The SpringHillian Volume 112, Issue 1
Thursday, September 24, 2020
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Tuition Reset for SHC for Fall 2021 Grace Crapps Reporter Spring Hill College announces a reduction in tuition prices for fall 2021. President of Spring Hill College, Joe Lee, announced at a press conference that Spring Hill will be lowering the cost of tuition by almost 50 percent. “Spring Hill College is taking a bold step to address access to private and higher education,” said Lee. This bold decision could save students more than $20,000 in tuition and a little
over $3,000 in room and board. “Since 1830 Spring Hill College has a proud history of making these bold decisions in the best interest of our faculty and our students in keeping with our Jesuit and Catholic values,” said Lee. Lee said the reasoning for this decision was simple. The college is trying to be more affordable and accessible. Forbes reported in February 2020, that student loans were at a record high, stating that “45 million borrowers collectively owe nearly $1.6 trillion in student loan debt
in the U.S. Student loan debt.” This record is the second highest consumer debt category leaving the average student loan with just over $32,000. Lee said that Spring Hill’s decision was also made because he was “too well aware that student loan debt is in crisis mode.” After the announcement, Lee gave an overview of the school’s most recent accomplishments. He noted Spring Hill’s recognition by Forbes Magazine as one of the top ten colleges and universities in the country for return on investment. As well as Spring Hill’s success at receiving
over $5 million in local and national grants. Lee also commented about the strides the school has made during this season of online learning. “We are able to make this change now as we are developing new programs and new experiences to enhance the educational experience of our students. Some of these include a new center for online learning, new real-world majors, and great employment opportunities upon graduation,” said Lee. The decision “demonstrates confidence in the future of Spring Hill College,”
President Joseph Lee said Lee. For more information about the tuition reset, visit shc. edu/realworldready.
Hurricane Sally Rips Up the Hill Jared Jacoby Reporter Hurricane Sally swept through Spring Hill’s campus causing multiple problems for the hill last Wednesday night. The Category 2 hurricane struck the campus between Tuesday night and lasted until Wednesday morning. According to Student Affairs, the buildings did not receive major damage and the campus never lost power despite experiencing some power
surges. However, there were several trees that fell and branches that filled up the sidewalks and blocked off roads. After the storm hit, Student Affairs asked students, “to remain sheltered in place until at least noon.” In their email to the student body, they also asked students who were off campus to not travel to campus until instructed to do so. Due to a lack of power in the city of Mobile, Spring Hill’s administration can-
Tree Down Outside of the Science Building Photo By: Connor Moore
celled classes from Wednesday to Friday. Other campus operations were temporarily shut down such as the cafeteria, Daily Mass and the campus ministry office. Some students stayed on campus, while others evacuated. Sophomore Alexander Allain stayed in her dorm in Mobile. “There was more damage than I expected because students were telling me that it was only going to be Category 1 and that it is not that serious, but I learned that it can still be
very damaging and devastating,” Allain said. “The hardest part was that there was no wi-fi. It was hard to text people and to check the weather because I needed to see what was going on,” said Jordyn Lang, a senior who went home to her grandparents’ house during the storm. The storm caused Lang and her family to lose power and wi-fi. After the hurricane, Plant Operations inspected the damage and cleared the campus with the help of
Tree down Next to Stewart Field Photo By: Connor Moore
Tree Down Near the Golf Course Photo By: Alexandria Rayford
SHC students and athletes. Several trees fell and some blocked off sidewalks and roads. None of the campus buildings suffered any major damage according to Student Affairs. According to the SHC Office of Marketing and Communication, classes resumed on Monday. Other employees and commuters were allowed to return to campus on Saturday.
