Reilly's Ramblings

My plan for my profile article is to interview/talk with either Dr. Valerie Hennings or Dr. Barbara Prince. They are two of my teachers this semester.

Dr. Valerie Hennings is the head of the political science department at Morningside College. She also runs the Col. Bud Day’s Center for Civic Engagement in the library.

For Dr. Hennings’ profile, I want to show how she is helping students engage in politics by knowing what’s going on in Sioux City, in Iowa, the Midwest, and the national levels of elections, behind the scenes of campaigns, and helping students understand the importance of voting.

For Dr. Prince’s profile, I want to talk about how she is a new professor on campus, what the transition was like to adjust to Morningside College, her backstory before Morningside, and what made want to come and teach sociology in Iowa.

Having a part-time job and being a full-time student at the same time makes me angry.  College students cannot do everything and balance the world while trying to get a higher education.

College students should not have to worry about trying to pass their classes while going to their part-time jobs to pay for their bills. It makes it harder for students to focus on what’s first or most important.

For most of this semester, I worked part-time at Thinker Toys, go to school full-time, taking 18 credits, and help out any way that I can for the Mass Communication Department. I worked every Tuesday and Thursday and every other weekend.

Weekends are where I can do a lot of homework to catch up or get ahead in my classes. It all worked out fine last semester but this current semester has been my worst.

I started my job at Thinker Toys on January 1st. I initially thought that this job would be straightforward and able to work very well with my school schedule.

There was just one big problem that was looming, the holiday season. The holiday season is the busiest time of year for Thinker Toys.

This time of year is where they make most of their money. The same can be said for almost to every retail store in the country.

When it came to school, this semester is the first semester that I feel like I’m falling behind and not being able to stay up-to-date on my classes and assignments. I have never felt this way before about school.

The problem started in August of 2018 when school started; it was easy to balance school and work. It stayed this way for over a month until the beginning of October.

The balancing of school and work is challenging for most college students. We, as college students, shouldn’t have to deal with the whole world being placed on our shoulders.

This feeling is familiar, and unfortunately, it will not go away for a very long time. College students need to spend their free time after class doing homework and enjoying the college experience.

From the beginning of October until now, my schedule has been mixed into a giant pot of stew. It started as a ball of confusion trying to contain it for as long as I can.

The store was getting busier, and school is for more of my time for activities outside of class. School comes first is the statement everyone has been giving me when I talk about the struggle of juggling school and work at the same time.

I finally decided to quit my job at the beginning of November. I told my bosses that I’m giving my two-week notice and they were expecting me to leave, which made telling them a lot easier.

I completed all of the days that I had left to work and my last day was November 19th. When my last day came, I didn’t have to work because I wasn’t scheduled to work that day.

When the next day came, it was a relief not to run around with my head cut off like a chicken anymore. I still have to deal with the last couple of weeks of school.

But, the great thing is that I’m not as stressed as I was earlier this semester. It will be a lot easier to finish all of the homework I have left for my five classes and pass those classes.

Being stress-free is excellent for college students because they don’t need all of this stress at such a young age. College students need to be in the now instead of the future. Time can’t turn back, so enjoy the present while you still can.

When you go to college, there are events that students go to have fun, be with friends, and support their college. One category of activities on a college campus is sports events. There is football, the biggest sports event attraction for college sports.

Football is the big sports event in the late summer to early winter or, in school terms, fall semester. Some other ones are baseball, softball, soccer, volleyball, and many more. One sport that comes to mind is basketball.

Basketball is second in the sports event attraction for colleges. Basketball is the sport that goes from middle of fall to early spring, or both semester of school. The basketball season lasts longer than football but doesn’t have the attention level like football. The scale goes up once the football season is officially over.

For Morningside College, the ranking for attraction and attention level for their sports is football, basketball, baseball, softball and then the rest of them. Each of the big four sports hand off the attention to next one after their season ends.

Sports events are a big part of the social scene for Morningside students. They get to see their classmates play their sports and cheer them on. The students also hang out with their friends at the games.

