Many women partake in breast cancer screenings as a form of early detection. The American Cancer Society recommends women between ages 40 and 54 receive mammograms annually and women above this age range be screened every other year. However, the ACS also justifies the benefits of performing self-examinations—even for those under 40 years old.

Caroline Wall, though in her early twenties, performs self-examinations because breast cancer runs in her family. As the VP of Philanthropy of SLU’s Zeta chapter, Wall held a breast cancer awareness and prevention workshop in Morrissey Hall on April 24 to inform students on how early detection allows for easier treatment plans. Both Wall’s mother and aunt detected their own lumps in stages 0 and 1, respectively, and underwent less extensive treatment.

Referencing the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Foundation, Wall said that “one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in her life and also one in every one thousand men. Those who are related to someone who has had breast cancer are more likely to develop it, such as myself.”

She further explained that one’s predisposition to the development of breast cancer can be caused by the BRCA gene, an inherited mutation that increases the risk of one developing either breast or ovarian cancer. Other than the gene, lifestyle choices, such as diet and exercise, contribute to one’s risk.

As part of the workshop, Wall showed several videos on how to correctly perform a self-examination. When assessing for irregularities, one should initially analyze the size of the breasts and unusual dimpling, redness or swelling. Then, lumps should be carefully felt for.

“I wanted to hold this event because I feel like a lot of people don’t have the education to do these super easy things that they can start now, especially when they are approaching an age of risk,” Wall said. “I wanted to relay that information, especially since we have an amazing philanthropy, which is breast cancer awareness and education, that we can do something with and raise money for.”

For more information on breast cancer self-examinations and to learn more about Zeta’s philanthropy, visit the Zeta Tau Alpha philanthropy page at zetataualpha.org/foundation/philanthropy.

As part of Atlas Week, the University News Team wants to celebrate the different cultures on SLU’s campus. In order to do this, we have invited the subject of this particular story, Esther Chinwuko, to translate and present it in her native language.

Written in English by Meredyth Staunch:

Sitting at a white table at the front of the library, senior Esther Chinwuko pulls out her computer. She is a senior electrical engineering major, and like many other engineering students, she designates most of her nights to studying. However, Esther also tacks on another component to her nightly routine: practicing English.

Raised in Tokyo and from Japanese and Nigerian descent, Esther knew little English when she came to St. Louis in August 2015, but she also knew that as a woman of color, it was essentially impossible to pursue engineering in Japan. If she were to stay, she would have needed to set herself up for success when she was 7 years old by attending a good elementary school—a luxury that her family could not afford.

Esther was also turned off of the “sameness” of Japan. “When I was growing up, I never had the opportunity to see a role model, someone who was similar to me,” she said. “Every time I went outside, I only saw similar people, who did not look like me. They were all from the entertainment side too, like singers, dancers or comedians. No one was involved in the professional field.”

As a result, she sought out attending an American university to help propel her future career. Esther had a connection to a SLU student at the time, who was also Japanese, and who pushed Esther to visit. SLU provides a website for prospective Japanese students to connect to American students at any university. During ATLAS Week, Esther provides this link to students, with the intention of helping more international students attend SLU. There are currently three Japanese students enrolled at the University.

It was through her involvement in SGA as an international affairs senator that Esther learned about ATLAS Week. She learned of the Parade of Nations, which is usually held at the end of ATLAS week, and of which would allow her to represent her country by carrying its flag.

“I was very interested in [ATLAS Week] because you are able to share your culture with others,” Esther said. “You get to learn from other people as well, and this is a once-a-year big event. This is my fourth year participating in ATLAS.”

This year, Esther gave a new presentation called “Face Mask,” which took place on Monday. Her goal was to shatter misconceptions about others based on appearance. “When we see each other, there is a first impression,” she said. “We don’t want to judge people – like when you see me, I am black – but there is a stereotype there. We all have a switching code for why we behave, but you sometimes can’t tell based off of first impressions.” Esther’s presentation consisted of an open dialogue about identity.

ATLAS Week is a time when international and domestic students can come together to learn about cultures they are not familiar with. Esther noted that she sees many students during the week that she did not realize attended SLU. “SLU as a whole isn’t diverse, but during ATLAS Week, you feel like it is because of all of the new people you meet,” Esther said. “The hope is that people should learn and want to go to different countries, and I want others to have an interest in different cultures.”

