Western Relay’s for life

April 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Sigma Alpha Omega's fish pong for Relay. Photo: Jillian Woods.

Around 1000 students, faculty, community members and cancer survivors participated in WCU’s Relay for Life Friday night.

Beginning at 6 p.m. the all night festival continued on until 6:30 a.m. Saturday.  People walked, played games, ate food and listened to music all night to raise money for The American Cancer Society.

Various clubs and organizations perched tents, tables, blankets and even trampolines on the UC Lawn for the night.  Each table was something different to do and different people to see.

Javier Colon, winner of the first season of NBC’s hit show The Voice, made a special appearance thanks to WCU SGA. Students had the opportunity to meet and greet Colon before the show and enjoy a free concert in the new campus central quad. Colon performed songs from his new album “Come through for you” and crwod favorites from his season on The Voice.

“I dream of a cancer free world, where no more little girls have to lose their heroes much too early like I lost mine,” Lauren Moore, has lost family members to cancer.

Participants raised over $20,000 to beat last year’s total by $2,000.

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Extreme sports legend comes to Cullowhee

March 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Gadd spoke with a group at the Rock Wall in the CRC Thursday afternoon - Photo by Joseph Moon

Red Bull athlete, Will Gadd, is an ice climbing Winter X-Games champion, record braking distance paraglider and producer of extreme sports films. Having been chosen as the third Red Bull athlete in North America, his resume epitomizes the Red Bull brand.

This 45-year-old from Canmore, Alberta, Canada proves through his accomplishments and lifestyle his dedication to extreme sports. He once climbed an ice wall for 24-hours straight, reaching close to 25,500 feet for charity. Why does he live this lifestyle?

“We take risks in life for lots of things. It’s funny, because the riskiest thing out of them all is childbirth. We take this risk for what? For this beautiful thing,” said Gadd, positioning his arms like holding a baby. “You have to figure out what you want, and what risks you’re willing to take.”

Red Bull student brand manager, Zach Heaton, invited Gadd to the WCU campus.

“I heard he was in the area, and I knew we had such a special outdoor community here. It just worked out,” said Heaton. “I’m pretty stoked. He’s a really cool, relaxed guy. He is all about helping others. This is a unique experience for everyone to get to hear what he has to say. He’s super legit.”

http://www.redbull.com/cs/Satellite/en_INT/Gallery/Will-Gadd-Gallery/One-for-the-scrapbook-021242975450742?GImageId=1242976271256&imgcount=5#/image-5

Will Gadd is known for his extreme sports abilities Photo by Christian Pondella

About 15 years ago, Gadd paraglided across the entire United States. One of the landing points was Jackson County airstrip because it was the only place he and his team could land in the whole area.

“I didn’t even know [WCU] was here! I made full circle; I’m back and it’s really nice to be here,” said Gadd.

March 29, Gadd spent time advising Park and Recreation students. He later coached a group at the rock wall in the Campus Recreation Center.

“I really like teaching, and this has been a fun group of people. They’re excited and motivated. Some of them are farther along than others, but they’re all having fun and a good time,” said Gadd. “A lot of people really helped me when I was learning to climb, so I feel like I have a debt to the teaching world. I try to fill it by doing this sort of thing.”

Gadd assisted Base Camp Cullowhee in teaching a kayak roll clinic Thursday evening - Photo by Joseph Moon

Gadd explained how rock and ice climbing are closely related, despite the fact that ice climbing requires more equipment. He also said climbing is something everyone can relate to in a way.

“The whole motion of climbing, you know like a kid climbing up a dresser, it’s no different [than rock or ice climbing]. That’s what we do as little kids; we climb. It’s a very natural thing to do,” he said.

After the rock wall, Gadd taught a kayak roll clinic through WCU’s Basecamp Cullowhee. The seasoned paddler has been kayaking on rivers for 30 years all over the world. Ironically, his worst accident was not in the water, but when he fell on a trail hiking to the put-in.

Gadd’s sage advice for students wanting to push limit in extreme sports is, “Behind every big success there is a massive amount of disappointment. Only about 50 percent of things I set out to do, I succeed at; if that.”

