A history of New Year’s resolutions & their effectiveness• Martin Luther King Jr. • Spotlight • Q & A with UC’s new head football coach •

Issue 1 | January 30, 2014

More dangerous tha

n you may think

2

Dear readers of The Patriot,

First and foremost, let me take a moment to thank each andevery one of you. Our readers are a very important part of whatwe do. You’re just as vital to the process of producing this paperas we are and I appreciate your continuing support.

Spring is generally a time of growth and renewal. This se-mester is also a time for growing. As I take on the role of editor-in-chief it’s likely I will stumble a bit as I find my stride (afterall, editor emeritus Christin Miller left some giant shoes to fill),but with each awkward step I promise to keep moving in theright direction.

Yet I don’t want all this invigorating energy to end with me.No. In fact, I want to wish you all the same luck in your ownwalk this semester; whatever it may be, however different yourbeliefs or lifestyle may be, I hope your pitfalls are minimal.

In the last year our publication has seen a fair share ofchanges, whether those changes be cosmetic, staff related or oth-erwise. But through the many changes there was always one goal in mind: improvement. We believe that we have an obliga-tion to ourselves—as well as all of you—to make The Patriot thebest it can possibly be, issue by issue. This semester will be noexception. We are planning a variety of tweaks that will helppush our paper further into the realm of magazine-style design,including new features that will hopefully serve our readers even more, all while keeping with our biweekly schedule.

I want to make The Patriot more of something that studentscan relate to. I want to make it more accessible to everyone oncampus without anyone feeling left out or marginalized. I wantit to be the voice of our student body as a direct representationof who they are and what they think. If there is something youwant to see highlighted inside these pages, let me know. I’m opento any topic, issue or event within reason.

Additionally, I want to strongly encourage any and all feed-back anyone may have for my staff and I. Letters to the editorare always welcome and could possibly be included in an up-coming issue. Please direct those to our mailing address at thetop of Page 3 or email them to thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu.

I hope 2014 treats you well, valued reader. Here’s to a quick semester, hopefully filled with only open-book tests, the mostnominal amount of homework possible and completely void of 10-page essays (looking at you, professors). Seriously though,let’s make it a good one.

Sincerely,

Timothy WyattEditor-in-Chief

Keeping The Patriot moving forward:A letter from the editor

Join our staff

Giving your time and effort to the

campus newspaper benefits you as

much as it does us. As you know,

University of the Cumberlands’

students are required a minimum

of 40 community service hours for

graduation, which can be obtained

by contributing to The Patriot. We

have a variety of opportunities

available that aren’t limited just

to writing, such as photography,

graphic design, or even original

artwork in the form of cartoons

or comic strips. If you have an

interest in participating make sure

to attend our next assignment

meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 5

p.m.

3January 30, 2014

What’s Inside

Our StaffEditor-in-Chief

Timothy Wyatt

Managing EditorNatasha Jones

Social Media CoordinatorHayley Davis

Design EditorKristina Smith

Copy-EditorsBrandy NormanJannica Brady

Photo EditorCarleen Fletcher

Graphic DesignerBrad Pearce

Staff WritersAbbey CherryAlex Williams

Autumn CooneyCody Ellis

Ryan PoynterSolomon Whitaker

Tanner Yankey

Staff PhotographersChloe Gu

Jillian Carpenter

Faculty AdvisorJeremiah Massengale

Editorial Review BoardLisa Bartram

Marianne Worthington

- 7609 College Station Drive Williamsburg, Ky 40769

(606-539-4172 /patriotnewspaper @UCThePatriot *thepatriot@ucumberlands.edu

4

9

15

12 The Spotlight

16 The world race

Sustaining success: a Q&Awith Coach Matt Rhymer

Making a case for MLK Day

The Patriot is the biweekly student publication of the Universityof the Cumberlands. Our goal is to provide timely and originalcontent by highlighting campus news and views.

Award-winning member of the Kentucky Press Association.

When the clock strikesmidnight

18 Coming soon: five of the mostanticipated movies of 2014

6

Photo cour tesy of Beth Wooley

Features4 d

In the words of our favorite green ogre, Shrek, why it is always midnight? Midnight,it’s the beginning and end of every day. The hour of 12 a.m. holds quite a bit of responsibilitythanks to fairytales like Shrek and Cinderella where a character sets out to accomplish a goalbefore midnight.

In today’s culture we hold ourselves to similar lofty goals. When the clock strikes mid-night on January 1st, in America we celebrate the New Year by gathering around televisionsets with loved ones, watching a shiny ball drop and last, but not least, making those NewYear’s resolutions.

Parade.com claims that despite it not being timed with our New Year’s Day, the practiceof New Year's resolutions originated in pre-Christian era with the Babylonians, then grew inpopularity during the Roman Empire. History.com reports that Roman emperor Julius Caesarinstituted January 1st as the first day of the year. This change was partly to honor the month'snamesake, Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two faces allowed him to look backinto the past and forward into the future.

Should you make a New Year’s resolution? That is the question that every person faceseach year. The New Year is an ideal time to readjust and recalibrate. Some people set theirgoals for a self-change.

According to statisticbrain.com, 45 percent of Americans usually make New Year's res-olutions, but only 8 percent of people are successful in achieving their resolutions.

Dr. Haley Turner, an assistant professor of psychology at UC, says, “I definitely thinkthey [resolutions] can be helpful. The research on enduring commitments is fairly clear in the

psychology literature; commitments are more effective if they are made public. If the personmaking the resolution tells others (or in our world posts the resolution on Facebook or Twitter),they are more likely to stay committed than if they just privately make a resolution.”

“My New Year’s resolution is to continue growing as the person I wish to be, but to alsocontinue on the path that God presents me with,” said UC freshman Sarah Barnes.Rebecca Sanders, a UC junior says, “My New Year's resolution is to do the absolute best inmy sport this season, and to avoid Dairy Queen at all cost this semester."

Some chose not to make a new resolution for the New Year but chose to continue to worktoward goals they’ve already started. Sammy Jackoby, a UC junior explains, “My New Year’sresolution hasn’t changed in the last three years. My goal is to get my diploma and to graduateso that I can make my dreams become a reality.”

