Arts Drew Belz reviews Outlook Swine flu vaccine Slavovsky’s ambitious hits the streets “Chalk Circle” Sports Lady Scots defeat Bryan 1-0 Vol. 53,56, No. 175 TheThe student newspaperBagpipe at Covenant College since 1955 Thursday, October 8, 2009 Mountain Affair shines under new management by Sarah Dollar dignity,” Forman said. “It was obvious that This past Friday some of Covenant’s Matt and Dave had been on the other side best performers took the stage for Moun- of things before. They really found a beau- tain Affair. As always, the chapel was tiful balance in their management.” packed for the event. But the show was “There have been transitional years in noticeably different this year due to new the past for Mountain Affair, and we felt management. like this year’s event was another positive Admissions representative Matt Brown step in the right direction,” said Hess. and alumnus Dave Hess (‘09) took the The Tough Customers, which included helm of the event this year. It had pre- Ben VanderHart, Colin Stayton, Josh ciously been headed up by former Vice Barret and Forman, took first with their President of Admissions Wallace Ander- rousing original song, “Captain Matador.” son. Grady Dickinson and Michael Kendall “Wallace was in charge of the entire took second for their cover of Jerome preview weekend. There was a lot on his Kern’s “All the Things You Are.” Colin Students working for Admissions are going the extra mile to keep GARRETT REID plate, so that was hard on musicians. We Stayton won third place for his original enrollment numbers high in the face of a struggling economy. saw this as an opportunity to change a composition on the guitar. couple things,” said Brown. Performances ranged from singing and John-Michael Forman, member of dancing to harp-playing and rapping. Admissions Office faces off winning band The Tough Customers, saw “I really liked the variety of perfor- a clear difference between the former and mances, from classical to folk to rock to current management groups. against the down economy see MOUNTAIN AFFAIR, page 4 “Musicians were treated with so much by Lauren Holmer the admissions process, McMahan says she enjoys her job. More than most students, Waverly “For me, it’s really fun to talk to stu- McMahan knows how the recession has dents,” McMahan said. affected Covenant. McMahan is a student One of McMahan’s strategies for worker in Admissions, and in the down smoothing over what can be a shocking economy it is inevitable that finances come tuition figure is to immediately follow it up up more frequently in conversations with with information about financial aid and potential students and their parents. scholarship. A key part of her job is to encour- She encourages students to fill out the age potential students to keep looking at application forms and see what assistance Covenant, even if it seems out of their Covenant can offer. She prods them to try price range. Despite the difficulty of these see page 2 conversations and the ups and downs of ADMISSIONS, New Vocational Center among first fruits of Strategic Plan The Center for Vocation will be revital- by Kaitlin Fender GARRETT REID izing the career services provided by Cov- The Tough Customers receiving their award from President Nielson The three-year strategic plan, adopted enant. New students will be assessed with last spring, is already seeing checkmarks CareerDIRECT from Crown Ministries, next to some of its items. One of these is the and Anthony Tucker will present a seminar recent establishment of The Center for Vo- reviewing their results. cation, which will replace Career Services. Tucker also plans to increase summer Read The Bagpipe online! Two years ahead of schedule, Anthony internship opportunities, and ultimately Tucker was hired this past summer to direct channel students toward post-grad jobs. He Visit bagpipeonline.com to comment on articles and the center. Last Monday, Leda Goodman was hired as his administrative assistant. see VOCATIONAL CENTER, page 2 read papers dating back to 1999. RETRACTION: Joe Dodd’s article, “Brand New album not to be missed,” was in- correctly attributed to Austin Humbles in last week’s Bagpipe. 