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.”

NCAA Has Recent Growth in International Student Athletes//Karlee Spirit

When someone glances over any NCAA sports roster they can see hometowns of various different states, cities, towns, and most notably, countries. Germany. Australia. New Zealand. Spain. Ireland. England. Italy. France. Canada. Athletes come to the United States from all over the world to compete in NCAA Division I, II, and III sports.

The recent influx and growth in international student athletes has brought a new identity and created a new dynamic to college sports. The mixture of new ethnics, cultures, and languages have brought a large awareness to different lifestyles.

Wake Forest University athletics have a fair share of international student athletes. Some are attracted to Wake because of their sport, some are attracted to the education, and some simply are attracted to the opportunity it brings them.

Valerie Dahmen, a graduating senior on the field hockey team from Duisburg, Germany always wanted to live in the United States after high school graduation, but never wanted to give up playing field hockey.

“Receiving a college education while living and competing in the country of my dreams appeared too good to be true,” Dahmen said. “Wake was the perfect combination of challenging academics and competitive athletics.

Most recently, there has been a popular trend in recruiting international student-athletes within the National Collegiate Athletic Association to specific sports.

According to the University of Oregon blog written by Kadie Hueffner, there are currently 444,077 student athletes competing in the NCAA. While recent statistics from the NCAA indicate that of that 444,077 about 16,000 of those student athletes are foreign born.

To read more of Kadie Hueffner’s blog post, click here.

Ryan Bauder, a Wake Forest football alumni who now helps coach the Wake Forest women’s basketball team says every team they have played this past season had a least one international.

“It (recruiting international student athletes) is growing a ton in women’s basketball,” says Bauder. “We currently have two internationals, from Italy and France, and one incoming freshman from Australia.”

Eleven out of fifteen schools in the Atlantic Coast Conference for women’s basketball have at least one international student athlete on their roster.

Sophomore men’s golf player and Dublin, Ireland native Paul McBride is a fan of the growth of international athletes.

“I think it’s great to have different nationalities on different teams, as it makes the team more diverse and we learn more about one another and each other’s cultures,” McBride says.

Moving to a new country for four years means a large chunk of transitioning, evolving, and adjusting. Many foreigners must acclimate to the schooling, the athletics, and the American culture as a whole.

Academic advisor and counselor Brooke Taylor believes the most important thing with internationals is making sure they transition well.

“A lot of times with international students they don’t come on an official visit, so when they come to Wake in the fall it’s their first time on campus and at the school,” says Taylor. “With that, a smooth transition is crucial in order for them to be successful in college.”

McBride believes the hardest transition to the American culture was the “small stuff”.

“I think the toughest thing was things like the food and just acclimatizing myself to all other types of American culture,” McBride says.

McCrory clarifies HB2 after national backlash — Caswell

Reflection Paragraph, Holi Story // Katie Dickens

I was pushed out of my comfort zone when I covered the Holi festival of colors. As much as I adore photography, I had never actually done a photo essay for a class assignment. I had to constantly be on the lookout for memorable, candid moments throughout the afternoon. I felt uncomfortable at the beginning of the festival because I was not actually participating, but after a bit I realized that I had the unique opportunity the capture the day, even if I stuck out from the crowds of students dressed in white. As much as I was anxious about intruding or being awkward, I was able to conquer my fears. It also helped to calm my fears as I looked around and saw other photographers jumping in on the action to capture the perfect shot.

Because it was such a fast-paced event, I was unable to identify most of the students in my photographs, which was very frustrating afterwards. It was impossible to do, but I learned that next time I do a photo essay, to prioritize identifying the subjects if it is at all possible.

I loved applying all that I had learned through class discussion about media stories, and I am extremely proud of how the final product turned out. I cannot wait to work on another photoessay in my journalistic future!

The Holi Festival of Colors // Katie Dickens

On April 3rd from 1-3 pm, students gathered on the lower quad to celebrate Holi, the South Asian festival of colors. The holiday occurs on the onset of the Vernal Equinox, also known as the beginning of spring. The festival emphasizes the victory of good over evil and the celebration of love and community.

Students waited in line to try traditional South Asian spicy foods before watching dances and learning about the history of the holiday.

Students eagerly watched as dancers performed to Bollywood style music on the lower quad. Amee Upadhyay, president of the South Asian Student Association, said the sheer turnout was her favorite part of Holi this year.

“I loved seeing the diversity and magnitude of the crowd every time I turned around,” she said.

Holi was “played” in three rounds, with each round starting with everyone throwing packets of colorful chalk in the air.

Students chased each other around Manchester Plaza, covering each other in vibrant blue, green, yellow, pink, and purple chalk.

