The Secret Weapon for Student Entrepreneurs

 
“Today has been excellent, we didn’t expect this great of a turnout,” said Zo Zappitell, who is a co-foudner of a new app called “Conecter.” Zoe Zappitell and Brittany Urich are the founders of a new app Conecter, which held their launch party last Friday. “It’s a dynamic platform where you can find study buddies, you can find someone to take a run with, you get to do all these activities with people you never would have met,” said Zappitell. The duo first met on study abroad two years ago, and teamed up together to find a way to connect students. “We decided an app would be a really good way to do that,” said Zappitell.

Long Line to See Bernie Sanders

Michigan State students and other Bernie Sanders supporters lined up to see Senator Bernie Sanders speak at the Breslin Center on Wednesday, March 2. Sanders was set to go on stage at the Breslin Center at 7pm, but the line started way before that
“We actually got here at one o’clock,” said Lansing Community College student William Depew, who was the first in line.  “I saw something on tumblr, believe it or not, and it was a post about people being kinda sad because they had to vote for Hillary, and it was like ‘Hey, heres some things you probably agree on because you’re a youth and I agreed with all of them, and right away I was feelin the bern.’”
However, not everyone came to see Sanders. “No we’re not,” said Madi Sholtz, who is a member of the Michigan State College Republicans. She along with other members were holding signs that read phrases such as “The best social program is a job!” and “I (heart) Capitalism.”

MHSAA Releases Report on Concussions

 
For the first time, the association in charge of high school sports in Michigan is keeping track of concussions, and now, their results have been made public. Concussions are one of the biggest issues facing sports, and football in particular. “Football gets most of the notoriety, most of the headlines but we’re working on this for every sport because concussions are something that can happen in every single sport that our kids go out and play,” said MHSAA Communications Director John Johnson. The Michigan High School Athletic Association, or MHSAA, has collected reports on head injuries from its member schools for the first time. “Whether it’s in practice or in competition, in every sport, in all grades.”
 
The data was collected from all fall sports.

Students Have Issues Getting Big Ten Championship Tickets

As the michigan state players boarded the bus for Indianapolis, many MSU students are hoping to join them as well. “I’ve been looking at it for a while, looking at hotels,” said Michigan State senior Cara Whinnery, who was anxiously awaiting for tickets to go on-sale. “I got an email from the ticket office as well at 8:45 saying they would go onsale at nine”

However for many of the students who have packed Spartan Stadium for four years, they quickly found out that Nine o’clock was too late. “When I logged into my account at 9:00pm as directed, they were already sold out completely,” said Whinnery. Thayer Morton is also a senior at MSU, who like Whinnery, was waiting until 9:00PM to buy his tickets, until he got a call. “My buddy called me at about 8:20, 8:25 saying the tickets were on sale,” said Morton. I didn’t even believe it at first but then I logged on and as you can it right there, a confirmation was sent at 8:30 so clearly they were on sale before nine.”

Like many other students, Whinnery logged on to social media to express her disappointment in the early sale, which is where she discovered that not all hope was lost.

MSU Greek Life Plans for New Sexual Assault Training Program

Sexual assault has become a major issue on college campuses, and it might be much more common than people think. “Rape is the most commonly reported violent crime reported on college campuses. like, 1 in 5 women in America will be raped in their lifetime,” said President of the Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention program Beth Ann Hamilton. Hamilton is the President of the Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention Program, also known as SACI, and she knows firsthand how big of an issue sexual assault is on college campuses. “Working as a SACI advocate you see that all the time, you’re on call for crisis line, you get like sometimes like 3 or 4 calls a day.”

The Office of Civil Rights, or OCR, released a report in September identifying issues with Michigan State’s handling of sexual assault cases.

Michigan State Men’s Basketball Team Shares High Expectations at Media Day

 

With a brand new Final Four banner now hanging in the rafters, expectations for this year’s men’s basketball team are even higher. “Our motto this year is take it to another level,” said sophomore guard Tum Tum Nairn Jr.

“We want to get to that next game and play for a National Championship,” said sophomore forward Marvin Clark. “We just look like a team that can win a National Championship,” said senior guard Denzel Valentine. Coach Tom Izzo says it’s really the players who are setting the goals to win big. “You know, that can be a lot of letdowns too.

Michigan State Beats Michigan on Miraculous Final Play


It only took 10 seconds to silence the largest stadium in the country with Rangers: Mission 4-10. That was the name Coach Mark Dantonio gave the last play that ended the Michigan vs. Michigan State game on Saturday, and it’s a play that will be remembered for years and years to come. “For everyone who was watching this game, there was no shot for us to win, and then for that to happen and go down… just lost for words,” said Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook. Not only was Connor Cook at a loss for words, but the entire stadium was feeling the same way, trying to comprehend what they just saw.

East Lansing Welcomes New Businesses

Every fall, downtown East Lansing welcomes in new businesses. Usually, because another business couldn’t last the brutal summer in a college town. “When you’re in a college town market, to be frank, it’s a little bit difficult, it’s a hard market to break into,” said Community Development Specialist for the City of East Lansing Amy Schlusler. “I think it’d be conservatively fair to say that you see at least five to ten businesses every summer probably change over.”

It’s not just your typical mom and pop stores that can’t survive. Just this past summer, businesses such as La Bodega, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Thai 102, Firehouse Subs, and What Up Dawg all locked up their doors for good. Another business that closed was Grand River Coffee, a very popular spot among the college crowd, and that took many by surprise.