Volume XXVIII, No. 4
Methodist College, Fayetteville, N.C. 28311
Monday, November 19, 1990
Methodist Crowns King and Queen
by David Leach
One of the more prestigious homecom
ing events is the crowning of the King
and Queen. This year's Homecoming
King and Queen, Jay Kirkpatrick and
Heather Owens, were announced at the
dance.
Homecoming Queen, Heather Owens,
represented Cumberland dorm. She is a
sophomore pursuing a pre-law, political
science degree. Heather desires to be in
volved in the law field after college. She
is undecided as to where she would like
to go for graduate school.
Heather's activities on campus include
an interest in tennis. She has played ten
nis for Methodist College for two semes
ters and is looking forward to the spring
season. She is also involved with the
Student Judicial Court, and she has been
an active participant in community activi
ties such as Show-You-Care-Day. She
also assisted with Special Olympics on
campus.
Jay Kirkpatrick, a senior from Talla
hassee Florida, is this year's Homecom-
1990 Homecoming King and Queen: Heather Owens and Jay Kirkpatrick.
Methodist College Hosts
Special Olympics
by Sherry L. Overton
"Let me win ... But if I cannot win ...
Let me be brave in the attempt." This
was the oath taken by participants in the
Fayetteville/Cumberland County Special
Olympics 1990 Soccer Competition
which Methodist College hosted on Fri
day, Oct. 12. This was the second year
that the college has been involved in
these activities.
Participating in this year's events were
all of the Cumberland County Schools.
There were approximately 230 children
involved. Their disabilities ranged from
minor learning problems to severe physi
cal problems. Nevertheless, this was a
day for all 230 kids to focus on their abil
ities rather than their inabilities.
The purpose of the Special Olympics
is to give children the opportunity to par
ticipate in and receive recognition for
strengths which they need reinforced.
This one day gives them a taste of suc
cess and shows them they can strive to
ing King. Jay is a physical education ma
jor who hopes to someday coach college
ball, and hopefully, he says, "to play pro
fessional ball." His more immediate
goals are to graduate in the spring and
pursue a masters degree.
Jay has been an active participant in
many areas of college life over the past
four years. He has been a resident advis
or in Sanford dorm for one year and in
Garber for two years. He is also a justice
on the Student Judicial Court
His involvement with the baseball
team has been extensive. An important
player for the past three years, he is the
captain of this year's team.
His academic performance has been
outstanding and last year he was voted
Student Athlete of the Year.
Both Heather and Jay, when asked
about the honor of being elected king and
queen, stated that they were very happy
about being elected. They explained that
being named King and Queen made them
realize what a close group of friends they
have at school.
Fall Break
Eliminated
overcome their handicaps. ;
Led by Joe Pereira, a Methodist Col
lege Physical Education instructor and
the women's soccer coach, students as
well as some staff members pitched in as
volunteers assisting in the days' events.
Both the men's and women's soccer
teams took time out of their schedules to
ensure that things went smoothly
throughout the day. Other volunteers in
cluded the Adaptive Physical Education
Class and various other Physical Educa
tion classes. The standard ratio of volun
teers to participants should be 1 to 5.
The number of volunteers who turned out
this year surpassed the number that were
there to help last year and greatly im
proved upon the 1 to 5 ratio. The increase
in the number of volunteers helped make
the day's events proceed smoothly.
Pereira, who has become a local orga
nizer for the Special Olympics, stated
that this was one of those projects people
(see OLYMPICS next page)
by Melissa Rogers
This year, for the first time in many
years, there will not be a fall break at
Methodist College. During the summer,
the Calendar Committee, the faculty
committee in charge of scheduling class
holidays, decided to eliminate this year's
fall break. This decision was reached af
ter several parents complained that trying
to bring their son or daughter home for
all three breaks-fall. Thanksgiving, and
Christmas—was causing a financial
strain. Walter M. Swing, Assistant Aca
demic Dean, explained, "Back in the old
en days, there was no such thing as a fall
break. We always went until Thanksgiv
ing before our first break."
But, times have changed. Students
have gotten used to having a break to
take off some of the stress of almost four
months of seemingly never-ending class
es. Mike Safley, Dean of Students, said,
"I think getting rid of the break was a
mistake. It's too long to go from the start
of school to Thanksgiving without a
break." Even the faculty will miss the
traditional fall break. As Mr. Swing
said, "As a teacher, I was looking for
ward to fall break....as a time to catch
up."
The fall break days were not com
pletely lost. One and a half days were
added to Thanksgiving break in order to
give the students an extended vacation.
The dorms will close at 5 p.m.on Tues
day, Nov. 20, and will reopen at 2 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 25.
One of the most asked questions about
the switch of days to Thanksgiving is:
Why didn't we just get the whole week
off? The answer is simple. If the entire
week were given off for Thanksgiving,
the date of winter graduation would need
to be put off until Monday, Dec. 17 in
stead of Friday, Dec. 14. "Many stu
dents would rather get home early for
Christmas than have a week off at
Thanksgiving," Mr. Swing said.
Even though classes are scheduled for
the Monday and Tuesday before
Thanksgiving break, the general consen
sus is that many students will cut classes
to lengthen their vacation. Sophomore,
Barb Frye plans to begin her Thanksgiv
ing holiday one day early. She said, "1
couldn't go home for fall break anyway,
but I think Thanksgiving break should be
for a whole week."
Dean Safley said he would suggest
that we KG back to having a fall break
next year."