The Beacon presents a photo series on summer missions trips: A view from China

Check out the Beacon’s first of many photo series on the PBA summer missions trips taking place all summer long. All shots feature students and are taken by students who went on the trips in various locations around the world. Stay tuned for more!

Junior Hannah Huffer has provided the Beacon with some of her snap shots from her trip to China with the PBA missions team. Check them out below.

Did you go on a Summer missions trip with PBA? Send us your photos for your chance to be featured in our summer missions series! Send in your best photos to beacon@pba.edu or to mitzi.fig@gmail.com stating that you give the Beacon permission to use your photos. Don’t forget to include your name, your year,  and a bit of information about your trip (what was your favorite part? What was your job? etc).

Spending the summer in WPB? Looking for something to do?

Beacon editor Jen Herring has started a new blog dedicated to West Palm Beach nightlife, events and entertainment! For all of you who are spending the summer in West Palm Beach or the South Florida region, she will be updating the site with suggestions of how to beat the rainy blues and who will be hosting hot summer events!

Check it out here!

A view from Haiti

Beacon contributor Cheyanne Lent spent her Spring Break, along with a group of students, on a missions trip to Haiti. Every year, PBA sends students around the world to different countries during the Spring and Summer breaks. Spring Break ’09 trips included missions to locations such as Ireland, Brazil, Peru and Haiti.

Check out Lent’s slideshow of the trip and her behind the scenes photos of the team’s experience here!

For more on the Spring missions trips, check out the Beacon’s archived coverage.

Did you recently get back from a summer’s missions trip? Send us your photos at beacon@pba.edu!

Finals make you want to jump off a bridge?

Sure, finals are stressful and they can make you want to pull out your hair. But we were down right shocked to see this video of a group of freshman jump off Okeechobee bridge.

Thankfully, no one got hurt doing the stunt but the group was sternly reprimanded by police.

Oh and for the record, maybe the stunt wasn’t the smartest thing to do but the group did share a prayer before anyone took the leap off the bridge. 

* The Beacon newspaper does not encourage dangerous behavior* 

It’s midnight somewhere, Happy Finals Week

Yep, it’s that time of year again. Finals week means more than late nights and crowded study rooms. It’s also the time in the semester when the cafeteria opens up at 9 p.m. for a free cafeteria-style breakfast, just in time for your evening coffee fix. Check out the photo gallery to see the traditional Midnight Breakfast frenzy.

Mahanes sit-in protest update: Protest cancelled

Update: The sit-in protest scheduled to take place tomorrow at 11 a.m. is canceled. Protest organizers released this statement on the Facebook group page regarding the change.

In lieu of and in respect to the wishes of Dr. Mahanes, the protest tomorrow will not be taking place, all members of this group have been notified of the adjusted nature of the events on Tuesday.

The silent sit-in protest was called shortly after a letter sent to university faculty and staff was published on The Bacon that outlined the details of budget cutbacks that would terminated Dr. Ken Mahanes’ position as Vice President of Religious Life.  The Facebook group calling for the protest urged students to wear black, bring signs and invite everyone to a sit-in protest at 11 a.m. on the Rinker Green May 5. During its short lifetime, the group grew to 266 members.

Stay tuned for more breaking updates on the Mahanes protest and other news.

A commentary on the first 100 days of Obama’s presidency

Beacon contributor Marissa Barkey, reflects on the Obama administration and the president’s first 100 days in office.

After studying abroad in a European culture that embraced our new leadership, I came back to PBA, and it was the first time I saw the highest amount of disappointment of our new President. I was taken back when I heard one student say he believed Obama was a terrorist. President Barack Obama’s first 100 days are concluding. As I might mutter admiration for Obama’s term, clearly, I cannot forget to acknowledge that America is in big trouble.

One of the major questions we face is whether the crises we are all confronting require or demand a seismic shift in order to keep the American ship afloat. I have felt a deep ambivalence about this since I first started to take in what Obama meant. However, as the depth of corruption of the last decade is slowly revealing itself in many places, I still find myself persuaded by Obama that this is the time for real government action.

