Category: News

By: Elizabeth Pruitt

If you’re on any social media platform, you’re probably aware of TikTok, the short form video app. While TikTok may be known for its trendy dances and comedic videos, the app has surged in popularity as a marketing platform. 

As of September 2020, it is estimated that TikTok has 800 million active users across the globe. It would be foolish to not take the opportunity to create a TikTok account for your business. Spring Arbor University (SAU) is no fool. 

SAU Admissions Office’s TikTok account is @teamsau. On this account, the Admissions Office posts a variety of videos, consisting of the “Why I Choose a Christian University” series, student quiz shows, and roommate challenges. The Admissions Office staff, professors, PAs, SGA staff, donors, and more have all made appearances in the @teamsau TikTok content. 

According to Rob Clark, the Director of Admissions at SAU, a majority of TikTok users are high school age individuals from the United States. 

“It makes sense that as a team that wants to reach out to high school students and potential SAU students, that we should have a presence on TikTok,” said Clark. 

The Admissions Office has been creating content on TikTok for over a month now and has amassed over 2,900 followers and 26,000 likes. The account’s second video currently has over 124,000 views and 15,400 likes. A video of Dr. Chan has over 50,000 views. Clark says that all the video combines have over 300,000 views. 

SAU is no stranger to social media as they have a strong presence on Facebook, Instagram (@teamsau and @springarboru), and Twitter (@springarboru). As TikTok becomes more popular, it only makes sense for SAU to jump in and create an account.

The Admissions Office and the @teamsau TikTok is always on the hunt for new content for their account. 

“Going forward, we would love to have more content from students. We would actually encourage them, if they want to reach out to us with ideas of how they can engage potential students, or even send us their videos that they make. We’d be more than happy to share those on the platform,” said Clark. 

If you have a video idea or a video you’d like to share with the @teamsau TikTok account, reach out to Rob Clark at 517-435-8796 or rob.clark@arbor.edu. You can also DM @teamsau on Instagram or TikTok.

Emily Selby

Now is the time to start planning what trip you are going to be taking for your cross-cultural experience while you’re at SAU! Unfortunately, the 2021 trips had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, but it’s never too soon to start planning ahead for 2022. For those that were planning on a 2021 trip and need to figure out what to do to fulfill that requirement, Diane Kurtz should be reaching out to you. You can always email her at dkurtz@arbor.edu for more information.

Here is just a brief overview of the information that you will need to know in order to be properly aware of what is going on regarding these 2022 trips.

A lot of information can be found in the Cross-Cultural Studies magazine that went out in the SAU mailboxes. If you haven’t received it, check your mailbox! There is also an online version of the magazine as well for easy access for commuters. 

What Can I Do Now?

There are several important dates that you need to be aware of in regard to picking your trip and learning about the different destinations that are available to you. Listed below are some of the dates to be aware of and they are coming up very soon! 

Important Dates:

CCS Virtual Market Day – A Zoom link will be sent to your email. 

This will be an open-house style Zoom event held with the different professors that will give specific information about their current country destination.

Friday, February 5, 2021

10:00 am – 12:30 pm

Form Frenzy by Appointment – 3 week program reservations. 

After you enrollment packet is filled out, call 517-750-6415 as early as January 6^th, 2021 to schedule an appointment. You are able to call any time between Monday – Friday from 8:30am – 4:00pm. 

Each grade gets a specific time slot for appointments. Below are the scheduled times for your Form Frenzy meetings. 

Note: Semester abroad students do not sign up at Form Frenzy. See the CCS office or visit the Cross-Cultural website for more information.

Seniors: February 11-12

Juniors: February 16-18

Sophomores: February 22-25

All Students: Any day after March 9^th

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The tradition of Cross-Cultural trips was started in 1986 and is something that will be helpful in making your education more well-rounded. The focus of these trips will be to understand and learn about the Five Social Institutes, which consist of Government, Economics, Religion, Family Life, and Education. These trips are meant to aid in your understanding of the world around you, which is a very important aspect that SAU strives to implement.

