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(03/31/18 2:54pm)
The mailing services in the Auxiliary Services building will be moving to the University Center (UC) where Management Services is currently. The move is expected to happen during the spring semester and the summer session, Vice President of Auxiliary Services Ken Boyer said.
Mailing services is moving because of student requests and survey results. Auxiliary Services worked closely with the Student Government Association (SGA) to find ways to improve mailing services, Boyer said.
“We wanted to consolidate all postal services in one location, packages and letters, to make mail delivery and processing more convenient for the Mercer community,” Boyer said.
The move is also a result of the volume of packages and mail that Auxiliary Services receives.
In 2017 the Mail and Document Services staff processed over 60,000 student packages. They continue to see double digit growth in package volume each month, Boyer said.
“We have simply outgrown the current facilities,” Boyer said.
Both packages and letter services will be moved to the UC to make processing and delivery easier, Boyer said.
The mailboxes in the UC location will have 4200 boxes and the available space to expand to 4500.
There are currently 3800 mailboxes located in the Connell Student Center along with the official mailing services department. Boyer said that the administration is not sure what they will do with the available space after the services move, but he is looking into it.
The space on the main floor of the Auxiliary Services building will continue to be used for copy center operations, while mail center space on the ground level will be the new location for the National Management Services, the custodial department, that is being displaced from the UC.
“I’d say it’s a good central location as long as it doesn’t interrupt current traffic through the UC. I’m not sure I’d feel like it’s super beneficial but that’s just me,” sophmore Taylor Rinberger said.
The design team at Rich Managed Services handled the architectural design for the new mailing center and BHI construction will be taking care of the renovations.
“I think moving (mailing services) to the UC probably allows it to be more accessed by a lot more people than before,” sophomore Lawrence Fadoul said.
Michael Junod, a university staff member, and Ben Smith, the general manager of National Management Services, assisted in making the relocation possible, Boyer said.
Boyer said that the move is not expected to disrupt the distribution of mail, and students can expect to see the change when they arrive back to Mercer in the fall.
(03/17/18 10:13am)
ABLE Mercer is an initiative to help disabled students navigate Mercer’s campus. The program aims to be a mentoring program between incoming freshmen and current Mercer students.
A week before the fall 2018 semester, the program will pair up a current Mercer student as a mentor with an incoming disabled student as a mentee. The mentor can be any Mercer student, disabled or not. They will help the incoming student with the transition into Mercer and provide tools for self-advocacy and social issues they may face.
Sophomore Johna Wright, who has been legally blind since birth, said she found herself having issues becoming acclimated to Mercer and “felt alone in the process.” She founded ABLE Mercer so that she will be able to help incoming students from feeling the same way, she said.
“I feel like it's my obligation as someone with a disability to advocate for other people who have disabilities to make sure their experience is a lot better than mine,” Wright said.
She said she created the organization after presenting her idea to the Visionary Student Panel, which is a pitching competition held every fall hosted by Research That Reaches Out, the Mercer initiative that helps undergraduates solve real-world problems through research. Students give a five minute presentation about an issue of interest and what they plan to do in order to address that issue.
In her presentation, Wright outlined several existing programs in public high schools that are aimed at helping students transition into the workforce. She used this to demonstrate the need for a program like ABLE Mercer at higher education institutions.
“While these programs are essential, it leaves an entire population of students with disabilities—those who plan to attend a four-year residential college—without the right kind of life skill development to help them succeed as they pursue higher education,” Hannah Vann, Associate Director of the QEP, said about Wright’s presentation during the Visionary Student Panel.
Wright said she went on to win the competition and finalized a grant proposal which led to Research That Reaches Out funding her project.
The inspiration for Wright’s project comes from her own experiences with Mercer’s campus and the difficulties she faced navigating it, she said.
“(Mercer’s Campus) does make it very, very difficult for students with disabilities and makes us feel sort of alienated from the rest of campus when it’s not accessible to us,” Wright said.
Wright hopes to take ABLE Mercer a step further and form a campus organization that advocates for students with disabilities and focuses on current issues around Mercer and outside of campus.
“I hope that the ABLE Mercer program would be able to run every summer consecutively after this one,” Wright said.
Mentors for the program will begin training in late March to early April so they can better understand how to approach students with different disabilities and make sure their mentees are hitting the milestones they have predetermined. The mentors will help with getting their mentee involved in Mercer and other social interactions.
The program is set to begin this summer and last through the fall semester.
