Students must bring their student IDs to participate in games of pool, various arcade games and eat free food, including pizza and appetizers.

The first 200 people to attend the event will receive a free T-shirt.

Chase Carlson, Viking Council vice president, said, “This is the first year we’ve chosen to have our spring semester of Final Freak at Big Dog Billiards. We chose this location because we were very impressed with their recent renovations and because it’s very close to campus.”

inal Freak is an event that allows students to take a break from the pressure and stresses of studying for finals and allows them to relax and have fun with friends as the year comes to a close.

“Students should attend because it’s good to take a break from studies and hopefully relieve a little bit of stress that finals week brings,” Carlson said. “Students can expect the atmosphere to be laid-back. Feel free to come and go as you please.”

However, here I am, and I couldn’t be more honored. It has been one crazy year filled with challenges and blessings, and being on the newspaper staff was no exception, but I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.

I cannot even begin to explain what the other staff members and I have been through this year. There have been many late nights, some frustration, a lot of laughter and multiple late-night fast food runs. Through it all, we have stuck by one another and done our best to put out a quality newspaper, and I couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of it.

Then, a few weeks ago, I received the immense honor of being named the leader of the new staff for next year’s paper.  My staff and I are ready to add our own flair to the paper while still maintaining its award-winning status.

So, without further ado, I proudly introduce my team for the 2013-2014 school year: Veronica Payne, features editor; Travis Barton, sports editor; Leila Rush, news editor; Justin Welsh, design editor; Theresa Macdonald, photo editor; Amber Wilson, online editor; Shari Saunders, marketing editor; and Jen Bradwell, who will be taking my place as the copy editor.

My sincerest gratitude goes to the graduating editors for all of their support and hard work. You will definitely be missed.

As for my new staff, I could not have wished for a better group of people to work with. I know you will all work hard to make this newspaper the best it can be.  I know you guys are pumped, so let’s get started!

There are several upcoming music events that support multiple genres. For the rock lover, there is Lazerfest on Friday, May 10. This year’s Lazerfest line-up features two stages including Alice in Chains, Sick Puppies, Papa Roach and many more.

The 80/35 music festival on July 5-6 supports multiple genres, but will feature rap this year with headliner Wu Tang Clan.

For the electronic music fan, there is 515 Alive, a one-of-a-kind electronic music festival located downtown. Dates have yet to be set for this event.

Another popular music festival is the Big Country Bash located at Water Works Park. It is known for drawing a large crowd of country lovers. Gretchen Wilson and Rodney Atkins will be headlining on June 27.

Brenna Musfeldt, graphic design sophomore, said, “I love the Big Country Bash. It’s a great opportunity to just throw on your cowboy boots and have a good time with friends.”
For those looking to stay active this summer, there are many fun events to look forward to.

The Color Run is a 5k that will take place downtown on July 13. It promotes happiness and healthiness, regardless of athletic ability. During this run participants decked out in all white get blasted with colored powder.

For a more intense run, there is the 34th annual Dam to Dam race on June 1. Runners have the opportunity to run a 5k or 20k, and there is always a celebration downtown to celebrate the runners’ success.

For anyone who would rather just be a spectator of sports, attending the Iowa Cubs games is a great option. They have games throughout the whole summer at Principal Park. Fireworks may also be displayed during certain games.

Going to the races is another common summer activity. The Iowa Speedway in Newton hosts numerous racing events throughout the summer.

There are also many cultural events in Des Moines during the summertime including an Asian festival, Italian festival and The Annual Festival of Arts and Culture, which takes place June 28-30.

One of the biggest events, however, takes place at the end of the summer: the Iowa State Fair. The fair is located at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and features everything Iowa-related.

Alyssa Oldham, health promotion sophomore, said, “I always try to make it to the Iowa State Fair. There’s always something new to experience or a yummy new food to try.”
Throughout the fair, visitors can immerse themselves in agriculture, pop culture and choose from more than 50 foods on a stick. Fairgoers can take a ride on an attraction in the Midway, see a competition or talent show or see one of the many artists performing on stages across the fairgrounds.

