Local college basketball: Montgomery County edges Atlantic Cape Community College men

Posted on : 20-11-2011 | By : Dakota Pethebridge | In : Education Advisor

Tags: Cape Community, Cape Community College, Community College, Men

0

Montgomery County College defeated Atlantic Cape Community College 83-77 in a men’s basketball game on Wednesday.

Armin Cane led Atlantic Cape with 32 points and nine steals, and Muji McBride added 22 points with 26 rebounds. Ceasar Sandoval scored eight points for Atlantic Cape.

Atlantic Cape next plays Saturday at home against Middlesex County College.

Atlantic Cape women’s basketball: Remi Gerwicz scored 15 points and Alyssa Butcher added 10 to help Montgomery defeat Atlantic Cape 49-44.

Autumn Foreman led Atlantic Cape with 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Kerry Player had nine points and 14 rebounds, and Nicole Forte added six points, five rebounds, and three assists.

Atlantic Cape hosts Middlesex County on Saturday.

UNC system begins tuition discussions

Posted on : 13-11-2011 | By : Dakota Pethebridge | In : Education Advisor

Tags: Tuition, Tuition Discussions

0

Leaders of public universities in North Carolina on Thursday began a months-long process to decide whether students will pay more tuition in the coming year.

The Board of Governors of theUniversity of North Carolina systemmet to begin discussions on possibly allowing exceptions to a6.5 percent cap on annual tuition and fee increases, which was put in place several years ago.

“We need to be sure above all else that we have access and affordability, but we also have excellence,” UNC President Tom Ross said.

The leaders of some universities have indicated they might seek tuition hikes above the cap.Talk of tuition increases comes after the 17-campus system lost $414 million, or 15.6 percent, of its funding in the most recent state budget.

The Board of Governors also is looking at cutting costs by eliminating redundant programs at various campuses. Jim Woodward, the retired chancellor of UNC-Charlotte, examined the issue in recent months and told the board Thursday that program duplication isn’t a problem for the UNC system.

Campuses have added more programs than they have discontinued over the past decade, Woodward said, but many of the new fields are tied to economic development.

He advised the board to look at expanding online programs that would allow students on one UNC campus to take courses on another. He also said the UNC system needs to review the mission of each campus, which hasn’t been done in 20 years.

The Board of Governors will not vote on any tuition proposals until after February.All tuition increases must be approved by trustees of the individual schools, the Board of Governors and state lawmakers before taking effect.

A special UNC-Chapel Hill task force is expected to vote sometime in November on a proposal to raise tuition and fees for in-state students by up to $2,800, which would be a 40 percent increase. The increase would likely be spread over a few years.

“You are hearing talk of going above the 6.5 percent, and I think that’s probably going to be necessary,” UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp said.

North Carolina State University officials are considering adding $330 to in-state undergraduate tuition –a 6.4 percent increase –but could go higher if given approval, officials said.

“If the state is not able to fund higher education the way they have in the past, we are going to look at the balance between state funding and student funding,” N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson said.

North Carolina Central University will likely issue its tuition proposal in December.

Appalachian State University student Atul Bhula said he’s seeing more students quit school and go to work to save money to come back, because they can no longer get the financial aid they need.

“I’m afraid that if they do raise tuition by a certain amount, then we are going to see a lot more students dropping out,” said Bhula, who is the student representative to the Board of Governors andpresident of the UNC Association of Student Governments.

What We’re Watching: Disruptive Innovations Could Transform Washington State Schools

Posted on : 31-10-2011 | By : Dakota Pethebridge | In : Education Advisor

Tags: State, Washington State

0

Education Next editor, Michael B. Horn, recently presented at the Washington Education Innovation Forum where he discussed blended learning implementation in Washington State. According to Horn, “blended learning,” which combines online learning with in-classroom teaching, can help public schools find new ways to improve education and can help teachers use their time in the classroom more efficiently and effectively.

Oregon’s Isagawa among top freshmen

Posted on : 25-10-2011 | By : Dakota Pethebridge | In : Education Advisor

Tags: Top, Top Freshmen

0

The class of 2011 was expected to make an immediate impact on college golf this year, and so far these players haven’t disappointed. Golfweek’s top freshman to watch, Erynne Lee, began the year in the No. 1 position for defending national champion UCLA and Pepperdine’s Grace Na (technically a sophomore after graduating high school early to join the Wave roster in January) tied the NCAA scoring record earlier this week. But what about the unknowns? Here are four players who began their freshman season under the radar, but can no longer be called unknowns:

Golfweek ranking: 14

Isagawa hails from Wailuku, Hawaii, but quickly made a name for herself in the lower 48 at the Ducks’ season opener, the Golfweek Conference Challenge. Isagawa was the low scorer for Oregon (T-11) as the team bobbed in and out of the lead, eventually finishing T-5. Isagawa sandwiched a 1-under 71 with rounds of 5-over 77 that head coach Ria Scott explained were just “not characteristic of her if you know who she is and what she’s like.”

