Groundhog Day is popular national holiday that is held on Feb. 2; however, many people wonder why we celebrate it.

According to Groundhog Day tradition, if Punxsutawney Phil, the uniquely named national groundhog, comes out of his home and sees his shadow, he will go back inside, signifying that six more weeks of winter will follow. However, if he does not see his shadow, he will stay outside and begin to burrow, meaning there will be an early spring.

According to many historians, Groundhog Day is considered the American version of a German tradition. The tradition holds that if the sun comes out on Candlemas, the hedgehog will see its shadow and six more weeks of winter will follow.

As a result, German immigrants, who settled in Pennsylvania, continued the tradition, modifying the animal associated with it. Goodbye, Hedgehog Day and hello Groundhog Day.

Groundhog Day was first celebrated on Feb. 2, 1886 in Punxsutawney, Pa., explaining Punxsutawney Phil’s name.

According to the National Climatic Data Center, Phil’s prediction’s have been correct 39 percent of the time. Yet, this number is in conflict with Phil’s club, which states he has been right 100 percent of the time.

Also, Punxsutawney Phil has definitely adapted to the times. He can now text you his Tuesday weather prediction. Just text “Groundhog” to 247365 on Groundhog Day.

According to the website Groundhog.org, legend has it that during Prohibition, Punxsutawney Phil threatened to impose 60 weeks of winter on the community if he was not allowed a drink.

So however one decides to celebrate the second day of every February, keep Punxsutawney Phil in mind, and make sure you plan your wardrobe for what he says.

Sources: Groundhog.org and Huffingtonpost.com

Waldek Dynerman’s recent works titled “Tra-la” baffles people with the bright colors, dark topic and the mixed media of paint, wallpaper and other objects.

According to Dynerman, his two-dimensional works incorporate many elements, including paint and found objects, such as wallpaper and photographs. He was born in Warsaw, Poland six years after World War II, which he said influences his work as well as other events and experiences.

“Some of (the inspiration) is autobiographical, some of it has to do with, to say very briefly, the Holocaust, that my father was a Holocaust survivor…so as I was growing up, I was growing up with war being all around us and in conversations, in burnt-out buildings, in movies, in war drills,” Dynerman said. “All we played was war.”

Dynerman’s works was not always twodimensional. According to Dynerman, he spent 15 years doing 3-D works always being more content with his 3-D works than his two-dimensional and recently finding more interesting aspects in his two-dimensional works.

According to Jackson Cheatham, the director of the Mary S. Byrd Art Gallery, he and the committee that picks the works to be displayed in the gallery do not have any specifications on what art can appear in the gallery as long as it fits into the budget. Cheatham said the idea to bring Dynerman’s work to the gallery came from Tom Nakashima, who was the Morris Eminent Scholar in Art at Augusta State University and a part of the gallery committee in 2010. He met Dynerman at a conference, liked his work and brought information back about him to Cheatham and the committee.

“We don’t limit ourselves to anything,” Cheatham said. “We’re open if the idea comes along or somebody says why don’t we do something like this and we all agree…it doesn’t have to fit into the traditional mode.”

An art gallery has been at Augusta State since there was a department of art and used to exist in the Fine Arts Center. According to Cheatham, the gallery was not as formal as it is now, but still tried to bring in as many artists as possible.

“The department of art sees our job as not just serving the students things that might be expected,” Cheatham said. “It’s to stretch the boundaries of the visual arts so that they end up taking something from it that they probably didn’t come with and that’s not just the students, that’s everyone that walks into our shows.”

Dynerman did not grow up always being interested in art and stretching the borders of it. According to Dynerman, he did not start creating art until a couple of months before he started attending the Warsaw Fine Arts Academy in Poland.

“I didn’t have a big interest in art when I was growing up,” Dynerman said. “I had some other interests…I was good at math, I was good at all kinds of things, but maybe not really passionate about anything. Art felt like maybe something that I could do.”

Dynerman’s recent works possesses a dark theme, but features bright colors and objects. According to Dynerman, dark colors are popular for most artists to convey a dark theme and thought “as a device it’s sort of used up” and wanted to utilize color in his works. The reception, on Jan. 27, found many students and professors gathering together to view Dynerman’s recent works and an opportunity to ask Dynerman questions about it. Jacqueline Mayo, a sophomore pre-medical illustration major, was at the reception for Dynerman’s works and found many aspects about them that appealed to her.

