In collegiate sports, there is no greater honor than to compete in the NCAA championship. Such an opportunity does not come often, and those who have the chance to experience it would say that it’s unlike anything they have ever done.

The 2013 Division III NCAA Track and Field championship in LaCrosse, Wis., is May 23-25, and senior Carmen Graves and freshman Alexis Janney are representing Roanoke College there this year.

Watch them compete live in the race preliminaries on Friday via the NCAA website. Janney’s 400-meter race starts at 5:50 p.m. CT, while Graves will race the 800 meters at 7:10 p.m. CT.

Graves is no stranger to the NCAA meet, where this month she makes her fourth and final appearance. She has won many awards during her college career, including being named a four-time All American. Last month, she won ODAC championship titles in the 800, 1500 and triple jump, and she was the anchor leg of the winning 4 X 400 relay team.

Graves of Christiansburg also was the 2013 U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association South/Southeast Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year. She has broken records and set standards for future runners.

Joining Graves at the national track meet is newcomer Janney, who was this year’s ODAC champion in the 100, 200 and 400 meters, and she anchored the winning 4 X 100 relay team.

“It feels honestly overwhelming,” Janney said about her first NCAA appearance. “ I can’t wait to represent Roanoke and run the best that I can and get as many points as I can.”

Janney of Salem is seeded 11^th in the 400 for national meet. In the future, she said she looks forward to “returning to the NCAAs, winning ODACs again and sharing the wins together as a team.”

Cheer on Graves and Janney as they represent the Maroons at the national level.

-By Kaci Frick ‘15

Imagine riding a bicycle for 3,000 miles across the United States.

Now imagine making the trek with a group of people who you have never met.

Will Groth ’14 left last week from Yorktown, Va., with three strangers to pedal his way to Florence, Ore.

The native of Roanoke is a member of the Roanoke College tennis team, and he has always been active, but this is a new test of endurance.

“We will probably be traveling about 50 to 60 miles a day,” Groth said. “After a while I’m sure we will get used to that and probably do a few 100-mile days in the less hilly areas.”

Groth began biking about four years ago with the sole purpose of staying in shape. Groth tried out mountain biking, but quickly discovered that he didn’t love it. Instead, he opted for road biking.

At the end of last year, Groth bought a road bike and joined the Adventure Cycling Association. The association is a non-profit organization that inspires and empowers people to travel by bicycle.

Groth decided he might be interested in a long distance trip after browsing the ACA’s website and seeing people of all ages taking cross-country bicycling adventures.

He found four other ACA members with similar goals through the “looking for a companion” section of the association’s website.

“I don’t know much about them,” Groth said last week. “We have mostly been talking about getting things ready for the trip.”

Groth began his trip with three other young men, all under the age of 30. They plan to meet up with a fifth member of their group in Kentucky.

One of the bikers, Jeremy Geadrities of Pennsylvania, is keeping a blog during the journey. Read his blog here.

Groth and his cohorts will camp their way from Virginia to Oregon and back, with hopes of returning to the East Coast in the beginning of August.

He will be traveling light with about 30 pounds of supplies strapped to his bike.

Groth said he is not worried about the ride, the company or the outdoors.

But he has one concern. “I just hope I don’t slow the group down,” he said.

-By Kayla Fuller ‘14

They include the men’s lacrosse team, the women’s softball team and several track athletes. The sports season for these students is not yet over.

On Wednesday, May 8, the men’s lacrosse team faces Centre College at 4 p.m. at Roanoke’s Donald J. Kerr Stadium. This is the first round of the NCAA Division III Men’s Lacrosse Championship, and Roanoke is ranked 7th, according to the latest U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. The Maroons won the ODAC Championship last Sunday.

Roanoke’s softball team is another group to watch in post-season play. The NCAA Division III Softball Committee announced this week that the Roanoke team will join 62 others in the Division III Softball Championship Regionals later this week.

The Maroons will host the first round of games at the James I. Moyer Complex in Salem on May 9-12, which is a double elimination tournament. Roanoke will play Christopher Newport University in its first game on Thursday, May 9 at noon.

While the lacrosse and softball teams are battling it out on the home front, members of Roanoke’s track and field team are preparing to represent the College at the national level. Several runners have their sights set on competing in the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championship, which is May 23-25 in Lacrosse, Wis.

This Thursday, May 9, they will compete at the Roanoke College/Virginia Tech Twilight Meet at Roanoke to improve on their chances for NCAA qualification. The meet starts at 3 p.m.

