If you’re an avid areavoices blog reader, you’ve no doubt noticed how prolific The Cobber Connection blog has been in the last few days. The reason is simple: it’s crunch time. To refresh your memory, this is a class blog for Broadcast News Writing students at Concordia. I am the teacher. For the past several months, I’ve asked the students to post topics on our blog to familiarize themselves with blogging. After all, many broadcast journalists will have to write a blog to coincide with their news stories. What the students delivered impressed me. Their posts ranged from the serious (sexual assaults on college campuses) to the sublime (challenging our thoughts about diversity on campus), from the celebratory (Holiday Lights Parade) to the silly (why one student is obssessed with teacup pigs).  This blog will quiet down now as these students get their final grades and move on to other courses. But I hope other classes will follow their lead and start blogging! It was fun hearing from them!

The Cobber Women’s Basketball team hosted their home opener last Monday, December 6th. The Cobbers went into the game against Carleton with an undefeated record and blew past the Knights to an 81- 37 victory, moving their winning streak to 5-0. This year marks the first year since 1985 that the Cobbers have won their first 5 season games.

Leading the Cobbers to a big conference win over the Knights were Sophomore Tricia Sorenson with 18 points and Senior Erica Nord with 17 points.

Coaches Jessica Rahman and Rachel Bergeson look to a strong group of six experienced seniors to lead the team this season.

For game highlights and interviews with the Coaching Staff visit:

Cobber Women’s Basketball

Blog Post & Video by Karalyn Kester

America’s Culture of Sex

Mass media influences on American adolescents view of sexual behavior

           In the time it took for a single generation to pass, the internet and media have remade nerarly every aspect of modern culture, transforming the way we work, learn and connect in ways that we’re only beginning to understand.  Since the dawning of a new era known as Generation Z or the technology era, the aspects of American popular culture have been misrepresented.  Of course, Generation X is the television era, and Generation Y is teh integration of internet but this new era has seen something completely different.  They have seen the emergence fo mass media as a major source of information for people of all ages.  The most prominent information of all the mass media is of sexual content.  Sex can be seen in any place and on every surface.  It is on billboards, radio stations, personal books, school books, magazines, peers, movies, songs, and the televisions.  American media are the most graphically violent and sexual suggestive in the world.  Adolescents are engaging in various sexual acts with numerous partners because of the influence the media has on them.  In comparison to generations previous to this mass media surfacing, adolescent minds were influenced by parents, peers and by the education system.,  The influence the mass media can have on the perception of love, romance and sex has morphed alongside the effects the media can have on this new generation of young adolescents.  The misleading portrayals of human sexuality in the media is having an effect of how adolescents view dating and what  a responsible sexual relationship should be like.

          Adolescents live in a world where they are surrounded by images, lyrics, and symbols of a sexual nature.  Now, more than ever sex is at its peak in the media.   The idea of sexual content in the media is not an idea that is just surfacing with this generation.  “Sexual content in mass media has been around as long as mass media itself,’’ Arizona State professor Mary-Lou Galician, a researcher, author and media literacy advocate says. “The difference is the proliferation of it. We live in a 24/7 media world now. Take, as an example, the exploitation of Britney Spears, who is literally pulling off her clothes during her performances. Her real talent lies in being an objectified image. And it is an image, by extension, of our country around the world.’’  With a click of a button or flip of a channel, adolescents can easily upload or witness acts of a sexual nature.  Commercials use seductive images, sounds, and music grabbing the attention of the audience.  Movies and television are proof of the sickness of sexual addiction in society.

           Joyce Garity, the author of the essay, “Is Sex All That Matters?” agrees by saying that magazines, “Although intended to be mainstream and wholesome, trumpet sexuality page after leering page.” Magazines, music videos, television shows, and movies essentially give a message to the viewer that sex to be should be spontaneous and free in order to be fulfilling. 

