This past Tuesday, University of Montevallo students were treated to the comedy of improv group Mission Improvable. A group of students gathered in the auditorium at Palmer Hall for a free showing of the act.
Mission Improvable is a comedy group known for getting their audience in on the act, with no two shows being the same. The group is in it's tenth iteration now and has been going on for 14 years.
The group has described themselves as a combination of MTV's "Wild ‘N Out” and “Who’s Line is it Anyway", but with the added twist of Mission Impossible.
Students used this time as an opportunity to unwind and relax from the stress of upcoming finals. The UPC is hoping to put on more shows like this in the future.
On Tuesday, the University of Montevallo's History Department hosted an event called History Day at Carmichael Library. History Day serves as an opportunity for students to present their research for their senior thesis to the rest of the campus.
There was a wide variety of subjects that were covered by the students, ranging from both World Wars to King Richard the Lionheart.
"I think its definitely a way of PR for the History Department," said senior Madeline Mechum.
History Day was relevant to more than just history majors. Students and teachers from other departments attended the event to check out the exhibits.
Over the last two weekends, Reynolds Hall has been brimming with spectators eager to see UM Theatre's newest production, Into the Woods. Into the Woods is a classic Broadway musical by Steven Sondheim that focuses on fairytale characters' stories and how they all coincide with a journey through the woods.
With the short time frame of two months and limited space in Reynolds Hall, the Theatre department had to get especially creative with their set and costume designs. Costume student Leilani Hayes explained that all of the costumes were made from scratch. They used shiny fabrics and painting techniques to make it seem as if characters like the Prince(s) were well-endowed with finery.
Taylor Lamm and Nick Stokes played the two Princes
The set design also involved some creative work with several types of foam in order to create a dirt and stone effect, as well as specific painting on the walls and set pieces. Also, creative building made the inside of Reynolds Theater seem much bigger on the inside.
The set of Into the Woods
This amazing production is clearly just the beginning of the creative developments that UM Theatre will be making in the future.
According to the website militaryfriendlyschools.com The University of Montevallo has
been recognized as being receptive of veterans, but if you took a tour around
campus you would be hard pressed to find evidence of it.
Matt Stephens and Daniel Emery speak to veterans about SVA
Student veterans Matt Stephens, a former Marine Infantryman, and Daniel Emery, an Army MP currently in the Reserves, hope to change that. On Thursday night they held an interest meeting in Comer Auditorium with the goal of bringing a Student Veterans of America (SVA) chapter to UM.
Despite a small turnout those that attended showed interest in developing a veteran focused program at the university that would aid in the transition to civilian life for those recently exiting the service.
UM is home to 60 veteran students and nearly 100 military dependents but there isn't a place where veterans can go to “get away” from the stresses of student life and relax with like minded individuals. Stephens and Emery would like to see a room or other suitable space on campus either developed or re-purposed for use by veterans.
Student Veterans of America's website
During the meeting Stephens expressed frustration that the university didn't observe Veteran's Day and the city didn't have a Veteran's Day parade. Invitations for the meeting went out to students and staff and according to Amanda Fox, the university's Veterans Affairs Representative, several faculty members expressed "interest in being involved," but, "couldn't be here" due to prior engagements. Fox added that many of those that responded were either veterans themselves or directly related to one.
Thursday's meeting was only the first step in developing a lasting program and potential facility for veteran's at Montevallo but all involved are positive about moving forward. For further information about the program contact Fox in the Registrar's Office or visit the SVA website.
Since their opening in 2001, Eclipse has been a great place for locals and students to relax from a long day. The owner of Eclipse says that in the feature she wants to continues to be innovative and to be a pivotal part of the community. Eclipse offers many things for people, they have coffee that is imported from many other countries. If you like wine, they have many wine tastings through out the year. On yesterday they have an official wine release party for a local winery. And for all you folks who like new bands, at least once a week they have local and sounding bands perform either in the inside or on the patio.
Panorama of Eclipse
Montevallo Student Courtney Johnston says that she like Eclipse because "it is eclectic and different." she says that it is a comfortable place to come and just chill and study or just hang out with friends. So if you want a chill time to just hang with friends, meet new people or just study, come on out to Eclipse.
Upcoming events
If you want to know more about Elpise you can visit their Facebook or go to their website.
