The Optimist Print Edition: 09.08.10

Optimistthe

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

acuoptimist.com

Vol. 99, No. 6 1 section, 8 pages

weatherinside

page 2

websitenewsThe ACU Locavore Club is eating only locally-pro-duced foods to support regional food economies and live healthy lifestyles

page 8

sportsThe Wildcat Football team won its first game of the season on Saturday against Washburn.

videoSenior linebacker Kevin Washington gives a behind the scenes look into ACU football.

81° 71°

Students in Dr. Ian Shepherd’s mi-croeconomics class knew their class would be different when they were handed iPads during the first week of classes.

“I think it has been very good so far,” said Kwame Twumasi, junior politi-cal science major from Accra, Ghana. “I really like the connectivity it gives us in class. You have instant updates, which makes class interactive.”

Twumasi is among the 50 students in Shepherd’s class testing the mobile device’s viability as a textbook – and serving as guinea pigs for a poten-tially groundbreaking idea.

ACU students, along with students at Seton Hill University and the Uni-versity of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, are among the first in the nation to use a digital iPad textbook as a substitute for traditional paper books.

Shepherd said using the iPad in class was hard at first, but has be-come easier with each passing class. However, he said the attention the class has received from the media, specifically from cameras, is proving to be a distraction. Shepherd said the cameras change the dynamic of the classroom.

“When 50 people try something new, and it works, it looks good on

photos by DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Above: Lily Assaad, sophomore psychology major from Cairo, Egypt, and Brittany Partridge, junior political science major from Annandale, Minn., use the iPad they received on the second day of class. Below: Matt Sanderson, sophomore accounting major from Lubbock, smiles as he types to connect to the network in class.

For almost two decades, Wildcat Kids has part-nered with ACU as a pop-ular non-profit organiza-tion among students. This year, ACU volunteers will no longer call themselves “Wildcat Kids,” but will instead be part of a chang-ing organization, “ACU for Big Brothers Big Sisters.”

Jamie Bearden, direc-tor of public relations for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), explains that a change of the name Wild-cat Kids was necessary.

“The name ‘Wildcat Kids’ was a great name, but it sometimes caused confusion for volun-teers,” Bearden said. “If someone volunteered in Wildcat Kids, they were also a Big Brother or a Big Sister and they went though the BBBS enroll-ment process.”

Bearden said volun-teers were often confused about whether to refer to themselves as “Bigs” or “Wildcat Volunteers.” This often caused con-fusion among students and child participants, especially with some the Wildcat Kids events.

“The ACU for Big Broth-ers Big Sisters Commit-tee used to plan separate match activities for just ACU volunteers,” Bearden said. “They will now as-sist BBBS staff in planning community-wide activi-ties and will provide fund-ing for ACU students to participate in these match activities.”

Tim Yandell, regional executive director of BBBS, said people will notice changes in several areas.

Service group changes name

COMMUNITY

Financial handbook explains budget procedures

Students’ Association of-ficers worked throughout the summer to create the “Financial Handbook for Student Groups” to help student organizations understand the budget process for the semester.

Chris Shim, senior finance major from At-lanta, Ga., said they looked at old hand-books and realized they

were overly complicat-ed. The new handbook doesn’t contain any new information, but Shim said it is easier to read and understand.

SA also conducted two meetings to explain the budget process to orga-nizations and distribute the handbook.

When Shim asked the students attending the first meeting who had been through the bud-geting process before,

he said only two people raised their hands.

“Having this meeting and the financial hand-book seemed to be a step in the right direction to inform and bring every-one to the same level,” Shim said.

Josh Morrison, senior interdisciplinary major from Abilene, attended the second meeting to learn how to request funds for the ACU Mod-el U.N. It was his first

time requesting funds, and he said the meeting was helpful.

“I feel equipped,” Morrison said.

Kyle Ferrell, senior agribusiness major from Weatherford, said he has requested funds in the past and was re-questing funds this se-mester for the Block and Bridle Club as well as the Delta Tau Alpha National Agricultural Honor Society.

He also attended the meeting and said he has seen students struggle with the process in the past because they didn’t know how things worked. He said the meeting was helpful and the hand-book was a good idea, but he said he thought the handbook could use a little more detail.

Shim said the first step in order to request funds is to fill out a budget request form available in the SA of-

fice. Organizations should attach any other forms or documents to provide rea-sons for funding and turn everything in by Friday. Forms can be turned in directly to the SA office or emailed to Shim.

After submitting the form, organizations should sign up for a time to meet with the executive treasurer to discuss the planned budget and talk

STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

Bailey NealPage Designer

see BBBS page 4see IPAD page 4

Wed. Fri.Thurs.

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Love of the Game, page 5

TECHNOLOGY

see BUDGET page 4

Linda BaileyEditor in Chief

Students test futureof digital textbooks

Jeff CraigManaging Editor

8:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Social Club women’s ranking in the Living Room of the McGlothlin Campus center

11:30 a.m. Gamma Sigma Phi rush

5 p.m. Galaxy rush

9 p.m. Trojans rush

8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Social Club Men’s ranking in the the living room of the McGlothlin Campus center

6 p.m. -10 p.m. Jamfest Auditions in the living room of the McGlothlin Campus Center

announcementsThe Paramount Theatre will show the film Nine: The Musical at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 10. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children.

Friday Sept. 10, is the last day to withdraw from class with a 60% refund.

Students’ Association Congress applications are available for pick-up in the SA office. They will be available until 5 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9.

