Page A2
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
The Pilot
News
Small major hopes to have big impact
File Photo
The Veggie vehicle with Dr. David Judge’s class last
fall.
Veggie vehicle parked for now
By Rebecca Clark
Pilot editor
The Gardner-Webb Uni
versity “veggie vehicle”
project has stalled temporar
ily.
Originally a project be
gun by Dr. David Judge’s en
vironment class in the fall of
2006, students were working
on converting the truck so
it would run on waste veg
etable oil. The oil would be
collected from the campus
cafeteria or from local fast
food restaurants.
Though the vehicle is on
the back burner for now, the
plan is to resume work on it
during the spring semester.
Students from Dr. Ven-
ita Totten’s chemistry class
have also been working on
converting vegetable waste
into a biodiesel that would
be effective in any vehicle.
She said two students, Clay
Carrigan and Jimmy Ballan-
tyne are doing preliminary
research to get the project off
the ground.
Ballantyne said they are
in the middle of finding out
the specifics on the chemi
cal makeup and efficiency of
different biodiesel oils. This
research also will be present
ed in a poster session at the
North Carolina Academy of
Sciences will be held at Mer
edith College this spring.
Lutz-Yelton custodian
popular with students
By Shane Parnell McGrath
Special to The Pilot
Every university has cer
tain signatures unique to it.
Gardner-Webb University
has the smelly Dumpster be
hind the Dover Campus Cen
ter; the bell tower at Lake
Hollifield; and Roderick
Wood - known as “Woody”
to the students in Lutz-Yel-
ton Hall.
In his 14 years as part
of the GWU janitorial staff,
Wood has cleaned both aca
demic and residence build
ings. Now in charge of main
taining Lutz-Yelton, Wood is
well known for his wit and
sfraight-talking demeanor.
He often found convers
ing with the dorm residents,
covering subjects that range
from his past experience in
the military to the struggles
that college students face.
But call him “well-liked” and
he shrugs off that label.
“I don’t consider myself
to be popular - I just tell
things the way they are,” he
said. “I am not the type of
individual who looks for ac
colades from anyone.”
In addition to being
known for his candor, wit
and commitment to his pro
fession, Wood is noted for
being open about his Chris
tian faith. He is all too hap
py to engage in faith-based
conversations with students
when the opportunity pres
ents itself
“My testimony stands
pat. I do not deviate from it,”
said Wood. “I am not afraid
to call myself a Christian. I
look forward to the day when
I can kneel before my Lord
and savior Jesus Christ.”
Wood is effective in his
ability to relate to students
because he treats them as his
equals.
By Rebecca Clark
Pilot editor
Global warming, pollution and other
environmental concerns are attracting
more attention these days and Gardner-
Webb University is trying to be part of
the solution.
In December 2005, GWU faculty
approved that addition of environmen
tal science as a major.
“This is our second academic year
of existence,” Dr. Stefka Eddins, said.
Eddins was hired in 2001 to assist in
developing and teaching the major, and
also serves as a chemistry professor.
According to Eddins, Dr. Tom Jones
and Dr. Les Brown, now retired, origi
nated the idea for the major and were
strong supporters.
At this point, there are a handful of
students majoring in environmental sci
ence.
“For our department, four or five is
not bad,” said Eddins. “We are hoping
for more student inquiries from on as
well as off campus.”
The major is science-based and in
cludes general chemistry, biology, math
and physics classes.
The classes are supplemented with
course work in economy, ethics and
policy.
There are two tracks to the major:
environmental chemistry and ecology.
Both take common core classes and
then branch into specialized courses.
Eddins said the environmental
chemistry frack is aligned with the rec
ommendations of the American Chemi
cal Society, “which is a big deal.”
“We really took the time to research
this. It’s an interesting major, vve’re
proud of it.”
She said they really attempt to stress
the Christian principles of steward
ship, which sets GWU apart from other
schools with the same major.
Amber Bellamy, a junior from Kings
Port, Term., said she was a biology ma
jor but switched to environmental sci
ence.
