Volume 80 No. 22March 1, 2012 www.FlorAla.net Student newspaper of the University of North Alabama

A LOOK INSIDE

SGA candidates gear up for their yearly election

season.

See page 2

@UNAFlorAla

@FlorAlaSports

Boughner looks to be the next ace on

the mound.

The George Lindsey UNA Film Festival

organizers announce participants.

Offi cials with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools have been on campus this week to evaluate the university as it reaches its 10-year reaccreditation review.

Dr. Lisa Keys-Mathews, director of the quality en-hancement plan (QEP), said development of the QEP is an integral part of the re-newal process.

“It’s very important that universities receive their reaccreditation because fi -nancial aid hinges on that,” Keys-Mathews said. “Your

ability to get accepted into graduate schools, professional schools, all require that students come from an accredited university.”

Keys-Mathews said that every 10 years, schools and colleges must apply for reaccredita-tion from SACS. UNA faculty and staff mem-

bers have worked on the proposal for 24 months to answer the questions

SACS requires in the proposal. Keys-Mathews said SACS

offi cials only asked a small number of questions about the document for clarifi cation—less than the average number of inquiries most schools receive.

“They came back to us with only eight questions,” Keys-Mathews said. “The average university gets somewhere be-tween 18 and 20. We have done

exceptionally well in our compliance for certifi -cation.”

The success of the reaccreditation process so

UNA under microscope as SACS team evaluates campus

file photo by KAYLA SLOAN I Staff Photographer

Dr. Lisa Keys-Mathews talks to students about the QEP last November on campus.

ʻI want to be MADE.ʼ

photo by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief PhotographerTerrell Bailey interviews with Jay Lyons from MTV’s “Made” Feb. 22. Bailey is a football player for UNA who is graduating in May, and he wants to be “made” into a professional gospel singer.

More than 60 students jumped at the chance to make it on the hit MTV reality show “Made” when the show’s producers hosted auditions on campus last week.

The show, which provides college and high school students the chance to be coached into something they have always dreamed of being, drew a large crowd of students to room 204 of the GUC.

Director of Student Engagement Tammy Jacques said producers at MTV contacted her four weeks ago and asked if she would be inter-ested in having them on campus. Jacques said there was no hesitation on her part, and all that was left to do was work out the logistics of get-ting the producers on campus.

“This is an opportunity for students to think about a possible dream, a possible hope and may-be make it a reality to make if they get picked by MTV,” Jacques said.

UNA student Jessie Pollard said it’s a run-ning joke on campus that if students need something repaired in their residence halls, it will take the maintenance department at least three months to fi x it.

After reporting a broken smoke detector in her residence hall last August, maintenance workers fi nally arrived in January to repair her smoke detector and install a new lightbulb in her room.

“The circumstances leading up to my ex-perience with UNA maintenance were less than positive, but I commend them just the same,” she said. “They have quite a workload keeping this university running, and it says a great deal about their character if they can still manage to be civil under the pressure and de-mands of a growing university.”

Patrick Lindsay, a student majoring in computer science, lives in a two-bedroom building at Lion’s Den Apartments on Pine Street with fellow UNA student Jesse Faulk.

Lindsay noticed a gaping hole in his bath-room ceiling that sometimes leaks when it rains when he fi rst moved into the apartment last July. He said he contacted the Department of Housing multiple times about the situation with no luck.

“It’s just annoying,” he said. “I’ve been over there so many times and have gotten no response. I’ve talked to (the housing coordi-nator) directly in person, and he said they’ve got a lot of requests and some are easy to slip by.”

Jimmy Waddell, housing coordinator in the Department of Housing, said a new online maintenance form through TMA Systems on

Students try out to take part in MTV reality show

Students shed light on maintenance issues on campus

See page 3

UNA tries to maxi-mize its use of social media to reach out

to students.

See page 5

See page 8

Page 2 Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNewsNews BriefsFormer HealthSouth CFO to speakon campus March 12

Weston Smith, former chief fi nancial offi cer for HealthSouth Corporation, will deliver a presentation March 12 at 6 p.m. in Stevens Hall auditorium.

Smith worked for more than 12 years as the CFO of HealthSouth, a Fortune 500 company, until a multi-year, $2.7 billion dollar accounting fraud became public.

Smith will speak about his experiences at HealthSouth during his presentation.

To learn more about Smith’s presenta-tion, contact the Department of Account-ing and Business Law at 256-765-4544.

Officials openBlack Box Theater March 2

Offi cials will host the opening ceremo-nies for the George Lindsey Th eater and Ernest Borgnine Performance Hall March 2 at 4 p.m.

Th e invitation-only event will initiate the use of the state-of-the-art facility on the corner of Pine Street and Irvine Avenue on UNA’s campus.

For more information, contact the De-partment of Music and Th eatre at 256-765-4516 or email Department Chair Dr. David McCullough at dmmcullough@una.edu.

UNA baseball plays March 3,4 at home

Th e UNA baseball team is set to play a weekend series March 3 and 4.

Th e weekend series will be against Gulf South Conference member University of West Alabama.

Both games are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

For game coverage, follow @FlorAlaS-ports on Twitter and visit www.fl orala.net.

Planetarium hosts laser light shows March 4-10

Th e UNA Planetarium and Observa-tory will host its spring laser shows March 4 to 10 on campus.

Th e shows will take place at 6:30 p.m., 8:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., except for March 7. Th e only time the shows will run on March 7 is at 9 p.m.

Th e laser shows will feature music from Pink Floyd’s “Th e Wall” and U2.

For more information on the laser shows, contact Mel Blake at 256-765-4284.

News Briefs are compiled by News Editor Josh Skaggs. Email jskaggs@una.edu to have your event featured in this section.

Gearing Up

With SGA elections in full swing, the candidates for offi ce are working crowds and distributing their campaign materials to the student body.

For the fi rst time in recent years, there are two candidates running for the presi-dential offi ce. Students Will Riley and Wil-liam Nash will face off for the chance to be next year’s SGA president in the elections scheduled for March 12 to 14.

Both Nash and Riley—as well as many other candidates—are already meeting with student groups and getting their faces out to the UNA community.

“I have just been coordinating with a

lot of student groups on campus to have an interpersonal communication with these students,” Riley said. “I have been making numerous fl yers, I’ve imposed a Twitter

hashtag and a Facebook group as well as distributed T-shirts.”

Nash has done much of the same to get

his name and platform out to students.“Everything that you see from this

campaign will have my name and my face on it,” Nash said. “(My campaign) is re-ally about serving those who served, help-ing those who need help and continuing to make UNA a better place to go to school.”

Both Nash and Riley have begun speak-ing to student groups—such as sororities and fraternities, as well as other organiza-tions—on campus.

“(My campaign is) making a commit-ment to talk to as many groups on campus as we can,” Nash said.

