Saint Louis University Women’s Volleyball finished the season 21-10, their best record since 2009, after losing to George Washington University in the A-10 Championship semifinals. Saint Louis entered as the No. 3 seed in the tournament, winning a four-way tiebreaker to earn that seed, and beat No. 6 Duquesne in the quarterfinals.

Saint Louis started strong and never looked back against defending conference champions Duquesne, blitzing the Dukes with a 25-12 opening set, and winning the match 3-1. Sophomore outside hitter Danielle Rygelski posted eight kills in the set, and Saint Louis boasted a .385 hitting percentage while holding Duquesne to a .026 hitting percentage. In addition, freshman libero MacKenzie Long posted eight digs, while junior setter Meredith Boe tallied 11 assists during the first set.

Despite a strong start in the second set, Saint Louis fell to Duquesne 25-21, to enter the break tied at one set apiece. However, after the break, Saint Louis won a tight third set, 26-24, with two aces and six kills from Rygelski. Rygelski continued her red-hot streak with six kills in the fourth and final set to help the Billikens to a 25-15 win.

Rygelski posted an astounding 24 kills, including four aces, in the match against Duquesne, the second-most in SLU’s history for a four-set match. In addition, Rygelski posted 10 digs for her ninth double-double of the season, while Boe recorded a double-double with 10 digs and 42 assists. Long and freshman outside hitter Nenye Okoro also posted double-digit digs, with 17 and 10 digs, respectively.

Against No. 2 seed George Washington, which earned a bye for the quarterfinals, SLU started off similarly strong, and in the first set, held the lead for most of the set. However, a late seven-point run helped George Washington to a 25-23 victory which proved a momentum changer for the match. George Washington went on to take the next two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-22, despite strong showings from middle blockers Lauren Leverenz and Taylor Paulson. Leverenz, in the second set, posted six kills on seven attacks for a .857 attack percentage, and Paulson recorded six kills in the second set and four kills in the third set.

The match against George Washington marked the second match all season in which SLU was swept 3-0, and the result occurred despite SLU defeating George Washington in Washington, D.C., 3-1 on Oct. 10. Despite the loss, Rygelski won All-Tournament accolades for leading SLU with 4.71 kills per set and four total aces. Rygelski was also second on the team with 21 digs, for an average of three digs per set.

George Washington went on to play against conference No. 1 seed Dayton in the A-10 Championship final, and lost 3-1. With the win, Dayton will advance to the NCAA national tournament, which will take place this month.

Saint Louis Volleyball, however, has a bright future as one of the younger teams in the conference. None of the major contributors this season will be graduating, and the starting lineup for the conference tournament featured numerous freshmen and sophomores, only one junior and no seniors. Saint Louis also showed its potential earlier in the season, with a 3-2 win over Purdue, which at the time was ranked 11th in the nation.

The future of SLU volleyball will involve several award-winning Billikens. Okoro was named the 2014 A-10 Rookie of the Year, carrying on the torch from Rygelski, 2013’s A-10 Rookie of the Year. These awards mark the first time since the 1998 and 1999 seasons that one team has collected consecutive Rookie of the Year awards. Both players, along with junior middle blocker Megan Gilbert, were named to the 2014 All-Conference second team. The All-Rookie team, in addition to including Okoro, also included middle blocker Leverenz.

Saint Louis University women’s volleyball stumbled to a 3-1 defeat against Atlantic-10-Conference-leader Dayton at Chaifetz Arena on Saturday, Nov. 8. The loss drops SLU to a 7-5 conference record and an 18-9 overall record, and bumps SLU down to 6th place in the A-10, while Dayton remains at the top of the conference with an 11-1 A-10 record. Despite the loss, several Billikens delivered strong performances during the match. In addition, many SLU student-athletes were present in the crowd, as this game represented this season’s “Back to the Bills” event for SLU volleyball, in which SLU student-athletes are encouraged to attend each other’s athletic events.

SLU defeated the Flyers in a close first set, 25-23. The Billikens led in the first set with freshman middle blocker Lauren Leverenz, who came off an outstanding performance in the previous weekend’s games against Davidson and VCU, and junior middle blocker Megan Gilbert. Both Leverenz and Gilbert notched four kills each in the set.