This scene is played out big at the men’s varsity basketball game, which was also their season opener game. They played against the Benedictine Ravens on October 30th, 2018 at Allee Gymnasium Rosen Verdoorn Sports Center on the Morningside College campus.

When you enter the doors for the Sports Center, you have to buy a ticket to see the game. For adults, it’s five dollars and for children, k-12, three dollars. But for Morningside students, they are free as long as they have their IDs.

Once inside of the gym, the thought of seeing the men’s basketball players from both teams warming up gives the audience a good chance to see them before they play the game and what to expect from both sides.

There is a student section for every home basketball game. That’s the same for other Morningside College sports that have home games on campus.

The gym was filling up very fast of fans, Morningside students, Benedictine students, and friends and families of both of the men’s basketball teams in every section. The student section was almost empty for about ten minutes, and then it filled up quickly.

To put it in better terms, it went from the Sahara desert to downtown New York City in a matter of minutes. That’s when the wave of fans and students showed up. So, arrive early to get a good seat before it’s gone.

For Morningside students, sit in the student section, you won’t regret it from the perspective of entertainment and memories. The student section at the basketball is the loudest, most energized, and most honest about their opinion people in the crowd.

The men’s basketball players came out of the locker rooms; the crowd cheered in excitement as their favorite team comes out to do warm-ups. Each of them performs their warm-ups on the opposite side of where their bench is in the gym.

The teams have about 10 minutes to warm up, stretch, and get a feel for how they’re going to shoot baskets in the game. The national anthem was played seven minutes before the game started.  Then, the starters for each team were introduced to the audience.

After that, the teams talked to each other to discuss the plan for the first half of the game. The starters went onto the court, and the game began. During the first half of the game, people in the student section were talking to each other and on their phones not paying attention to the game.

For the game itself, the Mustangs was making sure that their defense was improving from last season. It was one of Morningside’s most significant problems last season. Their offense was excellent with the score being 41-24 over the Ravens by the end of the first half.

When sitting in the student section, there are a group of guys who are very, very loud and can be heard outside of the gym and into the lobby of the Sports Center. They’re the hardcore fans and are the heart and soul of the student section. They can be heard throughout the entire game, which pisses some people in the student section off.

Katie McClintock, a Morningside student, had been to a couple of games last season. She said that she’s “sick and tired of that guy (one of the hardcore fans) always talking.”

She also said that it bothered her because she was trying to watch the game without any annoyance. But the reality is that there will always be those profoundly dedicated fans that are the loudest and most annoying.

During halftime of the game, the dance team went out and performed a dance routine. The audience was not that interested in the dance team’s performance. So some people stood up from their seats to go to the concession stand to get some food for the second half of the game.

Some of the student section didn’t get up to get food from the concession stand. They decided to sit and talk with their friends more. The thick smell of pepperoni pizza from Jerry’s Pizza filled the entire basketball court.

The teams came back out of the locker rooms with around 10 minutes left in halftime to rewarm up and try something different when shooting the baskets. The game resumed and the second half began.

During the second half, the hardcore fans became louder and harassed the refs hard every time they called a foul on either team. There was also a group of softball players that walked over people as they watched the game to find seats in the student section.

The Mustangs’ scored 41 points in the second half, but it was the Ravens that had the turnaround rally to try to take the lead. But the Ravens had no chance in the second half to catch up to the Mustangs.

The Mustangs’ defense pressure towards the Ravens was felt more in the first half than the second half. The Ravens were able to score more in the second half than in the first half.

The final score was 82-59. The Mustangs will get the first win of the season. The Morningside men’s basketball undefeated home streak is still alive.

After the game ended, people quickly got up and left the gym to go to their cars and leave. Some people stayed longer to wait for the basketball players to come out of the locker room or for the traffic to go down.

It went from being a mostly filled Allee Gym with lots of people making noise and watching the game to becoming empty and quiet as the nighttime. The gym becoming empty gives the janitors a chance to clean up the bleachers and basketball court floors.

Their next game is against the Dordt Defenders from Dordt College on November 10th at 3 P.M. in Sioux Center, Iowa. The next home game for Morningside students to attend on campus is against the Northwestern Red Raiders from Northwestern College on November 17th at 7 P.M.

