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Friday, January 28, 2005
Spoto attends Men's National Team tErmt
By Samantha Cibula
sports co-editor
Athletes dream of showing their tal
ents to the best coaches in the nation and
then competing against top ranked ath
letes. Freshman water polo player An
thony Spoto had the opportunity to do
just that.
Spoto and Head Water Polo coach Joe
Tristan flew to the USA Water Polo Na
tional Training Center in Los Alamitos,
Cal., for the Men's National Team try
out on Jan. 21 - 23.
Spoto was one of 35 water polo play
ers invited to the three day tryout. Dur
ing the tryout, Spoto was the lone Divi
sion 111 athlete in the water. the rest of
the athletes were Division I power house
players from colleges like UCLA,
Pepperdine, UC Berkeley and Long
Beach.
Spoto once again was in a category of
his own being the youngest player and
the only East Coast player at tryouts.
"An East Coast DIII athlete shows up
for the National Team tryouts and he
definitely needs to earn his respect," said
Tristan.
Current Men's National Team Coach
Guy Baker, Men's Assistant National
Team Coach Dan Luison and 1996, 2000
Student Affairs considers expanding bus service
By Dan Snedden
assistant news editor
The Office of Student Affairs is cur
rently negotiating with the Erie Metro
politan Transport Authority to provide ad
ditional times and routes for Behrend stu
dents.
Behrend has nearly 1,700 on campus
students, 852 of whom have vehicles. The
number of residents with vehicles has
been increasing by two percent per year.
With a majority of residents driving, stu
dents wonder if a new contract is neces
sary.
"If more than fifty percent of students
have vehicles, they don't require public
transportation," said Randy Martell,
PSYCH 06. "I don't have a vehicle but I
believe that bus coverage is more than suf
ficient."
Inside
air
$
A pa
Diving, SPORTS, Page 10
Jewish Association of Behrend,
STUDENT LIFE, Page 7
CONTENTS
News 1-3
Editorial 4
Student Life 7-8
Sports 9-10
CONTACT US
Newsroom: 898-6488
Fax: 898-6019
E-mail: behrendbeacon@aol.com
Our offices are located down
stairs in the Reed Union Building.
Spoto, middle, traveled with his coach to the USA Water Polo National Training
Center in Los Alamitos, Cal., and tried out for the Men's National Team.
Olympian Kyle Kopp ran the tryouts.
During the tryouts, Baker stressed you
had to work as a team.
"I knew I was in a win-win situation,
even if I didn't make the team because I
was being coached and evaluated by
some of the best coaches that have ever
been in the game," said Spoto.
Spoto's capabilities were put to test di
Of the students interviewed, nearly all
were opposed to the idea of expanding
bus coverage.
"We spent all of that money on bike
racks for a reason," said Zack Mentz, SE
BD 06. "How about instead of spending
our money on frivolous things that a se
lect number of students, use we lower the
tuition?"
Even students that used the bus believe
that coverage is more than sufficient.
"I rode the bus last year; it was conve
nient, but I only saw three or four Behrend
students getting on or off at any given
time," said Tom McCarty, PLSC 04.
Despite the opposition to the idea, there
are students who view the idea favorably.
"We need more coverage, but we
shouldn't have to pay for it:" said Tanya
Doggwiler, COMBA 02. "If it's public
A digital rendering of the completed REDC. The 20 month project is nearing the end of its seventh month. The architect of
the building is Weber Murphy Fox.
REDC construction on track
By Bradley Stewart
news editor
The large site of mud, concrete and
metal along Jordan Road continues to de
velop. The construction of the Research
and Economic Development Center is a
20 month project. Seven and a half
months have passed and, according to
Geoffrey Scott, the project manager of
E. E. Austin & Son, even with the bad
weather, progress is right where it should
be.
"It's about 35 percent complete," said
Scott. "We might be a few days behind,
but that's nothing we can't make up once
the weather improves."
With temperatures in the 20s and be
low, construction slows. Ice and snow
creates working conditions that can be
dangerous for laborers.
On a day where temperatures are low,
E.E. Austin might have only two or three
A Penn State Erie Student Publication jt , _ ,J 5
rectly upon his arrival.
"When he got out there, the guys were
playing the best polo they could play,"
said Tristan. "There were no breaks, no
room to slack or let up."
Spoto's skills ranked among the top
40 percent. Many of the guys there were
coming straight out of NCAA Water Polo
Championships or finishing their season
transportation our tax money should be
covering it and the coverage isn't that
good anyways. One time when I took the
bus, I ended up getting stranded on a
creepy sidew4lk fox. about 45 minutes one
night."
Behrend used to have a private bus in
an attempt to serve the transportation
needs of the students. Called the "Blue
Bus," it was discontinued in 2001 due to
mechanical problems and lack of inter
est.
While there may be many students who
look unfavorably upon the idea of increas
ing bus coverage, it has several benefits.
"Working with EMTA would be
cheaper than what we can do," said Ken
Miller, director of Student Affairs.
"We've heard enough from students
about bringing a bus in that we reached
.:..,,... .
............,., ..:- 2....'
