Lenoir-Rhynean NewsVolume 108 Issue 8

Dec/Jan 2014

ALL ABOUT

GEORGE

A CAMPUSWINTER

PG 6

LR’STOP

5PG 4 & 5

WO

NDERLAND

BRANCHESBEAR NEW

LIFEBy Cigi Sparks

LRN Design & Layout Editor

Along 7th Avenue, just as your gaze passes the giant concrent sign reading “Lenoir-Rhyne University,” you can tell that you’re entered into the Bears’ terretory.

What used to be a mighty Red Oak tree has been transformed into a 15 foot tall wood carving of LR’s mascot – the mighty Grizzly bear.

The 200 year-old tree was going to have to be chopped down but the university decided to give the tree a new life.

“The aging tree had died and had to be cut down,” said LR Director of Facilities Management Otis Pitts. “We thought a carving of our mascot would be a great addition to our campus and representative of our spirit here at LR.”

Joey Rowe of Absolute Tree Service in Hickory and Jason Smathers of Cutting Edge Carvings in Washington State – who are both avid LR Bear fans - have been hired to complete the carving.

“I got into carving with my dad,” Smathers said. “It was something that he did with his business. Now i’ve been doing the same thing for about 12 years.”

Smathers partakes in competitions throughout Washington State, California and Oregon against some of the world’s best professional wood carvers.

He’s proud of his competition record in which his work is usually ranked in the top five of his pro-class division.

Smathers is most well-known for his 44-foot Veterans Memorial which he completed in Washington State.

“That was the biggest carving I’ve ever done,” he said. “It took around 6 months.”

Although, LR’s new bear won’t take nearly as long.It took just a little over seven days to complete LR’s new edition.It is a solid piece of wood, a beautiful piece of wood,” Smathers

said.The huge carving created quite a stir in the LR community. As the torch blows, a few people in a truck stop to take some

pictures – there’s been a lot of that happening. Completing the task wasn’t an easy feat. A lot goes into creating

a work of art this big.“On a tree this big, proportion is a big factor,” he says. “Once

you get your head proportioned and the way you want it, the rest kind of flows.

A propane torch gets the right coloring. This grizzly is black with a brown snout.

The grand carving represents LR is the best way possible – all high and mighty.

“It’s a grizzly bear,” Pitts says. “It’s not a black bear. It’s not a polar bear. It’s a mighty grizzly bear.”

Photo special to LRNLR’s new Bear didn’t always look so grand. The bear started our as a Red Wood Oak tree and was transformed into the carving it is today.

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2014 - 2015 LRNStaff Reporters

Ryan BaxterCasey Marlin

Mikayla WhiteSara Jones

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E d I T O R I A l2

Casey MarlinLRN Staff Reporter

W h At t h E h E c k !Featuring: Our obsession with social media

What does it mean to be In-stafamous? And why do people care so much about the atten-tion they receive on social me-

dia? As much as I want to pre-tend like I don’t care about the number of “likes” I get on an Instagram post or favorites on a tweet, I do care. Too much.

People can pretend like it’s not a big deal, but we all care. If you’ve spent longer than 30 seconds deciding how to word your next post on social media, then you care too much.

LR Junior Regina Kelly told me that she can spend up to 15 minutes figuring out what to post online.

“A lot of people wait until prime time, 8 or 9 p.m., to post something,” Junior Jess Tooley said. “That way the majority of their followers see the post.”

Nowadays, we look to so-cial media for approval. We rate ourselves by our “follow-

ers” to “following” ratio. It’s disheartening, to say the least. We are worth a lot more than the number of likes we get on a Instagram photo but for some reason if I don’t break at least 20 likes, I find myself getting extremely self conscious about my post.

I have heard of students who will actually remove their posts online if they don’t reach a certain number of likes with-in the first 10 minutes of up-loading. We all know this is insane and we all understand that being in the “100” club on Instagram does not get you anywhere in this world but we can’t help it. I have sadly not reached 100 likes yet on Insta-gram and what’s worse is that I am annoyed by that fact. I’m

THE NURSE’S CORNERAlmost everyone gets a sore

throat at one time or another. “Sore throat” is broad terminology to describe any pain, irritation or scratchiness of the throat. When you have a sore throat you could have inflammation of the larynx (voice box), the pharynx (throat) or the tonsils (oval shaped glan-dular tissue on both sides of the throat). Pain levels can vary from uncomfortable to excruciating.

