November 19, 2013

Viewfinder: Football

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University officials added a new genre of courses into the spring 2014 schedule: introductory Span-ish and French. President Thomas J. Botzman and other officials made the execu-tive decision to add intro Spanish and French courses and an ad-vanced Spanish class, coordinated by the English department. “Part of this is because of my belief that we as a university have a range of things that we need to do. One of them is to be able to talk to people in the world and to communicate with others and understand what they’re thinking about, and in our curriculum one of the gaps that I saw as I arrived is that we don’t currently teach foreign language to students,” Botzman said. In the past, students were able to take foreign language courses at King’s College or Wilkes Univer-sity in Wilkes-Barre through a consortial agreement between the universities. Botzman wanted to see what it would be like to offer these cours-es through the Dallas campus. “I’d prefer to have us teaching some of it on campus,” Botzman said. “There are some places that have done consortial approaches to teaching things like the classics, but I would hope there is enough interest in international language and culture to make some of that available on campus.” This is not a new project. Ac-cording to Dr. Mari King, Vice President of Academic Affairs, university leaders noted the lack of foreign language courses in fall 2009. “Members of the Board of Trust-ees had recommended that lan-guage courses be incorporated at least as an option in the new core curriculum,” King said. “While this was not accomplished, I feel strongly that students should be given the opportunity for foreign language acquisition through the use of free electives.” Botzman said he has heard of students who would like to take language courses if they were available on campus. For now, the schedule is a trial run. “I would hope that if there is a lot of interest perhaps we could think about things that we would like to try out in more depth.” Botzman added that he would like to see is an increase in stu-dents who study abroad. “I’m also interested in seeing more study abroad opportunities happen,” Botzman said. “Part of that is the excitement, again, of learning new things and meeting new people. I’m really hopeful that that’s what we could do.” Officials say increased under-standing of cultures and languages is also important career prepara-tion. “Our long range goal is to enhance students’ career opportu-nities by preparing them to be lin-guistically and culturally equipped to communicate successfully both in the U.S. and abroad,” King said. “This is in line with our goal to increase semester-long study away experiences for students through affiliation agreements with institutions abroad and increased internship opportunities here.” King encourages all students to consider the new courses because she believes they offer students multiple benefits. “The ability to communicate in meaningful and appropriate ways in languages other than English and to gain knowledge and under-standing of other cultures will be of value to our students.”

That would also help the univer-sity roll out the welcome mat to new students. High school senior Suzanne Sel-man of Coopersburg, Pa. attended Communications Camp on cam-pus over the summer and had a strong interest in applying to MU to further her education. A reason that held her back from applying was the lack of a foreign language offered on campus. Selman spent her elementary years learning everything in Span-ish thanks to a program at her school district called Spanish immersion. Because she grew up learning in Spanish she didn’t want to give it up once she graduated high school. Her ideal situation was to double major in communications and Spanish but realized that wasn’t an option if she chose MU. “At first I thought I could go to Misericordia and get the Spanish portion at King’s [College] and dual enroll in two colleges,” she said. “Then I realized how hard that would be and how much money it would cost.” She was pleased after hearing about the addition of foreign language courses at MU. “I think it’s great that they are expanding and adding because that is something I look for in schools and I’m sure other people do as well.” Botzman hopes that bringing these courses to MU will open the eyes of current students. “I think it’s incredibly impor-tant for a student to learn about people who are different from themselves, and for us as a com-munity, if we want to say that all are welcome we have to at least be able to welcome them in a kind and thoughtful way, and having some ability in a foreign language can do that,” Botzman said. King has had discussions with Kit Foley, Interim Vice President of Student Services and Maria Ca-brera, Multicultural Student Out-reach Coordinator, to determine which languages would be the best fit for the MU community. She said she has also worked with the college deans and faculty members to see if additional lan-guages should be an option for specific majors. Dr. Rebecca Steinberger, English department chair, screened and hired the adjunct faculty to coor-dinate and teach the new subjects. The English department was selected to house the new courses because it previously controlled modern language courses. “We don’t have a foreign lan-guage department so I think they are playing host to it now, and I am grateful that they would be willing to do that,” Botzman said. The future of these courses is still to be determined, and stu-dents have the decision-making power: It depends upon student’s interest. Turning these introductory courses into a major or minor of-fering would be a “big, big discus-sion,” according to Botzman. For the spring semester, the new university president would “like to see us think about teaching languages to get the thinking process started to see what could work or what couldn’t work on our campus.” The foreign language courses are open to any student. They can be found on the master schedule under the English department selection. hoffmae3@misericordia.edu

Recent nursing graduates have surpassed both state and national averages on the National Council Licensure Examination for Regis-tered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) for the third year in a row. BSN graduates achieved a 98.08% pass rate for first time test-takers, beating the national average of 82.07% and Pennsylva-nia’s average of 85.31%. Grads also beat the averages at neighboring schools such as Wilkes University (72.58%), Uni-versity of Scranton (86.96%) and Marywood University (89.47%). When students complete their four years, they are required to take the NCLEX-RN exam to obtain a license and become a registered nurse. The NCLEX-RN is a general, comprehensive multiple-choice exam taken electronically on the computer. The test can range from 65 to 265 questions. Nursing department chairperson Cynthia Mailloux said the exam becomes increasingly more com-plex each year. Mailloux said faculty change the curriculum to match what they national council and state board of nursing finds most important. The board basically provides a blueprint that tells what the primary focuses on the exam are going to be, Mailloux said. “Now what has increased the complexity is a lot of the test is prioritization and delegation,” she said. “The students not only have to know everything about these diseases but they have to know who they should see first and what medication they should give first.” The exam is designed to make

students solve problems and pro-vide the best possible answer. “It’s the higher-level thinking questions, and there are alter-native format questions which means (to) choose all that apply,” Mailloux said. “You get one wrong, you get it all wrong.” Since the NCLEX-RN exam is generalized, it reflects much of what students are exposed to throughout their four years of nursing education. “When students graduate from here, they have been exposed to every different type of nursing,” said Mailloux. “They see it all, so they’re generalists, so to say.” Although the graduates are ex-celling, Mailloux explains she does not want to solely compare scores with other schools.

