Students say all the time that they “go to college” and that may be true. Whether it’s in your hometown or 1,000 miles away, college is so much more than a place to study. People attend a university to get an education. The education they receive, however, is not limited to academics.

I have enjoyed my five years at Ferris because of the things I have learned and done. I’m not proud of everything I did, but I can say that I had fun and made some memories. I’m not saying go out and wreak havoc every night, but you have to live a little.

College life allows students the chance to discover themselves and to grow into the person they will be for the rest of their lives. Most of us are immature kids when we come to college, but we pick up a few things along the way and eventually grow into relatively mature adults along the way.

Make sure you get involved in as many activities, organizations and clubs as you can. Don’t get spread too thin, but certainly don’t sit on your hands at home every night. Getting involved will allow you to meet new people that, in many cases, will be your friends for the rest of your life.

I don’t consider myself an outgoing person, but I have gotten involved in a few organizations on campus and have learned how to communicate effectively with people.

When it is all said and done, it really doesn’t matter how many parties you go to or how many events you attend. It’s about doing things with the people you enjoy spending time with. The next person you meet could be the person you spend the rest of your life with.

The end is bittersweet for me. I’m excited about the opportunities ahead, but I’m sad to leave many close friends.

For those who have a year or more left in college, enjoy every minute of it. You may have three or four years left and at times it will seem like it will never end. I can promise that your final years will go faster than you think.

Learning Experience is a post from The Ferris State Torch. If images or multimedia are missing, please visit the original post at the web site.

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Forward Tyrin Wade and guard Drew Lehman will join the basketball team as freshman for the 2011–2012 season. The Bulldogs previously inked 6–10 center Jared Stolicker and 5–10 guard Dietrich Lever during the early signing period in November.

Wade, a 6–5 Class B All-State selection from Lansing Sexton high school, averaged 16.8 points and 7.5 rebounds per game as a senior. He led Lansing Sexton to its first a state title in more than 50 years.

Lehman is a 5–11 scorer from Toledo Central Catholic High School. As a senior, Lehman averaged 14 points, four rebounds and three assists per contest. He was named as a second team Ohio Division I All-District selection last season.

Ferris’ four-member recruiting class will help fill the void next season as the team loses National Player of the Year Justin Keenan, along with seniors Matt DeHart, Darien Gay and Lou Williams.

The 2010-11 season marked the Bulldogs’ most successful campaign since 2005 by earning a GLIAC North Division title and two NCAA Division II Tournament victories.

For more info, check out ferrisstatebulldogs.com/sports/mbkb/2010–11/releases/20110419skt8ma

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Tax day may be daunting for many Americans. Some people owe thousands of dollars to the federal and state governments. This year, the federal government has extended the date to file and pay your taxes until April 18.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people complain about taxes. The most common types are income taxes, sales taxes and property taxes. However, there are also inheritance taxes, capital gains taxes and corporate taxes.

Unfortunately, many tax rates are expected to increase in 2011 and 2012 unless President Obama extends some of the tax cuts put in place during the Bush administration. The capital gains tax will increase from 15 percent to 20 percent and the estate tax will increase from 0 percent to 45 percent.

I do not like paying taxes as much as the next person, but complaining about them will not stop the government from collecting them. Taxes are the primary source of revenue for the federal and state governments.

Governments use tax revenue to fund law enforcement, war, public education, infrastructure construction, healthcare systems, public utilities and more. Without taxes, we would not have water and sewer systems in our cities and public transportation would not exist.

We are all aware that Michigan’s economy has struggled over the past few years. The state’s General Fund, used to pay for the majority of expenses statewide, had nearly $9.5 billion in 2007-08. In 2010, that had dropped to less than $7 billion.

The real argument should be about where the government is spending our money. Lobbyist groups in Washington D.C. fight every day for politicians to pass bills that supports their cause. Any more, these groups are the only people that can get politicians to listen. The driving force behind almost everything in the business and political world is money.

There is no such thing as free. The government tries to sell us on “free” education or “free” healthcare. It’s not free. You pay for it. I pay for it. n

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For the women’s team, sophomore Zoey Hohmann won the 400 meters with a time of 57.27 and finished second in the 200-meter race. Senior Amy Joostberns finished second in the discus throw, while freshman Jessica Pilling finished second in the hammer throw.

Freshman runner Samantha Johnson earned second-place finishes in the 800 meters and 1,500 meters. Sophomore Christa Cwiek earned a fourth-place finish in the javelin throw for the Bulldogs.

For the men’s team, sophomore Ryan Chute finished second in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 8:42.78. The Bulldog men’s team placed sixth in the 4x400-meter relay as well.

