UCA students battle zombies

It's the latest version of the Humans vs. Zombies game.The game has been sweeping across college campuses for the past six years and arrived here last semester. It has been featured on national news networks and in such newspapers as The New York Times and Washington Post. Comedian Steve Colbert once named it "the number one threat to America."

The game attracted about 30 students this semester, down from about 160 last semester, but they have been chasing each other around campus for a week. You might have seen them. The "humans" are carrying foam swords and sock projectiles and they have to battle their way across campus while fending off infection from the "zombies."

The premise of the game is simple. One player is selected as the zombie. Like all good zombies, he or she wants to infect other people. Other players begin the game as humans and carry their weapons to defend themselves. If a zombie touches them, they become zombies, too. If they hit the zombie with their sword or a sock bomb, the zombie freezes for 20 seconds, long enough for a human to escape. The goal is to survive as long as possible.

The game is carefully orchestrated by moderators who organize teams and enforce the rules. The moderators are responsible for ensuring that the game operates properly and nobody gets hurt. They also design "missions" for the humans that challenge their ability to fight their brain-hungry enemy.

The current game ends Sunday but organizers are already planning another one this semester. The game is open to all students, faculty and staff. You can register for the next game at their Facebook page.

What motivates people to play? Tommy Garrison, one of the moderators, said that the game is different from most forms of entertainment on campus and is a great way to meet new people.

"Nothing quite bonds you together like running from a horde of zombies," Garrison said.

Here's the story we wrote about the game last semester.

Here's a video of our students playing the game this semester. They produced this and shared it with us.

Elevation is hosting a coat and shoe drive at their "Elevation Live at Reynolds" service in Reynolds Performance Hall at 7 p.m. today. The nondenominational ministry, which is affiliated with Conway's New Life Church, is encouraging UCA students to bring their used coats and shoes to the event for collection.

With the help of the Arkansas Dream Center, an organization that serves the underprivileged of central Arkansas,  the coats will end up in the hands of the Little Rock and Conway homeless community.

Elevation is collecting the shoes for Mission of Hope, a Christian missionary organization that works to improve the lives of the people of Haiti.

If you can't stay for the whole event, you can drop off donations in the Reynolds lobby from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Circle K International will be helping Elevation set up prior to the service and will also assist with cleaning up afterwards.

DeLoney, a senior journalism student, has been the news editor at The Echo for the past two semesters and was the assistant news editor three semesters ago. Burnett started as a staff writer three semester ago. Last semester she was the entertainment editor and this semester she is the campus life editor.

DeLoney said she wanted to improve the skills of the journalism students who write for the campus newspaper.

"We want to better the overall staff at The Echo," DeLoney said. "Communication will be a key factor along the teaching and learning process. We want to be able to understand what people are doing wrong and how to fix it."

Burnett said she shares that goal.

"We want more stories about people involvement rather than events," she said. "We want to teach the newer journalism students who have not had journalism classes prior to working for The Echo."

Both also will be writing for The Fountain next semester.

The Vortex, our campus literary magazine, is hosting Vortex Presents: Will Perform For Food, an open microphone reading in Room 302 of McAlister Hall from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. today. The entry fee is a can of food, which will be donated to a Conway charity.

Faculty, staff, students and anyone else who attends can get up and share their work. You can read poetry, short stories or even perform a skit. Musicians? Bring your instrument. You can perform, too.

So far, a group of faculty members are scheduled to read. They include Paulette Bane, Robin Becker, Terry Wright, Deb Moore, Dr. Gordon Shepherd and Jay Ruud.

Vortex held a similar open mic reading on Oct. 27 at La Lucha Space in Conway. Here's a short video of creative writing student Doug Knight reading at that event.

A group of students is creating Occupy UCA and plans to hold its first meeting Friday afternoon at Ferguson Chapel. The organizers will be there, along with members of the Occupy Conway group, displaying signs and answering questions about the movement.

