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Ryan Satkowiak
Ryan Satkowiak is a print journalism major, writing for the BG News as its sports editor.
Posts by Ryan Satkowiak
Small farms fight for farm bill equality
12 years
by Ryan Satkowiak
in Water
By Ryan Satkowiak
Located along OH-53 just outside of Tiffin, Ohio, the Riehm Farm looks just like an average small, family-owned farm.
There is no driveway, just a 20-square-foot gravel patch located in from of a storage warehouse. The home of John and Diane Riehm, located 30 paces to the right, flanks the buildings.
The majority of the 300 acres that John Riehm farms lie barren. It is early April, and he has not yet planted the corn and soybeans that will populate the fields.
John Riehm inspects the tomato plants in one of his greenhouses located on his 300 acre farm in Tiffin, Ohio. Photo by Ryan Satkowiak.
Behind the warehouse stands a trio of greenhouses. Inside of them are rows of vegetables, stretching from one end of the greenhouse to the other.
Tomatoes, cabbage, onions, peppers, broccoli and various herbs: They are just a few of the vegetables that the Riehms harvest and sell to the local community.
“By growing these now, I’ll be picking them by the time everyone else starts planting,” John Riehm says with a grin on his face.
However, these vegetables are not what keep Riehm Farm operating. While those crops represent the bulk of what is sold at local farmers markets, Riehm Farm gets no federal subsidy for these crops, according to the Environmental Working Group’s federal subsidy database.
Instead, their subsidies — or, federal money granted to farm owners for the crops they grow — come from corn and soybeans — commodity crops.
That imbalance in payments has caused for John and Diane Riehm to fight for a change in subsidy payments. Namely, they have petitioned Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown to fight for a change in the 2012 Farm Bill.
A Growing Problem
Because the vegetables he grows gets him no federal aid, John Riehm only devotes a small portion of his land to growing them. Only 25 of the 300 acres he farms are used to grow vegetables.
So what goes into the remaining 275 acres? Corn and soybeans — the 21st century American cash crops.
John Riehm overlooks the crops growing in one of the greenhouses on his farm. Photo by Ryan Satkowiak.
The 2008 Farm Bill — the program that determines the portion of the federal budget that will be paid to farm owners — heavily favored farms that grew one, or several, of the so-called cash crops: corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice.
In the fiscal year 2011, nearly 90 percent of commodity program payments and crop insurance subsidies were paid for those five crops, with corn (38 percent), wheat (19 percent) and soybeans (16 percent) leading the way, according to the Congressional Research Services’ preview of the 2012 Farm Bill.
In fact, corn has become the most financed crop in America in terms of subsidies. From 1995-2010, the federal government has paid just north of $77 billion in corn subsidies to approximately 1.6 million farms across the nation, according to the Environmental Working Group’s farm subsidy database. That number is more than double the $32 billion that was provided in wheat subsidies during the same time frame.
In that same 15-year span, Riehm Farm was given about $150,000 in corn subsidies and $3,000 in wheat.
Many small farmers are upset about the federal government’s use of these commodity crops. The corn, wheat and soybeans are primarily used to feed livestock, not people. Corn is also used in the production of alcohol, fuel and other household goods. Diane Riehm believes that sends the wrong message to the American farmer.
“When you look at what type of product they are growing versus what type of product we are growing, there is no value in feeding people,” she said regarding the government’s use of commodity crops. “They put more value on corn with fuel and ethanol. Of course they’re going to say it goes into food because they put corn syrup in everything. They’re supporting the grain and they need to spread that out and support everything else.”
However, reforming the Farm Bill is difficult to do because of a tie in that has little to do with farming: food stamps.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (also known as the food stamps program) is approximately two-thirds of the farm bill’s budget.
“They should call it a ‘food bill’ instead of a ‘farm bill,’ because [the government] is misrepresenting and letting people think farmers are getting all this money,” John Riehm said. “It should be separated so people know that’s actually food stamps, not agriculture.”
However, according to Sara Sciammacco, press secretary for the Environmental Working Group, SNAP is one of the positive aspects of the farm bill. In particular, there has been a push to encourage people on food stamps to purchase more local fruits and vegetables.