The average teenager watches television for about 23 hours a week.  Thus today’s youth is spending more time in front of the television in one week than they spend in school.   While watching television, he or she is exposed to many sexual innuendos in the shows that he or she watches.  As parents and facilitators are trying to fight against sexual activity at a young age, everything they say is being contradicted by the programming the American youth is watching on a daily basis.  Out of all of the homes in America 98% (Nielsen Media Research, 1998) of them have a television set available for family use.   L Goodstein and M. Connelly say that 66% of the children in these households have a television in their bedrooms.   Amongst these children most of them watch about a half an hour more television a day than the children without.   This is allowing them to watch more television and be exposed to materials children should not encounter.   According to Brown (1990), “Adolescents are hungry for sexual information. This is a time in their lives where the formation of a healthy, sexual identity is vital to the mental health.”  The message the media establishes is of carefree sex with numerous parneters is okay and no emotional or psychological damage follows this unhealthy was of life.   But in all reality, adolescencts with a thrist for information, are reaching a sexual maturity at an earlier age than ever before. 

According to the Committee on Communications American Academy of Pediatrics, “The Media rarely promote medically accurate and health-enhancing images (Brown and Steele, 1996) and often presnet an influential and consequence-free portrait of sexuality in which abstinence among adolescents is rarely presented in a positive light.”

The media is a cost effective way to reach people all over the world. We seek out entertainment and pay close attention. When an audience identifies with a role model, they will imitate their behavior.

Now, more than ever sex is at its peak in the media. In today’s society, the young are able to view sex in daytime television and learn from the promotion of sex in the media. 

Most teens learn about sex from their friends. In a survey four out of every five teens say that they learned about sex from their friends. Teens see their friends as the most accessible form of information, because they can learn from their past experiences.

 The common message of the media is that sexuality can transform the lives of ordinary people into an unrealistic, fantasy world. This “sexual overload” as Joyce Garity stated, “does affect young adults.” Parents are the only lines of defense against this problem. They have a tremendous influence in preventing their children from being swallowed up by the harmful, persuasive influence of the mass media. But parents do not always feel sufficient in providing information to their children. “Fischer (1986) suggested that some parents’ lack of knowledge about sexual and reproductive functioning also may keep them from discussing sexuality with their children.”

The promotion of safe sex is another concern that our society needs to deal with. Fewer than 175 of 15,000 annual sexual messages viewed by younger adults will discuss contraception or safe sex (John Hopkins). If children are already sexually active, their practices are unlikely to change based on new information given to them. “Despite the lack of evidence that any abstinence-only program has successfully reduced the rate of intercourse among adolescents, the federal government has given states more than $50 million to promote the idea that premarital sex cause physical and emotional harm.” Daley, 1997 p. 49

How is the message of abstinence ever going to out way the message that sex is an acceptable activity for the younger generations?   This is not something new to television for adolescents, but it is something that is getting progressively worse and more acceptable to the general public.   Alarmingly, the reality shows that are on television today are infused with unsuitable sexual connotations.   Even the commercials use sex as a way to sell their products, even for the simplest of items such as a soft drink. The most unsettling thing about the commercials is that they use sex to advertise for miscellaneous items, but people do not take advantage of them to try to educate the youth about abstinence or to explain contraception measures and protective measures.

It is sad to think that television and other sources of media at one time was so astounding, informative and so entertaining, are allowed to pollute the air waves with programming that is inappropriate for audiences and whose primary objective is to make as much money as possible.  What they need to start considerign is the nation’s most valuable resource and the most influential people of the future – its children and adolescents.

 

 Source: http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=51589

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124102744.htm

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/short/117/4/1018

Tucked away in a relatively small office in Memorial Auditorium is the office of Larry Papenfuss. Although his work space may be small, his experience certainly is not. Athletic Director of the college since 2004 and faculty member since 1994, Papenfuss has seemingly been involved with athletics his entire life.

Born in La Cresent, Minn. Papenfuss excelled in both basketball and baseball. All-conference in both sports, schools from all three divisions of the NCAA and NAIA expressed interest. Papenfuss chose to play both sports at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where his older brother was the head baseball coach and assistant basketball coach.