Sitting so close to the action on the basketball court and the Morningside men’s varsity basketball players when they’re playing brings out the feeling of starstruck. The sense of excitement lasted the entire game shows how amazing it is to be a college student and enjoying the best years of your life.

That kind of energy brings out the joy of supporting your favorite team and wanting to see them play again in person. Every time that the men’s basketball team has a home game, there is always a nice to a considerable size of a crowd that comes out and supports them.

But for some people, the sense of excitement was there for them. For others, there was no sense at all. There was the feeling of when is this game going to be over and how long is this game.

Lindsey Smith, another Morningside student, said after the game that she “didn’t know how long the (basketball) game was supposed to be.”

Expect this thought process out of those who haven’t gone to a lot of sports event or don’t like sports in general.  Lindsey also said that this basketball is “one and done” for her.

That is understandable, and it’s O.K. to try something new or go to an event that you don’t like. The fact that you’re exploring new things and sports is what makes the college life what it is.

The basketball game is just one example of what it is like to experience a part of the college culture. There are more parts of college culture to be seen and heard, but believe that sports will have the biggest piece of this culture.

When the men’s basketball coach notices the crowd and how good they are, it shows how much means to the team to have that support from their fans. Going to a basketball game as a student means that you’re showing school spirit and that showing them that, as a fan, you have their backs in supporting them.

Coach Jim Sykes, head coach for the Morningside College men’s basketball team, said it best in an interview with Morningside College after the game. He said that the crowd was “good and fun night all the way around. You can’t ask for more.”

The front side sample to what the ballot looked like on election night.

The backside sample ballot to what voters will see on their ballot.

The sign voters see when they first walk in to vote in the midterm election, Iowa’s Voter ID Requirements.

The voting booth with a sign that is too out of date for voters to make their votes.

Voters put their ballots into the ballot box collector, and it counts their vote. If there’s a mistake on the ballot, the machine rejects the ballot.

Lindsey Smith- “I didn’t know how long the (basketball) game was supposed to be.” “One and done for me.” Camera work for basketball. Maybe use?

Katie McClintock – been to a couple of games before last year “I’m sick and tired of that guy always talking (next to us). It’s bothering me.”

Softball players walking over me just to sit next to me.

Story: As a mass communications major at Morningside College, going to a men’s basketball game was, in a way, typical for me. Helping out the video crew by seeing if they need any additional help setting up the cameras, have them connect to the director’s computer screen, etc. I haven’t gone to a men’s basketball game as just a fan. This basketball game is a college culture experience that I never thought I would be a part of in my college life.

I went with my close friend, Katie McClintock, to the game, the season opener for the men’s basketball program against Benedictine Ravens. My plan was not to go to the game alone. I arrived early to Allee Gymanisum and found out that the Morningside students go to the basketball home games free. I thought that I check on the video crew after checking up on the control room person, who is in charge of making sure that the game goes over the air. When I went up to the second level of Allee Gymanisum, the video crew had everything set up and waiting for the pre-game show to start.

I spent about 10 minutes hanging out with the crew and talking to two of the Intro to Mass Communication students observing the production of the broadcast. A Morningside fan came up and asked if the link to stream the game was working. The director, Jonathan Covert, checked and said that he hadn’t heard any other complaints about the link not working.

I went back to the first floor of Allee Gymanisum to find a seat for Katie and myself to sit in the student section. The first floor filled quickly with students and fans for both teams. The Morningside student section went from being a desert to downtown New York City in a matter of minutes. Both teams came out and performed warmups of shooting basketballs into the hoops.

I have never been this close to any basketball team before, even though I’m sitting in the middle of the Morningside student section. Sitting in the student section gives a new perspective on what the fans want to hear on the radio, what the broadcasters see on the basketball court.

Just being in the student section made me feel for the first time, an actual student at Morningside. The student section gives life and energy to any home game.

Looking around the basketball court before the game starts, there are people in every section of the gym.

(More to add)

Coach Sykes said in an interview for Morningside after the game that the crowd was “good and fun night all the way around. You can’t ask for more.”