Even though it’s traditional to make goals on January 1st, there really is no difference inthe day from any other. If you really want to accomplish something, there’s never a bad timeto start and work toward making yourself a better you.

After all, Cinderella’s fairy godmother may have given her till midnight to be whoevershe wanted to be, but it was Cinderella’s actions after that night at the ball that really lead herto her happily ever after.

When the clock strikes midnight

BY NATASHA JONES

Managing Editor

& AUTUMN COONEY

Sta ff Writer

5Featuresd

An interesting musical collaboration presenting the works of Jayson Smith, a junior musiceducation major, and Alexis Tickle, a senior mathematics major and music minor, is coming upon Saturday, Feb. 1. The two will be having their joint music recital. Tickle said, “Anyone ismore than welcome to attend as long as they will fit in our little recital hall.”

The dual recital will be an hour long, consisting of a mixture of Smith performing percus-sion solos and Tickle performing clarinet solos and ensemble work for a total of 30 minuteseach from both performers. At the end they will play a piece in which they will perform twomovements together as a duet.

“Recitals have to be strategically put together when it comes to the stage and getting every-thing set up, otherwise it’ll end up taking two hours if you just randomly perform pieces,” Ticklesaid. The recitals require a lot of planning and are an essential component in the field of study.

“They are the fulfillment of whatever type of degree we are getting. I am getting a minorand he is getting a music education major, so he has to do a junior and a senior recital, but Iwas only required to do a half senior as a minor,” Tickle added.

The two decided it would be better to collaborate instead of separate performances. Smithsaid, “She came to me and told me she was going to have to have a half recital, and I could bethe other half an hour, just so it wouldn’t have to be a half-hour concert.”

“There wasn’t really anyone else, but we just also happened to be friends, so it just workedout,” added Tickle.

When Smith was asked about how performers prepare for their recitals, he laughed saying,“Oh boy. I have been working on my pieces since the beginning of last semester. I’m playingtwo marimba pieces, a multi percussion piece—it has four drums and a set of bongos, and thenalso a snare piece that has three movements.”

Tickle and Smith want to emphasize the difference in recitals as opposed to other perform-ances. They aren’t typical like the many departmental performances they students have to playor sing at throughout the semester. “It’s even more scrutinized at a recital than your juries, whichis the final exam for your lessons at the end of the semester; you just go in those and play acouple pieces” Smith said.

He went on to compare, saying, “For a recital it is the upmost professional and all of themusic you play has to be polished to an insane degree.”

The recitals are very important to the two performers since the recital is one of the finalsteps toward getting a degree while also being the culmination of what they have worked their

entire time for as music students. “The senior recitals are the biggest thing you will ever do. Next year, he [Smith] will do

his senior recital and it will be the biggest thing he will ever do, you know, other than his wed-ding day,” Tickle said, causing them both to laugh.

Tickle went on to point out, “It’s going to be an interesting one. It’s very uncommon foran instrumentalist to be doing a recital with a percussionist because the amount of literaturewhere you can do it together is very scarce.”

Explaining the variety within the pieces, Smith said, “There is a lot of fun, interesting,moving music and it’s a lot of fun. Just with the two marimba pieces I’m doing, one is reallybombastic, it’s called “Frogs;” it’s just insane and crazy, but then the other marimba piece iscalled “A Little Prayer”, and it’s like a choir singing it or an organ, it’s really moving and flowsreally well and it’s just a beautiful piece I love playing.”

Smith and Tickle are looking forward to the recital, despite all of the stress and pressure.Smith said, “All of the attention for that entire concert is either going to be on me or on Alexis.It’s going to be a lot of fun though; I’m looking forward to it. I am nervous, but excited all atthe same time.”

Both Smith and Tickle say they don’t let the stress get to them, since they understand thereare always improvements that you can make.

“You’ll never play a piece of music and be 100 percent perfect all the way through. Thereare things that even if you get all the notes right, all the rhythms right, all your musicality isstill there; there are still things that you can improve upon,” Smith said.

For Tickle, this will be the first time many of her family members will see her performduring her college career. “I am pretty excited. It’s actually the first time the family I have com-ing will be hearing me since I was back at home; so that’s cool. They will be seeing an actualfour year progress for me,” Tickle said.

Tickle adds, “I can’t wait for the feeling of having it over. I am excited for it, but just tohave that feeling once it’s over… I am just excited for that feeling too. It’s gonna be a goodperformance.” She then turns to Smith and jokes, “Don’t mess up.”

The two interacting was great to see, definitely making the performance date somethingto look forward to.

The Musical Summit

BY CARLEEN FLETCHER

Photo Editor

Photo by Carleen Fletcher

Features d6

Kendra McCollum had been cheerleading since she wasfour years old the last time she attended a stunting practice atUC. After 17 years of doing what she loved, a blow to the headcaused her to miss out on her senior year of college cheerlead-ing.

“We were trying to do a new stunt that I hadn’t done be-fore and when I came down, I knocked the back of my headon the back spot’s shoulder,” said McCollum. “I immediatelygot a headache that lasted for months. The whole side of myface went numb and that went on for a while, too.”

McCollum’s headaches and numbness lasted long enoughthat she was sent to the doctor that week. It was then that shewas highly advised by her doctor to never cheer again. Thenumber of her concussions and severity were concerning andputting her at danger of brain injuries if she suffered from an-other one. Who would have thought that cheerleading, a sportwithout a ball or tackling could cause such life-threatening in-juries?

According to Peggy Haus, head athletic trainer at UC,concussions were not always something people paid close at-tention to. Since concussions became a big deal, the focus hasprimarily been on football. From tiny, young boys to large,grown men, the sport of football revolves around tackling eachother to the ground and fighting for an oblong, pigskin-coveredobject. It’s a dangerous contact sport and that much is blatantlyobvious to anyone who has ever watched it. Of course concus-sions are going to happen in football but other sports have justas high of statistics for concussions that never get as much at-tention.

