The end of an era for the class of 2013

By: Mike Garbuzinski

It has been said that all good things must come to an end, and that seems to ring true for seniors at Loyola. The class of 2013 is preparing to move on after four years here, but not without a last hurrah of a week that ends in graduation.

Loyola has worked hard to establish a senior week that bridges the departing class’s time spent at the university with their impending future. Several different events are going to occur in the next week or so, and they are meant to cap off the accomplishments of the graduating students. The festivities start next Tuesday with a senior kickoff event and free dinner on the hillside lawn. On Wednesday the senior gala will be held on the quad from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. The event is semi-formal, and will feature food including turkey, roast beef, gulf shrimp, penne pasta and more. The gala is followed the following afternoon by a picnic with alumni and Fr. Linnane at Armiger house. These events all serve as some of the final moments the class of 2013 will get together as a group to frolic and socialize.

Friday will mark the beginning of the academic ceremonies for the graduation class, and it all starts with the special awards and departmental medals ceremony. The ceremony honors the outstanding academic achievements of members of the class of 2013, and is held at 11 a.m. in McManus theater. Later that Friday the baccalaureate mass will take place in Reitz arena.  The mass is described as a, “beautiful liturgical ceremony offered in thanksgiving for the blessings God has bestowed upon the graduates and their families”.  Graduation week culminates the next day with Loyola’s 2013 commencement ceremony, an event so big it is held at First Mariner arena. The commencement address will be given by Dr. Carolyn Woo, the president of Catholic Relief Services.  More than 1600 baccalaureate and advanced degrees will be awarded during the exercises.

Seniors seem to be both ecstatic about their accomplishments and reluctant to leave behind such an important part of their lives. Soon to be graduate Chris McAdam noted, “Its really exciting, but is definitely a little bittersweet at the same time.” The graduating class has a reason to be hesitant about moving on. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “the unemployment rate for 20- to 29-year-olds who had graduated from college in 2011 was 12.6 percent”. The site goes on to note that, “the unemployment rates of recent college graduates remains above the rates prior to the 2007–2009 recession.”   The class of 2013 hopes to be able to buck that trend of college graduates without work.

It has been an unforgettable four years for the class of 2013 at Loyola and it’s a chapter in their lives about to an end, but it has also been said that with every end comes a new beginning.

 

Prayers for Boston

By Claire Cummings

The Boston Marathon has been a test of endurance since 1897. This year’s run required a different kind of strength. On April 15, the bombings surrounding the Boston Marathon affected not only citizens of Boston but the world. At 5:38 p.m. Loyola’s President, Father Linnane, S.J., released an email stating, “Wherever you are, I encourage you to be a source of support for one another in this difficult time.”

Loyola community gathers at 9/11 Memorial Garden for Boston prayer vigil

This support was expressed across campus and included a prayer service at 9 p.m. Led by Campus Ministry and Student Government Association, Loyola students, faculty, and staff gathered together in the Alumni Memorial Chapel on that sorrowful April night. “Gathering together as a school,” junior campus ministry intern Caroline Mills noted, “provides us with a sense of love, camaraderie, and strength that is impossible to find on our own.”

The prayer service began in the chapel as candles were lit and intentions were read. Participants then walked to the 9/11 Memorial Garden as they continued to pray for Boston. Kerry Rogers, junior from New Jersey, reflected on the importance of intentional support. “It is so important to have those vigils and solidarity when tragedies happen,” said Kerry, “but it is so important to keep that mentality all the time.”

Lindsey Murphy, BC ’14, smiles with the banner signed by triplet sister, Casey Murphy, LU ’14

The cooperative mentality continued throughout the week. Loyola reached out to fellow Jesuit school, Boston College, by signing and mailing a banner up to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Loyola’s Casey Murphy is a triplet whose sister attends Boston College. Casey proudly signed the banner. “Talking to my sister in the days after it happened,” Casey said, “it felt like she lost the spirit she’s always had.” The banner was displayed in an atrium in Boston College. Casey’s signature and words of encouragement were seen by her triplet. “Personally connecting my school to her school really meant a lot,” she explained.

