The Delphian, May 9, 2016

Subject

Campus Newspapers

Categories

Delphian Newspapers 1951-Present

Date

2016-05-09

May 9, 2016 The Voice of the Students Volume 71, Issue 11
The
Delphian
after 30 minutes, it was very well received by
the Adelphi community and I think we can do
it bigger,” said junior, Navindra Tajeshwar,
who is also of Indian decent. “It also shows
that we are all open to different cultural ideas
since they were just amazed by this new ex-perience
as opposed to experiencing culture
shock.”
In previous years Holi has been cel-ebrated
on a much smaller scale by individual
clubs such as the International Student Society
and the South Asian Student Association. This
year the wish to make a bigger Holi festival
was brought to the attention of Wendy Badala,
the Director of International Student Services,
who then reached out to the International Men-tors
and several other clubs and offices. In the
end the festival ended up as a big collaboration
between these organizations.
“And it went really well, so hopefully
we will keep on doing it,” Badala said.
Holi Festival Provides Splashes of Color and a Popular Event
On May 4 Adelphi’s Of-fice
of International Student Services, in
association with AU Bhangra, AU Sapna
Bollywood Fusion Dance Team, the In-terfaith
Center Muslim Students Associa-tion,
Newman Club and Sikhs United held
a Holi Festival on the Levermore Lawn.
The Holi Festival, also known as the festi-val
of colors, is an ancient Hindu festival
that celebrates the arrival of spring, and it
has grown to be popular with many non-
Hindus in many parts of South Asia as
well as with people of other communities
outside of Asia.
The festival itself started with a
few opening remarks from Prof. Rakesh
Gupta, which informed the attendees of
the origins of this festival that dates back
over a thousand years and occurs every
spring. However, the notion of celebrat-ing
the arrival of spring is a tradition that
can be found all around the world. The
BY TONY HALSTEINDAL
Egyptians had a harvest festival, the Incas
and the Aztec both had similar traditions,
and even in Swaziland there is a tradition
known as Umhlanga. They all revolve
around spring and there are also common
themes that can be found in all of them;
they all usually take place around the
equinox. It tends to happen during a full
moon, they tend to be celebrated with a
fire ceremony in the evening and also mu-sic,
dance and colors. In India the colors
are celebrated by people splashing them-selves
and others with colored dry pow-der.
“I have not had the chance to cel-ebrate
Holi publicly in the 50 years since
I left India,” Prof. Gupta said. “So I have
been looking forward to this a lot.”
After Prof. Gupta’s opening remarks the
attendees had the pleasure of viewing an
Indian styled dance performance, which
was quickly followed by the ancient tradi-tion
of splashing one and another with col-ored
powder in which both many students
and professors cheerfully participated. All
through the festival, the attendees had the
opportunity to have a taste of traditional
Indian food, such as kebabs.
“Now that we are post-event, I
see that, since we ran out of powder only
(Top) Navindra Tajeshwar and (Below) Professor Rakesh Gupta partake in the Holi festival by participating in the coloring and eating some cultural foods.
Photo provided by Tony Halsteindal
2 • May 9, 2016 NEWS The Delphian
Editor-in-Chief
Bryan Grilli
News Editor
Jess Cooper
Editorials Editor
Jonathan Sclar
Features Editor
Alexandra Wurglics
Entertainment Editor
Gabrielle Deonath &
Danielle McDougall
Sports Editor
Fallon McCarthy
Production Artists
Meghan Cody, Miguel Guerra
Treasurer
Michael Parchinsky
Staff Writers
Tony Halsteindal, Pietro Pisciotta and
Kaitlyn Rasiak
Guest Contributors
Sierra Clark, Francesca Giammanco,
Leeann Mello and Megan Safina
Delphian Advisor
Liza N. Burby
Volume 71
Issue 11
Earle Hall Media Center
One South Avenue
Garden City, NY 11530
HOW TO REACH US
Main Office: 516-877-6935
E-mail: delphian@adelphi.edu
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters to the editor must be less than
400 words and include the author’s
name, as well as affiliation to the
college. Letters may be edited for the
purposes of space and clarity.
Letters should be sent to
delphian@adelphi.edu
ORIGINAL ART
Original drawings, photographs,
and political cartoons can be sent to
delphian@adelphi.edu. Please attach
name and affiliation to the college.
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delphian@adelphi.edu.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter: @the_Delphian
Facebook: The Delphian
adelphi-delphian.blogspot.com
Instagram: @the_delphian
A Word from the Editor
It’s crazy to believe the semester is nearing its conclusion and summer will soon
be upon us. It’s been an amazing year and serving as editor-in-chief has been an incred-ibly
rewarding experience, and I’m excited to say I will be back next year for a second
term at the helm. Although there are some wonderful people on our staff that could fill in
the position, they will have one more year to hone their skills even further. It’s also my
hope that you won’t mind putting up with me for an additional year!
Although it’s that time of year when we’re all just running on pure adrenaline
and burning our last reserves to get through it all, The Delphian staff wanted to deliver
one final issue to inform and entertain during the last couple of weeks. The campus has
certainly kept busy in the recent weeks and we wanted to make sure to keep up.
In the last issue, I was thrilled to announce the Press Club of Long Island named
The Delphian as the Best Collegiate Newspaper. I’d also like to report the Press Club also
announced the individual award finalists, and majority of our editorial staff was listed,
including: Alexandra Wurglics, Danielle McDougall, Fallon McCarthy and myself. These
honors only prove the hard work put into this newspaper over the past year.
I feel conflicting emotions transitioning to the next portion of this note because
although I’m excited to see what two of my editors will accomplish after graduation, they
will be sorely missed. Our features editor, Alexandra Wurglics, has served on the edito-rial
staff of The Delphian for longer than even I have. As a freshman and new staff writer
to paper, I often found myself sending my features to Alex for review. In the subsequent
years, I worked closely with her and she has always proven to be invaluable, and I’m dis-appointed
to see her go, but I’m sure she’ll be met with nothing but success in her career.
We will also be losing Jonathan Sclar, our editorials editor, who stepped right into the mix
this year and delivered quality editorials and proved to be extremely reliable. He got the
job done time in and time out and I’ll miss him as well.
As disappointing as it is that Alex and Jon are moving on, I am still very opti-mistic
and have every bit of faith their replacements will rise to the occasion and fill the
void thoroughly. First, I’d like to congratulate Brian Jennings on being selected as the
new editorials editor. He’s been a consistent contributor to the paper throughout his time
at Adelphi and his interest in on- and off-campus issues will surely maintain the quality of
the section. Brian is actually the only newcomer, but there will be some section shifts. Ga-brielle
Deonath will be transitioning from co-entertainment editor to news editor. Also, the
beloved “feature-tainment” section will be revived and under the care of Jessica Cooper
and Danielle McDougall. Finally, rounding out our staff, Fallon McCarthy will return as
the sports editor for next year.