“I love how everything flows but it’s very different and there’s so much to look at in each picture and he mixes so many different medias and he makes it work,” Mayo said.

A conversation among friends turned into a book idea in the making.

For Patricia G. McNeely, Debra Reddin van Tuyll and Henry H. Schulte, their idea became “Knights of the Quill,” a book project that would take five years to complete and include 14 contributing writers.

Van Tuyll said they were at a Civil War Conference in Chattanooga in 2005. She said a discussion about the day soon turned into a discussion about how much less is known about the Civil War press in the South than in the North.

“There are all kinds of books that have been written about Northern correspondence but very little about Southern correspondence,” van Tuyll said. “We initially started out by saying, ‘A good starting point would be to find out something about the people who did the reporting.’ Pat and I had both worked in the area of Southern journalism 19th Century, so we were a little more familiar with what was actually in the press than most people were.”

Van Tuyll, who is an associate professor of communications at Augusta State University, worked with McNeely, a professor at the University of South Carolina, and Schulte, who is a retired professor from the University of South Carolina, to put the book together. Van Tuyll said that she and McNeely were the lead writers of the book and Schulte was the book’s editor.

“We knew that there were more correspondence than she and I could write about,” van Tuyll said. “So we recruited a few people that we knew, primarily from the conference, to contribute chapters on some of the correspondence, and then we split up the rest of them between us.”

The book is about the Civil War era and is a “collection of articles about newspaper correspondence,” as van Tuyll said. The book’s name, as discussed in the preface, is a nickname that was given to the “Southern editorial brotherhood” or “Knights of the Quill.” The book has 28 chapters, and it includes articles about correspondents from South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, louisiana, Texas, Virginia and Tennessee, and is about various journalists during the era. Van Tuyll said that Southern journalists were different than Northern journalists because Southern journalists were more educated.

“A very different kind of person reported the war for Southern newspapers than for the North,” van Tuyll said. “The people that we kept running into were college educated; doctors, lawyers, they were much closer to what we would consider the basis of entering journalism today. Today to go into newspaper work, you have got to have a college degree. Virtually everyone we kept running into had that college degree and then also had a professional degree of some sort. Whereas, when you think about the Northern correspondents, many of them also had college and professional degrees, but there were equal numbers if not slightly more who just came into reporting from printing. You’re talking blue collar workers, as we would classify them today, versus a professional class.”

Van Tuyll said that someone from a blue collar background would look at a war differently than someone from a middle or upper class background and it would have them tell the story of war differently.

Van Tuyll said the correspondence for the articles written in the book came from archives or microfilm. In addition to the archives and microfilm, she said some of the articles are available on data bases, but said that she did not have access to them because of the expense, so she used microfilm for her chapters.

The book is considered a textbook and was published by Purdue University Press; it has a list price of $150. Van Tuyll said the book is being sold to university and high school libraries.

“We wrote this in mind making this popular history,” van Tuyll said. “We really emphasized readability. We didn’t want this to read like a dull academic tone. We wanted the chapters to be just as exciting as these people were; I mean one of these guys was a pirate.”

Augusta State has two copies of “Knights of the Quill” in the Reese library and one is included in the Faculty Publications display case on the first floor. The other copy is included in the general stacks and is available for check out. The library includes all books written by faculty in its collection.

“It’s a reflection of the fine work the faculty do,” said Jeff Heck, the associate director of Reese library.

Hidden beyond the doors of 1121 Broad St. is an extraordinary world of vintage apparel, hats, handbags, jewelry, shoes and even lingerie. Vintage Ooollee is modern life’s time machine to all things vintage.

Caren “Ooollee” Bricker opened Vintage Ooollee in May 2008, influencing the city of Augusta with her fancy for fashion. But why vintage?

“Vintage clothes are made so much better,” Bricker said. “The clothes you buy today, so many times, don’t even last through one washing – they fall apart, buttons fall off, hooks break. I have clothes in here that are 60 years old and still in fabulous shape.”