“Let’s just celebrate our won-derfulness and not worry about whether or not somebody else didn’t do as well,” Mailloux said. Senior nursing major Doug Ran-son said he feels confident about taking the NCLEX-RN exam based on the previous class. He said the faculty and facilities have prepared him, and the rest of his class, for the future. “We pretty much know all of the pro-fessors on a first name basis,” said Ranson. “We can contact them at any point, and they’re only there to help us and want us to succeed.” The plan is to pass on the first try, and Ranson believes he will be able to do just that. Mailloux suggests graduates take the exam within one to three months of graduation in order to

study and prepare, and Ranson believes that is practical. “Technically, with everything we’re learning we’re already pre-paring for the exam,” he said. “So I think within the three-month period, I’ll definitely be ready.” Although the NCLEX-RN is generalized, graduates can choose the facet of the field in which they would most like to work. “Right now I really enjoy work-ing in the ER,” said Ranson. “That’s where I worked a lot over the summer back home. That’s definitely a place where if I can, I want to specialize in.” There are also options for gradu-ates who wish to further their education. “We have a graduate program and we have a family nurse prac-titioner [Master’s program],” said Mailloux. “We’ve just developed our doctorate program, which will hopefully be implemented in the fall once the board approves it.” Ranson said he wants to return to the classroom someday, but for now he wants to obtain a work experience to set a foundation. Ranson had some worries at the beginning of nursing school. “Initially I was scared out of my mind because I heard it was the hardest thing anybody could ever do,” Ranson said. “They were tell-ing the truth.” Ranson soon realized there was no need to panic because of the resources available to him. “The professors are always there to help you. They want you to succeed,” Ranson said. “They’ll go that extra mile for you.” countera@misericordia.edu

Nursing Dominates NCLEX ChartsBy Alison Counterman, Reporter

HOLA, BONJOUR TO NEW COURSES

Botzman Inaugurated 13th President Thomas Botzman, Ph.D., was met with celebration as he was formally inaugurated as the uni-versity’s 13th president Nov. 15. The frigid weather is here, but a 13 member committee arranged a heart-warming inauguration for President Thomas Botzman Ph.D. The committee has planned since April to ensure everything is right because members were out of practice: The last time the cam-pus has seen the inauguration of a president was fifteen years ago. Executive Assistant to the President Carol Fahnestock is a member who handled logistics, which include parking and ensur-ing that the right people were in the right location - right on time. She said the organization was similar to that required for com-mencements. “The entire process was interest-ing and a lot of fun for me,” said Fahnestock. “I enjoyed contacting and talking to the other schools in the area and some of the Mercy institutions nationwide and see-ing what they did for the process.” Director of Marketing Com-munications James Roberts, who has been a key part to the process since the beginning, worked with the marketing department to spread news about the festivi-ties. He was behind the invitation process, reaching out to newspa-pers, making ads congratulating Botzman, and making sure there is a live stream of the ceremony on the school’s home website. “I’ve been fortunate to be involved with every aspect of the inauguration.” Though the members have been involved with major school events, none of them have helped plan an inauguration before. Both Fahnestock and Roberts speak highly of people who have

stepped up and helped make the entire week a success. “I want to personally thank the dozens of people who took time out of their busy schedules and worked so hard on the project,” he said. “I can’t wait to pause and re-flect back at all the work everyone

did to make this event successful.” Botzman was announced the 13th president nearly a year ago. His position became official last July, and the campus community wanted to celebrate with a week-long series of events Nov. 11-16. One event, which was held in continuation of the annual Dr. Midori Yamanouchi Lecture Se-ries, featured former child soldier Ishmael Beah. Another event - a presidential cook-off - allowed students to begin sharing, and creating, the

fruits of the campus community. Campus Ministry also had the chance to show service work projects in alignment with the charisms of the Sisters of Mercy. Each of the colleges got to show something, too, with a presenta-tion of scholarly work. Students

and faculty from Arts and Sci-ences, Health Sciences, Profes-sional Studies and Social Sciences presented their projects. The programs were designed to allow the campus community to come together and work as a unit. Botzman loves cooking, so when the committee became aware of this, members reached out to Father Leo Patalinghug who is the creator and host of Grace Before Meals, and - quite famously - the one who beat Bobby Flay on the competitive cooking show

“Throw Down! With Bobby Flay.” Patalinghug held a free interactive presentation for all. All this was in preparation big day: the formal inauguration of President Botzman. Hundreds of people registered in advance to attend both the liturgy and

ceremony, which took place in the Lemmond Theatre. “The ceremony was almost mir-ror to that of commencement,” said Fahnestock. “After talking with other schools, we said ‘why reinvent the wheel?’ It’s better to follow what’s already in place.” The committee did not stop there. The MU community participated in a day of service in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity, Mercy Services and the Catherine McAuley House. dowella@misericordia.edu

Nursing students Kelly Zirnheld and Yuri Pelepko-Filak practice their skills together on a sim man in Passan Hall.

By Ellen Hoffman, Editor-in-Chief

MU MARKETING DEPARTMENT

By Arthur Dowell, Web Editor

Chairman of the Board of Trustees John Metz honors 13th university president Dr. Thomas Botzman at the inauguration ceremony Nov. 15 in the Lemmond Theater.

