Bursts of red and blue pierce the darkness overshadowing the nation’s capital on a terrifying and somber occasion.  As D.C. is attacked, Kiefer Sutherland (“24”) steps in, not to save the day as Jack Bauer in “24,” but to lead the free world as Thomas Adam Kirkman, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and current president of the United States.

“Designated Survivor” premiered Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 10 p.m. on ABC. The episode began with a slow panorama of D.C. shrouded in the dark, accompanied by foreboding instrumental music as a text overlay succinctly defines a designated survivor. As callous as it sounds, a chosen Cabinet member is chosen to be sheltered in a safe location during the State of the Union and is next in line for the Presidency.

In the first 30 minutes, the scenes move swiftly after an explosive terror attack on the Capitol rocks the foundation of the United States government. The continuity of government is enacted, and Kirkman is whisked
away to be sworn in wearing his Cornell sweater, sneakers and Clark Kent glasses.

Soon after President Kirkman steps in, he finds himself in the bathroom vomiting — a natural and real reaction to becoming the most powerful man in the world. This leads to an embarrassing interaction with speechwriter, Seth Wright (Kal Penn, “House”), as Wright does not realize that it is Kirkman he is talking to over the stall and reveals his honest and very low opinion of Kirkman, saying he has “no business running the country.”

The temperate hand of President Kirkman riles many of those working around him, like the deputy chief of staff and U.S. army general. His seconds old title in the Department of Housing and Urban Development makes him ripe for gibes against his credentials, experience and constitution to take upon the presidency.

An added bonus to the list of characters is the introduction of Maggie Q (“Nikita”) as FBI Agent Hannah Wells who is responsible for the investigation of the terror attack. As plot twists go, series creator and writer David Guggenheim will have a wealth of added drama to work with.

What may be a weak subplot is Kirkman’s drugged-out teenage son. With all the action of the main storyline, this added drama seems a bit distracting and should have been waiting in the wings as a potential story if needed.

Overall, the show boasts an extraordinary cast, an interesting plot and has a lot of potential. The episode introduced many interesting arcs such as conspiracy, terrorism and drug dealing. It was very fast paced and the production was alluring — the fire and lights in the middle of the night in the heart of D.C. made for a very surreal feeling. It is always a pleasure to see Kiefer Sutherland and Maggie Q on TV, and the intrigue will keep the audience at the edge of their seats. “Designated Survivor” had a great pilot, and hopefully it can keep the momentum running for the rest of the season.

In a year where cinema and television alike have been dominated by remakes of everything from “Ben-Hur” to “Ghostbusters,” Director Antoine Fuqua’s “The Magnificent Seven” serves as an excellent example of both the strengths and weaknesses of the recent trend in blockbuster filmmaking. A remake of Director Akira Kurosawa’s landmark 1954 drama “Seven Samurai,” “The Magnificent Seven” goes by way of Director John Sturges’ slightly less substantial 1960 Western reinterpretation.

Fuqua is joined once again by his “Training Day” and “The Equalizer” leading man, Denzel Washington, who heads up an eccentric cast that includes his “Training Day” co-star Ethan Hawke, Chris Pratt (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Peter Sarsgaard (“Jarhead”), Manuel Garcia-Rulfo (“Cake”), Byung-hun Lee (“G.I. Joe”) and Martin Sensmeier (“Lilin’s Brood”) in the timeless story of Sam Chisolm (Washington) and his six gunmen who are hired to liberate Emma Cullen’s hometown of Rose Creek from a wealthy villainous industrialist.

Kurosawa’s original historical epic is a thrilling film that captures the audience’s attention for three hours and sustains its forward momentum even through an intermission. A demonstration of technical and narrative virtuosity, “Seven Samurai” proved to be a creative watershed for Japanese film as well as a lasting influence on cinema at large. In the face of such a vaunted source material, Fuqua’s film is cushioned by a degree of separation: Sturges’ film, remembered mostly for Elmer Bernstein’s score and the eventual success of the then-unknown cast, including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen and Robert Vaughn, transplanted “Seven Samurai” into a Western setting. While both films fail to reach the original’s groundbreaking heights, each film displays certain strengths relative to one another; several of the greatest strengths of the new film are easy to see when it is compared to Sturges’ version.

Before “The Magnificent Seven” was released, it received significant attention for the diversity of its cast. In comparison to the outdated depictions of the Mexican villagers who relied on Yul Brynner and his band of compatriots to rescue them in Sturges’ original, Fuqua’s new film features a much more diverse “Magnificent Seven,” albeit one that is still entirely male. Rising starlet Haley Bennett, who has two other big-budget films coming out this fall, is delegated to a supporting role as tough-as-nails widow Emma Cullen, who seeks out the heroes to save her besieged town.

