Illustration by Sarah Nehring

The most recent hearings concerning the terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, last year have created an increasingly large rift in Washington.

Recent testimonies from three State Department officials who were stationed in Libya at the time of the attack have contradicted statements from the Obama administration as to what actually happened. The testimonies draw attention to inaccurate talking points about the Benghazi attack that UN Ambassador Susan Rice gave on Sunday talk shows in the days following the event.

Naturally, Republicans claim the talking points were intentionally manipulated to cover up an embarrassing failure during an election year, while the president and the Democrats argue that Republicans want nothing more than to politicize a tragedy. Unfortunately, this means the American people are further subjected to a serious matter becoming trivialized by our leaders.

As we wait for more information to be released, journalists and politicians are already coming to their own foregone conclusions without all the facts.

Fox News has already called the whole situation “Benghazi-gate,” likening it to the Watergate scandal, while columnists from the Boston Herald have called this one of the worst cover-ups in the U.S. government in decades.

Conservative journalists are not alone, as Rep. Rand Paul accused Hillary Clinton during a political rally May 10 for the deaths of the four Americans in Benghazi, according to NBC. Others are following Rep. Michele Bachmann’s lead and have started to mention impeachment as a possible course of action against President Obama in the future, according to the Huffington Post.

Let’s stop there and take that into perspective for a second: Impeachment is no small thing, and to be discussing it now before blame has been established, if there is true blame to be had, is tantamount to presuming guilty before proven guilty.

This is not to say, however, that there is no cover-up or conspiracy. The fact that the talking points were, for the most part, completely off the mark (a fact that the Obama Administration publicly apologized for in October), as well as the new testimonies would suggest that the events in Benghazi are still woefully unclear in the minds of both Congress and the American public.

Despite the suspicious nature of the situation, those that have already made up their minds about Clinton’s, Obama’s or the entire administration’s guilt should conduct themselves as many of their peers do: remaining unbiased but professionally skeptical until all facts have been laid out.

Seeing as new documented evidence, such as the 100 pages of declassified emails concerning the Benghazi situation, were released as recently as Wednesday, it’s safe to say that the investigation is ongoing.

As the investigation continues, both the Obama administration and Democrats need to be supportive of the hearings.

According to CNN, in a public address May 13, President Obama said the GOP was creating a political “side show” out of Benghazi. Other Democrats

have echoed the president’s words, believing that this is all an attempt to slander Hillary Clinton, who many believe will run for president in 2016. According to ABC News, Clinton, in a testimony given in October before a congressional hearing, said that it makes no difference why the attacks happened, but that we need to worry about what happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

Photo Illustration by Scott Austin

A home filled with high emotions, unhappy step-siblings and constant disagreements  between family members caused one girl, at the age of 11, to take the advice of a friend, who promised it would bring relief, and cut herself.
Lily Parker (name has been changed), a freshman studying art, turned to cutting as a way to release the pressure of everyday life.

According to www.teenhelp.com, cutting is defined as the deliberate harming of one’s body resulting in injury. Besides cutting, other forms of self-injury include scratching, burning, hitting or biting oneself, hair pulling and deliberately interfering with the healing of wounds. The website said that it is estimated that one in every 200 girls between 13 and 19 years old, or one-half of one percent, cut themselves on a regular basis.

“Every time I would get upset, I would go to [cutting]. After a while, it was how I could show people I was hurting,” Parker said.

Cutting was a personal, secret part of herself that Parker said she could keep—she could own it. She explained it as something in her life that she could control.

“It was something that was mine and I could do it however I wanted, whenever I wanted and it was something that made me different from other people,” Parker said.

Parker said she continued with this form of self-harm until she was a sophomore in high school, at which point she decided it was time she took control of her life.

“I have a lot of nieces and nephews, and I started realizing that if they were doing this, it would hurt me so much. I didn’t want to do that to my family,” Parker said. “It wasn’t my own personal thing that would help me.  It was something that was hurting me and therefore hurting the people who loved me.”

