SPRINGHILLIANTHE

Here to STAYBy Abby Massengale

This past Sunday, Feb. 2nd, Spring Hill College welcomed the newest Greek organization, Sigma Kappa, to campus. The spring semester brings about a vast amount of new resolutions, classes, and in the case of Spring Hill College, a new sorority. Sigma Kappa hosted their recruit-ment this past week and officially became the fourth sorority on campus. Since the fall semester, there have been Sigma Kappa recruiters on campus talking to those women who were interested in being a part of the new Greek organization. Members of Delta Gamma, Phi Mu and Tri Delta came together in the fall to create “Team Sigma Kappa” and promoted the new so-rority to those who had not yet gone through recruitment. Panhel-lenic President Elect Hannah Mc-Intyre had this to say about Sigma Kappa becoming the fourth soror-ity on campus: “I’m really excited to welcome a new organization to campus! I can’t wait to get them involved in Greek events and help them find their place on the hill!” Having a new sorority on campus has caused a lot of excitement for not just the three chapters already on campus, but those who would

SEE ON THE COVER ON PG. 2

WHAT’S INSIDE:

PUB SAFE | PG 3 WOMEN’S RUGBY | PG 10

February 6, 2014 Volume 98 Issue 1 Ad Majorem Del Gloriam

SHC Professor’s New Book | PG 8

WEEKLY FORECAST

HILLIAN STAFF

HILLIAN CONTACT

WEEKLY

Editors:Matthew LaBordeChelsea Wallace

Advisor: Stuart Babington

Photo Editor:Kiva Talty

Lifestyle Editor: Bre Vaugn

Reporters:Jacquelyn SuaneeGaillard Teague Abby Massengale

Sports:MJ Connell Eric Thomas

ON THECOVER

be going through Sigma Kappa’s recruitment. Melinda Mettler, an ex-tension specialist for Sigma Kappa, remarked on the welcome they received from the other Greek organiza-tions on campus. “Through-out last semester and so far this year, both sorority and fraternity members have been helpful in a variety of ways,” Mettler says. “From Team Sigma Kappa mem-bers assisting with coloniza-tion preparations to giving us small gifts during formal recruitment, we have felt so welcomed into the SHC Greek community.” Since Spring Hill is such a small school to begin with, many students wondered why Sigma Kappa chose to start a new chapter here. Mettler said, “We were immediately attracted to the mission, values and vision of Spring Hill College. We see many parallels between the Jesuit mission and Sigma Kappa’s emphasis on social, intellectual and spiritual development.” The small size of Spring Hill proved to not be a prob-lem for Sigma Kappa’s first recruitment since the new organization received 46 new members. Such a successful first re-cruitment shows that Sigma Kappa will have a strong impact not just within the Greek community, but the Spring Hill community as a whole. So, what does the rest of the spring semester hold for Sigma Kappa? Well, Met-tler gave a sneak preview as what to expect from Sigma Kappa: “We have a great spring semester planned! Our new members will have weekly Sunday night meetings, an all-day sis-terhood retreat in Febru-ary and an invite party in March. In April, we will elect our first chapter offi-cers and host our Initiation/ Installation weekend.” After just this short amount of time on campus Sigma Kappa is showing the Spring Hill community that there is definitely a lot more great things to come. Sigma Kappa was founded in 1874 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Colby

Thursday - 50/37 - Cloudy

Friday - 55/46 - Few Showers

Saturday - 61/48 - Showers

Sunday - 54/31 - Cloudy

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

THIS WEEK2 February 6, 2014

The Hillian Newswire

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SEE SIGMA KAPPA ON PG. 4

pring Hill College installed a new safety gate at the Old Shell Rd. entrance to

campus on Friday, Jan. 31, replacing the gate that had been missing for a whole semester. With the disappearance of the Old Shell gate before the fall 2013 semester, many rumors started flying around campus about why it had been removed. A lack of news or announcements may have led to these rumors. “I heard absolutely nothing,” said junior Kendall Moulds, referencing what he had heard about the gate’s disappearance. “I read that article in the paper that said we were getting a new one but that never happened.” Todd Warren, Director of Public Safety for SHC, hopes to dispel many of those rumors. As to why the gate disappeared, some theorized that a new city ordinance had required the removal, while others believed that it may have simply been damaged. Warren, on the other hand, says the whole thing was simply a misunderstanding within the Spring Hill community. “It was removed for aesthetic purposes, but the timing was off,” Warren said. “The reason it was removed was because, for one - it was ugly. And two, it really was not user-friendly on the guards.” Warren also stated that the reason the entrance did not receive a gate sooner was because the plan had not been put into place before its removal. “[The removal] got on the list of things to do without the replacement getting on the list of things to do,” Warren said. Other rumors that have circulated through the student body concern the