The film also sidesteps Hollywood’s casting problem by hiring minority actors to play minority parts; for example, the Comanche warrior Red Harvest is played by Sensmeier, an Alaska Native. As a minority director in a field dominated by white men, Fuqua displays sensitivity toward diversity that deserves commendation.

Fuqua’s film also recaptures much of what made its source material such a pleasure, the humorous machismo-driven camaraderie, deeply-realized atmosphere of the original. Fuqua and cinematographer, Mauro Fiore, fill the film with Western flourishes. Amidst a high-contrast, shadow-ridden, dusty backdrop, Chisolm and his comrades ride, shoot and spin their guns with obvious relish. Pratt and Washington play to their strengths, the former putting his considerable charisma into vivacious gambler Josh Faraday and the latter playing a weighty hero similar to his characters in his other collaborations with Fuqua.

Peter Sarsgaard portrays the villain, Bartholomew Bogue, an industrialist who lays siege to a mining town, creating a purely evil villain that is a pleasure to despise. Hawke and D’Onofrio stand out as a haunted Civil War vet and a slightly deranged tracker amongst an otherwise forgettable supporting cast.

Despite all of these strengths, “The Magnificent Seven” is ultimately no more than an adequate Western; an enjoyable summer blockbuster that fails to live up to its festival pedigree, and its weaknesses are directly tied to its strengths. The plot feels overdone and the characters, while charming, lack depth.

The story feels predictable and the motivations hazy; of course the septet will band together to defend the town. Outside of Chisolm’s desire for revenge, it doesn’t feel obvious why any of the “Magnificent Seven” are fighting at all. The forward motion of the film wavers not merely because of its predictability, but also because Fuqua’s direction lacks clarity and fluidity, particularly in action scenes where the flow of battle quickly becomes obscured in favor of stylish embellishments and small details.

On paper, “The Magnificent Seven” seems like a success and audiences are responding positively to the film’s combination of star power and nostalgia. Even though the film had a successful opening weekend, one must wonder then if the film would have worked even better if it had given its all-star cast a more original concept rather than bogging the film down with the history that comes from its source material.

The captivating “Illusionists: Live From Broadway” show has come to the Fabulous Fox Theater, and audiences are sure to be amazed. The Illusionists are seven magicians gathered from all corners of the earth, each with their own unique style and act.  The Illusionists blend technology, music and magic to create a one-of-a-kind show that brings both awe and laughter. The Illusionists will be performing from Sep. 27 through Oct. 2 at the Fox Theater in Atlanta.

“The Trickster,” Jeff Hobson, a 15-year-veteran of Las Vegas shows, leads the team of world-class magicians. His hilarious comedic magic warms up the crowd from the start and often enlists members of the audience to play along in his show of wit and skill. Next up is the strange “Anti- Conjuror,” Dan Sperry. Originally gaining fame through YouTube, Sperry’s “shock illusion” adds very eccentric, bizarre and stomach-turning acts to the show.

“The Manipulator,” Yu Ho-Jin, enthralls the audience with the elegant slight of hand that won him Magician of the Year in 2014. “The Deductionist,” Colin Cloud, is a modern day Sherlock Holmes and mind reader. “The Inventor,” Kevin James, treats the audience to acts with science fiction themes. “The Escapologist,” Andrew Basso, performs a modern day Houdini style escape act that has audiences holding their breath in anticipation. Finally, “The Weapon Master,” Ben Blaque, shows off his skills with a crossbow in a dangerous exhibition of marksmanship.

One of the most fun and engaging acts of the show was Cloud’s mind reading act. Cloud has a degree in forensic investigation, and he uses his skills to read people and to manipulate them. He starts by picking two members of the audience to directly participate, and gives them each a card with a question to answer.

While the two write down their secret answers, he engages the audience with a “which hand is the coin in” trick. Then he proceeds to correctly deduce the answer to each of the chosen persons question. He even manipulates one of the participants into reading his own mind.

Another fantastic act was that of “The Anti-illusionist.” After poking fun at the classic “rabbit in the hat joke” with a unique take of his own, Sperry performs a special coin trick. He picks an audience member to aid him in his cringe worthy trick of making a coin disappear and reappear “somewhere impossible.” He has the participant mark each side of a coin, and then enlists their help in making it disappear into his eye socket.

All the while, Sperry is cracking jokes and making fun of the uncomfortable participant. Then, in his true fashion, he produces his magic wand, which happens to be a knife, and brutally appears to cut his own arm open to reveal the coin inside. Seeing the look on the participant’s face as Sperry had her confirm the reality of the coin sent the audience rolling with laughter.