I’d also like to take the opportunity to congratulate all the seniors graduating in
the coming weeks. You’ve truly earned it and best of luck with your future endeavors.
Hang in there, we’re almost there!
-Bryan Grilli
Editor-in-Chief
On a warm spring afternoon in April, many Adelphi classes were held outside, including this stage combat
class led by Professor Ray Rodriguez (foreground) from the Performing Arts Department.
photo provided by Liza Burby
Did you
want to
join our
staff, but
didn’t get
the chance?
There’s
always next
year!
Outdoor Class During a Warm April Day
The Delphian NEWS May 9, 2016 • 3
BY JESS COOPER
Adelphi Unites, Fights: Taking a Stand Against Sexual Violence
Adelphi’s community banded
together to take a stand against all forms
of sexual and domestic violence on April
27 in the UC Ballroom. The primary
mission of Take Back the Night was to
raise awareness about the issue of sexual
violence and to assert we will not tolerate
violence of any kind. The event began
with a Speak Out, where members of the
university community took to the podium
during this time to talk about their experi-ences
as survivors of violence. Over 600
were reported to have attended this event
to rise up against an issue that colleges
often overlook.
Tatesh Sookdeo, a sophomore
double major in management and eco-nomics,
said he has been a member of the
Take Back the Night committee for two
years. “One of the things that makes us so
unique at Adelphi is that we have a sense
of family and togetherness,” he said.
“And family tends to look out for each
other. That’s what makes us different. We
all are a bunch of educated, very socially
aware people and we know what’s going
on. And I think that’s because of educa-tion
due to committees, due to student
leaders who are very much involved in
creating a safe place for all the Panthers
here on campus.”
After the Speak Out, attendees
were given chant pamphlets and glow-sticks
and led out onto the campus for a
march in the name of fighting back and
taking a stand against sexual violence.
“We have the power/we have
the right/the streets are ours/take back the
night!”
“Join together/free our lives/we will not
be victimized!”
“Adelphi unite/take back the
night!”
These were some of the compel-ling
chants that rang through Adelphi’s
campus that night, at least 100 voices
strong. The Speak Out was about honor-ing,
listening and learning; but the march
at the end of the night was purely united
empowerment. In Sookdeo’s opinion,
getting out there and making some noise
was the best way to end the night and
close the event.
“I tend to think, and this is my
mindset: The more noise you create, the
more people are going to become aware,”
Sookdeo said, “the more they’re going to
want to know what’s happening. So after
listening to everyone’s story, it doesn’t
stop there. We have so much work to do
and one of the most important things as
victims, as people who stand with vic-tims,
is to tell people that the end is the
end.”
Our school’s community banded
together to prove that while sexual vio-lence
is an epidemic in colleges across
the country, Adelphi refuses to tolerate it,
and is always eager to stand up and fight.
People currently struggling with
a history of sexual harassment or vio-lence
are urged to contact the Safe Center
LI 24-hour hotline at 516-542-0404, or
Adelphi’s Student Counseling Center at
Students could see chalk drawing messages around campus. 516-877-3646 (UC Room 310).
photo provided by Jess Cooper
Clothesline Project shirts decorated with anti-violence messages.
photo provided by Jess Cooper
PCLI Offers Career Advice and Resume Review
More than 75 students attended the April 19 communications career advice and resume review session offered by the Press Club of Long Island
(PCLI). The panelists were (from left to right) Bridget Shirvell, Kevin Maher and Bill Bleyer. Adjunct professor, Liza Burby, organized the event
with The Delphian and the Communications Department.
photos provided by Thomas Campbell
Brazilian Program’s Future Is Uncertain,
But Students’ Experiences Will Live On
In 2012, the Brazilian govern-ment
unveiled the Brazil Scientific Mobil-ity
Program (BSMP), which sought to send
many of their top students in the science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM)
fields to global institutions of learning. The
goal then being to bring back all the cul-tural,
educational and linguistic perspec-tives
and skills they absorbed throughout
the world.
Shannon Harrison, the director of
international education at Adelphi helped
to establish a connection with the BSMP
over the last year. “A country willing to
send its best students around the world
to study at globally renowned institutions
so they can bring the knowledge and ex-perience
back with them is very powerful
and demonstrates how dedicated they are
to improving themselves, especially in the
STEM areas.”
The students participating in the
BSMP have to face their share of chal-lenges
acclimating themselves to their new
environment. However, the Institute of In-ternational
Education’s statistics on behalf
of the BSMP boasts 90 percent of students
participating in the program are happy with
their experience at its conclusion. This cer-tainly
seems to be true for Bruno Hidalgo
Lemergas, a computer science major, who
was one of the first four Brazilians to par-ticipate
in the program at Adelphi.
“I’m so glad I decided to par-ticipate
in this program,” Hidalgo said,
whose experience concludes at the end of
this semester. “I’ve learned a lot about the
cultural differences between the countries
and having classes in English is helpful
because not only am I able to improve my
English, but also learn new things in my
field of study.”
Hidalgo also mentioned his first
impression of Adelphi, referring to how he
first noticed how the campus was “beau-tiful
and the people so friendly and invit-ing.”
When trying to adjust to living in a
new country with a different language and
culture, being able to enter into a comfort-able
environment was beneficial to him.
“I’m sure when I go back to Bra-zil,
I’ll have a lot of great experiences to
share with my campus,” he said.
“I think the main benefit to study-ing
at Adelphi is the specialized courses
we have to offer, which complements
what they’ve already learned,” said Lee
Stemkoski, associate professor for the De-partment
of Mathematics and Computer
Science and one of Hidalgo’s mentors Hi-dalgo.
“Since he is particularly interested
in video game development, which is my
area of specialty, Bruno has taken courses
in game programming and related topics
each semester, participated in the 2016
Game Jam and his work was featured in
a video game exposition that was part of
Adelphi University’s annual research con-ference
in April. I hope that these experi-ences
have helped him grow as a game
developer, and we at Adelphi have helped
to provide a foundation of skills that will
serve him well in his chosen career path in
the future.”
Some of the students had to over-come
some difficulties during their experi-ences
here, but in the end, the experience
proved to be worth the challenges for nurs-ing
major Mariana Moura.
“Since the beginning of the pro-cess
to apply for this program, I was faced
with many challenges. The selection and
the tests, but the hardest part was all the
bureaucracy. After arriving on US soil,
the culture shock of course was a huge
struggle, but as a nursing student the clini-cal
terminology can be a difficulty factor,”
Moura explained. “Overall it’s been an
amazing experience of a first world educa-tion
system, along with personal growth
and self knowledge.”
Harrison also thinks it’s not only
BY BRYAN GRILLI
the Brazilian students who are benefitting
from the program. “Having these students
on campus is a benefit to the campus as
well,” she explained. “The Latin American
international student population at Adelphi
is one of the smaller ones, so having the
Brazilian students here has brought a new
perspective to classroom dialogue. They
have a different cultural perspective that
can lead to enriching discussions and help
create a global campus for our students
that might not be able to go abroad them-selves.”
