December 5, 2011

Vol 43 No 7The Student-Run Newspaper of Kishwaukee College, Malta, IL 60150

Kougars serve up a win at NationalsBy Mari WestStaff Writer After winning the Division II Junior College Championship just weeks ago, the Kishwaukee Kougars travelled to Toledo, Ohio and captured and exciting third place win the in national championship.

Head Coach Steve Bailey knew that his team had the potential and skill to do well and they did moving up and beyond their expectations to prove as a team they were good. Coach Bailey was beyond pleased with the season the girls had this year. As a Coach, you can hope that your team does well, however Bailey said that: “there aren’t too many coaches out there that wouldn’t be happy with a third place finish.” The experience for the team to see the level of play needed to compete and do well was fulfilling. It only brings on the intensity of team play and working hard to do well by the experience gained. Bailey was extremely happy to see that Mackenzie Johnson who is a freshman on the team got nominated for the All-Tournament Team, which is quite an honor for a freshman player Bailey hopes that next year’s group will go in with the neces-sary experience to, as he calls, “takes care of business.” The team worked hard to reach this point. They took first place in the Division II Junior College League which is quite an honor in itself. All the scores, stats, pictures and even live game play can be down-loaded from the National Junior College Athletic Association website (njcaa.com); you can view how the Kougars did as a team and indi-vidually. There isn’t just one player that makes a team, it’s each and every individual who works hard, has a great attitude, is athletically inclined, communicates well, is trustworthy and works together that makes a team what it is, “It would only be fair to recognize each player for the third place win as Bailey has asked. There are two key players on the team.

Mackenzie Johnson played the “right” position. Mackenzie plans to return to the team next fall. Toni Cole, a second year student played the “middle” position. She will not be returning and will be missed. Dakota Flesner, completed her freshman year, will return playing the “OH” posi-tion. Janelle Gerds, also completing her freshman year, will return playing the “MB” position. Chelsea Neave, completing her sophomore year with the team, as a “setter” will not be returning and missed as well. Samantha Smith, completing the year as a freshman, playing the “Lib” position will return in the fall. Gretchen Freise, completing the year as a freshman, playing the “OH/RS position will return in the fall, Kayla Waddell, completing as a freshman playing the “OH” position will return in the fall, Ariel Listebarger, completing as a freshman, playing the “OH” position, will return in the fall, and last but not least, Darian Peyton, completing the year as a sophomore in the “DS/S” position.” Coach Bailey, Assistant Coach Steve Williams, Karen Wylie from the Athletic Department and the rest of the faculty would like to congratulate each and every player, the support of family and students that encouraged the women’s team all the way to success.

Fall 2011 roster for the Kishwaukee Kougars volleyball team.Photo taken from Kishwaukeecollege.edu.

The women’s volleyball team cheer each other on as they win third place in Nationals.Photo provided by Mari West.

If you’re looking for another class to take next semester, you might consider Sociology 299: Aging & Society. The class, taught by Rebecca Fraley, is a special topics course covering the effects of aging and the transitions between different stages of life. Sociology 299 is an advanced sociology class that goes into detail on specific topics. In the spring 2012 semester, the class will focus on the ef-fects of aging on people and society in general. The class is unusual in the sense that in a class like Introduction to Sociology, many topics are touched on briefly. Sociology 299 gives students the option to go into more detail on certain topics. Rebecca Fraley is teaching this class because she has been

working with older people for several years and wishes to bring her knowledge to her students. Fraley said, “hopefully [I can] inspire some of them to want to work with older adults as they advance in their careers.”

Fraley describes sociology as “looking at real-life situations through different lenses.” It is a way of getting a different perspective on different aspects of life. Fraley said, “Each of us comes from a different place/background, and sociology helps us to develop sensitivity when interacting with people.” Every-one can learn from one another to respect different races, ethnicities, religions, social classes and genders. Along with lecture, students will learn through vid-eos, guest speakers, special projects and face-to-face interactions with older adults. Fraley focuses on the positive aspects of aging. The changing family relationships, the care of the elderly, the experience of death and dying and the economic and political aspects of aging will all be explored. Fraley will also share some of her own stories and experiences to enhance learning to help students connect the topics with their own life. Fraley said, “This course will

