The Woods

By Amira Jaradat
Editor-in-Chief

On March 21, the Sustainability Club teamed up with the Peace and Justice Committee to help register students to vote ahead of the upcoming presidential election.
“Sustainability is about community,” said Amber Slaughterbeck, Sustainability Club president. “We think it’s necessary to register to vote for the good of the community.”
During students’ lunch hour, the Sustainability Club, which organized the effort, set up a table in Jazzman’s café, while Peace and Justice Committee members registered students in O’Shaughnessy Dining Hall.
Heather Davis, freshman, was one of 17 students who registered to vote last Wednesday.
“When I took a government class in high school, my teacher made it very clear that it’s an American right to vote and it’s very important. Every vote counts,” said Davis, who has not decided who to vote for yet.
“Every individual voice matters and you have to be the change you want to see,” said Jessie Uchytil, senior, who registered students beside Slaughterbeck in Jazzman’s. “If you want to see change in politics, then you have to step up and make that vote and make that decision.”
Uchytil, who has voted in  previous local and national elections, describes voting as a powerful experience. Slaughterbeck agreed.
“It felt pretty good to be able to pick the candidate that I felt would represent my views the best,” said Slaughterbeck.
Amanda Payton, freshman, was not old enough to vote in previous elections. However, she has been involved in the process in the past. She has worked at voting polls to prevent campaign material from being present within a certain range of where people cast their ballots.
“I think it is very important to vote for the leader of our country,” said Payton. “Many countries do not have the luxury of choosing who will be in power and I think not voting shows that we are not proud of our freedoms. Also, I think it is unfair to complain about what a leader is not doing or could do better when an individual did not take the time to vote.”
Despite some reservations, Payton plans to vote to reelect President Obama come election time in November.
“I think there are many issues he could handle better, but he has followed through with many of the promises he made during his last campaign,” said Payton.
“Also, I think the Republican        nominees are too intense with some of their promises. They are promising certain groups of people that they will take away the equality and freedom of others,” Payton added.
According to Slaughterbeck, some  students “bluntly” informed them that they were just not interested in            registering.
“I don’t think people really think that their vote counts,” said Slaughterbeck. “Maybe the person they voted for last time didn’t win, so they just gave up. But overall, staying registered to vote is always better than not participating.”
To increase political awareness among students, Uchytil suggested airing political debates in Sullivan Lounge in Le Fer.
“Make it a campus event. Serve some popcorn,” said Uchytil.
“As a democracy, it makes sense that hopefully we would all put in our voice,” said Slaughterbeck. “You really can’t complain if you don’t have any sort of voice in the matter.”

Popularity: 13% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Interim Editor-in-Chief

