Issue 1_The SpringHillian_Spring2021

The SpringHillian

Dei Gloriam

Pi Rho Chapter Celebrates Kamala Harris

Madelyn Kurcab Reporter

Alpha Kappa Alpha, Incorporated, Pi Rho Chapter was the first Black Greek Organization that was founded in 1942 on Spring Hill’s campus. Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) is the oldest Greek-letter organization founded by African American college educated women in 1908 at Howard University. It started as nine members, known as the Divine Nine, but has now flourished into approxi-

mately 300,000 active members and alumni.

Alpha Kappa Alpha has over 1,007 chapters in 42 states. Out of AKA’s 300,000 members, one member recently became the United States Vice President, Kamala Harris. She is the first woman, first person of color and first AKA member to be sworn in as Vice President.

Kamala Harris attended Howard University and became a member of AKA in 1986. One alumni member, Josclynn Brandon, says “to

see not only a woman, but a woman of color and a member of the Divine Nine become Vice President is something I never even dreamed of happening as a little girl growing up in America.”

Dionte Rudolph is the president of Alpha Kappa at Spring Hill. When asked about how she felt about Kamala being Vice President of the United States she said, “I know that women of Alpha Kappa Alpha are leaders on

so many levels, so it is personally such a privilege to have the opportunity to witness one of my sorority sisters break barriers in America. It is so important for girls everywhere, especially little black and brown girls, to have this representation in one of the most powerful positions. I’m very proud that she is paving the way for so many people and adding to the legacy of the illustrious Alpha Kappa Alpha

sorority.”

Kamala Harris becoming the vice president has had a tremendous impact on the women in the Alpha Kappa Alpha community. Kamala proved that regardless of skin color, anything is possible.

Tuition Reduction Effects on the Hill

Andrew Jones Reporter

Spring Hill College is reducing its tuition to $21,100 beginning in the fall of the 2021 school year for all new and current undergraduate students.

According to Spring Hill Administration Patrick Sprague, “The reason for the tuition reduction is to best serve the students by being affordable

and accessible.” The tuition drop from $41,868 to $21,100 is over 50% and the reduction moves Spring Hill to one of the most affordable private colleges in the country. The hope of the administration is that this reset would attract more students.

Patrick Sprague said, “Oftentimes high school students would write off Spring Hill College without applying due to the original price of $41,868.” This reduction

takes away that factor of being seen as too expensive. Sophomore Ian Poole commented, “This reduction is a good look for the school and will hopefully attract more students.”

The tuition has steadily been increasing by 3-5% each year at $41,868. This has gradually made the price that students pay each year more expensive. While the tuition reset does not stop the rate increase each

year, it does make it more affordable by staying at 3% of 21,100.

Students on campus have been wondering how tuition reset affects them and the scholarships that they currently have. Patrick commented, “The tuition reset would reduce the number of scholarships, but students would not pay more than what they are currently paying to attend Spring Hill College.”

In a year where COVID has prevented possible incoming students from touring the school, the tuition reset has helped spark their interest. Patrick reported that there has been an increase in applications and deposits compared to last year. This has even led to 100 students showing for virtual Badger Day that the college recently hosted.

AKA President Dionte Rudolph Gives a Demonstration of AKA’s. Hand Sign. Photo by Madelyn Kurcab

Vice President Elect Kamala Harris. Photo by ImageSPACE/MediaPunch/IPx

Nursing Students Join Fight Against COVID

Maddie Kurcab Reporter

Spring Hill nursing students gave over 1,000 COVID vaccinations on Jan. 20, 2021 at the Mobile Infirmary between their classes that Wednesday.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “wearing masks and social distancing help reduce your chance of being exposed to the virus or spreading it to others, but these measures are not enough. Vaccines will work with your immune system so it will be ready to fight the virus if you are exposed”.

The students, juniors and seniors in the nursing program, were also offered to receive the vaccine for themselves. Those who were vaccinated can now do

their jobs with peace of mind knowing they are more protected from this virus.

Junior nursing student Bridget Reynolds says, “Giving the vaccine was an

amazing opportunity for my class, and it really does feel like we were making history. We gave around 600 vaccines in one day to healthcare workers and

individuals 75 years and older. This was an opportunity to have a positive effect on the Mobile community. “

Out of the 190,432 people living in Mobile, Ala-

bama, the nursing students vaccinated 0.5 percent. While this is a small percentage, the Spring Hill nursing students have contributed to stopping the spread of COVID-19.