With Hurricane Sandy, Newtown shootings, and most recently, the Boston tragedies, Loyola found solace in the campus community. “One of the Jesuit ideals is finding God in all things,” said Caroline Mills. “What better way to do that than finding love and compassion in our peers when senseless acts of violence occur?”

Change Is In the Air at Loyola

By Melanie Dolan

For the fifth straight year in a row Loyola has reported a record-breaking number of applications, this time for the class of 2017. A total of 13, 547 perspective students have applied, the most in Loyola’s history, causing several changes for the University and its application process.

This increase is nearly 7% more than last year’s record, which illustrates a six-year trend of nearly 78% growth in the applicant pool. However, throughout the years the class size has stayed consistent with only 1,000 students in each incoming class.  This means that Loyola has had to become significantly more selective when accepting students. From last year the University has lowered its acceptance rate by almost 9% compared to 2012.

When choosing students for acceptance Loyola places emphasis on the level of rigor at students’ high schools and the grades they earned. Unique from most Universities Loyola has a test-optional admission policy, where students can choose to apply without their standardized- test scores.  This allows students who are not good test takers but have impressive grades to be considered along with high-standardized test scorers. Sophomore Marianna Magot remembers when she applied to Loyola almost two years ago, “I did not send my SAT scores when I applied because they were not as high as I would have liked them to be” she said, “I’m glad Loyola still offers that option for students applying.”

Another change seen in admissions is the expansion of Loyola’s geographic reach. The top-10 feeder states now range from not only New York, New Jersey and Connecticut but also Florida, California and Ohio, representing a more geographically diverse student body.

This impressive feat for Loyola speaks to the Universities growing national reputation and the quality of the school. However, some students and faculty are questioning whether Loyola will continue to maintain its small class size, something the University is praised for, or if it will start accepting more students and expand the school. Senior Katie Burnam said, “The reason I came to Loyola was because of its small but connected student body, expanding the school may take away from that. It’s great that Loyola is getting recognized but what makes it special is the small class size and community. ”

 

Loyola to Start a New Program for First Year Students

By: Jordan Hernandez

Loyola University Maryland is looking forward to the fall semester of 2013 as it will launch its new program for first year students called Loyola 101. First year programs have been implemented at the University for many years, but this course will begin for the first time with the Class of 2017. Loyola believes that starting freshman with a program designed just for them will allow them to excel as students; they have incorporated this belief into the mission statement of the program.

“First year students will prepare themselves for a successful University experience and begin the process by which they, “learn, lead, and serve in a diverse and changing world”; this is the mission statement of the new first year program. Loyola 101 is a uniquely designed program where first year students can sign up, if they choose to be a part of the course.  The program is instructed by a professor, an administrator, and a student leader. The team of instructors work together to teach the first years about college life and the city of Baltimore. Student leader Jennifer Cisternas feels passionately about working with this program, “I think that as a first year student it’s hard to reach out to the upper-classmen if there is not an immediate opportunity present to interact with them. I think that this program will give these students a chance to build these connections. Although that is a big part of the program, I think that Loyola 101 will also provide the first years with useful information and skills that they will need throughout their time here at Loyola.”

Loyola 101 focuses on activity based learning both inside and outside of the classroom. Graduate Assistant to the Student Development department of Loyola’s campus Leigh Vella has worked on this project throughout the school year assisting in the logistical planning and implementations of initiatives for Loyola 101. She says that the office of student development has worked to try to implement a consistent theme throughout the program, “the new program integrates the Messina themes – Stories We Tell, The Visionary and Self and Other. Each teaching team is required to pick one of these themes. It will help to guide the development of class meetings and allow the class to take ownership of what they are learning.