On March 6, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Faculty Assembly voted to adopt a new framework for the General Studies program, which would reduce its credit hours from 54 hours for campus students and 57 for Woods Online students to 39 hours for both.
While a majority of faculty voted in favor of accepting the proposal, several of the changes remain sources of contention for some faculty and students.
“One of the major advantages of the smaller General Studies program for our students is that they can now choose to double major,” said Jackie Fischer, assistant dean for Academic Affairs and member of the General Studies committee, which drafted the proposal.
“We know our students need to be prepared in several different areas in order to market themselves effectively. It will also make it a little easier for students to pick up a minor,” said Fischer.
Under the approved proposal, Linking courses (ID 3xx, 4xx’s) would no longer be required. Students would also be required to choose only one math course, one English course and one theology course.
Students would also no longer be required to take two semesters of foreign languages, but could opt to take either one foreign language course or one culture course. Other eliminated requirements include Introduction to Computer Software and Study in Fitness.
“This is not a reflection of the committee thinking these classes are not important or don’t have a role in a liberal arts education,” said Fischer. “It was a matter of how can we best serve the students in allowing them to pursue their goals and to also help our transfer students.”
“We can’t teach everything that we think is important,” said Fischer. “So it becomes a challenge, what do we focus on in our General Studies?
According to the General Studies Revision Proposal, the new General Studies would focus on critical thinking and writing skills that would be “reinforced throughout the GS curriculum.” These concepts would be threaded throughout the curriculum instead of exclusively focused upon in one or two courses. There would also be increased focus on the Sisters of Providence and the values most strongly associated with them.
Robert Watts, associate professor of philosophy, said he has more questions about the proposal than grievances.
“My opinion all the way through this whole process has been, what is wrong with our current curriculum? Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” said Watts. “It is a dramatic reduction of hours for a school that claims to be a liberal arts college. Most liberal arts colleges are, if anything, expanding their General Studies programs.”
Mike Aycock, assistant professor of English, is a member of the General Studies committee and has been involved in two previous revisions of the program, once in 1984 and again in 2000.
“That dynamic between specializing and providing a very good foundation for liberal arts students, which we really want to do, we want that to be a hallmark of our college education… It’s a very hard thing to arrive at,” said Aycock. “So getting something that many people agree on is a big accomplishment.”
Aycock notes that one of the arguments that have been made in favor of the proposed General Studies curriculum is that it will be easier to assess. However, he disagrees with the plan to cut foreign language requirements.
“I’m probably in the minority to say that, yes, I think everyone should probably take a foreign language… not just for diversity but partly for cognitive learning.” According to Aycock, learning languages can enhance the way that people learn and benefit them in disciplines besides language.
“A lot of faculty had concerns about that,” said Fischer, regarding the reduced foreign language requirement. However, an amendment to continue to include eight hours of foreign languages was voted down by the faculty at a second faculty assembly. The amendment was defeated 31 – 20, Peggy Berry, associate professor of business administration and Spanish said.
“All of those issues that folks expressed concern about were things that we [the General Studies Committee] had concerns about as well,” said Fischer. “But our goal with this is that, with stronger advising and with the opportunity to double major, students will choose to maybe pick up some of these courses that had been lost in the new General Studies or that some majors might require some of those courses. So for example, a major might require students to take a foreign language.”
But Monica Baez-Holley, associate professor of French and Spanish, believes that students would have a more diverse learning experience on the current General Studies curriculum.
“My opinion right now, at this moment, is that the students are not going to have a deep knowledge of different areas,” said Baez-Holley. “They’re going to come out with a little bit here and there, but nothing very concrete.” She also noted that some jobs and graduate schools require their students to speak a second language.
“It’s not just the languages,” said Berry, who says she has been fighting the battle for foreign languages for 27 years. “One math class? One science class? How does that provide excellency in STEM [Science, technology, engineering and math]?”
As a student, Berry received a liberal arts education from an institution that later eliminated foreign language requirements. “When they took away the foreign languages there, they did turn into a center for excellency for science. And I was disappointed in that, but if that’s what we were doing here, then I might be more in support of it. But I don’t see that,” said Berry.
“There have been some heated meetings,” said Fischer. “We shouldn’t expect anything less when people are passionate about specific areas. People are going to become passionate and speak up and want to be heard, and of course we invite that at all levels.”
In order to give students a chance to learn about the new General Studies program and to provide feedback, a student forum will be held April 2 and will feature a question and answer session with several members of the General Studies Committee.
“The reason we’re having the forum is so students know what’s going on,” said Stephanie Runyon of the Student Senate’s Student Forum Committee. “Even if it’s not going to affect them as current students, it affects the college. Reducing the number of hours, does that mean our students won’t be as well rounded? We want to know what all of this means.”
When asked if the proposed changes make her worry about her job, Baez-Holley said, “Definitely. That is always a concern for everybody. If the students choose to take a culture class and not a foreign language, maybe some positions will be cut.”
“Only time will tell if this is better for the school or the students,” added Baez-Holley. “We’ll have to wait and see.”

Popularity: 7% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Interim Editor-in-Chief

