SUNY Oswego students who frequently print their essays 15 minutes before their 8 a.m. class, can rejoice. A faster system used to print documents called “Laker print” has been introduced on campus just in time for the spring semester.

Laker print is designed to be a more efficient way to print documents on campus by cutting back on waste caused by banner pages and forgotten documents. The system allows students to upload their documents by either email or direct file upload. Students can then print out their documents at any laker print station on campus within 48 hours.

“It’s awesome!” says Oswego student Leo Karr. “The website is convenient because you can prep everything by uploading it to the website. Then you can just go to the printer station.”

While some students have embraced the change to laker print, others are not quite used to it yet.

“I have to go to one computer to have it sent to laker print, then I have to go to another computer to open laker print and print it out,” says Oswego student Stephanie Phipps, “so it’s kind of annoying.”

While there is a difference of opinion about Laker print, CTS Chief of Technology Officer Sean Moriarity says the transition has been nothing but smooth.

“I give tremendous credit to our client’s services team.” says Moriarity. “They really made it a focus to make sure that is we introduced (Laker print) to students, it would go as smoothly as possible.”

SUNY Oswego’s improvised comedy club, the Shawn Cassidy Fan Club, hosts weekly shows every Saturday night at the Marano Campus Center Auditorium at 8 PM.

Kayla Bonasera is the club president.

“Every Saturday night we do live improve comedy performances where we have sketch-based comedy that revolves around the suggestions that we take from our audience,” said Kayla.

In the darkness of this room not only the bracelets glow, but some of the worst humor also comes to surface, which is why they must censor some parts of the show.

“It does get crazy. During the parents weekend show we censor it. We actually allow one swear word,” said Carl Neff, who is treasurer of the club.

But not only the local students and their parents come to the shows. One example is Spanish exchange student Andrea Rodriguez.

“I think the most exciting thing about this performance is that they all act natural,” said Andrea.

If you are looking for something fun to do on the weekends here on campus, the troop practices every Sunday night and performs the skits on Saturdays.

OSWEGO, NY — Veterans’ Day 2018 marked a historic time for SUNY Oswego. The brave men and women who fought for our country overseas were officially immortalized in way of a memorial plaque near Sheldon Hall at SUNY Oswego.

SUNY Oswego President Deborah F. Stanley had expressed her utmost sincerity towards this impactful memento and stressed the importance of gratitude for our rights and freedoms as citizens as a result of the armed forces’ bravery and tenacity.

“These were individuals who did not fight on our soil,” President Stanley said. “They went to represent America. They went to fight to guarantee and defend democracy, and to make our way of life insured.”

The plaque honors twenty brave individuals from the Oswego Normal School, including student Jesse Merle Hewitt, who lost his life in France in 1918. Town Supervisor Rick Kaulfuss shared President Stanley’s sentiment and reverence towards those who died for our freedom.

“I think it’s really important to recognize that veterans have contributed a lot to our society in a lot of different ways, and they keep us free,” said Supervisor Kaulfuss.

The public may visit this plaque along Washington Boulevard, aside Sheldon Hall, at SUNY Oswego.

Local family owned orchard closes after a great crop season but continues to sell their delicious apples throughout the winter to the public and to SUNY Oswego as well. Not only do they sell apples but they also sell vibrant red cherries. Along with selling to the public and SUNY Oswego Fruit Valley Orchards also picks and produces apples for popular apple-based products brand Motts.

Although the Orchard has been around for many years it has recently been under new ownership for the Gfeller family from Northern Virginia. Owner and farmer Craig Gfeller said that he came to upstate New York to raise his family on a farm much like he did in Rochester. They purchased the land last July in 2017 and have been roaring ever since.

They’ve been able to rake in tons of families to their beautiful orchard with their U-pick program, when asked what family friendly activities they offer at the orchard Craig responded with “We offer a lot of activities here, mostly just U-pick right now,we have families that come and have picnics here, just a great way of spending the afternoon as a family.”

The crop season has been a little short this year due to the fact that not much rain had been around Oswego in the early fall months. However the orchard was still able to grow a great crop under the conditions they had. They grew and sold some of the same apples like Macintosh but also sold new apples to the orchard like Snap Dragon bred by Cornell University where Craig is an alum from.