As of Feb. 8, 2021, the City of Mobile decided to extend the vaccine to those 65 and older rather than the previous 75 and older. The vaccine will also be available for healthcare workers, first responders, and those living or working in congregate settings. The nursing students will be giving out more vaccinations on Feb. 24, 2021 at Springhill Medical Center. For more information on the COVID-19 vaccine visit www.cdc.gov. For information about when and how to get tested in Mobile, visit www.cityofmobile.org.

Major Limits Set on Apartment Gatherings

have to be registered with the school, otherwise the students could face disciplinary actions.

Resident Advisor Abby Palopoli stated, “The goal of Res Life is that by limiting the number of people in enclosed areas, they will slow the spread of COVID on campus and prevent having to place more students in quarantine.”

While the students may have mixed emotions about the new rules, they are able to see and understand the goals of Res Life. Senior apartment resident Taylor Empson said, “I think it’s good for keeping COVID to a minimum and keeping students safe. It sucks that we can’t have more than eight, but it is what it is to keep things OK.”

Spring Hill College has implemented a new rule limiting the amount of people in the apartments to only eight people for the spring semester.

The BadgersBack webpage explained that gatherings inside of the apartments should not exceed eight people. Gatherings of eight or more people

Res Life implemented new guidelines for the students of Spring Hill College for the spring semester of 2021. These guidelines officially define what constitutes as a gathering, setting the limit of students in an enclosed area at eight people.

While the students wish there could be more people in one area, there is an understanding that Res Life has put in place the rule to limit the spread of COVID. The administration hopes to get through the second semester safely without having to cancel any major events.

Reporters: Andrew Jones, Caroline Landaiche, Maddie Kurcab, Summer Poole, Sacha Ducreux

Stuart Babington and Gary Wolverton

Student Administers COVID Vaccine to Patient . Photo by Maddie Kurcab

Gatherings Grow Smaller as COVID Continues. Photo by Andrew Jones

Andrew Jones

Reporter

Can Students Get By Without Long Breaks?

Caroline Landaiche Reporter

This past semester, Fall 2020, Spring Hill College chose to follow the lead of many other colleges and eliminate fall break, and finish the in-person semester prior to Thanksgiving.

This caused the only day off to be Labor Day at the very beginning of September. Many students were burnt out by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. This arguably made things worse when online exams commenced once at home. Colleges and universities across the United States noticed that this is not sustainable for the spring semester and have opted to include a variation of a “rest day.” According to fellow Jesuit school Boston College’s academic calendar, they have been allotted one “mid-week break”

on Wednesday, March 3rd. Classes there typically begin around January 13th, but this year they began on January 28th to balance the lack of break.

Spring Hill College has taken a similar approach. Classes began on January 19th, about a week later than usual. Throughout the semester, we have been allotted three Rest Days: February 23rd, March 23rd, and April 14th, all in the middle of the week. SHC and all colleges choosing this system of breaks in the middle of the week seem to be doing so to eliminate the risk of students traveling by avoiding creating a three-day weekend.

Not creating a threeday weekend seems logical, but are three mid-week rest days going to serve their purpose and provide students a proper break?

Though I understand the logic in not purposefully creating a long weekend, I am not sure that three scattered rest days will be enough to get people to the end of the semester. While we did start a week later, the semester is almost the same length due to the lack of breaks, so in most cases, we are really doing the same amount of work in a smaller amount of time.

I do believe that rest days will be a welcome break in all of our weeks, especially given that nothing can be due the next day. Spring Hill students have a way of turning any situation into a good one.

Biden Seeks To Forgive Student Debt

Olivia Morrison Columnnist

Newly inaugurated president, Joe Biden, seems to be keeping his promises made on his campaign trail regarding student debt. His first day in office, Biden signed 17 executive orders that included student debt suspension through September of this year.

Biden’s presidential campaign was littered with debt relief promises and emphasis on decreasing student loans throughout his presidency. While many believed this was just a ruse to get himself in office, signing the order to pause student loan payments is the first step in decreasing the unattainable payments for many indefinitely.

EDITORIAL POLICY:

Congress is also in support for college debt relief. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders proposed to eliminate $50,000 for all Americans with student debt. However, Biden’s plan currently gives $10,000 to student debt holders from public institutions according to Fox Business. Confused at this statement, I decided to read Biden’s student relief

plan critically.

His plan details that families making under $125,000 annually will be eligible for free public college and university. Any graduated student with debt will be excused from loan payments if they make less than $25,000 per year.

Anyone making above that pays 5% of their

SUBMISSIONS:

discretionary income to pay off debt. After 20 years, if payments are made on time and in full, the rest of the debt will be forgiven.