90-95% of sore throat symp-toms are caused by viral infec-tions. The main culprit of a sore throat is a common cold virus. There are over 100 different types Lisa Largent

of cold viruses that could cause a sore throat, other viral infections that cause sore throat include the Flu and the virus commonly known as Mono.

5-10% of sore throats are caused by bacterial infections like Streptococcal Infection or Strep for short.

Viral infections usually resolve on their own in 7-10 days with at-home care like drinking plenty of liquids, warm salt-water gargles, throat lozenges, pain relievers and the use of a humidifier in your bedroom.

Bacterial infections require an-

tibiotics to treat infection and pre-vent complications.

There are many non-infectious causes of a sore throat as well, like smoking cigarettes, yelling while playing or watching sporting events, snoring/ breathing through the mouth and low humidity in your room or apartment, post nasal drip, alcohol consumption, injury to the back of the throat such as a cut or puncture, chron-ic fatigue syndrome, acid and just plain excessive talking.

“An Ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of cure,” said Ben-jamin Franklin. The Best Preven-

tion is to practice good hygiene –wash your hands thoroughly and frequently, especially after using the toilet and before eating. Also, make sure you’re washing your hands clean after sneezing or coughing. Avoid sharing food, drinks and utensils. Cough or sneeze into a tissue and throw it away. Use alcohol based hand sanitizer when soap and water is not available. Regularly clean cell phones, TV remotes, computer keyboards, computer desk and hardware in your rooms. Also, avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Dear Nurse Lisa,I seem to get a sore throat often. What can I do about this? - CL

ashamed of being ashamed of not having enough likes.

“We can pretend not to care, but it provides a real con-fidence boost,” Junior Ryan Baxter said. “We want people to think we’re special.”

I think that’s the core of it. We want people to think our lives are better than they are. Which is kind of under-standable but we start to hide behind the life we post online. We want people to think we’re hilarious, beautiful and world travelers but if we’re being honest with ourselves, nobody else cares what we’re doing.

“I usually post things when there’s a big event but honestly, people post for any reason, a sports event, throwback Thurs-days, just as long as they look

good in a picture,” Junior Al-yssia Salinas said.

Our generation has grown up with Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s ingrained in our brains that popularity on social media is directly re-lated to popularity in real life. With the amount of technol-ogy in our lives today, I can’t imagine that would change anytime soon.

How can we make ourselves stop caring about our social media persona? Maybe a so-cial media hiatus? My sister deleted her Facebook and she would up being much happier. I honestly think a month long break from Twitter and Insta-gram could be a relieving ex-perience but don’t ask me to do it.

With all of the alleged racial hate crimes that have hit the news lately, racism has become one of the hot topics in the U.S.

With the Michael Brown and Treyvon Martin cases being two of the most talked about and pushed American trials involving racial hate within recent years, its become easy to take on the mind-set that racial crimes only involve African-Americans.

Yes, African-American hate crimes do account for a large chunk of racial hate in the U.S. – 54.5 percent exactly – and that’s a huge problem. However, I believe that with all of the media

focus on one specific race in the recent past, we as Americans forget that racism is universal.

Lets think about the Native Americans who are restricted to one-tenth of the land they occupied before European influence arrived in America – not to mention the fact that our ancestors killed off three-fourths of their population.

Now lets go back to the California Gold-rush when the Chinese were being suppressed by discrimination, low pay and poor hiring practices in the mines.

What about the time during WWII and the bombings at Pearl Harbor when Japanese U.S. citizens were sentenced to concentration camps?

Cartels in Mexico are beheading women and children everyday but the U.S. is striving to find a way that prevents illegal immigration. If you ran the risk of being beheaded when you walked outside would you not want to travel to the “greatest country on earth” as fast as you can?

Plus, slavery is still very alive and kicking in the world. The countries of Sudan, Niger, Arabia, India, Nepal, Pakistan

and Indonesia still practice slavery today.

Also, when you reply to someone with a comment they made saying “that was racist,” are you not being just as racist by even considering something to be a racial remark?

Are those not prime examples or racism? Are those not prime examples of suppression?

The generation of millennials – our generation – has done so many incredible things that have impacted America in a huge way, like pushing gay rights, striving for gender equality and almost completely dousing out tobacco usage among young adults.

