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Minute to Give It

By Pauline Hassan

Taking the idea of the game show and adding a twist of giving back, was APU’s new event Minute to Give It

Right before Midnight Madness, Trinity lawn was turned into a platform for a large crowd of students cheering on their peers to win prizes on Minute to Give It!

APU took the game show “Minute to Win It” and put a Cougar twist on it.  The game show “Minute to Win It” has contestants perform nearly impossible tasks in under a minute in order to advance to the next level and win money.  Although APU was not giving out thousands of dollars, contestants had a chance to win a fifty dollar target gift card and other cool prizes.

The twist on APU’s version of this game was that participants brought in canned goods in exchange for a ticket to go on stage to perform these tasks.  The more cans donated, the better the chances of winning was.

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Jazz Ensemble

By Kelsey Bjugstad

Munson Chapel was full of laughter and excitement Thursday night, November 11th for APU’s Jazz Ensemble performance. Music Department Chair Dr. Cathey introduced the band with a quote by jazz legend Duke Ellington, “Jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.” Laughs between songs and excitement on the player’s faces after solos made the audience feel like they were part of the fun.

Just because they were having a good time didn’t mean they weren’t working hard. According to Director David Beatty, APU’s Jazz Ensemble has a great reputation, even surprising large college jazz groups with their skills.

Beatty humorously bragged about beating USC last year at the prestigious Monterey Jazz Festival. Monterey native and senior Katie Hazdovac knew of the popular festival but did not know APU’s Jazz Ensemble played and felt it was “quite an honor” because so few bands are invited to compete at the festival. She came to support a friend and was impressed with how much she enjoyed the concert.

If you are interested in hearing them perform, mark your calendars on February 13th for the ‘Swing Valentine’s Swing’ dinner-dance.

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KAPU Launch Party

By Raquel Escoto

KAPU had their launch party on Tuesday November 9th at Trinity lounge. Advertisements throughout the week consisted of posters, radio announcements and three male students dressed in suit and ties with black masks walking around campus to tell people about the free cookies and cider at Trinity lounge.

“The event is a launch party to raise awareness that KAPU has four stations now,” senior music composition major and KAPU general manager Austin Cross said.

The vibe to the lounge was an intimate, “jazzy” setting; with dim lights and lounge chairs facing a small platform where musical performers stood. A small lighting kit lit up the performer as he sang various songs accompanied by an acoustic guitar. Behind the performers were four banners advertising KAPU’s stations “Hits,” “Oldies,” “Christian,” and “Sports.” There was a good crowd in the room, some mingling and others enjoying the music.

To the right of the stage was a table lined with free sugar cookies with a huge poster that read “Cookie Mill.” Next to them were plastic champagne shaped cups to be filled with either apple or cherry sparkling cider.

On one side of the room were tables laid with free merchandise such as pens, Frisbees, beach balls, hats, mouse pads and even air fresheners that all promote KAPU.

According to Cross, event planning was done with freshman in mind in efforts to promote the longevity of the station.

“This event is mainly for the freshman. I knew the weather might be an issue so we did it indoors,” Cross said. “I figured the small ‘coffee shop’ theme was very successful; however since we’re doing a party, I figured we’d do the champagne knock off. We did it all on a very bargain budget.”

The new station, KAPU Oldies, which plays oldies hits all the time, will be playing Christmas classics starting November 25th.

To listen to any four of the stations go to kapu.apu.edu to tune in.

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Behind the scenes at MEP Fashion Show

By Lauren Belanger

Each year at the end of Global Vision week at APU, the Multi Ethic Programs office puts on the Multi Ethic fashion show. This year’s fashion show took place at the Global Fest on Friday, November 5th. Members of the APU community donate their clothes from around the world to be used at the event, and APU students volunteer to rock the runway. This year, I finally volunteered to model. I have been wanting to model at the Multi Ethnic fashion show since freshman year, and I finally did it!

Citrus Cosmetology students volunteered to do hair and make up for the models at 2:30 on Friday. So the models showed up and got dolled up for the big event! I had to work until 3:30, so I got dolled up very quickly. Then the models headed over to Trinity lawn for further instruction. The atmosphere was alive with jitters and excitement for the long awaited event. Students who work within the MEP office have been preparing for this event for a while and all their hard work was finally being fleshed out.

Around 5:40 all the models were ushered into our pop up tent changing rooms, where our assigned changing girls helped shimmy us into our cute outfits. The first shift of outfits was from the islands. I wore this awesome peach colored, embroidered robe from the Philippines. Between each set of outfits were performances from those areas of the world.

The second set of outfits was from Asia. This was my favorite section, because I got to wear these amazing metallic purple and gold harem pants from India.

The third set of outfits was from Latin countries. I didn’t have an outfit from this section, but all of the outfits were beautiful, fun and festive. Most of the girls had big, bright dresses that they flipped around and danced in down the runway.

Lastly were the African outfits. Since I studied abroad in South Africa, I was very excited about this section. My skirt was a fun, flirty, bright skirt from Nigeria. I had a lot of fun dancing down the runway in it!