Translated to Japanese by Esther Chinwuko:

彼女の毎日は、夜図書館へ行きパソコンと本に向き合う日々である。それは彼女だけではなく、ほとんどのエンジニア生徒の日々でもある。彼女の名前はチンウーコエスターさん。セントルイス大学四年生の電気工学科。彼女はただ四年間勉強に没頭するたげではなく、留学生にとって何が一番問題で、彼らがどうしたらアメリカで大学生活を楽に過ごせるかについて、日々スタッフと話し合い、奮闘している。

彼女は生まれも育ちも東京の日本人であるが、日本とナイジェリアのハーフでもある。アメリカの大学に行く事は、彼女にとって大きな第一歩であった。日本は礼儀正しい素晴らしい国ではあるが、100%日本人でなければ日本で活躍する事はとても難しいと常に感じていた。彼女は小さい時から数学が得意でありエンジニアになるのが夢であったが、日本で彼女のようなハーフが活躍できる場はとても少なく、大抵ダンサー、歌手、お笑い芸人などのエンターテイメント職になってしまい、プロフェッショナルな仕事に就く事はとても難しかった。その為彼女は、小さい頃からアメリカの大学に行く事を夢見ていた。

彼女は現在セイントルイス大学という名門校に通っており、約1カ月半で卒業を迎えようとしている。セイントルイス大学には一年に一度、ATLASという大きな国際イベントがあり、世界中の色んな生徒が一つになり、お互いの文化を教えあったり、学べることが出来る。それは、彼女にとって一番特別な時期でもある。セイントルイス大学には、現在日本人留学生がたった3人しかい。彼女は出来る限り日本の高校、大学と連絡を取り、多くの日本人がアメリカで少しでも心地よく勉強できる環境を作ろうとしている。

また彼女は大学一年生の時からATLASのメンバーであり、彼女にとって今年は四回目である。今回、彼女はATLASの一つのイベント”Face Mask” を手掛けた。フェイスマスクとは、皆色んな人に会う時、人それぞれ違う顔(お面)がある、でもそれはどうしてなのだろうか？人に気を使っているからか？それとも本当の自分を他人に見せたくないからか？人々は、自分が想像しているように自分を見てくれているのだろうか？そんな事をみんなで深く話し合うことができ、様々な意見を討論できる素晴らしい機会でった。

ATLASは一年に一度皆が一つになり、自分の文化の有り難みを改めて知ることが出来る一週間である。彼女は”ATLASは、ただ座って参加するイベントでない。各国の色々な人々と会話することによって、初めてお互いを理解できるイベントである。この一週間が皆様にとって忘れられない素晴らしいATLAS week になり、そしてこのイベントによって自分の国の文化に自信を持ち、それを多くの人々にシェアしてもらえたら嬉しい。”と語っていた。

Championed as the “face of doing the right thing” ABC news correspondent and current host of “What Would You Do?” John Quiñones knows what it is like to be on the wrong side of prejudicial remarks. He was raised in an impoverished family in Texas. His father was a janitor and dropped out of school in third grade to pick cotton, and his mother dropped out of school early to support her single mother. His parents spoke very little English even though the Quiñones family had lived in Texas for seven generations.

When Quiñones was a boy, he explained that nearly 60 percent of San Antonio spoke Spanish. People did not need to learn English because Catholic Mass was in Spanish, the general store that his family purchased food was in Spanish and the music they listened to was in Spanish. This was before a bilingual education was implemented.

On Monday, Quiñones shared his story as a young migrant-farmer-turned-journalist as the keynote speaker for the 19th annual Atlas Week. His presentation took place in the Wool Ballrooms at 5:30 p.m.

Much of his success is accredited to his parents who instilled the importance of education. “My mother grabbed me by the ear and dragged me back to Mrs. Gregory’s class,” Quiñones said, after mentioning that he left his first grade class early one time. His parents wanted him to resort to more than a janitor or farmer.

When Quiñones was 13, his father was laid off work. He and his family joined a caravan to harvest cherries to make ends meet. After cherry season commenced, they traveled to Ohio to pick tomatoes. Quiñones wanted to amount to more, though, and receive a college education – but he was seldom believed in by his advisors and teachers because of his nationality.