If you would like to check out Fruit Valley Orchards you can visit their website www.fruitvalleyorchard.com or call them at 315-342-3793.  They open again next fall but continue to sell their remaining crop throughout the winter. Get the while they last!

On November 7th, on a Wednesday, Oswego Theatre Department premieres their play “Shape of Things” originally written by Neil Labute.

Students in all years participate in this production and it is all prepared for the showing of the new show. Students such as Cassandra Slough and Adam Sommer took on the lead roles of this play.

Mya Brown, Director of the play and Assistant professor of theater tells her experience directing and the significance of the play. “There are some special messages within the play I would the audience to reflect on those things, what they think there are, so I don’t want to give anything away but I think the audience will definitely be challenged in their perspective of what beauty is, what art is, and how far in creating art.” She said. “I love to direct and it was amazing working with the other cast/staff members.” She also said.

Shelby Gilbert, one of the assistant director of the play also commented about the production. “It’s a great show. It is. This cast has worked so hard on this show. They have really put their all into the show and done some amazing work and I feel like everybody can learn a little something from the show and they can relate to different parts of the show.” She said.

Based on the story of Neil Labute, it emphasizes on the topic of relationships, identity, choices, and morals. With the main characters, Evelyn (Cassandra) and Adam (Adam), they both will play out the theme of the play.

“You should come see it!!”- Mya Brown

The play extends from November 7th to November 11th at Waterman.

For more theatre plays, you may visit https://www.oswego.edu/theatre/theatre-0

Several Oswego State students and faculty gathered in front of the peace memorial for a candlelight vigil last Friday in honor of the victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue attack.

The vigil was held shortly after the suspect of the Pittsburgh attack, Robert Bowers, plead not guilty for the 44 criminal charges held against him in court last Thursday.

“We’re here to send a message of love and hope, and that hate is not welcome here,” Oswego Student Association President Omar van Reenen said. “Anti-semitism, gun violence, racism, and marginalization in all forms are not welcome on our campus, in our communities, or in our states.”

Van Reenen worked with the Student Association on campus to organize the vigil. Students and faculty held candles and signed a poster that read “Stronger than Hate.” Students gathered around the peace memorial for statements read by various members of the campus community including Sarah Nehama, vice president of Jewish Life on campus.

“I just want people to realize that anti-semitism is still a big thing,” Nehama said. “We had a 60 percent spike in anti semitism in 2017 which is crazy and this week we also had a synagogue defaced in California.”

The attacks in Pittsburgh and the defacement of a synagogue in California are just part of the growing problem with violence being expressed in America. The issue of gun violence in America continues to grow.

The annual Funnelle-O-Ween party took place last Tuesday night at Funnelle Hall.

According to the organization, this year they have had the highest attendance so far, with activities that ranged from a haunted house to raffles or face painting. “I like the haunted house and the food the best,” says student Mikayla McGarry.

“You know, I mean, it’s definitely interesting to see a lot of people will have like different costumes and you see people from… we have a lot people in this school from different countries and stuff so they’ll have a different variety of costumes as well, something you may not typically see,” Resident Advisor Seth Prevratil says.

“We’ve been doing this program for, I believe, it’s  four years now here in Funnelle. It’s basically just an alternative for the residents to have something fun to do for Halloween. The residents really seem to enjoy it every year, so this year we decided to make it bigger and better. We added a haunted house, there’s new activities like pumpkin painting, a donut eating competition… As a person, having a diverse amount of people come to the program is really awesome, especially being here like I said for my third year just seeing all different people come together as a community and get involved and just not in Hart or at whatever building they live in, but coming to Funnelle from different parts of campus,” says Emily Vogt.

Students had a spook-tacular this year, so if you were not able to attend “boockle” up for next year.

OSWEGO, NY — The Zonta Club of Oswego has taken their celebration of Halloween to the next level with their second annual Witches Ball at the Lake Ontario Conference Center. According to the Witches Ball chairperson, Tammy Elowsky, the Zonta Club of Oswego serves as a service and advocacy group for women.