2 The SpringHillian
NEWS
September 24, 2020
SHC Starts Random COVID Testing Torra Summers
part of the testing platform was the entry testing, which Reporter we completed. The second part is the weekly sentinel Spring Hill President, Dr. Joe Lee, announced last week testing which is a randomized sample of three percent” that the college will begin of the campus population. implementing randomized COVID-19 testing in Septem- Abel continued that “essentially, about 43 faculty, staff, ber. and students each week will Officials hope to encourbe selected to do the sentinel age students to take the testing.” virus more seriously. Spring Hill’s Office of MarVice president of student keting and Communication affairs Kevin Abel later anurges students to check their nounced that “Three percent SHC emails regularly to see of our population will be ranif they have been selected domly selected for required participation in this testing,” to be tested because, “Each week, randomly selected and this sample population will include students, faculty individuals will receive an and staff. The free, mandato- email from Verily (healthy@ ry testing program was set to verily.com) directing them to sign up for a testing appointbegin Wednesday, Sept. 16. ment on campus during the When asked how the rannext seven days.” Students domized sample testing will selected will be prompted take place, Kevin Abel responded that, “It’s part of the in the email to log into their Verily accounts to request a Guidesafe platform that the test. state of Alabama has affordThis testing is mandatoed colleges and universities ry, and Spring Hill’s Office within the state. The first
of Marketing and Communication announced: “Participation is vital to get the timely, appropriate data on COVID-19 cases at our College ... Exceptions to the testing include: If you are COVID-19 symptomatic, if you’ve had a positive COVID-19 test within the last 12 weeks (provide documentation of test result to Spring Hill College to badgershealth@shc.edu), anyone who is fully online or outside the reasonable distance to likely travel to campus.” Those selected who are experiencing symptoms will be asked not to test through this program, but to contact badgershealth@shc.edu about alternative testing options. Participants will self-administer their tests on campus at Price LeBlanc Hall in the Barter Student Center where they will receive a nasal swab testing kit. The test itself takes less than a
minute, and observers will be available on-site to guide participants through the process. Student Affairs will call or email participants with their results within 36 hours of testing. It may take between 28 to 98 active cases before students would have to commit to virtual learning entirely. President Lee says that there are approximately 700 students living on campus this semester. Abel said that “two percent of our population is 28 [active cases] and seven percent is 98 active cases. Experts recommend that anywhere between two to seven percent is a trouble area that colleges have to look for. That’s a lot for Spring Hill and our community.” President Lee says he is “cautiously optimistic” in terms of wanting to continue having in-person classes with students living on campus. Abel agrees, stating
that “We want to have a safe and healthy community this year and to be able to continue our Jesuit education on ground, and we feel it’s best delivered in that way. We want to have an engaged learning environment outside the classroom. That’s an important part of the Spring Hill experience, and I think everybody recognizes that.“ For additional information about this topic and others, as well as student’s opinions on this issue, go to newswire. newscoop.pro
Students Struggle With Odd Year Conner Moore Reporter With the semester already 6 weeks in progress, students and faculty members are figuring out ways to deal with the start-stop dilemma with classes and assignments, and how to finish out the semester strong. Students and faculty are having to adjust to the COVID-19 regulations the school is enforcing, which has caused significant changes in how students and faculty operate throughout the semester. The learning process looks a little differ-
newswire.shc.edu SHC MEDIA TEAM:
ent now, and with Hurricane Sally’s arrival, changes in class meetings and postponed assignments have students on edge. Junior Soccer player Hayden Franklin explained his thoughts on rescheduled/postponed assignments by saying, “So far this semester it has been a struggle, it’s definitely challenging to find when classes are getting canceled or having some assignments I planned to work on get moved, but I know that things will work out in the end.” Hayden also pointed out that he isn’t worried about the syllabus changes because
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Will Kent Studying he trusts the professors’ judgments on “what is most important.” Senior Will Kent gave his insight on how the hurricane and COVID affected him and his classes by explaining, “This semester feels weird to me for sure, classes have
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already been hectic to deal with, and throwing a hurricane on top of it really makes things difficult. Having basically a week off was fun, but it also puts me pushing assignments off till later that I could have done, which makes my weeks even more stressful. I am not really sure how the rest of the semester will play out, but I just hope next semester will be good enough for me to graduate.” Lastly, faculty members are dealing with the same amount of stress as students are with the COVID pandemic and hurricane aftermath. Assistant professor of graphic design, Rachael
Hatley, talked about how she’s managing her class by stating, “Given that my classes are already conducted within a hybrid format allowed for flexibility for unexpected changes such as the hurricane. So this past week was basically the same as the others. I designed a flexible schedule in regard to the COVID situation, so my course is built on being able to go through certain changes.” Rachael Hatley says that having these skills to be able to go online and communicate will help us in the future.
