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Show LIFE WWW.UVUREVIEW.COM VOLUME LII • ISSUE 1 Oh say can you see... JULY 5, 2011 Miss UVU Crowned Miss Utah 2011 After a week of competition, it was a wolverine who brought home the crown. No? Well hold on, I'll get a sparkler BY KELLY CANNON Life Editor BY JAROM MOORE Managing Editor The Fourth of July is the chance for Americans to relax from work, spend money on something that is going to explode and to sit and watch floats go really slow past them. All in all it's the American way. My family, specifically my brother, spent last year's Fourth creating a homemade grand-finale. It was a large collection of fireworks, mostly illegal at the time, on a wooden shelf tied together with a bomb-fuse. It lasted around ten minutes. It cost around $200. This year will be closer to $500. This is the great American tradition. Fireworks have a way of sparking emotion in people. It is different for everyone. In Disneyland, the end of the night display can create romance, wonder and, for me at least, a childlike feeling. My most lasting firework memory is when the Denver Broncos won their first Super Bowl in 1998. We had extra fireworks after New Year's and lit them off after the final whistle. The Fourth fireworks are just different. I have memories of watching the Stadium Danica Olsen smiles at the audience before answering her on-stage interview question. CONNER ALLEN/UVU REVIEW COLUMN B6 For a second year in a row, Miss Utah is a Wolverine. Danica Olsen, a junior Communications major from Tooele, Utah and current Miss UVU was crowned Miss Utah at the 75th Annual Miss Utah Scholarship Pageant. In the weeklong pageant held on June 20-25, Olsen competed against 50 other women from all over the state. The crown was handed down from Christina Lowe, Miss Utah for 2010, who also held the title of Miss UVU back in 2008. For the next year, Olsen will put her academic career on hold to travel the state and the country promoting her service platform, "Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness" and acting as an official spokesperson for the Child Protection Registry. She will also serve as an ambassador for the Children's Miracle Network, the official service platform of the Miss America Pageant. She will also compete in the Miss America Pageant, held in Las Vegas, Nevada in January of 2012. Olsen stood out among the other competitors. While other women wore their hair down in curls that often hid their faces, Olsen tied her hair back in a ponytail, allowing the judges and audience to see her bright smile For the talent portion of the preliminary competition, Olsen danced to a modernized version of "Come Fly with Me" by Frank Sinatra. Her black evening gown was one of the few "mermaid-cut" dresses in the competition, which she pulled off with ease. After the first night of preliminary competition, Olsen felt confident about her performance. "I feel great," she said. "I'm ready to go forward with more charisma and strength." Never forgetting that she represents the university, Olsen showed off her school pride during the "Show Me Your Shoes" event held on Monday, June 20. Olsen sported white Go-Go boots with the letters UVU written in white and green sequins. "I was really proud to wear UVU on those boots," she said. "I feel great. I'm ready to move forward with more charisma and strength." - Danica Olsen Miss Utah 2011 While being Miss Utah, Olsen will receive free housing at Wolverine Crossing complex located across from campus and a new car, donated by Murdock Motors. After completing her yearlong term as Miss Utah, Olsen will return to her studies with a $10,000 scholarship. The first runner up to Olsen was Miss Pioneer Valley McKenna Wheeler, who will receive a $3,000 scholarship. The second runner up was Miss Davis County Ciera Pekarcik, who will receive a $1,500 scholarship. Matthew LaPlante Thick skin, soft heart BY JEFF JACOBSEN Life Writer Towering over the students on a table in the middle of a classroom, Matthew LaPlante, a freelance writer and adjunct journalism instructor, crouched down in jeans and a t-shirt. His booming, matterof-fact voice never deviated from its full volume as he articulated the current decline of newspaper journalism to his class. LaPlante's defiant streak attracted him to journalism and has served him well in his career. A closer look at LaPlante, though, shows that underneath the tough exterior lies a soft side. His facade melted when he spoke about his 4-year-old girl. "Nothing that I think about anymore is more than a degree or two removed from my daughter," LaPlante said with a lowered voice, weighted with sincerity. LaPlante's blog, mdlaplante.blogspot.com , is capped with a conspicuous statement from Bill O'Reilly - posted like a badge of honor at the top of the page - about how terrible LaPlante is. As a journalist, LaPlante never worries about being everybody's friend. "Most times it's out of my hands anyway," LaPlante said grinning Starting out in Freemont, California, LaPlante learned early from his father, a sports columnist, about the frailty CONTACT: of the newspaper reporting industry. Just two years after landing a coveted column writing about Stanford football, LaPlante's father lost his job when the paper he worked for, the Peninsula Times Tribune, closed down. After losing his job, LaPlante's father warned not to invest in a dying profession, but this only made LaPlante more determined. LaPlante's defiance served him well as a reporter, and his talent soon earned him the Society of Professional Journalists' National Mark of Excellence Award for feature writing in 2001. One of the best weeks of his life, LaPlante said, was seeing people all over Corvallis, Ore. read one of his articles. The town was buzzing about five-day feature story in Oregon State's newspaper The Daily Barometer, written over the course of a year, detailing the life of a lesbian couple and how their lives changed after choosing to have children. "Making people connect with other people and have to think about how similar we all are instead of how different we all are was really thrilling to me," LaPlante said. LaPlante's passion and expertise is a great resource to his students. After nearly seven years as the national security reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune, LaPlante has shifted from a reporting-focused career to teaching. Where are you from? Freemont, California home of Charlie Chapman and MC Hammer — other than that, there's not much going on there. addiction that I'm pretty convinced that I got while I was in Iraq. I also like a good scotch and a good cigar occasionally. Where would you go if you won a trip anyWhere did you get your where in the world? On the record? Anywhere Bachelor's Degree. Oregon State University What was your favorite class while getting your undergrad? An astronomy class I took my senior year, where I sat next to the woman that would later become my wife. We both got really bad grades, but we did complete many homework assignments of going out to look at the stars. What motivates you to do the things you do? Because my daughter is going to graduate into this democratic society, which is sustained by journalism, I want journalism to be strong. What was the best movie you saw in the past year? I don't watch a lot of movies, but I would say that How to Train Your Dragon is the best movie I've seen all year. What is your guilty pleasure? During the winter I snowboard and during the summer I ride a motorcycle. I think those stem from an adrenaline my wife wants to go. Really though, I would probably use it to go do journalism somewhere. Describe what you would consider a perfect day. The day my daughter was born - every day since. I've seen way too many people with really terrible lives to think that I have anything short of the perfect day every day. If you could share one piece of advice with all the students here on campus, what would you tell them? Care. A very small percent of the world population gets to have a college education. I think that if more people realized how blessed they all were, they would take their education more seriously. I'm not saying you have to get good grades, or even do your homework all the time, but I'm saying you gotta care you gotta engage. LIFE EDITOR ASST. LIFE EDITOR Iifesectionuvu@gmail.com archange1709@gmail.com KELLY CANNON ALEX SOLOMAN GILBERT CISNEROS/UVU REVIEW Professional journalist Matthew LaPlante shares his passion for journalism both inside and outside the classroom. Check out Matthew LaPlante's blog at mdlaplante.blogspot.com LEAD DESIGNER CARLY MONTGOMERY carlym215@gmail.com |