Old Shell Gate Replaced

safety on campus since the removal of the gate. Warren, however, says there was no increase in crime in the time that the gate was missing. According to the SHC Crime Log, available to all students on Badgerweb, there were 27 counts of thefts, vandalisms, and burglaries - vehicular and otherwise - in the spring 2013 semester, when the arm was still installed. In the fall 2013 semester,

By ChelseaWALLACEAssistant Editor

after the arm had been removed, there were only 18 reports of the same crimes. Temporary gates were in use while the main gate was missing. Warren states that policy requires Public Safety guards to stop vehicles to check student ID’s after 10 p.m. and to register non-students entering campus. Even with these makeshift secuirty gates, Warren says cars

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

NEWS 3February 6, 2014

find ways around it, putting others in serious danger. “There has been an increase of people, students and non-students, since we started using the sliding gates, going around through the exit. Instead of coming in around the right of the gatehouse, they go around through the other side,” Warren reported. “We almost had a wreck there the other night, so that’s become an issue, and it’s just students not

S

Photos by Chelsea Wallace An SHC maintenance crew works on the new security gate.

wanting to stop.” In answer as to why these rumors may have spread, Warren believes the gate being gone just made students more aware of their own surroundings. “I think students were more aware of what was going on because of it,” Warren said, referencing the missing gate. “What they were aware of was the non-students in the apartments. However, the gate’s not really going to prevent that because we lock the gate at 10 o’clock, so if they come in at 9:45, they’re still there.” Moulds said that the gate being gone did not make him feel differently about safety on campus. He said, “Even with the gate there, I feel like it’s kind of easy to get on campus.” Because a gate will not always keep out people on foot, Warren says a huge factor in keeping the campus safe comes down to the students on campus reporting suspicious activity. He said, “That’s where we need help from the student body that says if this guy doesn’t belong here and he’s not with anybody and he’s just hanging out, they need to call us so we can get him out.” The new gate will be operated by remote rather than manually; however, guards will continue to check student IDs after hours.

Want to Keep Up on Campus

Crime?

Visit Badgerweb and click on Campus Life, then Public Safety. The “Crime Log” link is updated by the Public Safety office on Spring Hill’s Campus.

Public Safety can be reached at 251-380-4444.

THE SPRINGHILLIAN4 February 6, 2014

President Barack Obama established a task force on Wednesday, Jan. 29 with the goal of preventing sexual assaults on college campuses and working with federal agencies to hold schools accountable for addressing the issue. “Our schools need to be places where our young people feel secure and confident as they prepare to go as far as their God-given talents can carry them,” Obama said, according to CNN. The President gave his task force 90 days to rec-ommend the best practices for colleges to prevent or respond to assaults, and to check that they are comply-ing with existing legal obli-gations. The task force was also asked for proposals to raise awareness of colleges’ records regarding assaults and officials’ responses. According to CNN, “The president said men and boys have a responsibility to help change a culture where sexual assault is so prevalent.” The White House Coun-cil on Women and Girls released a review of ad-ministration actions titled “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action.” This report is updated with reliable data about rape and sexual assault within the United States. The report reveals, “Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime [and] 1 in 71 men have been raped during their lives.” Both the president and the Coun-cil on Women and Girls are committed to ending sexual assault and improv-ing school responses to violence. Here on Spring Hill’s campus, Director of Public Safety Todd Warren and the Public Safety depart-

ment are dedicated to pro-viding a safe environment for the SHC community. Mr. Warren said his goal for the safety of Spring Hill is to limit the amount of crimes that are occurring on campus. Public Safety has plans to improve security by install-ing sworn police officers on campus. The department is also pushing for education to inform students and fac-ulty of safety tips. There has already been improvement through community service and different programs, such as the RAD defense class.