Sophomore J.J. Vandenburg claimed fifth place in the hammer throw, while sophomore Derrick Bartlett finished seventh in the 800 meters with a time of 1:58.89.

The Bulldogs will be back in action on April 16 in Midland at the Northwood Invitational.

Photos courtesy of Brock Copus.

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As I overheard conversations last week about how Justin Bieber is coming to Ferris Fest, a sly smirk immediately crossed my face. All it took was for one or two people to read the front-page headline of last week’s Torch and tell their friends without reading into it.

The fact that so many readers believed the April Fool’s joke, even for a second, led me to two observations about our society today.

The first observation is that even in a world where you can touch the screen on your cell phone and instantly have stories from several news outlets, newspapers still play an important role in our society.

Newspapers have certainly taken a back seat to emerging technologies and “blazing” fast Internet speeds. That being said, print news still exists because people still read them. You can’t find a story about a college student who plays the piano to entertain the elderly on a tech blog.

The second observation is that we are so completely blanketed in information overload that we often don’t stop and think for two seconds. If I told you the Ferris football program was being cut so the athletics department could add water polo and cricket, you would call me insane. And if everyone had read the “In this Issue” section at the bottom of the front page last week, I wouldn’t even be bringing this up.

Are we blaming cell phone companies, TV providers or advertising giants for our inability to take 30 seconds of our busy days to think? I don’t think so. In fact, many people would not even know how to act without their iPhone or Droid in their pocket at all times.

It has become second nature for us to read news stories without questioning the reporter at all. News sources have built a level of trust with their readers and viewers and 99.9 percent of the time they are accurate.

Nonetheless, that shouldn’t stop us from thinking for ourselves. n

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In 2000, the fall enrollment listed 9,847 students according to the 2010-11 Fact Book published by Institutional Research and Testing. Ten years later, Ferris’ enrollment for the fall 2010 semester was 14,318. This represents the largest number of students enrolled in the school’s history and a 45 percent increase in just a decade.

As state funding for secondary education continues to decrease, the university is forced to find alternate methods to cover its costs. When it is all said and done, more students equals more tuition revenue. It’s as simple as that.

Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications Shelly Armstrong said funding other than resources from the state “basically comes from two sources: tuition revenue and philanthropy.”

Armstrong said since state support has declined, philanthropy is needed more now than in years past. In 2003, state funding accounted for 44.6 percent of Ferris’ revenue. In 2010, state funding made up 26.5 percent. That is where marketing and advertising steps in.

Recruiting and advertising are primary methods any institution uses to attract new students. Troy Tissue, associate director of admissions and records, said Ferris reaches out to prospective students with print media, electronic sources and recruiters.

The University Advancement and Marketing Office has used technology, such as social media websites and college search vendors, to help develop a new marketing campaign. Armstrong said the goal of the campaign is to promote the university’s career-oriented education and its 17 statewide locations.

Take a drive on US-131 between Big Rapids and Grand Rapids and you’ll surely notice the new-look billboards with slogans like “Don’t just transfer, transform” and “Education in two words: you’re hired.” Armstrong said the redesigned billboards are just one part of the university’s goal to reposition itself as a secondary education leader in Michigan.

“What we wanted to accomplish with the campaign is to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and focus on messaging that is unique to the institution which ties back to our vision and mission,” said Armstrong.

Though the correlation may not be directly from marketing, the number of prospective student applications increased from 9,097 in 2007 to 11,285 in 2009. Of those students who applied, 6,083 were admitted and 2,356 students actually enrolled as freshman.

A common misconception behind enrollment increases often relates to the quality of students accepted. It would be easy to assume that since the university has accepted more students, it must have lightened its admission requirements. The numbers, however, tell a different story.

The average GPA for first time in any college students at Ferris was 3.19 in 2010, compared to 3.13 in 2005. Additionally, the average composite ACT scores for first-year students has increased from 20.9 to 21.4 since 2005.

Tissue said there are numerous reasons for the increase in GPA and ACT scores, but implementation of the Great Lakes Scholarship is one of the biggest. The scholarship allows students from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, as well as others like California, New York and Ontario, Canada, to pay a lower tuition rate for up to 15 credit hours per semester.

“When we bring students from out of state, those students generally are a little bit more academically prepared,” said Tissue. “Not more so than a state of Michigan resident, but to leave home, they want to know where they are going and are usually well prepared academically.”

Ferris, like other public universities, has been forced to do more with less. Tissue said there has been no “fiscal surge” toward recruiting or marketing.

“What we have done over the course of time is as technologies and the abilities to reach out and touch prospective students has changed, we’ve moved with those opportunities,” said Tissue. n

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But it is not just any cake. The dessert will be in the shape of the award-winning building as part of the celebration of National Library Week April 10–16.