“In the newly released Senate Agriculture Committee 2012 farm bill proposal we applauded the provisions of the bill that support healthy diets, expand links between local farmers and consumers and help new and beginning farmers,” she said in an email. “In particular, we thanked Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., for her efforts to expand incentives that encourage low-income consumers to purchase more fruits and vegetables and increase access to local foods at farmers’ markets.”
There have been no talks among politicians to remove SNAP from the farm bill, said Katherine Ferguson, the Rural Policy Director for Senator Brown. The reason for this, she said, is because food stamps was something that was originally drawn up by the Department of Agriculture, and keeping SNAP under that jurisdiction makes it easier to deal with supply issues.
Fighting for change
Small farms are not receiving as much of a cut of these federal subsidies as larger farms. The top 20 percent of farms in the United States received 80 percent of subsidies in 2010, with an average payment of $24,628 per farm, while the bottom 80 percent of farms only received $1,494 on average in subsidies, according to the Environmental Working Group’s federal subsidy database. Because of this disparity, the small farmers are trying to fight for more equality.
The Riehms have joined up with a group of local small farms to petition Senator Brown to fight in U.S. Congress to get higher subsidy payments for vegetables and the addition of a “compete clause” to the Farm Bill. This clause would put a cap on the amount of subsidies one farm could receive, causing a greater distribution of wealth.
John Riehm points out that the average age of family farmers in America is 60 years old and rising. He adds that few young people are joining the profession because they cannot afford to get started up because there isn’t much government help available.
Because the large farms make their money solely growing commodity crops and not vegetables, John Riehm wonders where that will leave the food industry in 20 or 30 years if small farms go out of business because of lack of funds or lack of farmers to run them.
“What happens down that line, is there going to be enough small farmers growing vegetables to feed us? Or are we going to have to import all of our crops from other countries, where they spray whatever they want on it?” he said.
However, according to Ferguson, there is not a substantial movement anywhere in America to get direct support for fruits and vegetables. She added that Senator Brown is not interested in pursuing that either.
Rather, Senator Brown wants to make sure there is crop insurance available for fruits and vegetables to cover things such as transportation or storage since those crops are not as easy to store as corn or wheat, Ferguson said.
Spreading the Word
John Riehm said that he doesn’t envision receiving much federal aid for the Farm Bill this go-around. While the farm’s federal aid peaked at $52,568 in 1999, it has decreased significantly since.
Riehm Farm has not received five-digit aid since 2006, and received only $4,818 in 2010, according to the Environmental Working Group’s farm subsidy database.
In order to combat that, he and his wife go around the community trying to inform people about where their food comes from. He preaches “shortening the food chain” as much as possible.
His main pitch is the difference between foods you purchase form a local farm, versus food bought from a corporate grocery store. John Riehm said in grocery stores, you don’t know what type of pesticides or other chemicals the foods have been treated with. When buying from a local farm, you know exactly what you will be getting.
“We’re educating people where their food comes from and what is on their food,” he said. “We are very big on nutrition because that’s one thing I think people need to get back to is that shorter food chain. That is what is leading to a lot of our health problems because we aren’t eating properly.
“But even then, I’m guilty of that too,” he says with a laugh while point to the bottle of Pepsi sitting in front of him.
The Riehms also run a community supported agriculture, or CSA, which functions as a private contract between the farm and the consumer. In this transaction, an individual or group interested in purchasing crops from the farm will pay up front and pick up the crops when they are ready.
The benefit of this are it serves as a safety net for farmers. Since the government does not pay subsidies for vegetables not sold, overplanting could be dangerous for a farm. With the CSA, the farmer knows exactly how much of a crop needs to be planted.
The up-front money also helps with operating costs, allowing the farm to keep it floating, John Riehm said.
Diane Riehm said this program has been successful in Wisconsin. She added that Ohio is behind the curve, but is catching up, citing a “food summit” that took place in Columbus this year.
“We talk about how we can all join forces to make our food more sustainable and keep the money here,” she said. “It’s the same thing [in Wisconsin]. The farmer gets a contract for his crop before he puts all that expense into it. When he puts the thousands of dollars into that crop, he knows he is going to be able to sell it.”