Papenfuss transferred to University of Wisconsin-La Crosse after two years, in part because Luther did not have his intended major, Health Education. Once there, Papenfuss was originally cut trying out as a pitcher. His coach recommended he redshirt and go back out for the team the next year. In what Papenfuss describes as “the best decision he could have made,” he redshirted, and in his fifth year as a senior, Papenfuss and his teammates reached the College World Series in 1979, where he was chosen to the All-Star team. That year, La Crosse finished fifth in the country, defeating Wichita State, Oklahoma State and the University of Minnesota during the season.

After graduation in ‘79, Papenfuss took a job as a middle school health teacher in Mt. Horeb, Wisc., a small town 16 miles outside of Madison. Papenfuss taught there until 1984, when he moved to Alburquee, N.M. where he taught middle school health and physical education while pursuing his Ph.D. at the University of New Mexico. He continued to travel back to La Crosse in the summers to play amateur baseball until he married his wife Dawn in 1987.

Papenfuss worked as a graduate teaching assistant, a health educator at New Heart Cardiac Rehabilition, and as a health educator at Sandia National Laboratories, a company that did and still does help sustain and modernize nuclear weapons. Papenfuss’ job at Sandia was to teach and coordinate stress management courses for it’s employees.

“I had to be escorted [at Sandia] by a man with a machine gun,” Papenfuss said.. “He even stood next to me while I taught.”

 Papenfuss graduated in 1991 with academic distinction. Upon graduation, he and his wife elected to move back to the midwest to raise their eventual family. He took a job at Moorhead State University in 1991 as an assistant professor of health education, helping to prepare future health teachers.

In 1993, Papenfuss and his wife gave birth to their first child. Luke was born premature and was just over two pounds at birth. After a few months in the hospital, Luke was allowed to leave and remains healthy today.

In 1994, an assistant professor of health education opened up at Concordia.

“It was one of those things that I believed was more than coincidence,” Papenfuss said. “My goal was to return to a school like Luther, and here the perfect job opened up at Concordia.”

Papenfuss stormed on campus and became an active member in many faculty and campus-wide organizations, including the Faculty Executive Committee that was involved in the hiring of the last few deans of the college and helping other faculty members to understand the meaning and relationship of the college and the church.

In 1998, the Papenfuss’ second child, daughter Hannah, was born. Hannah too was premature weighing under two pounds. Hannah was also born with cerebral palsy; she will be in a wheel chair for the rest of her life.

“[Hannah] didn’t have any neurological setbacks,” Papenfuss said. “She was and still remains a bright person.”

In 2002, the athletic director at Concordia, Armin Pipho, retired early to deal with his wife’s cancer, and Papenfuss was named Interim Chair of Health and Physical Education. In the spring of 2003, Papenfuss was named the new athletic director at the college.

“They were in the process of searching for a new president of the college as well as a new dean,” Papenfuss said. “It just felt like they needed someone they trusted and knew.”

Papenfuss enjoys being the athletic director at Concordia, and is extremely proud of the integrity Concordia’s coaches and team captains have.

“I don’t think I would be the athletic director anywhere else,” Papenfuss said. “The college has a strategic plan involving academics and athletics, and athletics is now a part of the educational mission of the college.”

Papenfuss’ favorite part of his job is the Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony, inducting former Cobber athletes for accomplishments both on and off the field.

“It’s just great to be able to recognize those who give back to both academics and athletics,” Papenfuss said. “Being able to hear their stories after they’ve been away from the college for a while is really neat.”

Papenfuss’ only regret is that he doesn’t get to know as large a number of people as when he was teaching.

“It is a big job, but we work with great people from the coaches to the athletes,” Papenfuss said. “I do it because of a shared belief of the college’s mission, and because of all the great people I get to meet and interact with on a daily basis.”

I’m an RA in Brown Hall at Concordia.  Every month I get together a program or two for the ladies who live in Unit 1 as a way to build community and have fun.   For the December program, my fellow Reslife staff member Dacia helped me plan and get together a group to go to downtown Fargo and shop on Broadway.

I had expected to go out with the four ladies who attended the program for a few hours to eat some food, drink coffee, not spend ANY money on frivolous items due to the fact that my bank account is gathering dust instead of interest (oy vey, to be a college student).  Then I found a magical place that brought me back to my childhood days.  My residents and I discovered Beads on Broadway.