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

November 19, 2013highlandernews.net2

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The English department honored MU’s new president, Dr. Thomas Botzman, Nov. 13 with a presenta-tion of original poetry. President Botzman enjoyed the diversity of the work. “My favorite part was how each person brought their own poems that they wrote. It shows how creative they could be and a whole range of emotions. I never thought I would hear poetry that ranged from polypropylene all the way to Jell-O, to heart surgery to life in the Bayou. That’s what’s great about being a part of this university,” he said. Professor Thomas Simko read four original poems, including “We who envy the Tin Man,” inspired by one of Simko’s friends who had suffered from heart disease. The poem addresses a man who tried to mend a boat but despite his best efforts, he could only do so much. “Tin Man” paral-leled Simko’s wishes to help his friend, but there is only so much he could do. He also read love poems, “Cardiomyoplasty” and “Cigarette Flakes.” Professor Sarah Hando present-ed the original work, “28”, which was a complete piece about how her age has her stuck between the stages of liberation, being 21 and a brand, and being a mature 30. Professor Bryan Dewey recited poems that he had worked on years prior. He presented “Pro-test,” about arbitrary rules and the

truth that we govern ourselves. Likewise, “Freedom” was about how people prevent themselves from being free. Department Chair Rebecca Steinberger advised students to always carry a notebook in case inspiration strikes. Junior Alex Smith also took the floor to present three of her origi-nal poems. “Waterlogged” was the first which depicted her life a year ago. Smith also presented “Inlets and Outlets” about how humanity must make its own positivity. Smith said she often turns to writing as a way to express her emotions. “A lot of times what I would write would be my coping mechanism.” One of the most emotional pre-sentations came from Dr. Amanda Caleb with her presentation of “Emotional Release.” The piece was inspired by health problems her newborn son endured. Caleb was brought to tears during the presentation and received an over-whelming round of applause for her honest writing. Professor Richard Hancuff performed several pieces, the first was “Increments,” about a wooden area behind his house that has since been ripped down to build a housing development. His second piece, “Perspective,” was about the future and its possibilities. He said the two poems go together. hayesb@misericordia.edu

PASSION FOR PROSE

Cougar Community Cooks Up CompetitionBy Alexandria Smith, Web Master

Spatulas, skillets and spoons were some of the culinary instru-ments used in a tasty inaugural event: Staff and students compet-ed in the annual Ultimate Campus Chef Competition Nov. 12. The competition – which is spon-sored by Metz Culinary manage-ment – has been compared to the “spirited cook-offs featured on the Food and Bravo networks,” accord-ing to the university’s website. This is often because of the com-petition’s intense and demanding nature, which required that the three, four-person teams create three separate dishes – with the secret ingredient of candy corn – to be sampled and judged on a series of criteria. According to the competition rules, the criteria was based on a cumulative score within the areas of taste, presen-tation, originality and dish name. This year, the Ultimate Campus Chef Competition featured one faculty team and two student teams - “Poupon (You),”“The Munchies” and “Cooking Mon-sters.” This was the first time the competition had a faculty team, according to Director of Student Activities Darcy Brodmerkel. “We don’t normally have it [the competition] at this time of the year. We usually hold it during the spring semester, but this year, as part of Dr. Botzman’s inaugura-tion celebration, we decided to hold it because we were aware that he enjoys cooking. So we put it in and allowed him to come up with his own team and then we found two additional teams – we adver-tised – and two additional teams came forward,” said Brodmerkel. Brodmerkel, who served as the event’s MC and honorary taste tester, worked the crowd and sampled food alongside Interim Dean of College of Health Sciences Dr. Glen Tellis, Dean of College of Professional Studies & Social Sciences Dr. Fred Croop, and Dean of College of Arts & Sciences Dr. Russ Pottle. “Seeing the variety of ap-

proaches to the food and seeing the creativity that was involved with assembling the dishes [was my favorite part],” said Pottle “My favorite approach to the appetizer was the salad that was brought forward by The Munchies. ‘The Munchies’ salad was really a nice, bright taste. I thought the vinaigrette was excellent – apple cider vinaigrette, little bit of sugar, little bit of olive oil, and it really brightened up the greens and fruit that was in it.” “Cooking Monsters” team member Andrew Casanova espe-cially enjoyed two aspects – which revolved around friendly interac-tions and cooking. “I’m not a very competitive person,” he said. “I appreciate competition in its own respect, but I simply enjoyed cooking with good friends. We each brought something different to the table, no pun intended, with our own specialty.” Casanova encourages other students to sign up for a cooking activity in the future. “If you go into the competi-tion with the sole intention of winning, then you might not appreciate cooking for the art it is. Go in with the mentality of seeing others’ enjoyment from the food you prepare, and just have fun.” That was what Botzman also liked best. “It was a lot of fun and it was good to get everyone out and cooking,” said Botzman “It’s nice to have the students really be included in it. I think sometimes they don’t get to be part of all these kinds of things. I’m just glad that students got to participate and be a part of it.” The Munchies finished in third place, Poupon (You), in second, and Cooking Monsters finished first. Each team received a mon-etary gift that was split among members. smitha10@misericordia.edu

Clockwise from top, Dr. Glen Tellis rates one of the meals he was served during the Ultimate Chef Competition on Nov. 12.

Sophomore Corey Honabach drizzles chocolate on candy corn during the dessert round of the competition.

Sophomore Sierra Hairston whips up dessert for her team. Hair-ston was part of the winning team, Cooking Monsters.

Dr. Thomas Botzman serves his dish to students in the cafeteria.

Assistant Professor of English Matt Nickel sauteed mushrooms for his dish on Botzman’s team during the cooking challenge.