Beth Ann Johnson, vintage clothing apprentice, shares Bricker’s love for vintage and encourages others to give vintage a try.

“What people don’t know is you can wear vintage today,” Johnson said. “Vintage clothing is unique and well-made and you can’t find anything like it anywhere else.”

According to Bricker, “vintage” includes pieces from the 1970s and older. Today, many consumers consider 80s style as “vintage,” so Bricker ranges her collection from 1880s jackets to 1980s sweaters and prom-inspired dresses.

Bricker is a curator of vintage fashion. Individual pieces are categorized into eras by a process of studying styles, fabrics and sewing techniques. However, just because a garment is “vintage,” does not necessarily make the “Ooollee” cut. Pieces must fit three categories: sellable, unique, and have great color.

“I love the fashions from the late 30s and early 40s,” Bricker said. “The (clothes) are beautifully tailored, flowing and just fabulous. The fabrics were wonderful and the embellishments were simple but elegant.”

Despite her love for color, Bricker’s favorite piece she sold was a black 1930s dressing gown from london.

“You could picture lana Tuner (wearing this) at her vanity with a cigarette in a her cigarette holder, a martini on the counter, while powder-puffing her face,” Bricker said.

At Vintage Ooollee, fashion is a thing of the past, literally. According to Bricker, clothes have individual histories.

“I ask (the owner), ‘Where did you get this? Where did you wear it? Who’s wedding? What year?’” Bricker said. “I record all of the information and associate the history with the garment. I bought something from a lady whose husband was a big executive for a company. She bought an outfit to a board of directors meeting in South America. It was a pink and white flowing caftan. She was a fare-skin blond, oh, she must have stuck out and looked so wonderful.”

Vintage Ooollee partners with Modish Salon and Spa to produce vintage-inspired hair and fashion shows at Sky City music venue.

Patty Theien, owner and master cosmetologist at Modish hopes to expand future fashion shows to a wider audience.

“I think vintage is a new thing for young girls,” Theien said. “This year we are doing three shows: something outside and free so all the young girls and people can see it, another show with the Arts Council, and we would love to do something with a live band and make it a free show.”

When coordinating the show, Bricker tries to incorporate as many colors as possible with perfectly matched models and clothes.

“Every single piece of clothing is oneof-a-kind and every man and woman is different,” Bricker said. “I try to fit them perfectly so it looks fabulous on the runway. I don’t want it too snug anywhere. If it is, then that is not the piece. I just had a lady in this morning and I heard the ‘zip,’ ‘gasp,’ ‘I love it!’ That is exactly what I want to hear.”

According to Bricker, until the perfect person comes along and “marries” the right garment, they will stay on the shelves, packed in a box or hung on a rack.

“My job is to try and find each garment a perfect home,” Bricker said. “I guarantee that I can find it a good home with someone who loves it. They are deserving of that.”

For new “vintage virgins,” Bricker’s advice is pick out something you like, something comfortable and something you would wear again. Most importantly, try it on.

“Once you put a body in it, the clothes grab a whole new life to them and you may feel that you love it,” Bricker said. “If you’re going to have fun, then have fun with what you wear. Do something different, out of the ordinary, have fun and let life have spice!”

Shopping at Vintage Ooollee is not just about the clothes, but the experience.

“I’m trying to do (my shop) more as a customized boutique where I offer customer service and I help you find just what you’re looking for,” Bricker said. “I want people to come in and have a good experience. I’m building relationships with people, not just selling clothes.”

Abby Ward, a drug representative, came in to Vintage Ooollee for a quick blue and orange outfit to match the current drug she was promoting.

“My experience has been unbelievable!” Ward said. “I’ve been in here for almost two hours.”

For Bricker, the experience was the same: “I’m not just going to work, I’m going to play.”

Vintage Ooollee is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. Bricker also takes private appointments.

Ultimately, it all boils down to fashion. From mannequins in the windows dressed head-to-toe to the thousands of garments hanging along the walls, every individual can find something at Vintage Ooollee. “Fashion helps you display your own individual personality through your clothes,” Bricker said. “Fashion helps make who you are: ‘it’s not who you are, it’s what you wear.”