As well as working closely with Research That Reaches Out, Wright said she is also working with Access and Accommodations to create a curriculum and format for training mentors. She said she is also working with Mercer Admissions and Residence Life to finalize the details of the program.
“Be open to things,” Wright said as advice to future mentors. “You’re going to learn a lot from your mentee. Even though you’re the mentor, they are going to teach you way more than you’ll probably teach them.”
The applications to become a mentor for ABLE Mercer are on all class Facebook pages, the Research That Reaches Out Facebook page and in Bear Blurbs.
You can also access the application here.
(03/13/18 8:33pm)
Created in 1982 by Carolyn Crayton with the help of William A. Fickling Sr., the Cherry Blossom Festival has been a point of pride and of international friendship in Macon for 36 years. It has also made the city of Macon the Cherry Blossom Capital of the World, according to the festival’s website.
They expect to have approximately 300,000 people at the entirety of the festival and its events, according to Hannah Moore, the marketing coordinator for the festival.
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“[We wanted] to invest in this generation because we realize they are the future, (and we) want them to know how special Cherry Blossom is to Macon,” Moore said.
The Cherry Blossom Festival will be held in Central City Park and begin on March 16-25 and host a series of events during that time. The entrance fee is $5.
The Street Party, Food Truck Frenzy and Mulberry Arts and Crafts Festival are some key events for college-aged students to attend, Moore said.
This year, there will be a “Hero’s Day” on March 19 that will provide free admission to all active, retired, reserve and veteran military, Department of Defense, civilian employees, firefighters, first responders and law enforcement with ID, as well as their immediate family. They will also receive discounted $10 for unlimited rides with ID, according to the festivals website.
The festival has invested $50,000 in entertainment this year by creating a nightly concert series that will have bands playing music from a wide variety of genres. The entry ticket to Central City Park includes access to the series, Moore said.
Each night will feature a different cover band playing tribute to artists such as Michael Jackson, The Allman Brothers, Otis Redding, Bon Jovi and more.
“Get ready to clear your schedule for March 16-25 because there is so much to see and do at the festival! From midway rides to Central City Park, to fabulous Food Trucks, concerts galore and more, there are many sights and sounds in the Cherry Blossom Capital of the World!” Moore said.
(02/20/18 11:16pm)
Spring Break for Service (SB4S) is an alternative spring break program for students led by MerServe, the student-led board that creates service projects.
SB4S exposes students to the needs of others in central Georgia. Their focus is a range of social issues, including poverty and homelessness, food insecurity, environmental health and youth engagement and education.
The program is co-hosted with the Center for Community Engagement, Mercer’s department for all service opportunities and relations with the surrounding Georgia community.
“At Mercer, everyone majors in changing the world. But for the Center for Community Engagement and MerServe, changing the world starts at home,” said Lauren A. Shinholster, the advisor of the program.
Margaret Rooyakkers, a third-year student, is the executive director of the program will be going on her second SB4S trip.
“I always enjoy an opportunity to give back to my community. With that said, I have yet to be disappointed,” Rooyakkers said.
Rooyakkers said that SB4S has also had many benefits such as getting to engage with a community and expose Mercer students to groups they may not have been in contact with before.
“Because the projects for [Spring Break for Service] have more time, we are able to do projects we might not be able to do on a Saturday.”
This year’s SB4S will be focusing on hunger and homelessness but the details of the trip have yet to be released. The student leaders in charge of SB4S are hoping to have a site for the trip finalized in the coming weeks.
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Students who participate in the program will stay in their residence halls during the service project and meals are provided by MerServe.
Rooyakkers said that SB4S is not all work but some play as well.
“We also do plenty of fun activities such as game nights and team bonding activities! This year, however, we plan on shaking things up, and I am really excited it,” she said.
For those interested in participating in the program, Shinholster that they should be willing to step out of their comfort zones.
“It is possible that they will be serving alongside students that they don't know or perhaps they will be serving in communities that are very different from their own,” Shinholster said.
SB4S is free to all current Mercer students and will take place from March 4-7. There is a limit of 15 students who may participate.
Applications to apply for the SB4S trip were sent out via email to all students as part of “Bear Blurbs,” but students can also pick up a paper copy in the MerServe office located in the Connell Students Center. Applications are due Feb. 26.
The link to the application is here.
Editor's note 2/22/2018: this article has been updated to reflect the correct dates for SB4S.
