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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6 , 2012

The Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center has brought a new specialty business into its ranks. The software development com-pany Corlnet has signed a two-year agreement with Grand Valley State University that allows the company use of incubator space at MAREC locations.

Based in Muskegon, Corlnet has an of-fice in Grand Rapids and develops software for small businesses, government offices and Fortune 500 companies, offering propri-etary software products, managed services

and custom software development to clients across the U.S. in locations such as West Michigan, California, Texas and Florida.

Though Corlnet is only two years old, it has public and private sector clients in indus-tries such as education, health care, insurance, aerospace, transportation and manufacturing.

Corlnet’s addition to MAREC was facil-itated through a referral and incentive pro-gram, through which Corlnet joined anoth-er business, Longerdays.com, which also utilizes the incubator space at MAREC.

“Business incubators are spaces that are designed to help new and sometimes re-ferred to as ‘start up’ businesses,” said Arn Boezaart, director of MAREC.

These spaces offer business support re-sources and services that help entrepreneurial companies grow during their early stages.

MAREC has a dual function, focusing on not only energy, but also on technology,

Boezaart said. On the technological side, MAREC is part of the Muskegon Smart-Zone, which is a joint venture with the Michigan Economic Development Corpo-ration, the city of Muskegon and GVSU intended to promote and attract high-tech-nology business development in Muskegon and the region.

“As part of the Muskegon SmartZone, it’s important for us to support locally based technology start-ups as well as ener-gy-related businesses,” Boezaart said.

Hank Betten, founder of Corlnet, moved the business into MAREC offices on Nov. 1, leading a team of six full-time employees.

“Our company includes software engi-neers, developers and architects who can build custom software for customer-specif-ic needs, versus other types of companies that often adapt existing ‘one-size-fits-all’ products that may not serve a customer’s

unique business process,” Betten said. “We’ve had a great year, and I see it con-tinuing. I expect to double our staff to 12 employees in the coming year.”

Although there are many software com-panies in West Michigan, Corlnet stands among the few owned and centered locally in the Muskegon/Lakeshore region. This location allows Corlnet to have face-to-face interactions between clients and the company’s developers.

Betten said Corlnet’s ultimate goal is to revolutionize the marketplace for the infor-mation technology infrastructure industry, enabling it to engage more effectively with customers and end-users in developing so-lutions for their business needs.

To learn more about the business in-cubator program, www.gvsu.edu/marec/business-incubator-program.

ephillips@lanthorn.com

Software company Corlnet joins MAREC

BOEZAART

BY ELLIE PHILLIPSGVL STAFF WRITER

Grand Valley State Uni-versity will send off more than 1,000 graduates on Dec. 8 during the univer-sity’s commencement cer-emony, hosted at the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.

Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former Presi-dent Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford, will be the cer-emony’s keynote speaker. Ford Bales has held a num-

ber of public service posi-tions throughout her tenure, acting as a global ambassa-dor for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the chair of the Betty Ford Center from 2005-10, a board member of the Rosalynn Carter Fel-lowships for Mental Health, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Foundation and the Bosque School in New Mexico.

“Grand Valley had a long-standing relationship

GV waves goodbye to over 1,000 graduates BY ANYA ZENTMEYERGVL EDITOR IN CHIEF

It was in the early morning hours of Nov. 26 that Jake Seiler received a phone call from his mother that

would change his life forever.“I was at my apartment when I got

a call at 1 a.m. from my mom, and she was hysterical,” Seiler said. “So she called me and was like, ‘Jake, our house is on fire or she said some-thing like our house burned down, it’s gone, the whole thing is gone.’ I was in shock and couldn’t believe it.”

The fire, which began when some old ashes ignited in a trash can by the side of the house, destroyed the entire house in a matter of hours.

“I was just in shock, I couldn’t even believe it,” Seiler said. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is a joke. This is not real life. This doesn’t happen to me, this isn’t going

to happen to us.’ It was just a freak occurrence that you would never an-ticipate happening to yourself.”

Seiler is a senior at Grand Val-ley State University and for the past three years has anchored the defense for the men’s lacrosse team.

“Jake was a pillar of our defense from my first day at Grand Val-ley,” said head coach Tim Murray. “He has just the athleticism and the quickness and just physically the toughness which are huge attributes for a defenseman.”

Although he will be missing this season with a torn ACL, he has still done what he can to help the team.

“Since he has blown out his knee, he still doesn’t miss practices,” Mur-ray said. “We don’t have the best schedule of practices and with the amount classes that happen in the afternoon and evenings, we felt the

only time we could get the entire team there was in the morning.

“Most of those practices came from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. in the morning, and it was cold and miserable,” Mur-ray said. “Jake was still there handing out water every single day and this just speaks to how important the camara-derie and importance of the student aspect of this lacrosse group is. It’s not that he was just there, it was that he was doing whatever he could.”

Seiler has always been there for the team and now that he needs them, they have been there for love and support.

“I really can’t even describe how they really all feel for me,” Seiler said. “They all have been helping keep me in good spirits over the past couple weeks and have helped

FLAMES CONSUME HOUSE

Team rallies around fellow member and his family after fire GVSU.EDU | COURTESY

Happy goodbyes: Over 1,000 GVSU students, like those pictured above, will gradute at Saturday’s commencement.

SEE COMMENCEMENT, A2

SEILER FAMILY | COURTESYUp in smoke: Following a nearly four hour fight, firefighters were able to put out the fire that consumed the Seiler home.

BY AuSTIN METZASSOCIATE EDITOR

At Grand Valley State University, the adjustment from fall to winter semester isn’t the only anticipated change. Recently approved by the uni-veristy’s Senior Management Team, a new policy has been finalized and is now declared in effect by the Univer-sity Counsel.

The Religious Inclusion Policy recognizes that, “although the uni-versity does not observe religious

holidays, it recognizes that there are a number of religious holidays that affect significant numbers of our stu-dents, staff and faculty.”

Through this policy, students, staff and faculty have the opportunity to observe their faith without conflict or penalty of missing educational or pro-fessional obligations.

As Assistant Vice President of Af-firmative Action at GVSU, Dwight Hamilton’s role is to investigate claims of discrimination and harass-ment and review policies related to

those issues. It was with those re-sponsibilities in mind that Hamilton drafted the propsal himself.

“I’m hoping that the policies will further make Grand Valley a more inclusive environment, where stu-dents can observe their faiths,” Ham-ilton said. “The next step is getting the word out on (the) policies to the GVSU community. We will also be including information on (the) poli-cies in current and future training.”

New policy aims for religious inclusion

SEE FIRE, A2

SEE INCLUSION, A2

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AMY HAMMOND | GVLFree to worship: GVSU will now allow students to miss religious holidays without fear of missing educational obligations.

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Grand Valley Lanthorn

At the Lanthorn we strive to bring you the most accurate news possible. If we make a mistake, we want to make it right. If you find any errors in fact in the Lanthorn, let us know by calling (616) 331-2464 or by emailing editorial@lanthorn.com.

Volume 47, Number 31

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The Grand Valley Lanthorn is published twice-weekly by Grand Valley State University students 62 times a year. One copy of this newspaper is available free of charge to any member of the Grand Valley Community. For additional copies, please contact our business offices.POSTMASTER: Please send form 3579 to Grand Valley Lanthorn, 0051 Kirkhof, Grand Valley State University, Allendale, MI, 49401

Grand Valley State University will send off more than 1,000 gradu-ates on Dec. 8 during the university’s commencement ceremony, hosted at the Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.

Susan Ford Bales, daughter of for-mer President Gerald R. Ford and Betty Ford, will be the ceremony’s keynote speaker. Ford Bales has held a number of public service positions throughout her tenure, acting as a global ambas-sador for the Susan G. Komen Founda-tion, the chair of the Betty Ford Center from 2005-10, a board member of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Men-tal Health, Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Foundation and the Bosque School in New Mexico.

“Grand Valley had a long-stand-ing relationship with President Ford when he was alive as well as his en-tire family,” said Mary Eilleen Lyon, associate vice president of GVSU’s News and Information Services. “Su-san Ford Bales is accomplished in her own right and has continued to sup-port West Michigan, along with her many causes.”

Currently, Ford Bales is a trustee for both the Gerald R. Ford Historical Legacy Trust and the Gerald R. Ford

Presidential Foundation. This year, for the first time, GVSU

will recognize student veterans and active military members with patriot-ic recognition cords, something Steve

Lipniki, assistant dean of students, said more colleges and universities in the U.S. have been utilizing in com-mencement ceremonies since the post-September 11 G.I. Bill benefits began in 2009.

“The recognition cords are distrib-uted to identify current and former members of the U.S. Armed Forces, and to acknowledge their service and sacrifice,” Lipnicki said. “For the first time, GVSU will be making compli-mentary recognition cords available to graduating students, faculty and staff, with prior military services in the U.S. Armed Forces, who attend commencement.”

Lipnicki said about a dozen stu-dent vets will cross the stage during the commencement ceremony, which kicks off at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

GVSU will award Martin E. Marty, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, an honorary doctor of letters to recognize his role in promoting reli-gious and cultural understanding.

In addition, the Alumni Association will present Kathleen Underwood, di-rector of GVSU’s women and gender studies program and associate profes-sor of history, the Outstanding Educa-tor Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award will go to Maryjean Schenk, vice dean for medical education at the Wayne Sate University School of Medicine.

For more information, or to watch the Dec. 8 live stream, visit www.gvsu.edu/commencement.

editorial@lanthorn.com

keep my mind off of it. They say their condolences, they say they are sorry. Every single one has offered to help in any way they can.”

Although Seiler was not stay-ing at the house at the time of the fire, his family was all there but was able to get out because of the family’s smoke detectors.

“The fire started right next to my brother’s room, basically, and luckily my dad heard the fire alarms, went to check it out,

went upstairs and saw the smoke,” Seiler said. “He woke up the kids, got them out, got my mom out, ev-eryone out. The fire alarms saved their lives, otherwise my brother might not be here.”

In the days and weeks following the fire, the Seiler family has seen support from students, friends and the community.

