SPRINGHILLIANTHE

#SELFIE NATIONWINNER

February 27, 2014 Volume 98 Issue 4 Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

By ChelseaWALLACE Assistant Editor

The SHC radio show Top of the Hill has expanded to include its very own televi-sion channel run by students here on the Hill.

Often seen doing live broadcasts in the caf or in McKinney’s, Top of the Hill is the student-run radio station at Spring Hill. Currently located in the Integrated Media Center in the LAC, the station hopes to spend the next several years get-ting a television broadcast produced and delivered to the campus.

Catt Sirten, an adjunct instructor in the communication arts department, ex-plained that students are taught to create and edit podcasts, which are then avail-able on the web. “There are dozens of posts. There’s funny ones, there are seri-ous ones, live stuff, remote broadcasts,” Sirten says. “We just recorded a simula-tion of the Supreme Court and that’s also up.”

Currently in its third year, the media department hopes to eventually provide a full-time broadcast on Badger TV, cur-rently channel 16.1 on cable, says Sirten. For now, there is a still logo for Top of the Hill as well as the radio content. “This is a collection of 22 hours that’s always up,” Sirten explains, “but as soon as they get

the content from the multimedia center, that will go on there, too.”

What is keeping the department from producing that full-time broadcast? Sim-ply put: there aren’t enough. Sirten says, “The challenge with having a video chan-nel is the monster that has to be fed. It’s a lot of content and the content takes a long time to make.”

Because of this, an academic class would be the best bet to secure both the manpower and the material to film. “It takes an ongoing effort and right now, we don’t have an academic class to create the content. We need the man hours and the courses to justify the man hours,” Sirten explains.

Bill Rowan, who teaches the broadcast class and donated some of equipment, stresses the importance of knowing how to create and produce film content. “This is the fastest growing commercial indus-try in the world,” Rowan states. “All of these little shows, product demonstra-tions...who does all that stuff? Someone has to.”

Rowan also believes in the importance of the class in helping students bring all aspects of their communications train-ing together into one all-encompassing experience.

WHAT’S INSIDE:Lifestyle:Check the middle spread for a Mardi Gras Ball 2014 recap and get a chance to check in with the Badgers overseas! Pg. 6-7

SEE FROM THE COVER PG. 3

Sports:The baseball team had two thrilling wins against rival University of Mobile this past weekend. Pg. 11

Comm. Arts Has Some New Digs

WEEKLY FORECAST

HILLIAN STAFF

HILLIAN CONTACT

WEEKLY

Editors:Matthew LaBordeChelsea Wallace

Advisor: Stuart Babington

Photo Editor:Kiva Talty

Design Editor: Bre Vaughn

Reporters:Jacquelyn SaunéeGaillard Teague Abby Massengale

Sports:MJ Connell Eric Thomas

Thursday - 52/32 - Cloudy

Friday - 57/48- Cloudy

Saturday - 65/52- Mostly Cloudy

Sunday - 66/55 - Mostly Cloudy

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

THIS WEEK2 February 27, 2014

The Hillian Newswire

@HillianNewswire

Hillian Newswire

Letters to the Editorsnewswire@shc.edu

Read the Hillian Newswire online at newswire.shc.edu

hillian _ newswire

EVENTS OF THE WEEK

Walk to Cure MSMS Walk starts at 10:00 a.m. on March 15, 2014. If you are interested, the cost is $10.00 for your T-shirt and you may register at the Student

Center Information Desk. Walk to create a world free of Multiple Scle-rosis. For more information, contact swilliams@shc.edu.

Apply to be a Badger Connection GuideAre you a student leader who wants to give back to SHC? Are you looking to take on a leadership role? Do you want to help new stu-

dents? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, apply today! Applications are due Feb. 28. Please see the announcement on

BadgerWeb. For more information, contact csi@shc.edu.

Women’s & Men’s Basketball vs. William Carey University (Senior Day)

The women’s and men’s basketball teams will close out the 2013-14 season with a conference home match against William Carey Universi-ty at the Arthur R. Outlaw Rec Center. The women will begin at 2 p.m. and the Men will start at 4 p.p. with Senior Day ceremonies occuring

between games

Softball vs. Bethel University (Tenn.) and Blue Mountain College (Miss.)

The softball team will host Bethel University from McKenzie, Tenn., in an SSAC doubleheader beginning at noon, Tuesday, March 7 on

Murray Field. The next day the Badgers will play another SSAC doubleheader against Blue Mountain College beginning at noon.

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

NEWSFebruary 27, 2014 3

“If you know how to run a cam-era and paint a picture and write a script, that’s great but that doesn’t get it all done, you have to be able to bring it all together,” Rowan says. “What this does is it brings all of those little pieces together and our students are able to do something that very few students can do.”

Teamwork is another crucial aspect to working in the broadcast studio. Along with bringing togeth-er all the different facets of media education into one product, work-ing on Top of the Hill or Badger TV allows students to get a feel for how important working with oth-ers is, according to Rowan.

He says, “You can write scripts, take video, you’ve done these all one at a time, but you’ve never done it on a team, where if this guy screws it up he screws it all up. So it’s a different experience than most colleges can offer. Even larger schools - there, you can’t touch this kind of equipment. You don’t get to do anything.”

The media department wants more content for filming and is reaching out to the student body for projects. “We’re trying to make this accessible,” Rowan says. “You got something you want to do, write it up and let’s do it.” Some project suggestions have been senior seminar assignments and even creating content for real-life clients.

