After threat of the program shut-ting down in the fall semester of 2013, the ROTC program at Tennessee Tech had its fi rst ribbon cutting ceremony for the new rappel tower located next to the baseball fi elds.

Tech President Philip Oldham threw the fi rst pitch from the new tower to begin the baseball game against University of North Carolina at Asheville.

The rappel tower is the newest project in the ROTC program at Tech but other land is being looked at for use. “We’re taking a look at some other ideas, utilizing some other land that the University currently owns for other training opportunities,” Major Daniel Evans said.

Mission Specialist 1 Andrew Whittenbarger, a chemical engineer-ing major at Tech, said that the new tower was good for the program’s morale.

“For a civilian career, even some people’s career in the military, they might never rappel,” said Whittenbarger. “But at the same time, it’s a huge confi dence booster that you can rappel off a tall tower, you can trust your equipment and the people around you.”

The ROTC program, along with 12 other programs across the United States, was almost shutdown in 2013 because of budget reasons as well as a lack of diversity, as cited by the Army. Evans, as well as ROTC cadets, said the community and Oldham were supportive of the program staying on Tech’s campus.

“Fortunately state and congress got involved, the University presi-dent was instrumental in that, and now we have established new criteria and new leadership that understands the critical nature of being able to turn on and off pipelines of production of offi cers inside the military,” Evans said. “We anticipate having ROTC here at the University for many years to come.”

Oldham said at the time of the risk of the program shutting down that it was important to preserve the legacy and quality of the ROTC program

“The president of the University has been behind us, unlike any-body I’ve ever seen. This commu-nity has been behind us unlike any-body I’ve ever seen, and really this state,” Company Commander and

interdisciplinary studies major Caleb Anderson said.

Whittenbarger, a freshman, learned the program could be com-ing to a close before he came to Tech.

“I heard that it was shutting down but I also heard that the presi-dent here at Tech and a big group of people stepped in and made sure that didn’t happen,” said Whittenbarger.

“You’ve seen people from all different walks of life get behind our pro-gram that has pro-duced quality offi cers since the 1950s,” said Anderson, “and they said ‘no we want to continue to keep this program here because we know that Tennessee Tech will always produce men and women to lead in a culture and in a world that needs strong leaders.”

Anderson, Whittenbarger as well as Corporal Chelseyrae Hancock, bi-ology and health science major, said that the program has thrived in the 18 months after almost being closed for good.

“The program is much more competitive now. Before it wasn’t as astute, it wasn’t as competitive, it didn’t seem like everyone had the drive,” Hancock said. “Maybe it shocked everyone that, ‘Hey, this is something that could go away, this is not something that is always going to be there for me. I have to strive for it.’ There was so much more motivation, I guess you could say, to really do well, make good grades, have a high PT score, meet all of their require-ments, then excel in those things.”

“This program is going to contin-ue to grow, because we have the right people and resources that are falling into place,” said Anderson.

Whittenbarger said that in addi-tion to the new rappelling tower, the program has also moved out of its old meeting area in Tucker Stadium for a more central location on campus.

“With the new building, we have a computer lab and a study lounge, so both of those things are really nice as well,” said Whittenbarger.

Anderson said that in addition to securing ROTC’s foothold at Tech, the program would also be recruiting for more future cadets.

“In the future, we’ll be working with the nursing program to get more spots for students. We’re pulling in different engineering majors from the state and really the country to look at Tennessee Tech,” said Anderson.

Both Anderson and Whittenbarger say the future looks bright for the program in its future.

“This year we had one of our biggest freshman classes of incom-

ing ROTC students that we’ve ever had before, so our numbers are really good,” said Whittenbarger.

Whittenbarger also said that Tech’s ROTC program is above aver-age in commissioning offi cers from the engineering program than many other programs in the United States.

“This program has come a long way in the last two years and it’s re-ally a testament to the leadership that we have now surrounding this program,” Anderson said. “I would

like to look at this program, eight years from now when I’m a captain, 10 years from now when I’m a ma-jor, and see that this program is even stronger and even bigger than when I graduated here. This program had a legacy before me, and it will have a legacy after me if we continue to do things and which I know that we un-doubtedly will.”

ROTC here to stay,new tower opened

18 months after 2013 threat of program closure, Oldham shows support for future endeavours of the ROTC battalion on campus. New rappelling tower opened for training.

By ADAM WEBBStaff Writer

& DRAKE FENLONManaging Editor

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The primary news source of the Golden Eagles since 1924Serving Tennessee Tech weekly during the fall and spring semesters

Students are in for a sur-prise tomorrow if they aren’t paying attention to the cal-endars. Tomorrow is not just a normal Friday. Tomorrow is Good Friday and contrary to years past, classes will be in session.

Traditionally, schools are not in session on Good Friday, but this year, Tennessee Tech switched Good Friday for an extra day during Thanksgiving break.

Good Friday is the day on which Christians com-memorate the crucifi xion of Christ. It is closely associ-ated with Easter, on which they celebrate the resurrec-tion of Christ.

According to the holi-day schedule on Tech’s web-site, classes will be held on Good Friday next year as well.

“I don’t really like it at all,” said junior second-ary education student, Matt Utt. “Easter is one of my favorite, if not my favorite holiday. I would take Easter over Thanksgiving any day, so I am kind of bummed out about it.”

“I think that it’s hor-rible. They could have given us the day off. I mean we had it off before,” said Gage Dean, freshman engineer-ing student. “They switched it out for an extra day on Thanksgiving? I guess it could better prepare us for the workplace since most of them don’t get off on Good Friday.”

Though some students are just upset at the fact that they have to go to school, some students are seriously concerned about the lack of family time they will have.

“I don’t like it that we have to be here,” said junior sociology student, Andrew Oliveras. “It’s easier for stu-dents to go home and be with their families on Easter to celebrate the holiday, but instead they have to worry

about school and rush home to spend just a little bit of time with their families.”

Many teachers are still choosing to not hold class this Friday.

“I have one teacher that canceled class and another that just said he isn’t tak-ing attendance, so it’s pretty much canceled. I mean I’m not going,” said Wes Lackey, sophomore nursing student.