Meningitis shots are now available in the ACU clinic located in McKinzie Hall. Call (325) 674-2151 for more information.

Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes will speak during Chapel on Sept. 13 in Moody Coliseum.

SALT, ACU’s Student Ac-tion Leadership Team, is accepting applications until Sept. 10. Students can pick them up in the Center for Christian Service and Leadership

in the lower level of the McGlothlin Campus Center.

New Collegiate Cards are now available in the Students’ Association of-fice, located downstairs in the McGlothlin Campus Center.

Study Abroad Fair will be held from 11 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Sept. 13 and Sept. 15 in the McGlothlin Campus Center.

Sing Song Host and Host-ess informational meet-ing will take place at 11:45 a.m. on Sept. 25 in Cullen Auditorium.

Omega Dance Co. will hold a workshop at 6 p.m. on Sept. 9 in University Church of Christ and 6 p.m. Sept. 10 in the Williams Preforming Arts Center lobby prior to auditions at 10 a.m. on Sept. 11 at Uni-versity Church of Christ.

Social Club Men’s Cof-fee will be held at 2 p.m. Sept. 2 in various places around campus.

Wednesday

7 p.m. Football game at Notheastern State University

10Friday

The United Way of Abilene needs volunteers on Wednesday, Sept. 8 for the Day of Sharing and Campaign Kickoff. A volunteer photographer is needed to take pictures of various projects during the day. They need a pro-fessional quality digital camera, and a computer capable of transferring images from the camera to thumb drive or cd. Oth-er volunteers are needed throughout the day to assist community part-ners in a variety of ways. Students may sign up as individuals or teams. Contact [email protected], or [email protected]

Meals on Wheels needs volunteers to deliver noon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities. Routes are available 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Monday - Friday. Volunteers must be at least 18, with a valid drivers li-cense, auto insurance and desire to serve. Training is provided. Students may be exempted from one Chapel per week if delivery time conflicts with Chapel. Contact Elizabeth Rodgers at [email protected].

Ortiz Elementary School Library would like volun-teers to help with checking in and shelving books, and also help with some special

projects. This can be done Monday - Friday. Contact Nancy Hartline at 325-671-4945 or e-mail [email protected].

Mesa Spring Healthcare Center needs volunteers 8am-5pm any day of the week to help with provid-ing fun activities for the residents, from playing a musical instrument to call-ing bingo to sitting and talk-ing with them. Any help is appreciated. Please contact Laura Reynolds at (325)692-8080 or [email protected]

Aimee’s Art Studio is seek-ing volunteers Tuesday from 9-10 a.m. or 1:30-

2:30 p.m. to assist with home school fine arts classes. No formal art skills or training is required. They are a 5-minute walk from ACU’s campus. For more information, please contact Aimee Williams at (325)672-9633 or [email protected].

Day Nursery of Abilene needs volunteers to help with their annual Putt Fore Children Miniature Golf Tournament from 8 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Satur-day, Oct. 2 at Prime Time Family Entertainment Center. Contact Sheila Cory at 325-673-1110 or e-mail [email protected]

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

calendar & events

08 Thursday 09 11 Saturday

5:30 p.m. VAHS interest meeting in Bible building room 250

6:30 p.m. Frater Sodalis rush

8 p.m. Sub T-16 rush

9:30 p.m. Pi Kappa rush

13

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2Campus Day

New student grouppromotes local food

The word “locavore” may sound like a fos-sil description, but be-cause of this new word, a new club will meet regularly on campus starting this week.

“Locavore” is used to describe people who eat mostly locally produced foods in an effort to sup-port regional food econ-omies and live healthy lifestyles.

According to their mis-sion statement, the ACU Locavore Club wants “to promote the health, en-vironmental, social and spiritual benefits of lo-cally grown food, and to participate in sustain-able, small-scale agricul-tural systems.”

Matthew Hale, senior communication major from Uvalde, and Evelyn Henshaw, senior com-munication major from San Diego, Calif., are two of the students organiz-ing and leading the new club. Both Hale and Hen-shaw became interested in local eating last spring after taking a health com-munication class taught by assistant professor of communication and Lo-cavore Club sponsor, Dr. Jonathan Camp.

During the past se-mester, the class focused specifically on com-munication around the slow food movement, said Camp.

Now Hale and Hen-shaw want to educate other students on the in-

formation they learned about the food indus-tries and the benefits of eating locally.

Since the spring, Hale has started a small sus-tainable garden and tries to eat at least three com-pletely locally-produced meals a week.

“How I go about buy-ing food and preparing food is completely dif-ferent,” said Hale.

Along with the in-formation presented in Camp’s class, Hale and Henshaw participated in a few Weston A. Price Foundation meetings.

“The foundation is dedicated to restoring nutrient-dense foods to the human diet through education, research and activism,” according to westonaprice.org.

The Abilene chapter meets once a month and teaches concrete ways to practice local eating, such as making home-made sauerkraut.

“I think that caught Matthew and I’s inter-est a lot,” said Henshaw. “Especially as college students, we want things fast. But you can actu-ally get natural, local ingredients, and cook them slow and in a bet-ter way.”

The ACU Locavore Club hopes to present practical ways to learn about local eating within club meetings as well as ways students can sup-port the local food econ-omy on their own. Hale said teaching methods will provide the infor-

mation that is necessary for someone to choose to begin and maintain the locavore lifestyle

“It’s like the more knowledge you have, the easier it is to make that choice between, ‘do I want to eat that snickers bar or a nice zucchini salad,’” he said.

