Free food and gift cards are just two of the many ways the Raider Guides tempt the freshmen to participate in their weekly events on campus.

The Raider Guides work for a program called Exceptional Beginnings (EB). The program is new to the Mount Union campus this academic year.  This program replaced the previous First Year Experience (FYE) program. The FYE program was limited to approximately 220 students who applied to be a part of the program. This year there have been many changes made to the program, as it has been expanded to the entire freshmen class.

“We have had a great success with the First Year Experience program during its first six years, so it was a good time to expand it to all first year students,” said Director of EB Jesse Douglas. “With the change in the academic curriculum and the end of the Liberal Studies 100 class, there were some transition issues that weren’t going to be addressed.”

The program is made up of 34 Raider Guides and four student coordinators.  The Raider Guides are trained upperclassmen whose job is to help guide the freshmen students through social and academic affairs during their freshmen year, according to Student Coordinator Patrick Yackmack. As student coordinator, Yackmack’s job is to oversee a group of Raider Guides and help facilitate the program.

According to Raider Guide John Laux, the Exceptional Beginnings program plans “two events every week, one social and one educational.”  Laux also added that the programs are all planned and managed by the Raider Guides in each residential building.

The incentives for the program include monthly gift card prizes and one iPad raffle each semester.

“The purpose of the events is to bring first year students together in a care free environment that encourages them to meet new students, help the students feel more comfortable throughout their first year and help the students to learn about the resources on campus,” said Raider Guide Dylan Spangenberg.

Freshman Meghan McGary said, “I like the idea of having events in the building because I don’t have to worry about going to another building.”

According to Yackmack and Laux, Raider Guides and events help the freshmen in a way they do not realize. “The educational events allow freshmen to get an insight to the Raider Guides knowledge of what they can expect at college,” said Laux.

Spangenberg added that the events are beneficial because “they help the freshmen make new friends and they give them a place to relax and concentrate on something other than school.” The Raider Guides continue to plan their events in hopes to reach out to the freshmen population.

For the third consecutive year, Mount Union’s Alpha Xi Delta chapter hosted Karaoke for a Cure, a singing contest to raise money for Autism Speaks, one of several national organizations dedicated to finding a cure for the disease.
According to Alpha Xi Delta (AXD) philanthropy chair, Sophomore Alyssa Cuffman, the purpose of the event is to raise money for Autism Speaks, but also to raise public awareness about the disease.
Danielle McCoy and Kate Kuhomann of Autism Speaks said they enjoy the partnership they have formed with Mount Union’s AXD chapter over the past few years.
“As an organization, we’ve been partnered with AXD for four or five years,” said McCoy. “It was done through our national organization and their national organization; I think it’s a great partnership―I really do.”
Members of Autism Speaks assist the sorority with organizing fundraising events, including serving as judges at Karaoke for a Cure.
AXD president, Junior Cassie Siskovic, shared why she feels autism is a great cause to support.
“It’s such a prominent problem in society right now that’s so commonly pushed aside,” said Siskovic. “People don’t know that more children are affected and diagnosed with autism every day than a bunch of [other] mentally-handicapped diseases, so it’s really great to just raise awareness and funds for something that touches so many people’s lives.”
So far this year, AXD has raised nearly $5,000 for the cause.
Siskovic explained why a karaoke contest was chosen as one of the sorority’s fundraising events.
“It was something that our nationals came up with just as a fun event to do on campus to try to get people involved and it’s something different that no one’s really done on Mount Union’s campus,” she said. “It’s actually drawn a pretty good crowd the past few years, so we’re hoping to just keep improving.”
Cuffman agrees, “It’s fun and it gets a lot of people involved.” She then added, “It’s not just a lecture or a speaker; it gets people up and moving.”
One of the performers, Freshman Michael Gates, said he enjoyed participating in the contest.
“I figured it was a good way to market myself as an enjoyable human being and it seemed like fun,” said Gates.
Gates, who won the prize for “Best Vocal” with his performance of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way,” said that the fact the contest raised money for autism made the event that much better.
Audience member, Freshman Alex Waitinas, enjoyed merely watching the performances.
“Everyone looked like they were having a lot of fun,” said Waitinas. “It was really entertaining to watch because it wasn’t too serious―even if you’re not the best singer, you could still have a good time.”
Cuffman and Siskovic also commented on the night’s performances.
“They were fun,” said Cuffman. “People didn’t take it serious, which is the point of it.”
Siskovic agreed.
“I think they were hilarious,” Siskovic continued. “They’re hilarious every year though so I guess it’s kind of hard to compare, and they only get better.”
Siskovic revealed what her favorite performance of the evening was.
“It’s got to be the new AXD members that sang Barbie Girl,” she said. “They’re just fresh in our sorority; they all got up there and sang.”
Other songs performed included Spice Girls’ “Wannabe,” Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You,” and a slew of Disney songs.
The award for “Funniest” went to the performance of “Hakuna Matata” by several AXD members and “Most Creative” to the performance of “A Whole New World.”
AXD’s next fundraising event for Autism Speaks is Football Frenzy, the powder-puff football game between all the sororities, which raises the majority of funds for the cause.

