by Madeline Smith | Mar 26, 2015 | News Slider
Punching and yelling are not common sights on Lipscomb’s campus, but on Thursday night they were part of Delta Tau Fight Night, which raised $2,500 for a local non-profit organization. The men’s social club brought in a professional boxing ring and referees to host 11 fights between male Lipscomb students in the Student Activities Center. Over 400 students filled bleachers surrounding the ring that SGA helped fund. “It’s especially fun for Greek life because many boys’ clubs have fighters in the ring,” said Blake Mitchell, a senior in Delta Tau. “It’s a very loud and exciting atmosphere, and it’s great that it all has a purpose.” All proceeds from the event went to Youth Encouragement Services, a youth center that allows inner-city children to engage in social, education and cultural activities. Fighters were members of Greek life or non-affiliated individuals. The matches were set up by members of Delta Tau, who put boxers against each other based on height and weight. “I thought it’d be fun to train and get out in front of everyone,” said Tanner Simmons, a freshman in Sigma Iota Delta. “It’s definitely nerve-racking.” In and out of the ring, the nerves were building up. “It’s my first Fight Night, so it’s fun to watch, but it makes me really nervous, especially to see the people I know fight,” said Kylee Van Horne, a freshman in Delta...
by Kayla O'Connor | Mar 26, 2015 | News Slider
The sound of Charlie Daniels’ fiddle will no longer echo throughout Allen Arena, but the money will continue to roll in for Lipscomb’s veteran scholarships. On Aug. 12, the Charlie Daniels Band’s 40th anniversary Volunteer Jam will take place at Bridgestone Arena. Profits from the event will go toward The Journey Home Project, a non-profit organization that connects donors to veterans, and The Predators Foundation, a charity organization that uses fan fundraising to help the community. A portion of The Journey Home Project’s proceeds will fund Lipscomb’s Scholarship for Heroes program. “Charlie Daniels is a huge veteran supporter, and he loves Lipscomb,” said April Herrington, director of Lipscomb veteran services. “He had a concern with the fact that we were moving it from campus, but once he realized that it was going to support us even more than it had, he was thrilled about the event.” Herrington said she hopes to increase the cap on the scholarship with the bigger venue. “All in all, I think it’s a great move, and I think it’s going to benefit our program a lot,” Herrington said. “It’s going to be a lot bigger than it could have ever been on campus.” From 2010 to 2014, Daniels partnered with Lipscomb to host his Scholarship for Heroes concerts to benefit Lipscomb’s veteran students and their dependents with tuition cost. Last year’s event rewarded over $52,000 to veteran students. First-year nursing student and veteran Rachel Lanahan is a recipient of the Scholarship for Heroes. After eight years of medical work in the military, Lanahan was offered an intelligence job that involved flying unarmed aircraft oversees. After a few years, she said...
by D'Nashia Jenkins | Mar 26, 2015 | News Slider
When she’s not in the classroom or studying for her next test, she’s laying down tracks in the recording studio or singing on stage. Freshman Abbi Scott’s love for music and school brought her to Music City to study public relations. She got her start in music at a very young age, though. Scott was influenced by the music her parents listened to — a mix of ’80s Southern rock. By the time she turned 14, she was singing professionally. Scott now performs on college campuses and venues in the area. Though Scott said a day in her life can be a challenge, juggling school and a music career, she manages to hold a 3.5 GPA. “When it comes to classes and music, I devote a lot of time to each,” Scott said. “I’m very driven, so I make sure my grades are up.” But when she’s not doing school work, she said she is writing a new song or doing sound checks for a concert. Recently, Scott made an appearance at Lipscomb’s Relay for Life event and the benefit concert for Libraries of Africa at Shamblin Theater. She said that during each performance she “feels invisible.” Scott said she hopes all her fans are impacted by her music. To have a close relationship with her fans, she interacts with them on social media. “I believe it’s extremely important to run my own social media strictly because it shows your fans that you are really engaged with them,” Scott said. Scott’s new single “Flying” will be released April 7, 2015. For more information on Scott and her music, her website can be found here. Photo courtesy...
