Morrisville State College • March 2012• vol. XLII • no. 5

InsideCampus

Opinions

Lifestyle

Student activities fee to remain mandatory two more yearsMollie Carter, ‘13Campus News Co-Editor

SGO elections on Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20 resulted in the student activity fee remaining mandatory for at least the next two years. The vote was 66.4 percent for mandatory and 32.7 percent for voluntary. There was 0.9 percent no votes.

These results mean that stu-dents will continue to be required to pay $87 each semester to help fund campus events, activities and clubs.

The elected positions of SGO president, vice-president, and di-rector of budgets were also up to vote but were not available at press time. The three candidates for SGO president were Sabrina Johnson,a 24-year-old human performance and health promotion student; Megan Collins, a 20-year-old equine breeding student; and Galen More-head, a 20-year-old criminal justice student.

If she is voted president, John-son said she would like to receive more input from non-SGO and campus activity board members

about performers that come to MSC. She said there needs to be a better polling procedure to learn what students want, to help decide on what kind of performers to spend money on.

Johnson also said she would like to increase the chances of students graduating from their programs on time. This has often caused conflict because some required classes are only offered in the fall or spring

semester and can cause conflict. She said she would like to go to administration to change this.

Collins said she feels like her experience of being in SGO since her freshman year is important. She would like to work with the Morrisville Auxiliary Corporation so students can use breakfast meals at Jazzy Joe’s, instead of points. She has also said she would like to try to make the fitness center opened

earlier and make more buildings on campus wheelchair accessible.

Morehead has said he wants to become president of SGO primar-ily because he loves Morrisville. He would like to focus on, “diversity.” He would like to promote toler-ance of the diversity on campus by adding workshops to the ELITE Leadership series or SGO tips. He would also like to make students more aware of what student gov-ernment is about so they can know what’s happening on campus. He would like to use outlets like the CHIMES or WCVM.

The students who were running for vice-president were Nicholas Feidt and Kyle Karasek. Feidt is currently the Collegiate Future Farmers of America representative in the Assembly and Karasek repre-sents the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in the Assembly.

Casey Callahan and Aaron Spink were running for director of budgets. Callahan currently represents the Conservation Tri-Society in the Assembly and Spink is the representative for the Casino Management Organization.

Wellness Center continues to draw in new clientsMonica Bonneau, ‘12Co-Managing Editor

“It’s like I’m surrounded by a big family while working out,” says retiree from MSC, Nathan Miller, who currently does part-time maintenance work for Mor-risville Auxiliary Corporation.

Miller joined the Wellness Center a year ago because he felt he was out of shape and gaining weight. He heard about the center through MAC.

When Miller originally joined the center, he expected a similar experience to a traditional fit-ness center. He soon realized the center has a more personal and friendly environment, which differentiates itself from other fitness centers.

“It’s a little more low-key and you don’t have to compete to get on machines,” Miller says.

Miller is trained by human per-formance and health promotions intern Peter Enriquez. “Peter is excellent and really pushes you,” Miller says. He adds that the train-ers modify workouts all the time to keep them fun.

“He’s easy to get along with, so it’s comfortable working with him,” Enriquez says.

Miller says all his workouts typically vary, but that he espe-cially likes doing “supermans,” which consist of laying parallel

to the ground and lifting the arms and legs up to strengthen core muscles.

Tanner Leto is another client at the center. He currently works as a project manager in the School of Business. He says he heard

about the center through an e-mail he recently received. “The center’s a great value and the train-ers are more than willing to help you reach your goals,” Leto says.

The EKG testing the trainers do gave him a good depiction of his health status, he adds. His workouts are dynamic, and he is currently getting into boxing at the center.

He said when he’s done work-ing out, he feels fatigued, which shows that the workouts really work.

HPHP senior Craig Kopp currently trains Leto, and he says his client is an example of why he truly enjoys personal training. “He was eager to get into the training,” Kopp says.

Kopp says it typically takes a client two to three weeks to really start getting into training. “The hardest part is pushing them past their psychological breaking point.”

“Craig is very knowledgeable and he’s a good motivator,” Leto says. He notes that Craig is good at measuring his abilities

~continuedonpage10~

Wellness Center student intern Craig Kopp (left) encourages his client, Tanner Leto (right), during a personal workout session.

Photo by Monica Bonneau, ‘12 | Co-Managing Editor

Cheerleading begins taking steps to be recognized as an

official sport. see full story on page 9

Morrisville Theatre Depart-men and SGO present “Cole”

this coming weekend.see full story on page 2

Romney’s comments and stance on the lower class sparks controversy during

Republican Primary.see full story on page 3

The student activities fee was voted to remain mandatory for two more years. Results for the elected officer positions were not avail-able at the time of publication, but will be available on this week’s CHIMES Online (thechimes.morrisville.edu).

page 2 March 2012 - The CHIMESOpinions

programs in order to allow more federal aid for smaller farming operations.

Government subsidies were first used after the Great Depression to help family farms that were struggling. Ac-cording to the Environmental Working Group, the majority of the government subsidies are going to the corporate farms, more specifically to “absentee land owners” and investors. Data shows farm subsidies, by millions of dollars, going into the hands of recipients in major cities across the U.S. Although reform has been attempted, including a veto from former President George W. Bush, the subsidies continue to go to corporate interests, instead of the people they were intended to go to: the small family farm. With the 2012 Farm Bill coming up, there is a lot of discus-sion about the reforms that need to happen, to help get the money to those who truly need it.

The loss of many smaller scale meat processing companies has caused a growing concern for the safety of our food. Eric Schlosser, author of “Fast Food Nation,” explained to Public Broadcasting Station during an interview for the television program “Frontline” the problems with the industrial pro-cessing of animals. He said the plants are processing 300 to 400 head of cattle an hour. There is often fecal matter pres-ent on the hide, and that often times transfers to the air. If proper care isn’t taken in tying off the intestines, the bacteria from the stomach contents can contaminate other parts of the meat.

Schlosser noted the high employee turnover rate within the slaughter house, and the high probability of employee

errors due to lack of experience. “…It’s that speed of production that can lead to food safety problems,” he said.

Some of the companies that have dominated the meat packing market are Cargill, ConAgra and Tyson Iowa Beef Processors. By bringing meat production back to a local level, farmers will be able to ensure the time is taken to properly process the meat. A common argument for more locally-based meat processing facilities is that local processors often take better care of their animals, and the better the animal is cared for, the more nutritious the food will be.

More people are becoming aware of the food they eat, and have the desire to know where it comes from, and to know that the nutritional value in the foods is optimal. A Harvard Medical School publication addressed the ques-tion of whether or not the produce that is grown locally is more nutritious than the produce grown in other places across the country. The conclusion was that locally grown produce will have greater nutritional value than produce that was grown far away. Produce that is sold locally is usually picked and sold within 24 hours after it is harvested, whereas produce grown farther away has to be transported.

Community Supported Agriculture programs connect the farmer with the consumer. CSAs promote locally grown, organic foods, and are becoming more popular with the growing demand for local agriculture. The CSA of Central New York has specific objectives that include; eating foods that are in season, helping farmers make a living, not con-suming industrialized food, and eating

Let's be clear on this: OBAMA did NOT kill Bin Laden. An American soldier, who Obama just a few weeks ago was debating on whether or not to PAY, did. Obama just happened to be in office when one of our soldiers finally found O.B.L and took him out. This is NOT an Obama

Food issues bring local agriculture into the spotlightorganic food. The way CSAs work is through what CSA-CNY refers to as shareholders. Shareholders of CSAs pay for their desired portion of produce be-fore a season’s harvest. This ensures the farmer will be able to sell the products, and it helps to offset the initial cost of planting the crops. Different farms may participate in different CSAs. CSA-CNY lists 11 farms.

Side Hill Farmers is a cooperative of Central New York farmers. Like other CSAs, members or shareholders, pay up front for the products and portions they would like to buy. Side Hill Farmers is a meat CSA. They offer meat from mostly pasture-raised animals. Side Hill Farmers consists of Madison County farms, and the two processing plants for the animals are located within an hour of the farms. The close proximity of the processing plants ensures that the meat is handled by all local businesses.