Track and field athletes will find out in the next week and a half if they qualify for the national meet. Several have good chances of making the cut, said Finn Pincus, Roanoke’s head track and field coach.

They include Carmen Graves (800), Alexis Janney (400), the 4X100 team of Esther Prempeh, Brianna Hood, Alease Kinney and Janney and the 4X400 team of Graves, Janney, Kinney and Jess Mejia.

Cheer on these Maroon athletes this month as they make Roanoke proud!

-By Kayla Fuller ‘14

One of the biggest challenges that many graduates face is financial in nature. This may be the first time that they will have a full time job. They have questions about what to do with this new paycheck.

How much do I put into savings? Should I have an emergency fund? What is a 401k?

Richard Bond answers these kinds of questions on a regular basis. He is a visiting instructor of accounting and finance who teaches personal finance for the Business department at Roanoke College.

He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst, and his career has included public accounting, corporate banking and investment management.

Bond offers some financial tips for the Class of 2013.

RC News Blog: How would you advise a recent college graduate to make a budget?

Richard Bond: If you think about it, your starting salary is an arbitrary amount. It’s the first time someone has told you what your services are worth.  Don’t build your life around someone else’s number. Rather, take 87 percent of your starting salary and guide your life on that number and save the other 13 percent. Think of this as your personal margin of safety.

The first thing that you do, if you accept a position, is to go into the employee benefits office and sign forms, like your W-4, and sign up for healthcare benefits. You will be given a piece of paper to sign up for a 401k account.I tell my students, do not pass go, do not collect $200, max it out as much as you can. If you have a company match, they are actually giving you money for your savings. There is no better return for your investment. If you put in a dollar and they match it, you have a 100 percent return with no risk. You are not going to get that in the stock market or anywhere else in the investment world.

The rule of thumb for everyone starting out is to max out your 401k and save 10 percent of your take home pay. If you can do that, especially when you are young, and you do it in the first 10 years, you have set yourself up for a financially secure future.

Make 87 percent your current standard of living and make the other 13 percent your future standard of living.

RC News Blog: What is an emergency fund, and how do you save for it?

Richard Bond: Start saving in another account and automate that savings. You can go to your employer and have them direct deposit a portion of your pay, and it automatically goes into a savings account that you never see with your checking account. If you are on a night out and you go to the ATM, you are not going to see that money in there. It’s not going to tempt you to spend it. It needs to go in an account separate from your checking account.

You need to set up a fund that will accommodate for six months of living expenses. If you lose your job, the landlord doesn’t care. I tell the students that it really is a form of self-insurance, because you now have a way to insure yourself against the shorter term disasters.

RC News Blog: For students who want to be more frugal, how would you suggest practical ways to do that?

Richard Bond: The term is “sweat the small stuff.”  Those are the little things that you don’t think are hurting you financially. For example, if you are working and you stop at Starbucks every day and grab a cup of coffee and then, at lunch time, you get a bottle of water. Water and coffee just go down the drain.

If you could discipline yourself to not spend on the little things, you are teeing yourself to have a nice savings. [Take] $3 a day, five days a week, 52 weeks a year. That’s $780 just for water and coffee on a daily basis.

If you save $780 a year for 10 years–say you get 5 percent interest–that’s worth close to $10,000. In another 32 years (retirement), that $10,000 is worth $63,000.

That is the whole thing behind money. Every time you spend it or take your wallet out or your credit card out, you are making a choice between instant gratification and setting yourself up for financial security down the road. If you can put bottled water and coffee in context of $63,000 in retirement, it is going to make you think twice. But you don’t do that when you are pulling up to Starbucks or taking that bottle off the shelf.

RC News Blog: How should students build credit?

Richard Bond: You need credit. You are at some point going to go buy a car or a house. All of those things require established credit. What the lenders are looking for are people that can handle credit. The difference in interest rates you pay, if you have a high FICO [credit] score versus a low FICO [credit] score, is amazing. It can be as much as 10 percent or more.

Students should have a credit card. You have to build a solid credit track record. That track record helps your FICO score if you keep paying on time. The best thing you can do from a credit card standpoint is every month, you have to pay your balance off entirely. Things like not paying your bills on time can hurt your score. If you have a lot of cards and you carry balances on those cards and you are paying the minimum balance on those cards per month, that is a sure recipe for a poor FICO [credit] score.