The second set went Dayton’s way, as the Flyers defeated the Billikens 25-21 in a back-and-forth affair. SLU lost the set despite a strong performance from freshman outside hitter Nenye Okoro, who tallied five kills and five digs, and a tough defensive performance from Gilbert, who posted 7 digs.

The Billikens could not respond after the break and again lost, as Dayton took the third set 25-17. Junior setter Meredith Boe put in some strong serves for the Billikens, scoring two service aces, and Leverenz posted three kills. The Flyers posted a strong hitting percentage of .609 in the set.

The fourth and final set went to Dayton as SLU lost 25-18, despite Okoro scoring four kills and sophomore outside hitter Danielle Rygelski putting in six digs and three kills without an error.
In the match, Okoro played her way to her 11th double-double of the season, matching Rygelski’s freshman total last year, with a team-leading 13 kills and 11 digs.

Rygelski also posted a double-double, her eighth of the season, with ten kills and 11 digs. Meanwhile, Megan Gilbert tallied her first double-double of the season with 11 kills and 15 digs.
Despite the tough loss, the Billikens look to rebound next weekend, as they host defending A-10 champions Duquesne, who is 9-3 in the A-10 this season, on Friday, Nov. 14.

The Billikens also host La Salle on Sunday, Nov. 16, who has a conference record of 3-9 this season and subsequently out of the running for the A-10 Championship. SLU is guaranteed this season to finish in sixth  place or higher in the Conference based on their A-10 record.  This guarantees a spot in the A-10 2014 Volleyball Championship, the end-of-year conference tournament.

SLU, however, will look to win its remaining games in an attempt to earn a higher seed in the tournament. If current standings hold, which is unlikely considering the close records of the top six conference teams, SLU will play Duquesne in the quarterfinals.

The A-10 Championship begin on Friday, Nov. 21, and last until the final match on Sunday, Nov. 23. This year, the tournament will be hosted at the Frericks Center at the University of Dayton.
Dayton has a strong history in the tournament, having won eight of the past twelve tournaments. SLU, however, has won two of the tournaments; with their most recent win in 2008.

Saint Louis University Women’s Volleyball swept their Halloween matchup 3-0 against the Davidson Wildcats, in North Carolina, before losing a thrilling five-set match to VCU, in Richmond, Va. The results bring SLU Volleyball to an 18-8 overall record, including a 7-4 Atlantic 10 record. The sweep against Davidson, who had previously beaten SLU at Chaifetz Pavilion, was SLU’s 9th sweep of the season, while the loss to VCU was SLU’s first on-the-road loss this entire season.

The matchup against Davidson brought SLU a chance for revenge, as Davidson’s only previous conference win had come against SLU here at Chaifetz in a major upset. However, this time around, SLU set the record straight with a dominant 3-0 sweep. The first set went according to plan as SLU won 25-16, and posted a .407 team attack percentage.

The second set followed along in a similar fashion, as SLU led nearly the entire way, except for an early 3-1 lead opened up by Davidson. Following that lead, SLU scored five straight points, and never surrendered the lead in the remainder of the second set. SLU won the set, unsurprisingly, 25-14.

After the break, SLU came out strong and kept their momentum, winning the third set 25-15.  There were several Billikens who had standout performances in the match against Davidson. Freshman middle blocker Lauren Leverenz had a match-high 12 kills on only 14 attempts, and with only one error, for an attack percentage of .786.  In addition, freshman outside hitter Nenye Okoro, sophomore outside hitter Danielle Rygelski, and junior middle blocker Megan Gilbert had eight kills each. Against the Wildcats, junior libero Anna Church tallied a match-high of 18 digs.

The match against VCU on Sunday, Nov. 2 was a different story, as SLU lost a heartbreaker in five sets. The teams were evenly matched, with SLU squeaking by in the first set with a score of 25-23, and VCU winning the second and third sets 25-16 and 25-19, respectively. SLU responded by winning the fourth set 25-20, forcing a fifth set. However, the fifth set was not as close as the previous four, as VCU took a 5-0 lead to begin the set and opened up a seven-point lead, before winning 15-9.

