Staff writer

            During Honors Conference Week, Honors Program students planned several exciting events for their peers to enjoy. One of the most inspirational lectures that were planned was given by a visitor named Lisa Goodwin, who shared her story and encouraged RC students to do something [...]]]> Kaitlyn Bell

Staff writer

            During Honors Conference Week, Honors Program students planned several exciting events for their peers to enjoy. One of the most inspirational lectures that were planned was given by a visitor named Lisa Goodwin, who shared her story and encouraged RC students to do something meaningful.

Lisa Goodwin co-founded the non-profit organization called Connor’s Heroes along with her husband after receiving the news that their own son had been diagnosed with leukemia. At just 22-months old, young Connor and his parents would have to fight the most important battle of his life and they were certainly more than successful.

At her lecture, Goodwin discussed how she had always intended to practice law, but she never expected the surprise turn that her life would take. After having her own personal experience in the trials and tribulations of being the parent of a child with leukemia, Goodwin wanted to help make a difference in the lives of other families who were having much greater difficulty supporting their own sick child than she was herself.

Since 2003 when Goodwin’s son became sick, she has been determined to change the lives of families in need. Because of her, several families have been able to give their child necessary treatment and have been provided with gift cards for gas to travel from home to the hospital and much more.

Connor’s Heroes later created Connor’s Heroes and Sidekicks, where leukemia patients are paired up with a ‘sidekick’ who may come visit them so they can play games or just get to talk to one another. Along with the non-profit work that Goodwin and her staff do throughout the Richmond area, Goodwin had desired to step her toes into a new area where help could be given to families of children of cancer elsewhere.

Luckily, Brittany Evans, co-chair of Honors Conference Week, had several connections with Lisa Goodwin and was able to convince her to start a backpack drive where cancer patients in the local Roanoke Valley would receive a backpack with personalized items according to their age and personality. The backpack drive for Connor’s Heroes continued through Saturday, February 11th and has been successful in providing many children with sanitary toys to play with in the hospital.

Lisa Goodwin’s inspirational lecture left students with the enthusiasm to do something incredible and to be prepared for the possibility of life’s unexpected turns.

Staff writer

Over the last few weeks, Roanoke College students have been participating in several fundraising events to raise money and awareness for impoverished children around the world. Working specifically with the organization World Vision, Jaymes Inman ‘13 and Megan Bruening ’13 kicked off the fundraising with [...]]]> Hannah Cline

Staff writer

Over the last few weeks, Roanoke College students have been participating in several fundraising events to raise money and awareness for impoverished children around the world. Working specifically with the organization World Vision, Jaymes Inman ‘13 and Megan Bruening ’13 kicked off the fundraising with a 30 Hour Famine held on campus.

            Prior to participating in the famine, students were asked to raise $30.00 to $50.00 to be donated towards World Vision. With 20 student participants, the famine kicked off on Saturday February 4th and lasted late into the evening of the 5^th.

            While the 30 Hour Famine was a success, Roanoke students wanted to continue fundraising with the hopes of getting more people involved with the cause. April Rust ’15, member of Lutheran Student Movement, came up with the idea of giving students the option of donating extra meal-swipes.

            After meeting with Virginia Dooley, Director of Dining Services, Rust and Dooley established that on Monday February 13, students would be able to ask to donate up to two of their meal plan’s swipes. Each swipe was the equivalent of donating $4.00 to the World Vision fund. 

            At the end of the day on Monday, Rust was told that almost 300 swipes were donated which adds up to almost $1,200.00 collected to help children in need around the world.

             “Coming into this fundraiser, I was not sure what to expect… However, I consider 300 swipes to be a success because a greater percent of the campus realized the terrible injustice that is going on, and actually participated to stop world hunger,” Rust said.

Staff writer

            As last week concluded, so did several wonderful and inspiring events hosted by Honors Conference Week. Every year, the Honors Program puts together several events such as lectures and educational events that coincide with a common theme. This year, Honors chose to go along [...]]]> Kaitlyn Bell

Staff writer

            As last week concluded, so did several wonderful and inspiring events hosted by Honors Conference Week. Every year, the Honors Program puts together several events such as lectures and educational events that coincide with a common theme. This year, Honors chose to go along with the theme of Trivial Pursuit. Each day of the week there was a theme which had special lectures to go along with it. For example, Skip Yowell, co-founder of JanSport Backpacks came on the day that the theme was to nature.