“The thing that has helped me the most has been the overwhelm-ing outreach we have received from everyone about the situation,” Seiler said. “So many people have come out to help us. I never would

have imagined this many people would come out to help our fam-ily. It’s just a great feeling to know that we have so many friends and family that care about us and are here to support us.”

Not only has the Seiler family received love and support from friends and family, they have also received overwhelming sup-port from those in the lacrosse community.

“They understand that a mem-ber from our team is hurting and going through a tough time,” Mur-ray said. “More importantly, it’s

not just a member from the oppos-ing team, it’s a member of the la-crosse community in West Michi-gan that we are all a part of. I think they see that and they realize that and they will do anything they can to help. They know, if the shoe is on the other foot, we would do whatever we can for them.”

Moving forward, the Seiler family will be staying in a church friend’s cottage until insurance can help to rebuild what was lost.

“It honestly has been a blessing in disguise just knowing that ev-eryone can come so close and that

people are good and people can do wonderful things for each other,” Seiler said.

Murray said that for those looking to help the Seiler family, GVSU’s lacrosse team will host a benefit game Dec. 6 and take on crosstown rival Davenport Uni-versity at 7 p.m. in the Kelly Fam-ily Sports Center.

Those who attend are asked to give a minimum donation of $5 but are welcome to give more. There will also be a silent auction to raise more money for the family.

associate@lanthorn.com

FIRECONTINUED FROM A1

Different policies at GVSU are sub-ject to review through faculty gov-ernance, the Administrative/Pro-fessional Committee, the Provost Committee and finally to the Senior Management Team.

The AP Committee, which con-sists of any executive administrative professional staff, had the opportu-nity to voice any concerns or ask any questions when Hamilton origi-nally presented the policy. Michelle McCloud, chair of the AP Commit-

tee, said the policy passed with no questions or concerns and continued to flow right through the system.

“It is really good to clarify things for students and allow them to ob-serve different religious holidays,” McCloud said. “It is a good founda-tion for students to have in order to be excused from classes and observe their faith. There is now a specific form, and clear process on how to handle these issues, where it may not have been as clear before.”

With policies like religious in-clusion which are complicated top-ics, there have been discussions for

years. Jon Jellema, associate vice president for Academic Affairs, said it has been hard to implement a strong policy that addresses both professors and students in a fair manner.

“For some time, there has been tension when academic obligations clash with religious observation,” Jellema said. “My understanding is that the new policy expands and clarifies the existing language.”

Questions about what students should do when they have class-room obligations that conflict with their religious faiths have been

raised consistently. What happens when examinations are scheduled on Yom Kippur or Good Friday?

Jellema said the new policy provides guidance for faculty and students to help them reach an agreement on how to accommo-date religious observance without sacrificing class requirements. Ad-ditionally, as a public institution, religious holidays aren’t recog-nized so university organizations should be familiar with holidays when scheduling campus events.

Specifically in the past, Fam-ily Weekend has been scheduled

during the Jewish high holidays, which gave the wrong impression that the Jewish community isn’t a part of the GVSU family. This mis-take wasn’t done intentionally, but out of lack of familiarity with the significant holidays of others. The policy suggests that event planners consider religious holidays when scheduling significant campus events to maximize inclusion.

The policy will soon be avail-able in print, located on the Inclu-sion and Equity website at www.gvsu.edu/inclusion.

lmitchell@lanthorn.com

INCLUSIONCONTINUED FROM A1

COMMENCEMENTCONTINUED FROM A1

D O N ’ T M I S S O U T

GVSUCOMMENCEMENT

CEREMONY

D E C E M B E R 8 t h10 a.m.

V A N A N D E L A R E N A

GRAND RAPIDSW A T C H T H E L I V E

S T R E A M A T

www.gvsu.edu/commencement

For the first time, GVSU will be making complimentary recognition cords available to graduation students, faculty and staff with prior military services in the U.S. Armed Forces, who attend commencement. ”

STEVEN LIPNICKIASSISTANT DEAN OF STUDENTS

“

The Grand Valley State University Student Recre-ation Fields have received the honor of being the first location certified as a Sus-tainable Site in Michigan, and one of the first in the country to be certified as part of the pilot project SITES.

SITES, the Sustainable Sites Initiative, is an inter-disciplinary partnership led by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wild-flower Center of The Uni-versity of Texas in Austin, and the United States Botan-ic Garden. SITES is mod-eled after the U. S. Green Building Council’s LEED program, and was formed to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices.

“This recognition is evidence of our project’s achievement in demon-strating an innovative and successful application of sustainable land design and development practices through the SITES Guide-lines and Performance Benchmarks 2009,” said James R. Moyer, LEED AP and Associate Vice Presi-dent for Facilities Planning at GVSU. “Our participa-tion in the pilot program has been invaluable in testing and improving the SITES rating system with a diverse set of projects.”

The program has only accepted one other site in Michigan as part of its pilot endeavor, and GVSU was the first location to receive its two-star certification.

Other projects involved in the pilot program span 34 U.S. states as well as Cana-da, Iceland, and Spain.

The fields were selected as part of the pilot program in 2010 and dedicated in Oct. of 2011. More than 150 other projects were cho-sen as well, to help revise a performance rating system used by SITES. The proj-ect was judged on categori-cal efforts that included site selection, pre-design assess-ment and planning, water, soil, and vegetation, mate-rial selection, human health and well-being, operations and maintenance, and moni-toring and innovation.

Encompassing 65 acres of land that include rugby, lacrosse, and two softball fields, a track throws area and 400 meter track, as well as a stormwater man-agement system and picnic shelters, the fields provide increased recreational space for the ever-increasing num-ber of students involved in athletics, sports, and clubs on campus.

This project continues the University’s commitment to remain a leader of sustain-able building practices by serving as a research facility for wildlife and storm water study that is beneficial to students in several academic areas. The studies currently in progress include the storm water as it flows through the management system, dispo-sition of water as it flows through the same, and the blue bird habitat.

Storm water studies con-ducted on the certified land have helped decrease the amount of runoff erosion generated by non-perme-able areas of construction

on GVSU’s campus, mainly parking lots and roads. The storm-generated runoff was originally channeled into the Little Mac Ravines, where it caused significant increases in the erosion levels of the ravine and the stream run-ning through it. To control this, Facilities Services at GVSU constructed a wet-land area into which to chan-nel the runoff from storms.

“Water will be directed to the wetlands during storm events to allow the water to move more slowly away from campus to the west, eventually joining Ottawa Creek after passing through a series of ponds and wet-lands,” said Peter Wempler, Assistant Professor of Ge-ology. “These constructed wetlands will not only pro-vide a beautiful addition to the campus, but they will be a living laboratory for studying ecosystems, hy-drology, wildlife, and water chemistry.”

“Both Tree Swallows and Eastern Bluebirds nest in some of the 100 nest boxes mounted on poles on the study site,” said Pro-fessor Michael Lombardo of GVSU. “Aside from learning about the biology of Tree Swallows, our re-

search has provided dozens of GVSU undergraduates with research experiences. Several of our students have gone on to earn M.S. and Ph.D. Degrees.”

The addition of the ponds has improved the habitat for nesting Tree Swallows and other species of birds in the area as well, though the Eastern Bluebird population has not seemed to be affect-ed. Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Spotted Sandpipers, Marsh Wrens, and Killdeer have been found at the study site, as well as Red-winged Blackbirds, Eastern Mead-owlarks, Song Sparrows,

Savannah Sparrows, East-ern Kingbirds, and Ameri-can Robins.

“I have seen painted turtles and snapping turtles in the ponds,” Lombardo said. “This summer we saw a mink around the ponds. The ponds also now support populations of green frogs.”

For more information on how the Student Recreation Fields are helping GVSU and the surrounding area’s stormwater management, visit http://www.gvsu.edu/stormwater/.

For more information on the Tree Swallows and Bluebirds, contact Michael

Lombardo at lombardm@gvsu.edu.

For more information on the SITES project, visit www.sustainablesites.org/pilot/.

To view a virtual tour of the Student Rec-reation Fields, visit h t t p : / / w w w. g v s u . e d u /homepage/360tour/files/b u i l d i n g / 0 9 5 C 3 1 1 B -C C 4 6 - E A D 7 -336E7C3C93138587/tour.html. You can also view more virtual tours of cam-pus buildings and facilities at www.gvsu.edu/360tour.

ephillips@lanthorn.com

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NEWS A3DECEMBER 6, 2012Grand Valley Lanthorn

Securing your belongings may be the last of your worries when running from class to class. But the less con-scious students are about securing their items, the higher the risk of falling vic-tim to theft.

From the end of September to the end of October, an individual stole five wallets from Grand Valley State Uni-versity students who didn’t bolt their lockers in the men’s locker room of the Fieldhouse Arena.

Capt. Brandon DeHaan, assistant director of the Grand Valley Police De-partment, said the individual who stole the wallets used cash inside them and had charged credit cards, as well.

“The person who stole the items is not currently a GVSU student, but is familiar with the GVSU community,” DeHaan said.

DeHaan said the arraignment date for the person who stole the wallets will be next year, and that these larce-nies were crimes of opportunity.

In addition, he said GVPD encour-ages people to secure all their belong-ings.

Some of the common items within the stolen wallets included student IDs, licenses, credit cards, bank statements and health cards. Students missing these items must contact different or-ganizations like the Secretary of State, social security, credit card companies, and so on to let them know about their loss. They can then take the necessary steps to prevent the person who stole the information from stealing their identity.

“It can be a very daunting process to connect to all these different organiza-

tions,” DeHaan said. “Your identity is stolen and the person can pose as you and set up accounts with specific infor-mation that one had in their wallet.”

He said people should also never carry a social security card in their wallets because this drives thefts.

“For the most part, we have an ex-cellent student body, where the vast majority of students act and behave very well and don’t engage in larce-nies or bad behavior,” DeHaan said. “However, occasionally we get people, because of crime of opportunity, that engage in bad behavior.”

He added that while it only takes a moment to lock a locker, over 60 per-cent of larcenies are due to crimes of opportunity.