Cheerleading tends to be forgotten. In some cases, it’s noteven considered a sport. A girl standing on the sidelines shak-ing pom poms really doesn’t seem like a strenuous activity. Anobservation that is correct. However, that’s not all cheerleadingconsists of and what seems to be overlooked is that the sporthas really evolved over the years. From various stunts to thegymnastics that’s incorporated, a college cheerleading practice

looks a lot like being on the battlefield. The difference is cheer-leaders use their bodies as bullets with no protective gear, fly-ing from one end of the mat to another, making a hazardoussituation.

“Concussions vary for any team,” said Haus. “There is nopredictability about when these types of things will happenwhich is scary. We teach preventive skills and show the videosbut that doesn’t mean that anyone can stop a concussion fromhappening. Even if you, yourself is doing everything correctly,you can’t control the other people around you.”

Contact collision sports, such as football are such an issueand seem glorified in the concussion world because of intent.It’s not because one sport has more than the other or is moreimportant, according to Haus, it’s just that football is a contactsport where someone sets out to hit another person. Althoughcheerleading is not traditionally categorized as a contact colli-sion sport, collisions most definitely happen and therefore sodo concussions.

“I see more people in the base position get concussionsbecause they are hurling people into the air and catching thembut a lot of flyers suffer them, too. Sometimes when someoneis free falling, they do things that are beyond your control andthat leads to head injuries regardless if you’re catching thatperson or you’re the one falling. The main thing is predictabil-ity. You can’t predict what someone else is going to do and thatgoes for contact sports and cheerleading,” said Haus.

How do you know what a concussion is and how do youdiagnose one? According to the American Association ofCheerleading Coaches and Administrators website, a concus-sion is a potentially serious injury to the brain and can causelife-altering symptoms. Historically, concussions have beenevaluated and given a graded severity, usually including “I”,“II” and “III” grades. Recently, trends have emerged for a time-line type test for an athlete’s return or what they call at UC a“base line” test.

“We do base line testing on everyone. It’s a standardized

concussion screening program where we have everyone de-clare symptoms so that we have something to go by to see ifthey improve or worsen,” said Haus. “A lot of times it’s theonly way to know if someone gets better but if they choose tolet their concussions go unrecorded, we have no way of know-ing and that’s very dangerous.”

Alex Patrick, current UC cheerleader and former footballplayer has had his fair share of concussions and admits thatsome are off the record.

“Sometimes I wouldn’t say anything just so I couldstill participate,” said Patrick.

He has suffered four recorded concussions, three of thosea level II and one of them a level III. The others, he claims,were not recorded because he didn’t think they were all thatserious. After only participating in cheerleading for around 6months, he has already experienced a few blows to the headfrom the sport.

“After experiencing both sports, it's hard to say which ismore dangerous,” said Patrick. “Mainly because when I playedfootball the recent rules implemented for concussions were notemphasized by doctors or referees. Today with the new rulesand equipment football players have, such as the Riddell 360helmet that is designed to disperse energy from frontal impacts,I have to say cheerleading is more dangerous because we donot have any equipment to protect our heads.”

Cheerleading is an athletic activity that involves risk. Thatrisk can be managed and performed safely if the right proce-dures are followed but still yet, cheerleaders have nothing toprotect themselves with other than experience and knowledge.The National Center for Catastrophic Sports ranks cheerlead-ing as second in injuries behind football and third for concus-sions, behind hockey. A catastrophic injury is a severe injuryto the spine, spinal cord, or brain, and may also include skullor spinal fractures.

The Consumer Product Safety Commision (CSPC)

BY BR ANDY NORMAN

Sta ff Writer

Cheerleading in the age of concussions:

7d Features

reported an estimated 4,954 hospital emergency room visits in1980 caused by cheerleading injuries, in 2010, the numbershad increased to 36,288. Head and neck injuries accounted for19.3 percent and facial injuries accounted for 6.3 percent. Ofthose head injuries, 1,579 were concussions, 361 contusions,and 2,292 internal injuries. Although 98 percent of the cheer-leaders were released, 291 athletes were hospitalized. A majorfactor in this increase has been the change in cheerleading ac-tivity, which now involves gymnastic type stunts. The growthof the sport skill-wise is what people tend to overlook.

“Just for a mental picture there are sometimes that I amprobably a good 7 to 9 feet off the ground doing a flip back-wards and if I don't get around or land properly on a flip myhead is going to hit the ground and I can’t wear a helmet toprotect myself like I could in football,” said Patrick. “Andwhen we throw girls into the air, we have no idea what is goingto happen, we just have to trust ourselves.”

Both cheerleading and football carry extreme risks. Ineach sport, there are positions vulnerable to life threatening in-juries. In football, players being tackled are at greatest risk.But in cheerleading, cheerleaders who fly into the air or are atthe top of pyramids are in danger, as well as everyone belowthem. The major thing to know is that football carries the leadin concussions, according to Haus, because of the size of theteam. The more people you have, the more chances there arefor dangerous injuries and football teams will always tacklecheerleading in size.

Michael McKamey, a former UC football player and for-mer UC cheerleader relates to McCollum and Patrick with hisconcussion experiences.

“I had a total of seven concussions during college,” saidMcKamey. “Honestly for me, I think football is a tougher sportmentally but it’s not nearly as dangerous as cheerleading afterdoing both sports. If you compared the average competitivecheerleader to a football player at the end of their respectiveseasons, the cheerleader will have sustained more injuries, per-

haps even more severe.”According to UC’s Athletic Training room records, it’s

hard to say which sport is more dangerous or produces the mostconcussions because a lot of factors come into play. The sizeof the team, the honesty of participants, the severity of the in-jury and the absence or presence of protective gear are all de-termining factors.

“Even people who are experienced and have knowledgeof concussions and what’s going on will continue to get con-cussions. It doesn’t matter what sport you play or which teamis more susceptible to concussions, things are going to happen.I had a golfer get a concussion not too long ago, tell me howthat happens. You just never know,” said Haus.

Although that much is true, it doesn’t take away from thefact that football seems to be the main sport people concernthemselves with in regards to concussions. In the media andeven in the MRSA/Concussion seminar the UC Athletic Train-ing room holds for UC athletes, football is always the mainfocus.

“I think we show football players getting concussionsmore often and talk about it so much because concussions usedto not be such a huge deal until football teams started noticingthings in their players after suffering head injuries,” said Haus.“Every sport suffers but I’m not exactly sure why the focusstays on football, especially when cheerleading is just as dan-gerous and you’re right, there is no protective equipment.”