“We’ve got all the equipment and we’ve got the expertise with the equipment - we just don’t have the people,” Rowan explains.

Badger TV has uploaded some sports videos on SHCBadgers.com, where parents can view games videotaped by Spring Hill students, a great PR push for the school. “That’s a big push for the parents, to see what’s going on where their kids are going to school,” says Rowan.

Sirten and Rowan are both working hard, along with the broadcast students, to one day have the cable channel up and fully functioning as well as pro-ducing other film projects along-side the radio station.

“It could be a tour, a class, enter-tainment, it could be graduation or the State of the Union address from Fr. Lucey,” Sirten says. “Any-thing. That’s what we want this to be.”

By ChelseaWALLACEAssistant Editor

FROM THECOVER

Photos courtesy of the SHC Communication Arts Department

Scale Back SHC Open to StudentsBy ChelseaWALLACEAssistant Editor

The SHC Department of Intra-murals and Recreation is spon-soring the Scale Back Spring Hill program, which will continue for the rest of the semester.

In a style similar to that of the hit show “The Biggest Loser,” the program involves teams of students coming together to lead a healthy lifestyle and lose some weight.

Angel Gray, Coordinator of Athletic Facilities and Intramurals, says the program was introduced for students after it was offered to faculty and staff members.

“There’s a faculty/staff one that started first, and the turn-out was pretty good,” said Gray. “So with that, we decided let’s try that with the students. It was pretty success-ful with the faculty and staff, so let’s give the students a try.”

The Scale Back SHC program is a spinoff of the Scale Back Alabama initiative, said Gray. According to ScaleBackAlabama.com, the program is a “statewide weight-loss contest designed to encourage Ala-bamians to get healthy and to have fun while doing it” geared toward adults. With the help of employ-ers, employees create teams of four people to participate in the free con-test in order to win cash prizes.

At SHC, students can register in teams of four at the Arthur Outlaw Recreation Center and have their initial weigh-in as a group. At the end of the semester will be the final weigh-in, and the team with

the most weight loss wins. Prizes for the campus contest include T-shirts, water bottles, bags and ID holders, said Gray.

Unlike the NBC reality show, the Spring Hill version has no required workouts and does not provide trainers. Rather, the focus is on the team itself and its members to show support and hold each other account-able.

“It’s at your own pace and your own level. You don’t have to feel worried to be in competition with anyone else, just with yourself and your teammates,” Gray said. “Each team has a captain, who just helps keep the team motivated.”

While there are no mandated workouts to participate in the pro-gram, competitors are encouraged to participate in the classes already provided for the campus. “We do have different exercise programs here on campus that students can get involved in to help facilitate the weight loss,” Gray explained. Some examples of these classes include Zumba, yoga and bootcamp.

The Badger Fit Club exercise group was created to specifically cater to the exercise needs of those compet-ing in the Scale Back program. “The purpose and the goal of [the Fit Club] is for people who signed up for the Scale Back program to join the exer-cise group, and it’s going okay,” Gray said. “We have about five people who come regularly right now.”

So far, although the program has

been a hit with faculty and staff, there are fewer student teams than antici-pated. Gray said that while there are 11 faculty teams, there were only three student teams. However, this doesn’t mean that people aren’t taking the message of the program to heart.

Gray said, “There are a few indi-viduals who have signed up by them-selves. They’re not taking part in the contest, but they’re just doing it for their own personal benefit, to give themselves something to strive for this semester.”

Scale Back Alabama, the official organization that inspired the SHC edi-tions, has appointed Gina McDonald, esquire, as their spokesperson for the 2014 contest, according to ScaleBackA-labama.com. McDonald, a Birming-ham lawyer who competed in the 2013 season of “The Biggest Loser,” is dedi-cated to making Alabama healthier.

In a press release from Scale Back Alabama, McDonald says, “Alabama remains one of the most obese states in the nation, and it’s killing our citizens…I’m encouraging anyone who wants to lose a few pounds to find some friends and join the contest.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, Alabama’s population has a 33 percent prevalence of obesity, ranking as the fourth most obese state behind West Virginia, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Gray said that the program will ex-tend its registration date and provide additional weigh-in dates. For more information, check your Spring Hill email and the Campus Update.

THE SPRINGHILLIANFebruary 27, 20144

On Wednesday, Feb. 19, police ar-rived on the grounds of mul-tiple Mobile high schools to respond to alleged shooting threats that were posted via the smartphone app Yik Yak.

In today’s world, the smart-phone is capable of so much more than it was even two years ago. From apps that can find the best restaurants near you, to apps that are able to record your sleep patterns, technology never ceases to amaze us with its endless capabilities. Having a smartphone has not only allowed for us to compete in the Selfie Olympics or put up a picture of the Avenue of the Oaks on Instagram in hopes of getting a multitude of likes, but this wide range of technol-ogy via a phone has opened the doors for a little bit more scandalous behavior. There are some apps that have recently been in the public eye for some contro-versial content: one of these instances took place last week at multiple Mobile schools.

A new app called Yik Yak made its way into the phones of multiple high school communities in the Mobile area such as McGill-Toolen, UMS Wright, St. Paul’s and Murphy High School. An anonymous post made via the app on Wednes-day, Feb. 19, indicated that a shooting was to take place at McGill-Toolen. Yik Yak is a smart-phone app that can best be compared to Twitter, but the posts remain anonymous. Yik Yak uses the location finder on your smartphone to show where a post was made; however, the identity of the person still remains unknown.