Hello, readers! If you’re anything like me, you’re probably wasting the last day of your four-day weekend dreading going back to class tomorrow. Isn’t that always the way? It seems to me that the more time I have off, the more work I have to do the night before class.
I guess life is like a box of chocolates. You eat all of the good ones first and save the weird-looking ones with orange filling for the end when you have no choice but to suffer through them.
For those of you who are still feeling the long weekend and who may have skipped over my name at the top of the page, I regret to inform you that I am not Emma Campbell. Trust me, you’re not the only ones disappointed. I’m nowhere near as awesome as Emma, who did an amazing job editing The Woods newspaper last semester. Unfortunately, she has had to step down as editor-in-chief, leaving me to fill the huge shoes she left behind.
On behalf of The Woods staff, I’d like to thank her for putting up with us for as long as she did. We miss you already, Emma!
Being a member of The Woods has so far been a great learning experience. A few years ago, most of what I knew about journalism came from what I had seen in movies. And I’m not talking classic films like “All the President’s Men” or “The Pelican Brief” – I’m talking romantic comedies.
I watched Richard Gere meet the woman of his dreams in “Runaway Bride” by writing a terrible, inaccurate article on Julia Roberts’s character. In “How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days,” Kate Hudson lied about her identity and pushed a man to the brink of insanity. Sure, it was unethical, but she still got the guy. The lessons are clear: bad journalism is a valid path to “happily ever after.” And to Matthew McConaughey.
Unfortunately, shirtless men with questionable acting ability are in short supply here at SMWC. Plus, we here at The Woods make a big deal about telling the truth. We do our utmost to get it right the first time, and if we fail, we let you know we’ve made a mistake.
So what do we gain from journalism? Anne Hathaway got a makeover and a new wardrobe for her stint at a fashion magazine in “The Devil Wears Prada,” and she wasn’t even reporting! If there’s nothing in it for us, why should we care about the school paper? And, more importantly, why should you care?
The written word is a powerful thing. It has the ability to make people think, to change minds and to shape policy. Take a look at our mission statement on the bottom-left corner of the page. Newspapers get the conversation going. They keep you informed so that you know how other people’s actions will affect you. The more you know, the better you can protect your own interests.
The Woods is important because it is an expression of student voices. It gives us a chance to report on the issues that matter most to us and to reflect the thoughts and the ideas of the student body back into the outside world.. It’s our opportunity to begin creating our own legacies.
Every once in a while, everyone says something profound or important; but those words are gone in an instant. Those words die. It’s the ones that make it into print that last forever. Well, those and the words we post on Facebook. Personally, I’d prefer I wasn’t rememembered for “OMG this is the worst day ever! I totally just dropped my sandwich. Sadface.”
“Happily ever after” or not, I’m just happy I get to be a part of the process. There’s something intrinsically good about newspapers; the way they look, the crunchy sound they make when you fold them… Forget romantic comedies. If working for a newspaper is good enough for Superman and Spiderman, it’s good enough for me.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Softball team works VIP room, raises money

By Amira Jaradat
Interim Editor-in-Chief

Lucas Oil Stadium was packed. More than 68,000 people had turned up for Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. And while the women of Le Fer congregated around a television in Sullivan Lounge, some of their fellow Woodsies were much closer to the action.
The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods softball team was inside the stadium – not to watch, but to work.
The SMWC Pomeroys spent Super Bowl Sunday working in the stadium’s VIP room, hoping to earn enough money to fund a trip to Florida for a tournament during spring break.
“It was basically catering,” said Libby Wright, senior. “We were banquet servers. I was in charge of a buffet line.”
Their day started with an early trip to the “old airport,” where school buses were waiting to take them downtown. They were dropped off a couple of blocks away from the Indiana Convention Center, where they lined up among the crowd to receive their credentials.
“They set up a restricted perimeter around the Lucas Oil Stadium so that you couldn’t get in unless you had the credentials,” Wright said. Each person’s ID featured different colors, letters and shapes, indicating the different areas workers were authorized to enter.
After putting on vests with a “Super Bowl” insignia and their credentials, the softball team headed to the VIP room, where they would be working the pre-game and post-game parties.
“The room we were in was beautiful,” said Leah Miller, senior. “It was insanely large. It was like three O’Shaughnessys.”

Photo provided by Kelsey Rosselli

The VIP room, which held 3,000 people, was decorated according to a “Football Winter Wonderland” theme, including snow-covered turf.
“Everything was white. They had an ice rink in there and they had ice skaters performing,” Miller said.
There was also a stage for live musical performance and an autograph station where Wright spotted Eli Manning, New York Giants quarterback, before the game.
The VIP room opened for the pre-game party at 2 p.m. and then closed at 5:30 p.m. before the 6:30 p.m. kickoff.
“We served sliders, miniature hot dogs and chicken and we were in charge of taking them out and putting them on hot plates,” Wright said. During the actual game and in the lull between pre- and post-game parties, the servers were told they had half an hour to eat anything they could. “I didn’t eat anything at my station because I had been looking at it for too long,” Wright said.
“We got to see the halftime show on the screens, but we were pretty much working the entire time,” Miller said. The team was busy flipping the room, preparing it for the crowd that would be soon coming for the post-game party. “We were scrubbing these white tables, we were trying to clean the floor and the chairs and we had to switch out all the food,” said Miller. “I don’t understand how they could be so messy,” she added.
“We were told that these people paid a lot so we needed to give them a good experience,” said Wright. The VIP room guests were a varied bunch, some with painted faces. “They weren’t like all in suits or anything like that, which is what I expected. It was like a typical tailgate party in a really nice room,” she said.
Following the game, the second party of the day didn’t end until midnight.  Near the end, the exhaustion pushed the team to get creative and entertain themselves by doing a little line dace. “We were trying to enjoy it,” said Miller. “We wanted the time to go as quickly as possible at the end.”  They finished cleaning the room at 12:30 and by the time they had gotten back to campus, it was 3am.
“If you had walked out of the room we were in, we were maybe a hundred feet from the run-in tunnel,” said Libby Wright, senior. “We walked by the locker rooms. We were right there.”  However, despite their proximity, Wright said she didn’t feel as though she was really at the Super Bowl. “The room’s under the stadium, but it was so quiet. Even during the game, you couldn’t hear anything,” said Wright.
“It was still a cool experience,” said Wright. “Not that I would want to do it again, but I’m glad I did it once.”

