by Danny Kotula | Jan 24, 2022 | News Slider, Sports, Student Spotlight
Diana Saleh doesn’t pay much mind to those who tell her something isn’t possible for her. “I hate when people try to talk fear.” The story of the 6’3″ center’s path to Division I basketball at Lipscomb has always been unorthodox. From her unbridled desire to accomplish what seems impossible off the court to her work ethic and dedication on it, Saleh knows no boundaries. With the recent loss of Lipscomb’s starting center to injury, Saleh’s story seems to look more like a movie script with each passing day. This particular movie, though, boasts a script that would be the envy of any screenwriter in Hollywood. There is indeed a fearlessness inside the Michigan-raised sophomore, whether or not people talk fear around her. The fearlessness Saleh displays is, much like her, unique. It’s characterized by quiet, calculated confidence, the same confidence that exudes from her presence on and off the court. Whether the task at hand is a first-ever interview, blazing a trail for the next generation of female athletes, or juggling one of the hardest degree programs on campus with her basketball schedule, Saleh approaches it all with an assurance that can only come from past experience. And when it comes to know-how in stripping down stereotypes, Saleh has a world-class resume. Her very arrival at Lipscomb circumvented the status quo. Saleh’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of nearby Detroit, could hardly be more different from Nashville. “I’ve been in Dearborn my entire life,” Saleh said. “It’s a high population of Arabs, and I would say it was kind of like a bubble. So coming here was...
by Gracie Simpson | Dec 26, 2021 | News Slider, Sports, Student Spotlight
Picking up your whole life in Barcelona, Spain, and moving to the U.S. to get a degree and play tennis isn’t the easiest thing to do. But this is exactly what fifth-year senior Gonzalo Garcia-Nieto did. “Once you get to a certain level where you get out of high school, you have to decide if you want to keep doing that sport and try to go professional or go pursue a college degree,” said Garcia-Nieto. “It is very hard to do both things at the same time [in Spain], so I thought that America was the perfect spot for me,” said Garcia-Nieto. While moving halfway around the world may sound difficult, it was easy compared to what he has dealt with since moving to the United States. A transfer from Tennessee Tech, a back injury that included surgery, and a pandemic later, he is happy to be at Lipscomb. “Whenever we got that extra year of eligibility, I knew I wanted to come back [to Lipscomb to play tennis],” said Garcia-Nieto. Right before COVID hit, the men’s tennis team was on track to win the conference tournament. Beginning the season 9-1, it was the best starting record in program history. “I believe as a team we have unfinished business. My first goal whenever I transferred here from Tennessee Tech was to win the conference tournament at Lipscomb,” said Garcia-Nieto. He now has two seasons at Lipscomb under his belt, and he is heading into his third season. Carlos Salas, a teammate, friend, and fellow native of Barcelona, Spain, praised Garcia-Nieto. “At the beginning, we didn’t get along very well...
by Lumination Staff | Dec 24, 2021 | News Slider, Student Spotlight
With Christmas approaching, journalist-in-residence Tim Ghianni asked his writing lab students to reflect on their holidays and family traditions. A Columbian Christmas Christmas time in Colombia is very different from here. From my experience, Christmas in Franklin, Tennessee, is very magical just like in the movies, with the Christmas tree downtown, the lights, the decorations around the town, the weather and, if we are lucky, the snow. Christmas in Colombia is more about celebrating with the family and all the parties and reunions start as soon as December starts. There is a tradition that nine days before Christmas we go to a different house each day where we read Jesus’ story, eat traditional Christmas dishes and sing. Then on the 24th we all dress up, prepare a lot of food and put the presents under the tree; at 12 p.m. the kids from the family become the “elves” and start passing out the presents. But we create a dynamic to make it more fun, the elves give each person a gift and then each person has to describe whoever they are giving their gift to and everyone has to guess who it is for. After opening the presents we sometimes play games, dance and all the kids play with their new presents.They are very different, but I like both a lot. I like it here because it’s very magical and beautiful. And in Colombia, I like it because there’s a lot of celebration, music and food. I get very nostalgic during Christmas because all my family is in Colombia and I miss the traditions but overall Christmas is my favorite...
