Daily Deacon

Wake Forest Field Hockey Team Holds Annual Melanoma Fundraiser – Suyash Keshari

Wake Forest University’s field hockey team hosted its seventh annual melanoma fundraiser in remembrance of a former player, Maria Whitehead who lost her life to melanoma cancer.

The Melanoma Research Foundation of United States recognizes melanoma as one of the fastest growing cancers worldwide.

According to the foundation, in United States alone every eight minutes someone is diagnosed with melanoma and every hour someone will die from it.

The spikeball tournament fundraiser appropriately named ‘Fight For Fiver’ after Whitehead’s jersey number seeks to raise awareness about melanoma cancer as well as funds for cancer research.

Standing at a mere five feet tall and weighing 105 pounds, Maria Whitehead walked into Wake Forest field hockey office her senior year of high school.

Jennifer Averill, the head coach of the field hockey team recalls, “my first reaction on seeing her was that this is not going to work out. Her stature did not impress me. But her actions and words did.”

Averill adds “I told Maria that I don’t think she is big enough to play in the ACC however, she redirected me ‘any time, any day, any opponent.’ Taken aback by this statement I shook her hand and said welcome to Wake Forest.”

Whitehead had a successful career at Wake Forest University. She had a total of 40 assists which is the fifth most in Wake Forest history, was a two-time all-ACC selection, helped Wake in reaching three final four appearances and contributed to bringing home Wake Forest’s first ever national championship for field hockey in 2002.

Claire Lawhon Pearce, who played two years with Whitehead said “Maria was never afraid of anything and it didn’t matter how small she was.”

After graduating from Wake forest in 2002 Whitehead got a job as a coach for St Louis University’s field hockey team becoming the youngest college coach in the country.

Whitehead beat the record of her own coach by ten months.

In 2004, Whitehead was diagnosed with a stage four melanoma skin cancer.

Averill recalls, “I was in tears when I heard this news. But the first time she had come to my office, I remember telling her that I believe in her. So I told her the same this time.”

“Everyone in Whitehead’s life believed that she could beat cancer” recalls Katie Ridd, one of her teammates.

However the cancer spread to Whiteheads brain over the next few years and she succumbed to it in November 2006.

The fundraiser hosted in remembrance for Whitehead’s legacy and in order to raise awareness about melanoma cancer, saw a large participation by Wake Forest students and staff.

Heather Wiley, a Wake Forest field hockey player shared her feelings about the event; “I am really happy to see such a large turnout here today. None of us ever played with her but doing this makes all of us feel like, we were a part of her life.”

Standing next to Wiley, Valerie Dahmen, a teammate added “her spirit as lived on through all of us. She is the reason I came to wake and the reason why we give our best. This event keeps her legacy alive.”

While the team’s aim is to reach at least $5000 every year, iconic to Whitehead’s jersey number. The team had already crossed $6000 in funds before the event began.

Rachel Hirsch one of the team members noted that “we are now trying to reach double of Maria’s number. I am sure we will be able to make the $10,000 mark by the end of the day as donations are still flowing in.”

Coach Averill remarks that “every game that we play, we play in part for Maria’s legacy. The players think of her every time the put on a jersey. The fight for five.”

Illegal Trade In Tiger Parts – Suyash Keshari

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30th March In Class Activity – Suyash

The Food Research and Action Center report finds an alarming number of children facing food shortage in Winston Salem area.

Test

Election Day Comes to Wake Forest

Analysis – Suyash Keshari

The Trump article drew from another source – The Associated Press Exit Poll Survey – and was good at citing it.

“Clinton’s vote total Saturday didn’t quite reach the 294,898 votes that Barack Obama received in 2008 — the state’s most recent Democratic presidential primary — but she almost doubled the 140,990 votes she received in 2008. From Trump Article” there was some clear prior research that went into this to gather the data.

Made uses of quotes, adding at least one quote from every candidate’s speech or interview.

The article however seemed a little bias to ward Trump “Donald Trump easily captured the South Carolina Republican primary.”

“Post and Courier reporters Cynthia Roldan, Gavin Jackson and Maya Prabhu and The Associated Press contributed to this report.” Gave credit and acknowledgement in the end.

The article about Hillary Clinton too seemed bias as it focused on her entirely. The article did not give much weightage to other candidates. The article did not give quotes from different sources, the quotes were from just a few handful.

Truth, Lies, Ideology and Politics – Suyash Keshari

A panel of professors from different backgrounds discussed and debated political ideologies, processes, climate change and upcoming policy changes on account of the presidential elections and the influence of media in the process.

