Professor Receives Highest Honor from Federal Republic of Germany

Juli Guiffre

Co-Editor-in-Chief

“Those who do not know a foreign language, do not know their own language,” said German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth, as he presented Dr. Mohamed Esa with the Cross of the Order of Merit on Monday, October 12.

“Woah, is this a joke?” thought Esa when he was told he would be receiving the award. “I kept it a secret for three weeks, until my wife said I needed to tell my friends.’”

Photo by Juli Guiffre

Esa, the chair of the Foreign Language Department at McDaniel, was bestowed this honor by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany for his creativity, determination, and inventiveness in teaching the German language. The ceremony was held at the Ambassador’s own residence just outside Washington D.C.

The Order of Merit was instituted in 1951, and is the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation. It is awarded to Germans and foreigners for achievements in the political, economic, social or intellectual realm, as well as social, charitable, or philanthropic work.

“I think you have achieved quite unusual inspiration with your students,” said Scharioth, who praised Esa’s uncommon methods and the way he has shared his experiments with the scholarly community.

These methods include integrating German pop-culture and music into his lessons, as well as taking advantage of new technology. At a conference for the teaching of foreign languages, he gave presentations on such things as “Rap Music and Fairy Tales,” and “Making your own music videos in the foreign language classroom.”

For the last few years, Esa has offered training workshops to other German teachers on how to effectively use German music in the classroom.

“My favorite thing about him is his spontaneity and his use of technology. He encourages us to make our own videos for class projects,” said Wyatt Baseley, senior.

“His classes are never boring,” said Lauren Hamby, sophomore, “He has such a unique sense of humor.”

“He’s insane, but in a really good way,” said Meagan Pilar, sophomore.

Esa has been teaching German at McDaniel since 1992. In 1995, he started “German-American Day”, an outreach program with high and middle school students in Maryland, Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia.

Among his awards are the Ira Zepp Distinguished Teaching Award, the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) Merit Award, the Certificate of Merit from the Goethe-Institut, and The Federal Republic of Germany Friendship Award.

Esa also promotes German language in schools, with the support of the AATG, by giving monetary prizes to ten students each year for especially good test scores.

“His original intention was to study medicine in Germany,” Scharioth pointed out in his opening speech. “The funny thing is, you has to learn German to do this, and you switched topics. It gives you the feeling that there are roundabout ways to do great things.”

“I’m still playing the lottery,” joked Esa, “so if I win I’ll stop studying German and go back to medicine.”

Esa’s accomplishments are particularly great in light of the fact that his mother cannot read and write and his father had only one year of education.

“I wish they were here,” he said to the assembly of friends, students, and colleagues. “You guys are my family now.”

McDaniel students cited for alcohol by local police

Kate Delenick

Co-Editor-in-Chief

On Friday, September 25 Westminster Police broke up a party on Main Street in Westminster. Many McDaniel college students were cited during the incident including members of both the Phi Delta Fraternity and Phi Sigma Sigma Sorority.

Free Press asked city police for the incident reports but were denied them. Free Press then filed a Freedom of Information request, but the information was not available at press time.

The Monday morning after the party bust the rumor mill had taken its toll on the Hill, leaving many students begging for another juicy detail and members of the former brother/sister fraternity and sorority angry, upset, and confused.

“None of the girls were intoxicated, so they’re getting charged but they weren’t drinking?” Phi Sigma Sigma, President, senior Lindsay Anderson said.

Because the party took place on what fraternities and sororities call “Bid Day” and because so many of the students cited by Westminster Police were new pledges and current members of sororities and fraternities, many people alluded that the bust took place at a “Bid Day Party” held to welcome the newest members who received their bid that afternoon.

However, Anderson was adamant that it was “not a sorority event.” She continued, “New members get in, have a tie, and want to go out on their first night, they cling to older members the first week, and they want to go out.”

Faculty and Administration were made aware of the incident early by phone contact with Campus Safety according to Beth Gerl, Vice President of Student Affairs.

Elizabeth Towle, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, said the urgency of news “depends on the nature of the incident.” In this case, campus safety members accompanied the Westminster Police and the students were identified by Monday morning.

Gerl was “saddened” by the event because she believed “it should be a memorable day, I think its unfortunate for some.”

The fact that it was an off campus event, “totally separates it from the institution,” Gerl said. But that does not mean the event can be brushed aside. “We don’t want to see a repeat of this,” Gerl said.

According to Towle there are totally “different guidelines” when it comes to off-campus as opposed to on-campus events, and both deans agreed our college has worked hard to build positive relationships with surrounding streets and when something like this occurs “it doesn’t look good.”

“We typically have good, positive, relationships with the community, and I find this frustrating,” Towle said.