Beading was one of my very favorite pastimes when I was in grade school.  I would make my mom bring me to the local beading store where I would spend way too long poring over the beads, dreaming of the fantastic creations I could string together.  I got pretty good at beading too; I’d make rings, necklaces, earrings, beaded animals, mini pouches and whatever else I could create.  I felt like I was a pro at this whole beading business.

Somewhere in middle school, beading suddenly became uncool and I stopped making bead crafts.  Throughout high school the thought never crossed my mind to pick up beading again.  I had already tucked away all of my beading supplies and buried them in my closet underneath old school clothes and stuffed animals.  So when my residents and I discovered Beads on Broadway, I felt that special feeling of wanting to bead again.

We’d originally gone into Beads on Broadway to escape the cold.  We were glancing around at the beads when one of my residents jokingly tossed out the idea that we should make bracelets to remember the great afternoon we were having.  Everyone gave a chuckle or two…and then we realized that we seriously did want to make bracelets.

I know this all sounds corny, but I had so much fun.  Beading is NOT just for little kids.  I have to admit though, I was pretty jealous of two little girls sitting next to me and my residents.  They were hard at work crafting a beaded necklace and…dang, it was good.  Sadly I looked on at my own pitiful attempt, a mishmash of random beads, and I felt a little silly.  But I didn’t care. I would wear my bracelet proudly, even if it wasn’t exactly the most beautiful and well-crafted thing in the world.

My residents had a lot of fun as well.  They embraced the opportunity to bead and they created necklaces, anklets and earrings in addition to our friendship bracelets.  Overall, we spent about two hours at Beads on Broadway.  We all left with an accomplished feeling, a feeling that we had created something.  We didn’t just create beaded jewelry, but we created a memory of that fun afternoon.

Like I said, a little corny, but I don’t care.  If you’re an RA and are looking for a good program, or if you just want to have a fun afternoon with some friends, I highly recommend Beads on Broadway.

http://www.beadsonbroadway.com/

Usually, men like to watch sports.  Or action shows.  Spike TV.  Basically…anything that can be constituted as stereotypically manly.

manly (ˈmænlɪ)   — adj , -lier , -liest

1.      possessing qualities generally regarded as appropriate to or typical of a man; masculine.

My dad, on the other hand, likes Home and Garden Television and Food Network.  For those of us unfamiliar with these channels, let’s first look at HGTV.  HGTV shows programs about decorating and buying homes, sprucing up gardens and landscaping around your abode, etc.   Food Network is pretty self-explanatory; it’s all about food!  Basically, all of these are programs typically classified as more girly than, say, Spike TV or ESPN.

girl·y

[gur-lee]  – adjective, noun.

1.      Possessing qualities that are usually appealing to women.  Makes manly men squeamish.

Now, Dad isn’t the type of guy to be called girly in any way, and with all fairness he does watch sports…sometimes.  But HGTV and Food Network are where his true passions lie.  Whenever I visit home during breaks from Concordia, I find him with his eyes glued to the screen of House Hunters International, Divine Design, 30 Minute Meals…the list goes on and on. With the amount of time he spends watching those shows, that should make him some sort of expert.  He has even taken the time to analyze the decorating style in our family home.

“Suzanne.  I think I have pinned it down.  Your mother and I, our style is a mixture between old English and post-colonial Spanish.”

…whatever that means.  I love Dad and I fully support his quest for increasing his HGTV knowledge, but…the perfect way I’d describe the style in our house can be summed up in one word: Montana.  Our house is filled with anything that has been made in Montana or what you’d expect to see in Montana.  Paintings of buffalo, mountain goats, geese and Montana landscapes line the walls.  Photos and paintings of our hometown, Butte, MT are scattered everywhere there is empty space.  The color scheme is all about the earthy tones.  Heck, our fireplace is even made out of a stone my parents personally handpicked – “Montana River Rock.”  Old English? Not quite.

