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Bridging the gap: understanding each other

Hmong Culture Day comes again this November.

mnsu.eduThe board members of the Hmong Student Association; from left to right, Nina Xiong, Maly Xiong, PaDer Cha, Chengleng Xiong, Kaoshoua Thao, Benjamin Thao.

Web graphicA diagram of where people of the Hmong culture come from; the countries include Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, China and Vietnam.

Hmong Culture Day event, titled “Breaching the Gap: Un-derstanding Each Other,” orga-nized by the Hmong Student As-sociation, will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 22, Saturday at the Centennial Student Union Ballroom at Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The Hmong Culture Day is a day to welcome a new year by celebrating good things and throwing away all misfortunes that have happened throughout the year.

“The Hmong Culture Day is our celebration of Hmong’s New

Year and promote our Hmong culture,” said Benjamin Thao, the president of the Hmong Student Association.

Even though the Hmong Cul-ture Day is for the celebration of a new year, it is celebrated around fall, when harvest is normally done.

“We call the Hmong Culture Day in the fall in November a new year because winter is too cold to celebrate the actual New Year,” Thao said.

The special cultural event is based on Hmong’s own unique culture including clothing, in-struments and language.

Hmong was created by the first immigrants from South East Asia as refugees from

South East Asian countries such as China, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam immigrated to the United States to evade persecu-tion during the Vietnam War.

“They either went to Minne-sota and Wisconsin or Califor-nia. Minnesota is one of the big-gest states where many Hmong population resides in. MSU has roughly 100 Hmong students,” Thao said.

On the Hmong Culture Day, there will be performances such as singing, dancing, traditional music players, a skit and an auc-tion along with authentic Hmong food.

Around 25 Hmong students at MSU will do the performanc-es. More importantly, popular Hmong singer-songwriter Cody Lee will come down to campus from the cities and sing original Hmong songs.

“The Hmong Culture Day at Minnesota State University, Mankato has happened for over

30 years. In the past, the events were very successful. I expect the same thing this year,” Thao said.

The doors at the Centennial Student Union Ballroom for the event will open at 3 p.m. and there will also be an after-party from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The Hmong Culture Day event is open to the general public. The price of the ticket for the event is $5 for people who buy the ticket in advance, $6 for audiences with Hmong clothes and $7 for attendants who buy the ticket at the door of the Centennial Student Union Ballroom on the event day. The tickets for children under 4 years old and seniors over 65 years old are free. ID is required for the seniors.

Hmong Student Association (HSA) exists for the purpose of to preserve the Hmong culture, recruit and unify students at MNSU.

Including HSA, the Asia Pacific Student Organization (APSO), the Hmong Men’s Circle (HMC) and the Vietnam-ese American Student Associa-tion (VASA) are in the Asian America Affairs under the Mul-ticultural center, which is one of subdivisions of the Institutional Diversity along with the Oppor-tunity Access Success Intercul-tural Services (O.A.S.I.S), the LGBT Center and the Women’s Center.

For more information, contact to the President of HSA Benjamin Thao at benjamin.thao@mnsu.edu or the Treasurer Maly Xiong at maly.xiong@mnsu.edu.

YUSEONG JEONStaff Writer

2 • MSU Reporter News Tuesday, November 18, 2014

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Residence Hall Association prepares ballot

After months of work the Residence Hall Association (RHA) will be voting on the rates of the 2015-2016 school year this coming week.

RHA is a committee of representatives from each floor of Julia Sears, Preska, Crawford and McElroy as well as each building of Stadium Heights. Representatives are chosen by the members of each hall to vote on behalf of their community on Residential Life issues as well as the allocation of special funds towards apparel and events. They meet for two hours every week to work on these tasks and collect information to take back to their respective community councils.

Because the representatives live in the residential halls, they are aware of the concerns and issues within. The RHA helps provide answers and mainte-nance requests that would other-wise be difficult to communicate in the large communities.

In addition to this, every year the RHA representatives take part in the process of deciding the room and board rates for the following year. Cindy Janney, the director of Residential Life, works diligently with the group throughout this process.

Janney, who has spent multiple evenings in the RHA meetings, has guided the group through multiple processes in

order to receive feedback from students and in turn provide the amenities requested.

If there are special circum-stances that affect the lives of the residents, Janney is sure to receive approval from the group. One of the major projects presented this year was the plan for the future cafeteria to replace Carkowski Commons. When Carkowski was built, Gage Hall was still up and rooming students as well as providing a dining hall within its complex. Because of this, Carkowski was built for a smaller amount of students than what is currently needed since the demolition of Gage. To combat this is-sue, a new and technologically improved cafeteria will be built south of Carkowski in the next two years. This new facility has been highly approved by the RHA for its design and is very anticipated.

The main goal of the groups is to improve the residential halls and provide a living space, which pleases all students. Janney facilitated many brain-storming sessions with RHA to find how to better the residential halls. After many discussions, a list was compiled of all the ideas. Janney then took this list and found how much each ame-nity would cost as well as what it would take to install.

After finding the cost, Janney presented RHA with the costs per resident on their overall room and board fee. RHA then discussed and voted openly on

the ideas in order to create the final ballot of the potential addi-tions and changes.

On the final ballot this year, which Janney presented to the group on Nov. 17, are many dif-ferent creative and progressive ideas. Firstly is the RHA pro-motional item, which RHA uses to advertise the organization to new residents. Representatives can vote on keeping the program as it or if they would like to further it with more funding.

In all residential halls, the front desk has items that can be rented out. One of the proposed ideas is to upgrade the desk equipment such as games, sport-ing equipment, pots, pans, and utensils for cooking and baking.

