Finals Week at USD

         Students and professors are preparing for finals this week. The library is full throughout the day and into the night. Professors have sent off their final exams to the printers and are awaiting their arrival. Through the anxiety and preparation that finals weeks brings comes endless campus sponsored activities. Student services organized 25 different events that students can attend throughout a ten day period for free. The events started Sunday December 7^th and ran through Wednesday December 17^th.  The activities range from one to four hours max which gives students time to break from the books and continue studying after.

The categories ranged from movies in the MUC, different crafting stations, showcasing an athletic game, relaxation programs, concerts, and endless food opportunities. The famous Late Night Breakfast was held the eve of finals starting. The meal catered by university faculty and staff was co-sponsored by President Abbott’s office and student services. The meal was served outside the MUC ballroom and the line ran all the way down the stairs to the MUC entrance. Other food opportunities included Snack Attack: Popcorn Bar, Yote Floats, Free Popcorn Friday, and Treat Day rounding out the semester. Heartland Humane Society came back for another year of Pet the Stress Away Puppy Therapy. Fewer dogs were selected this year, and they weren’t quite puppies they were actually full grown dogs.

Campus Activities Board organizes events that are held throughout the semester and were able to coordinate some during finals week. CAB brought Airbrush Trucker Hats which involved two artists who painted designs on trucker hats for students. The Relaxation Program was also sponsored by CAB. The program included oxygen bars and massage chairs in the MUC Pit designed to help students relax.

Students took advantage of the crafting activities. The crafts were promoted as being good Christmas presents for loved ones. Crafts included Cookie Jars, Holiday Decorating Ornaments, Sharpie Mugs Decorating Mugs, Holiday Cookie Decorating, Tie Dye Table, and Mocktails and Canvas.

The MUC is also having a watch party for the men’s basketball game. They are playing at the Pentagon in Sioux Falls Saturday night. Campus is airing the game on the new 16 screen T.V. in the MUC. Student tickets were also available for $5, and a shuttle bus was offering to take fans up.

The Paw Points auction was also a new event at campus this finals week. Paw points were started this semester and were implemented as an incentive to help attendance at games and campus events. If a student stayed until the end of the event they could swipe their student I.D. and get a point. The auction included an Ipad Mini, 19” T.V., printer, and various coyote apparel. Students were able to combine their points with friends for a higher chance at winning.

Finals week is stressful with the endless tests, projects, papers, and even graduation for some students, but campus has provided daily events to go to throughout the week.

#FinalsBlog325

This I Believe

I believe that you should never be afraid to work. For a sixth grade assignment I had to interview someone who had somehow influenced my life. I choose my grandpa, and when I asked him what advice he would have for us younglings he said, “Don’t be afraid to work.” It’s been eight years since he’s told me that, and I still believe it to this day.

We live in a society that hard work is hard to come by. People are looking for fast cash without actually putting in the manual labor. Only wanting the fast cash is robbing today’s generation of the true work experience that our grandparents and parents had.

My grandpa moved to Rapid City, South Dakota, from a small farm and worked as a car builder for Chevrolet. He worked on pulling car parts and scrapping metal to rebuild new cars from sun up to sun down. He decided he wanted to create his own car shop, and that’s exactly what he did. In the 1970’s he bought Jalopy Jungle which was an auto recycling junk yard more or less. He changed the name to A-1 Auto Recyclers, hired more employees, tireless days were put into the up keep of the lot, and pretty soon the salvage yard was up and running. My dad started working for my grandpa when he was only 12 years old. Now, over forty years later my dad has bought the business, expanded the building to a new two story shop with 40 more acres added to the lot making it a second generation business.

I have been fortunate enough to grow up with this background because I have seen what hard work exemplifies and my dad does exactly that.  My dad even attended USD to get his bachelors in Business because he didn’t want people to think he was just getting the business from his dad without working for it.

With college life being a difficult experience and a hard adjustment I remember what my grandpa told me. I should not be afraid to work because it’s amazing what a little work and drive can result in. Especially for my family we knew we’d have financial security because of how hard my grandpa and father worked.