Ruby has tenure of over 20 years and will be missed by anyone lucky enough to have had a class taught by her.

Ruby started at Grand View in 1981 and had just finished her master’s at Iowa State when her advisor, who had a wife at Grand View, said they were looking for somebody in journalism and referred her. Ruby applied and the queen’s legacy began.

“I had done the newspaper at Johnston High School for seven years and their newspaper here was crap,” Ruby said. “They just loved that I could do the newspaper and I had my master’s.”

As a child, Ruby said she dreamed of being a reporter. With her sister, they would often put together little presses and run out neighborhood news.

“Didn’t you do that?” Ruby asked. “No? We had literally little old fashion presses and my sister and I would put all those little things in there, the little letters, one by one, it took forever.”

“We’d run all over the neighborhood, we didn’t have microphones, but we’d pretend. We’d get interviews, then we would make a neighborhood newsletter.”

Ruby went from practicing it to preaching.
The communication department now consists of five full-time professors, three of them, including Ruby, have taught for over 20 years in the communication department.
Stephen Winzenburg, professor of broadcasting, has been teaching alongside Ruby for 24 years and was interviewed by her for his current position.

“Her vivacious personality won me over right away,” Winzenburg said. “She was just full of life and excitement.”

For the last 24 years, Ruby would be a frequent on-air guest for Winzenburg’s radio students. With Ruby’s background in theatre and acting abilities, Winzenburg said he would recommend her to his students.

“She participated in quite a few of our radio projects,” Winzenburg said. “We had radio dramas that students were required to do for our radio announcing class and since she is such an accomplished actress, I would tell them to get her to be in your projects. We have her voice for the last 24 years in our radio dramas. We’ll play them back as examples for students in future classes.”

Becky McDonnell has been teaching in the communication department alongside Ruby for 30 years and is the second longest tenured teacher in the department. McDonnell reminisced about teaching with Ruby and how Ruby would handle her business in the classroom. This memory was from the 1980s and involved an Iraqi student.

“We all know Mrs. Ruby sets down the attendance, sets down the rules, if you’ve got to miss a test and sets down the rules at the beginning, Kaylene Ruby runs a tight ship,” McDonnell said. “You follow the rules, you work hard, you succeed. Well, one student took that extremely seriously. It was the day of the final exam and she is bringing everyone in the classroom and making sure everyone is there, when one of the last stragglers come in, in handcuffs. He is escorted by two policemen. Allegedly, they brought him from jail so that he could take his final exam, so that immediately after taking the exam he would be sent out of the country.”

“So sure enough, he came in, took his exam and he was out of there,” McDonnell said.
Mark Siebert, professor of communication, was graduating high school when Ruby was starting her teaching career at Grand View. Siebert has taught alongside Ruby for the last eight years.

“Mrs. Ruby is like a sister to me,” Siebert said. “Like a very, very old sister.”

“But seriously,” Siebert said. “She gets done with her finals, or her grades or her syllabi for the next semester and she dances past here [his office] and sings ‘I’m done with my syllabi’ and I still got two weeks worth of work to do. I’ll miss that about her.”

The halls of Cowles are never quiet when the Queen is around.
Often times Ruby could be heard singing “TDP” in reporting class, talking about time, date, place in a news story or “let me breathe” in her publication design class, while explaining how to format an InDesign document.

According to Doug Wells, she also thinks out loud. Wells is a photography professor who’s been office neighbors with Ruby for the last four years.

“Kaylene has a tendency to talk or think out loud,” Wells said. “You can hear her talking all the time, it’s just you don’t know if she’s talking to you or talking to that. It’s usually Mark or I, she’ll raise her voice and ask a question and usually when we answer the question, it was rhetorical and so when we don’t answer, there’s like a pause and she’ll go ‘Mark are you there?’ You can’t win.”