We have caused a visible change in our country.

When are we going to start pushing for racial rights?

The only reason racism even exists is because we continue to acknowledge it.

My point is, racism is a hugely growing problem in todays society and it effects everyone.

It’s a problem that doesn’t need to be a problem.

Why not put it to an end? Cave from 5:20 to 6:20 p.m.

Lette r from the editorRace effects more than one population

Cigi SparksLRN Design & Layout Editor

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Like LRN on Facebook to get the conversation started.

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F E AT U R E s3

By Bailey LeonardLRN Staff Reporter

Hugs, handshakes and happiness. When students hear these three words, George from the cafete-

ria comes to mind.George Ussery has been working at Le-

noir-Rhyne University since Sept. 5, 1990—making this his 24th year with the Bears.

Ussery was born and raised in Hickory and has lived here his entire life.

He first stepped onto LR’s campus in 1986 when he came to see a play.

“I thought it was a real nice cam-pus.” Ussery said. “Shortly after they

had a job opening in the cafeteria so I applied.”

A lot has changed in

Ussery’s time here.

“When I first got here, the road went all the way

around the campus,” he said. “But the students have always been nice during my time here.”

The students are a big influ-ence on why Ussery keeps up his hard work at LR.

“My favorite thing is to put smiles on peoples faces and make their day,” Ussery said.

Another way Ussery con-tributes to the university is by spending time in the library when he isn’t busy in the caf.

“I was struggling while studying for a biomechanics exam one night and George tried hard to help me,” said Senior Joe Ray. “He gave me a really good analogy and it made a lot of sense.”

Ray met Ussery during his freshman year of football

camp and they’ve been close ever since.

“We are on a hug level, so I

would say I’m George’s favorite,” Ray said.Ussery is close with many of the football

players on campus and comes to most of their games.

He also enjoys watching both men’s and women’s basketball.

“Sometimes I go into the gym and play with anyone who is in there,” Ussery said. “I like to play point guard.”

If students don’t see Ussery in the cafete-ria, in the library, or gym, they probably see him riding his bike.

Ussery owns two bicycles these days and he’s in the process of getting a new one with gears.

“Riding bikes saves gas, helps with air pollution and I don’t have to worry about car insurance,” Ussery said. “Plus it’s good exercise.”

Besides riding his bike, he enjoys buy-ing model cars.

“I’ve been collecting mod-el cars for about forty years.” Ussery said. “My oldest sister

got me into it.”Ussery has cars from the 50’s, 60’s,

70’s and 2000’s. “I really want a 1980 model.”

Ussery said.Ussery currently has twenty-five

cars in a variety of sizes. He wants to continue hunting the models until he feels his collection is complete.

In Ussery’s 24 years at Lenoir-Rhyne, he has remained very involved and he never fails to put a smile on anyone’s face he comes in contact with.

“I can always count on George to crack a joke or come up with some crazy handshake,” said Junior Marcus Kincaid. “I’ve never heard him say a negative thing since I’ve been here.”

He has only had one other job in his life—working in Conover at a plastic man-ufacturing company.

But he doesn’t plan to have another job after LR.

“I want to work here until I retire,” Ussery said. “I’m happy here.”

ALL ABOUt GEORGE

LR’S favorite smiling face tells his story

Want to be a part of the LRNstaff?

IT’S EASYCome to our meetings

on Monday at 5:20 in The Cave!

s P O R T s4

THE TOP 5TRIUMPHANT TALESIT’s EAsy TO GET cAUGhT UP IN ThE NUmBERs WhEN yOU’RE TAlkING sPORTs. IT’s EAsy TO FOcUs ON

ThE sTAT lEAdERs ANd FORGET ABOUT ThE hUmAN sTORIEs BEhINd ThE POINTs ANd ThE vIcTORIEs. lENOIR-RhyNE’s 22 sPORTs TEAms ARE lOAdEd WITh GREAT AThlETEs ANd EvERy yOUNG mAN ANd

WOmAN OUT ThERE hAs A sTORy TO TEll. ThEy’vE OvERcOmE INjURIEs ANd chAllENGEs. ThEy’vE hAd sURGERIEs ThAT lEd TO A sEAsON ON ThE sIdElINE OR cAUsEd ThEm TO REdshIRT. sOmE hAvE lOsT ANd REGAINEd ThE PAssION FOR ThEIR sPORT. OThERs hAvE sTUmBlEd AcAdEmIcAlly.

