ChronicleThe

at WVU Parkersburg

February 19, 2015 Volume #45 No. 8

Inside this Issue

Culinary Arts, Page: 4

Career Services, Page: 5

Study Abroad, Page: 5

Reviews, Page: 7

Sports, Page: 8

by Sheena Thorn “This is the deal of a lifetime,” said Dr. H.G. Young almost 30 years ago to the then president of the college Dr. Eldon Miller. The deal of a lifetime was the price of a new Steinway piano for the use of Parkersburg Community Col-lege. The story of how WVU Park-ersburg attained such pianos is something Dr. H.G. Young, professor of music, loves to tell. It all started almost 30 years ago when Dr. Young first began teaching at Parkersburg Com-munity College (PCC) in 1986. “The college only owned one piano. It was not a high qual-ity piano. After I arrived, we purchased a Steinway vertical piano. But we didn’t really have a proper piano for teaching and concerts,” Young said. At the time, Chuck Leary’s House of Good Music was lo-cated downtown, and the store was going out of business with a Steinway piano still in stock. After checking it out, Young was told that the piano was $24,000, but the college would receive a considerable discount “The only way I knew we [PCC] would get the piano was through our foundation, and that would require the direct involve-ment of the president of the college,” Young said. So Young set out to tell President Dr. Eldon C. Miller, about this “deal of a lifetime” that the college could not pass up.

Upon arriving at the presi-dent’s office, his secretary informed Young that he [the president] would not be in for a few days because he was travel-ing back from Colorado. “At the time, there were no cellphones or email, so I had no way to reach him. But his secretary informed me that he calls every day to check in and see how things are going, so when he called the next time she would tell him about this project that I am so eager about,” Young said. Young returned to the music store and told the woman exactly what the president’s secretary told him, and the woman at the store reassured Young that the store would not be closing un-til the end of August. Young returned to the president’s office three days later and learned that the president experienced car trouble and would take a few more days to arrive back in town. Young left a huge sign on the president’s desk reading “see me immediately, H.G.” On the Monday morning that classes started, Young went in to Dr. Miller’s office and told him all about the piano and what a great opportunity this was for the college, a “deal of a lifetime,” as Young continually told Dr. Miller. However, Young and Dr. Miller could not act straight away to purchase the piano. First, Young needed to work with his division chair to craft a proposal to present to the president the

following Thursday. Thursday came and Young and his division chair presented to Dr. Miller about the piano. After an hour of questions, answers and information, Dr. Miller told Young that he purchased the piano the same Monday after-noon that Young spoke with him. Young was flabbergasted. The Monday Young spoke with the president about the piano; he called Dr. Lawrence-Berrey, the president of the foundation at the time. The two discussed the quality and price of the piano and came to the conclusion that it was worth checking out. The piano was purchased that day. Because Dr. Lawrence-Berrey was so pleased, he personally bought a professional style music bench to accompany the piano and do-nated it to the college.

“Now we had this wonderful piano here. We used it for per-formances and students used it for lessons. It was a Steinway, a top-of-the-line piano,” Young said. In 2007, a Steinway piano was donated to WVU Parkers-burg. Curious as to who donated it, Young asked and came to find out that Dr. Lawrence-Berrey left his personal Steinway piano to the WVU Parkersburg music program in his will, so when he passed away, the piano would come to the college. WVU Parkersburg now has two baby grand Steinway pianos, and one vertical Steinway piano, which reside in Room 2300. The foundation created a plaque for the Steinway Music Studio which hangs outside the doos. Lessons are open to students throughout the day by appoint-ment.

The Grand Babies Have a Home

The Steinway pianos are now in their new home in Room 2300.

The Chronicle at WVU Parkersburg February 19, 2015Page 2

ChronicleThe

at WVU Parkersburg

News Editors: Candice Hoalcraft Kyle Nichols

News Reporting/Photography Staff: Kelly MatthewsJames Liebau IIJohn ScritchfeldJason Ross

Layout Editor: Hannah Duffield

Layout Staff:Kelly MatthewsErika DavisJessica FieldsRachael GantShalee LatheyJames Liebau IICandice HoalcraftMegan NewlandKyle NicholsTessa McAtee

chronicle@wvup.eduand find us on Facebook & Twitter

@wvupchronicle

Advisor: Torie JacksonAsst. Advisor: Olivia Reeder

Katelyn BunchRussell BunnerBrenna CatherChelsea ClarkAmber DeeterAmie LukasiakMackenzie NestorJohn Scritchfield Sheena ThornMegan Valentine