Haus says that it doesn’t matter who comes in at the endof the day, everyone is treated equally with a base line test andall that they can hope to do is educate everyone on the severityof concussions and how to prevent them.

“As far as prevalence with concussions, the size of theteam will always be the determining factor as to which sporthas more injuries in general, statistically speaking,” said Haus.“I think people who don’t realize how dangerous cheerleadingis are people who don’t understand what they do. I’ve seen thestuff UC cheerleaders do and it’s hard to even watch it’s so

dangerous.”Concussions are suffered by all athletic teams, not just

football and cheerleading. Although, the two are the most dan-gerous in terms of concussions and head injuries. Accordingto Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a brain injuryis complicated, and every person responds differently to con-cussion. It is critical for coaches to recognize signs of concus-sion and for athletes to report their symptoms. Until a healthcare professional experienced in evaluating for concussion saysan athlete is symptom-free, athletes who have experienced con-cussion should stay out of play and practice; depending on theseverity, potentially forever.

“I don’t think I’ve had major memory loss but I do havemajor headaches frequently and my eye twitches a lot on thatside of my head I hit,” said McCollum.

“Yeah, I'm not as sharp as I was before my concussions.I'm not as quick to recall information and my short term mem-ory isn't nearly as good as it used to be,” said McKamey.

“As far as long term effects, I have no evidence to provethat I have any long term effects that are a direct result of aconcussion but if I had to guess, my headaches and the ringingI sometimes hear are probably related,” said Patrick.

Concussions in cheerleading happen regardless of the at-tention that they do not receive. It’s important that people un-derstand just how danger out the sport is and recognize that itis in fact a sport. Why do football teams get more attention?Maybe because there isn’t a Fantasy Cheerleading League andpeople don’t watch a cheerleaders every move through mediaand ESPN. Regardless, the two sports go hand in hand and arein first and second place for head related injuries.

“I will leave you with this,” said McKamey. “I got injuredmore in two years of cheerleading than I ever did in 13 yearsof football.”

Three victims, one injury and a forgotten sport

8 dFeatures

Being an international student is hard. Not only do they move from their countryto an unfamiliar one, but they leave behind all of their friends and family. Some haveto pick up a completely new language while others have to grasp the new customsand norms of their new home. Thankfully, there are a few people that are willing tohelp the international students. Ryan Thomas, a senior at the University of the Cum-berlands, is more than willing to lend a hand.

Thomas has been helping the international students for two years, although itstarted by coincidence, saying, “It was something that just sort of happened.” At firsthe began helping out many international students because he is known for being atutor at the Academic Resource Center, but his relationships grew with his students.

“They’d come to me because of an essay that needed help correcting, then westarted to become friends. Then I made friends with more international students be-cause I’d help them with their homework and talk out their problems,” Thomas said.

His interest in international students also stems from his interest in other cultures.“I want to have new experiences and meet new people. I want to experience thingsthrough the eyes of an entirely different lifestyle that’s different from my own,”Thomas said. Next summer, Thomas plans on studying abroad in Japan.

Kaori Suzuki, a UC sophomore, is one of the international students from Japanthat has received one-on-one support from Ryan. “He would help me with my home-work and my English. If I have personal problems, Ryan will talk to me and I’ll feelbetter,” Suzuki said.

Thomas has also helped out Thai Ta from Vietnam. Like Suzuki, Ta also saysthat Thomas has aided him both inside and outside the classroom. “He helps me withhomework and, if I don’t understand a question, then he explains it to me. If I don’tunderstand something about American culture then he’ll explain it to me. He’s justvery friendly,” Ta stated.

Thomas is also part of the international club at UC. While he states that it doesn’thave much recent activity due to busy members, he has hope for the future. “I wantthe international students to feel like they belong here, that they’re no different fromanybody else. I feel that if they have a club, they will feel they’re a part of campus,”Thomas said. “I want them to find their place in this world.”

Thomas expects great things when he graduates UC. Alongside an interest incomputers, Thomas also has interests in international studies. One day he hopes hecan bring countries together. “I want to bring together businesses like China, Japan,Germany, Austria and America. I want everyone to act seamlessly together and coop-erate with one another.”

Thomas has done a lot on campus to help out many of the international students.While he is at UC, he hopes to accomplish even more. “I want to see how far I can goas a person. Not just physically, but mentally as well. When I hit my limits, I want togo farther,” Thomas stated. “There’s a lot in this world that we all still don’t knowabout and I want to discover that for myself.”

BY ALEX WILLIAMS

Sta ff WriterExceeding his limits

Photo by Timothy Wyatt

9d Features

Replacing a successful individual is neveran easy task. But when you’re the one chosento try and follow them up, it’s even more dif-ficult. That’s exactly where University of theCumberlands’ new head football coach MattRhymer finds himself.

After a season of such wild success, atrip to the national championship and someslight controversy, many questions were raisedabout the future of the football program at UC. Rhymer, a former UC football player andcoach who began his coaching career underJohn Bland as a graduate assistant, hopes toquell those uncertainties during his first seasonat the helm for the Patriots.

I recently sat down to talk with him aboutwhat the process was like getting hired as afirst-time college head coach, the pressure tolive up to expectations and what it reallymeans to him to be a coach.

TW: Obviously, there was a pretty quickturnaround at the head coaching position.What was the process of getting hired atUC like?MR: It was exciting. It was very humbling toeven be in consideration. I felt confident aboutit. From the very beginning I felt like this iswhere I wanted to be for sure. I was prayingabout it that if it were the Lord’s will he wouldopen the door. There’s been a lot of affirma-tion and confirmation through the process andI’ve received so much support from the com-munity and administration, which reallymakes it easy to come to work every day.

Aside from being an alumnus, what wassomething that brought you back to UC? A sense of passion and commitment to thecommunity. You know, I go to church here,my wife is from here, my family is from Har-lan—which is just about an hour east ofhere—so I just felt like it was home to me. Ilove it here. It’s just a special place to me so itwas really where I wanted to be.