“I would ask my teachers and counselors how do I prepare for the ACT and Advanced Placement classes in English, math, biology to get into college some day,” Quiñones said. “My own teachers would tell me, ‘That’s great you want to be a TV reporter some day, but we think you should try woodshop, or metal shop or auto mechanics.’ My own teachers and my own counselors would do what people do on my show ‘What Would You Do?’ every Friday night – they would judge me by the color of my skin and the accent in my voice.”

Quiñones had faith in taking the first step, even though he could not see the entire staircase. He had a heavy Mexican accent and was painfully shy in front of audiences, but he wanted to rewrite the typical narratives on television that broadcasted Mexican-Americans as violent and drug-infested. He felt hurt because he knew there were heroes in his community.

His first step involved participating in drama class, where he was required to speak in front of large audiences and enunciate. Fast forward to joining his high school newspaper, receiving assistance from Upward Bound, a federally funded educational program, interning at radio stations, receiving a fellowship to study at Columbia University and, finally, receiving his first TV job in Chicago. It was at WBBM that the spark for “What Would You Do?” formed.

“I did a story on a hot button topic: illegal immigration,” Quiñones said. “I had relatives and friends who had come over illegally to the U.S. I wanted to know what are the push factors, how desperate must someone be to come into this country, risking their lives and spending their life savings […] I convinced my boss to let me go undercover and to Mexico and pose as a Mexican immigrant trying to come into the U.S.”

After going into a small town in Mexico, he found a smuggler who sold him a fake birth certificate and Social Security number, which was all captured on camera. Quiñones was then ferried across the Rio Grande to the U.S. and took a bus back to the outskirts of Chicago to a restaurant. Quiñones had heard that the restaurant housed seven undocumented immigrants. The owner had not paid any of them for 17 weeks for washing dishes.

After being hired by the restaurant owner, Quiñones worked by day but interviewed the undocumented workers by night. “They told me they were being held as virtual slaves by the restaurant owner,” he said.

After Quiñones’ time at the restaurant, his story aired on CBS. The restaurant was shut down, the owner was arrested and the workers were given their owed money and temporary visas to stay in the U.S.

It was through this story that Quiñones knew that he, as a Latino-American reporter, could tell the story better than anyone because of where he came from. His journey is represented through an atlas, the precursor of a GPS. “It allows us to find out where we’ve been, where we are right now, and it also helps us to decide where we’re going,” he said.

“When you’re hungry, you’ll eat anything,” American stand-up comic, actor and filmmaker Hari Kondabolu said while chuckling to Saint Louis University students Wednesday night. No, he was not specifically talking about filling an empty stomach, but, instead, used this metaphor as a springboard for his conversation about his documentary “The Problem with Apu.”

While “The Simpsons” tries to engage a more diverse audience by including character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, an Indian immigrant, Apu perpetuates stereotypical Indian tropes—and he is narrated by Hank Azaria, who is not of Indian descent. Kondabolu grew up watching “The Simpsons,” quoting lines frequently, and enjoyed the character Apu when he was first released. However, people who related to Apu in any context settled because he was all that was there. There was a lack of diversification within the show.

In Kondabolu’s talk at the Wool Ballrooms, he addressed that there has been progress in diversifying characters and acknowledging writers and filmmakers from varying backgrounds in the media world, but this is only because the U.S. was so far behind before.

“There is such a broad range of experiences that don’t get talked about,” Kondabolu said. “Human beings have infinite experiences because no one person has a single set of religious beliefs, interests, life experiences, and other variables. How are we repeating stories and stereotypes when every single human being has a unique story?”

Kondabolu considers this when preparing for his stand-up routines. Unlike other comedians who further isolate minority groups, Kondabolu utilizes his degrees in race, globalization and human rights to form the basis of his jokes. He covers topics on identity, inequality and the LGBTQ+ community, to name a few.  

His comedic acts did not initially start out this way, though. Stand-up was a high school hobby for Kondabolu after gaining interest from seeing Margaret Cho perform on Comedy Central. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, is this even possible,’ because up to that point, everything was black and white with who you saw on TV doing stand-up,” he said. “To see an Asian person doing stand-up was not common. It seemed sort of out of the realm of possibility.”