My dad’s most recent fascination has been with bear wood carvings.  There’s a tree in our yard that, due to an unfortunate and incurable tree disease, has been deemed Dad’s Latest Project.  He figures that since it’s going to be torn down anyhow, he might as well do something with it.  HGTV to the rescue!

Here’s the link for wood carver my dad was interested in contacting:

http://woodsculpture.net/Woodsculpture.net/Welcome.html

I must admit that the artist’s work is pretty spectacular.  But, I’m not going to lie…when it came down to a decision between a possible hot tub and a wood carving on the tree, I sided with the hot tub.  What’s the best way for a Cobber to relax during breaks and summer holidays away from Concordia?  If you said staring at a wood carving, that’s a nice try.  But no.  Hot tub, please!  Sadly I didn’t win the battle. And I’m still not sure if bear wood carvings fit into the old English or post-colonial Spanish category, but my dad is pretty happy with the idea nonetheless.  Maybe one day there’ll be a bear waiting for me in my backyard.  For now, this idea remains in the planning stage.

I also mentioned Food Network earlier.  My dad has taken plenty of useful tips and tricks from Food Network shows and has tried to impart some wisdom to me at Concordia.  Alas, I live the dorm life, so I don’t have a kitchen to call my own.  The most cooking I do these days is the grueling process of microwaving Easy Mac.   The information he gives me usually isn’t applicable; I appreciate it anyways.  I keep hoping he’ll take what he’s learned and make dinner for me sometime.

Although he’s never attempted to cook dinner for the family on his own, he tries to help my mom out when he can.  Dad’s definition of helping is to sit at the breakfast bar in our kitchen and point out what he thinks Mom should do differently.  It’s pretty funny to watch them interact.

“Kathy, did you know that if you spice the chicken this certain way that Emeril showed me, it turns out more flavorful?  I don’t know if you’re doing it quite right.”

“Greg, are you doing the cooking right now?”

“No…”

“Then shush.”

He’ll never try to cook on his own – maybe the thought of tricky oven knobs, burner thing doodles, and what-cha-ma-call it’s seem intimidating – but there’s still hope for him.  I have heard rumors of Dad cooking during his bachelor days in college.  But I have yet to see photographic evidence of this or any attempts to cook me dinner.

I’ve come to a conclusion.  Even though my dad’s interests aren’t typically what I’d expect him to have, I love him dearly and I think it makes him unique.  He hasn’t tried any hands-on applications for the knowledge he learned from HGTV and Food Network, but that’s okay.  Maybe he’s more of a scholarly type and the pursuit of decorating theory and cooking research are what he prefers.

…but maybe, JUST maybe over Christmas break I can persuade him to spread the holiday cheer by decorating the living room and cooking with me.

By: Nikki Stibal

Photos by Nikki Rae

Flashing red lights call out on the bright sunny Sunday afternoon of November 7^th broadcasting the phrase “Keep a Song in Your Heart- Lawrence Welk”. People from all around flocked in their Sunday best towards the Ramada Plaza Suites Ballroom for the long awaited Lawrence Welk Gala hosted by the Fargo Moorhead Jazz Arts Ensemble.

The event, which had a surprisingly well turnout, consisted of a 26 song set list from the Lawrence Welk Show preformed by the Jazz Arts Ensemble accompanied by various performers from the community including professors like Dr. David Ferreira from Concordia College and Dr. Kyle Mack from NDSU. The gala itself was put on to honor the life and achievements of a man who affected so many people.

Welk was born in Strasburg North Dakota in 1903. At the age of 21 he decided to pursue music as a career and left the family farm behind. He preformed with a couple various bands until he finally formed his own orchestra. Over time the orchestra toured and became widely known. This led to the ABC network giving Welk his own show.

The Lawrence Welk Show started out airing locally in 1951 and five years later was broadcast nationally. The program was a musical variety show that featured big band music. The show aired from 1951 to 1982 and has over a thousand episodes. The show itself became a staple of American culture and many were sad when Welk retired from the show in the early 80s.

Welk lived a successful life; being a pop culture icon, happily married and had a thriving family and business. Welk died in 1992 at the age of 89 from pneumonia. His family along with the FM Jazz Arts, threw this gala in his memory.