VCU, with their win, holds the season tiebreaker against SLU, as VCU had previously beaten SLU at Chaifetz Pavilion, and has won the season series against SLU. Both teams are currently tied for fourth in the conference at 7-4, and this tiebreaker, if the teams have even conference records, could come into play during seeding for the A-10 conference tournament.

Despite the loss, several Billikens had strong games. Church again posted a team-high number of digs, with 15 in the match. Leverenz followed up her stellar performance against Davidson with another strong outing, with 21 total kills and a hitting percentage of .531.

Next up is a rematch against Dayton on Saturday, Nov. 8.  The Flyers lead the A-10 with a 10-1 conference record and have an outstanding 23-5 overall record this season.

The game will be a special one since it will be played at Chaifetz Arena instead of Chaifetz Pavilion, in order to accommodate the many SLU student-athletes that will be in attendance for the “Back to the Bills” event and to support their fellow Billikens.

According to sophomore setter Ashley Gagen, the support from SLU’s other student athletes will be greatly appreciated. “All of the student athletes are extremely busy with their own sports and other commitments, so when they come together and take time out of their day to cheer us on, it really is something special,” said Gagen.

Saint Louis University women’s volleyball pushed its winning streak to five with two dominant A-10 conference wins over a pair of Rams teams, Rhode Island and Fordham, at Chaifetz Pavilion, including a 3-0 sweep of Fordham on Oct. 19.

These wins followed an Oct. 14 home victory over nonconference opponent Indiana State, and away wins against George Washington in Washington, D.C., and George Mason in Fairfax, Va. The Billikens now hold a 17-6 overall record, including a 6-2 mark in the A-10. This pushes the Billikens into third place in the A-10, behind only George Washington and Dayton, which each have only one conference loss.

The win against Rhode Island, which was previously 4-1 in the A-10, came in four sets, with the Billikens losing only a close second set. The first set went to SLU 25-20, behind a .317 team hitting percentage and eight kills by Danielle Rygelski.

The second set saw a late surge from Rhode Island, allowing the Rams to win the set 25-23, despite SLU maintaining a tie or lead in the set until the score in the set was tied at 17. The Rams and the Billikens both had .250 hitting percentages, but the Rams managed to pull off the win in the set.

After the break, however, the Billikens won both remaining sets to put away the match. SLU won the third set by a score of 25-15, and never looked like losing, with their largest lead in the set being 11 points. The Billikens posted a dominant .450 hitting percentage, with Lauren Leverenz leading the attack with six kills on six attacks. The Rams were held to just a .057 hitting percentage in this set, while SLU posted a sideout percentage of 80.

The fourth set was less dominant, but the Billikens managed to close out the contest comfortably, 25-19. The Billikens had a balanced attack, with Rygelski again leading in kills with four.

Rygelski had a team-high 17 kills, while Taylor Paulson posted 14, Leverenz had 13, and Nenye Okoro had 11, while also tallying 13 digs, for her ninth double-double of the year. Meredith Boe had a match-high 48 assists, while Paulson recorded a team-leading five blocks.

SLU followed up this victory with an impressive 3-0 sweep on Oct. 19 over visiting Fordham. The first and second sets were all SLU as SLU won the first 25-16 and the second 25-15. The third set was closer, 25-20, but still went the Billikens’ way. In the contest, SLU posted a team .308 attack percentage, while limiting Fordham to a .070 attack percentage.

Okoro was a standout performer in the match, displaying a great all-around performance with 13 kills, seven digs, and two blocks. She also posted a .393 hitting percentage in the sweep, to extend her double-digit kill streak to eight consecutive matches. In all of SLU’s 23 matches, Okoro has double-digit kills in 15, and averages the 10th-most kills per set in the A-10, at 2.99.

Paulson put in a strong performance on the defensive end for SLU, posting a match-high five blocks for the Billikens, to give her a season average of 1.10 blocks per set, and five or more blocks in three straight matches.

SLU will take their five-game win streak on the road next to Dayton, which is atop the conference standings. The match is pivotal to both teams, with Dayton hoping to solidify its position as conference leader, and SLU looking for a victory to set up a tight contest for the conference title.

