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February 21, 2013 W W W . V S U S P E C T A T O R . C O M VOLUME 84 ISSUE 19
Inside This Issue- OPINIONS: “State of the Union affects students”
- FEATURES: “alphas to bring ‘7 MO Plagues’ to campus”
- SPORTS: “Blazers walk off against Cougars”
On the Webwww.vsuspectator.com
SpaniSh Cafe -
Student Union Meeting
Rooms a & B, 1 - 3 p.m.
Come play Spanish games
and meet other who are
learning the Spanish
language. Spanish tutors
will also be available.
Movie night - odum
Library auditorium, 8 p.m.
Natural High will be
showing “the five Year
engagement.”
pagan and WiCCan
SoCiety infoRMationaL -
odum Library, 6:30 p.m.
this will be an informational
meeting for those who want
to learn more about VSU’s
Pagan and Wiccan Society!
for more information, check
out their facebook group:
facebook.com/groups/
vsupagans
aRtS & SCienCeS SpRing
CoLLoqUiUM - UC theatre,
7 - 8:45 p.m.
Come learn about research
being conducted by VSU
faculty and students.
SCienCe SeMinaR - powell
hall auditorium, 4-5 p.m.
dr. Carl Crane, professor of
mechanical engineering at
the University of florida,
will discuss the development
of self-driving vehicles.
Today at VSU
Check out Von Kennedy’s previewfor VSU Theatre’s production
of ‘The Skin of Our Teeth’ opening today!
Meet SerwaMeet Serwa
CollinsCollins
Check out pg. 4 to learn
about this mass media
major’s modeling
career and more!
Weather
74 H 56 L
Partly
Cloudy
Today
78 H 65 L
Friday
50 L75 H
Scattered
T-Storms
Saturday
Are gas prices going to affect yourspring break plans?
A. I have to stay home be-
cause gas is too
expensive to travel.
B. Nope. I’m hitching a ride
with friends.
C. I don’t make SB plans.
D. Nothing can put a
damper on my vacay!
E. I’m making the best of it
and planning a stay-cation.
Vote online at www.vsuspectator.com!
Question ofthe week
Last Week’sPoll Results
Isolated
T-Storms
How do you feel aboutValentine’s Day?
60%It’s too commercial.
20%
10%
I hate it!
You mean Singles
Awareness Day?
10%It’s so romantic!
0%My favorite holiday!
eMajor:
Earn yourBachelor’sdegree online
McKinney gets birthday surprise
Operation Nifty:
Dr. McKinney holds his birthday card from Langdale College of Business Administration at arms length to read it to the crowd gathered for
his surprise celebration. "You know it's time to see the eye doctor when your arms are getting too short," McKinney said to the crowd.
President Bill McKinney
turned 50 on tuesday, but was
out of town for a conference in
athens that day and the day be-
fore.
While he was away, his wife,
dr. dacia Charlesworth, and oth-
er members of the VSU commu-
nity planned a birthday celebra-
tion for his return to campus on
Wednesday.
as part of the celebration,
code-named “Operation Nifty,”
campus organizations created
sheet signs that were displayed
across campus, digital displays
for the screens in the Student
Union and signed cards for the
president.
dr. Charlesworth had signs
and t-shirts printed. the signs
were placed all over campus and
t-shirts were handed out in front
of West Hall Wednesday after-
noon.
dr. Charlesworth also baked
cupcakes that she handed out to
celebration attendees after dr.
Mckinney had opened his gifts.
Shortly after 2 p.m., members
of the VSU mass choir sang
“Happy Birthday” to dr. McKin-
ney through his office window.
after being serenaded, the
very surprised president came
down the stairs to receive his
cards and gifts.
One of the gifts dr. McKinney
received was the “Giraffe
award” from the Langdale Col-
lege of Business, awarded to
people who stick their necks out.
another gift was a jersey
numbered “50” from VSU ath-
letics signed by members of the
Blazer football team.
“You have no idea how much
all this means to me,” dr. McK-
inney said. “You better believe
that this will only make me work
harder.”
Amber Smithe d i t O r - i N - C H i e f
Photos by Joe Adgie/ THE SPECTATOR
Dr. McKinney hugs his wife, Dr. Dacia Charlesworth, in front of the
West Hall stairs Wednesday afternoon. Dr. McKinney was sur-
prised upon returning to campus Wednesday to find “Happy Birth-
day” signs all across campus.
Wake up, log on to facebook,
maybe turn down Pandora and
go to class—all without leaving
the computer—this could be the
new morning routine for some
students.
VSU is now offering eMajor
as an alternative to the tradition-
al university experience.
VSU’s eLearning service has
offered eCore for students who
wish to take their core classes
online, but now the University
System of Georgia and adult
Learning Consortium allows for
students to also receive their
bachelor’s degrees online.
“We have been offering on-
line education at the undergrad-
uate level for a few years, and
eMajor creates a better pipeline
for students in eCore,” andy
Clark, associate vice president
for enrollment management,
said.
through eCore, students were
required to attend specialty or
major classes physically on
campus.
eMajor makes it possible for
students who are unable to phys-
ically be on campus to get an
education.
eLearning plans to push on-
line enrollment for fall 2013.
“We have seen a small in-
crease [in enrollment for VSU],
but there is a great deal of po-
tential to grow with eMajor,”
Clark said.
Currently the only majors not
available through eMajor are
Spanish and criminal justice.
“the programs have the same
rigor and learning objectives as
those offered in the traditional
classroom,” Clark said.
More information about the
eMajor program at VSU can be
found on the eMajor page on the
VSU website.
