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Olivia McKelvey

Women’s ex-golf team continues collegiate career

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In the spring semester of 2019, the Florida Tech Athletic Department dismissed three of its sports programs: the men’s and women’s tennis team, and the women’s golf team.

“In a five-minute meeting, the athletic director told us we were being cut because we weren’t competitive enough,” said Noelle Beijer, one of the eight women on the women’s golf team.

Instead of wearing Panther apparel this season, Beijer will be sporting Tiger attire at the University of Missouri.

She is one of three from the women’s golf team to transfer to another university to continue her collegiate golf career.

A key player for the Panthers, The Dutch native has an impressive golf career, scoring an average of 76.33 during her time at Florida Tech, as well as being a medalist honors at the 2018 World Golf Invitational.

Continuing her education path and majoring in global management and finance, Beijer is excited for her future at Mizzou but is saddened that she will no longer be playing on the field with her best friends and old teammates.

“The fact that I don’t even know when I will see them all again makes me sad,” Beijer said.

According to Florida Tech’s athletic director, Bill Jurgens, there were multiple factors that led to the team being cut, including a lack of competitive edge, facilities, the size of the team and the number of athletes that would be affected by the cut.

“We knew the team had not performed well in the fall, but by no means were we poor performers,” said Lauren Watson, a senior and member of the women’s golf team.

Although the women did not start off strong at the beginning of their season, they proved to leave their mark by the end of the season.

“The day we were cut, February 7, we were ranked 21 in the nation,” Watson said. “By March 26, we were fourth.”

The Scotland native described the news of being cut as giving her a sense of “betrayal” and leaving her feeling “undervalued.”

“Why us?” Watson said. “Why now?”

Refusing to go down silently, Watson challenged what she saw as discrimination with the backing of Title IX by talking to coaches and NCAA compliance directors.

After doing so, the NCAA ruled that she, as well as another woman, on the golf team could play and compete with the men.

“I know playing on the men’s team will be far more challenging due to the length of courses they play and the lack of strength and power I have in comparison,” Watson said. “It’s going to be a big adjustment because as I much as I love the guys, I’ll really miss the girls.”

Even though the news of the cut came in the middle of their season, the women persevered in the wake of what Watson described as disappointment, confusion and anger.

By mid May, the women’s determination and competitiveness led them to bring home a gold trophy with the label NCAA Division II Champions.

“Winning nationals was simply the best thing we could do,” Beijer said.

One key player that helped the Panthers take home a massive win was Megan Dennis.

Dennis had five top 10 finishes in the 2018-19 season for the Panthers, and was also a 2018 Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar.

Additionally, she made the Sunshine State Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

After the initial shock, Dennis said she immediately began to wonder what her future would look like.

“My first thoughts were complete sadness, but also panic because I knew I was going to have to transfer,” Dennis said.

Hence, The U.K. native made the decision to transfer to Pepperdine University in California to continue her degree in sports psychology for her remaining two years of undergraduate schooling.

Like the others, Dennis said replacing her previous Florida Tech teammates is impossible and she will never forget her time with them.

“I’m mostly going to miss the great atmosphere at Florida Tech,” Dennis said. “We worked hard, we were competitive, and we all shared the same passion.”

Athletic Director says not to worry about more team cuts

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In early March, at the Student Leader Luncheon, President McKay mentioned that more athletic teams will be under evaluation for potential cuts.

However, Athletic Director Bill Jurgens has stated that student athletes should not be afraid.

“Although I can’t say if or when teams could be cut, the decision will divert all necessary attention,” Jurgens said. “Student athletes should not be afraid. Any decision about reducing a program is going to be studied thoroughly. It’s a tough decision and it will be not be taken lightly.”

There are numerous factors that must be taken into consideration when an athletic committee, which consists of members of the school’s board of trustees, suggest “healthy recommendations for the betterment of the university,” Jurgens said.