BUT EvERy ONE OF ThEm hAs A sTORy TO TEll. hERE ARE FIvE OF OUR FAvORITEs:

“I just stopped going to prac-tice,” said Junior Defender, Amber Madriaga.

Madriaga has been a starter for the women’s soccer team since her freshman year. She has earned First Team All-Con-ference her freshman and soph-omore year—tacking on First Team All-Region her sopho-more year as well.

The defender has been a vi-tal part to the Lady Bears suc-cess on the field but her love for the game has had its ups and downs.

Madriaga started playing

“It was my first time in 14 years not being able to play,” said Redshirt Sophomore Safety Marcus Kincaid.

Kincaid’s older brothers introduced him to football at a young age.

“Justin and I would go out-side and throw the football for hours every day.”

And from then on, Kincaid has devoted countless hours to the field.

He was a varsity starter all four years in high school—playing both offense and de-fense.

Kincaid decided to bring his athletic abilities to Le-

Womens soccerwhen she was five years old and by her sophomore year of high school she was burned out.

“I started to feel a lot of pres-sure from everybody,” she said. “It became more of a job than a sport.”

After a few weeks of not playing, Madriaga went back to finish out the season.

“After being out for a while, I started to miss it and wanted to play again,” she said.

Madriaga continued to play and the summer of her junior year her club team competed for Hawaii’s State Cup.

#1“That’s when I started to

take it more seriously and real-ized I wanted to play at the next level,” she said.

She was a part of a recruiting program and at the beginning of her senior year started looking at colleges where she’d be able to continue playing the game.

After seeing different col-leges, Madriaga decided to leave Hawaii and travel across the country to Hickory, North Carolina.

“I love home but I wanted to explore different places,” she said

Amber Madriga

Marcus Kincaid#2

noir-Rhyne but he also brought his lack of focus in the classroom.

“I thought I could be the same student I was in high school,” Kincaid said.

His old ways caught up with him during his second semester of college.

“I got accused of plagia-rism,” he said.

Kincaid went through the appeal process but got denied.

He was suspended from LR for the next fall semester, which meant he couldn’t play football.

“This was a humbling ex-perience for me and one of

the hardest obstacles I’ve ever had to overcome,” Kincaid said.

During his time away from LR, Kincaid learned the team could succeed without him.

“The team making it to the National Championship put things into perspective for me,” he said.

However, Kincaid didn’t waste any time when he re-turned to the university.

He earned the Ronnie Lott “Heavy Hitter” award, South Atlantic Conference Defen-sive Player of the Week and Second-Team All-Conference shortly after his return.

Football

By Bailey Leonard - LRN Staff Reporter

s P O R T s 5LR athLetes shaRe theiR stoRies of Rise and faLL

On April 6 of last year, Ignacio Solis was in Atlanta being interviewed by CNN when he found out the biggest news of his life.

His dad had just become the President of Costa Rica.

“I was in the middle of talking about my dad when they told me,” Senior Defend-er Ignacio Solis said. “It’s the best moment I’ve experienced in my life.”

Solis had come to the Unit-ed States that fall to play soc-cer for LR and wasn’t able to be home for the campaign.

Redshirt Sophomore and Defensive Tackle Chris Green had not planned to play at the Division 2 level but his senior year took an unexpected turn.

“I woke up in the middle of the night with excruciating pain,” he said. “I crawled to my parents’ room because I couldn’t scream.”

Green had to be rushed to the hospital because his colon was blocked and his intes-tines were wrapped around his spine, with a ruptured ap-pendix to top it off.

The defensive tackle knew this surgery wasn’t going to have a positive impact on his

Redshirt Freshman and Outside Hitter Brooke Red-mond had to choose between two sports she loved after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in February of her senior year of high school.

“A big reason I signed with LR was because I could play volleyball and basketball,” Redmond said. “But after tearing my ACL, I figured it was better on my body to just play one sport.”

Redmond had to pick which one she wanted to play more—she chose volleyball.

“Volleyball has always

mens soccer#3Ignacio Solis

“It was hard not being with my family during the cam-paign but I found a way to support them from here,” So-lis said while explaining that he’d run his father’s social media platform from Hickory.

Now that the campaign was over, things were going to be different.