Will Lewisa S S t. M a N a G i N G
e d i t O r
&
Jennifer GleasonM a N a G i N G e d i t O r
VSU has a zero-tolerance haz-
ing policy for student organiza-
tions. this means that hazing in
any form in not allowed.
“When bringing new members
into organizations of any kind,
there is a misconception that
they must ‘prove themselves’ in
order to be considered worthy of
membership,” erin Sylvester,
student life’s assistant director
for organizational development,
said. “this mentality is at the
root of the definition of hazing.”
although all organizations on
campus and in the state of Geor-
gia have laws and boundaries
when it comes to hazing, frater-
nities and sororities have their
own reasons to be against haz-
ing.
fraternal information and Pro-
gramming Group’s risk Man-
agement manual states, "the
senseless act of hazing not only
creates liability risk for the chap-
ter and the entire fraternity, but
also hinders the development of
the friendships that are the basis
of brotherhood and sisterhood."
Paul Guzman, a senior psy-
chology major, said, “i've heard
several cases of students drop-
ping out of pledge classes due to
hazing, so i do believe it is a
detrimental problem here at
VSU.”
Some incidents of hazing
could be merely fodder for the
rumor mill, however.
“i've never heard any negative
things about hazing on our cam-
pus but then again i might just
be ignorant of it,” Michelle re-
lyea, a sophomore english major
said.
all incidents of hazing can be
redirected to the Office of Stu-
dent Conduct, a chapter or orga-
nization adviser or Student Life.
the number for the national,
toll-free, anti-hazing hotline is 1-
888-NOt-HaZe.
Hazing gets zerotolerance at VSU
Veronica DominicisS ta f f W r i t e r
Ending dead day, changing smoking policy on agenda Faculty senate meeting today at 3:30 p.m. at the University Center
Dead dayCertain faculty members
are in favor of ending deadday in order to gain an extraday during the last week ofthe semester to grade finalassignments.
This decision will allowfaculty to avoid missingdeadlines and “attend [their]favorite students' graduations” says Dr. MarenClegg Hyer.
In addition, ending deadday may improve the facultygraduation attendance rate;an issue concerning VSUadministration.
Student opinion"I think the deadline for thefaculty to get their gradesturned in should be extended. However, I don'tbelieve that you should getrid of dead day because it isa day for the students."
- Devin Wesby, junior, physical education major
Final exam policyFinal examinations will be
administered according tothe official final examinationschedule distributed by thecollege dean or Office of theRegistrar for regularlyscheduled undergraduatelecture or hybrid courses.
Further guidelines will be enacted. Instructors mustsubmit exceptions for approval to the collegedean. Student may requestan examination date changeif scheduled for three ormore exams in one day.
Student opinion“I think teachers should getto choose when to give theirfinals so that it will be easierfor students to make accommodations if changesneed to be made instead of having to go through thedean.”- Erica Velazquez, sophomore, psychologymajor
Smoking policySGA is working to
establish a campus-wide smoking policy.
The current smoking policy bans smoking within25 feet of entrances, exits,operable windows andground level air intake structures.
Smoking areas will be designated and facilities willbe given the right to bansmoking during any time ofthe day.
Other regulations are undergoing considerationtoo.
Student opinion"I think that we need morestricter smoking policiesaround the residence hallsand academic buildings [...]I think it's worth a try to try topush smokers away from thebuildings."
- William Jimerson, junior, international business major
Compiled by Stephen Cavallaro/ THE SPECTATOR
Get the full story online!
http://www.vsuspectator.com/2013/02/20/hazing-gets-zero-tolerance-at-vsu/
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The Classifieds
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
Feb. 19
Tires were slashed whileparked in the Patterson Hallparking lot.
Feb. 18
A bicycle parked outside ofthe Bailey Science Center wasreported missing.
Feb. 17
A bicycle was stolen from arack by Odum Library.
Feb. 15
A student’s computer, tabletand phone were stolen fromOdum Library.
Police Briefs
Feb. 22
Deadline for housing in theHonors residence hall, ReadeHall. Housing and ResidenceLife will accept applicationsuntil the date above.For more information, contactHousing and Residence Life(phone: 333-5920) or the Honors College (phone: 249-4894).
Feb. 22
Application deadline for the2013 Geico AchievementAward Program. Opportunity presented by Career Services. Sophomoresand juniors with a minimum3.0 GPA can participate.The program recognizes students in business, math,computer science and relatedfields. Award is $1,000. For more information, call Career Services at 333-5942.
Feb. 23, 9 a.m. to noon
Science SaturdayBailey Science Center
Hosted by the Biology Department.
Feb. 25, 11:15 a.m.
Langdale College of Businesspresents “Salute to HistoricalAfrican-Americans” for BlackHistory Month.Pound Hall Auditorium, room
211
Free refreshments provided atnoon.
Feb. 26, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
On-Campus Interview: WaffleHouseCareer Services office, Powell
Hall-West, second floor
Feb. 26, 8:15 to 9:45 p.m.
Food for Thought Open Michosted by Deep Release PoetrySocietyStudent Union Meeting Room 2
Students can join the open micnight and recite poetry,
freestyle lyrics or expressthemselves through spokenword.
Feb. 27, 2 to 5 p.m.
Fitness Frenzy with CampusRecreation and Campus Wellness CommitteeFront Lawn
Fitness and wellness fair withgiveaways, free food and doorprizes. For more information, contactMary Robison([email protected]).
Feb. 27, 4 to 5 p.m.
Controlling Your Anger Seminar Counseling Center, Powell
Hall-East, second floor
Dr. John Grotgen shows atten-dees strategies for controllinganger and redirecting the emo-tion positively.
Feb. 28, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Spring Education Career DayUC, Magnolia Room
For more information, call Career Services at 333-5942.
