March of Dimes WalkAmerica

This Saturday, March 31, Mill Creek Park will host the March of Dimes WalkAmerica. The goal for this year's walk is $35,000, which will go to help find a cure to birth defects and premature births. Last year, more than 500,000 babies were born prematurely, with many of the babies dying. Also, more than 120,000 babies are born with serious birth defects.


Nationally, the WalkAmerica has raised more than $1.7 billion since its inception in 1970. At least one million walkers are expected to take part nationwide. Money raised by the March of Dimes is used to conduct top-level research into the causes and preventions of premature births and birth defects.

The mission of the March of Dimes is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. They carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight.

I think this organization works for a great cause. It is crazy how some babies are born way before the nine month mark....they are teeny tiny! This can happen to anyone and I think it is important to try and help those in need. So get up and go out for a good cause on Saturday. The babies need you!

Spring Fling

This past weekend at GSU's Center for Wildlife Education many locals came out to participate in the Spring Fling Egg-stravaganza and Camping Adventure. Those interested in camping arrived on Friday, March 23, in the afternoon and settled in for the night after a short hike and nocturnal animal program.

On Saturday, the wildlife center was full of fun activites for the kids. Complete with face-painting, (my favorite when I was young) crafts, animal shows, honey extraction demonstration, and an Easter-egg hunt.

The Center for Wildlife Education and Lamar Q Ball, Jr. Raptor Center opened in October 1997. Since then, it has blossomed as one of the leading environmental education facilities in Georgia. Five acres in the heart of the campus is the setting for The Center for Wildlife Education and the Lamar Q Ball, Jr. Raptor Center. The main features include a self-guided nature walk through six habitat displays, housing eleven species of live birds of prey. These habitats include a wetlands area, an old-growth forest, and a mountain display. An elevated walkway allows visitors an up-close encounter with a Bald Eagle nest, complete with a Glory, the University mascot!

If you haven't gone to check out the raptor center, you are missing out. I'm sort of a nerd when it comes to anything that has to do with wildlife...I love going to places like this! My favorite part of the wildlife center is the turtles. There is a section of the exhibit where children can play and interact with the turtles and it was quite amusing sitting and watching the kids reactions to the turtles during the Spring Fling. Some were scared to death and other were begging their parents to let them take a turtle home. I had a lot of fun and you will too, so go check it out. Watch out for the owls in the barn though! Just a little tip! Have fun!

J. Allyn Rosser

On Monday, April 2, poet, J. Allyn Rosser will make a trip to the Georgia Southern campus. She will be in room 2209 of the Newton Building at 4 p.m. to talk and answer questions. At 7 p.m., she will give a public reading of her poetry in the College of Education auditorium.

Rosser's first book of poetry, "Bright Moves," was published in 1990 and won the Morse Poetry Prize. Her second book, "Misery Prefigured," was published in 2001 and won the Crab Orchard Award. Her third book, "Foiled Again," is set to be published this fall as the winner of The New Criterion Magazine Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared recently in several anthologies, and journals including the Ninth Letter.

Rosser now lives in Athens, Ohio and is currently teaching at Ohio University. Her presentation will be free to the public and is sponsored by the department of Writing and Linguistics and the Georgia Poetry Circuit.

I am not really that big on poetry, but for students who are aspiring poets or just like to write poetry in their spare time, I think this would be a great opportunity. I mean, how often do you get to sit down and talk one-on-one with an award winning poet. I think it is great that she is taking the time to talk with students and answer their questions and help them along with their goals. Who knows....you could be an award winning poet someday!

Play Ball!

The sixth annual "Swing into Spring" will be held this Friday, March 23. The event will kick off the Statesboro-Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Department's baseball and softball season. It will begin at 4p.m. at Mill Creek Park and wrap up at 9 p.m. with a fireworks display. The event will also feature music, exhibition games, tattoo art, balloons and the traditional first pitch of the season and comments from local dignitaries.

At 5 p.m., there will be inflatable games, karaoke and other activities taking place at Field One. At 6 p.m., ATA Blackbelt Academy will present a community exhibition, followed by Cheer South at 6:30.

Truman the Dinosaur, the mascot of the Statesboro Herald's Kidsville publication will be making an appearance and Coca-Cola and the SBCPRD will give away four tickets for an Atlanta Braves/Six Flags trip.

I think this sounds like a fun-filled event and I know it has been successful in past years. Your kids are sure to enjoy all the games and maybe even get into some karaoke! Who knows...you could end up being the lucky one who wins a trip to Six Flags!!