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

Beah Believes in Life After War At the age of 13 Ishmael Beah went from living as a normal boy growing up in Sierra Leone to a child solider. On Nov. 11 he shared his story. The university welcomed The New York Times best-selling author and civil rights advocate to tell his story and talk about his book “A Long Way Gone” as part of Dr. Thomas Boztman’s inauguration. The event in the Lemmond Theater was the third in the Dr. Midori Yamanouchi lecture series. “This series bring events to the public eye that are reflective of academics and students,” said Assistant Director of Cultural and Special Events Marie Stolarick. Beah spoke about growing up in Sierra Leone and how the oral traditions he heard as a kid led to his passion for writing. “If you couldn’t retell the story, you would be known as the child who didn’t listen,” said Beah. Beah had a normal life in Sierra Leone, he went to school, played soccer and listened to American hip hop music. Then one day while he was returning home with his older brother and some friends from a neighboring town, his life changed - he was swept into a war. Beah told a story of a women who was running from the fight-ing with a baby strapped to her back. Once she stopped, she discovered her daughter had been

shot and, tragically, it was her child’s death that spared her life. “I can never forget the pain on this woman’s face,” said Beah “If this could happen to a baby girl,

then no one was safe from this war.” From that day, Ishmael ran from the war with his brother and friends. Eventually he was sepa-rated from his brother. “My life was reduced to trying to survive the next minute,” said Beah. Beah explained that he and the group he was traveling with neared the village where they knew their families were stay-

ing. Five minutes before they arrived, the village was destroyed and burned to the ground killing everyone. The group had stopped to helped someone carry bananas

and narrowly missed the attack. Their hope of finding their fami-lies gone, the group found refuge with a branch of the Sierra Leone military where they were trained to become soldiers. “It was kill or be killed for him to survive,” said Stolarick. After almost three years of fighting the rebel forces, Beah was released from the army thanks to UNICEF. He was sent to Free-town, the capital of Sierra Leone,

for recovery. “I had an eight month recovery. Then I went to live with my uncle. He was the only family I had left,” said Beah. As he tried to reorient himself to a life without violence, Ishmael won the chance to travel to New York City to speak at a United Na-tions conference. There he met his future adoptive mother. After the conference, he returned to Sierra Leone, but after a few months, he fled the war-torn country. “When you are running from war, the only thing you are lucky to have is your life,” said Beah. Beah then got in contact with the woman he had met at the con-ference and went to live with her in New York. Now a college gradu-ate and a best-selling author, he travels the world helping to raise awareness about child soldiers and to help negotiate their release. “I have to do it because I sur-vived it. I can’t forget I learned to live with it,” said Beah. Ishmael then explained his rea-sons for writing the book and took questions from the audience. “My book is a small part of a much bigger story,” said Beah. To end the lecture Ishmael urged students to be thankful for their education, and reminded them that many people do not have the opportunities that they have. garloffc@misericordia.edu

By Courtney Garloff, Print Editor

Above, New York Times Bestselling author Ishmael Beah talks about his first novel “Radiance of Tomorrow” available in 2014.

MARY BOVE/THE HIGHLANDER

In an article published in the previous issue of The Highlander errors were found in a story about the philosophy department.

The department’s radio show, Diotima’s Round Table, is run through the department, not a philosophy club. SAGE stands

for “Society of Anime and Gaming Entertainment.”

CORRECTIONS

By Brittany Hayes, Reporter

November 19, 2013highlandernews.net 3Arts & Entertainment

If you missed the TEST YOUR MOOD screening please consider taking advantage of The CAPS Cen-ter on-line screening tool. To access the free, confi-dential and anonymous online screening for depres-sion, eating disorders, generalized anxiety, and post

traumatic stress disorder follow the steps below.

Step 1: Log onto e-MUStep 2: Go to student services tabStep 3: Click on the CAPS link

Step 4: Click ‘Online Screening’ link (CAPS page on the left)

Step 5: Click ‘Take Anonymous Screening’

After the assessment, you are welcome to contact The CAPS Center at 570-674-6408 to schedule an

appointment or to get a referral. Thank you!

Interpersonal Therapy Group:This is for students who want to have better relation-

ships of any kind. To figure out how to stop doing the things that are unhelpful and do more of what is helpful in building strong and meaningful relation-

ships. And to feel better about themselves.

Peaceful Mind Group:If you are someone who seems to worry about many things (or everything) or if you tend to feel a great

deal of stress and anxiety, this group may be for you. Through a blend of discussion and experience of

various relaxation and stress management strategies, students will learn how to quiet their minds and shut

off the worry.

The Women’s Body Acceptance Group:This group will engage in structured exercises to enhance participants own body acceptance and to

dispel leading myths about body image.NOTE: This is not a group for those struggling with eating disorders. Those students who struggle with

this issue are welcome to contact Dr. Cindy for individual sessions.

All groups will start in October and take six to eight members. If you are interested or for more

information about the CAPS Center of the student groups please contact Dr. Cindy March or Courtney Burgess-Michak. The CAPS Center is located in the

basement of Alumnae Hall.

CAPSCORNER

STUDENT ON THE STREETThe holiday season is almost here. With Thanks-giving quickly approaching we asked students in Banks Student Life Center what they were thank-ful for. If you have a question you would like us to ask, email the newspaper editorial staff at High-land@misericordia.edu.

“I am thankful for Pumpkin Spice Coffee,”said speech lan-guage pathology major Colleen Deignan.

“I am thankful for my family and friends,” said first year speech language pathology major Alexis Stoffel.

“I am thankful for Alabama Football ,” said first year oc-cupational therapy major Jessica Gardiner.

“I am thankful for my close group of friends at Misericordia University,” said first year unde-clared Samantha Piwowarski.

“I am thankful for my awesome roommate Sam Piwiwarski,” said first year physical therapy major Rachel McCormick .