Kondabolu’s first comedy show at his high school included a large amount of derivative material, which he coined as “Chris Rock and Margaret Cho jokes with the word ‘Indian’ in them.” His voice evolved in his shows as he practiced more, and after 9/11 occurred.

A sophomore in college at that point, Kondabolu experienced prejudice as a non-white person from Queens, New York post 9/11. He explained that the country was traumatized, but that some, including himself, were traumatized twice due to distrust. The experience forced him to think about the world more critically because up to that point, he did not think outside of himself.

“This [terrorist attack] happens, and I’m thinking ‘How could this occur? Why are people behaving this way, and why are we going to war?’ Meanwhile, I’m on stage telling ridiculous jokes about my parents and doing accents while studying about this intense stuff going on. At some point, I felt like a phony for talking about stuff I didn’t care about.”

He began to shift the subject of his comedy toward what he was learning and experiencing. However, the shift was not seamless. Kondabolu said that it took a while to balance his message with comedic relief, so that he did not come across as ranting and self-righteous. “I don’t talk about this stuff to make a point,” he said. “If you go in with an agenda, you’re not going to make good art. I talk about this stuff because I care about it. I think about if I am writing something that is true to myself and funny.”

At the end of the day, Kondabolu acknowledged that he will say things that make people uncomfortable—that comes with the territory of the profession. However, he enjoys when people get so uncomfortable that they laugh and discuss it after. Comedians are meant to push the boundaries.

Late Tuesday and into Wednesday, much of the Midwest experienced plummeting temperatures that froze even the grittiest Americans. While the wind chill in St. Louis did not plummet to Chicago’s degree, its sub-zero temperatures resulted in school cancellations and early closures of businesses. At approximately 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Kent Porterfield, Saint Louis University’s vice president for student development, sent a campus-wide email warning students, staff and faculty of dangerously low temperatures and the clothing that should be worn to avoid frostbite.

But what if students could not afford warm winter coats?

What if they did not have a suitable place to sleep?

While many SLU students are privileged enough to have a warm place to stay and proper clothing during the polar vortex, student Devonn Thomas believed Porterfield’s email should have addressed those who did not have access to such commodities. She wanted a shelter to also be made available for the homeless community outside of SLU.  

Thomas wasted no time to address her concern with Porterfield and Jonathan Smith, vice president for diversity and community engagement. “At 3 p.m., I walked to [Smith’s office] and said that we need some place for people to stay tonight because it was cold out,” Thomas said. “He hesitated for maybe 30 seconds, and said ‘Devonn, what are you talking about?’ I told him that people are cold, and we have so much access at SLU. It makes no sense to not use our resources for people who need them.”

The likeliness of acquiring a space last minute was slim, though, according to Smith. Out of the activist organizations that Thomas reached out to to implement the initiative, SLU’s Labre became an integral factor in enabling its success.

“[Dr. Porterfield and Dr. Smith] figured things out administratively, like how we have a building,” Thomas said. “I chose Il Monastero at first because I knew that it is a nice building and had private rooms. There were a bunch of rapid-fire ideas coming out, so we talked to Tim Huffman, who is the leader of Labre, and he agreed to help staff.”

Il Monastero sheltered 11 people in its 12-room facility from 7 p.m. Tuesday to 9 a.m. Wednesday. By early evening, over 25 students, faculty and staff donated coats, gloves, hats and scarves for the homeless to use. Thomas explained that patrons were able to watch movies and play games in the separate spaces while enjoying a cooked meal. Separate bedrooms also allowed for privacy and inclusivity of the LGBTQ+ community, according to Thomas.

“So many shelters are not inclusive of people who are queer and trans,” she said. “It is their active choice to have non-gendered spaces and non-gendered rooming, and it is important to us because we know what it means to be marginalized on the margins. They are already homeless, but some are homeless and trans or homeless and queer.”

Thomas, Huffman and Labre students sheltered the homeless through Thursday morning – but on Wednesday night, occupants, which included the homeless and volunteers, were housed at Manresa Center. The facility allowed for 30 occupants, and 27 stayed the night.

While the initiative was successful in providing the necessary clothing and room and board, Huffman expressed how there were multiple ways of responding to the crisis. “Clearly, it was a weather crisis,” he said. “[The question was raised as to whether] we should open a new shelter or could we have supported an existing shelter. My dream is that this the start of a very serious conversation in which we think about our roles in the community and how we can respond and plan better.”