Living Independently
12 years
by Ryan Satkowiak
in Air
By Ryan Satkowiak
I believe that growing up on my own has prepared me for real life.
Going to college exactly 2,392 miles away from home has given me a new perspective on things. As cool as it is to have mom and dad around to lean on, they won’t always be there to hold my hand; they won’t always be able to guide me through life.
The author as a small child, along with mother and father. Photo by Carnival Cruise Staff Member.
I hear a lot of kids complain about living at home. They claim they want to be independent. But when they finally get away, they seem to always find their way back home.
And what is that going to teach you? That when times are rough, and you don’t want to face adversity on your own, that mommy and daddy are just a two hour car ride away?
Newsflash. That isn’t how the real world works.
My dad instilled that message in me for as long as I could remember. He would tell me, “Ryan, life isn’t fair. Someday, you’re going to have to figure things out on your own.”
Never did I think I would have to do that as an 18-year old college freshman. In a foreign town. With no friends, no parental security blanket.
It was then that I learned how to be responsible. As much as my parents wanted to be there to guide me, both them and I knew this was a lesson better off learned on my own.
They were always protective of me as a child, sometimes over-protective. I hated it, I wanted to be able to do my own thing without their input.
Little did I know how difficult that would be.
Having to wake myself up in the morning, having to budget every single one of my expenses, it was all new to me.
It should never have been that way. A paperwork screw up prevented me from going to San Jose State, a two-hour drive from my hometown.
I could have been one of those kids, but I’m not. I’ve had to play the cards that were dealt to me.
And I believe having to go through this in college has better prepared me for the real world, for life after college.
Unlike many of my peers, I now understand why parents get pissed when you leave lights on: electricity is not cheap. I understand how to balance my expenses, to make sure I can afford that new CD, but still have enough money to feed myself for the week.
For some kids, they won’t know what that’s like until after college, maybe even later. A recent survey of college students showed that 60 percent of them plan to move back home after graduation.
The author, left, along with his father at AT&T Park in San Francisco in July 2010. Photo by Luke DeBenedetto.
I don’t want that. I love my parents more than anything, but after experiencing living on my own, I could never go back to that.
I know how to live on my own. I know how survive without my parents being just a short drive away.
But I believe that their trust, their faith in me has allowed me to feel this way.
I believe in being independent, and that once you experience it, you will never want to go back.
Oak Grove Cemetery
12 years
by Ryan Satkowiak
in Earth
The gravestones of Oak Grove Cemetery. Photo by Ryan Satkowiak
By Ryan Satkowiak
Outlined by a blue-gray February sky, Oak Grove Cemetery has a particularly eerie feel to it.
It is quiet, except for the passing traffic on Merry Avenue. Standing at the center of the cemetery, its highest point, gravestones cloud the immediate field of vision in all directions.
Very little goes on at Oak Grove. Rolling hills make the cemetery an inviting place to take an afternoon walk, but the overwhelming sense of death turns off many from entering it.
Only about 40 people are buried here each year, according to an estimate by Tim Dunn, co-owner of Bowling Green’s Dunn Funeral Home. Those people are laid to rest on the northern-most end of the cemetery, the only place in Oak Grove that has empty patches of grass. The headstones in that area are often reserved spaces, ones that feature a name and birth year of a person who’s time to leave earth has not yet come.
Winter merely adds to the atmosphere of the cemetery. Trees that beem with life during the warmer months of the year are naked, as barren as the skeletons that rest peacefully in the ground underneath.
But there is something peculiar about the Oak Grove Cemetery. Something sets it apart. It is smack-dab in the heart of the BGSU campus, wedged between Merry Avenue and Ridge Street, right next to Olscamp Hall.
Many people walk past this place every day. The sight of Oak Grove has become so commonplace for BGSU students that many simply are complacent with its presence so close to their everyday lives.
“It’s something that you eventually get used to,” said Brian Hilliard, a junior international studies major who walks by Oak Grove every day to get to classes in Olscamp Hall and the Business Building. “At first it was sort of weird to have a cemetery so close to campus, but after seeing if for a couple of years, you don’t even think about it being there.”