By PHILIP GANT Beat Reporter

Classes open on regular schedule for Good Friday

Centennial Plaza is causing a buzz around Tennessee Tech’s campus with the walkway between Henderson Hall and the Roaden University Center being opened re-cently. According to Grounds, Roads and Walks Director Kevin Tucker, he is “doubt-ful that any other walkways will be opened anytime soon.” He added, “it’s just a safety issue.”

One of the most popular questions be-

ing asked is “When will Centennial Plaza be complete?” A previous completion date was set for late spring, but several factors cause the date to be pushed back continually.

According to Tucker, “The project is an-ticipated to be complete by mid-May. That will not include landscaping, but it will in-clude the hardscape.”

Moving from the Snowmageddon into the time of April showers bringing May fl ow-ers, Tucker says “The weather continues to hinder the project. Anytime it rains, days are lost with respect to the completion date.”

With the project being completed around already standing trees, Tucker reassures that “We are continuing to monitor the condition of the trees, and we will give them a good feeding of growth stimulants once the project is complete.”

A separate part of the project includes a sculpture to be placed in Centennial Plaza. The artist is still working on the sculpture, and Tucker added that the “fi nal design has not been completed.” He anticipates that the sculpture will be installed sometime during the Fall 2015 semester.

According to “Right Now at TTU” onTech’s website, released April 1, the sidewalk on the west side of Dixie will be closed aspart of the Centennial Plaza construction. Theclosure will span from the UC to Derryberry Hall. This is part of the reasoning for openingthe sidewalk from the T.J. Farr building to theUC.

The new stairway to the parking lot be-hind Henderson Hall and the UC will also beopen. Everyone is asked to stay on the side-walk and to not cross over into the construc-tion zone.

Centennial Plaza expected to be open by mid-May, some sidewalks now openBy KARLI THREET

Beat Reporter

Ashton Breeden | The OracleFORMATION- A portion of cadets from TTU’s Army ROTC Golden Eagle Battalion stand on Quillen Field before Tuesday’s ribbon cutting ceremony to open the new rappelling tower.

ON BELAY- University President Phil Oldham preps for his decent down the newly opened rappelling tower. Oldham was the fi rst person to head down the tower at the opening ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday.

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On March 27, 2015, Tennessee Tech University celebrated the Centennial anniversary of its charter.

The fi rst event of the 16-month celebration was the charter cer-emony, which began at 10:30 a.m. in Derryberry Auditorium. Former Tech presidents Robert Bell, Angelo Volpe and Arliss Roaden; members of the Tennessee Board of Regents; Governor Bill Haslam; and Education Commissioner Candice McQueen were in attendance of the event.

“We don’t get enough chances to celebrate signifi cant milestones in our state, and this is one of them. Tech is literally the story of educa-tion in Tennessee,” said Haslam. “Sometimes, the political process doesn’t end up with the right answer, it ends up with the political answer. Other times, it ends up with just the right answer, and Tech is that story to me.”

Before and after the ceremony, student volunteers helped facili-tate the traffi c fl ow for the program. Volunteers were stationed through-out campus to direct visitors to-ward Derryberry Hall or Roaden University Center during the day.

Senior business administration major Anna Mote said she volun-teered to learn more about Tech’s history.

“I thought it was a great oppor-tunity to serve the University and be part of such an important event,” said Mote.

Approximately 30 students vol-unteered to assist visitors by doing

things like opening doors and lead-ing guests to the UC for gifts.

“I volunteered with the student engineering ambassadors, and we volunteer for a lot of things around campus but mainly just to help with different events that promote the fu-ture success of Tennessee Tech,” said Haley White, senior chemical engi-neering major.

During the event, actors por-trayed a reenactment of the charter being drafted and signed as well as prominent Tech graduates who made signifi cant contributions to Tech.

“It was really good,” said senior computer engineering major Paige Porter. “It was actually interest-ing, it wasn’t just a bunch of boring people talking,”

After the ceremony, free cup-cakes and 450 T-shirts were distrib-uted in the UC to all students.

Porter said she was drawn to the event because of the complimen-tary cupcakes and T-shirts. She said she plans on attending more events in the future that have free giveaways.

“(I will attend future events) as long as there are free things like T-shirts and cupcakes, but I would also accept ice cream,” Porter said.

In his address at the ceremony, Haslam said the students coming from Tech are bringing more rapport to the state of Tennessee as a whole.

“Tech has always refl ected the fact that Tennessee is a state that’s growing, both in its education and its belief in itself,” said Haslam. “Today, I think Tennessee Tech stands as a school that, for us, plays a critical role as we look to try to be the state that can attract jobs from anywhere. We do that with the kind of students that are produced here.”

>> Campustntechoracle.com

Contact us: oracle@tntech.eduNEWSPage 2 || THE ORACLE || COOKEVILLE, TN Thursday, April 2, 2015

The SGA approved six S.O.L.O. applications pre-sented at Tuesday’s meeting.

Phi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Honor Society, was awarded $630.90 for “Take Back the Night.” The event, which will include a march, candlelight vigil and poetry reading for victims of do-mestic violence, will occur at 6 p.m. April 7.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry was awarded $4,075 for the Spring Carnival, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 23 on the Main Quad. Approximately 200 sunglasses will be distributed.

“The Spring Carnival is a fun, community build-ing event for all students,” said Kenneth Rader, a BCM representative.

The African Student Union was awarded $149.30 for the Taste of Africa, an opportunity to educate peo-ple about the continent of Africa and showcase the dif-ferent culinary options the continent has to offer.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 11 in Roaden University Center, during the Window on the World international festival.

The Social Entrepreneurship Society was awarded $5,000 to allow Kai Kight to speak at Techx, a variation of Tedx lectures. Kight will be speaking on innovation and inspiration.

Typically, a speaker at Tedx lectures for only 20 minutes, but Kight will talk for 30 minutes to an hour, with students and faculty taking the rest of the allotted time.

Techx will take place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. April 27 in Derryberry Auditorium.