Julie Shiffler, a counselor and psychologist at the BYU-Idaho Counseling Center, said that cutting is not a suicide attempt, but an attempt to deal with overwhelming emotions.

“It can serve a number of purposes,” Shiffler said. “They might use it as a way to punish themselves. Sometimes they might see it as a form of sacrifice or a way to purify themselves. It can function as a cry for help. It can function as a way to distract from the emotional pain and it does that in a number of ways.Some people focus on the pain itself as a distracter; some people view it as a way to disassociate or to detach from the pain so they don’t really feel much of anything. Pain triggers the release of endorphins, so some people will even find the sensation pleasant.”

Shiffler said that over time, cutting can become a part of the person’s identity and they can lose their sense of well-being.

“It’s addictive or compulsive,” Shiffler said. “You can refer to it either way. As they start to experience some sense of relief, or they’ve been able to distract or they’ve been able to numb, that becomes pretty powerful. ‘If I do this, I’ll feel better.’”

Shiffler said she tries to help people understand where the pain is coming from and what triggers these emotional responses because cutting is a counterfeit way of dealing with the real problem.

“One thing I try to get people to do is start to recognize that when they feel like they’re tempted to cut, that there’s something else really going on. I help them try to identify what the real need is, what the real situation is and what is really happening, and to find a way to more directly deal with that,” Shiffler said.

“The Trauma Resiliency Model” is the method that Shiffler uses to treat those who come to her for help with issues related to self-harm.

According to the Trauma Resource Institute the TRM is a mind-body approach and focuses on the biological basis of trauma and the automatic, defensive ways that the human body responds when faced with perceived threats to self and others.

“All of our emotions have physical sensations associated with them. And if we can calm the body as you’re thinking about something that is traumatic to you, then you can find a way to gradually calm your body. Gradually, the sensations you experience in connection with the trauma will be less intense and eventually you’ll get to the point where they can be comfortable or neutral. When that happens, then the way you think about the situations start to change and you can think about it without having a trauma response,” Shiffler said.

Parker said her healing process was not only physical, but it was also spiritual.

Parker said that when she began to realize how important she was to her Heavenly Father, she knew she needed to start to make a some changes in her life.

“I remember how important I am to God and to Christ.  That’s what helps me the most. Sometimes I have to really fight [the urge to cut] because I really want to, but I know better, and I have to remind myself that I know better,” Parker said.

Parker said that she still has hard days where she feels overwhelmed, but she goes to a counselor for help.
Currently, Parker is preparing to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She will begin filling out her mission papers in the fall.

Parker said she would tell those who struggle with this issue that having a problem with self-harm is something they can work to overcome and heal from.

“I would tell them that they’re really important. I know people tell you that all the time, but you really do matter,” Parker said.

Parker said that it really hurts other people in your life when they know what you’re doing and that cutting only hurts in the long run.

“[People struggling with self-harm are] better than that,” Parker said, “They have so much more potential and that it doesn’t help anything; it only makes everything worse.  It’s just another temptation from the adversary. They can overcome it. It’s possible and they are loved.”

Jack Harrell, a professor in the English Department, presents literary principles in the context of a classic rock song to help English majors or anyone else who is interested understand literary theory.

Harrell is currently on faculty development leave, which is a type of sabbatical used to improve as a teacher.

Harrell said he had the idea to spend his faculty development leave helping students understand literary theory through classic rock.

“I can take a complex literary principle and use a song to illustrate what’s going on with a question, like does art have an effect on how we behave, and if it doesn’t why do we study it?” Harrell said.

Harrell said he chose classic rock because it is what he knows.

“I have been a student of this kind of music since I was 14 years old. If I had a strong background in jazz or classical music, I could do the same thing. It is just that it happens to be that rock music is what I know really well,” Harrell said.

Harrell said he is doing this to give more students a chance to take his class, even though it’s not required.

