Ball State’s Residence Hall Association helps campus feel more like home
Growing up in Fremont, Indiana, senior biology education major Jackie Weisenfelder said she experienced a “shift in community” when she came to Ball State.
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Growing up in Fremont, Indiana, senior biology education major Jackie Weisenfelder said she experienced a “shift in community” when she came to Ball State.
The Ball State Quidditch Team is away this weekend competing in the 2019 U.S. Quidditch Great Lakes Collegiate Regional Championship. In 2017, BSU secured first place and this year the team is looking to reach that height once again. Max Jolly, a senior architecture major, and head coach of the quidditch team at BSU, said he’s confident in this year’s team. “I’m personally feeling really good about how the team is going into regionals. We’ve improved a ton over this season, and we’ve had a lot of really positive feedback from the quidditch community… This weekend we’re going to be bringing a full roster (21 athletes) and I think everyone is really going in with the right mindset,” Jolly said. Jolly used this week’s practices to prepare for regionals. For the Oct. 29 practice, the team scrimmaged for the entirety of practice to get as much playing time as possible. Then, for the Oct. 31 practice, the team had a game film night to study up on their competition. “It’s going to be difficult; teams always bring their a-game to regionals. It’s the most important tournament of this semester. Everybody is gunning to get a bid for nationals and trying to get that first-place spot at regionals, that’s the excitement of it,” Jolly said. Favian Cervantes, a senior architecture major, and a chaser for the quidditch team at BSU, recently joined the team and hasn’t ever played quidditch before. Cervantes is both excited and a bit nervous to travel to regionals. “Honestly, I think it’s (regionals) going to be times 10 of what I’ve had in my mind at least. We’ll see this weekend, but I’m expecting to see a lot of people hyped for regionals and trying to reach that next level,” Cervantes said. 14 teams are scheduled to compete at the Great Lakes regional championship according to U.S. Quidditch. Ball State Cardinals BearTrain Quidditch Bowling Green State University Carnegie Mellon Quidditch Club Cleveland State University Vikings Grand Valley Grindylows Indiana State University Quidditch Indiana University Quidditch Club Miami University (OH) Quidditch Michigan Quidditch Team Michigan State Quidditch Ohio University Quidditch Club Quidditch Club of Pittsburgh WVU Summit Elizabeth Pruim, a sophomore religious studies major, and a 2019 season chaser for the Indianapolis Intensity, a major league quidditch team, said she’s proud of how far the BSU team has made it before regionals. “I’ve seen a lot of improvement in us over the past couple of months. A lot of our team is new this year, about 70 percent of us. For the most part, we understand all of the basics and then even past that,” Pruim said. The Ball State Quidditch Team did compete in regionals last year and Pruim believes the team this year has a good shot at placing in the top three. “It’s been our dream this entire semester to finish top in regionals and just show that Ball State is back to what we were used to be,” Pruim said. The 2019 USQ Great Lakes Collegiate Regional Championship takes place this weekend at the Voice of America Park in West Chester Township, Ohio. Teams arrived on Friday and games start Saturday with the final games to be held Sunday.
Editor's note: This story has been updated.
Story and Photos by Eben Griger On Wednesday, Cardinal Esports hosted a conference with Paul Todkill, a project manager, producer, and caster for ESL. ESL is the largest official eSports organization, hosting tournaments across the globe. Using Discord video chat, Todkill was able to sit down and talk with Cardinal Esports about how he got involved with esports, what his job at ESL entails, and then took questions from various members of Cardinal Esports. Todkill talked extensively about the pros and cons of being in the esports business. “I would say one of the easiest parts of the jobs is that it’s something… we’re super passionate about. I don’t think there’s a lot of people here where its not something they care about deeply. But that’s sort of a double-edged sword in a lot of ways because, because its such a passion project for so many people. People are out there grinding nonstop… we are working our butts off all the time, every project... Because that’s how you do it. The second you stop, there’s somebody younger, there’s somebody hungrier who wants to come and take your job.” [ngg src="galleries" ids="32" display="basic_thumbnail" thumbnail_crop="0"]Todkill also talked about how to set yourself up for success on the casting side of eSports. “I think the single biggest tip I can give somebody starting out is to find a good co-caster. Because there are so many bad habits you develop when casting on your own.” Todkill explains. “The second most important thing… you are a storyteller. You are there to tell the story of the match, the story of the players, to say why this is important.” Todkill went on to say that anyone can look at the screen and recognize a good play, but it is the casters job to add to it by giving context to things that happen in the match. The biggest audience for eSports, in Todkill’s opinion, is people who already understand the game and are trying to get better. According to Todkill, one of the most important skills for an eSports broadcaster to have is the ability to “break [the game] down to the audience in layman’s terms, but without belittling their intelligence.” Todkill also touched on the importance of being able to learn and take constructive criticism, knowing your way around both sides of the camera, and his favorite flavor of PopTart (which was strawberry).
