Resident Halls show support to the PSU Volleyball team

Last Friday at 7 pm, students from the Residence Halls went to the PSU girls’ volleyball game against Missouri Western, displaying banners and cheering the team. Representatives from the various university dorms compete against each other to see which building show the most support.

Tambree Wilson, resident assistant from Willard said:  ‘’Our coordinators let us know about this initiative and gave us the idea of making banners, which they turned it into a competition of banners between each hall,’’ said the sophomore in Psychology.

According to Wilson, the main purpose of encouraging students from the dorms to come to the games is to support the Volleyball team and as an incentive for the resident halls, the winners of the banner competition gets a pizza party in their building.

Rachel Jordan, senior in Commercial Art said: ‘’They students were actually really excited to come here today and that was a pleasant surprise for me as a resident assistant, just to see how many of them were willing to get here and watch the game.’’

‘’Just from our building there are approximately ten of us, and there’s a lot more people from the other dorms as well. It is a lot of fun and it is nice to see all the RAs come together to support the PSU Volleyball team,’’ said the resident assistant from Willard.

Pittsburg State’s University Housing includes the Crimson Commons apartment style complex, Bowen and Dellinger Hall, as well as Nation, Trout, Tanner Complex and Willard Hall.  

Shantae Cobb, resident from Tanner Annex said: ‘’Actually I am here with my RA, I try to come to the games whenever I can and when I do make it here it is always very interesting and intense. I love watching the encounters and cheering them on every time,’’ said the freshman in construction management.

Andres Myers, resident from Willard, won a volley ball autographed by the players of the PSU Volleyball team: ‘’ This is my first time actually going to one of the games and it is an exciting experience,’’ said the junior in construction engineering.

Kalee Woody, resident from Bowen said: ‘’I like Volleyball so I really enjoyed being here today,’’ said the freshman.

Hank Chrisman agreed: ‘’ The environment of the game is a very cool thing to be a part of and people get really into the competition,’’ said the freshman in tech engineering.  

PSU Indian students celebrate Diwali

Last Sunday at 5 pm the Indian Student Association presented a show popularly known as Diwali Night, the festival of light where people get together to celebrate life. The event took place at the Crimson and Gold Ballroom and the celebration continued until 8 pm. The main attractions included a fashion show, a presentation on Diwali and a Bhangra dance choreography. Also, classical music performances and Bollywood dance.Tasting of traditional Indian Food and the celebration concluded with a fireworks show.

According to the president of the Indian student association Navneet Kaur, the name Diwali is formed from two words: ''Deep'' meaning ''Lamps'' and ''awali'' meaning ''rows,'' so the entire word Deepwali means ''Row of Lamps''.  

''We celebrate it back home in almost every region of India and we do it by filling our household with lights and it is a very traditional occasion,'' said the sophomore in Accounting. ‘’All the most important preparations have been made in the last month and that includes all the performances and presentations.’’

Kaur said: ‘’We organize this event every year and we try to get people involved as much as possible, including Americans and other international students from countries besides India,’’ she said.

According to her, there are currently 70 students from India studying at PSU. ‘’I am actually performing one of the numbers, which is a folk dance from the North region and there will also be a Bollywood show, as well as music performances with classical infusion,’’ said Kaur.

They were also serving Indian traditional meals like chicken Tikka Massala, cooked in cream sauce and spices. Accompanied with boiled basmati rice and Palak Paneer, made with fresh spinach and homemade cheese. Guests could also enjoy the Indian traditional white bread called Naan and a sweet mango lassi, made from yogurt and mango pulp.

‘’We tried to make the meals a little mild this time because Indian food is usually really spicy and not everyone is used to it; but we kept the exact taste from home,’’ said Kaur.

‘’It is nice to show our culture and wear all our traditional clothes; even though I wear it normally, it feels good to wear it in front of people from other countries and represent ours.’’   

According to Navneet Kaur: ‘’The PSU student government association supported us and we also got sponsorships from companies like the US bank, because they really like our event and they want us to make it bigger every year,’’ she said.

‘’I just want to thank the entire audience from the Pittsburg area because we had students and families from the community; and we also had people from Joplin here today,’’ said Kaur.  

Katie Laidler, senior in early/ late childhood development said: ‘’This is my first time experiencing an event like this and it was really amazing, I had a blast getting exposed to the Indian culture, especially since I was a part of the Fashion show tonight,’’ she said.

According to Ananda Jayawardhana, professor from the math department: ‘’It was a lot of work for the students to first of all raise money for the event, as well as practicing all the performances and getting the food ready.’’

‘’It was challenging but the result was very successful, Indian students are special in many different ways, mostly because they are well prepared kids and they are always willing to contribute with others,’’ he said.  

Jinxin Wang, graduate student in communication said: ‘’The event was really good and now I know what Diwali means; also why they celebrate it. I also thought it was interesting that a lot of other countries besides India have this tradition, and I feel like everybody can connect to the idea.’’

‘’My favorite part was the dancing because it was really joyful and I watch a lot of Bollywood movies so I enjoyed that, and the food was very delicious as well,’’ said Wang. 

People on this particular festival show their happiness by lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps) decorating their houses, bursting firecrackers and inviting near and dear ones to their place for partaking in a sumptuous feast. The lighting of lamps is a way of paying obeisance to God for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame.  

How students can deal with allergies

According to Carrie Farrington, nurse practitioner at the Student Health Center, an allergy is a reaction that occurs when the immune system recognizes as foreign or abnormal substance in the body, and then reacts to it.

Farrington says there aren’t many ways to prevent allergies, but that you can avoid exposures that could trigger a reaction. For example if you are allergic to pollen, you might try to limit your time outdoors and maybe keeping windows shut.

But since avoiding allergens can be so difficult, most of the time the best you can do is to treat a reaction after it occurs, Farrington says. Recognizing symptoms early is important, according to Farrington, because if you recognize them early you can treat them early as well. 

As far as environmental or seasonal allergies, the most common symptoms are going to be sneezing, itchy watery eyes, runny or stuffy nose, sometimes body rashes, or sore and itchy throat.     

Farrington says that the most common allergens are seasonal, such as pollen, grasses, molt, and animal fur from pets. 

Is not necessarily dangerous to do nothing about an allergy, according to Farrington, but it does put you more at risk for another illness, because the extra mucus in your system is a good place for bacteria to grow.

Leaving allergies untreated can lead to sinus infections and respiratory illnesses, because it keeps your immune system more sensitive to the allergens.

Allergies also affects students’ sleep, nutrition and often causes difficulty to concentrate in class.

There is an option for people who want to be cured of their allergies. ‘’We offer the possibility to see an allergist specialist in that area, who usually exposes them to what they are allergic to in small doses over long periods of time and they get allergy injections on a regular basis. Then the body will actually build up a stronger immune system and eventually your body won’t react to the allergens anymore, but it takes a long time and it is a long process,’’ Farrington said.

Farrington says that this year is particularly bad on people with allergies, and that this has a lot to do with the extreme changes of the weather conditions and temperature lately.  Also, the wind aggravates allergies more because it moves around dust and pollen.