SHC Student Media
shcmedia@shc.edu
Reporters: Grace Crapps, Tara Summers, Olivia McNorton, Grace Thelen, Jared Jacoby, Andrew Spinks, Bessmorgan Baluyut, Connor Moore, and Genesis Gonzalez
Advisors:
Stuart Babington, Gary Woolverton and Bill Rowan
3 OPINION Young Voters Are In Need of Education Volume 112, Issue 1
Olivia McNorton
Often the lack of political enthusiasm is placed on Reporter the carelessness of young adulthood, or a candidate’s unsuccessful attempt at being cool with the kids. As a young person, I can’t say I’m surprised to hear someone my age say “politics aren’t my thing” or “I just don’t know that much about politics.” If this statement were true, then lack of young voters would be a crisis democracies all over the world would face each election -- except they don’t. According to author Jon Hoblein, “The United States has one of the lowest rates of youth voter turnout in the world. The gap between 18It is no secret that voters to 29-year-olds and those ages 18-29 notoriously do over 60... is more than twice not exercise their right to as large here than it is in vote during any elections. comparable democracies.” But is this a fault of their The problem is not that character, or in the American young people don’t care education system. enough to vote. I have
friends who will claim disinterest in politics -- but the look on their face is one of shame, not pride. Sunshine Hillygus, a Duke University professor, told National Public Radio journalist Barbara Spunt that young voters “are more likely to need education on how to request and fill out an absentee ballot and are more likely to spoil their ballot because they’re unfamiliar with it.” This isn’t because young
people weren’t paying attention to class; we weren’t taught to vote in high school. It was a praised civil liberty, but the voting process was hardly mentioned. I didn’t know what a voting ballot looked like until I voted for the first time. The public American education system should prepare young adults for voting. The process of
registration should be well-known by the time a student is 18. They should feel confident when they vote for local leaders instead of scratching their head wondering what a “District attorney” does. Young American voters need to be educated on politics, not put down for their lack of political involvement.
Climate Change Affects Wild Fires Grace Thelen
homes. Since I have two Reporter sisters who live in California, these wildfires really hit close to home. My sisters have sent me pictures of the orange and gray sky with the sun barely peeking through. A Reuters News Service article about the wildfires states, “Dozens of conflagrations have raged with unprecedented scope across some 4.5 million acres in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, laying waste to several small towns, destroying thousands of homes and killing at least 36 people.” With the COVID19 California residents are being pandemic still going on, bombarded with harmful these wildfires are just levels of smoke from recent adding insult to injury. It is wildfires, leaving many a madhouse in California residents to evacuate their with people leaving their
homes to go to find safety during a pandemic. While it stands to reason that people would be evacuated from the certain harm of a raging fire, what can be done to protect evacuees from the danger of COVID-19? While being evacuated people need to continue to follow health and safety protocols from the CDC. I believe that society needs to do better to prevent these wildfires, especially with how quickly they are spreading. People are dying because of the smoke and the fire suppression that has been building up over the years. With the 2020 election coming up, and both opponents having two different views on what is happening, they are both going back and forth about what each other should have
EDITORIAL POLICY:
SUBMISSIONS:
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. Original writings should be mailed or delivered to: Student-editor, The SpringHillian, Communication Arts, Spring Hill College, 4000 Dauphin Street, Mobile, AL 36608. Submissions may also be sent as emailed attachments to: shcmedia@email.shc.edu.
done better. The climate change is real and I think that people need to do better with how they treat the earth or else something worse could potentially happen. As I see it the local law enforcement officials
are doing the best that they can to help their people. The people of California should continue to help the environment in the best way that they can in hopes that these wildfires will resolve as fast as they can.