Popularity: 28% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff Writer

On April 9, 2011, the lights were dimmed in Indiana State University’s north gym. Participants in last year’s Relay for Life event, each carrying a glow stick, were given instructions. If you’re a cancer survivor, light your glow stick. If you’re a caregiver, light your glow stick. If you know someone that’s had cancer, light your glow stick. One by one, glowsticks were lit. By the end, the gym was dotted with their light.
Relay for Life is an annual, overnight event held in more than 5,100 locations nationwide. It is the culmination of what is, for some teams, a yearlong fundraising process, with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.
Teams have been fundraising for months for this year’s event on March 24-25 at Indiana State University.
“It seems like almost everybody these days has been affected by cancer in some way,” said Krista Steinmetz, Hunt Seat coach at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods.
Steinmetz, who lost her mother to cancer in 2006, heads the SMWC Equestrian Teams relay team, which is made up of all of the students of both the Hunt Seat and Western equestrian teams.  The SMWC Equestrian Teams compete in the fundraising event against teams at other Vigo County colleges. “Last year, we were the top online fund-raising team,” said Steinmetz, whose team raised more than $5,000 in 2011.
“I made, or I encouraged, the girls to send out Facebook messages and e-mails… Some students within a few days raised like $300 just by letting their family know what they were doing,” said Steinmetz.
Besides asking for direct donations online, the team also raises money through team fundraisers, many of which are held during equestrian events.
“We had a Pie Your President contest,” said Steinmetz, which pit her, the regional president, against her father, the zone president. “Whoever’s can of money by the end of regional’s had the most in it was going to get a pie in the face,” said Steinmetz. She was the “winner” of that particular contest, but her father, who wore a full-sized bunny suit to pie his daughter, ended up getting pied as well. “Just that event alone raised about $500.”
Steinmetz’s team is not the only group out of SMWC participating in Relay for Life. Besides the SMWC Alums and Friends, run by American Cancer Society Community Representative and SMWC alum Rachel Romas, the Just Smile Every Mile Long team has been the team to beat.
“I think the only team that’s beaten us in the last couple of years has been Just Smile Every Mile Long,” Steinmetz said. “Last year was the first year we really got into it and raised a lot of money and they still beat us,” she said, laughing.
Just Smile Every Mile Long has been participating in Relay for Life since 2005. “In total, we’ve raised well over $30,000. We start with our fundraising right after the relay for the next year,” said Jeanette Wrin, office manager and administrative assistant for SMWC’s Woods Online program.

Photo provided by Krista Steinmetz

“The equestrian teams are a Facebook group; that’s how they raise their money. We kind of raise ours the brick and mortar way,” said Wrin. “They’re doing great. I think it’s going to be pretty close,” she added.
The team, which is mostly made up of Wrin and her relatives, has members ranging from 14 to 70 years old. Besides their yearly yard sale and children’s books sales, one of Just Smile Every Mile Long’s biggest fundraisers is the Shop for a Cure event held every November.
“We have about 35 vendors who come, set up and sell their items and a percentage of their profit goes to the American Cancer Society,” said Wrin. A lunch is also served, last year to about 200 people, all prepared by Wrin’s two daughters.
“About 10 years ago, my daughter developed Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” said Wrin. After her diagnosis, the family heard about Relay for Life and decided to form a team.
“The Relay for Life event is a way to honor the people who are going through cancer,” said Wrin. “It’s also a way to remember people who were lost to cancer and it’s a way to fight back to raise money for research.”
Relay starts with a Survivors lap, in which cancer survivors celebrate their successes by taking to the track. There is also a special lap for Caregivers, or anyone who has offered help and support to a cancer patient.
“I definitely walked with my mom when she was surviving, so that was something that meant a lot to me,” said Steinmetz. “I’m an only child. My dad was always there to help too, but I was with my mom a lot when she was in the hospital.”
Because of the nature of the cause, both teams find many people willing to donate.
“I don’t usually feel bad asking people to get involved and donate because most people have a story,” said Steinmetz. “If you just sit there and ask them, they’ll tell you a personal story about someone in their life who had cancer. It seems like it touches a lot of people.”
“I’m just very, very thankful that my daughter’s doing well,” said Wrin. “And there are a lot of people who have not done so well. I think, even if you’re not on a team, just to come to relay, just physically being there for the relay is a support to someone.”

