Connect2Mason

Freshman Phenoms Play Major Role in Basketball

Fri, 03/05/2010 - 16:42 | C2M Contributor Josh Apple

Luke Hancock, above, goes for the basket in this shot from the recent homecoming game against College of Charleston. Hancock is one of seven freshmen on this year's team. (Photo by Peter Flint)

As the CAA tournament looms for the men's basketball team, it is time to reflect on the season thus far and to evaluate their potential to make a run in March. Typically, when evaluating a team you first look at the upperclassmen, the leaders of the squad. However, this is no typical team.

Jim Larranaga’s crew consists of seven freshmen, three sophomores, two juniors and one lone senior. The young players look to the older guys, primarily junior Cam Long and senior Louis Birdsong, to serve as role models on and off the court. However, this team’s potential lies in the hands of the seven rookies.

Luke Hancock, a 6’5” guard/forward out of Roanoke has been an impressive performer for the Patriots this season. He is averaging over 22 minutes per game and just under eight points on the season. He played high school basketball for Hidden Valley High School and played one year at Hargrave Military Academy before coming to Mason.

“Coach L started recruiting me from Hargrave when I first got there my post-grad year,” Hancock said. “He made Mason feel like a home and seemed like the type of coach who really wanted me to succeed on and off the court.”

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RAP Offers New Options and Restrictions

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 21:13 | C2M Staff Reporter Lauren Jost

Students can no longer lease an apartment on campus year-round. The move comes as a result of declined interest in the option over the past several years.
(Photo by Daniel McEnrue)
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With March in swing, spring on the way, and next year's housing on many minds, resident students beginning to plan their living arrangements for the Fall and Summer 2010 semesters may notice a few housing changes as they complete their Room Assignment Process (RAP) application.

The most notable change to the RAP process is removal of the 12-month lease option for students looking to live in an apartment on campus year-round.

Brian Davis, associate director for Housing Services, says that there has been a steady decline in demand from residents for 12-month leases in York River Corner since 2004.

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University Discusses Proposed Budgets in Richmond

Sun, 02/28/2010 - 23:25 | C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker

Provost Peter Stearns, left, and Senior Vice President Morrie Scherrens, right, held a town hall budget forum for faculty in the Johnson Center Cinema last Wednesday. Over 200 people were present to hear the proposed budgets and their effects on the university.
(Photo via camera phone by C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker)

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Wounded from recent economic troubles, current plans in Virginia’s General Assembly regarding the state’s budget and higher education may leave George Mason University students, faculty and staff stuck with more financial burden. In the proposed budgets, Mason faculty and staff would face a combination of furloughs, stagnant pay and general reductions in research funding —and students would face a projected tuition and fees increase between eight and 10 percent each year for the next three years.

During a town hall budget forum for faculty last Wednesday, Provost Peter Stearns and Senior Vice President Morrie Scherrens discussed options for combating the state budget cuts, options that, without attention in the present, would prevent the university from fully functioning in the future.

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Stuff Mason Students Like #2: Alternative Spring Breaks

Sat, 02/27/2010 - 15:49 | C2M Contributor Cathi Acosta

Last year during spring break, Mason students Liz Kallman and Katy McCarthey traveled with other members of Catholic Campus Ministry to the Domincan Republic. While there, they helped teach catechetics classes, repuild chapels and paint buildings.
(Photo courtesy of Katy McCarthey)

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[Writer's Note: Inspired by the popular blog, Stuff White People Like, “Stuff Mason Students Like” is pretty self-explanatory in drawing attention to the things George Mason University students like. This column aims to foster a common culture among Mason’s student population, publish what people are thinking and saying, and most importantly, to poke some fun at the Mason student body.]

I have to say it: Spring Break is in less than a week! Wooooot!

What will you be doing for Spring Break? For those that ask college students this question, I am sure they have a preconceived notion about what we do with a week of no school. The beach + barely clad guys and girls + plenty of alcohol = the formula for what many students would consider a perfect Spring Break of non-stop partying.

Though there certainly is evidence to support the stereotype — ahem, MTV — there is still a handful of college kids that choose to spend their break in a different fashion. These students go on what is known as Alternative Spring Break, and it is a popular choice among Mason’s student body.

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CAA Championships Underway at Aquatic Center

Fri, 02/26/2010 - 15:02 | C2M Staff Reporter Lauren Jost

Twelve teams of swimmers and divers are competing in this year's Colonial Athletic Association Swimming & Diving Championships, held at Mason. The meet, which began Wednesday afternoon, will conclude with tomorrow's events. This video by C2M Staff Reporter Lauren Jost on Vimeo recaps events from Thursday.
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The George Mason University Swimming and Diving team began competing in the Colonial Athletic Association Swimming & Diving Championships Wednesday afternoon in search of a fifth women’s title and a first men’s title.

