Posts Tagged ‘HutchCC’

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Sleep-deprived studentzzzz

Thursday, September 20th, 2018

By Jared Shuff
Staff writer

The lack of sleep affects not only educational success, but physical safety as well. Without the right amount of rest, people are at risk of multiple health issues. Exhaustion can even lead to dangerous situations if not dealt with proactively.

Many students are quickly nearing a downhill slide toward poor health and physical harm. It’s time for them to take an active role in their own sleep habits.

Students don’t always make the best decisions when it comes to their sleep habits. Late night studying, among other things, is one of the biggest factors in these habits. Some students don’t even get to bed until early morning.

Jon Reed, a HutchCC freshman from Hutchinson, says he usually doesn’t get to bed until 2 a.m., and wakes up around 6 a.m. That’s only four hours of sleep.

“I feel like s— when I wake up. Usually have to drink enormous amounts of coffee to get through the day,” Reed said.

Bralen Martin, a Hutchinson sophomore, follows a somewhat similar routine. Usually he’s in bed around 3 a.m. in the morning and up by 9 a.m.

While that’s a bit better, six hours is still not nearly enough to function properly throughout the day. Does he really feel like he is getting enough sleep?

“Sort of. I feel tired in the mornings, but usually wake up as the day goes by,” Martin said.

While “sort of” is better than not, it still goes to show that students aren’t getting enough rest. This can lead to some pretty scary incidents.

“One time I almost fell asleep while driving,” Reed said. “I started to swerve, but caught myself just in time.”

Falling asleep at the wheel is a serious problem, not just for the driver, but for anyone else on the road.

Sleep deprivation can cause lasting health issues as well, both mentally and physically.

Students who get less than seven hours of sleep are more susceptible to anxiety and depression. They are also at risk of weight gain or weight loss, increased blood pressure, and extreme irritability

Lasting effects include hypertension, diabetes and heart problems.

Students should work on prioritizing work and play, as well as designating a specific sleep schedule to keep them on track. It only takes a few weeks to set an internal clock.

Sleep is a necessity for everyone, especially young students. Sleep deprivation won’t just affect grades, but cause lasting health concerns.

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Marvelous Moeder: Hutch native one of conference’s top goal scorers

Thursday, September 20th, 2018

Brailey Moeder scores on a penalty kick against Barton.

By Rebecca Carney
Co-Sports Editor

Hutchinson Community College soccer player Brailey Moeder is not your average player.

She was a former Hutchinson High School standout and came to play soccer at HutchCC under coach Sammy Lane. Moeder was not always a standout soccer player, though. Throughout high school, Moeder worked hard and showed her coaches what a talented player she is. Now, as a sophomore forward for HutchCC, Moeder is one of the top forwards and goal scorers in the Jayhawk West Conference.

As Moeder’s sophomore year of college rolled around, she continued to standout. Out of the first six games the women’s soccer team has played this season, Brailey started in five of them. In those six games, she scored six goals, with two of them being a game winning goal. She has six assists and made one penalty kick, tying the game against Barton in a thrilling 3-3 tie.

Moeder has been a key player in the soccer’s team success this season and Lane has noticed.

“Brailey has stepped up for us,” Lane said, “I admire that.”

There is one game, in particular, where Moeder has stepped up the most. When the Blue Dragons played Barton Community College in early September, Brailey had a standout game.  Late in the game, with the soccer team trailing 3-2, the Blue Dragons were awarded a penalty kick, and Moeder was the brave soul who decided to take the shot.

Moeder ended up scoring the goal, tying the game against Barton.

“It gave me chills, to be honest. It was a lot of pressure and it was amazing,” Moeder said.

Throughout the years, Moeder has improved tremendously as a soccer player, but not without a little hard work. For Moeder, it was nice to finally see that hard work pay off saying, “There’s always room for improvement. I’m not just going to settle for what I thought was a good goal. That’s not me, I want to be better than that.”

Moeder has worked hard throughout the years to become the soccer player she is today. The results are something that Brailey is pleased with and hopes to see more of in the future.

