Blog

By: Katelynn Smith

Out of all the students who go to Defiance College, roughly 35% of them are commuter students. This means that they live off campus, such as in an apartment, with their parents or are non-traditional students. Two students shared with me how life is as a commuter student including how tricky it can be now since COVID-19. This is how they are feeling with the semester so far.

Madison Schoenauer is from Defiance, Ohio, and is a Freshman at Defiance. She said that she chose to commute to save money.

Madison Pueschel is originally from Sturgis, Michigan but is living with friends who are upperclassmen in an apartment off-campus.

Both students said they typically drive to school each day and make sure they plan their days in advance so they don’t have to rush around in the mornings and don’t forget things at home.

“I usually pack snacks for the long days and make sure she brings her computer charger as she usually goes to the library during the day to catch up on schoolwork.” She said that “she much rather be in the library as she tends to get distracted and procrastinate her homework while she is at home”.

Both students play sports at Defiance so they are usually on campus for long periods of time. “If I have enough time, she will run back to the apartment and take a quick shower after workouts or will nap, said Pueschel”. 

Time management is typically pretty simple for a commuter student, they both agreed. The students manage their time around their schedules with their classes and the sports they play. While they are usually doing something productive, they both stated that life as a commuter student is pretty laid back and relaxed.

Schoenauer and Pueschel are able to be with their friends and family and still have a good support system around them to help with becoming lonely.

“It does stink with COVID being around that she cannot make as many new friends since commuters are not allowed in the dorms and other areas that residential students are allowed to be in,” Pueschel said. “I cannot see new people at events because she is not allowed or they get canceled.” She feels sad about it but would still rather be a commuter student.

Commuting may be difficult for some students because of Covid being around at the moment, but in the end, if it works out the best for you then commuting is the way to go.

By: Jeremy Russo

Many students come to the cafeteria for their meals throughout the day but what is their favorite item on the menu?

During the semester, students enter Serrick Campus Center at Defiance College to go to the cafeteria to get their food and have their meal after their class with their friends. The cafeteria and its great staff offer many different options each week to give students a variety of foods to choose from and enjoy. On the weekdays, wraps, fries, pizza, and certain items from the grill are offered every day.

To find out what the favorite item is of DC students, I asked students what their favorite item was and these were the results. The light blue bars represent the number of students who voted these certain items as their favorite foods.

From these results, it can be inferred that many students like wraps, mac n cheese, and sandwiches the most. These items contain cheese, meat, and bread which are common meal choices that many students like to eat.

The favorite items on the menu are the most commonly ordered items on the menu and have the longest waits during the rush hour at lunch and dinner times.

The cafeteria is an important business for the campus that also offers many other options than the selections from this graph. The cafeteria menu and hours can be found at https://defiance.hallmarkdining.com/serrick/.

Altogether, the cafeteria is an integral part of campus life by providing and maintaining the most liked items on the menu to attract students with their variety of selections every day.

On September 20, 2020, the Defiance College community had welcomed nurse practitioner Alison Schultz to provide services. Every visit is free for students who attend Defiance College and any services rendered at that time. To be seen, a patient must get a Covid-19 test before a visit can occur.

Many services can be provided on campus. “Right now, we can offer urinalysis to screen for urinary tract infections, rapid strep tests to screen for strep throat,” stated Schultz.

Other services are available to students as well. “I can provide prescriptions for birth control, though longer-acting methods such as IUDs would need to be referred to a gynecologist.” She went on further to say, “We are working on being able to offer STD testing, but right now that needs to be completed at Mercy Clinic and would need to be billed to insurance/patient.”

Otherwise, patients can be seen for any illness that would otherwise be evaluated at a primary care clinic,” said Nurse Alison said in an email.

To schedule an appointment, students can call 419-783-2562. The clinic is in the Health Center in Serrick 218. Operating hours are:
Mondays 1:00pm – 3:00pm
Tuesdays 10:00am – 12:00pm
Wednesdays 8:00am – 10:00am
Thursdays 10:30am – 12:30pm

Written by: Amanda Vasko

This year’s addition of Defiance College’s Jacket Journey presents a multitude of ways for students to be involved on campus and rack up the Jacket Points. One of those ways is by joining the new book club. DC has a newly formed book club starting up in the middle of this month. This event, listed on the jacket journey website, is worth a total of 75 points and is open to any current DC student, regardless of their major. The first meeting will occur on Wednesday, November 18th, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. via google meet link (https://meet.google.com/qyb-zixr-ncb).

