Month: February 2014

Gregory J. Layton, D’Andre Mathews and McKell Price conquered final elections Friday and are already preparing for next semester.

Layton and Clint Post battled for the president position, and Layton won with 534 votes, while Post gathered 296.

Mathews and Alex Lambson competed for the vice president of academics position, and Mathews walked away with 471 votes, compared to Lambson’s 358.

Price independently assembled 803 votes. 

Layton, a senior English major from Cottonwood Heights, said each candidate strived for success, and he is excited to take the next step into being the next student body president.

“We put in a lot of work, and it showed in our results,” Layton said. “I am extremely excited because I have a lot of ideas and expectations for next year.”

Mathews, a junior biology major from Las Vegas, said because he lost the student body president elections last year, it helped him know how to work through election week.

“Looking back, I’ve learned to not have expectations and just work hard,” Mathews said. “I think what happened was the right thing. The right people are here who needed to be here.”

Price, a sophomore communication major from Brigham City, said her favorite part of elections was the opportunity she had to interact with students and help them understand who she is as a person, and it also gave her a chance to get to know others.

“I wanted to be meeting students … and letting them know that they have a say on campus,” Price said. “It was fun going out there talking to people.”

Post, a senior communication major from Weiser, Idaho, said although he wasn’t successful in achieving the president position, he still feels good about what he did and is grateful for the experience.

“I got to know a lot of students, and that was the highlight of everything,” Post said.

Post said he is grateful for the students who supported him and appreciates how far they helped him go during elections.

Lambson, a junior CIT major from Santa Clara, said he wishes he tried harder and used different ways to gain more votes.

“I’m a little disappointed about it, but at least I lost to someone who knows what he’s doing,” Lambson said.

Both Lambson and Post have not given up and are considering the possibility of running for student body president next year.

The voter turn out ended with less votes than last year, which was a surprising result for most people. Layton said the 2013 election week ended with approximately 1,400 votes, while Friday ended with just more than 800.

“There was definitely a decrease in students voting,” Layton said. “I hope to see it increase.”

Layton said now that elections are over, the next step is to fill the remaining student government positions. He is hoping to create a student government that is more open to students and less of a clique.

Mathews also stressed the importance of having a student government that is diverse and accepting of all students.

“I want someone representing each demographic and [pulling] them under one umbrella to bridge that gap,” Mathews said. “All we’re trying to do is go out and inspire people.”

Mathews also said he, Layton and Price are going to focus on getting to know the students personally and working to help each student’s voice be heard. He said this helped with the vote turnout because they were all going out to personally interact with students. 

Mathews said if the student government consisted of a large demographic with a lot of diversity and people who personally interact with students, the Dixie State University Student Association will more accurately represent the student body.

“No one goes missing, and no idea goes unheard,” Mathews said. “Let’s go out and really find out what’s going on.”

Price said her next move is to get everything ready for next year by making plans and putting them into motion.

“[I need to talk] to students and [make] what they need to happen in clubs happen,” Price said. “I’m just excited for the whole process.”

If students are interested in filling the remainder of student government positions, they can visit the dixiestudentlife.com website and fill out an application. 

Layton said the biggest thing next year’s student government is going to focus on is what Dixie State University students want for their school and in their student government.

“I would love to hear ideas from any student,” Layton said. “I like to listen, and I want to hear people’s ideas.”

Layton said if anyone has an idea he or she would like to share, please email him at [email protected] or visit the student government room in the Gardner Center.

 

This year marks the 27th annual Sears Invitational Art Show and Sales held in the Dolores Dore Eccles Fine Arts Center.

The exhibit runs from Feb. 15th to March 30th from ten a.m. to six p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and two to six p.m. Sundays. The exhibit is open to the public and free of charge.

This exhibit features more than 200 pieces of artwork from 120 artists from  not only Utah, but from all around the country. This show features a variety of representational art including landscape, portrait, western and impressionistic pieces said Kathy C. Cieslewicz is the Curator at Dixie. The exhibit is very successful, as many emerging artists find their way to the top as art collectors and investors discover their talents.

The Best of Show Purchase Prize was awarded to Royden Card from Bloomington. Card’s award winning piece is called “Book Cliffs II,” an acrylic painting. His work will now be featured as part of DSU’s Permanent Art Collection.

“I paint to give back, to share that surprised sense of discovering beauty in places where it is not expected,” Card said. “It is a process that gets done with paint and brush, born of personal unction and a love of beauty. Beauty which finds its form at my fingertips without words, in the action of creation – brush on canvas. The painting, when complete, surprises even me”.

New artists are invited to submit pictures of their artwork each year, for consideration of an invitation to participate. When an artist is accepted to join the show they are invited to submit two original and recent pieces of artwork.

“Being a part of the Sears Invitational has given me the opportunity to be amongst my artist friends and also make new friends in the artist community.” Said Brady Richardson, a member of the Art Department at Dixie and a participant in the Sears Invitational Art Show said, “It has helped my artist family grow.”

Richardson’s ceramic piece that is featured in the Sears Invitational Art Show is called “Good Energy Lamps.”

“There is a lot of unique and beautiful pieces of artwork at the exhibit this year.” Said Tarah Kershaw, a freshman integrated studies major from Payson. “One of my favorite pieces of artwork at the exhibit was ‘old Tin Lizzy’ by Dianne J. Adams, a watercolor that is for sale for $1,875.”