Anderson said the fact that so many new girls were at the party was “concerning,” especially since over the past two years the sorority has been trying hard to improve the reputation of the sorority and move towards “professionalism.”

Members of the Phi Delt Fraternity would not comment.

Sorority members contended that though many of the sorority and fraternity members face similar citations from the police the similarities stop there.

“We’re not pursuing lawyers and we are separate from the Phi Delts…were not talking about it,” Anderson said. The Phi Sigs agree they are going to deal with this matter privately and internally understanding that “these things are going to come up.”

According to Dean Gerl the institution will try and turn this into a “teachable opportunity” and a better understanding of student safety. “Both on and off campus there are things students should be thinking about.”

Dean Towle continued, “We have to have students understand the complications of being off campus.”

The Phi Sigma Sigma sorority is working hard to keep a recently positive reputation at this school and while this incident may have tarnished that image slightly Anderson noted, “Were not back where we were and we’ll never be back where we were.”

Men’s Lacrosse Team Raises Money for The Headstrong Foundation

Evan Young

Contributor

The Headstrong Foundation hosts a Fall Ball Lacrosse tournament every fall in order to raise money and awareness for Lymphoma. This program is held dear in the hearts of the McDaniel Athletic community, especially the Men’s Lacrosse team, after sophomore attackman Dan Alderman, was diagnosed with the disease last year.

The Headstrong Foundation was established in honor of Nick Colleluori, a former Lacrosse player at Hofstra University who lost his fight to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma after a 14-month battle.

Head McDaniel Men’s Lacrosse coach Matthew Hatton says, “The team sees this as a special opportunity to raise money for a worthy cause and to represent one of their players. We jumped at the opportunity to play in the tournament and are looking forward to raising a lot of money for the Headstrong Foundation. Even though Dan cannot be with us on the field, we want him to know we are behind him every step of the way.”

On Sunday, Oct. 10, the McDaniel Men’s lacrosse team faced off in the Headstrong Lacrosse Tournament in an effort to raise money and awareness for Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The Green Terror \ competed against Wheeling Jesuit and Wesley, defeating both teams. This year, the tournament was hosted by Ridley High School in Philadelphia, PA., where a team of champions is hoping to be built.

“Our team has grown in a positive direction over this past fall ball season and the Headstrong tournament will be a good test on our team morale,” says junior defenseman Matt Mummert.

These games were only a small preview of the success the team will experience in their season this spring. The team is also selling Headstrong t-shirts and shoelaces to support the cause through fundraising.

“We’re doing this not only for Dan, but for everyone who has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. The Headstrong Foundation is something our team can be a part of where every member feels as if they are helping to create a difference,” says senior goalie KR Shultz.

Writer of Class of 2013’s freshman reading ‘Outliers’ comes to Alumni Hall to talk to community

Dan Lamond

Staff Reporter

On any other day, if you saw him walking through McDaniel campus, you most likely would assume he is a student’s father. Adorned in a brown fleece, jeans and Nike shoes, Malcolm Gladwell blends in with everyone else, but really he is an outlier in disguise.

Having published three New York Times best sellers and countless contributions to The New Yorker, Gladwell indisputably sets himself apart from the rest of us on campus. On October 6 , Gladwell took time to visit The Hill to talk with students and faculty members.

McDaniel Professor of Education, Dr. Francis Fennell, formally introduced Gladwell, describing him as “a teacher of a different kind.” Gladwell approached the stage with thunderous applause from the audience as he took each step towards the podium in McDaniel’s Western Maryland College Alumni Hall. “When I come to a college campus I always feel about 20 years younger,” Gladwell remarked as he began his speech.

Gladwell spoke mainly of capitalization, an idea that he “thought of a lot and helped form his book Outliers: The Story of Success”. Capitalization as Gladwell defined it, “is what percentage of people capable of doing something, actually end up doing that.”

Gladwell stated that he thought there were three main elements, which prevents capitalization from happening. For the first element, poverty, Gladwell described Michael Lewis’ book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. Gladwell stated that in Memphis, the capitalization rate of football players that enter the NFL is one to six. Many of the players have the ability to play in the National Football League but they are too poor to get equipment, practice and get the necessary hours.

Next, Gladwell blamed plain stupidity for a reason why capitalization rates are so low. Gladwell reiterated the cutoff dates for eligibility, a point he made clear in Outliers. Gladwell read off the list of dates that each player was born for the Czech Republic National Soccer Team.

An overwhelming majority of the players were born in the first few months of the year. As if the audience was not already convinced, Gladwell read the dates of when the players on the Czech Republic National Hockey team were born. The same situation appeared, giving evidence that this was not just a one-time occurrence.

Gladwell said that this happens in every country and that setting that cutoff date is a bad idea. Gladwell suggested that countries have two or three cutoff dates and then choose from the best players of each group. “Countries are preventing some of the finest players from ever having a chance because of cutoff dates.”

