Sword fights, slapping and The Beatles are a few of the lessons to be learned in several spring 2012 classes.

Classes devised by numerous departments deviate away from the normal type of curriculum.

Paul Sladky, associate professor of English, introduced a new course this semester called The Beatles: Music and Poetics. Sladky said the course is designed to develop a student’s understanding of poetic and musical elements in the popular rock music of The Beatles.

“Students will be looking at the literary qualities of music by The Beatles, including all 13 studio albums and singles as well as some post Beatles music,” Sladky said.

The class is offered as a fun alternative to the English courses already offered. Sladky said the course will help students acquire skills on close readings while also listening to music.

“My students will be able to critically listen to music and develop a vocabulary for interpreting popular music,” he said.  “The course will be fun for students… a break from the norm.”

By the completion of the course, students will gain skills in analyzing literary and musical texts, Sladky said.  They will also be able to explain The Beatles in a social, cultural and historical context.

Although Sladky is a fan of jazz music, he said he also enjoys The Beatles and what they have contributed to music.

“They have done some amazing stuff,” he said.  “I am considering adding a podcast element to their final projects (and) that should be fun and fairly easy for them to accomplish.”

Sea Stachura, professor of communications, has also offered a new course this semester named Radio Production and Podcasting. The course is aimed at making communications majors, specifically ones on the journalism track, more marketable within their field.

“I felt (the class) was important for communications students,” Stachura said.  “It is a fun way to get a valid point across that there are other genres for journalism students to explore.”

Stachura draws from eight years of experience as a public radio producer and reporter. She said she has written and produced journalism for outlets including Minnesota Public Radio, National Public Radio and Marketplace.

“(The class) will give students an opportunity to find new outlets to display their journalist abilities, as well as internship opportunities,” Stachura said.  “Public radio has a huge audience of more than 27 million listeners.”

Hab Richardson, senior communications major, said the class has potential to help with his future career.

“I aspire to be a voice over talent, and this class will help with the development of my talent,” Richardson said.

Doug Joiner, senior lecturer of communications and director of theater, has added a new class this semester as well. The course is called Stage Combat and is anchored toward communications and theater students but is open to all majors.

“The objective of the course is to introduce classical and contemporary violence,” Joiner said.

Joiner wanted to expand the subject already taught in one of his other classes. He said he wanted to be able to teach a safe and effective way to portray a realistic violent scene without having to rush through the subject.

Steven Price, senior communications major, said he has taken a liking to the course.

“You get the opportunity to create fight scenes. Enough said,” Price said.

Joiner said the key thing is safety on stage while still looking as convincing as possible.

“The class is a lot of fun, I encourage anyone to join in and see me get slapped around,” Joiner said.

Role model, hard-worker and leader: These are just a few words used to describe tennis player Bernardo Fernandes by his coach and teammates.

A senior management major and native of Brazil, Fernandes said he has been playing tennis since he was 6 years old and decided on this sport to keep the family tradition alive because his dad played tennis.

Fernandes said he had a particular reason for choosing to play tennis at Augusta State University, where he has been playing for the past four years.

“It’s a very good school academically, and (the) athletics are very strong in every sport,” he said. “So it had some good options here.”

After moving from Brazil to Augusta, Ga., Fernandes said he had to get used to a lot of differences, such as the food and people, but despite these differences, he really enjoys being in Augusta. Balancing and adjusting to the school work has been a challenge for him, but Fernandes has a plan to assist him with this task.

“It’s a little hard, but I manage to do well in both,” Fernandes said. “I try to study hard and do practices. I never take classes at the same time as practice. When I miss classes for a game, I always try to go back there and get the materials and talk to the professors.”

The senior netter said he practices every day for approximately two hours. His dedicated work ethic, especially where tennis is concerned, stands out to tennis coach Michael McGrath.

“Unbelievable,” McGrath said. “He’s the first one to get here and the last one to leave.”