Discretionary income is one’s salary after taxes are paid and essential spending is subtracted. His official website says nothing about private or public debt, but I would keep an eye out. Every student graduating this year will automatically be enrolled in this program once it is implemented.

While there still remains confusion for some on whether his plan will include private school debt, there are big steps being made to advocate for struggling graduates.

Congress and the Department of Education both believe there is a prob-

lem to be solved and a solution to be found. Once again, this is an example of news outlets misinterpreting information.

Biden is looking to make higher public education free, but he has stated that he understands the value of private institutions. He, nor the Department of Education, has not singled out private school debt in the relief plan.

Obviously as a private school student, I hope this relief plan is for us as well. There would be no reason to exclude private school debt from the plan, especially if they are counting it with the federal student loan amount- which is currently at $1.5 trillion. Keep an eye out and fact-check your sources.

The SpringHillian is published five times each semester from January to April. The views expressed herein do not represent the views of Spring Hill College and are not the views of the faculty, administration, staff or students. They are the views of the individual columnists.

The SpringHillian publishes guest submissions at the discretion of the student-editor and section editors. Submissions should be less than 300 words, and editors reserve the right to edit the submissions for length and content. Submissions may also be sent as emailed attachments to: shcmedia@email.shc.edu.

AROUND THE HILL

Gordon Parks Segregation Exhibit

Above: Students View Gordon Parks Segregation Exhibition.

Above: Student Views Desegregation Timeline.

Students Enjoy Lunch & Reflection After Exhibit.

Above: Students Ruminate On Our Country’s Troubling Past.

THE HILL

Above and Right: Nursing Students Give a Presentation About Sexual Violence.

Emma Fisher Catches up with homework during common hour at the Cafeteria.

Waldo Toyos, Sophomore, Joe Studt, Freshman, are in the Mardi Gras spirit!

Ice around the Hill on February 16, 2021.

The Legendary Hank Aaron at Spring Hill

Sacha Ducreux Reporter

Players on SHC’s baseball team are remembering Major League Baseball legend Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron after his passing at age 86 on Jan. 22, 2021.

According to Frankie Timphony, infielder for SHC, the loss of Hank Aaron is a “tragic” and “shocking” event. In addition, the sophomore highlights the impact Aaron had on the game: “He is still a role model for upcoming players,” he said. Hank Aaron changed the sport of baseball and that “his legacy will live on forever.”

SHC pitcher A.J. Fell was “struck and saddened” when he got the news. Aaron was an inspiration to the grad student who came up with his favorite quote from the MLB legend: “Failure is

part of success. There’s no such thing as a bed of roses all your life. But failure will never stand in the way of success if you learn from it.”

Along with the Mobile community, SHC mourns the passing of a “Hometown

Hero.” According the Office of Marketing and Communications, Aaron was honored for his accomplishments on the baseball field, but his most enduring and rewarding legacy was off the field, in the area of civil rights. He

spent 13 years playing professional baseball before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Aaron encouraged young Black athletes to stay in baseball, and he became the first Black American to hold a senior management position in baseball as a front-office executive with the Atlanta Braves. He supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and he founded the Chasing the Dream Foundation to support underprivileged youth with mentoring and financial support.

The Baseball Hall of Fame opened a permanent exhibit in 2009 chronicling Aaron’s life. But before all of the national accolades, SHC remembered him on the Hill.

Aaron’s first appear-

ance on the Hill was on Nov. 9, 1987, when the college’s Business and Management Division hosted a lecture series. He spoke in the area then known as the Badger’s Den on campus. His topic was “Affirmative Action in Major League Baseball Management.” At that time, baseball was struggling with the perception of racism in the hiring of managers and front office staff. For Aaron, it was an opportunity to translate his success on the baseball field into influence as a baseball executive.

On May 10, 1992, Aaron was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Spring Hill College during Commencement ceremonies.

SHC Greek Recruitment Impacted by COVID

Summer Poole Reporter

Sororities and fraternities recruited less students on the Hill this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sorority and fraternity recruitment was held between the weeks of Jan. 17 to Jan. 30 on campus. This year, according to the Director of Student Involvement, Krysten Russell, both recruitment processes experienced a lower amount of people participating in them. Russell said “this is to be expected in a COVID year when students haven’t had a traditional first year of college and especially when we have a smaller first year cohort.” Panhellenic President Gillian Nelson said that she felt recruitment went well, even with the challenges that COVID-19 presented.

Russell said that fraternity recruitment had to make a lot more changes to their traditional recruitment.