The event is free and is sponsored by: SBCPRD, Farmers and Merchants Bank, Subway, Coca-Cola, AllGood Pest Solutions, MKK Construction, Parkwood RV and Cottages and Wal-Mart. If this sparks your interest, you can register at the Honey Bowen Building, online at www.bullochrec.com or at the information tent on the night of the event.

Spring Break!

All students are happy that spring break is finally upon us. Whether you are getting out of town or just relaxing and not having to worry about going to class, spring break is sure to be a much needed break. I will be spending my break in Florida, and I am certain that the same goes for a lot of you. Unfortunately, I will not be able to spend Saint Patrick's day in Savannah, but I know a lot of students will attend the fun-filled night! I love St. Patty's in Savannah, but I just urge you to be careful along with having a great time.

Georgia Southern's Office of Health Education and Office of Public Safety is wrapping up the spring break awareness week. The week was full of events designed to make students mindful of the dangers that can come along with spring break fun. The safe driving information session and mocktails, which shows students that non-alcoholic drinks can be tasty as well, occurred earlier in the week. If you missed those events, you can still catch the highlight of the week which is tonight at 7 p.m. in Russell Union. This event will feature speakers Joyce and Eric Krug who will share their tragic story with students.

Eric Krugg made the decision to ride with a drunk driver and it changed his life forever. After the accident, he was left with the inability to walk and brain damage that no longer allows him long term memory or the ability to talk. His mother, Joyce, will tell his story.

I think this will be a very interesting and eye-opening event. If you can attend, I think it would be something to consider. I know we all hear drunk driving horror stories all the time, but I think this one might be a little different. The event is free and will definitely be worth your time.

I hope all of you have a wonderful and safe spring break. Have fun, but please be responsible and pay attention to what is going on around you.

New and Improved

Has anyone else noticed that the Georgia Southern email has been crazy lately? Every time I try to check my email. it is soooo slow and then after you sit and wait a stupid error message pops up! But it looks like after spring break all our email troubles will be gone!

On March 14, GSU will be launching a new email server. The server from Mirapoint will be much better than the Squirrel Mail we are used to. Users will be able to create calendars with task reminders that can be made readily available to share with other users in the server. The new system will give us a total of 50 megabytes. This will be helpful for students who send and receive large emails. The new server will also allow users to organize and store information with address books and group contact lists.

I think the best part of the new server is that it will have faster response times and an online help function that will be improved compared to other email servers in the past. Another good thing is that all your current email items will be automatically converted to Mirapoint, so nothing will be lost in the transition.

Some students are skeptical and do not see the need for the change, but I think the change is well overdue. It seems like I have a problem with my email account almost everyday...that is when I can actually get into it, which I haven't been able to do today. So I am more than ready for the change. I also think that spring break is the perfect time to implement the new system because students will not be using their email over the break and we will not be complaining about the email not being available.

All in all, I think this is a great idea and it is just another step that GSU is taking in order to keep up with the times and provide the students and faculty with adeqate means of communicating. I am glad that GSU is making this and all the other changes. I hope there are more changes to come that will again improve our school.

Movin' on Up!

In Fall 2007, the Commication Arts Department will have a new home! Now I know there may be some of you who will miss our beloved trailer (yeah right) but it's time to move on! Veazey Hall, which was orginally a residence hall here at Georgia Southern, is under renovation to make a new home for the comm arts department as well as graduate studies and the office of strategic studies.

This move is partly because GSU has an initiative to eliminate the temporary buildings on campus. This relocation will get rid of two trailers on campus. It has always seemed odd to me that the comm arts department was the one that got put in a trailer because we are the largest department on campus with 900 students. I have had many classes in the trailer, most of which were held in the exact same room, but I will not have a problem with the move. I am excitied that it will be occuring before I graduate.

The new Veazey Hall will have six classrooms on the first floor and an accommodating lobby for students to hang out in while waiting for class. There will also be two or three computer labs for teaching or student's personal use. The Office of Graduate Studies and Office of Strategic Studies will will be housed on the second floor. The third floor will house two more classrooms and instructor's offices. Since Veazey used to be dorms, there are some drawbacks of the building. Some pivitol supports in the structure which conflict with the layout of some of the classrooms will have to be left in. This will not allow larger classrooms sizes.

The move is set to take place as soon as the middle of the summer terms, but some faculty are concerned about a late move in the Fall. Either way, I can not wait! I will not miss the trailer and will be more than happy to say goodbye!