“Our friends of ours do a Witches’ Night Out, and they told me about their event. And I thought it was fantastic,” Elowsky said. “And so we decided to do a different spin on it and call it a Witches’ ball, some of the wizards are allowed to come. But we have all kinds of vendors and dancing and fun but it’s all for a great cause.”

The event had supported the Oswego County Opportunities’ Safe Services program to provide aid to survivors of domestic violence. Chairperson Elowsky strives for the Witches Ball to improve and evolve into a bigger and better event than ever before.

“So last year we had about 300 people that attended at our first year. We were absolutely amazed at that. We’ve outgrew our venue and we’ve come to the convention center this year,” Eloswky said. “And we’ve had more people, I don’t know what the final count is now. We’re obviously hoping to grow, looking for more vendors, whatever we can do to raise more money for this awesome cause.”

Former NBA player Etan Thomas visited SUNY Oswego last Monday to lead a panel discussion and q&a about activism and media exposure within professional sports. The discussion was held at the Marano Campus Center auditorium as a part of the “I am Oz” Diversity Series.  

“There’s this new surge of athletes using their voices and speaking out.” Thomas said.

Since Thomas’ retirement he has become a writer and a commentator, with a life devotion to advocating for social change on and off the court.

“I grew up admiring the athletes of the past,” Thomas said. “like Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali. Those were the athletes I have always admired (because of) the way they used their positions and platforms to be able to speak on different issues and create change.”

Several students attended the panel with many questions of discussion including players taking a knee during the national anthem, how athletes present themselves in the media, media criticism, and the evolution of social media use by players.  

After the panel, students had an opportunity to purchase an autographed copy of Thomas’ book entitled “We Matter- Athletes and Activism.”

“I want them to read the stories of these different athletes who they admire seeing on the court or the field,” Thomas said, “by seeing the courage that they have and the passion that they speak with, and become inspired themselves to become activists in their own way.”

On October 21st, Award winning and international pianist takes the stage as he plays multiple of well known classical melodies from impactful pianists/musicians such as Mozart, Bach Busoni, Carter Pann and much more.

Rob Auler, currently professor of music and chairperson of Oswego’s Department of Music, explains the significance of classical piano music in today’s society and the importance of the focus on faculty series in the community.

“I have to explain to my own two children that classical piano is terrific, it’s something that we should celebrate, we should listen to. I’ve designed these five pieces to be highly accessible for audiences who have never heard classical piano playing and in fact, I’ve actually got some of my soccer team kids coming to the show and I particularly want kids like that to come to a recital, see classical piano music that they have never seen before and leave with a very great experience.”  Auler said.

“One of the neat things that the music department does we provide public recitals. Not only for the college community, not only for our student, not only for our faculty, but just for the community at large. And not only we are an educational provider but we also provide cultural offerings for the entire community.” Auler also said.

For the students who are trying to get into the profession of music, Auler simply said “persistence and keep on trying new things.” Being in a profession like this isn’t easy but it requires practice and perseverance. Students who attended his concert simply said it was “incredible.” Later this year, the series will continue bringing in other musicians.

For more information, you can visit their website. https://www.oswego.edu/music/music-department-0.

The Oswego State Swimming team is ready for a new season full of fast swimming and adrenaline. The team comes from accomplishing a 10-0 on the men’s team and an 8-2 on the women’s team last season. The team has experienced an exponential growth this year as a 24-strong class of 2022 has stepped into the game. Led by Coach Holman, Oswego State Swimming is looking forward to an exciting season.“All the international swimmers that we actually have here, you know, have been, you know, pretty serious about what they do,” says swimming coach Michael Holman. Assistant Coach Dragunas is experienced on the national level in Canada.“I think they bring a little bit of diversity and different perspective, you know, from where they come from,” says assistant coach Andrew Dragunas. This year the Oswego State Swimming team has three international swimmers. Luis Perez of Colombia is a sophomore this year. “I was once top 10 in all ages in all the country, so that was like really big for me. My main goal is to break the 100 and 200 backstroke records, school records, and hopefully to get a medal at SUNYACs,” said Luis. Alex Davie was born in Malaysia and is a junior this year. “When I was younger I was really focused on trying to make an Olympic team or make a national team because I have like five different nationalities, but as I’ve gotten older I realized that swimming just takes a lot from your life,” said Alex. Gigi Hon, a New York native, believes this is a great experience.“I learn a lot about everyone else’s culture, even if like you’re from a different state, but especially if you’re from out of the country,” Gigi says.