Kate Harmon, associate director of athletic and recreation facilities, said the Fieldhouse is a high usage building by students, which in turn increases the number of thefts.

She said that last year there were a total of 15,000 different students that used the recreation center, and that they usually see over 330,000 visits in one year.

“There are lots of people that use our services and all it takes is one per-son to steal,” Harmon said.

In order to prevent these thefts within the locker room, the recreation center has a number of locks that stu-dents can check out for free with their student ID if they don’t want to pur-chase a lock, Harmon said.

“We started (giving out locks) this past summer,” she said. “Students now have options in securing their stuff if they don’t want to spend six dollars on a lock.”

She added that a high majority of

students are taking advantage of the lock service, and that the center has been running out, especially during its busy times. The center recently purchased an additional order of locks.

“We have fresh signage that pro-motes awareness of locking up items,” Harmon said. “We encourage our staff in also suggesting to students to lock up their stuff with our locks.”

Harmon said the location of the locker rooms are easier to access for any person in the community because there are different entrances, like in the pool deck and two entrances in the hallway within the Fieldhouse. These easy to access entrances are all the more reason for students to take extra precautionary measures in securing their belongings.

She added that the theft issue is not new, and that a couple years ago the men’s locker room was renovated to make it more open and less secluded, thus reducing the likelihood of theft.

“The lockers before the renovation were installed in the 80s, and they bent to the point where people could bend them and break in even if the locker was locked,” Harmon said. “We got some dollars put into new lockers with the highest durability brand that you can buy, and we also reorganized the locker room rows to open up a line pe-rimeter of the lockers so it’s more open. The rows of lockers allowed secluded thefts to occur more, and this reorgani-zation has dramatically reduced issues of thefts.”

If you, or someone you know has lost items due to larceny, call the GVPD at 616-331-3255. In addition, call the Fieldhouse at 616-331-8940

Renovated locker rooms reduce theft

Allendale Township administrators are asking Grand Valley State Univer-sity students to participate in an online survey they are conducting in coopera-tion with the township’s Downtown Development Authority.

Jerry Alkema, Allen-dale Township supervisor, said any student input they glean from the survey will be important as the town-ship moves forward with public policy.

“Surveys give direc-tion and feedback to what residents are looking for,” Alkema said. “Before we make public policy, we would like as much input at possible.”

Last December, Allen-dale Township Planning Commission released the results of a 10-question re-zoning survey that report-ed 38 percent of the more than 300 respondents said the most pressing issue facing the township was the impact of GVSU.

Forty-seven point seven percent of those respon-dents, who were asked to check off their three great-est concerns in regards to GVSU’s impact on the area, reported that their greatest concern was with students not being a part of the Allendale Town-ship community, 38 per-cent with the interaction between local businesses and college students, 36.8 percent with the location of student housing and 29.9 expressed concern that there was too much student housing.

Among a handful of other GVSU-related ques-tions asked on last years’ rezoning survey, 71.7 per-cent – or 236 out of 329 total respondents – catego-

rized “engaging GVSU as a community member” as an important issue, while 28.3 percent said it was not as important as others.

The current survey, 44 questions long, focuses more on specific questions about respondents shop-ping habits, restaurant preference and frequency of visits, transportation and recreation activities, along with a few others.

Answers to the survey are strictly confidential, Alkema said, and do not ask responders to provide a name, address, email or any other specific infor-mation for the person or residence responding.

“Your input will help with the planning process and efforts to enhance, preserve or expand activi-ties and opportunities in Allendale,” he said.

The results to survey will be available to the public by the end of next month.

To fill out the question-naire, visit www.survey-monkey.com/s/Allendal-eResSrvy or go to www.lanthorn.com to view this story online for a direct link.

editorial@lanthorn.com

Township seeks student input in development

Recreation Fields first certified sustainable site in MIBY ELLIE PHILLIPSGVL STAFF WRITER

KATE HARMON | COURTESYPreventative action: New lockers have been installed in the men’s and women’s locker rooms to try to prevent further break ins.

BY ANYA ZENTMEYERGVL EDITOR IN CHIEF

“Surveys give direction and feedback to what residents are looking for. Before we make public policy, we would like as much input as possible.”

JERRY ALKEMAALLENDALE TOWNSHIP

SUPERVISOR

BY RACHEL CROSSGVL STAFF WRITER

ROBERT MATHEWS | GVLOne of a kind: The recreation fields at Grand Valley State University were the first site in Michigan to receive the two-star certification and was only one of two sites to even be accepted.

Stages are intimidat-ing. That moment when the lights are about to go on, the audience cheers and the music starts is like no other. You have this urge to make sure that your straps are still where they should be, to practice one last time, and knowing that time will con-tinue on and you’ll be forced to perform, you wish that you weren’t so nervous.

Dance Troupe, the larg-est organization on GVSU’s campus, had their three

shows this past weekend, and although I am a biased source, I have to say, they were wonderful. The people, the dances, the music, the amounts of make up cover-ing everyone’s faces and the nerves: it was all a part of an amazing experience that is almost indescribable.

I was always one of those kids that danced wherever I could, the most well known place being the kitchen. Over the years, I cheated loss of limb and death, twirling around knifes and ovens, leaping four feet for-ward when I really only had three feet of space. I was always bribed or shooed to leave the room, especially after the Thanksgiving inci-dent of 2009 (there’s still a bit of gravy stain on the ceil-

ing). I thought that I needed more room, but I worked with what I had.

Practices in Dance Troupe were most often in racquetball courts, and al-though they might seem big with only one person danc-ing, when there are 30 to 40, it’s not quite so roomy anymore. But, it was com-fortable: the only difference was the missing kitchen utensils and the lessened chance of injury.

Getting on stage was a completely different picture. Walking on alone, you have what seems like miles of space, standing in the dark, waiting to be revealed to an ever-judging audience. Is it the right music, is my cos-tume on right, do I have lip-stick in my teeth, do I really

know this dance? And then suddenly the lights come up, blinding, only silhouettes and outlines can be seen, all positioned so that they can stare right at you. At first it seems like a form of public humiliation. But then you turn to the side in order to leap and you see a line of friendly faces, all smiling out at the once-threatening audience, as your sanity slowly but surely returns.

And then, in an instant, the stage is what frees you, the people around you are only thought of supporters, and there is nothing more to do than smile and dance. Stages are intimidating. But the thought of letting both yourself and your fellow dancers down is worse.

sschoch@lanthorn.com

From dancing in the kitchen to the stage

Am I the only one who hates Christmas?

A s a university, Grand Valley State University is a community of students, faculty, employees and

alumni. However cliche it might sound, a good community is like a family, and as everybody’s favorite Real Housewife of New Jersey Caroline Manzo once said, “let me tell you something about my family, we’re as thick as thieves.”

If we really are a Laker nation, like we’ve all heard so many times recited in speeches and plasted on our bumper stickers, then right now, in the midst of the chaos of exams, we have the oppor-tunity to prove it.

This past week GVSU lacrosse player Jake Seiler and his family were victims of a house fire, which started when fire ashes reignited in a trash can outside the house, destroyed the family house and has forced the family to find temperary housing until insurance can kick in to help cover the cost of rebuilding the family home.

Although the Seiler’s have been able to stay at a fully-furnished cottage for the time being, there is a reality outside wait-ing for them. From clothing to vehicles to knick-nacks and photographs - nearly all of the Seiler family’s worldly posessions, so to speak - were lost to the fire. Al-

though most of the memories can never be replaced, with a little bit of assistance and a lot of good will, GVSU community members have the power to help kick-start the healing process. There is still a lot of need, and a lot of ways the GVSU community can rally around them.

Today, the GVSU lacrosse team will be playing a benefit match against what head coach Tim Murray called a cross-town rival in Davenport University at 7 p.m. in the Kelly Family Sports Center. Seiler, who will not be able to play in the match because of a torn ACL, will be on the sidelines helping the team by passing

out water and giving guidance whenever needed.

The game is being put on at little to no cost with even the referees giving their pay for the game back to the Seiler family so come out and show support.

Organizers are asking those in at-tendence to give a minimum donation of $5, but there will also be a silent auction to help raise more money for the family.

So this holiday season - even if stress has your hair turning grey and your jaw-line tense - remember that there’s a lot to be thankful for and equally as impor-tant, a reason to pay it forward.

EDITORIAL

The ultimate goal of the Grand Valley Lanthorn opinion page is to stimulate discussion and action on topics of interest to the Grand Val-ley Community. Student opinions do not reflect those of the Grand Valley Lanthorn.The Grand Valley Lanthorn welcomes reader viewpoints and offers three vehicles of expres-sion for reader opinions: letters to the editor, guest columns and phone responses.Letters must include the author’s name and be accompanied by current picture identification if dropped off in person. Letters will be checked by an employee of the Grand Valley Lanthorn.

Letters appear as space permits each issue. The limit for letter length is one page, single spaced.The editor reserves the right to edit and condense letters and columns for length restrictions and clarity.All letters must be typed.The Grand Valley Lanthorn will not be held responsible for errors that appear in print as a result of transcribing handwritten letters or e-mail typographic errors.The name of the author may be withheld for compelling reasons.The content, information and views expressed are not approved by nor necessarily represent those of the university, its Board of Trustees, officers, faculty and staff.

ANYA ZENTMEYER Editor in ChiefAUSTIN METZ Associate EditorBRIANA DOOLAN Community Engagement ANGELA COROLLA Advertising Manager

The student-run newspapers at Grand Valley State University

Lanthorn

PAY IT FORWARD

“Students should be excused from class for religious observance. If their religion is valuable to them, they should be allowed to excused.”

MARLYSS HUTCHINSONFreshman, biomedical sciencesMacomb, Mich.

“No, religion is a personal choice and students should accept any consequences of their choices.”

KATIE HAMMONDSenior, psychologyGrand Rapids, Mich.

“I believe they should, as long as it’s legit (they’re not just using it as an excuse to get out of class) and as long as all religions are consider equally as valid as other religions.”

JOHN TIBBITTS Junior, film and videoMuskegon, Mich.

