Month: April 2014

BY MALIKA KNOX Contributing Writer Social networking is like a stalker; it follows you everywhere you go. It would be almost impossible for a student to go through a full day of classes at McKendree without hearing about or even use social media. We utilize social networking to connect with family and friends across the globe, keep up with current events, network with people with similar career paths and now, we use it to develop relationships. According to a study done by the Pew Internet Research project, 66% of online-daters have met their significant others in person after first meeting them online. This statistic was not alarming; this percentage is the number of people who actually set out to meet people on dating service websites like eHarmony or Christian Mingle rather than Twitte...

BY MINDY ALLEN Assistant Editor Grades are important, especially in college. They might be the deciding factor when applying for a career or they might cause ineligibility for scholarships or sports. Most college courses take about three to four hours a week, and a student needs additional time during the week to write papers or study for exams. When students have 15 to 18 credit hours of classes along with work, sports or other commitments, papers and homework become difficult to complete due to their lack of time. Some professors want students to attend events, and in order to ensure that they actually go, reinforce attendance with grades. Personally, I have only encountered mandatory outside events twice in my whole three years at McKendree. When professors assigned these events, they ...

BY KEVIN SCHAEFER Contributing Writer We all know that we are supposed to use “good” passwords for our accounts. This usually means that the password must contain at least 8 characters, and have a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. On top of that, most organizations including McKendree University, require that you change your password every so often, such as every 90 days, or 150 days. Of course that can be a real pain to come up with a strong password, and memorize (i.e., not write it down), every 90 days for every single account you have--email accounts, Facebook, online banking, etc… If you are like most people, you probably have one or maybe two passwords that you use for everything. According to a 2011 article in PC Magazine, 77% of users use the same passw...

BY MINDY ALLEN Assistant Editor Oprah Winfrey, the self-made queen of talk, is one of the most recognizable Forbes billionaires. She is also notable because she has been part of the small percentage of women on the previous Forbes billionaire lists. This year, a record number of women have earned their name on the list of billionaires, joining Oprah Winfrey. Even though women only make up approximately 10% of the list, according to Forbes, “172 women landed on this year’s list… and a far more impressive 60% increase over the past two years.” Sheryl Sandberg, A newcomer to the list, is Facebook’s chief operating officer. As a 44 year old mother of two children, Forbes has named Sandberg as “one of the world's youngest self-made [female] billionaires.” Christy Walton, the richest of all...

BY JOSEPH BLASDEL, PhD. Contributing Writer The McKendree University speech and debate team took home 15 awards at three national tournaments: the National Parliamentary Tournament of Excellence (NPTE), the National Parliamentary Debate Association Championship Tournament (NPDA) and the National Comprehensive Tournament (NCT). “The team has had an impressive nationals performance so far,” said Joe Blasdel. “In particular, three seniors – Sarah DeBruyckere, Brent Nicholson, and Brad Thomas – ended their stellar careers at the top of their game.” Twenty-nine colleges and universities, including the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Oregon and Texas Tech University, attended the NPTE, hosted by Northern Arizona University on March 15-18. Representing McKendree were s...

BY COURTNEY WINKLER, M.A.T. Adjunct English Instructor Contributing Writer  Proud of the fact Women's Wrestling is in its first year at McKendree University under the leadership of Coach Sam Schmitz, I knew I wanted to introduce the two female wrestlers, Leila Vasquez and Olivia Seppinni, in my English 111 class to my two Girl Scout troops. Exposing our Brownies and Daisies to women of empowerment is high on the priority list for my co-leader, Sarah Bohnenstiehl, and myself; for, girls can do anything. Unfortunately, on the day scheduled for the two wrestlers to teach us some wrestling moves, Seppinni broke her arm while in practice. So, Vasquez was in charge of instructing roughly 20+ girls. Of course, my two daughters were on cloud nine being able to talk with Vasquez, "an actual wr...

BY BRITANI BEASLEY Staff Writer Just 13 miles away from McKendree University sits Phoenix Recycling and Shredding (PRS) in Belleville, Ill. According to Dave Jaques, the Executive Director of Phoenix, the mission of Phoenix Recycling and Shredding (PRS) is twofold: (1) to assist other individuals and organizations in being good environmental stewards, and (2) to create additional work opportunities for persons with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD). PRS was formed to give paid work opportunities to people with developmental disabilities and has been in business for ten years. Now employing over 40 people with developmental disabilities or traumatic brain injuries, PRS has trained some of the individuals to become certified fork lift drivers and they are also possessing the ab...