Category: News

SAU Spiritual Life is hosting another event to help out in the community. There will be multiple services to sign up for that will be of immense help to surrounding businesses and communities within reach. A few options for this event are the Cascades Humane Society, Miller Trailer Village, and The Arbor Church.

This event is scheduled for Saturday, April 24th from 9-11am.

You can sign up to serve with this link! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. This is a great way to be an example to others and show Christ to those that we meet. With everyone feeling unsettled, this is a fantastic opportunity to bring some hope and light into our surrounding community.

By: Emily Selby

From March to April, the Cougar Den is running a ticket contest where five students could win a care package for exam week.

The ticket contest was created by Cougar Den Manager, Barbie. She said the drawing will most likely be on April 30^th, the last Friday of the month. She will draw five names, email them, and they can pick them up starting May 3^rd. If the student doesn’t respond to the email, she will redraw.

“It’s kind of fun because it is low key,” Barbie said. “It’s just kind of fun I think and different and it will be a nice reward for exam week.”

Barbie said she isn’t sure what will go in the care packages besides her personal treat. “I’m going to personally make some hot chocolate cocoa bombs that I have been playing with,” Barbie said.

Barbie has a list of ideas to get from the Dollar Store or make herself:

• Stress ball
• Healthy snack
• Study supplies
• Cookies
• Gum
• Microwave popcorn
• Cereal
• Coupons
• Muffins
• Energy drinks
• Playing cards
• Coloring books

To enter the contest, all students have to do is buy something with their cougar cash in the Cougar Den. They will be given a blue ticket to sign. The ticket will be added to a jar to be drawn from.

“We are having fun filling that jar,” Barbie said. “It’s like a third of the way full. It’s fun watching the jar fill up with the tickets. And it’s easy for people to just write their names down and go…I almost wish I could give everybody one.”

By: Sarah Williams

P.A. Programmers Lindy Palella and Bethany Weidman had created and planned the Survivor Games event on March 31^st at 6:30-8:30pm. At Survivor Games, Freshmen and transfers would have played at five different stations across campus with their Core and P.A at the event. The event was announced postponed a day before, March 30th.

Palella said their jobs as programmers are to plan big events for freshman and transfers and provide time for P.A’s to bond with their Core without planning something themselves.

“We are not as public, so people don’t usually know what we do or who we are. Those events don’t magically appear as I thought they did Freshman year,” said Palella.

Palella and Weidman’s five stations would have been:

• An easter egg hunt with a puzzle
• Telerade (a mixture between charades and telephone)
• A First to Laugh Loses competition dad jokes edition
• A picture challenge
• A trivia challenge

The event was announced postponed when Spring Arbor Announcement sent out an email on March 30th. The email explained the spike Covid cases: 30 positive cases and 125 students in quarantine or isolation. They suspended all campus student activities ill April 12th.

“It is always disappointing when an event is moved but Beth and I are super excited that the event will still go on, just a few weeks after the normal date, ” said Palella.

The programmers were already taking Covid into account with their event. Palella said she and Weidman had a binder full of events that other programmers used in the past but had to throw it out because of Covid. They got creative to find safe events, while avoiding Zoom. They believed students were tired of Zoom because of online classes. They had been thankful that the Freshman class was small enough to meet In-Person regulations before the suspension was announced.

“Our games were chosen specifically because they can be Covid regulated,” Palella said. “Social distancing is definitely a factor in making sure we don’t have large amounts of people in one area.”

Palella and Weidman were already considering postponing the event till April. Some P.A’s would have missed the event if it was on March 31^st due to being in quarantine and others being away for sport games.

By: Sarah Williams

The Covid-19 vaccine has been sought after for quite sometime. After the whirlwind of 2020, it is safe to say that the vaccines are coming out swiftly. The pandemic swept over our nation quickly and the outcomes were vast and devastating. In an interview with Dr. Michael Buratovich, a Professor of Biology here at SAU, some new information has came into light that will be interesting to us all in these confusing times.

One of the main questions that has been circling around is if the vaccine is safe to get. Dr. Buratovich believes it is extremely safe.

According to published data, there was a study conducted in 2020 where 18,260 people were given the actual vaccine and 18,846 were given a physiological saline. Out of those numbers, there were 8 Covid-19 cases from the vaccinated numbers and 162 Covid-19 cases from the saline numbers. Out of the 8 people that were vaccinated and got Covid-19, none of them had died or suffered any severe illness.

It is important to note that the leading professional medical agencies and organizations are looking at these vaccines and agreeing that they are safe and effective. Buratovich explained that out of the 45 million doses of the vaccine so far, the side effect profile has not been found to be any higher than other vaccines.