As stated in the announcement, being involved in the book club will allow students to “gain new insights and perspectives, and practice conversation and leadership skills in a fun, friendly environment.” The club plans to meet twice each month for around an hour, with this month’s book of choice being A Separate Peace. A free version can be found here: http:// https://www.bydewey.com/Peace.pdf or can be borrowed from Pilgram Library. In an email, Professor Agler states, “The book will be available via free online access, so there’s nothing to buy (always a plus!).”

In the words of Professor Agler, Adjunct Professor of English and is head of the book club, “the best part about this club (besides reading and discussing great books, of course!) is YOU have a say in how the club will progress.” The students themselves will have the ability to suggest books and vote on which ones are read by the club and can even lead as “discussion facilitators” if they wish.

Whether one is planning to go into English/Literature, or it is simply a hobby, book club could serve as a phenomenal extracurricular. Students can still join at any time even after the first meeting. Everyone is welcome to participate.

For more information, please contact Professor Agler at aagler@defiance.edu. Or go to the English Department’s website at https://englishwonder.wordpress.com/

Written by: Trisha Baldwin

Joe Biden is Elected New President of the United States

After 5 long days of counting votes and analyzing of the numbers, this Saturday around 11:30 am, Joe Biden was elected to be the new president of the United States. A person needs to reach 270 electoral votes to win, and Biden currently has 290 and is expected to win another 16 from Georgia. President Trump lost with a current total of 214 electoral votes and is expected to gain another 18 for a total of 232 votes when all votes have been counted.

Kamala Harris becomes a Vice President of firsts

One first is that Madame Vice President Harris is the first person to be elected as vice president to have parents that were immigrants. Kamala’s dad is an immigrant from Jamaica, and her mother moved from India–both to further their education. She is also the first vice president to be black and Indian. Another first for Vice President Harris is that she is the first female to hold the office. Her husband will be the first person to hold the title of First Gentlemen in reference to the vice presidency.

Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek passes away

After an extended battle with pancreatic cancer, Trebek, 80, died in his home Sunday. He was the host of the popular game show for 37 years.

Written by: AD Johnson

The students in Social Work Practice 3 are participating in two fundraiser projects at Defiance College in conjunction with Project Pay it Forward.

The first fund raiser is the sale of Little Caesar’s Pizza Kits. Each pizza kit can make three pizzas. The average cost of one of these kits is $22. If pizza is not your thing, there is also crazy bread and two types of cookies.

The Little Caesars sales event will start on October 26, 2020, and end November 9, 2020. The links are Here or Here or Here

People interested can order online and then the order will be shipped right to your door. The order should take about seven business days to receive the product. Or you may contact Professor Alesia Yakos-Brown, Associate Professor of Social Work, at aybrown@defiance.edu and she will have a student participating in the project contact you.

The second fundraiser that the Social Work Practice 3 students are doing is a Faculty Flash. A Faculty Flash is when students visit different faculty on campus and ask for donations to their cause. The campaign is scheduled for October 30, 2020, during class time from 12:45 pm to 2:00 pm.

If anyone is unable to donate at this time you can contact Professor Alesia Yakos- Brown.

Pay it Forward is a non-profit organization that believes “that through acts of kindness among strangers, we all foster a more caring society” according to their website. With their help, the Social Work students are raising money for a local organization in the four-county area. Once they raise the money, they pick an organization that compliments their theme. This year, they have chosen to donate to women in poverty and women in poverty with children since that is their theme this year for their fundraising efforts.

Written by: Amanda Vasko

This November, the English Department, headed by Dr. Engel, Director of Composition at Defiance College, is participating in NaNoWriMo, which stands for National Novel Writing Month. The department is actively seeking students, staff, and faculty to join their group in this year’s novel writing month. To join, contact Dr. Engel at sengel@defiance.edu. More information can also be found at the English department’s website — https://englishwonder.wordpress.com/

Students can earn 50 Jacket Journal points for joining and participating in the event. “I’ve always wanted to give it a shot. This year seems like the perfect time to try something that requires a leap of faith,” Engel said. “It is also better to write when you have a community around you that can help support you and encourage you,” as stated on the Jacket Journal site. For more information on how to obtain the points, visit their site — https://defiance.presence.io/event/nanowrimo-national-novel-writing-month 

In addition to the Jacket points, “We have some swag for writers who join us.”, stated Dr. Engel.  

Writers commit to writing each day in November with 50,000 words as the end goal. That is roughly 1,667 words a day. Writers are given virtual badges for completed certain goals, and the NaNoWriMo website features helpful actives and educational materials on how to prepare, plan, and execute writing a novel. NaNoWriMo gives a chance for anyone to write a novel with the help and support of a non-profit organization that encourages creative writing.  According to the NaNoWriMo website, “We provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page.” For more information on NaNoWriMo, please visit their website. https://nanowrimo.org/ 

Written by AD Johnson

“Trump might be ridiculous for the rest of the world, but he is sane and wise man for the Taliban” stated a senior leader of the Taliban. 

