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Show Take Note: ;j Wednesday, April 19,2006 It's time to get funky! Attend the Busta Groove break dance competition tonight in the TSC International Lounge at 7:30 p.m. 797-1769 features@statesman.usu.edu AGGIE LIFE One down A freshman looks back at the lessons learned in his first year at USU "College! Yes! Finally, I'm moving out!" This is what I, Tyler Larsen and many other freshmen, were thinking last summer while packing our things to move into our new homes: the dorms. The first year of college is supposed to be one of the most exciting and fun times of our lives, and now that the first year is almost finPhoto ished, was it all it was cracked up to be? "I loved it, I was ready to get out of the house and be on my own: Therefore,rit was a Very exciting experience for me/' said Jamie Babcock, a freshman majoring in English when I asked how she felt while packing up her bags for the trip to campus. Who could forget pulling up to their dorm for the first time and unloading their things out of the car, usually with parents or relatives helping the move in. You stop, look at the building that is your new home, take a deep breath and go inside. You check in, then head up to your room and you see it. "Honestly, I was surprised at how they were set up and how small they were," Babcock said. You accept it. "This isn't so bad," you think. You unload everything into your room and hug your parents goodbye, maybe a tear or two is shed and you see them off. Reality hits you. You are on your own. There is no curfew, no one watching you to make sure you're making the right decisions. Once school sets in, you will have no one except yourself bugging you to get your studies done. This releases many emotions such as excitement, rebellion and, of course, a little fear. Most just push past these emotions and begin ABOVE: OLD M A I N IS A SYMBOL, known to all freshmen before they even come to Logan from pamphlets sent out by USU. RIGHT: THE JUNCTION OFFERS FRESHMAN food tailored to help them overcome homesickness and hunger. TOP RIGHT: THE MERRIL-CAZIER LIBRARY is the only library next year's freshmen will ever study in. FAR RIGHT: THE MOUNTAIN AND VALLEY View Towers are home to many freshmen during their first year. to unpack and meet their new roommates. This can be a very surprising experience. You just moved out of your house and are expected to live and get along with these new and potentially strange people. Whether it is someone from just another town, another state with different ideals, or maybe someone from a foreign country with extremely fragrant food, you just don't know what to expect. If all goes well, you get along with your new family and begin to prepare for the real reason why you are attending college - to learn! Right? OK, maybe not for everyone, but for the majority, this is true. This is the time when it is easiest to make friends, -since everyone has -something in common: everyone has this nervous look on their faces while searching for their new classrooms. In the end, we find them, sometimes after walking into the wrong class a couple times. After the whole moving out thing and new class • Y E A R ONE see page 7 6 Teaching what to do when behind the eight ball BY ASHLEY KARRAS Staff Writer While Rick Skinner may seem quiet sitting in his chair in the Bull Pen teaching students to play pool, the things he has experienced in his life are enough tofillthe pages of a very thick book. • Although the stories of his days before teaching pool to kids wouldfillmost of this hook, Skinner said he began teaching in Logan about 15 years ago to handicapped kids at the Logan Recreational Center. "That's how I got my job here. I interviewed for a different job and the person who interviewed me remembered me teaching the disabled children," Skinner said. The university had just let go of their billiards teacher, and the interviewer knew that Skinner was good with the kids he taught at the recreation center, he said. When Skinner started teaching at USU, he said there were two classes and 20 students. This number has grown to 17 classes being taught this semester and about 300 students. This ;keeps him at the university almost all dayfivedays week, Skinner said. "I really enjoy meeting everyone, talking to people," Skinner said. "Most students are just here to get a credit, but when some of them really get into it, really want to learn — I really enjoy that." As anyone who has picked up a pool cue for the first time might realize, billiards is a lot harder than it looks. "It's very challenging," said Skinner, who has been teaching at USU for the last eight years. "I've been active in a lot of sports in my life. Pool takes a lot more practice and effort than some sports." This visual sport requires good hand-eye coordination, Skinner said, with precision as the key and mathematics and physics coming into play. Skinner explained that most professionals will play anywhere from 10 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week for at least two years before they begin competing. "After they're pros they might only take a week off from playing in a year because it takes that much effort to stay on top," Skinner said. Thoughts of becoming a professional crossed Skinners mind, but he said he spent too much time playing in bars. ,.. After he got married, it didn't really seem to be an option, he said. Skinner says he had a different child; hood than most, noting that his wife is writing a book about his experiences. His father served in the military and by the time Skinner was 17 years old, he said he had moved 31 times. It was when he lived in Okinawa, Japan, his junior year in high school that he said his interest in pool grew beyond casual play at friends' homes. While not many people would find skydiving, flying a plane and deep-sea fishing underwater in scuba gear part of a normal childhood, Skinner said as a 9-year-old, he didn't know any different. From the early years of his life, Skinner had a very active life — much of what he learned from his father whom he describes as an extremist. TMy father] and his friends would throw their parachutes out of the airplane, then jump out after them, just for a thrill," he said. Skinner said his father taught him tofight,and when he was 9 years old, he was on a boxing team in Juarez, Mexico. "When I was young, I thought I was 10 feet tall and bullet-proof," Skinner said. About this same age, Skinner said he learned to fly planes, scuba and skydive. "My father used to have a small plane when we lived in El Paso, Texas. He would hang out the door and shoot coyotes," Skinner said. "How Scott Eri(kson/smerick@i(.usu.edu RlCHARD SKINNER PRACTICES POOL in the Field House. Skinner teaches all 17 sessions of the billiards class offered at USU each semester. > POOL PROF see page 7 4 1 « |