“I am thankful for everything I have in life,” said sophomore GNLS major Tim Martin.

Continued on page 5

Students don’t have to go far to receive tutoring: They only need to sit at their computers. While traditional face-to-face tu-toring is available in the Student Success Center on the bot-tom floor of Alumnae Hall, students can sign in and take part in online tutoring with Smarthinking. Smarthinking is a conve-nience option for students with hectic workloads or job responsibilities because it’s available to students 24/7. Bruce Riley, Tutorial Coor-dinator, encourages students to get help any way they can, and he said tutoring center services are a way for students to get ahead in their studies. “Smarthinking is available for every student, full-time or part-time. As long as you’re a student here at Misericordia you can access it,” said Riley. Riley said signing up is easy. Sign into the E-MU portal, hover the cursor over the Stu-dent Services tab, and then select Smarthinking from the dropbox. Emily Ousoulijoglou, a first-year social work major, said she is pleased with tutoring services. “Overall, it is a great resource to have if you have any questions or if you just need the course mate-

rial repeated,” said Ousoulijoglou. The good thing about Smart-hinking is that it is completely free and students don’t have to wait for the Student Success

Center to open or for a tutoring session to begin. “This program has a lot of ben-efits for students in long-term and short-term,” said Riley. Ousoulijoglou said she received tutoring before an important gov-

ernment test, and she’s confident it helped her to receive a good grade because tutors are trained to help students retain informa-tion easily.

Riley said students can even receive tutoring on Smartthinking even if the Center does not have a live tutor to offer. For example, if a student is looking for an ac-counting tutor and the Student Success Center does not have a

tutor available for that class at that time, the student can turn to Smarthinking to get the help they need. “If it is 3:00 in the morning, a

student can just sign on for academic support around their schedule,” said Riley. The online tutor also has a tool called Whiteboard, which allows students to submit their assignments. The tutor can write on the submissions, so the tutoring session also presents infor-mation visually, which helps address different learning styles. “With Whiteboard the tu-tor can upload charts, graphs and images and this can make the session more in-teractive with the student,” said Riley. Smarthinking is an outside service to which the univer-sity subscribes. According to Riley, many students have signed up for Smarthinking and it has re-ceived a lot of positive feed-back. It will even help with

lower-order writing concerns. “They will be able to help you out with grammar, sentence structure and things of that nature.” devivod@misericordia.edu

By Daniella Devivo, ReporterTutoring Offered Online

Tutorial Coordinator Bruce Riley checks out the online tutoring site on E-MU’s website in his office in Alumnae Hall.

DANIELLA DEVIVO/THE HIGHLANDER

Service, one of the four charisms of Mercy, was presented in large amounts during week-long in-auguration events to honor new president Dr. Thomas Botzman. Service began with preparing the Catherine McAuley House for painting on Nov. 13, and then faculty, staff and students alike donated their time at three vari-ous sites during the Nov. 16 day of service. They applied a fresh coat of paint to the Catherine McAuley House, helped with construction for Habitat for Humanity, and worked with children at Mercy Services. Botzman spent an hour serving shoulder-to-shoulder with faculty, staff and students at each site. Botzman said he was thrilled to work at Mercy Services where he spent time reading aloud to children. “I’m a softy for little kids,” he said. Director of Campus Ministry Christine Somers was pleased to see the amount of interest in the day of service. She said many faculty and staff members volunteered ahead of time, while students signed up for the work all the way up to the service date. “Catherine McAuley was all about service,” said Somers. “That’s just who we are as an institution. [The day of service] will give Dr. Botzman a chance to see some of the service work we’ve been doing for years.” Student service long ago surpassed the borders of Plym-outh and Wilkes-Barre. Videos, photos and personal experiences on display at the Nov. 13 service presentations highlighted the experiences of teams who traveled to Jamaica in January 2011 and Guyana in June 2013. Graduate PT major Sean Vitale and senior education major Kirsten Fisher donated their time at the table to share their inspir-ing accounts with other students. “To me it was just amazing and life changing. It is important to tell others about this opportunity. It is good for the person and for

the others they help,” Fisher said. As they fondly shared pictures and memories, packets of infor-mation rested nearby for those interested in attending future trips. “The experience is eye-opening, and it’s important to know that students have this opportunity to see the world in a totally different way,” said Vitale. “This isn’t the Ja-maica of the resorts; this is real.” Botzman stressed the life-affirming value of giving - and the personal and global awareness ser-vice activities provide to students. “Campus life is quite differ-ent from the real world,” said Botzman. “There may be need on campus, but you don’t have people doubting when they will receive their next meal. They will get din-ner every night.” Vitale said he identifies with Botzman’s philosophy. “Service is one of the most important parts of a Misericordia education because it really puts education into action and the good fortune you have had to be able to get here into perspective,” he says. Many members of the campus community said they feel it’s only natural for service to be a part of the inauguration celebration. “It’s a wonderful thing to see a week celebrating us, but also everyone else.” said Botzman. “Because it’s not just about us, all are welcome.” As President, Botzman hopes that he will always be invited to serve alongside students, uphold-ing and strengthening the charism of service “in support of our students, our university, and our local and international communi-ties.” Vitale said he looks forward to see the impact Botzman will have on campus. “Dr. Botzman is bringing great energy and ideas to Misericordia. I’m excited to see what he has planned for the University that has been so good to me.” saylorc@misericordia.edu

By Casey Saylor, Reporter

SPOTLIGHTON SERVICE

Biology major Mike Pheas-ant said Ring Neck Lanyards, a company the family runs out of their East Stroudsburg home, is a golden business opportunity - and a sought after product for fly fishermen. “In December my dad ended up making each kid [in my family] a lanyard, a leather lanyard. It was easily just as good if not better than the lanyards we saw out west. My two younger brothers, who are just as important as I am in this whole thing, and I looked at each other and you could tell we basically had the same thought. We can make these. We can make these and they can be something that people will want,” he said.