Upcoming Events
Happy
‘Tator
Day!
Professional athletes never geta break.
it seems that media coveragein today’s society focuses on thenegative more than the positive.every time i turn around, an ath-lete is being arrested on somesort of charge stemming fromdisturbing the peace, drugs or insome instances—murder.
as with any basketball fan ofmy generation, i grew up idoliz-ing Michael Jordan. “His air-ness” is the epitome of successin the sport, and i spent most ofmy free time on the court tryingto perfect his best moves.
it wasn’t until i began to fur-ther research the sport that ilearned that MJ was viewed asan excessive gambler and couldbe a very harsh, critical andsometimes unfair teammate.
Who cares? i’m not watchingJordan to live his life. i’m
watching him because i valuewhat he has brought to thegame.
When i turn on the television,i see news revolving aroundprominent figures in our societyall the time. an ex-LaPD officerjust recently committed a stringof disgraceful murders. it feelslike scandals are uncovered dai-ly involving our nation’s electedofficials and clergy members.Should children stop dreamingof being police officers or Presi-dent of the United States be-cause one made a mistake?
i am left confused as to whyprofessional athletes should belooked down upon for their mis-takes away from the sport. NBaHall of famer Charles Barkleymay have said it better than any-one else could. especiallyknown for his blunt personality,Barkley stated in 1993, “if iweren't earning $3 million a yearto dunk a basketball, most peo-ple on the street would run inthe other direction if they saw
me coming."it makes perfect sense. it’s
their careers that give them pop-ularity, but it’s the media and therest of society that expects ath-letes to be perfect. athletes areplaced on a high pedestal untilthey make a mistake.
i understand that athletesspend a great deal of time in thespotlight, but so do doctors, sol-
diers, teachers and actors. at theend of the day, i respect athletesand any public figure for theircontributions to their respectiveprofessions. if you take awaytheir fame and fortune, however,you are left with a human being,just like you and me. i will nev-er look at an athlete as a rolemodel. i have parents that fillthat position perfectly.
february 21, 2013 vsuspectator.com | page 3OpiniOns
People Poll:
How do students relate to the localcommunity?
Lacey Miller
junior
early childhood
education major
"i think residents don't reallyhave connections with studentsbut businesses do, because they
give student discounts."
Lorena Gasque
junior
mass media major
"...the community really moldsthe different businesses in Val-
dosta to accommodate stu-dents...Many businesses are
very open to hiring college stu-dents, almost every business hascollege students working there."
Melissa Dozier
junior
psychology major
"i think the relationship be-tween the students and the sur-rounding community really rep-resents what Valdosta is about."
Chase Alexander
junior
nursing major
"i feel that most students arevery busy with there degreesand the workload that comes
with it, so most students are un-aware of what is going on in the
community."
State of the union affects students
as conflict-ridden as poli-tics are today, VSU stu-dents can embrace some
of the key points PresidentBarack Obama emphasized inthis year’s State of the Unionaddress on feb. 12.
Some of the most pressing is-sues that will directly affectVSU students and our commu-nity as a whole are:
• the cooperation betweencompanies and community col-leges to train workers for newcareers, all coordinated througha single government program.
• rewards for effectiveschools that create and followtheir own curricula and meth-ods.
• State laws that require stu-dents to stay in school untilgraduation or age 18.
• extend college tuition taxcredit and double the number ofwork-study jobs over the nextfive years.
• tax relief for small busi-nesses that are raising wagesand creating good jobs.
• Opening of offshore gas andoil fields to exploration and pro-duction.
• implementation of cost-sav-ing reforms to Medicare, Med-icaid and Social Security.
• and finally, Congress to in-crease the federal minimumwage from the current level of$7.25 up to $9 per hour.
While we can all agree thatthese issues are pertinent to ourfuture success as citizens, coop-erative programs between com-munity colleges and businessmandating that students stay inhigh school until graduation orage 18 and the increase of thefederal minimum wage to $9per hour are most important tostudents.
according to the 2011-2012VSU factbook, VSU received1,593 transfer applications, ac-cepted 1,149 of them and en-rolled 768 students. Of those768 students, 478 of them camefrom technical or communitycolleges from around the stateof Georgia.
the reasons for why eachstudent started at a different in-stitution may vary, but one goalremained in mind, higher educa-tion in order to attain a qualitycareer in the future.
Despite more education op-portunities, students fall furtherinto debt.
But what if they completedtheir coursework or trade skillinstead of transferring? What ifcompanies came looking fortheir specialized skills once thestudents graduated?
With President Obama’s plan,these students in communitycolleges and trade schoolswould have a better opportunityto attain a job with their skills
right out of their program ratherthan using their school as a con-duit to transfer and hope for em-ployment in the future.
Not only will this get moreyoung adults into the workforcequicker, but it will help decreaseour unemployment rate andmaximize wages for employeesbecause companies will pay topdollar to employ the best, youngthinkers that will innovate theirindustries and become the fu-ture of their business.
in order to receive the previ-ous program, you must graduatehigh school. that is why we be-lieve President. Obama’s plan tokeep students in high school un-til they graduate is a great idea.
though this may be unpopu-lar to high school students whostruggle with grades, or haveunforeseen circumstances thataffect their education, but whatObama is doing is giving thema chance at success. every per-son deserves a chance, whetheror not they think they’re collegematerial—school should alwaysbe an option.
Would anyone advise theiryounger siblings to drop out andnot receive the same opportuni-ties we receive here at VSUonly because they hate math?