Those who came were treated to some of his greatest hits while being able to see some of his old memorabilia including his accordion, played by former first lady of North Dakota Nancy Jones Schafer, and his iconic baton that he directed all of his shows with.

Happy nostalgia set over the crowd and they enjoyed the afternoon, honoring things both present and past all in the name of a man who helped shape the American society and taught us all to keep a song in our hearts.

The Jazz Arts Ensemble is putting on other events later this year starting in late January. For more information check out www.JazzArtsFM.com

Aug. 21, 2009 started out like any other day for Concordia basketball player Darrin Olmscheid. He left for work and returned home like every other day. When Olmscheid, a junior at the time, got out of his car, something didn’t feel right: He had major pain in his chest that eventually moved into his left shoulder and down his arm. Because the pain was so intense, Olmscheid told his mom that he needed to go to the hospital.

Once at the hospital in Buffalo, Minn., Olmscheid was informed that his left lung had collapsed.

“At first, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” Olmscheid said. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to play any contact sports again.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, pneumothorax, also known as a collapsed lung, occurs when air leaks into the space between your lungs and chest wall, creating pressure against the lung. A pneumothorax can be caused by a chest injury, certain medical procedures involving your lung, lung disease, or it may occur for no obvious reason. Depending on the cause of the pneumothorax, your lung may only partially collapse, or collapse completely.

In Olmscheid’s case, 25 percent of his lung had collapsed. He had surgery to put a chest tube in that would remove the excess air between his lung and chest wall. After six days in the Buffalo Hospital, Olmscheid was moved to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, where he would spend the next four days. There, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to scrape up his lung wall. Another tube was inserted to drain the blood that resulted from the arthroscopic surgery.
For Olmscheid, it was only the second time in his life he had ever been injured. As a senior at Buffalo High School, he broke his ankle and missed the first part of the season.

“My first thought was, ‘How do you get a collapsed lung at his age?’” Rich Glas, Concordia’s men’s basketball coach said. “In 40 years of coaching, I’ve never had a player go down to a collapsed lung.”

Olmscheid was released on Aug. 31 from North Memorial and returned home to Buffalo to recover. When he went to sleep that night, everything was thought to be over, and recovery was all that lay ahead.

It wasn’t.

He awoke the next morning throwing up and was taken back to the hospital where he found out he had appendicitis. He underwent surgery to remove his appendix, and was released the same day.

Olmscheid was eager to leave the hospital as soon as he could.

“You kind of get sick of the hospital after a while,” he said with a laugh.

Even scarier than the incident itself is the thought that it could happen again. The doctors told Olmscheid that there is a 50 percent chance his right lung could collapse.

“In perspective, I know there is much worse that could happen to me,” Olmscheid said. “But I’d rather not have that feeling again. I’ll just have to take it on one step at a time. It’s all part of God’s plan and I just have to dig deep and pass His test.”

Olmscheid’s said his girlfiend, Concordia graduate Amy Gabrielson, was the biggest help throughout the entire process, though he gave plenty of credit to his mom. Gabrielson stayed at the hospital with Olmscheid every night.

“When I finally got to the hospital, I had never seen him look so pale and gray,” Gabrielson said. “Seeing him like that was the biggest reason I didn’t want to go home to sleep.”

Two days later, Olmscheid was on campus for the start of classes and patiently awaited the day he could play basketball again.

He walked on a treadmill on Sept. 15, lifted weights on Sept. 28, and played pickup basketball for the first time since the incident on Sept. 30.

“[Olmscheid] was so happy playing pickup that Wednesday,” said Karl Olson, teammate of Olmscheid at Buffalo High School and current teammate at Concordia. “Seeing that was probably the best part of the year so far.”

The doctors told Olmscheid it could take up to seven months before his stamina returns to where it was before the injury. His endurance has dropped from being able to run about four to five miles to now only two. Throughout the entire process, he has lost around 15 pounds.

“I fear my cardio during the season won’t be where I want it to be,” Olmscheid said. “But I’m also worried about getting that weight back. Gaining weight is a tough thing to do.”