The push for more local agriculture business is showing more in today’s communities than in years past. Super-markets like TOPS Friendly Markets label locally grown foods, and advertised the fact that they buy produce from over 200 local farms.

Along with becoming a member of a local CSA, other options for buying lo-cal products are Nelson Farms Country Store, located on Rt. 20 in Cazenovia, and 2nd Syracuse Real Food Co-op located on Kensington Rd in Syracuse. Farmer’s markets are another great way to get locally grown food products. Many CSAs have link to participating farm websites, where perspective buy-ers can find out where to buy locally grown food.

Jennifer Callahan, ‘13Staff Reporter

Over the past few years, Americans have taken a strong interest in where their food products come from. We want to know how the livestock is raised, and how the produce is grown. Eye-opening publications about the indecency of industrial agriculture have helped to turn more consumers to locally-grown products. People are starting to realize that there is a need for transparency with the way their food is being produced.

The 2008 documentar y f i lm, “FOOD, Inc.” addressed the issues surrounding industrial agriculture. The concentration was on foodborne illness, corruption, and the toll that corporate farming takes on the nutritional value within the food. Barbara Kowalcyk was featured in the film. The film followed her on her mission to improve food safety standards, a mission that she began after her 2-year-old son died in 2001 of an E. coli O157:H7 infection. Kowalcyk has been trying to gain sup-port for “Kevin’s Law,” a bill that would give the United States Department of Agriculture the authority to shut down a processing plant that is producing contaminated meat. She has faced strong opposition from corporate agriculture lobbyists.

One argument against corporate farming is that many of these organiza-tions are receiving large government subsidies, which the smaller farmers are not receiving. In a June 23, 2011, news release, the Environmental Work-ing Group explains the origins of the subsidies, and the need for reform to the

Father shoots daughter’s laptopMonica Bonneau, ‘12Managing Co-Editor

The technology age has brought great innovations: laptops, iPhones, iPads, and more. But it seems to me that as technol-ogy blooms, children become more and more demanding and spoiled, forgetting about family values and their responsi-bilities. A recent YouTube video explains.

The controversial video titled, “Face-book Parenting: For the Troubled Teen,” features a father, Jordan, who put nine bul-lets through his fifteen-year-old daughter’s (Hannah) laptop, after he found a public letter on her Facebook page, insulting both him and the daughter’s mother.

Jordan opened the video with the fol-lowing words, courtesy of wbtv.com:

“For all you parents out there who think your kids don’t post bad things on Facebook, well, I wanna read you one I took off my daughter’s Facebook wall. She thought she was being smart, by blocking her parents from being able to see it.”

Jordan then publicly read Hannah’s letter. The following is an excerpt:

“To my parents: I’m not your damn slave. It’s not my responsibility to clean up your [expletive]. We have a cleaning lady for a reason. Her name is Linda, not Hannah,” he read from his daughter’s Facebook page. “If you want coffee, get off your lazy ass and get it yourself. If you want a garden, shovel the fertilizer yourself, don’t sit back on your ass and watch me do it. If you walk in the house and get mud all over the floor that I just cleaned, be my guest, but clean it up after you are done getting shit everywhere. I’m tired of picking up after you. You tell me at least once a day to get a job.”

The letter also suggests that the father should pay Hannah for the chores she says she does. Jordan commented in the video that Hannah was going to be punished for a very long time, and that the only way she would ever have another laptop is if she got a job and paid for one on her own.

He also said that he was holding her responsible for about $130 he put toward brand new software for her laptop, weeks before the incident.

~Continued on Page 3~

Jeffrey Costello, Editor In ChiefMonica Bonneau, Co-Managing Editor

Wendy Vair, Co-Managing Editor

Silke Mahardy ....................................................................Copy EditorAdilka Pimentel ...................................................Opinions Co-EditorStephanie Root ....................................................Opinions Co-EditorCatherine Flood ..........................................Campus News Co-EditorMollie Carter ...............................................Campus News Co-EditorAston Lee ..................................................................... Lifestyle EditorRoxanne Bailey. .......................................... Associate Lifestyle EditorCourtney Cook .........................................................Sports Co-EditorMarissa Felker .......................................................... Sports Co-EditorBrendan Shannon ......................................................Photo Co-EditorDaniel Moreno-Gonzales ........................................Photo Co-EditorBriana Foisa .............................................................. Online Co-EditorJeffrey Dwyer ........................................................... Online Co-Editor

Instructor Marti Collins ..............................Editorial AdvisorAsst. Prof. Brian L. McDowell . Photography & Layout Advisor

The CHIMES is a publication of students in the Journalism Department at Morrisville State College. Readers can contact CHIMES staff members in 101 Charlton Hall, through e-mail at chimes@morrisville.edu, or by phone at (315) 684-6247. Letters and columns appearing on the Opinions page reflect the opinions of their authors, and are subject to editing for length, clarity, and standards of decency.

OpinionsMarch 2012 - The CHIMES page 3

Romney sparks controversy over comment regarding the ‘poor’

Republican primaries focus more on bashing than promoting

Randy Dolmo, ‘13Staff Reporter

With Mitt Romney winning the primaries in Washington on March 3, he continues to lead in the Republican Presidential candidate race for the Grand Old Party nomination.

On Feb. 1, Romney sparked controversy by saying he’s “not concerned about the very poor.”

Later, Romney sat down for an interview with Nevada reporter Jon Ralston and said he “misspoke” and attemped to better interpret and defend

his intentions on what he meant to say.

“I’ve said something that is similar to that, but quite acceptable for a long time,” Romney said.

Romney said that his cam-paign is focused on helping the middle class of America.

His plan shows it will pro-vide huge tax breaks for the rich, while raising taxes on the poor. Where does this leave the middle class?

With little to no benefit. According to The Tax Policy Center, most of the people who would benefit from his

proposal would be people like him, the rich.

Economic Policy Editor Pat Garofalo broke down statisti-cally the effects of Romney’s plan.

Low-income families who make from $10,000 to $20,000 would get an average tax cut of $140, in which 20 percent would receive an average tax increase of $1,000. Millionaires, on the other hand, would get a tax cut averaging $150,000.

Although Romney stated that the poor “have a safety net, but if it has holes in it, I will repair them.”

How does he fix what he is already willing to undo? It looks like the entire plan needs fixing if he is going to benefit the middle class and have a safety net for the poor.

His plan does the opposite of what he says and actually puts more holes in the safety net. The safety net for the poor that he speaks of, would need more repairing from the dev-astating cuts in the future if he wins and policies are enforced.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Romney’s plan would be cut-ting funds from programs that

benefit the poor like Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program and the Supplemental Nutrition As-sistance Program.

Romney misspeaking about the poor seems to tell the truth behind his actions and economic plans. His campaign is geared towards helping the middle class and to continue having a safety net for the poor.

With his tax cuts and other economic plans, the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class doesn’t get a thing.

Matt Johnston, ‘12Staff Reporter

The campaigns for the Re-publican nomination for presi-dent have been going on for a year and a half now, and the number of electable candidates has been whittled down from dozens over the months to the last few front runners.

The race has been a bitter struggle, with candidates run-ning brutal smear campaigns against one another and the current administration to try to damage one another’s reputa-tion.

A television ad paid for by Ron Paul’s campaign committee accused Newt Gingrich of “se-rial hypocrisy,” portraying him as having no ethics and trying to get rich during his terms in congress. The commercial ac-

cused Gingrich of having 84 “ethics complaints” made about him in congress and cited his net worth growing from $10,000 to $7.5 million during his time in congress as evidence that he was using his position to become wealthy.

The commercial quoted an article from the National Review stating: “Newt Gingrich profit-ed from the greatest scandals of our time,” and a pundit claiming he received $1.8 million from the Federal Home Loan Mort-gage Corporation, or Freddie Mac, before the mortgage crisis in late 2007.

An ad run by Rick Perry claimed that Barack Obama’s health care legislation, hugely unpopular with Republicans, was based on Mitt Romney’s health care plan during his term as the governor of Massachu-

setts, and claimed Romney’s plan cost the state of Massachusetts $8 billion.

In his speech after winning the Iowa primary, Rick Santo-rum described the Democratic Party as wanting to punish suc-cessful people with taxes. He accused the Democrats of “redistributing money” and “increasing dependency.”