Life is hard, especially inhigh school. Motivation cancome from one teacher or everyteacher, but until you are in
their pres-ence, youdo notknowwho willspark thechangesyou needto fulfillthe poten-tial youhave inlife.
also,personalinfluencesmay notalways bethe bestinfluencesas a mi-nor.School provides an outlet fromthe stress that your communityor home life may put on you asa minor. School is where youdevelop social maturity and in-teract with adults that are notyour parents in order to gain adifferent perspective on life.
all minors deserve this op-portunity and no child should bedeprived of becoming the bestthey can be. as VSU studentsthat have achieved and excelledfrom our individual back-grounds, we must acknowledgethat other young people, siblingor stranger, deserve to riseabove and do great things if
they choose to, just like we did.finally, the federal minimum
wage being raised always seemsto make college students happyand corporations cringe. thoughcompanies may be shelling out$1.75 more an hour in profits tolower level employees, the bigpicture is most important.
the federal minimum wageat this moment can barely allowa single person with an apart-ment to survive in today’s fluc-tuating economy.
in order to keep up with thechanges in gas prices, groceriesand other every day expenses,we must have a wage set thatwill stabilize our lives in a time
of such instability. Yes, our economy is turning
around, but we are still far fromwhere it used to be.
We feel that $9 per hour willkeep people making minimumwage viable in our economyrather than them using everydime to pay a bill. Plans such asthis promote growth and en-courage the everyday worker tokeep on striving for excellence.Bringing back this initiative thatObama first spoke of during hisinitial presidential campaign,will “change” the morale of thepeople, provide “hope” for usall as we “move forward.”
This editorial was written by Von Kennedy ([email protected]) and it expresses the general opinion of the editorial staff.
Our point of view...
Role models far from perfect
Narcissism strings ego along
remember the infamous“imma let you finish” speechgiven by Kanye West at the2009 MtV VMas? We’ve seenmany instances where he hasthrown a temper tantrum be-cause he felt entitled to win.Well, the scary thing is thatamerica is filled with a worldfull of Kanyes. Narcissism hastaken over america, and thisform of self-absorption andpride can become dangerous.
Psychologists have beentracking narcissism through sur-veys of american college stu-dents since the late 1970s, andlevels of it—often measured as alack of empathy—have neverbeen higher, according to assis-tant professor at the Universityof Michigan’s research Center,Sarah Conrath.
“if you look at the levers insociety, almost all of them arepushing us towards narcissism,”Conrath said.
Media and technology are themain driving forces behind ournarcissistic ways. Online socialnetworks, such as twitter, face-book and instagram create a
bubble, so to speak, that allowsus to be admired and praised.
When we tweet something ex-tremely funny or popular, we arepraised with retweets and fa-vorites. We also have the optionto post only flattering and sexyphotos on instagram and face-book. twitter and facebook giveus the opportunity to say some-
thing witty without soundinglike complete idiots becausewe’ve had several minutes toproof and critique it before pre-senting it to our “friends.” Wedo all of these things to makeourselves look cool, hip, popu-lar, smart, etc. these desiresfeed our narcissism.
the CirP american fresh-man Survey reveals that collegestudents are more than ever like-ly to call themselves gifted anddriven to succeed even thoughtheir test scores and time spentstudying are decreasing.
Jean twenge, Ph.D., a SanDiego State University psychol-ogy professor, is the author of astudy which shows that the ten-dency toward narcissism in stu-dents has gone up 30 percent inthe last 30 years.
Pop culture is also playing arole in the narcissism of youngadults today. Celebrities such asterrell Owens, Kanye West,Chad Johnson and the Kardashi-
ans represent the type of narcis-sism that we see in today’s soci-ety. We’re living in the “genera-tion of me,” and it’s scary thatour society is actually embracingthis way of thinking.
So what’s to become of oursociety if we continue to let nar-cissism dominate the way wethink? Well when you think ofall the things narcissism consistsof—egotism, disrespect and apa-thy—it’s likely that we will be-come our own worst enemy.We’ll be engulfed in a societyfull of selfish individuals whodon’t care about the greater goodof the people as a whole.
in order to run a successfuland lively nation, we must betolerant, compassionate, selflessand respectful of each other. it’stime that we reinstate the ele-mentary quote that once meantso much: “there is no ‘i’ inteam.” We need to look past our-selves and see the bigger picture.Let’s not turn into a world ofself-absorbed Kanyes whosnatch the mic at every chanceprovided turning every “we”into “me.”
James WashingtonS ta f f W r i t e r
Issue of the
Week
Opinions expressed in the Spectator other than editorials are the opinions of the writers of signed columns and not necessarily thoseof the Spectator and its staff. all rights reserved. reprints by permission of the editors. Views in this newspaper are not necessarily
those of the Valdosta State University administration, faculty and staff.