Popularity: 28% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff writer

Zohra Sarwari opened her Feb. 1 talk with the words bismillah arrahman arrahim, which, translated from Arabic, is, “In the name of God, the most Gracious and most Merciful.”
In Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College’s latest Four-Star Series event, Sarwari, an author, speaker and life coach, gave a talk entitled “Are Muslim Women Oppressed?” Dressed in a hijab, or headscarf, and a floor-length cloak called an abaya, Sarwari took to Cecilian Auditorium’s stage in an effort to clarify what she described as misconceptions surrounding the Islamic faith.
Sarwari, who came to the United States from Afghanistan at the age of six, now lives in Fishers. An author of ten books and the holder of a master’s degree in business administration, Sarwari aims to promote dialogue and encourage tolerance.
“We’re all human and there are so many things happening in the world that we’re all familiar with but that we don’t have a lot of knowledge of,” said Sarwari. “Unless we get our misconceptions cleared by someone who does, we’re going to continue having these hatred feelings growing.”
During her talk, Sarwari emphasized the equality of men and women in Islam. According to Sarwari, Muslim women cover their hair not because they are forced to, but because they are following a commandment from God.
“In 2012, beauty is what you look like on the outside,” said Sarwari. “It’s not about the inner beauty.”
Sarwari explained the different styles of dress typically associated with Islam, joking that women who wear niqab, which covers the face while leaving only the eyes exposed, are not ninjas or bank robbers.
“They’re just people. They’re just trying to be more righteous,” she said.
Sarwari also stressed the high status of women in Islam and their male relatives’ tion to provide for them financially. Sarwari, a mother of five, focused particularly on a mother’s position in Islam and how important it is for children to honor their parents.

Photo by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

Drawing on her experiences volunteering in a nursing home, Sarwari spoke critically of children who failed to visit their elderly mothers.
“A woman should never feel alone,” she said.
“I think I watch the news too much, but I thought it was interesting the separation that she made between culture and Islam,” said Heather Ennis, a sophomore studying the humanities.
“I don’t think I quite realized that I was assuming that, because something was going on in the context of the same culture that’s associated with Islam, that it was because of that, instead of a cultural thing that was there before,” said Ennis.
After opening the floor for questions, one man mentioned an instance of what is known as an “honor killing” that recently took place in Canada. A father, along with his wife and son, were found guilty of murdering the man’s first wife and three of his daughters, evidently because he disapproved of their behavior.
Sarwari, however, was adamant that such violence is not condoned in Islam.
“He is not a righteous man,” she said, attributing his type of crime to pre-Islamic cultural practices, not religion.
Janice Dukes, who teaches a course on images of Muslim women at SMWC, said,  “We always have to ask to what extent the oppression is the result of people’s interpretation of that religion or to what extent it is something that already existed in that culture before Islam came along and then persisted afterwards.”

Photo by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

In a 2010 interview with CBS in which she promoted her book “No! I am not a Terrorist,” Sawari spoke of the importance of teaching children not judge or make fun of people who are different than them.
“Tolerance is key,” said Sarwari. “And if we don’t teach our kids tolerance, how can they as adults have it?”
SMWC students’ exposure to Islam has not been limited to the classroom and the news. According to Jeff Malloy, dean of student life, SMWC students have had the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of Islam through their interactions with Muslim students, particularly Zahra Adni.
“Zahra was with us for three and a half years. She was an orientation leader and she had a very high profile role here,” said Malloy. “I think no student has done a better job since I have been here of being a wonderful representative of the Muslim faith than Zahra.”
Sarwari mentioned different rights women were granted under Islam more than 1,400 years ago, such as the right to vote and to own property.
On the other hand, she also acknowledged the existence of “extremists who maybe don’t read their [holy] books.”
However, she repeatedly said that there are bad apples of every religious persuasion and that they cannot be considered typical of any faith.
“Hitler was a Christian,” said Sarwari, “but if we based Christianity on his life, what kind of world would we have?”
According to Dukes, oppression is not specific to one religion.
“There are a lot of women in the world who are oppressed largely because they are women,” said Dukes. “I don’t want us to forget about them and I don’t want us to forget that some of those are Muslim women.”