Such factors include academic performance, athletic performance, retention and graduation rates, academic success rates, senior exit interviews, program requirements and facility needs and maintenance, according to Jurgens.

One of the recent athletic teams to be cut was women’s golf.

This past fall semester, women’s golf had the second highest overall team GPA with an average of 3.598.

Furthermore, two girls on the team will be transferring to Division I schools to continue their golf careers at the collegiate level.

As their last season comes to a close, all members of the team that are on athletic scholarships were informed their financial aid would continue until their graduation date and that tehy can choose to play on the men’s team.

On the men’s side of golf, sophomore Evan Thompson, a student in entrepreneurship and a member of the men’s golf team, said he thinks they chose not to cut men’s golf because they were Sunshine State Conference champions last year.

“However, I think in the next five years, the school might cut the program because they will choose to focus more on academics rather than the continuation of athletic teams,” Thompson said.

Golf is not the only program that has been cut.

Florida Tech has discontinued three athletic programs since last summer.

Track and field as well as tennis are no longer athletic programs that Florida Tech will continue.

As more and more programs are reduced, students athletes have become concerned about their future at Florida Tech.

Pauline Cosson is a junior majoring in sports management.

Cosson is currently a member of the cross country team and was previously a member of the track and field team before the program was cut.

“I worry that cross country could be cut due to the fact that our roster size is so small with only seven girls,” she said. “However, I’m hopeful they will let the program continue in the upcoming years, as the cut to another running-related program was made so recently.”

Another student concerned about cuts due to a small roster size is Tania Kottke, a senior majoring in business administration and management as well as a member of the volleyball team.

“On one head, I’m worried because as of now with next year’s incoming freshman, we will be ten girls in total,” Kottke said. “However, in order for us to practice against each other and scrimmage, you need 12 on the court, so this makes training for games a bit harder. On the other hand, though, volleyball is a major collegiate sport. I view it as the female equivalent to a football program, and I don’t see Florida Tech’s football team being cut anytime soon. Therefore, I’d like to think volleyball won’t be cut in the near future either.”

As numerous student athletes have expressed their concerns, the president’s office has stated that there are no additional details to share concerning this issue.

While there is still no answer as to if or when teams will be cut, Jurgens leaves the student body with this note:

“Cutting teams at the university is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he said. “I love Florida Tech, I love the students, but sometimes I have to do things that are hard because it’s simply my job to do so.”

Local Business and Non-Profit Raising Heart Awareness

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MediComp is looking to partner with Who We Play For in hopes of raising heart awareness, especially among young athletes.

MediComp is Melbourne-based cardiac monitoring company.

Who We Play For, a Cocoa-Beach based non-profit organization, with a mission to eliminate preventable sudden cardiac death in the youth through affordable heart screenings.

“Heart disease is the leading cause of death, and by promoting heart awareness and providing affordable screenings to hundreds of communities, we’re able to prevent the loss of another young person to cardiac arrest,” Evan Ernst, co-founder of Who We Play For, said.

The story of Who We Play For started in 2007 after Ernst and his fellow co-founders lost a friend in high school who suddenly went into cardiac arrest on the Coach Beach High School soccer field and died the next day.

The co-founders of Who We Play For realized in their collegiate school years that their friend’s condition could have been detected through an electrocardiogram (EKG) screening, which would’ve caught an irregularity or major heart problem through measuring electrical activity within the heart.

“The U.S. is one nation that is behind in recognizing sudden cardiac arrest as an immense public health issue, and Who We Play For wants to change that,” Ernst said.

The Cocoa Beach NGO provides EKG screenings for the price of $20 versus the standard $150 the hospital would charge, according to Ernst.

To date, Who We Play For has screen over 100,00 athletes in over 500 communities and detected heart conditions in over 100 kids.

As Who We Play For creates more heart awareness within the community, their efforts have caught the attention of MediComp, a Melbourne-based cardiac monitoring company.