Campus club lambda Alliance offers support to homosexual students while promoting equality for both gay and straight individuals.

Lambda Alliance is an on-campus club with a mission to promote equal rights for both gay and straight students. It is often referred to as the Gay-Straight Alliance.

“We believe that rights are even rights, no matter who you are,” said lambda Alliance club treasurer Julie Hudson, a public administration graduate student. “You don’t have to be gay to believe in gay rights. There are all kinds of issues that affect every facet of the community, but disproportionately affect gay people.”

Robert White, the club secretary and a freshman early childhood major, is homosexual, and said he told his family about his sexual orientation when he was in middle school.

“It felt like a big burden on my shoulders- a secret that I had to tell someone,” White said. “So I eventually got up the nerve to write my mother a letter… and I taped it to my bedroom door… And eventually, I came out to everyone, and it felt so great not to have that burden on me.”

White said that although he and his partner of seven years have encountered some stares over the course of their relationship, his experience at Augusta State University has been largely accepting.

“I think ASU is pretty accepting of homosexuals,” White said. “I took a speech class and all of my topics were about homosexuality. I am very open about my homosexuality… Many people need to know that homosexuality is not a choice, contrary to popular belief.”

Hudson, who is heterosexual, said she initially joined lambda Alliance to show support for her nephew who was having trouble coming out of with his homosexuality. In the process, she said the club was able to help him feel more comfortable and unashamed of his sexuality.

“To see his face and how happy it made him to see that there are other people (like he is) was amazing,” Hudson said. Hudson said the environment of the club on campus is what really stood out to her and kept her an active member. According to Hudson, people on campus are mature and welcoming about the club and its values. “We found that everyone who joins lambda Alliance is already out,” Hudson said. “But they all have their stories; they all have their struggles.”

Lambda Alliance also participated in community events like the Augusta’s first official Pride Parade in 2010. White and Hudson expressed that they hope to be able to reach more people on campus and in the community.

“I would really like to do outreach into the school system,” Hudson said. “I think that’s really important because of things like the recent events of kids killing themselves from bullying. Of course kids before that and after that are still being picked on. Whether they are gay or straight, they are because they don’t prescribe gender roles. They should have every right to be who they want to be without going home everyday and feeling bad about who they are.”

Following the club’s first meeting of the semester on Jan. 26 in the JSAC, White and other members encouraged students to attend the Parents, Families and Friends of lesbians and Gays (PFlAG) meeting at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Augusta on Jan. 29. According to White, the new Augusta chapter of PFlAG is an “advocacy, education and support organization” that shares “similar core values and goals” with lambda Alliance.

Hudson and White both said they hope to see membership rise even higher this semester and they are always sure to remind people that lambda Alliance is a club for the gay, straight, tall, short, black, white and all between.

“I really want people to remember that no matter who you are, be who you are,” Hudson said.

For more questions about lambda Alliance and its events, contact Julie Hudson at [email protected] and Robert White at [email protected].

One student talks about her experience of walking into a burglarized apartment.

Augusta State student, Jane Whitt, first discovered this revelation as she inched her way inside her unlit apartment Friday night, Jan. 21.

According to Whitt, she normally keeps a light on when she is away. When she came home from work and noticed it was pitch black inside, she thought the light bulb probably burned out. What somewhat confirmed her suspicion that a break-in took place was when she found her memorabilia of post-cards and pictures was neatly stacked on her couch.

Moments later, she entered her room. After seeing her undergarments scattered all over her room, the realization came clear that a break-in did indeed take place.

After calling her roommate about this finding, Whitt said she detected more evidence that a burglary occurred.

“I saw that my closet door had been open and that everything had been ransacked in there,” Whitt said. “That’s when I ran into my bathroom and saw that my jewelry box had been taken. I looked on my dresser and saw that my laptop was gone. Then I walked to the other side of my bed and that’s when I noticed my night side drawer had been emptied out too.”

Following this discovery, Whitt called the police. Whitt described the feeling of having to wait for authorities, unaccompanied, in her apartment, as extremely difficult.