Many gravestones like these flood the grassy hills of Oak Grove Cemetery. Photo by Ryan Satkowiak.
While Hilliard estimates he has walked past the cemetery at least a hundred times, he has never entered it, or even thought about entering it: “I don’t really have a reason to. I don’t know anyone buried there.”
Many students who have attended BGSU would be familiar with Oak Grove’s existence. The cemetery was founded in 1873, about 37 years before the college was ever built.
While Oak Grove is the only cemetery in the Bowling Green city limits, it is not the only place in where people were buried in town.
There used to be two cemeteries in Bowling Green. One was located on present-day South College Drive on the south side of Wooster Street. The other was on the current site of Ridge Elementary School.
The reason for the incorporation of the land Oak Grove sits on has a political background to it.
Back in the early 1870s, Bowling Green was engaged in a political battle with Perrysburg, with each city fighting to be the county seat. During that time, having a rural cemetery was seen as a strong point of the development in the town, according to a 1996 newspaper article by James Kasser.
So in 1873, the City of Bowling Green paid $950 to John and Robert Eldridge for the nine and a half acres of land that Oak Grove Cemetery sits on.
The stones and bodies were transported from the two graveyards and reinterred in Oak Grove. In April 1873, the city began drawing lines and lots to divide up burial plots.
On August 9, 1873 the city began selling plots to citizens. The money made from those sales went to planting trees and other foliage and putting benches in the cemetery in order to give it a “park-like atmosphere,” according to Kasser’s article.
The trees planted in the cemetery, mostly willow and maple trees, give Oak Grove the standard feel of a horror movie setting. The often vicious winds that sail through Northwest Ohio glide through the tree branches with ease. The sounds of tree’s movements encapsulate visitors from all angles, giving the feeling that someone else is there, even though no one else can be seen on the inside parts of the cemetery’s gates.
Not many of the names on the headstones are recognizable. The deeper one walks into the cemetery, the older the monuments become. One cites a date of death in 1887, another in 1883. As the sun begins the set along the horizon, the few lights that are in Oak Grove turn out. Visiting hours are listed as “dawn ’til dusk,” although the front gates rarely close.
This usual all-hours access has led to some problems at Oak Grove.
Oak Grove's memory wall, which was recently replaced after it was destroyed by vandals. Photo by Ryan Satkowiak.
Vandalism at the cemetery has been an issue, given its proximity to a college campus. Perpetrators have caused damage to gravestones and other nuisances.
Vandals did their most recent damage in October 2010. The memory wall near Oak Grove’s entrance was destroyed, knocked out of the ground and broken into four pieces. Cost of replacing it was between $6,000 and $8,000, according to an article in the Toledo Blade.
However, those instances are becoming less frequent.
“I think since I’ve worked here, I can’t remember more than three or four instances in a year for the past 20 years,” said Tim Hammer, the cemetery’s sexton for the past 12 years.
Hammer handles the everyday care of the cemetery, including selling graves and preparing them for burial. He estimates that there are around 700 burial plots remaining in Oak Grove, leaving it at about 93 percent capacity.
BGSU expansion negatively impacted Oak Grove because as the university got bigger, it land-locked Oak Grove. Buildings surround Oak Grove’s east, west and south sides, while parking lots are on its north side. This prevents Oak Grove from ever expanding.
Additionally, the city of Bowling Green granted BGSU land that had at one point belonged to the cemetery, including the area now occupied by Overman Hall.
“There used to be a mausoleum on the southwest corner of the cemetery that the city had to tear down,” Dunn said. “We removed 332 deceased from that mausoleum and moved them to other areas of the cemetery that the city donated properties for or other cemeteries that the families paid of have them moved to.”
Plots of land at the cemetery cost $325 per grave, according to the Bowling Green finance department. Because of space in the cemetery running low, people are only allowed to buy two plots in the cemetery, Dunn said.
Dunn added that his funeral home has had preliminary talks with the city to find new burial grounds ince there is simply no room for Oak Grove to expand. This is to accommodate the citizens of Bowling Green when Oak Grove eventually reaches capacity.
