News W'-Jr A * «_ j! OP*»- C 7 i , " V Kiefer: on the road to recovery RACHELLE THOMPSON When Kory Kiefer looks at a soccer field today, he still can’t remember the day that changed his soccer career for ever, but now he can at least remem ber someone’s name. Back in October during the men’s soccer season, Kory Kiefer collided with an opposing player that left him laying motionless on the ground. As an ambulance took the unresponsive player away, his memory was unob tainable and the rest of his career was questionable. Mark R. Lovell, who is an interna tionally recognized sports concussion expert and founding director of the UPMC Sports Medicine Concussion Program, told Kiefer the impact of his injury would result in a complete loss of short term memory. Also, he said that playing soccer again was risky and would put his life at risk. With this in mind Kiefer and his family decided it was the end of soccer for him. “No, I will not play soccer again in my life. I have decided to end my ca reer because it’s not worth having life long problems or even death from *1 got into snowboarding when I was about 13 years old. My first time on the slopes was when some Of my friends took me to Hidden Valley with them one weekend. I ended up falling a lot, spent most of my time on my butt, and had bruised knees for the rest of the week. But my friends kept pushing me to stay with it and I ended up falling in love with the sport. When I am home in Pittsburgh, 1 go to either Hid den Valley of<7 Springs. When I am hjJtjjs||Erie 1 go up to Peek ‘wPeak. % «f 1 actually take Behrend’s snowboardingfclass there every Monday night as a one-credit course. I took it last year, too, but it was a lot_ of fun free riding and taking lessons every week so I decided to. take it again. Next Spring Break few of my friends and I are planning a trip to College Fest, located in Quebec,, 1 * Canada.' ’«<?. sically a of str; snowboi ing all di and goir downtoi at nij with coll stu d e i from a> the coui would d< be a trip time, am not wait OBS Chem JEFF KRAMER The existing chemistry labs in the Otto Behrend Science Center will undergo renova tions beginning April 12 through August 2010, accord ing to John O. Ream, Director of Operations at Penn State SGA endorses recommendation CONNOR SATTELY editor-in-chief Penn State Behrend’s Stu dent Government Association has endorsed a recommenda tion to raise the Student Activ ity Fee (SAF) at the college. The increase, expected to be $lO over the next two years, only must-be approved by the Penn State Behrend Board of Trustees in order to take effect. SGA President Bradley Ko valcik believes that the benefits far outweigh a little extra from each student. another concussion,” Kiefer said, As for doing physical activity Kiefer is currently up in the air on what he can and cannot do. His mother wishes her son would not do any type of phys ical activity. Kiefer said, “...if she could she would put me in a bubble.” His dad on the other hand is leaving that decision up to him. He told his son he wants him to be safe in whatever it is that he does, but he leaves that de cision up to him. news editor As far as other physical activity goes, ever since Kiefer was young he has been a snowboarder. He wasn’t as serious with it as he was with soccer. To him, it’s something he can have fun with. Even though it’s a risky physical activity he still does it, mentioning he has to have some fun in his life. “Snowboarding, as any sport 1 really don’t think about getting hurt, which is terrible I know. You think I’d be wor ried all the time. But I don’t because if I do [worry] I won't perform my best," Kiefer said. “1 worry about getting hurt. Yes, fear is always in the back of my mind, but I keep it that way or I won’t have fun.” In regard to his education the mem ory loss was a factor in Kiefer's GPA l|k f KELSEY DONEGAN sophomore stry labs to rece Behrend The buildings planned have not been renovated since they were built in 1963 as the Otto F. Behrend Science Building. copy editor When asked, students ex pressed major interest in the “I’m definitely glad they’re doing this. If they want to have anybody majoring in chemistry “It’s minimal to the students while being able to provide a ton of money,” he said. The money from the SAF is used for funding for student or ganizations. A $lO increase over two years would result in around $90,000, Kovalcik esti About the student activity fie (SAF) «xdu»lvefy for art-campus programming • Each campus has its own allocation committee which decides where the money goes • Three tiers for a campus to choose: $54, $64, $74 per semester from each student. • Behrend chose the $74 tier. • The increase will up the tiers to $64, $74, and $B4. and class status. As of right now he is still working on finishing finals from last semester. “Well with four classes and twelve credits, currently I have a 2.8 GPA that doesn’t include my calculus course, “said Kiefer. “I had to get my math grade deferred and I am taking a test and a final this Friday. Other than that, 1t went pretty well from what I remem ber.” Despite the doctor’s prognosis of a permanent loss of short term memory, Kiefer has come a long way since the collision. At first, he had no short term memory at all. "I notice little things here and there," Kiefer said. "I sometimes forget where I put things here and there and multi-tasking is still difficult for me." As far as his future is concerned, Kiefer is unsure of what holds for him. Soccer has been his life for many years and now he looks at things from a different angle. The retired player has considered pursuing his artistic ability in design as a career. He's going to miss playing the sport but