“It was more geared to what I wanted
to do,” she said. “It narrowed it down.”
Bellamy said she hopes to work for
the National Park Service or do sam
pling for a company.
She said her classes have been inter
esting.
“I’ve enjoyed what I’ve done so
far,” she said.
There are a variety of job options
available for graduates of the program.
“The jobs really boil down to en
vironmental consulting,” said Eddins,
“and you can do that both in a govern
ment or private setting, so you can be
your own boss.”
Other options include environmen
tal engineers, teachers, conservation or
climate scientists, environmental tech
nicians or working in park services.
“We haven’t had the first cohort of
graduates yet, since we are so new,”
said Eddins.
Student Government Association News
“I’ve always said that
once a student leaves high
school, he is no longer a
child, he is a man and should
be treated as a man,” he said.
“I’m in the same boat as
many of the students are.”
Wood is originally from
New York state, but relo
cated to Shelby to be close to
his family.
“I worked in Denver,
Colo., for seven years and my
two sons and oldest daughter
were there with me,” he said.
“My son married a girl from
North Carolina and they de
cided to move back, and I
followed them.”
It was at this time that
Wood first started as an em
ployee at GWU, working for
four to five years and then
to moving to New Mexico.
When he decided to come
back to the Southeast, he
picked up where he left off
as a GWU staff member.
Wood spent much of his
life on the road, living in
different parts of the world.
Much of that was due to
his time in military service,
which spanned 20 years and
27 days, exactly.
“I was stationed in Wash
ington, Alaska, Wyoming,
Puerto Rico, France, Eng
land and North Africa. I feel
extremely fortunate to have
been able to go to all of these
places.”
Wood wouldn’t mind go
ing back into the military, if
it weren’t for the fact that his
age disqualifies him.
“If I was a little younger,
I’d go back in the service in a
heartbeat,” he said.
A university is based
upon academics, athletics
and activities, but it is ulti
mately rooted in the people
who represent it. Roderick
Wood represents GWU well
on a daily basis.
Dear Fellow Students,
I hope this letter finds all of you well
and coasting easily through these last
few weeks of the semester. Since that is
probably not the case, though, and like
me you are scrambling to tie together all
the loose ends, I want to offer you my
encouragement.
This is the time of year when per
spective is so easily lost in the frantic
pace, and when we wish away the days
that we ought to cherish because we’re
so eager for the work to be finished.
Take a deep breath and remember that
community and relationship are what is
most important. It will be over soon.
As far as SGA goes, I am very ex
cited about the rest of the semester and
about the plans we are working on. We
hope everyone enjoyed all the Home
coming festivities. Congratulations
to Liz Honeycutt on being this year’s
Homecoming queen! Now that Home
coming is behind us, we can get down
to the rest of our semester projects and
plans.
Right now, we’re working on sever
al projects. We want to say thanks to ev
eryone who participated in our opinion
survey about the Residence Education
visitation policy. We will be tallying
those in the coming weeks and moving
forward with whatever results we see.
If anyone did not get to fill out that
survey and wishes to share his or her
thoughts or ideas with us, please contact
me or another officer. The conversation
is by no means closed because the sur
veys have been completed.
We are also addressing the lack of
handicap-accessible doors on campus.
A special SGA committee has been as
signed the task of exploring that issue,
and will probably be conducting some
sort of survey in the coming weeks
In addition to those issues, we’re
looking into providing classrooms
with more left-handed desks, and our
academic affairs committee is planning
another scholarly lecture series for next
semester.
I want to remind everyone that we
still have more than $25,000 in our clubs
and organizations fund to distribute. If
you are involved in clubs on campus
and plan some cool events, then come
get money from SGA to help with that.
The fijnd money needs to get spent be
cause it does not roll over to next year’s
budget.
To all my fellow seniors, please think
about contributing to our senior class
gift, which we will announce very soon.
The senior class gift is a strong tradition
at Gardner-Webb, and we want to leave
some mark on our campus that will last
beyond our time here. We also want to
start the habit now of giving back to our
university.