Huffman said that he is proud of how quickly SLU responded to helping the homeless, but he also said that the community should not stop with just sheltering.

“We wouldn’t need emergency shelters if we were better at housing people,” Huffman said.

Both the young and old, white and colored, religious and non- congregated in a mass of over 250,000 at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Over 50 years later, Washington has become progressively divided with news of a standoff between a Kentucky student and Native American man, the partial government shutdown over a border wall and immigrant children being torn from their parents.

On Jan. 17, King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King, III, visited Saint Louis University, and he addressed these current issues, pivoting toward a call to action to restore democracy. In his tribute to his father, he expressed the late King’s dream of coming together as a unified nation.

MLK III’s speech took place at 9 a.m. in the Wool Ballrooms and marked SLU’s celebration of Martin Luther King Day. Impassioned by the current racial injustices, he argued that America has forgotten about its roots.

“We really can’t celebrate [Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday] when we live in a country that pays women who do the same job as men for less,” he said. “We really can’t celebrate when we have racial injustice that carries not some days, but every day. We really can’t celebrate when our children, black and brown and poor white children, are failing out of our schools. We can’t celebrate when we are dividing families in this nation we call ‘home.’”

Referencing President Trump’s family separation policy, he asked the audience, What is wrong with the nation? How are we in America? America was built by immigrants. The late King opined that there is no definitive American culture. Rather, it is a concoction of cultures. If people were asked to trace their origins today, many would say they are not from pure Native American descent–which is, ironically, one of the targeted groups by others who have negated their own origins.

MLK sought to bring racial inequality to the forefront of discussion through nonviolence. His son referenced how movements, such as Black Lives Matter, are similar and have erupted due to these same injustices, but specifically within the law enforcement sector.

“Black Lives Matter is a very important group, and Black Lives Matter does not just encompass black folks,” MLK III said. “People of goodwill have joined Black Lives because anybody, even people who can’t see, see injustice. People come together and say ‘This is not right.’ Over and over and over again, black people are being gunned down.”

He used the example of police brutality as a call to action. He stressed that the American people can rewrite this narrative.

He argued for the implementation of police training programs to educate all law enforcement personnel.  

He argued for programs to bring police and average youths together, so they could have a continuous dialogue to help prevent violence.

He argued for independent citizen community review boards in every city to improve police community relations.

Ever more pressing is the mass shooting epidemic. “Something is wrong in our society when we have massacres even in our places of worship, as well as in elementary schools, movie theaters and at musical concerts,” MLK III said. “[…] My daughter said something profound at the March for Our Lives. She said, ‘My grandfather had a dream that one day children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. But I have a dream also: My dream is to have a gun-free world.’”

It can still happen, he argued. There are ways people can still protect themselves, without owning assault weapons. “There will be other mass shootings, unless we energize a movement for gun safety in the U.S.,” he said.“We have a higher tolerance for politicians who allow for psychopaths to have deranged weapons of mass murder, and that is a problem that needs to be corrected.”

Another area of foreign concern is the dream of MLK: achieving a just immigration policy. In his lifetime, and ever prevalent in his “I Have a Dream” speech, MLK fought for the need to bridge the haves and have nots. Every person of race and religion should live in harmony “because they are all children of the same God,” MLK III said.

Working toward social change means eradicating imbalances and progressing with MLK’s vision in mind.

Q: Specifically, what was your role in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory? What is the planning process, etc.?

A: I have been working at NASA for 17 years. The last 15 at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA where I have been supporting the Mars Exploration Program Office. I was the Trajectory Lead for the Mars Science Laboratory Project which landed the Curiosity Rover on Mars in 2012. I was appointed as the Mission Design and Navigation Manager for the InSight lander in late 2012 and served as the Deputy Mission Manager from launch through landing. I am currently working as the Mission Design and Navigation Manager for the Mars 2020 rover.

Q: We spoke with Dr. Swartwout, who was on your master’s thesis committee. He mentioned that you were excited to learn about space exploration. What prompted your enthusiasm for space?