Gladwell told the audience that culture is the final element that prevents capitalization. Gladwell stated the stereotype that “all Asian kids are good at math. But why is that?” Gladwell asked. He stated that it is because of the emphasis placed on math in Asian countries.

Their teachers have more rigorous curriculum for the students and the students are simply willing to work harder than students in other countries. If students from other countries were willing to put the same amount of effort into math then this stereotype might not be true only of Asians.

Gladwell suggested that teachers or students be sent to Asia to see how much work is put in towards math. The teachers could then use similar methods in their classrooms to help students become better at math. Gladwell defined success as “it doesn’t matter how much money you make, what matters is that you are doing something that is important to you.” He believes that far too much of the idea of success is based on wealth and material belongings.

When Gladwell later fielded questions from the audience he was asked about where he comes up with this “stuff.” Gladwell chuckled and responded, “well you have to read a lot.” Gladwell explained that there are a lot of good books out to read but, “the problem about this cool stuff is that it’s not written cool.” Gladwell encouraged the audience to get past the first chapter, the less interesting part of a book, and get the exciting parts where reading can be enjoyed.

A member of the audience asked Gladwell a question that has been brought up many times by anyone who was read the book. Why didn’t he use any women in the book? Gladwell said that all the professions that he talked about in Outliers were male dominated professions.

Gladwell said thought that this idea was obvious in the book but sees how many of the readers could see misinterpret it as him disrespecting women. “I regret not making a remark about that in the book.”

Gladwell may regret not mentioning women in his book but he sure doesn’t regret putting in the necessary 10,000 hours he put in to get where he is today.

Jetonne’ Ellis

Staff Reporter

Despite their challenges, the number of McDaniel students who commute remains high. According to Mitchell Alexander, Faculty Advisor for CSA, this fall 2009 semester, 460 undergraduate students are commuting.

The primary reason that McDaniel students choose to commute is an economical one. Nowadays, college students are opting to attend schools closer to home as money becomes an increasingly important factor in college life. When commuting, expenses like room and board, laundry, and meal plans aren’t financial burdens one has to worry about. Even when taking into consideration what a student spends in gas and car maintenance, it is still considerably cheaper to commute than live on-campus.

President of The Commuter Student Association (CSA), Steven Carney, describes his experience as a commuter student as “unique”. Carney coordinates the Officers of the CSA as well as CSA meetings and functions. He represents the CSA and commuters at All College Council, Organizations Council, and other student/faculty meetings. He also addresses all commuter issues including parking lots, tickets, road hazards, and safety concerns.

One of the most common problems faced by commuter students is the limited number of parking spots available on campus.

“A majority of the time students have to park in ‘outskirt parking lots’ like Harrison lot, and walk across campus to get to their classes. In addition, there is a small area designated for commuter students, but this area is commonly occupied by faculty, resident, or visitor parking,” said Carney.

SGA Representative for Commuter Students Jessica Schisler acts as the liaison between The Commuter Student Association and The Student Government Association. According to Schisler, “commuting can make things difficult. For instance, I have meetings on Mondays at 9 p.m., so I either have to find something to do on campus between my last class and the meetings, or go home and come back if there is nothing to do, which wastes gas. However, staying involved on campus makes me feel connected to the school.”

“Because many commuters have work commitments, it is very hard for them to become involved on-campus. These students come to classes, and afterwards [have to] leave for work. Many times, students are expected to fulfill outside commitments, so the students become “left out” by the on campus community because commuters are not on-campus all the time. The students who do become involved find themselves spending a lot of time “killing time” waiting for late night meetings or other functions,” says Carney.

Typically commuter students have to wake up earlier for morning classes and go to sleep later after night classes because they have to drive to and from McDaniel. On-campus students can roll out of bed and walk to class in their pajamas, commuters cannot. Carney laughs, recalling a joke that is common among commuter students: “In the mornings, commuter students have already dodged three deer by the time on-campus students wake up.”

Hazardous road conditions are another issue. When there is bad weather, commuters are forced to make a choice between making extra work for themselves, or risking the drive to McDaniel in potentially hazardous road conditions.

“In the wintertime, on-campus students only have to be careful of walking on ‘black ice,’” says Carney. “Commuters drive in it. Although the dean’s issue a letter to commuter students saying ‘do not risk your safety to come to class in hazardous weather,’ if a student misses class-time due to weather, the student is expected to make up the work, or work twice as hard to catch up to the course material.”

From Carney’s perspective, the biggest obstacle for commuters is overcoming the loss of community: “I can relate to commuters who are always in the state of either coming or going; it is hard for them to create a cohesive group with on-campus students or other commuters.”