(02/13/18 3:34am)
Mercer is made of a series of tall staircases that can make it difficult for disabled students to navigate the campus and participate in campus life.
Everywhere you look there is a different set of stairs to get from one destination to the next. In fact, in some places, the stairs are the only way to get to classes, meetings or other events in buildings.
These challenges create a general lack of inclusiveness for students with disabilities, in addition to potentially making them late for class or meetings.
McPherson Newell, a freshman student who suffers from arthritis-related complications, often uses a cane as a way of making his trips to class easier. It helps him, but it does not totally alleviate his issues of mobility through campus.
[pullquote speaker="McPherson Newell" photo="" align="right" background="off" border="none" shadow="off"]Initially it was a weird space for the first two months. I wasn’t visibly disabled... So I’d get a lot of weird looks when I was using the elevator.... I'm like 'I swear I am not just lazy, I physically can’t do this.'[/pullquote]
“Initially it was a weird space for the first two months. I wasn’t visibly disabled... So I’d get a lot of weird looks when I was using the elevator,” Newell said about his first few months at Mercer. “I’m like ‘I swear I am not just lazy, I physically can’t do this.’”
In most buildings, especially those on the quad, there is no elevator to get to the higher floors. This means that anyone needing access to these buildings must brave the usually two or three flights of steps to get to a class.
For Newell, a big problem is that Mercer does not advertise its accessible entrances and as a result, he has had to discover them on his own, usually after he has taken a painful journey up a staircase.
In once instance, stairs were his only option while on his way to class in Willet.
“I didn’t know where the elevator was in there so I had to walk up three flights of stairs because I only had a ten minute class break and I couldn’t get there early to find it,” Newell said.
Newell noted that he was fortunate to have a Peer Advisor who could tell him where the elevators were near his classes, otherwise he might have had even more trouble.
To alleviate part of this problem, Mercer has updated its campus with the installation of wheelchair buttons. When pressed, the buttons automatically open doors to several of the buildings on campus. However, according to some students, on many buildings the buttons do not work at all.
Aside from his Peer Advisor, Newell noted that Mercer hasn’t been very helpful in his accommodations.
“You don’t get a rule book or a guidebook to Mercer when you’re disabled or injured, they just expect you to figure it out,” Newell said.
Other students echoed Newell’s sentiments about accessibility at Mercer. Jessica Smith, a freshman who had a broken ankle for a month and a half last semester, had a similar experience when trying to navigate around campus.
“My dorm doesn’t have an elevator so I walked on a broken ankle for nine days,” Smith said. “I had to go up and down stairs because I lived on the second floor, before I even got a boot.”
Smith has been to the Access and Accommodations office for other concerns and noted the building itself was not accessible.
“I know that access is on the third floor in a building where the elevator works about half the time,” Smith said about the office on the third floor of the Connell Student Center (CSC).
Katy Johnson, the new director of Access and Accommodations, said they have received complaints about the elevator in the CSC and have maintenance working on this issue.
“Usually [the elevator] is down for a couple of hours, but never more than a day,” Johnson said.
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When it comes to Mercer being an accessible campus, she said that this is an issue many campuses are dealing with and it is especially difficult for a historic campus like Mercer.
She said their problem areas are mostly in the quad and namely Willingham, Ryals and Ware. These buildings are much older than others on the quad and as a result, they are harder to change.
“Every other building is accessible,” Johnson said.
She said that her office has not gotten any complaints about broken wheelchair buttons but that each building has a steward who reports maintenance issues.
Making Mercer an accessible campus is a “continuous process” Johnson said. Every five years the campus goes under review for its accessibility and a priority list is made from those findings.
The next review process will begin in the summer of 2019.
Access and Accommodations needs an application, documentation of a student’s disability and an interview to follow up. If a student has filed for accommodations in the past, they must do so again at the beginning of each new semester.
To Newell and Smith this process has been somewhat troubling.
“Just because you have proof of this disability doesn’t mean your proof is proof enough,” Newell said about the difficulties in gathering the correct paperwork for accommodations.
For many students like Newell, their diagnosed disability does not accurately reflect their everyday difficulties getting around campus. This contributes to the misconceptions surrounding people with disabilities and affect the types of accommodations they are eligible to receive.
“There is this whole misconception in society, that disabled people are lying to get accommodations,” Newell said. “I wouldn’t need accommodations if I had to lie to get them. I could just do the stairs like an abled person.”