To find more information about Will Gadd, go to the following links:

His Red Bull profile

ABC Story

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Belcher: A breath of fresh air

March 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Genuine, passionate, excited, energetic, and visionary are all terms used to describe David O. Belcher, Western Carolina University’s 11thchancellor, during Thursday’s installation ceremony.

Almost a year ago the “super hero” team of David and Susan Belcher began making their impact on the WCU campus and have more in store for the future.

David O. Belcher was installed as WCU's 11th Chancellor Thursday, March 29, 2012

The themes of Thursday’s installation included the topics of the future for Catamounts, WCU’s faculty, staff and students being a family and taking WCU to the next level.

To be able to lead a university into the future you must be able to “take pride in the past but acknowledge the potential for the future,” said UNC System President Thomas Ross.

“From the first second I met him there was no doubt he was the right person to lead now and into the future,” said Ross.

Other dignitaries referred to the Belchers as “The super hero team we needed,” and expressed how his characteristics on the paper application were not only fitting, but revealed in person by his personality and passion for education.

Erin McNelis spoke on behalf of the WCU faculty and family closing her greeting with excitement saying “We now have a Chancellor whose blood is truly purple.”

photo by meredith oakley

Dignitaries came from around the state and country to welcome Chancellor Belcher at WCU

In his installation address Belcher spoke about the future of Western and where he plans to lead it in the coming years.  He had five main goals, concerns and strategies that he plans to address in the coming years.  One of those being the financial state of our university.  Speaking about budget cuts, job losses and loss of financial aid, he plans to do all he can to not let our University be affected by these troubles.

His fourth goal is to “value, expect, and embody excellence” on the campus of WCU.  During that he mentioned “WE WILL have a winning football team,” to which the crowd responded in applause and laughter as this was a comic relief to the more serious topics he had been covering.

His fifth goal is to take care of the staff at WCU, and not just financially. When speaking of finding money for faculty jobs and preventing job loss due to budge cuts Belcher stated “I pledge to you to be a squeaky wheel searching for grease.”

He charged the faculty and staff to find colleagues better than themselves to push the university forward as well as encouraging alumni to create endowed scholarships in their name and field.    Allowing students to have a seamless education and allow students to further their education in hard economic times is something Belcher plans to focus on.

“Talent and brain power and terrible things to waste… it is time to give back so they [future students] can pursue their education,” said Belcher.

The ceremony took place in the Ramsey Center at WCU and was open for the public to attend

To close off his address he states how he wants Western Carolina to be “an ambitious university,” and to keep producing great things. “Be the master of your verbs,” Belcher exclaimed.

Belcher described Cullowhee as “A beautiful slice of heaven,” and believes we have just begun to tap into the knowledge here.

The atmosphere of the entire event was excitement, anticipation, and hope for the future.  A new breath of life is alive in Cullowhee and the campus of Western Carolina University.

As Belcher put it “Our imagination is the limit.”

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Fun in the sun, Lawn-gating on the UC lawn

March 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Lining up for some fun. Photo: Doug Powell

Installation week continued Tuesday, when the Student Government Association hosted a lawn gating event from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. on the UC lawn. Not a cloud in the sky as the weather was perfect for an outside event. The event consisted of games, free food, and Belcher’s, “Burple Purple” Ice Cream.

The crowd featured a good mixture of students, consisting of freshmen through seniors.

“This event is awesome, I’d like to see stuff like this happen more often. It’s great being outside, hanging out with friends, and having some fun,” sophomore John Arney said.

The game that seemed to receive the most attention was the “Boot Camp Obstacle Course,” a race that Chancellor David Belcher not only participated in, but won rather convincingly.

“He’s in great shape, if I have to lose, I might as well lose to the Chancellor”, said sophomore Caleb Moore following his obstacle course loss to Chancellor Belcher.

After having some fun in the sun, students and staff turned their attention to the revealing of Chancellor Belcher’s “Burple Purple” Ice Cream. The ice cream came from Riverview Farms out of Hendersonville, NC, that just so happens to be owned by a Western Carolina University Alumni. Belcher’s “Burple Purple” Ice cream was made special for this event and cannot be found anywhere else. Senior Stetson Duncan described the ice cream as, “Cold, Creamy, and Delicious”.