4 The SpringHillian
AROUND THE HILL
September 24, 2020 Left: A student orders breakfast to go at the cafeteria. Photo By:Olivia McNorton
Right: A calm Andrews Hall at The Fairway Apartments before Hurricane Sally. Photo By: Grace Thelen Far right: Students enjoy lunchtime together with masks. Photo By: Olivia McNorton
Left: Students await their orders at Einstein Bros. Bagels while wearing masks. Photo Olivia McNorton Far Left: Student casually waits in the courtyard in between her classes.
Volume 112, Issue 1
AROUND THE HILL
5
Right: Fallen tree infront of admissions buidling. Photo By: Alexandria Rayford
Right: Tree knocked over by Ruben Hall. Photo By: Grace Thelen
Top: Students help clean up debirs. Photo By: Jared Jacoby Left: Spring Hill greenkeep er helps keep our campus beautiful. Photo By: Jared Jacoby
September 24, 2020 LIFE STYLE 6 The SpringHillian Diversity & Inclusion Weeks Is Virtual Bess Morgan Bayulut as PRISM.
When talking about what Reporter students should take away from the week, the director During the week of Sept. for the Center for Student 21st-25th, Spring Hill ColInvolvement, Kristyn Ruslege’s Center for Student sell said, “I hope that our Involvement put on Diversity students learn a little bit and Inclusion Week. more on different elements The Center for Student Inof inclusion and diversity. volvement and the Diversity Specifically, we talk a lot and Inclusion Week Comabout social justice issues in mittee planned a mixture the world on campus, but we of both socially-distanced, don’t always talk about our in-person events and virtual next-door neighbors. So a Zoom events. These events lot of what we talked about allow SHC students the opthrough the Diversity and portunity to engage in conInclusion week committee versations regarding all areas was bringing portions of our of diversity and inclusion. campus to light and really To put on these sessions, being able to highlight those they not only collaborated on campus.” with various organizations Nicolas Johnson, a junior on campus such as MOCC, SHC student, says, “One of Campus Ministry, NAACP the things that I hope stuand Campus Programming dents will take from this Board, but they also worked week is the importance of with organizations from knowing about and learnaround the Mobile area, such ing about different cultures
and other ways of life that they may not be accustomed to.” In regards to having the virtual component this year, Johnson says, “Quite honestly I think we do better when we have events that are in person, that are direct and engaging. I’m still glad we’re still able to have these events virtually. It just brings a different component when they’re in person and it’s direct. But we still do a successful and great job regardless of how we think things are gonna go.” In regards to how events of social injustice over the past few months have impacted this year’s Diversity and Inclusion Week, Russell said, “They’re very different conversations than they were last year. Not saying we didn’t have some of these conversations, but I think with George Floyd and some of these national attention
Photo By: Bess Morgan Bayulut matters, people are starting to realize this happens every day in our own neighborhoods too, it’s not just a national problem; it’s a Spring
Hill problem, it’s a Mobile problem, it’s everybody’s problem, we all have to deal with it.” Contact CSI for more!
Students Find Ways To Socialize Safely
Genesis Gonzalez
three tables together. This year, they take their food back to their dorms and eat by themselves.
Reporter With all club and organization gatherings being postponed until further notice, students find it hard to socialize on campus. This year, socialization at Spring Hill College looks a lot different for returning students. As students look around, there are no more gatherings on Saturday nights at the Fairways, friends waiting for you over by in the cafeteria, or even a small chance of running into a friend outside. In-person social events have been canceled and most students living on campus don’t have roommates. Freshmen and transfers have had difficulty adjusting and making friends due to the lack of socialization on campus. Colin Beddingfield, a freshman, says, “It is hard to find your place and friend groups when no one is allowed to gather.” When asked about how he felt socializing through organized ZOOM sessions,
Another returning student, Jodi Tidwell, says, “I met all of my friends during the retreat. It was the perfect way to get to know your classmates and stuff. This year I feel like the freshmen did not get that same experience.” Getting to know her classmates outside of a classroom setting was essential because it allowed them to get close. Tidwell says the conversations weren’t about what is due for class tomorrow but rather their interests. Photo By: Genesis Gonzalez he responded “It is stressful especially when you cannot have one-on-one conversations.” Beddingfield also discussed the challenges of not having a roommate. When asked about his current living situation he says he lucked out living in Viragh where students are still able to safely meet up with their pod-mates.