Smith has had a similar story when she lost her paperwork during the accommodations process.
“Access doesn’t make it easier and they don’t seem to be very understanding about when you don’t have your paperwork, [so they tell you] ‘there’s nothing we can do,’” Smith said.
Sometimes, for an older historic campus, change is a bit difficult and can leave some feeling like it is not happening quick enough.
Access and Accommodations office is located on the third floor of the CSC and is open from 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
(01/08/18 2:03am)
Senior Jalen Penn is a defensive end for Mercer’s football team. He has been playing football since he was 8 years old.
Penn is from Kennesaw, Georgia and is a double major in Management and Marketing as well as a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated.
He remembers the first game he played with Mercer football in 2014. He describes it as being “really exciting” with a packed stadium.
Penn says he chose Mercer specifically because it was the most academically rigorous of the schools he was choosing between.
“That was the selling point, I guess you could say. That was the most important point to me when making a decision about what school I wanted to play football at...how valuable an education I was gonna get,” Penn said.
Penn is very close with his position coach, Kenny Baker. He considers him a mentor, and they talk regularly about football and life in general.
“He’s bought into me you know. He’s been my coach all four years, and I’ve been lucky enough to really develop a really good a relationship with him you know, and he’s seen me grow.”
He said that having Baker as a coach is even more rewarding because of how close they are and that it makes playing for him more fun.
As he wraps up his last year with Mercer football Penn said, “This is the year of lasts.”
“You think about that and you start running out of lasts and they start meaning more and more to you,” he said.
Penn said he attributes his success to staying humble and always striving to be the best he can be.
Penn has played in nearly every game this year and said it’s a tiring experience.
“I can definitely feel the effects of playing this much. I keep telling everybody I’m getting old now. You know out of those other guys that come before me, I never thought I’d be the one who's got all the old man aches and pains.”
He is still adjusting to the spotlight as he said, “People look up to me now...that's different.”
After graduating, Penn plans to work for a marketing firm in Macon and gain experience in his field.
(12/04/17 11:23am)
The Student Government Association’s Heritage Life Committee is bringing in the holidays with Mercer’s Annual Christmas Tree Lighting.
The Heritage Life Committee is a separate committee on SGA that is devoted to planning all traditional Mercer events such as the Christmas Tree Lighting and Pilgrimage to Penfield.
They have been planning all semester to create an event that will bring the Mercer community together during the holiday season.
The lighting will be held on Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Historic Quad.
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Ashila Jiwani, the committee chair, said it is one of her favorite events, and she’s been planning all semester for it.
“It’s cold, and it’s winter and it’s the holiday season, which is all about spending time with your family, and to be able to celebrate the holidays together is such a blessing,” she said.
The Mercer Singers and the Bearitones will be performing at the tree lighting. There will also be a Christmas tree decoration contest and complimentary gifts will be given out.
“We try to remain inclusive,” Jiwani said. “And remember those celebrating Christmas and other holidays around the world during these times.”
The committee includes Kristen Duncan, Madison Moore, Ellie Parker and Gregory Washington.
“Though the event is called (the) Christmas Tree Lighting, we want everyone to feel included and valued. This is a way to bring the campus together to appreciate this season and everyone and everything around us,” she said.
(11/10/17 7:31pm)
To all lovers of live music, the Mercer Jazz Ensemble is having a Latin Jazz concert on Friday, Nov. 10 in Fickling Hall at 7:30 p.m.
They will be performing styles such as Bossa Nova, a brazilian style which means “new trend” and is a fusion of samba and jazz, as well as Afro Cuban, an early jazz form that mixes latin jazz with improvisation techniques.
“Latin-style jazz is really upbeat and energetic and features some really neat lines, harmonies and rhythms that you don’t typically see in swing jazz,” said Kalman DeMott, freshman piano player.
DeMott will be performing for the first time with the ensemble.
Other Mercer students performing in the concert include: Banks Daniels (saxophone), Brayden Hutcheson (saxophone), Justin Staggers (saxophone), Zach Musser (saxophone), Brandon Mincey (saxophone), Matthew Ezeh (trombone), Kalman DeMott (piano) and Henry Jones (drums).
The concert will feature songs by Chick Corea, Phil Woods and Don Menza, as well as other Latin composers.
The Jazz Ensemble has performed three concerts on Mercer’s campus, the last show being in April. DeMott said she’s looking forward to the upcoming performance.