The Outdoors Club was awarded $500 to hold its fi rst Outdoors Day to help spread the club’s awareness across campus. The event will take place April 14 dur-ing dead hour on Main Quad. The club will hand out free T-shirts and allow students to participate in slack-lining, once they have signed a waiver form.

The fi nal application approved was for the Order of Omega, the greek honor society. The society was awarded $5,000 to host the Greek Award Banquet.

The banquet, which is open to all students “will honor what greek organizations do on campus and in the community,” according to Bobby Adams, president of the Order of Omega.

The banquet will take place from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 22 in the UC Multipurpose Room.

“We had some great organizations apply for S.O.L.O. funding tonight,” said Emily McDonald, SGA president. “We have a couple more sessions, so we hope organizations take advantage of the money we provide for events that are free for students and open to all students.”

Students running for an executive position need to turn in their petition by April 7; a meeting will be held during dead hour that day to go over the election rules. The election will take place April 14, with the re-sults being announced April 15.

Students running for an SGA senate position need to turn in their petition by April 16.

Elections will take place online from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days. Petitions are also available online.

On Jan. 1, Tennessee Tech enacted a new policy regarding sexual mis-conduct with the stated goal of pro-viding a “single, easily accessible and user-friendly document for students, employees and others affected by sexual misconduct to fi nd informa-tion regarding Tennessee Tech’s rules and procedures related to the offenses defi ned herein.”

The sexual misconduct policy is reviewed by the Title IX coordinator every four years or whenever circum-stances require review. The new poli-cy includes several substantial chang-es and additions to the previous one.

“Per federal law, it’s become much more comprehensive than it was in the past,” said Marlene Hall, Tennessee Tech’s Title IX coordinator. “Every university has had to go back and rework their policy to be more comprehensive.”

The new policy includes a list of defi nitions related to sexual miscon-duct, specifi cally outlining concepts like consent and domestic violence. It also provides a list of immediate actions victims should take, as well as contact information for on and off campus counseling and other re-sources for victims.

Tennessee Tech’s confi dentiality policy and investigation procedure are also covered alongside potential consequences for those found to be

in violation of the policy. Finally, it in-cludes lists of resources on campus, in the Cookeville community or online that may be benefi cial to victims of sexual misconduct.

Hall attributed the new policy’s approach in part to infl uence from the Campus SaVE Act, an update to the Clery Act introduced by Senator Bob Casey. The Campus SaVE Act seeks to address violence against women on college campuses by promoting transparency and accountability as well as educating students and ad-ministrators about the procedures and resources involved in cases of sexual misconduct. Although this law is a driving force behind the updated policy, there is still some leeway for interpretation between schools.

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4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Sheli Petersen Gallery Talk Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Virtual Theater Show Millard Oakley STEM Center

5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Understanding Business Financial Statements Johnson Hall 411

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CORRECTION MAR. 27, 2015

April

All DayBFA Student Juried Art Exhibition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

All Day Event Sexual Assault Awareness Month Table RUC Lobby

All Day Event Registration begins Tennessee Tech

0606

07 07 All DayBFA Student Juried Art Exhibition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

All Day Event Sexual Assault Awareness Month Table RUC Lobby

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The Clothesline Project RUC Tech Pride Room

11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Beta Alpha Psi Meeting Johnson Hall 218

6 p.m. - 7 p.m. Take Back the Night Tech Pride Room

7 p.m. - 11 p.m. SGA S.O.L.O. Concert with Juicy J Hooper Eblen Center

7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.Tech Chorale Concert Wattenbarger Auditorium, Bryan Fine Arts Building

All DayBFA Student Juried Art Exhibition Joan Derryberry Art Gallery

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HASLAM CONGRATULATES- Tennessee state governor Bill Haslam speaks on how he felt honored attend Charter Day and how much Tech has accomplished in its 100 years.

Charter Day begins Centennial Celebration

Tech enacts new sexual misconduct policy

SGA approves S.O.L.O. applications for six student groups

By DAVID MCMINNStaff Reporter

By MATTHEW PHILLIPSBeat Reporter

Innovations << TECHNOLOGYCOOKEVILLE, TN || THE ORACLE || Page 3Thursday, April 2, 2015

App Category: Social

During the fall semester, a smartphone applica-tion called “Unseen” began to make its way into the pockets of Tennessee Tech students. Available on both Android and Apple devices, the Unseen app allows college students to anonymously connect with one an-other by the use of photos taken in the app and then shared on a private and secure server.

On the app, users can up vote and down vote con-tent so it is seen quicker on the most popular post lists that is updated instantaneously around the clock.

According to Amber Leff, a public relations associ-ate representing the app, Unseen was fi rst launched only to students at Texas A&M University in May 2014.

Leff said that from there, Unseen quickly began to spread during the summer and that students from oth-er schools requested for their schools to be involved with the app. Leff said that more than 150 schools are currently on a “digital waitlist” and are waiting to go live on the application.

“Unseen was released at the Tennessee Technological University in September (2014) and has seen rapid growth despite having been available for only a short time,” Leff said.

So much growth, in fact, according to Leff, in November and December 2014, Tennessee Tech was one of the highest trending schools, meaning that more users from Tennessee Tech were posting and in-teracting with posted content anonymously than all of the other schools in the country.

In a 2015 interview with The Oracle, CEO of Unseen, Michael Schramm said, “In creating Unseen, we wanted to give college students a place to go where they could connect with their classmates without the pressure of a profi le or history.”

He went onto say that college can be a time of extreme pressure to perform equally both socially and academically. Schramm says that trying to keep this balance while living away from home for the fi rst time can make a student extremely lonely and confused.

“Traditional social media can exacerbate that lone-liness,” Schramm said. “By making it look like every-one else around you is having the time of their lives.”

Schramm said that the main purpose of Unseen’s creation was to help users of the app to unearth and build relationships with other students on a college campus.

“Unseen is used as a way to share moments in the hopes of prompting engagement, discussion and con-nection,” Schramm said.

By DRAKE FENLONManaging Editor

Share photos anonymously with other students

What’s Appening?

Smartphone applications change the way Tech students deal with everyday life.

A new application designed to trim drown customer wait time at restaurants and make their overall experience smoother has been created by a former Tech student.