“At home I feel more pres-sure to act a certain way,” So-lis said. “Now people recog-nize me everywhere I go.”

In the states he doesn’t have as much pressure on him to present himself as the son

of a president but feels more pressure on the soccer field.

Solis has been a starter for the Bears since he got here last fall—for the 2014 season, he even took the title of team captain.

“I had to prove myself even more,” Solis said. “Some peo-ple thought I was a starter and a captain because of my dad’s position.”

Solis started every game of the season and helped his team make it to the semi-fi-nals of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament.

Chris Green#4Football

football career.“I had been communicat-

ing a lot with Auburn Uni-versity but once they found out about my surgery, we lost contact,” Green said.

He had started playing football when he got into high school and decided that’s where he was going to end his career.

“It was very depressing for me after my surgery and I just didn’t want to play anymore,” Green said.

Even months after his surgery, Lenoir-Rhyne con-tinued to communicate with Green and he decided to give

football another try.“My dad had a good talk

with me and ultimately got me to sign with LR,” Green said.

Due to his surgery, he red-shirted his freshman year but has had plenty of success since he stepped foot back on the field

Green earned the Ronnie Lott “Heavy Hitter” award in his 2013 and 2014 season, received the South Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Week and was named Second Team All-Conference in the 2014 season.

Volleyball#5Brooke Redmond

been my passion but I did enjoy playing basketball a lot too,” she said.

After only a week into practice with the Bears, Red-mond heard a pop come from her knee—the knee she’d in-jured only seven months ear-lier.

“I heard the pop and then I was in a lot of pain,” she said.

It turns out it was only scar tissue breaking up but by the time the doctors made that discovery, a month had gone by.

“My coach decided it would be best to just redshirt

me,” Redmond said.Once again the outside

hitter had to put her skills to rest.

After months of recovery, she was ready to play in Jan-uary 2014.

“This time I was 100 per-cent ready to be back and I was super excited,” she said.

Redmond worked hard throughout the semester and into the summer, prepar-ing for her season. Her hard work paid off and Redmond was named South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year and made the All-Fresh-man team.

N E W s6

Credits to Disney

Keeping Cozy on CampusQuick tips to spruce up your holiday season

Old maps make

interesting gift wrap and are a nice change of pace from commer-cially produced paper

or newsprint.

When traveling for

the holidays, use a brightly colored suitcase

or flashy tape to make your suitcase stand out

from others at the airport.

Use empty squirt

bottles to make bak-ing and cooking easi-

er. Pancake and cookie batters can be squirted

from the containers for less mess.

If you don’t have

plastic clips to hang lights around windows,

clothespins will work just as well. If you’re concerned

about the color of the wood-en clips, paint them holi-

day hues.

By Cigi SparksLRN Design & Layout Editor

As the winter months creep in, every college stu-dent is hoping for a snow day.

But with snow days, there obviously comes snow and with snow there comes in-clement conditions.

At Lenoir-Rhyne, student safety is a number one prior-ity – that’s why there’s an in-clement weather policy that the university and students abide by.

When the weather gets bad here in Hickory, LR may cancel or delay classes.

The cancellation of class-es for an entire day usually occur under the most severe weather conditions while de-lays may exist of the weather

conditions warrant so.“Students should always

exercise good judgment in deciding whether to attempt to travel to campus and are encouraged not to do so when conditions might threaten their safety or the safety of others,” said Dean of Students Katie Fisher. “It is the responsibility of stu-dents in deciding whether to attempt to travel to campus. It’s also the responsibility of students facing this situation to contact their instructors to indicate the reason for their absence and to request as-sistance concerning course materials to keeping current with the class. Commuting students who are unable to attend classes due to travel conditions will not be pe-nalized for their non-atten-

dance.”For the Hickory campus,

students can call 828-328-SNOW (828-328-7669), or check LR’s website for notic-es during inclement weather conditions and closing an-nouncements.

In addition to posting no-tifications on the website, Fa-cility closings, delayed class starts or class cancellations will be announced via email and through the campus’ RAVE Alert System. Noti-fications will also be posted on the University’s Twitter.

Changes in schedules of University non-class events and activities, such as confer-ences, workshops and speak-ers, will also be announced via email and posted on the university’s website and Twitter site.

Snow days are fun and carefree for students but not so carefree for administrators – there are a lot of concerns that play a part in making the decision to cancel class or not.