“[It] will be an interesting time for anyone who likes music,” DeMott said.
When asked about the inspiration behind this event, Director and Jazz Studies Professor Monty Cole said, “I had a dream with dinosaurs, space aliens, and the internal revenue service all set to Latin music. When it came time to plan a concert I thought ‘what the heck.’”
The Jazz Ensemble has a variety of talented soloist and will be a great time for lovers of live music.
“Latin music is fun and exciting. The Mercer musicians are amazing,” Monty said. “The seats in Fickling are extraordinarily comfortable and the setting is conducive to romance.”
(11/08/17 5:17pm)
A dorm is a student’s work space, most visited hangout and home away from home. However, for students who are trans and nonbinary, the dorm can also be a difficult place to live.
Personally, I know several people who identify as genders other than male or female and some who don’t identify as any gender at all.
These students who have to go back to their dorms after a long day of classes take on the added stressor of being misgendered every time they try to relax in their dorm or possibly dealing with a roommate who does not respect their gender identity.
The solution: gender-neutral housing.
Currently, Mercer has students assigned to residence halls by sex assigned at birth. So where does this leave Mercer students who do not identify with their sex assigned at birth? They have no other option but to live in residence halls that do not accurately represent their gender identity.
This is where gender-neutral housing comes in.
This form of housing would grant these students a sense of relief at not having to constantly misgender themselves when living on campus as well as getting to live with someone who is understanding of them and their pronouns.
Many colleges such as Fort Lewis College in Colorado, Boston University, Penn State and several Ivy Leagues including Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia University all have gender- neutral housing options.
These institutions have made a commitment to inclusiveness and are understanding that college dorm life is not a one size fits all situation.
Gender-neutral housing would not only help Mercer's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer ( LGBTQ) community, but it would also allow all students to choose a roommate based off who they believe is the best fit for them.
I often hear students complain about their roommate having different study habits, sleep schedules, issues with hygiene and many other problems.
This could be eliminated as most gender-neutral housing programs assume that the participant has someone in mind they would like to room with.
So, if you have a best friend who happens to be a different gender but uses your pronouns and wakes up at 8 a.m. just like you do, then this option is perfect.
Mercer isn’t on many LGBTQ friendly lists for colleges, if any at all.
Overall, the lack of a gender-neutral housing option puts Mercer at a disadvantage compared to other schools.
It appears as if Mercer is excluding an entire group of individuals, indicating a negative campus life experience for LGBTQ students. This can be a determining factor for some high school seniors who are LGBTQ and in the process of deciding where to go to school.
At the end of the day, roommates are the people you spend a majority of your college experience with, and gender is a very insignificant factor to base such an important decision on.
College students are adults, and a roommate is a roommate regardless of gender.
(10/06/17 6:31pm)
On Saturday October 7, the Centenary Macon Church will hold its second annual Artrepreneur Market for local Macon artists to post booths selling their wares.
The market will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on College Street. They will also have a lunch of homemade soup and sandwiches.
Yvonne Stuart, an organizer of the event, said her church got the idea by viewing artist as entrepreneurs.
The event is a fundraiser for the Centenary Community Missions Men's Transition House Program. This program aids men who were formerly in rehabilitation as they try to find jobs and become reintegrated into society. Currently, eight men at various stages may stay in the home from eight months to a year as they find jobs.
Artists were found by advertising at various galleries [and] also in the church as well as Facebook,” Stuart said.
They include artists from all age groups and mediums selling art, baked goods, handmade soaps, skin care, jewelry, photography, purses, pottery, walking sticks and more.
Stuart said that the market “is an inexpensive way to find items for family for the holidays and give something unique and one of a kind that is more meaningful than a mass produced item.”
Provided by Centenary Church
Mercer Professor Carolyn Yackel is one of the vendors for the event. She is selling crafted temari balls as well as crocheted snowflakes.
She began making these items 18 years ago and is inspired by geometric shapes. She is a member of the Centenary Church where she first heard of the market, however this is her first time as a vendor. She said she has only ever traded with other mathematical artists.
Michael Williams, the photographer for the church, is also a vendor.
He will be displaying photographs of Macon as well as photos of his travels through California, a series of National Parks and places in Europe such as London, Paris and Florence. He will be displaying mostly digital photography, both matted and framed.
He began doing photography twenty years ago and this is also his first year being a vendor in the market.
William said the market has a wide diversity of art and can give ideas to people for what they may want to do or buy in the futur