Another adjustment that came with playing collegiate tennis is it is a team sport. Usually tennis is played as an individual sport, so Fernandes said he had to get used to playing with a team, but now he really enjoys playing on a team.

“You need each other,” Fernandes said. “It’s like a big family, and if I win and the team loses, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what the team does.”

Fernandes’ work ethic and camaraderie with his teammates has paid off, because he gets along remarkably well with the other players on the team, McGrath said.

“He’s been phenomenal,” McGrath said. “He’s a senior and he’s not only the best player, but he’s a leader on the team. He’s not the captain, but he’s a leader at the one spot and he’s been great for the freshmen that I have in the middle and bottom of the lineup.”

The leadership quality Fernandes possesses allows for the younger team members to look up to him, McGrath said.

“He’s a role model to all the other players, to the younger ones especially,” McGrath said. “(Bernardo is) the whole package, academically, athletically (and) socially; he’s just a great, great person.”

One of the teammates who admires Fernandes is Jan Labas, a junior management major. Labas said he enjoys playing with Fernandes.

“It’s fun, he is a very competitive guy,” Labas said. “He pushes the team very hard. I think he’s a good No. 1.”

Not only does Labas enjoy playing with Fernandes, he said, like McGrath, he admires Fernandes’ work ethic.

“He’s a very hard worker,” Labas said. “He never slacks off, (and) he is a role model for the team. I think he is doing a very good job.”

The role model quality Fernandes possesses is demonstrated through his behavior and dedication to school and tennis.

“He always wakes up early, always works out,” Labas said. “(He does) extra practicing (and) working out in the gym. If he’s running, he asks me if I want to go run every day and all this extra stuff.”

Because Fernandes is a senior, he is looking toward the future and said he plans on getting a master’s degree and moving back to either Brazil or somewhere else to start his career.

Once he’s no longer on the team, Fernandes will be greatly missed, McGrath said.

With a focus on the human body and a yearn to explore the trappings of the physical self, Jennifer Onofrio, an associate professor of art at Augusta State University, has grounded her work in the abstract.

Onofrio’s work is housed in galleries across the country, from Snyderman-Works in Philadelphia to the Morean Center for the Arts in Florida. Later this month, some her more ethereal and evocative pieces will be making their way to Sherry Leedy’s Contemporary Art gallery in Kansas City for an art exhibit in her honor, and while the spooky allure of many of her illustrations has fascinated art enthusiasts for years, the basis behind those illustrations is even more intriguing.

Working primarily in photography, Onofrio’s unique style involves painting over large photographs, which give them a smoky feel. These unadulterated photographs are often images of human bodies. Onofrio said this interest in anatomy stems mostly from her childhood.

Raised in an old house full of medical books from floor to ceiling in Minnesota, Onofrio’s first major influences were none other than her parents; her father, a neurosurgeon, and her mother an established sculptor.

“My father’s a retired neurosurgeon, and I think that has a lot to do with why I’m heavily influenced by physical maladies,” Onofrio said. “I grew up around, surrounded really, by illness. I was healthy kid, but I had no sense of my own mortality. So, growing up made me particularly interested in looking at physical frailty.”

As a teenager, Onofrio said she went through that proverbial stage of teenage angst – a punk phase – which she believes lent to her work’s somber appeal. But despite appearing dark, Onofrio emphasized that the subjects in her pieces are meant to represent a sense of rising above physical limitations.

“My interest in abstraction came from my work attempting to transcend the trappings of our physical selves,” Onofrio said. “In many of my pieces, you see the body falling away in the photograph. In a sense, it’s dissolving, but at the same time it’s lifting. I’m trying to find ways to address issues regarding our physical limitations and go beyond the negative aspects of our physical self. I’m also trying to recognize [through my work] that we as physical people are fragile beings.”

Aspirations of further exploring her artistic interests led her to the University of California, where she obtained a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture, painting, and photography, while also serving as a teaching assistant. This path eventually placed her at Augusta State.