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Student/Instructor communication (Why can’t we be friends)

Thursday, September 20th, 2018

By Brenna Eller
Collegian Editor-In-Chief

As Hutchinson Community College is a junior college, the students and instructors have more one-on-one interaction than that of a four-year school, where the professor might not even know the names of his or her students.

That being said, broader communication is often expected of a teacher from the students.

Also, just getting out of high school, where teachers cared whether or not you pass because it is a reflection on them as a teacher, versus coming here to find out that being an adult, the instructors aren’t there to make sure you do everything right and get homework in on time. That is mainly up to the students and their responsibility to balance their lives accordingly to their academics.

Some students believe that instructors communicate a fair amount, while others view the communication is lacking.

HutchCC freshman Autumn Frickey, Lindsborg, gave her views on teacher-student communication.

“Honestly, the instructors I’ve had don’t communicate as I thought they would, and it’s just easier to ask friends or people in class for help,” Frickey said.

Frickey makes the argument that instructors should check their email more often and that checking emails is the overall issue for articulation with instructors.

When asked what her preferred method of communication, Frickey said, “I would talk to my teachers face-to-face, but normally they have to rush to their next class to get ready, so email is better.”

Since communication is generally a two-way deal, and not all of the responsibility is on the instructor, Frickey said, “Some students should ask questions earlier, but I feel as if it is both the student and the teacher’s fault. However, the school isn’t that big and I feel like they should be more one-on-one with the students.”

Sociology instructor Kim Newberry, who has worked at the college for more than a decade, shared her thoughts on communication between her students, and agrees that it is lacking not only between students, but everywhere.

“I have students that will email a question when they are sitting in my class and could ask right then,” Newberry said.

Sometimes classes can fluctuate when it comes to being social and in Newberry’s case, she recognizes that one class of hers is very quiet where no one hardly talks while other classes seem to carry conversations just fine.

Newberry said the reason for the inadequacy which she believes is that students would rather be on their phones or listening to music.

The most appropriate form of communication to Newberry would be to speak to one another in person. “Email is great for quick communication, but face-to-face is always bet for anything serious,” Newberry said.

When asked how this issue could be resolved, Newberry said, “If a student has an issue, he or she needs to learn how to communicate, most of us only want our students to succeed, and we cannot help if we do not know that there is a problem.”

Also when it comes to discussion between students and instructors, Newberry said that seeing each other in person should be the norm for all relationships.

“So many nuances of communication can be lost in an email or a text,” Newberry said.

Amber Brawner, coordinator/instructor of the visual media design program who has been at HutchCC for about 12 and a half years, shared her expectations of communication from her students lately.

“Communication is definitely a two-way street,” Brawner said. “It’s frustrating when students just walk out of the class without saying a word because oftentimes they miss material that is on a test or instructions for an assignment, and then wonder why they get the grade that they got.”

She also said that it is irritating when that same student doesn’t talk to her about their grade and how to get extra credit.

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Are 8 a.m. classes too early?

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

Justin Harris tries to stay in a group discussion during his 8 a.m. class, but he’s not a fan of the early start time.

By Brenna Eller
Editor-In-Chief

Early classes aren’t uncommon at Hutchinson Community College. Many students have had, or will possibly attend, an 8 a.m. class at some point if they haven’t already. Some may be dreading it, while others are used to waking up early.

Some colleges have already made it so that classes start later in the morning because the instructors worry about their students not making it to their class and were concerned with the lack of sleep they were getting.

Colleges that disagree with that idea believe early classes help students with time management and prepare them for future careers where they will have to get up early in the morning.

Simon Gadberry, a HutchCC freshman from Little River, described how he felt towards 8 a.m. classes.

“I like the class,” Gadberry said. “It’s a little early, but if you take something easy, that class gets you ready to take on the day.”

It is sometimes assumed that students who would rather have a later class instead of an 8 a.m. tend to slack off a bit more at their first class of the day and pay less attention.

Gadberry agrees to this statement saying, “Yeah they do, you can tell there is always that one person that walks in late and doesn’t put any effort into their work.”