He accused his own party of only wanting to cut taxes instead of addressing America’s problems.

In the weeks before Florida’s primary, Newt Gingrich ran an ad that began: “What kind of man would mislead, distort and decieve just to win an election?” Showing a black-and-white photo of Romney smiling at the camera, the ad concluded: “This man would.” With all these neg-ative promotional campaigns,

the public eye is seeing the true nature of the candidates.

One of Gingrich’s political action committees went even further, producing a seven-minute film on Romney en-titled “Blood Money.” In the film, Romney is accused of committing Medicare fraud through a company he helped run in the 1990s.

Romney ran his own ads against Gingrich in Florida. One ad showed a picture of Obama and stated: “If Newt Gingrich wins, this man would be very happy.”

Romney also ran ads that claimed Gingrich’s term as House speaker had ended in censure after an ethics scandal. In reality, Gingrich stepped down after the Re-publicans lost five House seats in 1998.

This sort of negative cam-paigning reflects more on the candidates making the attacks than on the people they are criticizing. It shows that a candidate is willing to do any-thing to gain an advantage in the race, no matter who they hurt or how many reputations they damage.

When viewers see an ad trying to convince them that Newt Gingrich is a terrible person and it ends with “Ron Paul approves this message,” they are as likely to decide Paul is a terrible person for running the ad in the first place.

The candidates could ben-efit themselves more by talking about who they are and how their presidency would im-prove things in America. They are only hurting themselves by attacking their opponents.

~Continued from Page 2~ Over the past few weeks, the video has received over 31 mil-lion views. According to abcnews.com, the video has over 246,000 likes, and also, over 21,000 dislikes, which makes for many mixed opinions.

One viewer comment from abcnews.com, reads: “The fa-ther sounds looney to me and I would have questions about his ability to parent if that’s his idea of how to deal with his daugh-ter.” The post went on to explain that it’s simply the father’s fault for the daughter’s spoiled ways, as he probably brought her up to be that way.

Another post on the same site shows a contrary opinion and reads as follows: “If more parents would take a stand against the entitled feeling kids

have maybe we could start cre-ating a better next generation.”

Jordan and his daughter were recently interviewed on Rock Center by Matthew Lauer. In the interview, Jordan said: “I stand behind the video but have regrets.” He said that the

“derogatory way Hannah spoke about the cleaning lady and her use of language” really got to him, which resulted in him cre-ating the video.

Hannah told Lauer that she was both “mad and sad” about the video her father posted, but

that she understood where he was coming from by making it.

Jordan appeared to be re-morseful, because he felt the video embarrassed his daughter. He said he never expected the video to garner as much atten-tion as it has.

Although the video draws mixed opinions, I feel that many parents are lenient with the way their kids talk to them, and let them get away with it. It was this father’s right to post this video and after all, he didn’t hurt anyone, just the laptop.

With each passing year, it seems as though kids think they are entitled to everything. I got my first job when I was 14-years-old and loved working and earning my own things. I didn’t have my own laptop or an iPhone, like many young kids have in today’s society, but was

Video response posted on remarks made against father on Facebookstill a happy kid. Granted, times are more advanced than they were seven years ago, I strongly feel that kids are too spoiled and invested in their gadgets, and aren’t always taught the value of a dollar.

At the end of the television interview, Jordan said that he and his daughter made up after the video, and that they even shared a few laughs over it a few days after it was posted. Ac-cording to Rock Center, Hannah is currently still grounded, but said she learned a lesson from the whole situation, and plans to act more respectful towards her parents.

There is no clear answer as to whether posting the video was right or wrong, but I feel the father had good intentions seems to genuinely love and care about his daughter.

Jordon, father of Hannah, the daughter who posted an insulting message on Facebook, is featured in this still from his video response.

Campuspage 4 March 2012 - The CHIMES

Jeffrey Costello, ‘12Editor in Chief

For Roxanna Pisiak, the pas-sion for reading and writing be-gan at a young age in what some may call an unlikely setting. She grew up in Madison, N.Y. back when the town did not have a public library and was only visited weekly by the Bookmobile.

She recalls that her house did not have any books and that her parents were not big readers. Despite that, Pisiak says “they fostered it in me.”

Today, Roxanna Pisiak affixes a “Dr.” before her name courtesy of a doctorate in English and American Studies, and is a profes-sor of humanities at Morrisville State College. Pisiak believes in giving every student a chance to reach their potential and realize their own passions.

Throughout grade school, Pisiak was introduced to the Scholastic Book Orders most school children are sent home with every month or so. To satiate her desire to read more and more, Pisiak recalled “I would order every book.” She would even ride

her bike 11 miles out to Hamilton just to take out books from the small public library.

“I have a total love affair with libraries,” Pisiak says, compar-ing herself to a character from Stephen King’s “It,” saying the library was her “sanctuary.” She would hole up in them to decom-press or just visit.

In high school, Pisiak recalls, her old English teacher believed that English could help students no matter where they went, even if it was “quoting Shakespeare to a cow.” She says he helped her realize she could pursue English.

Pisiak studied English in col-lege in her undergraduate years up until she received her masters

degree in English and Compara-tive Literatures in 1985.

She says back then it wasn’t a “death knell” to be an English major and there were a lot of jobs they were qualified for, such as be-ing a reporter, teacher, or in public relations and technical writing.

The experience that finally nudged Pisiak into teaching was when she was applying for a job at Herkimer County Community College in the public relations office after receiving her master’s.

The college called to tell her she was not selected for the job. However, a professor had recently gone on emergency medical leave and they needed someone to cov-er their English I course. Given only one week to prepare, Pisiak quickly put material together and taught it.

“After one semester at HCCC as an adjunct, I realized I love to teach,” Pisiak says. “I kind of stumbled into that job, and I had fun doing it.”

After her experience at HCCC, Pisiak received her doc-torate in 1993 and landed a job teaching in the Department of Humanities at MSC the same year.

A professor at MSC for 18 years, Pisiak says her teaching method revolves around the Bud-dhist concept of prajna -- or the possibility of quality within each person.

Pisiak has taught several litera-ture and writing courses at MSC and places emphasis on bringing out the quality in her students. Her style of teaching has earned her several accommendations and the respect of her peers.

“I find a lot of students un-derestimate themselves,” Pisiak says. She adopted prajna to help dispel that perception, even if it is just finding weak points and making small improvements.

“I want to show them a more accurate perception of them-selves,” Pisiak says.

Pisiak’s colleagues in the School of Liberal Arts were quick to note her enthusiasm, pleasant demeanor, dedication to her students and intelligence, as defining characteristics.

When Assistant Professor of Humanities Aron Efmenko joined MSC in 2007 to teach English and writing and he

~Continued on Page 10~

MSC professor brings her passion for writing to the classroom

The MSC spring musical ‘Cole’ can be enjoyed by all age groups

Roxanna Pisiak has been teaching several literature and writing courses at MSC for 18 years and places emphasis on bringing out the quality in her students. Her style of teaching has earned her several commendations and the respect of her peers.

Photo courtesy of Roxanna Pisiak

Wendy Vair, ‘12Co-Managing Editor

“They may not know his name, but they know his mu-sic,” said Stephen Hinkle, as-sociate professor of liberal arts humanities and social sciences and director of theater and music. This spring, the theatre department is putting on a show entitled “Cole,” based on the life and songs of the famous composer, Cole Porter, devised by Alan Strachan and Benny Green.

This musical features “songs everyone loves, but won’t realize it’s Cole Porter until they hear it,” said main narrator of the show, Brian Butcher, a horti-culture business management senior.

The show has no characters and no defined plot, but rather goes through the life of Porter through some of his most well-known songs like “Dizzy Baby,” featuring Devin Miller, a fresh-man in individual studies and Justin Scott, a natural resources conservation sophomore, and “Still of the Night,” featuring Michelle Bagnall, a liberal arts social sciences and humanities senior.

“Everybody knows Cole Porter music,” said Hinkle. “People like Sinatra and Etta James sang Cole Porter songs,” he added. He said this musical has “no angst, no ‘the world’s gonna end today,’ it’s just about his trials. His first show was a complete flop.” Even the actors hated it – as they say in the show.