Another very popular idea is the addition of water filters in the kitchens on each floor. These would provide clean, filtered wa-ter at a greater convenience than the single filtered waterspout located on the first floor of each hall. These would include filters that would be changed weekly by staff.

Many students have night classes and job commitments that go later into the evening. Because of this, there are two proposals on the ballot to change the times of dinner at Carkowski Commons. One is to keep the cafeteria open until 10:00 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday. This has two options of either full cafeteria services available or just the grill, deli, pizza, salad bar, desserts, and beverages. These options are also the case

for the second extension of Fri-day and Saturday evening until 9:00 p.m.

Students have also voiced their opinions on the amount of fresh fruit available. There is a proposed idea on the ballot, which will add two fresh fruit options a day of pears, melons, berries, pineapple or grapes.

Residents of Crawford and McElroy have expressed their wants to improve the quality of the toilet paper available in the communal bathrooms on their floors. To help this, there is a proposed idea of switching from one-ply to two-ply.

These proposals will be voted on in the final meeting of the semester and will be imple-mented in the 2015-1016 school year. Each proposal has their cost, which will add to the price of room and board. The repre-sentatives will consult the other members of their floor in order to decide which of the ideas is worth the additional cost.

Tyler Conlon, the President of RHA and also one of the five Residential Community at large Senators of MSSA, said, “I’m really excited for the fresh fruit. That’s something that in the three years I’ve been involved, I’ve been excited to see. Every-one says it every year. Maybe we will get to see that pass

through.” Conlon explained, “After the

vote, it goes to the Student Sen-ate for another vote. As RHA President I will present this to MSSA and then they will vote.”

Conlon continued, “I think it’s gone really well this year. Definitely, what is always really fun to see the different problems going on, regardless of if it ends up on the ballot. Process have gone similarly to last year as the things just whittle down to what we really want to vote for.”

Another Senator of Residen-tial Community at large as well as RHA representative, Facial Rayanni, said, “The feedback I’ve heard so far is, people are not really happy about the price increase overall. But they are happy about the improvements, like the new toilet paper.”

Representatives have many important decisions to be made towards the progress and im-provements of Residential life in these coming weeks. They must decide if the price increases are worth their product, and also be sure to speak with the people they represent in order to ensure the RHA works as intended.

BROOKE EMMONSStaff Writer

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 News MSU Reporter • 3

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American Indian Night looks to keep culture aliveTraditional dancing, drum group to be part of event.

Luke Larson • MSU ReporterPictured are American Indian Student Association members, along with Megan Heutmaker (center), Director of the Department of American Indian Affairs.

Tomorrow night, Wednes-day Nov. 19, the Department of American Indian Affairs and the American Indian Student Association is proud to host American Indian Night 2014. The event will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Centennial Student Union.

The night will feature many aspects of American Indian

culture: attendees will experi-ence traditional dancing, a drum group, and the Ojibwe language. There will also be a presentation by Kevin Locke, a well-known American Indian performer, who is a skilled hoop dancer and flutist. Locke will be speaking on American Indian history and culture, subjects that he is well-versed in. Food will also be provided.

“The purpose of American Indian Night is to celebrate

American Indian culture, his-tory and heritage,” says Megan Heutmaker, Director of the Department of American Indian Affairs.

The theme of the event is “Keeping the Culture Alive.” American Indian Student As-sociation Vice President Imanda Delgado, who is Ojibwe, ex-plains that, “the biggest struggle with American Indian people today is the loss of culture and trying to balance entering the

mainstream while still trying to maintain a sense of identity.”

She goes on to say that “it’s important not only for Native American people to retain that sense of identity, but also to inform others, because many people don’t know about Native American culture.”

For Duron Preer, a Cherokee and the President of American Indian Student Association, the question of cultural identity is personal.

“Keeping the culture alive is very important because my cul-ture was lost through the Trail of Tears,” he explains. “All the people have moved so we can’t really keep in contact as closely as we were able to.”

The event is aimed at combatting this loss of culture and identity and is an opportu-nity for all students, whether of American Indian heritage or not, to gain a better understanding of Native American culture. There are around 50 to 60 self-identi-fied American Indian students on campus, but, as Heutmaker notes, that number could be skewed by students who have not expressly identified them-selves as American Indian. The Department of American Indian

Affairs and the American Indian Student Association exist to serve this community.

Delgado laments that “Native American history and its tragic past” prevents Native Ameri-cans from pursuing success. She cites this as a reason why more American Indians are not enrolled in college.

“That fear of history repeat-ing itself and being mistreated really prevents a lot of Native American people from going out and pursuing degrees, or really pursuing anything outside of the reservation,” she says.

American Indian Night is the latest cultural showcase to be held by MSU students this semester. Other recent cultural events include Eurasian Culture Night, the Authentic Sri Lankan Dinner, Colors of South Asia, and Somali Night, all of which have been rousing successes.

Anyone interested in at-tending the event, please email megan.heutmaker@mnsu.edu. The event is free to all students, but, at present time, tickets are in very limited supply.

LUKE LARSONStaff Writer

Residence Hall Association prepares ballot

through.” Conlon explained, “After the

vote, it goes to the Student Sen-ate for another vote. As RHA President I will present this to MSSA and then they will vote.”

Conlon continued, “I think it’s gone really well this year. Definitely, what is always really fun to see the different problems going on, regardless of if it ends up on the ballot. Process have gone similarly to last year as the things just whittle down to what we really want to vote for.”

Another Senator of Residen-tial Community at large as well as RHA representative, Facial Rayanni, said, “The feedback I’ve heard so far is, people are not really happy about the price increase overall. But they are happy about the improvements, like the new toilet paper.”

