Albright's Girls' Rugby Team may look like girly girls and aren't the average rugby player but they can easily knock the bulky girls down to the ground. Having lost their first game, they got right back up and won their next game against Lehigh University Saturday April 9th with a score of 34-5, and injuring 3 players on the opposing team.
The players get their strength from eachother, its like a sisterhood, a sorority in itself. They not only have a strong unit within themselves but also with the opposing team afterwards but also the guys rugby team. Their like a family, the rugby guys and girls consider themselves as brother and sister.
The women of ruck also get their strength due to the intensity of practices, twice a week and the late-night conditioning from 10pm-12am. The running, passing, tackling and rucking. Yeah, girls can get dirty and tackle eachother in the dirty mud too; and they like it. The girls have a history of winning championships from about 3 years ago, when their Coach Jessica Tain, senior was a freshman. These champs barely get breaks but love to tackle those girls down to the ground because people are amazed. Look out for their next game on April 30th wearing their prom dresses!
OOOOOZZZEEEBALLL!!!!! Now people may be wondering what Oozeball is, and for a clear answer it is defined as, “volleyball in the mud”. Here at Albright College any students, alumni, faculty and staff are eligible to play in eight inches of mud! But what is different this year than any year before at Albright is that this tournament will be a two day event rather than a one day event like how its been in the past. Saturday April 16 and Sunday April 17th starting at 11 a.m. everyone is welcomed to gather at the Albright Woods to enjoy a fun day of oozeball with free food, drink and music to get the day started. Now many squeamish people might be thinking, “eww gross playing in the mud!” But once you get in the mud you tend to forget about how gross you think it is. “I first thought the idea of playing volleyball in the mud was gross, mainly because mud would be in between my toes and that just is so gross” states, Junior Alyssa Smith.
Rain or shine, the tournament will still be going on. One piece of advice I recommend? Do not wear anything you don’t care about getting muddy and ruined, and I mean anything!! Because you will be covered from head to toe in mud by the end of the day. Oh I forgot to mention! Even if you are not part of a team for oozeball your still welcome to watch, hangout with friends and drink….water that is! “I am really looking forward to Oozeball, this will be very very first one and I hope its a lot of fun, or as fun as people say it is” said David James a freshman. Other than just freshman, many Albright students will need to adjust to the two day event. Many students are very hesitant to go to oozeball this year because of the forecast. Since mother nature has plagued us with horrible cold rainy weather many people are skeptical on going outside today. “I dont really know if I want to go out this year. Last year was rainy and cold and with how the weather has been lately, I have a feeling it will be cold and rainy rather than sunny and beautiful so theres a 50-50 chance I’ll go to oozeball, if I can’t go to one day because of the rain hopefully the other day will have better weather” states sophomore Jess Meril. Well, with that said I hope Mother Nature wants to cooperate with us and give us the appropriate weather for what is now, mid April?!?! The weather feels like it’s February, can’t mother nature bring back the t-shirt and shorts weather? Either way, oozeball is a fun event held at Albright College that brings students, alumni and faculty together in the mud while eating drinking and listening to great music, so come on out it sure will be blast! “I am so excited for oozeball this year! A lot of upperclassman keep talking about it and I really am excited to see how it is and experience it for the first time as a freshman” states freshman Alyssa Hoovenmyer. Everyone especially freshman are excited to see how the two day oozeball event plays out . So my question to you is, will you go?
**Oozeball 2009, Freshman Grace Marcus (left) and Senior Brooke Rose (right)
READING, Pa. – Misericorida just barely held on to a 7-6 lead over Albright College on Monday afternoon at the Albright College Softball Field. However, the Lady Lions refused to go down without a fight.
Video one The Lady Lions get an out in the first inning against Misericorida.
Albright went into the game with a fighting mentality and left the game with their heads held high.
Miseracordia started out the game with a quick 3-0 lead. Maria Kidron, Nicole Wenner and Caitlin Cromley scored in the top of the first inning.
Olivia Miller scored one run to put Albright on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third and cut Misericordia’s lead down to two runs, 3-1.