Sheena ThornShalee LatheyErika Davis

Volume 45Produced by students of WVU Parkersburg

by Shalee Lathey Professionalism, a good re-sumé and first impressions are critical for job seekers in today's society. The upcoming job fair will help prepare WVU Parkersburg students, and build professional relationships. The Jackson/Roane Job Fair for WVU Parkersbug students is taking place March 5 at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Millwood. Students are welcome to at-tend the fair from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. The fair will be open to the public from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Students do not have to be an upcoming graduate to attend the fair. Companies from banks, hos-pitals and industrial plants are eager to meet potential employ-

ees. Severa l employer s f rom around the area are attending such as: Constellium Rolled Products of Ravenswood, Star Plastics, Inc. Mon Power and Mustang Survival Mfg Inc., First Neighborhood Bank and Jackson General Hospital. Students are encouraged to log on to their College Central Network accounts or visit: http://tinyurl.com/ksqnzjg to see which companies are attending the fair. Students can click the links of each employer to learn more about the company. These companies are seeking motivated, talented individuals, and students are expected to be prepared. “Students need to treat this fair like they’re going to an interview,” Career Services Co-

ordinator Jennifer Randolph said. Students should bring sev-eral copies of their resumés and should be prepared for pos-sible on-the-spot interviews. It is important that students dress professionally for potential em-ployers. Dress for success, and anticipate an interview. This event is sponsored by West Virginia University at Parkersburg, Jackson County Chamber of Commerce, Roane County Chamber of Commerce and the Jackson Newspapers. T h e J a c k s o n / R o a n e J o b Fair is located at The Armed Forces Reserve Center in Mill-wood. The address is: 8832 Pt. Pleasant Road Millwood, WV 25262. Contact Career Services by calling (304) 424-8380, or email careerservices@wvup.edu.

by Shalee Lathey Building a resumé can be a drag, but it does not have to be. A Rock your Resumé event will take place for students to help create a resumé that will stand out from the crowd. The event will be held Febru-ary 25 in front of the Welcome Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Students must bring a paper copy of a resumé to the event to be reviewed by Career Service Coordinators, Jennifer Randolph and Kia Hoops. Students who participate in bringing a resumé will receive free cookies or coffee provided by the AVI cafeteria. Before creating a resumé, try following these eight useful tips to ensure a rockin' resumé:1. Image: It is important because a resumé is something the em-ployer first sees. 2. Honesty: Do not exaggerate skills. 3. Stay positive: Market yourself, magnify strengths. 4. Keep it concise: Leave out un-necessary information.5. Quantify results: Give num-bers.

6. Focus on the fit: Know the job at hand. Relate to the specific position.7. Do not make it personal: Do not mention age, height, weight, marital status, religion or politi-cal beliefs. 8. Leave a little mystery: Leave something to talk about at the interview. Career Service Coordinator, Jennifer Randolph stresses to students, “Formatting is number one when it comes to resumés. It takes employers six seconds to judge a resumé.” Students can log on to col-legecentral.com/wvup to access resumés and career resources. The resumé feature on College Central Network is ideal for be-ginners. It includes a default template to help guide students, and help take away the stress of creating a favorable resumé. For more information on Career Services and the events, visit 1013 B in the banana wing. Log on to wvup.edu/CareerSer-vices. Or students can call the Career Services office: (304) 424-8380.Career Fair

Helping Students Plan for the Future

Rock Your Resumé

The Chronicle at WVU ParkersburgFebruary 19, 2015 Page 3

by John Scritchfield WVU Parkersburg students will soon notice an improvement in WiFi performance on campus, if they haven’t already. The IT Department is in the process of installing new SonicPoint ACi access points throughout the school. Three of them have already been installed in the Student Success Center, the computer labs downstairs, and in the 2200 hall of the main build-ing. Five more access points will be installed in the near future, in ar-eas that need it the most, but the locations have not been decided upon yet. However, two areas of consideration include the multi-purpose room and 1300 hallway. Not nearly as many new access points will be needed because the range will be a lot greater than the old ones. “They’re much faster than what we currently have, and they’re also more reliable,” said Chief Information Officer Doug Anthony. “The models that we’ve been using are the older 802.11g standard, which is 54 megabits [per second] maxi-mum.” The new access points are 802.11ac, the newest wireless standard. They support wireless download speeds of roughly 500 megabits/second up to a gigabit, although current devices are just starting to receive ac wire-less capabilities. However, ac is backwards compatible, so older devices can still use the new ac-cess points. “It’s not future-proof, but it keeps us going for quite awhile,” said Anthony. “It’s going to be a long time I think before we out-grow that.”

The current access points were installed in 2010. In addition to being faster, the SonicPoint ACi are much more efficient than their predecessor, the 3Com 8760. “They are managed, which means they have one central location that you can monitor, and do configurations – like if we need to make a change to anything,” Anthony said. The IT Department has to go to the ac-cess point to do that right now. “Aside from the inconvenience of that, we have no real way of telling when an access point is acting up, other than when peo-ple report it. With this new one, we see interference, or any other problems that could be happen-ing,” said Anthony. Anthony also elaborated on the differences between routers and access points, which are often confused. “A router specifically is going to be taking traffic from differ-ent networks, and depending on rules, either allow it through or prohibit it; basically it’s what converges separate networks.” “An access point in this situ-ation is more like a switch for wired technology - it’s what devices use to connect to those other resources.” He went on to say wireless home routers have the access point and switch built into them, and that’s what causes the mix-up. More access points will be in-stalled for the next school year as well but exactly how many more is currently unknown. Anthony concluded, “it’s going to be a staged project because of budget constraints - we can’t replace ev-erything at once.”

