OCR Text |
Show Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 Page 4 A&EDiversi Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Secretaries: directing from behind the scenes APRIL ASHLAND features senior writer Marsha Hunt greets the students who walk into her office with a smile and a glowing face as she calls them by name and asks them about their classes and projects. "When do you leave for New Jersey?" she asked Brady Utley, a graduate in geology, who is headed to the East Coast to pick up a tool for a research study in Green River, and talked to him about the specifics of his trip. Hunt is the business assistant for the Geology department, one of the many titles of a secretary at USU. Hunt said she and Jean Daddow, her staff assistant, are the ones who keep the department together by keeping the little things in order as well as organizing the big things. "If Jean or I weren't here for two or three days consecutively, the department would have a hard time," she said. "Our faculty are great, our students are great, but Jean and I are in the trenches. We take care of the nuts and bolts." Hunt said the nuts and bolts are things like paperwork, accounting, organization and even things as seemingly small as supplying the correct toner for the correct printers. "Jean has a book with how much toner and what kind everyone needs, and she keeps track of it," Hunt said. "For example, if someone needs yellow toner and doesn't have it, they're screwed. So we do things like that." Hunt also takes care of the employee forms when the department hires new people and organizes when companies come in to interview students. She helps the students and teachers stay organized. Hunt and Daddow also do some of the larger things, such as making some of the decisions about how the office and department are run. Hunt said the two reorganized how the main office is laid out after theft of rocks in 2011 and opened up different areas for graduate and undergradu- ate students. Hunt said life in the office and the department is always busy, and there is no such thing as downtime in the geology department. Hunt said after the spring semester ends and many of the students leave, the department has field camp where the graduate students host and the faculty teach modules. It's always "up time" in her eyes. "Students come back from the summer in August and they ask if we've had a quiet break without the students here," Hunt said. "And I always tell them, 'You're crazy.' There is no quiet here." Hunt said Daddow does most of the traveling with the geology field trips and does more travel in six weeks than anyone from any other department. Hunt said each of the geology classes has field trips, from visiting Green Canyon to Jackson Hole, Wyo, and she and Daddow do the paperwork for all of it. She said the two have to work as a team. "It becomes a real collaboration with me and Jean," she said. "If I don't give her a bill, she can hold onto paperwork for weeks." Hunt said she knows the students who come into her office, but she also strives to be sure the faculty and staff are happy and to help them do their best. "The other day, Jim came in and he sat in that chair and just breathed," she said. "I said, 'Hard morning?' It had been a very difficult morning." But Hunt said she, as well as the faculty, are really at USU doing their job for the students, a philosophy staff assistant Carolyn Brittain agrees with. "The students are the best part of my job, and I like the several hundred I work with," Brittain said. "A couple years ago, I had one freshman boy who came in every day for three weeks to ask where buildings on campus were." Brittain said she does all manner of See SECRETARIES, Page 5 MARSHA HUNT, THE BUSINESS ASSISTANT for the geology department, said she and her staff take care of the nuts and bolts of the department like paperwork, accounting and supplying toner. DELAYNE LOCKE photo A nice day for an undead weddin BY KYLE HEYWOOD staff writer GEORGIA KOSMALA, A SENIOR MAJORING in biology, holds a snake in a herpetology lab. She is studying at USU as part of the Brazil Science Without Borders program. Photo courtesy of Georgia Kosmala Science without borders Program brings science students to USU from Brazil BY KATELIN CHRISTENSEN staff writer Breitner Marczewski, Fabricio Nogueira, lardel Cocconi and Georgia Kosmala came to USU through Brazil Science Without Borders, a program sponsored by the Brazilian government, allowing students to study at an American university for either a semester or a year. "We just received our first group of four students, but we might be receiving more for spring semester," said Carlos Munoz, coordinator of International Student Recruitment. "This is a brand-new program." Munoz said the program allows students to experience culture and education in another country. "When you come from a different country, you have a