_____ (idk who said this as she did not say her name) set the stage pretty well starting with “we humans have powerful emotional needs to form and maintain certain political beliefs. We conform to the cultural communities we identify and those who are interested in manipulating this are happy to do so in political and ideological spheres.”

Naomi Oreskes a professor in the department of History of Science and affiliated professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, Jedediah Purdy, a professor of Law at Duke University and Keith Payne, a professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina all held different opinions on the influence of ideology, its interpretation and tolerance by people of America.

The panel held on February 16th at Wait Chapel was moderated by Melissa Harris-Perry, Presidential Endowed Wake Forest professor in the department of Politics and International Affairs.

The discussion kicked off with Harris-Perry directing the first question to Keith Payne –“there is a deep division between american politics and socio-cultural life and that division is hurting the identity of us as humans. But is this so called polarization actually a problem or there is some importance in seeing the world in profoundly different ways?”

Payne responds saying “ideology is a set of ideas about how we believe the world works, and how we believe we should organize ourselves in a society. The problem in politics isn’t people thinking different ideology, it’s how they think about change and create walls between each other, making us politically polarized.”

Oreskes brought law into the discussion. She believes that “in a democracy we obviously must respect and accommodate all opinions. Thus ideology itself is not a problem. The problem arises when ideology trumps the rule of law.

Taking the example of former supreme court Justice Antonin Scalia’s death and the question of appointment she says “if the congress says we don’t want to consider anyone, no matter how qualified and experienced, is problematic.”

The panel discussion attracted a large number of Wake students, faculty and staff. Alexine Devyn Carr, a first year student said “I thought that opening the discussion from the polarity angle set a thought provoking tone that was woven throughout the test of the evening.” “It made it even more interesting that the panel was composed of people from different backgrounds” she added.

Jake Orent a sophomore present at the discussion said “it really broadened the scope of thinking with respect to the upcoming elections by making me more informed yet at the same time getting me thinking about many questions.”

Jedediah Purdy shared that “I think it must have been interesting for students to see how people from different disciplines approach the same set of problems in different ways. There were some clear places of agreement and disagreements which should get students thinking and making a sense of the ideological pervasiveness in politics.”

Oreskes said that “I am thrilled to be here in Winston Salem. If you live in North Carolina, knowing the role of the tobacco industry as a part of southern industry and its economical importance to the state’s upbringing is very important. This talk with the tobacco industry example may help students learn that we are not prisoners of past and can definitely reverse things. And one can see clearly that North Carolina is not a prisoner of its past and we should take this example out to other fields such as climate change.”

Digital Media Example – Suyash Keshari

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/10/science/An-Image-of-Earth-Every-Ten-Minutes.html

Images from the Himawari-8 weather satellite’s first official day paint a living portrait of Earth.

Suyash Keshari – Wake Forest University Beat

Five Primary Sources:

President Nathan O Hatch

Dean of College Michele Gillespie

Dean of Admissions Martha Blevins Allman

Vice President of Campus Life Penny Rue

Director of Campus Recreation Max Floyd

Five Sources of Information:

Academics Page http://college.wfu.edu/academics/

Student Life Page http://college.wfu.edu/students/

Campus Recreation Page http://campusrec.studentlife.wfu.edu/

Old Gold and Black http://wfuogb.com/

Admissions Page http://admissions.wfu.edu/campus-life/

Three Story Ideas:

1) What are the things that make Wake Forest a healthy academic environment for students?

2) What does Wake Forest has to offer when it comes to doing things outside of the classrooms?

3) Does the Wake Forest non-white population feel a sense of acceptance?

Assignment 1 Reflection – Suyash Keshari

I chose to write about this story because the exhibit is very unique, deals with current ecological issues and their impact on the future. Initially I was not sure what I was exactly going to report on – the journey of a Wake Forest class to the SECCA exhibit, feature story on the exhibit or a visitor’s experience at the exhibit. Thankfully I was able to interview enough people to explore and expand on any of the story ideas. I interviewed the curator of SECCA Ms.Cora Fisher who was very easy to talk to and enthused about the fact that I was from Wake. I interviewed some of the visitors in the exhibit including students from my film class that I went with and the professor. I realized that it was hard to get something substantial from my peers as most of them would say “I thought it was pretty cool” or “It’s intriguing.” I had to delve deeper into their thoughts by using multiple questions.

I tried searching for a New York times or Washington Post article on an exhibition or gallery opening but was not successful at finding a good one so I decided to base my story independently hoping that it would work.

Although I would like to consider myself as a photojournalist, this was the first time I covered a news story. Writing this story made me realize that what I do (wildlife photography but not the campaign I am working on) is more on the lines of telling stories through my photographs, blogging and not exactly hard line journalism. This assignment led me to realize the separation between the two.