Daily Deacon

Student athlete adjust in preparations for the Sports Performance Center – Conte

Wake Forest student athlete lifting facilities were temporarily moved from the Manchester Athletic Center to the Sutton Center as the Wake Forest Athletic Department rearranges the functions of its buildings and awaits the opening of Sports Performance Center.

Student athletes made the transition from the Manchester Athletic Center to the Sutton Center Monday, March 14th and are projected to be practicing in the Sutton Center for about two years until the Sport Performance Center is complete.

The Sports Performance Center, which will be located between the Miller Center and the McCreary Field House, will begin construction in July. However, according to Craig Zakrezewski, Director of Equipment Services said this timeframe is subject to change based on fundraising and construction.

The athletes and teams that use the Sutton Center for their lifting facility have noticed the differences between the temporary weight room they use now and their past weight room in the Manchester Athletic Center.

Heather Wiley of the field hockey team said, “The temporary weight room has all the same equipment as the Manchester weight room, just a lot less. It’s smaller in size for sure and there isn’t much space.”

Steve Michaelsen, of the track and field team, said he has found an appreciation for the smaller size of the Sutton Center as compared to the Manchester Athletic Center. However, he added, “If there is more than one team in there [the Sutton Center] at a time it can be crowded and sometimes dangerous”.

In addition to its smaller footprint, athletes and strength trainers describe the temporary weight room as stoic or dungeon-like, with pipes hanging from the ceiling.

Ethan Reeve, Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, said this moving process has demanded a greater flexibility out of the teams in terms of their availability due to limited space in the Sutton Center.

Although some conflicts have emerged throughout this transition, Reeve stressed the benefits Wake Forest athletes can receive by working through this type of adversity.

Reeve continued on by saying the temporary placement in the Sutton Center weight room will not impact the athlete’s abilities within games, meets or matches. He added with a laugh, “After all the weights still weigh the same.”

While recognizing the temporary inconvenience, Zakrezewski explained the athlete’s time in the Sutton Center is ultimately for the greater good of the Wake Forest Athletic Department.

According to the Wake Will campaign, the Sports Performance Center will house a “state-of-the-art strength and conditioning area”, a designated area for nutrition as well as offices of coaches and meeting areas.

Wiley added, “We know that something even better is coming and we are looking forward to the new weight room when it is finished.”

Members of Wake Forest Basketball Team use Sutton Center Weight room

Darryl Hunt remembered / Conte

Lede // Anna Conte

The Food Research and Action center reports and ranks Winston-Salem as the American city with the highest rate of children who struggling to receive an adequate food supply.

B-Matter / Anna Conte

B Matter –Focus on SC Primary

As primaries, caucuses and polls continue, the fore front runners of the presidential election are beginning to show.

The primary in South Carolina resulted in Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the current leading respective republican and democratic candidates.

Republican B-Matter

The South Carolina republican primaries occurred on February 20^th. Trump received 32.5% of the South Carolina republican votes, according to New York Times. He was followed by Marcio Rubio, who received 22.5% of the South Carolina republican votes and Ted Cruz, who received 22.3% of the votes. Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Ben Carson obtained the remainder of the votes.

As for Super Tuesday, Trump won seven of the twelve states that participated in Super Tuesday for the 2016 presidential election. Trump won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, a total of 460 delegates, according to the New York Times.

Cruz followed by winning Alaska, Oklahoma and Texas, achieving 369 delegates.

Rubio came in third, winning Minnesota, obtaining 163 delegates.

Democratic B-Matter

One week following the South Carolina republican primaries, on February 27^th, the South Carolina democratic primaries occurred. Clinton received 73.5% of the democratic vote, while Bernie Sanders received 26% of the democratic votes, according to the New York Times.

According to a Post and Courier article, voter turnout rate was greater for the Republican Party than it was for the Democratic Party in the South Carolina primaries.

Clinton received more support within Super Tuesday as well, winning Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, a total of 767 delegates, according to the New York Times.

Sanders followed in second place by winning the support of Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Vermont as well as 553 delegates.

Voter ID B-Matter

The North Carolina primaries are to be held Tuesday, March 15^th.

This presidential election year this the first presidential election that the North Carolina Voter Identification Law will be in affect. This law was implemented in 2013, according to the National Conference of State website.

This law requires voters to show a form of photo identification in order for them to cast their vote. This regulation is currently being contested in the courts due to the possibility of affecting voter turnout in minority groups or student populations.