by Sheena Thorn It is all about the “Aha” mo-ments for Dr. Jared Gump when it comes to teaching his classes. As one of the newest instructors at the college, Gump is in his second semester at WVU Park-ersburg and is enjoying his time teaching and being the division chair for STEM. Gump attended West Virginia University for his undergrad degree and graduated with a bachelors in physics as well as a bachelors in French. “I know it is an odd combina-tion. But when I was in high school, AP classes were just starting to be offered so I took the only two my school had, AP English and AP French. When I got to college, I knew I was go-ing into physics and I already had credit going to-wards French at WVU, and with WVU being a liberal arts school, there was room allowed for a for-eign language in the curriculum. So by the time I was finished with school I realized I only need like three more classes to get my bachelors in French, and that is how I wound up with a dual ma-jor,” Gump said. After graduation, Gump pro-ceeded to attend The Ohio State University for grad school, and continued his education by gain-ing both a master’s degree and a PhD in physics. While in grad school, Gump taught most of the entry level

physics courses offered at OSU as part of the requirements for his degrees. Once Gump completed his education, he attained a post-doctoral internship position that consisted of doing research for the federal government. Gump worked at the Naval Service Warfare Center in Indi-anhead, Md., and within a year, he was offered a full-time posi-tion working for that institution. Gump stayed at this jobsite for nearly 10 years. During this time, Gump and his wife began ex-panding the family. As Gump’s family began to grow, so did the community in which he lived. What started out as a quaint neighborhood outside of Wash-ington D.C. became another D.C. suburb, a place where Gump and his wife did not want their chil-dren to grow up. Having both been from West Virginia, Gump and his wife made the decision to move back into the state. Being the division chair of STEM entitles a wide variety of responsibilities. Monitoring programs, faculty evaluations, staffing courses, program re-views, overseeing budgets and overseeing course changes are only a few of the many tasks Gump accomplishes, on a daily basis. “I am still trying to learn the ropes. I have been through one

fall semester, so if I can at least get through one spring and one summer semester I will have done a complete year and will hopefully better understand the process,” Gump said. Despite many of the duties that coincide with being division chair, Gump instructs two cours-es per semester. This semester, Gump is teaching Shop Math 108 and Physics 111. His favorite part about teach-ing is the mentoring process. “The best parts are the “aha” moments when you can see the students are finally getting it, or they [the students] are finally putting together everything that was learned and are coming to a conclusion,” Gump said. And even though grading is the worst aspect of it, he said, he still enjoys seeing how well the students are comprehending the information that was presented. Though Gump has only been at WVU Parkersburg a short time, he is thoroughly enjoy-ing his time at the college. “It has been a good experience so far, I have really enjoyed it and I am looking forward to future events,” Gump said. The future events that Gump references are the expansion of the agriculture program and how it will work together with the culinary program and the new offices that are being built in the new science wing located in the basement.

New Technology,Better Internet

All about the ‘AHA’ Moments

With Dr. Gump

The Chronicle at WVU Parkersburg February 19, 2015Page 4

by Jason Ross Thanks to cable channels like the Food Network, the Travel Channel, CNN and USA bring-ing viewers shows like the Iron Chef, Hell’s Kitchen, Parts Un-known and Chopped, the once underworld of life in a commer-cial kitchen is gaining popularity and attention. However, like most things on television, the world of restau-rant life is not always quite as glamorous in real life. Behind every 30 seconds of broadcast-ing lie hours and hours of prep work that the camera does not cover. That is one lesson that Chef Gene Evans is teaching the students at WVU Parkersburg’s Culinary Institute. The Culinary Institute opened its doors in the spring semester of 2013 and has been improving ever since. The program gives students a wide range of culinary skills beginning with the basics. A typical day would begin with lecture time in the morning fol-lowed by lab in the afternoon. Students learn such things as sanitation and health, proper knife handling techniques, how to properly clean equipment, and time management.

The students also learn the chemistry behind the foods like how sugars or acids break-down and how different tastes interact. They will be introduced to all kinds of interesting ingredients and recipes from all over the world. The program offers a choice between a one-year cer-tificate or a two-year degree in Applied Sciences. “There’s always something new out there, you can never learn enough in this place,” said David Suttle, one of the culinary students. “I love it. I absolutely love it.” Aside from teaching students the key skills required to gain employment with higher-end res-taurants, Chef Evans has a vision to incorporate the Culinary Insti-tute into the downtown culture. With the Institute strategically located on Market Street in the Downtown District, the potential exists for participating in the re-vitalization of the district. “This whole block here and the next block down, we have such a potential to become a multicultural place. You have the Art Center right here on the corner, the Actors Guild right across the street… that starts