Popularity: 29% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff Writer

On Oct. 29, the peaceful conservatory that students have grown accustomed to was transformed.
The corridors were bathed in ominous red and green light. Chairs were overturned. Screams punctuated the night. And student actors, struck with “an unidentified virus,” took to the halls to startle visitors and Woodsies alike at the Music and Theatre Department’s second annual Haunted Conservatory.
“We’ve definitely upped our game this year,” said Nicole Wieg, one of the event’s organizers. “The theme is that everyone at The Woods is coming down with a horrible disease…As you go through, the disease gets worse and worse and it decays the body.”
Visitors to the Haunted Conservatory were first treated to a short film, produced by music and theatre students, explaining that a mysterious outbreak had hit the students of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Once the mood was set, they were escorted upstairs, where they were confronted with pale, diseased-looking students. Some called out for help; others vomited into buckets, squirmed on the floor and feverishly pounded on the piano.

Photo by: Amira Jaradat/ The Woods

“It was better than last year because it was actually at night,” said Katelyn Watson as she waited in line to watch the film and visit the second floor for the second time. “I loved the way they decorated because it looked like it was chaos.”
“It’s been so much fun,” said Wieg. “This really made people who don’t usually get to work together come together to work on a unified project.”
Although she acknowledges that it’s harder for students to go through the Haunted Conservatory with “an objective eye” when they recognize many of the actors, she believes that, this year, they have improved on their concept.
“We learned a lot from last year,” said Nicole Gilberti, co-organizer of the Haunted Conservatory. “We started working as soon as we got back in the fall.”
Students involved in the event have been meeting once a week to plan the event.
“It took us a while to put a floor plan together,” said Gilberti. Students were then assigned roles, depending partly on their personalities. Make-up, done by Kelsie Uselman, took each actor’s character, position and the available lighting into account.
Gilberti, a music therapy senior, first wanted to hold the Haunted Conservatory as a way to inspire other students to come up with their own creative fundraising projects. However, she now plans to also turn the Haunted Conservatory into her senior project.
“I’ve got the videos, my notes, the layouts, and I want to compile them into a DVD explaining the step-by-step process,” she said.
Although entry was free to the public, donations were accepted at the door for the SMWC Madrigal’s tour of France, scheduled for May of next year.

Photo by: Amira Jaradat/ The Woods

The tour, entitled “France: Returning to Our Roots,” will take the Madrigals back to Saint Mother Theodore Guerin’s homeland and expose the students to what came before the establishment of The Woods’ own community.
“We’ll be singing in the church in Ruille, the home of the Sisters of Providence in France,” said Michael Boswell, Madrigals director. “Mother Theodore prayed at that alter the night before they left.”
The Madrigals also plan on performing in Etables-sur-Mer, Mother Theodore’s birthplace.
“I’m hoping that it will be eye opening and life changing,” Boswell said.
According to Gilberti, the Music and Theatre Department plans to kick its fundraising into “high gear” next semester as the Madrigals’ departure date draws closer.
In the meantime, the department plans to continue putting a donation bucket out at concerts.
“We don’t expect it to pay for the whole trip, but it’s something to help us move forward,” said Wieg.
If you are interested in donating toward the Madrigal’s tour or are planning on joining chorale next semester and would like to participate in the tour, please contact Michael Boswell at mboswell@smwc.edu.