Ruby’s passions could be found on the stage of the Ankeny Community Theatre and in newspapers, specifically, copy editing.

“A mathematician likes to solve problems, I love to find words and fix them,” Ruby said. “It just feels good. I can do it, I feel good doing it and I can help people improve their words.”
The Queen said she’s starting retirement by going to Italy and France before returning home and seeing family. Ruby was dubbed Queen by her students many safety meetings ago, but the name has stuck and so has she.

“I always said in class, I still do, instead of saying ‘shut up’ I say ‘no one speak while the queen is speaking,’” Ruby said, “The kids started calling me the Queen Bee.”
She’s also the longest reigning professor in the department.

“Some of my favorite times have been when we won the awards,” Ruby said. “When we peaked out at 53 awards at the Iowa College Media Association you can’t have a better moment than that. I’m always so proud every year when we win so many awards.”
Ruby said she would miss the students the most.
And we will miss you.

I love the fact that the Friday before finals we are having tests and learning new stuff. This is supposed to be dead week not cram and learn new stuff week. Grand View needs to pull it together and make this a dead week or make the semester a week longer.
-Overworked student

How do I get a job if no one will hire me without experience and I can’t get experience if no one will hire me?
-Jobless and frustrated

I think we should have events like GV Glo at least once every couple months. That was so much fun! It was a really good way to meet other students. By far my best experience at Grand View yet.  -WR 10#

I just want to say that the L apartments are NOT a daycare facility! If you want to make money by babysitting while in school, go to their
houses and watch the kids!

Many of us do not like to listen to children crying literally ALL day long! Who would take their kids to a college dorm to be watched… a wet dorm at that?!
-No minors allowed

This is my last vent before going off to Iowa State and I just want to thank the entire student body for giving me a great two years of my life. I have learned a lot of stuff while I was here. I came to Grand View as a boy and will leave here as a man. It has also been an honor to serve you all as the Viking Brigade president. Good luck to all of you here at Grand View and Go Vikings!
-Sincerely,
Eric Schultz

Blahhh…. everyone hates the service we get from anyone on campus when it comes to schedules. So not worth 32k a year!
-Ripped off student

Why doesn’t Grand View hold a December graduation ceremony?
-Late walker

To the graduating editors of The Grand Views:
Over the past year there have been late nights, arguments, mistakes and stress.
However, we overshadowed those things with patience, laughter and a lot of love.
Thank you for being our role models, our coworkers, our “big siblings” and our friends. It won’t be the same without you, but we know you have taught us well so we can continue to cover all the news, good or bad, win or lose. We love you all!
-Returning editors

Grand View, we had a good year,  but I am excited for the new changes coming to campus next year.
-#excited4change

Had a good year. Grand View rocks!
-Happy student

Students enter their artwork into the competition where three jurors, who are professional exhibiting artists, spend a day in a live jury critiquing students’ submissions.
Mary Jones, professor of art, said the winners were chosen out of 140 entries.

Haley Warth, graphic design senior, has two pieces displayed in the gallery. Her painting titled “Reflection” took her about two weeks to finish, and her other piece, a print titled, “Old Women,” required about three weeks to complete.

Warth said, “I love art. I took it all the way through high school, this is the first time I’ve had pieces in the show and I’m very excited.”

Paige Kleckner, graphic design senior, also has two pieces displayed in the exhibit. Her pieces are titled, “Papercut,” which won a Juror’s Award, and “LOTR.”

Kleckner said, “It was nice to hear three different opinions about your work from the jurors. They picked a handful of pieces that were a little bit exceptional, and those received a Juror’s Award.”

Sarah Sparling, studio arts senior, has two pieces in the show. One is titled “She-Horse,” and her other piece is titled “Proverb,” which won a Juror’s Award. Sparling said her father inspired “Proverb” because he always shared proverbs with her.