Representatives have many important decisions to be made towards the progress and im-provements of Residential life in these coming weeks. They must decide if the price increases are worth their product, and also be sure to speak with the people they represent in order to ensure the RHA works as intended.

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“Do you think people respect the president?”

Compiled byYohanes Ashenafi

DANIEL CONTERATO, BUSINESS MANAGEMENT &

FRENCH

“Yeah, I think people do respect the president.”

DEANDRE CUNNINGHAM, FINANCE & PSYCHOLOGY

“I do not believe so. At least, not as the head of state.”

MARIAHYA CHRISTENSEN,HUMAN BIOLOGY

“No, I don’t think a lot of people give Obama credit for what he does.”

NATE LASLEY,BIO-MEDICAL SCIENCES

“No, I don’t think so. He should at least get partial credit.”

ALEX PERRINE,MATHEMATICS

“No, I don’t think most people know how politics work.”

4 • MSU Reporter Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Minnesota State University, Mankato

Email the Editor in Chief:reporter-editor@mnsu.edu

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Respecting the President

Do enough people recognize the position?

en.wikipedia.orgPresident Obama, who has received a lot of flack throughout his terms as president, as most do.

With the 2014 midterm elec-tions having ended over two weeks ago, it is clear that the majority of people in the United States are not pleased with how the county is being run. Results from Nov. 6 to 9, 2014 Gallup poll show the Democratic Party hitting an all-time low with a 36 percent favorable approval rating from Americans, while the Re-publican Party just above them with a 42 percent rating.

There were a lot political advertisements in the months preceding the midterm elec-tion and during the elections. Many advertisements were to promote a candidate’s image to the public, but there were also advertisements from candidates attacking their opponent in a negative way to help gain votes from Americans.

Advertisement attacks around election time from candidate to candidate have always been part of the political world, but when does it go too far? Once the election is over, and an elected

official starts the work they signed up for, do they deserve to be disrespected in the way they were during elections by opposing voters, and politicians alike?

Once the politician takes office after an election there still seems to be a lot of negativity to that elected official just because of their choice of political party.

Take the current president right now, for example. Presi-dent Obama seems to take a lot of back lash from Americans and opposing political parties. From the Nov. 3 to 9, 2014 Gal-lup poll, there was a 40 percent approval rating for the president, and 54 percent disapproval.

When talking about this topic about disrespect towards elected officials on campus with students they did not hold back opinions.

Logan Velaski, a freshman, said, “I think the president should be respected more than he is right now; I am not for President Obama, but he is our president.”

The president was put in to office by a majority vote, and whoever wins the office should be respected to a standard that is appropriate. Whether or not you are a Republican or Democrat,

we are all citizens of the United States that should support elected officials.

Velaski also stated, “Presi-dent Obama has one of the most stressful jobs possible, and he stepped up to a position that most would never want, that deserves respect.”

There is no doubt that be-ing the President of the United States in the time we are in right now is difficult. National debt, foreign affairs, and welfare problems put on one person to fix, is a lot to ask.

Jake Andreen a junior, who is in the Army National Gaurd had good insight on respect towards elected officials. He stated, “You don’t have to respect the person in the position, but you should respect the position.”

Understanding that notion stated by Andreen, this would only benefit our country, and create a better image of the United States that other world powers see.

Respect is earned over time in the political world by the ac-tions that elected officals make in an effort to better our country. If the president is not doing his job in the correct manner, of course there should be room for constructive critsism, for a push

in a positive change of direction. We all have a voice, and a

right to vote if you have citizen-ship in our country. Remember that whomever gets the title of President of the United States, Democrat or Republican, they deserve a standard of respect, because they were put into office by a majority vote.

RICHARD PRINCEStaff Writer

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 News MSU Reporter • 5

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Somali Night, Nov. 15

Trevor Cokely • MSU ReporterSomali Night, a night of festivites to honor the highly esteemed Somali culture, which occured on Nov. 15

How to keep your cool

Tips to keep stress at bay near finals.

I don’t know about you, but once we pass Halloween in the school year, I start to feel a tad stressed. I start feeling a little short of breath, a little moody, a little wild, and not to men-tion very panicked. What do all of those symptoms have in common? Well, you could say a heart attack, but I’m going to go with being stressed.

According to WebMD, stress is the body’s reaction to harmful situations—whether or not it’s real or imagined. Short dura-tions of stress are workable, but once it becomes a chronic prob-lem, it’s there to stay. School, unlike some things, is a more constant stressor, so it can be even more demanding.

For all those who are starting to get stressed, here are some helpful tips to get ready for finals season.

1. Get ahead of the game; start looking over your notes or slideshows for class a few times. Even if you are watching TV, look them over quickly during the commercials. If you’re on Netflix, set a timer for every ten minutes to pause the show your watching and skim two pages of notes or four slides of a slide show.

2. Hang that “Do not disturb” sign on the door handle and take a bubble bath and listen to music. No bathtub? No worries! Jump in the shower and just take some time to think about noth-ing. Listening to some of that same music as before would help you also. And hey, I don’t know why but the best ideas on the universe comes from either an almost-asleep brain or a warm shower.

3. Don’t have time for a bubble bath? Breathe! Just take a deep breath and slowly let it out. Repeat two to three times or as much as is necessary.

4. Exercise; not a 12-mile long run—that would be exces-sive for some to go for that long of a run every time you are stressed. Keep running! Instead, go for a walk, stretch out to some soothing music, or even lift some weights. Anything that gets the heart pumping and your mind off of what the stress is.

Exercise has even been shown to, if done regularly, to keep stress at bay, so start sweating!