Another club goal is to eventually support a community garden on campus. Hale and other club leaders are meeting this week with admin-istration to discuss this possibility.

We have to work some of those details out,” said Camp. “What we know is that we want it to be a multi-purpose space.”

Underlying all of the club’s goals is the belief that food is more than just food.

“It’s mainly about food, but then the rest follows,” Henshaw said

Hale believes that eat-ing healthy from the local economy not only im-proves one’s health but strengthens community relationships between consumer and producer while fulfilling God’s call of stewardship.

“It ties into what God says about being good stewards,” Hale said. “When you’re taking care of your temple, that glorifies God.”

The club’s first meet-ing is at seven p.m. on Thursday in the Sherrod Building, room 216.

STUDENT LIFE

Kelsi WilliamsonArts Editor

contact Williamson [email protected]

September 8, 2010 CAMPUS NEWS

September 8, 2010FROM THE FRONT

IPad: Class adjusts to device, attentionTECHNOLOGY

about what items are most important.

“I hope that student groups see the benefit of meeting,” Shim said. “Our of-fice is here to help them out. We’re all on the same team.”

The last step is to wait for the Executive Treasurer’s recommendation and SA Congress’ Budget approval during the meeting on Sept. 15. At this meeting, organiza-tions will find out the amount of money they will receive.

Shim said the total amount of money request-ed by student groups is always much bigger than what can be granted.

He said SA looks at sev-eral aspects of an organi-zation when deciding how to distribute money. He said they look at the sus-tainability of the group, how long a group has been around, the size of the group and how much student body involvement the organization has. Shim also said they can only give funding to groups who have been approved through Mauri Westbrook’s office (Student Activities in McKinzie Hall).

If an organization doesn’t receive all of the funds they requested, they have the option to request funds in front of the Appro-

priations Committee dur-ing their weekly meetings.

To request funds in front of the Appropria-tions Committee, the or-ganization must fill out a request form and set up a time with either the CFO or treasurer. After the Ap-propriations Committee discusses the request pri-vately, the organization is informed of the results of their request.

All budget information can be found in the Finan-cial Handbook for Student Groups. Copies are locat-ed in the SA office.

contact Craig [email protected]

Drama group to conduct auditions

Seekers of the Word, ACU’s on-campus drama minis-try, will hold open tryouts Wednesday.

The auditions will be held in Room 130 of the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Build-ing, starting at 8:30 p.m.

Seekers director Jacob Luedecke, senior psychology major from San Antonio, said the auditions are open to all students. No prior registra-tion is required.

“They just need to show up. They don’t need to have anything prepared,” Lu-edecke said. “They should just come as they are and

be as open and honest with us as they can through the whole process.”

He said details of the au-dition are kept secret, so no one has an unfair advantage, but he did say the auditions will regard some acting skill.

“The thing we encour-age them to do is come and be prepared for anything,” Luedecke said. “We don’t want one person to come in with a distinct advan-tage. We are a drama min-istry, so they will have to do some form of acting.”

Our group is devoted to promoting the teachings of Jesus in performance, Lu-edecke said. They usually perform two shows a month,

one in the Abilene area and one show out of town.

“Seekers is a traveling drama ministry that hopes to bring the message of God and Jesus through the me-dium of skits. We are a rela-tionally based group that is more of a family, because we do so many things together,” Luedecke said.

Seekers had 16 members last year, with 11 returning for this year. Luedecke said the have not decided how many new members to add. Those selected will travel with the ministry and will be required to pay dues of $20 per semester.

David Conley, senior youth and family ministry

major from Spring said he has made several lasting friendships through the club.

“The community and the family that I have in Seekers is incredible,” Conley said. “I’m closest to them, and they’re my best friends. I sure do love them, and they love me.”

Conley said new mem-bers should be aware of the commitment that comes with participating in the ministry as well as as the benefits.


STUDENT LIFE

contact Craig [email protected]

Hailey honored with Pope Fellows endowment fund

The Mel Hailey Endow-ment Fund was established this year to benefit an ACU program promoting pub-

lic service and to recognize the professor whose service directed the program for twenty years.

The Jack Pope Fellows Program was established in 1989 by former Texas

Supreme Court Justice Jack Pope (’34) in order to offer scholarships to ACU stu-dents pursuing public ser-vice careers. Approximately 20 juniors and seniors par-ticipate in the program and must work to complete an interdisciplinary 24-hour minor in public service during their last two years of undergraduate study.

Political science depart-ment chair Dr. Mel Hailey directed the Jack Pope Fel-lows program for 20 years from its inception.

“The content of the pro-gram itself in terms of curric-ulum was shaped by Dr. Hai-ley,” said Dr. David Dillman, current Jack Pope Fellows Program director and profes-sor of political science.

Dillman also said Hailey played a large role in plan-ning various activities for the Pope Fellows throughout the years. Hailey helped to bring

several outside speakers to the university specifically for the Pope Fellows Pro-gram and organized several service projects for program participants.

“Judge Pope all along has wanted to do something for Dr. Hailey,” Dillman said.

Judge Pope honored Hailey with the 50,000 dollar endowment fund this past summer at a din-ner in Austin.

“It was quite a surprise when Judge Pope estab-lished the fund,” Hailey said. “I was overwhelmed by his generosity.”