“The hardest part was being by myself for more than 20 minutes, being stunned, being shocked and having no one there to give me a hug,” Whitt said. “As corny as that sounds, when you walk in and feel that violated, and when you’re just that numb, you need someone there, and that was probably the longest 20 minutes of my life.”

A police officer, along with Whitt’s roommate and father, arrived at the scene within five minutes of each other after the 20 minute wait, according to Whitt. The officer took statements at the scene.

The officer asked Whitt to compile a list of the stolen items. According to Whitt, typing up the list was the hardest part.

“A lot of the jewelry was my grandma’s,” Whitt said. “I’ve been collecting jewelry ever since I was in elementary school.”

The officer needed to confirm that there were no signs of forced entry. Whitt said that the door and windows were locked.

According to Whitt, at the end of the night, maintenance came by to change the locks.

After this, everyone left the scene, except Whitt; who spent the night at the apartment. According to Whitt, the emotional aftermath of the burglary lingered.

“My stomach literally dropped and didn’t recover for two days,” Whitt said. “It was the worst feeling in my entire life.”

Even though Whitt experienced an obliterating feeling, she followed by her philosophy.

“My whole thing was, I don’t want this to make me scared,” Whitt said. “I’m not going to let them have this satisfaction. I’m trying to keep living life as much as possible.”

Whitt had renter’s insurance. She emphasizes the importance for having renter’s insurance, despite the number of items a person has.

“If I did not have insurance, not only would I not have my stuff, I would have no money to replace [my stuff],” she said.

Whitt’s father is in the insurance business.

“As far as insurance goes, my dad has worked in insurance my whole entire life,” Whitt said. “And so there was no way he was going to let me move out and not get insurance. That has been the biggest blessing.”

Because of the insurance, Whitt will receive the value of her items stolen, with one exception–she has a $1,000 limit on the stolen jewelry.

As of now, the suspect has not been found. Authorities will collect finger print evidence in hopes of catching the person(s) responsible for the break-in.

Whitt sends a message to anyone who is renting a place.

“The main thing I’m emphasizing is renter’s insurance, because I would be screwed without it,” Whitt said. “I would have no way of replacing everything that was taken, and that would’ve been hard not only to feel violated and to have everything taken but no way to get it all back.”

An unidentified group of black males robbed Jaguar time-clock manager, Albert Rocha, just outside of University Village on Jan. 17.

Rocha told police he left University Village around 4:15 p.m. on his way to the Jaguar’s home game against Valdosta State University, scheduled for 5:30 p.m., when the group approached him.

According to his statement, he was walking his usual path to Christenberry Fieldhouse, cutting across Tindon Street in front of Bowles Construction, when the group, exiting University Village, caught up to Rocha and asked him if he had change for $20.

“It’s basically a little shortcut,” said Rocha, referring to Tindon Street. “They were walking it too. I told them that I did not have any (change), ignored them, and kept on walking. They weren’t walking fast, but were walking in my direction. I thought they were students going to the game. When I looked back on it, though, I realized they were not students. It seemed like they did not know how to use the pedestrian gate. I heard one of them say as I was walking out; ‘Hey we can use the pedestrian gate,’ and another one answered ‘No, we need an I.D. for that.’”

Rocha had only taken a few more steps when he noticed one of the guys began walking back toward him, slowly.

“I can’t remember what he said to me next, but I sped up,” he said. “He then pulled out a gun in front of me and held it on my chest. There were five or six of the guys, but only two of them came at me; one guy was pointing the gun, and the other reaching in my pockets. I thought about going for the gun but froze up and then told myself it was a dumb idea anyway. I did not pay attention to the type of gun or even what they looked like, I was too startled.”

The robbers let him go and he ran back to University Village to phone Public Safety. While waiting for them to arrive, Rocha said he calmed down and took a moment to assess what had happened and what he had been robbed of.

“They took my checkbook that is all,” Rocha said. “When I gathered myself I canceled my checks. Later, Public Safety officials found my checkbook and all that was missing was a collection piece; a $2 bill. I guess they were going for the green.”

Rocha had his wallet on him, in the same pocket as his checkbook, but the robbers left it. He said he had no idea why they did not take it off him, but he was glad they did not.