Maria Fernanda is a Florida Tech graduate student working towards her MBA in healthcare management and is also a MediComp employee.

“MediComp is looking to partner with Who We Play For to work towards providing our cardiac monitoring devices for individuals after screenings have caught particular heart abnormalities,” she said.

Fernanda stated that when she first heard about her company’s interest in this local organization, she immediate questioned why Florida tech student athletes weren’t doing this.

Who We Play For has partnered with various Division I, II, III and evan NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) schools. Ernst also stated the organization has worked towards partnering with Florida Tech before.

Jillian Collins is a senior majoring in chemical engineering and also a member of the swim team.

Collins has a rare heart condition called mitral valve regurgitation where her blood flows backwards.

Although her heart condition was not detected by an EKG, she still thinks heart prevention in young student athletes is a very important issue.

“You can never be too safe, and an EKG takes like five minutes,” Collins said. “After all, you never think something is wrong with you until something is wrong with you.”

A question that begins to arise in this topic is if EKG screenings are provided to Florida Tech student athletes, should they be mandatory or optional?

“I think it’s a good idea,” Theresa Gadilbe, a junior in accounting and a member of the women’s rowing team, said. “However, I think it should be optional because health is something personal and everyone has to be able to decide for themselves.”

Fernanda also raised a concern that if concussion testing is so prevalent and testing is mandatory for student athletes, why are EKG screenings not mandated?

Assistant athletic trainer and head athletic trainer for football, Joe Fiorina, agrees with Fernanda that there is immense value in EKG screenings for young student athletes. Yet, there are other factors involved in a decision like this.

“I would love for every athlete to have an EKG screening before their seasons begin,” Fiorina said. “However, at a school like Florida Tech, this is not exactly a feasible financial option and there could be difficulties with the university’s athletic insurance policies. I still would highly recommend to all athletes to get EKG screenings though.”

Companies like MediComp and organizations like Who We Play For are making waves and creating discussion within the community by aiming to promote healthy heart awareness throughout Brevard County.

Community mosque holds memorial for New Zealand shooting

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More than 300 people of various faiths gathered inside the Islam Society of Brevard County (ISBC) on March 23.

Buddhists, Catholics, Jews, Baptists, Muslims and others gathered to honor the 50 lives lost in the mosque shootings that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand on March 15.

Many leaders from the community such as a rabbi from Viera, a retired Brevard County judge and others attended to lead prayers and speak at the service.

Two community members holding signs in support. Picture from ISBC Facebook page.

Amongst those attending were Florida Tech juniors Natalie Tria, a forensic psychology major, and Bayan Saleh, a biomedical engineering major.

Both Tria and Saleh are members of the ISBC.

“It was truly a ceremony of cultural inclusion to demonstrate that the community can come together for a greater cause despite our differences,” Tria said.

After numerous prayers were said, the mosque invited people from the crowd to come forward and share their thoughts. Tria was one voice that stepped forward.

“I spoke because I wanted to let people know that I study offenders and criminals when they’re at their worst,” Tria said. “I stand by the motto ‘by the people, for the people,’ and I wanted them to know that there is hope, and there are others like me that want to make a change to try and prevent these tragedies from happening.”

The Atlantic reported that this was the worst terrorist attack to take place in New Zealand’s history, leading New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, to react immediately.

Within six days of the shooting, Ardern was backed by legislative support from her country in banning all assault rifles within New Zealand.

In a live television announcement addressed to the nation, Ardern said, “The guns used in this attack had the power to shoot continuously. The times for the easy availability of these weapons must end. And today, they will.”

In addition to changing gun laws, Arden has also helped pay for the funeral costs of the victims and honor the cultural traditions in which people of Islam faith be buried immediately.

Ardern and investigators returned all the victims’ bodies immediately after autopsies were completed just five days after the shooting happened so their families could hold funeral services.