Developed by Charlie Jordan, “Wait Saver” works in two parts as the restaurant uses one component and the customer uses the other.

“At the host stand, our device enables the hosts to see a restaurant’s fl oor plan, waitlist, reservation list and where they can actively seat guests onto the fl oor plan,” Jordan said. “It re-cords table turnover rates, which is the time be-ginning when a party of guests are seated and the time they leave.”

Wait Saver formulates a wait time by look-ing at how full the restaurant is compared to how long the waitlist is.

“It takes into consideration the size of the tables that are open verses the size of the tables that are closed,” Jordan said. “That feeds to our server, which stores all of the information.”

The second component is the mobile app, in which the customer can open and select their party size for the desired restaurant. They will be able to see how long the wait is and then make a decision about putting their name on the waitlist.

“Say you live 15 minutes away from a restau-rant with a 25 minute wait, you would be able to put your name on the waitlist so that when you get there you might only have to wait fi ve min-utes before your table is ready instead of the full 20 minutes,” Jordan said. “It will also notify you on your phone when your table is ready instead

of having to use a pager.”Jordan said he came up with the idea for Wait

Saver while working as a host at Olive Garden in the spring of 2013.

“We were on a 45 minute wait and we had this guy sitting in our lobby waiting for his table,” Jordan said. “We notifi ed him that his table was ready and his pager is going off right next to him and he checks his phone and it’s still going off next to him. That went on for about fi ve minutes until I told him his table was ready. After that, I was like ‘man there’s got to be a way to integrate those two together’ and that’s what sparked the idea.”

In the beginning, Jordan said he wanted to get it built solely with Tech students, and he got a team together in Fall 2013.

“I was meeting with business professors to learn how to start a business because it was totally out of my comfort zone,” Jordan said. “Our group ended up spinning our wheels for about six months and most of the team ended up dispersing.”

Jordan said that gave him the opportunity to learn business structure because he had no prior experience with it. They ended up hiring Content Executive, a programming company out of St. Louis to fi nish out the process of creating the app.

Still in the early stages of being marketed, Jordan said they are currently trying to market toward franchise restaurants.

“One of the biggest deals we’re working on right now is with American Blue Ribbon Holdings, who are the seventh largest restaurant holdings group in America, with the main chain being O’Charley’s,” Jordan said. “They told us that they love our technology but want to see it

in use.”Jordan said that Nashville is their main place

of market, but the app’s reception in Cookeville has been good.

“We’re starting to focus more on Cookeville as it is a major crossroads between Nashville and Knoxville,” Jordan said. “We’ve been work-ing with El Tapatio, Nick’s Restaurant, and Mauricio’s.”

After launching with restaurants, Jordan said this is only the beginning of where they hope to go with the Wait Saver app.

“We want to be the one-stop shop for any-thing wait related,” Jordan said. “We’ve got in the works a project that will undertake getting your car serviced. You’ll be able to drop your car off, get updates along the way, pay for your re-pairs, and be notifi ed when your car is available to be picked up — all on your mobile device.”

Projects in the early stages also include wait savers that would assist on waiting times at health care clinics and the DMV.

Wait Saver is free to consumers and Jordan said the app would continue to be free for users in the future.

“At some point, we do plan on sprinkling in some advertisements,” Jordan said. “We’ll prob-ably offer a $1 version to get rid of the advertise-ments, but there will always be a free version.”

Jordan said that he hopes the app is success-ful and no matter the outcome, he has learned something after this venture.

“Being able to see something and use some-thing that was once just an idea in my head is probably one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had,” Jordan said.

App developed in Cookeville to increase dining experienceBy JAKE THREET

Beat Reporter

App Category: Shopping

If a group of friends wants to go to the movies, how do they coordi-nate? They might send out a group text, or make numerous phone calls trying to decide on a movie, a time, a date. This is the exact problem that the “Atom” application seeks to solve.

Ameesh Paleja, Geoff Shaevitz and Matthew Bakal came togethe r to “make going to the movies easy again.” The app gives you the op-portunity to pick out the movie you want to see, invite your friends , and pay for your ticket all in the same place.

The app is currently being beta tested by the Atom team and the Carmike Highland 12 of Cookeville. According to co-founder Paleja, he spent 11 years in the IT depart-ment for Amazon and worked on the Kindle Fire project. He said that after 11 years, he caught the “entre-preneurial bug” and wanted to get back to building. Bakal was work-ing for Lionsgate Entertainment

in business development and de-cided that Atom was “an idea that couldn’t be owned by one table.”

Each year, there are 5.5 billion unsold seats in movie theaters. There are two billion seats unsold during the weekends. That is an 87 percent vacancy and the Atom app aims to change that.

The Atom app team came to-gether in 2014 and decided along with Carmike Cinemas that they wanted to release the app in a town that had a college and one theater. That’s how the two organizations decided on Cookeville, saying that it was a “good model for America.” The beta testing began the third week of March 2015 and is set to last for about 12 weeks.

The team wanted the app’s de-sign to be fun; it includes a scroll wheel with specifi c movie catego-ries and the ability to connect with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

When consumers download the free app, they receive one free movie ticket. The next page is a “show me” tutorial on how to navigate through the app. You may

pick from the new releases cat-egory, the alphabetical movie lists, “fresh movies” according to Rotten Tomatoes, the best deals, and “what your friends want to see.”

When going through movies, you can check for a movie that you want to see, and your friends can in-vite you to the movies according to your choices. Moving through the app, you’re able to purchase your ticket and concessions. If a group wants to purchase tickets, depend-ing on the number of people, tickets may be discounted.

If you make your purchases, but can’t make it to the movie, that can be taken care of as well. Simply cancel your order and you won’t be charged anything. If you are able to make it to the movies, then you’re able to skip the ticket lines and ac-cess the express lanes for tickets and concessions. The express lanes cut down waiting time and get you to your feature fi lm.

In the fi rst week, there were over 2,000 downloads of the Atom app. The team would like to see the app go national and then international.