SAU Cross-Cultural Website: 

A helpful tool to use regarding all of the information is the SAU Cross Cultural Website found here. This is where you will find information that will be helpful to you while you are choosing your trip and figuring out how to navigate the entire process. 

“The best advice to prepare for signing up for 2022 CCS programs is to be sure you have completed all of your childhood immunizations and have those submitted to Holton Health and Wellness for verification, make sure your tuition account is in good standing, attend Market Day and think about 2 or 3 choices of programs that you think would be best for your major or interests.  Then complete your forms to get ready for Form Frenzy by appointment.”

Diane Kurtz

*A lot of this information was taken from the cross-cultural magazine that went into the student mailboxes. Since it is being repeated, make sure you are aware of those dates. You do not want to miss them!*

By: Sarah Williams

Gainey and Lowell students will dress up in theme related outfits for Spirit Week this Oct 25 to Oct 31.

Spirit Week was Gainey R.A., Anika Eenigenburg’s, idea. Her inspiration was her high school spirit week. She thought it would be fun and easy to do because students can participate individually.

“I always felt that it somehow brought the whole community of our high school together for that week …,” said Eenigenburg. “And I thought why not try this for Gainey and see if it unites Gainey as a community more.”

According to Lowell R.A., Kaitlyn Van Kampen, Spirit Week was decided a month ago at a R.A. meeting. Each day has its own events.

At the meeting, each R.A. wrote down possible events and then they voted for their favorites. Each hall would wear different outfits based on their Decades day on Wednesday and Color Wars day on Thursday. They can get their colors from their R.A.

Lowell’s Spirit Week

Monday	Flannel
Tuesday	Twin
Wednesday	Decades Day
Thursday	Color Wars
Friday	Halloween Costumes

Gainey’s Spirit Week

Monday	Mix Match Day
Tuesday	Twin With Roommate
Wednesday	Decades Day
Thursday	Color Wars
Friday	SAU Colors Day
Saturday	Halloween Costumes

There have been changes to the schedule, due to the rise of COVID and students quarantined on campus.

According the Eenigenburg, Gainey isn’t sure what they will do instead. She will attend a meeting this week where it will be decided. Halloween costumes will still be worn on Saturday for Gainey.

She also said there was a tie dye shirt event on Tuesday that was switched to twin day. Some students who went home due to COVID, had already bought shirts. Eenigenburg wanted to do tie dying later to give them time to join.

Kampen said they had planned for students to wear costumes on Saturday and go “Trunk or Treating”. The students would trick or treat at cars between Gainey and Lowell.

Students in Lowell will now wear their costumes on Friday. R.A.s will go to each room and pass out candy.

“The people I talked to seemed excited,” Kampen said.

By: Emily Selby

On October 14th, the Spanish Club hosted an event to get students out of their dorms and get them moving. Dr. Carpenter taught some fast-paced and exciting Latin dances and the whole event was filled with excitement and learning.

Students at this riveting event learned Latin dances such as bachata, merengue, and many more. The organizers of the event were well prepared to ensure everyone was safe and following SAU’s Covid-19 guidelines. Special candy and snacks were available as well, making this a fun way to celebrate Spanish Heritage Month.

While most students are still worried about the national pandemic, the Spanish Club wants to ensure you that they are taking every precaution necessarily to make sure that everyone will be safe at these events. They hope to host more dance events soon once things get back under control regarding Covid-19.

By: Elizabeth Pruitt

Spring Arbor – After weeks of keeping the virus at a low rate, Spring Arbor University has seen an influx of positive COVID-19 cases since early October. On October 12, the SAU community was notified through an email that three student-athletes had tested positive for the virus. As of October 17, 29 students and 2 staff had tested positive and were in isolation and 172 students and 9 personnel were in quarantine. 35 of those students quarantined on campus and the rest quarantined at home. 

One of these students in quarantine was junior Emma Hale. Hale, an art major at SAU, was forced to move into SAU quarantine housing after being in close contact with her roommate, who had tested positive for the virus. 