“The global fest fashion show is a wonderful opportunity for different backgrounds to celebrate our diversity, enjoy various traditions and raise awareness in one event. It was a hit and I feel blessed to have been a part of it again,” Clare Berghorst junior theatre arts and music major said.

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Global Fest

By Pauline Hassan

With a taste of flavor from every part of the world, APU celebrated culture at Global Fest Friday, November 5th.  Trinity Lawn was turned into an outside venue which housed a stage of students displaying the many cultures of the world.

With a crowd of more than a hundred, the audience enjoyed a night of global festivities and food.

There were traditional songs and music performed by students as well as an island style dance party.  With every part of the world also came a fashion show displaying the different types of dress people wore. 

One of the performances that was a big hit was an Island dance tutorial, where students, alumni, and people who were apart of the audience participated in learning the dance. Afterwards they performed for themselves. 

One performer sang a Korean pop song that turned out to be a real crowd pleaser.

Students who participated in Global Vision Week turned in cards they had received in Monday’s chapel service with stamps from different events they had attended, which entered them in a raffle.

The prizes included gift cards, books, music, and a grand prize of international round trip flights.  The event ended Global Vision Week for APU.

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Midnight Madness

By: Allyson Rodrigues

Midnight Madness took place on Thursday, November 11th. This event, which kicks off basketball season, was a night full of fun, laughter and of course basketball.

Before the madness began, students hung outside of Felix Event Center enjoying live music, $1 pizza, and free frozen yogurt from Golden Spoon.

Once the doors opened to FEC, students were greeting with loud music as they rushed to find good seats. The gym was packed with students filling both sides from floor to ceiling. Once most were seated, a video started that got the crowd hyped up and ended with, “The journey begins now.” After the video, fireworks were lit that surprised the audience with a loud BOOM!

Men’s and women’s teams were introduced. Some of the players danced their way in and as each player was introduced they threw a t-shirt out into the crowd. After the men’s team was introduced they huddled up and cheered. Blackout then taught the crowd popular cheers that are usually done at games. Both the Spirit Squad and the Acrobatics and Tumbling performed for the audience. The Acrobatics and Tumbling wowed the crowd and got everyone up on their feet with their awesome performance.

Blackout then played a short seven minute game against the women’s team. Then the winning name for our mascot was also announced, giving APU Freddy Cougar. Freshman from each team also performed a little dance for the audience.

The night ended with everybody’s favorite event, the slam dunk contest! It’s always a fun sight to see people jumping high in the air. It was an exciting night that personally has me excited for this season. Make sure you come out and support your Cougars. For game schedules go to http://www.apu.edu/athletics/basketball/mens/schedule/ and http://www.apu.edu/athletics/basketball/womens/schedule/ .

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Travel Tales: Threads of History

For many of people history is incredibly boring.  Filled with hard to remember dates and seemingly unprouncable names, history can easily be viewed as a drag.  I am not here to argue that this thought process is wrong or that these claims are invalid, however, for me it is absolutely fascinating to see the ripple effects and connecting points that major events and people have on the rest of history.  Our guide this last weekend referred to these linking stories as “threads” that are delicately interwoven to create the tapestry known as history.

South Africa is a land full of these so-called “threads” and my favorite is a story that comes from the Anglo Boer War of 1899-1902.  The war was a battle between the English, the Boer-Trekkers of Dutch decent (Later referred to as the Afrikaans), and the Zulus who were a tribe of natives.  In 1899 the English had planned to march and take over a town known as Ladysmith. As a result of this, a young journalist by the name of Winston Churchill was writing as a foreign war correspondent for the London Morning Post, packed his bags and took a train heading for Ladysmith.  Before he goes there however, his train was apprehended by the Boer-Trekkers and he was taken prisoner and sent to serve time in Pretoria.  Soon after he arrived though, he made a daring escape and eventually found his way back to safety with the British Army.

Two things specifically grab my attention about this story.  First and foremost, Winston Churchill was a journalist.  That’s pretty inspiring to me to see that one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century started out doing the same profession that I am pursuing.  Secondly, our guide continually asked us to imagine how different history would have been had Churchill been held captive.  How much different would history be had the Trekkers decided it was a good idea to kill this journalist.  Churchill went on to become one of the most motivational and influential leaders of World War II.  To think what history would be like without him is nearly impossible.

As I was thinking more and more about how this single event could have changed everything about modern times as we know them, I just began to think about how brilliant it is that God can see these ‘threads’ connecting together in ways we will never even be able to imagine.  It also made me think about how evident it is that every person and event has a purpose.  I hesitate to say that because I often become extremely frustrated with sayings like that.  However, I am slowly coming to realize that this frustration is a result of me not being able to see connections with clarity instead not believing in the truth that lies behind such sayings.

On a different note, time is flying by without any restraint or hesitation. We have only two weeks left here in Pietermaritzburg and then off to Capetown we go!  It has gone by so quickly by I honestly have loved every minute of it. Well that is all I have for now!  Sala Kahle!