Save money on movie tickets with friendsBy KARLI THREET

Beat Reporter

App Category: Entertainment

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Send letters to the editor to Send letters to the editor to oracle@tntech.eduoracle@tntech.edu. Include your . Include your name, email address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous name, email address and limit letters to 300 words. Anonymous letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. letters are not accepted. Deadline for letters is 4 p.m. Tuesday. We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and clarity.We reserve the right to edit grammar, length and clarity.>> Think FreeOPINION

Page 4 || THE ORACLE || COOKEVILLE, TN Thursday, April 2, 2015

Listen up, Nashville

Never too old, right?KELLY MILLSBeat Reporter

ELLEN CONTIBeat Reporter

While you still have time EASTER HUNT - What many people consider to be a childish thing may actually be a past-

time that adults enjoy as well. Easter egg hunts are still popular for all ages, apparently.

Get out

Kelly Mills is a senior in Com-munication with a concentration in

Public Relations. She can be reached at

kcmills42@students.tntech.edu.

Ellen Conti is a senior in Com-munication with a concentration in

Public Relations. She can be reached at

emconti42@students.tntech.edu.

TRAVEL BUG - Students these days are taking a different approach when it comes to how they approach post-gradua-tion. Many of them are choosing to travel before a career.

Free Images

Free Images

Free Images

EMPTY POCKETS - Pictured is the Nashville skyline, which many college graduates are just now fi nding out is a sight they cannot afford to see. Nashville rent increased just as the job opportunity market has - signifi cantly. Many people are trying to balance having a job, a place to live and enough food to eat on their plate.

KIMMY WHITTINGTONOpinion Editor

Kimmy Whittington is a senior in Communication with a

concentration in Public Relations She can be reached at

kemanning42@students.tntech.edu.

“I’m sup-posed to live where?”

About ev-ery other day, as I stumble online to look up apart-

ment listings, I fi nd myself in a fl eeting coma of sticker shock.

All through college, I

have been training up for the “real world,” for a city that has a Target, a skyline of buildings and a fast-paced environment. My career as a journalist was made for a downtown vibe … or at least I thought.

This week hit me hard in the face as every apartment listing in Nashville had a price tag of $1,200 a month, minimum. See, the problem isn’t fi nding a job there, it’s surviving while working at

it. According to a Nashville

Government city report, the median family income in the Nashville area, “Rose 6 per-cent from 2000 to 2013 but rents rose 21 percent for four-bedroom apartments and 39 percent for one-bedrooms.”

I am the one looking for a one-bedroom apartment; I am the one looking for a place that has increased al-most 40 percent in a decade. I am the one pretending not to

tear up as my bank account overdrafts by just paying a deposit.

So how do we do this? How can we be success-ful and have an affordable roof over our head? Well, it appears as if we can’t. The words downtown, college graduate, job and shelter physically cannot be in one proactive sentence.

So here I am resourcing and trying to fi nd housing in the cities nearby, such as:

Franklin, Brentwood, Spring Hill and Mount Juliet … but there is a surprise! They are even MORE expensive.

Who are these people that afford a place to call home without the fear of los-ing it or skipping meals?

I just want Nashville to know that they are losing us. They are losing the en-thusiastic college graduate students full of ambition and willingness to work full time right out of the gate. They are

losing the young, vigorousadult with eyes set on aspira-tions not money. Yet, moneyis an issue now because thelack of it is starting to confl ictwith survival.

Nashville, loosen up andlet us in. Make housing af-fordable so I can work foryou.

As graduation for se-niors is nearing, the big question is “What am I go-ing to do next?” The answer is travel. This is the time in your life where you are not tied down to anything. You don’t have children, you don’t have a real job and you don’t have a spouse. It is the perfect time to go see differ-ent places.

Traveling can be a good thing to help you grow and understand what life is re-ally about. When you are in college, they teach you about your major and how to apply it to your “hopefully future job.” Society is constantly telling you to make money and work hard, but what society doesn’t say after you graduate is you will not get a chance to be free like this ever again in your life.

When we graduate, stu-dents go straight to trying to fi nd a job and it is hard. You do not have experience; you don’t know how to write a good resume or what to say

in an interview. We went through the classes and we were taught the information but that is not enough to fi nd a job. If you travel after you graduate, a job will still be waiting when you get back. This is the time in our lives where we are young, free and healthy. Why not use that to our advantages and travel to see different places. If you travel, it might open your eyes to what you really want to do in life.

If you are lucky, you get to live to be 90. When do you think you will ever be free like this again? When your children have graduated col-lege and have gotten mar-ried. By then, you are old and not in a good condition to travel .You have kids and grandkids to worry about

while you are gone and you have to worry about your health.

To travel when you graduate can be the most rewarding part of your life. You will learn about differ-ent cultures, meet many in-teresting people, make won-derful memories, and be able to tell awesome stories to your little grandkids. Make memories while you are still young. There will always be jobs, but you won’t always be able to travel. You have plenty of time to make mis-takes and learn from them. Why rush?

Warm weather and sunshine fi ll the air. Pastel fl owers start to blossom as insects and animals re-turn from hibernation. With Easter Sunday approaching, talk of the “Easter Bunny” begins as well as the prepa-ration of Easter baskets. So when is too old, too old? Are you ever “too old?”

Almost everyone has childhood memories of believing in a big fl uffy bun-ny hopping his way toward your house to deliver your basket, along with the plop-ping of eggs to create a trail. As creepy and intimidating as this sounds, we believed in this myth and pretended to continue to believe for our friends and younger siblings. From candy-fi lled eggs to egg hunts fi lled with money, each family had

their own tradition. Baskets ranged from sports themes to action fi gure themes. They consisted of personalized baskets to the pre-made gro-cery store baskets you could just pick up.

So does the basket giving or receiving stop once the believing stops? No way.

The Easter tradition of gift giving is just like that of any other holiday. Once you stop believing in Santa, you still continue to give and receive gifts. The gifts just might be a little differ-ent from before when your imagination was naive and innocent. Valentine’s Day is the same way in that it changes with age and ma-turity as well. Candy grams with stickers, which we all deep down loved, changed to fl owers and chocolate, things that we are “told by movies to love.”