Nash and Riley said they are excited about the upcoming election. Riley said he is looking forward to getting more students involved in student government.

photo by JOSH SKAGGS I News/Managing Editor

SGA candidates prepare for upcoming election, debate

Campus police adds K-9 unit to increase campus safety

UNA will soon have two four-legged additions to its police force.

The UNA police department is set to add a K-9 unit—specialized in detecting explosives and fi rearms—to its ranks at the end of March, with another unit working for the Lauderdale County drug taskforce, said Vice President of Student Affairs Da-vid Shields, who had to obtain permission from various UNA groups to obtain the

dogs. Both dogs are very friendly black labs,

said UNA police Chief Bob Pastula.“We applied for this about two years

ago,” Pastula said. “It was awarded to us six or seven months ago.”

Shields said the dog and offi cer—who was already an offi cer for UNA and vol-unteered to work with the dog—are cur-rently attending a 10-week training course. Though the dog will specialize in explo-sives and fi rearms, secondary training for other skills like drug detection could be added later, he said.

Shields said he is excited about the dog and thinks it will be a great addition to UNA.

“I am not aware of any universities our size in the country having a K-9 unit,” he said. “Even some larger universities don’t have one.”

Police dogs are paired with offi cers and live with them at their homes, Pastula said,

but while the K-9 unit is on duty, it will be housed at the new UNA police substation in Rivers Hall.

“That will be its primary location,” Shields said. “But it will also travel. We got this dog on a condition. We have to sup-port the regional needs for a dog with this training.”

Shields said the K-9 unit will serve UNA, but also will travel to where its ser-vices are needed in the region.

“The animal and the training are all pro-vided free,” he said. “We just have to pay for the maintenance.”

Pastula said Pet Depot has volunteered to provide food and some supplies for the dogs.

The regional services the dogs will pro-vide will be positive for UNA in several ways, Shields said.

“The vehicles go out to different parts.

”(My campaign is) making a commitment to talk to as many groups on campus as

we can.” -William Nash

Jordan Brasher, candidate for SGA vice president for senate, hangs up one of her campaign posters in Bibb Graves Hall Feb. 27 on campus. Candidates for SGA executive positions have started to post their campaign materials on campus this week.

UNA partners with Lauderdale County to add two dogs on campus, drug task force

Page 3Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-Ala News

onlinewww.florala.net

These stories and more online!

Follow us on Twitter at @UNAFlorAla and on Facebook

to get breaking news from The Flor-Ala.

Coverage of the Lindsey Film Fest by Jordan Bradley

Men’s baseball games March 3, 4 by Matt Wilson

Women’s basketball in GSC tournament

University in line to receive ʻStorm Readyʼ award

UNA is in the evaluation stage to re-ceive the Storm Ready award after prepar-ing the campus for storms and other states of emergencies, said UNA police Chief Bob Pastula.

The Lauderdale County Emergency Management Agency is also up for a Storm Ready award, Pastula said.

“We had to meet certain criteria set by the National Weather Service, such as weather monitoring and providing shel-ters,” he said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Da-vid Shields said he saw the funnel cloud that turned into the tornado that hit Phil Campbell last year go over Flowers Hall.

“We have worked very closely with the county EMA with this,” Shields said. “The award means that we are storm ready, meaning we have designated shelters, forms of communication and response ca-pabilities.”

In order to prepare the campus, UNA had to designate shelters in the buildings that are being reviewed for safety and train weather spotters who can be placed at cer-tain locations on campus to get information quickly on the site of a storm, Shields said.

Shields said the best thing students can do to prepare for storms is to sign up for Lion Alert, UNA’s alert system, for text messages and email. Lion Alerts would provide every student and staff member a warning to head for shelter if a storm sys-

tem was heading for Florence. Shields said UNA has been planning for

a personalized siren system when funding allows it. The system would differ from the county’s siren by allowing messages to be announced over the campus during states of emergency. It would provide the students instant information on where to go for safety.

“The UNA police and Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee have worked very hard for this,” Shields said. “It makes me feel good to know we have these things in place, and I hope the students and staff feel that way too.”

Dorm students at UNA feel safe during storms.

“When a storm hits, I feel pretty safe,” said Keke Green, a UNA marketing student and Rivers Hall resident. “We head down to the bottom of the building where there

are no windows.” She said the process of evacuation dur-

ing drills goes smoothly. UNA’s residence life members are also

trained for states of emergency.“During storms, the fi re alarm will go

off and the CA will go around to all the stu-dents to tell them to go to the mezzanine,” said Nikki Messer, a UNA dorm student at Rivers Hall and a member of residence life. “I personally think it is not an unsafe place. The building itself is built like a fortress, so I feel pretty safe.”

Green said she thinks the community advisers are trained well for emergencies.

“I do think they do a good job making people feel safe and making sure they are safe,” she said.

Shields said UNA has a good system for emergencies, but the university is still try-ing to fi nd ways to enhance it.

Officials look to enhance storm safety on campus, throughLauderdale County

photo by DARRICK DAWKINS I Staff Photographer

UNA students Payton Edmiston, Bert Pena and Katelyn Jarrell of Alternative Break Board help chop wood from damaged trees after the April 27 tornadoes.

Lindsey Film Fest to showcase local talentA showcase of local talent and popular

television stars is planned for the 15th an-nual George Lindsey UNA Film Festival-March 1 to 3. The festival is free to UNA students.

UNA alumni Tyler Martin and Clay Thomas will both have fi lms shown at the festival, while UNA graduate and instructor Andrew Reed will have two fi lms shown, including “I’m with Phil,” a fi lm telling the story of people named Phil Campbell around the world who arrived at the town of Phil Campbell after last year’s April tor-nadoes.

“I’m very excited we’ve been chosen to be screened,” Reed said. “I remember, as a student, the fi lm festival, especially the year Billy Bob came. I hope we get a great turnout at all the screenings.”

Along with talent from UNA, this year’s festival will feature several television and fi lm stars, including Michael Rooker from “The Walking Dead,” Mark Boone Jr. from “Sons of Anarchy,” Bobby Jon Drinkard formerly from “Survivor,” Ernest Borg-nine and festival co-founder and namesake George Lindsey, returning after an absence from last year’s festival.

“He will be here,” said Cynthia Burk-head, co-director of the Lindsey Film Fest

and instructor of English. “We’re excited for both George and Ernie also. It’s going to be a really special year for those two best friends to be back together.”

The festival will start March 1 with a

kick-off party at FloBama at 4 p.m. and will move at 5 p.m. to the Zodiac Theatre for movie screenings until 11 p.m., with an extended kick-off party hosted at On the Rocks.

On March 2, Lindsey and Borgnine will be present for the dedication and grand opening of the George S. Lindsey Theatre

photo by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

Dr. Greg Pitts applauds D.H. Martin, “Feature Screenplay” winner at last year’s George Lindsey UNA Film Festival. This year’s festival is slated to feature faculty, students and community members.