The experience for returning students has not been as difficult as they thought it would be. Although in-person socializing has been minimized, students can still safely meet up with their friends. Thomas Byrn, a current junior, says, “I don’t feel like too much has changed when it comes to socializing. Everyone still does it, we are just more cautious about
how we do it.” Many student organizations still find ways to gather in groups of 10 or less in order to follow protocol. When asked about where he felt the most change, Byrn says he mostly felt the change when he walked into the cafeteria. After a long frisbee practice, he and his teammates would usually put
Today’s socializing has been a unique transition for returning students and stressful for new students. With policies that limit the ability of in-person social interactions, students find themselves turning to zoom events, their pod mates, roommates and suitemates for safe interactions. Until clubs and organizations can meet again, socializing in-person will be a new experience for everyone.
7 SPORTS & LEISURE Athletes Yearn for Return To “Normal” Volume 112, Issue 1
Grace Thelen
masking and other protective features are not maintained, Reporter plus additional testing for Since returning to campus symptomatic and high contact risk individuals. As well this fall, student athletes as symptomatic testing and have been able to work out high-contact risk testing as on their own, but without appropriate.” coach participation. Higher-risk sports such Athlete’s have been alas indoor volleyball, basketlowed to have captain’s pracball and baseball would need tices without the presence “testing of all athletes, plus of coaches. These practices “inner bubble” personnel for are not mandatory, but they whom physical distancing, are strongly encouraged masking and other protecby coaches. If athletes are tive features are not mainpracticing or working out, tained, and additional testing then masks must be worn at for symptomatic and high all times. For a safe return to sports contact risk individuals”, said LeBlanc. on the Hill, testing the stuWith sports on hold, coldent athletes will become a lege athletes are frustrated key component. According to with not being able to workAssociate Athletic Director out and use the facilities of Compliance Chad LeBas they would normally be allanc, “in order for a coach lowed to. Collegiate athletes to be able to work with are wishing that things could student-athletes, we need go back to normal and canto follow in-season testing not wait for this pandemic to standards which would be: be over to be able to play the surveillance testing of 25%sport that they love. 50% of athletes and “inner Many people on campus bubble” personnel every two cherish sports and enjoy weeks if physical distancing, going to Spring Hill Col-
Baseball player, Grant Atwood, doing an individual workout out on his patio. Photo By: Grace Thelen lege sporting events. As for the athletes, players strive to play the game of their dreams and have worked so hard to get where they are today. Sidney Spivey is a senior soccer player and has been a mamber of the women’s soccer team since her freshman year. Speaking on her expe-
rience about what it means to play sports here at Spring Hill, Spivey said, “I have always dreamed about playing a sport in college, and, when I was given the opportunity to play here at the Hill, I was super pumped and couldn’t wait to be here. I love the atmosphere here and how my team feels like family.”
SHC baseball player Grant Atwood said, “I love baseball and have played it my whole life. I love all the guys that are on the team and have had a connection with them since I first started here.” When asked about the guidelines this year, Atwood said, “It’s different not being able to workout on the field or with my teammates, but I know that they are trying their best to help us have a season in the spring.” SHC President Dr. Joseph Lee touched a little bit on sports, and hopes that athletes will be able to play in the spring. President Lee said, “Athletics has been the biggest moving target. Going way back in the spring when the sports were canceled.” As for this fall, “Sports are a work in progress. We haven’t made the decision yet- we are following the lead of others.” For more information about Spring Hill Badger sports and COVID-19 please visit https://shcbadgers.com.