You are never too old for creative fun gift giving,

whether you believe in theEaster bunny or not. Thosebaby pictures you look backat, to see yourself petri-fi ed and crying on the mallEaster bunny’s lap, don’t lie.You didn’t care for him thenso nothing is any differentnow. You don’t need a mythto make you follow throughwith this tradition.

Easter Sunday, April5, take part in the Easter ac-tivities. Whether that meansattending a church service,giving someone a chocolateEaster bunny bigger thantheir face, or planning an egghunt, enjoy the holiday. This gorgeous weather is just thestart of an egg-cellent sum-mer that we all are lookingforward to!

Reviews << ENTERTAINMENTCOOKEVILLE, TN || THE ORACLE || Page 5Thursday, April 2, 2015

“Grey’s Anatomy” reinvents, still freshBy ADAM WEBB

Staff WriterBy JAKE THREET

Entertainment Editor

PAGING DR. HERMAN- Davis (above) has received criti-cal acclaim for her guest starring role on the series.

Courtesy of ABC

By HANNAH BENJAMINEntertainment Critic

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Toro y Moi’s “What For?” full of good vibes

“Get Hard” lazy, not groundbreaking cinema

When a television show lasts 11 sea-sons, it’s gener-ally because of two things: it’s a moneymaker for the network

or the ratings are through the roof. With the season fi -nale of “Grey’s Anatomy” approaching in the next few weeks, I’ve found myself still captivated by the series 11 years later. A lot has hap-pened over the course of the show. Characters have come and gone, relationships have grown or dissolved, and the high-stakes medical plots have continued to break bar-riers. Season 11 has demon-strated to me that the series can still reinvent itself after all this time, and it’s proving to be the show’s best season in quite sometime.

When Sandra Oh de-cided to leave the series after 10 seasons. It was a sad blow and her departure episode was heartbreaking, but in the end it provided the fi nal stamp on a chapter and the beginning of a new one.

The end of season 10 of-fered a new burst of life by introducing two new charac-ters to the show. First, Kelly McCreary would join the series as Dr. Maggie Pierce. McCreary’s character has been such a welcome to the ensemble cast. Dr. Pierce is a fi ery, quirky and brilliantly talented surgeon who offers an enticing backstory that ties into Dr. Webber’s and Meredith’s lives. McCreary’s portrayal of the character is exceptional, and, even in times where she might be an-noying, I can’t help but like her and root for her.

Also joining the main cast this season is Caterina Scorsone as Dr. Amelia Shepherd. This makes Scorsone’s fi rst time be-ing a regular in the charac-ter of Amelia on the show.

Previously, she portrayed Amelia on the “Grey’s” spinoff “Private Practice” from season three to six and had only guest starred on “Grey’s” in season seven before becoming a recur-ring character late in season 10. I have loved the charac-ter of Amelia Shepherd ever since her time on “Private Practice.” She is my favorite of the Shepherd siblings and has one of the best character developments on the series.

Another new cast mem-ber this season, though on a recurring basis, was Geena Davis as Dr. Nicole Herman. Her storyline has been one of my favorites in quite a while on the show, and Davis just kills her portrayal of the char-acter. If she’s not nominated for Best Guest Actress in a Drama at the Emmy’s, I will be shocked. I’m not sure how Davis would be able to come on as a series regular next season after recent events in the show, but I really would hate not seeing her.

Going into the season, Rhimes said that this season of the show was going revolve heavily around Meredith and that it has. Ellen Pompeo con-tinues to shine in the lead role of the series. She is the back-bone of the show and it’s nice to see after all of this time that the character can still surprise

the audience and continue to evolve.

Shonda Rhimes is thelady behind all of the great-ness that is “Grey’s” and praise must be give to her.She continues to push theenvelope for what moderntelevision should represent. She is unafraid to depict thestories and situations that people are facing currently. IfRhimes created a show about reading the telephone book,I’d watch. Everything shetouches seems to turn into television gold, and she con-tinues to work on new televi-sion projects. It doesn’t looklike Shondaland will be go-ing away anytime soon and that perfectly fi ne by me.

Still a steady performerin the ratings and the ever-coveted 18-49 demographic, it’s safe to say the show willreturn for a 12th season. If itcontinues to evolve as it hasthis season, there may not bean end too soon in sight forthe series. Eleven seasons in and “Grey’s Anatomy” is still one of best dramas onTV. With excellent writingand an awesome ensemblecast, I can’t wait to see what’s next in the lives of the doc-tors at Grey-Sloan Memorial Hospital.

“Grey’s Anatomy” airsat 7 p.m. CDT Thursdays onABC.

“Get Hard” is the latest from comedy geniuses Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart. James King (Ferrell) is a million-aire wrongly

convicted of fraud and em-bezzlement who attempts to prep for the hardship of pris-on life with the help of his car washer, Darrell Lewis (Hart). James assumes that because Darnell is black, he has been to prison and can help him survive prison life. This be-gins the two-hour onslaught of racist humor that might be considered comedy to young high school boys. During the course of Ferrell’s training, he fi gures out who is respon-

sible for the fraud and tracks him down with the help of Hart.

My biggest issues with this movie are the crude race jokes. The fi rst time James meets Darnell, he thinks he is being robbed because Darnell is black, not because he is actually threatening. James dresses in outland-ish, stereotypical “gangster” wear to blend in with Darnell and his family.

In addition to the obvi-ously racist elements, the fi lm makes lazy cracks about James getting raped in pris-on, keeping weapons in his butt, over sexualizes the few female characters, and in-cludes a montage of fi ght scenes where Ferrell gets beat up countless times. The fi lm is not well written by any means and runs a little

too long for the content. Likemost movies of this caliber,it’s pretty predictable as faras the end of the movie goes. Ferrell and Hart are known for being funny guys, but themovie does little to highlighttheir talents.

“Get Hard” is perfectly summed up by a single word– lazy. Audiences may feellike they have seen this kindof movie before. It is certainly not original or groundbreak-ing cinema. The jokes are of-fensive and crass and hardlyfunny in most instances. Rotten Tomatoes gave this fi lm a 31 percent, and itonly made $33.8 million lastweekend.