Page 4ViewpointsThursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

More than 20 years ago, I read a study of junior high school students in Rhode Island that included one finding I’ve never been able to get out of my head. Students were asked if a man who spent money on a woman dur-ing a date was entitled to force her into sexual activity. An astounding 25 percent of the young boys said yes—and even more astounding, 17 per-cent of the junior high school girls agreed.

You may think that sounds like a long time ago—and it was. But, sadly, dating violence remains a very real problem in our country—especially on college campuses.

Today, while in college, nearly one in five women will be a victim of sexual assault and one in 10 teens will be hurt on purpose by someone they are dating. These aren’t just statistics, these are people you know: your roommates, your friends, your sisters, your classmates. This is a problem we all have to face.

My dad used to say that there’s no worse sin than the abuse of power. Whether it was raising a hand to someone weaker, or using any advantage to push people around. He taught me that if you saw abuse, you had an obligation to attempt to stop it. It’s a les-son to remember every day, but especially this February, during Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.

Awareness is the first step to pushing back against a problem this big. When I held senate hearings on violence against women more than two decades ago, domestic abuse in American society was rarely spoken about in public. I’ll never forget the stories of abuse I heard in over 1,000 hours of hearings. The

brutality of family members, acquaintances, and strangers against the women in their lives was absolutely devastating.

It was those hearings that led to the Violence Against Women Act, and since then annual incidents of domestic violence have dropped by more than 50 percent. But for women in college and younger today, the risk is still much too high.

That’s why I joined with Education Secretary Arne Duncan last April to announce historic new guidelines for colleges and uni-versities about their responsibilities under Title IX to prevent sexual assault. Under the federal civil rights law, schools have an obli-gation not only to respond appropriately when an assault occurs, but also to create a climate on campus that makes such violence unac-ceptable.

I also started an initiative called 1is2many to help reduce dating violence and sexual assault among teens and young adults. We harnessed the power of technology to get our message out, launching a national contest to develop “Apps Against Abuse.” The two win-ning apps—which will be available later this spring—will let you get in touch with your friends quickly and safely so you can call for help if you need it and stop violence in its tracks. We’ve also made sure the National Dating Abuse Helpline can be reached by text, online or phone 24/7.

Last month, the FBI changed the way the federal government defines rape. The nar-row, outdated definition—unchanged since 1929—said the assault had to be forcible and against a woman’s will to be classified as rape. It’s just not true, and it’s a point that I make on college campuses all across the country. Rape is rape and no means no. No means no whether drunk or sober. No means no whether in the dorm room or on the street. There is never an excuse. Young women and men alike need to understand this. Under the new definition, rape occurs when there is no

consent, and it also includes sexual assault against boys and young men in national law enforcement reporting.

These are important changes, but ending dating violence and sexual assault isn’t just a matter of laws and legislation. It’s about education. It’s about attitudes. It’s about your participation. I need your help to address this issue in your dorms and on your campuses. Studies show that men’s ideas about what other men think is one of the strongest deter-minants of how they act. So guys, you need to speak out.

The ultimate measure of a civilized society is how its laws and culture treat the abuse of women. Attitudes can change. Violence can end. But it can’t happen without universal understanding that dating violence and sexual assault will never be tolerated anywhere, at any time, for any reason. Period. That’s all of our responsibility.

Student newspaper of the University of North Alabama

LUCY BERRYEXECUTIVE EDITOR

JOSH SKAGGSNEWS/MANAGING EDITOR

ANDY THIGPENLIFE EDITOR

TOMMY BOLTONSPORTS EDITOR ALEX LINDLEY

COPY/OPINIONS EDITOR JORDAN BRADLEY

ONLINE EDITORCAMERON KELLY-JOHNSON

BUSINESS MANAGERSAVANNAH COMER

GRAPHIC ARTISTJULIANN LOSEY

CIRCULATION MANAGERMALISA McCLURE

CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHERKAYLA SLOANBARRY MINOR

DARRICK DAWKINSSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS

REBECCA WALKERADVISER

EDITORIAL BOARD: LUCY BERRY

ALEX LINDLEY

The Flor-Ala welcomes and encourages Letters to the Editor.• The deadline for submitting letters is 10 a.m. Monday, the week of publication.• Letters must not exceed 400 words. • Letters must be accompa-nied by the writer’s name, mailing address, phone number and email.• The Flor-Ala prefers to publish your letters exactly as written, but reserves the right to reject slanderous or libelous material.• The publication of any let-ter is left to the discretion of the Editorial Board.• Priority is given to letters critical of The Flor-Ala, or written in direct response to an editorial, a column, or a news story.• When the editors deem it necessary for ease of understanding or to clarify facts, an Editor’s Note may accompany a letter.• Address correspondence to The Flor-Ala. UNA Box 5300, Florence, AL 35632.Email: florala@una.edu. Letters may also be submit-ted through our website at florala.net.• Phone: 256-765-4364

Letters Policy

Copyright © 2011The Flor-AlaAll rights reserved.First copy free.Additional copies $1 each.

Have your own cartoons? Want to be published? Send us your stuff at fl orala@una.edu!

Congrats to staff writer Malisa McClure for being named Writer of the Week for The Flor-Ala. Also, great job to staff photogra-pher Darrick Dawkins for having Photo of

the Week in the last edition of The Flor-Ala.

SHOUTOUT!

Job Market Column

Want to be a columnist for The Flor-Ala? Email alindley@una.edu with

your ideas and a writing sample to be considered

for publication.

Together we must end dating violence

I have used my column in The Flor Ala as an opportunity to try to bring to light some funny things I see on campus—poorly. Instead of writing a rant of failing jokes, I want to talk about something of greater importance: getting a job out of college.

I like to think my peers

came to UNA to be the most prepared and mar-ketable candidates they can. Does that mean having a 4.0 GPA? I like to think not (or that’s what I try to convince my parents of every semester after finals). I like to think a 4.0 could potentially hurt you—let me finish before you put the paper in the one recycle bin on campus.

The Friday of winter break, I went to Montgomery to tour the Hyundai production plant and participate in a forum with two of the company’s vice presidents.

This trip was phenomenal. As a student

studying public relations and marketing, I took a lot from this day. I snagged some impressive business cards and gained valuable experi-ence. Ashley Frye, Hyundai vice president for production, told me the most important advice I can give you for the changing job market is always go above and beyond. When given a task by your employer, ask “what else can I do to help?”

Consequently, I realized if robots decided to take over the world they could easily do so after looking at the technology at the plant.

On my four-hour drive back to Florence, I asked some of the international and domestic students who participated in the the free trip—organized by Dr. Santanu Borah, professor of management and marketing—why they spent their holiday this way. Their response was like mine; they knew how important it would be in a competitive job market to take advantage of every learning opportunity outside the class-room and shake as many hands as possible.