According to Akshay Sharma, an assistant professor for Industrial Design at Virginia Tech, design is about the process of creatively solving problems. With the help of the students and faculty at the School for Architecture and Design at Virginia Tech, he has helped guide a series of projects that he hopes will improve the quality of life for the poor in India, as well as help empower them to take their lives into their own hands. Many of Sharma’s projects focus on supporting women. These projects and their effects were the focus of Sharma’s Designing Empowerment: Design Thinking for Social Impact talk on April 15, part of a series of talks about design and entrepreneurship.

During his talk, Sharma mentioned that poverty is a major detriment to many Indians. The majority of the people live on less than $2. Sharma, who grew up in India, says that this is a major limiting factor in the quality of life of many Indians. However, his projects aim to raise the subpar standard of living, and help reduce poverty in India.

One ongoing project that Sharma and his students have taken part in is known as Barefoot College. When the college itself was founded in 1975, locals were very involved in the process of constructing and designing the college, and this tradition has continued. The locals are still in charge of operating the institution.

For example, the college’s dental clinic is run by a 50-year-old woman with no formal training or dental expertise. In fact, the woman is actually completely illiterate. Despite these limitations, she is able to successfully operate the college’s clinic.

Another segment of the college is known as the Barefoot Engineers. This is a group led by five women, also illiterate, that have built very delicate, precise solar reflectors. These solar reflectors can boil water, cook rice and perform a myriad of other useful day-to-day functions. Engineers have also built voltage control models and they are now in the process of teaching other women from around the world how to build these devices. However, to overcome the language barrier, a color-coded system was designed to teach the construction of these devices.

Microfinance has been another of Sharma’s projects. He has helped raise awareness about managing finance among women in the rural villages he and his students have visited. This has led to the development of finance meetings, which are held to manage the village women’s finances better.

According to Sharma, the women host the meetings themselves in order to avoid the extremely high interest rates that local moneylenders demand. Sharma gave an example of an exchange with a local lender.

“Let’s say I go to a local money lender,” he said. “The money lender will say that he will lend me the money, but at a rate of 1 Indian rupee per 100 rupees lent per 1 week. This is a total interest rate of 52 percent, and it is being compounded.”

Instead of paying this large rate, the women pool up enough money to go to a bank and request a loan, which saves them money. This allows them to make sound investments rather than becoming mired in debt.

The last project Sharma mentioned was a vaccination registration system.  Sharma said that cell phones are vital in India, and that nearly everyone has them nowadays in order to more quickly find job opportunities by contacting friends and relatives. Another use for these cell phones is to help register children on an online database that records their vaccinations. Traveling care workers can use this in turn to verify that children have updated vaccines. Vaccinations are a major health concern as nearly 3 million children die from preventable diseases due to a lack of vaccinations.

In all, these projects and others that Sharma employs a method of immersive research. He first spent time getting to understand the people of India before attempting to help solve their problems. Because Sharma was raised in India, this was easy for him; however, he believes that the same approach can be used in places much closer to home, such as poorer areas of St. Louis.

Sharma believes that the most important thing is to understand the true problems facing people, and to understand their cultural and social values. Once this is done, he believes that the problems can be solved with designs that are easily integrated into the lives of the people in question.

Hong Kong currently boasts the fastest Internet speeds on Earth. However, Internet speeds on the moon are as much as 10 times faster than those found in Hong Kong. The key behind the large difference in speeds is the lasers that are being used to carry Internet from Earth to ships exploring the moon.

NASA and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) worked together on this project, called the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) in MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Mass. The project attempted to beam data via lasers to and from the moon in the interest of significantly decreasing the amount of time it would take for satellites exploring space to communicate with scientists back on Earth.

The LLCD project has been extremely successful. The laser signals carrying Internet were recorded at a maximum speed of 622 Megabits per second (Mbps), significantly faster than Hong Kong’s average connection speed of 63.6 Mbps, which is the best connection speed on Earth. In addition, researchers found that the signals could be transmitted when the moon was high and low in the sky, through thin clouds and in a turbulent atmosphere.