Immediately after the post was made, Fr. Bry Shields, president at McGill-Toolen, sent out an email to all parents as well as faculty and staff. The email reads, “An anonymous user posted that a shooting would take place at McGill Wednesday, February 19th on the

social media site Yik Yak. Our adminis-tration, faculty and staff were on alert, and in addition to

our regular police officer and campus

security, we had another police officer on patrol

through Friday. The DA’s office made an arrest Thursday

afternoon. We are grateful for the support of the Mobile Police De-partment and the DA’s office and their commitment to finding the individual responsible.” Due to the location finder that the Yik Yak app has, the perpetrator was able to be tracked down and brought into custody.

Since it is anonymous, Yik Yak has opened another avenue for cyber-bullying and has become a problem for most high schools as well as colleges. Other posts that have been made in the past week

social media site Yik Yak. Our adminis-tration, faculty and staff were on alert, and in addition to

our regular police officer and campus

security, we had another

There Shouldn’t Be an App for That

targeting specific Mo-bile high school students would leave someone to ask the question: why is this app being utilized for such malicious behavior? Junior Scout Kirkikis said, “I can’t even begin to think about what would hap-pen if this app found its way onto Spring Hill’s campus. That’s the last thing this campus needs.”

Yik Yak is not the only app that has been recently put on blast for the questionable ways that it is being utilized. The now infamous dating app, Tinder, has become a hot spot for one night stands and hook ups. It is estimated that 90 percent of those who use Tinder are between the ages of 18 and 24. Through accessing one’s Face-book, Tinder allows for its users to play a “hot or not” type of game in which they can like or dislike another’s profile. If both of you

like each other’s profile, you are given the option of having a one-on-one chat session, which may lead meeting each other in person. Recently, this app has become a place where users can seek out ca-

sual sex within a 100 mile radius. Although Tinder has received

some negative press, there are some that find this app to be beneficial. Freshman La’shelle Lett said, “I think it is cute for lonely folks like me.”

If Tinder didn’t make you question some of the apps

out there, here is one that will; it’s called Lulu. Lulu is an app for females only that connects to your Facebook so that you can anony-mously rank the males you are friends with. Although this seems harmless at first, Lulu has become a place where women are able to create their own form of “revenge porn.” Women are able to rate every aspect of a male and even use hash tags such as #CheaperThanaB-igMac so that other women are able

to see these anonymous posts. But, have all of these anon-

ymous apps gone too far? When does a harmless app intended for a little fun turn into high school shooting rumors as well as shaming the oppo-site sex? Although it is tempting to justify this fun because no one will

ever know that it was you, the fact that these

apps have been turned into a place where malicious

attacks on youths take place is disheartening. So, before you go

to download the next anonymous or dating app out there, think how you would feel if you got the reputation of being #CheaperThanaBigMac…

By AbbyMASSENGALEReporter

Lamps in Tibetan monasteries are

fueled by yak butter. #YakFacts

“When I send a Yik Yak, I feel like I’m sending in a tip to

Gossip Girl.”

“Yik Yak is by far the most entertaining

app that’s ever been created.”

You can only receive Yaks

within 5 miles of where you are.

Photo courtesy

of Megan St. Germain

Bubble facts from YikYakApp.com

The Springhillian publishes guest submissions at the discretion of the student editors and section editors. Submissions sould be less than 300 works, and editors reserve the right

to edit the submissions for length and content. Original writings should be

mailed or delivered to: Student-editor, the Springhillian, Communication Arts,

Spring Hill College, 4000 Dauphin Street, Mobile, AL 36608. Submissions

may also be mailed as attachments to hillian@email.shc.edu.

5

‘Stand Your Ground’ So Vague it Kills

So a guy walks into a bar. I probably shouldn’t start such a

serious article with a bad joke, but it was just hanging there, so I took the shot.

According to various sites in-cluding the political petition web-site Change.org, in 2010, U.S. Air-man Michael Giles went to a bar in Tallahassee with some friends. While there, several brawls broke out, quickly escalating to involve more than 30 men. After being

Unpopular Opinion: We Need Our GunsFebruary 27, 2014

It wasn’t too long ago (October 2012) when Gil Collar, a student at the Uni-versity of South Alabama, was fatally shot down by a campus police officer.

Collar was unarmed. In fact, he was completed naked, seemingly high off what was thought to be either LSD. It turned out to be a rare laboratory drug called 25I-NBOMe, but no-

punched to the ground by an unpro-voked assailant, and as the attacker came back for more, Giles shot the man in the knee.

He possessed all of the proper permits for the firearm and, as men-tioned, killed no one, aiming only to stop his assailant. Witnesses, includ-ing the attacker, later said that the attack was completely unprovoked. The Stand Your Ground law – which states that in situations where one fears for their life or the lives of others, they can meet force with force, even deadly force – should have protected this action, as Giles testified that he feared for his life.

Giles is currently serving a 25 year sentence for attempted murder.

To me, this story seems com-pletely incongruous. And to the over 100,000 people who have so far signed the petition to commute Giles’ sentence, this story is appall-ing. If I go somewhere and three dozen burly, drunk men are fighting each other and one starts coming after me, I should have the right to defend myself if I cannot extricate myself from the situation.

Many have called this a race issue, and numerous sites have dedicated

their passions to righting this per-ceived racial discrimination. I, on the other hand, believe this to be less about race and more about the nation’s fear of guns.

Particularly after the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012, gun laws and gun control have been major issues of debate across the nation. From political leaders to college students, everyone has an opinion. So, here’s mine.