A question I often ask of employers is “what do you look for in an applicant?” The response is continually a resume that shows the candidate took the initiative to gain as much experiential learning from various opportunities. I usually follow up my original question with, “Does a 4.0 GPA equate to a profitable employee?” Continually, the response is a resounding “no.”

I think education is fundamental and wish I had a better GPA, but I would never exchange it for the extracurricular actives I have been a part of. Some are capable of having both a perfect GPA and being active. Those people suck. You know who you are, and—if you’re available—I could use some tutoring in my math class.

Cartoon of the Week

Take advantage of extracurriculars

UNA, like the vast majority of other universities across the country, is using so-cial media to reach current and prospective students, as well as alumni and members of the community.

The university has a active social me-dia presence on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

UNA went through a strategic rebrand-ing process in 2008 and began using social media websites.

“When we began to really look into us-ing social media, one of our alumni in At-lanta had already begun a fan page for the university on Facebook,” said Josh Woods, director of university communications.

“We contacted her, she made us adminis-trators of the page and the rest is history.”

Jeremy Britten, UNA’s web com-munications manager, conducted various workshops for faculty and departments on campus in 2009. These workshops were constructed so the various departments would be introduced to and learn the most effective ways to employ social media.

Almost all of the Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts connected to UNA were set up by Britten, but each department or student group is responsible for main-taining the accounts.

“It could refl ect negatively on the uni-versity if groups or departments don’t up-date often,” Britten said. “However, that is something we’re going to try to address in the upcoming year. We want to stay current

with what media students are using at the moment.”

Thinking of different ways to commu-nicate with students and alumni is one of the goals the university has for the upcom-ing year.

“Email doesn’t work anymore,” said David Shields, vice president for student affairs. “We have to use what’s most effec-tive and then be fl exible with that medium. Right now, social media is what works.”

Staying current with the audience is something Woods also agrees with.

“You have to think about what your au-dience is doing,” he said. “If my primary audience is using graffi ti walls, then I’m going to grab a can of spray paint.”

One area of social media that UNA is looking to grow in is Foursquare, a so-

cial networking game that allows its users to check in at different locations and play against other individuals. Foursquare re-cently mentioned the university’s SGA re-cycling initiative on its blog, which was an outstanding honor, Britten said.

Britten and Woods update the Face-book and Twitter accounts a few times each day, but try not to bombard students and members of the community with informa-tion.

“I think the update frequency is appro-priate,” Shields said. “It’s a passive gather-ing of information, as opposed to pushing out updates on people. We try to stick with just the relevant things and respect the per-son’s time coming into the sites.”

Page 5Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-Ala LifeHow loud is the roar?

University uses social media outlets to reach UNA, local communities18,774+ Fans 4,523+ Followers 4,303+ Followers

As the semester continues, many students are fi nd-ing that school work keeps piling up. According to some UNA students, studying plays a crucial role when it comes down to achieving their academic goals. Howev-er, the locations where they choose to study vary. While some prefer a quiet atmosphere, others prefer a livelier one.

All photos by Barry Minor. Clockwise from bottom left: Wildwood Park, Bryan Otis sits on the second fl oor of Collier Library, Rivertown Coffee Co., Tyler Jackson studies in the mez in LaGrange Hall.

Students pick their favorite study spots around town

“When studying, I prefer to sit at Wildwood park. It is very peaceful and serene. I can always count on getting a lot of work done there. I like being able to go outside and listen to the birds and the creek. It‘s very calming, and it takes the stress out of studying.”

-- Jennifer Cravens, senior

“The second fl oor in Collier library is my favorite place to study. It’s always quiet and everyone else on that fl oor is doing their work, so there’s really not anything to distract me.”

-- Elizabeth Henderson, junior

“I usually like to study at Rivertown because it’s so laid back. Their Italian cream sodas make studying less of a chore. Plus, coff eehouse music relaxes me.”

-- Erin Skipper, junior“I’m not big into studying, but when I do, I like to study in the mez. It’s convenient and many of my friends study there as well.”

-- Nathan Marsili, freshman

Page 6 Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-AlaImages

If you’re an artist in any form—be it fi ne arts, written words, or music—you will understand the feeling I’m about to describe. This essay is a collec-tion of photos I drug out from the depths of my old, bulky Dell laptop. They are the hidden archives of cameras and rolls of fi lm past—they are my embar-rassing beginnings as a photographer.

Sure, if I’m ever a famous photojournalist, this stuff might be cool to look at. But right now, it makes my stomach churn with uncomfortable embarrass-ment.

It’s not so terrible, but the cliché black and whites of old stuff and fuzzy photos of my friends remind me of a time when I thought I was soooo cool.

Hi. I’m Kayla Sloan. Photographer.Barf.But it’s still kind of fun to see. It’s like when you

open that notebook you found under your bed full of old poems you wrote as an angsty teen. You can’t help

but laugh at how typical it was. Or how no one understood you.

We all have to start somewhere, though. I will never delete these photos. They serve as a reminder of how far I’ve come, or how I’ve changed, even.

They also remind me of when I was fi rst falling in love with what I plan on doing forever. It’s my sweet little scrap-book to my love, photography. Sure, it

had a pimply face and braces back in middle school, and maybe was a little chubby, but now it’s grown up into something much different.

But I bet in 20 years I’ll look back at what I just wrote and the pictures I’ve taken recently and be even more embarrassed than I am now.

I can’t wait to feel my stomach churn in embarrass-ment again.

Looking backBy Kayla Sloan - Staff Photographer - kbsloan@una.edu

View more photos from this series at florala.net

Page 7Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Feature

Students like UNA student Rance Czermak signed up to be made into their dream careers. Czermak has always want-ed to be a professional dancer and hoped the show’s producers would give him the opportunity to develop his skills and get a job dancing one day.

Czermak said he recently went through a struggle with his weight and his confi -dence had not been where he wanted it to be. Now that Czermak is at the weight he wants to be, he said now is better than ever to try to achieve his goal of being a profes-sional dancer.

“My dream would be to perform with a world-class winterguard,” Czermak said.

Czermak said, in this area, being a male dancer is not looked at as a profession, and he hopes to change that.

Fashion merchandising major Lauren Bishop branched out from the usual re-quest seen by producers of the self-help show.

“I want to be made into a Disney char-acter because I have been in love with Dis-ney my entire life,” Bishop said.

Specifi cally, Bishop wants to be made into Rapunzel, her favorite character, be-

cause of her spunk and outgoing personal-ity.

Bishop knew she wanted to be a Disney character after a trip to the Florida theme park when she was younger. The park and the characters that fi ll it eased the pain of her parents going through a divorce, she said.

Bishop plans to work for Disney after graduation.

“I didn’t realize they had a Disney in-ternship, and that’s who I want to work for,” Bishop said.

Shae Greene, a UNA fashion merchan-dising major, wants help getting an intern-ship in the fashion industry.

“I’ve always been interested in (the fashion industry),” Greene said.

