Athelete of the week

Cameron White demonstrates dribbling the ball. Photo by: Sean Ferry

Photo by: Sean Ferry
Athlete of the week Cameron White spins the basketball, on the court Thursday.

Article by:
Amanda Aylwin, Outlook Sports Editor

      I got to enjoy an exciting win for the Owens Express men’s basketball team’s season opener Tuesday.  As a former basketball player, I have respect for players who play hard through the entire game, who drive it to the hoop without fear and just show leadership.
      When I watched freshman Cameron White, I saw a lot of potential in this young player. He's very talented and I feel he is going to be a big asset to this team.
      White is a freshman majoring in Business Management.  I asked what drives him to succeed on the court. “My love for the game," he said. "I love basketball and I want to be the best at it. Anything less would be just settling and that only hurts me. So I work as hard as I do so that I can have my dreams become reality.”

Medical Imaging Technologies honor local professionals

Photo by: Sean Ferry
Mercy College student Devin Graves reports on what his table agreed would be most joyful about their future careers.

      The Medical Imaging Technologies program kicked off National Radiologic Technologist week Monday with the fourth annual Imaging and Therapy Professionals Recognition event.

According to department chair Catherine Ford, “This event is devoted to honoring outstanding individuals who work in medical imaging. Nominations are sought from those currently working in the field. A committee of peers reviews all of the submissions and selects the recipients based on appropriate criteria”

       The event was organized in a way that allows students time to network with their future peers. Students, teachers and staff mingled with area professionals while enjoying the music of radiologist Dr. Deb Achinger and her band Bullfrog Underground. Guests enjoyed beverages and a buffet of appetizers prepared by AVI Foodsytems.

      Once everyone had their fill of food, drink and conversation, the night’s keynote speaker was introduced. Denise Moore obtained her bachelor's degree and master's of science from the University of Dayton. She's worked at Sinclair Community College since 1973.

Photo by: Sean Ferry
Dr. Robin Shermis speaks after receiving his award for excellence as a physician in the medical imaging field.

       Moore’s passion for teaching became evident when all guests were asked to group together by table and discuss what they find most joyful about their jobs. After a short musical intermission, Moore proceeded to call on each table to report their findings.

      Mercy College student Devin Graves spoke for his table, “The best thing about being in the hospital is walking into a room where the patient's not feeling well, doing your job right and making their day a little better. And that helps you get through your day.”

        Moore continued her speech, explaining that National Radiologic Technologist week started in 1979. The purpose is to promote the work of medical imaging professionals to the public and to the healthcare industry as a whole.

      The night concluded with award presentations and a few speeches from recipients. Seven different award categories were recognized:

• Imaging and Therapy Clinical Excellence Award (Dawn Merryman)
• Educator Award (Inez Gorsuch)
• Leadership Award (Debra Sepanski)
• Rising Star Award (Melissa Trombly)
• Lifetime Achievement (Carol Ghareeb)
• Physician in Medical Imaging and Therapy Award (Dr. Robin Shermis)
• Imaging and Therapy Sales/Applications Specialist Award (Christopher Fry)

      After receiving his award, Dr. Shermis shared some advice for students. “Just know that it’s worth the effort, the time, the struggle. Maybe one day you will be up here and be as proud as I am,” Dr. Shermis said.

Student Nursing Association raises hundreds for charity

Photo by: Sean Ferry
 Volunteers from the Student Nursing Association at the Signature Chefs Auction last Monday. From left: Eileen Alexander, Chris Kettinger, Sandra Tripp, Debb Sullivan and Janet Pinkelman.

The Student Nursing Association pooled its resources and gathered a huge assortment of items to create two gift baskets for charity. The baskets were raffled at this year’s Signature Chefs Auction to benefit March of Dimes, Monday at the Pinnacle in Maumee.

Eileen Alexander is the SNA advisor. She's a clinical instructor at Owens and has been involved with the charity for the past 8 years. According to Eileen, the SNA was looking for opportunities for community outreach and liked what the March of Dimes does to improve the health of pregnant women and babies.

The SNA put together a student and a faculty basket containing items such as: a Keurig coffee maker, 2 free massages, wine, candles, chocolate and much more. The student basket was assembled by Jenifer Biggs and was auctioned on Monday evening for $194. The faculty basket also sold, making $159 for the charity.

According to the event’s website, the Signature Chefs event has been held in more than 200 cities across the country and has raised more than $150 million for the March of Dimes.

Photo by: Sean Ferry
The faculty-assembled basket includes wine with glasses, 2 free massages, scented lotions and candles.

Picture of the week

Photo by: Diane Larson
Advanced welding student Tim Layton demonstrates SMAW (shielded metal arc welding) or stick welding at the Owens Community College Welding Center.

