A fire was started on Feb.18, during a taco sale by the Utah State University Latino Student Union.
The LSU sold tacos outside of the Taggart Student Center to promote Latino culture and awareness on campus. During the taco sale, the LSU President Eddie Campos used a butane burner to cook the tacos when it suddenly caught fire.
“In the moment you kind of just freeze and don’t know what to do, but after a split second you react,” Campos said. “It was a little scary, but most of all I was just worried about the safety of other people and making sure nothing around caught on fire.”
One of the butane burners was not connected properly and leaked gas. This was the cause of the fire.
“Thankfully it didn’t go back to the butane burner and explode,” Campos said.
Inside the TSC, Braden Probst, a USU Dining Services employee, noticed the fire and ran for a fire extinguisher.
“The students were not properly trained on the operation of the gas burner,” Probst said. “It was this lack of training that actually caused the fire.”
Other employees working in the Hub, a retail dining operation inside of the TSC, began to notice the fire as the flames grew.
“It could have been much worse than it was,” said Kimberly Stephens, a USU Dining Services employee. “I was appalled at how I saw one of them trying to put out the fire by waving a piece of cardboard at it which only fanned it to life.”
Probst returned to the scene with his employer Jaime Bradford, the assistant director for retail operations. Bradford used an extinguisher and put out the fire.
“We are glad that Jaime was there,” Campos said. “She helped us out a bunch and got it all figured out. We are glad we had someone that knows how to use a fire extinguisher because there have been other fires that she has dealt with this school year.”
The LSU utilizes their taco sales each year to raise money toward scholarships for hispanic/latino high school seniors. So far, six taco sales have taken place this school year and the club hopes for two more sales at the end of March. According to Campos the money raised at these fundraisers goes toward two scholarships for high school seniors and often one more for a Utah State University student. Each scholarship covers about a years worth of books.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Friday, February 20, 2015
Commemoration Ceremony for Utah State University Student
A commemoration ceremony will be held Saturday in the Ellen Eccles Conference Center at 2:30 p.m. in honor of Natalie Linetska, a victim of suicide.
“She was loved by everyone who met her and was a very good and supportive friend,” said Arshak Papazyan, a friend of Linetska.
Linetska, originally from Odessa, Ukraine, was a student at Utah State University. She was studying business administration and was in the interview process for the Huntsman Scholar Program.
“She was a very studious and hardworking student,” said Renee Escobar, a friend of Linetska. “After she finished her undergraduate studies, she wanted to move to Los Angeles to pursue her career in business and make a new and happy life for herself.”
The Division of Student Services and the staff of Counseling and Psychological Services has since reached out to the Utah State student body to help during this time of mourning. A conference was held in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday to discuss the needs of the students during challenging times and inform them of available resources on campus.
“We wanted to focus on creating hope,” said Dr. Justin Barker, the assessment coordinator for Counseling and Psychological Services. “College students are more at risk to suicide. It is the second largest cause of death among college students.”
This semester, there have been four students who have attempted suicide. One out of those four actually went through with it.
“A lot of things we’ve seen recently have been directly related to alcohol,” Barker said.
During the conference, Mark Nafziger, clinical coordinator for CAPS, spoke on the different ways people grieve and how to help others through this time.
“Realizing that everyone grieves differently is a big deal,” Nafziger said. “It’s often times very helpful to focus on helping others during this difficult time. Over time you can grow from your grief.”
“She was loved by everyone who met her and was a very good and supportive friend,” said Arshak Papazyan, a friend of Linetska.
Linetska, originally from Odessa, Ukraine, was a student at Utah State University. She was studying business administration and was in the interview process for the Huntsman Scholar Program.
“She was a very studious and hardworking student,” said Renee Escobar, a friend of Linetska. “After she finished her undergraduate studies, she wanted to move to Los Angeles to pursue her career in business and make a new and happy life for herself.”
The Division of Student Services and the staff of Counseling and Psychological Services has since reached out to the Utah State student body to help during this time of mourning. A conference was held in the Taggart Student Center Auditorium at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday to discuss the needs of the students during challenging times and inform them of available resources on campus.
“We wanted to focus on creating hope,” said Dr. Justin Barker, the assessment coordinator for Counseling and Psychological Services. “College students are more at risk to suicide. It is the second largest cause of death among college students.”
This semester, there have been four students who have attempted suicide. One out of those four actually went through with it.
“A lot of things we’ve seen recently have been directly related to alcohol,” Barker said.
During the conference, Mark Nafziger, clinical coordinator for CAPS, spoke on the different ways people grieve and how to help others through this time.
“Realizing that everyone grieves differently is a big deal,” Nafziger said. “It’s often times very helpful to focus on helping others during this difficult time. Over time you can grow from your grief.”
Friday, February 13, 2015
USU Bookstore holds Wild About You competition
This year, the Utah State University Bookstore’s annual Valentines Day competition was slightly altered from tradition. Each year, the bookstore employees host a competition called The Kiss Off, where couples would place a block of wood between their lips and the couple who held the block in place the longest won a prize.