by Baylie Clevenger The homecoming season brings plenty of energetic events jam-packed with school spirit. Every year, Ball State hosts the annual Air Jam in Emens Auditorium. Air Jam features different student organizations like residence halls, independent organizations, and Greek life. The groups choreograph a dance and lip-sync to popular music. At the end of the show, the performers receive awards like fan favorite, independent winner, and overall winner. Before the show, student Carter Miller, a senior who has previously performed at Air Jam with Phi Kappa Psi, said that he was excited to take a break from performing to watch all of the fun unfold. “Watching my friends perform sounds pretty fun,” Miller said. Jake Maple, senior, also said he was excited to attend his first Air Jam. “I think it will be a little bit quirky… I think it’ll be a good time, it’ll be interesting,” Maple said. [ngg src="galleries" ids="31" display="basic_slideshow"]At the end of the night, some of the winners included: Delta Zeta for best Greek life performance and Studebaker West for best residence hall performance. The overall winner of the night was Outlet. According to Benny Link, "Outlet is an all hip-hop dance team that was started in 2003 as an ‘outlet’ for students to get away from the stress of schoolwork and everything else that comes along with college. Outlet is known for their performances at Air Jam, being overall grand champs 9 times in a row. We perform at various events around and on campus and hold our own showcase at the end of the spring semester.”
The homecoming season brings plenty of energetic events jam-packed with school spirit. Every year, Ball State hosts the annual Air Jam in Emens Auditorium.
Ball State’s Homecoming Court continues to hold seats for more than just college students as four children take up royal roles for the third year in a row. This year’s young court consists of Princess London Braun, Prince Lucas Heiden, Lad Caden West and Lady Blakely Clark.
Since first getting involved in theater his junior year of high school, junior theater major Chase Strange said his role in the upcoming Department of Theatre and Dance play, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” allows him to explore areas as an actor he has never had the opportunity to delve into before.
Under the red and blue stage lights of Emens Auditorium, Homecoming General Chair Hanna Kadinger crowned members of the 2019 Homecoming Royalty Court during the 35th annual Homecoming Talent Search.
“Michael Martone was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, or maybe Scott County, Iowa … His nickname was Dolly or peanut or bug or Michie. He’s written more than a dozen books, maybe more. He might be a fiction writer or nonfiction hybrid.
On a given day, Henry Velandia could be more than 600 miles from his husband.
by Blake Chapman Ball State University Libraries held the Tech Fair in Bracken Library on Sept. 24 and 25 to present faculty and students with tools and solutions for the academic year and beyond. Multiple organizations across campus including University Technology Services, the Digital Corps, and the Division of Online and Strategic Learning presented hands-on learning sessions across the library. Tech Center consumers got crucial information about the programs they demanded the most. “The focus and primary goal of the Tech Fair this year was to introduce faculty to technology tools and solutions available on campus that can be used to enhance the classroom experience,” Brad Faust, the University Libraries co-chair, said in an email. Information sessions on Box.com and the Adobe Creative Cloud were the most popular, but they were not the only hands-on presentations offered to students and faculty. Learning sessions on topics like Canvas, Print Smart facilities, Qualtrics, and Web Archiving were available to attendees as well. Vendors like Apple and Microsoft were also brought in to better explain the potential for productivity with their products, including iPads in the classroom and Office 365 respectively. When it comes to the future, University Libraries has engaged with groups like the Student Government Association to react to student ideas and keep up with demands of the community. Focus groups, surveys, and unsolicited comments have also provided comments on new services and programs that Faust hopes “we can use [that information] to plan and develop future activities and events.” Information technology hopes to better future opportunities with partners like Dell, Adobe, and others to showcase products available to the Ball State community.
“Everybody needs something to take care of.”
Three days a week, the sound of trumpets honking, drums clashing and color flags whipping through the air echoes through campus from the lawn outside Worthen Arena as Ball State’s Pride of Mid-America Marching Band practices.
“Painting isn’t only about self-expression, and it’s not only about translating experience into form. I think making art really has to do with advocating a position.”
When junior acting major Ogunde Snelling found out he was cast in the Department of Theatre’s upcoming production, “Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet,” he said it was insane how similar he was to his character, Marcus, a young black man coming to terms with his sexuality.
From family reunions to casual games with her friends at Ball State, sophomore marketing major Courtney Berger said she has been playing ping pong all her life.
From one of the 150 reclining seats under a 52-foot dome, Ball State students and the Muncie community can explore the cosmos during five free shows offered at the Charles W. Brown Planetarium this semester.
Editor's note: Miles from Muncie is a Ball State Daily News series profiling Ball State students and their study abroad programs. If you have any suggestions as to who we should feature next, send an email to features@bsudailynews.com.
Ball State students can enjoy a night of popcorn, snacks and a movie with University Program Board’s (UPB) Friday Night Filmworks fall 2019 schedule.