By the end of the week, students had collected a hole-punched “Trivial Pursuit” card from all of the lectures that would allow any of them to enter tickets into a raffle baskets during the concluding Honors Conference Week Event; the Talent Show. On Friday, February 10th, several students competed and many others came to witness the unique acts of the night. Luckily, the Trivial Pursuit category of Entertainment fit perfectly with a night of music, hula hooping, karate, magic, and much more!

The raffle at the end of the night allowed five students to win the Trivial Pursuit themed basket prizes. Along with a raffle, judges including: Dr. Hakkenberg, director of the Honors Program; Brittany Evans, President of the Honors Program; and Daniel Ballou, co-chair of Honors Conference Week, worked very hard to put together the rest of Honors Conference Week and certainly had a tough time picking the winner of this year’s Talent Show. With so many talented participants singing music including Caisee Fogle, Maria Guarino, Vicente Raja Galián, Rachel Andrews, Zachary Borst, Joshua Callum and so many more, the music could not have been better. Other acts including a magic act by Nathan Repass and a karate demonstration with Nathan and Scott Tringali had the entire crowd captivated and entertained!

The wonderful thing about this year’s Talent Show was its thorough blend of performances which encompassed diversity at its best. Eli Harrison performed a poetry recitation in Spanish using the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song to dramatize the poem entitled, “La Canción del Pirata.” Several international students also showed off their incredible musical abilities by singing in various different languages. The night concluded with a round of applause for all of the performers as well as the Tech Crew and Dining Services for helping to make this event to end Conference Week so special for students in and outside of the Honors Program.

Staff writer

The 54th Grammy Awards Ceremony was on Sunday, February 12th. It was a night of great performances, tributes, and emotional acceptance speeches.

The British singer Adele was the big winner of the night taking home six Grammys, this ties her with Beyoncé for most awards won in a single night by [...]]]> Morgan Minyard

Staff writer

The 54^th Grammy Awards Ceremony was on Sunday, February 12^th. It was a night of great performances, tributes, and emotional acceptance speeches.

The British singer Adele was the big winner of the night taking home six Grammys, this ties her with Beyoncé for most awards won in a single night by a female artist. She took home Best Pop Vocal Album, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Pop Solo Performance for her song “Someone Like You”, Song of the Year, and Best Short-Form Music Video;  she won the last two awards for her song  “Rolling in the Deep”.

The veteran rockers The Foo Fighters also won big at the Grammys taking home five awards. These awards included: Best Rock Performance, Best Long-form Music Video, Best Hard Rock Performance, Best Rock song, and Best Rock Album.

“Who is Bon Iver?” was the question of the night after the indie band took home the prestigious Grammy award for Best New Artist.

On the other side of music it was also a good night for Kanye West who took home the awards for Best Sung Collaboration, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Album, and Best Rap Performance.

In the country music world, country superstar Taylor Swift took home two Grammys including: Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country song both for her song “Mean”. Taylor Swift’s Album “Speak Now” was also up for Best Country Album of the year, but it was Lady Antebellum who took home this award.

Electronica artist Skrillex also had a big night, winning three awards, including Best Dance Recording and Best Dance/Electronica Album for “Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites”.

Whitney Houston’s death stunned millions, when she died suddenly at the young age of 48. However, she will never be forgotten and was paid tribute to numerous times throughout the show.

Another powerful moment came via a tribute to Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Glen Campbell, who last year announced he is battling Alzheimer’s disease. Blake Shelton and The Band Perry joined the tribute, which closed out with Campbell’s gem “Rhinestone Cowboy.”

Staff writer

On Monday the United States Department of Education submitted a 2013 education budget to Congress.

The budget, if passed, will increase the amount of financial aid to students, and provide funding for colleges to appropriately train students and workers for career positions needed in the workforce currently. [...]]]> Falisha McCauley

Staff writer

On Monday the United States Department of Education submitted a 2013 education budget to Congress.

The budget, if passed, will increase the amount of financial aid to students, and provide funding for colleges to appropriately train students and workers for career positions needed in the workforce currently. With this new budget, the Obama Administration is hoping to make college more affordable and accessible to low-income students.