Stemkoski said: “Working with
the Brazilian students has been a great ex-perience.
They are all very talented, mo-tivated
and excited individuals. Each has
brought a fresh perspective to the classes
here at Adelphi, since they have a different
background than our students. It has been a
pleasure teach each of them.”
Although the program has clearly
demonstrated their government’s invest-ment
in their country’s future, the BSMP is
more than likely coming to its conclusion.
“Brazil is facing a delicate mo-ment
economically and politically speak-ing,”
Moura stated. “The main reason to
why the program was frozen is lack of
financial resources and strong increase of
the exchange rates between American dol-lars
and Brazilian reals. For now, both un-dergraduate
and post-graduate parts of the
program are not opening new opportuni-ties.”
Despite the program’s prob-able
end, the connections, experiences and
learning built by the program will carry on
into the future and bring about improve-ments
as the participating students reach
the top of their fields. For the four students
studying at Adelphi this past year, they
also always know they have a place to call
home in Garden City, New York.
(L-R: Bruno Hidalgo Lemergas, Cassio Henkin Pilla, Joao Vitor Almeida De Lima, Mariana Moura da Silva
Photo provided by Center for International Education
4 • May 9, 2016 NEWS The Delphian
On Tuesday, April 26, the Kappa
Sigma Fraternity here at Adelphi hosted
their biggest philanthropy event of the year.
Sleep Out for Soldiers is an annual event
put on by the fraternity that puts a spotlight
on our military veterans and helps us all
learn more about their harrowing experi-ence
when at war. The event is aimed at
supporting the fraternity’s national philan-thropy
organization, the Military Heroes
Campaign, the international philanthropy
organization of the fraternity. Its main mis-sion
is to provide support to wounded vet-erans
and their families when they return
home from their various tours of service.
“It is important to promote aware-ness
for the United States soldiers and the
conditions they go though when they return
and assimilate to civilian life,” said Steve
Petrario, president of Kappa Sigma.
The event began at 4 pm on Tues-day
with brothers of the fraternity pitching
tents all over Levermore Lawn to make a
sort of tent city. After the tent construction,
the brothers, along with others, spent the
next few hours playing games like volley-ball
and football all while listening to mu-sic
and chatting about the great event itself.
As night came, and guests left, the
brothers began preparing for bed. As per
tradition, they slept out in the tent city that
they had built earlier in the day, to recog-nize
the struggle that our country’s bravest
soldiers must endure when they are on the
front lines, defending our freedom.
“Sleep Out for the Soldiers sym-bolizes
how much these men and women
have sacrificed for us,” said JJ Ferrigno,
Kappa Sigma’s vice president.
Although the weather did not ful-ly
cooperate and it was a bit rainy at times,
the brothers were all happy with the event
and excited that the event had as much suc-cess
as it did.
“Even though the weather wasn’t
in our favor, our brothers stuck it out in the
rain,” Petrario explained.
In the end, the fraternity was able
to raise over $900 that will go towards sup-porting
wounded veterans and their fami-lies.
Additionally, this event was able to
raise awareness for their cause and demon-strated
their dedication to the entire campus
community.
Sleeping Out for a
Good Cause
BY MIKE PARCHINSKY
Kappa Sigma Fraternity
photo provided by Jake Lapidus
Local Filmmaker Makes Award-Winning Film While Battling Cancer
BY FRANCESCA
GIAMMANCO
BY ALEX WURGLICS
Not Goodbye, Only So Long
May 2016 has already come. As
I am sure all of the seniors are asking,
“Where did the time go?! Yesterday was
the end of freshman year, right?” Through-out
this last semester of my undergraduate
year, I have been reminded more and more
of the incredible opportunities Adelphi
has given me and of my personal growth
throughout my time here. Of course, one
of the most significant and major highlights
has been my participation on The Delphian
staff.
As a freshman, I came in as a pro-spective
high school history teacher with
no desire for a career in communications
or journalism. I just loved the paper and
bringing news and perspectives to other
people. This was how I could leave my
mark at Adelphi. I went from mainly writ-ing
sports articles to becoming features
editor as a sophomore and then again as a
junior. Senior year was a bit of a curve ball
as I became the features and entertainment
editors (or as I was more fondly referred
to: “featuretainment” editor) for the fall se-mester
and then back to only features.
I have witnessed the ups and
downs of the paper, three editor-in-chiefs,
fluctuating editors, editing mishaps, holes
in the ceiling of our office (literally), cel-ebrations
at the Press Club of Long Island
Awards Dinner, and most importantly, the
dedication that our writers and editors have
showed over the past four years. Each
year taught me new lessons, gave me new
acquaintances, and allowed me to bring
Adelphi, with all of its greatness and also
its flaws, to light for the community to read
about.
The end of this particular adven-ture
is extremely bittersweet not only be-cause
of its end, but because I cannot put
into words how integral The Delphian has
been in my growth as a person and as a
writer. It goes without saying that my writ-ing
has greatly improved and I can better
articulate my perspective on matters. Per-sonally,
the paper showed me how to be a
leader, how to handle situations with poise
and introduced me to a plethora of people.
I was able to cover President Riordan’s
Inauguration and meet Kris Allen in this
year alone. I learned how to speak with
people and ask them poignant, thoughtful
questions. For this growth, I am eternally
grateful.
I would be remiss to say farewell
without wholeheartedly thanking the many
people that allow The Delphian to be the
best college newspaper on Long Island this
year. To all of the staff writers, it has been
great to meet you. Keep writing! You never
know what will come of it or who you will
meet along the way. To my fellow editors,
it has been a pleasure to collaborate with
all of you and write alongside very talented
students. To Bryan, this paper would abso-lutely
not be where it is today without all
of your hard work and dedication this year.
I cannot count how many times you have
saved the paper while still making the print
deadline. I am thankful for our friendship
and the incredible projects we were able to
work on together. You helped my writing
to grow in more ways than one. And last,
but not least, Professor Burby, thank you
not only for the immense amount of time
that you dedicate to the paper, but for push-ing
me to be a better writer with each and
every issue. Your reassurance and faith
kept me going and I will carry it with me
as I move forward to graduate school.
My time at Adelphi has helped
me discover and appreciate Adelphi in a
unique and special way. If I could do it all
again, I most certainly would, and I would
not change a thing. As I will be back for
one year of graduate school in the STEP
program, this is not goodbye, only so long.
Who knows, there may be a guest article or
Like his recovery from cancer, Ter-rence
Ross’s latest film is somewhat mi-raculous.
The longtime Adelphi University
film professor recently produced an inter-nationally
acclaimed film while simulta-neously
battling bladder cancer. Although
both the convalescence period and the
film-editing process were difficult, Ross
grew as a person and cinematographer as
a result.