RC News Blog: What is the biggest financial lesson that a graduate will learn during the first year out of college?

Richard Bond: Well, they are going to find that life is expensive. Because it is expensive, it really puts a priority on sitting down and developing a budget. From a forward thinking standpoint, you need to gear your brain to thinking in three dimensions, taking care of the mind, taking care of the body and taking care of where you are spiritually.

Feeding the mind is critical to career success. Your education is going to be continual, and you need to constantly refine yourself. You need to explore new areas of thinking. That is what employers are looking for. That is the mind.

To be a good employee you need to lead a healthy lifestyle. Employers are getting more sensitive to that. My guess is that physical fitness and taking care of yourself is going to be more important down the road because health care costs are rising. Employers want healthy people working for them.

The spiritual side gives your life a foundation with meaning. A lot of what you do financially is how you approach things from a spiritual context. If you are able to put money into its proper perspective, you can focus your time and energy on what’s truly meaningful.

My favorite quote out of the Bible is “For what shall profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his own soul.” You can chase money, and you may have a lot of things. It’s not going to get you where you really want to be.

-By Kayla Fuller ‘14

Dr. Joshua Rubongoya and Dr. Jesse Bucher, both professors at Roanoke College, held a roundtable discussion on April 12 at the College to talk about the effectiveness of a campaign to help raise awareness about Joseph Kony, the most wanted war criminal in Uganda.

Kony leads the Lord’s Resistance Army, which has ordered the abduction and killing of more than 30,000 innocent children in Africa. Some are forced to become child-sex slaves or soldiers.

A video about the Kony 2012 campaign by the Invisible Children, an advocacy group, brings the LRA’s activities to light. It led 3.7 million people to pledge to support Kony’s arrest.

The video reveals the story of a boy named Jacob, who was one of the captured LRA children.

On Jan. 15, President Barack Obama signed legislation to expand the Rewards for Justice Bill, which aims to capture human rights abusers, with Kony as a target.

During the Roanoke discussion, Rubongoya and Bucher evaluated the campaign’s effectiveness and the ways that people can make a difference.

“This campaign will only be effective if people decide to go beyond the bracelet,” Rubongoya said.

He said people often donate to a cause and buy a bracelet that supports it, but they do not go beyond that effort.

“There needs to be a bridge between the bracelet and holding discussions about the research and history of this cause, just like we are doing right now,” he said to the group of about 30 people gathered at Roanoke for the discussion.

Rubongoya said Africa will always be in need of help.

Bucher discussed the Kony video’s themes, which include race and political realities. Both professors encouraged people to take a stand and fully research and understand the Kony 2012 Campaign to create change.

“’Who are you to end a war? Who are you not to?,’” according to Kony 2012.

–By Shelby Sacco ‘14

“And then they boiled him. Goodnight, girls.”
  — Dr. David Scaer
(winner, Horrid Bedtime Stories)

Since January 2010, the Writing Center at Roanoke College has tested the short-form writing talents of members of the campus community with its Six-Word Memoir Contest on Facebook.

The 2012-2013 contest, which kicked off during the Activities Fair on Aug. 31, 2012 and closed this past Sunday, April 14, received more than 500 entries.

The number of entries attests to the contest’s popularity. Examples include the heartwrenching “If only I knew his name!” by Rachel Leach ‘14, winner of the Summer Love theme; the witty “Roanoke College spring peepers: class outside?” written by Dr. Angela Allen, teaching associate in psychology, who received an honorable mention in the Spring Fever theme; and the wise “Quick! Dad’s coming! Hide the beer!” written by Kathryn Lenten ’12, winner of the My Brother’s (or Sister’s) Keeper theme.

Before the start of each semester, Writing Center tutors decide on 11 to 12 themes for the weekly contests, which open on Monday mornings and close at 9 p.m. the following Sundays. Participants must “like” the Writing Center’s Facebook page and post a comment to the weekly theme. When each contest closes, the tutors vote by email on their favorites; the winner and an honorable mention are announced Monday morning on Facebook.

Weekly winners receive a brightly colored certificate proclaiming their achievement, and a coveted $10 Sheetz gift card. They then become eligible for the Six-Word Memoirist semester prize— a $100 Visa gift card — that is awarded during exam week. (Stay tuned for announcement of winners!)  Tutors can submit entries, but they are ineligible for the weekly prizes.