“I was offered a job at USC Columbia full-time as sculpture professor before coming here,” Onofrio said. “I got my degree in sculpture, painting and photography so I would be able to teach in any of those areas at USC, but I felt an allegiance to ASU. I had been here for a while and they told me that they were trying to make a tenure track in my area, so I decided to roll the dice and hope for the best, and it worked out.”

Fellow art professor Kristin Casaletto considers Onofrio a valued colleague and said that the photography professor has always focused on enabling students to achieve their best work.

“She really goes the extra mile,” Casaletto said. “She just took a group of students to New York to look in depth at fine art photography and art career options. She also frequently organizes exhibitions of the photo students’ work at public venues like the Morris Museum. That level of caring to maximize the way she teaches and works with students is a great thing.”

What drives Onofrio’s passion for steering students toward successful careers in the art field is her ever-growing interest in not just teaching, but mentoring.

“I always try to get a sense about what they want to do with the medium,” Onofrio said. “Especially those in upper-level classes. Do they want to go own to teach? Do they want to go into museum studies? What is it that they ultimately want to explore?”

Onofrio has found that one of the art department’s glowing traits is how its professors are always trying to personalize the information that their students receive. Onofrio said that, from the offset, students in the program have an understanding that part of the learning process is the importance of peer collaboration and peer exchange.

“One of the beautiful things about studio art is how the students learn from working side-by-side with other students,” Onofrio said. “They have to put in six hours of lab work outside of class where they’re interacting with each other and it’s not instructor-driven. So by nature, they’re realizing the benefits of getting feedback from their peers, both in and outside of class.”

Fostering a sense of community amongst students is something that Onofrio said both her and the art department have always been deeply passionate about. Many students in the program look up to Onofrio as more than simply a professor; they look up to her as a skilled artist. Casaletto said students admire her due to her will to strive through the tougher areas of her work.

“I think the students appreciate that she models the artistic process that she demands from them,” Casaletto said. “The creative struggles, the grappling with materials, the perseverance through revisions, until she gets to the fully realized expressions in form. These are challenges that many students can relate to.”

An instance of said creative struggle can be found in Onofrio’s preparation for her upcoming exhibit in Kansas City, an exhibit that Casaletto guarantees will be “excellent,” but has left Onofrio a feeling bit antsy.

“I’ve been on a tight schedule, so I’m kind of nervous about it,” Onofrio admitted. “It’s a show that opens on the second of March and I have to ship the pieces next week.”

The exhibit, which will showcase a series of both large and small photographic works, centers on her trademark use of the physical form. Another aspect of the works that may not be immediately clear to audiences is the theme of memory, a theme that resonates deeply with Onofrio.

“I’m really interested in dealing with memory in my work and I think that the amount of time that passes between your experience and your memory of those experiences tends to abstract information,” Onofrio said. “I often try to remember something from when I was six years old and it’s kind of hazy, so as an adult, I’m trying to reconstruct those memories in my art.”

Onofrio’s most recent work can be viewed by audiences at the Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art gallery in Kansas City, Mo. on March 2.

The Phoenix soared in a national magazine competition garnering a first-place ranking for the design and content of its fall 2011 issue.

The contest, held on an annual basis by the American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA),  pits high schools and universities across the country against one another to compare quality, design and layout, according to the association’s website.

“(The ASPA is) looking to see if the design is appealing, if the photographs are well done – if they’re the right resolution and all that – does the magazine have the kind of content you would expect a college magazine to have or is it off-the-wall kind of high schoolish stuff,” said Debra van Tuyll, professor of communications and faculty adviser to The Phoenix magazine.  “They’re looking at the overall quality, but the emphasis is really on the visuals and then the overall approach to content.”

All the winners are published in “The American Scholastic Journalist,” and entrants are sent reviews of their publications, detailing how the publications can be improved upon.

