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Professor Blair, ready to listen
Professor Joe Blair Closes Ledger on Long Career

Accounting Professor Joe Blair has been at Mars Hill College since 1979, and this is his last semester as a Lion. After 29 years serving students, Blair has decided to retire. Professor Blair has not always been an accounting professor, but he believes one thing in particular led him to Mars Hill College - God.

Story by Alexandra Turner


Jaclyn and Tanasi
Senior Lion Mothers Wolves

Senior Jaclyn Bowen got the rare opportunity to work with four wolf puppies over the summer as a volunteer "Wolf Puppy Parent". Jaclyn worked at Bays Mountain Park, a nature center in Tennessee. She got to work with Timber Wolves, also known as Gray Wolves.

Story by Katie Bolton


Gordon Roberts
Math Professor Launched Career from Shop Floor

Gordon Roberts, now an associate professor of mathematics at Mars Hill College, never intended to go to college. When he finished high school, he took part in a four-year apprenticeship as a machinist. He worked as a professional in the field for another four years.

Story by Kacie Cardwell


Senior Prom Queen
Sorority Stages "Senior" Prom

The Delta Zeta National Sorority hosted a Senior Prom at the Mars Hill Retirement Community on April 19. As the residents arrived for an afternoon of dancing and dining with their friends, they were greeted by several sisters under a doorway balloon arch and were given plastic necklaces and corsages.

Story by Sally Carswell


Swearing in on the Quad
Lion Soldier Opens Door to Officer Training

Mars Hill College has established a partnership with Eastern Tennessee State University's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). Sophomore Jessi Young led the project, which will allow students to take ROTC classes and count them as electives. Anyone who is interested can take the classes, which teach students how to be soldiers, the history of the ARMY, different ranks, and how to fight and protect your country.

Story by Lesli Frazier


Jason Wunsch as Student Government President in 1996
Student Support Services Inspired by Former Campus Leader

As a very young child, Jason Wunsch loved school, was outgoing, and seemed to be bright. Then at age eight he was classified as having a learning disability because he wasn't good with written work. The experts were wrong. Wunsch, a 1996 graduate of Mars Hill College and of the Student Support Services program, went on to law school and became a lawyer. His parents told his story at the Student Support Services 20th Anniversary Banquet on April 17.

Story by Sable Adams

Banquet Honors Sudent Support Services Successes story by Sable Adams


The sisters of Delta Zeta
Talent Show to Boost DZ Charities

Delta Zeta National Sorority will be hosting its third annual Talent Show in The Loft on Thursday May 1, at 8 p.m. It is ten dollars to be in the talent show, and a dollar to watch. The purpose of the Talent Show is not only for students to show off their talents, but also to raise money for Delta Zeta's national philanthropies.

Story by Caitlin Daly


First cousins Tyler Coates and Doug Green
Relay For Life Tourney Brings Cousins Together

The Relay For Life Basketball Tournament was part of an American Cancer Society fundraising campaign in Madison County. You honor cancer survivors, pay tribute to those who have lost their lives to cancer, raise money to help fight the disease, and also play serious basketball. Mars Hill Sophomore Tyler Coates played for fun, but also because his brother Ryan Coates had cancer, and Tyler understands how difficult that can be.

Story by Doug Green


Jeff Atkins and his army of cloggers
Jeff Atkins: The Colonel of Clogging

Jeff Atkins has accomplished much since graduating from Mars Hill College in 1994, but he has a big issue to fight for. "The style and flair of traditional clog dancing is beginning to be watered down these days, " he says. Atkins teaches kids clogging, and teaches them to respect its history and heritage as well.

Story by Joey Wilson - - Click for Reader Comment


Fitzhugh on his bike with sister Pamela
The College Loses a Real Super Man

A memorial service for Phillip Andrew Fitzhugh will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 1, in Broyhill Chapel. He died on April 22 as the result of a motorcycle accident. Fitzhugh, 21, was originally from Arden, N.C., and attended T.C. Roberson High School where he played football. He came to Mars Hill College in the fall of 2005 and attended through the spring of 2007. He was enrolled for the fall of 2008.

Story by Caitlin Daly

Phil's Friends Remember

The line was as long as the eye could see. It wrapped around the building, and when they let people in at around 6 p.m., there were still many people outside. Hillary Clinton came to the Asheville Civic Center on Thursday, April 24 to campaign for the White House. She came to tell her voters and the people of Western North Carolina to come and vote in the state primary May 6. She came to tell them her ideas and what she would do when she becomes president. North Carolina could make the difference in who wins or loses for the presidential Democratic nomination, and Clinton came to win the votes. Her opponent, Barack Obama, has not announced if he is going to visit Western North Carolina.
Photos by Yonaton Arnold - Click for more

Candidate Woos Critical Tar Heel Support
Story
by Paul Annas




MHC Thinks Green

Officially Green Week runs April 20 - 27, but green ideas can sprout anywhere throughout the year. Consider the examples below. Then click here to find green events on the calendar


Mark Norwood and his fellow groundskeepers set three Bald Cypress saplings in the Lower Quad on Earth Day, April 22. Though known as a low country swamp trees, Norwood says they should thrive here and could reach 70 feet by the next century.
Josh Doby Photos


Green Student Guide in Print and Online

Matt Kupstas and the Green Students United (GSU) have developed The Green Student Guide to help students be more green in their everyday lives. More green means living in a way that you can "lessen your negative impact on the environment," as Matt Kupstas wrote in the introduction.

Click for online version


Matt Kupstas with G. McLeod Bryan
Kupstas Honored for Environmental Work

Mars Hill College Senior Matt Kupstas, founder of Green Students United, has been awarded the annual G. McLeod Bryan Caring Award for his volunteer work in helping raise environmental awareness on campus. He is a sociology major and environmental studies minor active in environmental causes.