Dillman hopes to use the fund mainly for the Program enhancement by either bringing in more outside speakers or fund-ing Program presentations at outside conferences.


CHAPEL

contact Williamson [email protected]

BBBS: Focus stays on kids

“Wildcat Kids played a cru-cial role at ACU for years and years, but I also think that the main change will, in essence, focus in more on really what it’s about,” Yandell said. “Be-cause Big Brothers Big Sisters has one of the most recog-nizable names in the nation.

I think it will help them to be able to reach out to more students.”

The newly-named ACU for Big Brothers Big Sisters aims to change the attitude and group dynamic of its large group of participants.

“The committee will also strive to establish a ‘commu-nity feel’ amongst ACU Bigs. Their goal is help all of the

ACU Bigs feel connected,” Bearden said.

“The ‘Littles’ might notice a difference in the activities ACU for BBBS puts on. There will be a lot more college stu-dents, and those kids really like being around college stu-dents,” Yandell said.

COMMUNITY

Continued from page 1

contact Neal [email protected]

television,” Shepherd said. “If things don’t go well, that cre-ates a lot of pressure. When something goes wrong, it looks like it was my fault, or I was unprepared.”

Shepherd said his classes have always involved the use of laptops, so technology has played a part in his lectures as

well as textbooks. But he said the iPad is a more effective medium for student learning. He also said microeconomics prove the iPad’s worth.

“The story of microeco-nomics is about two key words: efficiency and pro-ductivity,” Shepherd said. “The iPad allows them to fo-cus on the intellectual con-tent of the book.”

He said developing course

interfaces compatible with the iPad, not just computers, has been the biggest struggle.

“The hardest challenge has been developing the new platform,” Shepherd said. “ Transferring things I have and making sure they would work on the new platform was hard, especially early on.”

Shepherd said the iPad will revolutionize the educa-tional system, with students

eventually having all of their textbooks on one piece of equipment. He said the iPad serves as a valuable tool even outside of the classroom, cre-ating continuous learners.

“Our class is lucky. They were given the text and the device,” Shepherd said. “The ability to have one device that you can carry around campus with all of your text-books on it is coming.”

Lily Assaad, sophomore business management major from Cairo, Egypt, said the iPad textbook has made the learning process more enjoyable, but the digital textbook still has some flaws.

“It’s a lot easier to read on the iPad compared to old textbooks, which are pretty boring,” Assaad said. “It works well, but it

is clearly not perfected.”Assaad said the main

problems she has encoun-tered involve text size and the highlighting function, but she said the iPad is still helping her in class.

“I love it,” Assaad said. “I think it’s helping out in class a lot.”


contact Bailey [email protected]

Budget: SA clarifies policiesSTUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

All-freshmen Chapelmirrors Cornerstone

On Sept. 14 Campus Con-versations will be starting up around campus for Tuesday Chapel.

This year the freshmen will be offered a special conversation in Moody Coliseum in junction with their new core cur-riculum.

“This Campus Conver-sation was made to ac-commodate the new Cor-nerstone class,” Casey McCollum, director of Leadership Camps, said. “We strongly recommend that all freshmen partici-pate in it as well as their Monday, Wednesday, Fri-day class.

McCollum is spear-heading the conversation alongside Director of Stu-dent Ministries Jen Rogers.

There are seven con-versations scheduled in the freshman series. They will run Sept. 14 and 28,

Oct. 5, 19, and 26 and Nov. 2 and 9.

Freshmen will be look-ing over Christian author Henri Nouwen’s article, “Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry.” Each of the three topics discussed in the article will be broken down and discussed individually as will their relationships to each other.

This type of freshmen-only Chapel is one of the first of it’s kind being of-fered at ACU, and the leaders of Chapel and Cornerstone have high expectations for it.

“Hopefully this Chapel will continue from year to year, and we’ll probably continue to use Nouwen as the curriculum.” Mc-Collum said.

Freshmen are not re-quired to attend the con-versation, but instructors strongly hope they do, as it directly pertains to the mate-rial discussed in their class.

This Campus Conversa-tion is open only to freshmen. Except for peer leaders in the Cornerstone classes, sopho-mores and upperclassman will have to attend another Chapel program on Tuesdays. A list of alternative Campus Conversations is available in the Chapel Office, but is not presently online.

“The webpage is not up right now, but by the end of the week students will be able to log on to my-ACU, click on the spiritual tab and then follow the Campus Conversations link,” said Emily Hood, a student worker in the Chapel Office. “That will take you to the page on the ACU website.”

Freshmen will be told more about the Campus Conversation in their Cor-nerstone classes. Upper-classmen should check their email for updates.

Matthew WoodrowOpinions Page Editor

CHAPEL

STACY ACTON // Staff Photographer

Dr. Mel Hailey, political science department chair, lectures in class Monday.

contact Woodrow [email protected]


FocusSeptember 8, 2010

Two pairs of American shoes shuffle through the dusty Cape Town streets. Jason Boone and Stephen Powell, armed with plastic bugle-like horns and eagerness, prepare the people for something that has never been seen by the African continent - a World Cup soccer match.

During their time in South Africa, recent ACU graduates Boone and Powell, served on a ministry team for Sports of Christ Action South Africa. They worked in a slum called Kay-amandi, near the Stellenbosch mountains. “Kids Games” was the name of the program. Serving over 700 children, the pro-gram served as a day camp or VBS. Volunteers taught memory verses, had drama presentations and played a good amount of soccer. Most importantly, Boone and Powell said they tried to teach the story of Christ.