The show begins by going through the early stages of Porter’s life, getting accepted

into Yale University, joining the drama club and the glee club and how he was going to go into mining, lumbering or farming. Instead he went on to Harvard University to study law, but ended up writing a Broadway musical instead. His first musical “See America First,” was called the “worst musical in town,” only lasting 15 performances.

One of Porter’s earliest songs, “When the Summer

Moon Comes Along,” is sung barber-shop-quartet-style fea-turing Miller, Scott, Scott Turn-er, a liberal arts humanities and social sciences senior, and Trevor Goldstein, a sports nu-trition and fitness management sophomore. The song goes on about how to impress your girl by buying her a canoe built just for two, but in the end, she’ll be nothing more than your sister.

Senior equine science stu-dent Cassandra Clark descends down the large staircase stage donning her Statue of Liberty attire as she sings “Lost Lib-erty Blues,” a song about the troubles of the Statue of Lib-erty, a “slave in the home of the brave.” Bagnall belts out a lovely rendition of “I Love Paris,” and Goldstein sings “You Don’t Know Paree,” bringing life to two old, classic songs.

The group of 23 is large, ranging from high school junior, Melinda Stanton, to MSC alum-ni Kyle Wilson and Thomas Lemery, creating an incredibly diverse and talented cast.

With 12 soloists and an en-semble of 11, Hinkle said this year, he wanted to do “some-thing with a lot of people.” The large cast and many musical

numbers give each actor the op-portunity to shine and just have fun on stage.

Liberal arts humanities and social science senior George Castaldo said he hopes people “realize how great these old songs are and how funny some of them can be.” Castaldo, Wil-son, Lemery and Christopher Covey, an autobody technology sophomore, bring comic relief to the stage with their song “Be a Clown” as they go through the lows of Porter’s career.

The beautiful set design, classic costumes and talented voices of Bagnall, dairy manage-ment sophomore Leah Schum-acher and journalism and com-munications in online media freshman Jessica Reed, just to name a few, are a real treat and definitely worth coming out to listen to as they tell the story of a man you probably didn’t realize you even knew.

Remaining shows will be in the STUAC Little Theatre on March 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $3 for students and $7 for adults.

Cole is produced by spe-cial arrangements with Samuel French, Inc. in New York, New York.

In a stunning rendition of “Anything Goes,” dairy management soph-more Leah Schumacher and company danced and sung one of Cole Porter’s classics. This was just one of the eye-catching chorus numbers that stole the show.

Photo by Wendy Vair, ‘12 | Co-Managing Editor

CampusMarch 2012 - The CHIMES page 5

Jeff Dwyer, ‘15Online Co-Editor

As the spring semester starts coming to an end, the topic of this year’s commence-ment is on all the soon-to-grad-uate students’ minds. With May 19 approaching rather quickly, the 101st Annual Commence-

ment Ceremony at Morrisville State College is already in the works.

Every year, students in their last year of study at MSC prepare for the annual commencement ceremony to celebrate their entrance into the real world. As the warm weather begins to roll in and

“senioritis” starts to affect the students, the question arises as to where exactly this ceremony is to be held.

A debate occurs each year about whether commencement should be held in the recreation center or on the football field. Although the field has been set up to host commencement in the past, with the “incredible weather risk,” it is likely that the much-anticipated event will be held at the recreation center, said Public Relations Officer Amy Cornue.

Questions are being asked as to why the ceremony is not being set up outside and if commencement will ever take place on the field again. In the past 21 years, “only four or five ceremonies have been outside due to poor weather,” said Director of Physical Plant Mike Nataluk.

Even though in the past both the field and the recre-ation center would be set up for the ceremony, “only the

rec center will be set up this year,” said Nataluk. It requires approximately 30 people to set up the inside ceremony, and the recreation center seats about 2,500.

“It depends on the student, but I wouldn’t mind helping set up,” said Peter Sorrell, a senior in the renewable energy and natural resources program.

Many of the graduating students prefer the idea of graduating on the field.

“I definitely prefer it out-side, but it’s not a life-or-death situation,” Sorrell said.

While many students prefer the field for commencement, it should be remembered that the recreation center was set up “beautifully,” said 2011 gradu-ate Jonathan Namanworth of the horticulture program.

“I would love for the event to be outdoors, it could cer-tainly be a possibility in the future,” Cornue. said

While the recreation center is still the designated site for

the ceremony, the football field should not be a “contingency plan, it should be the first choice,” said Andrew Plante, a senior in the automotive busi-ness management program.

Namanworth said that al-though the recreation center is set up very nicely for com-mencement each year, “the field is something we can all be proud of,” whereas in the rec-reation center, it “just gets hot, and it’s harder to see people go across the stage.”

“It’s your last experience at Morrisville, you want to be surrounded by the environ-ment you spent all that time in,” said Plante.

Cornue said students who want to help with ceremony decisions can attend the com-mencement planning meetings that start in September each year.

The MSC commencement ceremony is set to take place on May 19, inside the recreation center.

Students react to location of the spring Commencement ceremony

Bookstore gives back to students and offers new rewards programJessica Reed, ‘15Staff Reporter

Every semester, it’s the same old story: students spend hun-dreds of dollars on textbooks that either sit on their shelves for eternity or are sold back at a fraction of the original price. It makes going to the college book store seem like a chore. Now, there is a reward for going to the book store.

Students at MSC can receive discounts at the campus store just by making a purchase. One point is added on to the stu-dents’ ID card with every pur-chase of five dollars or more.

Denise Osinski, the point of sale technician at the cam-pus store, said the program has been in use for roughly five years. She said that the points add up eventually and they can be used to help buy books or any other items needed in the store. The points can be used at the campus store along with the Norwich campus store and even online.

Osinski said students use their points fairly often. They give roughly two or three gift cards out a week at the begin-ning of semesters. She thinks people love the program, say-ing that if someone is already buying books and other items,

then why not get money back in the process?

How many points a student receives depends on what kind of gift cards the student can receive. If a student has 150 points they can receive a $25 gift card, if they have 280 points they can receive a $50 gift card, and if they have 500 points they can receive a $100 gift card.

Osinski said it’s not really surprising that students don’t know about the program. Even though there is a poster outside of the Campus Store and mar-keting e-mails are sent out to the students’ e-mail.

Jazmine Plummer, a senior in liberal arts, said that she’s never seen any of the adver-tisements. Plummer believes they should make more of an effort to get the word out. She suggested that it could even be brought up at student orienta-tions.

Plummer said the only rea-son she even knew about the program was because a friend told her and even then she didn’t find out until her second semester.

Connor Gennarelli, a first year landscape architecture student, said he didn’t know anything about the program. He said all he knew was that when they swiped your card at

they can go to the Web site http://bookstore.morrisville.edu and click on the link that is on the left hand side that says “rewards points.” From that link, they can log on and view their amount of points or redeem them for one of the gift cards.

students who go to the book store. Gennarelli said he finds it to be “interesting, smart, and a good idea,” but he thinks there should be more to it.

Osinski said that for any student who is unsure as to how to use their rewards points or to look up how many they have,

the bookstore you get “some sort of reward.” Both Gen-narelli and Plummer said many people do not read their e-mails and there should be another way to advertise the program. Gennarelli said he is sure there are lots of posters out there, but they should “make them bigger.”

Osinski said that she be-lieves they are trying to get the word out to students in more ways. She said she believes the next step is Facebook.

Desiree Kitchen, a second year medical office administra-tion student, said that she uses the points when she has them and finds them to be “very” use-ful. “When I need something I can fall back on them,” she said.

“People don’t read e-mails” said Kitchen, “but I don’t see why people don’t use them, it’s free money!” Kitchen said she found out about the program when she was at the store mak-ing purchases. She also said most people don’t even know what they are.

Angie Marshall, a third-year nursing student, said that she also uses her points at least once a week. She also said she believes that the book store should “advertise them more.”

Plummer said she believes the program is of great help for

Students can receive free gift cards by accumulating reward points at the campus bookstore. Every five dollars spent is one point towards a student’s reward.

Illustration by Jacob DeRochie, ‘13| Staff Cartoonist

Two students at Spring 2011 Commencement are waiting in the iceplex to walk to the recreation center. The recreation center will be where students recieve their diplomas.