“(The ASPA) said (The Phoenix) shows superior efforts of talented and creative editors, writers, artists, photographers, layout graphic designers, staff members and adviser,” said senior communication studies major Megan Steinberg, current editor-in-chief and the assistant editor of the fall 2011 issue.  “So we won first place, basically an overall award that everything looked really good as far as our magazine went.  And, of course, they gave us critiques, which we’re going to look at and work on to make the next issue even better.”

Describing the magazine industry as “very cutthroat” and “very competitive,” Steinberg said she sees this review as proof the staff of The Phoenix is doing something right, although she acknowledges there is always room for improvement.

However, winning national awards is nothing new for the 36-page magazine.

“We’ve also won awards from the College Media Advisers, which is a national organization for college publications,” van Tuyll said.  “We’ve won design, photography and advertising awards from them over the years and we won Best Magazine in the Southeastern United States from the Society of Professional Journalists.  That was about five years ago… which made us one of the top 12 magazines in the country, so we were competing for national honors in that, but someone else won at the national level.”

The most recent award-winning issue holds a special place in Augusta State alumna Aimee Johnson’s heart.  Johnson, who graduated in December 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in communications, served as editor-in-chief of The Phoenix for both the summer and fall 2011 issues.  Johnson said she began her tenure as editor-in-chief by mandating all white pages and clear and focused photos.  The effort gave the magazine a polished, more professional look. Technology also played a key role in streamlining the latest issue.

“We did a lot of Photoshop with pictures,” Johnson said.  “I mean there are a couple of just square pictures with the background and everything in it, but we did a lot of Photoshop, of cropping out certain elements that we wanted to feature.”

The Phoenix is published three times per year and is largely student-based, van Tuyll said.  The staff writers are mostly comprised of public relations practicum students, who individually write three major feature stories over a period of two semesters.

“The whole idea of doing this magazine is, in public relations, usually you’re going to go into an entry-level position that’s going to put an emphasis on creative skills…,” van Tuyll said.  “By having spent a year working for a magazine, students are going to be more familiar with the process of how do you create a publication from the start up.”

While van Tuyll is heavily involved with teaching the students how to interview sources and write feature articles, the editors make the actual selections of what stories will be featured in a given issue, Steinberg said.  The most important requirement students get from her, van Tuyll said, is their works must be written to a “publishable” level, meaning high-quality writing and style.

The Phoenix relies on not only the participation of the public relations practicum students but also on the student body.  The student works comprised a large portion of the award-winning issue, Johnson said.

Steinberg said this section of the magazine, known as Wingspan, is a compilation of visual art, photography, poetry, short stories and nonfiction works created by the students, faculty and staff.

“To me, that’s one of the coolest parts of the magazine because you’re really getting to see what other students do creatively when they’re not in school or doing schoolwork,” Steinberg said.  “Plus, it’s a really cool way for the art students; they’re the ones who typically submit.  It’s a really cool way for the art students to get exposure because not everyone is going to Washington Hall, to the galleries and all of that.”

The spring 2012 issue will be entered in the College Media Association conference March 17 through 20 for an official critique.  Steinberg said she also hopes to submit this issue to the ASPA competition.  She said she expects the spring issue to be on stands by mid-March.

After winning the Peach Belt Conference regular season and tournament titles a year ago, the men’s basketball team is in a rare position.

The team finished with the No. 2 seed  for the East Division in the conference tournament behind top-seeded USC Aiken. The Pacers clinched the East Division title with their dramatic double-overtime win over Francis Marion on Feb. 22. However, head coach Dip Metress said just making it to the conference tournament is humbling considering the team’s 2-4 start to the season.

“When we were struggling, if someone would have told me we would be playing in the Peach Belt tournament, I would have been very excited,” he said. “We have made a lot of progress. We are getting a lot of young guys experience. We have played better, at times, late in the year than we have at any other point in the year.”

Experience has certainly helped the young team. With one game remaining in the season, Augusta State is led by three newcomers in Devon Wright-Nelson, Devonte Thomas and Harold Doby, who average 14.1, 12.7 and 12.2 points, respectively. Metress said he believes it will be the younger guys that will step up their game heading into the postseason.

