November, 2017 - The McKendree Review

29Nov

By The McKendree Review1 Comment

Personality

Stories behind our Scars

By Justin Blanks Millions of people have visible scars on their body that we may never know the story behind. A scar is a permanent patch of skin that grows over a wound that forms when your body heals itself after a cut, scrape, burn or sore. Scars can fade over time but never go away completely. Because McKendree is a university where the majority of the students play sports, scars are very easy to find. Caitlyn Lowry is a sophomore softball player here at McKendree and has a large, visible scar on her knee. She said, “How I got this scar is from sliding into bases and diving numerous times. It went away for one season but it always comes back because every game I slide/dive that skin always reopens.” Caitlyn is the starting shortstop for the softball team; therefore, she dives and sl...

27Nov

By The McKendree Review1 Comment

Profiles, Sports

A Series of Fortunate Events

By Andrew Gardewine, Contributing Writer Michael Mendez, head coach and former member of the McKendree Cross Country and Track and Field programs, is quite possibly the most hard working person on campus. If he is not coaching a practice he is in a meeting, if he is not in a meeting, he is in his office working late at night and in some cases into the early morning. On top of it all, he still manages to find room to maintain his physical shape with bike rides and runs as well as manage his own running club, The Lebanon Project. He has a full plate and a bright future as a coach, however this article is not about his future, rather it is about his past. Coach Mendez has overcome countless obstacles in his life, obstacles that he considers “a series of fortunate events,” but what he would ca...

U.S. Colleges See Decline in International Student Enrollment

24Nov

By The McKendree Review2 Comments

National News, News

U.S. Colleges See Decline in International Student Enrollment

By Sophie Jeffery, Contributing Writer The New York Times reports a drop in international student enrollment during the current academic year (2017-18). According to a recent survey released by the Institute of International Education, fewer international students have enrolled in U.S. colleges for the first academic semester following President Trump’s inauguration last January. The institute reached out to almost 500 campuses all across the country, with 45 percent reporting lower international enrollment. The head of research for the institute, Rajika Bhandari, told the Times the reason for lower enrollment is probably “a mix of factors. Concerns around the travel ban had a lot to do with concerns around personal safety based on a few incidents involving international students, an...

A Life Well Learned & A Compassion Worth Sharing

22Nov

By The McKendree Review2 Comments

Profiles

A Life Well Learned & A Compassion Worth Sharing

By Emily Davis, Contributing Writer Photo: Jason Finks On any given weekday, M. Jason Finks can be found in his basement office on 121 Merrill Street working as McKendree University’s retention specialist. He helps the online students, the nursing students, the students at all the satellite campuses, and the McKendree main campus students to successfully continue their journey with McKendree. Finks’ main task is to sort out the root of the problems that cause students to reduce their credit hours or to drop out altogether. As he puts it “fix it for this time, fix it for next time.” In addition to assisting students, he also helps online professors sort out which textbooks they want to use. He has only been at McKendree for a short while, and there is a lot more of his story th...

21Nov

By The McKendree Review1 Comment

Advice

Get Ready For the Doorbuster Dash

By Emily Davis, Contributing Writer College not only prepares you for the workforce but also teaches you how to live on a ridiculously small budget. Living with these financial constraints makes Black Friday and Cyber Monday a haven for students needing electronics or appliances that are extremely expensive at regular price. In recent years, stores and consumers have been moving away from the dangerous stampedes of Black Friday to a safer discount shopping experience on Cyber Monday. Nevertheless, there are some amazing deals on Black Friday that may outweigh the danger. Throughout this article, I will be highlighting some of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday advertisements that appeal specifically to students. For students in need of a new pair of shoes, check out the deals Nike is dis...

The Person Behind the Poetry: Dr. Jenny Mueller

20Nov

By The McKendree ReviewNo Comments

Personality, Profiles

The Person Behind the Poetry: Dr. Jenny Mueller

By Elexis Baltimore, Contributing Writer Featured Picture: Courtesy of Dr. Jenny Mueller “Wow, your parents have a lot of books!” With a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet for a mother and a father who was deeply engrossed in the arts, Dr. Jenny Mueller heard this a number of times as a kid. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where her parents would make the 45-minute commute to attend art events in the city including a number of poetry readings. Dr. Mueller recounts that in suburban life it was almost unheard of to go to the city for anything other than shopping and school field trips, which often made her feel different, “but in a good way.” She says. Years later, when Dr. Mueller became a poet herself, she did not have to deal with the typical pushback from her parents about ...

15Nov

By The McKendree Review1 Comment

Advice, Entertainment

Nature, Beyond the Cornfields

By Gabrielle Madewell The small town of Lebanon, IL doesn’t offer very many places for one to venture outside and enjoy the scenery; unless of course staring at corn and soybeans is of interest to you. To combat this issue Students and Staff at McKendree have shared some of their favorite places, no further than two hours away from campus, where they like to spend their time outside; no cornfields included. Here’s a guide to hiking, biking and swimming around the area, as recommended by McK students and staff: Elephant Rocks State Park [2 hours from campus] Bailey Forneris, a student at McKendree University, enjoys going on hikes around the Missouri area. Her favorite place in the area is Elephant Rocks State Park located about 2 hours away in Belleview, Missouri. Her advice for this tr...

10Nov

By The McKendree Review1 Comment

Sports

Water Polo.. in the Midwest?

by Gabrielle Madewell, Contributing Writer McKendree University’s men’s and women’s water polo programs have turned 1 as of this 2017-2018 school year. The person responsible for making the program’s first year successful is Colleen Lischwe, head women’s water polo coach and assistant men’s water polo coach. Like many Universities nation-wide, McKendree heavily prides itself on having very successful and well known athletic teams in the Midwest region. While the school has a variety of different teams offered, a total of 34 men’s and women’s teams, this school year marks the one year anniversary of a unique addition to the athletic department: Men and Women’s Water Polo. Most U.S. water polo teams in the United States are located in California. To put that into perspective, out o...

8Nov

By The McKendree ReviewNo Comments

Campus News, Opinion

Ames Frames Your Day

by Andrew Gardewine, Contributing Writer At larger universities students are given many different options for places to dine and much broader time frames in which to do so. For example: at Illinois State the Watterson Dining Commons resemble many characteristics of our own Ames Dining Hall here at McKendree. They both offer a variety of options, though ISU’s options are vaster which can be expected at a university that has around twenty times the enrollment as McKendree, each are still “all you care to eat”. The biggest difference I have noticed about Ames is the hours in which they remain open for students to sit down and eat a meal. Here at McKendree the dining hall closes periodically throughout the day while ISU’s remain open all day until the designated closing time. If Ames remained ...

Soulaf Abas: When Art, Passion, Love, and Pain Collide

6Nov

By The McKendree ReviewNo Comments

Personality

Soulaf Abas: When Art, Passion, Love, and Pain Collide

By Shelby Procko All photos courtesy of (http://www.soulafabas.com) Soulaf (Soully) Abas is an incredibly talented woman from Damascus, Syria. She began her life as an artist as a young child, doodling on anything that she could find the space. At 16 she began to take art more seriously by starting art classes at the Russian Cultural Center. She always knew it was something that she wanted to pursue seriously. In the 5th grade Syrian students begin to learn English, and when asked what she wanted to do when she grew up, Soully said she wanted to be a designer. "I didn't know that a designer was different than an artist then, but I knew I wanted to do something with art, lots of colors, and a canvas," she said, "I know it's a cliché, but I never doubted that." As a third-year Art student...