“I think students should be excused since they have the opportunity to openly practice their religion in this country. If a religious observance does conflict with class, then arrangements can be made.”ANGELE YAZBECJunior, psychology and spanishFarmington Hills, Mich.

“Yes, I believe freedom of religion should be able to be expressed under any circumstances. As a diverse university, religion should be included in a students background.”

JOSEPH SHEPERDJunior, allied health sciencesRomeo, Mich.

QUESTION OF THE ISSUE

GVL OPINION POLICY

EDITORIAL PAGE BOARD

Do you think students should get class off for religious purposes?

COURTESY CARTOON I BY KING FEATURES

VALLEY VOTE: LAST ISSUE’S QUESTION:Do you think students should be excused from class for religious observance?

Vote online at lanthorn.com

Have you pulled an all-nighter to cram for an exam?

YES 50% NO 50%

I hate Christmas. I’m not a fan of snow, ham or hearing the same seven horrible songs over and over every year. Why do I feel so alone on this?

I can’t be the only per-son who dreads the end of daylight savings time and the dozens of ‘spe-cial’ greetings and jokes that come with the end of the year. “Which reindeer had the cleanest antlers?” …Who cares? Shut up. Please. (If you don’t know the answer, email me so I can tell you to Google it.)

I just feel like every-

thing is so forced now. With every concerning party having its own agen-da, I don’t know what’s real. Companies want me to buy a ton of stuff I don’t need. My family wants me to be nice to relatives I find annoying. All the while everybody is begging me not to drink, and I’m expected to keep a smile on my face the whole time. How does ev-erybody do it? What am I missing?

Maybe it’s my diet. I feel like everybody is usu-ally still buzzing off of his or her sweet Thanks-giving offerings well into December. I, on the other hand, am a vegetarian. One that usually finds his plate sporting the two to three specially made side dishes he guilted his fam-ily into preparing with the

rest of the food. Maybe the lack of at-

tention to turkey, and the overall lack of variety makes me lose my holi-day buzz. Maybe the tur-key buzz is what I need to weather the onslaught of corny and mind-numbing-ly boring holiday ads that come around every year. Better yet, maybe it’s the eggnog! Maybe my diet’s lack of that disgusting, yellow, phlegm-like sub-stance is what makes me such a grouch...I doubt it, but I mean...I’ve believed claims much more ex-traordinary than that.

Maybe my love for the holidays died when I fig-ured out that Santa didn’t really get that Sega Sat-urn. Maybe my tiny black heart began its gradual withering when I stopped believing that an over-

weight, elderly man was silently breaking into to my house and leaving me presents....Now that I’m putting the thought on pa-per it seems much more creepy than it did back then...I’m starting to think the idea of Santa Claus is what did it for me.

At any rate I feel as though I’m trapped. Christmas isn’t going to go away (or Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” for that matter) and there’s noth-ing I can do to fix the sit-uation. I’m either forced to be a buzz kill, or to attempt to mask my im-mense feelings of indif-ference I have toward the holidays. Either way…don’t expect anything extravagant in that fancy box I gave you.

nsmith@lanthorn.com

OPINIONA4 DECEMBER 6, 2012

Grand Valley Lanthorn

BY STEPHANIE SCHOCHGVL COLUMNIST

BY NATE SMITHGVL COLUMNIST

When GVSU lacrosse player Jake Seiler and his family lost their home to a fire, his teammates stepped up. So what’s stopping you?

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Grand Valley Lanthorn

A lonely man is standing on the corner. From his standstill position, all he feels is dissatisfied. He feels

a deep inner need for something more, but no matter how he tries to describe it to himself, the words do not suffice, they cannot suffice. He knows he must eventu-ally do something, unless he is to stand on this corner forever. Feeling some sense of empowerment and inspiration, he steps into the street and begins walking down the centerline. He starts to develop a consistent natural pace, neither too leisurely, nor too straining. Immediately, he is confronted with angry operators of motor vehicles. Many of them yell and curse at him; rant-ing about how irresponsible he is, and about what rules he is breaking, and how he has no respect for people’s schedules. The man pays them no heed, but instead continues to walk down the centerline, without looking back, maintaining his pace the whole while. It is here the man begins to feel his dissatisfaction subsiding. Soon, the man is joined in the street by another man. The first man feels a stutter in the pace, but after a few steps, they are both walking side by side, their steps perfectly syncopated in rhythm. They begin to feel each other’s breathing, and to collude, anticipating each others movements, until

the second man has become just as much a part of it as the first. The spiteful rants of drivers continue and escalate. The two men are then joined by another, and another, and another. Soon the street is so full of pedestrians that the drivers surrender their cursing and ranting, and step out of their vehicles. The drivers then become so engaged and inspired by this new found idea of freedom that they want nothing but to become enclosed in its beauty, to sur-render to the “nonsense”. Soon, the drivers too, had become in sync with the rest of the group, as still more continued to join behind them.

This story is a metaphorical or allegori-cal image of what I consider to be an ideal American. Someone who has thought critically about society and what has been established, and followed their own intu-itions, curiosities, and ambitions regardless of whether or not they match up with popu-lar consensus. In addition to showing an image of an “ideal” American, I think the most important overall message this story conveys is the idea that the unity of people behind an idea or inspiration, with dedica-tion and persistence, is capable of swaying the opinions of the ignorant masses.

BY DAN SMITH

JESSICA HUNTER | COURTESYCover art: This is a digitally rendered piece created fully in Photoshop. Like all of my other pieces I use a tablet to draw rather than scanning in an actual drawing. This album cover was one part of an entire identity package for the band Panthalassa.

Dan Smitis a Grand Valley State University junior/senior from Grand Rapids, Mich, who is majoring in communications.

Student: Andi Wilt

StAnding: Senior

MAjor: Psychology

deScription: This is a collection of photos of my wonderful cat Sufijan that I am entering in various cat photo contests around the country!

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NEWSA6 DECEMBER 6, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn

With his first semester of college under his belt, Grand Valley State University freshman Tyler Lovell is preparing to head home to Kalama-zoo, Mich. for the holidays.

However, he’s not particularly looking forward to leaving his nest in Allendale.

“It’s going to be weird not hang-ing out with my roommates and my friends pretty much every day,” Lovell said. “With my family, I can’t do the same things that I can do with my friends.”

On top of leaving his new college buddies, he has the responsibilities of his job awaiting him, and he said he’s not very excited for that either.

Lovell is one of many students torn about heading home for the three-week winter break.

Sara Byczek, senior counselor at GVSU’s Counseling and Career Development Center, kept students like Lovell in mind as she hosted Wednesday’s “Transitioning Home for the Holidays,” a program meant to teach students how to take care of themselves over break.

“Going home for the holidays can be a challenging time for stu-dents due to multiple reasons,” Byczek said. “Many students are used to living on their own with-out parental supervision, and the change to being back under a fam-ily member’s roof can cause family difficulties. Also, the holiday break can be full of multiple obligations, which may be overwhelming for students. As well, students may not have a great relationship with fam-ily and returning home to this can cause stress.”

The counselor distributed hand-outs at the program that address different concerns students may have about the holidays, including budgeting issues, family stress and “holiday blues.” Participants also took a quiz to help them identify their holiday stress level.

“I think this is a pretty common topic that is addressed at universi-ties since nationally the holiday season can be more stressful for everyone,” Byczek said. “But there are particular issues that college students may face that the popula-tion as a whole may not, including the renewed supervision, financial struggles, multiple obligations, connecting with old friends and possibly recognizing that things are

not the same as when they were liv-ing at their home.”

She offered a few words of ad-vice for students in situations like these.

First, be realistic. “Accept that things aren’t al-

ways going to go as planned,” she advised. “Then take active steps to manage stress and depression dur-ing the holidays.”

Second, accept change. “As families change and grow,

traditions and rituals often change as well,” she said. “Hold on to those you can and want to. But accept that you may have to let go of others. For e x a m p l e , if your sib-lings can’t all gather at your house as usual, find new ways to celebrate together from afar, such as sharing pictures, emails or videotape.”

Third, set differences aside. “Try to accept family members

and friends as they are, even if they don’t live up to all your expecta-tions,” she said. “Practice forgive-ness. Set aside grievances until a more appropriate time for discus-sion. With stress and activity levels high, the holidays might not be con-ducive to making quality time for re-lationships. And be understanding if

others get upset or distressed when something goes awry. Chances are they’re feeling the effects of holiday stress and depression, too.”

Fourth, learn to say no. “Believe it or not, people will un-

derstand if you can’t do certain proj-ects or activities,” she said. “If you say yes only to what you really want to do, you’ll avoid feeling resentful, bitter and overwhelmed. If it’s real-ly not possible to say no when your boss asks you to work overtime, try to remove something else from your

agenda to make up for the lost time.”

F i f t h , take a breather.

“ M a k e some time for your-self,” she a d v i s e d . “Spending just 15 min-utes alone,

without distractions, may refresh you enough to handle everything you need to do. Steal away to a qui-et place, even if it’s to the bathroom for a few moments of solitude. Take a walk at night and stargaze. Listen to soothing music. Find something that reduces stress by clearing your mind, slowing your breathing and restoring inner calm.”

Finally, forget about perfection and accept imperfections in oneself and in others.

“Holiday TV specials are filled

with happy endings,” she said. “But in real life, people don’t usually re-solve problems within an hour or two. Something always comes up. You may get stuck at the airport, your sister may dredge up an old ar-gument, your partner may burn the cookies, and your mother may criti-cize how you’re dressed—all in the same day.”

Byczek said the concern about winter break is one that really reso-nates with freshmen because col-lege is typically their first time away from home, so the return home has its own “unique” stressors. Howev-er, the topic applies to all students, particularly those who have family stress or negative associations with the holiday season.

“I don’t think there is a group that has more difficulty transition-ing than another,” she said. “I think that it matters more what the stu-dent’s support system is. If the stu-dent does not have a healthy support system in their home area, or their only support is through the univer-sity and they do not return back to a family, it can be a difficult time since their support system may not be around.”

For students staying in their lo-cal housing instead of returning to their families, Byczek suggested retaining some form of routine and making a point to reach out to social support so that they do not become isolated during the holiday season.