give students the opportunity to explore how their own aging experiences (and those of their parents and grandparents) are linked to larger structural issues and

societal forces.” The class is more interesting and enjoyable when students are able to relate the material to their own life. The class is geared towards students who want to learn more about sociology than the broad topics of Introduction to Sociology. The class is also for those students who wish to share their experiences with others and learn from other students’ stories and experiences. Some other topics that are explored at other times include violence, health and illness, death and dying, media, sexuality and gender roles. Stu-dents can take Sociology 299 three times if they wish to explore other specific topics of interest to them. No topic is offered more than twice in three years. The class will be offered Tuesdays from 6 to 8:45pm in the spring 2012 semester. The class is available in KishSOS as SOC-299-5001.

New sociology class: the art of aging

The Kaleidoscope is looking for staff writers for this spring! Sign up for JOU 111 to be a part of the staff! Don’t forget to check out our Facebook: www.facebook.com/kishkscope!

By Will IrelandWeb Editor

Kish’s new sociology class will focus on the life cycle of aging.Photo provided by Rebecca Fraley

Editorial/Opinion2 KalEidOscOpE dEcEmbEr 5, 2011

It isn’t unusual for a student of any age to be asked how school is going. It is a simple conversation starter, especially if you don’t know the person well. Personally, I get asked this question all the time. I’ve always just said, “Oh, it is great. Hard, but I really like a challenge.” Now the end of the semester is finally ap-proaching. As I frantically study for finals and finish writing final papers, I’ve been taking a serious look back at the last three se-mesters I’ve been in col-

lege, and I’ve come to a startling conclusion. I really hate it. It isn’t that I hate Kish. Kish is a pretty good school. I’ve had some really great teachers who have taught me a lot. I’ve met some pretty awesome people while working for the paper that have shown me different perspectives on life. I have had some pretty great experiences. Even with all that, college just isn’t what I thought it would be. But what did I really expect out of school? I know that I came

here expecting long nights of studying and hours spent writing research papers, which is good, because that is exactly what I got. It just seems that is all there is to it. There isn’t any of the fun that I was told I would have here. In books and movies college always seems to be this awesome, magical place. You go away for four years, and when you come back, you are this incredibly smart and grown up person that knows how to function in the real world. It just doesn’t seem to be

happening for me. Perhaps I’m just getting impatient. Getting through Kish seems to be taking so long, but maybe I should remind myself that I’ve only been here three semesters, which isn’t very long. Perhaps I need to learn to slow down and just enjoy the time that I have here, and not be so frustrated with how much time it takes me to get through it. This holiday break, I think that I’m going to focus on relaxing and learning to be more patient. I’ll spend some quality time with

my family, which I haven’t gotten to have a lot of since I started college. Hopefully when I come back for the spring semester, I’ll feel refreshed and I’ll have a different outlook. What about you? How has college met your expectations? Email the Kaleidoscope and let us know at kscope@kishwaukeecollege.edu.

A couple weeks ago, my mother gave me a seemingly simple task: Make a Christmas list. It’s a basic list of things I would like as gifts for Christ-mas. However, when I sat down to write down this list my mind went blank. When did it become so hard to think of things that I need or want? Everything in stores now seems like an over-priced electronic or a breakable plastic trinket. So of course I went to scouring the Black Friday ads for ideas. That’s when I noticed all of the ‘90s gear that stores were selling. T-shirts with Toy Story characters, seasons of TV shows like Boy Meets World and Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur-tle fleece pajama pants were a few things that caught my eye. That’s what made me

start reminiscing about my childhood and the culture that surrounded it. I miss the times when everyone watched Boy Meets World, listened to N*Sync and our biggest problem was who had the cooler snap –on bracelet. When did everything become so complicated? It seems like all we’re being told is to grow up, go to school and get a job. Where does this leave any time to en-joy ourselves? With our winter break coming up soon, I think now is a great time for every-one to get the relaxation and fun that they have worked hard for. Whether it is going to three different family Christmas’ or a get-a-way with friends, there is all sorts of ways to get out and have fun. Don’t forget to go sledding or build a snow fort and have a snowball fight. As for my-self, I think I’ll be cuddled up in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle fleece pajama pants, pop in my Boy Meets World and eat a deli-cious Christmas dinner. Have a great winter break and good luck on finals! Let me know how everything goes by emailing me atkscope@kishwaukeecollege.edu.