Sangnyaa Chandna (’18) covered her eyes from the clouds of chalk.

Students were just as energetic during the third and final round as they were during the first.

Sarah Hoyle and Melissa Gauthier, both seniors, celebrated their last Holi festival on campus.

A colorful haze settled over the quad as students walked back to their dorms.

Texas Abortion Law on Storify – Meg

Using Storify was a bit more challenging than StoryMap since it required a lot more searching for relevant social media posts, including hashtags, tweets, and statuses. However, it also showed the exact scope of media influence in social and political issues like abortion—it was challenging to pick from so many. Like StoryMap, it is a lot more engaging for potential readers and brings in relatable platforms they are familiar with, and even contains posts they might’ve seen. This incorporation of relevant media helps legitimize the influence and impact of public opinion, and helps the reader feel like a part of the article. I enjoyed the format and multi-media aspect of this digital tool, though am still partial to the more linear and text-dominated StoryMap.

Final draft and reflection // Merritt Enright

I’ll admit, I underestimated the digital assignment. However, I quickly learned that digital stories involve just as much journalistic dexterity as print writing. The two outlets simply require different time commitments. In creating a timeline on solar innovation at WFU, I spent most of my time researching the history of photovoltaics on campus (which, quite frankly, was pretty difficult considering solar technology has only been used on campus for nine years). I also greatly enjoyed the media portion of the assignment, gathering photos and creating a visually pleasing presentation to go with the story. However, I really missed the thrill of going and talking to people and capturing an event moment by moment. While I was able to visit some of the LEED certified buildings on campus (the Barn, Dianne Daily Golf Center, Farrell Hall), I didn’t feel as though there was much room to incorporate interviews into the assignment. In the end, I’m really grateful that this assignment provided me with new skills and revealed my favorite part of journalism to me – simply getting out and discovering new people and places.

https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1XbyCQhcqSfRVZKjVsI0AsXcG3W57zx8sBiyHISXITsY&font=Bitter-Raleway&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650

Story #4 Reflection//Karlee Spirit

For this story, I used KnightLab to create a historical timeline of the Wake Forest Men’s Golf team. As a member of Wake Forest athletics and a huge fan of the men’s golf team, I aimed to not include any bias facts, thoughts or opinions throughout my timeline and stated strictly historical and current events. Upon doing research of the history of Wake Forest men’s golf, I chose a number of events I believed were the most significant to the program and to the growth of its prestigious reputation. I was even able to gather a few different perspectives and views towards some of the events and important victories (quote from Woody Woodward and athletic director Ron Whellman). Because I was not able to base this digital story off of anything I did before, I was unaware of the standards and expectations. Thankfully, Anna edited my story and was able to assist me in minimizing the length of my text and focus on the main point followed by the supporting facts. In all, I really liked preparing and putting together this digital story. It took me a lot longer than I had expected, but I sincerely enjoyed getting to know more about the significance and historical events of our golf program. It was interesting to learn about their past accomplishments and become knowledgeable on the current status of the team.

Digital Story: <iframe src=’https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1OCOuI5QGX0VqpywELdpP9Q1sptwBkYq3jeNUL0udpKk&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650′ width=’100%’ height=’650′ frameborder=’0′></iframe>

Students talk about voting in the primary and North Carolina’s new voter ID law

Many Wake Forest students voted in the North Carolina presidential primary election on March 15, which despite the new state voter identification law, saw greater turnout than the 2012 primary.

35.7% of the 239,851 registered voters in Forsyth County voted in the primary compared to 34.7% in 2012, according to the Forsyth County Board of Elections.

“I was shocked at how many students were interested in voting,” said Wake Forest junior Hannah Dobie, a member of Wake the Vote, [def WV].

Wake the Vote, as well as other campus organizations like College Democrats and College Republicans, held many activities leading up to the primary to encourage student participation. Dobie credits these and the particular “craziness” of the entire election to the student turnout.

“Personally, I really enjoyed the registration drives,” said freshman Clara Ilkka, communications director of College Democrats at Wake Forest, referring to the group’s efforts to register students.

According to Ilkka, “There were a lot of students, especially freshmen, who were unaware that they could register to vote in the primary if they’re out of state.”

Other activities held by these groups included student debates, documentary screenings and voting rights forums with guest speakers like Jeff Furman, Bernie Sanders advocate chairman of the board of the Vermont-based Ben and Jerry’s and Reverend Doctor William Barber II, member of the national board of the NAACP.

On the day of the election, Wake the Vote partnered with Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan organization that provides state political data, and had a hotline booth set up outside the polls. The hotline connected to lawyers in Raleigh, who answered voters’ questions. This was especially geared towards questions about the state’s new voter ID law, which calls for a North Carolina ID or passport to vote.