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Travel Tales: Drakensburg Boys Choir

When I was a child there were very few things crossing my mind.  Stuff like baseball, dirt clod wars and building forts were of primary importance in my list of priorities and engaged the majority of my thoughts.  Sure I would participate in mandatory school plays and holiday sing-a-longs but it didn’t take long for me to realize that God blessed certain kids with brilliant voices and showmanship and that I for one reason or another was not one of them.

However, at long last I have found one of the many places in the world that god bestowed such marvelous gifts.  We were lucky enough to attend a Wednesday afternoon concert put on by The Drakensburg Boys Choir (http://www.dbchoir.info/) and it was absolutely remarkable.  The DBC is made up of about 100 young boys ages 9-15 who essentially attend a boarding school that travels the world singing for the nations.  They attend school like any other child except they spend several hours a day learning about music theory, learning how to play different instruments, and also practicing songs and dances for their performances.  Although their schedule is packed with music, they still engage in other activities such as sports and normal academic classes as well.  I don’t know if I would be able to handle it though!  Traveling around the world at age 10 and becoming musical prodigies by the age of 15. These kids are incredible.  Their concentration and professionalism is simply a minor detail when compared to their singing capabilities.  Kids were hitting all sorts of notes I didn’t even know existed and dancing and playing instruments like it was as easy as breathing.  How they have so much focus at such a young age boggles my mind.  Also, they seemed to enjoy it and seemed to be pretty normal kids when outside of the auditorium.  They were running around and jumping on a trampoline that was nearby and I saw pictures on a bulletin board that showed them swimming and goofing off.

I do wonder though if it is difficult to attend a boarding school and travel the world at such a young age.  I am pretty confident that the school takes extremely good care of them but still I wonder what kind of effects that will have on them being away from home and family so often.  Anyway, let me just end by saying that if I ever had even an ounce of the talent that those kids have, then I don’t think I would need to worry about studying journalism.

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Global Norms

By Sandra Marquez

On Thursday, November 4th, students gathered on University Village (UV) South lawn for a little taste of the reality of this world.

Global Village, which is O building in UV, embraces different parts of the world. As part of Global Vision week, Global Village put on the event Global Norms. Global Norms was meant to show the diversity in our world and the different tastes our cultures have to offer.

As you arrived at Global Norms there were nine tables representing countries and each table included a drink that you would typically find in that country. Some countries included Central and South America, which offered non-alcoholic sangria and South Africa, which offered Roobic Tea. These and other exotic tastes seemed to have been popular as they went quickly. The tables were also accompanied by soundtracks of music from the countries represented at the table.

The best part of the night was the four different countries that Global Village made into virtual tours. Four apartments were transformed into an assigned country. Each country had pictures and information about important people in their country as well as the sad realities some have.

I walked into South Africa first and it was represented through wooden furniture and colorful jewelry. I also saw the reality that some people’s “pillows” are actually wooden stools that the African carry around to sleep and sit on.

Russia was the next country I visited. The country showed its contemporary type furniture and coats were hung at the entrance because of their infamous freezing weather. And they did not forget their pride for their delicious crepes and nutella.

The most interesting was South Korea and North Korea. As you walked towards the two apartments there was blue tape in between both of them that read with big black letters, “Do Not Cross,” showing the hostility of each country towards the other.

North Korea was my favorite tour. One side of the apartment showed how North Koreans wished the world would think of them with clean nice furniture, and delectable food. The other side showed the real North Korea full of trash and their real food which consists of dirty water and watered down rice.

South Korea had a contemporary feeling with clean and very little furniture. Their food was the food we would normally associate as Asian food.

Global Norms was a great experience and learning more about the world through these tours was a great way to close Global Vision week.

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Travel Tales: To the Karkloof Robin!

Gracefully gliding over vast green groves, floating on air supported by thick steel ropes.  This weekend we were again spoiled in seeing some of South Africa’s beautifully green vegetation while on a three-hour adventure known as the Karkloof Canopy Tours.  Split up into groups of about 10, we all had the opportunity to traverse back and forth across a lush valley sometimes being suspended in the air as high as one hundred feet above the forest floor!  With little training or instruction, we suited up in our harnesses, gloves, and helmets and headed up the hill in the back of a truck to our first platform and slide.  After a brief explanation of how the breaking system worked (your gloved hand pulling down on the cable), we each took the step of faith and plunged into the canopy of trees.

The feelings of joy and exhilaration that accompanied these slides were absolutely phenomenal.  I literally had no control over what was going to happen as soon as I stepped off of each platform and although this may seem extremely terrifying to many, to me it was incredibly freeing.  We had to trust that the equipment was going to support us and as soon as we did we started to fly down each of these lines with incredible speed and momentum.  I lost all sense of hesitation or apprehension and began to simply feed off of the beauty of the surroundings and the delight of our group.  Although we were gone for several hours, it felt tremendously short considering we were soaring through the air at who knows how many miles per hour.  As of yet, this is the closest I have come to actually flying and has brought me one step closer to becoming the superhero I have always dreamed of being.   As a result of this experience I now have an idea of what Batman feels like when he uses his grappling gun to reach normally unattainable places.  He is one lucky guy that Batman and with a few more trips like this, I will be gliding right next to him in no time.

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