Month: November 2016

 You won’t hear standard radio hits accompanying this year’s December dance concert.

Ten Dixie State University senior dance students will be choreographing their final project and performing Monday and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Dolorés Dore Eccles Fine Arts Center. This will be the first dance concert fully choreographed and run by students.

Sam Keatley, a junior dance major from Orem and one of the choreographers for the dance concert, said a student-ran concert will be held every fall to help students prepare for their careers in the professional world and grow in all areas of dancing.  

The dance concert will showcase different pieces, mostly personal to each choreographer in the concert. The pieces range from religious to strictly examining the motions of dance and allowing the audience to evaluate their own feelings and connection with the music and moves of the dance. 

Andrew Jimenez, a senior dance major from San Diego, is putting together a dance called “Trifecta.” 

“This concert gives me a chance to break out of my comfort zone and expand on my understanding,” Jimenez said. “My piece is for the eye of the viewer to decide what it is about through the movements in the piece.”

Jimenez will be performing with his wife, Ashley Jimenez, a senior dance major from Hurricane. She said she is excited for this opportunity and will be one of the first students to graduate with the 2015-approved dance degree. 

“Dance is always open for interpretation,” Andrew Jimenez said. 

“And sometimes that is the goal of it all,” Ashley Jimenez finished. 

Keatley and Ashley Jimenez both said preparation for this concert has been a little hectic. 

Alivia Snow, a senior dance major from St. George, said it’s the classes, organizing time with every student and learning how she personally choreographs others that makes this tough.

Snow has been dancing since she was three years old. She said she has always chosen slower, more peaceful songs and wanted to change that up for this last time for something new.

“My dance is called ‘Unfamiliar,’” Snow said. “I usually choreograph dances that have a lot of meaning to them, and I wanted to do something completely different. So this is something very unfamiliar to me.” 

Snow said choreographing is like putting together all of the dance moves that you like and “making your own recipe.” It’s creating something you know and adding your own new style to it.

Volunteering isn’t just an opportunity to help others; it is also an opportunity to help yourself, add to your résumé and gain valuable skills. 

The holiday season is coming faster than Santa flies around the world on Christmas Eve, and the festivities also bring a lot of volunteering opportunities to add to the holiday spirit.

David Murphy, a career counselor at Dixie State University, said besides the good feelings you get by giving back in soup kitchen or a toy drive, these acts of volunteerism can look good on a résumé.

“It shows you are concerned with the community outside yourself and involved,” Murphy said. “Most companies today have a service component to them, and they can recognize and acknowledge those simple acts of volunteerism.”  

Murphy said students should probably not make coin drives and soup kitchens their full résumé, but volunteering could help them stand out.

Volunteerism can be catered to your major to help you get your foot-in-the-door, gain practical experience, or just help you figure out if nursing, business or physical therapy is something you are truly interested in, Murphy said.

 Noelle Hele, a sophomore exercise science major from Apple Valley, California, said she doesn’t volunteer a lot, but one of her volunteer opportunities is related to an issue she was learning about in a class.

“I have volunteered for the Utah Food Bank and got to see hunger crisis first hand and experience part of that,” Hele said. “I think volunteering [at the Utah Food Bank] and relating it to hunger crisis on my résumé could help strengthen [my résumé] and my major.”

Dillon McKinney, DSU Student Association vice president of services and a junior math major from St. George, said when you get into the service setting, it will change your perspective on the issue first hand. His eyes were opened to what being homeless is really like during DSU’s alternative spring break in San Francisco in 2015. 

“I don’t think you can ever prepare to serve breakfast at 6 a.m. to a bunch of 5- and 6-year-olds and disabled people who are missing limbs that are going without shelter or that simple meal,” McKinney said. “It kind of shatters your stereotypes of what issues are really like.”

DSU students can get involved locally this holiday season with the Kony Coins for Kids toy drive or at soup kitchens organized by the homeless shelter Switchpoint or the Grace Episcopal Church.

Kony Coins For Kids

Kony Coins for Kids is a nonprofit organization whose goal is to provide Christmas to disadvantaged kids in the Washington County area.

Students can donate their change or cash, unwrapped toys, or time to help out during the annual toy drive.

Kony Coins for Kids has already finished sorting through the applications but will still need help in collecting the funds, buying the toys, wrapping the presents and delivering them to the little boys and girls.

• Shopping will be Dec. 14 starting at 5 p.m. at the Walmart in Bloomington

• Wrapping will be Dec. 15 starting at 8 a.m. at the Dixie Convention Center

For more details about volunteering, visit their website at coinsforkids.net.

Soup kitchens

Grace Episcopal Church operates a soup kitchen serving hot lunches four days out of the week, Monday — Wednesday and Fridays from noon until 1:30 p.m. The church is located at 1072 E. 900 S. Students can contact the church at 435-628-1131.

Switchpoint operates its soup kitchen five days a week, Monday – Friday, from 11:45 p.m. to 1 p.m. Switchpoint is located on 948 N 1300 W.

Students can also seek other volunteer opportunities at Switchpoint by visiting their website at http://www.switchpointcrc.org/switchpoint_home.php or by calling 435-628-9310. 

