Page 2 – The Waltonian

Serena Williams made an impressive comeback to the Australian Open on Jan. 14, when she won the first round of the competition. The athletic powerhouse defeated Tatjana Maria 6-2 after a 49 minute match. The last time Williams played in the Australian Open was in Jan. 2017, while in the early stages of her pregnancy.

Williams did not compete in the open in 2018, stating that after her pregnancy, she was not as prepared for the competition as she wanted to be.

Williams is a world-renowned and rarely defeated tennis player, but her 2017 pregnancy almost got the best of her. She told Time that while her pregnancy was easy, her delivery was the hard part. After giving birth, Williams suffered from a pulmonary embolism and hematoma, both of which necessitated multiple surgeries. Williams spent the following six weeks largely in bed – a rest period unheard of for athletes of her stature.

A pulmonary embolism is a blood clot in the main artery of the lung, and hematoma is a collection of blood outside of a blood vessel. According to healthtalk.com, pulmonary embolisms are one of the biggest killers among pregnant women.

Williams spent much of 2018 getting her game back to champion status, with consistent training and preparation. This focus on her sport often meant sacrificing time with her daughter, Olympia Ohanian Jr. She has previously stated that balancing time with her daughter and her work is difficult, but she knows it is a balance she has to keep.

“I still have to learn a balance of being there for her, and being there for me,” she told Time. “I’m working on it. I never understood women before, when they put themselves in second or third place. And it’s so easy to do. It’s so easy to do.”

When asked why she is still so disciplined in her field, she told Time, “I’m not done yet, simple. My story doesn’t end here.”

No other athlete of William’s caliber has been able to maintain a pace such as hers, much less make such a full recovery from a near-lethal pregnancy. Since her pregnancy, Williams has become a symbol of strength and recovery for fellow mothers. She speaks highly of fellow mothers and recognizes them for the hard work they do to care for their children.

“I dedicated that to all the moms out there who’ve been through a lot,” she told Time when asked about her Wimbledon loss. “Some days, I cry. I’m really sad. I’ve had meltdowns. It’s been a really tough 11 months. If I can do it, you guys can do it too.”

Not only did Williams face difficulties following her pregnancy, but she has long dealt with hateful comments about her from the public. While it is common for public figures to receive some negative comments, Williams believes that the hate she receives is unlike what her fellow athletes experience for one specific reason.

“I’m a black woman,” she said. “Women in general are not treated the same as men who’ve had the same amount of success. And then, being a black woman, doing something historically that’s never been done, it’s easy to feel like, ‘We’ve always picked on people of this color. So I’m O.K. to continue to do it.’”

Despite all of her setbacks, Williams continues to be one of the most respected athletes in the world. She has defied expectations over and over again – from continuing to compete at her age, to bouncing back after her dangerous pregnancy, to rising to the top of the tennis world. Serena Williams is a household name and a role model, and she has no intentions of stopping now.

Sources: healthtalk.org, medicine.net, USA Today, Vanity Fair

Women have been underrepresented and overlooked in Hollywood since the dawn of the entertainment business, and sadly, it seems the trend has continued. The Oscars in particular have repeatedly let women and minority groups down year after year. The 2020 nominations were no exception, as no women were considered for the best director category.

Many are especially enraged in light of the many successful films directed by women this year, including Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Melina Matsoukas’ Queen and Slim, and Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers. Much like the Oscars, women were also excluded from the best director category at the Golden Globes.

These nominations come five years after #OscarsSoWhite, a hashtag that called out the Academy show for its, at the time, 92% white and 75% male membership. The statistics have evened out a bit over the years, with members now coming in at 84% white and 68% male, but the hashtag continues to prove its relevance. Cynthia Eviro was the only nominee of color for best actor or best actress because of her performance in Harriet. Overall though, the Oscars remained oh so white.

Awards like the Oscars or the Golden Globes are not trivial trophies, though. It may seem meaningless to advocate for equality in an awards show, but the issue runs much deeper. Historically, award shows have served to highlight the stories most important to our culture at any given time period. By excluding women and people of color, award shows effectively discredit their stories. By not nominating women for best director, viewers may unintentionally believe that women do not make good directors. The same goes for an almost entirely white nominee list for best actor and actress. In an era where these stories are increasingly in demand, why wouldn’t award shows call them what they are, which is glimpses of life in 2019’s America.

The tragic answer is that even today, American culture is trying to erase the stories of women and people of color. Hollywood talks a big game about equality and social change, and yet, the voices of white men are still favored over all others.