I think guns are a vital right grant-ed to every American citizen in the Constitution. Data collected from the FBI Criminal Justice Services Division shows that in many states throughout the country, including Florida and Michigan, the passage of right-to-carry laws (which are basically laws that mean those over 21 that meet “minimally restrictive” criteria can have a permit to carry a gun in most public places) actually preceded a decrease in gun violence. In many instances, these decreases were also greater than the national decrease at the time.

Additionally, I often hear the ar-gument of, “Well, households with guns are three times more likely to be killed by firearm.” According to

JustFacts.com (the site that compiled the information mentioned above), the study that produced this statis-tic failed to account for important variables and, additionally, forgot the very first thing they should have learned in psych 101: correlation does not imply causation.

Yes, guns can be dangerous weap-ons and are definitely an enormous responsibility on the owner. And, yes, I’m not so blinded by the shine on my rifle to deny the fact that guns fall into the hands of criminals and those out to do awful things. However, a 2005 Gallup poll reveals that 67 percent of gun owners cited “Protection Against Crime” as the prominent reason for owning it.

Gun ownership is a Constitutional right, which should be where the argument ends. I definitely think there should be more enforcement on making sure that gun buyers meet the federal requirements for gun ownership, but many oppo-nents want guns restricted much further than that. And that, to me, is too egregious a neglect of my civil rights to bear.

body knew that at the time. A young man who was de-scribed as “charming and kind-hearted” was now dead when a lesser force such as pepper spray or a taser could have been used by the officer to defend himself. Students held up signs in protest that said, “Gil was murdered” and I can completely understand their frustration.

Officer Trevis Austin (the shooter) was acquit-ted by a grand jury of any wrongdoing. As the case went, Gil threatened the campus police officer in a violent way, and therefore the officer acted legally in self-defense by killing Gil. The officer stood his ground.

The widely misunder-stood, yet heavily cited “Stand Your Ground” law has made its way into the conversation of almost every national news outlet, and we see the ripples of the legislation happening

right down Old Shell Rd.Recently, Florida

native Michael Dunn avoided murder charges in the killing of 17-year old black teenager Jor-dan Davis. Dunn’s law-yer cited the Stand Your Ground law and claimed that his client thought he saw a shotgun in the car that Davis was seen riding in with three other teenagers. For the Stand Your Ground law to come into play, “Mr. Dunn needed only to have been convinced that he saw a shotgun, whether or not one was present.”

The police found no weapons in the vehicle. But Dunn felt threatened. And, according to the law, he can stand his ground and meet force with force. Now, a teenager is dead, and a mother is in anguish. This took place simply because the offi-cer thought he felt threat-ened by the presence of a

gun.I could list several other

cases where the murky self-defense law has been used to spare irresponsible gun owners of their fatal decisions. I believe that the Stand Your Ground law- with all of its vagueness and consistent ambiguity- is actually encouraging the irresponsible and unneces-sary use of deadly force.

Additionally, the is-sue of race has flooded the headlines of national media following the death of Trayvon Martin and is now becoming a prevalent theme in similar cases in-volving expanded self-de-fense laws like Stand Your Ground. The Urban Insti-tute found that “homicides with a white perpetrator and a black victim are ten times more likely to be ruled justified than cases with a black perpetrator and a white victim, and the gap is larger in states with Stand Your Ground laws.”

Not only does this law allow for people to give into racial paranoia, it sub-tly accepts and back-hand-edly advocates for gun-on-gun violence, which is violence we don’t need more of in this country.

Also, go figure: Mark Hoekstra, an economist at Texas A&M University, found that states which have passed Stand Your Ground laws have seen homicides increase by seven percent, relative to states that have yet to pass these types of laws. The law seems to give the “good guy” more power in de-fending himself. But, what if the bad guy thinks he is the good guy? In that case, both men feel that they have the right to shoot.

Thanks to Stand Your Ground, fistfights may now become gunfights… this questionable law seems to be doing more harm than good.

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

LIFESTYLE February 27, 20146

mgb2k14

#

TOP LEFT: Mardi Gras King and Queen Matthew LaBorde and Ainsley Messina pose after receiving their honor.TOP CENTER: Badgers break it down on the dance floor during the night.TOP RIGHT: Dominique Howard and Kyle Easley use props to pose in the photobooths.CENTER LEFT: Diego Juncadella jams on the sax.CENTER: Scott Davis and Daniel Campbell seem to struggle while in the photobooth.CENTER RIGHT: Jabulani Thompson takes lead vocals with backup from Patrick Culotta. Dance moves provided by Grant Quinlan.ABOVE LEFT: Seamus Russell, Kerri Ebanks, Amie Gilbert, TJ Chatham and Holly Gibbins take a break from dancing to pose for a photo.

Photo courtesy of GabrielaPORTELA

Photo courtesy of MariahWEINAND

Photo courtesy of MaggieVICTORIA

Photo courtesy of ScottDAVIS

ABOVE CENTER: Mark Mullen throws out his jazz hands while Rae Koch works the fist-pump move.ABOVE RIGHT: Mariah Weinand and Henry Pine pose for a photo. BOTTOM LEFT: Students kick it to “Cupid Shuffle.”

Photos by KivaTALTY

Con amore,Italia

Badgers take trips to famous sites, such as the epic Colosseum and the famous Trevi Fountain, pictured below.

When in Rome...eat what the Romans eat!Badger Brawl goes international.

Students experience new culture, lifestyle and modes of transportation.

Photo opportunities for the Badgers are countless and memorable.

All photos courtesy of ErinBRENNAN

Badgers find bigger hills while visiting the Alps.