When asked about how they thought the prime minister of New Zealand was handling the aftermath of the shooting, both Tria and Saleh strongly agreed that Ardern has been responding swiftly and respectfully.

“She compares to no other world leaders who have also faced mass shootings within their own country,” Saleh said. “Almost six months ago the U.S. dealt with a similar shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburg. Yet, why is it that New Zealand was able to change laws within six days while this nation has not been able to do so in six months?”

Saleh, like Tria, said she was also in awe of the amount of support outpouring from the community.

“I think the terrorist wanted us to be broken and hate each other, but what I saw was quite the opposite,” Saleh said. “At the memorial, you couldn’t tell the difference between a Muslim woman wearing a hijab or a Jewish woman wearing a hijab as a sign of respect, and that was something that I thought was really beautiful.”

It has been nearly four weeks since the shooting, and people everywhere are still showing support, even in Brevard County.

A week after the memorial service was held at ISBC, Saleh described a husband and wife that came in during Friday prayer with whiteboards that read, “We will keep watch while you pray.”

Saleh said that her heart was touched, and knowing that this support was felt here within the community was something that left her speechless.

Scabies Outbreak – Third outbreak “second nature” to athletics

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A quiet moment in the diseased-infested Varsity Training Center. Photo by Florida Tech Athletics.

The Panther’s Varsity Training Center is filled with more than just sweaty athletes.

It is now home to an extremely irritating and flesh-eating disease: scabies.

Scabies is a highly contagious skin condition that causes severe itching from sarcoptes scabiei mites, also referred to as itch mites.

The itch mites burrow into and lay eggs in the outer layer of the skin, resulting in nonstop itching and an angry rash.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, scabies is mainly caused by poor hygiene and is spread through skin-to-skin contact.

What is even more worrisome about the recent outbreak is the fact that this it is not the first time, nor the second time, but the third time the skin rash has wreaked havoc on campus.

There have been numerous outbreaks in the past three months, all of which have been due to a lack of proper hygiene practices.

“It’s almost second nature,” one athlete in a Facebook post. “I think the team has had a scabies problem longer than it hasn’t since I’ve started.”

While the athlete declined to speculate where the outbreak started, a Florida Tech coach has been investigating on his own.

“It’s a lot of he-said-shesaid, but I think I’m closing in on the culprit team.” The coach requested to remain anonymous. “Wouldn’t want it to be from my own court, you know?”

Showering , washing clothes and equipment and other basic cleaning practices that you would think to be essential to people’s everyday routines have proved not to be so essential.

The VTC will close down for a day so the athletic trainers can wipe down a few racks with a Clorox wipe and declare it “all good.”

“Hopefully certain players on the field will invest in some soap and a nice hot shower,” said the investigative coach.

Athletes might then be able to rid themselves of disgust and infestation, as well as put the rest of the student body out of misery and fear.

Distress in the Air: Florida Tech’s take on the Boeing 737

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Within the past five months, Boeing has had two 737 Air Max 8’s crash.

Most recently, the Ethiopian airline crash that killed all 157 members on board caused a worldwide grounding of the Boeing model.

Carlos Obregon, a junior majoring in aeronautical science with flight, has been discussing the components of flight failure in the classroom and relating them to the crashes of the Boeing 737’s and how they are relevant to his field of study.

“In my advanced aircraft systems class we talked about how flight systems and controls can cause malfunctions and enroute flight problems,” Obregon said. “We debated on how the software stalling function and overriding features on the model and learned that this could have been the potential reasoning for the planes to crash.”

Pat Spangler, a junior in aeronautical science with an associates degree in air traffic control, was concerned about the safety dilemma that these crashes have drawn attention to and how aviation management is handling it.

In Spangler’s opinion, the Federal Aviation Administration and President Trump could have handled the situation better, but the aviation industry is still the safest mode of transportation and he stands by it.