However, there are also students who believe 8 a.m. classes are too early and shouldn’t be allowed due to being involved in sports and other activities on campus.

HutchCC student/athlete, Justin Harris, a sophomore from Louisiana, plays football for the Blue Dragons and admits that it is challenging waking up for his 8 a.m. class.

Harris said that this is his first 8 a.m. in college after transferring from Baylor, so he said  that he has a tough time staying awake in the class, even if he enjoys the material being taught.

When describing his feelings toward 8 a.m. classes, Harris said, “Words can’t even explain, they just suck.”

Consequently, Harris doesn’t think he performs as well as he would’ve if the class was later in the day.

“If I had to choose a good time to start class, my ideal time would be 10 a.m.,” Harris said.

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Athlete of the week: Brailey Moeder

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

(Sept. 2-8)

The week: Moeder had two goals and two assists in two games, with one of those goals coming in the dying minutes against Barton. Moeder’s late penalty kick against Barton helped salvage a thrilling 3-3 tie. She also scored in a 7-0 win against Northwest Kansas Tech.

The season: Moeder, a former Hutchinson High School standout, has five goals and six assists in five games for the Blue Dragons. She has two game-winning goals and the tying goal vs. Barton.

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New Hiebert in town

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

By Amanda Carney
Co-Sports Editor

It was only last year when Page Hiebert was at Hutchinson Community College, playing volleyball under head coach Patrick Hall. Now, kid sister Eden Hiebert is at HutchCC, also playing volleyball for the Blue Dragons.

Growing up, the Hiebert girls often played on the same team under the same coaches, edging on their competitiveness on the court and against each other.

Although Eden was following in her sister’s footsteps, she had her own worries.

“One of my main concerns coming here was being compared to her as a player,” Eden said when asked about coming to HutchCC.

Eden and Hall discussed the situation before Eden even decided where she would play college volleyball.

“Coach Hall and I made a deal before I committed to play here, that he wouldn’t compare the two of us,” Eden Hiebert said. “He has kept his word, and I appreciate that so much.”

Coach has managed to keep Page’s name out of practice, focusing on the athlete he currently has on the court.

Eden has also felt the pressure of living up to her sister’s success. Page was just the 11th HutchCC volleyball All American in history, and seventh American-born All American.

So far, Eden is starting to make a name for herself. In seven matches played, Eden leads the Blue Dragons with 57 kills. She also has 41 digs and 10 blocks.

Eden also faced the challenge of moving from a small-town school, to HutchCC. Coming from Goessel High School, Eden was worried about the challenges she would face during the game. Moving from high school volleyball to college volleyball presented a change. Not only would the pace of the game change, but the hits would get harder and serves would get more challenging.

Growing up with an older sister close in age has not always been easy, but Eden has learned that there are worse things in life than being compared to an older sister.

“Page is an amazing athlete, and I think that I have actually benefited from being so close in age,” Eden said. “She is one of my biggest role models and I love her to death.”

There is not much stronger than a sister’s bond.

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Activities plentiful for students on campus

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

By Jared Shuff
Staff writer

College activities let students interact and make connections with people they may not see on a daily basis. These connections could be vital in the future, or just be the start of an amazing friendship. Either way, these activities are experiences students will only have once.

The only problem – many students at Hutchinson Community College don’t even know these activities are going on. Students need to know how to stay updated on activities around campus and why they should be involved in them.

“College activities allow students to really build a connection with the staff, their peers, and the entire community,” said Ryan Diehl, HutchCC curriculum/program improvement coordinator. “There is much to be learned from being involved.”

Diehl is also head of the honors program.

Michelle Wortham from the Student Success Center also had some reasons as to why college activities are so important.

“They are a great way to develop interpersonal skills,” Wortham said. “Kids need time to expel energy in a positive way.”

However, the only way to reap the rewards of these activities is to actually go. Many students don’t know what activities are going on, let alone when they take place.

“We are relying mainly on emails and posters to spread the word,” Diehl said.

He said he believes that social media, especially Twitter, is the best place to start sharing activity information.

Signs for activities can be found across campus, and certain television screens also share information on upcoming events. Students can also keep track of their DragonZone accounts for additional information.