night. Meanwhile, oth-ers complain about not being properly notified when a crime takes place. When presented with these concerns, Mr. War-ren responded, “It is not uncommon for college campuses to have an open campus.” A majority of campuses are open to the public and because of this, it presents a challenge for campus law enforcement to pre-vent crime. “We have a good patrol force to keep an eye on who’s here and what is going on,” said Warren. The department also re-lies on students and staff to report suspicion and unwanted trouble. When it comes to notifying stu-dents about crimes that occur on campus, Public Safety is only required to report the most serious ones, also known as clery crimes. “I have in the past sent out service announce-ments about crimes that aren’t required, if I notice a trend,” Warren said. He also said it is a tough deci-sion “because you have to balance out education and giving knowledge without causing panic and hyste-ria.” Public Safety hopes to get a strong police front where they can offer the best protection and ser-vice for the students. The department is currently working hard to get things where they are supposed to be by being prepared to handle assault situations in the proper way.Mr. Warren would “love to reach [his] goal of zero crime and get to the point where we can leave our doors open.” Mr. War-ren also says, “One is too many, we have the right not to be victimized.”

By BreVAUGHNLifestyle Editor

Sigma Kappa Comes to the Hill, cont. Sigma Kappa Comes Sigma Kappa Comes to the Hill, cont. to the Hill, cont.

By Abby Massengale

Over the course of this school year, there have been 75 crimes reported and of those 75 only one incident was labeled assault. Since 2012, only two sexual as-saults have been reported. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics, on average only 12% of student victims report the assault to law enforcement. In the report released by the White House Council on Women and Girls, it states that “dynamics of college life appear to fuel the prob-lem” of campus assaults – including the prevalent use of drugs and alcohol and “parties are often the site of crime.” Todd Warren agrees with the statement and says, “by far sexual assaults are committed by acquaintance and both parties have usu-ally consumed alcohol.” Some on Spring Hill’s campus believe that there are other threats to cam-pus safety. Some students feel that it is “too easy” to walk onto Spring Hill’s campus, especially at

“We have a good patrol force to keep an eye on who’s here and what is going on.” -Todd Warren

Obama, Spring Hill on Sexual Assault

College was the first school in New England to admit women on an equal basis to men. Since its founding, Sigma Kappa has spread from New England to across the country and has found a new home here at Spring Hill. Sigma Kappa is a unique sorority with regards to the fact that they have three philanthropies, while most Greek organizations usually only associ-ate themselves with one philanthropic cause. Sigma Kappa’s three philanthropies are Gerontology, The Maine Sea Coast Mission, and Inherit the Earth. Of the three, Gerontology is their main philanthropic cause. Gerontology is a study of aging, and Sigma Kappa has taken a focus on Alzheimer’s Disease Research. Since Sigma Kappa became associated with Alzheimer’s disease awareness, research and treatment, they have raised $2 million dollars in research and psychosocial grants in order to find a cure for this debilitating disease. Sigma Kappa is the first Greek organization to gear their philan-thropic cause towards Alzheimer’s.

5

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

LIFESTYLE# S E L F I E N AT I O N

By JacquelynSAUNÉEReporter

“Selfie (noun): a pho-tograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”

Out of all the words in the world, the one above was chosen as the 2013 word of the year by Oxford Diction-aries. In case you’re curi-ous, “schmeat,” or synthetic meat, and “twerk” were two other top contenders. Yet, selfie still managed to rise above the rest and claim the title.

Some of us silently rejoiced and claimed this as a personal victory: perhaps by being named word of the year, our incessant amount of selfies might become slightly more appropri-ate. Others were less than thrilled, viewing this as yet another sign of our society’s intellectual decline and growing obsession with social media.

Regardless of how you felt, the primary question remained in everyone’s mind: “Out of all words, why?” Well, for starters, we all understand this term that was only added to the dictionary in August, and we can immediately picture ourselves or someone else snapping a self-portrait. This word has rapidly be-come a part of our daily lan-guage. According to CNN.com, usage of the word increased by 17,000% in just one year.

