The pos­si­bil­ity of a skate park in Big Rapids is still rolling.

After sev­eral city com­mis­sion meet­ings and plans with the City of Big Rapids’ Recreation Department, moth­ers Cyndi Burnett and Laura Hinkle plan to begin fundrais­ing for the city’s first skate park.

The City of Big Rapids, local busi­ness own­ers, and skaters stand behind the idea that started one year ago. Burnett and Hinkle devised skate park plans after their teenage sons Dan Burnett, 14 and Tyler Hinkle, 13, were repeat­edly stopped by city and Ferris State University police for skate boarding.

Skate board­ers, along with BMX bik­ers, are pro­hib­ited from rid­ing on the city side­walks, parks, and the FSU cam­pus, which has had a ban on skate board­ing since 1991.

“Big Rapids has tons of skate board­ers with no out­let for fun,” said Burnett. “These kids need a legit­i­mate place to go with­out get­ting into trouble.”

The Skate Park is esti­mated to cost between $150,000 to $200,000 for con­struc­tion, equip­ment, and labor. Although the city has donated land for this project, the eco­nomic reces­sion hin­ders the city in pro­vid­ing funds for the Skate Park project.

Burnett and Hinkle plan to have sev­eral fundrais­ers, includ­ing a coupon book to be sold in the next com­ing weeks.

“We hope to raise $50,000 on our own so we get more finan­cial sup­port”, said Hinkle. “If we can get more com­mu­nity sup­port, we can begin the grant process.”

Jill Buse, city recre­ation direc­tor, will be set­ting a fundrais­ing account for the project dur­ing the first week of October.

The Tony Hawk Foundation (THF), which pro­vides up to $25,000 of grant money for pub­lic skate parks for low-income areas, is one of the grants the moth­ers are con­sid­er­ing. As of August 2009, THF has 450 grant pro­pos­als, so it is urgent that the Big Rapids Skate Park receives com­mu­nity involve­ment. The moth­ers want to encour­age res­i­dents, stu­dents, and local busi­ness own­ers to donate funds, time, and labor for this project.

The American Ramp Company (ARC) is the pri­mary com­pany the moth­ers plan to use for blue­print designs and equip­ment. ARC, which has been cre­at­ing skate parks world­wide for 20 years, has sev­eral prod­ucts that pro­vide pro­fes­sional and durable skate park equip­ment and designs. Although Burnett and Hinkle are unsure what the park size and equip­ment will be, they are sure that the park will be multi-functional for BMX bik­ers and roller bladers.

The Skate Park is expected to be located near the River Walk on River Street, but loca­tion plans are not yet con­firmed. The park plans to oper­ate like other local parks and will be closed at night.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Skate Park or dona­tions, con­tact Cyndi Burnett or Laura Hinkle at brskatepark@yahoo.com.

Team looks to regain win­ning ways as sea­son begins

The Bulldogs women’s ten­nis team is off to a good start as they opened the sea­son 2–1 in con­fer­ence play.

This past week­end, the Bulldogs defeated Lake Superior State on Friday with an 8–1 vic­tory. Ferris swept all six of the sin­gles matches and won two of three dou­bles matches. The most defin­i­tive vic­to­ries came from junior Amy Ingles and senior Daniela Dimas, each of whom defeated their oppo­nents by a 6–1, 6–1 score.

“It was a strong win for our team,” said Dimas, “we played really well.”

The team hit a speed bump on Saturday as they lost for the first time this sea­son at the hands of Michigan Tech, 5–4.

“We all played com­pet­i­tive, but a lit­tle more work is needed,” said Ingles.

Tabitha Simpson defeated her oppo­nent, 6–1, 6–3 and Daniela Dimas won 6–0, 6–0. Sophomore Mellissa Flowers also cap­tured a sin­gles vic­tory in the los­ing effort.

“It was a tough match, but if we have to replay them I am sure we can beat them,” said Dimas.

The team will be look­ing to get back to its win­ning ways as the Bulldogs travel to Northwood to take on the Timberwolves today in a con­fer­ence match up.

“All of us girls will really have to step up our game and con­fi­dence in order to fight and com­pete with them,” said Ingles.

The Bulldogs will be look­ing to break the trend of recent his­tory as they lost to Northwood 8–1 last year and 9–0 dur­ing the 2007–2008 sea­son. Ingles believes this team’s con­fi­dence, moti­va­tion, and team­work will be able to carry them a long way this season.