“Kids Games is basically a VBS, and our job was to play games with the kids and show Jesus to them in that way,” said Boone.

The camp took place on all weekdays but Wednesdays. At the mid-week mark, volunteers had “Companion Day,” in which they served the surrounding communities.

Volunteers also wanted the South African people to experi-ence the World Cup in any way possible.

While they were in South Africa, they were able to attend three games, including the Round of 16 match – Spain vs. Portugal. Though they attending several games, the opening game, Mexico vs. South Africa, was their defi-nite favorite. They were not in the stadium for the match, however. During South Africa games, the crew set up a projector, allowing people that had no way to watch ex-perience the games.

“Being inside the tent with all of the South Africans and their horns was louder and more chaotic than any game we went to in person,” said Boone. “It was a cool way to let them experience it.”

Powell saw the World Cup as a unifying cause, creating community between South Africans.

“The whole scale of the World Cup, the countries in-volved, all the cultural aspects are what makes the World Cup what it is – that it truly is the whole world’s game,” Pow-ell said. “Every four years, this tournament makes the world stop and pay attention.”

Even though soccer played a large part in the unification of a people, Powell believes they had a greater purpose.

“Our bigger purpose was to love and spread the love of Je-sus amongst different countries and languages,” Powell said.

With this experience under their belt, it seems Boone and Powell are ready and willing to continue spreading the love of God throughout the world.

For the Love of the Game

ANDREW CONWAY // Contributing Photographer

Jason Boone, recent ACU graduate, spent time volunteering for an organization known as Sports for Christ Action South Africa. He interacted with many children throughout his stay in South Africa.

ASHLEY STEENKAMP // Contributing Photographer

ACU graduate Stephen Powell poses with a young girl from South Africa.

Photos by CULLEN DEES // Contributing Photographer

Above: Powell and Boone played with children during Kids Games, a vacation bible school type of program.Left: Community soccer field in the Stellenbosch mountains of South Africa. Scrimmages between the ministry crew and local teams took place here.

ACU graduates travel to South Africa during World Cup for ministry work

contact the Optimist [email protected]

Holton MattisContributing Writer

Altidude SicknessBy Juliana Kocsis

I knew something was wrong this summer when my mother informed me that I had a dentist ap-p o i n t m e n t the next day at 11 a.m., and I called to change it because I didn’t want to wake up that early. It was only when every ounce of my effort could scarcely get me into the car for my 3 p.m. appointment that I realized the severity of my condition.

I’m almost embar-rassed to admit it, but I was being lazy.

I had given up on em-ployment (and activities in general) after my best-laid plans of finding a summer job, with over 25 meticulously-completed applications replete with glowing references, never

even received a call back.So besides mowing a

few lawns, watching the neighbors’ kids, and tak-ing two on-line classes, I spent long a f t e r n o o n s in my ham-mock; I hiked an ar-ray of moun-tain trails, finished sev-eral books and three seasons of The Office, and enjoyed quality time with friends and family.

For most of the 97 days of summer vacation, my life was that of a stereotyp-ically-lazy college student. And I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

But even now, in the first few days of Sep-tember, I’m still recover-ing from this summer’s strand of unproductiv-itis that made it difficult to drag myself out of the house for all but the most pressing reasons.

Trying to settle back into a schedule and get my work done has proved rather frustrating.

That, I’ve decided, is the strange paradox of va-cations, the price we pay for relaxation. We need our rest, and we should spend time doing what we enjoy, investing in the people we care about on the rare occasions we have the opportunity.

However, this kind of thinking can become problematic. When I have a free day, I tell myself that I need to rest, that I’ll accomplish some-thing tomorrow, or next month, or when school

starts. Yet in doing so, I neglect the present and take the moment entirely for granted.

Instead, I have to con-stantly remind myself of the pressing responsibil-ity to use whatever time I’m given very wisely — be it at a desk or in my hammock.

Because laziness, as I found, produces in-difference, indifference produces lost ambition, lost ambition produces unproductivity — and unproductivity certainly does disappoint us.

Across campus, more and more classes are trying out the iPad as a learning tool and textbook alternative.

While only a small por-tion of the student body currently has the new Ap-ple product, we suppose this will soon change.

Students struggling to pay for tuition are un-likely to be keen on shell-ing out an extra $499 for the cheapest iPad. But compared to the price of textbooks, the cost doesn’t seem too exuber-ant. Some students have to pay upwards of $1000 for their books.

Publishers are releas-ing newer versions of textbooks every two or three years and charg-ing the full price of a new book for only a few modified pages and a new chapter. While this brings in more money for the publishing company, the main concern should be for the student. Cheap updates of additional ma-terials can be offered for a fraction of the price and also save on new format-ting and printing costs.

Instead of purchasing new books each semes-ter, the iPad is a one-time

purchase (until a newer version comes out).

More than just a text-book, the iPad is also a great note-taking tool. More similar to an iP-hone than a laptop computer, the iPad isn’t ideal, but its keyboard is faster than pen and pa-per. Plus, with it’s touch screen, more models and graphics can be used in-stead a mouse.

One of the biggest failings in completely replacing textbooks with the iPad is the lack of textbook variety. Cur-rently, there are more

hard-copy textbooks than electronic ones, but we believe as more and more students purchase iPads, and more and more professors assign electronic textbooks, its market will increase.