Features 8 February 27, 2014

We’ve all seen them around campus, whether it’s cruising around the LAC or flying down the road leading to the golf course, it’s hard to miss the longboarders of Spring Hill College. They’re sur-rounded by such intrigue, and many wonder what it would be like to ride on a longboard at least one time. As Spring Hill lies on one road, it is very conve-nient for longboarding, as every road throughout campus is on one giant curve. The speed bumps also provide a welcome obstacle for tricks for some of the bolder longboarders. This proves to be gold for the boarders, who enjoy getting around campus without having to walk or having to use gas in their cars. It can also be extremely fun to do. Sophomore Nick Smith talks about the feeling he gets when he’s on his board. “When I’m on my board I feel as though I’m gliding through the air. It’s a lot like surfing!” Nick states.Although it would stand to reason that having the freedom to fly around campus at your leisure would indeed provide an enjoyable pastime, long-boarding has also been viewed as a welcome way to take a step back and just have a peaceful experi-ence, according to many students. Sophomore David Smith, who has been long-boarding for about two years, says the experience of boarding helps him to calm down and relax. David says, “The majority of the time that I go longboarding is when I need to clear my head.” College students face a lot of stress on a daily basis and it’s nice to have something that helps you to de-stress and put things in perspective. As with all hobbies, the more you do it, the better you will become. And in order for something to be a truly calming influence on you, it is important that you commit the proper amount of time to it. David also states, “It’s such a second nature to me by now that I don’t really have to think about what I’m doing. I can just relax and experience things as they’re happening.” Being able to simply go out

and “take a ride,” as some have said, can usually lead to being more focused because you’re doing something that you love to do. The long boarding culture of Spring Hill has been around longer than many of the current students realize. Senior Anthony Weaver is one of the elder statesmen of longboarding on campus and discussed how he was influenced by now graduated longboarders such as Brendan Pechon, class of 2013, and Anthony Harris, class of 2011. “They’re the reason I got a longboard,” Weaver says.Weaver, who owns a Landyat drop deck style longboard, discussed more of the freestyle side of longboarding as opposed to simply riding. Weaver states, “I didn’t know which kind I wanted. Longboards are very diverse in how they are engineered. I wanted a board that could go fast but was also able to perform different freestyle tricks. Not a lot of people dive into that on this campus.” Weaver also spoke about the level of skill that is required for some tricks. “Freestyle on long-boards can be pretty dangerous, but once you become comfortable with it, it’s pretty hard to fall off because you’ve become so in tune with your board,” Weaver says. Longboards aren’t the only way that students get around campus without having to walk or drive. Skateboards are also seen all over the campus throughout the day. When asked whether he pre-ferred skateboarding or longboarding, Weaver stated, “I like longboards better. They’re really smooth and I find it a lot easier to just free ride on them.” There are tons of uses for longboards on campus. Whether you’re using it purely to get from point A to point B, or challenging other students to a race down the golf course hill, there’s no ques-tion that the longboard culture of Spring Hill College is definitely here to stay.

Spring Break Bod SB2k14 has almost ar-rived and it is getting too much to verbally say “SB2K14”. I miss the olden days of the simply put, “SB2K8”. Regardless, SB2K14 is the reality we all must now endure, and a verbose title is the least of most spring breaker’s worries.

Preparing your “spring break body,” is a phrase I have heard since the sixth grade, when girls realized other people noticed our bodies. Since that early age, the weeks approaching spring break are generally consumed with talk of daily “fat busting” ab routines and strict lettuce and water diets. Now, there are a thousand and two ways

to approach the topic of body image, especially in regards to spring break, but one in par-ticular encompasses the root of body dissatisfaction.

If you hate your body before spring break, no mat-ter how obedient you were to your Pinterest health board, chances are you won’t be satisfied with yourself during spring break either. So what is the point? It is called the Law of Diminishing Returns

ladies, and this unfortunate but truthful law can be traced back as the source of dissatisfaction. This law, most generally used in reference to econom-ics, is defined by Dictionary.com as, “any rate of profit, production, benefits (etc.), that beyond a certain point fails to increase proportionality with added investment, effort, or skill.” In much more simple words, once we “succeed” at achieving one thing – flat tummy, toned arms, whatever- there will, by and large, be something else to unsatisfy us. A statistic found by DoSomething.org states that 91 percent of women are unhappy with their bodies. That is a whole lotta ladies.

So, should nine out ten women keep striving for perfection? Or is there a point and place when we should all just combat the law of diminish-ing returns and be satisfied? Senior Lizzy Fahey believes there is nothing wrong with exercising to look a certain way. “I enjoy people telling me I look nice and skinny,” she states. Senior Kim Stevens says she is ultimately conscious of her body because of the internal results. “I believe that exercise is important along with dieting… I started to exercise so I could get thighs like Beyoncé but in the process I started to see an inner change within myself.”

Sophomore Lexi Moorehead, who led Tri Delta’s “Embody Love” event, is a staunch be-liever in accepting your body as it is. She states “You must love your body at every stage of your being and not pick apart your flaws. You will feel more confident and comfortable when you are not worrying about your body and more happy than when you are picking it apart and hungry.” Being healthy and stressing about your flaws are two different things, Moorehead suggests. “I would argue that nothing looks as good as healthy feels,” she explains.

Spring Break is almost here, and whether you will be sporting your bathing suit, your green, gold, and purple or simply just your pajamas all week just remember: Be healthy. Be confident. Love the skin you’re in.