“Devon has been playing pretty well and has been kind of our go-to guy down the stretch,” he said. “Devonte had a big game the other day and we hope he continues. Hopefully, O’Neal (Armstrong) and Tye (Beal), knowing this is their senior year and have a chance to win a championship, will come out and play well.”

Armstrong, a senior guard who  played in all 26 games for the Jaguars in the regular season, said he is not used to being in this position entering the postseason.

“It’s kind of a letdown because in past years, we’ve always had that title,” he said. “We have a good chance of winning it, just as good as anybody else. We’ve beat everybody in the Peach Belt so we can get it done. Just have to play well.”

Doby, who is wrapping up his first season with the Jags, said he is not troubled with having to travel to Columbus, Ga., for the conference tournament despite the team going 5-9 on the road this season.

“I’m not concerned at all,” said the sophomore forward. “We have our team chemistry together and that was our problem at the beginning of the year. Now that we’ve gotten that together we should do well.”

This season marks the first time since the 2007-2008 season that Augusta State has entered the Peach Belt Conference Tournament without the No. 1 seed. In that season, the Jags were the No. 2 seed behind the regular season champs, USC Aiken.

“It is odd,” Metress said. “It’s nice to wear white when you are in the conference tournament because that means you are the higher seed the whole time. Hopefully we will be able to wear white on the first night and that all depends on how we do (against Armstrong Atlantic). Wearing white, wearing blue, you still have to win games to get to the championship.”

Armstrong said it all comes down to defensive play. Augusta State ranks fourth in blocks yet ranks eighth in steals and twelfth in defensive rebounds.

“We are just working on our defense because we have got to get those defensive stops,” he said. “In our last few games we couldn’t get those stops. We have been working on that in practice lately and, by the time the tournament comes, we will be ready.”

At this point in the season, Metress said, only the best teams move on.

“Hopefully, our tough schedule this year playing on road against some good teams will help us out this year,” he said. “At the end, and I always say this in tournament play, the team that plays best moves on.”

Following Augusta State’s 74-72 loss at Lander on Feb. 22, Metress spoke to one of the referees.

“I asked him, ‘You calling anymore games?’ and he said ‘I’m calling Sunday in the Peach Belt (Tournament)’,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, hope I see you’.” The only way I will see him is if we are playing (in the championship).”

The Jags will face Georgia College & State in the Peach Belt Tournament quarterfinals on March 2.

O’Neal Armstrong and Tye Beal may be from two different states, but the senior guards share a love of basketball and a desire for a good education.

Armstrong, a native of Columbus, Tenn., said he enrolled at Augusta State University because he would get a two-in-one deal.

“I came to ASU to play basketball and (for) my education,” Armstrong said.

Beal, who hails from Arlington, Va., added that “word of mouth” was a key factor in his decision to attend Augusta State.

Since the 2007-08 season. the Augusta State men’s basketball team has advanced to the national championship game once and played in two Final Fours and three Elite Eights. A big factor in the team’s success has been the Jaguar fans. The fans are what Armstrong and Beal said they love most about playing for the Jaguars and both feel that the support  of the home crowd brings a certain type of atmosphere to the game.

In the midst of enjoying playing basketball, their coach Dip Metress was able to instill in them quality lessons that are key to a successful career.

“He taught us the meaning of hard work and discipline,” Beal said.

Armstrong added that the coach showed them that “If you work hard, it will pay off in the long run.”

While basketball is an important part of their lives, Armstrong and Beal said they have not forgotten the importance of getting a good education. Both are currently working toward earning heir degrees in history.

Armstrong and Beal said Augusta State offers them an opportunity to have success in their career choices.

Though they both are graduating in May, neither one knows what the future has in store for them. However, they both said they have faith and are open to whatever may come their way.

“I’ll go wherever God takes me,” Beal said.