Greene said many students don’t often have the tools or the networking capabili-ties needed to get their feet in the door.

“It’s hard (to get internships and jobs) when you don’t necessarily have those connections or don’t know the next step or what to do (to get those jobs),” Greene said.

Greene and Bishop said they are avid fans of the MTV show.

the UNA website is available to students living in residence halls. He said the goal is to have each maintenance request respond-ed to within 24 hours.

The form through TMA Sys-tems is not avail-able on Internet connections out-side UNA’s, so students living in campus apartments with their own In-ternet cannot ac-cess the software at this time. Mi-chael Gautney, director of facilities, said offi cials are looking to install a Web-based form soon.

Waddell said their system for dealing with maintenance issues is not perfect, but the housing department believes students come fi rst and will do what they can to make the college experience enjoyable for them.

“We just got the TMA Systems form out, and we’re pleased with the way it’s working,” Waddell said. “There are gaps we still need to try to close, but, for the most part, we’re happy with the way it’s working. We still need to get students on board with it because they are still sending emails when the TMA System is already on board for them. We need to increase aware-ness of the system to UNA students.”

Last fall, UNA student Luke Hunter noticed his kitchen sink leaking and water spilling into the cabinet below at Lion’s Den Apartments. He realized the sink was detached from the drain and quickly con-tacted housing.

After several weeks of no response from offi cials about the maintenance issue, Hunter said workers fi nally arrived to fi x the sink with no explanation about why the work request was delayed.

“It’s stressful to know something is wrong in your living space and you can’t do anything about it,” he said. “I know how to fi x a lot of this stuff, but I’m not respon-

sible for it, and if I messed up doing it, I would be responsible for any mistakes.”

Gautney said the best method of con-tact for students with maintenance issues in

campus apartments is to call the Department of Maintenance directly. When students submit an online form through the TMA Systems, the housing department must fi rst approve the work request before it is submitted to mainte-nance, he said.

Gautney said his de-partment must prioritize certain repairs on campus if safety is an issue and that being short staffed has an impact on how quickly maintenance issues can be resolved.

Maintenance receives approximately 6,000 work requests from the university each year, Gautney said.

“It all comes back to communication between attendants in the apartments, dorms, housing department and us, and how good it is handled,” he said. “Some-times we’re good at it; sometimes we’re bad at it. With the number and size of the buildings on campus, there’s a lot of work that goes into the buildings, and we have to prioritize because of that.”

Faulk, a Lagrange Society member and professional biology major, said it took maintenance workers more than a month to replace a fl uorescent light bulb in his resi-dence hall last year.

Despite his experience, Faulk said he is an advocate for living on campus and always encourages new students to live at UNA.

“I know (maintenance is) busy and they’ve got a million things to do on cam-pus,” he said. “With something as small as a light bulb or hole in a ceiling, anything like that can be magnifi ed when you’re stressed out at school. If they could get to it sooner, it would make things a lot easier and smoother for students and make them stay on campus more.”

far is all due to the leadership of Celia Reynolds, the SACS staff liaison and Col-lier Librarian, and the leadership of the QEP leadership team, Keys-Mathews said.

Dr. Phil Bridgmon, chair of the QEP selection and development committees, agrees that UNA offi cials have gone the extra mile.

“Faculty, staff, and administrators have been engaged signifi cantly since 2009 in anticipation of our 2012 site visit,” he said. “The process has involved many nights, weekends, and extra duties for many fac-

ulty and staff.” Bridgmon said renewal is essential

for the university to continue its opera-tion in good standing with our accrediting body,and the United States Department of Education.”

Bridgmon gives credit to the QEP team for his hopeful outlook in the reaccredita-tion.

“Our QEP Director Lisa Keys-Mathews, has worked more than overtime on fi nalizing our plan, including many more meetings with faculty, students, staff

and administration,” he said. “I have been fortunate to be part of this process due to the cooperation and talent everyone brought to what I believe will be a very successful outcome for UNA and our stu-dents.”

Caleb Banks, student representative on the QEP committee, said the QEP is a part of the reaccreditation that is required and will start affecting students next fall. Banks said it is crucial to know the impor-tance of the SACS accreditation.

“We just need to know how impor-

tant the accreditation is to our university and everyone enrolled there,” Banks said. “The QEP is just one of many aspects as-sessed by the SACS team and a require-ment, but only a part.”

The UNA website provides more in-formation about the QEP, which “focuses on academic research literacy.” The QEP is entitled “Building Success through Dis-covery: Imagine, Investigate, Communi-cate” and can be read in full on the UNA website.

By the numbersWork Requests in 2010-2011 year

837 - Rivers, LaGrange, Lafayette, Rice639 - Appleby West and East,

Hawthorne, Covington368 - Apartments

(Source: Department of Housing)

The “Linsanity” buzz has hit all across the United States as the feel-good story of the NBA, but the rising star has UNA students questioning the hype.

New York Knicks guard and Harvard graduate Jeremy Lin has risen from sleeping on his team-mate’s couch each night to being the architect of the most recent success of an underperforming NBA team.

During the 12-game stretch, the Knicks are 9-3 since taking over the point guard duties that have also included game win-ners and failure.

The media has grabbed this story, and it has become the sto-ry everyone wants to see when watching “Sports Center” high-lights.

“It’s a great story and good for basketball,” said UNA guard Beaumont Beasley, who is also hoping to pursue a professional career. “It just shows how much hard work can pay off no matter where you come from.”

Lin has now replaced Car-melo Anthony as the face of the Knicks and is also a fan favorite for America. In his most recent

games, Lin has strug-gled against Eastern Conference power Mi-ami Heat, scoring just eight points and also losing two out of the last four games.

Turnovers have re-ally plagued the rising star. In eight out of 12 games, Lin has turned the ball over six or more times a game and has showed signs of coming to life.

“He is a good player and all, but he turns the ball over too much,” said UNA student Dan-iel Swope. “I feel like his success will start to die off as the season goes on.”

With the way the Knicks have been playing lately, those signs have been showing for Lin after the beat down he received from the Heat, shutting him down for a 1-11 shooting.

He is now averaging 14 points a game, nine assists, and four turnovers a game, which is a huge decline in the points col-umn from the fi rst six games, where he averaged 26 points a game.

“It is a great story for the NBA, and he has created a lot of buzz for New York, but I’m ready for some of the publicity to cool down,” said UNA student Wesley Hughes. “I just don’t see him playing at this high of a level for the rest of the season.”

With the second half of the season under way, the huge question for Lin and the Knicks is whether or not he can continue his success for the rest of the sea-

son. Whether the publicity is de-

served or not, Lin has given life to the Knicks, the city and has captured the hearts for sports fans after winning nine out of the last 12 games.

“You can’t help but be a fan of him, and I’m not sure if he can play at this high of level,” Bea-sley said. “I do see him playing well enough for (the Knicks) to make the playoffs.”