“The whole experience has made
me appreciate life so much more, I feel the
finiteness of everything and want to enjoy
what I have for as long as possible,” said
Ross, who’s an associate professor in the
Communications Department.
Ross’s award-winning new film,
“When the Sun Came for Them,” about
marginalized tribes living in the western
part of the Sahara desert, will screen at the
International New York City Film Festival
in November.
There was a time when Ross
would have never fathomed such film ac-complishments,
considering he had a de-gree
in screenwriting and mainly wrote
fiction narratives. He worked as an adjunct
professor at Adelphi for nearly 17 years be-fore
he was offered a job teaching Media
Literacy with the aid of technical support.
This point marked the beginning of his suc-cessful
journey into filmmaking. The act of
teaching media inspired him to make his
own films by taking his knowledge gained
from the material and applying it to proj-ects
of his own.
Years later, Ross now sits confi-dently
behind his desk as a recent winner of
the third place Silver Human Rights Award
in the Human Rights Festival and an Award
of Merit winner in both the World Docu-mentary
Festival and International New
York Film Festival for his new film.
“My goal is to make movies with-out
any money and without any crew, basi-cally
to make movies from nothing,” said
Ross. “The more money you have to spend
to make a movie, the less you can tell the
truth.”
Ross stayed true to this objective
as he sent three recent Adelphi alumni,
Bec Everett, Enas Elmohands and Lara
Halzdo to the Western Sahara with very
limited supplies. In their journey, which
was financed one-third by Ross and the
rest themselves, they were provided with a
couple of microphones, solar chargers and
two outdated iPads lent by the university.
This shoestring budget implemented by
Ross allowed the documentary to have an
aura of pureness that would earn it such
prestigious awards.
Sifting through nine hours’ worth
of footage is draining enough. But in ad-dition
to this, Ross was undergoing treat-ment
for bladder cancer. With no pain or
symptoms experienced before, his diagno-sis
came as a surprise. However, the sever-ity
of it was possibly even more shocking.
In January 2015, Ross was informed that
if the bladder was not extracted immedi-ately
he probably would not live more than
seven months.
A month later, Ross underwent
surgery at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hos-pital
in the Upper East Side, but was forced
to take a medical leave from Adelphi mid-way
through the spring semester.
Although his time spent in the
hospital and the two-month recovery pe-riod
was brutal, he tried multiple times to
go back and look at the film, but found it
too hard to conceptualize everything.
“I’m a real worker, so it was sad
to have to step away a while,” said Ross,
who next plans to produce a memoir about
his struggle with cancer and how Bud-dhism
allowed him to make peace with it.
“But eventually it became a good project to
work on because it was a nice segue to do
spaced out work, allowing me to be more
focused and get back into editing it.”
During his leave of absence, Ross
organized the film and translated the Arabic
dialect. He was surprised to find how diffi-cult
this task was, but after many meetings
with a translator and a lot of persistence,
Ross completed the work accurately. He
then crafted in the film’s traditional Arabic
instrumental music and opening narration.
Elmohands, one of the film’s cameramen,
witnessed the piece transform from mul-tiple
unstructured fragments to a wonder-fully
executed film, all after being placed
in the hands of Ross.
“Considering the amount of foot-age
we had, Terrence put in a lot of effort
making the connections that we may have
missed on the field,” said Elmohands. “Be-fore
he edited, I attempted to do it myself,
but found it overwhelming and difficult,
and felt I didn’t have the artistic eye at the
time to make a film out of what we had, but
luckily Terrence did.”
Ross’s end goal was for the Sah-rawi
people’s forgotten history to be ac-knowledged
and make their wisdom and
plight better known to the world through
the film.
The Sahrawi, a collection of no-madic
tribes, were colonized by the Span-ish
and had their land annexed by Morocco
in 1976. Ever since, the Sahrawi have fled
to refugee camps and yearn for indepen-dence
and remembrance from the rest of
the world. Their struggles and sense of
community are highlighted through the
stories of the many brave people inter-viewed
within the film.
In addition to being screened at
film festivals locally and overseas, “When
the Sun Came for Them” can be viewed
free on the website http://SharedRoots.
net, which Ross created. It was launched in
2013 to be a social network for ancestors
and has even been incorporated into some
of Adelphi’s curriculum.
Ross is not only an award-win-ning
filmmaker, but also an award-winning
teacher. His well-liked persona has secured
him the title professor of the year not once,
but two times by faculty and students.
“He enlightens us a great deal and
points out things I would have never seen
or noticed,” said Kedene McLeod, a senior
in Adelphi’s cinema studies program. “He
helps me to identify things within myself
as a filmmaker and artist.”
Thomas W. Campbell, the Com-munications
Department technical direc-tor,
agrees. “He [Ross] has a keen and
sharp mind, he is extremely motivational
to his students and incredibly supportive,”
said Campbell. “I’ve seen this not only in
his classes but in the hallways as well, talk-ing
with him about his students, and inter-actions
with students. He brings enthusi-asm,
a deep knowledge of film history and
a love of production -- that’s what Terrence
brings to our school, that’s his unique con-tribution.”
The Delphian FEATURES May 9, 2016 • 5
Terrence Ross
photo provided by Francesca Giammanco
“Where did the time go?!“
6 • May 9, 2016 FEATURES The Delphian
As the semester is coming to a close and
another academic year is ending at Adelphi, there are several
graduates planning their futures and re ecting on their time
spent at Adelphi. We asked ve seniors where they are headed after
graduation and what they will miss most about Adelphi.
Here is what they had to say:
Roving Reporter Graduating Seniors
BY ALEXANDRA WURGLICS
Sarah O’Connor
History Major
A: “After graduation, I’ll be working in the fashion
industry and hopefully getting a chance to travel.”
Q: “What will you miss most about Adelphi?”
A: “What I’ll miss most
about Adelphi is the
people-- I’ve had so
many wonderful
professors and I’ve
made amazing
friends. Graduation
is de nitely going
to be bittersweet.”
Billy Moulder
Mathematics Major
in the Step Program
A: “As a student in the STEP program, I am excited to
begin my graduate year in the Fall at Adelphi.”
Q: “Where are you
headed after graduation?”
Q: “What will you miss most about Adelphi?”
A: “I will miss the friends
I made at Adelphi the
most. I have formed a
real bond with many
students I take classes
with and it will be
strange not to see
them on a regular
basis.”
Q: “Where are you
headed after graduation?”
Lisa Marino
Environmental Studies
in the STEP Program
Victoria Grover
Mathematics Major in
the STEP Program
Jacky Bernard
Theatre Major
Q: “Where are you
headed after graduation?”
Q: “What will you miss most
about Adelphi?”
A: “Next year, I will be student teaching and
completing my Master’s Degree in Adolescent
Education here at Adelphi.”
A: “Luckily as a part of
the STEP Program, I
will be at Adelphi for
my Master’s. Howev-er,
I will miss the
amazing people
who I have grown
close with during
my undergrad.”
A: “I intend to pursue a career in renewable energy, in
particular solar energy.”