Should everyone get this vaccine if they are able to? Dr. Buratovich said yes. The higher the percentage of people that are vaccinated, the greater the barrier will be.

Dr. Buratovich also brought up the point about loving our neighbors and keeping them from harm. “The loving thing to do is just get vaccinated, it’s a tangible way to love your neighbor,” said Buratovich.

Dr. Buratovich explains that vaccines have driven many diseases into extinction, which is comforting to know and understand when making the decision to get the Covid-19 vaccine or not. For example, chicken pox is starting to be pushed to extinction along with shingles. This couldn’t have been accomplished without the help of a trusted vaccine.

Some final thoughts that Buratovich wanted to touch on were the myths surrounding the vaccine. The harm to fertility and other similar claims are myths being spread and have no actual data to support them. Another myth was that the vaccine could cause you to die. Buratovich explains that none of the cases of death after the vaccine were linked to the shot itself.

Dr. Buratovich encourages you to do your own research concerning these common misconceptions. The more you know, the better educated you will be concerning this important topic.

By: Emily Selby

The student body voted on February 16 and 17 to elect the new SGA President and Vice President. After a close election, the results are in: Sela Clifford and Micah Douma have been reelected as President and Vice President. SGA President Clifford and Vice President Douma share their goals for the next school year.

Message to the Student Body

“Sela and I are ecstatic to be reelected for a second term,” said Douma. “We are so excited to have the opportunity to continue serving our fellow students here at SAU.”

Both Clifford and Douma are thankful for the support of the student body. “I am so thankful for all the students that voted for us,” said Douma. “Every vote mattered in this election, and it is very encouraging to know how many people believed in us and continued to support us.”

“I just want to say thank you,” said Clifford. “I am so grateful for the support and trust in my team to help make campus better.”

Clifford and Douma ran against Australia Smith and Caleb Kriesch. “Australia and Caleb were amazing people to run against,” said Clifford. “They did such an amazing job with their campaign, and I am very grateful to learn from the experiences I had with them.”

“Australia and Caleb were excellent competitors, and I’m so glad they decided to run,” said Douma. “They had some incredible ideas, and Sela and I will definitely consider looking into implementing some of those ideas as well.”

Goals for the Future

Clifford and Douma have many goals for the upcoming school year. “Our goals are to grow more servant leadership and focus on mental health,” said Clifford. “Post COVID may be weird, so we want to make sure we have an environment that is really there for the students and their well-being.”

Douma reiterated these plans. “Our goals for SGA include servant leadership, student leadership collaboration, and recovery-assist,” said Douma.

The duo’s idea of servant leadership comes straight from the Bible. “Matthew 20:26 speaks about servant leadership and how important it is for leaders to be servants,” said Douma. “While this is a concept that many people know about and understand, it’s something that we want to continue to push for in our community.”

Student leadership collaboration is equally important to the pair. “We also continue to believe in collaboration among student leaders,” said Douma. “We hope for many different areas of campus to partner on events.”

Plans to Accomplish These Goals

Clifford and Douma have specific plans to help them accomplish these goals. “We want to have more events that focus on mental health, as well as continuing to grow our goal of collaboration this year,” said Clifford. “We also want to have a lot more student involvement so we can really get them the environment they want.”

They believe accomplishing goals boils down to leading by example. “We plan to accomplish these goals by leading as an example and by creating more awareness about servant leadership,” said Douma.

“The same applies to the collaboration aspect of our goals as well,” said Douma. “SGA will continue to collaborate with other student leaders, and hopefully, this will inspire more partnerships to occur.”

The duo also plans to host events focusing on the mind, soul, and how it’s mentally fatiguing living during a pandemic. “We understand that COVID fatigue is hitting some people really hard these days,” said Douma. “Sela and I hope that some of these events that we push for as we continue our presidency will help alleviate some of the tiredness people are experiencing and cultivate an opportunity for some relaxation.” 

Hope for the Student Body

Clifford and Douma have a lot of hope for the student body in the coming school year. “We want to create an atmosphere that pushes students to want better things for themselves and the people around them,” said Clifford. “We want to push our students to do this through positivity and encouragement.”

“We want to create a bopping, God-honoring campus,” said Douma. “A campus with people who love each other and want to bless each other.”

The duo understands that COVID-19 has affected the atmosphere on campus. “This year has included a lot of rules and a lot of social distancing,” said Douma. “We are hoping by next year, most of these restrictions will be gone, and we can move back into the awesome close community that Spring Arbor usually is.”

Douma said that the duo hopes to inspire students to build on their faith and honor God in everything they do.