The Fulton Art Association held their annual photography show last Saturday at the Fulton City Hall community room. This event, which has been held every October since 2013,  showcases various types of photography, drawings, and paintings by local citizens of Fulton. The event was organized by the president of the Fulton Art Association, Kathryn Mihalek.

“I took over in 1999 when they (art association) were coming close to folding, and we revitalized it and enlarged the number of events you could put in.” Kathryn Mihalek said. “We have our annual show every May, the weekend before Memorial Day. We have our high school show in March. This will be the 13th year we’ve done a high school show between Fulton, Phoenix, Hannibal, and Oswego. Then we hold our photography show in October and we may hold a couple more events.”

Besides her work with the Fulton Art Association, Kathryn Mihalek works with the Oswego County Humane Society. She fosters at least 20 rescue cats in her home. Several of those cats went up for adoption at the event.

Jess Bullard, member of the Oswego County Humane society who hosted the cat adoption, said she felt it was a great opportunity to get involved in another community event and to showcase their cats.

The photographers and artists competed in five categories,

– Landscapes

– People

– Buildings,

– Animals

– Objects

The winners were picked by a viewer ballot where spectators voted for their favorite piece.  We got a chance to speak to Jose Ortiz, who won the viewers choice ribbon for his photography piece entitled, “Dapper Dog.”

“He (my dog) is my inspiration behind all that I do.” said Jose Ortiz. “I love black and white photography because I feel that our eyes are so focused on color, yet with black and white, you’re drawn towards the whole image. I feel like taking that concept for the same instance in life. You’re only drawn to what catches your eye but the whole picture is what really counts.”

The Fulton Art Association also provides scholarships for talented high school seniors at various schools from Phoenix to Oswego. To learn more about the Fulton Art Association visit cnyarts.org.

OSWEGO, NY — Students from Johnson Residence Hall at SUNY Oswego have recently embarked on an overnight trip to New York City. Johnson Hall resident mentor Jerimiah Butler says that this is the first time a member of campus residence life has organized an overnight trip with students.

“It’s an action-packed-like trip. We have no time for, you know, shenanigans here,” Butler said. “But we’re very excited, you know, it’s been a long planning process.”

The journey to New York had consisted of a concert from contemporary worship band, “Elevation Worship,” at the Playstation Theater in Times Square. The group had also made stops at Ellis Island, as well as the Statue of Liberty.

“It’s crazy how, like, it happened, because I wanted to see Elevation Worship for a long time,” student Amber Saint Joi said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to get here.’ And then this trip happened, so it’s like, ‘oh my god,’ so then we’re going to go see the Statue of Liberty, so definitely doing stuff for the residents, especially for all freshmen as well, it’s a new experience since people have never been to New York City.”

Resident mentor Butler hopes for this type of program to be held on an annual basis, with Niagara Falls possibly being the designated location for the next semester.

“We’re just dreaming big,” Butler said. “That’s one thing that my hall director here, Olive, really presses on us, it’s ‘think big.’ She’s been a huge help, as well as Linda, our FYRE coordinator. You know, a lot of meeting across this past month and a half or so, but this trip would not happen without their support.”

With a successful trip like this one, there’s no telling what amazing memories the RMs of SUNY Oswego will help make for students.

Come one come all to the local touring dinner theater musical interactive experience that is “Bullets for Broadway”. Filled with music, amazing local talent, comedy, romance, and a surprising murder mystery. This show will leave you will a full stomach and hands in the air wanting more from this incredibly talented cast all from Oswego county!

Director of the show Derek Potocki says the cast has been hard at work for about a month and that is has “all kinds of twisted plots, crazy things going on, you never know what’s gonna come at you next, it’s really interactive theater at its best.” With all kinds of musical numbers like “Me and You” featuring Jodi Halczyn as Toffee Alto and Peter Fekete as Tony Alto where they confess their love for eachother. Or “Mafia Queen” also featuring Jodi Halczyn as Toffee Alto and Stephanie Johnson as a chorus girl where they sing about Toffee being a mafia queen will leave you laughing yourself right out of your seat.