SB2k14 for the Ladies

Long Boarding Badgers By EricTHOMAS

ReporterBy GaillardTEAGUE Reporter

Photo courtesy of BrendanPECHON

THE SPRINGHILLIAN 9February 27, 2014

To Nap or Not to Nap?

By JacquelynSAUNÉEReporter

The editorials in last week’s SpringHillian, “Let’s Talk About Sex” and “Hookups On The Hill: Why Do We Care?” made some wonderful points. Casual lunch time discussions about the week-end’s hookups need to stop. We love a good “Mean Girls” quote as much as the next girl, and we certainly need to stop calling each others sluts and whores. We need to stop reducing people to their weekend flings. And yes, unfortunately, men do seem to have the “upper hand” at times.

This is where our issue begins. We live in a society that too often degrades sex and reduces it to nothing more than a game. The language of men having the “upper hand” and women en-gaging in “competition” actually sounds like we are entering into a sporting match. The ironic thing is that no one actually wants sex to be just a game. We all want it to be more than that: some-thing really great that takes us outside of ourselves. What makes sex so great is its promise of a real union. If we treat it as just a game, we’ll actually empty it of its meaning and power. We’ll still be stuck inside ourselves, cut off as isolated individuals.

Like the authors of the editorials, we have concerns about the

some. Therefore, students resort to “catching up on sleep” over the week-end, which is apparently ineffective. So what can we do? Nap.

And nap we do. Students at Spring Hill are certainly not strangers to napping. From “badger snoozes” to power naps, sleeping in short (or not-so-short) increments seems to be a common occurrence on campus.

“Everybody loves a good badger snooze. On average, I nap three to four times a week. I even nap on the weekends,” says Senior Luke Hayes.

Molly Schladenhauffen, an avid napper, gives insight into the life of a mid-day snoozer. “I nap around five times a week for at least an hour at a time,” she says. “I nap because I study for most of the night, so naps make me feel refreshed.”

However, not all Spring Hill students have jumped on the nap-ping bandwagon. Freshman Megan Lewis shares her lack of experience with napping. “I’ve never napped in college. Napping actually makes me nauseous. I guess I’m glad I don’t nap because I feel like napping would cut into my day and make me less productive. Since I’ve never napped, I just never really think about napping,” says Lewis.

Whether you nap or not, we can all agree that napping is a huge phenomenon. And for good reason. The proven benefits of napping are countless.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, “Naps can restore alert-ness, enhance performance, and reduce mistakes and accidents. A study at NASA on sleepy military pilots and astronauts found that a 40-minute nap improved perfor-mance by 34 percent and alertness by 100 percent.”

Simpson further elaborates,

“Several studies show that napping improves our mood and results in an increase in the ability to pay atten-tion. Also, information tends to be remembered better when studied just before going to sleep and so nap-ping in the middle of a study session might be an effective study tool.”

Napping can lead to improved performance, alertness, mood, and memory. Maybe napping is the an-swer to all life’s problems…

However, we should not simply drop everything, run to our dorm rooms, turn off the lights, and hop into our beds for a few hours. Craft-ing the perfect nap requires skill. Here are some tips to help you on the pursuit to optimal napping:

1) Nap for about 20 to 40 minutes. This will allow you to wake up re-freshed and renewed without feeling groggy and yearning for more. This also ensures that your nap does not interfere with getting a full night’s sleep. “Research has found that short naps are just as effective as long naps - in fact, longer naps sometimes cause ‘sleep inertia’ in which people show increased grogginess and de-clines in their cognitive performance when they first wake up,” Simpson shares.

2) Time your nap perfectly. Prime nap time is generally between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. During this time, the body’s energy level decreases due to an increase in the hormone melato-nin.

3) Find a nice, cozy, dark place to nap. For most of us, this means our beds. However, research done by the National Sleep Foundation has shown that napping in your bed is not a good habit because your body may associate any time spent in your bed as time meant for actual sleep.

nap? The answer is obvious: college students, as a whole, are severely sleep-deprived.

Royce Simpson, psychology depart-ment chair, agrees that college stu-dents need more sleep. “Students, as a whole are sleep deprived. Getting between six and eight hours of sleep each night is very important. Ideally, students should aim for about seven hours. If you consistently get less than this, you will experience cogni-tive problems throughout the day,” Simpson says.

Simpson also explains the concept of sleep debt, which is the accumulat-ed amount of sleep loss from insuf-ficient sleep. “You cannot make up for sleep debt. Many students believe they can make up for their sleep loss [accumulated] during the week over the weekend, but this is not true,” Simpson explains.

However, getting seven hours of sleep a night is far from feasible for

That is the question. The clock is rapidly ticking and the pile of notes in front of you seems to be growing, but you can’t keep your eyes open. Is it time to push through the groggi-ness and perhaps make another cup of coffee? Or is it time to just give in and take the nap you’ve been dream-ing about?

Four o’clock rolls around and you are finally finished with classes for the day. You have a big paper to write and you know it’s going to be another long night. Should you keep pushing until you can no longer, or should you give into your body’s desperate plea for some more quality time with your pillow?

College students, on average, seem to prefer the napping option. Accord-ing to a study done at the University of Georgia, 30 to 50 percent of all col-lege students participate in the sport of napping.

Why do so many college students

Letter to the Editorshookup culture on campus. But the solution proposed to simply stop talking about it is not the solution.