Photo courtesy of the Public Relations Office

The CHIMESpage 6 March 2012 - The CHIMES

The CHIMESMarch 2012 - The CHIMES page 7

Think you have a funny, witty or interesting caption to go along with this photograph? Send your name, submission and contact information to chimes@morris-ville.edu by Friday, April 13. The best two captions will receive a $25 gift card to the campus store. Make sure you check out the next print issue on April 19 to see the winning entries and enter in next month’s caption contest.

The CHIMES asks that no anonymous submission be submitted and only one sub-mission per student, faculty or staff member.

Submissions appearing in the CHIMES caption con-test reflect the opinions of their authors, and are subject to editing for length, clar-ity, and standards of decency.

Photo by Joshua Risley, ‘14Staff Photographer

Liberal Arts poetry contest underway; winners to be featured in The CHIMESCatherine Flood, ‘13Campus Co-Editor

The School of Liberal Arts’ annual poetry contest is under-way, and submissions are being accepted until noon on March 27.

The contest is for faculty, staff and students, and the win-ning poem will be announced and read at the Liberal Arts Tea on April 10 in STUAC theatre.

The Tea is a ceremony where students in the School of Liberal Arts receive awards for their academic excellence.

All submissions should be sent to Professor Timothy Gerken, assistant professor of liberal arts and sciences-human-ities and social science.

There are two ways to sub-mit a poem, either directly to Gerken by interoffice mail in

Crawford 108, or send your sub-mission by email to gerkentw@morrisville.edu.

Poems should be no more than three pages long. The poem title, author’s name, contact in-formation and title of student, staff or faculty is required on a separate cover sheet. The au-thor’s name should not be on the poem itself.

For email submissions, write the author’s name in the subject line along with the title of the poem and the words poetry contest. In the email itself, write whether the submitter is a stu-dent, faculty or staff.

This year’s winners of the poetry contest will have their poems published in The CHIMES print issue on April 19. All Liberal Arts students and faculty are encouraged to attend the tea.

What’s going on in this photograph?

Lifestylepage 8 March 2012 - The CHIMES

Crackdown on piracy leads to lawsuit against MegaUpload

Brittany Tuft, ‘15 Staff Reporter

MegaUpload, one of the leading Web sites used for music piracy, was shut down last month. The owner, Kim Schmitz, also known as Kim Dotcom, has been charged with copyright infringement and racketeering, leading to the loss of all data shared on his Web site. He faces up to 50 years of jail time if convicted.

MegaUpload’s profits are estimated to be about $175 million since 2005. It’s also es-timated that Kim Schmitz and his company leaders cost the industry $500 million of sales losses, USA Today reports.

The site was based in Hong Kong, but used servers in Virginia, causing the federal government to take control.

By the time the site had been shut down, it had 150 million registered users and received 50 million hits a day, making it the thirteenth most popular Web site visited daily.

Along with Schmitz, his as-sociates, Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, were also arrested under the same indictment. All will face jail time if convicted.

MegaUpload seems to just be the beginning of the crack-

down on piracy. The govern-ment is taking extreme steps to put an end to illegal download-ing, and it’s far from over.

College students across the country are continually facing the consequences of illegal downloading and piracy. Stu-dents download movies, TV shows and albums from Web sites every day, and are now, at least in some cases, paying the price. Campuses have begun taking a stand against piracy. They track computer IP ad-dresses that illegally download on their network, and lock them out of the school’s web access.

Matt Barber, who handles illegal downloading at Morris-ville State College, explains the computers here have a program called Audible Magic’s Copy-Sense Network Appliance. This program is used to help detect

student-to-student file shar-ing. Once a student is caught, they’re locked out of their ac-count, and then go down to the Help Desk.

“In my experience, there aren’t a whole lot of people down there more than once,” Kyle Norton, an information technology student explains, referring to the low number of repeat offenders at the Help Desk.

Colleges are now fined for the traffic on their Internet. When students are caught ille-gally downloading, the college is fined, and then they begin to take action against the students.

“It’s scary to be caught,” says Juliana, who asked for her last name to be kept confiden-tial. An information technology student caught in the act of illegal downloading, she says,

“It’s taken more seriously than ever before.”

MegaUpload is just one of the many file-sharing sites avail-able on the Internet.

“You can’t stop it.” Norton said. “Someone somewhere is going to find a way around it if they’re determined enough. MegaUpload being taken down didn’t stop anything. Piracy’s as rampant as ever and short of turning off the Internet and straight up blocking the site, it’s going to happen.”

“Kim Schmitz is just the one who got caught,” Juliana said. “Many others are doing the same thing, and they’ve yet to see any type of repercus-sion.”

According to CBS news, Schmitz has been denied bail as he poses a flight risk.

The Brae Loch Inn: enjoy a comfortable stay in a Scottish wayAlysha Jones, ‘13 Staff Reporter

Never been to a Scottish restaurant? Well, here’s a chance to check out a family-owned inn and restaurant located only half an hour from Morrisville across from the lake in Cazenovia. With unique accommodations, a spacious restaurant and a friendly atmosphere, the Brae Loch Inn deserves a thumbs up.

When I found out the club I belong to, International Food-service Executive Association, was having a dinner meeting at the Brae Loch I was excited to get a chance to eat at a Scottish restaurant. I had been there once before, but only for a second, and only heard from a few friends and professors that the Brae Loch was “a must try.”

I met up with Mandy Eno in the gift shop after speaking with the owner, Jim Barr,to check out some of the accommodations. She showed me three out of the 12 rooms that are available.

As we walked up the stairs to the second floor, Eno said that each room is decorated differently with its own TV, air conditioner, electric heat and Tempur-Pedic mattresses. Two of the rooms, I happened to no-tice that they had a fireplace and the third room had a Jacuzzi. Some rooms come without a fireplace and Jacuzzi as well, to provide a more kid-friendly family atmosphere.

The rooms were spacious, well-lit, painted with relaxing colors and all equipped with wireless Internet. The rooms with fireplaces were beautiful with chairs to sit and enjoy the fire. Rooms with a Jacuzzi had a honeymoon-suite feel, because the Jacuzzi was in the room, instead of the bathroom.

Eno also says that the ho-tel is haunted, and this makes the inn very interesting. The video of these allegations can be found on youtube.com under CNY Spirits, episode 7.

If you’re someone who likes haunted places and are inter-ested in staying in the hotel for this reason, your best bet would be to stay in one of the four original guests rooms, which are

located at the top of the main stairway.

Don’t let the haunting scare you away because as a “thank you” for staying at the Brae Loch, each guest who is 21 and older and books a room, receives a complimentary shot of scotch upon arrival; A conti-nental breakfast is also included.

Eno they have two kitchens, one upstairs and one downstairs, which they use to their advan-tage. In the summer, customers can either sit inside or outside and in the winter they can use the kitchen downstairs.

At the time it was winter, and we sat downstairs. It was sur-prisingly huge, with all kinds of hidden booths and tables. They also had an open kitchen, which

is a fun experience. There was a bar and an area where live bands play. Overall, the downstairs din-ing area had a very intimate but entertaining feeling to it.

I sat down for a couple of minutes at the bar to talk to the bartender, Patrick Dwan, and noticed that the wait staff were all wearing kilts and white blouses. I asked Dwan why he wasn’t wearing a kilt and he responded he only wears his kilt for two occasions, Robert Burns Night and Tilt-a-Kilt.

The Robert Burns Night is actually an annual weekend celebration. So who is Robert Burns? Well, Dwan said that Burns was a well-known Scot-tish poet and lyricist. It’s not an uncommon celebration and the Brae Loch Inn makes sure they give plenty of notice and they take reservations all year around. Interested? The next Burns Night at the Brae Loch is Jan. 26, 2013.

Tilt-a-Kilt at the Brae Loch is another annual celebration that is actually coming up on the 24th of March. It begins at 7 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. with lots of dancing, eating and drinking. The Kitchen Party, a Celtic Rock Band, travels from Syracuse to play and there’s complimentary Scottish finger food with scotch tasting.