The two guards have a couple of goals they are trying to reach before they graduate: winning the national championship and conference title. Because he won a state title in high school, Armstrong said he wants to have another championship under his belt.

“I want to add another ring to my finger before I leave,” Armstrong said.

Before he attempts to help the Jaguars win their first national championship, Beal said he wants to first win the Peach Belt Tournament title.

The two senior guards were crucial in helping the Jaguars remain alive for the Peach Belt Conference regular season title before a 74-72 loss at Lander on Feb. 22. In a 58-53 Feb. 15 win against rival USC Aiken, which trimmed the Pacers’ division lead to half a game, Beal contributed to the Jaguars winning by hitting a big 3-pointer in the second half that sparked a 9-0 run. That was Senior Night and was the final game at Christenberry Fieldhouse for Armstrong and Beal. The guards said they are hoping to use the momentum from that win to gain entry into the NCAA Tournament. The Jaguars have already qualified for the Peach Belt Conference Tournament, which begins March 2 in Columbus, Ga.

Together Armstrong and Beal have been able to play a sport they love, while getting an education that they hope will take them far in life. Their dedication to school and basketball has helped them achieve success on and off the court. So while they are undecided on where they’ll be down the line, they have the tools and experience necessary to give themselves a good chance of being successful, they said.

Ryan Braun may have just received some of the best news of his life, but no one should envy him.

Major League Baseball hit Braun with a 50-game suspension in December after he tested positive for an abnormally high testosterone level. Baseball arbitrator Shyam Das overturned the ban on Feb. 23 after the evidence against Braun was ruled to be inadmissible. However, the Brewers’ star left fielder isn’t anywhere close to being out of the woods yet.

No matter what Braun does the rest of his career, questions surrounding the legitimacy of his accomplishments will linger. It’s unfortunate that such doubt will inevitably exist, but players who warrant far less suspicion than Braun are likewise regarded with distrust by the hardball-watching public.

One of my favorite players in the game today is Blue Jays’ slugger Jose Bautista. After spending six nondescript seasons in baseball purgatory with the Orioles, Rays, Royals and Pirates, Bautista arrived in Toronto in 2009 and reinvented his swing. Over the last two seasons, Joey Bats has become the most destructive hitter in baseball, belting 97 home runs.

But instead of celebrating Bautista’s remarkable transformation, baseball fans have come to view him with a healthy dose of skepticism. If you punch “Jose Bautista” into Google, the second suggested search is “Jose Bautista steroids.” This despite the fact that Bautista has never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and has maintained the sleek 195-pound frame he has sported his entire career. The only “evidence” against Bautista is his superlative stat sheet.

Unfortunately, players like Bautista and Braun have to pay for the sins of sluggers from a bygone era. When Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds each shattered Roger Maris’s single-season home run record and then were all subsequently linked to steroid use, MLB was dealt a public relations catastrophe. It’s hard to fault fans for their leeriness of modern superstars when so many of baseball’s most decorated sluggers of the last two decades have been exposed as frauds.

Perhaps Braun actually was guilty and got off on a technicality, or maybe he was simply the victim of a flawed drug-testing system, as he claims. But regardless of where the truth really lies, the stain this bizarre case leaves on Braun’s legacy will not easily wash. His performance in the next few seasons will be carefully scrutinized. Any drop-off from his established standards of excellence will be viewed by many as evidence that he cannot produce at an MVP-level without the use of steroids. And if he’s able to sustain or even improve on his award-winning work from 2011, those same detractors will see this as proof positive that he is continuing to cheat the game.

Braun’s reality is one all major league players have to be prepared to face in the post-Steroid Era. They must be above reproach in avoiding all appearances of impropriety, but as Bautista’s doubters prove, even that is not always enough. No matter how dubious the allegations of a player’s supposed juicing might be, any whisper of cheating puts him in the impossible position of having to prove a negative.