We agree wholeheartedly that the gossip about our peers is dam-aging and a major part of our school’s problem. But since sex is such a huge topic of conversation, doesn’t that show how important of a topic it is? Sex is beautiful and a gift. Something so sacred deserves discussion and attention, but in a way that promotes healthy relation-ships and human dignity- not a culture of meaningless hookups. Not a culture that reduces it to something as mundane as checking your e-mail. And certainly not a culture that is too scared to discuss it like the adults we are.

Don’t misunderstand us: sex is not evil. But it is also not just sex. Saying so drains it of all its greatness. Turning our conversations away from gossiping about our peers and toward an honest dialogue about what sex truly is will perhaps change the culture of our campus for the better. Brushing the topic aside, however, will just take us a few steps backwards into an adolescent mentality that thinks of sex as a dirty word.

SPORTS10 February 27, 2014

Basketball Manager Friend to AllAfter serving the men’s basketball team as manager for

three years, senior Kevin Smith looks back on his time with the Badgers.

From making sure that the team is ready to play to just keeping everyone relaxed, Smith can do it all. “Whether the scoreboard is running, water’s full, or the jerseys are clean, or even just music playing in the locker room, whatever it may be, I guess I’m a jack of all trades, if you will,” states Smith. Besides his normal routine at the Outlaw Rec Center, Kevin also does a lot of behind the scenes work for the basketball guys.

Head Coach Aaron Niven, who is in his first season with the team, is very thankful for the help he’s re-ceived from Smith. “He does a lot for our team,” says Niven. “It’s nice to have a guy who’s got some experience and knows how to get things done… He takes care of the hotels, finds us places to eat and that’s a lot off my plate that I don’t have to worry about because he can do it.”

Men’s Assistant Coach Brian Murphy also had good things to say about the manager. “Kevin is a very hard-worker in my eyes. He makes life around here easier for us [the coaches],” says Murphy.

Murphy has been working with Smith and the team for two years and says another thing that’s been important from Smith is how close he is with the guys on the team. “This team knows how Kevin is. They respect him and know how essential he is,” reveals Murphy. “He’s got a good friendship with all the guys and

After serving the men’s basketball team as manager for three years, senior Kevin Smith looks back on his time with

From making sure that the team is ready to play to just keeping everyone relaxed, Smith can do it all. “Whether the scoreboard is running, water’s full, or the jerseys are clean, or even just music playing in the locker room, whatever it may be, I guess I’m a jack of all

guy who’s got some experience and knows how to get things done… He takes care of the hotels, finds us places to eat and that’s a lot off my plate that I don’t have to worry about

Men’s Assistant Coach Brian Murphy also had good things to say about the manager. “Kevin is a very hard-worker in my eyes. He makes life around here

Murphy has been working with Smith and the team for two years and says another thing that’s been important from Smith is how close he is with the guys on the team. “This team knows how Kevin is. They respect him and know how essential he is,” reveals Murphy. “He’s got a good friendship with all the guys and

I always hear him cutting up, laughing and joking with them.”Smith says his favorite part about being the manager is the

friendships he’s made with all the guys on the team. “I think the camaraderie is the best part. These guys have really ac-cepted me and made me feel a part of the team and family and I lived with a couple of the guys and have become really close over the years,” tells Smith.

Senior Alex Looney, one of the captains of the basketball team, has been a good friend of Smith’s ever since he’s been manager. “He’s been great during my time here. He organizes all of our trips and is always down to rebound after practice if I want to get some extra shooting in,” says Looney. The two are currently living together in their final year here on the Hill.

“He’s a great guy to have around the team. He’s always yell-ing, very animated and active. Kevin’s a positive addition to our team,” adds Looney.

The Cleveland native also says that as rewarding as a win can be, he notes that the friendship means a lot more to him. “Life is bigger than basketball, so I think the most rewarding part would be the memories and the friendships made over the last several years,” says Smith. “It’s the little things that you get to back look on,” adds Smith.

Even though Smith has been working with the bas-ketball team for three full seasons, his most memo-rable part of it all has come recently. “The sweep of Loyola [New Orleans] this year, we beat them at home by a sizable amount and we beat them last Thursday on the road, so it was a good time. It was also our first road win in two years and we beat our Jesuit rival,” explains Smith.

Smith has been a huge part to the Spring Hill basketball team for a while and will be missed by those he has encountered in his time in Mobile. “He’s been a blessing to us as far as doing a lot of the behind the scenes work,” says Murphy, “He’s

going to be hard to replace.”

By MjCONNELLReporter

After a 2-2 start to their 2014 season, the Spring Hill men’s tennis team looks to outshine last year’s squad.

The Badgers started off their season with a huge win against Loyola New Orleans on Feb.15 and have been successful since. The follow-ing match was a hard fought battle against Southern Wes-leyan University, but they lost 5-4.

Then on Feb. 21, SHC faced off against the team ranked thirteenth in the nation, Bethel University (Tenn.) and took a rough 9-0 loss. Howev-er, the Badgers bounced back in their next match against Emmanuel College with an 8-1 victory.

In that match, SHC saw strong performances from their players, the most no-table coming from sophomore Lee Leavitt, who won all four of his matches. “I would say we’re off to a good start to the

season and we’re all looking forward to the rest of the sea-son coming up,” says Leavitt. “I think we have a better team than we did last year - more dedicated - and we have a new coach, so I think we have a chance to make a good shot at regionals.”

Other players, like Leavitt, are optimistic for the team. Junior John Asmar, who is a walk-on addition to the team, has a lot of hope for his team-mates. “We’ve had some ups and some downs, ran into a tough team in Bethel, but it’s been fun. We have a good thing going on,” says Asmar.