Loyola 101 will run for the first time in September 2013. The program is designed to aid freshman in their transition to college however, not every first year student will have the opportunity to sign up for Loyola 101. Currently, nine sections of this course are open and each section can fit 16 students. This means that only 144 students out of the 1000+ in the freshman class will be able to take part in Loyola 101. The university is currently looking for room to open more sections of this course.

We Want Your Good Stuff

By: Emma Freese

Classes have officially ended for the 2012-2013 school year and Loyola University Undergraduate students are in the midst of finals. When students walk out of their last final the last thing they want to do is volunteer or pack. Luckily, Loyola allows students to easily do both. The Good Stuff Campaign is looking for students to donate gently used or unwanted items. The donations are then given to Loyola University’s community partners. By ridding yourself of these items you will have less to pack and move out will be much easier and quicker.

“We have to start somewhere and Loyola is a great place to start!” Sophomore, Mary Jo Rohrer, service coordinator of the Good Stuff Campaign says about giving back to the Baltimore community. She went on to say that if we have items that we do not want to pack and are not going to use anyways, then why not donate them to people who need these items? Good Stuff allows Loyola students to donate as they pack. Every residence area has a convenient drop-off location.

Junior, Kate Velcamp, expressed her feelings that although students may have every intention to donate their belongings at the end of the year many don’t. She went on to explain that “if there’s not a convenient way to [donate] we won’t,” Velcamp thinks that Good Stuff is the perfect way to encourage students to donate. The success of the 2012 Good Stuff Campaign may be thanks to the convenience Velcamp refers to. The Good Stuff website shows that last year donations included “over 558 volunteer hours, 141 bags of clothing, over 30 bags of bedding, 18 boxes of books, over 90 boxes of household items” and hundreds of other donations. As extra encouragement the donations go to many of the agencies Loyola students works with year round.

First year student, Moira Pannepacker, said that working with Our Daily Bread has definitely been a driving force for her participation in the Good Stuff Campaign. Pannepacker said, “When you talk to the people you’re serving everything just falls into perspective.” The items that Loyola students are asked to donate are “worth so much more than we think” Pannepacker continued.

Rohrer says, “Donation Stations are located all over campus in several residency halls and will be ‘begging’ for donations until Graduation!” If you want to get involved, beyond donating your items, e-mail the campaign at goodstuff@loyola.edu. However, if donating is all you are able to do before you leave for your summer plans, the campaign is looking for your good stuff:

• Small working appliances (gently used)
• Household items (gently used/ unused)
• School supplies (unused)
• Toiletries (unopened / unused)
• Clothing (gently used)
• Food (unopened non-perishable items)

Saying Goodbye to 2013

By Melanie Dolan

On Saturday May 18, Loyola seniors will graduate at Baltimore’s 1^st Mariner Arena. Selected to give the 2013 commencement address is Carolyn Y. Woo, Ph.D., president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services. As speaker, Woo will receive a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa.

Woo was recently named one of the “500 Most Powerful People on the Planet” by Foreign Policy magazine and in January she accepted the position of CEO and president of CRS, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Since it was founded in 1943 the Baltimore-based organization has expanded to reach more than 100 million people in nearly 100 countries on five continents. Their mission is to “assist impoverished and disadvantaged people overseas, working in the spirit of Catholic social teaching to promote the sacredness of human life and the dignity of the human person.”

Many Loyola students are pleased with the selection of Woo, senior and political science major, Marilyn Johnson said, “I’m happy that Loyola chose a strong female figure to give the address and I am looking forward to hearing her speech.”

Woo’s impressive background includes being the first female dean to chair the accreditation body for business schools and directed its initiative for Peace through Commerce. She has served on advisory boards for numerous organizations, including CRS; Catholic Charities USA; Migration & Refugee Services, U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops and Fuel Up to Play 60 (sponsored by the NFL and National Dairy Council).

The graduation ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. and more than 1,600 baccalaureate and advanced degrees will be conferred during the event. One of those degrees belongs to senior and New Jersey native Jim Sampson, “I’d never heard of the speaker before,” said Sampson, “but I’m looking forward to graduation in general and I think it will be a great day for everyone!”