“Safety is obviously one of the top priorities in the aviation industry, as it should be,” Spangler said. “One protocol put into place by the FAA that I think is essential to the job is a computer test every air traffic controller is required to take on a recurring two-month basis to remain updated on safety and eligible for the job.”

The FAA is responsible for regulating aviation and promoting safety.

However, in recent light of the situation the administration has been criticized by many as the United States was one of the last nations to decide not to fly the 737’s.

Aviation safety regulators in the European Union, China, Australia and the U.K. made the call to not fly the planes ahead of the U.S.

According to prior reports from The New York Times, the delay in the call for Trump to ground the Boeing models was deemed as “a bit too late” by many passengers and pilots.

It’s not just current aviation students that are especially affected by the grounding of the 737’s but also alumni that have entered the industry.

Jared Goodlaw graduated from Florida Tech in 2017 with a degree in aviation management with flight.

He has worked for a regional airliner in the past but is currently flying private jetliners.

Goodlaw stated that the FAA has released no private statements or reports to any licensed pilots in regards to how the situation is being handled nor any other investigative details.

Goodlaw had expectations of announcements directly to all private and commercial licensed pilots from Boeing or the FAA in wake of both incidents.

However, both organizations have failed to communicate if there are any plans underway requiring pilots to complete more training and/or simulations before anymore 737’s are cleared to take off again.

The consensus amongst Spangler, Obregon and Goodlaw is that they all feel their training and studies regarding flight emergencies and preparation is well documented in the Florida Tech aviation curriculum.

All three stated that they still feel safe to work in the industry as it is a very reactive field.

Incidents like this are thoroughly investigated, responsibility is held accountable for and updates and corrections are made as soon as possible.

Pilots are not the only people concerned about the Boeing 737’s.

CBS News reported that approximately 8,600 flights use the Boeing 737 Max 8 in a typical week of travel.

Furthermore, Boeing released an announcement saying that models will be grounded for at least three months.

Travelers may experience more travel and flight difficulties than they expected.

Charles Bryant, a business professor and the manager in charge of Florida Tech’s study abroad program to Spain, is one example of these worried travelers.

“With the Boeing 737’s being grounded, myself and those participating in the Spain study abroad program are having to look at different airport destinations within Spain,” Bryant said. “For example, instead of flying out of a smaller airport in the country like Malaga as we had originally planned, we are looking at other options that have more flight availability in bigger airports like Barcelona. Yet, this adds more planning and financial stress as the travel date in early June arrives closer and closer.”

Bryant draws attention to another issue: If he is having troubles finding flights for a group of roughly 20 or so people, it will likely be hard for the immense number of international students on campus to find flights home at the end of the semester in early May.

The Boeing 737 investigations are still underway and officials have stated they are doing their best to remain honest with the general public as they are well aware of the pressing matters and concerns at hand.

Venezuela Asylum: Escaping Maduro

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Nicolos Maduro (above) has served as Venezuala’s 46th president since 2013. Juan Guaido is now recognized as the interim president of Venezuala by multiple countries. Photo from Flickr.

In the fall semester of 2014, 18 Florida Tech undergraduate students claimed Venezuelan citizenship.

As of 2018, only one remains. Numerous organizations, such as the Council on Foreign Affairs, have declared the South American country’s economic and political landscape as rapidly deteriorating.

As a result Florida Tech has taken a heavy hit in regards to Venezuelan enrollments.

Current president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has been in power for six years, and his reign has been criticized by many.

Amnesty International, a London based human rights organization, has labeled Maduro’s actions as destructive towards the economy, and marked his military legitimacy as abusive wrongdoings against the opposition lead by Juan Guaido.

In early January Guaido officially became head of the opposition-held parliament, the National Assembly.

Since then, the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Peru, Colombia and several European countries have all recognized Guaido as interim president of Venezuela.