The students met Tuesday to begin organizing Occupy UCA. They are creating a Recognized Student Organization (RSO), which makes them eligible for university money, and an Occupy UCA Facebook page. They also discussed ways to localize the themes of the movement to our campus.

According to the Occupy UCA organizers, student loan debt and unemployment are two problems experienced by college students that are addressed by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

"Success would be getting people involved," said Lukas Deem, one of the students at Tuesday's meeting.

The Occupy UCA organizers said that a number of faculty members support their efforts.

Doors open at 6.30 p.m. Admission is $2 for UCA students, $6 for the general public and free for children 12 and under.

Enderlin, a Conway native, started writing songs at the age of 10. In 2000, she moved to Nashville, Tenn., where she has played in the Ryman Auditorium, The Douglas Corner, The Bluebird Café and other famous venues.

Her songs have been recorded by Alan Jackson, Randy Travis, Terri Clark, Luke Bryan, Lee Ann Womack and Australian artists Briana Lee and Adam Brand. Some of these songs include Jackson’s “Monday Morning Church” and Womack’s current single “Last Call,” both of which won the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) award in 2005 and 2009 respectively. Currently, Enderlin is a staff writer for Universal Music Publishing Group.

Following Enderlin’s performance, there are 10 open mic acts which are divided into three sets:

• Set 1:   Branson Shaffer, Ben Scheuter, Rob Addison and Friends
• Set 2:   Maxwell De Young & Derek Damron, Jordan King, Long Le, Steve Karafit
• Set 3:   Jim Cluckey & Friends, Jeremy Ellis, Chris Tedeschi

Each open mic participant will perform two songs. UCA's Channel 6 will record the concert for later broadcasting. If you can't make it tonight, you can watch the live feed at http://uca.edu/channel6 or http://www.ustream.tv/channel/channel-6-live-event.

All proceeds of UCA Unplugged benefit the emergency student loan fund to assist students with college-related expenses.  UCA Unplugged CDs also will be sold to support the loan fund. Aramark will provide free refreshments during the concert.

UCA Unplugged is sponsored by the Office of Student Services and Student Activities Board, with assistance from the Resident Housing Association, Circle K Club, Channel 6 and Aramark.

For more information, visit the UCA Unplugged Facebook page.

Ryan Henderson, 18, a freshman from Little Rock, and Chavares Block, 19, a sophomore pre-engineering major from Dermott, were shot to death outside Arkansas Hall three years ago today. The four men, who weren't students here, charged in the shooting are all serving prison sentences. Kelcey Perry, 21, the man identified as the one who pulled the trigger on the gun that night, is serving a 40-year prison sentence for the murders.

The men drove onto our campus after a dispute with several of our students in Pine Bluff. Perry shot several times into a crowd of people outside Arkansas Hall, killing Henderson and Block and wounding nonstudent Martrevis Norman of Blytheville. None of them had been involved in the earlier dispute that prompted the shooting.

Tonight's event is being put together by the Office of Student Life, the Student Government Association and the National Pan Hellenic Council (NPHC).  NPHC has established a scholarship fund for a male student from Dermott High School and Hall High School, the former high schools of Block and Henderson, respectively. The recipient of each scholarship receives $1,000.

The NPHC will be raising money for the scholarships by selling purple rubber bracelets for $5 in the Student Center this week. Henderson and Block's initials and the anniversary date, Oct. 26, 2008, of the shooting are printed on the bracelets.

Interim President Tom Courtway and E.C. Maltiba, senior pastor at the True Holiness Saints Center in Conway, will be speaking at tonight’s vigil.  Maltiba came to campus the night of the shooting and met with the Henderson and Block families.  He also counseled students and staff at the time. Henderson's parents also will be attending.

Of the 34 girls nominated by campus organizations, eight of them will be on the homecoming court based on votes by students. The queen and maid of honor will be announced during halftime of Saturday's homecoming football game.

This year's pep rally includes games with $1,000 in prizes. You could win an iPod or a television. Bears head football coach Clint Conque will be there to speak for the team.