Marissa’s Musings: The value of being a kid By Marissa Skonie

Editor-In-Chief

Great expectations for college fall flat

For some of you reading this, Black Friday is just something that you’ve heard your friends or family talk about. You may even know that Black Friday means that things are on sale. I was one of those people until this year. I started getting into sale shopping when I got married and had to start watching our money. Black Fri-day was unfamiliar to me, so my wife got me into the swing of things. So we went to the sales together, and I found out how little I knew about savings. When we decided to go, we went online and looked at the sale pric-es based on what we were looking to get. My wife’s old computer had just died and she wanted a new one and I was eyeing a new TV to replace my old, worn out set. We scoured the In-ternet looking for the best deals we could find. We ended up deciding to go to Wal-Mart for the beginning of the sale at midnight to be sure we’d get the items we wanted and then we would go to some other stores to see what they had. Boy, did I have no idea what I was getting myself into. My wife’s laptop was a “ticket-ed” item. Wal-Mart had a pretty good set up for big-ticket items. When you arrived at a line for an expensive item, they gave you a voucher. If you had a voucher when midnight arrived, you got an item. You still had to sit in line, but you wouldn’t sit in line wondering if there would be enough items for you to get one. The item I was in charge of getting for us was a really cheap printer for printing papers for school and cou-pons. This item was one of the free-for-all items that you just had to grab

and hope you got one. We had some other items we were trying to get, so once we got my wife in the right line, I did a little scouting in the store to find the items in question and then went to sit in line with my wife to keep her com-pany. At about 11:30, I went to get a spot for the printer. I was one of many looking at the gathering crowd, count-ing the numbers of the growing crowd against the number of printers avail-able to make sure there’d be one for us. The energy and tension in the air was palpable and I was beginning to see how it would be possible for peo-ple to get hurt or killed at events like this. When midnight hit, the whole store exploded into motion with people grabbing items they had staked out and moving as fast as the number of customers in the store would allow to get to their “second choice” items. I ended up having a great time with my wife, getting some things we wanted at great discounts and gaining a full appreciation for just how fun and dangerous this event can be. For those of you looking to shop next year, make sure you learn from my experience and shop around online before you go into the store. Even within the same store, there can be a world of difference in pricing, and you want to make sure you know exactly what the item you want is called to make sure you’re getting the price you intend to. Knowing how to do the sale shopping efficiently can make all the difference.

Black Friday Lessons By Tim BruskeStaff Writer

Editor-in-Cheif Marissa Skonie and Staff Writter Tim Bruske having no ma-turity at all.

Photo courtesy of Jackie Bruske

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridg-ing the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peacably assemble and to petition the Govern-ment for redress of grievances.--First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Staff

Editor-in-Chief.....Marissa SkonieWeb Editor...Will IrelandAdviser.....Melissa Blake

Staff Writers.....Tim Bruske, Grace Martin, Paige Myers, Jessica Pflipsen, Mari West, Hillary Martinez

Logo design by Devon Lovings at TwoFiveDesigns.com

Editorial Policy

Letters to the editor may be dropped off at the Kaleidoscope office or put in the Kaleidoscope mailbox. The Kaleidoscope is published approximately eight times each semester by Kalei-doscope staff. If you wish to submit a letter to the editor, please do so, but unsigned let-ters will not be considered for submission. Anonymity can be requested by the author and will

be granted at the discretion of the editor. All letters may be ed-ited for length, clarity or libelous content. Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the edito-rial board of the Kaleidoscope or Kishwaukee College as a whole. Stories marked (OMS) were pro-vided by the college’s Office of Marketing Communications.

The Kaleidoscope is a student operated newspaper serving the students of Kishwaukee Col-lege, Malta, Illinois. Opinions in the newspaper do not reflect the views of Kishwaukee Adminis-tration, students or faculty. The Kaleidoscope is a member of the Associated Collegiate Press.