“Only the literary studies majors have to take literary theory, and I actually wish that more of them were required to take this class [English 440]. All of them need to have an improved understanding of literary theory,” Harrell said.

Sharlee Gould, a senior majoring in university studies, said that she has enjoyed attending Harrell’s presentations.

“It’s really nice how art can be looked at in that way. It’s a real opportunity. I wish more people would come,” Gould said.

Harrell said if the presentation does well, he will consider making it a class for next semester.

“I think I’ve had Brother Harrell twice, and he’s one of my favorite English professors. The way he teaches is different, and he has a philosophy of teaching that I respond to as a student. Professors like that, you can’t not take another class from him,” Gould said.

Kaitlyn VanWagoner, a senior studying English education, said she can see the benefit of presenting literary theory the way Harrell does.

“It can get dry if we let it, so it’s fascinating to view literary theory in a way that’s more applicable to our lives,” VanWagoner said.

Emily Boberg, a freshman studying communication, has not attended the class before, but said she was interested in going.

“More people should know about it. If I knew about it, I’d be going to it,” Boberg said.

BYU-Idaho students can now pay student expenses online using Visa. Brian Wright, a bursar at BYU-I, said that this new option was initiated on April 26.

Wright said that in November of 2012, Visa announced new modifications to certain government and education institutions.

Wright said these new modifications allowed the convenience fee to be based on the percentage of the payment amount, which eliminated the university’s earlier objections to Visa.

Wright said BYU-I was then able to work with the university’s providers who in turned worked with Visa.

“It was because Visa would not allow us to carry a convenience fee as a percent,”  Wright said. “We could not charge that convenience fee, and therefore we opted not to take Visa. It would have cost the university millions.”

Wright said that using Visa would also have gone against the university’s Honor Code.

Wright said that Visa wanted to be up front in terms of educational costs. BYU-I accountants would not hide the merchant fee in the tuition.

The merchant fee includes additional costs to the persons using Visa.

Wright said many other universities tend to hide those merchant fees and that Visa charges to students using their products within the lump sum of tuition. BYU-I accountants did not want to conceal those costs in the tuition of their students.

“As well, the University felt that it was unfair to both the students and the tithe payers of the church before the Visa modifications,” Wright said.

Wright said that when Visa announced this change, it took about 5 months for BYU-I to receive approval from both Visa and their convenience fee program.

Wright said that in the past, the only way to pay was with MasterCard, Discover and American Express.

Wright said that BYU-I and other universities in the nation, who felt the same about Visa prior before the change, can now accept Visa.

“Many universities went the same direction as we did; we weren’t alone,” Wright said.

Wright said that since April 26 when Visa was offered to BYU-I students, there has been a significant increase in Visa payments.

“As of Friday, May 10, the dollar amount was 41 percent of our payments were being made with Visa. Along with that, 61 percent of total transactions were being made with Visa,” Wright said.

Wright said that the primary benefit for students being able to pay their educational cost with Visa is that the burden of not being able to pay with Visa will be minimized and hopefully eliminated in the future.

Some students said that they were pleased that they were now able to pay their costs with Visa.

“It is about time that the school accepted Visa with MasterCard,” said Timothy O’Leary, a senior studying applied mathematics. “It is hard on the students. Those that have Visa need to pay by check, which some don’t have, or they have to go and get a MasterCard. It was a burden.”

Wright said the option of paying with Visa is also more time-efficient

“My card is a Visa, so I will be happy when I can start using it, because I had to write an e-check before, and it was just a hassle to find my number, write it down and process it,” said Becky Alvarado, a junior studying nutrition.

According to the Nilson Report, Visa credit and debit cards accounted for 55.2 percent of purchase volume market shares for U.S. general purpose credit card brands in 2012.

For more information about Visa payments, students can visit the Financial Aid office in Kimball 130.

“We are pleased to provide this payment option,” Wright said. “We are hopeful that it will be beneficial to students and parents of BYU-I.”