5. Breathe again. Focus on one thing at a time. Have a four-page paper due in five hours? Do that first! If you get some writer’s block, set it aside and work on other homework. Who knows, maybe in your other homework you will find the next thing to write about.

6. Sleep is also another great stress reliever. I think every college student has found himself or herself stressed out doing homework and then all of a sudden woke up and it was

two hours later and you had drool on your face. Sleep is the body’s way of recharging its battery. Try with every half hour of studying taking a ten-minute nap.

If all else fails go and get that tub of your favorite ice cream and just eat it right out of the carton. And hey, I give you per-mission to eat the entire thing and watch an episode or two of your latest obsession of a show. As long as it’s not a nightly thing; that’s just expensive.

AMANDA HINDEStaff Writer

6 • MSU Reporter News Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The important radioisotope (99mTc) is used worldwide in the majority of nuclear medicine diagnostics procedures. The isotope is currently made at only a small handful of nuclear reactors, all of which are reaching the end of their useful operation lives. New means of production must be found. In the fall of 2013, Dr. Roberts was granted a one year affiliate appointment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) in California. He and the Berkely Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA) group were able to look at the reaction rates for producing 99mTc on novel laser driven particle accelerators, at energies far higher than anyone has attempted before, showing significant advantages over the existing systems. Calculated simulations were developed to match the measured results, allowing us to optimize future accelerator design work.

COLLEGE OFSCIENCE, ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

CSET SPOTLIGHT: DR. ANDREW ROBERTS

Independència?: Catalonia decides its future

Luke Larson • MSU ReporterDr. Enrique Torner, an MSU pro-fessor who spent the beginning of his life in Barcelona, the political capital of Catalonia.

On Sunday, Nov. 9, an especially historic event took place in the Spanish region of Catalonia. Catalans went to the polls to participate in what was being called a “consultation of citizens” on the question of Catalan independence, accord-ing to Reuters. The Spanish government in Madrid, under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, is strongly opposed to the idea of Catalonia separating from the rest of Spain to form a new independent country and de-clared the vote unconstitutional. Bloomberg View reports that over two million took part in the vote and a resounding 81% expressed support for indepen-dence. That, however, represents a mere 33% of the total eligible electorate.

MSU Spanish professor Dr. Enrique Torner, a native of Bar-celona, the political and cultural

capital of Catalonia, cites recent developments in the political and economic climate of Spain as the main contributors to Cata-lonia’s newfound wave of nation-alism. He explains that Cata-lonia has fared the economic crisis much better than the rest of Spain in recent years, leading many Catalans to believe they would be better off on their own. On top of that, the cur-rently antagonistic relationship between left-leaning Catalonia and the conservative government in Madrid is another reason that the leftist independence move-ment has picked up steam.

“When I was living there, I had never heard of any Catalan wanting to be independent,” says Torner, who immigrated to the United States in 1987.

“There was a sentiment of pride in being a Catalan”, he says, but he was caught off guard when a colleague men-tioned the independence move-ment to him earlier this year. “I

felt like ‘Hey – what’s going on? What’s happened?’”

Dr. Torner also points to the linguistic and cultural differ-ences between Catalonia and the rest of Spain as contributing factors. The native language of Catalonia is not Spanish, but Catalan, and the region has a unique culture and history, rooted in its own traditions of art and literature.

Dr. Torner does not believe that Catalonia is justified in its recent push for separation. He is strongly opposed to the idea of dividing his native Spain and be-lieves that in the modern world, larger countries are better off.

“I’m for unity,” he says. “Just because we have different cul-tures, different lifestyles, [and] different ways of feeling, [that] doesn’t mean that we have to become a different country.”

He worries that if the inde-pendence movement in Cata-lonia succeeds, it will create a domino effect as other regions

in Spain such as the Basque Country and Galicia may follow suit. Dr. Torner has recently be-come very active in the scholarly discussion of the issue in the World Association of Interna-tional Students (WAIS) journal, which, according to its website, is the world’s first e-journal and has 250 contributors from thirty countries. Other WAIS com-menters, such as Jordi Molins, a current resident of Catalonia who has been very involved with the independence movement, are in strong support of a sovereign Catalonia.

He argues that, historically, “Catalonia was [clearly] an “in-dependent country” in modern terms: [it] had its own laws…, its own government…, its own cur-rency, its own army and border control, and… signed interna-tional treaties.”

So what’s next for Catalo-nia, now that it has expressed its opinion democratically? It is unclear how the government

in Madrid will react to the vote but the Spanish Justice Minister has “threatened legal action,” according to Bloomberg View. Catalan President Artur Mas hopes to take advantage of the support as a “mandate to negoti-ate independence with the Span-ish administration,” according to Press TV. The Spanish govern-ment has officially announced that Mas will be sued for hold-ing the vote.

LUKE LARSONStaff Writer

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 MSU Reporter • 7

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Mavericks defeat Warriors in second round of NCAA TourneyAfter a first-round bye, MSU handled their

business with a 2-0 victory over Winona State.

With snow and wind playing a factor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Maver-icks stood tall and defeated the Winona State Warriors 2-0 at The Pitch. The Minnesota cold could not slow down this hot streaking team, as they are now 22-0-0 this season. They are now

advancing to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division II tourna-ment.

Once again, it turned out to be a defensive battle over the ball. The Mavericks this season on defense has looked fantastic, if not dominating. Both teams had equal opportunities in the first half of play. Those opportuni-ties were limited however. Se-nior goalkeeper Molly McGough came up clutch with a tremen-dous save during the first half. With Winona’s Nicole Sames streaking up the field, the ball was booted to her from the right side of the box but McGough was able to stuff the shot and shut down the threat. At the half, the Mavericks had a 7-3 shots edge, and were looking like they were ready for some goals to come in the second half.

