TechNews STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1928 McCormick Tribune Campus Center Room 221 3201 South State Street Chicago, Illinois 60616 E-mail: editor@technewsiit.com Website: http://www.technewsiit.com TECHNEWS STAFF Editor-in-Chief Karl Rybaltowski Assistant Editor Sand Ip IT Manager Piyush Sinha Business Manager Piyush Sinha Campus Editor Campus Editor Opinion Editor AbE Editor Sports Editor Ryan Kamphuis Utsav Gandhi Vlada Gaisina Becca Waterloo Graeme Port Art Editor Layout Editor Layout Editor Adin Goings Vikram Ramanathan Hannah Larson Vickie Tolbert Gregory Pulliam Financial Advisor Faculty Advisor GENERAL INFORMATION TechNews is written, managed, and edited by the students of, and funded in part by, Illinois InstituteofTechnology.The materialherein does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Illinois Institute of Technology orthe editors, staff, and advisorofTechNews.Therewillbe no censorship of TechNews publication by the faculty or staff of IIT. 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VLADAGAISINA opinion@technewsiit.com Students speak out about switch to NCAA By Karl Rybaltowski EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Do you think the Scarlet Hawks should re, main in the NAIA or move to the NCAA Divie sion 3? Over the past two weeks, TechNews has been collecting the opinions of students on the potential transition of the university’s var, sity athletics programs from the NAIA to the NCAA DIII. While an official poll was avail, able on the TechNews website for a quick vote, we also tried to get statements from as many students as possible. What follows is a selece tion of comments from a number of athletes who responded: “I feel the move would put more stress on the athletes rather than moving our program to another level. There are advantages with the type of talent we would be playing against, but there are other factors to consider, like schole arships. The scholarships that we have help many athletes, and without them, many of us wouldn’t be fortunate enough to attend school and play at IIT." Roma Mirutenko (SO - Hawthorn Woods, IL.) -Volleyball “IIT needs to show the student athletes first and foremost that it can support this move and not endanger our level of play, because I cer tainly would not be able to attend IIT on my academic scholarships alone." Eric Grunden (SO - Columbus, OH.) - Men’s Swimming and Diving “IfIIT had been an NCAA DIII school when I was applying to universities, I would never have considered the school to be a valid ope tion. I enjoy beating talented individuals that get more sleep thanI dol" Zach Gates (SO - Columbus, IN.) - Men’s Cross Country “I think it would be a bad idea to make the transition into the NCAA DIII. The number of athletes interested in studying at a tech school, as well as competing in collegiateelevel sports are few Taking away the possibility of receiv ing scholarships will make it even harder for coaches to find talented athletes willng to come to this school (which is already expen sive). It will diminish the athletic quality of the sports teams. What good is it to have a lot of bad teams? Diana Otero (SO - Westfield, IN.) - Women’s Soccer “I think transitioning into the NCAA D111 is a bad choice and will hurt our school and athe letics program. Our teams will suffer because of the loss of scholarship opportunity, not to mention the four years away from post season competition if we make the switch. It would be nice to see our school make a choice for the benefit of the students, and listen to our opine ions before they make a decision" Michael Keane (SO - Edmonds, WA.) - Men’s Swimming and Diving “In what way do competing athletes connect on an intellectual basis? Athletes do not come pete to make friends and make connections April 19, 201 1 with people of a similar intellectual level; they do so through a natural desire to win." Allan Coates (SR - Bangor, Northern Ireland) - Men’s Soccer “The potential of getting an athletic scholar, ship is the only incentive for athletes to come to our school. Once we can develop strong programs in each sport, it may be safer to switch over to DIII." Lauren Wissman (IR - Kettering, 0H.) - Wom- en’s Soccer “I do not like the idea. Scholarship money is what attracts good athletes. If we cannot give out scholarships, we will not maintain the cur, rent quality of the already dwindling athletic program." Iefirey Reilly (SO - Elyria, OH) - Men’s Swim- ming and Diving “If we were to transfer to the NCAA DIII there would be no opportunity to excel. With the university’s very high tuition rates and no opportunity to gain athletic scholarships, recruiting international students like myself, and talented athletes in the area, would be ex, tremely diflicult. Ion Celestino (SO - London, Canada) - Baseball “The idea of switching to Division III is rie diculous. Academics and athletics have never intersected on the field. I have never stepped on a field thinking, ‘We are better and will beat this team simply because we are academically smarter? D111 is a lower standard of athletic competition." What's your angle? By Annie Hutchies 8: Paul Thiesen TECHNEWS WRITERS “Hey Alberto, are you ok? You look kind of down." “Hey Kayla, I’m alright, just worried about my grandpa." “Is everything 0k?" “Not exactly....He has been a smoker since he was a teen, ager, and he needs a lung transplant to survive, but they won’t put him on the list for the trans, plant unless he quits smoking for a mini, mum of four