“The DSU Sears Museum Gallery exists for the enjoyment and education of the students and community.” Said Cieslewicz. “It’s free, easy to get to, and has international artists that will inspire and engage the viewers. The gallery is inviting and beautiful.”

(She emailed that to me so I thought it was usable.. Super sorry!!!)

For the place that is all about doing your business, the only business that people want to see is cleanliness.

Public restroom preference on Dixie State University’s campus is ruled by a clean floor and fancy new features. Restrooms at DSU range from old to new, which can be a reason students and faculty prefer one bathroom over another. Sometimes bathroom goers run into bathrooms that are just plain dirty.

The care that goes into the upkeep of specific bathrooms around campus factors into how well it functions, its cleanliness and whether or not anyone using it wants to continue doing so.

There is at least one bathroom in every building, but some are more favored than others. Students find that the newer bathrooms are cleaner. 

“I went into the one in the McDonald building downstairs,” said Rylan Powell, a junior biology major from St. George. “That one was like — wow, it was terrible. Dirty and nasty.”

Shayne Mickel Chadwick, a senior integrated studies major from American Fork, said she has been unimpressed with the Jennings building’s restrooms in the past because they were dirty. She prefers the bathrooms located in the Jeffrey R. Holland Centennial Commons.

“They have long mirrors to take selfies in,” Chadwick said. “I’m dead serious.”

Students agree the best bathrooms are the cleanest ones. Sometimes good qualities of favorite restrooms are the particular things that are not in every campus bathroom.

“I like the bathrooms in the Holland building,” Powell said. “They’re really new … They’re kind of cool.” 

Spencer Chatland, a sophomore integrated studies major from Fillmore and a staff member for DSU’s Custodial and Maintenance Department, said each restroom is constantly cleaned.

“We clean them every day and every night,” Chatland said. “There’s a day and a night shift, and they get cleaned on every shift. The part-timers do it when they’re there, and then the full-timers do it when they’re not, so they get cleaned multiple times.”

Despite the regular cleanings, Chatland said he has seen some dirty bathrooms as well, like in the old gym.

“That’s probably the worst that I’ve seen,” he said. “When I was cleaning in there it was just really [beat up], but that’s just because those bathrooms are really old, too.”

Overall, people want to enter and leave a restroom without treading over filthy floors or dealing with outdated appliances. Sometimes it’s as simple as the need for a personal space to check appearance.

“Cleanliness [is an important quality],” Chadwick said. “And of course, in a female bathroom you want lots of mirrors because you know that everyone’s checking themselves out before they walk out of that bathroom.”

Working students feel the pressure to participate in extra-curricular activities that are meant to enrich their college experience. 

In order to obtain their degree, students understand they need to earn money while going to school so they can pay for school fees. While students say it’s important to get involved while in college, sometimes the pressure of working while being a full-time student is hard, and it makes it difficult to participate in extracurricular activities.

Michael Sowell, a sophomore psychology major from Salt Lake City, works at Jimmy John’s and said although management is pretty flexible with his school schedule, it would be difficult for him to get involved in some extra-curricular activities.

“I would have to work a lot less,” Sowell said. 

Jordon Sharp, director of student involvement and leadership, said getting involved in college is necessary to have a complete college experience and can also help a student land a job upon graduation.

“It is natural for students to feel they can’t afford or don’t have time for student involvement; however, in my experience and what research overwhelming illustrates is that students can’t afford not to get involved,” he said. 

Sharp said students who are involved on campus not only make their degree more valuable upon graduating, but also students who get involved on their campuses have better grades, are more marketable, transfer less, graduate more, have more friends, and enjoy their college experience substantially more.

Some students see the value in getting involved, and they want to; however, they are oftentimes forced to put off enriching school activities because of work.

Kaitlyn Browning, a freshman general education major from Rexburg, Idaho, and Micah Beatty, a freshman general education major from St. George, are both full-time students who work. In addition to work, school, family and friends, Browning and Beatty are also planning a wedding this semester.

“I want to [get involved] as we go through college, but it’s difficult right now,” Browning said. “We have work, school, the wedding and everything else. But we’re working on it.”

Beatty said not only is it hard to focus on campus events outside of the classroom, but also teachers should be aware that many of their students work and to keep that in mind.

Sharp said getting involved is necessary to fulfill professional goals.

“Make it work for you,” he said. “You will see that involvement does not subtract from but will enhance your personal and professional goals.”

Browning said teachers who take attendance should also be mindful that some students who miss class aren’t skipping because they simply don’t want to go but because they have obligations at work.

“The only thing I’m not a fan of is the attendance,” she said. “Today I have to go into work earlier than usual because I want more hours because I need to pay for college. It’s difficult having to be required to be in class when you may already have a good grasp on the material.”

Sharp said students should get involved because the memories made during college are priceless.

“Ultimately, if students don’t get involved at college, they will wish they had,” he said. “The memories you make being involved in activities like the Great Race, painting the D, making a Homecoming float, or becoming a ‘True Rebel’ [are] what you will remember years from now as you drive by Dixie State.”

Reporter Ben Wright went around asking students what they knew about campus events such as the president elections.