For more counsel about returning home, students can contact the cen-ter at 616-331-3266.

news@lanthorn.com

No place like home for the holidaysGV counselors prep students for the transition back home

BRIEFSN E W S

GVSU signs WSCC transfer agreement

Grand Valley State Uni-versity President Thomas J. Haas and West Shore Com-munity College President Charles T. Dillon recently signed a transfer agreement which will assist students who transfer to GVSU that have completed an associ-ate degree at WSCC. This signing took place on Dec. 4 at Haworth, Inc. in Grand Rapids. This particular initia-tive is for WSCC students that have finished at least 32 credits but had transferred before getting their associate degree. GVSU has very simi-lar transfer agreements with Grand Rapids Community College, Muskegon Com-munity College, Montcalm Community College, Ma-comb Community College, and Northwestern Michigan College.

High schoolers learn about professions

Several high school students from across West Michigan will be visiting Grand Valley State Univer-sity on Dec. 6 to learn in detail about different career opportunities in engineering and computing. These high school students will visit the Padnos College of Engineer-ing and Computing’s Project Day, where GVSU students will be presenting their proj-ects that they have worked in all semester in the Kenne-dy Hall of Engineering. PCEC Project Day will be from 10 a.m. until noon. For further information, call Jonathan Miner, student services out-reach assistant, at (616) 331-6743 or email minerk@gvsu.edu.

GV Magazine seeks students’ opinions

For longer than a decade, the Grand Valley Magazine has expressed and shared the successes of the school with thousands of readers. Magazine staff members now want to hear input and feedback from students. There is currently a reader survey online where the sur-vey asks readers their likes and dislikes as well as what different stories they wish to see in the magazine. To com-plete this survey, go to

www.surveymonkey.com/s/FHYZHQP. This input would assist GV Magazine is producing stories that stu-dents would be interested in reading.

BY LIZZY BALBOAGVL NEWS EDITOR

It’s going to be weird not hanging out with my roommates and friends pretty much every day. With my family, I can’t do the same things I can do with my friends.”

TYLER LOVELLGVSU FRESHMAN

“

JESSICA HOLLENBECK | GVLHome for the holidays: Heading home for the holidays can be a stressful time for students who have become adjusted to life on their own. Although it can be difficult, GVSU has counselors who can help better prepare students for the change.

While football season is over and the collegiate careers of the Grand Valley State University seniors have come to an end, just because it’s the offseason doesn’t mean the work is done for offensive guard Tim Lelito.

The list isn’t long — actually, it currently has only four names — but the transition of GVSU football players to the NFL has been one that started under former head coaches Brian Kelly and Chuck Martin and has continued under Matt Mitchell.

Now, with only his post-college career ahead, Lelito hopes to follow in the footsteps of former GVSU of-fensive lineman Nick McDonald, Cam Bradfield along with lineback-er Dan Skuta and cornerback Bran-don Carr into the world of the NFL.

“Those guys set down a legacy here at Grand Valley,” said Lelito, who was named to the 2012 Dak-tronics Super Region 4 Offensive First-Team. “That’s kind of what I want to leave behind here, just go-ing out there and be as dominant as I can.”

Lelito has seen the success and work of these NFL players first-hand, playing left guard on the same offensive line as McDonald and Bradfield during the 2009 sea-son — the last time GVSU played in the NCAA Division II national title game.

The most notable of the GVSU alumni currently in the NFL is Carr, who signed a five-year contract worth upwards of $50.1 million

this offseason with the Dallas Cow-boys.

Skuta is currently a linebacker and special teams player with the Cincinnati Bengals, while McDon-ald, who has seen spot duty with the New England Patriots this season, was a member of the Green Bay Packers’ when it won Super Bowl XLV.

On the other side, Bradfield, a Grand Rapids native, has seen suc-cess with the Jacksonville Jaguars. After going undrafted in 2011, the 6 - f o o t -4 right tackle has s t a r t e d 10 of the J agua r s ’ 12 games a f t e r m i s s i n g two with an injury early in the sea-son. Though he’s see-ing and e x p e r i -encing the success that Lelito strives to repli-cate, Bradfield said the process is one requiring total effort on daily basis.

“It’s hard work. One of our coaches says every day, ‘compete to play, compete to stay,’” Brad-field said. “Really, you have to go in there every day competing for

everything you have, thinking, get better at something every day. It’s pretty much going in with that mindset every day.”

An NFL study found that the average career length is 6.89 years, which is a number hundreds of play-ers never stick around long enough to see.

“You never know. For some guys it could be a day, and for some, Ray Lewis is in his 17th year,” Bradfield said. “It really doesn’t matter what year you’re in or where you come

in, you just have to come in with the m i n d s e t to work hard.”

B r a d -field and Lelito both talk about it — the work ethic of those who have made it to the NFL is motiva-tion. Lelito

said Skuta and Carr worked harder than anyone he’s ever seen, and that type of mindset is what has him pre-pared for the rigors of being an un-derdog ahead.

“It’s huge having a great work ethic and being able to out-work some of those guys that have the big names and come form the very

p r e s t i g i o u s schools,” Lelito said. “That’s one thing that (teammates in the NFL) taught me that, hope-fully, helps me later on down the road.”

That kind of communica-tion between teammates — Lelito still keeps in touch with guys like Carr and Skuta — is something that’s aided Bradfield’s transition as well.

“Along with Nick, Dan and Brandon, they’ve all had some part in helping me get ready to play be-fore I started in Jacksonville,” Brad-field said. “So, picking those guy’s brains, and asking them what types of things they had to go through — I mean they all played a key role.”

Even with the demanding regi-ment that comes with sustaining an NFL career, there are aspects of that career that can’t be replicated else-where.

Like blocking for one of the NFL’s top tailbacks in Jackson-ville’s Maurice Jones-Drew.

“It’s awesome, I mean, he comes in with a great mindset and he plays very hard as you can see on tape,” Bradfield said of Jones-Drew. “To just know you have somebody back there running the ball that hard makes you want to do your job even more to your ability.”

sports@lanthorn.com

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SPORTSB1 DECEMBER 6, 2012

Grand Valley Lanthorn

M. BaskEtBall

Thursday vs. Tiffin 6 p.m.

Saturday vs. Ohio Dominican 1 p.m.

W. BaskEtBall

Thursday vs. Tiffin 8 p.m.

Saturday vs. Ohio Dominican 3 p.m.

SHORTSS P O R T S

Brian kelly named Coach of the Year

After leading the Universi-ty of Notre Dame to an unde-feated regular season and its first-ever BCS Championship berth, former Grand Valley State University head football coach Brian Kelly has been honored as the Home De-pot Coach of the Year. It was the second time that Kelly, who also coached at Central Michigan University and the University of Cincinnati, has won the award after being honored in 2009 at Cincinnati. Kelly has seen success at each stop in his head coaching ca-reer, but still remains one of the most successful coaches in GVSU history.

Kelly compiled at 118–35–2 including back-to-back nation-al titles in 2002 and 2003 while at GVSU. Kelly, along with for-mer GVSU head coach Chuck Martin — now Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator — have led the school to its first unde-feated season since Lou Holtz led the Irish to the national championship in 1988.

Parise, Botts, Mira honored

Three seniors from the Grand Valley State University soccer team have been na-tionally recognized.

The Lakers, who finished the season with 20-2-3 follow-ing last week’s NCAA semi-final loss, featured a senior class with a career record of 84-4-13.

Three of these seniors were named to Daktronics NCAA Division II Women’s Soccer All-America teams Monday. Goalkeeper Chelsea Parise (first team), forward Ashley Botts (second team) and midfielder Alyssa Mira (third team) were honored.

A day later, the trio also received NSCAA/Continen-tal Tire NCAA Division II All-America Honors.

Parise became the NCAA Division II career shut-out leader this season as the Lak-ers’ goalkeeper, giving up only 0.41 goals per game. She also received a 2012 Capital One Academic All-America first team selection and a GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year award.

Botts earned her fourth consecutive All-GLIAC selec-tion this season with 18 goals and five assists. Her 25 career game-winning goals are the most in GVSU history, and her 157 points are third most.

Mira had three goals and a team-high nine assists this season. She earned All-GLIAC First Team honors twice in her career, and was named the GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2011.Frankling honored as athlete of the week

Grand Valley State Uni-versity junior sprinter Kalena Franklin has been named GLIAC Track and Field Athlete of the Week.

At the Laker Early Bird on Friday, Franklin had a huge day for the Lakers, with top-three finishes in three differ-ent events. She also added two provisional qualifying times.

Individually, she finished first in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.64 seconds and second in the 300 meter dash with a time of 41.07 sec-onds.

In the 4x400 meter relay, she and her teammates fin-ished with a time of 3:54.65, which was good enough for third place.

The Lakers will host the GVSU Holiday Open on Dec. 14 at the Kelly Family Sports Center.

SCHEDULES P O R T S

When sophomore Ryan Majerle decided to transfer to Grand Valley State University to play basketball last year, he still had to get approval from one of his family members. No, not either of his parents, but instead, his sister Jessica Majerle.

After starring as an All-State Second Team selection in volleyball at Rockford High School, freshman Jes-sica Majerle made the deci-sion to play for head coach Deanne Scanlon at GVSU. Within a week, Ryan Ma-jerle decided he would join his sister at GVSU.

“She already committed here at that time,” Ryan said. “So my parents had me ask her before I came here, and say, ‘Is it was okay if I went to the same school as you?’ and it just worked out.”

A brother and sister con-tinuing their athletic ca-reers at the same college is ironic in it’s own right, but it’s nothing compared to the living arrangements the Ma-jerle’s were assigned to.

When Ryan and Jessica’s mother, Ruth, was look-ing up GVSU information online, something caught her attention. After looking at her kids’ assigned living arrangements and using a campus map, she discov-ered that her children would be neighbors at GVSU.

“Our coaches set up where we get to live,” Jes-sica said. “It’s really ironic that we got put next to each other out of all the people. She (Ruth Majerle) thought it was the funniest thing ever. So it was totally ran-dom, but it worked out.”