Northwood has not lost a con­fer­ence match in over five years and is unde­feated so far this sea­son. The Bulldogs remain opti­mistic and enthu­si­as­tic about the rest of their season.

“If we keep work­ing hard and stay pos­i­tive all through­out the sea­son, I believe we can have good wins,” said Dimas.

A parade and other fes­tiv­i­ties are planned to cel­e­brate homecoming

This year’s home­com­ing theme is “heroes.” Homecoming Heroes 2009: Saving the World Since 1884.

Homecoming is the week of Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. Activities will be going on each day.

Teresa Fogel, Student Activities Assistant of the Office of Student Leadership and Activities, said “The bon­fire has dis­ap­peared for years, but we are bring­ing it back this time.”

She also said we have a new activ­ity this year, the Ferris Best Comic Competition. The audi­tions will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 30 at 8:30 p.m. in Rankin 155. The top three win­ners of the audi­tions will per­form at the Lip Sync con­test, and the win­ner of that will open for Last Comic Standing’s Iliza Shlesinger. Shlesinger’s show is $3 for stu­dents and $5 for non-students as allo­cated by the Student Homecoming Committee, Entertainment Unlimited, and the Finance Division.

For more infor­ma­tion on the events and audi­tions, con­tact Fogel at fogelt@ferris.edu or x5936.

The long awaited arrival of the Buffalo Wild Wings restau­rant in Big Rapids is about to become a reality.

Jeff Carmody, the regional man­ager, recently said that he is expect­ing the doors to be open to the pub­lic by the first or sec­ond week of November. Construction has already been notice­able at the loca­tion, which is in the strip mall con­nected to Kmart.

There will also be appli­ca­tions avail­able on site start­ing this week in a box out­side of the con­struc­tion site, as well as a trailer that will con­duct inter­views with poten­tial employ­ees start­ing on Monday, October 5 from 9 to 5 p.m. The Big Rapids gen­eral man­ager Jess Boughner will be con­duct­ing the interviews.

Applications are also avail­able online at www​.work4bww​.com using hir­ing code 280. The restau­rant will be hir­ing approx­i­mately 80 to 100 employ­ees includ­ing both stu­dents and local res­i­dents. Check back in the com­ing weeks for more information.

Ferris stu­dent cho­sen to test drive new Ford Fiesta

Bryan Redeker has been inter­ested in cars his entire life and didn’t blink twice at the oppor­tu­nity to test drive a brand new Ford Fiesta for six months.

Redeker was one of 100 peo­ple cho­sen out of over 4,000 appli­cants to take part in the Ford Fiesta Movement, a six month social media cam­paign designed to raise excite­ment about the new Ford Fiesta, which will hit American mar­kets early next year.

Redeker will travel as an “agent” par­tic­i­pat­ing in spe­cial monthly “mis­sions” where he will cat­a­logs his expe­ri­ences and post them on var­i­ous social networks.

Bryan is cur­rently a prod­uct design engi­neer­ing stu­dent at Ferris and works as a designer for Haldex. He says, “The new Ford Fiesta is an amaz­ing car and I am delighted to be part of its intro­duc­tion to the U.S. market.”

The Fiesta itself is a four-cylinder, fuel-efficient, four-door, sub­com­pact hatch­back based on the con­cept of the Ford Verve.

The styling and archi­tec­ture of the Fiesta is mod­eled from Europe’s Mazda2 and is expected to rival such cars as the Honda Fit and the Toyota Yaris.

The Fiesta has already become pop­u­lar in both Europe and Asia and recently, the Fiesta over­took the Volkswagen Golf as Europe’s most pop­u­lar model.

Early pro­jec­tions expect the U.S. Fiesta’s fuel econ­omy num­bers to be around 31/39 city/highway miles per gallon.

“Automotive enthu­si­ast is prob­a­bly the sim­plest way to describe my love affair with the cars,” said Redeker on his Fiesta Movement agent pro­file. “I came home from the hos­pi­tal in a Mustang when I was born, and have been mod­i­fy­ing and rac­ing any­thing with 4 wheels ever since.”

“I grew up going to race tracks and car shows,” said Redeker. “Growing up my dad always had a col­lec­tion of Mustangs and our fam­ily friends were all into cars as a hobby.”