your art and culture. This should be a multicultural district.” Ev-ans explained, “I mean, across the street have a nice Pan-Asian restaurant, down the street have an Ethiopian, have another Latin American… maybe a Thai or Vietnamese, something to bring some culture. That way people have a reason to come down-town.” Evans is also collaborating with Diversified Agriculture In-structor Hans Straight to put the foods grown in the Agriculture program to good use. “Hans is a high energy, very progressive thinker,” Evans said. “I’m pretty progressive in the way I want to do things, too, so it’s a good match.” The co-op would allow the two programs to work closely togeth-er. “I want to take my students out to the farm so they can see what goes into the growing of the food, and have the Ag students come here so they can see the final product. Because they put in all the hard work on the front end, I want to be able to show them all the hard work we put in on the back end to sort of tie it all together.” “I wanted to take a little bit

more of a farm-to-table ap-proach to the food. One, because it is still one of those restaurant trends that you see. And two, for the viability of the local economy it is important that students understand that if they look hard enough there are lo-cal producers that are able to satisfy their restaurant’s needs.” Evans explained, “Overall we’re strengthening community.” The students of the culinary program get to put their newly developed skills to test in some real-world scenarios. O n e w a y i s b y p r e p a r -i n g t h e m e a l s f o r W V U Parkersburg’s employee appre-ciation luncheons. The students do everything from setting up the dining area, preparing and serv-ing the meals, and washing the dishes at the end. The culinary students will also be traveling with Chef Evans to Roanoke, W.Va. to participate in the Annu-al Culinary Classic at Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. The event will be held on March 6 through 8 at the Stonewall Re-sort. Several local restaurants in the area will be participating in the event, as well as several of the state’s culinary schools.

Evans stated that he has been growing his network of local chefs and restaurant managers since he arrived in Parkersburg. At times these professionals call him to see if he has any promis-ing students. “While a lot people don’t know we exist, the people who really matter are the ones call-ing me to see if I have anyone interested in a part-time job or to help with catering and that sort of thing.” He went on to say, “We’re just creating a pipeline. We wanted to be a feeder system for the restaurants around here.” Evans reminds his students that they will not become chefs overnight. Even though they will have a degree in the culinary arts it takes years of serving in restaurants doing all the tedious, behind the scenes work before they are given that title. He tells them that the degree or certificate they earn will open the doors to make that possible. It will be up to them to prove they have the drive to go all the way. To keep up wi th what ’s happening with the Culinary In-stitute go like their page at www.facebook.com/pages/WVU-P-Culinary-Academy.

"There’s always something new out there,

you can never learn enough in this place"Culinary student working on an assignment. Culinary student working with Instructor Gene Evans.

Apple Pie A La Mode

The Chronicle at WVU Parkersburg Page 5February 19, 2015

by Sheena Thorn New study abroad opportuni-ties are being presented to WVU Parkersburg students. Through the leadership of professors from Marshall University, West Virginia State University and West Liberty University, trips to China, Mexico and Germany are taking place this summer. The trips are sponsored by West Virginia Higher Education and are going to be led by West Virginia professors. Addition-ally, each trip will cost less than $2,000 not including the price of airfare. Each trip is offering a differ-ent experience for the students to take part in and enjoy, while gaining three credit hours of col-lege credit. The China trip offers credit towards service learning, the Mexico trip offers credit to-wards a business credit and the Germany trip offers credit towards culture, community, art and food. Students who choose to go on the China excursion will ex-perience cultural and language training at Tsinghua University and visit major cultural and his-torical sites in Beijing, Xi’an,

by Shalee Lathey Career Services is now ex-panding with a center to help better assess students and future career goals. The new location is in the banana wing in room 1013B. The location is convenient to stu-dents. The new Career Services Cen-ter is spacious, with computers and helpful resources that are accessible to each student on

Zhengzhou and others. The service learning will take place in one of 30 selected rural areas in China with 150 Tsinghua stu-dents, 30 Tsinghua faculty and 70 American, Hong Kong students. The cost for this trip is $1,890 for WV public higher education institutions and $2,390 for oth-ers, and lasts four weeks. This fee includes program admis-sion, three credits through West Virginia State University, food, transportation, room and board, tickets to cultural sightseeing sites, basic travel accident and sickness insurance and visa fees and services. However, this fee does not include international airfare, estimated around $1,700-$2,200. The deadline to apply for this trip is Mar. 1, 2015. For students wishing to attend the China trip, there is a schol-arship available, the Benjamin Gilman International Scholar-ship. This scholarship offers up to $4,000, which for some stu-dents may cover the entire cost of the trip, if accepted for the scholarship. Then deadline to ap-ply for this scholarship is in the first week of March. West Virginia State University

in coordination with Marshall University are leading this trip, and students who wish to par-ticipate but have more questions should contact Clark Egnor at cegnor@hepc.wvnet.edu, James Natsis at natsosja@wvstate.edu, Xiaohong Zhang at zhangxi@