The transfer from Missis-sippi State also looks forward to watching his team improve. “I look forward to playing against the teams that we lost to again because we’ll all be better,” says Asmar, “I’m just really looking forward to see how much we can grow and where we will be in a few

Tennis Serves Up Impressive Start to

SeasonBy MjCONNELLSports Reporter

weeks.”Junior Dan Piper, another

new member to the squad, is excited to be taking part in his first season with the Badgers. “They’ve [teammates] been welcoming… I knew some of the guys on the team so it wasn’t really that big of a change,” says Piper. The ju-nior is hoping to help the team make it to the regionals tourna-ment and is enjoying his time with the team.

With a big match against University of Mobile on Tues-day and another match on March 7 against Mississippi College, the Badgers’ tennis team hopes to keep up their good work and be better than they were last year. “I think we already are [outshining last year’s team],” says Asmar. “I think as far as a team goes were better than last year and we have a lot better tennis ahead of us.”

Alejandro Hastings returns a serve. Photo by KivaTALTY.

THE SPRINGHILLIAN 11February 27, 2014

The Spring Hill College baseball swept a conference doubleheader away from the University of Mobile Rams with two last pitch victories by the scores of 4-3 and 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at historic Stan Galle Field.

The Rams (10-6, 3-3 SSAC) took a 2-1 lead in the 2nd inning of the first game off a two-run triple by centerfielder Jared Bran-non, but the Badgers answered back in the 4th inning when designated hitter Taylor Eads lifted a two-run homerun out of right field to put Spring Hill up 3-2.

Mobile tied the game in the top of the 7th inning when a single to centerfield by Bran-non moved courtesy runner Austin Curtis to 3rd base and an errant throw back into the infield resulted in Curtis scampering home.

The game moved to the 10th inning where left fielder Mykol Sostarich moved shortstopBrooks Bobinger to 3rd base from 1st base with a single to left-center. Second basemanBrian Sims then squared to at-tempt a squeeze bunt, but the pitch was over his head. Ram catcher Angelo Bruno caught Bobinger roughly a third of the way down the line, but then threw the ball away in the run down to 3rd base allowing Bobinger to cross home plate with the winning run.

Keller Douglas (2-0) was the winner in four innings of relief with three hits, no walks and a strikeout. Starter Paul Sullivan went six innings with four hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Mobile reliever Jacob Hyde (2-2) took the loss after taking over for Tucker Ward who lasted nine in-nings with five hits, three walks and 10 strikeouts.

The nightcap saw the Badgers score two runs in the bot-tom of the 7th inning off a game-tying single to right by first baseman Kyle Freeman that scored Sims from 3rd base and a two-out single to right-center by catcher Roy Moulder to bring in third basemanWillie Floros with the winning run.

Mobile had taken a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning, but SHC scored a run in the 4th inning off single up the middle by Freeman, a run in the 5th inning via an RBI-double past 1st base by Sims, and a run in the 6th inning with a single by Moulder that brought in Floros who led off the frame with a double to the deepest part of straight-away centerfield.

Brady Hitt (2-0) was the winner in relief of starter Jack Howard who went 5.2 innings with eight hits, five walks and three strikeouts. Trey Cockrell (2-2) took the loss for UMo-bile in one inning of relief for starter Jacob Knowles who lasted 5.1 innings with 11 hits, a walk and two strikeouts.

The Spring Hill defense turned four double plays in Game Two.

At the plate, seven Badgers enjoyed multiple hits on the day as Eads had three hits and two RBI, Floros tallied three hits and Freeman had three hits with two RBI. Moulder had suffered through a 0-for-7 afternoon until collecting his two run-scoring singles in the 6th and 7th innings of the second game.

Bruno and Brannon both had three hits for the Rams with Bruno bring in a run in a pinch-hit appearance with a single to left-center in the 6th inning of Game Two and Brannon driving in two RBI in Game One.

The Badgers (11-4, 4-2 SSAC) will next travel to Selma on Tuesday to face non-conference foe Concordia College in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.

Badgers Sweep Rams in Thrilling FashionCourtesy of the

Spring Hill Office of Sports Information

HILL YEAH! February 27, 201412

Across: 1) New badger hot spot3) Our campus across the pond 8) Father Meow 10) No one goes here anymore 11) Spring Hill’s adopted pets 12) McKinney’s 13) Badger one-day getaway across the bay 14) All Hail the Queen! 15) Monday’s favorite meal 16) As it gets hotter, all the badgers con-gregate at the

Down:2)Where was MGB2K14?4) They see me patrollin, they hatin5) Surfboards with wheels 6) Sandals worn regardless of the weather7) Laissez les bons temps9) His Majesty

Badger PuzzlerSBOSH: Speed Bumps of Spring Hill

Badger Puzzler Answers. Across: 1) Picklefi sh, 3) Bologna, 8) Kitten, 11) Cats, 12) Cloister, 13) Fairhope,14) AinsleyMessina 15) FriedChicken, 16) BeachDown: 2) ConventionCenter, 4) PublicSafety, 5) Longboards, 6) Chacos, 7) Rouler, 9) MattLaBorde

“Do you like being a speed bump?”“…..I am a speed lump, thanks.”

“So does it hurt?”“Seriously?”

“What’s your biggest struggle right now?“I’m a speed bump…

at the bottom of a hill.”

“What’s one thing you really like about yourself?”

“I like that I’m mysterious. Some people just think I’m a line of paint on the street, while

others see me as a bit of uneven concrete. But what no one ever foresees is that I’m out to

ruin your car… and your life.”

By GaillardTEAGUE