Once considered the class clown, Wayne Provost now stands as the inventor and co-inventor of numerous patents, including the resealable box top. 

Having been in the innovation world for 45 years, Provost brings a plethora of inventing experiences and knowledge to Dixie State University. As the newly hired director of innovation guidance and solutions, Provost’s job is to instruct and advise students, faculty and members of the community on their patent ideas.

Kyle Wells, dean of business and communication, said the ultimate goal is to help turn those innovated ideas into “viable businesses in [the] community.” 

Provost said he has always had the knack for being creative and inventive. As a child, he was into drawing cartoons. As he got older and attended college, he began building objects like remote controlled airplanes that he would fly around his college dorm. 

Steve Jacobsen, Provost’s friend from college and the recipient of the Leonardo Da Vinci Award from the American Society of Engineers, and Provost worked on several different innovations together, often time’s under Jacobsen’s name. 

Part of those patents were inventions like the insulin pump, a device used by diabetics to inject insulin into their system, and the portable dialysis machine, a machine used to filter one’s blood when the kidney’s are damaged, Provost said.

“My philosophy is that there is no such thing as a stupid idea,” Provost said.

Provost said a good deal of his patents were of medical origin, which ended up being donated to the University of Utah to help further the research and care of pediatric cancer patients, a subject very tender to his heart. 

Some of the patents Provost created were in effort to help his step-son, Dusty, who battled leukemia at a young age before passing away.

After more than one retirement, Provost decided he wasn’t quite done. With a love for college atmospheres and being a recipient himself of two bachelor’s degrees and a doctorate degree, he contacted President Biff Williams in the spring about a potential spot on the DSU staff.

When Provost was hired in October, he was implemented into DSU’s effort to further the Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. With his expertise in helping people achieve patents for their inventions, Provost was the right fit, Wells said.

Wells also said Provost is able to quickly find out if a patent already exists, and if it doesn’t, he can help individuals by reducing their costs in obtaining a patent.

Right now, Provost has eight students who are utilizing him as a resource with another five potentially on the way. Of those eight students, he said five of them have patents with some real potential.

“[Provost] is a wealth of knowledge,” said Wyatt Anderson, a sophomore business administration major from Richfield. “It’s like you are a team with him, and he works through every step [with you].” 

Due to bilateral non-disclosure agreements signed by both him and his students, Provost was unable to disclose what the pending projects are. From what he has been helping with so far, it has exceeded his expectations, Provost said. 

“This is the most fun I have ever had,” Provost said with a smile. “This is like going to Disneyland.”

Updated on 03/29/2017 at 8:40 a.m.

Dixie State University students and community members showed their support for the transgender community by hosting a candlelight vigil.

Even though Transgender Day of Remembrance was Nov. 20, members of the LGBT Student Association, students and community members gathered in the Gardner Student Center lounge Nov. 21 to pay their respect to those in the transgender community who have lost their lives to anti-transgender violence.

Ray Harris, a senior English major from Alamogordo, New Mexico, and president of the LGBT Student Association, said this is the fifth time the LGBT Student Association has organized a candlelight vigil for Transgender Day of Remembrance, and she said seeing all of the people who showed up was refreshing.

“Showing support for the transgender community and honoring those we have lost is especially important this year,” Harris said.

Harris welcomed the crowd of approximately 20 people and said: “The transgender community deserves to feel valid, safe and important. The transgender community deserves to live as authentically and beautifully as they want.”

The candlelight vigil started with members of the LGBT Student Association reading the names of 26 transgender individuals who have lost their lives to violence in the U.S. in 2016. The vigil ended with a moment of silence for those individuals and with students and community members sharing their thoughts.

Robyn Boudreau, a mentor for the LGBTQ+ Resource Center and a transgender woman, was the first to stand and share her thoughts on Transgender Day of Remembrance.

“This is always a very sad day,” Boudreau said. “I know that degree of hatred has to come from fear.”

Boudreau also spoke about how the recent election has stirred up “tremendous hatred” toward the transgender community. She shared an experience of how a rock was thrown through her transgender friend’s window a few days ago and spoke of other assaults that have happened.

“This was an election where the bullies were enabled,” Boudreau said. “We all have to be on our toes.”

“The first year we were on campus, we had somebody who thought it was OK to tear down one of our rainbow flags, and they wrote ‘fag’ on it,” Gubler said.

Anti-transgender violence in the U.S. has increased since the election, Boudreau said, but it’s much worse in other countries like Brazil and Mexico. Brazil leads the world in transgender murders, where around 57 transgender people were killed during the first month of 2016, according to an article in the Huffington Post. 

“Things may get a little worse, but I really hope they’ll eventually get better,” Boudreau said.

Polices about overnight visits of the opposite sex have now changed since the past year but only at certain Dixie State University student housing. 

Forrest Gee, a junior criminal justice major from Herriman and a residence assistant at Campus view Suites said the five student housing Nisson Towers, Shiloh Hall, Chancellor Apartments, and Abby Apartments all are under the same rule and allow sleepovers of the opposite sex but roommates and the visitor staying the night must sign a waiver stating that it is OK, as well as the roommates where the guest is staying the night.