When the media we celebrate only reflects one kind of perspective, movie-watchers only get to see the world through one lens. Women do not see the world or themselves through the eyes of someone like them. Instead, they only get to see themselves portrayed through the perspective of someone who will never understand what it feels like to be a woman in the world.

The same goes for people of color. When movies directed by white people are the only ones that garner awards, people of color are denied the opportunity to see the world as they experience it reflected on-screen. Instead, their voices continue to go unappreciated, and they continue to watch movies focused on a world unlike what they have experienced.

Women and people of color have intricate, meaningful and relatable stories to tell. Their work and their films are worth Hollywood’s appreciation and viewers’ attention. Those who create these pieces of art deserve to be awarded at the highest level, as well as be canonized in movie history.

Sources: NY Times, Variety

Eastern University is set to introduce esports, or electronic sports, to the athletics department according to the goeasterneagles website. Eric McNelley, Director of Athletics, announced the upcoming change on Oct. 9.

Esports is comprised of competitive, multi-player computer games that require strategy and skill to master. Games like League of Legends, Overwatch and Rocket League are particularly popular at the collegiate level and are commonly played among esports competitions.

Eastern will be playing on a national schedule, as well as other universities in the area. The new team is slated to be coed and will be Eastern’s twenty-second athletic sport.

“We see esports as a great platform for growth in our University and Department,” McNelley told Eastern Eagles. “I look forward to seeing us build a winning program in this exciting and popular competition. I believe that our current students will get behind the program very quickly.”

However, the incoming program has some students wondering about the execution of this new sport. Will there be a facility dedicated to esports? How will players train, and who will coach them? What are esporting events even like? A spokesperson from the athletic department did not respond when asked for a comment, so many of these questions linger, as esports are still relatively new to college athletics, both nationally and at Eastern.

Despite their air of mystery, esports have been gaining notoriety quickly. According to InsideHigherEd.com, 15 states already recognize them as varsity-level sports in high school. This shift has influenced colleges across the nation, and according to NBC, around 200 colleges offered $16 billion in scholarships in the 2018 – 19 school year alone.

Because of this massive rise of interest in an activity only recently recognized as a sport, many professionals do not know how to categorize esports. Some universities have chosen to group esports with their intramural athletics, but others say this diminishes the value of the game. Others have chosen to place esports among their more traditional teams, but this decision can quickly become legally and divisionally dicey. The nature of esports can raise questions about Title IX issues, from an overrepresentation of white men on teams to concern about misogynistic content within the games themselves.

Regulation of esports can also be confusing territory, and not even the National Collegiate Athletic Association knows how to handle the issue. InsideHigherEd.com reports that at the NCAA’s annual convention, President Mark Emmert himself posed the question – “should the NCAA should control collegiate esports?”

Though it may appear to be the sensible thing to do, folding esports in with NCAA regulations could be difficult. The NCAA enforces strict rules prohibiting athletes from being compensated, though many esports players are accustomed to winning large sums of prize money at competitions. Furthermore, the video games esports use are all created and owned by game developers, which would lead to some complicated negotiations between them and the NCAA.

Though there is much national and campus-wide uncertainty about the implementation of such a program, there is one constant and attractive motivator for universities to adopt esports into their programs: an increase in admission numbers.

This is not the first time Eastern has discussed adding a new sport in pursuit of higher enrollment numbers. Rumors of an incoming football team have circulated Eastern’s campus for years now, and it is possible that esports could be a simpler addition to implement. Though there has been no public discussion either way, it is worth considering that esports may be an alternative to football. Football would likely cost the school significantly more than esports in equipment and facilities alone, making esports a compelling substitute.

Whatever the reason for the implementation of the incoming program may be, esports arrival on Eastern’s campus is sure to be a compelling addition to the community.

Sources: GoEasternEagles, NBC News, Inside Higher Ed

Social media is so ingrained in the modern world that it can be difficult to distinguish our digital lives from our face-to-face ones. Whenever we are bored, uncomfortable, relaxing or procrastinating, there’s an unconscious and insidious itch to reach into our pockets for our phone. The never-ending well of content on social media can make it easy to feel like we’re constantly missing something, even though we know the exact same post will still be there in an hour. A tool once intended for connection has been perverted in pursuit of distraction.

Though we may find ourselves scrolling frequently, there is a special concern about how social media is used when we are upset. For me personally, social media can feel like a convenient escape from the issues I am facing in my real life.