Loyola SGA Elections Announced

By Claire Cummings

The election poles closed Friday at noon for students to vote for the new representatives to the Student Government Association (SGA). The organization ran the 2013-14 elections through personalized emails that included links to the student ballots.

Kelly Lussier, director of administrative affairs and member of the class of 2015, ran the election process. She released the spring election timeline in early February. This allowed interested students to learn more about running for a spot in SGA and increased awareness about the voting process.

In the Reading Room at 3 p.m. on Friday, Garrett Cardillo, vice president of policy, announced the winners of next year’s class assemblies and senates.

Garrett began with the class of 2014. Junior Chris Furino was a winner who secured a position on the senior class assembly. Furino noted, “I have a lot of great ideas I want to work on over the summer to plan the best senior events this school has ever seen.” He served as one of the eight members of the junior class assembly this past year and is looking forward to uniting the class of 2014 in the fall. “I’m so excited to be serving on the senior assembly next year,” he said.

Jon McCarry, sophomore class president elect, eagerly listened to the names of the winners. After the announcement he said, “We have a nice mix of assembly members from this year with good experience who have overcome the learning curve that exists.” He continued, “Now we have these fresh guys who are ready to go, ready to work hard. I think it’s perfect.”

SGA is made up of an executive leadership team of three elected members who, along with an appointment committee of elected class presidents, select the executive directors of the organization. Now with the newly elected assemblies and senates, SGA is eager to get started for next year’s programming and advocacy. The mission of SGA encourages its members to enrich all aspects of the student experience and actively engage in the community through zealous representation. This intention will continue next year with the incoming student leaders.

Student body president elect, Brendan Fulmer of the class of 2014, is excited to transition in this new group. He says the combination of new and returning members “revitalizes the organization.” Fulmer has served as a member of SGA each year at Loyola. “We have a great team and great executive board,” he said.

SGA’s spring training begins May 9 for its executive members. The team will start to plan the traditional Initium Week events and craft the mission for the 2013-14 school year. McCarry wants to use this time to “continue building the community that we’ve started to build this year.” With this new team, he said, “I couldn’t have asked for better results.”

Acts 4 Youth Annual Fun Run

By: Lindsay Marchese

This past Friday, April 26, students from Loyola University Maryland attended the Acts 4 Youth Annual Fun Run held at Druid Hill Park in Baltimore.  The members of the Loyola community were accompanied by the children of Guilford Elementary School on their 2.5 mile walk or run.

The run was crowded as Loyola students, parents and even some of the children themselves lined up at the starting point.  Runners were encouraged to do two laps around the lake near the entrance of the park. Each runner was encouraged to donate as much as they liked to the program.

After the run was over, the volunteers and children were each given some pizza, Rita’s Italian Ice, and free t-shirt.  All members of the run ate their food with a smile on their face as they mingled among each other.  “I think this year’s run was a success.  All of the students seemed really engaged and excited to be a part of this,” said Alexis Pazmino, a sophomore Elementary Education major.

The students who participated in this event were members of the University’s Acts 4 Youth and UNITE clubs.  These clubs focus on the underprivileged middle school boys who attend Guilford Elementary school.  The clubs main goal is to equip these boys with the character traits and life skills needed to become successful students and citizens.  “It’s really cool to be apart of changing these kids futures just by hanging out with them,” said Sam Gillin, a sophomore Psychology major who volunteers with the program.

The Acts 4 Youth program is split up into three different areas: academics, teamwork and citizenship, and vocational.  Each area focuses on giving the children structure and a role model to encourage them to strive to what they can be.

The program provides after-school meeting between the children in grades kindergarten through eighth grade and mentors.  They also hold a summer camp for the kids for one week where kids participate in a wide range of enriching course and fun activities.