Many have heard of the old collegiate tradition called “No Shave November”, but a vast majority remain unaware of the rising philanthropic effort that is Septembeard. For the past month, some may have wondered about the sudden increase in facial hair of 11 typically clean-shaven young men from the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity and their two advisers, Roy Clunk and Harry Paidas. By growing out their beards, it was the fraternity’s hope that they could raise awareness about the benefit towards prostate cancer research, similar to the way women wear pink or participate in marathons every October to raise awareness about breast cancer research.

The Septembeard effort was brought to Mount Union’s attention primarily through Dr. Harry Paidas when he saw an advertisement for the cause in Runner’s World magazine. After visiting the website, Paidas got in touch with the men behind the Septembeard campaign who encouraged him to organize a team. That is when he opened this opportunity up to the brothers in Phi Kappa Tau to join and the rest is history.
Junior Sean Andrews was especially delighted with participating in Septembeard, despite the mixed attention he received.
“I am aware I am not great at growing a beard and I’m perfectly fine knowing I can’t,” said Andrews. “So obviously, I get grief about supposedly not trying hard enough to grow a beard to help people, even though we are doing this to help others and raise money for a good cause.”
Septembeard’s fundraising goes to several beneficiaries including Johns Hopkins, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, The MD Anderson Cancer Center, Mayo Clinic, the Prostate Cancer Program of the University of California, and the San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
With the slogan, “Be a hero. Grow a beard,” the organization has raised 250 thousand dollars this year and with the donations still open to all who are interested, hopes to earn even more. Those who were involved in raising money and awareness for Septembeard at Mount Union are proud of their accomplishments and happy to support such a primarily unknown cause.
“I would do this again in a second,” Andrews said. “It is a great and easy way to help out a great cause. It shows that anyone can make a difference and they don’t need to do a huge amount of work. My favorite part is how easy it is and I have an excuse to be lazy and let my face look ugly for a month. My least favorite part is my face looks ugly for a month.”
The Phi Kappa Tau brothers and their advisers raised $400 towards their $500 goal, with all proceeds going to Septembeard.org to fund prostate cancer research. Septembeard.org, a 501(c)3 charitable organization, encourages men from all over the United States to grow their facial hair and encourage others to sponsor their beards throughout the month of September.
Those who are interested can still donate online at Septembeard.org and can specify the team they would like to support by accessing the East Division Leaderboard and linking to the PKT Epsilon: Beard’s Beard to support the brothers’ efforts in fighting prostate cancer.

For yet another year, Mount Union’s Raider Programming Board hosted a performance by a comedic piano-playing duo from Midwest Dueling Pianos.
The company, based in Rochester, Michigan, consists of 21 comedic entertainers who perform in pairs at a variety of social events including weddings, college events, civic events, and corporate functions. The shows are solely based on audience interaction and participation.
Senior Karissa Henderson, president of the Raider Programming Board (RPB), explained why the organization continues to invite Dueling Pianos to the university.
“It goes over really well,” said Henderson. “People seem to really enjoy it. It’s just fun and exciting; you get a lot of different reactions.”
Junior Cayley Briggs, RPB’s movie series chairperson, agrees.
“Dueling Pianos is definitely one of my favorites because it’s one of the events where people don’t know what it is and so you get them to come and then they fall in love with it just as much as we all are,” said Briggs. “I think people show up not expecting something so fun and entertaining and then they get here and they’re like, “Wow, this is pretty awesome,” and then they stay.”
Seniors Matthew Fahey, Kimber Stevenson, and Jessica Ritchie are three such students. Before this year’s event, the group of friends had never attended a performance by Midwest Dueling Pianos.
“I heard good things about it from people who came last year,” said Fahey. “They’re definitely quality musicians.”
Fahey said he went to the event expecting to listen to one song and then leave, but then ended up staying for the entire three hour performance.
“They’re incredibly talented,” he said. “Their ability to jump from different genres―from Disney to rock, 80’s, rap, pop music―is an incredible skill that especially in improv is incredible.”
As music education majors, both Ritchie and Stevenson agree with Fahey.
“I definitely give them props for being able to pull it out of thin air like that,” said Stevenson. “It’s a great way to spend an evening, just listening to improv.”
“It’s a nice change,” said Ritchie. “We do a lot of classical stuff for our recitals and it’s nice to have something a little more casual and I like how they intersperse a little bit of comedy in it too.”