It can be a comfortable kind of numbness that distracts me from the problems I do not want to deal with offline. As I watch beautiful photos of people I somewhat know fly by, I remove myself from reality. But if I am removed from reality, where do I end up?

Usually, it’s not somewhere I want to be. I often find myself feeling stuck, weighed down by a feeling of isolation. I am isolated from my own thoughts and feelings, as well as distanced from the people on my feed who look to be significantly happier than I feel.

Aside from feelings of isolation, the “numbing” feeling that social media provides is not productive in difficult times – in fact, it has profound negative effects. Removing oneself from the feelings they are experiencing can cause emotional build up. By continuously repressing your emotions instead of dealing with them, you may feel the effects of your feelings long after the situation has passed. The better response would be to sit with and handle your emotions before they become more overwhelming than they were to begin with.

Social media can also create an empty sense of connection. Though looking at your loved ones’ posts may feel nice, it can give a false sense of communication and connection. If your mind is really sneaky, this thinking can convince you that you no longer need to reach out and have real conversations, which is not true.

Scrolling cannot replace speaking. Consuming content published by others is nothing like having a real conversation, where you can share your thoughts and feelings and receive care from another person. This builds closeness and allows you to work through things in a way that social media simply cannot compare to.

All that to say, it is certainly more convenient to shut down and use social media to escape. It is far easier to pretend that nothing is happening than it is to deal with the thing, but in a culture that pressures us to do the convenient thing at all times, it is a powerful choice to take the hard route out.

Understanding when social media is appropriate can be incredibly beneficial and can lead to a deeper understanding of yourself as well as a more positive experience on social media.

Fast fashion is a catchy phrase that gets thrown around frequently but fades into the background all too quickly. “Fast fashion” is created by the rapid turnaround of trends, which causes brands to pump out clothing constantly. With cheap fabrics only lasting so long and an unending demand for new products, companies find that they make exorbitant profits by outputting new clothes at all times.

While this constant production can be fun for consumers, it is detrimental to the global community. In order to produce product as quickly and affordably as possible, companies take advantage of developing countries and their lack of workers’ rights. The fast fashion industry uses incredibly unsafe factories in countries like Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam, where there are little to no laws protecting workers. These factories do not pay living wage and often employ children. There are structural issues within the facility that are never resolved, because in order to make the buildings safe, production would have to halt – and that is simply unacceptable. The hard work and dangerous work conditions cause health issues and often death for many of the underprivileged workers.

The system is not just catastrophic for humans, though. These factories use incredible amounts of energy to fuel them and are environmentally irresponsible. Their waste and emissions contribute to global warming in significant and harmful ways.

According to The Saturday Evening Post, the average American throws away around 81 pounds of clothing each year, and while 95% of textiles are recyclable, 85% of American textiles end up in landfills, most of which never get the chance to biodegrade.

Though I was aware of “fast fashion” for years, I chose to ignore the issues I knew hid behind my closet door. I had a vague and distant understanding that these atrocities were occurring, but I was afraid of the effort it would take to remove myself from the cycle. I had envisioned that cultivating a sustainable wardrobe would involve complicated recycling systems for my old clothes and replacing them with more expensive pieces.

I did not learn just how wrong I was until this summer, when I watched a documentary titled The True Cost. The film outlined the horrors of the fast fashion industry with poignant honesty and forced me to reckon with my shopping habits. After watching this documentary and doing my own research, I found the secret of sustainable shopping:

Stop shopping.

Now, when I say, “stop shopping,” I do not mean that literally. I mean, stop shopping the way you may be used to. For example, if you don’t typically find yourself in thrift stores, consider giving it a try. Their unique and often off-beat styles create an exciting opportunity for you to be bold and hone your own style with little to no financial repercussions. By shopping at thrift stores, clothing that already exists gets to live out its full life, instead of being discarded and replaced. Wearing thrifted clothing also prevents corporations from making more money off of their incessant production, though you still leave the store with new-to-you pieces.

If you are more of an online shopper, consider using apps like Depop, Poshmark or eBay for your shopping needs. Many digital resellers spend hours visiting thrift stores to curate an inventory of excellent condition, name-brand pieces so that you do not have to do the hard work. Again, these items get a new life in your wardrobe and detract from the fast-fashion industry.

Finally, you can host a clothing swap with your friends. You and a small group can agree to trade items instead of throwing them away or replacing them – a pair of jeans for a sweater, a blouse for a pair of boots.