“People would cry because you go crazy standing for so long like that,” said Carrisa Dominy, Utah State Bookstore’s marketing manager. “We decided that we wanted to keep the Kiss Off tradition but also mix it up. Make it a little more enjoyable and quicker so that it didn’t last all day long.”
Instead of only doing the Kiss Off, the bookstore marketing team decided to create a new, animal themed event called The Wild About You Competition that took place Wednesday, Feb. 11. This contest included an altered version of the Kiss Off and a series of challenges with objects commonly found around the house, otherwise known as “Minute to Win it” games.
“We thought it’d be fun because we know that people sometimes don’t like us due to text books, buy backs and different things like that,” Dominy said. “We don’t like that image. A lot of people don’t realize that the bookstore doesn’t run for profit. All of the money that we make goes back to the students through scholarships and different things.”
The competition began with the Kiss Off and 24 couples competing. Instead of standing with the block between the contestant’s lips, the couples were asked to do different animal movements such as: flamingo, gorilla, beached whale, kangaroo and more. The last 12 couples standing moved on to the next task.
“We were really planned out, but at the beginning, with our animal kiss off, we only had a couple of ideas for them to do,” said Ryan Erwin, announcer for the event. “We went through them really quick and all couples were still in, so we had to start making some up.”
The next event was the Chocolate Unicorn. Couples stacked Ding Dongs, chocolate round cakes, on their foreheads. The first six couples to complete the task continued in the competition with Pink Elephant. Headbands with a slinky connected were placed individually on each of the couples foreheads. The couples worked together to get each slinky to stand in the upright position. The first three couples that accomplished this task proceeded to Mad Dog. Boxes of Tic Tacs were glued on to each end of a ruler. The couples had to place the ruler in their mouth and shake their head until each box was empty. The first two couples to succeed went on to the final round, How’s It Hanging. A banana was tied to a string and strung around the waist of each contestant. The couples, in turn, had to swing the banana between their legs and hit an orange down an isle into a hula hoop. The first couple to finish and win the competition was Hannah Anderson and Sam Anderson.
“The banana game was difficult,” Sam said. “Hannah accidentally hit her orange backwards and that set us back. I was worried there, but for the most part we did pretty good.”
Hannah and Sam each won $100 gift cards to the USU Bookstore.
“It was really fun to take a break from all the stress and be crazy and fun,” Hannah said. “It was just fun to cheer each other on and support each other.”
“I think the Amazing Race will be next for us,” Sam said. “They should do this every year. It was awesome.”
“People would cry because you go crazy standing for so long like that,” said Carrisa Dominy, Utah State Bookstore’s marketing manager. “We decided that we wanted to keep the Kiss Off tradition but also mix it up. Make it a little more enjoyable and quicker so that it didn’t last all day long.”
Instead of only doing the Kiss Off, the bookstore marketing team decided to create a new, animal themed event called The Wild About You Competition that took place Wednesday, Feb. 11. This contest included an altered version of the Kiss Off and a series of challenges with objects commonly found around the house, otherwise known as “Minute to Win it” games.
“We thought it’d be fun because we know that people sometimes don’t like us due to text books, buy backs and different things like that,” Dominy said. “We don’t like that image. A lot of people don’t realize that the bookstore doesn’t run for profit. All of the money that we make goes back to the students through scholarships and different things.”
The competition began with the Kiss Off and 24 couples competing. Instead of standing with the block between the contestant’s lips, the couples were asked to do different animal movements such as: flamingo, gorilla, beached whale, kangaroo and more. The last 12 couples standing moved on to the next task.
“We were really planned out, but at the beginning, with our animal kiss off, we only had a couple of ideas for them to do,” said Ryan Erwin, announcer for the event. “We went through them really quick and all couples were still in, so we had to start making some up.”
The next event was the Chocolate Unicorn. Couples stacked Ding Dongs, chocolate round cakes, on their foreheads. The first six couples to complete the task continued in the competition with Pink Elephant. Headbands with a slinky connected were placed individually on each of the couples foreheads. The couples worked together to get each slinky to stand in the upright position. The first three couples that accomplished this task proceeded to Mad Dog. Boxes of Tic Tacs were glued on to each end of a ruler. The couples had to place the ruler in their mouth and shake their head until each box was empty. The first two couples to succeed went on to the final round, How’s It Hanging. A banana was tied to a string and strung around the waist of each contestant. The couples, in turn, had to swing the banana between their legs and hit an orange down an isle into a hula hoop. The first couple to finish and win the competition was Hannah Anderson and Sam Anderson.
“The banana game was difficult,” Sam said. “Hannah accidentally hit her orange backwards and that set us back. I was worried there, but for the most part we did pretty good.”
Hannah and Sam each won $100 gift cards to the USU Bookstore.