Popularity: 31% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff Writer

For more than half of the semester, while the rest of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College’s sports teams have been competing, the basketball team was getting ready.
Their season finally kicked off on Nov. 5 in a home game against Indiana Tech. But, in the months leading up to that game, the basketball team was practicing hard, preparing for the long season that was to come.
“We practice every day, usually for two hours,” said sophomore Jessica Taylor. Besides running plays and working on technical skills, the team has been spending time in the weight room and working on resistance training.
“We’re trying to build our stamina so we can be ready for the season,” said Taylor.
Another way the team has prepared for the season is by having scrimmages with other teams.
“They’ve been pretty intense,” said Taylor. “Nobody’s going to let us beat them. We work hard for every win.”
“Our scrimmage games have been really good,” said freshman Alaura McKemie. “We’ve worked together really good as a team.”
The Pomeroys won three out of the four scrimmages they played, a fact McKemie says is partly due to the team’s dynamic. “I think we get along really well,” said McKemie. “We’re really open with each other. It’s better than I thought after high school, after having all those little kids and more drama. We’re more responsible.”
Taylor is a transfer student and, like McKemie, she is a new addition to the basketball team this year. According to Taylor, playing scrimmages before the start of the season helped the team to perform better as a unit.
“We had to get used to playing together and get a feel for each other,” Taylor said. Now, we are more aware of where we are on the court. Every game, we progress in some area.”
The team will have plenty of games to hone their skills. Their season is jam-packed, including at least one game every week, sometimes two or three. Compounded by the time spent in workouts and travelling to and from the Clinton Recreation Center every day for practices, being a part of SMWC basketball can take its toll.
“I’m worried about December,” said McKemie. “I’ve heard that’s our longest month. Everyone else gets off… We’re off for five days and then we’re back.”
But according to Brittney Shaner, a junior who has been on the team for three years, five days off for Christmas is an improvement on past years. “We usually only get four,” said Shaner. “You kind of do get a little burned out, but coach always gives us breaks,” she added.
According to McKemie, Coach Deanna Bradley is the kind of woman who demands respect. “She really knows what she’s talking about,” said McKemie, who says she feels she can go to her coach with her problems or her questions.
“In practices, if there are things that you want to know, she stops the play, she goes through it step by step and she goes back and has everybody reset up the play,” she said.
The basketball team consists of only nine players, with five taking to the court at a time. Going into the season, the Pomeroys will be playing with eight while Jenni McLeish-Marietta recovers from ankle surgery.
The team’s small numbers haven’t been a determining factor in their scrimmages; one of their wins was against a team of 17 players. “It hasn’t affected us in the scrimmages,” said Shaner. “Teams I’ve been on in the past, we only had like eight players, and that’s when we did our best because we could rotate better.”
Shaner is already looking ahead to the Nov. 29 game against Rose Hulman Institute of Technology. The rivalry game draws crowds from both schools and is one of the team’s most anticipated games of the season.
“That’s like the most nerve-wracking game you play because there’s so many people there,” said Shaner.

Popularity: 21% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff Writer

On Oct. 11, the junior class of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College received some bad news.
The new prices for Woods rings were out and they were much higher than most students had anticipated. Due to the rise of the price of gold worldwide, students planning on buying Woods rings this year will be paying significantly more than students who have done so in years past.
“I was shocked over how much the price of the rings has gone up.” said Alyssa Flynn, junior. “I know two years ago the most expensive gold ring was a little under $1,000 and now the least expensive gold ring is that price.”
The most expensive Woods Ring for sale this year is the 18-karat gold, going for $1,939.91; this same ring was sold for $971.56 in 2010 and 2011.
The 14-karat gold ring has gone up almost 70 percent, with a current price of $1,385.65, and the 10-karat gold ring now costs $952.30.
The price of the sterling silver ring has also gone up more than a hundred dollars, now costing $449.40.
“The new prices reflect what the gold prices are at this moment in time per ounce,” said Vicki Kosowsky, vice president for student life. The prices of the rings are determined by the manufacturer and the rings themselves are distributed by the bookstore. “The college does not make any money off of the rings at all.”
In the past, SMWC has signed a contract resetting the prices of the rings with the company responsible for manufacturing them every two years.
“This year, they came to us and said ‘We cannot lock in a price for you,’” said Kosowsky.  “The price of gold has been so volatile over the last eight months that it was changing daily by hundreds of dollars….they did not know from one day to the next, much less a week in advance or a month in advance, what they were going to have to pay for gold.”

Graphic by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

In an effort to provide what Kosowsky describes as “a more affordable but still quality ring,” two new ring options have been introduced this year.
The White Aztec is an alloy containing no gold, while the Gold Aztec ring contains a small amount of gold.
Ashtynn Masterson, who was glad that the college is planning on offering more reasonably priced options, still plans on purchasing a gold ring.
“To me, getting a ring is such a big honor that it’s something that I’m willing to spend that type of money on,” said Masterson.  “It’s something I will wear for the rest of my life. If you spend $900 now, but you wear it every day for the rest of your life, it kind of evens out.”
While some students may go for the less expensive options, others plan to apply for legacy rings, which are Woods rings donated by alumnae or their families.
“I’ve always thought it would be really neat to get a ring that has been passed down through history,” said Lauren Sutton, who has planned to apply for one since before the change in pricing.  “I liked the idea of being able to donate that same ring back to school to continue the tradition.”
Sutton suspects that more people may apply for the legacy ring this year for the simple reason that they are free.
But besides the fact that the number of donated rings available is always limited, another issue with legacy rings is the sizing.
“Many of the older alums that have given back rings to the institution are giving back incredibly small rings. Really small,” added Kosowsky.
She stated that some rings may be too small for any students to wear.
For students such as Emilie Blythe, a senior who decided her budget would not allow her to buy a Woods Ring last year, the ring is an important symbol, but not a vital one.
“There are more important things than silver and gold and onyx,” said Blythe.  “Like the people I’ve met and will treasure in my heart forever.”