With no food, no money and no definite sign of improvement under Maduro’s regime, Venezuela has currently been deemed as the worst humanitarian crisis in the western hemisphere according to the U.N.

In 2017, The New York Times interviewed 21 Venezuelan doctors who encountered nearly 2,800 cases of child malnutrition due to the food shortage and hunger crisis in the nation.

By the end of the year, The International Monetary Fund IMF has projected Venezuela’s inflation rate to reach 10 million percent, forecasting one of the worst hyperinflationary crises in modern history.

Jose Coiman, a junior in chemical engineering, is a native from Caracas, Venezuela.

He describes Maduro as a force that has lead his home country into complete ruin.

Coiman came to Florida Tech in the fall of 2016 while his father left Venezuela nearly four months later.

His mother and sister soon followed in the summer of 2018, fleeing the nation in hopes of a better life in Manaus, Brazil.

In 2015, during his third year of high school, Coiman started to notice just how bad the situation had gotten.

“I didn’t go to school for almost three months,” Coilman said. “I couldn’t even get to school because of the protests, it was so dangerous to leave home. The national guard and protesters were constantly occupying the streets.”

Coiman believes that with support from the U.S. and other European countries, Guaido and the opposition offer a sign of hope for the people of Venezuela.

However, he does not think the country will reach stability for the next 10-15 years.

Freshman Antonella Merola is studying chemical engineering as well, but her journey from Venezuela to Florida Tech is a bit different than Coiman’s.

Merola was born and raised in Caracas until her family relocated to Panama just under two years ago.

When she found herself in the process of applying to colleges in the U.S., Merola worried it would be very challenging to obtain a Venezuelan student Visa.

Merola took advantage of her dual Italian nationality and is attending Florida Tech under an Italian student visa.

Marivi Walker, the assistant director for International Admissions at Florida Tech, said that she has had plenty of experience working with students like Coiman and Merola.

“Four to five years ago it was very different with the Venezuelan students,” Walker said.

Four to five years ago, the Venezuelan government had an agency that administered legal currency exchange in the country called Comisión de Administración de Divisas (CADIVI).

CADIVI essentially determined what money got to leave the country and at what exchange rate you could buy U.S. dollars.

Therefore, they were also in charge of granting or denying applications for students to send tuition payments abroad to the U.S.

“I started to notice two years ago [during fall 2016 applications] little by little, that CADIVI had started to disappear,” Walker said. “The agency simply ran out of money.”

Towards the end of CADIVI’s downfall, the situation reached a turning point for Venezuelan undergraduate seniors in the spring of 2017 as they were trying to finish their degree programs.

“During the collapse of CADIVI, we had Venezuelan students who were graduating but could not get funds from Venezuelan banks to pay for their remaining spring semester,” Walker said. “The university literally had to grant them emergency funds stating that those individuals could graduate, but must eventually pay their tuition back.”

With students no longer able to pay their tuition using money from Venezuelan banks, it put a significant taint on being able to attend a college in the U.S. at all.

All Venezuelan students now have to rely on money they have already managed to send over to the U.S.

Moving forward, Walker has faith that the opposition led by Guaido could turn things around for the country which in return could boost Venezuelan enrollment at Florida Tech to what they once used to be.

“I truly think that we are at a make-or-break point,” Walker said. “When you hear Guaido speak, it will bring tears to your eyes because you will think, ‘Where did this man come from?’ He shows more of a genuine concern for finding peace within the country rather than trying to seize its leadership, and that is what signifies hope for the people of Venezuela.”

Merola, as well, vocalized her opinion in regards to Guaido’s intentions as leader of the opposition.

“When people hear about what is happening in my country I don’t want them to think the opposition is an invading power-hungry force,” she said. “Their sole purpose is to put the countries best interests before corruption and self-interest.”

A universal theme amongst Merola, Walker and Coiman is that the people of Venezuela are not going down without a fight and they will receive the justice and humanitarian rights they deserve one day.