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Online at www.vsuspectator.com
Spectator StaffEditor-in-Chief: amber Smith Managing Editor:Jennifer GleasonBusiness Manager: Brandon MainerAdvertising Manager:aimee NapierCirculation Manager: Sarah turnerOpinions Editor: Stephen CavallaroFeatures Editor: amanda Usher
Sports Editor: eric JacksonPhoto Editor: Cody HicksMultimedia Editor: Von Kennedy Web Designer: rebecka McaleerCopy Editor: Shambree WartelCartoonist: Garrison MuelhausenSocial Media Editor: Joe adgie Faculty Advisers: Dr. PatMiller, Dr. ted Geltner, KeithWarburg
Reporters/Photographers:Derrick Davis, Veronica Dominicis, allison ericson, aceespenshied, Neil frawley, BrianHickey Jr., ivey ingalls-rubin,Jessica ingram, Chris Kessler,Will Lewis, Olivia McLean,ritsuki Miyazaki, ray Pack Jr.anthony Pope, John Preer,Quasha ross, isaiah Smart,taylor Stone, Shane thomasalex tostado, Jamal tullSarah turner, James Washington, Steven Setser
MCT
In order to run a
successful and
lively nation, we
must be tolerant,
compassionate,
selfless and re-
spectful of each
other
Quasha RossS ta f f W r i t e r
MCT
Page 4 | vsusPectator.com February 21, 2013features
ATTENTION STUDENTS WHO PLAN TO LIVE ON CAMPUS NEXT YEAR
TIME MONDAY (3-4-13) TUESDAY (3-5-13) WEDNESDAY (3-6-13)
10:00 am -
12:30 pm
Undergraduates who have completed 60 hours or more & graduate students, & have a 3.25 GPA or higher
All undergraduates who have completed 22 - 59 hours
Undergraduates who have completed 21 hours or less, & have a 2.5 GPA or higher
12:30 pm -
3:00 pm
All undergraduates who have completed 60 hours or more & graduate students
Undergraduates who have completed 21 hours or less, and have a 3.5 GPA or higher
All Undergraduates who have completed 21 hours or less
3:00 pm - 5:30
pm
Undergraduates who have completed 22 - 59 hours, and have a 3.25 GPA or higher
All Undergraduates who have completed 21 hours or less & have a 3.25 GPA or higher
Participation is open to all current VSU students including students that do not live on campus
5:30 pm - 8:00
pm
Undergraduates who have completed 22 - 59 hours & have a 2.75 GPA or higher
Undergraduates who have completed 21 hours or less & have a 3.0 GPA or higher
*The above time slot ends at 5pm.
Reclaim process for current Centennial and Converse residents only--February 11-13 via an on-line process. Students who currently live in Centennial or Converse Hall will be able to reclaim their space if both students in the two bedroom or two of the four students in a four bedroom want to reclaim it. Students who live in an e�ciency room will be able to reclaim as well. The process will be held on-line, but sta� will be available in the Housing O�ce during business hours to assist students as needed.Room Selection for the 2013-2014 school year is March 4 - 6, 2013 in the Student Union Ballroom C.Please check the Housing web site at h�p://housing.valdosta.edu for more details on both the Reclaim process and Room Selection. Please review the schedule listed below to �nd out what day and time you can participate.
*Each time slot is for current residence hall students only (including pulling in roommates), except the last slot on Wednesday. **GPA = Cumulative GPA ***Completed Hours = Hours completed at the end of Fall 2012
Serwa Collins is not your typi-
cal student.
Collins, 28, dreams of making
it big in the entertainment indus-
try as a TV show host and per-
sonality.
While she can be found doing
lots of work in the mass media
department, she is even more in-
volved off campus.
Over the past few years
Collins has been successful as a
plus size model. She has ap-
peared in two shows and two
magazines.
In addition to print work, she
also spends a lot of her time
finding local vocal artists in Val
dosta to help promote. While in-
terviewing the artists, she also
showcases her host potential.
She loves meeting new peo-
ple, finding out interesting facts
about them and helping them
with their careers in the process.
Black Crow Media is home to
a lot of Collins’ work. There, she
is an on-air talent intern where
she has her own show on Satur-
days from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
where she takes on the name of
“Insatiable Serwa.”
Her show is geared toward
promoting a positive attitude and
to reinforcing optimism to her
listeners.
Collins ends every show with
a positive piece of advice to
leave her listeners on a happy
note.
“Anything negative can hap-
pen, but you can pull positive
out of that if you have a positive
mind,” she said.
When she isn’t diving head
first into media, Collins is coor-
dinating blood drives for the
American
Red Cross
or planning
the next
“Dre Day,”
a cancer
awareness
event in
honor of her cousin who died.
She first began donating blood
on her own, but realized she
loved the thought of helping so
many people.
So far she has sponsored six
blood drives and gets more and
more participants every time.
In the future, Collins sees herself
doing something amazing in the
entertainment industry.
Her dream job is to work for
BET or even start an acting ca-
reer. Her celebrity idol is Oprah,
someone who proved to the
world that it is possible to rise
from the bottom to the top.
She also looks up to two of
her mass media professors, Mike
Savoie and Frank Barnas, who
always have the door open for
their students and are willing to
help.
Collins’ friends also see the
light and joyful spirit
of her personality on a
daily basis.
“She has a loving spir-
it and lights up a room,
she is so optimistic
about life,” Daphne
Wright, Collin’s friend
and neighbor, said.
It is clear to see after spending
only a few minutes with Collins
that she has such a loving heart
and radiates optimism.
“I get discouraged for a
minute, but I just get back up,”
Collins said.
Collins wishes for everyone
on campus to dream big and to
never doubt themselves. She
hopes that students realize that
there is so
much more than just the univer-
sity. The possibilities are endless.
She accomplishes her goals by
going after them with full force
and having no regrets.
“Pray, study, and network are
the three most important things
to keep in mind.” Collins said.
Dowling Payne
‘Insatiable
Serwa’ shines
off campus
Photo Courtesy of Serwa Collins
Senior Serwa Collins is a senior
mass media major who strives to
be on camera.
Look at
what’s
to come
Career Services will
host a job search
workshop March 6
from 12-1 p.m.in
Powell Hall-West 2nd
Floor.
Hello world—Anthony here
wrapping up all the things
that had us buzzing this
past week.
In one of the funniest moments in
recent social media history, someone
was able to hack into the Twitter ac-
count of Burger King on Monday.
Twitter was on fire when the
hacker flooded the BK timeline with
McDonalds propaganda, even going
as far as to post a picture of someone
doing heroin and claiming it was a
BK employee.