Graphic by Shauna Lampley/ The Woods

Andrea Thompson, who plans on applying for a legacy ring, says the rings are currently priced outside of her budget. However, if she is not chosen for a legacy ring, she will save up her money so she can purchase a Woods Ring of her own next year.
“It’s such a big part of Woodsie tradition,” said Thompson.  “There’s no way that I’m going to graduate without one.”
Although Kosowsky does not expect that the ring prices will change again this year, she describes the current price list as a “somewhat floating scale” and cannot guarantee that the prices will not change again next year, either for better or for worse.
It all depends on the state of the market.
“We’ve never been confronted with this dramatic of a change,” said Kosowsky. “There’s always been some ups and downs over the years, but never anything as dramatic as this.”

Popularity: 29% [?]

By Amira Jaradat
Staff Writer

Photo by Nancy Hernandez/ The Woods

Ice packs, leg braces and cough medicine are not the first things you would usually associate with the Saint Mary-of-the-Wood soccer team.
But a number of injuries and an unfortunate outbreak of runny noses was an additional obstacle to the Pomeroys during the jam-packed first week-and-a-half ofntheir season.
Alex Amos has suffered soccer injuries before, but this is the first one that is severe enough to keep her from playing.
“Normally it is stuff you can bounce back from, but this one not so much,” said Amos.
Amos’s shin bone is tilted and is putting pressure on the tendons and ligaments of her knee.
After recovering from an injury she received over the summer, Amos was reinjured during team practice and is now unsure when she will be allowed back on the field.
Her knee was x-rayed and then again five days later after two practices and two games.
“The mass amount of deterioration between Monday and Friday…was enough for them to be worried that within a month I’d probably be having surgery if I kept playing,” she said.
While Amos is currently on the bench, Denae Sallis, who has torn ligaments in her foot, is still able to play.
“When I’m playing, and I’m going at someone, I don’t ever think about it,” said Sallis.
Sallis added, while laughing, “But afterwards I do… and I regret it.”
Compounding the problem of the increasing number of injuries is the team’s smaller size.
“Last year, we had like two teams,” said Lauren Nelson, who is currently in physical training for her knee after being run over by a horse trailer last year.
The team now only has two substitutes for games and they have to send girls back on the field hurt sometimes.
“Playing smaller numbers, some of them will have little injuries and, yeah, we’ll have to struggle with not having a lot of substitutes,” said Head Coach Mike Aycock.  “It’s kind of natural. I think they’re doing a good job playing with that hurdle.”
According to Ashley Logan, injuries are just a part of the game.
“I play soccer. I signed up to get hurt,” she said.
And get hurt she did last year, when a torn meniscus required her to undergo knee surgery.  She is now fully recovered, but more cautious.
“I don’t try to overdo it because I don’t want to feel anything like that pain again,” said Logan.
Despite an exhausting opening string of on-the-road games and a discouraging list of injuries, the team maintains its sense of humor about the situation.
During a team practice, players joked about how a rash of head colds and runny noses led the team to split up into a “healthy bus” and a “sick bus” on the road to one of their recent matches.
Amos also saw some positivity to the situation.
“Because we don’t have as many players, we have to play a more technically correct game,” she said. “From last year to this year, it’s definitely brought us together as a team…It’s a good thing and a bad thing all at the same time.”
“We wound up playing four hard road games before playing once at home,” said Aycock. “Travelling that far to play a very good team is hard on anybody, even if you have 18 or 20 [players].”
After seeing the way his team has dealt with some of the hardships they have faced, he is optimistic about the next phase of the season.
“We have five matches at home,” he said. “I expect that they’ll tend to do a little better, and feel a little better about themselves too, when we have more opponents that are a little more in our range and we get to play at home.”
Another advantage to playing at home is having friends, classmates and the rest of the Woodsie community present to cheer them on.
“If people come out and watch our games, we want to win more,” said Logan.
The team hopes to attract more of a crowd for their Oct. 5 breast-cancer benefit match against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The team will be wearing pink for the game and there will prizes available for those in the crowd.
“You do play better when it’s your friends out there,” said Aycock.

Popularity: 38% [?]