“It was really fun to take a break from all the stress and be crazy and fun,” Hannah said. “It was just fun to cheer each other on and support each other.”
“I think the Amazing Race will be next for us,” Sam said. “They should do this every year. It was awesome.”
Friday, February 6, 2015
Aggie Radio is going FM
This September Aggie Radio will officially be an FM broadcasting station. This progression to the Utah State University radio station is due to a change in the Federal Communications Commission.
“The FCC have these FM frequencies that aren’t being used, and for a long time they weren’t open to the public,” said Cody Scott, Aggie Radio station manager. “Just two years ago they opened them up for application.”
The application process took just over a year. An application was submitted in September of last school year. Aggie Radio received confirmation in October 2014 that they would be making the transition to FM radio. The station will continue to broadcast online at http://tunein.com/radio/Aggie-Radio-895-s86622/ with a variety of shows each day.
“Aggie Radio is here to inform students, entertain students and all that; but it is also meant to help the students that get involved with their development,” said Nathan Laursen, Vice President for student services. “Becoming an FM station will only add to that.”
The radio station will be installing equipment over the summer and should be broadcasting an FM signal by July. The official coming out date is set for Sept. 3 of this year.
“The reason we would like to start on 9/23 is because our frequency is 92.3,” Scott said. “We are also coming out at that time because of the transition period.”
Once the transition is made, Aggie Radio will continue to broadcast from their current studio, on the main floor of the Taggart Student Center. Their signal will wirelessly transfer from the Utah Public Radio tower.
“I feel the transition is going well, we have been working towards this for a while, doing small things like a public file, as well as improving over all quality of the station,” said Riley Thompson, Aggie Radio marketing director.
Currently, the Aggie Radio website is broadcasting a variety of music genres at different times of the day. Once the station goes FM the genre of the music will be centralized to indie rock.
“A lot of students like that kind of music and there is no station in the valley that has that,” Scott said. “Music will be played throughout the day and night, but we will also do a morning news/sports show and then talk shows in the afternoon.”
Right now Aggie Radio is asking for volunteers. The station is a completely 100% volunteer organization. Hours are logged on the school service giving website and last year Aggie Radio had the most hours logged.
“We need people to come sit in for an hour and do news or music. Aggie Radio has grown a lot this year but we’re not quite where we need to be to go FM,” Scott said. “The nice thing about it is a lot of our staff are young freshmen and sophomores. They’ll probably have a chance to see a day where DJs (people that play music) are payed and one has to apply for the job. So it’d be best to get on the ground floor now.”
“I am looking forward to the opportunity the students will have, not only students that are involved but those that will be able to listen to the programing these students are doing,” Laursen said.
“The FCC have these FM frequencies that aren’t being used, and for a long time they weren’t open to the public,” said Cody Scott, Aggie Radio station manager. “Just two years ago they opened them up for application.”
The application process took just over a year. An application was submitted in September of last school year. Aggie Radio received confirmation in October 2014 that they would be making the transition to FM radio. The station will continue to broadcast online at http://tunein.com/radio/Aggie-Radio-895-s86622/ with a variety of shows each day.
“Aggie Radio is here to inform students, entertain students and all that; but it is also meant to help the students that get involved with their development,” said Nathan Laursen, Vice President for student services. “Becoming an FM station will only add to that.”
The radio station will be installing equipment over the summer and should be broadcasting an FM signal by July. The official coming out date is set for Sept. 3 of this year.
“The reason we would like to start on 9/23 is because our frequency is 92.3,” Scott said. “We are also coming out at that time because of the transition period.”
Once the transition is made, Aggie Radio will continue to broadcast from their current studio, on the main floor of the Taggart Student Center. Their signal will wirelessly transfer from the Utah Public Radio tower.
“I feel the transition is going well, we have been working towards this for a while, doing small things like a public file, as well as improving over all quality of the station,” said Riley Thompson, Aggie Radio marketing director.
Currently, the Aggie Radio website is broadcasting a variety of music genres at different times of the day. Once the station goes FM the genre of the music will be centralized to indie rock.
“A lot of students like that kind of music and there is no station in the valley that has that,” Scott said. “Music will be played throughout the day and night, but we will also do a morning news/sports show and then talk shows in the afternoon.”
Right now Aggie Radio is asking for volunteers. The station is a completely 100% volunteer organization. Hours are logged on the school service giving website and last year Aggie Radio had the most hours logged.
“We need people to come sit in for an hour and do news or music. Aggie Radio has grown a lot this year but we’re not quite where we need to be to go FM,” Scott said. “The nice thing about it is a lot of our staff are young freshmen and sophomores. They’ll probably have a chance to see a day where DJs (people that play music) are payed and one has to apply for the job. So it’d be best to get on the ground floor now.”
“I am looking forward to the opportunity the students will have, not only students that are involved but those that will be able to listen to the programing these students are doing,” Laursen said.
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