This word has infiltrated not only our language, but

Want to take your own selfie game to the next level? Well, now’s your chance! The Springhillian is hosting our very own “Selfie Olympics.” Send in your “best” selfie to hillian@shc.edu to enter the competition. So, go ahead... start snapping those selfies, we know you want to!

The top entries will be displayed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where you can vote for your favorite selfie. The winner will be on the cover of an upcoming issue.

our lives. Almost anywhere you look, there’s a solid chance that you will catch someone taking a casual selfie: walking across cam-pus, sitting in class, in the sandwich line in the caf- you name it. It has become socially acceptable to whip out a smartphone, adjust the camera, and take a picture of yourself.

Those who do take self-ies tend to do so in copious amounts. The average snap-chat user receives between 20 and 50 snapchats a day, according to buisnessinsid-er.com. On Instagram, there are almost 75 million photos donned with “#selfie.” Hence, we are becoming a #selfienation.

If selfies really are taking over, does that mean we are

becoming entirely infatu-ated with ourselves? Fresh-man JoJoe Delany elabo-rates on this idea: “I think it shows how individualistic our society is… We’re very focused on the self. You do see group photos, but I feel like we’re beginning to see more selfies than group photos.”

The entire concept of selfies does seem to align with the idea that our soci-ety is self-absorbed. Fur-ther, selfies seem to be the epitome of obsessing over image. You can spend hours finding the most flattering angle, the perfect facial ex-pression, and ensuring that not a hair is out of place. On top of that, the editing options for photos on smart phones are limitless.

However, maybe this is-sue isn’t quite that black and white. Dr. Jamie Franco-Zamudio, assistant profes-sor of psychology, explains, “Perception is reality. Some-one’s intention [in posting a selfie] may be to share and reach out to others, such as looking for positive feed-back, but this action could be interpreted as narcissism or self-absorption.” Perhaps posting selfies doesn’t corre-late with an obsession with one’s self, but with a desire for outside reassurance and affirmation.

The Dove Beauty Cam-paign recently released a short video entitled “Self-ies,” which shows how selfies have the ability to change our perceptions of beauty. The video follows

young girls and their mothers, both groups with respective insecurities, as they learn to accept their natural beauty. Dove is promoting the practice of taking selfies as a way to allow individuals to see themselves as imperfectly perfect. Instead of focusing on their flaws, the mother-daughter duos learn to see themselves in a new light.

Another pro of selfies is that, “Selfies are an oppor-tunity for self-expression, a chance to try on a new identity, and even claim a group identity,” Franco-Zumidio explains. Selfies allow for expres-sion in a myriad of ways. I’ve attempted to narrow down the ridiculous varia-tions of selfies into three broad categories. First, there’s the “wow, I look good today” selfie. We’ve all seen them. Whether someone is displaying a new outfit or a perfect hair day, this type of selfie is becoming a popular one.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the “here’s the absolute ugliest face I can make” selfie (my personal favorite). Creating 5,000 chins while simultaneously rolling your eyes into the back of your head is a true art form.

Finally, we’re all guilty of the “I’m doing some-thing awesome and you should be jealous” selfie. At a party with a bunch of people? Sledding down the golf course? Come on, it’s hard to fight the urge to

February 6, 20146

SEE SELFIE NATION ON PG. 9

TOP LEFT: Dominique Howard and Mary Grace Pollet try out the newly fixed soft serve ice cream machine in the cafeteria.

Photo by Kiva TALTY

Photo by Kiva TALTY

Photo courtesy of Aislinn SHEVLIN

Photo by Kiva TALTY

MIDDLE LEFT: Christie Alonso and Katherine Kuhn represent SHC Students for Life Wednes-day Jan. 22 at the annual March for Life in Washington D.C.

BOTTOM LEFT: Zach Ward and Andrew Prince make snow angels on the Spring Hill Golf Course.

TOP RIGHT: Students throw what they know at Badger Brawl, where SHC played University of Mobile.

AROUNDTHEHILL#

BOTTOM RIGHT: Gabriela Del Gandio sleds down a golf course hill during SHC’s snow day.