What has the team’s reaction been to you?How have they received you thus far?Unbelievable, really. The effort and energy hasbeen through the roof. The guys have been soexcited; they’ve been so respectful. I think alot of that has to do with Coach Bland and theway he developed and molded these guys dur-ing the time that he was here. But I couldn’thave asked for them to have responded anybetter. I think they’ve been at peace with mebeing the coach and we’re already developinga sense of relationship. It just seems like anawesome group of guys to be around.

What kind of experience do you have withrecruiting?When I worked here before as an assistantcoach I was a strong recruiter. I actually re-cruited a few of the guys that are here now. So,recruiting is probably going to be a strong suitfor me. I understand the importance of recruit-ing: if you want to be good, you recruit goodplayers; if you want to have good peoplearound you, recruit good people; if you wanthard workers, recruit hard workers. And so

that’s an enjoyable part of my job. I really likethe communication with families, the buildingof relationships and seeing those kids come toschool here to grow and develop and becomewho they’re supposed to be.

What do you think will be your biggest hur-dle being head coach of a college program?I think the biggest hurdle will just be sustain-ing success. There’s teams at the top, there’steams at the bottom and all those are very few,but there’s a whole lot of teams in the middleof the pack. We want to stay at the top. It isone part of the process to get to the top, but tostay at the top is really, really difficult becausefrom here on out—and it’s been that way fora while—every team we play will play theirbest game against the University of the Cum-berlands. We will be everybody’s game thatthey circle in their locker room. A lot of hypewill go into trying to beat us because everyonewants to knock the person off the top.

Speaking of being at the top: do you feelany pressure having to follow-up UC’s bestseason in the history of the program?Yeah, I think if you’re a competitive personwith a competitive nature, there’s always pres-sure. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I tellour guys sometimes that it really is just likebeing in a pressure cooker: you’ve got to goto the point where you just think you’re aboutto explode and that’s when something reallygreat comes out of it. You know, it’s a refiningprocess. But we’re going to have pressure on

us, yes, because we’re good but put pressureon ourselves. We want to be the best. We wantto be at the top.

During your two seasons at South Laurelthe team didn’t fare so well. What do yousee yourself doing differently at UC to keepfrom repeating the past?I tell a lot of people that there are two reasonswhy I was there. One was to realize why Icoach. Because when you’re getting beat a lotit’s easy to have those thoughts of “God, whyam I here? Why have you put me here?” Andwhat I learned was that if you’re just in thisfor wins and losses, you’re missing the wholeboat. You’re not doing what you’re supposedto be doing. So, I learned why I coach is a lotbigger than football. It’s about developingyoung people. It’s about making a differencein somebody’s life that has nothing to do withthe scoreboard and that you have to keep striv-ing to do that no matter what. The other thingI learned was about the message that I believeand share. I am a professed Christian and Ihave a close, personal relationship with theLord and I try to share that with people. I tryto express my beliefs in him through what Ido. It’s easy to do that when you’re winningor when all is well. But when you’re losingand getting beat, what I learned is that themessage never changes. God is still God. MySavior is still my Savior whether I’m winningfootball games or losing football games.

a Q&A with CoachMatt Rhymer

Sustaining success:

BY TIMOTHY W YATT

Editor-in-Chief Photo by Carleen Fletcher

Photo by Carleen Fletcher Photo by Kristina Smith

Photo by Jillian Carpenter

Jayson Smith and A lex is Tinkle practice for their senior recita l. Courtney Freeman waits to wrestle his Cumberland University opponent.

“Drood” cast prepares for their upcoming musical.

Photo by Carleen Fletcher

Photo by Jillian Carpenter Photo by Carleen Fletcher

The Spotlight judges ponder the up and coming season.

UC students take advantage of the snow to build

a snowman.Students from the International Club meet together in “The Grill.”

12 Features d

Ezra Anderson: Senior, Psychology major,theater minor.

I auditioned with my own original piece. Iwant to be a catalyst for others to be able todo what they want. There is a lot of talenthere. I’m expressing talents through lyricalflow. There is a girl auditioning too whoraps, Ashley Dixson; I hope to get to per-form something with her.

BY CARLEEN FLETCHER

Photo Editor

Bonnie Nutt: Freshman, Physical Educa-tion major

I auditioned with “Someone Like You” byAdele. I thought that went good, but thelights were intimidating and the judgeswere tougher than I expected. I think nexttime I will definitely prepare more; I de-cided to do it more last minute.

Kristen Swords: Sophomore, AthleticTraining major.

I auditioned with “American Honey” byLady Antebellum. I thought that I didokay, but I’ve got things to work on. I amexcited though.

Sarah Jean Rainous: Freshman

I auditioned first with “Impossible” byShontelle and then with “Love Me” by J.J.Heller. I thought my first attempt was okay,but mistakes were made; the judges werestricter than what I expected. They made anexception and let me try again and I didmuch better; my nerves were gone.

Faces from auditions

Dr. Mike Dickman may have all semester to dish out a grade for his communicationsstudents, but within the next two months he will also be partly responsible for decidingwho wins $1,000 as one of three judges during the upcoming season of The Spotlight, asinging competition taking place at the University of the Cumberlands. The winner walksaway with not only the money, but also the satisfaction of carrying around those all-too-im-portant bragging rights. So, needless to say, Dr. Dickman has a big decision to make.

I recently had the opportunity to meet up with him and get his take on being ajudge for The Spotlight. We discussed topics such as his favorite mo-ments in Spotlight history, what it’s like working with the fellow judgesand his love-hate relationship of The Beatles.

KS: How long have you been a judge for The Spotlight?MD: I actually started the first year that they did it, but I wasn’tone of the regular judges. I would come in as an extra judge orcome if someone was sick. It was the second year that I be-came a full time judge. So I started the first year part time, and bythe second year I was full time

Do you have any favorite momentsfrom The Spotlight?There is a couple. When Zach Bellwould sing his soccer player bud-dies would do chants up in the bal-cony and bring the flag out. Ithought that was great. One timewhen Marissa Hedrick sang every-one in the crowd shut up and lis-tened, and that never happens. I justremember a big hush came over thecrowd and I thought “Wow, I’m see-ing something pretty cool here.”

What do you look for the most in contestants?Voice. For me the voice is everything.