wvstate.edu or QingQing Zhao at zhao@marshall.edu. The courses offered on the Puebla, Mexico, trip are Inter-national Business Law with an Emphasis on Latin America, or Complex Social Welfare Issues: The Case of Unaccompanied Mi-nors in the U.S. The second class talks about the children from Mexico who illegally immigrate to the U.S. without their parents, and what measures are being taken because of it. At a price of $1,800, which includes the cost of most meals, tuition, fees and room, the trip allows students to receive three credit hours for the trip in a three week period. Airfare not included. There is a $500 schol-arship available for this trip and students who are interested in attending should visit www.sum-merpueblamexico.com for more information about the trip and scholarship. The Germany trip will last two weeks and students do not need to know German as a prerequi-site. Students who are 18 years or older and from the state of West Virginia are eligible for this ex-citing adventure.

campus. “We are really happy to have an area that is devoted just to Ca-reer Services now. It helps create awareness,” Career Services Coordinator, Jennifer Randolph said. Students can go to the Career Services Center to help answer all future career questions and, while there, students receive guidance for career readiness, re-sumé and job listings on College

Central Network. Introduced on campus last se-mester, College Central Network has job postings specifically for WVU Parkersburg students. Every student at WVU Park-ersburg has access to College Central Network, even alumni students. Students can log on to www.CollegeCentral.com/wvup to access their accounts. With more expansion, the center now has two coordinators.

Jennifer Randolph, and newly employed Career Services Coor-dinator, Kia Hoops. Both Career Service Coordinators are alumni from WVU Parkersburg. These coordinators walk stu-dents through all the resources the Career Center offers. The coordinators goal is to prepare students to stand out from the crowd. “We wanted to have a spe-cific place where students would

Career Services New Location is Creating Awareness know where to go when looking for job readiness,” said Ran-dolph. The Career Services’ previous location, the START Center, is now accessible to adjunct faculty members. Resources are avail-able from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Students can find further in-formation on Career Services by visiting 1013B in the banana wing or call the Career Services office at (304) 424-8380.

Students will stay at a youth hotel in double rooms. This pro-gram costs $1,990 and does not include airfare. The cost of the trip includes tuition, room and board, breakfast, travel insur-ance, trips and extracurricular activities. To ensure participation, ap-plication with a $600 deposit is due by Mar. 15, 2015. To request an application, feel free to con-tact Dr. Miriam Roth Douglas at Miriam.douglas@westliberty.edu. Limited spaces are available for this trip. In the Spring and Summer of 2016, two more study abroad opportunities are becoming available to WVU Parkersburg students. A trip to Ireland will take place in Mar. 2016 and Law-rence-Berrey scholarship money is available to students who wish to participate in this trip. The deadline for all Lawrence-Berrey scholarship applications is due Feb. 16, 2015. In May of 2016, a trip to Bulgaria is set to take place as well. For any questions about study abroad opportuni-ties, contact Rebecca Phillips at rphilli5@wvup.edu or Jeff Byrd at Jeffrey.Byrd@wvup.edu.

Study

Abroad

Students Earn College Credit By Traveling the World

The Chronicle at WVU Parkersburg February 19, 2015Page 6

by Erika Davis In a world that is constantly changing, one man goes from running for his life to fighting for it. Based on the true life of an Olympian, Louis Zamperini, “Unbroken” tells the story of hope, triumph and survival. The book begins with Zam-perini as a child running around getting into all sorts of trouble, some of which were truly shock-ing. For example, some of these actions involved smoking at five, drinking at eight, stealing virtually anything, punching a girl, pushing a teacher and even beaming rotten tomatoes at a po-lice officer. I guess in a way he was con-sidered a delinquent. Eventually, he channeled his rebellious attitude into running. Zamperini did not become a speed demon overnight. He was quick but there were others who were faster. With the help of his brother Pete, also a runner, Zamperini began to train continuously. The more he trained, the faster he became. Zamperini became a top run-ner and ran his way to the Berlin Olympics. At one point, Zamperini’s competitors saw him as a threat. To try and knock him off his game, they sharpened their spikes, stomped on his feet and cracked his rib. Despte the physical injury Zamperini would go on to win that race. Further in the book he would join the Air Force and become an airman. On May 27, 1943 the bomber that he was on plummeted into the Pacific Ocean. Miraculously, Zamperini somehow managed to survive along with two other crew men. The men were able to get on a raft and float wherever the water took them. They were forced to fight starvation, dehydration, open wounds and even jumping

sharks. At one point, the three men caught and killed two sharks so they could eat. After 47 days, 2,000 miles and one lost friend, Zamperini and one other reached land. The island was Japanese terri-tory. At this point I was completely speechless about everything that Zamperini had gone through. Zamperini’s body was so bat-tered and sick looking that he referred to himself as “a dead body breathing.” I was even more shocked at how they were treated when they first arrived on the island. They were treated with such care, as if their health and well-being were really important to the Japanese. Once they were sent to a dif-ferent island, the treatment became far worse. Zamperini was transported to many different camps during his time as a prisoner of war. At one camp, Zamperini was punched 220 times in the face for punishment. There were a few times he would tell the men to punch him as hard as they could so they would not get into trouble by the guards. I honestly do not know how Zamperini survived everything; if it were me I would have given up. After many years, Zamperini is finally reunited with his family. When I read the homecoming of Zamperini, it brought joy to my heart. It made me feel good know-ing that after everything he went through and suffered he was able to return home. I enjoyed reading the book and could not put it down. The life of Zamperini brings hope to the reader; it shows them that no matter how bad circum-stances are, if you never give up there can be a happy ending. Zamperini is a perfect example that shows even after all the hell he went through he still emerged unbroken.