Photo by Kiva TALTY

Photo by Kiva TALTY

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

FEATURE

On Thursday, Feb. 13, the Spring Hill College Bookstore will host a special signing of Michael Piafsky’s debut novel, “All the Happiness You De-serve.” As director of Spring Hill’s creative writing department and Associate Professor of English Lit-erature, Piafsky discusses books all day, but the opportunity to talk about his own book has been ten years in the making. The Montreal native accomplishes the brunt of his writing in his third floor office in the Lucey Administrative Center. Piafsky is disciplined and productive during summer breaks, arriving at his of-fice at 8 a.m. and writing until noon every day. Surrounded by the books and writers who pervade his classes and continu-ally influence him, like Italo Calvino and Timothy Findley, Piafsky remains scrupulous and detail-oriented. He doesn’t listen to music while he writes, but for this book, he would listen to “mostly Spring-steen” before he started typing and as he read through drafts. Another helpful idiosyncrasy in his writing process, he said, is typing on the same key-board. Despite or in spite of his meticulous methodology, “All the Happiness You Deserve” took years to come to fruition. Already at work on his second nov-el, Piafsky is aware of the challenges that come with writing and publishing a book. “It’s easy to write a bad novel, but a good

By AislinnSHEVLINContributor

Author and Professor Michael Piafsky.

Professor Piafsky Publishes New Book

Photo courtesy of Michael PIAFSKY

novel or a publishable novel has its own generic prob-lems like how to sustain plot and character.” Based on early reviews from Publish-er’s Weekly and Booklist, it’s evident that Piafsky’s debut was worth the wait. “All the Happiness You Deserve” is a novel told in the second person, over a span of sixty years of a man’s life and is mainly set in New York City and Missouri. A unique feature

of the novel is that its 78 chapters are framed by the 78 cards in a Tarot deck, fol-lowing the narrator through different stages of his life. The novel was originally conceived as a series of vi-gnettes conceived about mo-tion, but as it evolved into a book, Piafsky arrived at the Tarot deck as a themati-cally resonant organizing principle. Piafsky describes the male protagonist as “someone who’s really bad

at reading symbols, but is desperately trying to derive meaning from life,” while the Tarot provides symbolic insight and framing for the protagonist’s interiority. Readers don’t need to be familiar with Tarot in order to understand the plot, but when Piafsky decided to use the cards to distinguish chapters in the protagonist’s life, he admits to doing some research. “I went to Barnes and Noble and picked up

‘The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tarot’ and every other book I could get my hands on,” he said. Two of the chapters in the novel take place in a Catholic church and even though Piafsky himself is not Catholic, his tenure at Spring Hill and influence from Catholic colleagues has made his writing even more authentic. “Most of my favorite writ-ers are Catholic and most of the characters I write tend to be Catholic. In my novel, questions of redemption were especially important,” he said. Piafsky’s writing is clas-sified as literary fiction, but his classes expand on vari-ous genres and concepts. Teaching new material each semester allows Piafsky to discover alternative craft choices along with his stu-dents. This semester he’s teach-ing a workshop on young adult fiction, but he claims his favorite workshop to teach was a class entitled Very Strange Things, which focused on unconventional methods of storytelling like “Building Stories” by Chris Ware. Now that his first book is complete and his second book is in the works, Piafsky claims that his ex-amination of texts in classes has become more focused on craft analysis than criti-cal insight. Though Piafsky has been writing and teaching writ-ing for years, he hasn’t always been comfortable identifying as a writer. Piafsky said, “It’s sort of weird to tell people you’re a writer, because they inevita-bly ask if they can buy your book. Now when someone asks if they can buy my book, I can say yes.” In addition to the Feb. 13 signing at the campus book-store, Piafsky is also doing a reading and book signing at Page and Pallet bookstore in Fairhope on Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. and a reading in the Barter Room on March 11 at 5 p.m.

8 February 6, 2014

Selfie Nation, contd.