Courtesy Photo — Guy Hollingsworth teaches the International Studies Pakistan class. Rex Butterfield, member of the Religious Department Faculty said Hollingsworth earned the MacArthur award, which is the most prestigious award the U.S. Army offers.

Guy Hollingsworth, a 54-year-old  associate academic vice president at BYU-Idaho, is preparing for his next 400-day deployment to Afghanistan.

Hollingsworth said he is a colonel in the Army Reserve and will be the Department of Defense Lead for the Afghanistan Threat Finance Cell, where he will look at criminal activity, accompanied by a highly skilled team with very particular skill sets.

Hollingsworth has a background as combat arms officer, but he has been in special operations for a number of years, which is the reason he is going to Afghanistan.

With 37 years of experience in the military, Hollingsworth said he has been aggressively training and preparing for this deployment.

“I look at this deployment, the fact that the Army has asked me to do this, and I say ‘look, if after that many years of serving I can give back a little bit and make a difference for those people of [Afghanistan] when it comes to freedom…then I’m happy to answer the call.’ I am all right to give up a year of my life, that’s the way I have always looked at it,” Hollingsworth said.

He joined the Idaho National Guard in Preston, Idaho in 1975 —the day he turned 17, the summer before starting his senior year in high school.

“My high school heroes at that point were athletes, and they had all joined the National Guard to serve their time in the military in lieu of being drafted during the Vietnam conflict going who knows where,” Hollingsworth said.

“They were finishing up their time, but I couldn’t wait to get in.”

His older brother was in the National Guard as well. Hollingsworth said his high school had a graduating class of 100; 45 were young men, and almost 20 of those boys joined the National Guard that summer.

“I guess you can say it was the cool thing to do,” Hollingsworth said.

After graduating from high school, Hollingsworth went to Ricks College for one semester, and then served a mission in New Mexico.

He married his wife a couple years after his mission, went to BYU and received his bachelor’s degree in communication, which took 13 years because of a number of family medical problems.

He went on to get a master’s degree at Idaho State University and received a Ph.D. from the University of Idaho.  He went on to earn a second master’s degree from the US Army War College.

“I was doing some military things along the way to help pay for family expenses,” Hollingsworth said. “The army helped pay for my bachelor’s and master’s degrees. It has been a good supplement in that regard, but it has also provided some wonderful experiences for me.”

Hollingsworth was in the National Guard for 25 years, and spent the last 13 years in the Army Reserve.

The National Guard answers to the governor, but the Army Reserve has federal soldiers, who answer to the president.

Four years ago, Hollingsworth served as the director of training for the Iraqi Army and as the senior adviser to the Iraqi Chief of Staff over training.  Hollingsworth said he was mobilized  for 400 days.

Hollingsworth recently served as the Chief of Staff for an Army Reserve division in Salt Lake City, which can have between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers.

Hollingsworth said that the hardest part about serving in the Army is being away from his family.

“I think one thing to know is that [the Army] requires a sacrifice from a family,” Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth and his wife have two children. His son attends BYU-I, and his daughter lives in Arizona.

Hollingsworth and his wife have been married for 31 years.

The time he has been away from his family adds up to more than 12 years of being apart.

“It’s all we’ve known. We’re good at it,” Hollingsworth said. “The humorous answer is, maybe that’s why we’re still together.  It is a two-part commitment and it is important to make quality time when we are together, and to always support each other.”

He said that mobilization can be scary.

“I think it’s even worse for the family members because they don’t know what your situation is, they don’t know what you’re doing, and there is always that worry,” Hollingsworth said.

He said that the military has been a part-time commitment for him over the years.

for more than 20 years. His duties are mainly administrative in nature.

He started the ROTC program at BYU-I approximately 11 years ago. He has taught military science classes in the past and currently teaches the International Studies Pakistan Class.

Hollingsworth said that when he gets back from deployment he will come back to BYU-I in some capacity to be determined.