On a more serious note, Ho-Jin, “The Manipulator,” displayed some of the most refined sleight of hand ever displayed. Set to an enchanting track, Ho-Jin gently and deftly produces cards from thin air, sometimes causing them change shape or appearance. He seems to be able to produce any number of cards from his fingertips, and can appear to heal torn cards.

The show was full of spectacular stagecraft, and the audience participation in many acts helped to truly engage everyone. People were kept on their toes throughout the performance. Never before has such a talented group of magicians been brought together to form one show, and they live up to their reputations as some of the world’s best.

This show is perfect for people of all ages who want to be amazed and made to laugh.

Every year, Creative Loafing, Atlanta’s only alternative weekly, sends out a survey to determine the top readers’ choice in many categories, from the best Vine account, to the best work around and to injustice. All the winners, along with Critics’ Picks, are published in the Best of Atlanta issue.

This year’s Best of Atlanta event brings that issue to life, putting the city’s best restaurants, entertainment and art under one roof — the Georgia Freight Depot. Hosted by the experienced design and creative agency, On Point Creative, the party showcased the best of this city.

As the sun was setting on the glistening downtown skyline, Wolfpack ATL kicked off a satisfying night of both surprises and classics. Voted the best local jazz act, they took their performance from the stage to the crowd, dancing around while concluding their soulful show. Automatic Improv, the lone comedy act of the night, also involved the audience as the source of inspiration for composing angry letters and as the enforcers in an elimination game.

Inside the Freight Depot, restaurant tables with samples lined the perimeter, and a stage was centered in the back of the dark, brick interior. The star of this stage was Okcello, an Atlanta Symphony Orchestra cellist, whose performance attendees enjoyed while nibbling at samples from many different restaurants. One of the most popular restaurants was Mango’s Caribbean, which offered rice and beans that was worth going back for seconds.

Many of the food samples were desserts and coffee. Near and dear to many Tech students’ hearts; Sublime Donuts offered mini doughnuts, while Octane made drinks to order. Banjo Cold Brew also provided caffeine in the form of their regular cold brew and nitro cold brew.

Cult Carts gave out unique cotton candy flavors, like carrot cake and passion fruit. With the award-winning flavor Nekkid Espresso and Orange Dream that revives memories of Dreamsicles, Revolution Gelato won over ice cream fanatics with their dairy-free versions.

Throughout the event, performances by the Imperial OPA Circus delighted viewers. From a contortionist on stage and an acrobat twirling from a cloth hung from the ceiling inside, to fire-twirling outside, the performers kept the event exciting.

The event’s art was curated by noted muralist and local art community leader Peter Ferrari. An art gallery, featuring Yoyo Ferro, Fahamu Pecou, Niki Zarrabi and more local artists, was displayed on the walls of the Freight Depot.

A black light corridor full of timely work by Fabian Williams of Occasional Superstar was a highlight of the night, especially the pieces critiquing Trump and police brutality. Some parts of the exhibit were interactive, with mirrors, hanging streamers to walk through and a small flashlight that changed how a box-shaped painting appeared.

Three acts stood out throughout the night as showcasing the unique character of Atlanta. Candybox Revue, which tied to win Best Dance Performance, performed their burlesque show. Spoken word poets Tawny Powell and Nate Mask shared their mature, relatable and comedic poetry. Winner for best progressive pop, CLAVVS entertained with a sound reminiscent of Banks, and with the outline of the capitol building behind them, reminded the audience of local-grown musical talent.   

Though the fortune teller looked intriguing, lines were long and slow for that booth. The point of having food trucks at an event with so many food samples was unclear. While the schedule was posted in the Facebook event, it would have been helpful to provide it on site.

Since the event was on a Thursday night, turn out could be better if it was held on a weekend in the future. Additionally, the event was at the same time as the Tech football game, so bad traffic could be avoided by better scheduling.

Overall, this year’s iteration of the event was a successful slice of all that Atlanta offers, from entertainment to food to art, and delighted both new transplants and life-long citizens. With tickets starting at $20, the event offered Atlanta specialities to a wide demographic. This sampler of crowd-approved culture made it hard to doubt that Atlanta is a “world-class city.” The “Best of Atlanta” issue can be read on the Creative Loafing website.

It is a well known fact that cereal is a classic late-night snack, especially for college students. But it is a lesser known that there’s a Cereal Club on Tech’s campus.Boasting 200+ members and pulling from at least eight different residence halls, Cereal Club meets at the end of each week to relax and eat cereal.

The club was co-founded by Youssef Asaad and Octavian Han. On the first week of school, they found themselves enjoying a bowl of cereal at 11:12 p.m.

