February 20, 2012

Vol 43 No 9The Student-Run Newspaper of Kishwaukee College, Malta, IL 60150

For Black History Month, the Kishwaukee Art Gallery decided to honor artist Chaveevah Banks Ferguson by displaying her exhibition titled Illustrations, Paintings & Whimsical Observations. The exhibit includes not only paintings, but several books and dolls created by Ferguson. Her pieces are mainly of people of African-American decent but her style of painting them varies from extremely defined, as in her painting Dancer in Yellow, while others have elongated and exaggerated limbs, like the women in her piece titled Fashionistas. The artist has made some pieces of her art for sale, with the paintings ranging from $200 to $650. Beyond being an artist, Ferguson also started BaHar Publishing, L.C. with Patricia L. Harris in 2003. According to their website (www.baharpublishing.com), BaHar Publishing, L.C. is the only African American-owned and operated book publisher in the state of Iowa. Since their beginning in 2003, they have published more than 20 books. Ferguson even wrote one of their first books published, called “In Due Time”. They also are known for their many lines of greeting cards. Ferguson wasn’t always a writer and publisher, though. According to a press release, “she charac-terizes herself as having ‘done a little bit of a lot of things: from professional dancer and costume designer to career counselor, news writer, and undergraduate instructor.’” She won the Martin Luther King, Jr. Pin-nacle Award for Outstanding Journalism in 2009. During the opening reception, Ferguson commented, “I’m very overwhelmed. This is my first time [having my work displayed] in a gallery.” The Kish Art Gallery is free and open to anyone who would like to come. This exhibit will be on display until March 9.

Kish Art Gallery honors artist Chaveevah Banks Ferguson for Black History MonthBy Marissa SkonieEditor-in-Chief

Chaveevah Bank Ferguson at the exhibit’s opening reception.Photo taken by: Valentina Andrianopoulos

Kish offers many ways to get involved By Grace MartinManaging Editor

Kishwaukee College is a diverse campus, full of students from different backgrounds and varied interests. All of these interests and cultures have lead to a campus with many different student clubs and organizations for students who are looking to get involved. Clubs like Black Student Union, Black Male Initiative, the Equality Club, and Latinos Unidos offer support and fellowship for those members of their specific communities. Other clubs like the Computer Club, Business Club, Floral Club, Green Club, Horticulture Club, Mudslingers and Music Club, promote students passions for things that they love. The Student Nursing Organization,Veterans Club, the Criminal Justice Club, and the Future Teachers Association create camaraderie between those who plan to share a similar career, or who have already shared one in the past. No matter what your interest is, there is something for you at Kishwaukee College. The Student Government Association, or SGA, is the student representation group on campus. SGA members are responsible for helping with student activities and events on campus and generally bringing awareness to the campus. Becoming a voting member of SGA requires a petition with 50 signatures. SGA usually has a table in the atrium where these petitions can be picked up at the beginning of the fall semester and at the end of the spring semester or you can head on over to the Student Activities Office and pick one up. However, you don’t have to be a voting member to participate in SGA. If you just want to participate on committees and volunteer at events, all you have to do is start attending meetings. Meetings are on Mondays at 2:30. It is very important for members of SGA, voting or nonvoting, to attend meetings. “Anyone who has a concern that they wish to bring to attention can do that through SGA”, says Allison Von Ende. “SGA brings the students’ voice to campus.” The College Parents Group is a brand new club on campus. The goal of the club is to, “offer support for students in college who are parents”, says Kristine Adzovic, coordinator of adult student connections, “but all students are welcome to attend”. The club hopes to offer opportunities to learn about parenting techniques and volunteer together. The first meeting of this club was on Monday, February 20 at noon in the cafeteria. If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the club, please email Kristine Adzovic at kristine.adzovic@kishwaukeecollege.edu.