The good news for Major League Baseball is that cases like Braun’s are becoming less commonplace thanks to the sport’s drug-testing policy, which became considerably more strenuous in 2005. As each year passes, fewer players are getting caught doping and run-scoring totals around the league continue to drop precipitously. It hasn’t necessarily been borne out in the television and attendance ratings, but baseball has become a much more pure game in the past few years. A pitcher’s game. A better game.

But Braun’s ordeal will delay the healing of baseball’s scars, and that is the most disappointing part of this entire saga. It is not just Braun who will suffer. So will every player, like Jose Bautista, who makes the mistake of being great.

The aroma from a newly opened hamburger joint wafts its way toward campus and ownership hopes the smell draws in students.

The restaurant, Bull Chicks, located on Highland Avenue, across from Surrey Center, offers a wide variety of burgers, wraps, wings and salads. The food, management stressed, is a fitting alternative to the traditional fast food options.

Bull Chicks’ official website states  the new restaurant in Augusta is its fifth franchise, but it is the forefront of Bull Chicks’ national expansion, with all of its other locations found in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The move to open a location 1,150 miles east of the original begs the question, why Augusta for its national-franchise debut?

Ray Boyett, the franchise owner, said he is from the Corpus Christi area and wanted to bring the restaurant to Augusta. He chose the corner location on Highland Avenue because he loves the Hill area.

“The Hill is a very strong community,” Boyett said. “We could have chosen to open somewhere in Columbia County first, but the Hill is a really great area.”

Being on the Hill, the restaurant has the added advantage of being located less than five minutes from campus. Randi Garces, a manager at the restaurant, said that the restaurant could provide a much-needed variety in low-priced food to Augustans. And the menu’s prices are reasonable for any student on a budget.

“There are a lot of different choices here.” Garces said. “You go to McDonald’s and your choices are like: Big Mac, cheeseburger and that’s basically it. Here you can basically make your own.”

Choices are plenty on the restaurant’s menu, boasting, among the hamburgers alone, 20 different types, from the classic cheeseburger to the more exotic mushroom melt or even the popcorn shrimp burger.

The restaurant also offers a wide range of sandwiches, wraps and salads, but one of the more popular items on the menu are the chicken wings.

“The wings are especially good during sporting events, obviously,” Garces said. “We sold a lot of those Super Bowl weekend.”

Although, the restaurant brings in a lot of workers in the area, Garces said she wasn’t sure if Augusta State students have really caught on to its presence, but she said she is hopeful. After all, Bull Chicks has only been open for a little more than a month.

“Right now a lot of people who are curious will drop by and come in to eat,” she said.

A local Southside restaurant off Deans Bridge Road will soon expand to a second location, hoping to establish new customer loyalties.

A Town Wings, a casual restaurant with smells of both surf and turf items, opened its first location in July 2011 and since then has seen sales and customer satisfaction have increased.

This increase, said David Kim, the owner of the restaurant, led to the decision to open a second outparcel location across the street from the mall, sandwiched  between Kroger and Grand Buffet.

A few months ago, Kim said he realized this spot would be convenient for customers on the other side of town. Many of his current customers approached him, saying the first location was too far away.

“That is kind of a central location,” Kim said. “It is all the way across from the Bobby Jones area, Augusta State University and the shopping mall. So I thought that was a good location.”

Before the new location can open, a lot of work has to go in to fixing up the site, especially because it was not previously a restaurant.

“(The first step) is to turn it into a restaurant, which requires a lot of plumbing and grease traps,” Kim said. “It’s a long process. After they approve our floor plan, (we) will go to construction, which will take about two or three months to build up the hood and everything. If it was a restaurant before, it would be a lot faster, but it is from scratch. We have a lot of concrete work.”

All of this work will take place throughout the month of March, and Kim expects the second location to be open by mid-April or early May at the latest.

After the construction is finished, and before he can open, Kim said he will have to staff; a process that includes looking for new employees, who he will train for approximately a week at the Deans Bridge Road location, before moving to the new restaurant to work.