Olmscheid started all 25 games last season and led the team by averaging 13.3 points per game. He was also second on the team in minutes per game.

Through eight games this season, Olmscheid, now a senior, is averaging 13.4 points per game including 27 in a win against cross-town rival Minnesota State University Moorhead.

 “His presence makes our team better,” Glas said. “He has the ability to play on the perimeter or in the post. He needs to become a consistent force on the floor on every possession and do it on both ends of the floor.”

As Olmscheid looks back on his incident, he has words of wisdom for everyone that can inspire people both on and off the basketball court.

“Just appreciate the moments,” he said. “Stay humble. The minute you think you’re on top of the world, it can all come crashing down.”

Many college students can be seen with their heads buried in books during this time of year. Image from Google Images

Piles of papers, projects, journals, and tests are forming and reaching new heights and competing with stress levels for the majority of students at Concordia College.  We see this time twice a year, but somehow the frustration and anguish always seem to swarm students and interfere with their capability to perform to the best of their ability and remain healthy. Without preparation skills and self-knowledge finals week and the preceding days can destroy not only a student’s social life but also their mental and physical well-being.

So how can one form those sanity-saving preparation skills and self-knowledge?  The self-knowledge is probably the most important of the two because it will help you identify which preparation skills you need.  How do you learn information best?  By writing it? Reading it? Maybe even by summarizing information and explaining it to others.  A lot of people find that last one to be most helpful because it encourages them to put it into words and a sequence that makes most sense to them making it less likely to be easily forgotten.

Some students prefer making note cards or flashcards and some have realized that they do better just doing an outline.  Look back at your academic career and figure out what method has best helped you retain information. Is it easier for you to just read through the outline again and again or do you do better quizzing yourself with the note cards?

Also, try to discover whether you work best solo or in a group.  Groups can be extremely helpful in some cases. If you don’t understand part of the material, there is another student to explain it to you.  You can cover a broader portion at once.  But, along with being in groups comes more distraction.  As young adults, we are in a very social period of our lives.  If you are someone that is going to put talking and joking high above productivity, opt to find a place for just yourself and your nice pile of books and notes – because those may be your companions for a few hours or even days.

Lastly, it may be helpful to use a tactic called “chunking.”  I first learned about chunking in my psychology class my freshman year of college. The basic concept is to break down what you need to learn into manageable pieces.  It implies that the human brain best understands information when there are only five to nine pieces introduced at a time. Don’t try to learn everything that is going to be on the test at once.  Take your time to break it down.  Study for a certain amount of time and take 10 or 15 minute break.  Repeat.  It’s also been proven that music stimulates the brain, so if you are someone who can focus with background noise, try this.  If you have a little more trouble with a lot of noise while you are studying, either try music that is simply instrumental with no vocals, or stick with no music. Michael Griffin explains it further in Learning about Learning.

When it comes to studying don’t feel like you need to study exactly how your A+ roommate does.  Sure, they may do well by studying in groups while listening to music and looking at an outline, but that doesn’t mean your brain will intake information best that same one.  So take a few minutes to figure out what works best to you and you will save yourself from a lot of stress this finals season.

For more study suggestions, take a look at this page.

By: Karalyn Kester

*Note: The name of the victim has been changed in order to protect her identity.

Almost a year ago, Hailey* was raped in her own apartment. Her rapist? A friend and fellow Concordia Student. Neither was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. She lived a block away from Concordia’s campus. Since that day, her life has never been the same.

“The sexual assault may have lasted 30 minutes maximum, but it has consumed me, my thoughts and my actions, from that point on,” she said. “ I have never felt more vulnerable than I did on that day, and since then, my life has been impacted in every aspect.”

Unlike so many others, Hailey reported the crime to the Moorhead Police Department, and she also reported her offender to the office of public safety at Concordia.  Only 24.1 percent of the Concordia students who indicated that they have experienced sexual assault reported the sexual assault to anyone, and according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s 2005 National Crime Victimization Study, sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes, with 60 percent being left unreported.