Minnesota State would in fact get on the board during the 59th minute of play. Senior Emily Moris was awarded with a corner kick, and she connect-ed with Senior Sydney Temple streaking up from midfield. Tem-ple rifled a one-timer that slipped

through past Winona State goal-keeper Rachel Oleson into the right side of the net for only her second goal of the season. Moris captured her 14th assist of the season and she now holds the re-cord for most assists in a season by a Maverick.

The Mavericks would cushion their lead in the homestretch, as

Trevor Cokley • MSU ReporterIt was a defensive battle at The Pitch with the Mavericks outshooting the Warriors and only kicked five shots on goal.

TOMMY WIITAStaff Writer

WOMEN’S SOCCER • Page 9

Football claims third-consecutive perfect regular season

Trevor Cokley • MSU Reporter

Minnesota State University, Mankato finished off the season at home last Saturday against Upper Iowa University, and ended the regular season with a bang. The win puts the Maver-icks at 11-0 as they accomplish their third-straight undefeated regular season. The Mavericks would get back to their strengths heading into the postseason, run-ning the football and winning the turnover battle.

Minnesota State knew they could run effectively on an Up-per Iowa team that allows almost 200 yards per game rushing, and executed the game plan efficient-ly. Nothing was fancy, but the hard-nosed ground-and-pound game wore out the UIU defense MSU rushed for 297 yards and

averaged 5.5 yards per carry. The running game was led by Connor Thomas, who totaled 92 yards on 16 carries. Senior Andy Pfeiffer had a great run to start off the scoring for the Mavs, as he ran one in from 22 yards out. He showed great patience on the touchdown run as he waited for a hole to open up and when one did, he turned on the jets past the safeties and in for the score.

The Mavericks have done a great job all year winning the turnover battle against oppos-ing teams, and once again the defense came up huge in stop-ping the UIU passing game. Pea-cock quarterback Cole Jaeschke looked unstoppable on their first two drives, leading the offense to a 14-7 lead heading into the

CHUCK ABBOTTStaff Writer

FOOTBALL • Page 9

Molly McGoughWith Sunday’s victory, this senior

goalkeeper hasn’t allowed a goal in her last five starts.

Sydney TempleThe senior midfielder gave the

Mavericks the lead at 58:11 in their victory on Sunday.

8 • MSU Reporter Sports Tuesday, November 18, 2014

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second quarter and throwing two touchdowns. The Maverick defense responded by turning it up a notch and was disruptive the rest of the game. The UIU of-fense that looked like it was go-ing to give the Mavericks a tight contest after the first 15 minutes, but could not get past the 50 yard line until the middle of the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks came out of the game with a +3 turnover margin, proving again why they are one of the top defenses in the nation when it comes to forc-ing turnovers. Jaeschke could not get anything going after the two-touchdown first quarter, and threw four interceptions after the hot start. Cornerback Rumeal Harris stepped up big for a banged up secondary, break-ing up two passes and grabbing an interception. The other three interceptions went to Rob My-ers, Nathan Hancock and Dylan Oleszak, who returned his 60 yards in the final seconds of the game for a touchdown.

Minnesota State decided to flip-flop quarterbacks Saturday, as they have in previous games this season, trying to give both Pieruccini and Lloyd momentum heading into the Division II play-offs. Pieruccini was effective on 13 attempts, completing 8 for 111 yards and two scores. He also ran one in from 32 yards out to give the Mavs their first lead of the game. Lloyd went 6-9 and threw an interception on a deep ball,

2014 displays big wins, bright future for volleyball

The Minnesota State Univer-sity, Mankato volleyball team finished their season with a 16-12 (12-8) record after falling to a very talented Concordia – St. Paul team in the NSIC confer-ence tournament. Minnesota State, Mankato Head Coach Dennis Amundson was proud of how the team played this season.

“I am proud of the progress that these kids made. They just rocked and had that competitive spirit,” Amundson said. “A lot of times we got out stated, out this, and out that but were able to come away with some big victo-ries”.

MSU knocked off four top-25 teams this season, includ-ing Concordia – St. Paul (3-1), Northern State (3-1), Augustana (3-2) and Southwest State (3-1), giving some good exposure to the MSU program.

“It is where we want to go,” said Amundson. “At least we are knocking on the door. We were on the edge, now we just have to

make that jump.” To get to the next level the

Mavericks will have to keep working on their game.

“We have to play a little bit more, get a little stronger and develop that volleyball IQ,” said Amundson.

“We got to get a little bit bet-ter at the things they weren’t so good at the end of the year like using a little more strategy and gamesmanship when they play,” Amundson said. “Toward the end of the year we did that. We car-ried out our game plan against Concordia and it was fun to see. They are right on the edge.”

Sophomore Krista Hassing led the Mavericks in kills with 380 (3.58 k/set) and a .286 kill percentage. Senior Chandra Honebrink chipped in 365 kills (3.54 k/set) and a .189 kill per-centage, while freshmen Sydney Powell was third on the team

with 260 kills (2.55 k/set) and a .173 kill percentage.

Junior Ellie Van De Steeg cracked the career 3,000 assist mark this season as well as lead-ing the Mavericks with 1,246 as-sist (11.75 a/set).

Defensively, the Mavericks were led by Sophomore Haley Fogarty, who tallied 444 digs (4.19 d/set), followed by Hon-ebrink, who had 246 digs (2.39 d/set). Senior Haley Doran was third with 230 digs (2.21 d/set).

MSU is graduating six current Mavericks including Honebrink, Doran, Jenna McNallan, Tiana Runck, Kaitlyn Braun and Oliva Kuker.