Besides adding new employees into the mix, Kim said the menu will maintain many of the traditional food items and customer favorites. But he will be incorporating some new combinations to the menu to help impact the business.

“Whenever you add more items to the menu, there will be more customers,” Kim said. “Wings, fish and the Philly are our core main items, but I’m going to add a few more combinations.”

While he is preparing to open the second location, Kim has been getting some assistance from Joel Kim, the assistant manager and his nephew.

While Kim is going back and forth between the old and new locations, Joel said as of right now he will be staying at the Deans Bridge Road location. At this location, he will possibly have new responsibilities to accompany his current ones, which include an assortment of things.

“(The responsibilities will be) the same thing(s) I’m doing now,” Joel said. “(They include) overseeing all operations, taking inventory when necessary (and) if there are customer complaints, then I’ll go to the front if the cashiers need me.”

Despite all the work that is required to open a new restaurant, Joel Kim said he is looking forward to the business opportunities that will come with a new store.

“It’s going to be fun,” Joel said. “(It is) going to be more convenient for our customers on that side of town.”

Excitement over potential for the Wrightsboro Road location is also shared by David, who said he looks forward to seeing more people discover the restaurant.

“A lot of people do not know about us,” Kim said. “They come to the mall and they go back, (but) they don’t come out this way. So when I open up the other location I’m looking forward to having my name out to the other side of town as well.”

Even though a second restaurant is coming soon, Kim said the Deans Bridge Road location will remain open.

Classical music has been brought to life. No longer is it considered the music of the past. In fact classical music is still as popular now as it was in the 1800s.

On Feb. 24, the Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society (HJCMS) brings us a world class ensemble, the Fine Arts Quartet, which consists of Ralph Evans, Efim Boico, Nicolò Eugelmi and Denis Brott.

They play a string quartet containing two violins, a viola and a violoncello. This was their fifth time playing in Augusta, although this time with a new member.

“They’re really a world-class ensemble,” said Quentin Kuyper of the HJCMS. “They’ve been together for a long time. They play beautifully; they’ve got 60 CDs that have been recorded. They are really one of the finest string quartets touring these days. They are really a marvelous group. So that’s reason enough to get them here.”

The quartet is in a category called chamber music. Chamber music is basically a smaller than normal ensemble that can either be of six to 10 singers or fewer than six instrumentalists, who play in a small chamber-like setting. The music department has a chamber choral group that specifically sings medieval and baroque, or jazz styles. Of the singers there is Ashley Thom, senior music education major.

Thom said contrary to what most may think, chamber music is still quite popular. She said there is a chamber music program offered in most music programs in colleges and high schools.

“People are still composing chamber ensembles,” Thom said. “Not just in colleges, but around the world.”

The quartet will be playing three musical pieces. The first is “String Quartet in D Minor” composed by Wolfgang Mozart. The second is “String Quartet No.2, ‘Company’” composed by Philip Glass. The third will be “String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 41, No.1” composed by Robert Schumann. These pieces have a lot of variety to them because they range from the 1700s to the 1900s.

“It will be an interesting group,” Kuyper said.

Fine Arts Quartet has been well received in Augusta. The audience loves them Kuyper said, and he said he expects this year the outcome will be the same.

“The audiences for the chamber music concerts are always very warm,” Kuyper says. “The audience is a good audience.”

Because of this good audience, the quartet said they wanted to come back to Augusta. One of the quartet members proudly told Kuyper they have always enjoyed playing in Augusta, and because they will be touring in the Southeast, they would like to come again.

“It would be better if there were a lot of students there,” Kuyper says. Surprisingly many of the audience members are not students even though the HJCMS’s programs are in the Maxwell Theatre located on campus and are free to all Augusta State University students.

Thom said her and her fellow music students try to always go to other people’s performances to help them experience new things, but what about the rest of Augusta State’s students?

“Classical music has a stereotype of being boring,” Thom said. “But if students get out of their box, they can find it something beautiful.”