Servant Leadership in Action

Clifford and Douma emphasized their desire for servant leadership, and they want the student body to take advantage of that. “We are here for you, and we want to hear from you,” said Clifford. “We are here at your disposal, so let us know how we can continue to serve you in ways we haven’t yet — we want to get better for you guys and create a safe space.”

Douma said he is excited to serve the student body for another term, and they want to fight for the changes the student body wants for the campus. “Please feel free to visit Sela and I at our office on the lower level of the Student Development Center any time,” said Douma. “We would love to chat.”

“Thank you all again for electing Sela and me for a second term,” said Douma. “We look forward to continuing to serve God and serve the students.”

By: Merry Castle

Elizabeth Pruitt

If you’re familiar with SAU, you probably know about HOME.fm, the university’s radio station that plays music that makes you feel good. But, you may not know that SAU recently has started a student run Christian music station, 89.3 The Arbor. 

According to their website, mission of The Arbor is to “share the story of Spring Arbor University through student broadcasters and Christian music in south-central Michigan.”

Students of all majors and years work at the station as hosts, DJs, and sportscasters. 

Two of these students are business administration and communications major Erin Scroggs and visual communications major Tory Hyde. Erin and Tory host the morning show at The Arbor from 6-9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On their show, the two play music, give news updates, and get the opportunity to share their personal lives. 

Hyde and Scroggs both started working for HOME.fm in the fall of 2018. When working as a student DJ at HOME.fm, Hyde said she had to pretend to not be a student and was not allowed to give many personal details, as that was not the mission of the radio station.  

Now, as a host at The Arbor, students get the opportunity and are even encouraged to share about what is happening in their own lives and in their walks with God. 

“The overall goal of HOME.fm was to share music and stories that make you feel good. With the Arbor, we’re a mission based radio station and it’s specifically from Spring Arbor [University]. Erin and I get to be students and talk about what’s going on around campus. We get to personally share what’s going on in our faith walk and share that with people in the world,” said Hyde. 

Hyde says getting to share about her personal walk with Jesus is one of her favorite parts about working at the studio. 

“It’s probably my favorite part [about working at The Arbor] to just be like, ‘Hey. Life’s hard. I don’t know what I’m doing and you don’t know what you’re doing, but this is what Jesus is teaching me right now,” said Hyde. 

Through working at The Arbor, Hyde has learned more about the radio industry and technology. Being a host has also taught her how to tell stories in a concise and entertaining way. 

Scroggs has loved getting to see the growth of the station and seeing people interact with what they say on air.

“I love going on the Facebook page and seeing comments from people that mention something we talked about on our morning show,” Scroggs said.

She has also enjoyed working with Hyde, who is graduating this semester. While her new cohost has not been announced, Scroggs knows whoever it is will be talented and is looking forward to working with them.

“The new group of trainees have been great. It’s been so exciting to see them get on the air and grow in their talent,” said Scroggs.

The station recently gave away a virtual ticket to the premiere of The Farmer and the Belle: Saving Santaland. This was the station’s first giveaway and the process was very exciting for Scroggs. She looks forward to more giveaways and events.

COVID-19 has unfortunately not allowed for The Arbor to host many events, but once it becomes safe again, the station hopes to host many events for the SAU campus and Spring Arbor community. Scroggs said she hopes to have events on campus and increase student engagement with the station.

“I would really love to see The Arbor become a well known part of campus. The station serves the student body and we would love to have a more prominent presence on campus,” said Scroggs.

The Arbor is always looking for students to get involved. Undergraduate students of any major can apply for internships, and both volunteer and paid positions. If you’re interested in applying to be a member of The Arbor team, follow this link to find the application.

The Arbor can be listened to at 89.3 FM in the Spring Arbor and Jackson areas, as well as on the 89.3 The Arbor app and on the 89.3 The Arbor website, linked here. 

To stay up to date on what’s going on with The Arbor, like them on Facebook and follow them on Instagram and Twitter. 

Leslee DeRossett

With the fall semester coming to a close, this is a reminder to check out your Interim 2021 schedules, if applicable.

Just like everything in 2020, J-Term courses will look a bit different this year. They are still scheduled to take place Monday through Friday, but due to COVID-19 restrictions the classes can only be in person for a maximum of two hours at a time. Therefore, many courses will cut down face-to-face time and incorporate virtual content to help students meet course requirements.

Interim 2021 schedule runs from January 5 to January 22. Of course with recent restrictions put on colleges and the Interim term still a month away, no one truly knows what these courses will look like.

I suggest you keep an eye on your email for updates, check your class schedules for any possible changes, and enjoy this holiday season with friends and family. We have all earned it!