To a fly fisherman a lanyard is like a utility belt that one would wear around the neck. Various essential fly fishing tools, such as snips that resemble toenail clippers and a tippet for end of a fly fisherman’s fly line, can be attached. Pheasant said that although there isn’t much of a market for his lanyards on the East Coast, they seem to be ideal for sports-men in western states. “It’s almost a culture out there, these lanyards. Guides wear them, they’re beaded, they’re ornamen-tal, leather, bone, beads - people put a lot of money into these things. It’s kind of like a fashion statement for a fly fisherman out west,” he said. Pheasant said that he’s not new to the world of fly fishing. He and his family took regular trips to various locations in the western United States, places ideal for fly fishing. He would spend days fly fishing on these excursions. It wasn’t until the Pheasant family’s most recent fly fishing vacation that Pheasant decided he was going to join his fellow fly fishermen in owning a lanyard. There was just one thing that ultimately kept Pheasant from making the move.

“When I went out there, I considered getting a [lanyard], but it was just too expensive at that time. I knew I wanted a leather one. I just passed it up. I just so happened to be going through a fly shop and I didn’t pull the trig-ger on it,” said Pheasant. That led to Pheasant’s father creating the first family made lanyards as Christmas gifts, which ultimately led to the creation of Ring Neck Lanyards. Pheasant and his family couldn’t recognize anyone catering to the East Coast fly fishermen’s needs. Recogniz-ing the niche, their own company took flight. Pheasant recognizes that his family’s company could not have

become a reality had it not been for the support of his parents. “My dad really thought this could be a really good learning experience for the kids, which is basically all it started out as, and it continues to be just a learning experience. Let’s see if there’s a demand for this, see if we can sup-ply,” said Pheasant. Pheasant said that the begin-ning stages were trial and error. His family would start with a raw product to be tested, and from there they would recognize the faults and work them out for the next prototype. He said the first month of Ring Neck Lanyards was like a constant brain storm-ing session, throwing ideas back and forth and seeing which ones worked. The family members looked for suppliers as they field tested their product for quality. Pheasant said that by the end of January, his family had a product they felt confident in sharing with the world. The next step, he said, was the paperwork. “We made sure that the patent was made public for the lanyard design, which it then was. Then we formed a four-way partnership LLC within our family. We had a

By Cal Clark, Reporter

Business Flies to New Heights

Above, a sample lanyard from Ring Neck Lanyards.CAL CLARK/THE HIGHLANDER

Senior Christinia Tucci, graduate student Sean Vitale, senior Kirsten Fisher and sophomore Kayleigh Morein present a poster about their trips to Jamaica and Guyana.

CASEY SAYLOR/THE HIGHLANDER

November 19, 2013highlandernews.net4 Sports

Viewfinder: Cougars Fall to Lions in Last Home Game

Top, crossing the goal line, sophomore Jeff Puckett slides into the end zone while the of-ficial signals for a touchdown during the last home game of the season against Albright College.

Middle, Puckett fights off the Albright defense.

Bottom, returning a kick, first year Chris Kirkland runs toward the sideline while his teammates block. The team lost the game at Mangelsdorf Field 42-19.

MARY BOVE//THE HIGHLANDER

Keep Calm, Lead OnBy Nick Vitale Reporter

Captains say leadership is all about trust. Matt Greene, junior guard for the men’s basketball team, has been captain for two years. He won the leadership post by receiving the most votes from his teammates.. “I think it was just that my teammates re-ally trust me. At the end of every season, we take a vote on who we want as a captain,” said Greene. “Every player gets two votes, and I had the majority of the votes the past two years. They are re-ally comfortable around me, and that makes it better when we are on the court.” Green’s leadership abilities show when he calls plays. “My coach trusts me enough that with my knowledge and my I.Q. of the game he trusts me with calling the plays at the right time and the right point in the game,” said Greene. But he said leading an entire team every game does not present additional pressure. “I would not say that it adds more pressure because I have been doing this since I was in high school,” said Greene. “I trust myself, too, so I feel comfortable with my judgment. Therefore, I like being liable for all these guys because I trust myself.” It is no surprise that Greene trusts himself. He was the first team All-Freedom selection last year. Greene started 25 out of the 26 games played in a season, and he was just one out of three play-ers to see action in all 26 games. Greene was ranked second in the Freedom Conference for as-sists, and he hit 70 three-pointers making him the best three-point shooter in the conference. Not only is Greene an exceptional col-lege player, he was also a phenom-enal player in high school. Greene was a captain of the basketball team for his sophomore, junior and senior years at Whitehall High School. Greene does his best to try to coach his teammates when he sees them struggling. “I am constantly coaching our

team whether we are winning or losing or off the court. You just have to have high energy, be enthusiastic and always have positive vibes,” said Greene. “You have to get these kids’ confidence up, even when they are down. You have to level with them. You

cannot be soft with these kids, because they are adults. They need to take it not as criticism but as coaching.” Greene also works to inspire and motivate his players. “Before every practice, I take my team and we go right to the banner where we have one championship that we got in my sophomore year,” said Greene. “I always tell them it is time to put another one up there. I try to be inspirational so that we are more competitive in practice and that is just contagious. You are what you do repeatedly. Even in the huddles and on the court, I am telling them to pick it up, and I tell them what they are doing wrong and what they should be doing and that we have to get this win.” He still treats his teammates like brothers. “We are one big family. I would take my shirt off of my back for any of those guys,” said Greene. “Team chemistry is so important because off the court if you are really close to each other it is contagious, and then that goes on to the court and you are more comfortable when you are around each other.” Nicolette Ruffler, senior center back for the women’s soccer team, served as captain for the first time this season. In high school, she was a captain during her sopho-more, junior and senior years and she also won a team MVP award. In 2012, she was only one of