different view on how things are approached," he said. "I think if kids come here and see the different approach on science, they can go home and apply it." Munoz said the program also benefits the university culturally and economically. "It helps President Albrecht and the university to continue with internationalization of campus and curriculum," he said. Munoz said while the program is beneficial, the selection process isn't easy. "Not everyone who applies is selected," he said. Munoz said once the students arrive, they are treated and act like any student. "Just like any student here, they already have picked a bachelor's degree," Munoz said. Breitner Marczewski, a senior majoring in renewable energy, is a Brazilian student who came to USU through the Science Without Borders program. Marczewski said he applied for the program because he wanted to get a cultural as well as academic education. "I have always dreamed to study abroad because it can expand your mind for the problems and solutions over the world," Marczewski said. Although he didn't get to choose where to go, Marczewski said he likes it in Utah. "Here you have a beautiful nature, like the mountains and the parks," Marczewski said. "I am learning a lot being here and I have See BRAZIL., Page 5 Romances can start anywhere — even while chasing after someone and trying to turn them into a zombie. Todd Hicken met his wife Kayli after playing a game of Humans vs. Zombies in the fall 2011. They were engaged the following spring at the conclusion of another Humans vs. Zombies week, and a short version of the game was included at their wedding reception this summer. According to humansyszombies.org, "Humans vs. Zombies is a game of tag. All players begin as humans, and one is randomly chosen to be the `Original Zombie." Humans can defend themselves by running away or "stunning" a zombie by shooting them with a Nerf dart or hitting them with a homemade sock grenade. Buildings are "safe zones" where the game does not take place. The game is popular across the world but especially on college campuses, according to humansyszombies.org . After enjoying the game for a week on USU campus, Todd was discussing the results of the game on the Humans vs. Zombies Facebook page. Kayli was also commenting on the page, and the two decided to start hanging out. Todd and Kayli soon became close friends, and the relationship eventually developed into much more. The couple dated during the winter and into the spring. In March 2012, Humans vs. Zombies began again on the USU campus. This time, Kayli started as a human and Todd started as a Zombie. "I was a zombie from the start so it was different to be playing against Kayli," Todd said. "But we set up meeting times in safe zones where we could see each other plenty." Todd said he was asked several times by other zombies for information on Kayli so they could tag her and make her join the zombie team. "They wanted me to give them her class schedule and tell them where she would be," Todd said. "I wasn't about to sabotage my own girlfriend, especially when I was planning a very special ending to the game for both of us." At the end of the week when the game was over, the players all gathered for some closing remarks by the game's organizers. Todd got up in front of the crowd and began thanking people for participating in the game. Then Todd turned his attention to Kayli. "The person I really need to thank is my girlfriend," Todd said, pulling her up in front of the crowd with him. He then asked Kayli to marry him KAYLIA AND TODD HICKEN met through "Humans versus Zombies" and used the game for their wedding theme. SAMANTHA BEHL photo right in front of hundreds of zombies and surviving humans. The crowd responded by cheering, yelling and even shooting darts into the air with their blasters. Over the summer, Todd and Kayli Hicken were married. At their reception, Todd organized a small version of the game for guests to play. The reception took place at the Logan LDS Institute of Religion but because of the limited space available, the game was played in the cultural hall and kitchen. "Our families had mixed feelings about having Humans vs. Zombies be a part of our engagement and reception," Todd said. "But in the end, they really just wanted us to be happy and knew it was a big part of our relationship and that it was important to us." Many of Todd and Kayli's friends and family played the game during their wedding reception, allowing the guests a glimpse into the game that started the Hicken's relationship. "To have a cookie-cutter wedding would be so boring and forgettable," Kayli said. "I love how unique Todd was and how we put Humans vs. Zombies into our reception." The couple continue to play Humans vs. Zombies. "We plan on playing HvZ for a while," Todd said. "We really enjoy it, and it's a big part of our relationship." –kvlekheywoodakmaiLcom |