This show is being put up by none other than Oswego’s very own Theater DuJour! Finding out about how the company was started speaking with Tammy Wilkinson, founder of this company says “we were bringing shows to the Oswego Players, my role there was also producer, but we were having a little bit of a challenge getting butts in the seats and so we had the idea to bring them out into the community”. And good thing she did because they’ve been on a roll ever since, constantly in the media surrounding central New York.

If you would like to catch this show you have until the end of October. Their first show is October 11th in Mexico, NY at The Eis House. Second in Altmar, NY on October 14th at the Tailwater Lodge. Third in Syracuse, NY on October 23rd at Barnes Hiscock Mansion. And your last chance to see this marvelous show is October 26th in Fulton, NY at Virgilio’s Event Center. Tickets are $60 and can be found on their website http://dujourcny.com/. For more information you can reach them at (518)253-6930.

The yearly distribution of free flu vaccine has ended on October 5th and in result, 350 plus students has received their shot. On this month of October, the coldness is coming near and this means that flu season is now in session.

Angela Brown, director of Student Health Services, explained the importance of receiving the flu shot and the ways to prevent catching or spreading the flu virus.

“So the flu shot is important because it prevents usually prevents the person from getting the flu; that is the goal of it. Um, once you get a flu vaccine, you can potentially still contract the flu virus, so one of the advantages of getting the flu shot has is that if you get the virus, it means that you’re sick for a shorter amount of days and usually less sick than someone who have never been vaccinated.” Brown said.

They are plenty of simple ways to stay clean and safe. Being active, eating healthy, staying positive and importantly washing your hands,  is the major way to prevent catching or spreading the virus.

“Make sure you wash your hands. Any mucus membrane, so your nose, your eyes, your mouth can be a portal for a virus to get in so if you are walking around campus, then go eat lunch and don’t wash your hands, you can the flu virus that way.”

Mary Walker Health Center are now trying to establish mobile flu shots and it might appear in many residence halls.

For more information, you can contact 315.312.4100 or email  whealth@oswego.edu or visit their website https://www.oswego.edu/walker-health-center/

McDonald’s has been a long time staple of American culture. In Oswego, New York, the restaurant branch on Bridge Street is experiencing some difficulties. Multiple incidents have been reported to police authorities concerning college students causing disruption during the night shift of the weekends. In order to solve this predicament, the branch made the conscious decision to hire security to stand guard at the door during these hours.

Management claims that the hiring has had a great effect on the decrease in misbehavior in the establishment. Before the hiring, some employees made claim that some customers have even tried to climb over the counter and assault employees. After the appearance of security, no such incident has been reported. Conor Rielly, a Broadcasting major at SUNY Oswego, shared his thoughts on the employment of security, “I think it’s a smart idea. You get a lot of drunk and disorderly people who come through there every night and I think some get too rowdy and you need to kick ‘em out. I think it’s a good idea.”

With the positive results of this new change, it’s expected that we’ll be seeing security in this McDonald’s branch for a long time.

Oswego, NY – On Saturday, October 6th United Way of Greater Oswego hosted their second annual chicken BBQ at Woodchuck’s Saloon. From 12-4pm, meal tickets could have been purchased for ten dollars. Meals include chicken, Woodchuck-styled baked beans, salted potatoes, and a roll.

Patrick Dewine, executive director of United Way of Greater Oswego, explains the purpose of last weekend’s event.

“An event that we ran in order to help raise funds for our annual campaign and it also brings awareness about our campaign, which is under full swing right now,” Dewine said.

Dewine explains, that the campaign focuses on trying to motivate the community to give money or volunteer, in order to help fund many different organizations that cover issues such as hunger, addiction, and other issues within the county.

Lexie Wallace, resource development director of United Way of Greater Oswego, shares the importance of bringing awareness to the community.

“There are parts of Oswego county that are a little more rural, so not as visible as a big city like Syracuse, so sometimes that need can be a little hidden,” Wallace said. “I think the power of word of mouth is often overlooked.”