Another organization here on campus that is always looking for members is your very own Kishwaukee Kaleidoscope. If you like to write, take photos or work with comput-ers, the Kaleidoscope is a great club to belong to. If you have the time, you can even get credit for it as a class, as well as seeing your work in print. If newspapers just aren’t your speed, but you like being the first one informed about campus events and activi-ties, then maybe the Broadcast Journalism Club is for you. This club is just now in the planning stages and looking for members to get started. If you are interested in the Broadcast Journalism Club, please contact Melissa Blake at melissa.blake@kishwau-keecollege.edu.

Be sure to go to www.kishkscope.com and check out our Web-exclusive Black History Month

article by guest writer Lindsey Clark!

Students participate in the Tur-key Trot held by Student Gover-ment Association during Fall Semester.Photo taken by: Grace Martin.

Make every drop count:Donate blood at the SGA

blood drive on February 21 in the cafeteria from

10a.m. to 2p.m.

So I’ve Been Thinking: Politicians’ mothers should be ashamed

Editorial/Opinion2 KALEIDOSCOPE FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Marissa’s Musings: Become an informed voter

Tebow time not over yetBy Jessica CrawfordStaff Writer

Almost everyone at Kish is of legal voting age. My question to you readers is this: do you actually use your right to vote? To be completely honest, I never have. I have never been the right age to vote in the Presidential elec-tion, but I have been for the elections of the local legisla-tures. Politics never in-terested me. All I saw it as

was me picking which person can screw things up slightly less. I tried to watch political debates but all I saw was a bunch of fin-ger pointing and no one actually coming up with

solutions to the problems presented. What’s even worse is all of the television airtime the candidates buy just to make commercials bash-ing other candidates for ev-erything imaginable. If you have to fight dirty to win my vote instead of just proving yourself to be a worthy can-didate, then do I really want you representing my town,

my county, my state, my NA-TION? What really opened my eyes to actually wanting to vote was the American Government and Politics class I decided to enroll in this semester to become more knowledgeable on the subject. In the past month of class I have learned more on all the different political parties, their stances and the processes of different governmental procedures than I ever have watching those debates and propa-ganda commercials. I would highly sug-gest that everyone takes this course. Whether you already vote or not, whether you love politics or loathe them, this class can at least

explain the workings of the government without having to listen to a bunch of politi-cians resort to kindergarten tactics to belittle their oppo-nents. My favorite part of the class is the discussion board where I learn even more from my classmates and I get to have friendly debates. My teacher even jumps in and instead of forc-ing his political views on us, he plays the devil’s advocate for all sides. And if someone doesn’t understand a term, process, platform, anything at all, then someone in the class is there to explain it in a different way. I can now say that I will be an informed voter come next elections and, I

urge you to do the same. I’ve explained what stopped me before but now I want to know: What is stopping you from being an informed voter, Kougars? What would you need to become an informed voter? Let me know by emailing me at kscope@kishwaukeecol-lege.edu.

By Marissa SkonieEditor-in-Chief

By Grace MartinManaging Editor

As Election Day gets closer the cam-paigns for president are getting that much more intense. Politicians are spending more and more money to tell us that they know best and we should vote for them. They buy commercials and take long trips to make big speeches telling us why they are the per-fect choice. I, however, wouldn’t vote for any of my current options for president, and there are three simple reasons why. When I was a little kid, my mother taught me three rules to live by that I am now convinced that politicians’ mothers nev-er taught them. My mom always told me that if I didn’t have anything nice to say that I shouldn’t

say anything at all. I guess that politicians’ moth-ers never taught their children this rule because ev-ery time I turn on the news, I hear about the latest fight going on between candi-dates as they

throw mud at one another in an effort to make them-selves look better. To me, it just looks like immature children squabbling at re-cess. My mother also used to tell me that you should never make promises you can’t keep, which always seemed like a good policy to me. Apparently, this is just being naïve to the poli-ticians, who constantly make ridiculous promis-es that they could never keep, even if they really wanted to. Again, every time I turn on the televi-sion, I hear another ridic-ulous promise made by some politician that I so desperately want to be-lieve in because it would make this country a bet-ter place. Then I remem-ber why my mom told me