Sports Begin with Individual Training
Conner Moore
Brain offered some insight on his individual training by Reporter saying, “Individual training is going really well right now, I With sporting events being think all the guys are getting shut down until the spring, their runs in and we are all student-athletes on campus currently making do with are encouraged to start indiwhat we have.” vidual training. Brian also said that he Athletics on campus will cannot wait to get back to not be the same for a while running with the team bedue to COVID-19, but that cause that is what he misses will not stop athletes from the most. making sure their training With sports being put on stays in top shape. hold, athletes look forward For many athletes, this to the spring with the hopes shutdown is just a bump in that they can compete again. the road, but to all, this is Many athletes have had to resort to individual Spring Hill College Presijust the beginning of what weight-lifting sessions in the weight room. dent, Dr. Joseph Lee, held a eventually lies ahead. Photo By: Carlie Jamison press conference last week Some athletes have resortand touched on what sports ed to training on their own hasn’t really been a problem will be like in the future. in the weight room or by individually, but basketball is Brian Pempel, a Spring Hill President Lee explained, College men’s cross counrunning to stay in shape. a team sport, and not being “Athletics has been the bigtry runner, trained hard all Christian Brandt, a junior able to play with each other gest moving target. Sports summer so that his training on the men’s basketball team, and build chemistry is what are a work in progress.” would pay off when he rehas been playing for the hurts the most.” Christian President Lee said that turned to school. As a junior, men’s basketball team since hopes that everything runs there has been no final dehis time is coming to a close his arrival in 2018. He spoke smoothly this fall so that he cision as of right now, and about his experience with can get back out on the court and he wants nothing more hopes that our athletes can than to get back out on those individual training by statwith his fellow teammates get back to doing what they courses. ing, “Training with COVID later this year.
love later this year. To stay updated about Spring Hill Badger sports and COVID-19 please visit https://shcbadgers.com or visit the student media website https://newswire. newscoop.pro/.
8 The SpringHillian
HILL YEAH!
September 24, 2020
Twitch Streaming Use Grows at SHC Andrew Spinks Reporter Twitch, a platorm for streaming video games, is becoming more popular among Spring Hill students. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, life for some college students has been made significantly more difficult. Students are looking for ways to be entertained, seeking means of socialization and might even be looking for work. One hobby and occupation that combines these three things, is streaming. Streaming over the platform Twitch has become an incredibly popular and profitable profession or hobby for people all over the world. Twitch labels itself as “the world’s leading live streaming platform for gamers.”
According to TwitchTracker, users watched 1,620,491,520 hours of content on Twitch in August alone. Whether it’s watching someone stream a game on Twitch, or watching one of the virtual YouTubers from Hololive stream on YouTube, there are plenty of avenues to find enjoyable content. Streaming provides a sense of community, to both the viewer and the streamer. Streaming is not always just about earning money, some streamers have a genuine desire to entertain others and provide a fun experience. At the end of the day, the community is more important. These communities regularly interact with each other through chat and also through donations, which comes in many forms. YouTube’s Superchat feature is
streaming Badger, added, “Don’t stream if you are expecting to get rich off of it. Stream because you love gaming and stream because you want to provide a positive community.” These communities share memes, inside jokes, and are quite dedicated to tuning into their favorite streamers one of the primary ways for regularly. “[A] big amount users in the chat to comof viewers doesn’t make me municate directly with the happy. It’s the people who streamer while also showing always come back,” Defraites their appreciation with a dosaid. nation. If streamers are large When asked why he got enough, they are often able into streaming, Stewart said, to make a living out of it. “I have always had a pasZachary Stewart, a streamsion for gaming, and I knew er on the Hill, said, “Streamthat Twitch, YouTube, etc., ing is not all about numbers existed, but I never had the [Viewers, Average Viewers, equipment to do so. With the New Followers, etc.] it is start of our Esports team on about trying to provide the campus, I finally had access best possible content for the to the right equipment to people who are watching.” stream, so I gave it a shot.” Jack Defraites, another Defraites got into stream-
ing out of passion as well. “I got into streaming during the Fortnite era. I was ranked top 200 for console players in Fortnite. I always watched streamers to improve my game play and learn game breaking skills from them. I saw the streaming community around the game and just had to get into it,” he said. Some Badgers are also into streaming from a viewer perspective. “Streams appeal to me more because the news I get from that person is more up to date than I would get from a non-livestreamer,” Derks said. Defraites has advice for up-and-coming streamers, “Don’t give up. There are people that will tell you that you aren’t going anywhere in the streaming community. There will be a lot of doubt but you just gotta keep pushing.”