Plot structure is perhaps the most crucial aspect of any well-written story, especially when it comes to writing mysteries, according to Caroline Lawrence, author of the Roman Mysteries series, who spoke at the University of Mount Union on Thursday, October 4.
Lawrence, a history-mystery writer from England who appeared at the university as the star of this year’s Slater Lecture, explained the importance of story structure in writing any story, but especially in writing mystery, using scenes from the first book in the Roman Mysteries series “The Thieves of Ostia” to illustrate the process and structure involved in writing an effective story.
“It follows a very strict kind of paradigm,” said Lawrence.
She explained that plot structure was something she had to learn, teaching herself the concept through screenwriter John Truby’s 22-step process on writing story structure.
“Now this seems very simple, very structured, very formulaic,” said Lawrence. “But these are the steps that we follow when we learn something, when we go somewhere, when we take a new step in our life and that’s why they resonate; I think they’re in our DNA.”
Lawrence also cited author Joseph Campbell’s book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” and screenwriter Christopher Vogler’s book “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers,” as good sources on story structure. She used Luke Skywalker from Star Wars as an example of the concepts discussed in these books.
Lawrence also mentioned why mystery stories seem to resonate with mankind.
“In today’s civilized society, many of us have more in common with the hero who uses his brains,” said Lawrence. “And that’s the detective. We don’t all like the action hero, the superhero, the athletic hero.”
Lawrence explained how variations of this detective story are evident in today’s pop culture with Sherlock Holmes remakes, such as TV series like “Sherlock” and “Elementary,” but also in shows like “House” and “Monk.”
Lawrence said she especially loves the significance of setting in telling mystery stories.
“The where is what really attracts me,” said Lawrence. “Painting the world and describing the world, but of course, detective stories have a very strong―probably stronger than any other genre―sense of place and time.”
In citing several of her friends’ responses as to why people like detective fiction so much, Lawrence said her favorite response is from a fellow English author who answered, ‘Because detective fiction makes sense of the world and it’s what we human beings want most, to make sense of a seemingly random world.’
Lawrence agrees.
“Not all of us are historians,” she said. “Not all of us are writers, but we are all detectives trying to figure out the mystery of how to live life and stories help us to do that.”
Lawrence concluded her lecture by taking questions from the audience.
During her stay, Lawrence held multiple book signings, met with several students, faculty and staff, visited classrooms, and attended the theater department’s production of “Almost, Maine.”
For more information about Caroline Lawrence and her work, visit http://www.carolinelawrence.com/. To hear an exclusive interview with Mrs. Lawrence conducted by Dynamo Front Page Editor Beth Karapandzich, visit http://www.mountunion.edu/2012-podcasts or read the transcript online at http://umudynamo.com/.

Student athletes here at the University of Mount Union spend most of their time on the court or on the field, after time spent in the classroom, of course. But how do they keep in touch with friends and family while juggling such busy schedules?

With such advanced technology in our generation, we tend to stay connected through social media, Twitter being one of the most popular social media sites. Are there any restrictions that should be addressed within your team on what can and cannot be said on Twitter?

Ashley Rivera, member of the new lacrosse team, stated that her coach had never said anything about social media. “I don’t think that teams should talk about each other, their coaches or other athletics on social media,” she said. “It shows disrespect and puts a bad name out there for your team and Mount Union.”

