Author: Stephanie Held

Official NCAA Division II membership brings new opportunities for Westminster athletics

Westminster College’s completion of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) membership process will benefit the athletics program and college as a whole according to Shay Wyatt, director of athletics. Formerly a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Westminster officially joined the NCAA after a three-year transition process. NCAA is a larger organiza...

Westminster students suggest six ways their peers can live more sustainably

Westminster College has often been recognized for its institutional focus on environmental stewardship during the past several years. Last year, the college ranked 159 out of 227 on the Sierra Club’s Cool Schools list and was on the Princeton Review’s annual list of Green Colleges. Westminster also has a silver rating from the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS), a self-r...

Student bridges artistic disciplines to bring people together

Though Indigo Cook only transferred to Westminster College two years ago, her enthusiasm for collaborating with artists across disciplines has left an impression on the community. Cook, a senior and the only percussion student in the music program, said she enjoys creating art that combines spoken word, movement and sound. “She finds a very good balance between supporting even the craziest ideas y...

ASW passes plan to improve continuity, increase change on campus

ASW Senate passed a three-year strategic plan outlining its overall “goals and priorities” at its last meeting of the academic year last month — a policy student leaders say will promote continuity for projects and result in the opportunity to generate more change on campus. “The strategic plan is really going to be the basis of how we go about our special projects and where we focus our efforts a...

Former athletes watched Olympics with nostalgia — but didn’t dream of going back

Heather McPhie Watanabe is used to being awake at odd hours. With a newborn baby, her schedule depends heavily on her daughter’s needs. But over the past few weeks, when she was awake at those odd hours Watanabe was following the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, via live stream. This was the first time since 2006 that Watanabe — a former Olympic mogul skier who graduated from Westminst...

Westminster collaboration harnesses statistics to quantify the financial, environmental impact of Jewett expansion

Westminster College’s recently-announced addition to the Jewett Center for the Performing Arts could seriously increase overall energy use and costs on campus. Educational institutions in the United States spend almost $14 billion annually in energy costs, according to a 2012 report from the Department of Energy. As enrollment declines and tuition raises, many colleges and universities across the ...

Visiting lecturer: zombie popularity increases in times of cultural anxiety

The popularity of zombies in American culture — think TV shows like “The Walking Dead” and apps like “Plants vs. Zombies” — may allude to societal fear of changing norms, according to Dr. Aliza Atik, who spoke at Westminster College on Wednesday in the Gore Auditorium. Atik, an assistant professor of English at Queensborough Community College in Bayside, New York, came at the invitation of Dr. Eil...

Westminster students seemingly unmotivated to attend event for most-watched sports game in the nation

It’s well known among campus leadership that students at Westminster College have an attendance problem. Though most make it to class, they are notably absent from college events, like game days. Getting students to attend pre-game tailgates with free food seems to be easier, but getting them to stay for the actual game can be a challenge. Holding with this tradition, ASW Events’ Super Bowl tailga...

Catholic bishop visited campus after personal invitation

Last month, Catholic Bishop Oscar Solis took a tour of Westminster College’s campus, which has Presbyterian roots, alongside Steve Morgan, the school’s first president who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a coming together of multiple religious backgrounds. Solis is a trailblazer: he was the first Filipino-American bishop ordained in the United States and was appoin...