by John Scritchfield Despite the oversaturation of zombies in today’s culture, Dy-ing Light manages to set itself apart from anything else on the market. Dying Light is a First Person Survival/Zombie game devel-oped by Techland and published by WB Games. It was released on January 27, 2015 for the Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. The cover art for the game fea tures a c lever tag l ine originally made famous by broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow – “Good Night, Good Luck.” Dying Light uses that fa-mous quote literally – once the sun goes down, the real mon-sters come out to play. Super zombies, known as volatiles, emerge in the dark, creating a real threat to survival at night. Unlike their slow and un-athletic counterparts, volatiles are just as fast as you are and can scale buildings with ease, creating a true sense of danger and anxiety during the first few night missions. The best thing to do when dealing with them is to either be incredibly stealthy and avoid their fields of view or run to the nearest safe house. Safe houses are areas where you can “sleep” and advance the game to the next morning and are impenetrable to the infected. You can often buy and sell equipment in these zones and they are scattered all throughout the map. While it may be easier to skip the night, it creates a new dy-namic to zombie games that has not been seen before. You also receive double experience for completing challenges/missions and for surviving until dawn. When first starting out in the game, the zombies themselves can be difficult to kill because of poor weapons, so it is imper-ative to play intelligently and with a bit of stealth because you can be overrun by the undead quickly. However, once you gain

enough skills and good enough weapons, playing like that is essentially pointless. It almost becomes too easy to mow down herds of zombies. The only enemies that will present a challenge are other humans, because they can dodge, coun-ter attack and sometimes have guns. Volatiles can still be tricky, but a little UV light (which burns and deters them) and some quality weaponry can make quick work of them. A new hard mode is being released to download soon, and should fix any of those issues. Dying Light uses parkour, which allows you to climb up buildings or jump between ledges with relative ease. It does take a little while to get used to it, especially since you cannot rearrange the controls to your liking. Movement is a bit clunky and slow at first, but once you unlock enough skills, move-ment becomes incredibly fluid, allowing you to make ridicu-lous jumps as well as drop kick enemies. A grappling hook is also unlocked about halfway through the game, which basi-cally turns your character into a zombie-fighting Spider-Man. The inability to check your surroundings while hanging on a ledge was a bit of an annoy-ance, though. One thing I did not par-ticularly care for about the weapons system in this game is how quickly a metal pipe or wrench (or something simi-lar) will break on you. Some weapons can be repaired several times, while others cannot be at all, so do not get too fond of any particular weapon. However, weapons can be modified to contain elemental damage, such as fire or elec-tricity, which add additional damage to whatever eligible weapon you want. Most weap-ons in Dying Light are melee weapons, although there are a few firearms available. Guns come in handy during encounters with other humans

but are not worth using a good deal of the time, as the noise attracts zombies. In addition to the noise, the guns are not very accurate and are kind of awkward to use. It is better just to use crafted items from range such as a Molotov or throwing star, as they are just as accurate without the noise. The campaign for this game is nothing special in terms of storytelling but is still pretty fun. There are all kinds of side missions that can get you caught up playing for hours without ever advancing the story mode. Dying Light is a pretty fun game to play solo, but like most things it is much more enjoy-able with friends. It supports up to 4 people in co-op mode, and makes the hordes of infect-ed much easier to get through. It also features a game mode where you take control of one of the volatiles, and can invade random players’ games. Graphically, the game is very good for the most part. How-ever, certain textures within the game are not as high quality as they should be (such as blood spatter) and it shows. Dying Light also suffers from some texture pop-in, which is where the foundation of the object is there but takes a second to load the detail in. There are also a few bugs in the game, like not being able to run up a normal sized hill but nothing that was game breaking. It also suffers from a lack of character models. Fighting off the same (estimated) 15 zom-bies and 5 humans gets old after awhile. All in all, the gameplay in Dying Light is really satisfying, despite not having the best sto-ry. It is obvious that Techland drew a lot of inspiration from their previous entries in the Dead Island series. However, they fixed most of the numerous problems from those games in Dying Light. Overall, I give this game a 4 out of 5.