He bought his first car when he was 15, “a rusty four-cylinder, auto­matic 1984 Mustang,” which, with the help of his younger brother, Brandon, he trans­formed into a racecar.

Bryan first became inter­ested in European Fords when the Focus was first intro­duced almost a decade ago. He ordered one in the fall of 1999, and he and his brother mod­i­fied that car for track use and used it for autocross­ing and high-speed track events.

The first “mis­sion” that Bryan took the Fiesta on, was a road trip to Southern Indiana for the SAAC Spring Fling Car Show where he entered the Fiesta to help Ford gain expo­sure for the Fiesta.

He says that he and wife, Sara, take road trips when­ever pos­si­ble. Bryan and his brother also have raced the Fiesta with the Furrin Group at autocrosses and taken it to GingerMan Raceway for high speed track testing.

For infor­ma­tion about the Fiesta visit fies​ta​move​ment​.com where Bryan’s agent pro­file can be viewed. His var­i­ous mis­sions with his Fiesta can be fol­lowed on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace.

Al Jardine: gui­tarist for The Beach Boys
Carlton Brewster: Wide Receiver for the New Orleans Saints
Monty Brown: Former NFL line­backer and WWE pro wrestler
Allen Feigel: Offensive line­man for Team Michigan in the All– American Football League
Dave Karpa: Former NHL defense­man
Chris Kunitz: Pittsburg Penguins NHL player
Harry Melling: 1988 NASCAR cham­pi­onship car owner and owner of Melling Tool
Dana King: News anchor for CBS news affil­i­ate in San Francisco, California
Butch Jones: CMU head foot­ball coach
Gary Waters: Cleveland State University head bas­ket­ball coach
George Ryan: Former Governor of Illinois
Jeffrey Orkisz: Project Engineer of Kiewit Texas Construction
Ken Youngblood: Junior Buyer of Anixter Inc.
Andy Roach: Pro Ice Hockey player
John Gruden: Pro Ice Hockey player
John Schroeder: Pro golfer
Shawn Christian: actor and soap opera star

“Tres Vidas” is the first of its kind on campus

“Tres Vidas”, or “Three Lives”, will be per­formed here on cam­pus by Core Ensemble.

“Tres Vidas” will be in Williams Auditorium on Wed., Sept. 30 from 7p.m. to 9p.m. The per­for­mance is free and all stu­dents and com­mu­nity mem­bers are wel­come to attend.

The Diversity Office, through the “Diversity Mini-Grant Program”, has brought “Tres Vidas” to cam­pus. It is being co-sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Services, Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee, and Student Leadership.

“Tres Vidas” is a music the­ater pro­duc­tion based on the lives of three leg­endary Latin American women includ­ing a painter, peas­ant activist, and poet. The story offers dra­matic sit­u­a­tions and com­pelling emo­tions to all audi­ences, accord­ing to core​-ensem​ble​.cc. It was writ­ten by award-winning writer Margorie Agostin and is being directed by Matthew Wright.

Because this is a live per­for­mance, the audi­ence will view tra­di­tional clothes, music, and danc­ing. The music ranges from Mexican folk and Argentinian tango to instru­men­tal work.

This is the first time an event like this has been brought to cam­pus. According to Natalia Carvalho-Pinto, Recruiting Officer, the Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee believes it is a great accom­plish­ment to bring an event with this cal­iber to cam­pus. They are proud to bring some­thing to cam­pus that offers music, the­ater, and edu­ca­tional con­tent all at the same time.

Lori Spitler, FSU stu­dent major­ing in Architectural Technology, thinks the show will give stu­dents a greater under­stand­ing about a dif­fer­ent kind of cul­ture and lifestyle.

“We believe that this event pro­vides a sig­nif­i­cant and fun learn­ing expe­ri­ence that our stu­dents and com­mu­nity don’t nor­mally expe­ri­ence in a class­room set­ting,” said Carvalho-Pinto.

The actors and musi­cians will be avail­able for pic­tures and inter­views after the performance.

For more infor­ma­tion on the event, con­tact Carvalho-Pinto at carv9@ferris.edu or 1−800−433−7747 or x2295.

For more infor­ma­tion on the story, visit core​-ensem​ble​.cc.

A round up of this week’s crime on FSU campus

Illegal Entry in Travis

On Sept. 18 at 1:10 a.m., offi­cers inves­ti­gated an ille­gal entry com­plaint in Travis Hall. Suspect was referred to the prosecutor’s office for a warrant.