Dustin Persinger ’13, winner of the Fall 2012 Semester Award, received $150 in gift cards — $50 for the Activities Fair winner and $100 for the Semester Award. He won for his entry to the School Dazed and Confused theme — “You mean she’s only a freshman?”

The contest is open to all current Roanoke College campus members, with students, faculty and staff equally enthusiastic about competing for the weekly Sheetz card.  As Dr. Paul Hanstedt, professor of English, exclaimed when his entry for the Spring Fever theme (“Apparently daffodils aren’t good to eat”) won the Spring 2012 Semester Honorable Mention Award, “That’s almost three gallons of gas!”

Legend credits Ernest Hemingway with the first six-word memoir.  When the famously terse writer was challenged to compose a story in just six words, he responded, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

In November 2006, the online storytelling SMITH Magazine launched the Six-Word Memoir, offering writers a place to post their musings on subjects ranging from life and love to war and death. The project has developed into a franchise, including Six-Word Memoir books, calendars, T-shirts — even a board game. 

Promoting clear, concise writing is the contest’s primary goal.The six-word limit forces participants to be concise and to choose words carefully. Because the entries must tell a story — not just present a thought — writers must be creative with their details.

What six words tell your story?

Visit the Writing Center of Roanoke College on Facebook at
http://tinyurl.com/cjfsosp

— Jennifer Rosti, Interim Director, The Writing Center, and Visiting Instructor, Department of English

She’s also the senior class officer, a role that transforms her into a cheerleader, communicator and primary fundraiser for Roanoke’s senior class.

Wattley is responsible for informing her fellow classmates about all things senior, from Commencement details to celebratory events. She’s spending her last few weeks at Roanoke encouraging seniors to donate money to the College’s senior class gift program.

Wattley is quick to talk about the ways her Roanoke experience has paid off for her. Once she accepts her diploma in May, she’s headed to the Jefferson College of Health Science in Roanoke for its accelerated bachelor of nursing program. Wattley eventually wants to become a registered nurse and specialize in women’s health care.

“My relationship with the biology department prepared me,” she said. “I have a concentration in health care delivery and a minor in Spanish, so just my entire package here at Roanoke, I’m pretty sure that’s what they [Jefferson College] saw.”

Wattley recently talked about the purpose of the senior class gift program and its goals and her own Roanoke experiences.

RC News Blog: What is the senior class gift program and what does the money fund?

Tina Wattley: The senior gift program is part of the Roanoke Fund, which is the annual fundraising program for the College. If you’ve ever used anything on campus, whether it’s the library catalog or you’ve walked through [campus] on the pavers…certain things that seniors use every day. When it’s sunny, you can lay out on the lawn. If you’re a science [major], you usually have lab equipment that you need. The senior class gift goes to all of that.

Unfortunately, tuition only covers about 50 percent of what it actually costs to go here, so we have other ways of raising money so that everyone can have a really good Roanoke College experience.

RC News Blog: What are this year’s fundraising and senior participation goals? Are you close to meeting these goals?

Tina Wattley: We’re trying to have 40 percent participation, and the dollar amount [goal] would be about $2,000. We’re not looking basically at the dollar amount, but more the participation so it can increase the value of your education overall. I know for national rankings they look at the participation rate for how many alumni or students give back to their communities.

We’re asking for $20.13 [per senior], as the standard, and it looks good, because we graduate in 2013. We’re trying to meet a $2,000 dollar amount goal, but if we get seniors participating at 40 percent, we’ll have $6,000.

We have a challenge grant from senior parents. For every dollar that you give, it’s going to be tripled, so your gift of $20.13 would be $60.39 and that would help out.

[As of April 10] 11 percent of the senior class has participated. The dollar amount raised is $791 so far. Right now, if every senior gives $10, that will get us to our goal.

RC News Blog: What kinds of incentives are available for seniors if they decide to give to this program?

Tina Wattley: If you give before April 17, you have the opportunity of making a tribute in the Commencement booklet. If you want to give [in honor or in memory of] your family or your significant other or friends, that will actually show up in the book. If you’re going to make your gift after April 17, then your tribute will just go on the Roanoke website.

Also, if you give your gift [by May 1], you will be entered into a drawing for a Pandora bracelet.

One more thing, if you also give a gift [by April 25], you’ll be entered into a drawing where you can get up to six reserved seats at graduation. [The seats are located under the Bittle Tree and near the stage ramp.] It’s going to be a really good view.

RC News Blog: Why do you think that giving to Roanoke is important as a senior?