Those aren’t their only cel-ebrations. For those who are 21 years of age and older, join the Brae Loch for Wine Wednesday,

where a couple can purchase two entrees and a bottle of wine for the price of $35. Each Wednesday is a different wine festival, starting with the first Wednesday of the month which is free wine tasting from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. The second Wednesday is trivia night, the third spirit tast-ing and the fourth is “Scotch Flight Night.” On Scotch Flight Night, order a scotch flight and get a complimentary variety of hors d’oeuvres to enjoy with your scotch.

“This really is a great place to work,” says Dwan, who adds there are servers who have been working there for years, and one has been there for 28 years.

He adds that the owners are good people to work for, he enjoys his customers and since he’s worked there he hasn’t seen any problems.

While you’re enjoying your visit at the Brae Loch Inn make sure you say “hi” to their friend-ly dog Dunkin, and check out the gift shop that sells all kinds of unique Scottish items. Be sure to look at all the historical Scottish memorabilia, and the sword used by General Under-wood in WWI, throughout the establishment.

To book reservations, check out photos, learn some history and to look what else the Brae Loch Inn has to offer, check out their website, www.braelochinn.com.

The Brae Loch Inn, located in Cazenovia, N.Y., offers a comfortable and relaxing stay along with a variety of dishes. Their annual “Tilt-a-Kilt celebration will be held on Sat. March 24.

Photo by Daniel Moreno-Gonzalez, ‘13 | Photography Co-Editor

LifestyleMarch 2012 - The CHIMES page 9

Marissa Felker, ‘12Sports Co-Editor

The music begins and the once quiet team explodes into flips, jumps and stunts. They yell out chants, but never stop moving. Sweat pours from their faces, but the smiles stay plastered on like a mask. Girls soar through the air, flipping and falling safely into the arms of their teammates. Minutes pass and the team doesn’t slow down or take a break; this is their moment.

“Competition is what we live for and we work hard every day to take home first place,” said North Star All Star cheer-leader Jessica Brickey. North Star All Star is a competitive cheerleading team based out of Rome, N.Y. Brickey has been cheering since she was five years old and has never stopped working at it. “No one can reach perfection; there is always something to improve on.”

Cheerleading began in 1869 as a motivational tool for sports teams.

“Since then cheerleading has turned into a more ath-letic competition,” said gym manager for Storm All-Stars, Ann Little. Storm All Stars is a competitive cheer team that is located in Syracuse and Rochester N.Y.

In 2010, U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill said that cheerleading is too under-developed and disorganized to be considered an official

collegiate sport, according to Syracuse.com.

According to Jane Marella, the director of the Gymnastics and Cheerleading Academy of Connecticut, “This isn’t about going in there and cheering for their football and basketball teams, it’s about competing. The girls have to be gymnasts, they have to be able to tumble, they have to be dancers, they have to be able to be strong to lift other people or be lifted, they have to be able to have endurance...it’s not the rah, rah with the pom poms,” she said.

The definition of a sport according to dictionary.com, is an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often a competitive nature.

“This is cheerleading, we use skill and athleticism to compete against other teams,” said Little.

Do cheerleaders deserve the same respect as football and bas-ketball players? Many cheerlead-ers will admit the work they do on the sidelines does not make them athletes, but the competi-tions are just as challenging as any other sport.

“The work that goes into a routine takes hours a day to perfect and every part of what we do is dangerous,” said Storm cheerleader Tessa Hunszinker. Hunszinker has broken her ankle, wrist and dislocated her shoulder over her four years of cheerleading experience. She is only fourteen years old.

In 1980, there were 5,000 injuries recorded from cheer-leading that year, according to

nccnews.expressions.syr.edu. By 2009, those numbers almost tripled to 28,000 a year. The United States Sports Academy ranks cheerleading number two in catastrophic injuries, second only to football. The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina reports that 65.2 percent of all catastrophic injuries in youth sports occur in cheerleading.

“Cheerleading is difficult and the dangers are obvious,” said Casey Risi, the New York State director for the Universal Cheerleading Association.

UCA holds camps and com-petitions throughout the year. At the camps, the teams work from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. on their skills and teamwork.

“There is no down time at camp and like any other sport we work hard to improve,” said Risi. “The injuries happen, but we always keep pushing.”

In May 2010, USA Cheer and the National Collegiate Ath-letics and Tumbling Association asked the National Collegiate Athletic Association to consider “competitive cheerleading” as a sport. If this is approved, then dozens of schools could begin financing their cheerleading pro-grams and offering scholarships. College athletic programs will also be able to count cheerlead-ing teams to help their compli-ance with Title IX, the federal law banning gender discrimina-tion in education.

This is still a work in pro-cress as several steps still need

to be taken to be accepted as a sport by the NCAA. They need to present the Commit-tee on Women’s Athletics with proper information about the possibility of cheerleading as a recognized sport.

“Our football players get spaghetti dinners and new jer-seys every year, but our cheer-

leaders have the same uniforms they did 15 years ago,” said assistant athletic director at Camden High Wanda Price. “This proposal means a lot to the future of cheerleading at the school. We just aren’t given the respect we deserve.”

Competitive cheerleaders work to become recognized sport

North Star All Star Open cheerleading team demonstrating a swedish falls pyramid at the Spirit Unlimited competition. The team placed first.

Photo by Marissa Felker, ‘12 | Sports Co-Editor

Kaylin Johnson, ‘15Staff Reporter

“Face-to-face education is more productive” says Michael Refici, assistant professor in the school of general studies.

Debates argue that the in-teraction with different stu-dents in the classroom makes it easier to learn material and produces a better educational environment. There is no evi-dence that online learning is better than learning in the classroom. There are pros and cons to both.

According to an article from the University of Phoenix and Technical and Vocational School Guide, over four mil-lion students nationwide are enrolled in online schools and

the number continues to grow by 30 percent each year, almost the same amount of students who enroll in physical class-rooms. Few believe the amount of time spent in an online class is different from time spent in a physical classroom.

“Online students can at-tend courses ‘anytime from anywhere,’ said Dondre Bailey, a liberal arts freshman.

With online classes, students can participate in other daily activities, compared to students that have to physically be in a classroom. Non-traditional students who have children and work multiple jobs can attend classes no matter what their work schedules might be.

Individuals who travel can easily access the Internet at any

time of the day from their mo-bile devices or laptops.

Students with these advan-tages are set apart from students learning in the classroom; online learning is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Students have the ability to re-read lec-tures, discussions, explanations and comments, as opposed to classroom learning, where stu-dents must be seated in front of the professor in order to have a participation grade and be able to communicate with other students.

“I would prefer classroom learning to online learning be-cause it is more hands on,” said Kahari Alford, an individual studies student. Student inter-action in the classroom gives students and the professors a

relationship that can be one-on-one, and also a relationship with other students working towards the same goal of learning.

Online learning causes less intimidation for students who do not interact well in the class-room. Online learning provides no disturbances, and gives stu-dents more time to think of questions or comments that they can instantly share online with a professor, rather than suf-fering the embarrassment when the professor in the classroom moves on to the next student or new topic.

With online learning, stu-dents have the disadvantages of not being able to engage in debates or not communicate fast enough as opposed to being in a classroom. Yes, they can ac-

cess more information quickly by being online, but being in a classroom allows for immediate student-teacher dialogue.

Students enrolled in online classes have a disadvantage when asking for help because it leads to independent work and unless the student is confident in asking for help, the student will have trouble improving learning skills and accepting criticism.

Dr. Roxanna Pisiak, profes-sor of humanities and social sciences, said students enrolled in online classes may have anxi-ety issues because of peer and teacher judgment - sometimes feeling that there is no one to ask for help.

“Students must be very well-organized, have excellent time

~Continued on Page 10~

Classroom learning or online learning: Which do students prefer?

page 10 March 2012 THE CHIMESThe CHIMES

~continued from page 1~and pushes him beyond what he thinks he’s capable of.

Miller says one of his goals for the months ahead is to increase muscle weight with

Professor Pisiak uses student-oriented teaching approach in the classroom ~continued from page 1~says Pisiak was one of the people who took him under their wing.

“She’s experienced and super intelligent,” Efimenko says.

Efimenko says he tries to be more chipper and smile more to appear as approachable and welcoming to his students as she does to hers. He also says Pisiak’s preparedness for her classes and students rubbed off on him.