“I’m not sure if I’ll do this exact thing at the university, but I’ll be anxious to do whatever they need me to do, whatever that might be in a year, but we’ll wait and see and have faith that all will be well.  The school has been very good to me,” Hollingsworth said.

Hollingsworth said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always played a big part in his life during his absences over the years.

Hollingsworth said he was set apart as the first district president of the Baghdad Iraq Military District. It was the first time a district had been established in that country.

Elder Paul Pieper of the First Quorum of the Seventy came to Baghdad and set him apart.  President Hollingsworth initially set apart three branch presidencies, established three branches, and shortly after that, three more.

“It was a rewarding and a unique experience,” Hollingsworth said.  He said he dealt with a number of good saints during their need for repentance and fellowship in an effort to help them improve their gospel situation. “Some people I worked with I never met, never saw their face, only heard their voice.”

Hollingsworth said one has to go into the military realizing there is good, bad and ugly.

“You have to go in saying ‘Hey, I can make a difference,’” Hollingsworth said.

A mile-wide tornado ripped through Moore, Okla. May 20, killing an estimated 51 people, 20 of which were children. The death toll is expected to rise.

According to the New York Times, the tornado touched down at 2:56 p.m., 16 minutes after the first warning went out, and traveled for 20 miles. It was on the ground for 40 minutes. It struck the town of Newcastle and traveled about 10 miles to Moore, a populous suburb of Oklahoma City.

The storm uprooted homes and stores and five elementary schools full of children.

According to ABC News, the American Red Cross has opened shelters throughout the city of Moore where those affected by the tornado can come for food, shelter and to search for loved ones.

President Obama has declared the tornado that hit Oklahoma as a major disaster.

More information to come as updates are received.

KELSEA MORRISON | Scroll Photography
Nate Neeley, a sophomore studying political science, leads the Academic Advising workshop.
Academic department heads selected the speakers for the each of the conference’s nine
workshops.

The Student Success Conference was held May 14, 2013 at the Taylor Building from 6 to 8:30 p.m.

The two conference consisted of nine different workshops—Roommates: Friends for Life, Time Management, Study Skills/Tutoring, Achieving Academic Success, Getting Involved, Financial Management, Stress Management, Dating at BYU-Idaho and Student Wellness.

Francisco Solorzano, communication manager and advisor for the conference,  said he invited students to step out of their comfort zone.

“They need a little push to move forward, get involved, realize their potential and to help others,” Solorzano said.

Solorzano said the conference had special value for first-semester students.

“Students who need additional aid with their first semester can go to this conference for student support,” Solorzano said.

Solorzano said the speakers were chosen by department heads.

Kayle Searle, a senior studying exercise physiology, was one of three wellness speakers. It was her first time as a speaker for the conference.

In these workshops the speakers discussed exercise, nutrition, general wellness and what the Student Wellness Center offers.

“I’m excited, having fun and I like being able to share my knowledge with others,” Searle said.

The Time Management workshop taught students how to make plans and review them daily in order to have time for both work and leisure.

Travis Larson, a freshman studying business management, said he was excited for the Time Management workshop.

“I want to know how to use my time better, making plans, to excel in school, and spending time for school activities,” Larson said.

Kaylin McOmber, a junior studying sociology, was one of the three speakers in the Dating workshop. She said this was her first time speaking about dating in a workshop setting.

The speakers in the dating workshop talked about finding date ideas, overcoming shyness, the proper place of casual dating, the value of singlehood and other topics.

“I was thinking about how I could make new friends, and to learn as much as I can about dating and relationships,” said Jordyn Wilde, a senior studying marriage and family studies.

Some of the volunteers said that the conference exceeded their expectations in attracting students to the event.

“I was really surprised about the turnout, the number of questions asked, and the [interaction],” McOmber said.

The conference will be held again next semester.

Van Christman, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, said the leadership of the college is working to enhance the agricultural programs here on campus in order to help students be prepared for graduate school and their future careers.