I know working can be exhausting, but in the long run it will be beneficial for anyone who hits the ground running. In a society where good work is hard to come by those who work the hardest will stand out among the crowd.

The Laboratory under Neuharth

Last Tuesday the multiplatform storytelling class listened to Assistant Professor Dr. Brandon Nutting speak on the laboratory under the Al Neuharth Media Center building. Well the lab is not technically under the building, but it’s in the basement. It’s referred to as the Communication Media Psychology and Related Effects lab. When Nutting first came to the University of South Dakota there was no laboratory to do quantitative research in, and he worked to change that.

            It’s only been two years since the lab has been running. It currently has eight undergraduates, three graduates, and a student in a doctorate program working on the team. They spend the fall semester working on research topics and discovering what they should do their testing on. In the spring they have to collect data, and the summer is used to write papers.

            “When I came here we didn’t have the lab, so we were what I call data poor, so we didn’t have a lot of stuff to write yet,” says Nutting.

            He also says that after these two years the team is now data rich and need to start writing papers. These papers can get published nationally, and the university has had the opportunity to send students to conferences. Charlie Dalldorf is an undergraduate and has worked with Nutting for three years. He was able to go to Seattle over the summer and partake in a conference where professors asked him about doctorate programs, and he hasn’t event gotten his Bachelors yet.

            The lab takes part in studies that are original. These studies include partnering with the South Dakota Center for Cancer Control and Prevention.

            “We are working on putting together a comprehensive website for anyone to find information on clinical trials. All of the hospital chains have come together saying their main goal for the next five years is to increase the amount of people that are enrolled in clinical trials,” says Nutting.

            The team is working to persuade people to participate in trials through messages they are conducting. The Cancer Control Center is looking for ways to help prevent families members from getting cancer and to find early signs through trials. They are also setting aside $10,000 for its participants.

            Nutting says they also test subject’s physiological responses to mediated messages. He says when it comes to physiological response the body cannot lie which helps in getting hard exact answers for research. The team looks at facials and heart rates which are involuntary responses. These responses cannot be changed no matter how hard a person tries. This is beneficial in finding answers Nutting says.

            The subjects that are used are recruited through the SONA system. Most subjects are undergraduates of the university except for the ones who are used in the cancer trials. Those subjects range throughout the state.

            Nutting says expenses are not high for the laboratory since they already have the equipment. However, he hopes to see functional magnetic resonance imaging used in the lab which is similar to an MRI, but it’s for the brain. Eye tracking is expected to be used by the laboratory team in the near future. Nutting says the program is expanding which would allow for an undergraduate and graduate program, but he doesn’t expect a doctoral program at the university.

Dakota Days Royalty

The annual Yotes Got Talent and Royalty Reveal rounded out day three of Dakota Days. There were many talents that performed in the show including singing, guitar playing, whistling, tap dancing, and even the bag pipes made an appearance. Following Yotes Got Talent was the anticipated Royalty Reveal, but before the Royalty was announced Dakotathon made an announcement.

Dakotathon is a philanthropic organization that raises money for the local Children’s Miracle Network. They are looking for dancers for their annual 24-hour dance-a-thon. The overall chairs also played their recruitment video for the year bringing cheers and applause from the crowd. Dakotathon is one of the largest philanthropic organization on campus and their goal this year is to raise $61,000.

After the members of Dakotathon were done the Royalty Reveal was ready to start. Background information on how the reveal works is numerous USD students are nominated from different campus organizations. After the first group is picked students have a week to vote for who they want in the top 14 which is made up of seven men and seven women. Once voting ceases the top 14 advance to the next round which entails an interview and an essay and this round lasts until Saturday. Judges from the University’s administration pick who they believe represent what it means to be Mr. and Miss Dakota. The winners are announced at halftime of the D-days game and will hold the title of Mr. and Miss Dakota for the rest of their lives.