When it comes to picking people to advance, or to even win, how difficult is that?The first part is fairly easy. We’re pretty inclusive. But the hardest part for me is when weget down to the five or six, and then getting down to the final three. That’s when it gets

hard because those are all usually really good singers. At that point you justgo on style or personal preference rather than judging their talent.

So what are your personal musical preferences?For me I enjoy the classic stuff – classic rock is my favorite to listento. Oh, and I have to say one thing, I’m a huge Beatles fan, but Istill don’t really listen to The Beatles. It almost never works.

How often do you and your fellow judges agree on contestants?More often than you would think. When it gets to the top three is when

we begin to fracture, but at that point really anybody couldwin for the most part.

What are you looking forward to the most this sea-son?The crowds. I really enjoy the crowds. It’s one of thefew times when I’m at Cumberland that it feels like

I’m at a college event. People are having funand I think that’s important.

BY KRISTINA SMITH

Design Editor

Featuresd 13

Judge in The Spotlight:a Q&A with Dr. Mike Dickman

14 Features d

The University of the Cumberlands theatre department brings a different style of musicalto their audience this semester. Typically, the performances by the theatre department providethe audience with an unchanging plot unfolding before their eyes. “The Mystery of EdwinDrood", originally written by Charles Dickens and adapted by Rupert Holmes, puts the deci-sion in the hands of the audience. The original work by Dickens was meant to be a series ofbooks written and released over time, but he died before he finished them. Making the storythe perfect specimen to be made into the interactive musical it has been adapted into.

The audience not only gets to interact with the characters before and during the perform-ance, but they also get to vote on how the musical ends. The audience gets to vote on whothey think killed Edwin Drood. Also, since no one wants to end a performance on such adark note as murder, the audience also gets to choose two characters to be "love interests"and these two will sing a love song to close the performance. All in all, this musical has atotal of 24 possible endings.

When it came to choosing the spring semester musical, there were many aspects about“The Mystery of Edwin Drood” that interested Dr. Kim Miller, director for the musical. Millersaid, " It's a play within a play. There's the Drood play which is set 30 years earlier than1892, and the actors have to play that play, but they're also actors putting on a play.” Thistype of performance not only allows the audience to speak to the actors one on one before theplay begins, but also interact with them as they are on stage. This play encourages as muchaudience interaction as the audience chooses to give the performers. “There's a chairman

played by the library's Nick Harris who is going to invite the audience to cheer and boo fordifferent actors. The high level of audience interaction was another selling point for us,” saidMiller.

Along with the level of interaction, this Vaudevillian style play also offers a lot of dance.There are quite a few dance numbers in this piece; one even included a few stunts. This aspectof the play affected the way the stage would look. Miller said, " Our work study team haveput down a dance floor which looks like what the Victorian stages looked like. We knew wewere going to have twenty or more people dancing, we needed to open the stage up to makeit as safe as possible for the dancers."

Emily Scott, UC senior, is joining the cast of “Drood” for her first musical. Scott said,"I've performed in front of people, both singing and dancing, in ways that required interactingwith the audience. This musical made me want to try that interaction with the added challengeof acting as a character.”

“The Mystery of Edwin Drood" opens Feb. 20 and closes March 1. The challenge forthe actors and the new experience for the audience provide much anticipation for this musical.The theatre department welcomes you to come and enjoy a play with an ending of your owndesign.

BY JILLIAN CARPENTER

Sta ff Photographer

Musical Interactions

Photo by Jill ian Carpenter

Things you maynot know about

Martin Luther King,Jr.

• He started college at age 15.

• In 1964, he won the NobelPeace prize at age 34, makinghim the youngest to win theaward at the time.

• In 1971, he won a Grammy forBest Spoken Word Album for

“Why I Oppose the War inVietnam.”

• He was nearly as-sassinated in 1958by a woman with aletter opener dur-

ing his book signingtour.

• He received a C in hisPublic Speaking class dur-

ing his first year inseminary.

15Featuresd

Our lives begin to end the day we becomesilent about things that matter.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Last week while the vast majority ofAmerica’s students—ranging from primaryschool to college—were free to decide howthey celebrated one of the nation’s greatestfigures in its vast history of influential peo-ple, University of the Cumberlands studentswere stuck in the classroom. In case youmissed it, since, you know, you were in aclassroom, Monday, Jan. 20 was MartinLuther King, Jr. Day; a federal holiday annu-ally dedicated to Dr. King on the third Mon-day in January. The holiday is set aside torecognize his countless achievements, suchas those made during the Civil Rights Move-ments, and serves as an observance of hisbirthday, which is the 15th.

Actually, since the inception of MLKDay back in 1986, UC students haven’t oncespent that time outside of the classroom. Dr.Michael Colgrove, vice president of studentservices, said, “I think if you check out theholiday itself, it’s kind of up to the organiza-tion, business or whatever on how they ob-serve that.” In lieu of calling off classes, UCchooses to observe the day by instead optingfor a convocation program dubbed“Founder’s Day,” a time set aside by the uni-versity intended to honor Dr. King.

Yet, it seems like it may be at least

slightly counterproductive. Dr. Colgrove saidhe wasn’t able to attend this year’s convo be-cause of a scheduling conflict, but that he hadheard nothing but positive feedback from theevent, a stark contrast from that of the viewsof some students who voiced their opinionsvia social media. Students who, by the way,basically had no say whether or not they par-ticipated since it acts as one of the two re-quired major convo events for the semester.

Why not let students have that time toattend an MLK ceremony of their choosing?Why not let them have that time to help outwith one of the many MLK Day projects thattake place around the country? Why not justsimply take the day off and let each studentdecide how they wish to honor a man whohas played such a large role in making theworld a better place? Well, because it’s justa little inconvenient. “It’s a matter of thetiming of it—right after Christmas break,”said Dr. Colgrove, who later added, “Ithink to say something falls at the wrongtime of the year is not a very goodcomment, but, you know, we just hadthree weeks off, so coming backright then it’s kind oftough to squeeze an-other day in.”