Domestic Assault

On Sept. 14 at 5:15 p.m., offi­cers inves­ti­gated a domes­tic assault com­plaint in Taggart Hall. The sus­pect was arrested on Sept. 23 for aggra­vated assault.

Disappearing Cash

On Sept. 14 at 6:40 p.m., there was a report of a theft of money com­plaint from McNerny Hall. The vic­tim reported that the money was taken from their room the pre­vi­ous week.

Missing Ipod

On Sept. 16 at 10:20 p.m., there was a report of a theft com­plaint in Johnson Hall. An ipod was stolen.

Party People

On Sept. 18 at 12:08 a.m., offi­cers assisted hall staff in Cramer Hall for a loud party. The sub­jects were referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

MIP on campus

On Sept. 17 at 11:10 p.m., offi­cers appre­hended a minor in pos­ses­sion of alco­hol on the side­walk near the Rock Café. The minor was tick­eted and referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Open Intoxicants

On Sept. 19 at 2:30 a.m., offi­cers appre­hended two sub­jects in Lot 71 in pos­ses­sion of open intox­i­cants. Subjects were ticketed.

Suspicious Phone Call

On Sept. 21 at 9 p.m., offi­cers received a harass­ment phone call com­plaint. The vic­tim and the sub­ject were con­tacted and advised to stay away from each other. They were also referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Impounded Vehicle

On Sept. 15 at 2:10 p.m., a vehi­cle from Lot 27 was impounded because it was block­ing the driveway.

Hit and Run

On Sept. 15 at 3:05 p.m., there was a hit and run in Lot 64. The dri­ver was iden­ti­fied. He was located and tick­eted for leav­ing the scene of an accident.

Improper U-Turn

On Sept. 18 at 1:40 a.m., offi­cers stopped a vehi­cle on State Street for an improper U-turn. Driver was found to be intox­i­cated and was lodged in the Mecosta County Jail. Two pas­sen­gers were tick­eted for MIP (Minor in Possession).

Club Commotion

On Sept. 17 at 1:50 a.m., Ferris State Officers assisted the Mecosta County Police with a large fight at the Odyssey Night Club.

Vehicles Scratched

On Sept. 18 at 11:40 a.m., there was a report of vehi­cles dam­aged in Lot 31. Two uni­ver­sity vehi­cles were scratched on the sides by a metal object.

MIP on Oak Street

On Sept. 19 at 1:30 a.m., offi­cers appre­hended a minor with a can of beer at Michigan and Oak Street. The sus­pect was tick­eted for MIP (Minor in Possession).

Stolen Bicycle

On Sept. 16 at 7:45 a.m., there was a report of a bike stolen from Finch Court. Officers checked the areas and were unable to locate the sus­pect or the bike.

Suspended License

On Sept. 18 at 11:20, offi­cers found a dri­ver in Lot 39 whose license was sus­pended. Driver was ticketed.

Ticket Totals

From Sept. 17 through 24, pub­lic safety iden­ti­fied 538 vio­la­tors. Each vio­la­tor was tick­eted for a total of $1,190. Actual amount depends on whether the ticket was paid, voided, or reduced.

Job fairs are one of the most impor­tant events to go to dur­ing your colege career.

Marky Stein, writer for “The Interview Expert,” said the U.S. Department of Labor states that 16 to 18 per­cent of all job seek­ers find jobs at job fairs.

Stein says some impor­tant things in his arti­cle “Dressing for Job Fairs.” You need to dress nice because, Stein wrote after sur­vey­ing more than 40 job fair recruiters, “recruiters at these events said that, sim­ply on the basis of see­ing the job seeker—and before the seeker ever reached their booth, talked to them or handed out their resume—that the prospect dressed in extremely casual cloth­ing struck them as being unpre­pared, irre­spon­si­ble, less capa­ble, edu­cated and qual­i­fied and pos­sess­ing poor work habits.

On the other hand, they described more pro­fes­sion­ally dressed indi­vid­u­als as capa­ble, well-educated, intel­li­gent, trust­wor­thy, respon­si­ble, and peo­ple they wanted to hire.”

These rules don’t just apply for Job Fairs, but also for inter­views as well. Job Fairs are like mul­ti­ple inter­views in one room all in one day.

