Beyond the Recycle Bin

                                                 Story by: Zach Ivey                                       
Recycling, the act of converting waste into reusable material. It has been a blessing as well as a curse throughout the United States and other countries for decades. Most people 

believe in the cause, but are not given the sources to actually be a part of the process, or either they do not want to do the work involved in recycling. In the past 10-12 years, C & D (Construction and Demolition) companies

Evolutia-Made recycling plant warehouse in Birmingham, AL

have found that there are a lot of materials left over after the destruction of a building structure. Instead of paying to have the

materials moved to a land fill where they will sit and expire for years, some have found
that there lies reusable resources in the piles of scrap wood, stone, and metal.

So what could you create out of an old, torn down, wooden building? Alan Klinner, the part-owner of Evolutia-Made, a recycling plant located in Birmingham,AL, explained how

Evolutia's inventory amounts to endless possibilities

their plant takes this lumber; which has been weathered for a long period of time.This,

he said, gives the wood a more characteristic
appearance. They remove the weathered layers of 

this strong hardwood and turn them into walling and flooring that is reusable for homes and other

establishments. Evolutia has been up and running with the initiative of owner Robert Klinner and his sons for around 12-13 years. The warehouse is the home for a library of reusable items majoring 

A table crafted from recycled wood
(one of Evolutia's many pieces)

in lumber from all over. They not only recycle usable materials for buildings, but Evolutia also uses their inventory to create beautiful furniture for homes, offices, etc...According to Robert, Evolutia has no way to go,

but up. He hopes to expand the company and merge into different business markets such as stores and showrooms
for Evolutia-Made furniture and other products.This goes

to show that recycling can go further than saving up tin cans and plastic bottles, and it continues to evolve into quite a major market for companies and entrepreneurs alike.

Want to know more about Evolutia? click here...
Want to know how you can do your part in recycling? click here...

Final Falcon Weekly of 2015

Falcon Weekly

Holiday Parade VO Video

Helping to Build Hope..For Their Future

by Khaliah Smitherman




The University of Montevallo's Upward Bound Program is federally funded and provides academic support, counseling, tutorial services, career mentoring, vutlural exposure, and community service opportunities for students in need.

These students start in 8th or 9th grade, and continue within the program until their college graduation.  These students come from Bibb, Chilton, and Shelby Counties.

According to Upward bound Director Sharon Gilbert, Upward Bound is one of the University's best kept secrets. However, she wants more people to be infromed about the programs and the services they offer.

Upward Bound's Adam  tutoring a student

One service is tutoring. Upward Bound's Soar Tutoring assists students to excel in the classroom and make the journey to college more attainable.

With tutoring the students also get to attend ACT prep seminars. There is also a homework hotline available for students.

Upward Bound's Acadmemic Coordinator MaryJo Buff says, "their main goal is to get students through High School into College and then through College."

Because Upward Bound is a federally funded program, they depend on sponsorships and fundraisers to help provide scholarship money for students. They are currently having their annual Jubilant Jingles fundraiser.

Jubilant Jewels Christmas Tree

With this fundraiser individuals pay one dollar for their name to be entered into a drawing for a Christmas Tree.  For the winner,  the tree is already decorated.

The drawing for the winners will take place on December 8th.

For more information about Upward Bound please click here.

Chi Omega's Preparation for Lip Jam

By: Elizabeth Rhinehart

The end of the fall semester typically involves a lot of studying...but for Greek organizations at the University of Montevallo it also means a lot of dancing.

The Alpha Gamma Delta sorority hosts Lip Jam, one of the campuses most popular philanthropy events each November. Each Greek organization on campus gets the opportunity to perform a lip syncing and dancing routine in hopes of winning money for their philanthropy.

The theme of this year's Lip Jam was "The Evolution" of a particular artist. Musicians such as Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Maroon 5 were featured in the performances.

Sorority Chi Omega got Gwen Stefani and they performed eight of Stefani's most popular songs from her days in "No Doubt" to her most recent releases.

The sisters of Chi O practiced for several hours every night for the month leading up to Lip Jam. Practices involved learning the dances and creating props for their performance.

The Creation of the Television

Props such as a giant television, posters designating the year of the songs and wind up keys were used to add more fun to the high-energy routine.

In the end all the sleep lost, the hours spent practicing and the money spent on outfits was worth it because Chi Omega won first place for the first time in three years.

Senior Courtney Boyd participates in Lip Jam every year but hasn't experienced a win since she was a freshman.

"As a senior this really was a highlight moment for me. It was really nice to win and this be my last year to be able to do this. I can look back on it and always know that we won first place my senior year," says Boyd.

Lambda Chi's Winning Performance

The brothers of Lambda Chi Alpha placed first in the boys division with their thrilling Michael Jackson performance. Both Lambda Chi and Chi O received $75 for their philanthropies as a prize for winning.

To see the full Chi Omega performance click here.

Rocky Horror costumes come together

Story by: Clarke Stackhouse

The UM Theatre Department's production of "The Rocky Horror Show" has finished its run and the set has been disbanded, and costumes packed away into storage. Many areas of the production require great work and effort all to look effortless on stage, especially costumes and makeup.

"The Rocky Horror Show" and the famous movie based off of it, "The Rocky Horror Picture show, have become huge cult classics and many people know and revere the costumes and dress as the shows characters for Halloween and live showings of the movie and the stage musical. 

Students work on creating tattoos for The Rocky Horror Show

With such an iconic shows as Rocky Horror, the audience expects certain elements to remain the same, as the creative team craves a more unique look.

Emily Gill, associate professor and Rocky Horror costume designer, says she enjoys designing shows at Montevallo because she has more creative license to differ from original source material.

"We have something special," Gill said. "We try to do something a little bit different when telling the story."

She said her design inspiration came from the early B-horror movies of the mid 1900's and the bright pulp-fiction colored magazines and comics of the time.

The show will be bright and colorful and reminiscent of the Psychobilly fashion movement, with elements of grunge and punk, with tattoos and technicolor hair.

The production's poster

"It's something that's very flattering to the actors," Gill said. "But it also gives the best color punch on stage."

Rocky Horror is known to be a show with little clothing and Gill said its been fun making more undergarments and focusing on movements they have to do.

"The thing about Rocky Horror, is there's not a lot to wear," she said. "So they're mostly panties. I'll be making a lot of underpants."

One of the most iconic pieces of lingerie in the show is the corset of Dr. Frank-n-furter. Jae Hallenbeck cretaed the corset as a part of his undergraduate research.

He said the corset is unique and has been a lot of fun to make, and very educational creating a modern corset.

"The corset design and the fabric together give him that like alien look, and its nothing like I’ve ever seen before," Hallenbeck said. "So I’m really excited to see it on stage."

The show opened and sold out many of its performances, with a lot of acclaim and criticism of the unique costumes. For more information on UM's Theatre department and upcoming shows click here.