This weekend senior leaders of the Taliban told reporters from CBS, that they endorse another Trump presidency. After President Trump shockingly boasted that he will have American troops pulled out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, it was reported the Taliban celebrated. 

The Taliban is an Islamic fundamentalist group based in the middle east. President Trump’s campaign has declined the endorsement.

Nobel Prizes were handed out this week. So far, five have been Americans. One for literature, chemistry, physics, and two in the physiology or medicine categories. More awards will be given out this week in other categories. The first awards were given out in 1901 after the scientist/inventor Alfred Nobel. 

This week, Eddie Van Halen passed away after a long battle with cancer. He is known for his guitar playing in his rock band named Van Halen. He was 65.

Another legend lost this week was baseball’s hall of fame pitcher, Whitey Ford. Known as “The Chairman of the Board”, Ford pitched 16 seasons for the New York Yankees finally retiring in 1967 but still remained active in coaching and training activities with the team. He was 91.  

In Defiance College news, FASFA applications are now available to complete. The college is offering workshops to help students who still need to fill out their FASFA for next year. For more information visit the Finacial Aid website at http://www.defiance.edu/financial-aid/index.html  or email the financial aid office financialaid@defiance.edu 

Here are the times of the FASFA workshops happening this month. Visit the financial aid website and click the date to attend. 

October 16, 12 – 2 PM
October 22, 5 – 7 PM
October 30, 2 – 4 PM
November 13, 2 – 4 PM
November 16, 5 – 7 PM
December 11, 2 – 4 PM
December 14, 5 – 7 PM

Written by: AD Johnson

*** On Wednesday, September 24, during a press conference in Kentucky, the Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced one officer would be indited in the case against the murder of Breonna Taylor. The other two officers “were justified in their use of force.”, according to the Attorney General Cameron. 

The decision was met with protests around the country.  

Earlier this month, according to NPR.com, the city of Louisville announced a $12 million settlement — the largest in its history — in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family. 

*** A little over a week ago, Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away in her home at the age of 87. She served 27 years on the supreme court being nominated in 1993 by President Clinton. 

Her death sparked a heated debate over whether a president should nominate a potential judge during an election year. In the past, the situation has come up in the past with the most recent being during President Obama’s last year of office. In that case, the nomination was held off till after the election.  

President Trump, however, decided to nominated Amy Coney Barret to replace Justice Ginsburg. According to NPR.com, “Barrett is expected to begin meeting with senators early this week, and the Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to begin hearings on Oct. 12. 

*** Last week, the Emmy’s were held. Like most big events, the award show made changes due to COVID. The host, Jimmy Kimmel, performed to an empty room and the winners made speeches from their homes. The most notable winners were Schitt’s creek, the first show to win every award in the comedy category, Watchmen, RuPaul’s Drag race, and Succession. 

*** On Saturday, President Mankey announced in an email that DC has experienced our first COVID outbreak. Staff have been working through the weekend sorting out those that could be impacted by contact tracing and have quarantine and isolated those involved. 

“As a reminder: Defiance College REQUIRES everyone on campus to wear a mask when around other people, perform a health check through our Campus Clear app, physical distance whenever possible, clean and sanitize their space, and show respect to others.” 

Please wear a mask and follow all social distancing guidelines. 

Written by: AD Johnson 

This Wednesday, September 9, 2020, the Defiance College will be having an Academic and Organization Fair for all students. Freshman and Seniors are welcome to browse the tables located between the library and Serrick from 11:00 am –12:00 pm. Juniors and Sophomores can look around from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm.

It is an opportunity for students to find out more information on different organizations offered by the college. Each Academic department will also have designated spots for students to check out if interested.  

If anyone is interested in writing for The Defender, there will be a sign-up sheet at the English Department table along with other fun and totally cool things (I can’t say there will be cake pops but there will be cake pops at our table). 

The live-action movie, Mulan, premiered this weekend on Disney+ for $29.99 in addition to the subscription fee. Fans that don’t want to pay the almost $30, the movie will be available for free December 4, 2020, for those with subscriptions. 

The movie’s release was not without controversy, however. Many Asian pro-democracy advocates called for a ban of the movie after the lead actress, Yifei Liu, made remarks in support of the Hong Kong police. Read more about the ban at https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-54024810 

This week, Taco Bell announced they will remove more items off their menu in November. The news comes as a jolt to fans everywhere as Taco bell had previously removed a dozen popular items last month including all potato items. According to Tacobell.com, the soon to be gone items include “Mexican pizza, all items with shredded chicken, and Pico de Gallo. 

Written by: AD Johnson