months. He will die without the transplant, and what if he doesn’t make it the full four months?" “I’m really sorry to hear that. They prob, ably have that rule to make sure that the lung won’t go to waste, because if the patient continues smoking after the surgery, he or she will end up needing another transplant. If they give the lung to a nonsmoker, the in, dividual will be less likely to need another transplant in the future." “True, but what about patients like my grandpa who started smoking a long time ago? When he started smoking all the ad, vertisements said that smoking was good for you, and that even doctors smoked. Now re, search has come out saying that it is in fact bad for you, but by the time that information was available he was already addicted." “That is a really good point. But quitting smoking would be very good for his health. It will be hard, but it will have a lot of positive effects. In fact, quitting smoking will make him more likely to live through the sur gery Smoking decreases cire culation and increases an in, dividual’s likelihood of getting heart disease, which can make it risky for them to go through the surgery and more diflicult for them to recover. Surgery, par, ticularly in the case of organ trans, plants, can be really risky, and the surgeon wants to make sure that the patient has the best possible chance of survival." “Really? I didn’t know that. How come they don’t have this rule in other situations, then? For example, why doesn’t an overweight per, son have to lose weight in order to get a heart transplant? " “Hmmmm.... I don’t know, but those are definitely good questions. It is a really inter, esting issue." lst year essentials to academic excellence By Amber Ulasich TECHN EWS WRITER Twentyetwo stressful, yet rewarding days: the amount of time I have left as a freshman “are chie." As the time passes, a college student can’t help contemplating the difference between where he or she came from and where he or she is now For some, the progress may reside in social change; however, others may View their first year as strictly academic achieve, ment. Personally, the architecture program at IIT has allowed my first year to be academia cally focused (and I can vouch for the amount of stress and turmoil that has produced, but that aside, I have fallen head over heels in love with architecture). The firsteyear curriculum has conditioned me to perceive things in a new light. In other words, the strenuous studio work combined with seemingly menial architecture prerequie sites has been more work that a girl can handle; however, every incoming student understands college is far from a breeze. Besides getting beaten down and being brought up by archie torture, the one specific area of the program that I appreciate above all else is the student immersion into Chicagoebased architecture An architect’s understanding or experience of his or her surroundings is crucial. Imagine if Michael Jordan had never practiced dribbling a basketball. Where would the sport be now? The faculty of the College of Architecture uni derstands that they need to mold our minds to accommodate the everechanging style of structures. Let me make it quite clear that we are not Mies minions, but individuals that can adapt to the architecture surrounding them. It is a given that the opinion on the fiveeyear pro, gram varies between each level, but speaking from a firsteyear perspective, my experience has been nothing but stressful, yet rewarding Oh, and one other thing: have at me, Mies. College experience rooted in multiple campus activities By Miriam Schmid TECHNEWS WRITER Every IIT student would have to agree with me that all of us came to IIT to get an edue cation. Upon entering IIT, we knew we wanted to obtain a degree that would make us compete itive in our field, be it architecture, science, engineering, business, or psychology To succeed in classes and academic programs offered at IIT, we spend hours cramming knowledge that most of us will not rememe ber the following weekday Personally, I look back at Calculus I and wonder what on earth that was all about. If a freshman asked me for help on his home, work, I would probably have to spend an hour just relearning the basics, so I could attempt to help. As one of my friends says, “Take, for in, stance, the theorem of convolutions from differential equations , when am I ever go, ing to use it?" I am not suggesting that students should not attend class or blow off their academics , not at all. My challenge to you, however, is to take a step beyond the comfort zone of the classroom, the library, and away from your textbooks for a minute. Ask any student involved on IIT’s campus about their experiences and how they have been able to develop their skills and confie dence. Personally, from the day I stepped on cam, pus less than two years ago, I have developed immensely through the opportunities of, fered at IIT I have learned to communicate effectively, be confident in every situation, and be a passionate leader. One of my alumnus friends gave me some advice recently He said, “Only about 5% of what I actually learned in college was in a classroom; my other experiences and in, volvement have given me so much more that will help me excel" The skills learned through leadership posie tions, being involved in organizations, and other opportunities across campus shape the professionals we are becoming far be, yond any lecture ever can. And that, I believe, is the real definition of a wellerounded college education.