A: I was born in Madrid, Spain and I perfectly remember the day my parents took me to visit NASA’s Deep Space Communications Complex in the outskirts of Madrid. I was only 7 years old but I was in awe when I first saw the massive 70-m dish. Since I was a kid, I was fascinated by space and seeing that facility from up close made me feel that exploring the Solar System was not science fiction, that perhaps, someday I would be able to contribute to space exploration.

Q: Why did you decide to design a human colonization project for Mars for your master’s thesis? When did you become interested in Mars as a place that people can inhabit?

A: Mars is a fascinating planet. We know today that 3.5 billion years ago, Mars featured rivers, lakes, and even oceans. There were significant quantities of water on the Martian surface. Today, Mars looks very dry but still holds some amount of frozen water under the surface and in the polar caps. The Curiosity rover has sent data that indicates that Gale Crater most likely had the conditions necessary to support microbial life in the past. Finding evidence of past life on Mars would be truly groundbreaking. Mars has many in-situ resources to support a human expedition. Establishing a human base on Mars would allow us to expand our civilization beyond Earth. My Master’s thesis was focused on optimizing trajectories between Earth and Mars but I was so incredibly fascinated by the subject that my thesis work turned into the development of a full architecture to send a human mission to the Red Planet.

A: How did your education at SLU help propel you to your success at NASA?

Q: My professors at Parks had a significant impact in my career and I am very thankful to them for that. I had strong interests in the fields of Astrodynamics and Orbital Mechanics and they gave me a strong foundation for the technical knowledge I have today. I keep great memories from my time at SLU.

Gallery|3 Photos

Laden with undertones from songs of the 1980s, Starwolf’s music successfully works indie with synth pop. The St. Louis band released its debut EP “Ti Amo, Stargazer” on Nov. 9, which features six songs – its cover song “Ti Amo, Stargazer,” “Take It All,” “Guilty Pleasure,” “Heartbreak Woman,” “Tu Es Belle” and “The Meaning of Life.”

The band premiered its newly released album at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room on Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. and was opened by fellow St. Louis bands The Free Years and Old Souls Revival.

Starwolf members Tim Moore, Max Sauer and Chris Rhein performed at Loufest in 2017, and since then, have worked to amplify their retro synth vibe by incorporating saxophone, falsetto vocals and traces of groove-inspired piano and bass runs.

As someone who solely listens to songs from the early 2000s and prior, my primary genre of music consists of alternative and rock from Green Day, Foo Fighters and Elton John. Needless to say, Starwolf has not been on my radar as much as other St. Louis residents.

Though my taste has not aligned with much of the current music, I would make room for Starwolf on my Spotify playlist. The band name might give it away, but Starwolf’s tone reminds me of something along the lines of Star Wars – but with influences from Phil Collins. Yes, quite an unconventional combination, but its opening song “Mysterious Love” had all three musicians busting out with electronic music. As the band progressed to the chorus, Rhein’s singing became smooth and Moore’s drumming turned into what some call the “gated reverb,” a staple of popular Phil Collins’ songs, such as “In the Air Tonight.”

Other notable songs included “Heartbreak Woman,” which similarly starts with a synth piano solo and crescendos to a steady drum beat integrated with some spurts of techno runs.

I particularly enjoyed “Guilty Pleasure” because it deviated from some of the synth tones that the band is well known for. The song started with a short piano solo and led into a drum beat and Rhein singing, with the occasional three higher-note runs on the piano, which worked in tandem with Rhein’s voice in falsetto. Though “Guilty Pleasure” did not employ as many electronic tones, the ending resembled that of a machine shutting down.

Given the two opening bands, I was not expecting Starwolf to exhibit a chill wave beat with interspersed climbs. The Free Years was a huge disappointment. Maybe this was because the Duck Room was a little bare as people were starting to file in and grab drinks; maybe this was because lead singer Matthew James missed some higher notes.

Periodically, James would try to engage the audience by making jokes that only resulted in crickets. He also told the crowd to move closer to the stage. One audience member moved up and was dancing alone. It was a rather comical sight.

After The Free Years performed, Old Souls Revival walked onto stage. My thought: ‘I hope this band, and Starwolf, are better than the first.’