Connie’s Cakes, based in Grand Rapids, will bring the dessert to the library at 8 a.m. on April 12 to set up. The cake will be cut and served to the public at 11 a.m.

Mari Kermit-Canfield, a reference and instruction librarian in her third year at FLITE, said the library will have special activities throughout the week. Students are invited to have their picture taken in front of the “Read” signs with their favorite book. They can have posters of their picture made for no charge.

“The cake company is very excited about doing this,” said Kermit-Canfield. “They actually took some of the models of the building and they have a lot of photos as well.”

FLITE, which stands for Ferris Library for Information, Technology and Education, opened to the public on March 12, 2001 and the official ribbon-cutting ceremony followed four days later. Prior to its opening, the Timme Center housed the Ferris library.

The Granger Construction Company won the ESD Construction and Design Award in 2002 for the FLITE library.

“It’s going to be fun. We’re just really proud of the library and hope people come enjoy some cake with us,” said Kermit-Canfield. n

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For some students, drinking with friends is a social event that happens many weekends throughout the school year.

Alcohol is a great way to relax after a stressful week of homework, exams and work. For those of us who don’t consider ourselves “social butterflies,” alcohol can be very helpful in allowing us to unwind and talk to more people.

There are even certain days like Halloween and St. Patrick’s Day that the majority of students see as another opportunity to throw back a few cold ones. For the heavier drinkers, those days are just called weekends.

The consequences of drinking too much may be as minor as a hangover or getting sick; however, alcohol abuse can lead to serious health complications or can even be fatal.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for 2009, 43.5 percent of college students were binge drinkers and 16 percent were “heavy” drinkers. The survey defined “binge” as five or more drinks within a couple hours and “heavy” as five or more drinks on the same occasion at least five times in the last month.

While these numbers may not be shocking, the most troubling statistic in the survey regarded driving under the influence. The survey indicated that 24.8 percent of people between the ages of 21–25 admitted to driving under the influence within the last year.

It’s one thing to drink, but it’s entirely another to drive after drinking. Every time you get behind the wheel after drinking, you endanger every person on the road and take your life into your own hands.

Find a designated driver, call a cab, or walk home if you live close by. If you have friends who are kind enough to let you sleep on the couch, party with them more often instead of going to the bar.

It may be only two letters in the dictionary, but the difference between use and abuse when it comes to alcohol can be the difference between life and death.

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Tampa Bay vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman made the announcement at a press conference Tuesday.

Following the 2010-11 season, Nagle was named as a finalist for the RBC Financial Group Player of the Year Award, given annually to the most valuable player in the CCHA. Additionally, Nagle was nominated as Hobey Baker Memorial Award candidate.

As a senior, Nagle finished fifth in the nation with a 2.02 goals against average and 10th in the nation with a .923 save percentage. He led the Bulldogs to an 18–14-5 record in 37 starts this season.

Nagle ranks in the top 10 in school history in saves, shutouts, goals against average and save percentage. Among goalies that started at least five games, he ranks second all time in save percentage and in goals against average.

Bulldog defenseman Scott Wietecha signed with the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals and forward Mike Embach signed with the AHL’s Texas Stars earlier this month.

Check out the highlight video of Nagle’s season from the Ferris State Athletics website. http://ferrisstatebulldogs.com/sports/mice/video/Pat_Nagle_Tribute_3-23–11

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While mainstream national publications are filled with broad national news, college newspapers focus more on local and on-campus news. The growth of the Internet and yellow journalism over the past decade has taken its toll on newspapers that used to rely heavily on daily subscribers.

It is now easier to look up information on Google or another search engine to find exactly what you are looking for. Fewer and fewer people actually pick up and read a newspaper. When the information is so readily available on online sources, why spend the time, or money, to read a newspaper?

As seemingly everything has moved online, so too have many newspapers. College students have an advantage over older generations, as we have grown up using computers. Consequently, many colleges and universities have been ahead of the curve in terms of developing user-friendly websites that offer videos, blogs, photo galleries and breaking news stories.

Last year, the Ferris State Torch took a step in an uncharted direction and re-developed its website using WordPress.

The Torch website, fsutorch.com, was recognized as a finalist for the College Media Association Apple Award for best website. The 2011 Apple Awards were announced last week at the annual Spring College Media Convention in New York. The Torch website, fsutorch.com, finished second out of 132 entries.

Ithaca College, located in Ithaca, NY, won the award with its website theithacan.org. The Flagler College Gargoyle in St. Augustine, Fla. took third place with its website gargoyle.flagler.edu.

The Torch website is far from perfect, however, and we are always looking for better ways to serve the students of Ferris State University. If you have any ideas of ways to improve the website, please contact us at torch@ferris.edu or post your comment on the web version
of this story. n

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