2 Thursday, October 8, 2009 NEWS The Bagpipe New Center for Vocation working hard to help graduates secure career goals Other targets include addition of majors, increased diversity from VOCATIONAL CENTER on page 1. “This partnership will help take this sight Committee, which meets three times diversity “ethos” through curriculum, project above and beyond its original poten- a year. Faculty, staff, alumni, students, chapel music, guest artists. would also like to create more “pipelines” tial,” said senior Abigail Smith, secretary of stakeholders, are all involved in the plan’s The college is also hoping to develop for Covenant students where they can plug Tri-Beta. fulfillment. The plan has four main tra- more study-abroad programs. Eames into internships and jobs with other Cov- Tucker will also be teaming with the jectories—academic program, learning said Covenant’s intercultural experience enant graduates. science department to ensure that students environment, connections & communica- requirement will be developed into a Tucker hopes to combine all the resourc- are prepared to apply for medical school, tions, and operations & resources. more academically rigorous program, es available to Covenant students—alumni, graduate school, research opportunities, Everything from the addition of majors probably including more credit hours and professors, the local community, and the and more. to future facilities is in the works as part of coursework. college connections—to help students Jenna Brock, a senior business major, the plan. Though the entire plan is detailed secure a career. said the Center for Vocation has already Dr. Kevin Eames, the Director of and ambitious, the college is determined “I want to help students and alumni helped her gain traction in her job hunt. Institutional Research, said one key to see it fulfilled. identify their skills and interests and then “Anthony Tucker has been very help- area Covenant has decided to focus on “There’s often a plan that never hap- help them connect those to a need in our ful,” Brock observed. “He was willing to is “cultural competence.” Covenant is pens, but Dr. Nielson didn’t want that world,” said Tucker. “I want them to be see me at short notice to help prepare for a seeking to become more ethnically diverse to happen,” said Eames. “The plan isn’t change agents.” career fair, and he followed up afterwards. by working with more diverse churches, sitting on a shelf.” Tucker is working with the Tri-Beta He’s definitely gone the extra mile.” holding a campus-wide service project in Biology Honors Society to help them form The rest of the strategic plan is being the community, and shaping a campus an internship database. directed by the Strategic Planning Over- Admissions gets tough to combat applicants’ financial concerns Strategies: stressing financial aid options along with Covenant’s value, staying optimistic many families make a renewed commit- ple….we don’t want people to make unwise funds, we are doing all we can to enable from on page 1. ADMISSIONS ment to Covenant despite their personal financial decisions, but we also want to push students and families to continue at Cov- financial struggles. people who have ruled us out to give us a enant,” said Nielson. “It’s encouraging to for scholarships, even if they doubt good “I think when the reasons for going to a second chance.” see this mutual effort during these challeng- results. college are vague, it is easier to settle for a Ocando admits it was somewhat uncom- ing times.” That’s because McMahan believes lower-cost alternative during hard times,” fortable to talk about the economy the first The staff members encourage each Covenant’s education is worth the price, said Nielson. “But I think the sharper the few times it came up in conversations, but is other, too. Ocando says maintaining moti- and this attitude prevails among the entire reasons for wanting to be somewhere, the now routine. vation was difficult last year, since everyone Admissions staff. more a family is willing to say ‘we’ll look for Some recent changes in the way finan- knew recruiting would be tough. But at The economy topic is often sensitive, lower-cost alternatives for other parts of our cial aid decisions are made has made these weekly meetings everyone would encourage which is why Associate Director of Ad- lives, but this is a priority.’” conversations more encouraging. Last year each other, especially after a story surfaced missions Sarah Ocando says talking with Admissions Representative Amy Smith Covenant began allowing accepted appli- about a student who was able to come to interested students must be “distinctly states that there are many students current- cants more time to decide if they wanted to Covenant despite hard financial circum- relational.” Accomplishing this goal means ly attending Covenant who are a testament accept their financial aid packages. stances. spending time with every visitor to the cam- to God’s faithfulness in the area of finances. Ocando said this gives families more Director of Admissions Matthew Bryant pus, and plenty of phone conversations. “It’s about having faith that if the Lord time to consider their options, and work also points out that this year’s incoming When the economy comes up, Ocando wants you at Covenant He will provide a with Financial Aid to receive packages that class was larger than expected—a pleasant says staff members do their best to com- way for you,” Smith said. take into account special circumstances not surprise.