The four-day-long meet, hosted at the Aquatic and Fitness Center, will include swimmers from 12 CAA universities.

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Students Win Big in Economics Video Contest

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 18:00 | C2M Staff Reporter Lauren Jost

Two students submitted the above video into a national video contest and received top honors. It is embedded here with their permission. To watch the video in full quality, click here.
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For two young economics pupils, "Sarah" provided an important answer. George Mason University students Mark Meranta and Terra Strong won the Fraser Institute’s 2009 Student Video Contest by answering the topic question “What is the most appropriate role of government in the economy?” through a three-minute video entitled My Friend Sarah.

The film took the top prize by shortly chronicling the ideological shift of main character Sarah’s economic opinions.

“It is a political mockumentary about a girl who used to be the president of her college’s ‘Progressive FDR’ club, but took an economics class and became a libertarian who believed in personal and economic freedom,” said Meranta.

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Student Wins $123,000 Scholarship from Dr Pepper

Tue, 02/23/2010 - 17:35 | C2M Contributor Lindsey Denny

Rodick, above, was a fan of Dr Pepper growing up. After competing in a scholarship contest, the company is now contributing to her education. (Photo by Lindsey Denny)

Unbeknownst to Carley Rodick, her Facebook, cell phone and e-mail inboxes began filling up just moments after being handed a check for $123,000. While many offered enthusiastic congratulations, some messages were hate mail sent by complete strangers.

“I guess they felt as though I had just been lucky in winning or that the prize should have been divided between more people,” said Rodick.

As one of six children in her family, the burden of paying for college had fallen upon Rodick. With the university’s financial aid cut and her denial from a federal work-study program, the scholarship couldn’t have come at a better time.

Dr Pepper had always been a staple in the refrigerator of the sophomore nursing major’s home in Fredericksburg, Va. That is why when the company offered an instant-win game requiring entering codes online that were printed on the inside of lids, Rodick’s mother zealously saved bottle caps and encouraged her daughter to enter.

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Homecoming 'Spirit' 2010: Fans, Beads and Pie Eating

Mon, 02/22/2010 - 17:14 | C2M/MCN Video Adviser David Miller

Saturday was gameday at Mason, and pre-game festivities were in full Mardi Gras swing outside the Patriot Center. Armed with a camera and mic, C2M/MCN Video Adviser David Miller and C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker prowled the homecoming parade and block party.

They snagged some big interviews, including President Alan Merten, a grade-school Patriots fan, and the Cookie Monster.

Click to above to see the 'craziness.'

One-of-a-Kind 'Cookie Cart' Debuts in Homecoming Parade

Mon, 02/22/2010 - 16:17 | C2M Staff Reporter Lauren Jost

Full of milk and cookies and specially designed for Mason's Dining Services, the "Spunk Buggy" will begin roaming the Fairfax campus this semester. The cart debuted in last Saturday's homecoming parade.
(Photo by Student Media Photography Manager Peter Flint)

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Unveiled in the “Unmasque Your Spirit” Homecoming Parade on Saturday was a new kind of treat wagon. A food cart that once stood idly in the back of SUB I was transformed into a mobile milk and cookie distributor called the “Spunk Buggy.”

Otis Spunkmeyer, the namesake and distributor of cookies baked and sold across various dining facilities, gave the cart a customized transformation to equip the old cart for cookies and milk.

“I could just see myself having a bad day and then seeing the cookie cart and all my worries are gone,” said art and visual technology major Britni Petersen.

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Stuff Mason Students Like #1: Ditching Campus Every Weekend

Sun, 02/21/2010 - 03:22 | C2M Contributor Cathi Acosta

Students clear out of campus come Friday afternoon.
(Photo via camera phone by C2M Executive Editor Kevin Loker)

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[Writer's Note: Inspired by the popular blog, Stuff White People Like, “Stuff Mason Students Like” is pretty self-explanatory in drawing attention to the stuff that George Mason University students like. This column aims to foster a common culture among Mason’s student population, publish what people are thinking and say, and most importantly, to poke some fun at the Mason student body.]

With a little over a month into the spring semester, weekends on campus are back to looking like they have always been: empty and dead. I always pity the tour groups of high school juniors and seniors that choose the inopportune time of visiting campus on a weekend. They walk around a bare campus, spotting only a few students here and there as their tour guide assures them that nearly 5,000 students live on campus. I don’t disbelieve this fact, but it is hard to believe when campus turns into a seemingly deserted island once Friday rolls around, and remains this way until Monday morning.

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