Agreeable and very help-ful were two of the ways Wyatt Galusky, associate professor of humanities, described Pisiak’s relation with her students.

“It is rooted in an attempt to understand the student,” Galusky says of Pisiak’s teaching style.

While Galusky says he isn’t sure what specifically about Pi-siak’s approach to teaching has influenced him, he is sure there is something. “She is a good model for teaching,” Galusky says.

Associate Professor of Social

Science Alan Levinsohn began teaching at MSC in 1985 and has become well-acquainted with Pisiak and her family since her arrival at MSC. He says she has a great sense of humor and is excited to get people to do the best they can. “She is always ‘on,’” Levinsohn says.

When it comes to her stu-dents, Levinsohn says they can ex-cel under her if they want to. She enjoys them and talks about what is going on in their lives because she wants to. “She is devoted…she believes she can make a dif-ference,” Levinsohn says.

Pisiak and Levinsohn teach two classes back-to-back with the same students in each class, Pisiak teaches English 101 while Levinsohn teaches American His-tory (History 102).

“She is teaching them how to write, I am teaching them how to think,” Levinsohn says.

This student-oriented ap-

proach has not gone unrecog-nized by the college or even SUNY in her 18-year tenure at MSC. In 2005, Pisiak was awarded the Morrisville State College Distinguished Faculty Award. The award is presented to a faculty member who displays professional growth, personal and professional achievement and provides outstanding service to the college.

Later, in 2009, Pisiak was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award recognizes professors who demonstrate a commitment to their students as well as holding them to high academic standards.

In addition to her awards, Pisiak has been nominated on five separate occasions for “Who’s Who Among American Teach-ers,” a publication that recognizes teachers or professors who have been nominated by students who believe their teacher has impacted

their lives in some significant way.Pisiak encourages today’s

college students to take writing seriously. She says that for a time she only stressed writing well to students in particular majors and was more lax on students in agricultural or automotive majors. “When I started [here] there were certain majors that would never need to write after college,” Pi-siak says.

But, Pisiak says she believes that computers and technology are changing that focus to the point where everyone will need to write well to some degree.

“Because of the omnipres-ence of computers and technol-ogy [writing] is more important to success,” Pisiak says.

She explains that today certain majors like the automotive tech-nology major may be expected to know how to write either technical documents or word documents in the field because

technology makes information more accessible to more people and also cuts out the middle man.

While she stresses how im-portant writing is, Pisiak says re-grettably that the question of how important reading is to today’s student is harder to answer. Nev-ertheless she encourages students to read, explaining that it can help develop good writing skills.

“Books engage our minds and lead us to take perspectives…we become well-rounded,” Pisiak says.

In addition to teaching, Pisiak says she is trying to recreate an en-vironment where she encourages her two daughters to read as much as they want to, whether it is from the library or from a bookstore. She says she wants her kids to have the same opportunity that she had while she was growing up, because reading is less encouraged in today’s society.

dumbbells. He enjoys the center and encourages others to join.

Enriquez says that the cen-ter runs smoothly because of instructional support assistant Ashley Hass. “She’s been great

Clients at Wellness Center describe environment as ‘ friendly and low-key’

~continued from page 9~management skills, be motivat-ed to do well, and be comfort-able working in isolation. They also must be willing to actively seek out help or advice if they need it,” Pisiak said.

With classroom learning, students have a hard time work-ing around each other’s sched-ules as opposed to online learn-ing where students can create chat rooms and newsgroups.

“I suspect there are so many factors that make up a good class or a bad one,” said Robert Dushay, associate professor of humanities and social sciences. “I think whether the material is presented online or not is of relatively little difference com-pared to the individual student and professor. After all, you know that some students do better with particular professors and vice versa,” he added.

One particular online learn-ing program that benefits both classroom and online learning is Test Drive College Online. Test Drive College Online pro-vides students the ability to take

online courses or to see what college standard work is in order for the students to decide what’s best for them. Students do not have to pay for this program, which allows them to save up to $2,000 in tuition costs.

The University of Phoenix and Technical and Vocational school guide reported that the only qualifications needed for this program are a GED or a high school diploma, and pass-ing grade on a fifteen-question assessment. More than75 per-cent of colleges and universities have offered online degree pro-grams, with the same amount of programs that in-classroom degrees offer.

Overall, both online and classroom learning have their perks and setbacks, but it’s up to the student to decide which of the two would benefit them more. Should students stick to the traditional way of learning by physically attending classes, or should they conform to the modern options of society and technology by taking online classes?

and without her I’d be lost,” En-riquez says. “She knows how to go about running the center and is doing a good job distributing flyers around town.” Enriquez

will graduate in May and says he plans on going on to graduate school for physical therapy.

Kopp says that he hopes to continue personal training

after he graduates, because he enjoys working closely with people and it allows him to “add a unique style and twist” to workouts.

Online vs. Traditional Learning

SportsMarch 2012- The CHIMES page 11

Men’s lacrosse falls back with a loss to the Potsdam State Bears

Women’s lacrosse team looks to improve on last season’s ‘success’

Junior midfielder Mike McGinnis (20) fires a shot on net during the Mustangs’ home opener against Os-wego State on March 7. Morrisville’s record is currently 2-1; their next game is Saturday, March 24 against Plattsburgh State. Photo by Joshua Risley, ‘14 | Staff Photographer

Courtney Cook, ‘13Sports Co-Editor

The Morrisville State Col-lege women’s lacrosse team earned their first win of the season on March 17, defeating Alfred University 15-14.

The Mustangs are now 1-2 on the season.

Leading the Mustangs with four goals was freshman mid-fielder Shelby Wood while se-nior defender Hillary Hartnett and junior midfielder Jamie Anderson each had three goals.

“Every practice we push each other and in the couple games we have had we are al-ways there to help one another,” Wood said.

Wood also led the team with five ground balls while senior defender Alison Falken-burgh and sophomore mid-fielder Cassie Edmondson each grabbed three.

Sophomore goalie Danielle Puzio had 14 saves between the pipes.

Junior attacker Jessica

Young scored the game-winning goal with nine seconds remain-ing on a free-position shot.

“Each one of us brings something to the team that’s what makes us the team we are,” Wood said.

Alfred edged Morrisville in

shots during the game 30-29. They also controlled ground balls throughout the game.

“The team needs to continue to focus on the little things,” said head coach Amanda Nobis. “If we focus on the little things, big things will happen for us.

Courtney Cook, ‘13Sports Co-Editor

On March 21, the Morris-ville State men’s lacrosse team lost to visting Potsdam State, 13-4. The team was led by senior midfielder Kevin Wilk-erson who scored two goals while senior midfielder Devin Maxwell and freshman attacker Jeremy Beresovoy each scored one. Senior goalie Michael Hinchey had 18 saves in net. senior midfielder Andrew Stein and junior midfielder Mike McGinnis each grabbed four ground balls for the Mustangs

On March 17, Stein led the Mustangs to a win over Alfred University 16-10. The Mustangs are now 2-2 overall.

Stein had five goals and two assists in the game, while Max-well, junior midfielder Dean Priest, Beresovoy and freshman midfielder Jack Martocello all had two goals in the game.

Sophomore defenseman Mike Kellogg grabbed three ground balls while Hinchey also picked up three ground balls and had 10 saves in net for the Mustangs.

“We’re working on the coaching side motivating to execute better as a unit and the goal is to get every guy to fit

into their role on the team,” said head coach Jason Longo.

On March 3, the team played Oswego State and recorded their first loss of the season 15-7.

Beresovoy led the team scor-ing three goals, while Maxwell, Stein, McGinnis and freshman attacker Richie Fischer all added a goal apiece in the game.

Priest led the team with two assists. Senior defenseman Tom Longland grabbed five ground balls in the game while Hinchey had eight saves.

“The loss was a step back for our season,” said sophomore midfielder, Tom Huber.

The team started off their season with a win against SUNY Brockport on Feb. 25, winning 10-8 and scoring three goals in the final quarter.

Beresovoy led the team in his collegiate debut scoring four goals, while Stein added three. Priest had four assists; Longland had five ground balls in the game, while Hinchey had 11 saves.