by Lumination Staff | Nov 24, 2021 | News Slider, Student Spotlight
As the Thanksgiving holiday approached, journalist-in-residence Tim Ghianni asked students in his writing labs to reflect on their family holiday traditions. Here are their first-person remembrances: Turkey, R&B and games at the adult table During the Thanksgiving holiday break, my family loves to come together at the dinner table and play a series of three games: Spades, Dominoes and Monopoly. It’s always a good time, because all of us are competitive and hate to lose. The room is full of focus, with the only sounds coming from the R&B music and board game pieces being slapped on the table. These moments are special, because they get to bring us all into a state of togetherness and competitiveness that we all love and thrive on. When me and my brother were young, we would always watch our parents and older cousins play these games and see the fun that they were having. We would always pace around the table and ear hustle the trash talk and banter that we were probably too young to hear. Once we got to be older, we were invited to the table and got to participate in these games and conversations. The blessing was not only getting the chance to play the game with people you love and look up to, but you get the opportunity to be surrounded by people with so much life experience. The conversations were always the best part. The life lessons and stories that were told at the table were always retained in my memory. When I was young, I was simply trying to be a fly on the wall....
by Gracie Simpson | Sep 30, 2021 | News Slider, Sports, Student Spotlight
Maddie Cook, one of the new additions to the women’s basketball team, transferred in this year from Lipscomb’s biggest rival school: Belmont, where she spent her last four seasons. In her four years at Belmont, Cook led the bench in points and rebounds a couple of times and had a stellar showing in the OVC championship game against SEMO, with 12 points and three rebounds. Although she had some standout games and loved her teammates, she said Belmont never fulfilled what she was looking for in her college basketball career. “I committed to a coach that wasn’t the coach I ever played for at Belmont,” said Cook. “I knew that when I transferred… someone would see me fitting into their style of play.” Along with wanting to stay close to her hometown of Murfreesboro, she said it was a surprise to discover she loved Lipscomb and realized it was the perfect fit. “I actually started to really get to know about Lipscomb and hear from [head coach] Lauren Sumski. I was actually pretty shocked because it was more than I expected,” said Cook. “The coaching staff is very young and energetic, and they are involved but not weirdly involved. Just very caring and personable.” One of Cook’s new teammates, sophomore shooting guard Jalyn Holcomb, said she didn’t know how to feel when she heard Cook was transferring in from Belmont, but she discovered that Cook fit right in. “As soon as practices started and everything, she was never timid,” said Holcomb, a Murfreesboro, Tennessee native. “I think she brought a lot of experience from her being a grad student…...
by Allie Greenhaw | Sep 26, 2021 | News Slider, Sports, Student Spotlight
Kyle Wilson, a junior Data Science major from Atlanta, Georgia, has been gaming for much of his life. “It’s just something that I’ve always been passionate about,” says Wilson. “I know that sounds silly, but like, all throughout high school, that’s like all I did. That’s how I made friends. After school, we all lived like 45 minutes away from each other so we could just hang out online. And then in college, I could do it in person through a club and online. “[In my] freshman year, I saw a gaming club poster on campus, and I got really excited because that’s what I did in high school. I joined the meeting and they told me about esports meetings. When I went to the first one, there were only five of us, so we didn’t even have to do tryouts. So I joined another team as well that did involve tryouts, and was on both teams that semester. I had a blast! I had a lot of fun. Then one of the teams fell apart because people graduated, but the other team kept going and I ended up making most of my friends that way. We created a friendship outside of the team, too. We called ourselves the LUsers — we weren’t very good! But we had fun, and that’s what mattered to us.” At first, the LUsers’ meetings were pretty quiet, but as they played more, the team began to open up and goof around a little more, and Wilson says it was pretty much downhill from there. The LUsers grew and started creating club leadership. Now, all of the people on the team are leaders, excited to welcome a...