“We stood outside the polls and took complaints and made sure everyone could vote,” said Dobie, who added, “The hotline was always full. More lawyers actually had to come.”

Dobie and other students, like freshman and Wake the Vote member Katherine Cassidy, said the law, which is meant to eliminate voter fraud, is unnecessarily confusing, disenfranchising to college students and a “huge pain.”

Cassidy served as a poll watcher on the day of the election and said she saw a lot of confusion among voters, like in regards to the misconception that the address on a voter’s North Carolina driver’s licenses has to match their registration address, for example. Cassidy also commented on how hard it was to explain to her friends how to vote in North Carolina before the election.

“I think it will be interesting to see if this ID law actually sticks around,” according to Cassidy.

Wake the Vote and College Democrats have more activities planned to prepare the campus for the November general election in hopes to keep educating students about the law and encouraging voting participation.

According to Ilkka, College Democrats will hold more registration drives and issue-education events to inform students on the Democratic candidate’s platform. She predicts a large student turnout, as this is most students’ first time voting in a presidential election.

“If Donald Trump is on the ballot in November, be prepared to see a lot of students who have been quiet so far get out and vote,” added Ilkka of the Republican front-runner and frequent subject in the media.

[Other Nov. activities…]

Tsujii comments?

School Administrators Do Look at Yik Yak

According to Dr. Penny Rue, the Vice President for Student Life at Wake Forest, administrators do in fact look at the social media smartphone application Yik Yak.

“I do read it when my attention is called to it, usually for bad reasons,” Rue explained. “Because I find it so often heinous, I choose not to patronize it.”

Rue said that Provost Kersh also frequently looks at Yik Yak. The administration so strongly opposes Yik Yak that they have taken steps in the past couple of years to remove the app from our campus, albeit with very little success, according to Rue.

“Because Yik Yak is accessed on a smartphone, removing it from campus servers would not be very practical,” Rue said. “We’ve spoken out about it not being worthy of our community, certainly. We’ve also looked at putting pressure on investors to stop investing in Yik Yak, but that doesn’t seem very practical either.”

Rue also explained that the administration has contacted Yik Yak in the past couple years about helping them locate IP addresses for posts that are threatening to others, but Yik Yak has not agreed to help.

Yik Yak was founded in 2013 by Furman University graduates Tyler Droll and Brooks Buffington, with the purpose of allowing college-aged people (and older) to anonymously post and view discussion threads within a five mile radius. A user has the ability to upvote or downvote a post. A post with five downvotes is instantly deleted. Yik Yak is on over 2,000 college campuses worldwide, according to its websites.

Many Wake Forest students have mixed feelings about the social media app. Caroline Magee, a senior, is one of them.

“I think it’s funny, but sometimes people take it too far,” Magee said. “I think it’s useful as a source of comedy or even as a place to test ideas, but too often people use it as a platform to post vulgar or hurtful things.”

Yik Yak posts range in a variety of different of topics. Some are meant to be informative, such as the many posts referencing the campus event Shag in the Mag today. Another post included a picture of Ray-Ban sunglasses, as well as a caption explaining that the glasses had been turned over to campus shuttle driver. However, some posts are more malicious and vulgar in intent:

“Assert your dominance by telling your current fling that you hook up with other people to let her know you’re a savage,” one post said.

Yik Yak became especially controversial at Wake Forest in October of 2014 when Kappa Alpha Order, a fraternity on campus, was accused by an African-American RA of having a racist-themed party. Many threatening posts were made toward the RA, some of which were racially charged. Some posts even threatened his life.

“Yeah, that was a really messy situation,” said junior Mark Bernstein on the matter. “That was a perfect example of when Yik Yak was taken way too far.”

In instances when Yik Yak posts are seen as threatening, campus police can get involved, according to Sergeant Lesia Finney of the Wake Forest Police Department.

“Incidences of troubling or threatening behavior on Yik Yak or other social media have been escalated when necessary. Yik Yak has procedures in place for handling such instances with law enforcement agencies.”

Rue noted that Yik Yak grabbed her attention because of another similar social media outlet that was prevalent on campus from 2007 to 2009 called JuicyCampus. Like Yik Yak, JuicyCampus was a forum where people could anonymously post, but with even less safeguards against cyberybullying and vulgarity than Yik Yak.

In 2009, JuicyCampus “died a natural death,” as Rue puts it. However, she is unsure if Yik Yak will suffer the same fate because it is so easily accessible as a smartphone application. JuicyCampus existed in the pre-app age, when a mainframe computer was needed to access it.