As the world contin-ues to go paperless, the electronic textbooks, readers and interactive devices will be utilized more and more.

Abilene Christian Uni-versity prides itself on its mobile-learning initiative and is constantly striving to be at the forefront of technological learning.

The iPad is presently the best and most diverse electronic textbook de-vice available.

The iPad was released less than a year ago, and already there are two classes using iPads full-time and others on rota-tion. This occurs on the campus of ACU alone.

So it may not be this

year, or in five years, but textbooks are be-coming outdated. In the workplace, employees need to function quickly and efficiently in a tech-nological world, and the iPad is a medium that is here to stay.

Opinion September 8, 2010

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.

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Optimistthe

IPad fills niche in technological worldEDITORIAL

Job well done is job never done

COLUMN

Middle Class HeroBy Alan Cherry

I had a job once, work-ing in heating and air conditioning. They hired me mostly to clean the floor.

I ’ m not talk-ing about hardwood f l o o r s , or bath-room tile or some-thing else s i m p l e and domestic. The floor I had to clean was the floor of a boiler room. There was dirt so thick ,that when you walked on it, you left footprints – like you were walking on the moon. You know, s u p p o s i n g the moon was brown and disgusting in-stead of the nice, clean, silver color it is. I just had to assume there was concrete under the lay-ers of grime.

I started with a mop and a bucket.

A few minutes later I had a very dirty mop, several gallons of brown water and a muddy floor.

Then I started hunt-ing around for a shovel, pickax or any sort of bulldozing equipment I could find.

Eventually I settled on a hose, which worked the best. I could only do little bits at a time be-cause the drains clogged so frequently, but after a few weeks, the concrete was finally visible.

Sure, it wasn’t some-thing I would volun-teer to eat off, but it no longer resembled a dirt floor. The difference

from the starting point to the state to which I had brought it was vir-tually night and day.

I patted myself on the back for a job well done.

My boss took one look at it and told me I had made a really solid start, then asked when I would be done, because they had other work I could be doing.

I was crestfallen. It wasn’t that my hard work didn’t matter, its just that sometimes ‘just good enough’ isn’t good enough.

So I went over it a second time, then a third and fourth, until

it squeaked when I ran the squeegee over it. I still wouldn’t have eaten something like a salad off it, but supposing I dropped a sandwich, I wouldn’t hesitate to ap-ply the five-second rule.

The floor was clean.My job done, I start-

ed replacing air filters, which had gotten filthy while I was working on the floor. Of course, by the time all the filters had been replaced, the floor was dirty again.

But that’s life. Ev-erything is entropic. Everything requires maintenance. Keeping everything clean re-quires dedication, the right tools and lots of patience.

contact the Optimist [email protected]

the issueThe iPad’s presence on campus effects the learning envi-ronment of the university

our takeElectronic reader will one day replace the textbook and further a paperless world.

Cherry

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Laziness hampers quality of life

Kocsis

COLUMN

I tell myself that I need to rest, that I’ll accomplish something tomorrow, or next month, or when school starts. Yet in doing so, I neglect the present and take the moment entirely for granted.

contact Kocsis [email protected]

By Morgan DavisThe Funny Funnies

I was crestfallen. It wasn’t that my hard work didn’t matter, its just that sometimes ‘just good enough’ isn’t good enough.

September 8, 2010 FROM SPORTS

Opener: Passing game paves way for success

Gale came up nearly every-day during the off-season to lift weights and to get some throwing time in with his receivers.

“I definitely worked hard this summer just to make sure that I was going to be effective and efficient leading our offense. I think that is something that I

struggled with last season a lot,” said Gale.

Simoneau made up for his fumble on the next Wash-burn drive, leading the Icha-bods on a drive that took just over one minute, capping it with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Joe Hastings. Simo-neau’s pass on the two-point conversion was incomplete, sending the game to half-time with the Wildcats up

17-12. Simoneau would fin-ish the game with 319 pass-ing yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

ACU’s opening drive of the second half was led by Gale, who was eight for eight on the drive, finishing it off with a four-yard dump pass to Emery Dudensing, who took it in for the score.

“Overall i think I did well, but after watching the film it

could have been a lot more sound technically. But we could have put them away a lot sooner,” said quarter-back Mitchell Gale.

After answering with a touchdown of their own, Washburn closed the gap to just six points and at the end of three quarters it was ACU 27 and Washburn 19.

After trading punts at the beginning of the fourth

quarter, Washburn put to-gether a drive that took them down to the ACU 16-yard line, where kicker Steve Ivanisevic had his field-goal attempt partially blocked by the Wildcats’ defense.

On the next ACU drive, Gale threw a 41-yard bomb to a wide-open Gates. The score proved to be the nail in the coffin, as the Wild-

cats held on for a 34-26 victory.

“It’s an exciting win for us,” Thomsen said. “We just feel fortunate to come up and be able to get a win. It means a lot for our team to start the season like that.”

FOOTBALL

contact Tripp [email protected]


Wal-Mart: Sophomores make early statement

sets with help from her team-mate, junior Cassie Carver, 6-2, 6-4.

“It was great getting a lot of matches to start the year, especially getting to play both doubles and singles,” Mongin said after the tournament.

Many other players had very successful tourna-ments as well, including

junior communications major and Dallas native, Nick Plum. Plum was able to make it to the final in his doubles flight. After the fi-nal, Plum said he has high expectations for the future.