While Dr. Col-grove stressed thatUC’s decision tomaintain a regular

class schedule on this holiday was in no waya sign of disrespect—a statement that isn’tbeing challenged—it seems like a stretch tothink that an extra day couldn’t be tacked onto the end of the semester. Also, take into ac-count the fact that we get Labor Day off inthe fallsemester which essentially occursaround the same time as MLK Day does inthe spring semester and students get the en-tire summer off prior to the fall semester. Itall boils down to one day. Allowingstudents one day to freelycelebrate a man whohelped change theface of America re-ally isn’t too muchto ask.

Making a case for MLK Day

BY TIMOTHY W YATT

Editor-in-Chief

16 Faith & MinistryU

“It is impossible for the blood of bulls andgoats to take away sins.” - Hebrews 10:4

Well, that’s encouraging. Great! Why didour Jewish ancestors waste their finances, bestanimals, and all that effort, if their sacrificesdidn’t even work? Countless verses in the Oldand New Testament declare this statement. DidGod’s followers finally figure out that it wasn’tworking out?

If you read all of Hebrews 10, you’ll findthe answers to those questions. Guess what? Weasked for the Ten Commandments, so God gaveus some rules that he knew we couldn’t achieve.That wasn’t enough for us, so he gave us somemore rules. You can read all about those inLeviticus. But all these rules, all these sacrifices,all these rituals… they were not the justificationfor our sins. They were not the salvation for ourlives. Our ancestors sacrificed thousands uponthousands of animals as a reminder of their sin,and that sin had to be taken care of.

We now live in a world in which our sinhas been taken care of, and so we tend to forgetabout it. What? I lied? Jesus will forgive me forthat. I cheated on a test? God understands howhard college is; he invented it! Excuse after ex-cuse, only to find ourselves farther from our an-cestors and sometimes not as well off either. Weread the Bible and slander those dumb Israeliteswho wandered in the desert for 40 years, but Iwonder how many of us are wandering right thisvery minute. I know I do, so many times. In aday. A week. A year. All my time is not devotedto God like it should, and no matter how manyrules God, the Church, my parents, or myselfput(s) before me, I cannot live up to it. I can’t.

I’m sorry. I’m a sinner, really. I hear that isstep one, though: admitting. And that’s what Iaim to tell you – I be far from perfection, butjust because I’m in a fallen world and sinningdaily, is that a good enough reason to stop try-ing? I certainly hope not. That’s like saying be-cause I dirty my teeth every day, I shouldn’tbother brushing them. We both know that’s farcry from the truth. Just because society applaudsand the majority of rules does not mean the Sav-ior can’t reign in my life, and if I give him thereins, he will, no matter what society tells me tothink.

So, we forget about our sin’s redemption.We know the story, but forget the details. That’swhy the Jews did all those sacrifices – to remindthemselves that sin had to be taken care of prop-erly.

Jesus took care of our sins properly.It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t comfortable. It

wasn’t promising, even. Jesus voluntarilywalked to the kings of the country and saidnothing through his trials. He was beaten andwhipped and spat upon, and he showed no signsof hatred towards anyone the whole time.Everybody thought this was the end of this rad-icalism movement. Jesus was a goner; he waslosing the battle by “giving in” instead of fight-ing.

When Jesus “gave in” and took the form ofa servant, our battle over spiritual death and sinwas won. His crucifixion and resurrection rep-resents our promotion to a land of paradise witha King whole unconditionally loves us, if we soaccept the one-way ticket.

“Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.”

BY HAYLEY DAVIS

Sta ff Writer

Taken care of The world raceBY ABBEY CHERRY

Sta ff Writer

Eleven countries. Four continents.Eleven months.

In just a few short months, beginningin July, LeAnn Wright, will begin her racearound the world.

Wright is a 2013 graduate of UC witha degree in Christian Ministries. She wasthe acting Baptist Campus Ministries se-mester intern over the past year. In thattime she led women's Bible Studies, or-ganized campus worship services, ledministry teams around the Whitley countyarea, and led missions teams to NorthernIreland and Guatemala.

It was also within the past year thatWright felt the call to participate in TheWorld Race. The World Race acts underthe foundational truth of "serving the leastof these" and that is exactly what Wrightwill be doing.

Over the next four months, she willbe on a missions team going to elevencountries in eleven months. "My passionis just to take the Gospel to the nations,"stated Wright.

This call of surrender and obedienceto God is something Wright is excitedabout, but the journey isn't going to beeasy. Over the next five months she has afinancial mountain to climb but is restingin the faithfulness of God.

We are all called to serve and pro-claim the Gospel. Maybe right now youcan't physically go, but how can you be aforce of change for the Kingdom of Godon earth?

Here are four ways that you can helpsupport Wright:

1.) "Send Me" Baseball T's are avail-able for purchase at weekly campus wor-ship services and at the Angel Dale House.$20 gets you a t-shirt and helps fund thetrip and materials.

2.) Threads of Hope are bracelets thatWright is selling. Threads of Hope is acompany that seeks to provide income forthe economically depressed in underde-veloped countries, specifically the Philip-pines. Half the proceeds will supportWright, while the other half serves as asource of income for those who make thebracelets in an effort to get those womenoff the streets. These bracelets and lan-yards can be purchased at weekly campusworship services and at the Angel DaleHouse for as little as $2-$5.

3.) A simple donation is always wel-comed. Although you won't be receivinganything tactile in return, there is a joy thatcomes in giving. Follow Wrights blog atleannwright.theworldrace.org to followher fundraising progress and also have theopportunity to donate online.

4.) Pray. Pray for Wright as she walksin obedience for God's call on her life.Pray for her boldness and protection asshe serves Him. In addition, be praying forthose who she comes in contact with andthat they may receive a blessing fromWright and her fellow World Racers.

17Creative?

The expedition had been a long one. A group of men,four scientists and two hunters, were making a trek into theheart of the of the Amazon rainforest. Last year, in 1921, theleader of the expedition, Dr. Gerald Friis, had discovered alost journal entry from Christopher Columbus. In this log, anaccount of a “triangle of light” fell from the sky in a south-eastern direction. Dr. Friis had been able to calculate wherethe object would have landed. Now here they were, makingtheir way deeper into the green world.