“We began to do this daily and started to gain interest from other students, and after accumulating about 10 members we decided to start a club that would first meet twice a week where we would provide the cereal, milk, bowls and spoons for anyone who would like to join our evening snack,” Asaad, first-year ME, explained. “Once we started providing the necessary supplies, the club grew exponentially and we began to post on social media and use flyers to spread the word.”

Cereal Club originally got their funding through Smith’s Hall Council, but they have partnered with General Mills to provide cereal for at least one meeting in the near future.

Bryce Watson, a third-year CS major and Smith PL, didn’t foresee the massive support that the club has garnered. He created the original meme that got passed around and made it all the way to West Campus.

“I have to admit, when I saw five guys eating cereal at midnight I didn’t think it would become this. I think I underestimated them.” Watson added. “All of the starting crew were residents on my hall that Jorge Perdomo (one of my co-PLs) and I decided to back just to see how far they could go. As it turns out, much further than I think anyone expected.”

This club may focus on cereal, but the founders had additional motives. Particularly, they wanted to create a safe space for freshmen.

“Myself being an incoming freshman, I found very few opportunities outside of FASET to meet freshman from other dorms during the week. Cereal Club offers an opportunity to do just that.”

Gurjote Singh Sethi, a first-year IE, joined, as one would expect, because he loves cereal.

“I stayed because of the great atmosphere. It is a great way to de-stress on Thursday nights, and I have met a lot of good friends there while enjoying a nice bowl of cereal,” Sethi said.

Currently, meetings are held in the second floor Smith lounge. Initially, the club was made up of about 15 people but that number shot up to 85 in about a week.

Moving forward, Asaad and Han have plans to make the
organization officially a Georgia Tech club.

To get involved, Assad says to “simply come to an event on Thursday night and get added
to a GroupMe, in which we update all members with the progress of the club as well as future meeting times.”

They plan to expand to the GT Connector in the future if membership continues to increase.

Felicia Benton-Johnson serves as Director of Diversity for Tech’s College of Engineering, a job she has held since 2004. As such, she also heads Tech’s Center for Engineering Education and Diversity, or CEED. This program works with entities, both inside the Tech community and otherwise, to promote a more diverse landscape in Tech’s engineering programs.

The Technique was able to sit down with Benton-Johnson to discuss CEED and the impact it has on students.

Technique: Could you give an overview of some of the services that CEED provides students?

Benton-Johnson: Okay, so, CEED is the Center for Engineering Education and Diversity. We give students retention support, some one-on-one tutoring and mentoring, financial support, academic advising and career opportunities, like connecting students with corporate entities. The most important thing for us is we’re really big on building relationships with everyone we touch. The students, even parents, and corporate entities. We try and create a safe space for students to come and interact with us.

There are five people who are on staff here and we like to make sure that if one of us isn’t available, someone else is, and they can go in, give a student a hug, give them a pat on the back, give them sort of a push when they need the motivation to keep going. We call ourselves the safe space, a home away from home for students.

Technique: What part of your job do you enjoy the most?

Benton-Johnson: To be honest, the students. When people say “what do you enjoy the least,” definitely the meetings. But yeah, the students, especially when you see things come full circle. For example, we have a summer engineering institute and the students are here for three weeks. This happens as early as when they’re rising juniors in high school, and it’s so cool that we see them now, in the end, when they are graduating from college. It’s really crazy.

We see students that we’ve met as a freshman and now they’re in Ph.D. programs. Or when they come back from industry. We have a lot of students who come back from industry and they come in all the time and they come by to say “Hi” — that type of thing.

You see what you’ve done when students come back. Or they come back in smiling and they just tell you, “Oh my gosh I did so good on this test or this project,” and it’s really cool to see.

Technique: Is there any particular program that CEED runs that you are the proudest of?

Benton-Johnson: Most proud of? Well there’s more than one project that we have in this initiative. The partnership with Intel, we became a partner with Intel last year. They gifted us $5.5 million over the next five years to increase the number of underrepresented minorities across engineering and technology.

With that, it has enabled us to increase the number of students that we’ve impacted. For one we’ve expanded our peer to peer program, so now we’re supporting 120 students in that. Across the college of engineering and college of sciences and computing. That’s where we do a peer mentoring approach with upperclassmen mentoring underclassmen within the same major. And then we also have graduate students who mentor the mentors.

Also the partnership with Intel has enabled us to support more students financially. So we have what’s called “retaining inspirational students in engineering and technology;” we call it RISE. RISE is for your nontraditional student who is pursuing engineering or technology, sometimes a graduate student, and they are resilient in pursuing their degree.

So these students are nontraditional, someone who did not come to college straight out of high school, someone who may be married or is a first generation student. But they all have a strong work ethic and a drive to give back. RISE has enabled us to more than double the number of students that we are supporting
financially, and we are really proud of that.