Right now, it seems like all we do
is spend money here and we don’t want
to think about giving more money once
we’re gone. But private universities de
pend on the donations of their alumni
to function and to thrive, and we as stu
dents have an ethical obligation to help
our alma mater grow.
We can take our first step into the
alumni world and can begin the process
of giving back to Gardner-Webb by
contributing to the senior class gift.
If anyone has any questions or com
ments about anything, and any proj
ects that you’d like SGA to undertake,
please communicate those to us. Our of
fice number is extension 4742, and my
email address is mbw0703@gardner-
webb.edu.
Sincerely,
Matt Walters
SGA president
it’s not too late to join the Quiz Bowl team
Dr. Jones says
no geniuses
need apply
By Jacob Conley
Pilot staff writer
The Gardner-Webb Quiz
Bowl team is gearing up
for another season, and its
coach. Dr. Tom Jones, wants
more students to compete on
the team.
“When we’ve had trails
and practices and we have
not had that many people
show up,” said Jones.
One factor Jones attri
butes the lack of interest to
is a misunderstanding about
what qualifies students to
participate in Quiz Bowl.
“People think that you
have to be a genius to play,”
said Jones.
“You don’t have to be
smart. You just have to think
fast and hit the buzzer.”
He said that there are two
types of people needed to
make a quiz bowl team suc-
cessfial: Students with very
specific knowledge and those
with a broad base of knowl-
The competition will be
held the first weekend in
February in Lynchburg Va.
Jones encourages anyone
who is interested to attend
practice. Students will be no
tified via a campus-wide e-
mail about practice times.
“It is a good opportunity
for students to come out and
have some fiin,” said Jones.
“And they might find out
that they know some things
they did not know that they
knew.”
Quiz Bowl is more than
buzzers and questions how
ever. It is also about camara
derie and competition.
Megan Looper, a member
of last year’s team equates
Quiz Bowl to a popular real
ity TV series.
“Quiz Bowl is like “Sur
vivor,” said Looper. “You
make some friends on other
Photo by Ashley Carter
Lanny Newton answers a question while Quiz Bowl
teammate Terry Miller listens to the response during
tryouts for the team that will compete in February. Dr.
Tom Jones hopes more students will join the team.
teams and you form allianc
es with them against ‘evil’
teams like Liberty.”
Jones hopes that this ca
maraderie can translate into
good things for the upcom
ing season.
“Last year we finished
tied for second, and it’s al
ways nice to finish in first.”
In order to accomplish
this goal the team will have
to beat tough competition
such as Liberty and Big South
newcomer Presb3^erian.
‘Martyr’ puts a new spin on an old play
By Christopher Shaver
Pilot staff writer
“Martyr,” a new translation of the classi
cal French play “Polyeucte,” premieres Nov.
14 in Dover Theater at Gardner-Webb Uni
versity.
“This is a Gardner-Webb play because it
encompasses the themes of Christianity and
it’s a classical piece. It combines the best of
learning and faith,” said theater professor
Scot Lahaie.
The translation of Pierre Corneille’s play
about the founding of the Armenian Church,
was done by Lahaie and his wife, Ute, a pro
fessor in the World Languages, Literatures
and Cultures Department.
Although there are two other English
translations, Lahaie'said they were both out
dated. One of which was also very inaccu
rate. Lahaie said he felt there needed to be a
translation that actors would be able to speak
more easily.
A new name seemed appropriate for the
new translation.
“When the play becomes yours, then it’s
easier to give it a different name,” Lahaie
said. “We felt comfortable with changing
the title because it’s based on his [Polyeucte]
martyrdom.”
The cast of “Martyr” includes Matthew
Fraiser as Polyeucte, Heather Bartlett as Pau
line, Caleb Moore as Severus, and Brian Mc
Gill as Felix the Governor.
“They’re all working at a professional
level. If you go to a professional theater you
wouldn’t be able to find anyone better,” La
haie said.
“Martyr” will be performed at 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 14-17, and at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 18.
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