Chad Boughner has been involved with the UNA base-ball program for three years as a weekend pitcher. Head coach Mike Keehn said Boughner adds responsibility to the program through his leadership on and off the fi eld.

“You might have a guy that’s been fl irting with it two years, but having a three-year week-end starting pitcher, that doesn’t happen very often,” Keehn said. “He’s always going to qual-ity minutes, not just the way he competes on the mound, but he does the right thing.”

Boughner set the UNA re-cord Feb. 25 with 16 strikeouts in the 8-3 win over Quincy.

Q: Chad, have you al-ways played the pitching position?

A: “I played pitcher in high school at Florence, graduated in 2007, but I also played fi rst baseman.”

Q: Tell the readers about your family.

A: “My mom is from Lexington, and my dad is from Florence. They actual-ly met here at UNA while in college. I have one brother who’s in college at Auburn.”

Q: Who is a role model that you have looked up to over the years?

A: “Probably both my parents. Both of them have always been there for me and helped to guide me throughout my life.”

Q: What has been your best UNA memory while playing baseball?

A: “Probably making the regional tournament last year because we got to Pensacola, and also I got to spend a lot of time with my teammates who are my friends as well.”

Q: If I turned on your car radio, what would I hear playing?

A: “Country music; Colt Ford.”

Q: What are your indi-vidual goals this year as a pitcher for UNA?

A: “I want to go out and pitch to the best of my abil-ity every single game and hopefully help us win.”

Q: What about as a team? What do you want

your team to achieve this year as a whole?

A: “Our goal is to have an 8-2 record over every 10 games, so that’s 40-10 over the whole season. That’s usually the team goal.”

Q: The classic question: Burger King or McDon-ald’s?

A: “Burger King. I just like their burgers better.”

Q: What about a post-game victory meal with your family or friends? What would you choose to eat?

A: “A steak and baked potato from our house on the grill.”

Q: What do you like about being a pitcher?

A: “I like to have the pressure on me, and I like to do good when the pressure is on me. That’s what I like most about it.”

Q: Last one, Chad: if a producer decided to make a movie about you, who would they cast to play you in the movie?

A: “(Laughs) … I don’t know. Maybe Jim Carrey.”

Page 8 Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-AlaSportsPlayer of thePlayer of the

WeekWeek

Chad Boughner Chad Boughner

Hometown: FlorenceHometown: FlorenceMajor: Business and GeographyMajor: Business and GeographyPosition: PitcherPosition: PitcherStats: Boughner set a school Stats: Boughner set a school record with 16 strikeouts against record with 16 strikeouts against QuincyQuincy

Week At A Week At A GlanceGlance

Men’s BasketballMen’s BasketballWhen: Friday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Niceville, Fla.

Who: GSC-

Tournament

Women’s BasketballWomen’s BasketballWhen: Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Niceville, Fla.

Who: GSC Tournament

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Where: NicWhere: Nic

Who: GSC TWho: GSC T

WhW en: FridayWhen: Friday

WhWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ere: NiceWhWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW ere: Nice

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

TT

Baseball BaseballWhen: Saturday, 1 p.m. (DH)When: Saturday, 1 p.m. (DH)

Sunday, 1 p.m.Sunday, 1 p.m.

Boughner set to be next ace on mound

photos by CARRIE COOK I Student Photographer

Chad Boughner delivers a pitch during a game earlier this season. Boughner recently threw a school-record 16 strikeouts against Quincy.

Students share opinions on ʻLinsanityʼ

photos by DARRICK DAWKINS I Staff Photographer

Senior guard Beaumont Beasley looks to make a move on an opponent during a game earlier this season.

The North Alabama Lions basketball team traveled to the campus of the Univer-sity of Alabama-Huntsville to take on the Lady Chargers Feb. 25, winning 81-77.

The Lions gave UAH its fi rst home loss of the season, pushing their home record to 12-1, 21-5 on the year. The Lions moved to 14-12, and 5-9 in conference play. Head Coach Terry Fowler said the execution of the offense and winning the rebounding edge played key roles in securing the win.

“I thought the kids really executed the game plan; we had time to prepare, and we came in ready to play,” Fowler said. “We knew something had to give, and we played from start to fi nish.”

UNA men and women basketball teams will travel to Niceville, Fla. for the GSC tournament this week.

The women will be playing March 1, while the men will play March 2 in the are-na on the campus of the Northwest Florida State college.

UNA women will play Valdosta State at 7:30 p.m, with the men tipping off on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Look for game coverage online at www.fl orala.net.

NCAA rules state specifi c times for recruiting to occur with college coaches evaluating and talking to potential athletes; however, for many coaches and teams, it’s a constant job.

Every athletic team is different with re-cruiting rules, availability for contact and evaluation, as well as quiet and dead pe-riods.

The UNA football team signed 41 ath-letes on signing day—37 high school ath-letes and four transfers. This came at the time of hiring new head coach Bobby Wal-lace.

As stated by the NCAA, Division II football is to follow this NCAA calen-dar: June 1, 2011, to the beginning of the prospect’s high school or two-year college football season (as determined by the fi rst regularly scheduled practice immediately preceding the start of the regular season) is considered a quiet period.

During the prospect’s high school or two-year college football season (as de-termined by the fi rst regularly scheduled practice immediately preceding the start of the regular season) is considered an evalu-ation period. Nov. 1-30, 2011 is considered an evaluation period.

For two-year college prospects, the conclusion of the prospect’s two-year col-lege football season, or the conclusion of the institution’s regularly scheduled con-test rather than the conclusion of the insti-tution’s fi nal postseason contest) through Nov. 30, is considered a contact period. Dec. 1, 2011 through March 5, 2012 is also considered a contact period.

Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, 2012 is a Dead Period. March 6 through May 31, 2012, is a Quiet Period. April 15 through May 31, 2012 is an evaluation eeriod. Four weeks

selected at the discretion of the member institution and designated in writing in the offi ce of the director of athletics.

Authorized coaching staff members may evaluate a high school football all-star game any time of the year, provided the game occurs within the state in which the member institution is located, according to NCAA rules.

Running back coach Stedman Camp-bell said recruiters were able to fi nd several players in the fi rst week they managed to sign. They wanted to have a local presence for the UNA team this year.

“Every year can be a little different; we’ve obviously switched philosophies with Coach Wallace coming in compared to the last three years,” Campbell said. “This year, the main thing we wanted to do—as far as recruiting goes—is too sure up some local, high school relationships. We basically drew up a ratio of so many miles and said we wanted to get through every high school within this radius.”

He said this year, it was a quick recruit-ing process.

“With the change of staff and the late start they had, they did not have a lot of leg work done until the fi rst of January,” he said. “It’s just like any other sales job; you have to go door to door, school to school.We had to hit the ground running, build re-lationships and evaluate players all at the same time.”

