THE AUGUSTANA
Jenny Lockhart/The Mirror
Professor Jeffrey Miller's Civitas 201: Reading Augustana class explore nine places in the chapel and write about what they
see during a class this week. From left: Sophomore Kaydn Whittman and freshman Jennifer Benoy participate in the activity.
First Civitas students graduate early
Rachel Gerber
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Augustana hosts a
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Thursday, March 11, 2010 1908 • 2010 • AUGUSTANAMIRROR.COM Vol. XCVIII No. 15
ASA defines
grade levels for
senate elections
By Alison Champine
Mirror Guest Writer
Civitas, the honors program at Augus-tana,
will have its first official graduates
this spring.
Seniors Hannah Lincoln, Peder
Thompson, Mackenzie Beukelman and
Mauri Becker are among the first students
to whom Civitas was available. All four
have earned enough credits to graduate
early, becoming Augustana's first Civitas
graduates.
Lincoln and Thompson said they had
no idea when they applied to the program
that it was brand new. They simply liked
the idea of an honors program and want-ed
to get involved.
Civitas director, journalism professor
Jeffrey Miller, said that planning for the
program began in 2005.
"The faculty at Augustana thought it
was important to implement an honors
program because it is something many
other colleges offered that seemed to in-terest
students," Miller said.
Only in its third year of operation at
Augustana, Civitas already has approxi-mately
100 students enrolled.
The Civitas curriculum integrates the
concepts of deputyship, pertinence, jus-tice,
freedom and vocation, which are
drawn from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's essay
"Structure of a Responsible Life."
Lincoln said that work with Bonhoef-fer's
concepts begins with a project that is
submitted when applying to the program.
The project must be centered on one of
"We try to avoid tunnel
vision, and I think we've been
very successful at that'
Jeffrey Miller
Bonhoeffer's five concepts. Lincoln, who
was fond of graphic design, submitted a
visual art piece on freedom, accompanied
by a short essay describing the work.
A total of eight Civitas courses are
required to graduate from the program.
Three of these courses fulfill general
See CIVITAS, page 12
The Augustana Student Association
(ASA) Senate is updating its Constitu-tion
and Election Code by clarifying
academic classification and moving
upper-class elections to the spring in
hopes of making each academic year
more productive.
The current ASA Constitution clas-sifies
students by the number of cred-its
they have obtained in order to de-termine
what elected positions they
are eligible for and who they would
represent. In recent years, the number
of students coming into Augustana
with college credit from placement
tests, such as Advanced Placement or
College Level Examination Program,
or post-secondary institutions have
increased blurring the lines between
what makes a freshman a freshman or
a sophomore a sophomore.
First-year student Tyler Schultz
came to Augustana with college credit
from Post Secondary Enrollment Op-tions
(PSEO), which gave him enough
credits to be classified as a sophomore.
"Although I may have enough cred-its
to be a sophomore, I definitely con-sider
myself a freshman:' Schultz said.
"There is no way I could represent
sophomores, even though I may tech-nically
be one."
Most students identify with oth-ers
who were first-year students at the
same time as they were, not necessarily
students who have the same number of
credits, freshman senator Kelly Wong
said. The proposed changes will ensure
that students will represent and be rep-resented
by students that they have an
affinity with.
See ASA, page 5
By Megan Wendt
Mirror Staff Writer
PRSSA's Polar Plunge raises money for Special Olympics
By Rachel Goeman
Mirror Guest Writer
Augustana students, as well as residents of the Sioux
Falls area, will be "Freezin' For A Reason" in this year's
Polar Plunge on April 17, to raise funds for South Dakota
Special Olympics.
Augustana's Public Relations Student Society of
America (PRSSA), led by faculty adviser professor Mi-chael
Nitz, is challenging all Augustana student groups
and individuals to compete in the Polar Plunge. Par-ticipants
will raise money to get the chance to plunge
into the Sioux River at the event. Students are organiz-ing
teams to raise money for the South Dakota Special
Olympics.
There will be opportunities to raise money along the
way with the many participating student groups. With
only four participants from Augustana last year, PRS-SA
hopes to increase Augustana involvement and raise
awareness about the Special Olympics fundraiser.
Rachel Gerber, this year's PRSSAs account executive
for the Polar Plunge, attended the 2009 Polar Plunge in
Sioux Falls.
"People were excited to do something daring and to
get their adrenaline going, but it was something that
would raise money for a great cause," Gerber said. "I am
excited for this year's Polar Plunge because it has great
potential to be far more successful than it has in the past.
Last year Augie had only four jumpers. I anticipate Augie
making a much bigger splash this year."
Witnessing dozens of Augustana students leaping
into the frigid waters of the Sioux River will be nothing
less than normal this spring, as hundreds of participants
will take the plunge to raise thousands of dollars. Par-ticipants
in the Polar Plunge need to raise a minimum of
$100 per plunger.
After leaping into the river, the plungers will only be
in the water for a few moments and are immediately as-sisted
by divers in the water.
Teams and individuals who are jumping in the Po-lar
Plunge are encouraged to create a theme and dress
in costume to represent their theme. Past themes have
included characters from The
Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter
and Star Wars. Participants
are required to wear shoes for
the jump and changing rooms
will be available on-site. Each
participant will receive a 2010
Polar Plunge sweatshirt after
completing the plunge. Prizes
will be awarded for the most
money raised, best costume
and most money raised by a
team.
Todd Bradwisch, Law Enforcement Liaison for the
Special Olympics South Dakota, has jumped at Polar
Plunges around the Midwest. Recently, he jumped at a
Polar Plunge in Madison, Wisc., on Feb. 20, and enjoyed
every moment of the frozen experience. Last year Sioux
Falls raised $37,000 for the Special Olympics through
See PQLAR PLUNGE, page 5