Even giving students who commute adequate notifica-tion time is a big deal to the university.

“Generally, we seek to have a decision made in the morning by 5:00 AM to pro-vide commuting students ad-equate lead time,” said Uni-versity Provost Larry Hall.

Snow days can be loads of fun for students, howev-er, the university wants to remind students to stay safe on these frigid days and only travel in good conditions “The safety of our students, faculty and staff is very im-

KEEPING SAFE ON SNOW DAYSLR’s inclement weather policy aims to keep students safe

N E W s 7By Amber McKnight

LRN Contributor

Every year the Catawba County Chamber of Com-merce hosts the Edison Busi-ness Project. Each year three winning contestants goes home with either a First Place prize of $10,000, a Second Place prize of $5,000 or a Third Place prize of $3,000. Contes-tants also receive scholarships to attend an Investor Ready Entrepreneur Workshop with CVCC’s Kauffman FastTrac New Venture Program.

The Edison project is some-thing that was set up for up-coming entrepreneurs who want to build a business in the local Catawba county metro area.

Contestant and Le-noir-Rhyne University junior Charlie McBurney is a Social Entrepreneurship major. Char-lie and his business partner Mi-cah Rufsvold came up with the idea to create their own busi-ness—Cooperative Loan Solu-tions. Cooperative Loan Solu-tions is a non-profit company that is a loan liaison between the community and banks that provides collateral and co-sign-ing assistance to those who

cannot obtain a loan through traditional means.

The Edison Business Proj-ect is a three-month long pro-cess, which concluded in Le-noir-Rhyne’s Belk Centrum.

“We chose to participate in the Edison Business Project be-cause Cooperative Loan Solu-tions had a plan but no fund-ing. Plus, the project was local and about the community,” McBurney said.

It’s never an easy task trying to come up with the best idea and plan proposal that will win the grand prize. Some compa-nies were competing for their second or third time while oth-ers were taking part in the proj-ect for the first time.

“This is all brand new to me,” McBurney said.

Even though this was Mc-Burney’s first competition like the Edison Project, he re-mained confident throughout the process.

“I did the best that I could for both of them and that’s re-ally all I could’ve asked for my-self.”

Even with so much confi-dence from the contesters, Co-operative Loan Solutions’ fell short of the grand prize.

Even though his compa-

ny didn’t win the big money, McBurney was very pleased with the experience he got from competing. He took it as a learning experience- some-thing that will be useful when he gets ready to take on his next project.

The Edison Business Proj-

ect is similar to the hit TV show Shark Tank, which airs on ABC. Shark Tank is a show where contestants compete for money for their wild business plans in return of giving a per-centage of their company to the investors.

“I would love to be on Shark

Tank but with a different idea,” McBurney said. “For students who find interest in competing in the Edison Business project my advice would be to not hold back, the whole experience is to help one get acclimated with the real world and to learn the role of the business trade.”

Photo special to LRNLR students Charlie McBurney, Andrew Leslie and Alex Freeman were named as three of the

Edison Business Project 2014 finalists.

LR stUdEnts GEt BUsinEss REAdyTaking business to the big leagues

From LRN Reports

Christmas morning came early this year for Christin Collie, a ju-nior at Lenoir-Rhyne University. Her gift came in the form of an email notifying her that she will be at the heart of the world famous so-lar calendar and tomb, Newgrange in Ireland to experience the Winter Solstice.

Collie’s name was one of only 50 drawn from a total of 30,532 entries in the 2014 Newgrange Winter Solstice Lottery. “I read the email over and over and final-ly called to make sure it was for real,” Collie said. “Sure enough a woman answered from the Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre and I was overwhelmed with excitement!”

Newgrange is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the winter solstice sun. At dawn, from December 18th to 23rd, a narrow beam of light pen-etrates the roof-box and reaches the floor of the chamber. As the sun rises higher, the beam widens within the chamber so that the whole room becomes dramatically illuminated. Collie along with LR senior, Marie Mauhar will be there to see it.

Each lottery winner is awarded two places in the chamber. Collie, who traveled to Ireland as part of a Lineberger Fellows study abroad trip, wanted to choose a fellow LR student to share this experience

with her. “Marie and I are both members of the Lineberger Fellows and were roommates on our trip to Ireland,” Collie explained. “Our whole group shared an incredible adventure and I just felt like I want-ed to share this experience with one of them.” This has also been a banner year for Mauhar who was recently named LR’s 2014 Home-coming Queen. A recognized cross country athlete and former softball player, she is seeking a double ma-jor in Mathematics and Biology.