After 1 hour and 15 minutes of
McDonald’s endorsements, a
shoutout to some DJ and a few ran-
dom tweets, the page was suspended
by Burger King and a statement was
released.
“It has come to
our attention that
the Twitter account
of the BURGER
KING® brand has
been hacked. We
have worked direct-
ly with administra-
tors to suspend the
account until we
are able to re-estab-
lish our legitimate site and authentic
postings. We apologize to our fans
and followers who have been receiv-
ing erroneous tweets about other
members of our industry and addi-
tional inappropriate topics.”
There is no word yet on who was
responsible for the hack, but I can’t
help but suspect a red headed clown
named Ronald had something to do
with it.
Because I think it’s in God’s order
that I mention Beyoncé at least once
this week, Queen Bey gave the
world, or at least the Bey Hive, what
they’ve been dying to see when she
premiered her HBO documentary
“Life Is But A Dream” on Feb. 16.
In the hour and a half long docu-
mentary, Bey gave the world a
glimpse into her life, marriage and
career, which included letting the
world see her daughter Blue Ivy for
the first time and discussing her un-
known miscarriage.
Beyoncé also sat down with
Oprah to discuss what was going to
be in the documentary on “Oprah’s
Next Chapter,” which aired right be-
fore.
Besides seeing Blue Ivy and hear-
ing her talk about her miscarriage,
we really didn’t learn anything new
about Bey, except the fact that she
likes to talk to her computer, a lot.
Most of the documentary featured
her speaking to her computer and
keeping a video diary of her life for
the last few years.
The fact that she still talks like a
5th grader isn’t going to help those
rumors that she’s illiterate, but haters
are gonna hate regardless.
As if things couldn’t get any sad-
der than Beyoncé’s speaking skills,
country singer
Mindy McCready
was found dead
of an apparent
suicide on Mon-
day.
This comes a
little over a
month after Mc-
Cready’s
boyfriend was
also found dead after he committed
suicide, followed by her losing cus-
tody of her two children.
McCready has a long history with
drug and alcohol addiction, some of
which was revealed when she ap-
peared on “Celebrity Rehab” with
Dr. Drew.
After appearing on the show, it
was rumored that McCready re-
lapsed several times. Maybe that was
what led to her taking her own life.
Some addictions are too strong for
the soul. RIP Mindy.
As always check back with Pop
Addict next week to see what’s go-
ing on in the world of the rich and
famous.
*Slang Dictionary*
‘Bey Hive’: the unofficial name
for singer Beyonce’s fans
Po p
Ad d i c tAnthony Pope
Burger Kinggets hacked
The College of Arts and
Sciences will have a Fac-
ulty/Student Research
Colloquia today in the
UC Theatre from 7-8
p.m. Speakers consist of
members of the Depart-
ment of Social Work,
the Division of Social
Work at VSU, the De-
partment of Physics, As-
tronomy and Geo-
sciences.
The Spectator are taking graphic designers, writers, photographers
and ad sales respresentatives. For more information, email Amber
Smith at [email protected].
vsUspEctAtoR.com | pAgE 5FEBRUARY 21, 2013 f e a T u r e S
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ANSWERS
Sudoku
Check out the web spectator at vsuspectator.com toget taylor stone’s take on fashion, and to see whatrestaurant made the spectator tasters list this week.also on the web is a preview for “the skin of Our
teeth” and CaB’s “Midterm study Night and relaxation: Common Mind Music.”
Picking a major can beintimidating and unfor-tunately there is no de-gree in undecided.
this is why VsU offers Ca-reer services for the undecidedand decided. Career serviceshelps students with everythingfrom preparing resumes tosearching for a job.
“the purpose of career ser-vices is to assist students withfinding a major, gaining workexperience, such as part time andto assist them in finding a fulltime job when they graduate,” J.Kevin taylor, associate directorof Career services, said.
for many students, graduatingon time is not an option. Careerservices will, and has made thatpossible by providing online in-ventories, which figure out stu-dent’s interests, skills, personali-
ty preferences and work values. “it doesn’t matter if you’re a
freshman or a senior, inventoriesare the way to go,” taylor said.“we can help them look at theoptions from the inventories, itsno charge as long as you’re en-rolled.”
for students who already havethe major of their dreams, careerservices offers mock interviewsas well as online interview prac-tice through interviewstream.
interviewstream uses webcamrecording to practice interview-ing while receiving positivefeedback from a career coun-selor.
another option is Career ser-vices’ hour-long seminars andworkshops to assist in a numberof problems like resumes, jobsearching and interviewing. toattend these seminars studentsmust call 24 hours in advance toregister.
But Career services isn’t justfor students. VsU alumni whoneed guidance can also take ad-
vantage of Career services’ sup-port and resources for free upuntil a month after graduation.
Career services can helpalumni to improve their socialmedia image, interview perfor-mance and resume.
to avoid being jobless aftergraduation, taylor recommendedthat students start applying forjobs two semesters before gradu-ation.
“i had no idea i should havestarted applying before gradua-tion,” ashley thornton, VsUalumni, said. “i thought i wouldhave a ton of leisure time to ap-ply and i would immediatelyfind a job…so not true.”
VsU will present spring edu-cation Career Day on feb. 28.this event is geared towars edu-cation majors but is also a greatevent for interested students toattend.
On March 26, students of allmajors can attend the spring Ca-reer expo. these events give stu-dents the chance to hand out
their resumes to recruiters andview different job opportunities.
“Currently i am interning andtesting out my dream job but if ihad known Career services of-fered so much i would have hitthem up before graduation,”thornton said.