“Get Hard” is rated R forpervasive crude and sexualcontent and language, somegraphic nudity and drugmaterial.

EMPTY NESTERS- “What For?” is Toro y Moi’s fi fth album in the last fi ve years and fourth under this stage name.

Courtesy of acidstag.com

Singer, song-writer and pro-ducer Chazwick Bundick has re-leased his fourth album “What For?”

‘Toro Y Moi is known for his chill wave sound while also incor-porating electronica trends. “What For?” however, has Bundick sounding more like Pink Floyd or Daft Punk on their latest album “Random Access Memories.” He’s at his grooviest on the tracks “Lilly” and “Buffalo,” which sound like they could have come from Floyd’s album “Dark Side of the Moon.”

The single “Empty Nesters” features more of the funky tunes featured throughout the album, but mostly in the second half of the track is about teenagers running away from their par-ents and responsibilities. The fi rst half sounds like the kind of indie-pop you listen to on a road trip on a sunny day with your friends.

“Let’s try to make anoth-er year for the teens. I miss your bangs, can cut them for me. Smothered and covered by my high school dreams. Call mom and daddy cause the nest is empty,” Bundick

croons on the song’s chorus. “Spell it Out” continues

the blend of indie-pop and funk with slick guitar licks that sound straight out of a Nile Rogers track, a guitar solo dragged through fuzzy distortion and more of the same groovy bass lines as before.

Although there’s plenty of funk blended with indie-pop, Bundick also shows that he can write borderline sludge rock on tracks like “Run Baby Run” and “Half Dome.” There’s almost a transition in the album from one genre into another. The fi rst tracks sound like indie-funk by way of Pink Floyd, whereas the middle of the album sounds like a blend of indie-pop and funk. The tracks at the end fl irt with the sludge rock/post-grunge

scene with heavier distortion on the bass and guitars.

The main difference in “What For?” in comparison to Bundick’s other work is how it is almost anything but chill wave. There are songs here that would fi t into the chill atmosphere, but more often than not, tracks end up sounding like the Beatles at the end of their run or Pink Floyd more than modern chill wave.

The album is shorter than his previous album, clocking in at 36 minutes, but “What For?” is an album full of breeze and good vibes that is among Toro Y Moi’s best work and shows that the songwriter-producer is more than capable of singing over conventional instruments without a synth.

>> Inside the GameSPORTSPage 6 || THE ORACLE || COOKEVILLE, TN Thursday, April 2, 2015

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The fi rst spring scrim-mage for the 2015 Tech foot-ball squad offered a mixed review of the team’s offsea-son progress last Saturday afternoon at Tucker Stadium.

Following the fi rst two weeks of on-fi eld, organized team drills, the Golden Eagles simulated in-game play in a friendly matchup between both sides of the ball.

As the case in any inner-team scrimmage, the results were confl icting. Head coach Watson Brown said that he gathered signs of optimism but also saw areas that need improvement before the start of the regular season this fall.

“You can never be hap-py with scrimmages,” said Brown. “When something is good on one side that means it’s bad on the other.”

Brown was quick to note the turnover-heavy perfor-mance by the offense, which gave the ball up fi ve times on 75 plays at Saturday’s scrimmage.

“We were seventh in the league (OVC) in turnover ra-tio last year, and that won’t fl y,” said Brown. “When the offense doesn’t turn it over and the defense doesn’t give up big plays, usually good things are happening. We can handle anything else.”

Brown added, “Our de-fense led the OVC in confer-ence games in getting turn-overs last year. So, good by them, bad by the offense.”

Saturday’s effort also saw the latest development in the race for the recently vacant starting role at quar-terback, left behind by se-nior Darian Stone. The top two suitors, Jared Davis and Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College transfer Colby Brown, fi nished the day with even, yet varying, performances.

While Brown impressed coaches through the air,

completing 13-of-17 passes for 107 yards and two touch-downs, Davis showed off his athleticism by adding 18 yards on the ground, includ-ing a six-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown, to a 9-for-15, 102 yard passing effort.

“I thought Colby (Brown) did very well for his fi rst scrimmage,” said Brown. “He’s only been practicing with our system for two weeks. Jared (Davis) was by far, though, the most solid of the bunch.”

Davis’ ability to extend plays would only make

sense to impress Brown, whose previous two starting quarterbacks, Darian Stone (2012-2014) and Tre Lamb (2010-2011), were also known for their dual-threat abilities.

Despite limited expe-rience with the team’s of-fense, Brown said he was im-pressed with Colby’s passing and poise. However, he also added that the transfer, who often slides before contact af-ter escaping the pocket, still needs time to learn a certain piece of the culture of Tech football.

“We have to get him to run further before he goes

down,” said Brown. “Our quarterbacks are important in our system and they have to carry the ball. He’s an ath-lete, but he hasn’t ran it that much. We want him to get down, but not that quick.

Brown continued, “I told him, ‘If you’re not far from the fi rst down or the goal line, you lay your body out and go get it. I don’t care. We don’t slide when it’s some-thing like that. We run here.”

Davis, Brown and third QB Ty Jobe (5-for-10 on 35 yards) combined for 27-of-42 for 244 yards with a pair of touchdowns and intercep-tions. The picks, one from Brown and Jobe, came from safety Bill Dillard and walk-on Blake Lynn, who caught a tipped pass and returned it 51 yards.

With the departure of senior wideout Cody Matthews, Tech will need added stability to its receiv-ing core, a group that’s been riddled with injuries in the past. Brown said he is ex-pecting full seasons from receivers Krys Cates and Jordan Smith, who both sat out the entire 2014 season af-ter suffering injuries early in the year.

Cates led the attack through the skies, posting four catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns, both from Colby Brown. Jordan Smith fi nished with fi ve catches for 40 yards, with tight end

Dametris Watson, another player who missed most of last season with injury, add-ing 27 yards on three catch-es.

Deven Sullivan led the running backs group with 36 yards on fi ve carries, with Willie Davis close behind with 33 yards on two carries. Ladarius Vanlier, who fi n-ished with a breakout season for the Golden Eagles in 2014 ranking fourth in the OVC in all-purpose yards, totaled 19 yards on fi ve rushing at-tempts and four catches for 37 yards Saturday.