Stop and look and listen to our chant!, That's exactly what the gold side was hoping for Thursday night at the student retreat. The Gold Side held its mixer to help build enthusiasm for there side heading into college night. College night being of the oldest homecoming in college traditions makes this a very important night. This is a night where old Golds and new ones can come together for one reason. Build there bonds stronger to help ensure another win for the Golds.
Gold Side leaders and other golds link up to sing Golds song
One of the biggest thing you could tell from the mixer there was plenty of love flowing in the room. The old Golds did a great job of making the new members fell welcome. They explain exactly what college night is, and what it means to be a Gold. They also had a portion where the did all there Gold Side songs. You could feel the energy bursting out of each individual there. One of the most excited people who I notice was the male purple leader Michael Tylen.
I had the pleasure to get a quick interview from him and he had nothing but positive to things to say about his side. He really appreciated nights like Thursday, where Golds can come together and become united. He was quoted as saying "I don't want any drama, and I want everyone to have fun, and have good time". I think his wish may have came true at least for that night. There was no drama and everyone looked like they were having an amazing time.
Gold Side supporter smiling for the camera
The mixer was a huge success. Many new and old Golds left the student retreat excited for the road ahead. That is exactly what the Gold Side was hoping for . So is it going to be a GV 4? The Gold side are sure hoping it will.
Early Saturday morning on November 16th the Chi Omega sorority held the first ever Color Me Run in Montevallo. The event was a charity toward helping the Make-A-Wish foundation. The participant in the race included UM students and citizen's of Montevallo from Children to older adults ,who took the time to support the charity.
Runner Participant in Color Me Chi O
The runners were treated to a free Zumba work out and healthy breakfast. The runners involeved were covered with colorful chalk from head to toe thrown on them by Chi Omega members. people had the option to either run or walk the 5K ,but the most important part was they finished with a smile and a sense of self accomplishment that day. Overall the event was a major success raising over $6500 before the race even began.
2013 Color Me Run
The Color Run was founded in January of 2012 as an event to promote healthiness and happiness by bringing the community together to participate in the “Happiest 5k on the Planet”.The Color Run has made people has been tremendously rewarding for us. It is an event for all fitness levels, ages and backgrounds.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on any given night an estimate of 62,619 veterans are homeless. In 2009, The VA office in Birmingham did a survey and issued a report which stated there were about 500 homeless veterans in the Birmingham area at the time. The number of homeless vets is on the rise.
UM grad student, Shelley Seritt
Instead of just writing a paper for their advocacy project, UM grad student,Shelley Seritt, and two other grad students decided to have a toiletry drive for homeless veterans. They chose to do this drive because each member has a personal connection to people that has served in the different branches of the military. "I just want to raise awareness that there are soldiers and veterans out there that gave almost everything to help us. This is the least we can do," said Seritt.
Toiletry items such as shampoo, deodorant, paper towels, toilet tissue are needed as well as cleaning supplies. Items collected will be donated to Three Hots and a Cots' in Birmingham and Friendship Mission in Montgomery. The drive is going on now and ends November 22. Items can be dropped off on the first floor of Wills Hall next to room 110.
On Tuesday, the fifth of November, Artists from across North America, and the globe joined Dr. Scott Meyers and visiting artist Richard Hirsh in the 6th semi-annual firing of Montevallo's Anagama Kiln. This high-fire tradition dates back to when Meyers and his dedicated students built the giant kiln in 2002.
The Kiln itself is the largest of its kind in North America, boating a total length of Over 40 feet. This allows a greater amount of ceramics to be fired at once and also more wood to be loaded.
The firing process takes a total of a hundred straight hours. Students are given four hour shifts monitoring and feeding the kiln pre-split wood. The work payed off in a massive flame that reached a total of 2700 degrees. At this point pieces were systematically removed and doused in a variety
of different chemicals and glazes. Each piece will hopefully come out looking immensely different, and its this spirit of experimentation that drives Meyers and his students on. Be sure to learn more about the history of anagama kilns and check into everything artistic in Montevallo.
The University of Montevallo's Wind Ensemble took a band tour to perform as well as find perspective new members. They take a tour every year for 3 days to play in different schools in Alabama. This year they went to six schools, some including, Dothan, Enterprise, and Northview.