The requested amount of monetary increase by the Education Department is $69.8 trillion in discretionary funding. This increase would bolster a 2.5 percent in the spending cap for education compared with 2012. The current spending on education is $4 trillion, and this budget will hopefully decrease the deficit by $1 trillion over the next ten years.

With a $1.7 billion increase to education spending the government will be able to provide students with more accessible and higher amounts of financial aid. Such as raising and sustaining the maximum reward for the Pell Grant to $5,635.

If this proposition is passed the Pell Grant will be able to assist almost 10 million students.

Also the education department proposed to freeze the interest rate on subsidized loans at 3.4 percent, which will increase to 6.8 percent this summer if Congress does not pass the budget proposal.

Another incentive of this proposal is the creation of a Community College to Career Fund which would train students for specific jobs needed by local businesses. The program would cost $8 billion; however, the benefits would consist of necessary training to fill nearly two million jobs in the nation with career focused training, and paid internships for low-income students to assist them in gaining experience and skills for their job.

To further assist this program would be the reauthorization and reform (which will be another $1.1 billion) of the Career and Technical Education program which trains and educates students for the demands of the current workforce.

Additionally the 2013 budget would give $5 billion of competitive funding to states and districts for reforms of better preparation, support, and compensation for teachers. An investment of $190 million would provide scholarships in the new Presidential Teaching Fellows program for students who pursue attendance to top rated teacher prep schools. And another $620 million in rewards would be given to support programs for effective teacher preparation, decrease shortages in STEM teachers, and enhance investments for the educational profession.

Staff writer

On February 11th the Men’s Basketball team travelled for Ashland, Virginia to take on the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets.

During the first half of the game the Yellow Jackets were dominating the game. They were up by 30 points. The Maroons would struggle for the rest of the game, despite great effort [...]]]> Morgan Minyard

Staff writer

On February 11^th the Men’s Basketball team travelled for Ashland, Virginia to take on the Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets.

During the first half of the game the Yellow Jackets were dominating the game. They were up by 30 points. The Maroons would struggle for the rest of the game, despite great effort by the members of the men’s basketball team.

Although Logan Singleton, ’12, was able to set the bar high and score a three pointer early on in the game and bring the Maroons to the lead, it would not be enough for secure a win for the Maroons. At halftime the score was 60-30 Yellow Jackets.

Logan Singleton would go on to lead the Maroons by scoring 17 points in the game, while Kwasi Ampinsah, ’13, was right behind him scoring 16 points against the Yellow Jackets.

Disappointingly the Maroons fell to the Yellow Jackets 72-110. This is Randolph-Macon College’s 14^th out of 15 games straight. They are now 19-4 overall and 12-3 in the ODAC.

This is the 4^th loss in a row for the Maroons, making their overall record 6-17 and 2-12 in the ODAC.

The last home game of the season was played on the 15^th against Randolph College. It was also senior night for the men, where Logan Singleton and Adam Kessler were recognized for their careers and leadership.

Singleton is the fifth leading scorer in the ODAC, currently, and Kessler moved into a starting position with his scoring.

The men’s next game is Saturday at Bridgewater College.

Staff writer

It was a good day for the Women’s Basketball team when they travelled to Hollins University on Saturday February 11th and walked away with a win. This win gave the female Maroons their 3rd straight win in a row. The Maroons beat Hollins 76-62 for an ODAC conference win.

The Maroons [...]]]> Morgan Minyard

Staff writer

It was a good day for the Women’s Basketball team when they travelled to Hollins University on Saturday February 11^th and walked away with a win. This win gave the female Maroons their 3^rd straight win in a row. The Maroons beat Hollins 76-62 for an ODAC conference win.

The Maroons led early on in the game. They started out on top 9-2 within just the first few minutes of the game. A key move was played by Laurel Hankins when she was able to knock down a three pointer to preserve her team’s rhythm and gain back possession. At halftime the Maroons secured an 8 point lead with the score at 34-26.

When the Maroons returned for the second half of the game they extended their lead by 11 when Paxton Gwin hit a three pointer. Hollins soon caught up though, scoring 12 points before the Maroons got a basket. This brought the score to 45-42, giving RC only a three point lead.