One of the tests that NASA and MIT ran was sending an HD video of Bill Nye up to the moon. It took 1.3 seconds for the video to reach the moon, and another 1.3 seconds for the video to come back to Earth. Combined with processing delay, the videos were sent to the moon and received back on Earth within seven seconds.

Dan Boroson, the LLCD design team lead, spoke about the project at the SPIE Photonics West conference on Feb. 3, saying, “The system did what it needed to do. The concept is right, and the system is reliable. We think it’s ready for primetime.”

There are many potential uses for laser Internet. Laser communications could, in the future, replace radio communication. Radio waves require larger systems and are very slow in transmitting data. Lasers are much faster and would transmit data from our exploring satellites in a much more efficient manner. It is also possible that the technology could be used for communications on Earth in the future as well.

Gregory L. Comer, a Professor of Physics at SLU, weighed in on the topic.

“For communications where we are sending packets of data from Point A to Point B, lasers are much more efficient radio waves,” Comer said. “Lasers can send data with less wastage of data, and less signal degradation. They can do this because they are so much more compact.”

This compactness, according to Comer, is due to the fact the photons found in lasers are amplified, which then forms a very tight beam that does not disperse. Just as the light from a laser pointer is focused and forms a strong dot of light, lasers can transmit a very large amount of data in a compact way.

However, this doesn’t mean that lasers will completely replace radio communications. Because radio waves are transmitted in all directions and the signals are not receiver-specific, they are more useful for transmissions that need to reach a larger target audience, such as television and radio broadcasts. Still, for communications in which the signal needs to be sent over extremely large distances, especially when the signals only needs to go from one specific point to another, laser communications offer data transmission speeds vastly improved over the speeds of radio waves.

Anti-gay laws passed in Russia this past summer are just now coming under the spotlight as protests against these laws have increased in recent weeks due to the international focus on Russia’s 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. In Russia, these laws were passed in the name of tradition. However, the Russian government’s official stance on homosexuality differs greatly from the views of many governments and activist groups, especially in the West.

Although homosexuality itself has been decriminalized in Russia since 1993, anti-homosexual sentiment in Russia has in recent times been much greater than in Western countries, including the United States. Putin and the Kremlin have publicly disapproved of homosexuality, as has the Russian Orthodox Church. Both groups believe that homosexual propaganda has corrupted Russia’s youth while also undermining Putin’s regime. These sentiments led to the passage of Russia’s anti-homosexual laws.

The main piece of the legislation has banned the distribution of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations among minors.” Although this doesn’t make homosexuality illegal, it does strike a blow against treating homosexuals equally. Many activists in and outside of Russia believe that this law will cause discrimination against homosexuals to increase. This has led to protests in and around Sochi.

The Russian punk group “Pussy Riot,” which had previously been imprisoned in Russia, has promoted boycotting the Sochi Olympics due to the anti-homosexual laws. Google has spoken out against Russia’s law and put their sentiment on display with their Feb. 7 Google Doodle, which promoted equality regardless of sexuality. AT&T, an official sponsor of the Olympic Games, has said that Russia’s law hurts LGBT individuals and their families, while working against promoting a diverse community.

“Terrible, just awful,” Henrik Zetterberg, a member of the Swedish hockey team, said in a Sports Illustrated article. “I think that everyone should be able to be themselves. It’s unbelievable that it can be this way, especially in a big country like Russia.”

U.S. figure skater Ashley Wagner has also spoken against the law.

“I have such a firm stance on this.  I believe we should all have equal rights,” she said to the Chicago Tribune.

The Australian bobsled team has also made a statement regarding homosexual rights in USA Today.

“We’re against discrimination in sport, full stop. That means we also oppose discrimination against gay and lesbian athletes,” the team said.

Despite the recent increase in attention surrounding gay-rights issues in Russia, the 2014 Sochi Olympics have proceeded without insicident, and the conversation since the games started has centered on athletics. Competitors have stated that they are at the games to compete, not to protest.

in a Feb. 8 Washington Post article, Wagner also said that her number one priority is to come to the Games and compete. In the same article, Brian Orser, a Canadian skating coach who is gay, said that he doesn’t believe now is the right time to bring the issue up. He stated that he is more concerned about his athletes and their performances.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Germain
An engineering student using the equipment available in tinker lab.