Looking into the future, the Mavericks do have a good nucle-us said Amundson “You always try to get a nucleus and when you get the nucleus going and start to

believe then sometimes it snow-balls. They have to come out of the gate pretty strong next year, and pick up on the games they have left.”

The Mavericks will use the spring to their advantage, build-ing up their game.

“They have a whole spring to build a stronger identity and just kind of lay it on the world when they get out there,” Amundson said.

Next season the Maverick squad has to keep improving on executing on a consistent basis.

“They just need to get better at executing and bring a little more

game to the game, a little more IQ,” Amundson said. “There is no doubt about their will or their work ethic.”

The Mavericks will look to continue their success from last season with their nucleus into the 2015 season, which will be held with a new coach after MSU Head Coach Dennis Amundson announced his retirement earlier this week.

Overall the Mavericks had a successful season after knocking off four top 25 teams, and getting better throughout the season.

Trevor Cokley • MSU ReporterThe Mavericks finished 2014 with a 16-12 overall record and a 12-8 record on the NSIC circuit.

LUKE LONIENStaff Writer

Minnesota State Univer-sity, Mankato Volleyball Head Coach Dennis Amundson an-nounced his retirement last week.

“I’m going to chase some leaves in the wind,” said Amundson, laughing. “It’s time to float off and see what hap-pens.”

“I just want to watch a cham-pionship match and not have to worry about all of the things that lead into it. I just want to bring my wife, each dinner and enjoy they match”.

Amundson coached the MSU volleyball team from 2005-2014 and finished with a career record of 181-110.

“It is not for me to judge (if the program is in a better place) but I am proud of the work we

put in”. I think whoever gets this job is going to be success-ful right away.”

Amundson had one piece of advice for the next coach of the MSU Volleyball team:

“Develop a standard and hold them to it”.

Dennis Amundson Announces Retirement

Dennis Amundson

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Sports MSU Reporter • 9

second quarter and throwing two touchdowns. The Maverick defense responded by turning it up a notch and was disruptive the rest of the game. The UIU of-fense that looked like it was go-ing to give the Mavericks a tight contest after the first 15 minutes, but could not get past the 50 yard line until the middle of the fourth quarter.

The Mavericks came out of the game with a +3 turnover margin, proving again why they are one of the top defenses in the nation when it comes to forc-ing turnovers. Jaeschke could not get anything going after the two-touchdown first quarter, and threw four interceptions after the hot start. Cornerback Rumeal Harris stepped up big for a banged up secondary, break-ing up two passes and grabbing an interception. The other three interceptions went to Rob My-ers, Nathan Hancock and Dylan Oleszak, who returned his 60 yards in the final seconds of the game for a touchdown.

Minnesota State decided to flip-flop quarterbacks Saturday, as they have in previous games this season, trying to give both Pieruccini and Lloyd momentum heading into the Division II play-offs. Pieruccini was effective on 13 attempts, completing 8 for 111 yards and two scores. He also ran one in from 32 yards out to give the Mavs their first lead of the game. Lloyd went 6-9 and threw an interception on a deep ball,

2014 displays big wins, bright future for volleyball

sophomore Kiana Nickel found junior Jessica Bowe on a ball passed across the box to score her sixth of the year. This hap-pening in the 82nd minute all but gave the Mavericks the of-ficial win. The final score was 2-0, as that would be needed for the Mavs.

MSU ended up being all over WSU all game long, as the Mavericks outshot the Warriors of Winona State 18-7. They also doubled up in corner kicks, 4-2. These girls have so much depth and contain so many spirited athletes, it makes it that much more difficult for an opponent to deal with. McGough has continued to have good game after good game, as picked up her 13th shutout of the season. She now holds an incredible re-cord of 20-0-0 record thus far. McGough only had two saves, and that has been the story this entire season with the incred-ible defensive play from head coach Brian Bahl’s team.

The Mavericks will be mov-ing forth on their conquest

to capture the ultimate prize. They will hit the road for the third round of the NCAA tour-nament and will battle the no. 10 Central Missouri on Friday. The game’s location is in Keno-sha, Wisc. and will be hosted by the University of Wisconsin, Parkside. The Central Missouri Mules come with a 20-0-2 re-cord and definitely will be a true contest.

Trevor Cokley • MSU ReporterThe Mavericks finished 2014 with a 16-12 overall record and a 12-8 record on the NSIC circuit.

FOOTBALL “The Mavericks look to prepare for either Pittsburg State or Harding, and they have a while to do so, as the Maver-icks are scheduled to play the winner of that game on Nov. 29th at Blakeslee Stadium.”continued from 7

Trevor Cokley • MSU ReporterWide Receiver Dorian Buford (15) caught three passes for 46 yards and a touchdown on Saturday.

and also ran in a quarterback sneak for a touchdown.

The Mavericks look to pre-pare for either Pittsburg State or Harding, and they have a while to do so, as the Mavericks are

scheduled to play the winner of that game on Nov. 29th at Blakeslee Stadium. Time of the game is not yet set.

WOMEN’S SOCCER “The Central Missouri Mules come with a 20-0-2 record and definitely will be a true con-test.”continued from 7

Jessica Bowe The junior forward gave the Mav-ericks their second goal at 81:27 of their 2-0 victory over Winona State

Sunday.

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10 • MSU Reporter Tuesday, November 18, 2014

LORIEN MEGILLStaff Writer

The Minnesota State Manka-to Department of Theatre & Dance presents Moira Buffini’s Gabriel; this studio show will run from Wednesday November 19 through Saturday November 22 with performances at 7:30 p.m in the Andreas Theatre of the Earley Center for Perform-ing Arts.