Taking down the fast-fashion industry is daunting to say the least. It requires a new perspective on shopping and clothing and a commitment to do these things differently. Though the problem is huge and looming, one person at a time we can lessen the impact of fast-fashion on the environment and our fellow human beings.

Eastern University was recently ranked number 22 on Guide to Online School’s list of “Best Online Colleges in Pennsylvania.” The web-based program was recognized for its asynchronicity, which allows students to work at their own pace. This is often seen as a benefit of online school because instead of adhering strictly to a syllabus, students have more wiggle room to pace out their assignments how they choose. They can even work ahead in order to give themselves more free time farther down the line.

The list also noted the usefulness of tools like Zoom and Skype, which offer students the option of speaking to their professor face-to-face, even while miles apart. While traditional students have the privilege of meeting with their professor in-person, either during class or office hours, online students often only get to communicate with professors through emails or other text-based web communication. By including Zoom and Skype in Eastern’s program, even online students can speak face-to-face with their professors.

Finally, Guide to Online Schools acknowledges that Eastern makes enrollment counselors available to assist students in adapting to the new, online environment. This can be helpful for students who are accustomed to more traditional classroom settings and need time to adjust.

Eastern also recently implemented the “FastPass” program, which allows students to take online summer classes for little to no additional charge for their tuition. Many students utilize this program to help them get through school faster or lighten their typical semester load. This program has proven itself popular on campus and could be a contributing factor in Eastern’s favorable rank on the list. Finally, Eastern’s average annual tuition of $17,490 compared to the mean income of $73,500 for alumni also earned Eastern its respectable place on the list.

Guide to Online Schools website states that their mission is to help students find the best online program for them based on criteria such as “degree, tuition, student recommendation rate, and military benefits, among other important attributes.” With these priorities, the group is able to narrow down some of the most important aspects of choosing a school, and deliver the information to students.

Many schools near Eastern also made the list, including Villanova coming in at number two and Cabrini at number 21. Villanova was recognized for their 80 fully online programs, specifically tailored to working professionals that range from certificate, all the way up to the doctoral level. Cabrini was honored for their custom learning system, aptly named CabriniLearn, as well as their vast assortment of programs.

One of the main data points used by Guide to Online Schools was the median income of alumni. Online graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, the highest ranking school on the list, make an average of $120,600. This is over six times as much money as their average $19,040 per year tuition. This financial aspect combined with their impressive programs is what put them on top.

With approximately 164 colleges in Pennsylvania, making the top 25 list of anything is rather impressive. Eastern’s online education program is ever-evolving and hopefully, ever-growing.

Morgan Leavy is a senior year social work major at Eastern University. Leavy has been involved in theater and music for years, and this September, she released her first-ever EP titled “burnt orange”. Leavy released the album under the moniker “flowergirl.”

“I have this picture of me and my dad from my aunt’s wedding and I was the flowergirl. I’m sitting on his lap and I was so excited,” Leavy said.

“I don’t know why, but every time I look at it just like floods back memories of a truly simpler time. When I was coming up with names I looked at that and was like ‘oh, I got it.’ It also kinda worked because I’m a nature lover so most people will think that’s what it means, like kinda hippie, boho-ish or whatever, but really it has a familial meaning for me,” Leavy said.

In “burnt orange,” Leavy recounts what she describes as a life-changing relationship over the course of 22 minutes. Through both short and full-length songs, as well as spoken-word pieces, Leavy tells the story of past love. From the early butterfly feelings to fading passion and to eventually finding her own footing, Leavy weaves a tale that all can relate to.

“I think after the breakup really affected me, and I got the idea that I wanted to create a story out of music about this relationship and about how it affected me,” said Leavy. “If I could help anyone else go through it differently with my music, that would matter to me. Because you know, most people have some kind of music that has affected them in a positive way, or helped them survive a hard time, and you never really think that your words are gonna do that, but it’d be really cool if I could try. And in my lowest time, I would’ve loved something like that to bring me out of it.” Leavy’s heartbreak motivated her to learn more about music and hone her craft. After the relationship ended, she decided to make the most of her time alone and practice guitar every day. This practice lead her to songwriting, where she could express her feelings more deeply. As she wrote more and more, Leavy found herself crafting a body of art. She set a goal to record and produce the album with the help of her friend over the summer of 2019 and release it in September.

“It was such a fun process. Honestly, I could do it a billion more times. Because like, any free time I was like, “oh! I can go to Derek’s house” or “I can do that song again.” It was just so fun and such a project that I was motivated to do. Sometimes in school, it’s hard when things aren’t creative – for me at least. It was just really fun, I felt like I was in my element.”