is glad he spent his last season with the Behrend players. “Erie, Pennsylvania, snow on the ground, what is there to do? When scheduling classes this semester, there were new options under the Kinesiology section; skiing and snowboarding. If you were to .turn on a television this time of year, you would be sure to see some highlights of the Winter X-Games. Watching the athletes one after the other pulling off flips, turns, spins, as well as other complicated maneuvers makes one just want to jump on a board themselves and try their hand at it. Well, it’s just snow, right? Show up to Peak n’ Peak every Monday or Tuesday depending on your schedule. Day one is obvious as to what is covered, the basics of standing up vertically, as well as some downhill riding. As your weeks progress, you will move onto some more difficult hills, and even tually end up on the terrain park if you choose to do so. How can you b athlete on televisi some jumps and rails, right? The i credible as they ing experience, qualifies them to learning from tl who have alreat through what y< going through, make it simple catch on to what takes to become “real" winter at lete, all within yoi one-hour lesson. When your les: is over for the feel free to implei what you have jut over for the next hours before the and see where it Winter at Behrei you make of it, try something! new. Maybe snowboarding isl your calling!” f / here they should definitely ren ovate,” said Nate Carter, soph omore English major. Ream says that the renova tion project will provide recon struction in two intro chemistry labs, an organic chemistry lab, an advanced chemistry lab, a prep area, a chemical storage room and an instrument room. In addition to this, the building “We don’t desperately need the money - there were just a lot of things that could have been funded but weren’t because of budget constraints.” Ken Miller, the Director of Student Affairs, stresses that all ive $4.2 million facelift will see a new roof, and rooms will get new lab hoods and benches, interior finishes, and other finite touch-ups, said Ream. “They need to have chairs. My room didn’t even have any chairs. Whenever you finished the lab you would have to stand there and write your answers. It always pissed me off,” said to raise Activity Fee of the money stays here. “All of that money is used for programming on-campus, at Behrend,” he says. Miller says he expects the Board of Trustees to take action on approving the increase later this Spring. “I wish I could say that I’ve played hockey all of my life, but I would be lying. I first started playing in 6th grade, when a friend of mine got me and my sister interested. The ice arena in my area decided to start a girl’s hockey team for the Butler Valley Dawgs, so we decided to join. Neither my sister nor I knew a thing about hockey or skating. At first, we were terrible. After a year or so. our team and our skat ing abilities improved immensely. We traveled a lot since there weren’t many teams in the area. Our first tournament was actually held here in Erie, the Sarah Backptrom tournament. After I got better at skating and understood hockey, it was actu ally fnn for me. I usually played left wing while my sister played center and we were always on the same line. Normally my sister and I would pass the puck back and forth to each other and score. We were the "dynamic duo" as the coach would say. for us. the team dissolved afterj| three years due to lack of interest® and I stopped skating altogether.® It wasn’t until my first freshman year, that I was con tacted to be on the co-ed team for Behrend. They held weekly practices and games in which , I participated in and it was a lot of fun to skate again * The only thing I don't like is being the only girl on the team. I hope that someday Behrend can have its owi women’s hockey team, have only skated for 5 ye; now and one thing tha have learned from hocke to never underestimate self no matter what is i' way." Dan Augustine, a sophomore Civil Engineering major. Though the project will cost an estimated $4.2 million. Ream looks forward to it. "(They) are being renovated to enhance the students’ educa tional experience,” he said. The idea for the increase came from the Student Activity Fee Board, which is a Univer sity-wide board. Members of that board solicited the opin ions from SGA presidents of all the campuses, then made a rec ommendation to increase the fee. Behrend’s SGA then en dorsed that recommendation, moving it on to the Board of Trustees. With a $lO increase, Behrend students will be paying $B4 per semester to the Student Activity Fee. Behrend Beacon I f\ . February 19,2010 \ www.thebehrendbeacon.com I Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon Anti-Balconite group deleted A controversial Facebook group, "1 hate BALCONITES,” shut down late last Friday night. Ken Miller, the Director of Student Affairs, said that the school had no part in the final shutdown of the site. “We did not contact Face book.” he said. 'We went to the owner of the group and asked him to take it down, but I don’t know whether Facebook, or the owner got it off of there.” As far as school policy, Penn State Behrend cannot “force” a student to take down a Face book page, Miller says, unless it’s a violation of the Code of Conduct. In this situation, no punitive action has been or will be taken. “A person has a free speech right to express themselves,” Miller said. “The university will get involved when there is con tent that is either threatening or discriminatory in nature, or vi olates the Code of Conduct.” '*»»»•! ALYSSA CHODKOWSKI s nphnmon CONNOR SATTELY rditor-in-< hicf
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