KalEidOscOpE staff and EditOrial pOlicy

By Grace MartinCopy Editor

campus life 3 KalEidOscOpEdEcEmbEr 5, 2011

Are you ready for the college experience: A Phi Theta Kappa project

How to beat final exam stress

Are You Ready for the College Experience: A Phi Theta Kappa ProjectBy: Katrina Stone, Public Relations Officer & Chair of College Project Sub-Committee. The college project is a yearly requirement for Kishwaukee College’s Phi Theta Kappa Chapter. A college project can be anything that supports the college’s mission. To begin the project, a meeting was held with the chapter advisors, the chapter officers, the Vice President of Instruction, Dr. Jean Kartje, and the College President, Dr. Tom Choice. Dr. Choice presented his 2011 goals to consider and through the discussions,

the chapter chose to focus on the goal of “working with the local high school district leaders to identify specific strategies to improve the college readiness of their high school graduates.” With this direction in mind, they began the college project. At the first sub-committee meeting members decided to title the project “Are You Ready for the College Experience?” with the plan to focus on being ready for what occurs both in and outside of the classroom. To start, they created an eight question survey directed towards current Kishwaukee College students; some of you received this survey in class. Questions were asked like

“What do you wish you knew before coming to Kishwaukee College? What resources do you wish you knew about sooner? And what have you found that has helped you be successful as a student?” At a second sub-committee meeting, participants went over each specific question, keeping track of the most common answers, and determining the themes of the answers. They found that students wished they had better study skills and time management. In addition, students also wished they had known about all the resources available, such as the Learning Skills Center. During the most recent sub-

committee meeting, themes were compiled onto one answer sheet to prepare a second presentation to the faculty and a presentation to the college’s Board of Trustees at their December meeting. A page full of questions for members to research was distributed to the chapter, seeking printable information and helpful links. For the next steps in this project, members are going to construct a web page containing information for incoming college students. With the assistance of the marketing department, they also plan to create short video clips of current students answering questions and

giving advice on how to be successful. Members will be requesting volunteers for this, so considering saying “yes” if you are asked for your opinion. The Phi Theta Kappa Chapter would like to thank the faculty who volunteered to help distribute the survey, the students who responded, and Dr. Kartje for inviting Phi Theta Kappa back to share the results of the successful survey and the progress of their project. The chapter hopes to complete this project early in the spring semester to help all students to be more prepared and therefore more successful in their college experience.

Submitted by Katrina StonePublic Relations Officer & Chair of College Project

Students your finals are arriving soon and if you’re not ready yet here’s how you can get ready.

Tips for no stress finals: Know when your final is, by now your teachers should know what day and what time all your finals will be. Make sure you know what the test is over so you don’t study the wrong things or forget to study other areas. Like some classes have comprehensive finals and some only have a last test of the year for the last section of information you have covered. DON’T OVER DO IT! You can only hold so much information in your head. If you are not sure how much studying you can handle, practice a few different methods and give yourself mini practice tests. While studying take breaks but don’t get too distracted. You do not want to overdo it but you don’t want to get sidetracked

so much that you forget to study for anything. Sleep the night beforehand, trust me you will need it they are the last tests of the year and you do want to pass your classes. And staying up all night might have two negative effects, your brain is slow to respond and you miss questions that you would of gotten on a normal day, or you might fall asleep and miss your final all together. Save your end of the semester partying for AFTER finals not before. There is plenty of time afterword to catch up with friends and all the fun and freedom that comes with the winter break. Try to plan out your study schedule in advance, then you can pencil in your work schedule and any other plans that might pop up along these last few weeks. Feel free to take advantage of what Kish has to offer. The Student Government Association is

giving away stress packs to help students relive stress and also having a section of the cafeteria walled off for students to have a quite study room with free refreshments and snacks for those who would like to participate. There are many brain boosting snacks you could try while studying as well, like apple juice and peppermints. The final and most important thing about finals that you must know, even if you don’t learn anything else here, is to remember one thing: it’s just a test. You are not asked to slay a dragon or perform open heart surgery on your favorite person in the world. It’s a test to see if you were paying attention. So once that test is over give you brain a break and let it go. You’ll remember what you find important and you’ll get reminded of anything else you need in the following courses, if there are any that is.