Tina Wattley: For me, besides knowing that I received scholarships coming here, also I was able to use lab equipment in the bio department. I’m a resident advisor, too, and I know in the dorms, it’s always nice to have a really good dorm…All of this money helps to make that possible.

RC News Blog: What will you miss about your Roanoke experience after you graduate?

Tina Wattley: I would say it’s the connections that I’ve made with faculty and my friends. Coming from the Caribbean, it’s a long way from home. I usually don’t go home until big breaks, long breaks, like Christmas break and summer break. I’ve had the opportunity to meet professors who have offered that “if you can’t go home, you can stay with me for a week.”

If I went someplace else, I probably never would have had that. Although it [Roanoke] was a different climate, and it was a different environment for me, I always felt a sense of home here.

Interested in study abroad, service learning, student research or internships? Come to a place where you can learn more about these experiences.

This week, Roanoke College’s Office of Student/Faculty Research is hosting its annual Week of Experiential Learning at Fintel Library.

Each night a speaker who is either a Roanoke professor or a graduate, as well as students from a variety of disciplines, will discuss their learning experiences, including study abroad and May travel on Tuesday, service learning on Wednesday and internships on Thursday. On Friday, students will present research and artwork.

Each night starts off with a 6 p.m. social time that includes drinks and food. The speakers are up at 6:30 p.m., and afterwards until 9 p.m., students are available to talk about their experiences.

The speakers include Dr. Paul Hanstedt, an English professor at Roanoke and author of “Hong Konged” on Tuesday; Nathan Proutey, a Roanoke graduate and peace builders coordinator for the West End Center for Youth in Roanoke on Wednesday; and Brittany Beheler, Roanoke alumna and corporate recruiter for Advance Auto Parts on Thursday.

Understandably, schedules are hectic at the end of the semester, but students are strongly encouraged to attend. All events are free and open to the public.

As an incentive, there will be a drawing for Amazon gift cards each night. Also, students who attend at least three of the four nights will be entered into a drawing to win an iPad Mini.

-By Caitlin Mitchell ‘13

The 12^th annual Relay for Life at Roanoke will take place from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. on the College’s back quad.

Each year, relay teams camp out overnight for this American Cancer Society fundraiser and take turns walking or running around Roanoke’s back quad throughout the evening and morning.

So far, Roanoke’s Relay for Life committee team has raised more than $6,000, according to the group’s relay website. The total amount as of April 2 is $13,666.26, which is a combination of the committee’s fundraising and the money raised by 39 teams and 241 individuals.

Roanoke’s fundraising goal is $25,000.

The College’s teams include clubs and student groups, Greek organizations, academic departments, residence halls and sports teams. Many will walk in honor or in memory of specific cancer sufferers.

This year’s relay event will feature two live bands, My Radio and We Shot the Moon. Additional entertainment will include inflatable moon bounces and slides, two movies, a basketball tournament, a theme lap and Mr. Relay.

For the Mr. Relay competition, men wear dresses and collect money by walking throughout Salem, in a span of two hours.

Ahead of the relay event, Salem Pizza & Subs is joining the fundraising effort. On Wednesday April 3, 15 percent of all proceeds at this downtown pizza restaurant will go to Relay for Life.

It’s not too late to get involved. Register to join a team (or create your own) by visiting Roanoke’s relay website.

-By Morgan Conroy ‘14

The Greek Woman of the Month and the Greek Man of the Month are new campus programs that recognize students who are involved in Greek life.

Each month, sorority and fraternity members nominate a member of their organization who is a dedicated student, loyal member, talented athlete, or a key participant in extracurricular activities.

The Panhellenic Council and the InterFraternity Council vote on the final winners. Each is announced in the campus-wide daily email, which is sent to faculty, students and staff.

Also, the winners’ pictures are displayed in the Colket Center during the first week of the month.

In February, Shana Hensley of Alpha Sigma Alpha and A.J. Bernstein of the Kappa Alpha Order were chosen as Greek Woman and Man of the Month.

Hensley, a senior from North Carolina, is described as a dedicated and loyal student, and she will graduate in May with a major in biology and a concentration in health care delivery.

Bernstein, a junior from Tennessee, is a member of Roanoke’s Cross Country and Track & Field teams, and he has been named to the College’s Dean’s List and President’s List. Within KA, Bernstein serves as historian.

For more information, visit the Panhellenic and InterFraternity Council web pages.

-By Morgan Conroy ‘14