The final 14 candidates for this year’s Dakota Days Royalty are: Cassondra Keller, Lindsay Montileaux, Katey Ulrich, Alayan Ackerman, Rachel Mihulka, Alex Parkinson, and Ashlin Peitzmeier for the women and Clay Hoffman, Robby Jeffries, Joe Erickson, Josh Rogers, Charles Gageby, Brent Olinger, and Steven Payne for the men.

A side note about the final contestants is all but one is not a member of a Greek house. The houses that are represented are Alpha Phi, Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Kappa Alpha, Lambda Chi Alpha, Delta Tau Delta, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

An update will come to the blog once the final picks are in and the 2014 Mr. and Miss Dakota are crowned on Saturday.

#Ddays14day3


This years Mr. and Miss Dakota title belongs to Brent Olinger and Lindsay Montileaux. They received the judges votes based off of interview, an essay, and student voting but the voting only held 10% of the final choice. Brent and Lindsay will hold the title forever but will be invited back to next years Dakota Days to pass on the crown to the next royals.

#Ddays14day7

Reaction to President Obama's ISIS Address

On September 10^th President Obama addressed the citizens of America announcing his strategy for ISIL also known as ISIS the Islamic State or Iraq and Syria. In his speech the President addressed his strategy for dealing with this rebellious group in four parts.

First Obama plans on conducting a systematic campaign of airstrikes against the terrorist. He said that we will expand our efforts so we are not just saving humanitarian missions and our own people, but that we will hit ISIL targets as Iraqi forces go on offense. Also with this strategy Obama he has made it clear that he will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country, and this means he will not hesitate to take action against ISIL in Syria as well as Iraq.

Secondly Obama plans on increasing the support forces on the ground. After deploying several hundred American service members to Iraq Obama is sending an additional 475, but they will not be in combat mission he adds.

In his third point Obama plans to continue to utilize the counterterrorism capabilities to prevent ISIL attacks. He is planning a meeting in the near future of the U. N. Security Council to further mobilize all countries around this effort. Obama plans on improving the country’s intelligence and strengthening the defenses by working with partners.

Finally Obama plans to provide assistance to innocent civilians who are being affected by this terrorist organization.

Republican U.S. Senator John Thune reacted to the President’s address by leading a group of 14 other Republican senators by sending a letter to State Department Secretary John Kerry. They are requesting more information and having the administration provide a plan for dealing with the large number of U.S. and visa waiver country passport holders that could be suspected of fighting alongside ISIS. Thune stated that the administration has expressed concern about these individuals but hasn’t provided a clear plan on how they will stop them from traveling to the U.S and potentially carrying out terrorist acts.

Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Johnson also released a press release following the President’s address. Johnson states that he supports the President’s strategy of using airstrikes and drones but he opposes putting U.S. combat fighters on foreign grounds.

According to the George Mason University History News Network America’s history with the Middle East grew after World War II due to oil. The Middle East was serving as a pipeline for French and British empires before the war however the U.S. came in and controlled over half of the oil by 1955. At this time Iraq was under King Faisal and they were a U.S ally. Later that year President Dwight Eisenhower sent 14,000 troops into Lebanon to restore order as he called it. The U.S. turned their support to separatist Kurdish rebels from Ba’athis Iraq in the 1970’s. In 1975 an agreement was reached to seal the Iraq and Turkey border. Saddam Hussein then killed thousands of Kurds. As Iraq and Iran fought for almost a decade the U.S. provided intelligence and advice to the Iraqis while Baghdad was using chemical weapons on the Iranians. While Saddam was killing thousands the U.S economic aid to Iraq increased which led to Iraq debt that was paid in oil exports. In 1991 the Bush administration prepped for a war known as Operation Desert Storm which destroyed Iraqi infrastructure and morale. Saddam had been contained and posed no threat until 9/11.

The United States has developed relations with Iraq that suit its purposes of supporting regimes, funding wars, and providing technology. Now it’s been over a decade since the September 11^th attacks, and as the History News Network puts it the U.S. offers no solution except more destruction and chaos.