Fun In the Sun With the Sophomore Class

by Melanie Dolan

On Saturday April 20 from 2-5 p.m. members of the sophomore class gathered around the Dorothy Day volleyball pit in celebration of the annual sophomore Luau. Those that attended experienced live music, food and dancing, along with several chances to win prizes and play games.

Organized by representatives from Loyola’s SGA or Student Government Association the festivities provided a much-needed break for students in the midst of upcoming finals and projects. It also marked the closing of the semester and the transition from sophomore year into junior year. One of the coordinators of the event Elijah Kohli said, “It’s a fun opportunity for the sophomore class to come together one last time before people go abroad next year.”

A pig roast, grass skirts, lei necklaces and a hula dance competition celebrated the Luau theme for the day and everything was completely free for students. Several sponsors for the school event included Subway and Pepsi, who provided free sandwiches and sodas. It was completely student run and organized as well, with SGA members working the tables and a student DJ playing music, “We wanted it to be a true Loyola experience,” said Kohli “that’s why we (sophomore SGA members) were so determined to do it on our own and make it great.”

One of the highlights of the afternoon was “fish pong” which gave participants the opportunity to win a goldfish by throwing a ping-pong ball into one of three glass bowls. If someone made a shot they then received a small fish bowl with their own fish and small bag of fish food. Fish pong was a hit and by the end of the day all of the fish had been won. SGA member France Amodeo said, “The fish game was a great idea because I think it got people excited and gave them an easy opportunity to win a fun prize!”

The event ultimately turned out to be a success, drawing a crowd of nearly 200 sophomores throughout the day. Sophomore Cassandra Halko said, “I had so much fun! My favorite part was competing in the hula dance competition and winning second place. I would definitely enjoy having more of these types of events in the future.”

UNITE Comes to Loyola University

By: Emma Freese

Loyola University Maryland became the fifth college chapter of Urban Needs in Teacher Education (UNITE) in Spring 2013. UNITE is a non-profit organization that provides opportunities for pre-service teachers in service schools.

Elementary Education majors, junior Annie Bolan and sophomore Gena Stenger are the co-founders of the Loyola chapter of UNITE. At the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year Bolan and Stenger had never met and had never heard of UNITE. The co-founders learned about UNITE from various professors and were introduced via e-mail by Dr. Robert Simmons, assistant professor in the School of Education. When the two met and researched UNITE they quickly came to the conclusion that they wanted to get involved.

With the encouragement of Dr. Simmons Bolan and Stenger Skyped with UNITE’s Executive Director, Chase James, and UNITE’s Associate Director, Kate Kloepper. By the end of their conversation James and Kloepper invited Bolan and Stenger to Chicago to attend Project 43. UNITE explains Project 43 as a 43 hour workshop that allows participants to immerse themselves in community activities, workshops and discussions revolving around the high retention rate of teachers in urban settings.

“They don’t know what they’re getting into,” Bolan said referring to pre-service students hoping to teach in urban schools. Most pre-service teachers do not receive proper training to teach in an urban classroom. One of Bolan’s many goals for Loyola’s UNITE chapter is to break stereotypes people may have of urban classrooms and prove to Loyola students that they can teach in urban classrooms and they would be good at it.

“There’s so much potential with this small group of people,” Stenger says about the UNITE participants. Stenger and Bolan hope to create as many learning opportunities for Loyola students as possible. They are currently trying to create a liaison with Catholic Public School and have the UNITE members go at least once a month to gain experience in an urban classroom. They want to have professional development workshops every month. However, the biggest task they want to accomplish is to create a UNITE spring break outreach trip.

Every UNITE chapter has a weeklong trip their participants can take part in. Bolan and Stenger plan to start small and have a trip over fall break where Loyola UNITE can go to New York and visit a Harlem classroom. Depending on the success of their weekend trip they will extend it to a weeklong trip over Spring Break.

Bolan shared the official quote of UNITE, “Past the doors of any school are students who have a right, a need and a desire to have the opportunity to learn.” Bolan finished by saying, “That’s why I do what I do.”