In the top of the fourth, Hollie Sarnack scored her first run of the day and Kidron scored her second run to put the Cougars up 5-1.
Miseracordia continued to increase their lead. Jennifer Cory and Sami Cragle added two more runs to give them a 7-1 lead in the top of the fifth.
In the bottom of the fifth, Albright started down the road to a comeback. Melanie Chapman, Miriah Wilson, Brandy Lagomarsino, Jackie Bohanan and Crandall all scored for the Lady Lions. Albright cut the lead to 7-6.
Video two
Albright strikes out a Misericordia player.
After such a memorable comeback, to put the Lady Lions back in the game, sophomore Allison Frank attributed the team’s motivation to the player’s unity and ability to get along so well.
“My favorite part would have to be the team. It’s great that our team can be so close, we are not just teammates we are also friends,” Frank said.
Along with Bohanan’s contribution to Albright’s standout fifth inning, she also went 2-for-4 with RBI for the game.
For the remainder of the game, no more runs were scored by the Lady Lions, or the Cougars. Miseracordia took a 7-6 victory over Albright. Thus far in the season, Miseracordia’s record is 9-9.
Prior to the game, the Lady Lions warmed up and mentally prepared themselves for the battle and fight that fans saw come to life in the fifth inning.
Albright works together in the outfield.
“We prepare for the game by a combination of running, stretching, hitting, throwing, and ground/fly balls. At home games, we have a warm up mix to listen to get pumped up. We also have secret psychs who give us a special something to wish us good luck for our game,” Crandall said.
Albright will learn from their mistakes.
“Contributing to the loss was both mental and physical errors. Also, we did not start hitting until the 5th inning. If we started when the game started, we would have had a better game,” Crandall said.
After today’s game, Albright’s softball team is 7-17.
The Lady Lions are not discouraged and will work as a team to bounce back from this loss.
“We just let the past games go behind us. Our team motto is "Win the Day". This means that at the end of each day, win or lose, we play for that day. We do not go on to our next game thinking about past losses. We think positively with each day,” Crandall said.
The Lady Lions switch innings after striking three
Reading is a city plagued with crime that has a budget that makes it nearly impossible to make life better for the people within the city limits. In a city that has declared Act 47, why are city council members worried about a little ordinance matter at one of its colleges?
The ordinance matter in question is in regard to two separate issues — a four-way stop sign at 13th and Richmond streets, and several crosswalks on 13th and Bern streets near College Avenue.
So what’s the big deal? According to City Council member Stratton P. Marmarou, the four-way stop sign and crosswalks are currently illegal, and people who fail to stop for pedestrians can’t be ticketed. “They had no authority,” said Marmarou repetitively in an interview. But some people think Marmarou may have ulterior motives in his enforcement of such a petty issue.
Maybe Marmarou is just looking out for the best interest of our fair city of Reading, Pennsylvania. He might really be trying to show that a law is a law, and nobody — not even Albright College — can skirt around it.
But is the removal of the four-way stop sign and the crosswalks really in the best interest of the city and its residents?
Let’s start with the first issue – the four-way stop sign on 13th and Richmond streets. Barbara Marshall, associate vice president of college relations and marketing at Albright College, said, “We had petitioned the city way more than a year ago to install a four-way stop sign [on 13th and Richmond streets]. I personally witnessed three accidents out here on this corner. The traffic is very very heavy, and the pedestrians and students and people from the neighborhood have a terrible time trying to cross the street.”
The intersection is directly across from Albright’s tennis courts, and the dormitories are also very close. Students can be seen attempting to traverse the busy intersection throughout the day. In addition, pedestrians from the neighborhood also cross the intersection every day. Pedestrians have to cross through the intersection to get to the two grocery stores, Wawa, Wachovia Bank and the other shops that dot the small strip mall on 13th and Rockland streets.
In an effort to illustrate the need for a four-way stop sign at the intersection, Marshall set up a video camera outside of her office, which is located on 13th and Richmond streets. She kept the camera rolling for a twelve-hour period, and then posted the videos on Albright’s YouTube page. The videos have been sped up so they are easier to watch.
