Sandspur, Vol 113, No 03, September 11, 2006

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SPORTS
Soccer Continu
Vol. 113 Issue 03
Ihe Student Voice of Rollins College Since 1894
www.thesandspur.org
September 11, 2006
Thunderstorm Ernesto Cancels Classes
JD Casto
the sandspur
As we enter the height of
Hurricane Season Rollins had
its first experience with the then
Tropical Depression Ernesto.
The National Hurricane Center
(NHC) was calling for winds
gusting over fifty miles per hour
on Wednesday August 30, 2006.
Rollins College along with other
local schools shut down in preparation for this storm. This came to
a surprise to most students since
last year school was held during
Hurricane Wilma - a much more
violent storm.
When it was announced that
school was canceled the most
common thing heard on campus
was, "Dude, lets party." A few
hours after school was canceled,
it wasn't surprising that the campus announced that it was a dry
campus as of five o'clock that
day.
School was canceled because
every other school was closing.
Rollins was just another sheep
in the herd. Instead of making
up their own minds and saving a
Hurricane Day for an actual hurricane, they canceled class when
JD CASTO/ The Sandspur
BLOWING BY: Meterologists projected Tropical Storm Ernesto to dump heavy rain on Central Florida, in
the end it was downgraded to just a few showers and light winds
Ernesto   wasn't   an   immediate
threat.
As Ernesto neared the
Florida Keys, it weakened to a
Tropical Depression. With maximum sustained winds of 35 mph
Ernesto rolled through Rollins. By
1 o'clock the first rain band's rain
had dried up and the sun was
shining. When the majority of
the storm hit that evening, it was
nothing more than a rainstorm.
There were storm cells stronger
than Ernesto in the Midwest.
Tropical Depression Six
formed Monday September 4,
2006 and nears Tropical Storm
strength. By the time this is published Tropical Depression Six
will be known as Hurricane Florence.
The storm will be here some
time during the week of September 18, 2006. There are three scenarios for this storm as of now.
The first has the storm hitting
Cuba and just grazing Florida.
The second has the storm hitting
the southern half of Florida, and
the third (and more probable) has
the storm hitting the Carolina's.
As stated in last weeks issue,
there are many necessities in going through a hurricane. Again,
Winter Park is far enough inland
where a major storm would reach
us in such a state that it would not
be too threatening. There are a
few items that you would not expect to be very helpful should the
worst-case scenario happen.
If plumbing is unavailable
the best thing to use as a shower is baby wipes. Storm chasers
CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Deep Learning With "Shadow Diver" Author
Stephanie Hanisak
the sandspur
Every summer, incoming Rollins freshman are required to
read a book for their Rollins Conference Course (RCC). This summer professors asked their students to read Shadow Divers: The
True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to
Solve One of the Last Mysteries of
World War II, by Robert Kurson.
Shadow Divers reached number
two on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has been deemed
"The men in the book dealt
with personal challenges and
they needed drive and dedication to overcome their challenges", said Elise Letanosky, who is
a peer mentor for Debates about
Free Speech, which is one of the
RCC classes for the Honors Program.
"The book was more about
personal journey and finding
your own strength than SCUBA
diving. This was their mission in
life and it cost them a lot, including their wives and even one of
their own lives."
Shadow Divers, which is currently being made into a movie
directed by Ridley Scott, tells the
true tale of two wreck divers, John
Chatterton and Rich Kohler, who
discover a German U-boat 60 feet
of the coast of New Jersey.
The unknown U-boat was
submerged 230 feet under the
ocean's turbulent surface.   After
the ship's discovery, the divers
spent seven years uncovering the
mysteries that lay with the ship
at the bottom of the sea - all of
which is included in the book.
"This text is a great way to
engage incoming freshman with
their classmates as well as gain
insight on history and learn interesting facts," said Michael Aronski, a freshman currently enrolled
in RCC 100: Dangerous Company:
Social Exclusion and Alienation.
"The historical aspect of the book
was intriguing, looking into the
lives of men who came together
for a common cause."
On Friday August 18, Kurson
visited Rollins.
During his lecture he recapped
the book, talked about how his
father inspired him to write the
book, discussed his nonexistent
background as a writer, and fielded questions from the audience.
Many students participated in
the question and answer portion.
The question and answer session
went well allowing students to
have all their questions about the
book they read over summer qn-
swered.
One student asked Kurson, if
as a writer he overcame his own
challenges to achieve his personal mission in regards to writing
this inspirational story. He did.
Just as the men in book, Kurson
took risks in his own life to write
Shadow Divers.
Before writing this book, he
was an unhappy lawyer. Once he
heard about the story of Chatter-
ton and Kohler, he gave up everything to write their story. He had
no experience as a writer before
taking on this task.
The new students seemed to
overall respond positively towards the book selection. "Many
of the kids found it hard to get
started and wondered why they
were reading a book about divers," said Letanosky. "But once
they got intq, the book, they found
it intriguing because of the personal journey of the two men. It
became easy for them to see the
parallels with their own challenges as freshman in a new environment."
After reading the book and
hearing Kurson speak on his own
Challenges and the challenges
the divers faced, students learned
positive ways to deal with problems they may face throughout
their college career, especially
their first year. "[Llearned] if you
love something, always pursue
it," said Aronski.
Note: As a follow-up to Robert Kurson's discussion with first
years on campus, one of the main
divers featured in his piece will
be coming to campus: John Chatterton, in mid to late October. For
more information, please keep an
eye on the Rollins calender.
Rollins is always sponsoring
events which include authors and
artists. a
COURTESY OF PUBLISHER
COVER TO COVER: Author Robert Kurson came to Rollins during
Orientation to discuss questions with first years.
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Life & Times   10
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