As usual, Student Body President T.J. Eaves could be found throughout the event. “It’s still very early and we already have a great crowd out here today. I’m very pleased by the outcome and I hope students will participate in the Stadium Strut later on today,” said Eaves. The Stadium Strut was a walk from the UC Lawn to Hennon Stadium leading up to the baseball matchup between Kennessaw State and Western Carolina at 5 p.m.

To find other events for this week visit WCU’s Chancellor installation page.

Doug Powell contributed to the story.

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Breakfast with the Belcher’s

March 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Bright and early Tuesday morning, March 27, the Belchers started the day by having breakfast with students in the WCU cafeteria. Around 50 students were surprised to see the Chancellor and his wife joining them for breakfast.

The event was part of the week of festivities for the installation of David O. Belcher as the 11th Chancellor in the history of WCU.



Michael Rimmer contributed to the story.

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Even in losing, Catamounts are still #winning

March 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Western Carolina trending globally on Twitter during the Southern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

By now, most students of Western Carolina University have heard that Western Carolina was trending during the recent 91-93 loss to Davidson in the final round of the Southern Conference men’s basketball tournament. While this was exciting for students who are a part of the catamount nation, even those who do find themselves well connected in the fast paced world of social media may be left wondering, “What does that mean?”

In order to answer the “what does it mean” question, let us (in true Twitter fashion) boil it down to bare essentials. When users log into a twitter account, they are faced with the essential question, “What’s happening?” During the game, the answer to that question became Western Carolina. The catamount nation managed to put up a fight that that was exciting, fresh and engaging—so much so that we generated a twitter trend.

From Twitter, “Twitter Trends are automatically generated by an algorithm that attempts to identify topics that are being talked about more right now than they were previously. The Trends list is designed to help people discover the ‘most breaking’ breaking news from across the world, in real-time. The Trends list captures the hottest emerging topics, not just what’s most popular. Put another way, Twitter favors novelty over popularity…” Before our brains explode from geek speak, let’s boil this down too; Twitter trends reflect what users have suddenly started tweeting about. So when WCU started draining the 13-point wildcat lead in the last 2:47 seconds of regulation play, people started talking about it and Twitter noticed.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, WCU was still put on the map—arguably more so than its victorious counterpart.  With a reported 100 million active monthly users, the twitter trend put WCU on an international stage with exposure that couldn’t be bought. The ‘Western Carolina’ trend was not a national, regional or local trend, but a worldwide trend. Meaning that more people suddenly started talking about Western Carolina than any other issue in the world, at the time.

Western Carolina wasn’t the only topic from Cullowhee trending that night. WCU’s own basketball player, Harouna Mutombo, saw his name (albeit misspelled) also trending on Twitter.

“I had about 165 text messages when I finally got to my phone that night,” Mutombo told his communications class the day after the game.

Some were photos of his name trending, some were telling him Western Carolina was trending, and some were simply saying how he had to make that free throw he was about to take, said Mutombo.

If the world took notice, then surely the students at WCU took notice as well. I asked some of my twitter followers to answer the question, “What did it mean to you that WCU was trending during the SoCon Championship?” Sam McCarson, a WCU senior with the twitter handle, @MamScCarson, said this, “to me it showed that the size of a school does not dictate the heart or support of a school, and that any college sporting event is really about the relationship between the fans and the players.” Heath Brown (@hfbrown1), a WCU junior studying communications said, “it meant that the community even outside the school was helping in full effect and the world was pulling for us. The underdogs.”

A student athlete, who requested not to go on record said, “It was cool. It was nice knowing that many people were watching us play, and supporting us all over the nation. Very humbling.” Another member of the catamount nation (and due to athletics regulations, also wasn’t allowed to go on record) said that although she wasn’t familiar with twitter trends, it was still great knowing that people were watching the game and showing support. Because people don’t really know much about WCU, she said, it opened a lot of eyes and made catamounts everywhere proud to be a part of the turn around that is happening with the new changes throughout the school.

So how will this unplanned visibility play out in the long run? Truth be told, we don’t know; but, past, current and future catamounts can rest assured that even in losing, the catamount nation is still #winning.

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