These policies have changed from last year.

This information is found on DSU’s housing website in the Resident Life Handbook. 

Reanna Lyle, a freshman integrated studies major from Corona, California, said she sleeps at her fiance’s dorm every night. Lyle said she and her fiance were staying the night before they knew about the policy for Campus View Suites.

After speaking to managers from Campus View Suites, Lyle said she is able to stay the night with her fiance after a waiver from her, her fiance and the roommates Ok the arraignment. 

“The con of sleeping with my fiance in his dorm is that the bed is too small; other than that it’s nice,” Lyle said. “It’s kind of different where we are engaged.”

She said she thinks student housing is trying to avoid people who don’t have their own apartment to try and get free rent by staying the night with someone else.

The policies of overnighters change with different student housing. 

Blaire Leavitt, manager of Red Rock Ridge student housing, said Red Rock does not allow sleepovers of the opposite sex and sleepovers of the same sex are not recommended either. Leavitt said the reason for not allowing sleepovers is to prevent someone constantly staying at the apartment for cost-free rent. 

Leavitt said family members of the same sex are able to stay the night but must be approved by Red Rock Ridge managers.

“Sleepovers always turn into people extending their stay and that is where it makes it easy to take advantage of,” Leavitt said. 

A $200 fine is given as a warning at Red Rock Ridge for students sleeping over, and after a second time, the student is evicted from Red Rock Ridge.

Karyn Javines, property manager of Vintage at Canyonlands Apartments said: “We just have to be considerate of the student’s roommates. With students sharing rooms here, we are very cautious of students feeling comfortable here.”  

Fernanda Jimenez, a sophomore biology major from Heber, and Jessica Zamudio, a sophomore nursing major from Heber, said there is really no harm to sleepovers. Both students live at Raintree Apartments and said they are upset with the idea and policy that their family members can’t even stay the night. On the Raintree Apartments website they state that no members of the opposite sex can stay the night for any reason.  Jimenez and Zamudio said there should be a change to the policy and not be so strict being that they are over 18 and can choose for themselves. 

Seth Gubler, director of housing and residence life at Campus View Suites said the rule was applied last. If suitemates are OK with the guest staying the night then we are OK with them staying the night according to the visitors pass which must be signed.

“I’ve seen an increase of people wanting to use the visitors pass but I know there are students who do have guests stay the night without signing the waiver;” Gubler said. “Unless there is a complaint by another student then we turn to the wavier but we do not police that or check the beds every night to make sure students follow this rule.”

Students came for the pizza and stayed for the public lands debate. 

In the first Pizza and Politics event since the election, members of Dixie State University Student Association and biology students came together Nov. 17 in the Gardner Student Center lounge to debate what role the federal government should have in protecting Utah’s public lands. 

Federal land ownership has become a hot-button issue in Utah, where the federal government owns 65 percent of all the land, said James Kener, senior English major from Murray and student director of the DSU Institute of Politics.  

“This is one of the biggest issues in southern Utah even though it’s an issue that often falls to the wayside in national politics,” Kener said. “We really wanted to bring this to the attention of the students so someone out there could maybe say, ‘look, I can make a difference; we can build a reasonable compromise to fix this issue.’” 

Jayson Foster, a junior biology major from Glenwood, argued for the federal land to be moved into the control of the state. He said his experience growing up in a small, rural town helped him argue for state and rural land rights.  

“It would be nice to make counties, like Garfield county, more economically productive because right now, so much of Utah’s coal is in these protected lands,” Foster said. “If we privatized these lands, then we could access this coal.”

Foster also said the overreach of land ownership by the Bureau of Land Management has devastated natural habitats by allowing wild horse populations to grow too much and push land away from cattle herders. 

Kener took the other side of the political spectrum and argued for the federal government to maintain control of Utah’s private lands. 

“The BLM doesn’t get it right all the time, but the cost of getting land back and running it from the state would be a disaster,” Kener said. “If we let the state buy the land back, they’re going to sell it back to the highest bidder and they’re going to put some giant oil rigs on there to produce the money they need to own the land.”

Public lands are protected by the federal government to keep it pristine and beautiful, Kener said. He also said the state of Utah wouldn’t have enough money to take care of all the public lands if it were to own most of the land. 

Matt Fehrenbacker, a senior integrated studies major from Spokane, Washington, said the public lands debate was important because it helped educate students on one of the biggest political issues in the region. 

“Students will hopefully learn both sides of the issue,” Fehrenbacker said. “We could either take from the land right now, or we could preserve it so it can last for all the generations to come…This issue will not only affect [students] but it’ll affect their children and their grandchildren to come.”

Kener, who was called a “big-government-loving socialist” by one of the audience members who asked a question, said the debaters purposely argued extreme sides of the issue so students could learn about why people feel strongly about this issue.

“Even though we took on these roles of big-time liberal and big-time conservative, at the end of the day, most of us can agree that the answer lies somewhere in the middle with a compromise,” Kener said.