In Oregon’s following two starts, Isagawa was runner-up at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational at the menacing Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash., and third in a loaded Stanford Invitational field.

So who, exactly, is Isagawa? A player who keeps the game simple, but can underestimate her ability (especially length off the tee and putting). You’ll know her by the yellow golf ball. Perhaps it’s even unfair to call Isagawa a complete unknown after her appearance on the 2010 Ryder Cup team and a playoff win at the 2010 Junior PGA Championship.

“Cassy has this interesting combination of quiet confidence, and unawareness of how talented she really is,” Scott said. “People around her see it. When her belief catches up to her true ability, and when she learns to adjust a little more on the golf course, her results could be scary.”

Golfweek ranking: 26

Kim’s biggest claim to fame might be her two-shot win at the Stanford Intercollegiate, but it’s an impressive feat nonetheless. Kim set a Washington scoring record for lowest 54-hole total with her 13-under 200 at that event, and it was only her third tournament with the Huskies. To back it up, Kim finished sixth at the Pac-12/SEC Championship the following week. She closed with a 68 to earn her third top-10 finish for the fall, and but for two bad holes, things could have been very different, as head coach Mary Lou Mulflur noted.

“If she doesn’t have a triple bogey on Friday and one on Saturday, she wins the dang tournament,” Mulflur said. “But, that’s the way it goes sometimes. She still played outstanding and continues to be very impressive.”

Golfweek ranking: 40

You can thank sophomore Austin Ernst for setting the bar high for LSU freshmen, and you can be sure that a player who makes it onto head coach Karen Bahnsen’s roster truly has earned it. NCAA champ Ernst, afterall, sat out the first two tournaments last season as she proved she had the game to compete on a squad that logged seven top-3 finishes last year.

LSU already has two wins this season, and Sagstrom has been a solid contributor in those events, starting in all four fall tournaments with the Tigers and twice finishing in the top 20 (including a T-5 at the Tar Heel Invitational). With a stroke average of 73, Sagstrom falls in third place on the LSU roster, behind Ernst and Tessa Teachman.

Golfweek ranking: 55

Auburn players Carlie Yadloczky and Marta Sanz have taken home individual titles at two of the more stacked tournaments of the fall – Yadloczky at the “Mo”Morial and Sanz at the Tar Heel Invitational. In that time, Auburn also has risen to No. 3 in Golfweek’s rankings with three top-3 finishes as a team.

Needless to say, the supporting cast on this roster is strong. Trapani opened the season with a T-6 at the “Mo”Morial after closing with a final-round 68. Trapani added a T-21 in a 95-player field at the Tar Heel.

And another: There’s no question defending champion UCLA has a deep roster this season – and there’s been no shortage of discussion on the topic. But maybe it’s time to give UC Davis a hard look from top to bottom, too. The Aggies won their second title in five starts this fall at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. Sophomore Jessica Chulya led UC Davis to that win, becoming the fifth different Aggie to finish as the low player on the team this season.

UC Davis shot 5-over 869 to finish 15 shots ahead of runner-up San Diego State. It was the 12th win in UC Davis’ eight-year history as a Division I team, and it was the sixth time the Aggies have won by 15 or more shots.

UC Davis is ranked No. 24 by Golfweek after also winning the Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic to start the season.

Five questions with Pepperdine sophomore Grace Na, who shot a first-round 9-under 63 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown that tied the NCAA 18-hole scoring record, then went on to win the event:

1.) How do you forget a first-round 63 and come out on top after two more rounds?

Honestly, after a good round I’m pretty good at forgetting about it and moving on to another day. A couple people thought I couldn’t back it up. I didn’t know the whole process of shooting 63 and not being able to back it up. Because I didn’t know the whole process I think it helped me to stay focused. Having a coach like Laurie Gibbs, she really helped me to stay focused, in the zone and not focus on my score. She’s trying to prepare me to be the best I can be.

2.) With high winds in the final round, how much more difficult did the course play?