not to make promises I couldn’t keep. In the end, when the promise is eventually broken, every-one gets hurt. When I would get in fights with my little sis-ter, my mom would yell at us to find a compromise. As a very young child, I learned what that meant and how to get to one so that my little sister and I could play together hap-pily. This must just be an-other life lesson that poli-ticians’ mothers skipped since all you see political parties do is fight with one another. Neither one will give an inch to the other, since that might mean defeat. They spend so much time arguing that they can’t even pass a budget to keep the coun-try running. A room full of adults can’t accomplish what my sister and I did as small children. Am I simplifying this too far? No, I don’t think I am. Why shouldn’t I expect out of the lead-ers of my country the same behavior my moth-er expected out of me in elementary school?

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

StaffEditor-in-Chief.....Marissa SkonieManaging Editor...Grace Martin

Adviser.....Melissa Blake

Staff Writers.....Valentina Andri-anopoulos, Jessica Crawford

Logo design by Devon Lovings at TwoFiveDesigns.com

Editorial PolicyLetters 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

The Super Bowl has come and gone, and so has the 2011 football season. Although team practices will not start un-til May and the actual season will not start until September, “Tebow Time” is far from over.Tim Tebow, the starting quarter-back for the Denver Broncos, seems to be one of the biggest names in professional football right now. If people do not fol-low football, they at least know Tim Tebow as, “that one football player who loves Jesus.” Tebow and the Broncos ended their football season on January 14 when they lost to The New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game. But all the Tebow talk has not stopped, and will most likely not end any time soon. Do not get me wrong, I love Tim Tebow. I think it is great that Tebow can be so vocal about his religious beliefs and not care about how other people are go-ing to react. But what I do not understand is why people must keep talking about his religious beliefs, how he is an excellent role model and his personal life. Honestly, as a sports fan, I care more about Tebow’s numbers than I do about what he does off of the football field. I think everything he does outside of football is great. I do think he is an excellent role model and person. But watch-

ing SportsCenter just drains me when they talk about Tebow, be-cause the majority of the time it is not even about his statistics or an evaluation of his playing. Tebow’s numbers are terrible. The last game the Bron-cos played against the Kansas City Chiefs, Tebow threw two completed passes out of eight, and the Broncos won 17-10. The Broncos were losing 10-0 at the beginning of the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears, and came back in overtime to win 13-10. The man has terrible statis-tics, but he wins games. I am fascinated with Tebow as a player, and I am a huge fan of his, but all of the people who cannot stop talking about “Tebow Time” on ESPN are going to make me strongly dislike Tebow if they do not stop talking about him. Maybe I am mistaken and his statistics really do not matter. Email me at kscope@kishwau-kee.edu and let me know what you think about “Tebow Time.”

Marissa’s Musings: Become an informed voterFEBRUARY 20, 20123 KALEIDOSCOPE Features/Campus Life

Portfolio. That word we all dread. Getting ready for graduation can be pretty stressful, especially when you have to put your college life for the past two years or more into a six-item booklet. But fear not! Putting together your portfolio isn’t as bad as it sounds. You may even have some fun putting it together and reminiscing on your years here at Kishwaukee College. “There are six items that go into a student’s portfolio,” explains Terese Dudek, biology instructor. “The portfolio reflects the growth of the learner and the institutional effectiveness in producing graduates with appropriate skills. Students often get anxious because they receive no feedback on their portfolios, but what they need to understand is that it’s not a representation on them as a student; it is an assessment on how well the faculty and staff are doing their jobs and whether they have the skills, abilities and knowledge that the institution expects.” The items that are needed in the portfolio are something that every student should have encountered in their college experience. There is a list of requirements on the Kishwaukee College website that guide you through exactly what you need to incorporate in your portfolio. Basically, the six items are as follows:

1. Introduction to your portfolio.2.Applications of terms, facts and/or concepts.

3.Application of mathematical or scientific reasoning.4.Multi-source research paper

5.Higher level thinking6. Significant Kishwaukee College experience.