Q: “What will you miss most about Adelphi?”
A: “As I move on, I will
miss the supportive
network of professors
and sta at Adelphi
that have continually
supported me
during my time
here.”
A: “I will be auditioning professionally full-time in
Manhattan and working part-time at Starbucks.”
Q: “Where are you
headed after graduation?”
Q: “What will you miss most about Adelphi?”
A: “I will miss the sense
of community and my
second homes that are
the PAC and the
Honors College.”
Q: “Where are you
headed after graduation?”
First-Year Student Award Winner: Noor Meer
Noor Meer
Freshman, Class of 2019
Major: Biology
Minor: Psychology
Levermore Global Scholar
Noor Meer is this year’s Adelphi
University’s First-Year Student Award win-ner.
Not only was she given this prestigious
award, she received a $250 Barnes and No-ble
gift card and gets to speak to the incom-ing
freshmen at Matriculation Day.
Meer is a biology major and a
psychology minor, as well as a Levermore
Global Scholar. When asked how it felt to
be awarded with such an honor she said, “It
definitely makes me feels like all my hard
work is paying off.”
She is involved in chemistry club,
is in charge of public relations for the Mus-lim
Student Association club, is a freshman
BY KAITLYN RASIAK representative for the Levermore Global
Scholar program, and a social media direc-tor,
as well as a staff writer for Odyssey. She
is also a commuter student, which she said
is at times difficult, but she is able to make
time on the train for her studies.
When asked about her favorite
parts of Adelphi, Meer said she “likes the
fact that every day is like an adventure”
where one day she and some friends decid-ed
to explore the campus and get to know
more about the building and those who
work there.
She also appreciates the campus
diversity. “[At Adelphi] you don’t have to
be of a certain race or origin. You can be
welcomed by people no matter what their
size or shape or color or religion or sexual
ordination or identity is.”
After Adelphi she plans to go into
the medical field and become a doctor.
The Delphian FEATURES May 9, 2016 • 7
BY LEEANN MELLO
Adelphi’s Arboretum Is a Showcase of Life
You’re rushing to class because
you are running late. You’re starving, but
you don’t have enough time to eat. Ev-erything
about your day is going wrong
and you just can’t seem to think posi-tive.
But have you ever stopped and just
looked around you? Have you ever taken
the time to realize how beautiful Adel-phi’s
campus actually is? Did you know
that our 75-acre campus became a regis-tered
member of the American Associa-tion
of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta in
May of 2002? Our arboretum is an entire
showcase of nearly 70 different shrubs,
trees and flowers that exist all over cam-pus,
and it’s 100 percent organic.
Robert Conaghan, Associate Director of
the Department of Facilities Manage-ment,
who is in charge of the arboretum,
said that every plant on campus has its
own unique history. For instance, there
are azaleas by Adelphi’s flagpole that
were planted by the class of 1935.
“It would be extremely dif-ficult
to find azaleas older than these. So
take a look at them, but be careful. One
body falling into these plants can cause
major damage,” Conaghan said. “We also
planted 100 elm trees many years ago,
and there are now only three left. They
were all destroyed by beetles with the
Dutch elm disease. Students on campus
also planted a blue apple cedar tree a
while back, which got destroyed by light-ning.
Instead of getting rid of the tree,
they pieced it back together. The oldest
trees we have on this campus are the oak
and maple trees.”
Conaghan said that something
unique about our arboretum is that pes-ticides
or herbicides have not been used
on campus for the aboretum’s entire 14
years. He attends classes multiple times
a year with organizations like American
Public Gardens Associations and the Nas-sau
Suffolk Landscaping Grounds Asso-ciation
to educate himself and his staff on
how to take proper care of the grounds..
“They even provide a list of
invasive plants that kill our native plants,
bamboo being one of the worst,” he said.
“It is important for us to keep plants that
are native to Long Island also, because
the birds on campus are used to seeing
them, and the birds are a beautiful addi-tion
to the arboretum. These organiza-tions
focus a lot on how harmful the use
of pesticides really is.”
Although the arboretum is a
showcase of flowers this time of year,
Conaghan said the animals on this cam-pus
contribute to the overall appearance.
The shrubs attract birds, such as wood-peckers
and cardinals, which make the
campus even more attractive. There are
also Italian Wall lizards all over campus
that are not native to Long Island. They
may have been released from a pet store
that went out of business in the 60s or
by a professor in the science building.
Conaghan said we may never know, but
these lizards are actually beneficial to the
grounds because they eat insects.
Conaghan also releases around
50,000 ladybugs throughout the year in
order to get rid of all the aphids, a small
insect that destroys plants. “These re-leases
are cheaper and a lot less harmful
than spraying poison onto our campus,”
he said.
We also have a large rabbit population
on campus, which thrives on the organic
plants. The only downside is that bun-nies
often get swooped up and eaten by
hawks, which is a part of nature, but still
shocking to see as you’re walking to
class.
Conaghan provides tours of the
arboretum about six times a year. These
tours are usually in the summer, and set
up by the alumni association. However, if
you give him a call, he is willing to tour
the arboretum with you. There has been
a hold on upgrading the arboretum due
to the construction on the Nexus build-ing
and also the damage from Hurricane
Sandy. However, there will soon be
improvements to our beautiful show-case
and the map will also be updated
as well. You can find the map at http://
www.adelphi.edu/wp-content/blogs.
dir/731/files/2014/05/AUarboretum.
pdf?t=1400775823-1101459, as well as a
list of 68 different plants.
Adelphi University Campus
photo provided by www.adelphi.edu
Noor Meer
photo provided by Kaitlyn Rasiak
Azaleas by the flagpole that were planted by the class of 1935.
photo provided by Bryan Grilli
8 • May 9, 2016 FEATURES The Delphian
Senior Ben Nichols came to Adel-phi
with two things in mind: to play soc-cer
and study to become a doctor. Today,
he is preparing for a career in cinematog-raphy.
His newfound passion has already
brought him awards and taken him around
the world to places such as Havana.
Nichols, 21, grew up in the rural
Vermont town of Lyndonville and attended
Lyndon Institute, where he set the Vermont
state record for most saves in a game at
53 and earned First Team All-State hon-ors.
When he began to look at colleges, he
knew he wanted to be in or around New
York City. With parents from the area, New
York was not completely new to him. After
looking at many options, he chose Adelphi
University.
In addition to making the varsity
soccer team as a goalkeeper, Nichols de-clared
a biology major in his first semester,
as he was considering becoming a doctor.
By his second semester, however, he had
changed his major to international studies.
Then in his junior year, he added a second
major in economics. Changes like these are
certainly not uncommon in college; it is the
time to find oneself. For Nichols, however,
this wouldn’t be the last change.
The spring semester of his junior
year was the turning point. That semester
he took a communications class called Ba-sic
Media Production with professors Ter-rence
Ross and John Drew. It was then that
he realized his passion for cinematography.