It would be understand-able if the two’s relation-ship deteriorated after being around each other so often. Instead, athletics and being at the same university have brought them closer together.

“Now that we’ve grown up, we got a lot closer over

the years,” Jessica said. “Growing up, we would always play sports outside with our other siblings or our neighbors. It was fun both being in sports growing up.”

Jessica saw action in eight matches in her freshman year. She recorded five kills, five digs, and two assists.

Ryan is currently GV-SU’s second leading scorer at 10.5 points per game, averages 3.3 rebounds per game, and leads the team in assists with 14 recorded thus far this season. “He’s a great kid,” said men’s head basketball coach Ric Wesley. “He’s a real level-headed kid. He doesn’t have bad days. He’s a pretty hap-py kid every day and he’s an extremely hard worker.”

Both Jessica and Ryan give credit to their parents for put-ting them in positions to suc-ceed. Steve Majerle coached his son Ryan while he played basketball at Rockford.

“They’ve always been there for us,” Ryan said. “We were very fortunate we grew up in a great, caring family. They’re there for us. My dad obviously being a coach can tell me what I’m doing wrong and help me improve myself. My mom’s there and she knows a lot of mental aspects in sports and off the court stuff and school wise. They’ve just been a great influence on us both growing up.”

Now that the GVSU vol-leyball season is over, the Majerle’s will be making dai-ly trips to Allendale to watch the men’s basketball games.

“With both of us being here, it’s so convenient for them,” Jessica said. “If we have games, my parents would always come to my volleyball games and Ryan would come, too, so they’d get to see both of us. Now with basketball season, I get to see them as well as Ryan, so it’s been re-ally convenient for them and they both love it.”

bderouin@lanthorn.com

MajERlE(s) anD MERyan and Jessica Majerle rely on each other at GVSU

ROBERt MatHEWs | GVLFamily matters: The Majerle’s succeed side by side, in a situation that has brought them closer together.

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SPORTSB2 DECEMBER 6, 2012 Grand Valley Lanthorn

With plans of enlisting into the military after college, Nate Hammersmith is not your average student athlete. Coming from a small farm town in Ohio, Hammersmith plans on carrying on a family legacy.

“I’ve always felt that part of my calling was to become part of the military,” Ham-mersmith said. “It’s a way to honor my great uncle.”

Your average college student normally doesn’t have it all figured out. Most students would say they’re more worried about what their plans are for the weekend, not something three to four years down the road. For Ham-mersmith, his plan is more of a progressive one, as he is focused on the bigger picture.

“I’m using my time here at Grand Valley State University as a stepping stone to my fu-ture,” Hammersmith said. “I think that being a part of the track team will prepare me for

bigger obstacles further down the road.”If there’s one thing you need most for the

military, or being on a collegiate track team, it’s work ethic. According to Hammersmith’s teammates, he has more than enough.

“You look at Nate and he is always lead-ing workouts,” said freshman Zakry O’brien. “He’s someone that everyone can look up to.”

Hammersmith recently broke his own school record this past weekend in the 300-meter dash with a time of 34.62. As many athletes strive for accolades and records, Hammersmith admits that such things aren’t as important to him.

“I don’t look at records too highly,” Ham-mersmith said. “It’s more of another step to-wards an ultimate goal of graduating.”

More humble than most, Hammersmith thinks so little of his accolades that he wants to see his younger teammates surpass him when his time is done as a Laker.

“Another one of my goals is to see the younger guys beat my records that I have established here at Grand Valley State Uni-versity. If that happens, I know I have suc-ceeded in being a leader, and a teammate,” he said.

As Hammersmith has surpassed his mid-way point of his career at GVSU, his role on

the team has furthermore revolved into an outspoken leader.

“Before, I would simply lead by exam-ple,” Ham-m e r s m i t h said. “Now I try to be more vocal. I am always preaching to the younger kids to listen to the coaches. Also, that it’s a grind, and it will pay off in the end.

One person who has had a first hand view at Hammersmith’s progress as a teammate and leader is head coach Jerry Baltes.

“He’s one of our go to guys,” Baltes said. “He’s now front and center for everyone on the team to look up to.”

Whether it’s the 4x400, the 4x100, or any open sprint event, you can see Hammer-smith leading his team with the work ethic instilled in him by his family roots.

tbaker@lanthorn.com

Hammersmith has big plans for his future beyond college

Junior sprinter Kalena Franklin of the Grand Valley State Univer-sity women’s track team has come a long way since walking on to the team as a freshman.

Franklin, who was one of six Lakers to receive two All-Ameri-ca plaudits at the NCAA Track & Field National Championships last season, did not always thrive as a collegiate athlete.

“I was reckless,” she said. “I wasn’t focused as a freshman. I was getting into some trouble out-side of track and didn’t get along with the coach.”

The turning point for Franklin was when she decided to get in-

volved with on-campus organiza-tions.

“I wanted to meet people,” she said. “I started to get involved in the African Student Council and salsa dancing. I wanted to meet people, and was able to connect with just about anybody.”

Once Franklin found her place socially, her athletic career began to take off. Her team-oriented phi-losophy ultimately brought her to where she is today.

“I run better when I run for my team,” she said. “Everyone gets tired or weak, but when you’re running for other people — any-thing can happen.”

Sprints and hurdles coach Keith Roberts Jr. said this men-

tality doesn’t end with Franklin, it spreads to the whole team.

“Kalena is able to build off the people around her to rep-resent Grand Valley with a lot of pride,” Roberts said. “She competes her hardest no matter who she is up against, and her competitiveness and confidence spreads to her teammates. She wants to be the best across all divisions.”

After overcoming a concussion early in her career, Franklin ex-celled as a sophomore. Her com-petitive nature fueled her as she finished outside the top 10 only three times in 16 events last sea-son.

“I leave everything on the

track,” she said. “I finish hard. If I see you ahead of me, I’m going to catch you. I am very confident with who I am as a sprinter and as a person.”

Franklin had a big day for GVSU at the Laker Early Bird. In the 60-meter hurdle, she won first place with a time of 8.64 sec-onds — good enough for a NCAA provisional qualifying mark. She also placed second in the 300 meter dash with a time of 41.07 seconds.

In the 4x400 meter relay, she and teammates Lisa Galasso, Brittney Banister and Andrea Ko-ber finished in third place with a time of 3:54.65.

“Some people get nervous or

scared before events,” she said. “But I work hard in practice. I don’t know how my opponents prepare, but I know how I prepare. I won’t allow nerves to impact my performance.”

Franklin’s performance in the Laker Early Bird earned her the GLIAC Track Athlete of the Week award.

“She’s got a big laugh,” Rob-erts said. “And whenever she does something, she wears it. It’s fun to see her excel.”

The Lakers will compete in the their final event before win-ter break at the GVSU Holiday Open, which will be Dec. 14 at 3 p.m.

assistantsports@lanthorn.com

Franklin finds place as hurdler at GVSUARCHIVE | GVL

BY JAY BUSHEN GVL ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

BY TATE BAKERGVL STAFF WRITER

T R A C K

HAMMERSMITH

Hurdling forward: After joining GVSU’s track team as a walk on, sprinter Kalena Franklin has grown and matured from her freshman days as she was one of six Lakers to receive two All-American plaudits last season.

It’s a dream scenario ev-ery young kid dreams up when playing in the backyard — dribbling the basketball up the court, the countdown of the clock drowned out by the screaming fans, a cross-over on the defender before launching a deep 3-pointer and it’s nothing but net. You get carried off the court, peo-ple chant your name.

For many athletes, a chance to compete at the col-legiate level never comes to fruition. In order to fulfill that childhood dream and perhaps relive those high school glory days, a different route must be traveled. At Grand Val-ley State University, there is a way to do that: intramural sports, or IMs as they have more popularly been called.

Intramural Sports is a branch of the campus recre-ation department. It is open for all students, faculty and staff at GVSU and offers up-ward of 25 different sports and activities throughout the year. This includes team sports, such as basketball, and non-traditional activi-ties, such as billiards.

“You’ll see the high school athletes that come in and they just want to stay involved,” said John Rosick, assistant director of intramural sports. “We open the door to every-body, yet it is a structured atmosphere. We really try to beat that perception that it is

just organized pick-up.”Since Rosick joined the

IM staff in fall 2003, there has been a steady increase in participation. Overall numbers have jumped 25 percent, from about 2,500 to 4,000 students competing each year. Participation in the fall season is greatest as it features flag football and soccer, which bring in the most traffic, while basketball and volleyball are the popu-lar choice in the winter.

Beyond the typical male, female and coed leagues for each sport, there is a hous-ing league that is in its third year of operation and also a Greek league, which began in fall 2011.

Participating in IMs is a way to let loose, bond with friends and meet new people. But those who have been there before see one small task as a minor road block to getting the coveted “W.”

“It’s not difficult to con-vince people to commit to in-tramural sports,” said senior Nathan Krafft, IM coordi-nator for Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. “It can, however, be a challenge to actually get them to be at the game because we are juggling so many different schedules. It’s a challenge, at times, to get seven guys for football or 10 guys for softball.”

Whether you are getting a group together to play soccer or volleyball, or even basket-ball, team fees are $50 and

that money helps support not only the program, but the 80 to 90 individuals employed by Intramural Sports. This includes officials and event supervisors, who are heavily trained regarding the rules and objectives before pick-ing up the whistle.

Just as each student takes competing seriously, so do the officials and event super-visors in getting things right, continually looking for ways to improve and make the IM experience that much better.

“Throughout every game we are evaluating the offi-cials. That’s one of the major things we do on a nightly ba-sis,” said senior Nate Spring-er, an event supervisor for Intramural Sports. “The way the office looks at us is we are officials first and supervisors second. We have been there in the tough situations and we use our experience to coach them through whatever cir-cumstances there are.”

For the entire IM staff, there is a great deal of pas-sion in what they do.

“We don’t want our students to lose sight that we are not just throwing stripes on people. It is more than that,” Rosick said. “I think students need to know how much we believe in offici-ating. There is a pride aspect.”