Turning a simple idea for a product into a full-fledged prototype is one of the main goals of the tinker lab in McDonnell-Douglas Hall. The tinker lab, which contains a laser etcher, multiple 3D printers and other equipment, is extremely helpful in allowing engineering students to transform concepts into realities.

Although it is mostly engineering students that use the tinker lab, all students are welcome. However, the equipment and software in the lab is oriented towards engineering students; it helps them through the design process by providing a space to develop physical project prototypes.

Rob Caruso, a second-year mechanical engineering graduate student and one of the people that oversees the tinker lab, has seen many projects go through the design process. A few of those projects include a putter, an airplane wing and even a recyclable pen.

“Regular pens have metal and plastic, and so can’t be recycled because they are made of two different materials,” Caruso said of the pen project. “The pen that is being worked on right now is made of just one material, which could allow it to be recycled in the future.”

The wing is an extremely lightweight, wooden prototype of a real airplane wing, and the laser etcher was used to cut out the pieces required to design the wing. Most of the students that utilize the tinker lab are engineers working on their senior design projects and members of the Innovation Scholars (iScholars) program, a SLU initiative that promotes innovation and entrepreneurship across campus. iScholars is unique in that it helps students recognize a market need, create a prototype for a product that can solve the need and ultimately encourage students to market their products to companies.

“The Innovation Scholars program helps combine engineering and entrepreneurship,” Caruso said. “There are needs in the market that these students find, and then they try to improve them with their own ideas.”

Nicole Germain, the Kern Entrepreneurship Education Network Grant Program Coordinator at SLU, and also one of the iScholars’ advisors, explained more about iScholars’ projects.

“The students are working on a one-year project. They teamed up based on their interests, and by May will have a final 3D product,” said Germain.

The equipment used to achieve these goals includes a laser etcher and 3D printers.

The laser etcher loads a sketch, and utilizes the sketch as a guide to cut out certain shapes or engrave images on materials. According to Caruso, the laser etcher has numerous unconventional uses that helps aid students’ projects.

The 3D printers develop fully-realized models out of digital images through various procedures. In one process the printer takes a sketch and lays down layers of melted plastic to match the design, similar to a glue gun. Another type of printer, called a polyjet printer, acts similarly to an inkjet printer. This printer also lays out plastic and then cures the plastic with light.

In addition to these high-tech, valuable pieces of machinery, there are many things in the tinker lab that are of a more conventional nature. In some of the lab’s closets are stacks of paper and even boxes of pasta that students can use to develop their designs. All in all, the tinker lab is a space to help students transform ideas into products in a myriad of ways.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has had a rocky start. Its website, healthcare.gov, has been plagued by technical issues during its first month in operation and now many claim they are being dropped from their previous health plans. The aim of the Patient Care and Affordable Care Act, often shortened to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and known colloquially as Obamacare, is to provide more affordable healthcare insurance to a wider portion of the American populace. The ACA will expand Medicaid in 25 states (Missouri is not expanding) and has set up the aforementioned healthcare.gov, an online marketplace for individuals and small businesses without insurance Whether the law can achieve its lofty goal of providing insurance to more Americans is a large source of debate among Americans.

President Barack Obama spent much of his 2008 presidential campaign endorsing healthcare reform, which came into actuality in the form of the ACA, his signature legislation.

One key component of Obamacare was the creation of an online marketplace that would help Americans register and apply for the new insurance program. A major provision the Supreme Court struck down was the requirement that Medicaid be expanded to include those with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty line.

The health exchange websites were launched on Oct. 1, but have been largely unable to handle the large amounts of users. Thirty-six of the state exchanges are run by the federal government (including Missouri’s), and state governments operate 14. Although many fixes have been put into effect since then, many have still had difficulty with starting and accessing accounts and applying for insurance.

The White House has stated that many of the problems stem from higher than expected visits to the website, but recent documents show that before the launch the site was only able to host 1,100 users.