The film made for the final project in that
class, “Guy,” a nine-and-a-half-minute film
about a radio DJ meeting some new people
only to discover that they weren’t real but
just fabrications of his imagination, went
on to place third and win best editing in
Adelphi’s Film Festival.
After that, he began to teach him-self
about cinematography: how to use
a camera, watching instructional videos
about the essentials of film making, and
making short ads for his father’s advertis-ing
agency. He made a YouTube channel
and began to make short films whenever he
could. He says now he cannot even watch
a movie without thinking about it from a
cinematographer’s perspective.
A truly life-changing experi-ence
for Nichols was the recent Commu-nications
Department study abroad trip
to Cuba. On the trip, 11 Adelphi students
interviewed, recorded video and produced
stories about the historic transition Cuba is
currently going through given the recent
thawing of diplomatic relations with the
United States. He says that this trip really
finalized his decision to pursue cinematog-raphy
as a career.
One of the professors who accom-panied
him on this trip was Professor Drew.
“I enjoyed having Ben in class,” said Drew
“He works very hard outside of the class-room,
which of course is what media pro-duction
requires. It takes time to learn how
to master a particular camera and it takes
time to learn how to compose shots, shoot
scenes and later, edit everything together.
Ben is one of the more diligent students
I’ve had the privilege of teaching and his
self-motivation is now paying off.”
Currently, Nichols is editing the
film from the Cuba trip into videos that will
be published on CubaStories.com, a web-site
the class is building. While no longer
playing for the soccer team, he is still in-volved
as the director of communications
for the team. He is also helping Professor
Joan Schimke of the Communications De-partment
with a documentary about Holo-caust
survivors reuniting in Brooklyn.
He is also working on a film for
the upcoming Adelphi Film Festival. It
is currently still in the early production
stages. Without revealing too much, Nich-ols
said it will be about “how a very small
change in our lives can put us on two dif-ferent
paths.” The soccer played-turned-international
filmmaker can certainly relate
to that.
From Soccer Field to Film Room,
Nichols Finds Success
BY PIETRO PISCIOTTA
15-16 SEASON
THE ADELPHI UNIVERSITY PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
coming
soon!
Adelphi improvisAtion
ensemble
Monday, May 9 • 5:00 p.m.
Recital Hall
Free Event
Adelphi vocAl ensemble
Monday, May 9 • 7:30 p.m.
Westermann Stage, Concert Hall
Free Event
Adelphi concert bAnd
Tuesday, May 10 • 7:30 p.m.
Westermann Stage, Concert Hall
Free Event
the me nobody knows
Music by Gary William Friedman
Lyrics by Will Holt
Adapted by Robert Livingston and Herb Schapiro
Based on the book The Me Nobody Knows
Edited by Stephen M. Joseph
Additional Lyrics by Herb Schapiro
Direction by Kerry Prep
Thursday, May 12–Sunday, May 15
Various times
Black Box Theatre
AU Students: $5
Adelphi percussion ensemble
Friday, May 13 • 8:00 p.m.
Westermann Stage, Concert Hall
Free Event
melissA mAnchester
Saturday, May 14 • 8:00 p.m.
Westermann Stage, Concert Hall
AU Students: $15/$10
516.877.4000
Purchase
your tickets
today!
/AUPACfan
@aupac
Melissa Manchester
Thank you for being parT of
anoTher greaT season
of performances aT aupac!
Senior Ben Nichols is a man of many talents.
photo provided by Pietro Pisciotta
The Delphian PUZZLED? May 9, 2016 • 9
1. This women’s sports team was awarded the Team
Academic Award.
2. Four students from this country studied at Adelphi
as part of a government-sponsored program.
3. Take Back the __________
The Delphian ELEVENTH Isue Word Search
4. This newspaper was named Best Collegiate
Newspaper by the Press Club of Long Island.
5. An Adelphi student plays professional basketball in
this country.
6. This fraternity hosts Sleep Out for the Soldiers.
7. This is Noor Meer’s major.
8. This festival celebrates the arrival of spring.
9. This Adelphi professor produced an award-winning
international film.
10. Adelphi’s campus has status as a/an _________
and features almost 70 different kinds of shrubs, trees
and flowers.
CLUES
10 • May 9, 2016 EDITORIALS The Delphian
Reflections of a Senior Who Found His Passions at Adelphi
It is an Adelphi tradition that
graduating editors on The Delphian write
a reflection piece on their time at Adelphi
University. As I write and think about my
four years here, I realize that this article
will sound quite close to a thank you letter.
Coming out of high school I was
not quite sure who I was. My moral code
was not yet completed as I had not the ex-periences
I have now. (Granted, I believe
everyone’s moral code can always grow.)
I did not have the intellectual curiosity to
know what I wanted to study, hence my
changing my major several times during
university, and my support system outside
of my family and a few close friends was
not complete.
I have met a lot of people, engaged
in a lot of activities and learned a lot of
things during my time at Adelphi; however
due to a word count limit I must focus on
just a few of the aforementioned. First up
is debate. Debate, in many ways, was the
harbinger of many things to come for me
during my college years. It is here where
I met the life-long friends and companions
BY JONATHAN SCLAR that have impacted me, and will continue
to impact me in a positive way throughout
the rest of my life. It is here where I took
an intellectual interest in universal social
justice, something I will look to incorpo-rate
in my future career (whatever that may
be). It is here where I fell in love with the
study of politics, something I will continue
to studyt well after my years as an under-graduate.
As Adelphi Debate coach/profes-sor/
philosophical thinker/student motiva-tor/
friend to all (It is amazing he has any
time to breathe), Matt Lavery, says: There
is no better tool for student development,
anywhere in university, than debate. Thank
you for all of the long chats about debate,
politics, sports, life, and anything else you
can think of, Matt.
Next I must thank the best de-partment
(interpret my bias as you must)
at Adelphi: the Political Science depart-ment.
I joined the department in the first
semester of my junior year (indecisiveness
is my best trait), but it feels like it has been
my home for my entire collegiate career.
The students, faculty and professors have
created an academic environment that is
conducive to the success of any student. I
think the most important aspect of that en-vironment
is the respect that everyone has
for each other and the desire to learn that is
so apparent in each class that I have taken.
Dawn ensures that the department runs
smoothly in every respect and the students
have an ear to listen to them when picking
classes, studying for finals or making plans
for the future. Professor Levy invests a
countless amount of time into her students,
giving them a place to come to chat as well
as a flood of opportunities for internships,
employment and extra-curricular activities.
Professor Gray is an example of how stu-dents
can turn what they love into activism
that has a positive influence on the lives
of many individuals. Every course I take
with Professor Laatikainen is my new fa-vorite
one and her classes have effectively
guided my career path. Professor Axelrod
once gave her class a piece of advice that I
won’t forget: “If you have an idea that you
think is new and will make a difference,
share it with as many people as possible.”