Luckily Roanoke was able to gain their rhythm back and come out on top, ending the game with a 14 point lead. Laurel Hankins led the team with 22 points with Tatum McKee right behind her, scoring 18 points for the Maroons. Paxton Gwin also had a great game scoring 16 points.

This win gives the Maroons an overall record of 7-14 and a 7-10 record in the OCAD conference. The Maroons will be back in action on the 17^th at 7 pm, where they will take on Randolph Macon College in the Bast Center.

Staff writer

Roanoke College Men’s and Women’s track and field team took on over 20 teams in the JDL Fast Track Invitation hosted by Winston-Salem State this weekend.

In a long meet with over 1,000 athletes competing, RC made some personal strides.  The Maroons were up against mostly Division I and Division II [...]]]> Maggie Christ

Staff writer

Roanoke College Men’s and Women’s track and field team took on over 20 teams in the JDL Fast Track Invitation hosted by Winston-Salem State this weekend.

In a long meet with over 1,000 athletes competing, RC made some personal strides.  The Maroons were up against mostly Division I and Division II schools with only one other Division III school in the mix.  However, both the men’s and women’s 4×4 teams were able to drop seconds off their season-best times.

Hope Flomo ’15, Sarah Witt ’12, Toni Duvall ’15, and Carmen Graves ’13 made up the women’s relay team and finished with a time of 4:06.72, 15 seconds faster than their best time this season.  They finished in fifth place overall and now hold the conference-best time.

The men’s team consisted of Colton Linton ’12, Chase Board ’13, Tucker Cunningham ’14, and Caleb Bledsoe ’15.  They cut four seconds of their record, finishing second in their heat and taking second in the ODAC with a time of 3:30.9.

With an exciting from-behind win, Graves took the 800m race.  She passed over 10 runners in during the race making up for a tough start.

The 60m hurdles race went well for Witt where she ran 9.64, her season-best.  She now holds second place in the ODAC.

Several other Maroons left with season-bests including Esther Prempeh ’15 and Flomo in their 200m race.  Leigha Schimmoeller ’15 ran the 800m in 2:28.  Schimmoeller took sixth place in the conference.

In field events, new personal records were set by Liz Bransky ’12 in the shot put and Alisha McCrowey ’13 and Sam Clowser ’14 in the weight throw.  Bransky now holds second in the ODAC leaderboard and placed eight at the invitational.

AJ Bernstein ’14 ran a career best in the 800m, finishing in 1:59.1.  That was his first sub-2 minute finish. Tim Smith ’12 ran the 3000m in 8:53, a season-best for him as well.

The Maroons are preparing for the ODAC Indoor Championship on Feb. 24 but first they will travel to Virginia Tech and VMI this Saturday.

Entertainment editor

In 2010, “Last Window: The Secret of Cape West” was released for the Nintendo DS as a sequel to “Hotel Dusk: Room 215″. However, since developer Cing filed for bankruptcy earlier that year, the game was only released in Japan and Europe. If you’re like me and dead-set [...]]]> Emily Erwin

Entertainment editor

In 2010, “Last Window: The Secret of Cape West” was released for the Nintendo DS as a sequel to “Hotel Dusk: Room 215″. However, since developer Cing filed for bankruptcy earlier that year, the game was only released in Japan and Europe. If you’re like me and dead-set on playing it, it’s possible to play an English version of the game, since the DS is region free.

“Last Window” takes place in 1980 in Los Angeles, a year after the events of “Hotel Dusk”. The game opens with a short clip of a man breaking into a safe, only to be shot and left for dead. The screen then cuts to Kyle Hyde, the main character of the game, as he is talking to his boss on the phone. Due to Hyde’s general lazy attitude, he is fired from his job at the Red Crown company. As if this wasn’t bad enough, when he returns to his apartment, Hyde learns that the building is going to be demolished at the end of the month.

Things become mysterious, however, when Hyde sees a strange woman in sunglasses and a large black hat leaving the apartment building and a message to find a certain item. The message tells him to locate the Scarlet Star that went missing from Hotel Cape West twenty-five years ago. When he finds out that this is somehow connected to his father’s unsolved murder, Hyde begins to untangle the web of lies spun in the Cape West apartments and learns that not everything is at it seems.