Martin Luther Stevens Profes-sor of English at LR, Dr. Rand Brandes is founder and faculty advisor of the Lineberger Fellows. The program provides support for highly motivated and talented stu-dents to become more competitive applicants for post-graduate fel-lowships, awards, and exceptional employment opportunities. Sup-ported by the Lineberger Center for Cultural and Educational Renew-al, Lineberger Fellows contributes largely to LR’s effort to provide an abundance of gateways to a broader education including stud-ies abroad.

Joined by President of LR, Dr. Wayne Powell, Dr. Brandes led seven students on a seven-day excursion to Ireland, which took place last March over spring break. The students toured many sites of Ireland, including several art and natural history museums, Glen-dalough glacial valley, Dublin,

and County Meath – where the Newgrange monument is located. It was during their visit to New-grange that the entire group sub-mitted their entries for the drawing. “We went into the chamber which is surprisingly small,” Collie said. “We learned all about the passage and the solstice, and I still cannot believe we will have the chance to see it firsthand.” Collie says her favorite part of the trip was see-ing the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin. “There were people from all over the world including Brazil, Japan and various parts of Europe who had come together to share in the parade. It was truly a meaning-ful experience.”

Though Collie won reservations for the event, the trip itself is not free. Fortunately, the Lineberg-er Center of LR and the Broyhill Institute have graciously offered to help finance the trip. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Dr. Brandes. “The announce-ment that Christin’s name was drawn from the lottery was made at the President Society’s Dinner, and the overwhelming response was ‘we must make this happen’. We are pleased to be able to help underwrite the cost of this incred-ible opportunity and to support these exemplary students.” Also, to help raise funds for the trip, Collie and Mauhar have set up a website through GoFundMe which pro-vides on-line fundraising outlets for

organizations and individuals in need of financial assistance. Any-one interested in offering financial support for the girls and their trip can visit www.gofundme.com/fh-j8ac.

While in Ireland, the girls are hoping to spend the majority of their time in the city of Dublin dis-secting the local culture. However, they are also planning to use this opportunity to enhance their own

education. According to Collie, arrangements are underway for a tour of a hospital or medical cen-ter. They are hoping to examine how socialized medicine differs from healthcare practices in the United States. The girls will em-bark on their trip on December 19 and return Christmas Eve. “I really can’t imagine a better way to end what has already been an incredi-ble year,” Collie said.

AN EARly chRIsTmAsLR student sets out on a quest just before the holidays

Photo special to LRNLR students Christine Collie and Marie Mauher get ready to go on an adventure during winter break.

5 IdEAs FOR NEW BEGINNINGs

New beginnings can be hard. Whether it be breaking an old habit or starting a new one. Here are some of my ideas to help start new beginnings.

4. Sleep Sleep is crucial

for everyday life. Staying up super late and getting less than six hours of sleep effects mem-ory, ability to think and emotional state. Getting six to eight hours of sleep a night will help one stay focused.

3. Time management

From classes, to work, to extra-cur-ricular activities every student has schedules that can seem crazy. It’s im-portant to have good time man-agement to make things seem less chaotic. Block out times for study-ing, socializing and practice.

2. BreakfastBreakfast is the

most important meal of the day. It kick starts the me-tabolism which will wake up the body to prepare for what’s ahead. Skipping breakfast can make you irritable and sleepy. Have some protein and fruit to start the day.

5. Know your limits

Some students will try to take on too much thinking that keeping busy will be best. Make sure that you don’t have too much to do in too little time.

1. Be positive

No one likes a Negative Nancy – being positive when starting a new be-ginning will make things less stressful.

c A m P U s8

By Jazmine CharlesLRN Editor-in-Chief

It’s the second half and the ball needed to be in the hands of Le-noir-Rhyne’s best shooting guard. Gardner Webb was up one point with eights seconds left to go in the game that decided who would ad-vance to the NAIA Tournament. The ball was at half court and then made its way to the hands of soph-omore guard, John Lentz. He was in the left corner and with seconds ticking off the clock, he dribbles off a ball screen. Three-Two- and the shot was up....