Story by Sally Carswell

Click for full list of service awards

Outdoor Center Visits Grand Canyon of Carolina

Air was shooting through the gorge, causing the temperature to drop. It was cold, but the water of the Linville River was even colder. The mountains descend into a rocky mass; the rock formations look like pancakes stacked one on top of the other. This rocky mass is divided by a rushing river flowing through it, and a few Mars Hill College students were wondering why they were about to willingly jump into this furious river. This is Linville Gorge, the Grand Canyon of North Carolina.

Story and Photos by Rob Hunt


Pottery to be fired with landfill gas
Energy Xchange Turns Trash into Wealth and Beauty

The signs lead up a long and winding road just west of Burnsville. Looking to the right while coming up to the top of the hill you notice patches of grass. Underneath the grass lies an old dump that has been converted into an alternative fuel source.

Story by Josh Doby


Josh Doby
Josh Doby: A Lens for All Reasons

Many students have seen Freshman Josh Doby walking around campus or at a Mars Hill event taking pictures for student publications such as The Laurel and The Hilltop. But Josh's photography is known beyond Mars Hill College.

Story by Katherine Bolton

Liberal Arts Go Live in S.L.A.M. 2008

Photos by Josh Doby and others
What do bacteriophages, eating disorders, a virtual funk band, and "sexy kind grilled-cheese sandwiches" all have in common? On Wednesday April 9, academic hum-drum was halted for the second annual Student Liberal Arts Mosaic, or SLAM. From 9:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., students at the college delivered 38 presentations and performances on a wide range of topics.

Story by Nathan Heath & Hilltop Staff

Spine Injury Presentation Draws Athletes' Attention

SLAM Performance Suggests an Allegory of the Church

Poo and You: Biology Major Seeks Medical Alternatives in Sewage


Kat Stadler and Carlee Macon hanging Kat's Parrot
Student Art on Display

Three Senior art students have spent countless hours over the last two semesters preparing for the Senior Art Exhibit, which opened on Friday, April 11. The exhibit will run through May 10 in the Weizenblatt Gallery of Moore Auditorium.

Story by Kacie Cardwell


Three bedrooms, living room, and kitchen
Habitat House Dedicated

On a sunny April 6, Madison County Habitat for Humanity dedicated its nineteenth house since its founding in 1989. The family, a single mother from Madison County and her two young sons, will move in as soon as the final inspection is complete.

Story by Sally Carswell


It's just a game
Beech Glen - Where Hoop Dreams Get Laid Up

Just playing a little basketball is about all ex-players -- and even many people who never had the chance to play on a team -- want to do in their spare time. Beech Glen Community Center provides that sweet opportunity. The gym at Beech Glen has brand new extra-soft goals, floors so sticky that you twist your ankle if you stop too quick, and is just big enough to where a lot of pick up games happen.

Story by Tyler Coates


No more "if's" or "and's" - just butts
Smoking Ban Initiative Snuffed Out

One vote made the difference as the Student Government Association turned down a proposal to establish a smoke-free campus, 10 to 9. One person abstained. The vote, held during a regular SGA meeting April 10, ends the discussion for this school year, but it can be brought up again next year.

Story by Sable Adams


Students Rally to Take Back the Night

People gathered on the Mars Hill College campus on April 10 to share stories and to speak out against sexual assault and domestic violence during "Take Back the Night, 2008." The speak-out aimed to end the silence that often surrounds these issues and to raise awareness, hope and courage.

Story by Jessica Young


Jack Delaney speaks about Bacteriophages
Poo and You:
Biology Major Seeks Medical Alternatives in Sewage


With slides titled "Bacteriophage -- what the ? ," and "Poo and You," Junior Biology Major Jack Delaney informed the crowd during SLAM about using Fecal Viruses as Medicine. In his April 9 presentation he told about bacteria-eating viruses called "Bacteriophages" as an alternative treatment in bacterial infection.

Story by Lesli Frazier - - Click for Reader Comment


Michelle Bruner, Wayne Morris, Sarah Brandenberger and John Burk
Spine Injury Presentation Draws Athletes' Attention

The spine is the central nervous core of the human body. It's the CPU -- the central processing unit of the body. When something bad happens to it, it's not going to be the only thing affected. In a case of a 20-year-old MHC football player, something did happen. Students, athletes, and faculty alike crowded in to the MHC media center on April 9 to hear a SLAM presentation by the student athletic trainers on spinal injury.

Story by Josh Coburn


The congregation stares at the wall
SLAM Performance Suggests an Allegory of the Church

Imagine Plato's Cave as your church. That is how Christine Hernandez-Cuenco introduced her one-act play, God on the Wall, at SLAM on April 9th in Broyhill Chapel. The performance consisted of an all-female cast including Hernandez-Cuenco as the main character, as well as Kasey Boston, Maryanne Brown, Reb Knight, and Joan Wilkerson.

Story by Kacie Cardwell - - Click for Reader Comment

Handmade Bowls for the 2006 Empty Bowls Dinner
Hunger Week Events Stuff Campus Calendar

Every year Mars Hill College has a Hunger Awareness Week to collect funds and food and raise awareness of the problem of hunger worldwide and in North Carolina. With help from student organizations, Kayla McCurry and Todd Allen have taken on the task of planning a week of events.

Story by Jessica Young

    Click Here to see past stories    

Would you like your voice to be heard on campus?   Want to get the word out about current campus events and issues?   Interested in photography, writing, journalism, web design, or layout?   Contact the Hilltop at hilltop@mhc.edu to become part of the 2006-07 Hilltop staff.   No experience required.

Copyright © 2004, Mars Hill College

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