Before submitting your portfolio, be sure that you include one very important detail. Fill out the application for graduation! The application can be found on the Kishwaukee College webpage at http://www.kishwaukeecollege.edu/academic_information/graduation_requirements.php?page=73. All you need is a few hours and some dedication to put together a great portfolio. The portfolio deadline for Spring 2012 graduates is April 5, so be sure to have it handed in by then! There is only one major change that has been made to the portfolio requirements this semester. Instead of turning your portfolio in to the infor-mation desk, students should submit their portfolios to the circulation desk located in the library. Terese continues, “The students don’t need anything special with their submissions. We only ask that they bring the six mentioned items. The students’ work will be put into an envelope and they will be handed a checklist to ensure that they have all the required materials. Once a day the staff collects the portfolios and checks them to make sure that all of the components are there. Whether the portfolio is complete or not, the students should receive an email saying so.” The library is currently accepting portfolios, so make sure to have it in by the deadline. “My advice to the students would be to make sure that you apply for graduation before anything,” Terese suggests. “Go to the workshops. They really do help clear things up. As for the portfolio itself, I would personally say that one good item could be used for multiple categories in the six items that are required. If students need any help, they can stop by my office as well in B-305. “ The portfolio submissions must have college-level work. This means that no developmental class work can be submitted. It also means that even if you transferred from a different college, that college work can be added to your portfolio along with your work here from Kishwaukee. Graded copies of materials are unnecessary. If you have work that is unreadable, retype or rewrite it in question and answer format on a clean sheet of paper. If you need any help at all, there are available how-to workshops that are being hosted on March 6 from 9-10:00am in room L-202 and on March 7 from 2:30-3:30pm in room L-202. You can also visit the library for portfolio guidance and talk to either Anne-Marie Eggleston of library services or Karen Fenske, coordinator at the Learning Skills Center. So don’t stress out this semester. Take it one step at a time and use as much time as you need to create a portfolio you can be proud of! For more information on portfolios, visit the Kishwaukee College website at http://www.kishwaukeecollege.edu/portfolio.

Preparing your portfolioBy Valentina AndrianopoulosStaff Writer

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KOUGAR KORNERFEBRUARY 20, 20124 KALEIDOSCOPE Sports/Campus Life

Mariah Sarto-rius is January’s Stu-dent Athlete of the Month at Kishwaukee College by excelling on both the basketball court and in the class-room. The soph-omore Forward/Center has had many accomplish-ments during the 2011 season at Kish College and is very pleased that she has been chosen for Stu-dent Athlete of the Month. “It feels good,” says Sar-torius, “It’s a good accomplishment”. The Genoa-Kings-ton graduate, who has been playing basketball since she was five years old, has a grade point average of 4.0 and puts up impressive numbers on the bas-ketball court as well. The nursing major at Kishwaukee College unfortunately suffered a torn calf muscle earlier in the season that seems to be playing back at her full 100% and did not hold her back. “I struggled at the beginning, but

now I am back to nor-mal” says Sartorius. Although suffering the torn muscle, she is still very optimistic about everything basketball. Sartorius came to play

basketball at Kishwau-kee College because she liked all of the coaches, how they ran their programs and of course, she wanted to come to win. Sartorius’ fa-vorite thing about play-ing basketball at Kish College is the team and coaches. She also enjoys the competitive-ness that is fun at the same time. Her favor-ite memory would be

from the February 7 game against Illinois Valley Community Col-lege when the team became first in their conference. The Forward/

Center’s biggest influence and in-spiration on the basketball court would be Dwayne Wade of the Miami Heat. Off of the basketball court though, she says it would be her mom because of how her mom always pushed her to be the best she could possibly be. After finishing at Kishwaukee College, Sartorius is hoping to trans-

fer to a four year col-lege and play basket-ball if she can find the right program. Many players would measure their accomplishments or success rate by the number of points they scored in each game or how many games they won, but not Sartorius, “It would be playing to my fullest potential.”