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

Attending a Jesuit college, the fact that approximately two-thirds of our campus is Catholic is not surprising. With the majority of the student body being Catholic, one may not think about the other faiths represented on campus. However, students of non-Catholic faiths are our classmates, our roommates, our club presidents and our friends. So, how do they fare on this Catholic

campus?Junior Alexis Esneault, while a con-

firmed Catholic, has been on a faith journey that has brought her away from and even back to her faith. “I generally don’t know what I

believe,” Esneault says. “First and foremost, I’m probably a skeptic...I just like to be open to other things.”Esneault went through Catholic

Confirmation in her freshman year of high school, and her struggle with her faith began just a few years later. “My senior year [of high school] I went through a lot of things, and I really didn’t feel good about religion anymore, because I felt like if God existed, why would he do this to me?” Esneault says. Through her studies at the Italy

center in Bologna, however, Esneault began to really appreciate the value of the Jesuit education here at Spring Hill. “I guess it was kind of a renewed faith experience and there were times I was so overcome with something that I wanted to cry,” Esneault ex-plains. Esneault recounts how the Jesuit

who taught her World Religions class in Italy helped her understand her beliefs more. “On the first day of class, he described ‘faith’ as being a rela-tionship...and at that point in time I decided there was something missing in my life and it was a relationship, and I wasn’t going to discount the fact that it could possibly be a spiritual relationship,” she says.Ananya Mahajan, a junior who is a

practicing Hindu, has also had faith-enriching experiences on the Hill. Though she practices her Hindu faith through private worship and prayer in her room, she also attends Mass on campus. “I think it’s really cool to learn about

different religions,” Mahajan says. “And there are times I’m listening to a homily and I’m feeling it, and that’s why I go to Mass...I feel myself con-necting to God. It doesn’t matter to me if it’s Christ or Krishna.”Mahajan has been warmly wel-

comed within the campus community and is often the subject of intrigue because of her faith. She says, “Ev-erybody has a lot of questions, but I

Badgers And Faith On The HillBy ChelseaWALLACEAssistant Editor

Take out an advertisement in

The Springhillian and share news about your organization

or club!

All SHC organizations receive half off all advertisements.

For rates or more information contact hillian@email.shc.edu or

call (251)-380-3845 or (251)-380-3850.

“My senior year [of high school] I went through a lot of things, and I really didn’t feel good about religion anymore, because I felt like if God existed, why would he do this to me?” - Alexis Esneault

love answering them. That just goes to show that they aren’t being igno-rant, that they care and want to know more.”While most students are open and

curious about other faiths, not ev-ery experience has been positive. Esneault says she has experienced some negativity surrounding her skeptic or atheistic tendencies. “It’s hard because people don’t know what you believe, but they automatically assume that you’re the enemy if you believe something different,” Esneault says. “I think people misunderstand atheism....I’m trying to explore every-thing and learn about everything.”While some have shown negativity,

Esneault still believes that the Jesuit education is invaluable to personal growth. “I know we’re getting more of an education than our public univer-sity counterparts,” she says. “We’re required to take classes that really open us up.... Professors encourage us to look at all sides of the story.” President Father Gregory Lucey be-

lieves wholeheartedly in the tolerance and acceptance of Spring Hill College, a mindset that is rooted in the school’s history. “When Bishop Portier came here in

1830 and started this college, he wrote a letter to the city fathers and he said, ‘While this will be predominantly a school for Catholic youth, people of all faiths will be accepted and there will be no proselytizing,’” Lucey explains. “In other words, their faiths will be respected.”In fact, Lucey strongly believes in the

value of each individual within the community. He states, “You - whoever you are, whether you’re Jewish or Muslim or not a believer, or Catholic - you are held as precious.”

9February 6, 2014

take a selfie. Since selfies have become such a phenomenon, people

have been seeking out ways to take this art to the next level. The most recent advancement of this is Twitter’s “Selfie Olympics,” which is basically an excuse to create the most ridiculous selfies imaginable. The selfies range from people reenacting rock climbing scenarios in bath-rooms to the “selfie on selfie on selfie” in which a single selfie is shown on multiple devices.

Selfie Nation, contd.

take a selfie. Since selfies have become such a phenomenon, people

have been seeking out ways to take this art to the next level. The most recent advancement of this is Twitter’s “Selfie Olympics,” which is basically an excuse to create the most ridiculous selfies imaginable. The selfies range from people reenacting rock climbing scenarios in bath-rooms to the “selfie on selfie on selfie” in which a single selfie is shown on multiple devices.