Assistant men’s basketball coach Kyle Morris said his goals in fi nding athletes to

play for UNA are those students who fi rst and foremost take care of business off the fl oor.

“Not only do they need to be talented and very skilled athletically, but we try to bring in kids who are really good for our program,” Morris said. “We want those that will benefi t from the community, but will also help the community and the cam-pus off the fl oor as well as on the fl oor.”

Morris said he believes high school athletes bring in a foundation for a suc-cessful program, but the upcoming class for the UNA basketball team will lose fi ve seniors—four being starters—so recruiting transfers will be key for this UNA team next year in order to put experience on the fl oor.

“We try to bring in one to two high

kids every year,” Morris said. “At our level right now, it will be hard for high school kids that we will need to play right away, so, obviously losing four starters, we’ll have to bring some transfers in. We do like bringing high school and local kids from the area. Looking at our players, Warrick Mastin is from Muscle Shoals and Nick Luttrell and Wes Long are both from Ten-nessee.”

Athletic Director Mark Linder said he allows coaches to make their own deci-sions in how they recruit athletes.

“My philosophy is to allow coaches to set their own recruiting philosophy,” Linder said. “The reason I do that is so they can put in place the systems that they want to put in place. Secondly, it’s also a way that we can hold them accountable.”

Page 9Thursday, March 01, 2012 • The Flor-Ala SportsRecruiting rules important to collegiate athletics programs

photo by MALISA MCCLURE I Chief Photographer

Junior wide receiver Mo Milliam races downfi eld during a game earlier this season. UNA football has completely changed its philosophy of recruiting with new Head Coach Bobby Wallace.

#8 CBUGame 1: 12:30 p.m.#1 DSU

#5 UWFGame 3: 5:30 p.m.#4 UWA

#7 UWGGame 2: 2:45 p.m.#2 UAH

#6 UNAGame 4: 7:30 p.m.#3 VSU

Women prepare for tournament

photo by CARRIE COOK

Senior guard Dana Jackson shoots a layup during a game earlier this season. Her and the Lions go into the tourney after a huge win against rival UAH.

GSC Tournament

Champion

Game 5: 12:30 p.m.

Game 6: 2:45 p.m.

Game 7: 11:00 a.m.

#7 VSUGame A: 12:30 p.m.#2 CBU

#6 UWAGame B: 2:45 p.m.#3 UWG

#5 UNAGame C: 5:30 p.m.#4 UWF

#8 DSUGame D: 7:30 p.m.#1 UAH

Women

Champion

Game E: 5:30 p.m.

Game F: 7:30 p.m.

Game G: 1:30 p.m.

Friday Saturday Sunday Men

”My philosophy is to allow coaches to set their own recruiting philosophy.” -Mark Linder

While some students go directly to a four-year college like UNA after graduat-ing high school, others decide to take a dif-ferent route and go to two-year universities before transferring to four-year schools.

These transfer students have to learn to navigate a new campus, become famil-iar with new faculty and—sometimes—change the way they live.

“Get involved in a student organiza-tion, whether it be academic or social,” said Director of Student Engagement Tammy Jacques. “It’s important—from my perspec-tive. Getting involved will help (students) build communication skills, critical think-ing skills and time management skills.”

Getting involved will also help transfer students get to know other people, espe-cially if the student does not know anyone at the new university, and will improve skills that could help students academically, Jacques said.

“(Transfer students should) take advan-tage of the career planning and develop-ment offi ce as they try to explore their ca-reer paths and as they’re preparing for their job search,” Jacques said.

Jacques said students should go to the Offi ce of Career Planning and Develop-ment as soon as possible because it is there to help students become successful.

Other services that can be used at UNA specifi cally are tutoring in the Center for Academic Advising and Retention Servic-es and the Center for Writing Excellence. These tools can help supplement what stu-dents get in the classroom as well as out of

the classroom.Jacques said to get involved on campus

and with faculty because it will build skills and help students in many ways.

“Don’t wait until the last minute to talk to your faculty,” she said. “They’re there to help and support students.”

Some UNA transfer students also have advice for other students who have recently transferred to the university.

“I would get involved in some kind of organization,” said Brianna Clark, a UNA geographic information systems major. “Be involved where you can get to know people.”

Some transfer students have experi-enced problems with academic credits transferring properly.

“Get involved; don’t single yourself out, because if you transfer, you most likely aren’t from here, and check and make sure the credits match up,” said UNA account-ing major Angel Sandler.

Some transfer students have even lost credits.

“I lost quite a bit of transfer credits; look into it before (transferring),” said Sam Buxton, a UNA business major.

Page 10 Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-AlaNews

and Ernest Borgnine Performance Hall, lo-cated on the UNA campus at the corner of Irvine and Pine Street.

The day will start with a table reading of this year’s winning screenplay submis-sion, “Gossamer Folds” by Bridget Flanery-Fownes, performed by UNA theater stu-dents.

“This year, we’ll actually have a live reading of the feature length screenplay,” said Jason Flynn, co-director of the festival and assistant professor of fi lm and digital media production. “It’s good for the writer to hear it aloud and talk about it, but also good for an audience to come and hear a screenplay instead of just watching it in production.”

That same day, UNA will host both a traveling Entertainment Media Production and Crew Training (EMPACT) trailer car-rying displays of production equipment at 5 p.m. and “An Evening with Michael Rook-er” at 7 p.m.

The last day of the Lindsey Film Fest, March 3, will start off at 10 a.m. with an idea pitching session and workshop held with Mark Scholnick, vice president of program planning and acquisitions for E! Entertainment Television, with four ideas being pitched to Scholnick.

After more screenings and displays at the EMPACT trailer, the festival will end with an awards show at UNA’s East Cam-pus at 7 p.m..

“We’re also trying to grow in healthy ways,” Burkhead said. “I’m going to say that this year we made it possible to see ev-erything free. All other fi lm festivals, you have to buy a pass or pay to get into each screening.

“We have always felt very strongly that we really, really want our community to embrace independent fi lm making. We need to make that as accessible to them as pos-sible.”

All screenings will be free to students, Burkhead said, and though the event with Mike Rooker and the awards show will cost money for admission, students can get tick-ets for free at the Offi ce of Student Engage-ment while they last.

of the region, providing a service,” he said. “But it’s also positive advertising for UNA. It’s like a rolling billboard.”

Shields said he thinks having a police dog will contribute to campus safety.

“A person looking at our department will see a very well-trained, capable law en-forcement department,” he said. “Crime is more likely to happen if it’s perceived that you don’t have the capabilities to react.”

Shields said offi cials are working to properly welcome the new K-9 offi cer to campus.

“We’re working to secure a vehicle to transport the dog safely,” he said. “Who-ever provides that will have an ad on the vehicle.”

UNA junior Dillon Green, a Rivers Hall

resident and residence life student worker, said he has a unique perspective on why a dog could be effective for UNA.