Hale was placed in quarantine due to contact tracing. Because the initial positive students were part of an athletic team, contact tracing was easy. There were a few students who were not members of an athletic team who had come in contact with a positive student or faculty, and this is where the contact tracing becomes more difficult. 

According to Corey Ross, Vice President for Student Development and Success and Chair of the Coronavirus Planning time, contact tracing looks at who the COVID positive person has been in close contact with since 48 hours before they show symptoms. Close contact has been defined by the CDC as being with a person for 15 minutes, either consecutively or cumulatively. Class schedules, practice and game schedules, and the QR code scannings have been helpful to aide the process of contact tracing. 

“Basically you look back at 48 before the student was symptomatic. If they were symptomatic on Wednesday and didn’t get the test until Thursday because they didn’t think it was a big deal, and we get the results Friday. Then we find out they’re positive so we’re going all the way back to Monday. It’s hard for people to remember what they were doing, who they were with, when they weren’t even thinking about it,” Ross said. 

Once contact tracing is complete, students are moved into their designated quarantine housing as quickly as possible. 

“I was notified Wednesday, October 7th that I needed to quarantine, I got a call from Holton Health while I was at work at the library. They told me I needed to return to my dorm immediately and start packing,” said Hale. 

Quarantine housing on campus started as just two of the Villages not currently inhabited by students. Due to the increase in cases, Delta 1 in Lowell Hall was added. If there is an influx in cases again and more housing is needed, Michindoh Conference Center, located in Hillsdale, Michigan about 35 minutes away, is being looked at as another option. 

Two hours after being notified, Hale had packed her things and moved into one of the villages, where she would remain for the next two weeks. Hale said the experience was lonely and difficult. Ross said the Student Development Staff, University Chaplain Brian Kono, and the counselors of Holton Health have reached out to students to make sure they were doing well physically, spiritually, and mentally. 

While in quarantine, students are delivered meals and snacks and must attend all classes virtually. For some, like Hale, virtual classes are not ideal. 

“I had very little motivation for schoolwork. I attended all my zoom classes and did the minimal amount of work, but online school is really not my thing,” said Hale. 

Being alone for two weeks can be a blessing or a curse for some people. Hale said her quarantine experience was mainly just about survival. She tried to find things to do to occupy her time and make her experience more enjoyable. 

“The best part of the day was when they brought us our food packages and my roommate and I, who was quarantined in the room across from me, propped open our doors and had a little picnic together. Overall, it was just not the ideal situation and I was just trying to make it through. I did however have more free time to draw, so that was nice,” Hale said. 

SAU’s quarantine efforts have helped slow the spread of COVID on campus. As of Friday, October 23, there are 14 COVID positive students and 150 in quarantine. If there are no new positive cases, Ross has said there should be only 84 students in quarantine on October 26, and 7 or 8 students in quarantine on October 28. 

Things are looking up for SAU in terms of COVID-19. Students and staff should not be discouraged by the recent influx of COVID cases. However, students and staff should stay diligent with social distancing, wearing their masks, and washing their hands, to prevent another spread. 

Students, faculty, and staff are encouraged to continue practicing the SAU Safe 8, which consists of baseline testing, completing a daily health screening, social distancing, limiting large gatherings, wearing face coverings in outdoor and public spaces, attendance tracking, practicing hand and respiratory hygiene, and enhanced cleaning.

For more information on COVID-19 at SAU visit the Coronavirus Updates and Resources page, linked here, and the COVID Case Count page, linked here.

By: Sarah Williams

Australia Smith went to the Secretary of State after turning 18. She intended to get her State ID, but she was also given donor forms and an application for voting registration. She said the application had basic questions and she filled it out quickly. She was registered to vote after 10 minutes. She had to wait hours for her ID.

Smith is now 21 and a junior at Spring Arbor University. She plans on voting next Election Day, November 3, 2020.

What are the deadlines?