Video: Student band makes SALSA dance party a hit

Beacon editor Jessica Zaluzec was on hand at the first ever SALSA night dance party in Weyenburg, April 25, led by a live student band.

Found: Friendly Gummy bear parking reminders

Courtesy of Beacon editor Jen Herring.

The geniuses behind the building and planning of the Walt Disney parks in Orlando really got things right when they color coordinated the parking lots. Yeah I guess it isn’t so hard to remember that you parked on level 5 but its just so much easier to remember that you parked in the Peter Pan level E instead.

Apparently, some good Samaritan has initiated the same concept in the Dixie Parking garage by sticking a different colored gummy bears on the wall in the stairwell of each floor of the parking lot. Each color coordinates with a different level.

Thanks a lot friendly Samaritan, for the helpful reminder that I parked on Green Gummy bear level (a.k.a. level three.)

Find something random or weird on campus? Snap a picture and send it to beacon@pba.edu!

Student dancers appear in music video directed by PBA alum

Three PBA students, Junior Chiara Casiraghi, sophomore Etta Preist and freshman Tiffany Teate, were recently featured in Christian recording artist Philip LaRue‘s latest music video for his single, “Chasing the Daylight.” The video features LaRue’s band playing the hit song on the beach while the Casiraghi and the other dancers performed some moves on the sand. The video was directed by another local, alum student Noah Carlson. Check it out here!

We recently caught up with Casiraghi to find out what it was like to work on set and how everything came together.

“Being in the video was a lot of fun I really enjoyed every aspect. The rehearsals, going on “set” to see what we would be dancing on, hanging out with Phillip, meeting his wife and baby, and hanging out with all the crew. And I loved the filming because it was so professional and serious, we were all focused on doing our best. The dancing part of the shoot took about one day.

Noah Carlson, the director, got my number from a mutual friend because he wanted dancers and a choreographer. We met and discussed what he was looking for regarding the video. I showed him some videos of me and my choreography. Ultimately it was Phillips who had the final say and I was very happy to have been chosen to work for them”

Photo of the week: First annual Strongman competition draws crowds

The first annual Strong man competition took place this Thursday, April 23, to a crowd of over 100 people outside the Greene complex. Tim Wysocki came out victorious as the first place winner over the six other competitors in events such as the truck pull and tire throw. For full coverage, check out the Beacon issue coming out this Monday!

Check out some of the photos of the event snapped by Beacon Photo Editor Kristina Webb.

Beacon gets exclusive update on presidential search; 8 applicants expected to be interviewed soon

An inside source spoke to us this morning on the highly secretive presidential search process. The presidential search committee has kept the details of the potential candidates extremely confidential but we were able to get some details from a credible inside source.

According to our source, there have been 70 inquiries and referrals for the presidential position since Dr. David W. Clark’s resignation was announced.

Out of those inquiries, the presidential search committee is seriously considering eight applicants, all eight of which are qualified and available to take over the presidential position this summer. There is still some reference checking to be done but the committee is expecting to begin interviews soon.

Finally, committee members are confident that a new president will be chosen this summer, just in time for Clark’s resignation on June 30.

We’re doing our best to stay on top of this story for you and we’ll be making information available as it is known.

Got a lead? Let us know at beacon@pba.edu.

Beacon Comic: Excellent Ellie in Action!

Graphic by the Beacon’s resident cartoon artist, Valerie Mojica.

We got a little excited about this

Another late night at the Beacon office has us going crazy. But we stumbled upon this during our last layout session of the year, set to come out on April 27th (this upcoming Monday). Our photo-shopped “Sea Kitten”   pictures come up when you Google search Palm Beach Atlantic University chapel credits. WIN.

Freebie Alert: Rita’s water ice

Happy Earth Day! Rita’s Water Ice on Lake Drive will be celebrating the global initiative by offering a free regular Italian ice to everyone who walks in the door. Rita’s on Lake Ave. also happens to the be the first and only “Green” location and will be turning off thier lights today to conserve energy. Need directions? Click here.

Check out the Beacon’s review of Rita’s on Lake Ave. here.