“We would be happy to hear other ways to keep students informed,” Wortham said.

One activity coming up is “Wellness Rocks!”, an 80’s/90’s themed Health and Wellness Fair on Sept. 26 from 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m.

The Reno County Heart Walk is also coming up on Sept. 29, where they will have a one-mile and a three-mile walk, a kid’s zone, snacks, free blood pressure tests, and even Zumba.

Students can visit Jolene Williamson in Human Resources to purchase raffle tickets for the heart walk. Tickets are a dollar each, or five for three dollars. Students have a chance to win a fire pit or a $50 gift card to a Hutchinson restaurant of their choice.

“We want students involved,” Williamson said. “The more we can do to involve students the better”

Later activities include Homecoming, a Halloween dance, Student Treat Day, and a Tacky Sweater 5K in December.

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Collegian staff member auditions for ‘American Idol’

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

Collegian staff writer Kat Collins auditioned for “American Idol” in Kansas City, Mo. Here, she poses for a picture with some new friends from St. Louis.

By Kat Collins
Staff writer

This past Sunday, “American Idol” came to Kansas City, Missouri, and hundreds of people came to audition.

I went to this event with big dreams, mainly being the childhood dream of making it big one day, and so did many more who came. My father and I drove about four hours to get to Kansas City and stayed at a hotel for three days.

On Saturday morning I packed my things and left town. Once we got to our destination, we checked into our hotel, put our luggage in our room, and left the hotel to go see Barney Allis Plaza. After 10 minutes of driving around looking for a parking spot, we went outside to check out our surroundings.

On one of the corners of the plaza there are some stairs that go up into a higher area in the park, but halfway up the stairs my dad realized that there was a wedding about start. So instead of checking out the place, familiarize my surroundings, we just left.

That night I woke up about 15 times to my father snoring, annoyingly loud. So, each time I waited about five to 10 minutes before waking him up to politely tell him to stop snoring so loud. Sadly, I didn’t get much sleep that night.

The next morning, I got up around 5:30 to 6, and got ready for the day. We headed out to the plaza. When we got there around 7, the line was halfway around the block.

While I was in line, I met a 16-year-old girl named Julia from, St. Louis. She was with her mom for the audition, and they were both very nice. Most people in line were very nice.  The only thing that bothered me was when I was in the four-lined group audition line, the people who were still in line for the security check started singing loudly a bunch of Katy Perry songs repeatedly. Which was disrupting, and distracting to the people who were auditioning.

Once I was in front of the audition line there was a lady guiding us to where we were going and to help calm the nerves. She pointed us to where we had to go, we sang our songs in front of an Australian producer. We all got a no, but he said to come back next year because we could all sing, but the competition is really hard this year.

I had a great time and I would definitely go back again if I had the chance.

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Save money with ‘Honey’ app

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

Campus Editor Pablo Sanchez will periodically write about money-saving apps that college students might find of use. This week, he writes about “Honey”.

There’s been a lot of talk about an app that is on the Google extension library only called “Honey”.

With “Honey”, you can get free coupons that will help with saving and is 100 percent safe, and will not slow down your computer.

“Honey” will tell you how long ago a coupon code was used, will scan through all the codes on the website that you intend to use, and will pick out the best one that is good for you.

Some websites may not have codes, so you can request it by the team who works for “Honey” and they’ll look into it.

“Honey” does not generate a code for you if one is already applied. “Honey” takes security seriously, and the only information they need is your name and email. You can link your social media information if you wish, if a code doesn’t work out it will be sent out to “Honey” to have it removed.

This app will turn orange in the top right corner when a code is eligible for use, and after going to check out on the website that is able to be used. It will show what codes are good and there is a search bar for this app to help find other places that do these.

“Honey” benefits everyone from college students, parents, and anyone else looking to save on money. “Honey” had a recent update that works with hotels, so instead of looking through expensive ones, the app will find the cheapest hotel.

Although there is a twist to this.

In order for you to use the hotel search, you have to buy something from the stores that they provide to you and they will give you anywhere from $2-$50 and you’ll get an exclusive key to use to find cheap hotels.

