and have the returning Nationals runner-up not place, you know it’s a tough weight. I’m proud of him. He was in every match to win it.” The only other Northern Colorado wrestler to advance to the second day was Trent Noon (197), not placing but having a strong showing. On Friday, Noon faced wrestlers from much larger schools winning his first three over op-ponents from Purdue, Oregon State and Ohio
State, before falling to Max Huntley from Michi-gan on his final match of the day. On Saturday, Noon faced Bryce Barnes from West Point in his first match of the day. Despite getting off to a good start, he was unable to pull out the victory, falling by a 5-4 decision, ending his tournament. “We saw some great signs from Trent this weekend,” Nickerson said. “The Oregon State match was a really good one for him. His match today was disappointing, he dominated most of it but just didn’t get the job done at the end. That’s the kind of thing we’ll have to continue to work on.” Along with the two that advanced to the Sat-urday rounds, other UNC wrestlers enjoyed suc-cess the first day of the tournament. Rico Mon-toya picked up a win in his first ever match at the Cliff Keen Invitational, a 19-2 technical fall over Boise State’s Josh Newburg.
Ben Polkowske, in his first event of the season, went 2-2 on the day, winning by decision over wrestlers from Northern Iowa and Cal Poly. Dylan Gabel also went 2-2 on the day, pin-ning his first opponent and winning by decision over his second opponent before losing his third match. He had to forfeit his fourth match due to medical reasons. “I think overall it was a good tournament,” Nickerson said. “We learned a lot about our-selves and the areas we need to work on. Overall as a team, our guys did a great job on top. We really dominated a lot of the mat-wrestling. We need to get better at getting the go-to leg attack and hand-fighting on our feet.” This was the Bears’ last competition for the year, and the team will be resuming their sched-ule Jan. 1-2 in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the 2016 Southern Scuffle.
8December 7, 2015 | uncmirror.comy Fun & Games
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JOKES OF THE WEEK
What do you call a dead fly?
A flew.
What streets do ghosts haunt?
Dead ends!
How do spiders communicate?
Through the World Wide Web.
What do you call a snow-man with a six pack?
An abdominal snowman.
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“Art Major” by Ethan Funk-Breay