She said this year, those that were rushing had to be broken up into two groups, meaning each fraternity had to host more parties than they have in the past.

Nick Watts, a new recruit for one of the fraternities stated, “I think if COVID were not a thing my experience definitely would have been different but not by much.”

Both fraternities and sororities worked very hard to ensure all the safety protocols were in place in order to hold recruitment. “I feel that keeping up with certain guidelines, like wearing a mask and keeping distance, did help the best that it could. Of course, there were still active cases, but these measures helped slow the spread,” said senior Delta Gamma member Mary Catherine Watson.

This year was the first year that some parts of both recruitments were virtual, but Kristyn Russell says that both groups worked well

with these protocols. “Overall, both processes went fairly smoothly, and we have not seen a major impact to our COVID cases due to recruitment,” said Russell. All interviewees agreed that they hope recruitment will return back to normal next year.

Right Above: Delta Chi fraternity poses in front of the chapel. Right: Delta Gamma Sorority.

Hank Aaron Receives Honorary Degree from Spring Hill in 1992.

Athletic Department Tests for COVID-19

Summer Poole Reporter

Spring Hill’s athletic department has been hard at work trying to manage the return of athletes, and plan out how COVID-19 will affect sports in the upcoming weeks.

COVID-19 testing is mandatory for all athletes that are planning to compete this semester. “The NCAA graded risk of transmission for the sport (i.e. high, intermediate, low) dictates how often individuals associated with each team must be tested and in some cases by what type of test,” said deputy athletic director Chad Leblanc. Tennis player, Macinley Chastain, said that she has been tested three times since returning in January. Leblanc also stated that the

COVID-19 vaccine is not required for the National Collegiate Athletic Association nor any other conference.

Sports on campus have been delayed until March of this year, and teams will have strict guidelines that they must follow. Leblanc said, “Masking, social distancing, sanitizing and other safety measures are being enforced prior, during, and after all practices and competitions.” According to Leblanc, any athlete who fails to show up to get tested for the virus will be suspended from the team for a week.

Many athletes on campus are upset about not being able to play sports until March. “It makes me frustrated that other schools are allowing college football to be played but we are still

having to wait”, said Chastain. The athletic department has also had difficult times planning and making decisions about sports over this past year. Leblanc says that the most difficult thing that he

has dealt with is the constant uncertainty of COVID-19. He says that they have written out schedules for each team and have had to rewrite them multiple times.

The athletic department hopes to see sports getting back to normal by the 2022-23 school year.

Baseball Season Starts up Again on the Hill

Sacha Ducreux Reporter

Spring Hill College’s baseball team will start its season at home on Wednesday, and the Badgers have high expectations for this upcoming exercise.

Head coach Frank Sims strongly believes his team is capable of winning it all in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, “I got a lot of confidence in this team, if we play like we’re supposed to I think we have a really good shot,” he said. Almost a year after the team’s last game, Sims is pretty confident regarding the player’s fitness and motivation to compete again. For him, the players are “trumpet at the beat and ready to go.”

Designated hitter Max Mattione is also convinced that this year could be a great one for the Badgers, “we plan on winning the conference and we want to go deep in the [NCAA] tournament,” he said. After insisting

on the “depth” of the squad this year, Mattione stated that they “have a chance to do something special.”

One of the biggest assets of the team this year is its 12 returning grad students/fifth years. Coach Sims hopes those “experi-

enced” players will not only “make a difference” to win games, but that they will also guide their younger teammates. Coach Sims said “It’s hard to win with young people, so we’ve got some guys who played for a while, it kind of settles the younger

players down.”

However, coach Sims stressed out that it is still way too early to predict the outcome of the season, “you never know, it’s a funny game. You can outplay a team the whole time, miss a crucial hit and still lose.”

With 957 wins throughout his 36 years as a coach, Frank Sims could be en route to become a member of the 1000 Club and one of the most successful coaches in the history of college sports. Nonetheless, he does not make it a goal, “my wife will probably want me to retire. 957 wins are great, but the kids are what it’s all about,” he commented. Overall, returning players, first-time players, and coaches are relieved to be back on the field, and they are hopefully for another winning season. Go Badgers!

SHC Tennis Player, Macinley Chastain, holding up her negative test results. Photo By: Summer Poole

Worn Baseballs in their Bin. Photo by: Ethan Mercer

ON

HILL YEAH!

SPOT

Nicolas Johnson

Frederick Douglas

Vivi Milian

Mae Jemison

Ruston Keller The Obama’s

Caroline Luck Morgan Freeman

Chris Daffin

Shirley Chisolm- first black woman to get elected to Congress & run for president