Thankfully, Old Souls Revival exceeded my expectations. As a frequent listener of “Weird Al” Yankovic, Old Souls Revival’s lyrical parody style reminded me of the former artist. Compared to Starwolf’s jazz and techno combo, Old Souls Revival was more within the rock genre. Lead singer Neil Luke had some growl at the end of his voice. His engagement with the other band members and lack of awkwardness, compared to James, got the audience dancing and ready for Starwolf to perform.

The venue itself was great for a relaxed concert atmosphere – I could grab a drink, dance and mingle with others. I enjoyed two out of the three bands, and believe I am a testament that someone can enjoy listening to a music genre he or she is not familiar with.

The University News prides itself on showcasing a variety of different events on campus and opinions held by writers and contributors. When the organization falls short on quality, it is its duty to be held accountable and to be transparent about the mistake made.

In the UNews’ sixth edition of volume XCVIII, called “A House Divided,” which was published and distributed on Nov. 15, contributor Chuck Kolmer wrote an opinion article titled “No Vote: Still Political,” in which he addressed why he did not vote during the midterm elections. His argument was rooted in the premise that a political party’s primary concern is to defeat its competition, rather than perpetuate collaboration through open dialogue.

Alongside the printed article, a photo of contributor Jack Johnson, and not Kolmer, was featured, as it is customary for opinion articles to be paired with photographs of their writers. The University News mistakenly inserted the incorrect picture alongside Kolmer’s article.

In this statement, the editorial board of the University News wants to make clear that the photograph alongside the opinion article is not of Kolmer, and it does not reflect Johnson’s views. The editorial board offers its sincerest apologies to both parties and strives to advocate for the students of Saint Louis University.

Originally an online book seller, Amazon fulfilled its first sale in 1995 when it shipped the book “Fluid Concepts & Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought” to an inquisitive customer, as reported by ABC News. Nearly two years later, Amazon introduced one-click shopping, which expedited customers’ online shopping experience and led to Amazon building its sales-giant image.

In June of 2015, Amazon, yet again, raised the technology bar by releasing its Alexa-controlled Echo speaker in the U.S. Saint Louis University announced on August 9 during the Amazon Web Services global education conference that these Amazon Alexa-enabled devices, managed by Alexa for Business, will be implemented into every on-campus living space by the beginning of the fall 2018 semester.

Programed to not only answer the generic questions, Alexa is also able to respond to over 100 SLU-specific questions, said David Hakanson, SLU’s vice president and chief information officer. Each Alexa will be managed by the University account, so it does not identify which student lives in any specific room and will not be able to connect to a student’s private Amazon or music account.

“Time is very important,” Hakanson said. “While students can still search up information online, it is a time-consuming process. If you’re trying to find out which events are going on today, you have to look through various calendars, which could take five to 10 minutes, or if you have to look up what time the library closes, that takes two to four minutes. We think that there is a lot of value in getting an immediate answer to a question.”

The main driver in implementing the Alexa-controlled Echo speaker was improving time management; by reducing the time it takes students to look up answers to questions, they can focus on other activities, such as studying and student life activities, Hakanson said.

While SLU is the first university to implement the devices in all dorms and on-campus apartments, it is not the first to introduce the technology into a college setting. Arizona State University, University of Oklahoma and Northeastern University introduced the Amazon Echo on a smaller scale, installing the devices in some, but not all, residence halls.

“We were able to learn from [these schools’] experiences, Hakanson said.

After hearing about the Amazon Echo’s success at other universities, SLU launched a pilot study from April to May 2018. Twenty rooms were used to test the Amazon Echo devices, while 20 tested a competitor device. After gathering feedback through a survey, Hakanson said that students preferred the Amazon Echo over its competitor.

With the news of Amazon Echos coming to campus, some students have questioned how SLU can fund the new technology. Each year, Information Technology sets money aside to improve technology across campus, funds which are unrelated to fees or tuition, Hakanson said. Hakanson and IT decided to designate a portion of the funds to providing Amazon Echos to students.

“We hope the [devices] are well-received by the students, and we are going to provide opportunities for the students to give feedback,” Hakanson said. “This way they can tell us what questions are working well and, perhaps, which questions that we don’t have answers to that they would like to ask, so that other students can get the benefit as well.”

Hakanson sees the initial implementation of Amazon Echos in 2018 as the beginning of SLU’s experimentation with voice technology. In the future, he hopes to expand upon the technology and provide more voice services to faculty, staff and students.