The other thing is our summer engineering institute, which is the three-week residential program I spoke of. We started that in 2008. Since then, over 92 percent of the students who participated in that have gone on to pursue STEM degrees. We have a number of programs, I can’t really just tag one, we’re proud of a good number of them.

Technique: That is certainly understandable. You are doing great things here.

Benton-Johnson: Yeah, and we’re excited about that, having good people makes a big difference. We wouldn’t be able to do this with people who aren’t committed to the students and to making sure they obtain their degrees. Even for [engineering] students who we meet and who later decide to change their major, they are still a part of the CEED family.

Technique: Are there any new programs that CEED is looking to start?

Benton-Johnson: So, one thing that we realized is that graduate students need support as well. This year, we’re looking to start a graduate program similar to our peer-to-peer mentoring, where we are going to have support for graduate students. It will have different workshops, focused on professional development or how to get through masters or Ph.D. programs. …

These workshops would answer questions like, “Should I go into academia versus industry?” We will try to get faculty involved in the mentoring aspect as well.

Technique: What have you enjoyed about working on a college campus?

Benton-Johnson: It keeps me young. I also love the innovation and the intellect … always keeping abreast of what is new and current in the academic arena.

Technique: Would you say Tech has a different campus culture than other campuses that you have been at?

Benton-Johnson: Oh yes, definitely yes, for sure. The campus culture is one of innovation, it’s one of camaraderie.

I see students all of the time coming in. Just this Friday, I had a conversation with two students and they said, “we just started our own business.” Here, you get a lot of that — where students are starting start-ups, you know, that’s nothing out of the norm. I really love that about Tech.

Then too, it’s so diverse, in every sense of the word. In socioeconomics, culture, language, you know. People may not say it’s diverse in the sense of majors because engineering is the 800-pound-gorilla, but even the engineers are very multidisciplinary. They reach over into the other colleges and look to work with other students to build businesses or work on projects.

Technique: What brought you to Tech?

Benton-Johnson: So, I actually was a chemistry teacher, and I wanted to go into higher education. I wanted to get out of the classroom and do something different. I started out as a diversity coordinator for an engineering research center, called GTech,  back in 2004.

I got here and I just loved it. It just blended everything that my background is. The science, the education piece, the administrative and leadership piece, as well as diversity. It was just a really nice blend.

Every day is something new. That’s the one thing I really love about working in academia. Every day is just completely
different. Every day is nowhere near the same.

That’s the other thing I really, really like. I’m blessed to do something that I’m passionate about. This is something I get up for in the morning, I love coming to work. It’s something I can do every day, all day because it’s always different.

Technique: When you were little, what did you want to do when you grew up?

Benton-Johnson: Oh my gosh … this is really interesting … my mom was a teacher, and I was like, “I do not want to be a teacher. I do not. I do not. I do not want to be a teacher.”

So I was actually going to school to be an optometrist. I did a dual degree in biology and chemistry for my undergraduate degree, and then I went onto optometry school. All my life since I was little, even in middle school because I wore glasses, I was like, “I am going to be an eye doctor.”

That was what I wanted to do, and once I got there I realized, “Oh, this is not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

I ended up being, where am I, I’m in higher ed. I’m in education. I’ve taught in K-12 and I’ve taught higher ed on the education side, teaching students who were pursuing their doctorates. So I did education and higher education, but this is a different side that I like being on. I feel like I am right where I’m supposed to be.

Technique: What do you get from this job that you didn’t get from working as a teacher or in higher education.

Benton-Johnson: I get to have more input in the administration piece, and in directing the vision the way I want things to go.  In the class room, I’m more passing the knowledge onto students. But now, it’s kind of like directing the programs that support the knowledge and inventing programs that support the knowledge base.

Technique: What do you like to do in your free time?

Benton-Johnson: I love to watch a good movie or show. That’s my free time. When I have it, I mean I have kids so I’m
always running around doing sports or traveling for work. But just kind of like students, when I get the time I enjoy it. I also love to listen to music.

Technique: What do you like to listen to?

Benton-Johnson: Jazz and blues, though blues is probably my favorite.

Technique: Do you have anything you like to do in or around Atlanta?

Benton-Johnson: I really can’t stand the traffic, and my favorite season is the fall. So then, I love to go to the park, watch the leaves, look at the colors. Driving down the highway, when there isn’t any traffic of course, and looking at all of the different colors on the trees.  I just love fall.

Technique: What are some things that a lot of students don’t know that you wish they did?

Benton-Johnson: So the things that I give to them all of the time: This too shall pass. You’ve got this. You can get it done.