In this video, you can clearly see people not stopping at the stop signs, and you can also see a pedestrian scurrying across the street to avoid getting hit.
This next video was taken between 4 and 5 p.m., and it really exemplifies the amount of traffic — pedestrian and automobile — that passes through the intersection during rush hour.
Now for the second issue — the crosswalks on 13th and Bern streets. The area serves as a pedestrian highway for students walking from the dorms to go to class or grab a bite to eat.
In its current state, the intersection is pretty confusing. For drivers, streets just seem to come out of nowhere. But the scary part is — pedestrians seem to come out of nowhere too. While driving through the intersection, it’s hard to pay attention to all of the potential dangers at the same time. Cars and pedestrians are coming from all directions while driving southeast on College Avenue toward Bern Street, and drivers must use extreme caution.
So what’s next? Marshall and Vice President for Administrative and Financial Services William W. Wood met with Jones and Reading Police Chief William M. Heim to discuss plans for the intersection at 13th and Bern streets. They were asked to develop a proposal for the intersection, but they were sent back to the drawing board after presenting their proposal.
Marshall says the second proposal is currently being developed by an internal committee, and Wood will be meeting with several city representatives March 29 to discuss the progress. Among the solutions are proposals to turn the entire intersection into a crosswalk or to make Bern Street a one-way street so people are only driving west to east.
Marmarou said that no further action can be taken with the stop sign situation until a solution to the crosswalk problem is decided upon. Wood said, “Now why would you hold one safety issue hostage to another. … I have told the city manager and anybody else that it’s absurd. These are two separate issues, and they’re not related whatsoever. They’re both safety issues, they both need to be addressed, not held hostage.”
Both issues have been on the City Council agenda for several months, but they have not been discussed in any of the recent council meetings.
On April 12 and sevenAlbrightstudents, Mary Ellen Duffy, director of financial aid, and me were to travel to Harrisburg to lobby for issues impacting private higher education in Pennsylvania. The lobbyist organization, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Pennsylvania (AICUP) organized the Student Lobby Day event and invited students from various private colleges and universities across the state and allows us to voice our opinions to our state representatives and state senators about budgeting for higher education.
In the past years, our argument has been for increased funding for private colleges and universities because they fall third in line from grants and additional funding from the state government. State schools like Millersville and Kutztown receive the most funding because they are actually owned by the state. Second in line for government funding are state-related insitutions like Temple University and Penn State, these institutions receive state funds but are independently operated. Because of this disparity, Albright students lobby to state officials for additional funding because attending a private college is somewhat of a burden when the only aid for students comes from donors and trustees.
However, this year was different from past Student Lobby Day events. Because of the proposed budget cuts of newly elected governor, Tom Corbett, the vice president of Government Relations of AICUP, Mary Young, asked us to thank the state representatives and state senators instead of persuade them. She told us, you are to show gratitude because of the 50% budget cuts from the state colleges and universities and allow for funding to be given directly to students instead of institutions.
This Student Lobby Day, we met with Representative Dante Santoni, and senior Sean Crossley, shared with him the importance of grants and how they make it possible for him to receive an Albright education. Representative Santoni was very responsive to our input about federal funding and left us with a few words of encouragement. We tried to pay a visit to Representative Jim Cox, but he sent us his secretary instead (who failed to take notes about what we said, might I add). Lastly, we separated to visit Senator Judy Schwank and Senator and Albright alum, Ted Erickson. After giving Senator Erickson our talking points, he left me and senior Katie Donaldson with some words of wisdom once we get to the real world and leave our fair Albright behind. Overall, the day was a great experience and I was awarded the chance to meet officials that have a direct impact on my studies at Albright and my residence in Berks County.
On Wednesday, March 30, Dr. Charles Kimball presented the Ellen S. Hurwitz Presidential Lecture on Faith, Reason and the Imagination at Albright College.
Dr. Kimball, an author, ordained Baptist minister, professor and analyst of Judeo-Christian-Muslim relations presented “The Middle East Today: What in the World is Going On … And Why?,” a discussion that pushed education as the key to dissolving stereotypes the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures have about one another, and potentially fomenting peace in the region.