Dr. Friis led the group, his passion being exhibited inevery swing of his machete. “We need to find a place to camp,it’ll be getting dark soon,” stated the burly man that followedup the rear of the group. His name was Pete Stowell and hewas a hunter; a huge double-barreled shot gun was cradled inhis hands.

“Indeed, you are correct,” replied Dr. Friis as he cutdown more underbrush. They found a clearing near a brook,

a lucky find in the maze of the jungle. A fire was quickly kin-dled and some fish were caught. As the night drew on, dark-ness enveloped everything except what the light from the firetouched. Everyone was sleeping except Pete because he wason watch. A growl came from the rainforest as wind blewthrough the trees. He raised up his gun toward where it camefrom. Nothing happened. Lowering his gun, he went back tostaring at the fire. Bushes rustled as an enormous black pan-ther pounced on one of the scientists, mauling him. Like thesound of thunder, a shot was fired at the panther. It fell over,but was back on its paws in a second. It turned toward Peteand took off in a sprint. Pete reacted swiftly, getting a shotoff. The panther fell dead, a bullet in its head.

“I’ve never seen that in my life. After that first shot, thepanther should have stayed down,” exclaimed Pete. Hewalked over to the beast. Its eyes were black with grey linesgoing toward the inside. “Come look at it doctor.” Dr. Friis

made his way over to the panther, Pete pointing at its eyes. “We’re getting close,” Dr. Friis replied as he saw the

changed pupils. The next day they buried their fallen comrade and got on

with the journey. After hiking another couple of miles, theyfound a giant hole in the ground, foliage growing into it. Thecontingent gathered around the crater. Inside was an arrow-shaped ship, its grey outer hull was weather worn. “Let’s getto clearing off this ship. This is the discovery of a lifetime:proof of visitors from another world,” stated Dr. Friis, full ofadrenaline. The sound of sticks cracking reverberated off thecanopy. They turned to find a grey creature shaped like a bul-let with pure black eyes standing there. There was a flash oflight and they all collapsed. They were never seen again, buttales of grey creatures haunt the Amazon to this very day.

Staring into grey eyesBY SOLOMON WHITAKER

Sta ff Writer

PhD Comics

Coming soon:Five of

themost

anticipated

movies of

2014

18

1. The LEGO MovieIn movie theaters: Friday, February 7, 2014

From the directors of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meat-balls,” the first-ever theatrical Lego adventure, fromWarner Brothers Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures.Follow the story of Emmet, an ordinary average Legomini-figure who is mistakenly identified as the most ex-traordinary person and the key to saving the world. Hejoins a fellowship of other Lego mini-figures on an epicquest to stop an evil tyrant who wants to glue together theworld. Based on Lego construction toys and incorporatingsome of the Lego world’s most popular figures while in-troducing new characters for fans, we can look forward toexperiencing a unique Lego world as never seen before.

A new year means a new pool of overly promoted films to hit the theaters and take over our local cinemas. There are quite a few long-awaited films to see in 2014 and here’s a list offive of the most highly anticipated films we can expect to see this year.

2. Muppets Most WantedIn movie theaters: Friday, March 21, 2014

On a world tour, the Muppets gang find themselves inan international crime when Kermit is framed by his look-a-like, Constantine, the world’s number-one criminal.While Kermit remains held captive, Constantine poses asKermit to his loved ones but his act begins to fall throughas Kermit’s loved ones start to notice the difference in theirfriend.

In the official trailer, Kermit the Frog promotes thefilm as taking us, "places we've never been before. Andtrust me—this frog has never seen so much internationalflavor. I think audiences will eat it up—the entertainment,that is."

Entertainment J

BY NATASHA JONES

Managing Editor

19

3. Vampire AcademyIn movie theaters: Friday, February 14, 2014

That’s right! Another vampire novel film adaption hitstheaters this February. It’s been a while since we’ve had thesuspense sucked out of us from a set of fangs. Based on thebestselling book series "Vampire Academy" written byRichelle Mead, this film tells the story of two teenage bestfriends who have been on the run from their hidden boardingschool, for mortal and peaceful vampires, where they believetheir lives are in the most jeopardy. The pair is soon capturedand sent back to St. Vladamir’s Academy. Rosa Hathaway,portrayed by Zoe Deutch, is a Guardian in training with a re-bellious streak. Her best friend Lissa Dragomir, portrayed byLucy Fry, is a royal vampire Princess who struggles to reclaimher status once she returns to school. Meanwhile, Rosa trainswith her mentor who poses as a love-interest, Dimitri (por-trayed by Danila Kozlovsky), and is guaranteed her place asLissa's guardian. Rosa will stop at no means to protect Lissafrom those who try to exploit her from within the Academyand the dark forces of Strigoi, the immortal, evil vampires,who hunt her from outside of the sanctuary.

The six titles in the book series have sold more than eightmillion copies in 35 countries.

4. The Fault In Our StarsIn movie theaters: Friday, June 6, 2014

A film adaptation of John Green's bestselling novel,"The Fault in Our Stars," which won an EW Best Fictionof 2012 pick. The film stars Shailene Woodley ("The Se-cret Life of The American Teenager") who is playing therole of Hazel Lancaster, a cancer patient who has an oxy-gen tank as a constant companion. At a cancer supportgroup Hazel meets Augustus Waters (Gus for short), whois played by Ansel Elgort. Gus has a prosthetic leg andbonds with Hazel over a mutual disdain for the conven-tional and the two develop an epic love that takes them ona journey.

The major success of the novel has already jump-started a huge fan base for this film. USA Today reportedthe novel has spent over 75 weeks on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list and reaching No. 4 in BobMinzesheimer's four-star review. Green has already cre-ated a lot of buzz by microblogging about the making ofthe film by sharing photos and videos on his personal socialmedia accounts such as Twitter and Instagram.

5. Into the WoodsIn movie theaters: Thursday, December 25, 2014

A modern take on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales in amusical that follows the tales of Cinderella, Little Red RidingHood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel; all tied togetherby an original story about a baker his wife's quest to have achild despite a witch putting a curse on the couple.

The cast list does look very impressive with a list of sev-eral A-list stars such as: Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, AnnaKendrick, Chris Pine and Emily Blunt set to bring the char-acters to life.

EntertainmentJ