Sparling said, “My dad was frustrated one day and said, ‘Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop,’ which is a Nigerian proverb that means some people do all the work while others reap all the benefits. I felt that way with a group project, so that’s a lot of what this piece is about.”

Saul Schlegel, visual arts senior, made his piece  “Untitled Balls” out of exercise balls over a nine-month time span. Schlegel said this piece wasn’t for a class, he made it on his own time.

Schlegel said, “I found the balls, they didn’t have any owners, so I took them. I didn’t have any plans for them, but I really liked their colors together so I poured paint                                on them and the colors really mixed well.”

The final show in the gallery always features students’ work. The students’ work will be on display until April 26.

Six times, the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championship game included a team from Des Moines, and the women’s basketball team and men’s soccer team won the championship, again. Readers have heard that a lot this year when The Grand Views has talked about this school’s sports– teams going to nationals again and track team runners are qualifying again.

Lou Yacinich, who’s been the head Viking baseball coach for 39 seasons,  said he believes the future of Viking Athletics is very bright.

“Many years ago we only had seven athletic teams. Now we have 24,” Yacinich said. “Then you look at the success of all the new programs and the returning programs and everyone’s been in the national tournament. I think we will be at the top and continue to be there.”

Tina Carter, the head women’s volleyball coach for the past five seasons, said, “This was another incredible year for GV Athletics. It starts with a commitment from our administration and continues with dedicated coaches and outstanding student athletes.

Everyone is buying into being part of a university and athletic department that is committed to excellence. It is truly a great time to be a Viking.”

This is the result of having so many quality athletes roaming the campus of Grand View University. Don’t mind the sport, the result is all the same. Jon Higgins came around the edge on the football field and led the nation in sacks, twice. Ryan Adamson was the best soccer player in the conference and the women’s volleyball team had the best player in the conference for three years.

Garey Smith, who’s coached the women’s basketball team for 13 seasons, led his team to consecutive MCC Regular Season and Tournament Championships and a Sweet 16 appearance in the NAIA National Tournament.

Smith said, “Whenever you’re on top, it’s always hard to stay on top. On the other hand, it helps you get quality student-athletes because people want to be a part of programs of quality. I think we will stay very competitive. Everything that we do at Grand View, not just athletics but admissions and faculty is top-notch.”

The rosters here are full of women and men who represent what it takes to be a Viking. Hard working, competitive people who don’t only compete when the scoreboards are on, but in the classroom as well. The 2012-2013 athletic calendar was one full of achievements and success.

Coach of the Year, Nick Mitchell, who led GV to its second straight NAIA national title, defended the Cliff Keen National Duals title and coached the team to winning the NAIA Central Qualifying Tourney.

Mitchell was also named NWCA (National Wrestling Coaches’ Association) Coach of the Year. GV was undefeated in dual meets this year (15-0).

Denis Schaefer, who’s been the head men’s basketball coach for the last 15 winters, said,“There’s a lot of bright spots for our athletic department. I think it’s an exciting time, everyone seems to be having a really good recruiting season. We’re all in place to have good teams for the next few years. I really think this is just an exciting time for everyone.”

With the 24th issue of The Grand Views we present to you, the 2012-2013 Athletes of the Year.

Courtnie Voss, nursing senior, was in Boston with her family participating in the race when the bombs detonated.

Voss’ brother, Jamison, also qualified for the race. He is also legally blind. Since he is blind, Jamison was allowed four guides to run with him. He chose his cousin, his mother and his sister (Voss).

Jamison and their mother had been running for about an hour and Voss, her dad and cousin were trying to get to the finish line to meet up with them.
Voss and the family members with her were two blocks from the finish line when the bombs exploded.

“We saw, heard and felt the first bomb and seconds later the second one went off. We stood there not really knowing what had just happened,” Voss said. “No one really started panicking until the policemen told us to evacuate the area. People started running and it was mass chaos.”