All summer, Leavy and Reeser worked on recording and rerecording and producing her EP until it was finished. On Sept. 3, the album was out.

“The day of the release was like, so overwhelming,” said Leavy. “I realized that day that all of my thoughts and feelings could be interpreted however they could be. Like, I’m an open book, so I don’t find it hard to talk about my personal life, even to strangers. But in the form of a piece of art, not only are you baring your soul you’re also baring your creative soul, and you’re putting yourself out there with your sound. So not only is it your thoughts and feelings and emotions that have built up over a year or two, and it is a piece of you. It really is a piece of you, and I wasn’t expecting to feel that way.”

Though her first EP only dropped recently, Leavy is already working on more music. She says that learning and growing and changing are all integral themes of her art.

“Always finding myself. That is huge. Always finding a new sound, always finding what makes me feel like me in that moment, always learning about myself. So that hopefully comes through in my sound and in the messages of my songs, that we’re just like, ever-growing and figuring it out.”

When people think of art, they typically imagine a painting, drawing or sculpture. Perhaps they even think of music, dance or theater. Somewhere in between, though, lies a powerful and widely overlooked medium: performance art.

Performance art can be easily mistaken for drama or dance, or perhaps even complete absurdity. However, despite (or maybe because of) all of its eccentricities, performance art is a deeply eﬀective medium for those who wish to make a statement.

Unlike theater, performance art does not typically have key components of a drama, like dialogue or a plot. Often, it is people performing in provocative ways that sends a message and draws attention to their point. According to TheArtStory.org, many artists turn to performance art when they “become discontented with conventional forms of art” and use it “to rejuvenate their work.”

According to The Art Story, the medium was popularized after the 1960s and largely focused on the body. Performance art has been known for its typically anarchist ﬂ air and its role in the futurist and dada movements. According to The Art Story, the medium was also on the front lines of the feminist movement.

For example, Yoko Ono’s 1964 performance titled, Cut Piece, invited audience members to cut oﬀ pieces of fabric from her clothing. She stood on stage as people approached her and slowly snipped away at her clothes in order to make a statement about the objectiﬁcation of women in art.

By forcing audience members to actively participate in her art, Ono was more eﬀectively able to convey her message to them. Her already powerful statement became so much clearer to her audience because of their role in her piece.

Though performance art was highly popular decades ago, the medium is alive and well today. Artists still choose to express themselves, their dreams and their beliefs through these remarkable displays.

Performance art came to the area with the Fringe Festival, an annual, self-proclaimed “citywide celebration of innovation and creativity in contemporary performance.” The event boasts over 1,000 “daring performances.” Though admission is around $40 per person, there are alternatives for those who prefer their art on a budget. The Free Fringe Philly Festival welcomes all artists to perform in their own version of the Fringe Festival. In many ways the events are highly similar; however, Free Fringe Philly does not charge admission. On their website, it states, “The original spirit of the fringe festival is making art accessible (free),” and that they “are bringing that back.”

Performance art is a dynamic and impactful medium with a deep history and continued presence in modern society. Though it may not be the most popular art form, its value remains important in our culture.

Source: TheArtStory.org

This semester, new students were welcomed into the Eastern community by members of a brand-new program: New Student Orientation leaders. These volunteers committed to supporting and guiding incoming students through their first couple of days at Eastern by leading orientation activities. Orientation leaders were tasked with facilitating name games, answering new students’ questions and showing them around campus. The groups were made up of two leaders and anywhere between 15 – 25 new students.

This way of setting up the program works much better, because it allows for a much more personal relationship with new students as well as releases Resident Assistants (RAs) and chaplains from responsibility.

New student orientation leaders are able to give their all to one position, instead of spreading themselves thin. It also creates another point of contact for new students.

By having an RA, a chaplain, and an orientation leader, new students are given at least three returning students to look to for advice and help throughout the semester.

Every orientation leader had a different reason for volunteering for the position, but all had a genuine desire to serve the incoming Eastern students. Remarkably, many orientation leaders were Sophomores who had just gone through orientation only a year ago.

Emily Stevens, one of the volunteers, said she had a personal connection to orientation. “I actually did it because I met most of my friends during orientation. I wanted to be that person that could help others do the same.”