The first entry deadline upon return from Christmas break is Jan. 11 for basket-ball regular season and in-door soccer.

zsepanik@lanthorn.com

Intramural sports provide athletic alternatives With the Grand Val-

ley State University women’s basketball

team off to a 4-1 start to the season, the Lanthorn sat down with head coach Janel Burgess to talk about the team’s early season success.

GVL: What is your evaluation of your team’s (4-1) start?JaneL BurGess: I’m ex-tremely thrilled with the cohesiveness and the leader-ship displayed in the first five games of the regular season. We’ve given each other the confidence to play through a variety of situations and still be successful. GVL: What does opening the season against Michigan State University say about what you want the program to become?JB: What we want the pro-gram to become is pretty sim-ple. We obviously want to be the best that we can become each and every day. I think opening up against Michigan State on a yearly basis tells us we’re going to be challenged, and some of our weakness will be displayed very early and we’ll be able to grow and respond. Playing a great team like Michigan State each and every year helps us prepare and get ready for the season. GVL: What do you like best about Briauna Taylor’s game?JB: I think Briauan Taylor has shown what a true all-around basketball player is about this year. She’s obvi-ously leading us in many different categories. Her presence on both ends of the court — offensively she’s doing a lot of special things

because she’s very talented with the ball in her hand. On the defensive end, being able to defend oftentimes the best player on the court for as many minutes as she’s capable of doing and be-ing able to rebound on the defensive side of the ball. I believe she’s leading us in steals also. That encom-passes an entire player and that’s not an easy thing to do at any level. For her to be able to do that while a lot of people are focusing on her to be very special means a lot to this team

GVL: What did you need more from team in your loss to Ash-land University?JB: We needed to be focused on both ends of the floor. We had about a six-seven minute gap in the Ashland game where we totally lost composure defensively as well as offensively. Once we were able to get ourselves back together we really put ourselves in check, and do the simple things for a long period of time we were able to be successful against Ash-land. We only got beat by one point in the second half. We just need to be focused on what Grand Valley does - defensively play as a unit and offensively be patient and take what the defense gives us and get the extra pass to find an open player for a shot. GVL: How did your time as a college player at Iowa State make you a better coach?JB: You know, I really think what really makes you the best coach is the people you surround yourself with after you get done playing. I’ve

been very fortunate, I was coached by a great gentle-man, Bill Bently, at Iowa State. But working beside Joanne P. McCallie, who now’s at Duke, definitely molded more into the coach I am today than many other people did. Also, the mentors that I have around me now. Coach (Ric) Wesley mentors me on a day in and day out basis, making me a better coach at Grand Valley.

GVL: Do the players and coach-es feel pressure to avenge last season’s 10-16 mark?JB: We only feel pressure to build on the great things we established at the end of the season. We displayed what true character was, we dis-played what great defense was, and the only person that will put pressure on us to do that is ourselves. We just have to make those standards what Grand Valley basketball is all about. I’m very proud of where we’re at now. Defense will stay as the mainstay of the program. One of the things I’m most excited about that carried over from last year is the importance of positive encouragement and building each other up. These young ladies have done a great job, especially these last months.

jrodriguez@lanthorn.com

Q&A with

coAch Burgess

SPORTS B3DECEMBER 6, 2012Grand Valley Lanthorn

ARCHIVE | GVLFast start: Janel Burgess has led the Lakers to a 4-1 start.

BY ZACH SEPANIKGVL STAFF WRITER

BY JUDSON RODRIGUEZGVL INTERN

ANYA ZENTMEYER | GVLGame on: GVSU student Amber Hendricks pitches during an intramural game earlier this fall.

It started with three brothers and turned into a five-man brother-hood. Family Force 5, from Atlanta,

Ga., is made up of Solomon “Soul Glow Activatur” Olds, Jacob “Crouton” Olds, Joshua “Fatty” Olds, Derek “Chap Stique” Mount and Nathan “Nadaddy” Currin.

The band released their first al-bum, “Business up Front, Party in the Back,” in 2006 and has contin-ued to grow since.

They’ve released four more al-bums that have been featured in films such as Tim Burton’s “Alice in Won-derland,” the album “Punk Goes Pop 3” and have performed on numerous tours, including Van’s Warp Tour.

“There is an old blues guitarist that’s very famous and someone said, ‘What’s it feel like to be an overnight sensation?’ and he was like ‘Well, oh yeah I was an over-night sensation, but you don’t real-ize that night was eight years long,’” said lead guitarist Chap Stique. “Our band has been traveling around for really, for seven to eight years … we have been sleeping on a lot of floors and playing in a lot of base-ments and, you know, eating tuna fish sandwiches, trying to make it

happen. So we are really just excited to play music for a living.”

Family Force 5 is known for its unique sound and performances. Chap Stique said the band’s sound is “some mean dancey weird elec-tronic beat.”

For the holiday season, they crossed that weird sound with clas-sics for the album “Christmas Pag-eant,” which includes original songs as well as some holiday favorites. To go with that album, they’re head-lining the Christmas Pageant tour and stopping by The Intersection in Grand Rapids on Dec. 10.

“We are excited about it,” Chap Stique said. “We have all kinds of Christmas gizmos ready, we are gon-na have some cool outfits and a little bit of snow and some cool lighting.”

He said the set list has been made and there’s some fun Christmas songs that they’ll be playing, and “we even have a few packages of goodies that we are going to throw to the crowd during our show.”

They aren’t holding any holiday tradition back from this tour, as they’ll be dressed in Charles Dick-ens style garb with Santa, reindeer and elves to accompany them.

The band, in preparation for the show, has been practicing tricks for the stage.

“We spin our guitars around our heads and try, and we have been practicing our splits so we can jump up and do some cool ninja kicks and stuff,” Chap Stique said.

But they wouldn’t be able to keep doing their crazy stage antics without the support of their fans.

Chap Stique said the fans are one of the most important things to the band, and they love to keep everyone involved.

Family Force 5 recently learned that their music video for “Cray Button” received the most com-ments on MTV.com.

“We have had a couple of vid-eos on MTV.com lately, that peo-ple are talking about,” Chap Stique said. “We are a very visual band and the thing we, I, love about those videos – there is ‘Wobble’ and ‘Zombie’ and ‘Cray Button’ – is the fans” Chap Stique said.

The band tries to involve the fans as much as possible in the pro-duction of music videos through social media sites, such as Face-book and Twitter.

“We made all these videos this year with our fans, and we decided to have them be a part of the vid-eos,” Chap Stique said. “So a lot of the people you see in there are not

just normal extras, there are actual-ly some of our fans from Facebook and Twitter and from our shows. And we had them all dressed up like in costume and dress up with us and dress up like zombies and bite us and basically dance with us in our video.”

During their time on tour, the band will not only be performing their Christmas album, but also producing a new album.

“That is the main objective of this tour for us,” Chap Stique said. “We brought one of our friends on as a producer, that has made a lot of our music in the past with us. We are certainly going to go and put on a good show, but before and after the show the whole time we are gonna be writing and recording.”

On top of touring and produc-ing, Chap Stique said the band will be working on a new music video for the song “Crank it like a Chain-saw” as well as posting music to their YouTube channel.

“We are just all over that place, we draw inspiration from a lot of different things, movies to songs to video games to pictures to con-versations we over hear,” he said. “We really get really bored if we play something that is similar, so we challenge each other to write

better stuff and newer stuff.”The band has produced their

albums and singles in a variety of ways Chap Stique said, but the new one will mostly be them in the back of the bus, making noise until the album is complete.

The inspiration for songs can come from anywhere, Chap Stique said.

“Like the other day I was walk-ing home from the bus stop and it literally just popped in my head out of no where, and I pulled out my phone immediately,” Chap Stique said. “You never know, I think it is important to force yourself to be creative, but sometimes inspiration just comes out of no where when you are not expecting it.”

The changing inspiration keeps their sound different, unique and interesting, he said.

“We just gotta keep growing and I don’t know what direction we will end up in. We have been all over the place with our sound and it has been really fun,” Chip Stique said. “We will have to see what direction it goes next, but I promise you, we will work hard to make something the people will like.”

spendowski@gmail.com

Family Force 5 brings holiday tour to gr

It’s the type of music that uses just the har-mony from a group of voices, no instruments, no background music to assist with pitch and volume. A cappella has grown in popularity the past few years from shows such as “Glee” and movies such as “Pitch Perfect.”

MidNight Snack, an all-female a cappel-la group at Grand Valley State University, is just one organization that’s bringing the melodic harmonies to campus.

The group of nine women practice twice a week for an hour and a half to perfect both their harmonies and their set list, and on Dec. 7 at 7 p.m., MidNight Snack is host-ing their winter concert for students to take a study break from exams.

“I really hope that people come,” said member Melissa Houghton. “A cappella has been growing, I hope that gets more people involved and to attend.”

The group will be perform nine songs to-tal, stretching across the spectrum of genre.

“A couple of throw backs will be in-cluded...Billy Joel and Backstreet Boys will be mixed in there,” said Bethany Matecun, MidNight Snack president.

And for the spirited attendees, the group will also perform a couple of holiday clas-sics to set the mood.

“We have a good balance of fast and slow song,” said MidNight Snack’s Brianna George. “They are going to be songs that people know, and know by heart, and there is also going to be songs that people don’t know. There were songs I didn’t even know going into it.”

The group is completely student-run, in-cluding musical director Sam Pugia. She said the group voted on the songs they wanted to perform for the winter concert and then she made the musical arrangement for each song.

“I think it’s always cool for people to hear a song they like in a different way, it completely revamps the songs,” Pugia said.

The singing group depends on each girl’s voice to harmonize and create the needed sound. Members said that the group as a whole has put a lot of work into the concert.

“I think we have a nice balance of peo-ple who have a good work ethic, but there has to be fun in there, too. Both our direc-tor and music director do good at balancing that,” George said. The group started in 2007, Matecun said, but only recently became an official club through GVSU’s Office of Stu-

dent Life. Matecun said the group was started in 2007, but only recently became an official GVSU club. Since then, they’ve performed at events, such as an a cappella competition through GVSU’s Greek Life organizatons, Relay for Life and other community events.