by Jamin Craig | Mar 24, 2015 | News Slider
Lipscomb’s theater department is gearing up to put on its final main-stage show Dancing at Lughnasa — only this time it will be held in the University Theater to emphasize the story’s intimacy. Beki Baker, the theater department chair and director of the show, decided to do it in the University Theater because she wanted the audience to be close to the story. “It’s a really lovely, intimate play that explores the idea of memory, identity, family and things like that — that are really worthy of taking a moment, and it’s told in such a wonderful Irish storytelling way,” Baker said. The show is an Irish play that revolves around Michael, who reflects back to his life in summer of 1936. He and his mother and four sisters lived in a small house in Ireland, and he was not married yet. The play visualizes the struggles and joys Michael and his family had during that time. Doing a main-stage show in the University Theater is rarely done in the theater department, because it is heavily used as a class and studio space on a regular basis. “Right now, we’re housing two departments — the theatre and cinematic arts program,” Baker said. “We have classes in here all the time, so it’s just kind of working the space out with having all of our classes and other activities and events working in house right here. It proves some challenges for sure.” However, Baker noted that working in a challenging space often brings out more creativity in the cast and crew. “It’s just a great challenge for the designers and the...
by Chad Johnson | Mar 24, 2015 | News Slider, Sports
It was a tale of two games for the Lipscomb softball team on Tuesday afternoon. After dropping the first game 9-2, the Lady Bisons bounced back winning 3-1 in game two against Western Kentucky at Draper Diamond at Smith Stadium. In game one, the Lady Toppers opened the score in the third inning, but Lipscomb tied the score in the bottom of third. Junior outfielder Brittany Elmore hit a single to right field, then stole second before junior infielder Baylee Williams drove her home on a single up the middle. Things began to unravel for the Lady Bisons in the fifth inning as the Hilltoppers capitalized on two hits, two walks and two hit batters for five runs. Elmore scored the only other run in the bottom of the fifth on an error. She also stole three bases, bringing her season total to 27. The Lady Toppers went on to score two more runs in the sixth before adding their ninth and final run in the last inning. Junior Tanner Sanders was accredited with the loss. She surrendered seven runs, five hits, walked seven and struck out two batters in five innings of work. Sophomore McCarley Thomas gave up two hits and two earned runs in two innings of relief. Following the first game, Lipscomb coach Kristin Ryman stressed that the team needed the leaders to step up. “Leadership’s a big thing for us,” Ryman said. “We’ve got to play with a little bit more fire. It starts with our seniors — them bringing that fire and leadership everyday in practice and then bringing it on game day.” In game two, senior outfielder Brianne Welch opened the third inning with...
by Carly Bergthold | Mar 23, 2015 | News Slider, Opinion
I spent hours waiting for the bus last week. On warm and sunny days, spending a few minutes at the bus stop doesn’t seem that bad. Waiting in the cold rain, however, is pretty miserable, especially if you have an appointment to which you’re definitely going to arrive late. I took the bus so often because I was on Lipscomb’s Serve the City missing trip team, working with newly arrived refugees in Nashville. Not only did we learn how to master public transit, but we maneuvered the health system, got library cards, ate a lot of PB&J’s and spent three hours at the DMV. Our team of nine worked with six refugees from Somalia and Burma. When I first met them, they struck me as lovely and intelligent people who just happened to be displaced from their home countries. We soon learned, though, that each of them went through hell and high water to reach the United States. As the week progressed, I stopped thinking of them as “the refugees” and started thinking of them as Ibrahim, Mohamed, Hassan, Hussein, Aung Gi and LinLing. It must have happened as we spent hours laughing and talking, playing soccer with an empty plastic water bottle, riding the seesaw at Cumberland Park and learning that the culture gap isn’t so wide after you’ve crossed Nolensville Road on foot during rush hour and survived. In America, we make memes about “first world problems” and occasionally remember to give $5 to the poor. Yet what we often lack is the ability to see the world through a lens of grateful curiosity — a viewpoint...