(Not a direct quote). Professor Kaufman,
the practicing lawyer in the department, al-ways
challenges her students in a fun way;
not to mention all of the law school advice.
Even after all that they do, everyone in the
department works tirelessly on their own
The Racial Justice Alliance in-vites
members of the Adelphi community
to join the University­wide
efforts that will
continue to engage the theme “Racial Jus-tice
Matters” through discussions, lectures
and activities in the coming year.
We formed out of a belief that the
Adelphi community can do better at being
a racially aware and inclusive environ-ment.
Ongoing examples of where this has
not been the case continuously arise. At is-sue
is not intent. We trust that members of
our community care about the experiences
of all. However, without raised awareness
and mindful action, no change can occur.
One recent example is the event,
“Cinco de Lifto,” organized by students.
The title conveys a lack of understanding
about a very important holiday celebrated
by many people of Mexican descent. How-ever
unintentionally, the event caricatures
Mexican culture, history and language. As
a public advertisement, it is one of many
that can be cited in our contemporary so-ciety
that can reinforce perceptions and
prejudices.
In this case, we contacted the or-ganizers
and they have been open to our
concerns so hopefully the event will be
differently named next year. Aside from
this naming and the icon used in publicity,
it’s a great event. Thanks to the openness
and understanding of the organization, we
were able to raise our concerns towards a
productive solution for all parties. This is
very important as we can cite examples
of overt racism and bigotry in anonymous
postings on social media that have been
without such opportunity for what we feel
is necessary: a courageous dialogue about
discrimination within the Adelphi commu-nity.
This is the first step of many to-wards
a larger campus dialogue in which
students are empowered to engage in prac-tical
solutions for racial justice on campus.
In the coming year, the campus will be en-gaged
in bringing situations like this into
the open so that we can raise awareness
and foster the welcoming community that
we know is possible.
We believe that looking at the
perceptions and messages conveyed in ad-vertising,
social media and interpersonal
contact should matter to all of us. Staying
quiet contributes to a discomforting envi-ronment,
whether or not there is ill intent.
We want a campus where all people and all
groups feel included and affirmed so that
we are truly a place of learning. Therefore,
the goal is having a more mindful commu-nity,
curious about and aware of the histo-ries
and experiences of all peoples.
There are 22 Member Groups in
the RJA: student organizations, academic
departments, and university committees.
We hope you will join the efforts to build
the environment we know is possible at
Adelphi.
To contact the Racial Justice Al-liance,
or if you are interested in learning
more about our initiatives, please email
RacialJusticeAlliance@gmail.com.
BY THE RACIAL JUSTICE
ALLIANCE
Creating an Aware and Inclusive Campus
research, work and/or families. It has been
a pleasure being a student and a worker in
the Political Science Department.
Last but not least I must thank
this paper, The Delphian. What started
out as a favor for a friend quickly turned
into a hobby and then potentially a career
path for me. I have loved working with
the brilliant people who make up the staff
at Adelphi’s school newspaper, including
Bryan Grilli and Professor Burby. Under
their leadership it is no wonder The Del-phian
won the Press Club of Long Island
award for best collegiate newspaper. This
paper has given me a voice and an ability
to project that voice into the future.
Adelphi has a slogan: It is the
people that make the place. Not only does
this sound clever, but it is true. At Adel-phi,
I have a found a community of people
that look out for each other under every
circumstance. Not only will I be retaining
a degree from this institution but, when I
graduate, I will also have the confidence
to meet the challenges that await me in the
next stage of my life.
The Delphian SPORTS May 9. 2016 • 11
BY SIERRA CLARK
Adelphi Alumna Is Pro Basketball Star in Germany
Adelphi University for the last
three years has been known for its top 25
women’s basketball team. Greatness is a
tradition that Coach Heather Jacobs has
taken pride in since her arrival in May
2010. Jacob’s mindset to be great has in
turn produced great players and, in the
last two years, three players have contin-ued
their basketball careers overseas.
Sade Jackson went on to play profession-ally
in Germany, and is now back as an
assistant coach for the Lady Panthers.
Jessica Kitrys continued her basketball
career in Spain, where she is still playing.
This summer, Anh-Dao Tran continued
the tradition.
A former AU point guard, Tran
now plays professionally in Karlsruhe,
Germany.
Tran was born and raised in
Webster, Mass., where she began playing
basketball at nine. She starred at Holy
Name High School, scoring more than
1,000 points for her career and earned
a scholarship to New Haven University
where she played for three years, leading
the team in scoring as a junior. But, fol-lowing
a coaching change, the 5-foot-5
guard decided to transfer to Adelphi
University
In her one year at Adelphi, she
averaged 15.0 points per game and 4.7
assists per game and led the team in as-sists.
She also earned a spots on WBCA
All- America team Honorable Mention,
All- Met First Team, and NE-10 Second
Team All- Conference.
A heartbreaking loss in the
NCAA tournament in March 2015 was
thought to have marked the end of Tran’s
extraordinary basketball career. But in
reality it was only the beginning to her
next chapter.
Tran quickly decided that she
was not ready to give up on the game,
which she has come to love over the past
14 years.
“After my collegiate season
came to an end in March, I began work-ing
with my strength and conditioning
coach to get stronger,” Tran said. “I lifted
four times a week. I got shots up four to
five times a week. I also did cardio such
as spin class and the good ol’ loop/half
loop. I wanted to stay ready and be in the
best shape as I could be in.”
Tran’s perseverance and hard
work made her hard to resist, and the
Karlsruhe Lions, in the second league
of the Damen-Basketball-Bundesliga,
signed her on July 23, 2015.
“I felt like it wasn’t time to hang
up my sneakers just yet,” Tran explained.
“The opportunity to play the game I love
while exploring another part of the world
simultaneously was an opportunity of a
lifetime that I couldn’t pass up.”
Tran’s transition from college to
professional basketball has been a smooth
one. She leads her new team in scoring
with a 16.7 points per game average.
“My new team dynamic is
good,” Tran said. “These girls have been
playing basketball with each other for
years and I catch on to new things pretty
quick so we’ll see how this year goes.”
Tran has also had to adapt to life
after college. “It is different,” she said.
“Here, I just play basketball. In college,
I played basketball, worked and had
classes so I had to find a balance.” To fill
up her days, Tran said she enjoys explor-ing
different parts of Germany and going
to different countries in Europe.
Tran’s success comes as no
surprise to her former coaches.
Jacobs she knew Tran would
be able to go abroad and have an im-mediate
impact on the team. “She has a
great shot with deep range and the ability
to get to the rim,” said Jacobs. “She is
extremely crafty and can score the ball at
will.”
Jackson, who also played pro-fessionally
in Germany, said: “Playing
overseas, my biggest challenge was
adapting to a different country, and to
people who don’t speak your language. I
think Anh-Dao will do great in Germany.
She is outgoing, she loves to explore; she
has already explored way more of Europe
than I did.”