Coach said it was going to be pretty windy the final round and pretty cold. The whole team was like, there’s no way. When we got out, we were wearing rain gear, hand warmers, it was really different. The wind was probably 15-40 mph. … The course was completely different because the wind was coming from the North this time, so it was opposite from the first two days. I knew with those tough finishes, a lot of girls were going to struggle mentally but I thought just staying strong and grinding it out would give me the advantage at the end.

3.) You hit every fairway and every green during the first round. Have you ever done that before?

I forget about the fairways, but I have hit 18 greens during the U.S. Am three years ago with my dad on the bag. This is my second time hitting all 18 greens. I’ve never hit 12 of them inside 15 feet, though – that was my best stat so far.

4.) You graduated early last year to join the Pepperdine roster in January, so you’re still young but already a leader for the team. How does that feel?

I think I made a good decision. I knew some people thought I was starting a little too early, it would be hard adjusting to college. I am still a freshman because this is only my second semester. I definitely didn’t think I would win two tournaments by this point in time but my coach and my whole team just helped me develop and mature a lot on and off the golf course. I didn’t win too many junior events, I won once in 2006 or something. I forgot the feeling of winning, and in college I already have two events on my record and hopefully I have many ahead of me.

5.) Where do your home courses and practice facilities at Pepperdine rate on your list of favorite courses?

One of my favorite courses would have to be El Caballero in Tarzana, Calif. It’s one of the best practice facilities we have – it’s in great shape, greens are fast…I have tons of favorite courses, Bandon Dunes is one of them.

‘The Mighty Macs,’ based on Oakcrest High grad Cathy Rush, set for release today

Posted on : 23-10-2011 | By : Dakota Pethebridge | In : Education Advisor

Tags: Cathy Rush, Mighty Macs, Rush

0

Cathy Rush invited friends to her home in Ventnor a couple of years ago to watch an advance copy of the movie “The Mighty Macs.”

This was not a typical girl’s night in with popcorn and sodas.

This was a movie about her.

Rush, a native of West Atlantic City in Egg Harbor Township, saw the filming of this movie. She watched actress Carla Gugino play Cathy Rush, the basketball coach.

But it wasn’t until Rush was cozy on her couch with the bay waters sitting still around her house that it hit her – a movie about her had been made.

The movie opened with Mother Superior saying, “Catherine Rush.”

“My stomach dropped,” said Rush, a 1964 Oakcrest High School graduate. “It was the most disconcerting thing because it was real.

“Then I had to watch two to three more times and pay attention to what was going on.”

“The Mighty Macs” was made in 2008 as an independent film starring Gugino and David Boreanaz. It was recently picked up for widespread release, starting today. Locally, the movie is listed only at Regal Hamilton Commons Stadium in Mays Landing.

In 2008, Rush, 64, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. But the movie is about how Rush’s success as a mentor and leader started in basketball in the early 1970s.

She won three consecutive Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women national titles from 1972-1974 as coach at Immaculata College, a small, all-female school in Immaculata, Pa.

The G-rated movie is about that first year.

“For years, I have said this story needed to be told,” Rush said. “I believe it should be a movie. It’s good enough to be a movie.”

The story is simple but has a resounding message. At Immaculata, the women’s team didn’t have uniforms. It had no home court because the fieldhouse had burned down.

But even though they had to play every game on the road, the Mighty Macs earned the 15th seed in the national tournament.

Rush, who was 23 at the time, led Immaculata through three upsets to reach the final. There, the Mighty Macs defeated rival West Chester University for their first national title.

Rush used that fame to launch the Future Stars Camp, which has been around the Philadelphia area for more than 35 years.

But even being in the Hall of Fame and having a movie made about her hasn’t changed the way her family looks at her.

Her nephew, Brian Booth, who is the swim coach at Mainland Regional High School, just sees Aunt Cathy.

“She’s just a regular person,” said Booth, a Linwood resident. “She’s a humble, regular person. It’s nice to see what it’s done for her, but she’s never been one to sit there and speak on past accomplishments.”

Booth saw the movie several years ago when it was made, but he said he probably will take his children to see it sometime this weekend.

His parents, Ron and Alice Booth – Rush’s sister – went to the premiere last Friday in Philadelphia. The entire cast was there, including Rush, who has been on a media tour all week.

She was in New York City on Thursday and planned to fly to Miami today, and then back to New York on Saturday.

But she doesn’t mind the travel so much. Rush feels this is an important movie for people to watch.

“It’s uplifting, funny and there is a message there, too,” she said. “Good things can happen to everybody. Everyone can dream big. That’s really what this story is all about.”

609-272-7187