“The church has a strong agricultural arm, and agriculture is something that it deals with a lot right now,” Christman said. “Part of our program is to develop strong leaders who can bless the lives of people all over the world.”

With the help of different companies, students here on campus are given opportunities to have real-world experience in their chosen professions.  Christman said that in the past, students have worked with the Idaho Wheat Commission to test the growth of various types of alfalfa seed.

Companies will come to campus with projects similar to that of the Idaho Wheat Commission, and the students will do the work and gather the information that these companies need.

Another unique feature of the university’s program is the campus livestock center. According to the Department of Animal Science webpage, this center includes an indoor arena, a feedlot, an animal laboratory, a meat processing lab, a horse barn and 100 acres of irrigated fields.

Students are given the opportunity to work with several different animals during their studies, such as cattle, horses, sheep, poultry and swine.

“The success of the students here is based on the tools that they are given,” Christman said.

“Just like a computer science student needs a computer to succeed, a student in our program needs the right resources to be successful.”

Christman said that the university has the best interest of the students as their top priority, and that when the school sees that there is a need, administration is more than willing to do what is necessary to help students achieve greatness.

“I love the people, the animals that I get to work with, and knowing that I am making a difference,” said Linda Jones, a senior studying animal science.

“I had an experience to do an internship at a pig farm, and it was so much fun to interact with them and see what they are really like. In a class here at school, we got to work with the cattle, and I just loved it.”

Christman said that it makes sense to have an agricultural program at this university to train students so that they can help to feed the world and the department is always looking for ways to improve the quality of education that students receive.

“If you really enjoy working with animals, then you should study this, but you need to remember that you are in this not to gain pets, but to feed the world,” Jones said. “We are in this for something bigger: we are in this to help others with our work.”

Christman said that this department is expanding, and administration and faculty are excited for the next generation of bright, innovative students who want to change the whole world and feed the whole population,

More information about the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences can be found on the college’s website at www.byui.edu/agriculture-life-sciences.

Student enrollment at BYU-Idaho has increased both on campus and online since Spring Semester 2012.

According to a press release from the University Relations Department, 14,045 students have enrolled for Spring Semester 2013, approximately a 1.3 percent increase from Spring 2012. There are 6,852 students enrolled online,  approximately an 81.1 percent increase from the Spring 2012 Semester online enrollment of 3,784.

Many online students participate in the Pathway Program. Rob Eaton, professor of religious education and former associate academic vice president, was involved in the development of the Pathway online learning program.

“For those who don’t know, Pathway is a wonderful new program that combines the online course at BYU-Idaho … with a weekly gathering component with a significantly reduced tuition,” Eaton said.

Eaton said part of the reason for the increase in online enrollment is that Pathway has expanded to more areas.

“The growth in Pathway is due to a number of things. First, we are, with the approval of the Board of Trustees, opening up new sites in the United States and other countries,” Eaton said. “As we have more sites, more students are able to enroll in Pathway. We’ve also seen an increase in the number of students in each site.”

Eaton said another reason for the increase in online enrollment is that the employees working in the program become more experienced every year.

“[Pathway employees are] continually refining the process for recruiting students,” Eaton said. “The early returns suggest that we’re going to see significant increase in the fall. Every year, everyone gets better at what they do to reach out to potential Pathway students.”

Eaton said that word-of-mouth communication has been important in the enrollment increase.

“I think that word-of-mouth is spreading,” Eaton said. “We may be reaching a tipping point as people hear about the positive things going on in Pathway.”

Online classes allow students to communicate with each other through discussion boards. Eaton said that the discussions are high-quality.

“I’ve been doing a review of our online religion courses, going through the discussion boards,” Eaton said. “In some sections [the classes] are made up entirely of Pathway students over 30 [years old] and they have blown me away. They are making great comments and learning from each other. It is powerful to see it in action.”

Eaton said students taking online courses live in all areas of the United States and in 16 different foreign countries including Mexico and Ghana.