SC Primary Analysis – Conte

The first article, “Trump wins SC Primary in a run away”, uses quotes, numerical figures as well as background information to structure this article on the South Carolina primary. The article is focused on the ‘three-man’ competition between Trump, Cruz and Rubio by using voter turn out and figures to help readers visualize the intensity of the race. The quotes that are used reveal the spectrum of the this election, including commentary from the winning politicians, losing politicians and their supporters as well. Some charged adjectives are included in the article, such as “easily” or “dominant” which could potential reveal bias in the story.

The second article, “Black turnout boosts Clinton in a big way” discusses more of the voters behind the nominees. As explained in the title, the article focuses on demographic voter patterns. Although the headline suggests otherwise, further in the article it is stated that Hillary does not receive much more support from black voters than Bernie does – I found that a little concerning in that I thought the headline was misleading. Finally the decreased democratic voter turnout was surprising, maybe a reasons as to the Republican nominees reaching greater publicity.

The Trump article reveals a powerful, dominate photo. Which compares to his leading position in the polls. The Hillary article, shows a photo of African American voters, and a child, gathering stickers following voter. This demonstrates political participation and encompasses them as they announce their participation to others (by wearing stickers)!

Senior speech tradition continues – Conte

The 2016 Senior Colloquium and the Founder’s Day Convocation, events that occurred earlier this month, mark the 148^th year of celebrating senior orations at Wake Forest, according to 2016 Senior Colloquium bulletin.

After Aishwarya “Ash” Nager gave her oration, The Unexpected Chaos of Life as a Deac, at the 2016 Senior Colloquium and the Founders’ Day Convocation she was selected to present her oration one more time before she graduates. Nager was selected by faculty judges to present her oration at the Honors and Awards Ceremony, on May 15^th for the graduating class, according to Tammy Griffin, administrative assistant to associate dean for faculty governance.

The senior orations that were presented at these events included lessons learned through collegiate years, analysis of the Wake Forest motto Pro Humanitate and future plans for the years that lie ahead for these graduating seniors.

In preparation for the 2016 Senior Colloquium, which occurred on February 14^th in the Porter Byrum Welcome Center, faculty members were asked to nominate “[Wake Forest’s] finest seniors,” according to the 2016 Senior Colloquium bulletin. These seniors were then asked to prepare an essay addressing Wake Forest University through their perspective.

According to Michele Gillespie, dean of the college, a large number of seniors were nominated for this recognition as compared to past years.

About sixty to seventy-five percent of students who were nominated by faculty submitted an essay to the faculty panel, according to Griffin. The faculty panel then selected ten, out of the thirty-one submitted, to be presented at the 2016 Senior Colloquium.

The ten that were presented at the Colloquium were evaluated by faculty judges in the audience and three orations were chosen to be presented at the Founders’ Day Convocation, which occurred on Thursday, February 18^th in Wait Chapel.

The three selected orations that were presented at Founders’ Day Convocation were Enzymatic Inclusion by Sarah Fine, The Case for Generalism by Robert “Tripp” Maloney and The Unexpected Chaos of Life as a Deac by Aishwarya “Ash” Nagar.

From the three presented at Founders’ Day Convocation, Nager’s oration, The Unexpected Chaos of Life as a Deac, was chosen to be read May 15^th during the Honors and Awards Ceremony for the graduating seniors.

Nager, a Biology major with the plans of attending medical school, structured her oration as a letter to her younger brother. Throughout the oration, Nager advises her young brother on what to look for as he searches for a university for himself.

Nager described her experience at Wake Forest as “chaotic magnificence,” and more specifically Wake Forest academics as an “academic smorgasbord,” which ultimately allowed her to declare three minors in addition to her Biology major.

In her oration, Nager encourages others to carry the school motto, Pro Humanitate, wherever life may lead as she admitted to the the bittersweet sentiment of graduating from Wake Forest University.

Rogan Kersh, Wake Forest provost, ended the night with final remarks reflecting on the senior orations as a tradition and its history at Wake Forest.

Kersh expressed his admiration for the orations of the Class of 2016, saying “You have so beautifully woven your words into the years of student orations.”

Griffin, who had been organizing the 2016 Senior Colloquium since September of 2015, was impressed by the student orations.

“The words of the students make us, as faculty and staff feel proud about what we can sew into our future,” said Griffin.