Sophomore Helen Anderson agrees with Kimball's belief that education about the region and its peoples is vital.
"Knowing about the Middle East is crucial. It's interesting that right now we have all this news about Egypt and Libya and this whole area that, usually, some people are very confused about and now it's all coming under fire. I think it's very important to be educated about it, because if you don't, you don't know what's going on and this situation has been going on for years," Anderson said.
While the Middle East (which sometimes includes countries of North Africa in a region known as MENA) is primarily comprised of Muslim believers, Jews are not to be discounted considering their majority in Israel.
"[Israel] is such a tiny land; it's the only land for the Jews and there is a multitude of countries in the Middle East [that] are [primarily Muslim]. And they're fighting over this very holy place," Anderson said.
“The stakes are very high at this point in time … there are various competing nations for the future of the nation-states in the region,” Kimball said. “Nobody has the answer. … The key is to remain hopeful, but no one can be fooled that [finding a solution] is going to be easy.”
Of a solution, junior Sean Snyder, a Jew, said, "I believe in coexistence together and working as one group because in the end, we're all human beings. It's all land, we all need it, we all need the water, let's just get along."
"As a Jew, I'm very proud, and I think the important thing is to practice tolerance and understanding of all of the religions, because they're all very similar," Anderson continued. "I've been to Israel and it gives me more of a perspective that it's a beautiful but small country and we need to protect it. I do think a two-state solution is the only solution."
On April 11th 2011, Greek Week began here at Albright. The first event of Greek Week was the Greek Gods and Goddess event. The event was held at 7pm in the Campus Center. The event is a pageant where participants do different activities, such as the talent portion, the roast portion, and a question and answer section on the history of Albright.
The event was hosting by Junior Becca Fink, and Sophomore Jack Gombach. The show opened with the talent portion. Memorable moments occured with Senior Matt Osorio along with his fellow Pi Kappa Phi brothers did a combination of different dances. Senior Pam Swope along with her fellow Alpha Delti Pi sisters did an elaborate Pac Man game throughout the campus center.
Greek Week usually consists of the three main sororities and fraternities on campus, but for the first time this year, Chi Upsilon Sigma, The National Latin Sorority participated in the event. Senior Joy Soto represented her sorority in the show. Soto thought that the show was fun."It was only the second pageant I've been in and the support was great." Soto also thought that by participating in the event it made non Greek students more aware of their sorority. "They see us participating together in fun events and community service. It's a way to draw them in and then we can invite them to informationals to talk about more of the serious side"
Another memorable event of the competition was the Roast portion of the show. The Roast is when each paricipant took the opportunity to mock and diss their fellow sorority and fraternity. Senior Stacy Hartzell represented her sorority, Sigma Kappa and roasted her fellow seniors. Jaleesa Lewis, is a senior in Sigma Kappa and enjoyed getting roasted by her fellow sister. "Stacy Hartzell, our Greek goddess participant, went really easy on us so I appreciated her for not being as harsh as the other organizations. But I did get called out in someone else's roast which I found funny. "
The Greek God and Goddess event came to a close with a question and answer portion about Albright's history. Each contest was also asked questions about their experience as a part of Greek Life. The event came to a close with the crowning of Greek God and Greek Goddess. This year's Greek God was Matt Osorio, this year's Greek Goddess was Amanda Schroeder. Uche Egbuchulam is a member of Phi Mu Sorority. Egbuchulam was ecstatic that her fellow sorority sister won Greek Goddess. "The experience was great but when they announced that Phi Mu had won, it made the moment even sweeter!!! We all started screaming, rushed the stage and started singing one of our cheers!!! It made me so proud to be a Phi Mu and that working really hard at something defiently pays off, because I know Amanda worked really hard!"
The Greek God and Goddess event was an excellent way to start off Greek Week, and was a fun experience for all students watching in the audience.
Albright's Girls' Rugby Team may look like girly girls and aren't the average rugby player but they can easily knock the bulky girls down to the ground. Having lost their first game, they got right back up and won their next game against Lehigh University Saturday April 9th with a score of 34-5, and injuring 3 players on the opposing team.