We wouldn’t admit you to Georgia Tech if you can’t get it done. Right now it doesn’t seem like you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s there.

With age comes wisdom. The things you stress out about now, you won’t later. For students, especially Georgia Tech students, they have to take a small time to do something that they enjoy to get refueled and reenergize to hit the books back again.

They always seem like they are saying they can’t take the time, but they don’t realize that [not taking the time] impacts them being able to focus. It’s just stressing them out. So if they take time, step away from it, and do something that they enjoy, they will get reenergized, refueled to tackle it again with a different perspective, and through a different lens.

I’m also really big on persistence, trying to stay persistent. Learn from your failures and stay persistent. Once again remember that this too shall pass. As one of my good friends says, “It gets greater later.”

Technique: It’s very inspiring to listen to someone speak so passionately about their job.

Benton-Johnson: It’s very rewarding. I don’t think I could see myself doing anything else. Touching lives. Seeing them. It’s so funny when they get older and they come back and they have
babies. I think “Oh my gosh, I
feel so old.”

But it’s a good thing. I’m waiting on that day, when one of my students brings their child to me, and they’re in the summer engineering institute, or coming to Tech as a freshman. That’ll be the real “ahhh” moment.

Just a few games into her first season of college volleyball, freshman Kodie Comby is already making an impact. The Texas native was recently honored as the ACC’s Freshman of the Week and was selected to the Georgia Challenge’s All-Tournament Team.

Comby gave the Technique some thoughts on her background, the sport and the team’s prospects for the rest of
the season.

Technique: You’ve lived around the world, from Ecuador to the United Arab Emirates. How did that upbringing affect the person you are?

Comby: It definitely made me a lot more open to awkward scenarios. Like, when I moved to Ecuador, I knew Spanish, but I wasn’t really comfortable with it and that really helped me … around different situations.

Technique: What got you into volleyball into the first place, and when did you begin taking the sport seriously?

Comby: I actually started in Ecuador. I did volleyball, golf, swimming, basketball, pretty much everything. Whenever I got back to Houston, my best friend had played volleyball since she was very little, so she told me to play. I started, and I also played basketball in eighth grade, but then that next year I started club, and that’s when it got really serious.

Technique: Why did you choose Tech for college?

Comby: I knew I wanted to play volleyball. This was maybe my second visit, and I came, I loved the campus, I loved how it’s a great academic school. That’s really important for me.

And the volleyball program was slowly getting up there … I met the coaches, and they were also pretty new and I loved them, I love their style of coaching. [Head coach] Michelle [Collier] is awesome …. Just everything about the school is really perfect.

Technique: Describe coach Collier’s coaching style.

Comby: Well, for example, during practice everything is really fast paced, and she doesn’t like wasting time. … She’s just very supportive in a very subtle way. … She knows what we’re capable of.

Technique: What are your responsibilities as a middle blocker?

Comby: You kind of have to be looking at everything. You have to know what the setter is doing on the other side of the court.

For example, if she tilts her head back, you get the idea that she’s going to go a step behind, … and you’re going to have to try to close that block, slow down the ball, and that’s so that our defenders can get there.

And a lot of times whenever we’re on offense, you just kind of call the ball … as if you’re going to get set and then the setter will push it to the outside. That … sometimes goes unnoticed.

Technique: You graduated high school a semester earlier and enrolled at Tech in January 2016. Did that help you acclimate?

Comby: Definitely, because even right now it’s really different from the spring, just going from preseason into tournaments.

… I just have a lot of work and I think [being at Tech in the spring] helped me get used to how much work I have to do, how to spread my time and it also helped with volleyball obviously.

Technique: You’ve played the sport at a few different levels and across the world. What’s the biggest difference between club and college volleyball?

Comby: In Ecuador, it was not competitive whatsoever. There was no club volleyball and club is where you got recruited.

Once I moved here, I didn’t really understand how competitive it was until my sophomore or junior year of high school. It’s a lot [faster] paced in college. It’s different because in club there’s a lot of good people but the teams can sometimes be not as good … in college everyone is at the same level … so you’ve got to get used to that.

Technique: Which team members have mentored you?

Comby: The seniors, they kind of showed me directions in little subtle ways. I lived with Lauren Frerking. Lauren was a really big part of that.

Obviously the first couple weeks I didn’t really know what to do … so she really helped me with that. But everyone [helped]. We lived right next to Sydney [Wilson], Gabby Benda, Gabby Stavnetchei, and Ashley [Askin] also lived on campus at the time. … I think everybody helped in little ways.

Technique: What was it like being named ACC Freshman of the Week?

Comby: I was really surprised, obviously, I was really excited. I didn’t really expect that, but … I was just happy.

Technique: What is the hardest part of being a student-athlete?