“We thought it was ironic that they did not take his wallet,” said Jasper Cooke, director of Public Safety for Augusta State. “When we heard they just took the checkbook we were thrown for a loop as to what was the projected outcome of this robbery. I don’t think they were scared off by anything they were in a place that is covered well.

We don’t know if they were trying to bully him or take advantage of him. This type of incident doesn’t occur here often, I’ve experienced it in other places, but not here. It is all a matter of gathering the right information and getting stories straight.”

Cooke said that the stories he had been hearing are that the group of unidentified males could have been playing pool in the game room of the clubhouse in the apartments. They would have made their way in as guests and checked in under a student resident.

University Village staff told Public Safety that the individuals playing pool did not think someone was out of place.

“There are things we know and things we don’t,” Cooke said. “We don’t know if the person with the gun was even on our property. We do know that there have been several armed robberies in Richmond County, but I have talked to their people and none of the descriptions of this one fit the same M.O. We’ve searched over there and had people up at the game and around U.V. checking to see if those guys showed up. We are pursuing it as fast as we can.”

Rocha’s details about the robbers walking up to the pedestrian gate have allowed Public Safety to secure video footage of the area outside the gate and are in process of reviewing it to see if the robbers can be identified.

“We want to get this footage out quickly,” Cooke said. “We are still waiting on the video from ITS. We are having a problem extracting the video into a web file. As soon as we get it, it will be sent to Village residents for their help.”

As to overall campus safety and the trespassing of unwanted persons on campus, Cooke said Public Safety has been consistent in trespassing individuals when a threat looms and that they will proceed with trying to identify the individuals responsible and charge them with armed robbery.

Rocha said he has no fear walking out of University Village again, but at the same time is more cautious as to who is around him.

“I took the same path the next Sunday to go to work,” he said. “I also started carrying a key in my pocket. If you place it in between your middle and ring fingers and form it into a fist it creates a small weapon. You go for the eyeball and if you miss go for under the throat.

<<< Click here to watch the robbery video >>>

In the background of students walking across campus, the chatter of a squirrels could be heard. This was the sound of National Squirrel Appreciation Day, Friday, Jan. 21.

Eastern Grey squirrels have made their home on Augusta State University. Students trudge by them on the trek between Allgood Hall and University Hall, or sometimes take a moment to pause and watch the furry creatures. Most students and faculty have no idea that National Squirrel Appreciation Day exists.

Jack Bannister, junior psychology major, said he wants to know why.

“Is there really a National Squirrel Day?” he asked, “I hate them. Once, when I was a kid, I tried to pet one, and it bit me. I’ve hated them ever since.”

The subject of squirrels fuel a conversation of either disgust or merriment. Generally, people will confess that they like them or do not.

Sarah White, a sophomore biology major, said she was excited to learn about National Squirrel Appreciation Day.

“I think they’re cute,” she smiled. “They’re fun to watch. Especially around campus. I see them all the time on the trees. I read this thing on the internet that they live all around the world except for in Australia.”

Robert B. Cromer, assistant professor of biology, aside from noticing the Eastern Grey squirrels on campus, has studied the Southern Flying squirrels in the wilderness near the Savannah River Site in the fall semester of 2010. Originally, the study was meant to concentrate on woodpeckers, but with the help of cameras, Cromer and his students found squirrels in the woodpeckers nests instead.

“We were taking the camera and putting it in woodpecker cavities,” Cromer explained. “We came across a few flying squirrels that were using those cavities as nests too. So what we did was just survey the different trees to see what they were using and how they were using those trees.”

Later the study evolved into learning about the impact the squirrels had on the bird population, how the squirrels may eat the baby birds and eventually even take the tree from them. Cromer said he plans to return to the site to study the squirrels and hopes to even put transmitters on them to track the squirrels further.

In addition, Cromer mentioned Red Oak trees need the squirrel population to bury acorns because the Red Oak seed will only germinate underneath the ground. In addition to maintaining the bird population, or even acting as lunch for the Redtailed hawks and Cooper’s hawks seen around the University grounds, the squirrels do have a purpose to their presence on campus.

“Without the all the squirrels we probably wouldn’t see as many hawks on campus,” he said. “The squirrels have been a good thing bringing in the hawks.”