“I feel pretty confident about our team this year and we’re looking pretty strong. The only thing we need to do is to limit our turnovers,” Maxwell said.

The team will be participat-

ing in the Wounded Warriors Project for the second time this year. The game will be on April 28 when the Mustangs take on Hilbert College in their last home game of the season.

The WWP began “when several individuals took small, inspired actions to help oth-ers in need,” according to the WWP webpage. If you donate to the WWP 81 cents of every dollar is directly donated to the organization. The team’s

commemorative jerseys totaled $2,277 for WWP.

John Melia was in the Marine Corps in 1992 when his helicop-ter exploded and crashed in the seas off Somalia.

He suffered burns and other injuries that resulted in his re-tirement in 1995.

As troops began coming home from the war on terror in 2003, with his wife, two kids and two close friends, he started to deliver backpacks filled with

toiletries, clothing items, CDs, and other comfort items to them. That was the beginning of the WWP.

The WWP is accredited as a Veterans Service Organization by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The Mustangs next home game is March 24 against Platts-burgh State at 3 p.m. on Drake Field.

Alberto Arzuaga also contrib-uted to this article.

Freshman Shelby Wood cuts through Elmira defenders to attack the goal. Wood scored two goals for the Mustangs, who lost their home opener to Elmira College 8-13 on March 3.

Photo by Daniel Moreno-Gonzalez, ‘13 | Photography Co-Editor

The team has been working very hard so far, and I’ve been impressed with their work ethic. Everyone is very excited about this season and the potential that this team has.”

Nobis is in her fourth year as head coach of the Mustangs and she hopes to lead her team once again to the Northeastern Athletic Conference finals.

On March 16, Wood once again led the team scoring five goals, while Hartnett and An-derson added four and two respectively.

Wood led the team grabbing six ground balls. Puzio recorded the loss in net with ten saves.

“I think that we have a lot of potential this year, we just have to figure out a way of putting it all together,” Anderson said.

The Mustangs opened up their season on March 3 against Elmira College, losing 13-8. Hartnett led the team with four goals while Wood added two.

Wood and Anderson both had five ground balls in the game. Puzio had nine saves

between the pipes. “We have such great chem-

istry that I can picture us being an unstoppable team by the end of the season,” Anderson said.

The Mustangs are back in action on March 24 against Oswego State at noon on Drake Field.

“Coupled with a strong group of returners mixed in with some new talent, we are all very excited about the prospect of the season that lies ahead,” Nobis said.

The Mustangs were 7-7 overall last season, and 6-1 in the NEAC where they made it to conference playoff finals losing to Keuka, 13-8.

“Though we fell short in the conference tournament final to Keuka, I view last year as a success and a great jumping off point for this year,” Nobis Said.

Dyshea Smiley also contributed to this article.

ATHLETIC NEWSWestern equestrian team ends regular season on a high note

Softball team looks to improve and build from last season

Briana Foisia, ‘13Online Co-Editor

On March 4, Morrisville State College’s western eques-trian team won the title of Intercollegiate Horse Show Association 2011-12 Zone 2 Region 3 Champions.

Eleven riders from MSC’s western equestrian team quali-fied to go on to semifinals. Five of those riders will be represent-ing the team, which means their points will be added together to push the team into a spot at nationals.

Seven riders qualified as in-dividuals, with their points mak-ing them eligible for nationals.

MSC’s western team also won the title of year-end high point team. Catherine How-land, an equine science student, earned the title of high point rider honors and has already won a spot to compete at na-tionals.

There are two ways a rider can qualify when it comes to showing at the IHSA nationals:

as a team member and as an individual.

“There are separate team competitions,” said Tiffany Day, the head coach for the western equestrian team. “There are eight teams from across the country competing for three spots to go on to nationals.”

Elizabeth Scott, an equine science and business student, said this is her first time show-ing at semifinals. Scott said she feels prepared for the upcoming competition, “as long as I don’t forget my pattern.”

For advanced western horsemanship classes, riders are assigned a pattern that they must execute as accurately as possible. The slightest deviation from the pattern can cost the riders points that are needed to advance on to nationals.

There are 24 teams in all, and they’re split into three dif-ferent locations: Ohio, Florida and Delaware. The top four individuals from each class and location will then move on to compete in nationals.

Day said individual riders will be competing against 16 other riders in their classes. Only the top four riders out of each class will be able to go on to nationals.

“There will be new teams we’ve not competed against,” said Erin Moseley, an equine science and management stu-dent. “You’re competing at a high level, and the best riders from each region this season are there.”

Moseley was named cham-pion in the advanced western horsemanship class. She com-peted at semifinals in 2010.

“I feel prepared to go on and compete at Findlay,” Moseley said. “We’ve been working hard at practice to make sure we’re ready. Our coaches have taken a lot of time to work with us.”

“It would be great if the team qualifies again,” Day said. “Along with a good number of individuals, there are 16 kids in each class, so it will be a tough competition.”

Scott said she hopes she

and the team will make it on to nationals, and show the other teams what Morrisville is all about.

“I hope the Morrisville team does well, and everyone can get the best ride they can,” Mose-

ley said. “I hope to qualify for nationals; there will be a lot of competitive riders there, so it should be fun.”

For Morrisville’s region, IHSA semifinals will be held March 24-25 in Findlay, Ohio.

Daniel Moreno-Gonzalez, ‘13Photography Co-Editor

With the 2012 spring sea-son under way, women’s soft-ball coach Tom Blackford has his team starting on winning grounds. The Mustangs are off to a 3-1 start for the season, building on improvements made last season.

Last season, the Mustangs ended with a record of 16-15, which included a playoff win against Cazenovia College. It was their first-ever winning sea-son, the team’s first time making playoffs, and their first-ever playoff win. They lost to SUNY IT and Keuka College in their next playoff contests.

The Mustangs’ 2012 season began Feb. 20, against Lyndon State College. They split the double-header, winning the first game 4-1. Senior catcher Cas-sandra Smith homered in the

game. They lost their second matchup 9-1 in six innings.

The Mustangs played their second set of games against SUNY Cobleskill on March 3, sweeping the double-header. Junior outfielder Monique Smith lead the way in the first game, going 2-for-5 with two runs

scored and three runs batted in for an 11-1 win. The team ac-cumulated 20 hits in a 15-7 win in game two.

“I expect us to do as well as last year,” Blackford said. He added he expects to be back in the playoffs, and is relying on his veteran players to lead the way.

Blackford said the team lost some players who made big contributions to the team last year, but he believes the team is still good enough to make it back to the playoffs.

The team has six freshmen. Blackford said most of them have promise, but are still learn-ing the game at the college level.

Cassandra Smith is the lone senior on the team and is team captain. Smith said she looks to help the team improve. “We expect to go to playoffs again, and do better,” she said.

She added that the team started out the season better than last year. Outfielder Paige Jerrett, a second team captain, agrees with Smith, and added that this year’s team is coming together and its chemistry is at its best.

“This year’s batting lineup is phenomenal,” Jerrett said. Both captains believe this year’s

freshmen are strong and they are going to help make the lineup tough to beat.

Blackford said he is really going to count on sophomore pitcher Jenna D’Ercole this season, because she is the lone pitcher on the team. He added that their number one priority is to develop a second pitcher to help D’Ercole.

“It’s going to be a little dif-ficult,” D’Ercole said, “but I’m willing to do what I can to help the team win.”

With the coach having high expectations for D’Ercole and the other players, along with the team buying in to his coaching, the Mustangs are looking for similar success to a year ago.

The Mustangs’ next chal-lenge will be a 3 p.m. double-header on March 27 at home against Cazenovia College. They host Hamilton College the next day, starting at 3:30 p.m.

Head coach Tom Blackford demonstrates fielding position with sec-ond baseman Aryel Lawson (right) and Angel Negron (center). The Mustangs are 3-1 this season. Their next game is March 27, against Cazenovia College.

Photo by Daniel Moreno-Gonzalez, ‘13 | Photography Co-Editor

Senior rider Erin Moseley, an Equine Science and Management stu-dent, qualified to represent MSC at the IHSA semifinals this year. She will be riding in the advanced western horsemanship class in Findlay, Ohio on March 24. Photo by Briana Foisia, ‘13 | Online Co-Editor