BY MEGAN SAFINA
Clark Excels Both On and Off the Basketball Court
Not many students can say
they’ve had their stories published or
had stories published about them. But
Sierra Clark has accomplished both. The
Adelphi University junior is a star on and
off the court.
By day, Clark studies communi-cations
and last semester published sto-ries
in the “Worcester Telegram-Gazette,”
a 71,000-circulation daily newspaper near
Boston, and the “Webster Times,” a small
weekly newspaper in Massachusetts.
Adelphi’s Communications Department
honored the aspiring sports journalist in
March as its Student of the Month.
At night, the 5-foot-11 forward
led the women’s basketball team to an
18-12 record and paced the squad in
scoring, with 13.5 points per game, and
rebounding, with 6.3 rebounds per game.
She was named to the Northeast-10 All-
Conference team and was a Second Team
All-Met Division II selection.
Basketball and academics aren’t
her only talents. As a child, she learned
how to play four instruments – alto saxo-phone,
baritone saxophone, bassoon
and flute – the latter of which she taught
herself.
In her junior year of high school,
her parents told her she had to make a
choice between music and basketball, as
she was equally dedicated to both. Her
basketball team at Archbishop Spalding
High School had made it into a post-sea-son
tournament and it ended up conflict-ing
with one of her band’s big concerts.
She knew it was time to fully commit
to one or the other and that’s when she
decided on basketball.
“I think I made the right choice for me,”
said the Hughesville, MD, native. Even
though, she still plays her instruments
every now and then, basketball ending up
being what she wanted to explore further.
Adelphi’s women’s basketball
coach Heather Jacobs said she believes
Clark to be the perfect combination of
competitive and coachable. “Sierra is a
special player,” Jacobs said. “When she
is in her zone she can be unstoppable.
She has the ability to elevate over her
defender and score at will.”
Her professors rave about her,
too.
“I always enjoy having Sierra in
class because I know I can count on her
to set a good example for other students,”
said Mark Grabowski, a communications
professor. “Sometimes I forget she’s also
a really good basketball player because
I think of her as a scholar first. I think
she’ll have good options when she gradu-ates
— whether it’s playing pro basket-ball
in Europe or pursuing a career in the
media.”
Although Clark has already
made her mark at Adelphi, she still has
plenty of time left to do more. Because
she transferred to Adelphi, after suffering
an injury her freshman year that kept her
off the court at Division I St. Francis Uni-versity,
she still has two years of athletic
eligibility left.
“So even though I am a junior
academically, I am a sophomore on the
court,” she explained. “And I plan to look
into possibly playing overseas because I
don’t think I’ll be ready for my basket-ball
career to be done. When I eventually
hang up my sneakers I will still be able to
be close to the game. I hope to eventually
get into color commentating.”
Anh-Dao Tran leads her new team with an average of 16.7 points per game.
photo provided by Sierra Clark
Sierra Clark with the Adelphi panther
photo provided by Megan Safina
12 • May 9, 2016 SPORTS The Delphian
When Brenna Martini steps into
the batter’s box, opposing teams know
something bad is about to happen. The
sophomore third baseman’s offensive prow-ess
has made a name for her, not only in the
Northeast, but around the country.
On April 16, she cemented that
name even further by breaking the Panther
single season homerun record by blasting
her 12th homerun of the season in Spring-field,
MA, against American International
College.
“It felt pretty special to break the
homerun record this season,” said Martini.
“I know the person who held it before me
worked just as hard as I do.”
The infielder and her many bombs has
helped her team to many a win and has been
the driving force behind the Panther offense
for the 2016 season.
Over the course of her first two
years wearing the Brown and Gold of Adel-phi,
opposing teams have smartened up a
bit and have begun to walk her if there is a
base open. These walks, in addition to her
many hits have accumulated in a .554 on
base percentage for the 2016 season.
“I approach every at bat the same,”
said the third baseman. “I take it as a chal-
Homerun Records Are Meant to Be Smashed
BY FALLON MCCARTHY lenge between the pitcher and myself. I say
‘bring it’ because I know the pitcher is go-ing
to bring her best so I know in order to
beat her, I have to put my best swing on a
pitch.”
Despite the many teams trying to
avoid pitching to her, Martini still boasts a
.443 batting average and an .885 slugging
percentage. Along with her 12 bombs, the
sophomore has 16 extra base hits and 39
walks.
These staggering numbers have
earned her a place on the nation’s Top 25
list for Division II softball players.
In addition to the Top 25 list, Mar-tini
has earned many accolades in confer-ence
as well. She was named the North-east
10 Player of the Year while also being
named All-Conference First Team.
As a freshman, Martini owned a
.400 batting average and a .710 slugging
percentage with nine homeruns and 51 runs
batted in. These numbers earned her the
Northeast 10 Rookie of the Year award.
In addition to the conference nod,
Martini was also ranked in the Top 50 of
Division II softballs players in the nation.
Even though Martini had such a
break out first year, her second year has ar-guably
been even better. Not only has she
busted homerun records, but she has also
busted the myth of the sophomore slump.
Brenna Martini
photo provided by adelphi.edu
The Athletic Department held an
end-of-the-year banquet on Monday, May
2 to honor and celebrate athletes and their
respective sports.
The student athletes were hardly
recognizable in heels, dresses and suits
compared to the usual sweatpants, shorts
and uniforms.
The night was kicked off by Ath-letic
Director Danny McCabe and Adelphi
President Dr. Christine M. Riordan who
both welcomed and congratulated everyone
at the dinner.
Many awards were handed out
Monday night, including MVPs from every
team and individual excellence awards.
The Z. Paul Aiken Award, which is
given to junior student athletes who excel
in both the classroom and the court or field,
was the first to be handed out. This year, the
recipients were Rob Vani from the baseball
team and Mandy Stanislovaitis from the
volleyball team.
The Female and Male Scholar
Athletes of the Year were Taylor Groth of
women’s soccer and Michael Coffey and
John English from men’s basketball and
men’s lacrosse respectively.
The last major awards to be hand-ed
out were the Male and Female Athletes
of the Year, who each had two recipients a
piece: for the women, Megan Manierski of
volleyball and Taylor Hayes of women’s
All Athletes Honored at End-of-the-Year Banquet
BY FALLON MCCARTHY lacrosse, and for the men, Anthony Libroia
of men’s basketball and Salvatore Tuttle of
men’s lacrosse.
The softball team was awarded the
Team Academic Award for their collective
GPA in both the spring and fall semesters of
2015.
In addition to all of the awards, the
new SAAC representatives were named and
called to the stage and presented to the en-tire
banquet.
All seniors were given parting
gifts and congratulated on their years wear-ing
the Brown and Gold.
To end the event, the department
put together a highlight reel of pictures and
videos of great plays, scoring plays and ac-tion
shots.
Anthony Libroia
Sal Tuttle
Meg Manierski
Taylor Hayes
Shelby Stoner after delivering the
Senior Address
photos provided by aupanthers instagram

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