eight players to start all 25 games in the season. She was a second team All-Freedom selection as a defender and she helped anchor a Cougar defense that posted 15 shutouts and a 0.59 goals against average. This season Ruffler led her team

to an 18-2-1 record. She then pro-ceeded to lead her team to the Freedom Conference Champion-ship where the Cougars played against the King’s College Mon-archs. Miseri-cordia went on to win 3-1 and now will proceed to the NCAA tourna-

ment. Ruffler was

voted to be captain just as Greene was: by a team vote. “It’s almost like a democracy,” said Ruffler. “Our team votes for who they want to be captain. I actually like it that way because I would not want someone being a captain that the team did not respect that much. That’s one of the reasons why I like being captain, because my team chose me to be it.” Ruffler does not let the pressure of leadership get to her. “I’m pretty good with pressure, but I think [being captain] does add a little bit more because since I represent the team I feel like I am responsible for them as a whole,” she said. “There’s pressure sometimes, but I have my team behind me. I am never put under any circumstances like that, and everything is always smooth sail-ing between us as teammates.” Ruffler believes her team has perfect chemistry, and she thinks that is the reason the team wins. “The thing about my team is that everyone is so close and the team chemistry is so good that on the field we are just as close as we are off the field,” said Ruffler. “Everybody on the team is best friends with somebody else on the team, so every player is friends with each other. As a captain, I try to make sure I set a good example off the field as I do on the field because I know that people will still be looking up to me.” vitalen@misericordia.edu

Sophomore cross country stand-out Mikael Hause is making big strides. Literally. Hause earned second team All-MAC honors following a 15th place finish at the MAC Cham-pionships at DeSales University Nov. 2. Hause has burst onto the scene as one of the team’s top runners in only his second season with the squad. According to Hause, being named All-MAC was an honor and his teammates deserve some recognition as well. “It feels good,” Hause said. “It was tough. We ran at DeSales. It was a tough course, and there was a lot of good competition so it was nice to make it in and our team did really well.” Head coach Chris Wadas does not believe there has been a par-

ticular secret to Hause’s success this year. Instead, Wadas pointed to Hause’s experience. “Last year he came in from high school, and we had him doing a certain amount of mileage and it was a work in progress. I ex-plained to him how he may have some stepping problems as far as adjusting to what we were doing,” Wadas said. “[Last year] he ran okay but at the end of the season, he had some issues of being it such a long season.” That certainly was not the case this season. In addition to his sec-ond team All-MAC honors, Hause ran the 7th fastest time in school history to lead the men’s cross country team to an 11th-place fin-ish at the Gettysburg Invitational in October. When Hause received the news

of his record-setting day shortly after the race, he wasn’t exactly surprised by his historic feat - he believed he could have done a bit better. “I knew that course was fast, and I wanted to run a fast time,” Hause said. “I thought I was going to run a little faster, but I was still happy with that time (26:40).” A “sophomore slump” was not in the cards for Hause. He attributes his strong work ethic during the summer for his sophomore campaign. “I did a lot more mileage this summer as compared to last sum-mer. It really helped later in the season because last year I wasn’t used to doing so many miles, so I kind of died at the end,” he said. Adjusting to the college courses has paid dividends for Hause.

With two years remaining left in his collegiate career, Wadas believes there is a chance Hause may go down as one of the best he has ever coached. “There’s a possibility, definitely,” Wadas said of his rising star. “That means him coming in next year and doing something a little bit more or working just as hard and seeing what happens. Obviously, if he keeps on doing what he’s doing and the pace that he’s doing it, at some point it’s going to get a little harder to keep cutting times, but as he changes things and adjusts to it accordingly, there’s no reason why he can’t be near the top.” Wadas had one word to describe Hause: focused. “He’s a very focused individual. I can tell he wants to be good just by looking at him. He doesn’t say

much. He’s always very positive and never negative. I think he knows what he wants to do, and he’s starting to realize how he has to go about that,” Wadas said. With the success and experience Hause has acquired throughout his collegiate career thus far, he believes his role has become more than just a runner – he is becom-ing a leader. “As you go to different places you learn from experience. It’s nice because last year I had no idea - I would just follow other guys. I had no idea how to race because it’s different than high school. Now that I kind of know (what to expect) it’s easier to help the other guys. We kind of have freshmen pacing off me now.” Hause has goals for the team’s success in the MACs.

“Team-wise, we want to place higher than we did this year, probably 3rd or 4th. Individually, I want to probably place top five in school history, at least.” Wadas believes Hause has what it takes to accomplish those goals. “Every kid that has come in here that’s really done well their freshman year is kind of a transi-tion year for them, and then their sophomore year, they really hit it off,” Wadas said. “Now, going into the future, they have to keep with that transition and that kind of attitude because that’s going to snowball, but you know it’s when people decide that when they rest on laurels, they’re kind of like, ‘Well, it won’t be that hard to get in shape anymore now, and I don’t see him as that type of person.” evansr4@misericordia.edu

Hause Sprints Away From Sophomore SlumpBy Rob Evans, Reporter

Matt GreeneNicolette RufflerMU ATHLETICS/THE HIGHLANDER

Far left, sophomore Mikael Hause runs during the Cougar Classic where he finished in 4th place. The cross country team only has two home meets dur-ing the season.

Left, Hause sprints to the finish line, during the MAC confer-ence championship meet at Paul Short. DeSales University hosted the meet. Hause finished 15th overall during the meet.

Hause’s cross country achieve-ments during the 2013 season:second-team all MAC, 4th place in the Cougar Classic, 6th all time in the men’s 8K, top male cross country perfor-mance.