“We obviously want a na-tional championship,” Plum said. “We expect to win re-gionals and hope to do at least as well as we did last year in the national tourna-ment [quarter finals].”

The season has now of-ficially begun, and many others like Plum have high expectations for the team, including Coach Jones.

“There are good things ahead,” Jones said, “good things for both the men’s and women’s Wildcat teams.”

TENNIS

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Goals: Offense improves

lot of one-on-one shots.”Freshman Andrea Car-

penter had another big game, scoring her second goal of the season in the 17th min-ute to put ACU up early. The Wildcats were able to add another goal in the second half when Julie Coppedge scored an unassisted goal in the 63rd minute.

“I think it all came to-gether for us this week-end,” Coopedge said. “We knew how much talent we had, but it was fun getting

to see it come together this weekend.”

ACU originally had a game against Hardin Sim-mons University scheduled for Tuesday, but because of rain the game was cancelled and will be made up at a later date. The Wildcats and Cow-

girls are looking for a time early next week when the game can be made up.

The Wildcats will travel down to San Antonio on Fri-day to take on St. Mary’s Uni-versity at 4 p.m.

SOCCER


Split: Resilience shows in big second day win

posted her first double-double with 35 assists and 11 digs. Freshmen Neely Borger and Madelyn Robi-nett stepped up in their first collegiate tourna-ment, each posting two blocks and two kills.

“Neely is such a phenom-

enal athlete,” Mock said. “She has consistently im-proved and did not play like a freshman this weekend.”

In the second day of action, the Wildcats again got off to a rough start, getting shut out by Regis College 3-0. It was the first time ACU had been shut out since Sept. 17 of last

year when they lost 3-0 to West Texas A&M.

ACU showed their forti-tude in the second game of the evening as they fought back for an exciting 3-2 win against Mesa St. Col-lege. Moronu had a stellar game with 12 blocks and 48 assists. Shawna Hines also came up big for the

’Cats, adding eight blocks and 19 kills.

“That win should light a fire under us,” said Robi-nett. “The seniors keep preaching that we should win conference, so this is just the first step.”

Even though the Wildcats are now 2-2, Mock is choos-ing to see this weekend as a

learning experience.“It was frustrating to

come out with two losses,” Mock said. “Even though we have a lot of familiar faces on the court, there is a lot of newness and fresh-ness to this team, which I really like to see.”

The Wildcats are in ac-tion again next weekend

down in Austin for the Hill-topper Invitational hosted by St. Edwards. They will play four games, two on Sat-urday and two on Sunday.

VOLLEYBALL

contact Gwin [email protected]



contact Cantrell [email protected]

We knew how much talent we had, but it was fun getting to see it come together this weekend.

JULIE COPPEDGE// sophomore soccer player‘‘ ’’

Sports September 8, 2010

Standings

FOOTBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUAngelo St.MSUTarletonTAMU-KWTAMUUIWENMUE. Central

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

1-01-01-00-11-00-10-11-10-1

NE St. 0-0 1-0-1

VOLLEYBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUWTAMUTarleton St.TAMU-KMSUAngelo St.

0-00-00-00-00-00-0

2-23-14-01-31-32-2

WOMEN’S SOCCERTeam Div. Ovrl.ACUAngelo St.MSUWTAMUCen. Okla.E. Central ENMU

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

2-0-01-0-12-0-02-0-01-1-02-0-00-1-0

Briefs

n The ACU women’s soccer game against Hardin Simmons was rained out Tuesday. The game will be resceduled as early as next week.

n Quaterback Mitchell Gale was named the Lonestar Conference offensive player of the week for the south divi-sion. Gale went 24-30 passing for 247 yards with three touchdowns.

n ACU cross counry runner Amos Sang won the Baylor Bear Twi-light Invitational while Cleophas Tanui finished in third. the Wildcat men finished second overall to Baylor. On the women’s side, Anais Belledant finished 20th and Chloe Susset was 24th. The women finished 5th overall.

PlayerProfile

n Redshirt Freshman Darrell Cantu – Hark-less will enter this season as the Wildcats return man on special teams. Cantu–Harkless had 163 tital return yards in Satur-day’s 34-26 win against Washburn. Cantu-Harkless had returns of 93 and 42 yards. His 93 yard re-turn is the longest non-scoring return in ACU history. Cantu-Harkless resides in Austin where he went to Crockett High School.

Cantu-Harkless

Intramurals

n Flag Football started this week. Follow ACU Intramurals on Facebook for schedul-ing and other news. Games will be played on Larry “Satch” Sand-ers Intramural field.

Tennis shows strength in tournamentThe men’s and women’s ten-nis teams began their seasons Sept. 3 and 4 with the annual ACU Wal-Mart Open Tennis Tournament. The tournament started in 1985 and has be-come a great tradition as the first tournament of the year for many local universities.

Each Wildcat player had four singles and three dou-

bles matches to play over the weekend. This didn’t wear down the Wildcats however, as eight Wildcats made it to the finals in their singles flights (brackets), and five pairs made it to the finals in their doubles flights.

Coach Hutton Jones said, “It’s definitely a physical test but a great way to get a lot of match play quickly.”

Sophomore Hans Hach won both his singles and

doubles flights, which was very encouraging for coach Jones, as Hach’s debut has been anxiously awaited. He defeated his Wildcat team-mate and fellow sophomore, Alfredo Desiati, in his singles flight final in three sets, 2-6, 7-6, 10-7. With the help of junior Jake Hendrie, a new teammate from St. Louis University, Hach was able to win his doubles flight final in two sets, 6-3, 7-6.