The controls of the game are essentially the same as in “Hotel Dusk”. One of the more prominent new features is the ignore option, which is required in several discussions. If Hyde asks or ignores too many questions, it’s an instant game over, which can be really obnoxious at times. This was difficult to get used to and I spent a lot of time wondering if I needed to ignore a question or not. A new feature of this game is the story mode, where players can go back and read a novelized account of the story as written by Martin Summer, a character from “Hotel Dusk”.

Many of the characters in “Last Window” can be compared to the characters in “Hotel Dusk”, as well. Tony Wolf, who lives across the hall from Hyde, is very similar to Louis DeNono, who ends up helping Hyde more often than Hyde would care to admit. Marie Rivet is similar to Iris, as both women appear to be cold and aloof, but have a darker history than anyone can imagine. Margaret Patrice, the landlady of Cape West Apartments, is very similar to Dunning Smith of “Hotel Dusk” both in personality and in past experiences with the crime syndicates Nile and Condor.

There are a few points in “Last Window” that remind me of moments in “Trace Memory”, a mystery game released by Cing in 2005. Hyde’s manner of speaking slightly resembles the way Richard Robbins speaks in “Trace Memory”. In the last chapter of the game, the music most often played sounds very similar to the music played in “Trace Memory” when Ashley is exploring Blood Edward Island. Much like in “Trace Memory” and “Hotel Dusk”, “Last Window” ends each chapter with a series of follow-up questions that summarizes the events that occured in that chapter.

Like that of “Hotel Dusk”, the music in “Last Window” is phenomenal. One of the things that interested me is that one of the songs in the game was “written” by Tony, Hyde’s musician neighbour who is trying to get a job in the music industry. Just a word of advice for those who plan on playing this game well after sunset: if you are playing the many parts of the game where Hyde must go exploring the fourth floor, play with the lights on. The music played while Hyde is exploring the fourth floor is a bit creepy when playing the game in complete darkness. Additionally, one of the last songs in the game sounds like it should be in “Trace Memory”, as it sounds somewhat cheerful with a tint of seriousness.

Despite the good qualities of the game, one of the most telling things is the fact that some of the events in the game are very predictable. The most telling thing for me was when Hyde and Tony were sneaking around the fourth floor when Hyde was suddenly attacked with sleep gas and knocked unconscious. Almost the exact same thing took place in “Hotel Dusk” when Hyde and Louis were hit over the head with a hammer. Since the beginning of the game, I’d been waiting for the moment when Hyde would be rendered unconscious by something.

“Last Window” is a fantastic sequel to “Hotel Dusk”, as it keeps players anticipating what is going to happen next with just the right amount of plot twists to keep the story new and surprising. I happened to be playing while hanging out with a few friends when I learned who murdered Hyde’s father and they were surprised at my reaction because while it was entirely believable who the murderer was, I had not been able to predict it. Needless to say that this is one game that I’ll be playing over and over again for years to come.

Staff writer

EA’s third installment to the widely successful “Mass Effect” series realized the high anticipated demo and multiplayer beta this past week and upon first impressions the game is nothing but stellar. The plot of the game is nothing new for any science fiction fan, in which you play Commander Shepard in [...]]]> Nathaniel Rioux

Staff writer

EA’s third installment to the widely successful “Mass Effect” series realized the high anticipated demo and multiplayer beta this past week and upon first impressions the game is nothing but stellar. The plot of the game is nothing new for any science fiction fan, in which you play Commander Shepard in a fight to save earth from an alien onslaught, but biased on past games this story is going to be anything but ordinary. On the computer version the graphics have been overhauled greatly to make the environments stand out in vivid details. So far the cut scenes are well done and most of the voice actors are back from the previous game, like Seth Green as Joker.

Multiplayer is a tad interesting at this point. The core concept is co-op biased wave defense mode where you fight oncoming waves of enemies as one of the various class types of the game. While this game never had multiplayer up until this point it be interesting to watch the introductions of RPG elements to the game. This will give some longevity to a game that is known for its long single player.

My impressions so far are nothing but stellar. Although the demo is very brief if it’s any indication of just how much effort was taken into story alone it should be a very emotional ride for the player. “Mass Effect 3” is set to come out in early March.