Rogan Kersh, Wake Forest Provost, congratulates Wake Forest seniors after their oration presentations

Multimedia Post – Anna Conte

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-unveils-plan-for-closing-military-prison-at-guantanamo-bay/2016/02/23/3860f408-da35-11e5-81ae-7491b9b9e7df_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_gitmo10am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

This article includes a video of Obama addressing the Guantanamo Bay concern, a photo library allowing readers to visualize what the prison is like as well as providing suggestions of further readings by including links to other articles. All multimedia elements of this article help reads gain a more holistic understanding what the prison at Guantanamo Bay stands for as well as the plan to close this prison and end this portion in our nation’s history.

Beat Reporting – Anna Conte

5 Key People to Speak With:

Nathan O. Hatch-Wake Forest President

Employee at the Pit

Ron Wellman- Athletic Director

Custodial Staff Member

Campus Religious Figure, such as Catholic Priest: Fr. Marcel Amadi

5 Sources of Information:

-Past issues of Old Black & Gold, located in ZSR.

-Wake Forest Office of Admissions, data collections of students enrolled at Wake.

-WIN directory. Shows major, where the student lives on campus, etc.

-http://www.hercampus.com/school/wake-forest

-Recorded minutes that are documented within

3 story ideas:

1) Upcoming soccer trip to Spain, interview players about when/where they will be traveling, what they are doing & who they will be playing. Focus on Wake Forest Athletics.

2) Profile on a custodial staff member that works in Residential Dorm.

3) A focus on student entrepreneurs. Many Wake students have started up their own personal businesses and it would be interesting to do a feature on these select students. I would find out how they operate and what resources they use at campus that allow them to maintain their specialties.

Reflection – Anna Conte

Writing about ‘Wake the Vote’ was difficult in that I was trying to talk to these students and the faculty members while they were traveling, therefore they were restricted in their availability. It took a lot of coordination to find times to talk! However, I really enjoyed writing this article. I am very intrigued by Politics & this program so it was fun to learn more about what exactly they are doing.

While working with Rachel, she reminded me of AP style elements that I needed to edit on my paper as well as point out some attribution errors that were within my original article.

(sorry, I originally emailed this instead of posting this here!)

Wake the Vote students gain primary experience in New Hampshire // Conte

Whether it was canvassing door-to-door for Clinton in a snowstorm or speaking to Cruz supporters over the telephone, Wake Forest students experienced first hand the New Hampshire primary, held from Feb. 7^th through the 10^th in Manchester, New Hampshire.

“Wake the Vote”, a Politics and International Affairs undergraduate course, focuses on engaging students more closely in the democratic process through traveling to political events around the country in preparation for the 2016 Presidential Election.

This semester, the students and faculty involved in this program have traveled to Iowa for the caucuses, New Hampshire for the national primary and will later be traveling to South Carolina and Raleigh, North Carolina for their primaries.

Twenty-two students are currently enrolled in this program accompanied by four faculty members that are supervising this program, one of which includes Melissa Harris-Perry of msnbc.

Ciara Ciez, a “Wake the Vote” student and current freshman said, “‘Wake the Vote’ has allowed me to discover that my political views don’t have to fit into one mold. Political views can be diverse and influenced by several factors.”

Nick Boney, a “Wake the Vote” student and current sophomore said his experiences through this program have taught him to challenge his political views and think more critically about certain political issues that are relevant today.

Overall, Wake the Vote has established a mission of promoting democracy while allowing students to interact with a diversity of people within a respectful environment, said Ciez.

Regarding America’s political attitude, Boney said, “I was worried that a lot of people would be disenchanted by our current political climate, but it seems now voters are more invested than ever in making sure their candidate wins.”

Boney and Ciez said, Wake the Vote has exposed them to different subsets of potential future political careers. Both Boney and Ciez said they could both see themselves working in Politics in the future.

“I would love to be in a profession in which I can help influence the political process as a political adviser, consultant or officeholder,” said Ciez.

Boney said he was uncertain of the exact subset of politics he would like to work in, however he said, “All I now now is that I definitely don’t want to run for office.”

Marianne Magjuka, the director of democratic engagement and justice programs in the Pro Humanitate Institute explained the planning process that has gone into “Wake the Vote”.

“We have been working on Wake the Vote since the summer,” Magjuka said, “…finding housing, coordinating transportation, thinking about the application process, learning outcomes for the courses and contacting campaigns.”

Magjuka described herself as a “total political nerd.” She said she considers working for Wake the Vote a tremendous privilege.

In regards to experiencing this alongside students, Magjuka said, “I love engaging the students in conversation about their campaign work and listening to their stories. It is wonderful to see them practice the skills of citizenship.”

photo from Ciara Ciez