Hach was a very com-petitive junior tennis player in high school, as he beat multiple players ranked in the top 100. He came to ACU last year but was unable to begin com-peting for the Wildcats un-til this season.

“It was his first tourna-ment, and he won it,” said Jones. “Hans made a state-ment right off the bat. He is special.”

Julia Mongin, a sopho-more business management major from France, made the same statement on the women’s side, winning her singles and doubles flights as well. She beat her senior teammate, Jaclyn Walker, in a tough singles flight final match in three sets, 6-3, 1-6, 10-7. Mongin then won her doubles flight final in just two

Jeff JohnstonSports Reporter

TENNIS

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Mitchell Gale scrambles during the Wildcats 34-26 victory at Washburn. Gale’s scrambling ability plus the offensive line’s blocking limited the Ichabods to only two sacks of Gale throughout the game. Gale threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

see WAL-MART page 7

Wildcats ride Gale to victory

For the third consecutive sea-son, the ACU Wildcats won their season opener against a top-10 opponent. The No. 6 Wildcats battled for a 34-26 victory in Topeka, Kans., against the No. 8 Washburn Ichabods on Saturday.

Sophomore quarterback Mitchell Gale completed 24 of 30 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to victory.

Wildcats’ running back Daryl Richardson rushed for 74 yards and one touch-down in his first game as the featured back. Edmund Gates also came up big for ACU with 138 receiving yards and two touchdowns.

Washburn struck first with a Vershon Moore touchdown from the one-yard line. Moore would finish the game with 66 of the Ichabod’s 126 rushing yards. The Ichabods missed the extra-point attempt af-ter the ball hit holder Austin Hills’ helmet.

The Wildcats answered quickly as Darrell Cantu-Harkless returned the en-suing kick-off 93 yards to the Washburn six-yard line. Four plays later, kicker Mor-gan Lineberry kicked a 21-yard field goal, after miss-

ing his first attempt earlier in the game.

“Darrell has great speed and open field ability and he really showed that to-night,” said head coach Chris Thomsen.

The Wildcats did not score again until late in the second quarter when

Richardson scampered into the end zone with a 27-yard rushing touch-down. Lineberry added the extra point to put ACU up 10-6 with five minutes left in the half.

On the ensuing drive for Washburn, Dane Simoneau led the Ichabods down the

field to the ACU 43 yard-line before fumbling on a strip sack by Kevin Washington. Mike Jones recovered for the Wildcats, and on the very next play Gale found Gates for a 51-yard touch-down down the sideline. Gale threw three touchdown passes, tying a career high.

“We really thought that over the summer he ma-tured, and we were really hopeful tonight that he would put together that kind of performance,” said Thomsen. “We are super proud of him.”

Brandon TrippSports Director

FOOTBALL

see OPENER page 7

ACU splits first series

After a trip to Colorado over the weekend, the Wildcat volleyball team has discovered its identity.

The Wildcats went 2-2 over the weekend, but their last game, a 3-2 comeback win over Mesa St., gave head coach Kellen Mock a reason to look forward to the rest of the season.

“We figured out who we are this weekend,” Mock said. “It was important to finish with a win, and Mesa St., I think, was the best team we played all weekend.”

The tournament didn’t start out in the Wildcats’ favor. A gut-wrenching 3-2 loss to Fort Lewis Col-lege put the Wildcats in the loss column early. All five games were decided by five points or less with Jen-

nie Hutt and Jordan Schil-ling each posting double-doubles their first game of the season.

“Jennie is one of our most consistent players,” Mock said. “She brings it every game, and she really helped us this weekend.”

In the nightcap, ACU pounded Slippery Rock (Pa.) 3-0. Ijeoma Moronu

Austin GwinAssistant Sports Editor

VOLLEYBALL

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Shawna Hines goes up for a spike in practice Tuesday. ACU is 2-2 after last weekends tournament.

Defense stifles in two shutouts

The Wildcats opened the season with a pair of wins in Colorado last weekend. ACU shut out both of its opponents, starting the season off 2-0.

“We felt that it was a good start to the season,” Coach Casey Wilson said. “We learned a lot about our team, and we saw what we need to work on going into a pair of games this week.”

Last Thursday the Wildcats defeated the Mountain Lions of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs 3-0. ACU came out strong, scoring all three goals in the first half. Junior transfer Ash-ley Holton led the Wild-cats by scoring two goals, while freshman Andrea Carpenter also added her first goal as a Wildcat.

“We scored three in the first half and really caught them off guard. We really had the opportunity to score six or seven in the

first,” Coach Wilson said. “Second half, our offen-sive attack was not as good, but it was our first game; and we were deal-ing with the altitude up there.”

The Wildcats played solid defense, only giving up five shots. Elliott Lon-don played most of the game in goal and earned a combined shutout with Ar-ielle Moncure who played the final 18 minutes of the match.

ACU continued to play well Saturday, defeating Colorado State Pueblo 2-0. Elliott London picked up her first individual shutout as the Wildcats picked up its second win. London had eight saves in a solid performance at the net.

“We played well de-fensively. Elliott London really stepped it up and had a lot of great saves, especially in the Pueblo game,” Coach Wilson said. “She made some plays in the game and stopped a

Ryan CantrellAssistant Sports Editor

SOCCER

see GOALS page 7see SPLIT page 7

The Optimist Print Edition: 09.08.10

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