Angie Roman, Coordinator of Career Services at Ferris, said, “The num­ber one prob­lem with stu­dents when they go to job fairs is net­work­ing. Networking is the num­ber one tool stu­dents should use in order to find jobs. Student pre­pare for the Job Fair, but only for employ­ers related to their field. What they should do is pre­pare for all employ­ers, whether related to their field or not, to increase their net­work con­tacts for future career opportunities.”

The First Lady’s Attic helps stu­dents in need of appro­pri­ate attire for inter­views, pre­sen­ta­tions, and job fairs. It pro­vides fash­ion advice and shirt and coat mea­sure­ments too.

Lisa Kemmis, facil­i­ta­tor and fash­ion advi­sor for the First Lady’s Attic, said “Students can get clothes, shoes, coats, and acces­sories only twice per year, but can keep the clothes; every­thing is free. We’ve already had about 100 stu­dents come in this year and it’s only about two months into school.”

Ferris’ fall job fair is Thurs., Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Wink Arena.

For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Roman at angelaroman@ferris.edu or x2685.

Top Six Recommendations by Ferris Job Fair Employers

• Wear appro­pri­ate attire
• Visit web site of com­pany they are inter­ested in to get bet­ter knowledge
• Think out­side the box, explore oppor­tu­ni­ties by vis­it­ing and intro­duc­ing them­selves to every employer
• Experience with your field – on cam­pus, vol­un­teer, intern­ship, etc.
• Have bet­ter pre­pared questions
• If they uni­formly had some­thing to hand us to prequalify

Personal Characteristics Employers Seek

9−30−09

Ferris’s Best Comic Auditions

Auditions for Ferris’ Best Comic Competition will take place on Sept. 30 from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. in Rankin 155. Open to any Ferris stu­dents, audi­tions will con­sist of a 3–5 minute comic skit. The top three final­ists will per­form at the Lip Sync Competition and the win­ner will have the chance to open for Homecoming Comedian Iliza Schlesinger. For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Jaci TenEyck at teneycj@ferris.edu.

Fall Job Fair

Ferris’ semi-annual job fair will be held on Oct. 1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ewigleben Sports Complex (Wink Arena). The job fair is free and open to Ferris stu­dents of all aca­d­e­mic lev­els. Students have the oppor­tu­nity to bring résumés and meet with employ­ers from over 100 busi­nesses and orga­ni­za­tions look­ing to fill per­ma­nent and intern­ship open­ings. For more infor­ma­tion or to view the full list of employ­ers attend­ing, visit the Career Services web site.

Ghost Hunter Chris Fleming

At 7 p.m. on Oct. 1 in Williams Auditorium, Entertainment Unlimited presents ghost hunter, Chris Fleming. Co-host of the tele­vi­sion show “Dead Famous,” he exam­ines the aspects of the para­nor­mal, spirit world, super­nat­ural, ghosts, and unex­plained phe­nom­ena from his per­spec­tive as a para­nor­mal inves­ti­ga­tor. For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Entertainment Unlimited at EU@ferris.edu or by call­ing x2610.

Battle at the Ballpark

The Ferris State foot­ball team will take on the Michigan Tech Huskies at Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park on Oct. 3. Tailgating begins at 4 p.m. and kick­off is at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for stu­dents and can be pur­chased at the sports com­plex. For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Rob Bentley at bentleyr@ferris.edu or call x3821.

Homecoming Week 2009

Oct. 4 to Oct. 10. Various events will be tak­ing place around cam­pus all week. For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Teresa Fogel at FogelT@ferris.edu or call x5936.

“What’s Morally Wrong With Homosexuality?”

A lec­ture by Dr. John Corvino, as part of an edu­ca­tional events series focused on issues faced by mem­bers of the LBGTQA (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, Queer, and Allies) com­mu­nity. He is a nation­ally known speaker on issues relat­ing to moral­ity and homo­sex­u­al­ity. This event will be held on Oct. 5 from 7 to 8 p.m. in the Dome Room. For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Karen Strasser at strassek@ferris.edu or by call­ing x2543.

John Rybicki Book Talk and Signing

Author John Rybicki will be appear­ing at Great Lakes Books and Supplies as part of the Literature in Person Reading Series on Oct. 6 from 3 to 4 p.m. He is the author of sev­eral books of poems includ­ing, “We Bed Down into Water.” For more infor­ma­tion con­tact Dr. Phillip Sterling at sterlinp@ferris.edu or by call­ing x5898.