Comby: I think just having to know that your priority is finish your homework … and then you also have to realize that you have to work out in the morning and practice later.

Technique: Other than being competitive in the ACC throughout the year, what would it take for this season to be a success in your eyes?

Comby: I think making it to the [NCAA] tournament is a … goal that we all have. … We have a ridiculously talented team and that would just prove to ourselves that we can do it.

Tech is a competitive ACC power in a number of aspects, from basketball to football to volleyball. One sport in which the school has lagged, though, is soccer. The Jackets’ Division I program is conspicuously missing.

Its exclusion is a surprising one. Soccer is one of the most popular sports in the world. Professional stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi number Twitter followers in the millions and salaries far exceeding, not to mention impressive contracts.

While conference rivals such as UNC dominate, there is no Tech soccer to be found at the Division I level. Neither the men or the women have a presence.

But in its stead exist strong men’s and women’s club soccer teams, comprised of talented students from around the country all sharing a passion for the sport. The latter club in particular has an interesting road ahead.

The Tech club women’s soccer team is heading to the University of Florida this weekend to take part in a tournament. The team has already had two home games this season against Kennesaw State University (KSU) and Georgia College and State University (GCSU). The team emerged victorious in both games by scores of 2-0 and 3-0 respectively. Co-president Valeria Rossi was happy with the performance.

“We’ve seen a significant amount of improvement, especially in our fitness,” she said. “Normally games against these teams would be a harder battle, but this time around we were able to easily secure a win.”

The team is putting in the work to put up a strong performance throughout the rest of the season. The team has three practices per week, and players are required to make it to at least two of those practices. As a result, their experience continues to grow.

“Most players have played soccer their entire lives,” Rossi explained.“[They] have experience on club teams and high school varsity teams.”

However, Rossi says that the time needed isn’t necessarily an overwhelming one; each student can determine the path that suits him best and gain from his participation accordingly. Club sports offer athletes of multiple skill levels a unique opportunity.

With things heating up for the Jackets, they look to bring a strong performance through the Florida tournament and into the rest of their fall schedule. The team’s next home game takes place on Friday, Sep. 30, against Dalton State with a game two days later at Auburn. Their final game is a home match against rival University of Georgia at home on
Sunday, Oct. 16.

Playing Georgia will prove to be a real challenge. The Bulldogs are off to a strong 5-0-1 start, yet to drop a game and their only tie against the College of Charleston. Goalkeeper Ally Rzucidlo has only allowed a single goal so far, as opposed to the 25 they have scored over 6 matches.

After their regular season is over they will head to Pensacola, Fla. from Oct. 28–30 to take part in the regional tournament, consisting of matchups with other teams in the South.

Unlike most schools of its size and conference prominence, Tech will not have a soccer team representing the Institute in NCAA-sanctioned matches.

But that provides its club teams a unique advantage: they bear the respect and responsibility that comes with exemplifying the best of their school’s athletic prowess in the world’s most closely-watched sport. Their aim will be a simple one: leveraging that perspective into success.

Should they continue to succeed, the national tournament takes place Nov. 17–19, held in the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama. The 90,000 sq. ft. facility includes 16 fields to be used for soccer.

Tech has produced more than its fair share of 18-hole masters. Those in need of evidence need not look further than PGA competitor Matt Kuchar. He graduated from Tech with multiple All-ACC accolades in 1999 and has since risen to professional stardom, capped by a Players’ Championship win in 2012.

Thus exists the impetus for Tech’s unheralded but ambitious Club Golf team, headed by third-year Sterling DeSantis.

While not as time-consuming as Division I golf, Club Golf is often still a major time commitment. DeSantis said that practice happens “three days a week, from 3 o’clock to about 8 o’clock,” and the team participates in “a couple of weekends a semester.”

Yet this rigorous schedule has not been enough to turn away newcomers eager to pick up amateur careers where they left off in high school.

DeSantis’ team is diverse in more ways than one. It brings players from different ages, experience levels and interests together to enjoy a common pastime. Some members comprise the executive board and are highly competitive while others enjoy the camaraderie that comes with being a part of the group.

“Of course … you start bonding with each other. You get to know each other,” DeSantis said. “It’s cool: outside of competition, it’s still a team atmosphere … we do a lot of stuff outside of practice and competing together, which is nice.”

Unfortunately, like many club sports, golf receives little fanfare among the student base.

“There’s so much people don’t know,” DeSantis said. “I just don’t think a lot of people know about us on campus — that there is a Club Golf team, that we compete nationally, that we compete regionally against other large schools in the southeast.”

Indeed, Tech plays its fair share of local powerhouses, including two from Alabama. The University of Alabama and Auburn University loom large on the Jackets’ schedule each year along with the University of Tennessee.