“This is a benefit to BYU-Idaho students,” Eaton said. “As students take online courses they find a much richer and diverse student body than they will on campus. They will have classmates of different ages, backgrounds and countries. To be able to come to Rexburg and then have a cosmopolitan student body—that’s pretty cool.”

For more information about the Pathway program, students may visit www.byui.edu/online/pathway.

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is building — and will be entering — its rocket in the eighth Intercollegiate Rocket Competition, held June 20-22 in Green River, Utah.

“This is probably one of the coolest things the engineering department has ever done,” said Aaron Albrecht, a junior studying mechanical engineering and the lead student engineer for the group.

The group ran a test on their half-scale rocket May 18. The rocket exploded after the group tried to start it multiple times.

“The last two tests have been pretty successful with the rocket fuel burning, so this was really unexpected. We just have to crack down and test again,” said Nyssa Ramirez, a senior studying mechanical engineering and member of the propulsion team.

The team must have a successful launch by May 31 in order to go to the competition in June.

“I don’t think you learn as much when it works perfectly because you’re not thinking about everything that is going on. With rockets, there are so many variables,” Nyssa Ramirez said.

Albrecht said the team started planning and designing during Fall  2012, after they received department approval.

Albrecht said this started when a group of senior students noticed that the school had a lack of opportunities regarding entering design competitions.

“The Basic Category is to launch and recover a rocket with 10-lb payload closest to 10,000 feet above ground level,” according to www.soundingrocket.org.

Albrecht said the rocket must also stay in one piece upon landing.

“To qualify, your rocket has to reach a minimum of 5,000 feet. It’s kind of a big feat. It’s like real rocket science,” Albrecht said.

Albrecht also said the group found this competition and went to the department to present its plan.

The department granted the group a budget of $2,400 for the competition.

“To give you some context, one of the schools we’re competing against — their budget starts at $10,000 a year, and that’s just the beginning. They actually get more funding based on sponsorships and participation,” Albrecht said. “We’re not allowed to get sponsorships or [do] fund raising, so we’ve been capped out.”

Albrecht said they began designing as soon as they were approved and they have been working on it ever since, testing the rocket, analyzing problems, and fixing their craft when needed.

Nyssa Ramirez said the group began to manufacture and build their rocket, Tonitruous, in Winter 2013.

Albrecht said they’ve split up the work into four teams. He said their propulsion team is responsible for the ignition system, the structure team builds the actual rocket, the recovery team ensures the rocket stays in one piece and the outreach team visits and motivates students in the surrounding area, to get them excited about science and engineering.

Some team members said they have enjoyed applying what they’ve learned in class to the rocket.

“It’s a brand new project so it’s a big learning curve for everyone involved. We are scrambling to learn a lot of the basics; how rockets work and why things need to be done certain ways. That’s kind of a big problem, but it’s also a big part of the fun,” said Jordan Peterson, a junior studying mechanical engineering and a member of the propulsion team.

Thomas Cooley, a freshman studying mechanical engineering and a member of the structure team, said he enjoyed designing and manufacturing pieces for the rocket.

“It was cool to see the parts that I had designed be manufactured. It came out really close to how I thought it would,” Cooley said.

Enzo Ramirez, a senior studying mechanical engineering and co-lead for the propulsion team, said he’s enjoyed seeing the improvement of the team overall.

“My favorite part has been seeing the growth and the interest from the students and seeing how this is becoming something more,” Enzo Ramirez said.

Albrecht said that if everything goes well, the engineering students want to be able to enter the advanced part of the competition as well. He also said they want to have the underclassmen enter the basic competition, which is the one they’re entering now, and then have the upperclassmen enter the advanced division.

Enzo Ramirez said the group has already come up with some ideas for reasons the rocket would’ve exploded. He said the groups hopes to rebuild and be able to do another test this Saturday.

Enzo Ramirez said creating this rocket gives students experience and prepares them to find employment after graduation.