David Freeman, director of the Physical Plant, is more a fan on the hawk and less of the squirrel.

“I think (squirrels) are kind of a pest,” he said. “We do have problems with them on campus. For one, they get up on the roofs and they’ll chew on the lead around the piping.”

Squirrel damage does not end with lead piping. Freeman also has concerns with tree trimmings on the north side of Rains Hall left by the squirrels.

“There’s that part of the walkway there and they will go in there and just chew,” he explained. “It looks like someone went through with a hedge trimmer and didn’t pick up the trimmings. On the front of Fanning we’ve had problems with them eating some of the daffodils. We are concerned about some of the tulips we put out.”

Freeman explained the monetary damage done by the teacupped-sized mammals can add up to be a lot.

While Freeman will concede to the squirrels being entertaining during the winter months, he said he much prefers the presence of “the campus hawk.”

“He’s part of our squirrel patrol,” Freeman said. “He keeps (the squirrels) in check.”

Besides the hawk, there is no active effort to defer the squirrels from campus property.

“I don’t know how else we can keep them from campus,” Freeman said. “I wish (the hawk) would bring the rest of his family up here.”

Freeman said he has no plans to celebrate National Squirrel Appreciation Day next year.

“Maybe we’ll have some fried squirrel next year,” Freeman joked. National Squirrel Day was created in 2001 by Christy Hargrove, a wildlife rehabilitator who was unavailable for comment.

In addition to Jan. 21 being a day to appreciate the bushy-tailed little creatures that roam university campuses across the nation, it is also National Hug Day. And for sophmore biology major Sarah White, she said she plans to celebrate both of the holidays together next year by hugging a squirrel.

Giving takes on many forms, but one local group uses its donations to give back to the Augusta community as well as internationally.

Habitat for Humanity’s local Augusta/CSRA group provides housing opportunities to those who qualify and its store, ReStore, provides used furnishings, dishes and linens among other things to the community at a reduced price. ReStore accepts donations from local businesses and residents as a way to help out those in need.

Dennis Hoyt, executive director for Habitat for Humanity Augusta/CSRA, said many businesses give items to either be sold at ReStore or to be used in the houses built by Habitat for Humanity.

“What happens is some of the vendors will either upgrade, change vendors, maybe the company went out of business, so they find a new vendor,” Hoyt said. “All of the remaining inventory they’ll donate to places like Habitat.” Hoyt said Lowe’s will send weekly donations, such as returned items, slightly damaged but usable merchandise, and they are sold in the store. Because some of the items donated by Lowe’s are in good condition, he said they are sometimes used in Habitat homes. Hoyt also said there are local plumbing and electrical companies, wall-paper and paint stores, and a broadspectrum of vendors that make donations. He said when items are donated, they are inventoried and itemized to follow corporate guidelines.

“I have two guys who are responsible for marketing the items,” Hoyt said. “They’ll bring a laptop computer in and sit down and start reviewing the inventory and come up with a price on the items. Then the items will be ready for sale.”

While Habitat for Humanity provides community outreach through ReStore, it is more widely known for its work building houses. Habitat’s website, habitat.org, provides some insight as to how the project began. Contrary to popular belief, Jimmy Carter did not found Habitat for Humanity, Millard Fuller did in 1976, but Carter has been involved with Habitat for many years.

The Habitat homes are built by volunteers and the homeowner, and as the Habitat website said is not a “giveaway program.” Hoyt said Habitat homes are not purchased at a reduced rate; they are purchased by the recipient with a no interest loan. Habitat holds the bank note.

“If you were purchasing a house, you would have a mortgage, and you would have an escrow, which is taxes and insurance,” Hoyt said. “You would also have a principal payment, and you would have an interest payment. We charge no interest.”

Every Habitat home recipient has the same qualifications Hoyt said. The home buyers must complete training, which he said involves understanding a mortgage, home maintenance, being a good neighbor, maintaining home owners insurance and its policies. There are requirements for the home buyer that must be met before the process begins.

“They have to have so many hours of sweat equity,” Hoyt said. “They have to live in sub-standard conditions, they have to meet a certain credit score, they have to satisfy an interview with the committee and they have to be willing to partner with Habitat for Humanity. They have to be willing to make their payments and keep their house up. The house is theirs at the end of their mortgage date.”