 The Bear Den sponsors the pep rally each year and is including a fight song competition this year. Each campus organization can create a fight song about their organization and perform it at the rally. The winner gets $50.

The symposium is open to the public. Organizers also expect  as many as 80 Arkansas social studies and history teachers to attend. It will cost you $10 if you are student. For everyone else, the cost is $25. Registration and coffee begins at 8:45 a.m.

"We market directly to teachers," said History Department chairman Kenneth Barnes, "but people show up that just have a general interest in the subject."

Keynote speaker and distinguished Purdue University history professor Dr. Randy Roberts will start the event at 9 a.m. with his keynote address "Popular Culture Goes to War: America in the 1940s."

Roberts has contributed to publishing 16 books and appeared in more than 50 television documentaries. You can see him in this clip from the History Channel.

Two speech sessions will feature four Arkansas history professors. Two professors will speak at a time in different places and attendees will choose between topics within each session. Dr. David Welky, Dr. Christopher Craun and Dr. Roger Pauly from our History Department will speak.

This History Symposium also functions as the History Department's concurrent enrollment professional development program, which all departments with concurrent enrollment students are required to provide, but the idea for its extravagance came from Signal Media President Philip Jonsson.

Jonsson's company owns radio station The Point 94.1 that sponsored the event and three previous ones. He approached the History Department with an idea to host a public history event.

"He's a history buff so he wanted to work with us" said Barnes, "and its been cool to get out of our ivory tower and work with DJs."

Most departments have professional development programs because it is required by law, but Jonsson and the History Department decided to extend it to the public and make the topics more stimulating.

"We realized we needed to be more engaged with teachers," said Barnes.

The idea behind this year's popular culture theme was to illustrate how teachers can use topics like film and music to get students interested in history.

"This is the fourth history event and we hope to continue each year," said Barnes.

You can register for the event online here and check out the schedule and description of speakers here.

You can cast your vote in the Student Center lounge on the first floor across from the bookstore from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. through Friday. There are 34 girls nominated this year from various organizations on campus.

The nominees are:

• Holly Acre - Sigma Sigma Sigma
• Marika Aldridge - Society for the Unification of African-American Women
• Kabreyln Boyce - Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Beth Campbell - Sigma Kappa
• Anna Lee Carter - Association of Future Alumni and Sigma Tau Gamma
• Lindsey Cason - Alpha Sigma Alpha
• Aeiress Duhart - Omega Psi Phi
• Abbey Eckart - Sigma Tau Gamma
• Destiny Ellis - Carmichael Hall
• Casey Ferguson - Sigma Kappa
• Ashley Fleener - Alpha Sigma Alpha
• Desiree Garrison - National Association of Black Men United
• Jenny Gip - Kappa Sigma
• LaSarah Hudson - Student Orientation
• Kourtney Jackson - The Bear's Den
• Kendall Jenkins - Delta Zeta
• Darria Johnson - Keep A Child Alive
• Stephanie Laster - NAACP
• Morgan Linn - Alpha Sigma Tau
• Talesha Little - Students for the Propagation of Black Culture
• Katelyn Lowery - Kappa Sigma
• Tabitha McCool - Honor's College
• Sarah Nation - Delta Zeta and Pi Kappa Alpha
• Amber Pawloski - Alpha Sigma Tau and Pi Kappa Alpha
• Lily Rowland - The Equestrian Club
• Meddie Scarbrough - Delta Zeta and Kappa Alpha Psi
• Joy Spellman - Alpha Kappa Alpha
• Brandi Starnes - Sigma Sigma Sigma
• Katy Stracener - Sigma Tau Gamma
• Bridget Thomas - Alpha Sigma Tau and Pi Kappa Alpha
• Lillian Turner - Delta Sigma Theta
• Chloe Walters - The Bear's Den
• Amber Westbrook - Phi Alpha Theta

You will get three votes on each ballot but can only complete one ballot. You must have a student identification to place your vote. The winners, including the homecoming queen and maid-of-honor will be announced at the homecoming game Oct. 29.