Sartorius receives Student Athlete Award

As the 2011-2012 Kishwaukee Kougars men’s basketball team begins to bring the season to an end at Kish College they are hoping to end strong.This year’s Kougars has had quite the rollercoaster season with many ups and downs. As of February 9, the Kishwaukee basketball team has a regular season record of 8-7 (8 wins and 7 losses). Although it is still un-known as if any of the men on the team will be playing for a four-year college, the players still shows areas of strengths within the team. Scott Suchy, sophomore guard, leads the team with most points per game, av-eraging about 14 points per game.

The men’s team has seen many struggles throughout the season, such as not playing exactly as well as the team would have hoped. The Kougars are near the bottom of the conference and feel as though the team has not accomplished much. “Disappointing.” says head coach, Rob Buss of the season. Buss then turns the table around and looks at the positive side of things by mentioning that the team recently beat Wabaunsee College, which happens to be a top 25 ranked basket-ball team. This is a big ac-complishment for the Kou-gars. With less than five games left in the season, all of them being conference, the team is also preparing

for quarterfinals. The team’s goal for the rest of the sea-son is to play well enough to stay out of the 7-8 seed and avoid playing away at any top 5 ranked schools. “If we play on the road in the first round” says Buss, “it is going to be very hard to get by.” The team will have to play better the rest of the season so they could possi-bly see a brighter and better playing style in the quarter-finals. The 2010 Kougars men’s basketball team was ranked number 6 in the country as well as being regional cham-pions the same year. This was a huge accomplishment last season for the Kougars and the team is hoping to be playing similar to the recent team that many of the play-

ers were familiar with. The Kougars will begin playing in the quarterfinals March 1 on the road.

Men’s basketball begins to wrap up the season

By Jessica CrawfordStaff Writer

By Jessica CrawfordStaff Writer

Photo from the Kishwaukee College Athletics’ Web page

Photo taken from the Kishwaukee College Athletics Web page.

As the year pro-gresses, the difficulty of classes increase. Sometimes it can be a little overwhelming go-ing to school full time (or even part time) and getting one or more homework assign-ments for each subject you take. Many stu-dents drop out, stress out or just don’t show up altogether. Although it may seem like a whole lot of homework for one person, you don’t have to go through it alone. For this reason, Kish-waukee has a reliable team of tutors just lo-cated at the Learning Skills Center (LSC) for your convenience. Only problem is, many stu-dents don’t know that the tutors are available for them. “The awareness of tu-tor availability amongst students will best be spread by teachers,” said Zach Klein, philos-ophy tutor and student at Kishwaukee Col-lege. “Teachers need to give their students the information of the tutors for their specific course, and possibly

even consider giving the students some sort of incentive to go see the tutors.” As of now, most stu-dents are going to the LSC for English papers, math and science help. Zach continues, “It seems as if a decent amount of students come in the LSC for help. Most come to use the computers and have the advantage of having people to ask questions while do-ing their homework. It is still early, but I had four students in a week where there was a test. As a philosophy tutor, I will see students when things are close to due dates or when tests are close. “ The LSC is located in between the A and B wings of the school, and in between A200 and A300. It is a door amongst the chaos of the hallways, and can be a little tricky to spot for some students. Nevertheless, it is avail-able for everyone who needs help with their schoolwork. “Students should come to the learning

skills center to use the resources provided for them. My hours are 11:15am-12:15pm Mondays and Wednes-days. As students we pay high tuition costs, many fees and gas to commute to school. Shouldn’t we try to do the best we possibly can, especially in those courses we have trou-ble in?” Surprisingly enough, many students aren’t coming to get help even when they desperately do need it. Is it because students aren’t aware of the tutors’ availabili-ties? Or could it be be-cause students simply don’t have the time to spend visiting a tutor? Whatever the case may be, indulge your-self this semester and go visit a tutor in the LSC. It is free, and you don’t have to go through the hassle of making an appointment. The LSC hours are Monday-Thursday from 8:00am-9:00pm, and Friday from 8:00am-4:00pm. So stop by whenever you need to!

Get homework help in the Learning Skills CenterBy Valentina AndrianopoulosStaff Writer

Have an idea for something you would like to see in the Kaleidoscope? Let us know! Stop by our office in B-104 or email us at mblake@kishwaukeecollege.edu.