Overall if you are looking to find a fast and easy way to find coupons and want to save money and acquire more money in return, “Honey” is for you baby.

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Q&A: Catching up with Badinage

Thursday, September 13th, 2018

Neal Allsup

By Emily Fehrman
Social Media Editor

Hutchinson Community Colleges jazz group Badinage is a group of students lead by director Neal Allsup, the director of choral activities at HutchCC. After sitting down with him and a couple students to see what the Badinage is all about here’s what was found.

Neal Allsup

EF: How long have you been a jazz instructor?

NA: This is my 31st year.

EF: What kind of awards?

NA: The Downbeat Award is the biggest one yet. We have some pretty impressive credentials. Opened for Tyranny Sutton, for a lot of Grammy winners, like New York Voices, Manhattan Transfer, Take Six.

EF: What do they go through at these festivals?

NA: It’s like a mega classroom. I require them to go to workshops and classes. Getting instruction from professionals, Grammy winners and Grammy nominees. You could never have that type of intensity in a classroom. It gives confirmation that what they’re doing is awesome and at an extremely high level.

EF: What is the largest place you have performed?

NA: Carnegie Hall seven times, or maybe eight, I can’t remember anymore. Eight State of Kansas Music Conventions. These are things you have to submit audition tapes to. We have submitted stuff to the Jazz Entertainment Network conference, JEN.

EF: What kind of performances do you guys have this school year?

NA: Three or four each semester just here in Hutchinson alone. We’re singing with the Hutch Symphony in December. There’s no telling how many performances we’ll have because we get invitations all the time. However, we have too many limitations to do all of them. Limitations like travel funds and time.

EF: How hard is it to do this?

NA: This is the most challenging music; as a singing musician they will perform in their lives. Most of our “heroes” on the radio could never sing this stuff. Doesn’t mean that it’s better, it just means that stuff is basic, and this certainly isn’t. I believe that every music, no matter what, it’s about where it is serves it purpose to express what it means to be human.

EF: If you could say anything to those out there thinking about joining the group, what would it be?

NA: It would be a wonderful challenge. They aren’t going to have muscles that are sore, but it works their brain. It will work their character. Expect that, if you don’t dig that? It probably will be a chore to you. If you really dig a challenge and you’re not a quitter, that you have substance within you that says “I will persevere” then that’s a place for you.

Sara Schlicklau, Pretty Prairie Sophomore

EF: How long have you been in it?

SS: This sophomore year.

EF: How long have you been singing?

SS: Since I was little bitty, first time I remember performing was in 4th grade.

EF: How did you join?

SS: Emailed Neal for about a year, saw the group perform and decided I had to be apart of the group.

EF: How would you get the word out you guys exist?

SS: Have more of a social media presence.

Bailey Graber, Pretty Prairie Sophomore

EF: How long have you been in it?

SS: This is my second year.

EF: How long have you been singing?

SS: I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember. I grew up singing with my parents in church and fell in love with it.

EF: How did you join?

SS: I first heard about the jazz groups because my older brother was a part of it. I knew it was something I wanted to do after hearing them the first time. I contacted Neal and set up a time to meet with him and have an audition of sorts.

EF: How would you get the word out you guys exist?

SS: We try to hang up posters around school and places in Hutch to get the word out. It’s sad how many people, on campus even, haven’t heard of us, especially considering all the accomplishments these jazz groups have made through the years.

EF: How many times a week do you guys meet? How long?

SS: We meet Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour and a half, which really isn’t a ton of time together, so we do a lot of practicing on our own outside of class time.

EF: How many performances this year?

SS: We have a few concerts that we do in the BJ Warner performance hall which are free to students if they bring their ID.   We’d love to have people come to these, and the others around the community!

EF: What do you need to do to join Badinage?

SS: To be in a jazz group, you have to first be in choir. There are choir scholarships available and so if you are in jazz you may just get a bit more money in your choir scholarship, and that counts for jazz. It’s just not separate. If there is anyone out who is interested, don’t hesitate to pursue it. It’s been an amazing experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

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