Career services also hosts on-campus interviews with compa-nies to give students a conve-nient and equal opportunity.Over the next few months, waf-fle House and sherwin-williamsautomotive finishes Corp. willbe conducting interviews for amanagement position.
for more job opportunities,visit Career services, open from9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-thursday and friday 8 a.m.to 3p.m. in Powell Hall-west on the2nd floor.
they take appointments aswell as walk-ins, and studentscan now follow them on twitterand facebook, where you canview more job opportunities andupcoming events.
Career Services here to help
there’s a cold frontbrewing, and it willbreeze through campusnext week as alpha Phi
alpha fraternity, inc. presentsalpha week 2013, “7 MOPlagues.”
One thing that sets “7 MOPlagues” apart from any otheralpha week in the past is thefact that there will be two eventsper day that the public will get toparticipate in sunday throughthursday.
the Mu Omicron chapter ofalpha Phi alpha will begin theweek with a day of church ser-vice at 11 a.m. at Crossing Jor-dan Baptist Church located at1401 Cypress st. sundayevening will bring a movie nightat 7:06 p.m. in the Bailey sci-ence auditorium room 1023.
“Our annual alpha week al-lows us to give back to the com-munity which has supported ourinitiatives to make a positive im-pact on campus,” will Jimerson,chapter secretary and webmaster,said.
One of the most anticipatedevents of all Greek weeks is thecookout. On Monday, the alphaswill host their cookout, thefeast of Kings, from noon to 3p.m. at Palms Quad with PhiMu.
Phamily Pheud will follow thecookout at 7:06 p.m. in JennettLecture Hall room 111.
the organization, founded in1906 at Cornell University, es-tablishes itself on service andwill give the student body achance to participate on tuesday.there will be a March of Dimesfundraiser on the Pedestrian Mallfrom noon to 3 p.m.
“Our organization has noplans on gaining anything fromthis year’s events,” Kam farrow
chapter treasurer and special events coordinator, said. “in-stead, we have worked diligently to provide events that give backto our community that being ouruniversity, the city of Valdosta,our nation and to provide a funand interactive week with the campus.”
tuesday, Pharaoh’s appear-ance, will conclude with a pro-fessionalism forum at 7:06 p.m.in the student Union theater.
the Mu Omicron chapter willpresent encoding intelligence tocampus wednesday. the firstevent will be a clothing/schoolsupplies drive on the PedestrianMall from noon until 3 p.m.
the second event will be theBlack Leaders empowermentsummit at 7:06 p.m. in JennettLecture Hall room 2211.
farrow has high hopes for theforum and expects it to be thegreatest event of the week.
“Our week is the last week infebruary, essentially endingBlack History Month, and wefelt there is no better way to goout than on a positive note thatconsists of the leaders of ourcampus speaking about leader-ship and our potential for greatthings,” farrow said.
thursday, the Dialect of rea-son, will bring the campus an or-atorical competition at
7:06p.m.in the University Center theater.“the Mu Omicron chapter provides a host of educational, ser-vice, social and personal devel-opment forums and specialevents on campus throughoutevery year,” Jimerson said.
speeches in the competitionwill focus on the issue of equali-ty for all people. the winner willbe awarded a prize of $100.
friday the alphas will presenttheir event, the fate of rhythm.the men in black and gold willstart the day by participating inthe Black History Month Cele
bration at 8:30 a.m. at J.L. New-bern Middle school.
at 3:06 p.m., Black studentLeague will collaborate to bringstroll Like an alpha to the stu-dent Union Ballroom B & C.
teams of girls will put togeth-er their best routines of strollingusing signature moves of the al-phas and compete against oneanother in the event.
alpha week will concludewith “road to redemption” at 9a.m. on saturday with a day ofservice cleaning Baytree road atthe Grove. students are encour-aged to participate.
for more information of theweek’s events, follow the alphason twitter at @MuOmi-cron1906.
Alphas to bring ‘7 MOPlagues’ to campus
Photo Courtesy of Valdosta state alphas
The Mu Omicron Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. was found-
ed May 31, 1976, and participates in service projects such as Habitat for
Humanity and mentoring students.
Hello tech enthusiasts.i’m here with thenewest tech news youneed to know about.
an analyst says that the iPadwill be updated to look like theiPad Mini this spring.
apple will also introduce anew apple tV box with bettersoftware, but no iPad Mini withretina Display. take this with agrain of salt people.
if you don’t already know, Mi-crosoft is ending the windowsMessenger program. they willinstead move all of its users toskype –which is now owned byMicrosoft. the move will takeplace during the month of april.
skype has also begun a videomessaging beta service. You cansend a video to someone whenthey are not logged on. the betais only for windows users fornow. the service should beavailable to everyone in april.stay tuned and keep checking forupdates.
the Playstation 4 controllerfor the development kit mighthave been revealed. this may ormay not be what the final prod-
uct looks like. the controller islonger than the Ps3 controllerand has all the same buttons.
the D-pad is smaller to ac-commodate a new touchscreen/pad. there is a light baron top that looks similar to thePlaystation Move requirements.
also, the analog sticks arenow concave and look much bet-ter. it could also have a “share”button the sony press confer-ence in which the Ps4 was ex-pected to be revealed took placewednesday.
is it me or are iPod chargercords never long enough? well,they just got shorter. apple hasreleased the Lightning cable sep-arate from the new iDevices andit is half the original length. thecord still costs $19.
remember the talk surround-ing the LG Optimus G Pro? wellit’s coming. it will have a 5.5-inch screen with 2GB raM anda 1.7GHz processor. it sports a13-megapixel camera. More de-tails will be revealed at the Mo-bile world Congress.