While tweeting to support fellow teammates may be nice, trash talking over social media can lead to trouble. With hundreds of followers on Twitter, one impulse comment could ruin your school’s reputation, as well as yours.

Sophomore Luc Meacham, member of the Raider football team, expressed his opinion of his coach’s policies when it comes to social media and their team.

“I think we should be able to say when we have a game, or something along those general lines, but going any further I think should be left for the media,” Meacham says.

The Raider football team’s policy is to leave it to the media to talk about the team, which was made known to the players at the beginning of the season.

Ashley Sams, member of the women’s soccer team, also commented regarding her team’s policies with social media.

“Coach suggested making our profiles private and encouraged us to not say anything negative about other schools in the OAC, or Mount,” Sams said. “There is no need to call out other teams or say anything negative in general; I would not want it to come back on the school or my team.”

Part of being a good sport is being able to hold back from negative comments, no matter how much you want to say them. Even though social media profiles may be set to “private,” being respectful towards other teams, and your own, is key, on and off the field.

The Graduate and Professional School Fair was held on Wednesday, October 3rd from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Hoover Price Campus Center at the University of Mount Union. This event was presented by the Career Development Office and was open to students of all ages with a desire to learn more about graduate school.

As students checked-in, they received a paper specifying the programs that each school offered. There were 34 schools present and a total of 54 programs were represented. All of the law schools along with programs at Ohio State University and Kent State University were located in the East Room.

Each school had a table with pamphlets and posters describing the programs offered. There also was a representative accessible to talk with students and answer questions.

Many students attended the fair wanting to learn more about graduate programs. “I am interested in Nonprofit Management, but I just talked to someone about Justice and Peace Building, which sounds super interesting,” said Amy Ricciardi, a senior Sociology major. There are a number of programs that students are unaware of before talking with an advisor or attending such an event.

Dillon Bright, a junior Accounting major, attended the fair to get more information about Accounting graduate programs, however he is not positive about his decision to go to graduate school.

Students have many options when it comes to obtaining a Master’s degree. “You can get an MBA in something that is outside of your major,” said Kay A. Levandowski, the Academic Advisor Coordinator for the School of Digital Sciences at Kent State University. “I have a Communications undergraduate and have a Master’s in Education.” With a graduate program, students are able to broaden their skill set in a way that they see fit to enhance their career.

For the year 2011, out of 428 Mount Union graduates, 26.2% attended graduate school and 89% were accepted to their first choice.

The Career Development Office assists students with topics related to internships, job searches, potential employers, and graduate school. Students are able to schedule advising appointments to obtain information about graduate school. First, it is decided if graduate school is the correct option for the student. From there, the particular program is chosen.

“Historically, 25-33% of Mount Union graduates go to graduate school as their first destination after college,” said Sara Fugett, Director of Career Development. Fugett suggested that students should determine their goals and finances when considering graduate school and that the search process should begin as soon as possible.

“Freshman and sophomores should be starting their research if they already know that graduate school is required for their career. Of course, if a student is not sure about how to begin this process, they can meet with me or another member of the Career Development staff,” Fugett said. Students also receive assistance regarding admission essentials for specific programs. “I would say most questions revolve around testing and essay requirements,” Fugett said.

The Writing Center has partnered with the Career Development Office to establish a graduate school writing group, allowing students to collaborate with their peers to review and critique written documents to submit for admission. Danielle Cordaro can be contacted for more information at cordarda@mountunion.edu.

The Career Development Office hosts other professional events throughout the year as well, such as the TGIF Job and Internship Fair, which will be held on October 26, 2012 in the Fieldhouse from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Monday and Tuesday, Oct 1 and 2, Mount Union’s Panhellenic counsel hosted a viewing of “Half the Sky” documentary to support the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation.

Panhellenic is a Greek committee which has representatives from all of Mount Union’s sororities and fraternities on campus to communicate National Panhellenic rules for all the greek community to follow back to their respective chapters. They do a lot more on campus, however, by hosting events and raising money to supportive organizations like the Circle of Sisterhood.

The Circle of Sisterhood is a foundation, created by an Alpha Xi Delta sister, which “will leverage the collective wisdom and influence of sorority women to support entities around the world that remove educational barriers for girls and women, uplifting them from poverty and oppression,” as stated in its mission. The Circle of Sisterhood then found “Half the Sky,” a call to fight against the oppression of women and girls in developing countries, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and incorporated it into their mission.

