Virginia Wesleyan College students and the Ceramic Designers Association hosted the third annual Empty Bowls Charity Dinner on March 10 in the Boyd Dining Center. Empty Bowls is a charity event that raises money to help feed the hungry. Students, faculty and community members paid $15 to attend the dinner and take home a handcrafted bowl. Upon arriving to the dinner, people were able to select a bowl from more than 700 handcrafted bowls made by professional potters and by students of Virginia Wesleyan College.
Junior Machell Rodabaugh went to the charity dinner and also participated in the January Term Empty Bowls 2000. Students who participated in the Empty Bowls 2000 January Term worked with the Ceramic Designers Association for two weeks making both hand built and wheel thrown bowls. "We got credit, we helped charities," Junior Machell Rodabaugh said. "It was a win-win situation."
Sophomore Brad Cashman also participated in the January Term. Cashman is interested in changing his major to art, so his involvement in the January Term opened his eyes to a new art form, and he was able to help the community as well.
"I got to experience two different sides," said Cashman. "The Ceramic Designers enjoyed the partnership with the students," said Diane Hotaling, director of community services. Out of the 600 tickets available, 595 were sold. Attendees had the option of purchasing another bowl, other than the one they received with their ticket, for $12. A silent auction that featured local and international artists with up to 30 items for sale was also held to help benefit the hungry. According to Hotaling, checks of $3,200 were presented to four charities at the event, so overall $12,800 was raised to help feed the hungry. The charities that received help were Judeo Christian Outreach, Oasis Social Ministry, Union Mission Ministries and The Help and Emergency Response Shelter.
"I think it was a huge success," explained Rodabaugh. "It was nice to see the community and the school come together."
Marlin Chronicle Sports editor Melissa Harris has been named Student Journalist of the Year in a national competition by the Society for Collegiate Journalists. "I was so surprised," Harris said, "I just didn’t expect it." She is quite honored by the recognition and feels all of her hard work has paid off. News of the award came on her 22nd birthday. Harris, a senior, began writing for the Chronicle her freshman year, excelling as a staff reporter from the outset. Her junior year she became sports editor of the paper and was reappointed to the position her senior year.
Harris is currently the president of the Virginia Wesleyan chapter of the Society for Collegiate Journalists. She has received a Citation for Significant Contributions to Collegiate Journalism and recently won a Virginia Press Association award for second place in headline writing. Although her achievements are numerous, Harris has had her share of obstacles to face. Her junior year she was diagnosed with endometriosis and despite surgery along with six weeks of recovery with the assistance of heavy medication, she never missed a deadline and without complaint. Dr. Bill Ruehlmann, Communications professor and Chronicle advisor, feels Harris’ devotion to the Chronicle is extremely noteworthy.
"With unswerving dedication despite her illness, she met her deadlines as an editor, writer, and SCJ officer," he said. Sports have always been an important aspect of Harris’ life. She played softball, volleyball and basketball in high school. She played softball at Virginia Wesleyan her freshman and sophomore years. She stopped playing sports to concentrate on her academics, but continued to write about it through the Chronicle. Writing for the Chronicle kept her involved with athletics. Harris says that through writing, "I still got to be a part of sports."
As an editor, Harris feels that she is getting better with every issue. She finds great satisfaction from all the hard work and late hours when the issues come back from the printer and she’s able to see her work in black and white. "It is always satisfying to see my work come out in print," Harris said. She contributes her success to her parents who have always been very supportive. "They never pressured me to do anything, but gave me all the support I needed. That’s probably why I push myself so hard."
The faculty and staff, especially Dr. Ruehlmann and Dr. Merlock-Jackson, are another big reason she is such a successful journalist. "They’ve been my inspiration," she says of the two communications professors. In addition to the Chronicle, Harris freelances for The Virginian-Pilot and her hometown newspaper, The Fauquier Times Democrat.
The Virginia Wesleyan College’s Ethics Bowl team brought home the inaugural Ethics Bowl cup and plaque in February. An initiative of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, the event brought together 15 college teams from all over the state to Richmond to compete in a battle of ethics. The Wesleyan team included senior captains Nathan Campbell and Rhiannon Farmer, juniors Matthew Cobis and Marc Murray, and sophomore Matthew Pollock. Five alternates also attended the event, including seniors Kristi Unzicker and Christian Morris, juniors Seth Brady and Matt Chester, and freshman Amber-Leigh Mitchell. In November 1999, VWC held its own Ethics Bowl that pulled together 12 students from a variety of disciplines to compete in an event similar to the competition that would be held in Richmond. The judges of the on-campus bowl included President William Greer, Director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom Dr. Catharine Cookson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr. Henry Watts and Public Affairs Director for PETA Lisa Lange. Of the 12 students who participated in the November event, the judges chose five to sit on the podium and represent the college in Richmond.
The team and its five alternates had a little more than two months to strategize for February’s event. Co-captain Campbell, a political science and religious studies major, said, "Our team consisted of math, science, history, political science and philosophy majors. That was one of the strengths of our team the diverse backgrounds." Pre-competition preparation consisted of strategy meetings where the team would dissect sample cases and come up with a line of argument, then look at possible alternative angles to the issues. Campbell and Farmer were chosen as the team’s spokespersons, but all members were encouraged to speak to an issue in which they felt they had expertise.
On February 27, 15 college teams arrived at the University of Richmond to participate in the first VFIC Ethics Bowl. The tournament was divided into two morning rounds and two elimination rounds in the afternoon. "I was nervous going in," Campbell said. "It was the first time we and the VFIC had ever done this event which left a lot of room for uncertainty. But we felt prepared as a team." Wesleyan’s team had practice and a cheering section on their side. In addition to the five team members, five alternates, and team coach Dr. Steven Emmanuel, former Chairman of the Board Jane Batten accompanied the group to Richmond. All of the schools attended a reception and banquet the night before the Bowl. Keynote speaker Roger Mudd, journalist for the History channel, spoke to the young scholars about the importance of ethics. The experience allowed the students to meet team members from the other colleges, the judges and the moderators. Virginia Wesleyan kicked off their first victory against Shenandoah University in the first round, then Bridgewater in the second, and Hollins College in the semi-finals.
"There were a couple of times when I was at a loss for words," Campbell said. "That was the beauty of having a five-person team. Someone else with that specialty would field a response. It was definitely a group effort." During the championship round against Lynchburg College, Mudd commented to Batten about the depth and impressiveness of the Wesleyan team. "Many teams just had one person speaking for everyone," Emmanuel said. VWC had depth where four or five would speak to one question. Working as a team paid off for Wesleyan. Emmanuel cited three reasons why VWC stood out among the rest: "They presented a uniform and unified front as a team, they are very bright people with a lot of native ability to reason and think well, be articulate and persuasive, and their ability to think well, independently and critically is attributed to the educational experience they’ve had at Virginia Wesleyan." The team never wavered during any time of the competition, especially under pressure of handling cases regarding stem-cell research, human cloning and college policy.
At the ceremony announcing the 1999-2000 VFIC Ethics Bowl winner, Virginia Wesleyan was received with great applause as the first-ever winners of the event. Mudd and Batten presented the team with a plaque and trophy cup. The Ethics Bowl is a three-year initiative of the VFIC, and Emmanuel expects Virginia Wesleyan to compete in February 2001. The winner of next year’s competition will compete nationally. "It’s not all about winning," said Emmanuel. "Pride comes from having competed well. Coming in second or third place would have been admirable as well. What we saw there was liberal arts at its best."