Lenoir-Rhyne fell to Gardner Webb that night 77-76.

“The play was actually designed for our senior, Vernon Long, but he twisted his ankle and told me to take the shot,” current Head Coach of Lenoir-Rhyne Men’s Basketball team, John Lentz stated.

“All I know is after I missed that shot, the next day I went into the

gym and shot 100 shots the exact same way and made almost 90 per-cent of them.”

Lentz played at L-R from 1970 to 1974 and helped their team to four winning seasons- with two of the seasons ending with losses to Gard-ner Webb in the finals for the chance to attend the NAIA Tournament.

He’s still considered one of the best basketball players to ever wear a Lenoir-Rhyne uniform.

Lentz is still the fifth all-time lead-ing scorer in Lenoir-Rhyne history with 1,755 points and the all-time career assist holder with 524.

Lentz’s philosophy has always been that if you work hard good things will happen. Even when his college career ended, he managed to keep that phrase as his slogan through life experiences and even now as a head coach.

Lentz has been the head coach here at L-R since 1986. After years of traveling and coaching at other colleges, Lentz finally made it back

home to L-R. “I knew that my son would be

playing college basketball, and if he was going to play I was going to coach him,” Lentz said.

After his son Bryan Lentz fin-ished his college career in 2000, he decided to tag along with his father as his assistant coach until 2010 when he left to assist former L-R player Rick Barnes at the University of Texas.

Lentz admits that there have been some rough seasons; however, he has remained LR’s head coach for 29—one one-year contract at a time.

Lentz plans to make this year his 21st winning season. And his players know that it’s their responsibility to work hard enough to make that hap-pen.

Junior guard Will Perry is the definition of a hard worker. Anytime he has access to the gym he is there. Not only does Perry show dedica-tion outside of practice, he has trans-formed into a leader for this team.

“Coach Lentz preaches to play hard, and I know that it’s cliché, but that’s what he expects,” Perry said.

Perry opened up this season with his career-high against UNC-Pem-broke with 30 points.

Others players such as senior forward Trey Beverly show much re-spect for Lentz. They know that he shows tough love on the court, but it is only to make them better.

“He is going to push you but you just have to take it with the grain of salt and roll with it,” Beverly said.

After being redshirted last year, Lentz expects Beverly to give this team a spark on the floor and help be another leader on and off the floor.

The Bears have been off to a great start this season and hope to continue to have a successful season, especially in conference play next se-mester.

“The one thing we have done in 29 years is we play hard. The re-cord doesn’t mean as much to me as long as we are better in the end from

where we started,” Lentz said. “I mean it would always be great have a home conference game near the end of the season.”

Along with successful basketball seasons, Lentz has had the opportu-nity to see his players succeed in their lives after college.

Chuck Scheide, assistant coach, agrees that Lentz has a plan behind the tough love.

“He isn’t worried about the num-bers; He gets on them and shows them tough love, but he really pre-pares them for the real world,” Sheide said.

Lentz is not sure how much lon-ger he’ll coach at L-R, but he has known that he has loved every min-ute of being here.

With 400 career wins as head coach, 29 one-year contracts, Lentz has had the opportunity to develop some great memories.

“Once I made it back to Hickory, it seemed I couldn’t find a reason to leave.”

29 yEARs 400 cAREER WINsThe LR basketball legacy of John Lentz

MEN’S BASKETBALL 2015WHEN: WHO: WHERE:Jan. 3 4 p.m. LINCOLN MEMORIAL HOMEJan. 7 8 p.m. WINGATE AWAYJan. 10 4 p.m. TUSCULUM AWAYJan. 17 4 p.m. ANDERSON HOMEJan. 21 8 p.m. QUEENS HOMEJan. 24 4 p.m. MARS HILL AWAYJan. 28 8 p.m. CATAWBA AWAYJan. 31 4 p.m. BREVARD AWAYFeb. 4 8 p.m. COKER AWAYFeb. 7 4 p.m. CARSON-NEWMAN HOMEFeb. 11 8 p.m. NEWBERRY AWAYFeb. 14 4 p.m. LINCOLN MEMORIAL AWAYFeb. 18 8 p.m. CATAWBA HOMEFeb. 21 4 p.m. TUSCULUM HOMEFeb. 25 8 p.m. COKER AWAYFeb. 28 4 p.m. MARS HILL HOME

Photos special to LRN