Questions? Let us know at beacon@pba.edu

Beacon reviews: 17 Again

The Beacon’s Marissa Barkey attended this weekend’s top grossing film, the widely anticipated “17 Again” staring High School Musical heartthrob Zac Efron. Efron joins a cast of comedic veterans such as Leslie Mann, Thomas Lennon, Matthew Perry and Michelle Trachtenberg for a comedic ride down memory lane. The main character, played by Perry is a father who finds himself facing some serious regrets of the choices he made when he was still just a teen in High School. After a peculiar encounter with a stranger, Perry transforms into the young 17-year old body of Efron and is forced to head back to High School and try to re-live the memories and correct some mistake’s.

I was skeptical about going to see this movie. A flick with a teenybopper favorite, Zac Efron as the starring role. All in all, “17 Again” isn’t going to blow away the audience by deconstructing genres or through the performances of the actors. However, it is very entertaining. The audience for this movie is not teenagers as much as it adults who like to contemplate going back to high school and correcting a major mistake.

To me, the film resembled a teen high school version of the popular syndicated sitcom “Friends,”  because both have the  same rather eccentric jokes and inappropriate situations which become more comfortable after a slight ruckus. The scenes of Efron trying to convince his teen kids to change are rather amusing as is the moment when he is caught romancing his older wife, as a teenager. But it is still a nice enough laugh full of traditional family values and the right tone -without overdoing the whole silly twist .

Signs, Signs, Signs: Tax Day TEA rally in downtown WPB

On April 15th, nearly 750 anti-tax rallies took place across the country where crowds of frustrated, mostly conservative protestors gathered to send a message back to Washington D.C. The event paid homage to the historic Boston Tea Party of 1773, and was prompted by Rick Santelli’s rant on CNBC when he called for a “Chicago Tea Party” to protest President Obama’s spending policies. Over 1,000 people crowded downtown West Palm Beach for the TEA party, or Tax Enough Already rally, including several students and plenty of alumni.

Senior Nick Byrd was on the scene and sent us his favorite pictures of the event including shots of some very interesting signs.

Don’t forget to check out the Beacon’s front page article on the rally by Beacon contributing writer Vanessa Naggy at the Beacon homepage.

Also, check out our video of the event below! Questions or comments? Send them to beacon@pba.edu

Vote now for the Best of Palm Beach guide!

The Beacon blog is proud to announce its first ever Best of Palm Beach guide for 2009. Voting starts now and will officially close on May 4th. Winners will be announced May 7th in celebration of the graduating class of 2009. Send in your picks for the best pizza place, best view of Palm Beach and best place to eat on a budget!

To vote, click on the “Best of Palm Beach” tab at the top at the top of the page or simply click here.

Questions? Send them to beacon@pba.edu.

Photo of the Week: “Cha Cha real smooth now”

There were around 175 people dancing the night away at last night’s Spring Formal, hosted by Student Activities and that held at the Iron Horse Country Club in West Palm Beach. Thanks to event organizer Cheyanne Lent for sending us this picture of the dance floor at the heat of the moment during everyone’s favorite dance, the Cha Cha Line Dance.

Got a picture you would like to share? Send us your best shot to beacon@pba.edu for a chance to get featured on the blog.

Undercover Youtube video on what would happen if Rinker went co-ed, a must see

About a week ago, the Beacon was tipped off to a Youtube video made by an anonymous student showing a behind the scenes look as to what would happen if Rinker turned into an all boy’s dormitory hall. For the record, Rinker Hall is not becoming a co-ed dorm, and it never has been for that matter despite the subliminal message of the video.

We sat down with the anonymous creator of the video to find out why he or she made the video and why they don’t think the video has offensive content.

Beacon Blog: Who was responsible for putting the video together and why did they decide to make a video like that?

Video Creator: I just thought it would provide a little humor for students. I was hoping people would see it and laugh a little; which is something that seems to happen so seldom. Where have pranks and practical jokes gone other than on The Bacon?

BB: What kind of message are you trying to send with that movie?

VC: Truly, there is no direct message, other than I think if it happened that Rinker went co-ed it would be overthrowing our only male dorm. It was just a creative spin I thought of, I think PBA students would find it and laugh.