According to Michigan Voter Information Center, the deadlines are:

• Register to vote
  • Person: November 3
  • Online/Mail: October 19

• Request for Absentee Ballot
  • Online/Mail/Person: 5pm Friday, October 30

• Send in Absentee Ballot
  • Online/Mail/Person: 5pm Friday, October 30

How do you register to vote?

SAU sophomore student Makiya Owens registered to vote last summer. She said she registered online and plans on voting.

Michigan.gov stated to register to vote a person needed to be:

•           A resident of Michigan

•           A resident of the city or township for 30 days when they vote

•           A United States citizen

•           At least 18 years old

•           Not currently serving a sentence in jail or prison

People can register in person, online, or mail.

If applying by online or mail, voters need to complete the application. Then, mail it to their city or township clerk, which can be found on MVICs page.

Registering by mail requires entering their driver’s license number on the form or sending in a photocopy of their driver’s license, personal ID, or paycheck stub, utility bill, bank document or government document with both your name and address.

If applying in person, voters would need documents to prove where they live.

Where do you go to vote?

People can vote at the polls or with Absentee ballots. After registering on MVIC, a page will show the voter’s poll and clerk location. Those already registered can locate their poll location again on the MVIC’s page.

What will be on the ballot?

People can see sample ballots on the MVIC’s page. MVIC stated the ballot is made up of many sections and proposals and they vary depending on place of register. A sample ballot from a precinct in Jackson County has a partisan section which has the presidential options. There is the congressional section with the senator options. There are also sections for legislative, state board, regent of the university of Michigan, trustee of Michigan state university, governor of Wayne state university, county, sheriff, and more.

There are also two proposals. The proposals state their purpose, what the constitutional amendment would do, and asks, “Should this proposal be adopted?”.

How do you register for an absentee ballot?

Smith said she plans on voting by Absentee ballot but has yet to register.

SAU student junior Ryan Northup registered to vote in Ohio. He plans on voting by Absentee Ballot by mailing out the ballot before the election.

Voters who can’t make it to the polls can vote by mail through Absentee ballots.

MVIC stated all registered Michigan voters can use an absentee ballot before Election Day. They don’t need an excuse or reason. They can apply online, mail, or in person.

The completed ballot must be received by the city or township clerk before 8 pm on Election Day. It is advised to mail in Absentee ballots as soon as possible.

All registered voters can track their ballots on MVIC’s page.

How many college students vote?

National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) did a report on college and student voting in 2017. NSLVE created a database of 9,511,711 and 9,784,931 students enrolled at the time of the 2012 and 2016 election. These students attended higher education institutions across the U.S. They used this database to yield data on students’ turnout. The results resemble the approximately 20 million college students in U.S.

NSLVE’s students voted about three percent more at 2016 than 2012. In 2012, 45.1% of the nearly 10 million students voted. In 2016, 48.3% voted. This means half of the college students population voted.

Campus Vote Project stated the new generation has a lower voting rate because they move frequently, are less likely to have a driver’s license, are less likely to be contacted directly by political campaigns then older age groups, missed a deadline, or lacking other information.

In a poll done at SAU, out of 40 participating students, 37 are registered to vote. There are 39 students planning on voting and 28 students planning on voting with Absentee ballot.

Why should college students vote?

“I want to take responsibility for America,” said Owens.

“I think it is a really important election for a lot of reasons,” Northup said, “so I wanted to be able to put my vote in because I think it will really matter,”.

“We are in a climate right now where a lot of things are happening” Smith said, “so if you want change to progress you have to go and vote”.

By: Sarah Williams

The Cougar Den is holding a pumpkin decoration contest this year and thirty students have the chance to win some cash prizes.

Cougar Den manager Barbie said she bought 30 Styrofoam pumpkins from Dollar Tree for the contest. In three days, all the pumpkins were gone.

The deadline was originally Oct. 16th, but Barbie extended it to Oct. 30^th. She wanted to give the quarantine students a chance to participate. Voting will be between Nov. 2^nd and 9^th.

The prize for first place is 50 dollars to the bookstore, second place is 20 dollars of Cougar Cash/SAU Dollars, and third place is five dollars to Sacred Grounds.