By Jacquelyn Saunee

SPORTSWomen’s Rugby: BUILDINGINSTRENGTH

very great sports team starts from the bottom and has to work its way up to the top. The same can be said about SHC’s Women’s Rugby Team, which is in the midst of their inau-gural season. The team was started

last semester and was met with good interest. Junior Demi Jordan is confident that this season will be very successful.

Jordan states, “Last semester about 20 young women came together to learn rugby. It wasn’t always pretty, but we struggled together. At the end of the day we went home sore but we couldn’t be more proud of our progress and be-ing a part of such an incredible program.”

This is a testament to how hard the team is working and that they are continuing to grow together. Jordan also talked about the team’s

determination and her views on the future for the club. She says, “This semester is very promis-ing because we are determined to win. With the new faces on the team and our unfailing sisterly bond, I believe Spring Hill’s first ever women’s rugby team will only go up from here!”

As this is the team’s first season, the team has faced a lot of challenges, both mentally and phys-ically. Freshman Dominique Howard, who also played for the team last semester, talked about the learning curve and the demands that come with playing the sport.

Howard had this to say about the experience of playing on the team:“It’s still a learning experi-ence, even for those who played last semester. We learn things every day and improve. Coach

Mollie is awesome and very supportive and un-derstanding, and that’s what a new team needs. She’s making us something better.”

The positive and optimistic attitude that the team is retaining seems to be bearing fruit as the team performed well against Tulane University this past Saturday, Feb. 1. The lady badgers prevailed over Tulane 36-0, and the fighting spirit was clear in how hard the team played. They truly believe that there are bright-er days ahead.

The team will play its next game on Feb. 8 on Dorn Field against the University of Auburn as they continue to prepare for the Spring Hill’s tournament which will be held in March.

Photo by Rebeca Marroquin Lady Badgers celebrate a glorious try.

E

After finishing as the runner-up in the NAIA Na-tional Championship game, the Spring Hill Badgers look to pick up where they left off in their 2014 campaign.

The Badgers were voted the number two team in nation in the 2014 NAIA Coaches’ Preseason Poll, the highest ranking in their 17-year history. After losing last year’s national cham-pionship game to Concor-dia College, who is ranked number one above the Bad-gers, Spring Hill is looking to get back to nationals and take a shot at the title.

Head Coach Allison Sell-ers-Cook has high expecta-

tions for her team. “Well, of course, we would love to be back in that championship game, but you gotta take the steps to get there,” says Cook.

With a core group of players returning from last year and a plethora of new budding talent, Cook, in her tenth year as head coach at Spring Hill, thinks they can be a great team. “The work ethic that they have is going to really make us have a successful season,” says Cook.

After finishing with a 49-17 record last year, the team is looking to improve on a very successful season. Sophomore and ace pitcher Caroline Sagrera is excited to embark on her second season with the Badgers.

“It’s a lot of pressure [being No. 2] because last season was really awesome…and we made it [to nationals] with a lot of luck and skill at the same time so, it’s a lot of pressure to uphold that to keep going and be even bet-ter than last year,” reveals Sagrera.

Sagrera, who threw a perfect game while winning a school record 39 games

last season, has a new role as a leader on this team and feels confident with the girls behind her.

“I actually have even more confidence in this year’s team to be honest,” notes Sagrera. “This year I think we have a lot better defense and the team really clicks a lot better than last year’s team did.” Cook also thinks her girls are very

close and adds, with a smile, that “we don’t have that normal girl drama on this team.”

The Spring Hill softball team will strive to be atop their conference so that they have a chance for the cham-pionship, in what looks to be an exciting season. “It definitely feels good to be number two, but that just means we have a target on our back and they’ve got to be ready to play come Friday because everything counts,” says Cook.

Badger softball will be kicking off their season at home on Murray Field Fri-day, February 7th, at noon, with a doubleheader against Huntingdon College in a non-conference match up.

Story by Eric Thomas

By Mj CONNELLSports Reporter

Softball Team Has High Expectations

“Well, of course, we would love to be back in that championship game, but you gotta take the steps to get there.”