::.. ..: ......1tik......':.
workers on site. On a warmer day, they
might have 50 or more.
On Jan. 20, veteran employee of
Easley & Rivers, Steve Wilkinson, was
working in the basement of Areal . The
site is separated into four different ar
eas. Areal is close to completion.
"I've been doing this kind of work for
26 years," said Wilkinson, seemingly
unaffected by the harsh Erie weather.
Easley & Rivers is responsible for the
interior of the building.
E.E. Austin & Son, an Erie based com
pany celebrating its 99th year in opera
tion, is the general contractor of the
project. As the general contractor, the
company receives the largest percentage
of funds and is responsible for the foun
dation and im t lit 1 ,4 ald
ing, as well as a number of other tasks.
More than a dozen subcontractors
handle different aspects of the construc
tion. The four biggest are Renick Bros.,
while Spoto was coming out of the
middle of his swim season.
DIII Spoto shined during the third day
of tryouts when the athletes were split
into three separate teams to scrimmage.
Spoto displayed hard core talent during
the scrimmage scoring a team high of
three goals.
"His team started to look to him to
score goals," said Tristan. "Some of the
guys were getting mad that a DIII guy
was scoring on them, and that's when he
earned respect."
Spoto didn't make the team, but he
turned heads of some of the best water
polo coaches in the nation.
"The UC Berkeley coach personally
congratulated him and Doug Peabody
the Jr. National Team coach was asking
questions about Anthony," said Tristan.
Spoto is still eligible to play on the Jr.
National Team if asked to tryout for the
team. The Jr. National Team would give
Spoto more experience on a national
level. He could also tryout for the Pre
miere League which is a summer league
on the national level.
The experience itself will help Spoto
as he gears up for next season.
"I learned the game they play is so
much quicker and has more skills in
volved," said Spoto. "I will work on rais
ing my game to the next level."
out to EMTA and said; 'can you do this?'
It's in our best interest to have students
ride it because if they don't, they'll dis-
continue it."
Student Affairs is Wtaing, 14,,,e iPand
the bus service to include a direct route to
the mall, Wal-Mart and many other loca
tions in Erie and Harborcreek. A re
vamped bus service could also lead to the
alleviation of some parking problems.
"The bus issue really draws in the is
sue of parking," said Miller "It's a real
balance between adding additional park
ing, allowing additional cars and there will
probably be changes down the road for
where residents will park. I guess the best
way to describe it is that we're kind of
lost in that tug of war between cars and
parking and using the bus service."
IVAN
who handle heating; Doan Pyramid who
deal with the electrical aspects; Rabe En
vironmental takes care of the plumbing;
Simplex Grinnell handles fire preven
tion.
"A lot of it is just not stepping on each
other's feet," said Scott.
E.E. Austin and the respective subcon
tractors meet at least once a week to dis
cuss progress and any dilemmas. Every
other Thursday, E.E. Austin, Penn State
Erie and the Department of General Ser
vices, a governmental entity, meet to dis
cuss progress as well.
When the REDC is completed, it will
cover approximately 160,000 square feet
and provide 17 classrooms and 100 of-
"Every day is something different,"
said Scott, a graduate of Penn State.
Scott graduated from University Park in
2002 with a degree in civil engineering.
He spent his first two years at Behrend.
Vol. LII No. 18
Reality Check
Baltimore bound
Erin Ahlgren
staff writer
Reality Check, a volunteer organiza
tion open to all students, is heading to
Baltimore, Md. this spring break. As
an alternative Spring Break, the group
will have the opportunity to work with
children and the elderly with the help
of Maryland's Catholic Charities.
The group will leave March 6 and re
turn March 11. While in Baltimore, the
students will volunteer at Our Daily
Bread, a center created to provide hot
meals and other services for those who
are in need; and at Sarah's House. a
shelter that provides housing, counsel
ing and child care to help people in need
"move toward independent function-
Students will have breakfast and
lunch with those in need at Our Daily
Bread the first few days. At Sarah's
House, the students will prepare and
serve food for dinner one of the nights,
decorate and host a bingo party, clean
apartments, mentor school children and
even help with childcare. On the 10th,
after helping out at Sarah's House, the
students will get to go to Baltimore's
Inner Harbor.
The president of Reality Check. De'
Adra Walker, ELISH 06, is "...excited
about going to Baltimore because some
thing unexpected always happens."
She recalls the last Alternative Spring
Break trip to Nashville, Tenn., where the
students volunteered to set up apart
ments for immigrants. They were sent
to a warehouse full of furnishings for
the apartments and had to organize all
the furniture. For any other items that
were needed, they made a list and went
to the local Wal-Mart to buy them. They
had help loading everything on to a
truck to take to the apartments. where
they set up all the furniture.
As a freshmen, Reality Check was
"one of the first organizations" De' Adra
looked in to. She hopes the group is able
to travel to the west coast to California
or even South America someday.
The group currently has 10 members.
REALITY CHECK, continued on Page
Project manager Geoff Scott standing
in the first floor, south section of
Areal. When the weather was warm.
the area was a pit of mud.
First floor, north is close to comple
tion. Wall supports are up and the
walls will soon follow.