“We try and have as much fun as we possi-bly can, since we have put so much work into it we aren’t thinking about messing up, but instead how much work we have put into,” Matecun said. Their winter concert was specifically planned around exam time.

“This is going to be a really fun stress buster,” Matecun said. “We scheduled it at the beginning of the week so people can take a break before they have to buckle down.”

For those who have anxiety over taking a break from exam crunch, George said the concert wont take long; and besides - it’s

like your Macbook, only better.“It is no different than sitting in front of

your laptop and listening to music, but it is in front of you,” she said.

Though MidNight Snack reflects the vo-cal ensembles seen in pop culture, the mem-bers said the group is unique, and their mu-sic will show that to audiences.

“The people who are going to come are go-ing to expect what they see on ‘Glee,’ the sing-ing and dancing, but the people in our group are talented and know that is a show and that isn’t what a cappella is,” George said.

The winter concert, which is free and open to the public, kicks off at 7 p.m. in the Kirkhof Center’s Pere Marquette Room. For more information contact gvsumidnight-snack@gmail.com.

spendowski@gmail.com

Exam Treble?MidNight Snack gives students winter concert as study break

a&eb4 DECEMBER 6, 2012

Grand Valley Lanthorn

BY shelBY pendowskiGVL staff wrIter

BY shelBY pendowskiGVL staff wrIter

ROBERT MATHEWS | GVLIf you want to sing out: a cappella group Midnight snack rehearses before their winter performence.

ALTROCKLIVE.COM | COUrtesYFrom humble beginnings: what started as a group of three brothers has turned into the atlanta based group family force 5. after already putting out five albums since 2006, the band is beginning to get more coverage including appearing in the tim Burton film “alice and wonderland,” appearing on the warp tour and having a video on mtv.com that become the most commented video.

The band promises to ‘work hard to make something people will like’

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a&e B5DECEMBER 6, 2012Grand Valley Lanthorn

BRIEFS

L A K E R L I F E

Graduate students awarded for work

The Office of Graduate Studies has teamed up with the Graduate Student As-sociation to organize this years Fall 2012 Graduate Student Celebration, which takes place on Dec. 7 at 5 p.m. There will be a social hour to start off the night and then the Graduate Dean will present citation awards. The event will be held in the Loosemore Auditorium, lo-cated on Grand Valley State University’s Pew Campus and all graduate students are welcome.

Winter Wonderland brings Santa to GV

Interested in getting your picture taken with Santa and Louie the Laker for free this holiday season? Winter Wonderland on Dec. 8 gives guests the opportunity to do just that, all in one location. The event takes place in the Grand Valley State Univer-sity Fieldhouse, located on the Allendale Campus, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitors will have the opportunity to meet the players and coaches of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, along with getting free entry into both of the games against Ohio Dominican that day.

The men’s team will be playing at 1 p.m. and the women’s at 3 p.m.

StressBusters give students break

Students will get the chance to take a break and relax during exam week with StressBusters’ free events. On Dec. 10, blood pressure screenings will take place in the Fitness and Wellness Center and chair massages in the Kirkhof Lobby from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Donations, such as glue sticks, baby wipes, crayons, markers, tapes, juice boxes, and more, will be accepted for the Chil-dren’s Enrichment Center. Other events for the week include yoga and zumba.

Imagine what it’s like marching in the Grand Valley State University Laker Marching Band. Putting in hours of practice during the season on top of classes and possibly a job. Then think what it is like to be a par-ent marching in the band, alongside two sons, on top of taking classes, working and taking care of a fam-ily.

Brian Olmstead, father of A.J. and Doug Olmstead, did just that this year. He played the sousaphone in the Laker Marching Band for the first time while working as an insurance claims adjuster and taking classes at Muskegon Community College.

While still a busy father, Brian was able to be a full participant in the marching band.

“I’ve always wondered what it would be like to be down on the field after watching the kids for like the past 10 years, you know from the stands, and up in the towers with all of their marching band stuff,” Brian said. “And just ironically, I started taking some classes again at MCC, so I was a college student again, and

Doug thought it would be neat if I could do it. So he talked to the band directors and talked them into it.”

Because Brian had to put aside time for band practice, playing at football games and participating in band-related activities, he wasn’t able to be home much.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it, first of all, without the support and help from my wife, Carol,” Brian said. “It would have not been possible at all.”

He squeezed in time between work and classes and being home.

“But one of the things that also made it work for me was because I set my own schedule,” he said. “Being an insurance adjuster is not a nine to five thing, you know, so a lot of times I would have to go do work afterwards, after band practices and stuff on Mon-days, Wednesdays and Fridays.”

He tried to blend in at practices, even though he was older.

“I tried to just fit in and not be a dad,” he said. “It was just like mid-dle school and high school band all over again with everyone hanging out with them, you know.”

Everyone seemed to enjoy his pres-ence, and liked that he was different.

“Everybody thought it was cool, like especially in band camp the first week there, you know, and different guys and ladies would come up to me,” Brian said. “Like I remember one guard lady saying, ‘Man this is so cool that you are here, you know, I wish my folks could do that.’”

Brian’s youngest son A.J., a mu-sic education student at GVSU, ap-preciates his father’s work ethic and said the director recognized it at the band banquet.

“He works really hard,” A.J. said. “Because of that, like making the sacrifice of work and, you know, just putting work aside, driving all the way out to Grand Valley and being in school and all of that at the same time, they gave him the most valuable player award. And I’m pretty sure that means he’s going to have his name on a plaque in the room. But I mean, the plaque isn’t the most important thing, it’s that they recognized that he worked really hard, so I think that’s pretty cool that they did that for him.”

Doug is also a music education student at GVSU and said Brian has always been a supporter for him and his brother.

“My dad has always liked be-ing around doing band stuff,” Doug said. “So when I was in high school he was doing, like the band parents and driving the equipment trailer and doing all kinds of stuff like that.”

Brian had previous Marching band experience, so relearning how to march and read music wasn’t as tough for him, Doug said.

“So when he started taking class-es at Muskegon Community and the marching band needed a tuba spot, I was like well my dad’s been around band all of his life, like since I start-ed getting into it and he plays guitar so he can read music OK, why not try to get him into playing tuba?” Doug said. “He’s been a Marine, so he knew the marching already.”

There’s a possibility that Brian will march again next year, but he hasn’t decided if he wants to make it a four-year gig. As for Doug, he said he would love to have his dad do it again. “He’s my hero,” Doug said. “He’s always been the most supportive person in my music career. He’s been my num-ber one fan and it just fills me with so much pride to be able to say that.”

ssabaitis@lanthorn.com

The Grand River Room was filled Nov. 30 with people in formal attire, bowls with floating candles as the cen-terpiece of every table, and energy and excitement on ev-eryone’s face. It was the scene of Café Mahogany.

Hosted by the Black Stu-dent Union, Café Mahogany provided a night of music, food, and poetry readings and performances from Grand Valley State University stu-dents, as well as others from the Grand Rapids area. The night also featured two head-lining poets, K-Love and Tebe Zalango, visiting artists from Chicago.

The night included more than 15 performers doing what they do best, whether it was poetry-reading, singing, dancing, rapping or playing music.

Grand Rapids Community College student Deavondre Jones took the stage Friday night with a choreographed dance routine to multiple songs.

Jones started performing in high school, traveling and dancing with a nonprofit orga-nization across the Midwest, and traveled to places such as Los Angeles, Minnesota and New York City.

His songs for Friday’s per-formance derived from emo-tions that he wanted to por-tray. The first song described “courage, and a minority hav-ing a dream,” Jones said. The song had harsh words, but a good message complimenting his emotions.

“The last song, the emotion I tried to portray was love, re-membrance, hope, something like that,” Jones said. Emo-tions he derived from a past relationship.

Jones is working to finish up school and working to start

a choreography and dance business he calls “Danc-espire.”

Closing up the night, po-ets K-Love and Tebe Zalango took the stage and moved the crowd, with cheers and screams practically compet-ing for the microphone during each performance.

K-Love stirred a lot of audience reactions with her first poem about Sarah Baart-man, a native African woman brought to Europe in the late 18th century, who was cast in a freak show and had her body experimented on.

“The poem was very strong, about the woman ex-ploiting her body,” said GVSU sophomore Micah Hopkins.

Though Hopkins was un-able to attend the entire event, she said the night and K-Love’s readings were “very entertaining.”

Tebe Zalango held a vio-lin as he took the stage while fans cheered. When the crowd settled down, he began to play with a crescendo full of emo-tion that some audience mem-bers did not expect. He sang, recited his poetry and also played guitar while on stage.

His music and perfor-mance career started when he was young.

“I think I was 19. I drove

down to Atlanta to try out for ‘American Idol,’” Zalango said.

He had been trying to do shows and perform locally since he was 17 years old and now, when he’s not helping his dad work at his restaurant, Zalango travels and performs across the Midwest, and loves every second of it.

“I always loved traveling,” Zalango said. “It brought peace of mind, being by my-self on the highway for 10 hours. It helps me get my thoughts together.”

On his performance at Café Mahogany, Zalango said he had “spiritual responsibil-ity” to try and give something to the audience they can grow and live with.

“If I give to people what God gave to me, and I can shift somebody’s awareness to something that matters, I did a good job,” Zalango said. “To be in a position where I can say anything is a humbling experience, and a blessing for sure.”

For upcoming events hosted by the BSU or more information on any of Café Mahogany’s performers, con-tact the BSU at bsu.gvsu@gmail.com.

moberski@lanthorn.com

Cafe Mahogany brings mix of talents, cultures

MIKKI FUJIMORI | GVLSpoken word: Jasmine Broadnax reads a piece of work during the Café Mahogany event put on by the Black Student Union.

SHEALYN MCGEE | GVLMaking noise: After reenrolling in college, Brian Olmstead has joined the GVSU marching band and has been able to play with his two sons, A.J. and Doug Olmstead.

BY MATT OBERSKIGVL STAFF WRITER

BY STACY SABAITISGVL STAFF WRITER

Bonding over Band

Father, sons, march together in Laker Marching Band

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