The show is set during the German occupation of the Channel Islands during World War II—a somewhat forgotten moment in history. The play revolves around the mysterious and handsome “Gabriel” wash-ing up on a Guernsey beach with the ability to speak fluently in both German and English and no idea who he is. Gabriel’s story is interwoven with that of a woman intent on protecting her family from a Nazi soldier.

Jake Sullivan plays the titular character “Gabriel.” Sullivan is a junior BFA Musical Theatre candidate from Andover, per-forming most recently as “Atti-cus Finch” in To Kill a Mocking-bird (earning his first KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship

nomination) and he was in the ensembles of The Drowsy Chaperone, Kiss of the Spider Woman and Les Misérables. He made his MSU debut as “Cal-limaco” in The Mandrake and was “Nikos” in Legally Blonde. In addition, two of his original plays, Three Months and Peren-nial, were part of Maverick Musings in the Studio, and his piece Rabbit Tales is slated to be the department’s 2015 children’s theatre touring production. He made his Highland Summer Theatre debut as one of the “Other Guys” in Monty Python’s Spamalot (2013), and returned in 2014 as “Charles Granillo” in Rope and “Wilber Turnblad” in Hairspray. Sullivan talked about playing this unique role and placing himself in Gabriel’s shoes:

“Gabriel is an enigma. He doesn't know who he is, and neither does anyone else - but that doesn't stop them from guessing or even telling him who he is. Speaking both German and English perfectly and with no identification, both the occupying Nazis and local British natives have very strong ideas about who he is. I think

about how incredibly frustrating it would be, having absolutely zero basis for twenty years of existence - it would be excruci-ating. And then to top it off, he has everyone he knows in life (all three days he can remember of it) telling him he is someone he can't remember.”

Kendra Verhage, a senior BFA Acting candidate from Lawrence, Kansas, plays the role of “Jeanne,” a woman trying to protect her family and lifestyle amongst the added complication of this mysterious stranger’s appearance. Verhage made her MSU debut as “Clarice Bern-stein” in the Studio production November; she also played “Ste-vie” in The Goat, or Who is Syl-via?, and was most recently seen as “Martha” in the Studio season opener A Piece of My Heart. On the Mainstage she was a mem-ber of the ensemble in Cactus Flower and “Vera Clathorne” in And Then There Were None, (for which she earned a KCACTF Irene Ryan Acting Scholar-ship nomination”). Last season Verhage was “Gerte” in Crumbs from the Table of Joy, “Phoebe” in As You Like It, (earning her second Irene Ryan nomination)

and “Becca” in Trust in the Studio. With Highland Summer Theatre she was in The 39 Steps and Monty Python’s Spamalot (2013), “Gretchen” in Boing Boeing, and “Paula” in the Ronettes in Hairspray (2014).

The show is directed by second-year MFA Directing candidate Michael Sheeks, who worked in Roseville Area Schools as Staff Development Coordinator and Staff Director of the drama program before coming to MSU. He was also the Artistic Director for Eat Street Players. He made his directorial debut at MSU last year with Trust and returned to the Studio as part of the Mav-erick Musings directing team. He recently made his MSU acting debut as “Maurice” in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. At Roseville Area High School he directed shows including Urinetown, The Crucible and Thoroughly Modern Millie (for which he also served as Techni-cal Director). For the Eat Street Players, he recently directed The Music Man, The Fantasticks (also serving Technical Director) and The Sound of Music.

Jake Sullivan talked about

the integration of art and truth presented in the show, saying “The script itself has a beauty to it, its language, its nuances. It's always most interesting when there is no "Bad Guy" - just someone who believes he is doing right, and it opposes the other characters as a foil. The show is all about the grey areas in life, and that's interesting because it is centered on Nazi occupation during WWII—typically a very black and white issue. It really shows how our perceptions frame our realities.” Any show that can present truths in a beautiful form is surely worth watching.

Tickets are $10, $9 dis-counted, or $8 for current MSU students, and can be purchased online at MSUTheatre.com or from the Theatre & Dance Box Office in the lobby of the Earley Center for Performing Arts from 4-6 p.m., Monday through Fri-day. For more information call 507-389-6661.

Gabriel washes up on MSU shoresIntimate studio show explores WWII paranoia,

perception, and the power of identity.

Photos Courtesy of Mike Lagerquist

Photos Courtesy of Mike LagerquistBelow: Jeanne Becquet (Kendra Verhage) and Gabriel (Jake Sullivan) realize their danger and connections.Above: Von Pfunz (Logan Sulentic) makes a frightening discovery while in the company of Lily (Rachel Howard, left), Jeanne Becquet (Kendra Verhage) Mrs. Lake (Alyssa Johnson), Gabriel (Jake Sullivan) and Estelle Becquet (Maureen O’Malley).

JENNA VAGLEStaff Writer

Legendary country artist Garth Brooks has given Minne-sota a concert series that will go down in history. What was origi-nally supposed to be four shows on the 14th and 15th of Novem-ber turned into a two weekend blowout celebration. Brooks added six more concerts at the Target Center in Minneapolis when there was an overwhelm-ing demand for tickets. The concert was not just a show—it was an experience that fans will never forget.

Every seat was taken, and there wasn’t a bad seat in the house as Brooks designed the stage in an oval shape, giving him free reign to run about the stage and focus on each part of the venue equally. While he did spend most of his time at the front (like most artists do), it wasn’t just about seeing him that made the show great, it was hearing him belt out the lyrics he wrote and sung with unde-niable intensity. He performed party hits such as “Friends in Low Places” and “Ain’t Goin’ Down Til’ the Sun Comes Up”, emotional ballads such as “The Dance” and his new single “Peo-ple Lovin’ People”. The passion he has for his fans in unbeliev-able, and anyone who attended could not only see it, but they could honestly feel it. The Mega Tron didn’t stay on Brooks the

Tuesday, November 18, 2014 A&E MSU Reporter • 11

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Intimate studio show explores WWII paranoia, perception, and the power of identity.