The website marketplaces largely depends on healthy, young people signing up for insurance to help “subsidize” older, less health individuals. Many are worried about the paltry early enrollment numbers- 700,000 have applied for insurance, while the government has a stated goal of enrolling 7 million by the time enrollment ends in March- are a sign that these young people have not taken to signing up for Obamacare.

The controversial nature of the ACA along with its slow launch has only increased criticism of the law. Many Republicans in both the House and the Senate have called Obamacare’s effectiveness into question, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

“I don’t think anybody could administer this law. I think it can’t possibly work,” McConnell said. To add fuel to the fire, President Obama recently apologized to the thousands of Americans who say they’ve been dropped from their health plans since the law has been implemented. He explicitly promised this would not happen during the debate over the ACA in 2009-10.

Even some Democrats have been unsatisfied with the law. Dick Durbin, Senate Majority Whip, told the administration and its agencies to “fix it.”

One of the most recent attempts to derail the ACA came during the partial government shutdown. During this shutdown multiple senators, most prominently Ted Cruz (R-Texas), threatened to block the passage of a budget plan without an agreement to defund the ACA. The effort helped lead to a 16-day partial shutdown.

As the Affordable Care Act continues to be phased in through 2020, opposition to the law will likely continue.

As Real Clear Politics showed in an aggregation of recent polls, approximately 42 percent of Americans support Obamacare, while 51 percent oppose it.

While the ACA remains a controversial and complicated law, it is ultimately just a beginning to the massive health care reform that must take place in the United States over the coming decades.

The U.S. spends 17 percent of its GDP on health care, considerably more than any industrialized country, while 15.4 percent of Americans remain uninsured. The ACA is but the first step in addressing these numbers and the full effects of Obamacare’s approach to American health insurance will be demonstrated in the coming years.

Salon owner finds family, fulfillment in his work

Larry Cathey has owned The Going Thing Hair Company for 40 years, and has seen many hair salons around campus shut their doors in the years running his barbershop. However, his shop has been the only one of all those hair salons to stick, and is now the only one on campus. The key to his success, according to Cathey, is communication with his customers, whom he refers to as his family.

“I love to see them,” Cathey said of his customers. “Some of them have been with me for years and years. I’ve been cutting their hair and now they bring their kids to me, also.” Unlike the large haircut companies that have become popular recently, Cathey values building connections with his customers and believes that these connections are the reason his customers have stayed loyal to him for so long.

“I’ve even been to hospitals when my customers have been sick, and cut their hair free of charge. It’s just the way I work,” Cathey said. In addition to this, he has made house calls for his patients that haven’t been able to drive to his shop. For Cathey, the effort he puts into communicating with his clients, and making them his friends rather than just his customers, makes his shop a truly unique environment.

In addition to his longtime customers Cathey also loves seeing SLU students come to his shop for his haircuts.

“You’re young, and I love to tell you guys about the good old days and how life was back then,” he said. Cathey, a Vietnam veteran, loves to talk about the war and the events of that era. He also brings up stories about his old customers, who include Father Biondi and former St. Louis Cardinals baseball players. He has an endless amount of tales and loves to create a welcoming atmosphere in his shop.

Surprisingly, Cathey originally did not want to be a barber. However, after he learned to cut hair, he realized that it was his passion. He fondly talked about how, when he first started cutting hair, he felt that his fingers were flying across the hair, and the teacher eventually asked him to monitor other students. From that moment on, Cathey knew that he wanted to become a barber.

After working for five years at a different barbershop, Cathey decided to start The Going Thing Hair Company in 1976. Originally located in the BSC, it now occupies a spot in Marchetti West and has been there since 1979. According to Cathey, some of his customers drive for 20 or 30 minutes to SLU just for his haircuts. A lot of his other customers are SLU students.

In his free time, Cathey enjoys Cardinals games and once had a SLU-sponsored racecar, of which he credits Biondi for helping him. However, his true calling is his work. Cathey comes back every day to run his barbershop because he loves his job and loves talking to his second family.

“I love my work, you know. I love my people and I love to talk to you all. I really wouldn’t give it up for the world. I hope I can do this as long as I can,” Cathey said.