Every year, Katherine Carnell, Director of Student Involvement and Leadership, works with Panhellenic to create an event to support the Circle of Sisterhood and raise awareness to its issues. This year, the book “Half the Sky” was turned into a documentary and shown to the campus. The documentary shows firsthand accounts of child abuse and rape, being put into brothels, and unable to attend schooling, obvious of the inequality that these women and young girls face.

“It’s to get people informed about what is going on around the world,” Vice President of recruitment chair of Panhellenic, Ryli Barnett said about what the Circle of Sisterhood did on campus.

“It really makes you put a lot in perspective…It costs $53.00 to send a girl to school for a year, including clothing and food. It makes me upset because I spend more than that on stupid stuff,” Casey Tonn, current intern for Carnell and President of Alpha Delta Pi sorority, elaborated on Barnett’s statement.

In response to the documentary, Stephanie Novak, Panhellenic President, said, “It was a real eye opener to see what other women around the world have to deal with. We wanted it to be an eye opener for everyone on campus and I believe we have achieved our goal. We also raised money for the foundation.”

One of the viewers Tuesday night, Britanny Lyons said, “I kind of knew stuff like this was going on in the world, but seeing it in this format makes me really sad and really want to do something about it and help these girls. One girl got kicked out of her house by her father because she was raped by her uncle-that is not okay, and now that I am aware of this, more and more people need to be also.”

Gentlemen, have you ever asked a woman “what do you want to do tonight?” Like clockwork, the answer that always comes is, “I don’t know? You pick.” Frustrating, right? Unless you are a love guru, what to do on date night is a tough decision for any guy to make. Well, fear no more! The women of Mount Union are speaking out about their favorite places to go on date with their significant other.

First, let us answer the question of what makes a good date. According to Sarah Read, “great conversation and especially eye contact” are necessary. Adding to that, Shannon Kelly also said “if he keeps me laughing, then it’s a good date.” So now that you know what it takes to make a good date, the question is how do you apply it to the actual location of the date?

Now, we all know there is always what I call the “out route.” This basically speaks to two different types of dates. You can always go the dinner route, such as taking your date to Applebees, Texas Roadhouse or Jaliscos. But maybe you are not so hungry that night, so you turn to the more obvious choice: the movie date. Lets be real guys, aren’t we tired of watching movies where they sing and dance? Lets stand against the norm and get more creative!

The dates that women find most valuable are those that you take time to actually think about, instead of taking the “out route.”

“Making a home cooked meal together is one of my favorites” said Corrie Miller. “Honestly, if he is putting some effort into it, I will be happy no matter what.”

Guys, you already have some competition. Mount Union Student Joe Bowers is raising the bar, as he commented, “There’s nothing like laying out a blanket in the quad and just star gazing with my baby.”

The nature center is also a good spot for a date, going for a walk with the fall scenery. It is all about keeping the women on their toes and getting creative.

So there it is gentlemen, the secret behind the tough life of dating in Alliance. Whether you have cash or not, there is always a way to make her happy. So the next time you hear “I don’t know? You pick,” you will actually be able to answer with some confidence. Good luck and happy dating.

This past weekend was Mount Union’s first fall play of the season, “Almost, Maine” at Rodman Theater. Directed by Rudy Roggenkamp, the show is a series of scenes about different characters living in Almost, Maine.

The show has only four actors: Savanna Lancaster, Megan Ostrofsky, Tyler Portner, and Alex Wolfe. Wolfe described the show as “a bunch of little love stories about people falling in (and out of) love. It’s a show that has a lot of funny moments and some sad ones too.”

The scenes varied between heartwarming and heartbreaking, and the characters were well acted and endearing. Mixed with humor, “Almost, Maine” is an honest, and sometimes introspective, look at life and love.

The set is simple and allows for a variety of settings to play out with relative ease. The highlight was the special effect used to create the northern lights, which were a backdrop for the show. Sophomore Christina Price enjoyed the set, commenting, “It looked like a snowglobe.”

Auditions for productions at Mount Union are open to students of all majors and classes, including freshmen.

“We have a great cast and a wonderful crew. It’s always a pleasure to work together with so many awesome people to put together a quality show for others to see,” said Wolfe.