“Unbroken” Binds the Readers' SpiritMowing Down Zombies

The Chronicle at WVU ParkersburgFebruary 19, 2015 Page 7

by Erika Davis After 20 years, two high school sweethearts find them-selves with a second chance at love but, in the end, will they take it? “The Best of Me” is a film about love and second chances. As the movie begins, Dawson: as portrayed by James Marsden, is on an oilrig when an explosion sends him 100 feet off the rig and into the water. When he awakens, he feels as though he was given a second chance, he just does not know why. Dawson reunites with Amanda: portrayed by Michelle Monaghan when they learn about the death of a loved one. The film goes back and forth between present day and when Dawson and Amanda were young. It seemed as if they were re-membering their past with each other. As they rekindle their love, tragedy strikes and their fate is changed forever. I absolutely fell in love with the characters. Marsden and Monaghan re-ally know how to light up the sparks on screen. I could feel the chemistry they had between one another. I also thought the actors that portrayed young Dawson and Amanda were cast perfectly. Dawson and Amanda come to realize that even after their past, they still love each other and there is no reason to try and avoid it.

Dawson eventually tells her about what happened on the rig and that he believes she is the reason why he got a second chance. The only thing that I did not like about the film was the fact that Amanda is married through-out the majority of the movie. This film will leave you in awe and reaching for the tissue box. On the DVD, an alternate end-ing is included and personally I favored that ending better. “The Best of Me” is definitely a movie worth watching. It is the perfect mix of ro-mance and tragedy that will leave you speechless. Personally I found this movie quite meaningful and felt it left a strong message. “The Best of Me” shows that when life gives a second chance, take it because you do not know what tomorrow brings.

by Jason Ross One thing many couples look forward to on Valentine’s Day is a romantic, candlelight dinner at a fine restaurant. Perhaps there would be stringed instruments playing softly in the background while the two would put aside their normal eating habits and cut their steaks into unnaturally small portions so as to give some semblance to the notion of ro-manticism. Once craftily folded cloth nap-kins would be draped carefully across their laps until such time as needed to delicately dab a crumble of food at the corner of one’s mouth (which would nor-mally be licked off or brushed off with the back of one’s hand). If my date on Valentine’s Day was expecting such pleasantries, she was gravely disappointed. Not because I have no notion of chivalry, but rather because I was in a time crunch to provide you, my enchanted readers, with a restaurant review. Lucky for me, my date was a really cool chick who understood my di-lemma. I had been hearing rumors about a “place you gotta check out,” which did not exactly fit the definition a place one would take a lady he was trying to im-press. However, this Valentine’s Day, my date and I ventured out into the snow to test the validity of this rumor. We made it safely to Philip-pine’s Best Foods just off of Seventh Street in Parkersburg, which was little more than a souped-up shack. In fact, we were told that the place used to be the storage building for the owner’s traveling conces-sion-food service. It had been converted to a carry-out diner in April 2012 and has been grow-ing ever since. Inside of the diner, a row of four small, two-seat tables line one of the outside walls while a counter separates customers from the food preparation area.

One section of the counter dis-plays products presumably from the Philippines such as Shrimp Paste, Fish Sauce, and Chow Mein. Another section houses the cash register and an open area where customers can watch the cooks prepare their meal. Attached to the front of the diner is a covered porch contain-ing four tables which seat four patrons each. On Feb. 14 the porch and its tables were covered with snow, but cook Bernard Lubuguin told us that during the warmer months it would be difficult to find an open seat. In lieu of the lack of adequate seating, the business deals pri-marily in carry-out orders, and this appears to be quite lucrative for them. During the 20 or so minutes we waited for our or-der, several calls were taken for carry-out orders and a few were picked up. Bernard, along with his side-kick Madel, worked diligently to keep up with the orders that came in while I hounded him with questions. He told me that the business, owned by his sister and brother-in-law, grew out of a fan-base from visitors of their concession trailer at local outing events such as the Parkersburg Homecoming, Sternwheel Festi-val and county fairs. By the time our food was

ready I had finished my line of questioning so we took our meals and left. The food was generously portioned and I, being a 6’4”, 200-pound man with a healthy appetite, was able to make three meals out of my combo. The teriyaki chicken was mixed with cabbage and carrots which added a nice texture to the entree. I thought the meat was a little bland, but the portion size made it worth it. My favorite part was the noodles; they were fine, with plenty of soy and flavor. As a Valentine’s Day treat they threw in two pieces of cake topped with flan. For the amount of food we received the price was great and I’ll definitely be back. Perhaps when the weather warms up we’ll attempt to find a spot on the patio. To place an order for some of their unconventional cuisine call (304)865-1155 for pick-up or delivery. Or, you can stop in at 1757 Seventh Street, Parkers-burg, and watch them as they work over the woks in the kitch-en. In case you were wondering, I wasn’t a total cheapskate on Val-entine’s Day. I did splurge a little on flowers and a card, and some other unmentionable gifts and my date seemed to be pleased with my effort.