- Coach Cook

10 February 6, 2014

New Tech for the Diamond

A new scoreboard is being in-stalled on the Spring Hill College baseball field thanks to generous local sponsors and the efforts of the SHC baseball coaches. History can be found in abun-

dance on Stan Galle Field, the Spring Hill College baseball field. Built in 1890, Stan Galle is the old-est collegiate playing field in the United States, as attested to by the fact that both Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth have played on the field. Father time catches up to every-

thing, and naturally its equipment has been through its fair share of wear and tear over the years. However, this has not stopped the

grounds crew from constantly keep-ing the field in great shape. Accord-ing to Spring Hill College Athletics, the most recent renovations to the field include improved dugouts and landscaping which took place last year, and the field is set to receive another addition within the coming days: a new scoreboard.Junior Jack Howard is one of the

players that is ready to get the new scoreboard up and running. “They didn’t have the funding for it for the longest time, so it’s good to see it’s finally going to be put up,” Howard

THE SPRINGHILLIAN

By EricTHOMASSports Reporter

says. Head Coach Frank Sims is also

very excited about the new score-board being done. “I’m excited. The old scoreboard was put up 17 years ago and it hasn’t really worked correctly for the last five or six,” Sims says. “Jim Hall, SHC’s athletic director, and I helped raised the money for it and the plan is to have it up for this weekend.” Some of the sponsors for the score-

board include Quality Valve, The Orthopedic Group, and James B. Donaghey Inc. When asked about whether or not

he believes the new scoreboard will help draw more students and fans to the field, coach Sims responded, “I think it’ll help us, especially with going into Division II.” Junior Brandon Krus also talked

about the potential of having the new scoreboard up and running, bringing more people to the games. “I like the scoreboard, it adds to the

feeling of the field. We had the old scoreboard break down on us and this new one gives a new vibe to the field,” he says. Krus also talked about the im-

portance of the new scoreboard in accordance with Spring Hill making the move from the NAIA athletic conference to the NCAA, which, according to SHC News, is supposed to take place within the next three years. Krus says, “With us making the jump from NAIA to NCAA, I believe that the score-board is a good stepping stone for that. It shows we have sponsors. Hopefully it’ll draw more people to the game.” According to SHC news, Spring

Hill will remain a part of the NAIA and SSAC with access to all of the aforementioned conferences and post-season championships for the 2013-2014 academic year. The team will play full NCAA Division II schedules beginning

with the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 academic years, and will gain full access to NCAA post-season competition during the 2016-2017 academic year. The team has already gotten off

to a great start this year, compiling a 3-1 record in its first four games. The Badgers will be tested in their next game against West Florida.

A Historic Diamond Gets a Modern Makeover

4/8 Baseball Doubleheader:Spring Hill vs Point University 1 p.m.

Spring Hill vs Point University

4/14 Baseball:Spring Hill @ William Carey

4 p.m.

4/15 Baseball Doubleheader:Spring Hill @ William Carey 1 p.m.

Spring Hill @ William Carey

11February 6, 2014

Upcoming Games

HILL YEA! February 6, 2014

ON the SPOTWhat Was Your Favorite Thing about SNOW DAY on the Hill?

MEERI kangas MATTHEWtussa CASSANDRAmutis KYLEShannon

“WATCHING FROZEN WHILE IT’S FROZEN OUTSIDE.”

“I BECAME THE QUEEN OF ICE.”

“I’M FROM MIAMI, SO NOT USED TO THIS ‘SNOW.’ I LIKED SLEDDING DOWN THE HILLS.”

“LOVED THE SLED-DING AND THE SNOWBALL FIGHTS.”

MEETTHESTAFF

MattLABORDE

ChelseaWALLACE GaillardTEAGUE

JacquelynSUANÉE EricTHOMAS

KivaTALTY MjCONNELL

COSH - Cats of Spring Hill

“I’m homeless.”

“What is the hardest part about being home-less?”

“I miss having Fancy Feast every night, but the sidewalk cat food piles are pretty close.”

“Do you like living in a

community with other cats?”

“Do you like living in a

community with other humans?”

“Is it okay if I take your picture and ask you a few questions?”

“No.”SpringHillian reporters Gaillard Teague and Kiva Talty ask the Cats of Spring Hill pressing questions.

“What’s your name?”“Cat”“What’s your best friend’s name?”“Cat.”

AbbyMASSENGALE BreVAUGHN

12