      This week's picture was captured by the Outlook's copy editor Diane Larson. Diane was covering welding classes and faced the challenge of photographing a scene with an extremely wide dynamic range. With any image containing an extremely bright area against a dim background, the photographer has to make a decision to expose for the brightness and lose any shadow detail, or do what Diane did and balance the exposure to get enough information from highlight and shadow areas to produce an impressive image.

      The exposure was determined by balancing three factors: the camera's sensitivity to light (ISO), the amount of light allowed through the lens (aperture) and the duration of time that that amount of light can expose the sensor (shutter speed). Diane's greatest obstacle was getting the background exposed without overexposing the action of the welding. The ISO was set to 6400, about as high as you ever want to go with today's sensors, to bring the dark background into an achievable range and still allow for a smaller aperture of f/11 to retain detail in the highlights. The shutter speed for this photo was a brisk 1/250th of a second which compliments the small aperture while allowing enough time for the high-speed sparks to slightly blur, lending some motion to the action. White balance would be a nightmare in this situation and I think the auto function did just fine. We see that the brightest source of light is what the camera balanced for white leaving the ambient light to cast an amber glow on anything not illuminated by the welding.

      The composition of this photo combines multiple elements of line, balance, value and complimentary color relationships. The block walls behind the welder provide a simple background with an abundance of lines formed by joints to direct the eye to the center of the photo. Strong leading lines formed from the welder's gaze, gloved hands and the bright line on the object being welded all lead the eye to the smoke and spark filled center of the photo. Two main subjects of the photograph are easily balanced by their placement on opposite corners of the composition. The light value between dark and light works well with the complementary color relationships between blue/orange and red/green to create a dramatic atmosphere befitting the subject matter.

Owens introduces Big E mascot during town hall meeting

Photo by: Sean Ferry
Dr. Betsy Johnson  poses for a photo with Big E prior to the meeting.

      As the 4:30 p.m. start time approached, a large red amorphous creature descended the auditorium steps to silence.  Student Government President James Ruane started the meeting by introducing the mascot as Big E.

      About 20 students, including the executive members of Student Government, were there. When asked what she thought of Big E, Stacey Fields, a civic ambassador for Owens, said, “He was eye-catching, but I hope he can connect more with the students in the future.”

      Several staff members were also at the meeting including Vice President of Student Services Dr. Betsy Johnson. “I’m excited to have Big E on campus’” said Johnson.  She went on to explain that a committee of staff and students was formed to come up with Owens’ new mascot and that several student surveys were taken into consideration during the process.

      With the big surprise unveiled, the meeting continued with a plea for volunteers to help with the Nov. 4 blood drive at Owens. According to Heather Haynes from the American Red Cross, previous blood drives have been supported by the students of the surgical technology program. However the program's leadership has changed and will no longer commit to the event. “Our goal for this drive is just 24 units of blood, but in the past we’ve collected up to 100 units,” explained Haynes.  Volunteers interested in helping with the blood drive should contact Haynes at 419-351-2921.

      Rachel Isenhart was the next to speak. She shared her positive experience with a company called Student Loan Support, and offered to take down names and emails for further information. The company offers student loan consolidation plans along with document preparation and submission services. The Better Business Bureau gave the company its F rating with 58 documented complaints over the past three years. Dr. Johnson warned that problems that can arise with these consolidation processes and urged students to “closely investigate the consequences before you do anything to affect your debt.”

      In news relating directly to Student Government, a new constitution has been proposed and is available for review on the Student Government’s Owens website page for 30 days from the meeting.

      When asked why he thought the meeting was so poorly attended, the Secretary of Student Government Adren Burkes said, “we are usually much more engaged with students. The dynamic of the campus has changed with new students enrolling and people don’t pay attention to announcements or the red bulletin boards.” Student Government does offer cash prizes for just attending their meetings. This week's winners were Janelle Phillips ($20), Ciara Bryant ($20) and Duray Napier ($10). All of the money is placed on the students’ ID card for use at any on-campus retail location.

Photo by: Sean Ferry
Heather Haynes asks for volunteers for the blood drive.

Picture of the week

Photo by: Kyle Brown
Megan Soncrant holds Sara Snow at the Owens Community College community day hosted by the Owens women's soccer team.

Our picture of the week was taken by the Outlook's assistant sports editor Kyle Brown. This portrait does a great job showing what the women's soccer Community Day was all about.

      The exposure of the photo is a good example of why overcast days are great for portraits, no flash was needed to fill in shadow areas and a pleasing lighting pattern of natural light falls on the faces. Kyle captured this photo with an aperture of f/4.0 to give the background a nice softness and adding some separation between subjects and environment. The ISO was set at 250 with a shutter speed of 1/800" to stop all action and produce the nice crisp moment in time that we see.

      Composition of the photo is balanced by the portrait of the girls on the right and the team members signing autographs back to the left. The arms of Megan Soncrant wrap around Sara as she grasps her signed team photo, leading the eye to the main subject first. The draped cloth in the background frames the players very nicely and creates a strong triangular element to capture viewers attention.