HtC is back! the HtCOne is rumored to releaseMarch 22 for at&t, sprintand t-Mobile. it has an allaluminum body and looksmuch like the BlackBerryZ10.
the screen is 4.7 inch-es with 468 pixels per inch.it also has an interesting fea-ture of a four-megapixel
camera. the sensor will capture300 percent more light than com-peting camera phones. the $199version will get you 32GB stor-age-- another $100 will get you64GB.
that’s it this week people.see you next time!
the question of the week is,“what video chat service do youuse-- skype, Oovoo?”
email your answers to [email protected].
Microsoft takes over Skype,
analog sticks much ‘better’
Spec Techwith Steven Setser
Allison Ericson
s ta f f w r i t e r
Isaiah Smart
s ta f f w r i t e r
Page 6 | vsusPectator.com february 21, 2013
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S p o r t S
Blazers walk off against Cougars
Catcher Bryant Hayman’s
game-winning base hit in the bot-
tom of the ninth to bring home
Dan Hoover helped outlast the
Columbus State Cougars in a 4-3
win on Wednesday night.
“they had been pitching me
away all day and i just wanted to
make sure i didn’t do too much,”
Hayman said.
While the Blazers improve to
6-2 on the season, the Cougars
fall to 3-9.
VSU’s offense struggled to get
off the ground all game until it
came down to the wire when
sophomore Hayman came
through with the clutch play.
Nick Fogarty did not have the
ideal rebound start following his
perfect game the team was hop-
ing for.
the Blazers’ pitching stalled at
the beginning of the game.
in his first start since his per-
fect game; Fogarty went three in-
nings and gave up three runs on
six hits.
Sophomore pitcher Dom De-
masi allowed three hits and zero
runs in two innings after coming
into relieve Fogarty for the Blaz-
ers in the sixth inning.
“everybody has their off days
and i am not going to hold it
against [Fogarty],” Demasi said.
“i just went out there and just
tried to do my job and just [take]
it a pitch at a time.”
the four strike-out perfor-
mance was good enough to keep
the game close and pave the way
for senior pitcher Benjamin Weil.
Weil held the Cougars to zero
runs while striking out three bat-
ters in almost two innings of
work.
“i thought our bullpen was
outstanding tonight,” head coach
Greg Guilliams said. “We played
good defense and finally got that
big two-out base hit… before
[the Cougars] did.”
Alex Tostado S p o r t S W r i t e r
VSU says farewell to seniors
Valdosta State men’s basket-
ball team is gearing up for its fi-
nal home game of the season,
hosting West Florida Saturday af-
ternoon.
the Blazers enter the game on
a three-game winning streak fol-
lowing a 70-69 victory over the
West Alabama tigers last Satur-
day at the Complex.
UWF has won two consecutive
games after defeating West Geor-
gia 87-79 last Saturday in their
final home game of the season.
it will be senior night as four
Blazers: Josh Sparks, Shaquille
Harris, James Anacreon, and Jar-
roid Johnson, will be honored in
their final home game before
they wrap up the regular season
on the road against Gulf South
Conference foes Christian Broth-
ers and Delta State.
“i think Senior Night is great
at every university across the
country,” Mike Helfer, head
coach said. “it’s a chance to say
thanks to your seniors. obvious-
ly, everybody is very familiar
with Josh and i’m so thankful for
what he’s done for our school—
not only from a basketball stand-
point but a community stand-
point. But, even guys like James
Anacreon and Shaq Harris, who
came to play their senior year
here, have just been awesome for
our program and great represen-
tatives.”
Senior forward Josh Sparks is
the only player returning from
last season and is currently in his
third and final season for the
Blazers. Sparks is currently hav-
ing his best season in a Blazers
uniform, averaging 12.1 points,
8.9 rebounds, 3.9 blocks, and 1.2
steals in 30.1 minutes per game;
all career-highs.
“My first two years i was a
role player— just get rebounds,
block shots and get a couple
buckets here and there,” Sparks
said. “Coming out this year, i
knew the focus was gonna be on
me and some other guys. it just
feels good to be able to show my
whole repertoire and be able to
play my game.”
Sparks is a fan favorite in the
Complex and admits that Satur-
day will be an emotional game
for him.
“it’s going be bittersweet,”
Sparks said. “i love playing in
here—the whole atmosphere. it’s
going to be awesome when i’m
in the game but when it’s over,
i’ll probably shed a couple tears
to be honest.”
UWF will be looking to spoil
the Blazers’ night, as they aim to
complete the regular season
sweep.
“[West Florida] is a very good
team with a lot of different
weapons,” Helfer said. “We’re
just gonna have to be prepared
for everything that they throw at
us—just be into the game from
the jump ball. they will definite-
ly be into the game so we need to
make sure we’re into the game.”
the biggest concerns for the
Blazers revolve around West
Florida forward terrance Beasley
and high-scoring guard ellis
Young iii.
Young is coming into Satur-
day’s game as the reigning GSC
player of the Week for the sec-
ond consecutive week, punctuat-
ing the honor with a 41-point
performance against West Geor-
gia.
“He missed seven free
throws,” Helfer said with a
laugh. “But, ellis and terrance
Beasley are both great players
that can go off on any night.
You’ve got to make sure that
both of those guys are keys de-
fensively, but they’ve got other
kids that can make plays and
we’ve got to make sure that
we’re ready for everybody.”
tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.
following the Lady Blazers’
home finale.
Shane ThomasS p o r t S W r i t e r
Jamal Tull/THE SPECTATOR
Pitcher Nick Fogarty glances
over before the wind up on the
mound.
Check out the rest of your
VSU’s sports news online
at vsuspectator.com
Want to be a sports writer?
Email: [email protected]
Follow @Blazersports on Twitter!