According to After Silence, an organization designed to help victims become survivors and to help them communicate in the recovery of sexual violence, breaking the silence is the first step toward recovery.

Although reporting a sexual assault is said to be one of the most important steps in the recovery process, it is not something that it easy to do.

Hailey said the rape kit that was done in the ER was awful. She remembers the examinations, medications, and questioning for the police report vividly. She cried, vomited, and even gave up personal possessions as evidence. She couldn’t eat for four days.

“I remember calling my mom in tears a few days after the assault, because my favorite foods- Diet Coke, Erberts and Gerberts and Snickers- no longer appealed to me, and I didn’t know when I would recover any type of appetite.”

She didn’t work for a month after the sexual assault and she doesn’t even feel comfortable in her own apartment. The door is double-locked at all times and her roommate has taken responsibility for answering the door.

In the weeks and months following the assault, she often considered withdrawing from Concordia, despite the fact that she had just started final semester as a Cobber. She said that it was hard to focus on completing daily assignments or lectures in class, especially when she was still making up papers from the previous semester. She didn’t feel comfortable on campus, even though she only went to campus for classes.

It may seem that sexual assault is something that is not common on a small college campus such as Concordia, but the statistics are shockingly high.

According to Concordia’s data from the University of Minnesota’s 2008 College Student Health Survey, nearly one in five (19.9 percent) female Concordia students surveyed report experiencing sexual assault in their lifetime, with 8.8 percent of students reporting having been assaulted within the past 12 months.

Male Concordia students have experienced sexual assault at lower rates, with 5.4 percent reporting sexual assault in their lifetime, and 4.4 percent reporting an assault within the past 12 months.

With the statistics showing that only 24.1 percent of these students who have experienced sexual assault reported the crime, Concordia along with the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center of Fargo-Moorhead want victims to know that there are people and resources out there to help.

Hailey described the three month-long process of reporting and following the campus’s procedure for disciplinary action as exhausting and stressful, an emotional rollercoaster with many burdens, but she cannot imagine what her life would be like had she not reported her sexual assault.

Her attacker was found responsible for his actions by a Disciplinary Board and sanctions were given by Concordia. Some of the Sanctions included:  First he was required to complete a mandatory sex offender evaluation in order to determine the type and length of mandatory counseling he must complete. He was under a no contact order, including third parties, and was on disciplinary probation. He was financially responsible for any of her follow-up medical exams and  therapy. Finally, his diploma was suspended for one full year.

But is that enough? Are these sanctions a “fair” consequence for his actions? The disciplinary board did find him responsible for his actions, yet he was still allowed to remain on campus with other students, enrolled in classes. Sure, you can suspend his diploma, but that is only temporary. How do you feel knowing that you could have been walking next someone who was found responsible for sexually assaulting another student as you passed the bell tower? Safe, right? Not me. But don’t worry, his diploma is suspended for a year.

Instances like this aren’t specific to Concordia. Here is an excerpt from the Key Findings of an investigation of sexual assault on College campuses by the Center for Public Integrity:

“According to a report funded by the Department of Justice, roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But official data from the schools themselves don’t begin to reflect the scope of the problem. And student victims face a depressing litany of barriers that often either assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time, according to a 12-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

The probe reveals that students found “responsible” for alleged sexual assaults on campuses often face little or no punishment, while their victims’ lives are frequently turned upside down. Many times, victims drop out of school, while students found culpable go on to graduate. Administrators believe the sanctions administered by the college judicial system are a thoughtful and effective way to hold abusive students accountable, but the Center’s investigation has discovered that “responsible” findings rarely lead to tough punishment like expulsion — even in cases involving alleged repeat offenders.”

For more information on the results of this investigation visit:

Sexual Assault on Campus: A Frustrating Search for Justice

“My academics, employment, health, security, finances and social life have all been significantly impacted in negative ways,” she said. “If I hadn’t reported it, I would have been mad at him and hated myself, and [my attacker] would not think he had done anything wrong… How can someone not stop when you say ‘no’ and ‘stop?’ He was in the wrong, not me.” -Hailey