Cell phone lines were down for awhile before Voss got ahold of her family.

“It took us about two and a half hours to find and meet up with my brother and my mom. The whole thing was terrifying,” Voss said.

Voss and her family are fortunate to be safe, uninjured and even to be alive; not everyone was so fortunate.

It may sound like a nightmare, but it became reality for Joel Beckman, criminal justice senior and Jensen RA.  Beckman, a native of Plattsmouth, Neb., began his academic journey at Dana College in Blair, Neb. in 2008, only to have it come to an end in 2010 as the 125-year-old school closed its doors.

Beckman said, “I loved every minute of being at Dana and would never take back my time there.”

Beckman then decided to incorporate some of his out-of-class interests into his plans for the future.  He considered his joy of skiing and other outdoor activities, and began his next chapter in 2010 at Black Hills State University (BHSU) in Spearfish, S.D.

“Black Hills opened up my love for being in the mountains,” Beckman said. “It allowed me to be outside, away from the city every day.”

While the activities available provided some much-needed fun, the school’s academic program presented definite challenges.  Beckman found many of the credits from Dana did not directly transfer to BHSU.

“It was almost like starting all over again,” Beckman said.

At the end of his first year at BHSU, the prospect of repeating similar classes to reclaim the lost credits seemed to be too much, Beckman said.

Research for the next option brought him to Grand View University. As a sister school with Dana, Grand View was the natural choice, Beckman said.

Jim Vonnahme, criminal justice senior, also transferred to Grand View after Dana closed down. During Beckman’s year at BHSU, Vonnahme was attending Grand View.

“It was good to be back at the same school as Joel, with us having gotten close at Dana,” Vonnahme said.

Beckman’s track scholarship was honored and most importantly, his academic credits transferred in full.  His academic journey was moving forward, but Beckman said he felt something was missing.

In high school, Beckman had an interest in enlisting in the Army, but put the thought on the back burner.  Now, nine credits away from completing his degree, the passion for the Army has once again surfaced and is stronger than ever.

Beckman said he is ready to be done with school and explore his interest in the Army.  On May 20, Joel will leave for Fort Benning Army Base in Georgia to begin basic training.

Beckman said he is looking forward to this new adventure and the prospect of entering the special forces.  Beckman said, “The only thing I would do differently with my decision to leave school to join the Army would be to slow the enlistment process down as much as I have control over.  It has gone by way too quickly.”

The tennis season is almost over, but that doesn’t mean the teams are taking it easy.
Bob Peterson, men and women’s tennis coach, said this is the most challenging time in both teams’ seasons.

Peterson said, “We’re right at the end of our schedule, we only have three weeks left. We’re kind of in the toughest part of our schedule before we go to our national qualifier.”

Rough weather hasn’t made practicing very easy, but that hasn’t stopped them. The teams have resorted to playing indoors at Aspen Athletic Club so they can keep improving.

Peterson said, “I’ve used a lot of our budget to schedule practice times at Aspen. This weather has been a challenge, but we’ve been trying to find ways around it.”

The teams’ goals for the rest of the season are just to win matches and keep improving. Team members said they have personal goals as well.
Lauren Lightner, sophomore women’s tennis player, said, “My personal goal would be to win more matches than lose in my singles matches. Our team goals are to always play with heart, stay focused and never give up.”

Players on the men’s team said they have similar goals. Team members said they are motivated to accomplish the team goals while fulfilling their own personal goals.

Luke Norris, sophomore men’s tennis player, said the team is working hard to stay competitive while he is personally trying to improve.

Norris said, “Our team is constantly playing competitive and trying to play good, smart tennis. Personally, I would like to keep focusing on my own improvement and strategy and work as hard as it takes for me to win.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams said they are looking forward to finishing their season strong and constantly giving each other motivation.

Tony Loffredo, senior men’s tennis captain, said, “My personal goal for the rest of the season is to motivate my teammates to do their best.”