Hooligans hosts The Jimmys

Celebrated blues band to play Mankato.

Photos Courtesy of Mike LagerquistBelow: Jeanne Becquet (Kendra Verhage) and Gabriel (Jake Sullivan) realize their danger and connections.Above: Von Pfunz (Logan Sulentic) makes a frightening discovery while in the company of Lily (Rachel Howard, left), Jeanne Becquet (Kendra Verhage) Mrs. Lake (Alyssa Johnson), Gabriel (Jake Sullivan) and Estelle Becquet (Maureen O’Malley).

Garth Brooks rocks the Target Center

Man Against Machine tour sets records, puts on an amazing show in MN.

LORIEN MEGILLStaff Writer

Award winning band The Jimmys will perform Satur-day, November 22 at Hooligans Neighborhood Pub 1400 East Madison Ave., Mankato. The Bass Brand Brass Band will open the show at 8:00 p.m., with The Jimmys taking the stage at 9:30 p.m. The concert is co-sponsored by KMSU-The Maverick and the Minnesota State Mankato Performance Series with assistance from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

The Jimmys have made a name for themselves in the up-per Midwest and Canada with fans and festivals alike. They have received a total of nineteen Madison Area Music Awards (MAMI) and Wisconsin Area Music Awards (WAMI), in-cluding Blues Artist of the year two years in a row, Blues Song of the Year, Bassist of the Year, Brass Player of the Year, and Keyboardist of the Year.

Blues artist Tinsley Ellis said, “The Jimmys are one hard act to follow at a blues festival. They are truly a wall of rhythm

and blues sound. They’ve got it all–great original songs, mu-sicianship, and showmanship. Great guys. Great sounds.”

The Jimmys have released multiple albums, including “Gimme the Jimmys” and most recently, their first live al-bum "HaDaYa Do That Thing LIVE!” The band is made up of Jimmy Voegeli on ham-mond organ, keys, and vocals; blues icon Perry Weber on guitar (Hubert Sumlin Band); rock and roll drumming legend Mauro Magellan (The Georgia Satellites); and charismatic and solid bass player Johnny Wart-enweiler; as well as a horns section comprised of Darren Sterud on trombone and vocals, Pete Ross on saxophones, and Mike Boman on the trumpet.

This blues band has a strong, soulful sound, comple-mented by the range of instru-ments and sure to bring people to their feet. Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 the day of the show. They can be purchased online at mnsu.edu/music, in person at Hooligans, or over the phone by calling the Per-formance Series office, (507) 389-5549.

JENNA VAGLEStaff Writer

Legendary country artist Garth Brooks has given Minne-sota a concert series that will go down in history. What was origi-nally supposed to be four shows on the 14th and 15th of Novem-ber turned into a two weekend blowout celebration. Brooks added six more concerts at the Target Center in Minneapolis when there was an overwhelm-ing demand for tickets. The concert was not just a show—it was an experience that fans will never forget.

Every seat was taken, and there wasn’t a bad seat in the house as Brooks designed the stage in an oval shape, giving him free reign to run about the stage and focus on each part of the venue equally. While he did spend most of his time at the front (like most artists do), it wasn’t just about seeing him that made the show great, it was hearing him belt out the lyrics he wrote and sung with unde-niable intensity. He performed party hits such as “Friends in Low Places” and “Ain’t Goin’ Down Til’ the Sun Comes Up”, emotional ballads such as “The Dance” and his new single “Peo-ple Lovin’ People”. The passion he has for his fans in unbeliev-able, and anyone who attended could not only see it, but they could honestly feel it. The Mega Tron didn’t stay on Brooks the

whole time—it singled out people in the crowd, the other band members on stage and the backup singers as well. The con-cert didn’t feel like another run-of-the-mill show, it felt like fans were there on stage with him, singing and dancing right along with him.

Many times during his set, Brooks would just stop and lis-ten to the crowd sing and ad-mire what he had created. He mentioned that when he came to Minnesota the last time, sixteen years ago, the crowd was insane and he couldn’t wait to party all night with them. The event men-tioned was the 10:30 p.m. show Friday (which didn’t start until 11:30 p.m. ) and went on until 2 a.m. He scheduled his shows back to back, the first one start-ing at 6:30, did this two week-ends in a row: Thursday, Friday

http://s3.evcdn.com/

TUESDAYThe Naked I: Insides Out

7 p.m., Ostrander Auditoriumhttp://www.mnsu.edu/lgbtc18

NOV.

WEDNESDAYGabriel Premire

7:30 p.m., Performing Arts Centerhttp://www.mnsu.edu/theatre/19

NOV.

W EEKLY PEEK

and Saturday. One would think he would die of exhaustion, but he belted his songs and trucked on until the last minute. He is a truly amazing performer and an absolutely whole-hearted indi-vidual.

Brooks took the last sixteen years off to raise his children, and is now embarking on a three yearlong world tour with his wife, Trisha Yearwood. In the middle of the show she came out and joined him, then took the stage on her own singing hits such as “American Girl” and “She’s in Love with the Boy” and her new uplifting song “PrizeFighter”. They sold 205,000 tickets, which blew his previous ticket sales for Minne-sota out of the roof. He also set a record for most tickets sold at the Target Center.

The next stop on the Man Against Machine tour is Greens-boro, NC and he will continue announcing dates as the tour progresses.

12 • MSU Reporter Advertisement Tuesday, November 18, 2014