ALLEN SABATINO FOR THE HIGHLANDER

November 19, 2013highlandernews.net 5Sports

By Jimmy Fisher, Reporter The women’s soccer team isn’t finished yet – they’re taking their season into the middle of Novem-ber, a feat every team hopes to accomplish. The women completed yet an-other strong regular season by finishing with an overall record of 18-2-1, the exact same record the team finished with at the end of the historic 2012 season in which they advanced to the Final Four of the National Champion-ship in Divi-sion III. This marks the third year in a row that the team has gone undefeated in Freedom Conference play. The team won the Freedom Conference title in a victory over King’s College Nov. 9, an accom-plishment that pleased the entire team but especially head coach Mark Stauffer. Stauffer said the team breaks down the season into three phases. The first phase is schedul-ing the toughest non-conference slates in the nation and the sec-ond slate involves the conference match-ups. “I think if we continue to take it one game at a time we’re good like that. We don’t look into the future – our next match is our next match. When you do it like that it’s easy,” Stauffer said. Stauffer said phase three is the postseason where the team is headed after its dominate season and a 5-0 victory over FDU-Flor-

ham in the Freedom Conference Championship semifinals on Nov. 5 on Mangelsdorf Field. The MU women’s soccer team outscored opponents 27-0 in conference play.

Senior centerback Nicolette Ruffler has been with the team since her freshman year. She saw firsthand the transitions from her first season when the team was fighting, to then making it to the playoffs, to last season when the women were two wins away from calling themselves National Champions. Ruffler said it has been quite the ride and that an early team exit from last year’s tournament was both heartbreaking and gratifying. “Obviously it was devastating, but at the same time it was every-thing we’d been through was kind of satisfying also,” Ruffler said. “Even just making it that far was an achievement. We were like the underdogs, the little school that could - so satisfying, yet devastat-ing at the same time.”

One game stood out among the rest: a rematch with the defend-ing National Champions, Messiah College. Messiah defeated the Cougars twice last season – once during the regular season and

again when they eliminated MU in the Final Four round. Stauffer said the defending champions coming to town was a true test for his players, and that even though the game ended in a zero tie there was much to be happy about. “I thought it was a good match both ways,” said Stauffer. “They had their chance; we had our chance. I think a draw was the result that was deserved. I’m not sure either team did enough to de-serve a win that day. It was pretty even keel. [I’m] disappointed, yes, but I know whether we win, lose or draw, that match in September really has no bearing on what hap-pens in November and December. I was more performance-driven than result-driven in that match, and I got the performance I

wanted out of our team, and the result really didn’t matter a whole lot, but I think the result was the realistic result.” Senior Alyssa Mocion, a center midfielder, echoed her coach’s

statement and said it was satisfy-ing to show that the MU team has improved since the two teams last meeting in the Final Four last season. “It was definitely satisfying,” said Mocion. “Obviously you want to win, but I think that coming into that game after losing to them in the Final Four and tying them and also proving to them that we could beat them was not only good for our confidence and showing everyone else that we could beat them, [but it was also important] showing them that we have improved so much as a team and we could beat them if we see them again.” At the start of the playoffs it was interesting to see if the women’s team members had a target on their backs from their success last

season and making it to the Final Four in Texas. Ruffler said players were not fo-cused on being the center of atten-tion. They wanted to keep their eyes on the prize of a National

Champion-ship. “[The Na-tional Cham-pionship title was] not necessarily a target, but for us, for our team,” said Ruffler. “Knowing that we had gotten there last year and made it to the Final Four, this year our whole concept was being number one, being the National Champions.” Heading into the post season, the obstacles

only get bigger and Mocion knows that through everything, good or bad, the team will remain strong. “Always remember to work hard for your teammates no matter what happened this season,” said Mocion. “There is a lot of pressure on us, I feel, so just not ever giving up is what you have to do.” fisherj3@misericordia.edu

Editor’s note: At press time the men’s and women’s soccer teams were scheduled to compete in the first round of the NCAA Tourna-ment. The women were set to face off on Mangesldorf Field against Drew University while the men take on Montclair State University. Follow their journeys through the National Tournament through the MU Athlet-ics page and social media handles.

Women’s Soccer Kicking it into Postseason BUSINESS,CONTINUED

Continued from page 3

The team celebrates their 3-1 victory over King’s College in the Freedom Conference finals at home on Nov. 9. MU ATHLETICS FOR THE HIGHLANDER

logo company make a logo for us, which we really liked so we got it copywritten,” said Pheasant. He said these things took time and plenty of money, which stimu-lated the push to start selling the first run of lanyards. The Pheasants started showing their product to the public and to local fly shops, starting with the one in their hometown of East Stroudsburg. Pheasant said that the initial reaction to the lanyards was very positive. He says the public was impressed with the craftsmanship, and people were moved to make the purchase because of the fair price. That was where the company stood at the beginning of the 2013 summer season, which Pheasant said is when the sale of fly fishing gear starts to die down. His fam-ily is now preparing for the next fishing season, but he says the original vision hasn’t changed. “Where we’re at now is basically this idea, basically family lessons and family ideas. It’s what we can do and what we can learn - if we can learn supply and demand and how to budget money, create a product and feed off of consumer feedback,” said Pheasant. Pheasant said the company brought his family closer. He rec-ognizes the challenges that Ring Neck faces, with him living away from home during the college semesters, but he doesn’t let that dampen his optimism. “The way we look at it right now is that we really have nothing to lose,” Pheasant said. “I mean, it started out as an experiment. It started out as a lesson in business. We’re doing something we love, and at the very least we’ve had a whole lot of fun at the end of the day.” clarkc4@misericordia.edu

November 19, 2013highlandernews.net6

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