They meet early in the morning, drive on a bus, and play at two schools every day. After they are done playing for the day they are free to hang out at the hotel, or sight see in the city.
Cody Halley, saxophone, playing a solo
Senior flute player Natalie Marrero, says " I enjoy playing for high schoolers and for new people coming into the school, so we can have-- play difficult music"
The Wind Ensemble has about 60 people in it, 58 of which are students. This is the largest group they have taken on the tour in a couple of years.
The Wind Ensemble is not only made up of Music Performance and Education majors like you might think. It also has several non music majors that play in the ensemble.
The band tour is not only to perform and find perspective new players, it is also a great way for existing members to get closer and make new friendships.
The University of Montevallo theater department puts on its first musical production of the year ''Into the Woods. If you ever wondered what happen to some of your favorite fairy tale characters such as Cinderella, Little red riding hood, Rapunzel, and Jack and the bean stock, then the new broad way production of In to the Woods is for you. Into the Woods is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine It debuted in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 1986, and premiered on Broadway on November 5, 1987. The theater department puts on the show this past Thursday night with a good crowd.
Cast member Jaylon Brown
Refreshments at the reception
The show is was amazing from the singing to the amazing set. You can truly tell a lot of effort was put into the show from the great cast. The show opens up with a big bang in the opening number. As the show continues on you got a flashback of some of favorite fairy tale characters . The show is centered mostly around Jack who is played by Jaylon Brown. Jack makes a big mistake by killing a giant and the problems begin there. I don't want to give to much away so be sure to check out this amazing show for yourself.
The show will be playing until next Saturday until the November 16, 2013. Be sure to come out and show support to your fellow students in there production of Into the Woods.
Last Thursday at 1:30 pm, the student retreat building housed the FCS sponsored "Pathways to Success". A work-shop/job fair that gave students the opportunity to talk with 9 professionals representing different fields.
Students were able to choose up to 4 of the guest speakers and spend 30 minutes with each of them hearing what they had to say.
The first step to success.
Some of the speakers included UM professors like Cindy Wilson and Hollie Cost, among the other guests some of them being alums from Montevallo.
Dr. Wilson shows off her know-how.
Dr. Donna Bell hopes to make this an annual event, and the students agree with her. So here's hoping that this is the birth of a new event that will become a staple in the FCS curriculum.
If you would like to learn more about the FCS department be sure to check out their website right here.
This
volleyball season has been full of exciting games and all-out effort from each
player of the team. Like each sport season, it has to end and also will be the
end of the career of Montevallo star volleyball player Manyi
Ati. Manyi has been dazzling fans
for years on the court and viewers on Ustream. She made her debut in 2010 where
she led the falcons in kills with 412 and kills per game 3.05 and was
second on the team in total attacks 927.
Manyi Ati With the Falcons
With these high accomplishments as a
freshman, she was named PBC Freshman of the Year. Over the years, Manyi continued
to dominate, leading the Falcons in kills 3 out of 4 years. She proved to be a
stand out leader on the court. Head Coach Katie O'Brien spoke about Manyi leadership
over the years saying, “She also knows me as a coach pretty well, and if the girls have a question, they can ask her questions or she can say, 'I think we should do this as a team.' She has the vision of the direction we want to go.” .
Manyi going for a kill
Manyi reflected on her
years as a Falcon, saying these have been some of the greatest times of her life, and she wouldn't change for anything. Being one of the hardest hitting players
in the Peach Belt earned her the nickname “The Assassin” from broadcasters. When asked
did she know about her nickname, she replied, “I had no idea that was my
nickname.. I didn't mind it though”.
Manyi will be graduating with a degree in psychology
and hopes to go to graduate school to become a child psychiatrist.
The Falcons will finish off the regular home
season with adouble
header this Saturday in Trustmark arena, the first game is set for 12:30 p.m.
against Lander, followed by a 4:30 p.m. match up against Clark-Atlanta.
On Tuesday November 5 the University of Montevallo hosted a debate on the existence of God. Resident philosophy professor Dr. Michael Patton debated visiting professor Dr. Jason Baldwin on how we can be certain God is real.
The debate on both sides was well thought out but no sparks flew in either direction. However the philosophers came at the question from two different directions giving the audience an opportunity to hear arguments for the existence of God from perspectives they may not have heard before.