A resounding theme of orientation this year was the phrase “Welcome Home.” As orientation leaders sought to make new students feel a comfortable sense of belonging at Eastern, they centered around the idea of making Eastern feel like home to new students, especially during their first weeks at Eastern.

The orientation program also encouraged new students to grow during their time at Eastern through the phrase “Grow deep roots.” This concept symbolized the change and progress students are encouraged to make at Eastern. This growth is meant to stem specifically from the university’s core beliefs of faith, reason and justice.

Orientation is one of the first chances students have to connect with their peers and begin to build relationships, and facilitating that experience was important to many of the leaders. For many, this meant getting to watch their students bond and create new relationships.

“I really liked it because the people in my group became friends, really good friends, with each other,” said Sofia Na, one of the orientation leaders. “They sat together in the dining commons, and they hang out all the time, which is great.”

Not only did the new students have a chance to connect, though, the leaders also got to connect with fellow leaders.

New Student Orientation leaders moved onto campus on Aug. 17, five days before the new students arrived. They spent the next week training by learning how to manage group games, answer questions accurately and care for new students as best as possible.

“My favorite thing about being a leader was the training, because I liked getting to know so many people. Of course I liked getting to know the freshmen too, but it was cool getting to know the other leaders,” Stevens said.

The program has officially completed its inaugural run, and many leaders look forward to what’s in store for the future. By designating the role of orientation leader specifically to those who volunteer for it, the program is open to a host of possibilities in the future.

“I think it could amount to so much,” Stevens, when asked what she sees next for the program. “We had a lot of really good ideas that we couldn’t even necessarily facilitate, but I think as the program grows it’s just gonna get better and better.”

Ian Roth is a graduate student at Eastern University who has a passion for sports. He received his bachelor’s degree in Middle Education and is currently earning his master’s degree in Multicultural Education. His interview segment with Eastern athletics, Athletes in Focus, allows for student athletes to express themselves and their passions in a unique way that otherwise, they may not be able to.

“It’s a great opportunity to showcase the people that we have at Eastern and kinda show the followers of EU athletics who our athletes are and all the great things they’re doing – in the classroom, in the community and everywhere else,” said Roth.

Eastern athletics is close to Roth’s heart, as he was a baseball player on the Eastern team. It was there that Athletes in Focus was born. Roth explained that it started with him casually interviewing his teammates, but it quickly evolved into more.

“It started last year,” said Roth, “where I would, in a less structured and comical way, I would interview baseball players. We’d piece those clips together and post them on baseball’s page, and then it just went from there.”

The videos took off, and soon Roth was interviewing athletes almost weekly. Now, he interviews athletes from every sport as frequently as possible. He says he loves giving students the opportunity to share who they are and what they care about with the rest of the Eastern community.

“We try to capture who the athletes are, not just on the field but what they do and what life as a student athlete is like. Hearing about how they balance that with the other activities that they’re involved in and getting to know some of the things that matter to them, the people that have made an impact. It’s just a spotlight on athletes and also an opportunity for prospective students to get an idea of what life is like as a student athlete,” said Roth.

Alongside his love of sports, Roth also has a deep love for Eastern University as a whole. He could hardly articulate how many different ways he loves the school, but was able to narrow it down to a top three.

“I love the Christian community. When I was looking for colleges I wasn’t exactly limiting myself to Christian, but the community and the comradery students have is amazing. I also love the opportunities I have had as a student to flourish, not only academically but in seeking my passions outside of the classroom through clubs, sports, leadership; I’ve felt a lot of confidence in doing what I love. And I love the general area that we’re in. Wayne and Radnor is a great area, I’ve made a lot of connections here. I’ve made a lot of connections through student teaching, and I’m hoping to set my roots here after school. It’s so great because you’re not quite in the city, but it’s at access,” said Roth.

When conducting his interviews, Roth loves learning about all about the athlete he is speaking to. He enjoys finding out about their passions and interests, but also their seemingly less-important preferences.

“Every video we try to do a speed round at the end so well, so questions like Wawa or Sheetz, favorite place to eat in Wayne, or if you were stranded on an island what you would bring with you,” said Roth. “My other favorite would be probably who has impacted you the most in your life. Because we all have people who have impacted us, and that’s a question where I get to hear more of the personal side of their story. A lot of the athletic or academic questions you get some of the same answers, like there’s variety in all of it, but you really get to see that personal journey when you ask who’s influenced them the most.”

No matter what sport they play or their other interests, Roth wants to get to the heart of the athletes of Eastern and showcase who they and how they excel in all areas of their lives.