By Jess PflipsenStaff Writer

Photo from alwayscold.wordpress.com

Happy Holidays

See you in 2012!

dEcEmbEr 5, 20114 KalEidOscOpE features

The rangifer tarandus, or reindeer, is one of many typical players on the Christ-mas stage. Unlike Christmas elves and animated snowmen however, the reindeer does not disappear on December 26th. Farm-raised reindeer, while very similar to their northwestern cousins, are quite different where it counts. They are curious, likeable animals that are easy to fence and train. These domestic animals are also eight to ten inches shorter than their wild counterparts and are an entirely different color. They also have bright red noses. Okay that’s just a stereotype, but it made you think for a second right? Something that is true though is that reindeer shed and regrow their antlers each year. Reindeer are also excellent swimmers, which is a good quality to have in case Santa’s sleigh was to ever break down over an ocean. These animals also have a pretty solid warranty, at just under 70 years. That’s way better than 50,000 miles! They’re probably cheaper to maintain, too. According to think-differently-about-sheep.com, “Reindeer are able to outperform all other land animals in their energy efficiency.” Let’s all just forget about creating an electric car and focus our attention on breeding gobs of reindeer to ride around on. According to the same website, an entire quarter of the Earth is used for reindeer herding. Reindeer can run up to 48 miles per hour; fast enough to outrun a lion, should they ever encounter one. Another fun fact according to newser.com is that “Rudolph, Blitzen, and the rest of the gang are female. Male reindeer lose their antlers by December, meaning the team pulling Santa’s sleigh is all-female, if the sightings are to be believed.” The line in the song that specifically refers to Rudolph being a boy was poor researching on the composer’s part then. A few more tidbits for your amusement are the following: at only one day old, a reindeer calf is capable of outrunning a man. During the winter, the facial hair of reindeer grows very long; this helps protect their muzzle when they graze in snow. In extremely cold weather, reindeer are able to lower the temperature in their legs to just above freezing. This helps them to avoid loss of body heat. Hopefully you have learned a few things about reindeer by reading this. Hopefully you have also learned not to upset a reindeer, because if it can outrun a lion, it can also beat the snot out of you. Happy Christmas-time!

A totally serious satire aboutRangifer Tarandus

Photo from www.flickr.com.

This year Kishwaukee College’s winter break is going to be a month this time, beginning December 16 and not returning to classes until January 17, 2012. Ann Wilson, Special Education Counselor here at Kish will actually be work-ing on campus. There are students that will be transferring in that may need spe-cial testing, or parents and students that have questions in the registration process that need answering. With the campus being fairly quiet over the given time, she will have “catch-up” work that can be done as well. She would like to have time to spend with her family and friends as well. Depending on her work schedule, as it does change every year, her holiday remains fairly traditional and plans to relax as much as possible. Amy Smith, who is a Humanities teacher, will be preparing for a new class that she is teaching this spring which she is excited about. It will be Humanities 129, MWF from 8am-8:50am. The class is similar to what humanities is but plans to use more of a variance of music, centuries, poetry, literature, etc. Her winter breaks vary from year to year. Sometimes as a family, they travel but they also like to do things differently. Most importantly, it’s the quality time with her family that means the most to her. Jen Fife, who also teaches Humanities, consisting of Composition I & II, plans to travel back to her hometown in Kentucky for a week and spending the rest of her break doing some work, relaxing, stating she’ll “put my feet up if I can.” She said she’s “pretty boring.” Cassondra Does, a second year student, who isn’t quite sure of her major yet, wants to continue focusing on herself and the positive changes she’s made in her life. She is grateful to have school and work but being able to spend most of her free time with friends. CaryAnn Hagenmeir, Office Systems major, who is quite a busy student here at Kish, plans to spend time with her husband Jeremy, family as much as she can if her schedule allows, and her two new “puppies” that are adjusting in with her cats. She says she “loves her babies!” “My winter break will consist of one week of travel, spending as much time as I can with my Father, Granddaughter Morgan, catching up on my writing and photography which I had little time for. Winter Break is like a breath of fresh air and means exactly what it does.

Kish faculty and students make plans for winter breakBy Mari WestStaff Writer

By Paige MyersStaff Writer

Happy Holidays