S e c o n d Chance

atRomance

R e s t a u r a n t O f f e r s P h i l i p p i n e ’ s B e s t

Teriyaki plate from the Philippine's Best Foods

The Chronicle at WVU ParkersburgPage 8 February 19, 2015

by John Scritchfield Some teams just play better in the second half. The WVU Parkersburg Mens Basketball Team are one of them. After starting the season at 5-10, the Riverhawks have seen a noticeable improvement, going 8-3 since the Fall Semester end-ed, bringing their season record to 13-13. This turnaround has been no easy feat. The team could not practice as much as they would have liked, due to college regu-lations preventing students from being on campus when closed. “…it kind of prohibits us from keeping that rhythm that we sus-tained ending the first semester,” said Head Coach Derek Fleming. The break didn’t seem to hin-der their rhythm much, it seems. The Riverhawks resumed play on December 27, and again on January 3, playing a Home and Home series against the Warriors of Wayne College. The River-hawks prevailed in both contests 103-85, and 84-80 in overtime, respectively. Jai Wright led all scorers with 22 points in the first game, while Jo Merchant was the high scorer in the second game with 25 points. They hit the road a week later on January 10, travelling to St. Clairsville, Ohio, to face the OU Eastern Panthers. Despite Mer-chant’s 23 points, they fell to the Panthers, 80-71. The Riverhawks were sched-uled to play the Pioneers of Marie t ta Col lege a t home on January 15, but Marietta canceled the game at the last minute; giving WVU-Parkers-burg the victory via forfeit. They continued the three game home stand by playing the Club team from Ohio State two days later. Merchant’s 18 points weren’t enough, as the Buckeyes edged the Riverhawks by just two points, 65-63. The ‘Hawks played the last of

the three home games on Janu-ary 24 against the OSU Newark Titans, losing 87-73. Since falling to the Titans, the Riverhawks have gone on a 5 game winning streak. The first win came at Clark State Community College on January 31, by a score of 80-72. Jo Merchant led all scorers with 22 points, followed up by Fresh-man Guard Jeff Leftridge, who added 19 points to the ‘Hawks effort. The next win came on the road again, as they traveled to New Philadelphia, Ohio, to play Kent State Tuscarawas on February 2. The Riverhawks won by 12; Abdul Shabazz scored 25 of the team’s 93 points. They returned home for anoth-

er three game home stand just 5 days later on February 7 against the Patriots of Southern State Community College; continuing the win streak by a score of 100-71. Merchant led scoring with 16 points, going 8-13 from the free throw line. The Riverhawks beat the Club team from WVU the next day, 114-105. They were led in scor-ing by Curl and Tevin Dixon, who contributed 42 points to the offensive explosion. They put up 26 and 16, respectively. The ‘Hawks finished the home stand this past Sunday when they thrashed the Bucks of Washing-ton State Community College, 104-81. The Bucks kept it some-what close most of the game, but the Riverhawks were just too

good, pulling away and sealing the victory in the second half. Jai Wright led scoring for the Riverhawks with 18 points. However, they had 4 players scoring in double digits. After the game, Wright said that he felt the team played really well as a whole, and believes the team has really hit their stride in the second half of the season. “(In) the first (half) we were kind of struggling, trying to find each other, trying to figure each other out, develop roles. Now, every-body is really starting to get it.” He also talked about the team motto that Coach Fleming has been preaching all season – Rise Above. “Any obstacles you face, just put your self above it. It’s kind of like, there’s nothing

that can stop us as a team; if we come together anything is pos-sible, anything that is in front of us will be demolished.” Even though some of the same names seem to arise as leading scorers, the Riverhawks rely on teamwork more so than depending on any one individual effort. “We’ve got a really good group where any night it could be any guy leading us in scor-ing…just whoever’s hot,” said Fleming. The question of how many players had been leading scorer was raised at a recent practice, and 7 of the 11 in attendance replied that they had. The Riverhawks p lay a fast-paced style of basketball, specializing in high-pressure defense to create turnovers and score easy baskets. They ended last semester with 8 players, so it was a bit of a challenge to play to their liking due of a lack of depth. This semester, the team has 14 players on the roster, 11 of whom are from out of town. Because of the influx of players, “we’re going to try and go even more up tempo - more scoring, more pressing, more shooting, and sub like crazy,” said Flem-ing. The additional players are not just there to take up space, ei-ther. Fleming is pleased with the talent level of his team, and does not feel like there is much of a difference, if any, between the “best” and “worst” members of his squad. The Riverhawks have 3 games remaining this season, with the next 2 being away against the OSU Club team on February 21 and WVU Tech a week later. The ‘Hawks finish the season on March 1 against Washing-ton State Community College. Tipoff is set for 3pm at the Park-ersburg High School Fieldhouse.

'Hawks Soaring Since Break

From Sunday's Home Game Against WSCC; Counter-Clockwise, From Top Left - (12) Jai Wright attempts a con-tested layup. (15) Jeff Leftridge hits a three-pointer as time expires in the first half. (32) Leon Lasouba drives to the basket in the second half. (12) Abdul Shabazz attempts an acrobatic layup over a defender.