Despite stiff competition, expectations run high for Tech.

“We’ve just become a lot more competitive as a team … and we’re just really hoping this semester we can make use of that talent,” said safety officer Sam King. “Maybe win a couple of tournaments and … make our way to nationals, which is in Disney [World]
this year.”

Their hope is not entirely unfounded. While not yet on the same level as the aforementioned top three southeastern schools, the young Tech squad has quickly vaulted up the school rankings, jumping 50 spots nationally in Spring 2016. Despite playing in a competitive region, the team has achieved remarkable success, including a win at the Spring Break Open at Myrtle Beach this year.

Whether such aspirations become reality is a question that the coming season will answer for Tech’s Club Golf team. They likely will not receive the attention that the men’s and women’s golf teams will garner over the course of the season. A long climb is left ahead for the team to reach its lofty hopes.

In the meantime, DeSantis, Martin and the rest of the group have put themselves in prime position for the 2016–17 campaign. and perhaps beyond as Club Golf keeps swinging on.

Last year, I spent the better part of my first semester at Tech throwing my hands up in the air as Paul Johnson and his football army proceeded to lose games in new, innovative ways each successive week.

This year, I might have to settle for complaining about the athletic department and fans instead.

When the Vanderbilt Commodores came to town, Tech announced that the game would be a “gold-out.” On some levels, this made sense. September is Childhood Cancer Awareness month, gold is the color of its ribbon and a portion of proceeds were going to the American Cancer Society, courtesy of AJC.com.

But it is apparent that at some point in the conception of this idea, the Georgia Tech athletic department either failed to consider the major drawback of its plan or did not care about it.

That drawback, of course, is that Vanderbilt doesn’t fear gold. It’s one of their two primary colors. Their 2011 institutional slogan? “It’s good to be gold.” The name of their SB Nation website? Anchor Of Gold. Their outreach program for high school students? Black and Gold Days.

And when the Commodores took the field against Tech, they were wearing — you guessed it — their gold uniforms.

The point of a gold-out — or an any-color-out, for that matter — is to show solidarity as a team and fanbase, and intimidate the opponents. Wearing gold against Vanderbilt is the equivalent of deciding to punish a lactose-intolerant enemy by depriving him of milk.

What’s next? Will we wear blue against Georgia Southern to bring awareness to ocean pollution? Perhaps an orange and green combination when we play Miami, to celebrate the United States’ continued friendship with India?

There is no doubt in my mind that Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is a worthy cause. Every dollar of game profits that went towards the American Cancer Society was one well allocated. But the Jackets had their choice of three September home games — Mercer, Vanderbilt and Clemson — and they made the only possible wrong choice.

There have been other head-scratching moments in my time here, from music over the stadium PA dueling with the Tech marching band to the Ramblin’ Reck rolling out at the same moment as the opponent, provoking an odd mixture of boos and cheers. But I can brush most of these off as understandable coordination issues. Assigning a gold-out against a gold-donning team? Inexcusable.

Responsibility for school spirit doesn’t end with the athletic department, though. It extends to fans. If I had a nickel for every classmate who told me he wasn’t attending a Tech football game because he “wasn’t a football person” or “didn’t see the point,” I’d have enough money to buy them all luxury box seats for the rest of the season.

I know that is incredibly hyperbolic and probably doesn’t make sense, seeing that a luxury box seat costs more than a nickel, but bear with me. College football games in the South aren’t just contests between two teams to determine athletic superiority. They are spectacles, imbued in tradition, nostalgia, and pride. And even if the first and second aspects mean nothing to you, the third ought to.

Despite the love we profess for Tech, it hardly reflects in the empty stands on Saturday. And don’t try and tell me that we have to pick between being an academic institute and a passionate one. Visit Durham, where the Cameron Crazies feverishly support Duke basketball, or Palo Alto, where Stanford students put aside rigorous academics for a few hours on Saturdays to cheer on the Cardinal. Want to multitask? You’re at Georgia Tech. You can do that.

If you are a diehard football fan, then congratulations. You get a cheap front-row seat to watch an exciting football team do battle for six or seven weeks each year. If you aren’t, tag along with friends (or make some at the game!), shout when the rest of the crowd does, bob up and down to the Budweiser Song and generally enjoy yourself.

The great thing about a college degree is that once you earn it, it’s yours for life. The professional experiences it gets you and the lessons you learn are invaluable.

But the experiences you have at Tech, from meeting your first roommate to lazy Saturday afternoons wandering Buford Highway in search of authentic El Salvadorian food, will define you more than your resume ever will.

And maybe one of those memories will involve Tech football, cheering on the Jackets as they fight for your Institute.