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Show PAGE 4 UNIVERSITY JOURNAL CAMPUS NEWS ASB spends break in Mexico BY MEG CADY JOURNAL STAFF WRITER While some Southern Utah University students spent their spring break relaxing at home or shopping in Las Vegas, members of the Alternative Spring Break Club spent their week-long vacation giving service and improving the quality of life in Guayamas, Mexico, and surrounding communities. Nicole Bingham, assistant director of school relations and the club’s adviser, said this trip was one of the best. Bingham has gone on the trip for the last three years, once as a student and twice as an adviser, and said the trip went smoothly. Eric Kirby, a junior political science major from West Valley City, said he learned more on the trip than he gave. “Ilove it because it helps me refocus my life,” Kitby said. “It helps get your priorities back in order. You come back with a new perspective.” Club members left Feb. 16, driving two 15passenger vans, and spent the night in Phoenix. They arrived in Guayamas the following afternoon. The drive takes approximately 18 hours, but Kitby said it went by quickly because he was getting to know everyone. Students paid $250 to cover fuel, food and hotel rooms, playing with children. Only six or seven of the 25 students speak Spanish, and Kirby said some were worried, but a transformation took place in Guayamas. “The language that is universal is love,” Kirby said. “The communication is at another level. People could play with the kids for three to four hours with no Break club poses with kids and the problem.” kids paint during spring break in Club members described the experience as “lifealtering.” Shumway said students think they need to travel to find service opportunities, but those opportunities can be found here as well as in Mexico. “It was humbling and motivating,” Shumway said. “T Brooke Russell, a senior psychology/communication major from Chicago and ASB president, said the club tried to look for a variety of things this year. She said sometimes members didn’t know what they were going to do, but they jumped in and worked hard. ASB helped in a Catholic soup kitchen, where club members prepared food and cleaned serving areas. They The Alternative Spring also made bricks that will mural they helped the help build 30 houses and a Mexico. church. In Fatima, a community near Guayamas, students cleaned, repaired.and repainted a playground. Russell said it was rewarding to see the kids actually using the playground and to be able to play with them. Members also visited an elementary school in Fatima. They brought toothbrushes and toothpaste and taught the children a song about hygiene. The club helped with different projects in Empalme, a city on a peninsula that was damaged by a hurricane in September 2001. Kirby said some places were still muddy even after five months, and “essentially all [the] houses got blown away and the people are living in cardboard boxes.” He said they built an extra room onto one home, and the club also helped tear down a house that was being supported only by a cement building. Club members BY CYNTHIA KIRKHAM SENIOR STAFF WRITER Metcalf said her leg went numb from the hip down for eight hours, although she should have expetienced swelling of the tongue and “excruciating pain.” Even a new mural, then spent the afternoon 11, 2002 Wrestling Club to compete in nationals helped begin the process of building a new house. Ethan Shumway, a junior communication major from Orem, said students saw and killed about 30 scorpions while rebuilding the home. Nicole Metcalf, a senior communication majot from St. George, said one of the scorpions crawled up her pant leg and bit her. She said she felt it and grabbed.it, then she had to run around a corner and take her clothes off. She was taken to a Red Cross hospital. though she was bitten by a deadly insect, Metcalf said she is “ready to jump in [her] car and drive down there” anytime. Russell said she was hit in the face with a pickax when they were tearing down the last beam of the house. She said the trip had its share of surprises, but everything went well. The club also helped with Jerry’s Club, something Kirby described as an equivalent to the YMCA. He said they repaired and repainted, removed graffiti and painted MONDAY, MARCH Four members of the SUU Wrestling Club qualified to compete in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association’s national tournament, which will take place March 14 17 at Lafayette University in Easton, Pa. Luke Lyman, Wrestling Club president, said the club sent four membpbers to the regional meet March 2, where three qualified to g0 to nationals by placing in the top three in their weight class. Lyman and Jacob Hales, a freshman from Las Vegas, both took first place in their weight divisions. Broc Tatum, a sophomore finance major from Salina, Utah, placed third, and Kevin Thomas, a freshman from Fallon, Nev., placed fourth in his division Thomas received a wildcard invitation to the national tournament. Lyman said the NCWA was created for colleges who would like to compete in wrestling but do not have collegiate teams. “Back East it is really competitive, but it has just started out West,” Lyman said. He said this is the second year SUU has competed in the NCWA, and both years the club sent four members to the regional tournament. The West region has about seven schools in it, Lyman said, but hundreds of schools will be represented in the tournament. Because SUU does not have a collegiate wrestling team, Lyman said members of the Wrestling Club are on their own when it comes to training and coaching. “We just do it ourselves,” he said. “We start out every year with 1520 guys and it slowly dies down as [students] realize how hard it is.” Lyman said training in the club is up to the individual. The club usually meets about five times a week, but attendance is not required as it often is for collegiate competition. Going to nationals is a good opportunity for the club, Lyman said, because it will give the club a chance for “all-American status” and give SUU national exposure in the world of wrestling. Anyone interested in joining the Wrestling Club should contact Lyman at 559-2313. got to step out of my comfort zone. It was neat to see changes we made in people’s lives.” Kirby said the trip helped him appreciate what he has. “[Those people] live in cardboard boxes with dirt floors, yet yow'll never see happier people,” he said. “It was a great reminder about what this life should be. Happiness doesn’t come from material possessions.” SUU’s Ballroom Dance Team practices its routines for the end of their Russell said the club hopes to make other trips next year. Students who are interested in participating should contact her at russellb@student.suu.edu for season. The team will compete in Rexburg, Idaho, the end of this month and will also go on tour at the end of the semster to Hawaii. more information, Graduating Seniors in Arts, Social and Natural Sciences: Earn your MBA in 14 Months. It the middle of rhe block.. behind the clock With the accelerated ramp-up program available in the SUU School of Business, you can earn your MBA in as little as 14 months if you enter the full-time program. Part time programs with attractive late afternoon, early, evening schedules are also available for those needing to work. Assistantships are available. - Stop by and talk to our adviser ahout the MBA, or go _ online and see if our program is right for you. School of Business 83 North Main Cedar City ® 586-8341 435-586-5462 / www.business.suu.edu |