UM Philiosophy professor Dr. Michael Patton
Patton made the point that much of what we believe about god, if we believe in one at all, is determined by when and where we are born. If we had been born in the Middle East we would believe in Allah or the sun god Ra if we were born in ancient Egypt by Patton's reasoning.
Patton said that he enjoyed the debate with Baldwin and would welcome him back to do another debate adding, "I thought it went very, very well."
Notre Dame Philosophy Graduate Dr. Jason Baldwin
Baldwin came at his argument from the perspective that our very existence and its complexity is not just a random happenstance. He argued that there must be a superior intelligence to explain the multitude of things that we see existing in our world.
While this was the first debate of this nature Baldwin had participated in he was appreciative of Patton's view points and said he, "is a very sharp but also affable and funny guy."
This debate was sponsored by the Montevallo Campus Ministry Association and the univeristy. UM regularly hosts debates of such as the one last Tuesday. For more information on events like this one visit UM's website or the campus ministry website.
This
week kicked off the beginning of the University of Montevallo's 2013 season of
intramural basketball. The season will last for three and a half weeks.
Several
teams of Montevallo students participate in intramural basketball. Several are
set up by fraternities and sororities, though some are independently recruited,
like Bad Company and Femme Fatale, both coached by Montevallo student, Rio
Smith.
At
the end of the season, there will be a single-elimination tournament that will
determine whose team is best.
The
men's games are played in Myrick Hall while the women's games are played in
Bibb Graves from 6 to 9, Monday through Thursday, until the end of the
semester. Full schedules for all teams can be found on the IMLeagues website.
NO MORE is a national campaign that is bringing awareness and an end to domestic violence and sexual assault.
Started in 2009, NO MORE is being supported by A-list celebrities such as Ice T, Katie Couric, Blair Underwood and many more. Every major domestic violence and sexual assault organization in the U.S. – from men’s organizations like A CALL TO MEN and Men Can Stop Rape, to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, to groups that help teens like Break the Cycle and Futures Without Violence, to organizations that advance the rights of women of Color and immigrants like Casa de Esperanza and SCESA to the U.S. Dept. of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women – all of them and more are behind NO MORE.
Montevallo launched on Oct.18th.
Locally, NO MORE is spreading through the collegiate community. Colleges like UAB, Miles, Samford and the University of Montevallo are bringing awareness to an invisible problem. To bring awareness, each university hosted different events.
The University of Montevallo launched it's NOMORE campaign by handing out 30 dozen doughnuts with blue icing on top. UM also hosted a simulation called "Sex Signals". The university has plans on hosting more events in the future.
So, how can you get involved? There are hundreds of ways you can spread the word about NO MORE.
Say it: Learn about these issues and talk openly about them. Break the silence. Speak out. Seek help when you see this problem or harassment of any kind in your family, your community, your workplace or school.
Share it: Help raise awareness about domestic violence and sexual assault by sharing NO MORE. Share the PSAs. Download the tools to say NO MORE and share NO MORE with everyone you know. Facebook it. Tweet it. Instagram it. Pin it.
Show it: Supporting partner groups working to end domestic violence and sexual assault and volunteering in your community.
“Real courage owns up to the fact that we face a terrifying task, admitting that we are appropriately frightened, identifying sources of help and strength outside and within ourselves, and then going ahead and doing what needs to be done.”~Dr. Alla Renne Bozarth
It's time once again for one of the most popular holidays here in the 'Vallo- Halloween! On October 31st every year, Montevallo students dress up in their wildest outfits to play their favorite characters all day. Some other colleges may find this custom distracting for classes, but Montevallo students stated that it's a special day and is more likely to ease stress on students than cause problems for them.
UM student Brandon Manns displays his handmade Jedi costume
Halloween is one of the world’s most celebrated holidays.
However, UM students stated that celebrating here is a little bit more special. Theatre major Leilani Hayes stated that Halloween at Montevallo is "kinda like being at Rocky Horror... but in classes. The costumes here are a lot weirder than anything at home."
From Jedi Knights to Banana Men, on Halloween Montevallo becomes overrun with unusual characters. However, that's what many students like most about the school's culture. Montevallo's accepting environment and art culture make it easy for anyone to be someone else for a day.
