Each year thousands of college and
high school students from around the country participate in what are
known as Alternative Spring Break programs. Students are given the
opportunity to help provide decent affordable housing with Habitat
for Humanity or to work on the issues of HIV/AIDS or hunger and homelessness
in Washington, DC with The Pilgrimage, an educational and service
learning center in the nation’s capital. FULL STORY
The Scot promises the PIG
book and yearbook out soon
ALEXA BOYCE
Staff Writer
Some students may have noticed the lack of a PIG book this year.
Probably a smaller but still significant amount of students has
noticed the lack of a yearbook from last year. Both of these are
the responsibility of The Scot.
The former was a simple oversight, as the vast majority of the staff
this year is brand new. They simply did not know it was a part of
their responsibilities. The PIG book should be in campus mail as
soon as possible.
It turns out that the whole situation with the yearbook is a little
more complicated. Current editors of The Scot, Miriam Zinger
(06) and D’Juan Hartsfield (06)
went in front of Student Congress last week to explain their circumstances.
The staff of The Scot went through a bit of turmoil last year. Many
people quit unexpectedly and did not finish their as-signments on
time, if at all. Zinger’s guess was that people took the job
because it seemed easy, but did not realize the level of dedication
and time commitment it took to finish a spread. Former editor Holly
Honigfort (03) therefore had the job of preparing the rest
of the yearbook by herself. A graduating senior, Honigfort understandably
did not have the time to complete it. Since Zinger and Hartsfield
were not even hired on staff until one month from the end of winter
term last year, they may not even have known that the yearbook was
not completed. They definitely were not sure how to handle it this
year.
Since this oversight has been brought to the current staff’s
attention, they have arranged a meeting with her on November 8th
to find out exactly what is still missing. Zinger explains, “Until
we have [more] information, we cannot even give an estimate as to
what the timeline will be for last year’s yearbook.”
They hope to be on track by November 15th, and the editors will
select one staff member to fin-ish the book. The ultimate goal is
to have the completed yearbook into Jostens for production by the
end of the year.
The question has arisen now: Where did the money from last year’s
budget go? The Scot receives one of the largest student or-ganization
budgets through student con-gress. Along with ACUB, WQAC and the
Almanian, The Scot rounds out what many call “The Big Four.”
Many have wondered where the more than $51,000 from last year has
gone. Apparently, this situation is better than it looks. The staff
of The Scot does not get paid until they turn in an assignment,
or spread. The majority of the money is reserved for Jostens for
the printing and production costs. This amount was paid last year,
and Jostens has agreed to not penalize The Scot for the delay. Zinger
and Hartsfield want to stress that last year’s yearbook will
definitely be finished, eventually.
The co-editors report that everything is running smoothly and on
time for the current yearbook. They have added some financial incentives
to finish spreads on time and explained the commitment to each new
staff member carefully so that hopefully the personnel problem of
last year will be avoided.
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Service Learning projects kick
off the year planning Alternative Spring Break
ADAM ROSE
Staff Writer
Alma College students and
faculty are being given the chance to participate in National Hunger
and Homelessness Awareness Week by taking part in food drives sponsored
by Students Of-fering Service, Alpha Phi Omega, Service Learning, and
Marriott and to partake in one of three Alternative Spring Break programs
sponsored by the Discovering Vocation project. The two programs provide
an op-portunity for Alma students to reach out to the Alma community
as well as communities around the nation.
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SUN promises recycling for the year
KEVIN BRADY
Staff Writer
To
all Alma College students: when you print out the first of many drafts
of your term paper, remember to save the paper. Even though the semester
is winding down, the group Students United for Nature (SUN) is bound
and determined to start their recycling program now. Recycling has been
a major part of the work completed by SUN for the past two years.
Throughout the first two months of this fall semester, there has been
a period of misunderstandings between the physical plant and SUN in
order to successfully start recycling. April LaCroix (05),
president of SUN, says, “We are already two months into the program,
and it is ri-diculous we have not started to recycle.”
The problem has not been gathering people in order to recycle, but the
amount of money SUN can put into the recycling program as well as finding
a provider for these services. While communication between SUN and the
physical plant continues, action has been minimal. The student group
is provided with a specific budget each year, allowing them to buy a
certain amount of bins for recycled items. Such items include: cardboard,
paper, newspapers, magazines, plastics, and glass. Recycling has taken
place in the previous two years at Alma College and this year, the process
has gotten off to a shaky start. There is a need for more bins for the
recycling group in order for the program to maximize the amount of recycling.
SUN can only afford to place a certain number of bins in each dorm for
both North and South complexes. La-Croix says SUN has asked for assistance
repeatedly but to no avail.
There has also been concern from the student body whether or not the
items are actually being recycled. LaCroix assures everyone that these
items will indeed be recycled by the Waste Management Company who comes
to the college and picks up the items. Recyclable items are not being
discarded: they are, or will be, recycled by SUN.
It
is important for students at Alma College to be environmentally conscious.
In order for this project to succeed, there needs to be a sufficient
number of bins for each dormitory. There appear to be only two options.
Option one would be to increase SUN’s budget to offset the costs
of additional bins. Option two would be for Alma College and its physical
plant to step up to the plate and assist this stu-dent organization
with its mission. With the help of the physical plant, Students United
for Nature will operate a successful recycling program suitable to the
needs of Alma College and its students.
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photo
by Skip Traynor 