“I was on staff during a bomb threat, so I think a dog would be a useful resource,” he said. “We probably won’t have a ton of situations for it, but it’ll probably be worth it.”

UNA junior English and professional writing major Caitlin Scully said having a police dog at UNA could send a message.

“With all the recent safety issues on campus, I can see how the dog would be important for the intimidation factor,” she said. “It shows that UNA is serious about taking care of its students.”

But Scully also said having a dog won’t necessarily make her feel safer on campus.

“I’m not sure that having a dog will fi x anything,” she said. “We’ll have to wait and see, but it probably won’t do as much as (UNA police) are hoping for.”

Transfer students find their place, get involved

”Getting involved will help (students) build communication skills, critical thinking skills and

time management skills.” -Tammy Jacques

Film festival to feature faculty, students, community membersʼ films

For your information

The Offi ce of Student Engagement 256-765-4248Career Planning and Development 256-765-4276Greek Life 256-765-4248Student Government Association 256-765-4248

“(I am excited to be a part of) the fu-ture of the election,” Riley said. “In years past, there has only been 800 students (vote), and I hope to get around 1,000.”

Nash and Riley, as well as the other executive candidates, will participate in a debate next week hosted by The Flor-Ala

staff in the Stevens Hall Auditorium at 7 p.m.

In addition to Nash and Riley, the can-didate for SGA Vice President for Senate Jordan Brasher and candidate for SGA Vice President for UPC, Jori Chatman, will be at the debate, as well as secretary candidates Mary Francis Wilson and Rob-by Thompson and candidate for treasurer Laura Giles.

Before last summer, I had never trav-elled out of the country, though I had great-ly wanted to do so. When the opportunity came around for me to go on a study abroad trip to Peru with the foreign language de-partment, I jumped at the chance. I’m so glad I did! It was an incredible experience that will be one of my favorite memories of my time at UNA.

For this trip, we travelled similarly to the show “The Amazing Race” by stay-ing in different hostels for a few days at a time. We started out in the capital of Lima, followed by Nazca, Arequipa and Cusco,

which was the capital of the Incan empire.

Lima has a popula-tion of 9 million people, which is about one-third of the entire country’s population. If you think New York City never sleeps, then you’ve never been to Lima. This city is crazy! While in Lima, we had plenty of free time to explore different parts of the city but also went to different areas, such as Huaca Pucllana (an adobe pyramid), Lima Colonial, and multiple museums and cathedrals as a group. Every Latin

American city has a Plaza de Armas, which serves as a hub of activity. It is centered with a fountain and is surrounded on all four sides by main streets.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about one of our favorite parts of the trip: food. Honestly, all the food in Peru is delicious! There are so many different types of food to try and everything is wonderful. Lima is known as the “gastronomic capital of the Americas,” and it is a well deserved title.

After our visit in Lima, our next stop was in Nazca, which is in the desert region of the country. The main event of this stop was, of course, the Nazca lines. We were able to fl y over the lines, which is truly the only way to see them. So cool! It’s really amazing to see lines in a desert that haven’t changed in hundreds of years. I wouldn’t recommend the fl ight for those with a light stomach. It’s defi nitely an aerial roller coaster. Further on, we stopped in Areq-uipa, which is such a beautiful city. It’s nicknamed “La Ciudad Blanca” because so many buildings are made out of white vol-canic stone. The city is situated near several

volcanoes with the most famous one named “El Misti,” which is topped with snow on its nearly-symmetrical peak.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the trip was our trek out to Colca Canyon near Arequipa. At 4,160 meters deep, it is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and said to be the deepest canyon in the world. A must see in the canyon is the Cruz del Condor, an area where condors pass through in the early morning and late afternoon. Condors are extremely important in Andean culture and are similar to eagles in size. When we were there, we saw no less than a dozen condors fl ying over a gulch thousands of feet deep—a truly breathtaking view.

Now, my favorite city! Cuzco! Wow. There’s so much to say about this area that I could never write it all down. Cuzco was the capital of the Incan empire during the 13th century. The original city was laid out in the shape of a puma, with the head lo-cated at the fortress of Sacsayhuaman. The city maintains its original plan, making the streets narrow and the buildings short. The surrounding areas are full of Incan ruins of incredible architecture.

However, nothing compares to the holy grail of Latin America: Machu Pic-

chu. It’s been at the top of my bucket list for a long time, so I was ecstatic to be there! Tucked away at the top of a mountain, it is the greatest remaining Incan structure that was not leveled by the invading Spaniards. Words cannot describe how beautiful the Andes mountains are nor how impressive Machu Picchu is, sprawled across the top of a mountain. We were on a two-hour guided tour and had about four hours of free time to explore and still didn’t walk through ev-ery area. It’s a lot bigger in person than in pictures.

Page 11Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-Ala Life

Check out what’s coming up this weekend in the Shoals.

Friday, Mar. 2nd

Saturday, Mar. 3rd

Monkee and the Spank Daddies On the Rocks 9:30 p.m.

Thursday, Mar. 1st

Gabe Allen and Friends On the Rocks 9:30 p.m.

Shane and Wendell On the Rocks 9:30 p.m.

Workin’ for the Weekend

Flannel DP’s 9 p.m. - 1:30 a.m.

The Decoys DP’s 8 p.m. - midnight

Dylan LeBlanc JD’s 8 p.m.

PB&J, Stephen Nichols, and Religious Husband JD’s 9 p.m.

Shane Lashley, a UNA senior, said he feels the same.

“I think the university sends out just enough,” Lashley said. “It’s useful how the information travels quickly, and it’s just the right amount.”

Most students see the updates on social media sites before they see emails or the UNA homepage.

“The social media has been effective for me,” said senior Allison Ray. “I’m con-nected to social media. And during emer-gencies—like the recent tornado warnings a few weeks ago—it was good to see the updates on social media every few min-utes.”

UNA Junior Haley Carter, said the uni-versity has room for improvement.

“I think they do pretty well with get-ting information out,” Carter said. “But I think they could really do more.”

Study Abroad Profile: Peru

photos courtesy of Amanda McGough

Amanda McGough stands in front of Machu Picchu during a trip to Peru last summer.

From left: Claire Stewart, Jessica Randall and Amanda McGough observe Cuzco. The city served as a capital for the an-cient Incan empire.

• Student shares her experiences while studying in Peru last summer

Aaron Blades and The Aaron Blades Band DP’s 8 p.m.

Bitch Please The Smokehouse 9 p.m. - 2 a.m.

Page 12 Thursday, March 1, 2012 • The Flor-Ala

Tweets of the week DISCLAIMER: The tweets below are public tweets found on Twitter by searching hashtags involving UNA, Florence, Shoals and other uni-versity-related topics. Want to see yours on here? Be sure to hashtag

UNA and Shoals in your tweets.

Want to write for The Flor-Ala? Come to our meetings every Monday at 5 p.m. at 643 N. Wood Ave.