Although the offense gained 184 yards and three touchdowns on 34 attempts in the showing, the group lost three fumbles in a course of just seven plays. The turn-overs were, though, like any team scrimmage, a bright spot for the other side.

Brown and the Golden Eagles returned to the grid-iron Tuesday for their bi-weekly scheduled practice to prepare for their second and fi nal spring scrimmage: the annual “Purple vs. Gold” spring game, April 11 at 1 p.m. Season ticket sales for this fall’s fi ve-game home slate will offi cially begin at the start of the spring game.

Following the scrim-mage, the team will host the 2014 season awards dinner in Roaden University Center. The public is invited to at-tend at $18 per person.

FOOTBALL

Brown sees good, bad in fi rst scrimmage; quarterback race continuesBy JORDAN PACE Asst. Sports Editor

Jordan Pace | The OracleMOVE THOSE CHAINS - Junior quarterback Jared Davis stretches for the endzone on a 6-yard touchdown run during the Golden Eagles’ fi rst spring scrimmage Saturday.

>> Inside the GameSPORTSPage 6 || THE ORACLE || COOKEVILLE, TN Thursday, April 2, 2015

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The fi rst spring scrim-mage for the 2015 Tech foot-ball squad offered a mixed review of the team’s offsea-son progress last Saturday afternoon at Tucker Stadium.

Following the fi rst two weeks of on-fi eld, organized team drills, the Golden Eagles simulated in-game play in a friendly matchup between both sides of the ball.

As the case in any inner-team scrimmage, the results were confl icting. Head coach Watson Brown said that he gathered signs of optimism but also saw areas that need improvement before the start of the regular season this fall.

“You can never be hap-py with scrimmages,” said Brown. “When something is good on one side that means it’s bad on the other.”

Brown was quick to note the turnover-heavy perfor-mance by the offense, which gave the ball up fi ve times on 75 plays at Saturday’s scrimmage.

“We were seventh in the league (OVC) in turnover ra-tio last year, and that won’t fl y,” said Brown. “When the offense doesn’t turn it over and the defense doesn’t give up big plays, usually good things are happening. We can handle anything else.”

Brown added, “Our de-fense led the OVC in confer-ence games in getting turn-overs last year. So, good by them, bad by the offense.”

Saturday’s effort also saw the latest development in the race for the recently vacant starting role at quar-terback, left behind by se-nior Darian Stone. The top two suitors, Jared Davis and Coffeyville (Kansas) Community College transfer Colby Brown, fi nished the day with even, yet varying, performances.

While Brown impressed coaches through the air,

completing 13-of-17 passes for 107 yards and two touch-downs, Davis showed off his athleticism by adding 18 yards on the ground, includ-ing a six-yard quarterback keeper for a touchdown, to a 9-for-15, 102 yard passing effort.

“I thought Colby (Brown) did very well for his fi rst scrimmage,” said Brown. “He’s only been practicing with our system for two weeks. Jared (Davis) was by far, though, the most solid of the bunch.”

Davis’ ability to extend plays would only make

sense to impress Brown, whose previous two starting quarterbacks, Darian Stone (2012-2014) and Tre Lamb (2010-2011), were also known for their dual-threat abilities.

Despite limited expe-rience with the team’s of-fense, Brown said he was im-pressed with Colby’s passing and poise. However, he also added that the transfer, who often slides before contact af-ter escaping the pocket, still needs time to learn a certain piece of the culture of Tech football.

“We have to get him to run further before he goes

down,” said Brown. “Our quarterbacks are important in our system and they have to carry the ball. He’s an ath-lete, but he hasn’t ran it that much. We want him to get down, but not that quick.

Brown continued, “I told him, ‘If you’re not far from the fi rst down or the goal line, you lay your body out and go get it. I don’t care. We don’t slide when it’s some-thing like that. We run here.”

Davis, Brown and third QB Ty Jobe (5-for-10 on 35 yards) combined for 27-of-42 for 244 yards with a pair of touchdowns and intercep-tions. The picks, one from Brown and Jobe, came from safety Bill Dillard and walk-on Blake Lynn, who caught a tipped pass and returned it 51 yards.

With the departure of senior wideout Cody Matthews, Tech will need added stability to its receiv-ing core, a group that’s been riddled with injuries in the past. Brown said he is ex-pecting full seasons from receivers Krys Cates and Jordan Smith, who both sat out the entire 2014 season af-ter suffering injuries early in the year.

Cates led the attack through the skies, posting four catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns, both from Colby Brown. Jordan Smith fi nished with fi ve catches for 40 yards, with tight end

Dametris Watson, another player who missed most of last season with injury, add-ing 27 yards on three catch-es.

Deven Sullivan led the running backs group with 36 yards on fi ve carries, with Willie Davis close behind with 33 yards on two carries. Ladarius Vanlier, who fi n-ished with a breakout season for the Golden Eagles in 2014 ranking fourth in the OVC in all-purpose yards, totaled 19 yards on fi ve rushing at-tempts and four catches for 37 yards Saturday.

Although the offense gained 184 yards and three touchdowns on 34 attempts in the showing, the group lost three fumbles in a course of just seven plays. The turn-overs were, though, like any team scrimmage, a bright spot for the other side.

Brown and the Golden Eagles returned to the grid-iron Tuesday for their bi-weekly scheduled practice to prepare for their second and fi nal spring scrimmage: the annual “Purple vs. Gold” spring game, April 11 at 1 p.m. Season ticket sales for this fall’s fi ve-game home slate will offi cially begin at the start of the spring game.

Following the scrim-mage, the team will host the 2014 season awards dinner in Roaden University Center. The public is invited to at-tend at $18 per person.

FOOTBALL

Brown sees good, bad in fi rst scrimmage; quarterback race continuesBy JORDAN PACE Asst. Sports Editor

Jordan Pace | The OracleMOVE THOSE CHAINS - Junior quarterback Jared Davis stretches for the endzone on a 6-yard touchdown run during the Golden Eagles’ fi rst spring scrimmage Saturday.