Hoyt said the land used to build the houses on is donated. He also said they have recently purchased property to build houses on, but most of the land has been donated. Another donation that is made to each homeowner is the appliances for the kitchen. Hoyt said Whirlpool donates a range and refrigerator for every house built.

In addition to building houses here in Augusta and the CSRA, Hoyt said each Habitat affiliate ties to the national organization. The money that is used as tithing to the national organization is used in foreign countries where Habitat homes are built. The local Habitat group sponsors the building of homes in Vietnam. Locally, Hoyt said, about 66 homes have been built, and as of September 2010, 28 homes have been built in Vietnam. “Each organization has an opportunity to select a place that they want to do their tithe or they can let Habitat make the decision,” Hoyt said. “(Because) I am a Vietnam vet, I chose Vietnam.”

The 12th Annual Phi Kappa Phi Student Research and Fine Arts Conference bring students of all majors together to share their research with their peers.

According to the official Phi Kappa Phi website, this honor society is highly selective in its choosing among juniors, seniors and graduates. It started in 1897 and is also one of the oldest honor societies in the nation.

The annual conference hosted by Augusta State University’s Phi Kappa Phi displays students’ research in various areas ranging from history to biology.

Chad Stephens, the chair of the conference planning committee and associate professor of chemistry, said the organization accepts faculty and students as members. Stephens also pointed out that the conference possesses multiple benefits for the students participating.

“It’s a chance for students to show off what they’ve been doing and…that’s a very important part of doing research and doing scholarship, and without the opportunity to share their work, the students are being kind of cut short,” Stephens said. “This is an opportunity we provide for our students and many take advantage of it.”

According to Tadd Patton, assistant professor of psychology and in charge of abstract submissions for the conference, one main part of the conference process is that students can have a faculty member of their choice mentor them throughout the process.

“Any time (faculty) have an opportunity to engage in something other than teaching with a student is going to be beneficial both to the student and to the faculty member,” Patton said. “It’s a symbiotic relationship because faculty members, whether they like it or not and it varies by university, are really encouraged to do some form of research or something extracurricular…and its part of a faculty member ’s role to mentor that student.”

Another key part of the conference, according to Patton, is the students being able to conduct research on their own and present their findings to an audience.

“The student gets to be mentored in the process and present something that they’ve been doing, that they’ve been working on and present it in a formal way in front of a group of people that’s more like a general audience,” Patton said. “And that can be quite challenging as opposed to presenting a piece of work to people you know already understand your work.”

However, before the students can present their works the planning committee consisted of faculty, like Patton, have to put the conference together. According to Pamela Hayward, associate professor of communications, chair of the department of communications and a part of the planning committee, the preparation for the conference starts in August and the committee meets more than six times during the semester to go over the plans. Over the years, the conference has also grown since starting more than 10 years ago.

“It’s always been a good conference, but what’s happened…it’s grown exponentially,” Hayward said. “It’s at a point now where it’s getting harder to find space to fit everybody in for all the sessions, we’re getting more and more folks in the fine arts involved, which has been fantastic because we’ve wanted that and we’ve had not as much involvement early on as we had hoped and over time that’s happening more.”

According to Hayward, during the planning process for the conference, student teams also joined the process not only combining student and faculty in the conference, but also during the planning of it with students able to gain a bird’seye view into planning an event as large as the conference.

“My favorite part is actually going to the sessions because the level of work that students are doing is really fantastic and it really showcases just the best we have to offer here at ASU,” Hayward said. “It’s exciting when you go there to see everybody there and the students are all dressed up and they’re there just no different than if we were all at a conference and we have a lot of people from the community come to support the students and different faculty and students come to the presentations.”

The conference is an opportunity for students, faculty and others to observe research with a combination of the fine arts and sciences creating an environment where people are able to see different views on a wide variety of subjects.

“Education, to me, is about students taking an active role, being engaged in some research and scholarship something beyond just learning class work, but actually taking an active role in their education and in producing new knowledge,” Stephens said. “And, again, in producing new knowledge, an important part of that is presenting your results to the public.”