“We’ve had some light discussions with the city to where they would develop new land and they’re thinking west of Bowling Green,” Dunn said. “Everyone needs to be assured that Oak Grove will not be disturbed; that cemetery will always be an ongoing cemetery that the city will maintain.”
While students rarely enter Oak Grove just to observe, the mere presence of it still induces spine-chilling sensations. Walking along the outside of Oak Grove’s gate, along Merry Avenue, the atmosphere of the cemetery still lurks. The unseasonably mild weather has created a thick layer of fog descending on Bowling Green. Visibility decreases, and the inner-most parts of Oak Grove can no longer be seen. The sound of the breeze echoes out from the cemetery, almost as if the deceased are calling out for living company.
View Oak Grove Cemetery in a larger map
A Player from Unlikely Territory
12 years
by Ryan Satkowiak
in Fire
It’s the first game of his collegiate career and BGSU freshman Ryan Carpenter is skating his second shift of the night.
A shot from the blue line deflects wide of the net and into the left corner. A brief scrum ensues before the puck is dug out by a University of Connecticut defender. However, the UConn player doesn’t get far as BGSU forward Cam Wojtala strips him of the puck at the bottom of the left circle. He drops the puck to a well-covered Carpenter, who curls the puck slightly to the left and shoots.
RIIIIIIIIIIING
The sound of a train horn goes off, a red light flashes behind the net, the approximatly 1,300 fans at the BGSU Ice Arena spring to their feet in celebration. Just three minutes and 29 seconds into his college hockey career, Carpenter has scored his first goal, a quick wrist shot that beat Connecticut goalie Garrett Bartus six-hole — the area between the right arm and torso.
In the ensuing jubilation, Carpenter is mobbed by his teammates. The referee picks up the puck and skates it to the Bowling Green bench. He tosses it to one of the team’s trainers, who will later present it to Carpenter, a memento to forever remind him of that first goal.
While it was a moment he will fondly look back on, it still doesn’t change his opinion on how to play transpired.
“It was a pretty ugly goal, and I probably did the most embarrassing celebration after,” Carpenter said of jumping into the glass following the goal.
Carpenter added an assist later in the game and notched two more assists the following night for a four-point weekend. That effort was good enough to earn him Central Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Week honors. But, it was just taste of what Carpenter would bring to the table for the Bowling Green hockey team.
Despite being a first-year player, Carpenter leads the Falcons in points and is fourth in the conference in freshman scoring. In fact, Carpenter is one of only two freshmen in the CCHA who leads his team in scoring.
His journey to get to where he is at is just as unlikely as his early-season success. Born and raised in central Florida, Carpenter grew up in an area crazed about high school football, not a hotbed for hockey players. What got him into hockey was his father, a New York native and hockey fan, even though he never played the sport.
“My cousins would always play roller hockey, and when I would got up to New York for Christmas, I would have a pair of roller blades and we’d be skating around in the basement,” Carpenter said.” That’s when I first started liking it.”
Carpenter said he started playing hockey on roller blades. Then, a semi-pro ice hockey team moved to town, opening up a sheet of ice in his area. He moved on to ice hockey when he was seven years old. That stroke of chance helped kick-start a career that would take him more than 1,000 miles away from home.
Ryan Carpenter skates with the puck during a game against Notre Dame earlier this season. Photo courtesy BGSU Athletics.
No matter what surface he was playing on, Carpenter has always been driven by being successful. In his case, success has been measured by scoring goals.
“Having that fire to put pucks in the net is something I’ve always had,” Carpenter said. “I always have that focus to try to get pucks to the net and help the team.”
That fire is something that motivates him to get better. Generally, Carpenter is one of the last players to get off the ice after a team practice ends. Whether it’s working on his shooting or doing extra conditioning, Carpenter has put in the extra effort in order to help improve his game.
Playing a cold-weather sport like hockey in a warm-weather state like Florida isn’t all that irregular. However, the level of success Carpenter has been able to achieve is rare. In the CCHA, the conference which Bowling Green competes, he is one of only 32 players, out of 289, who are from traditionally warm-weather states. These players range from states like California to Texas to Florida.
Carpenter knew the depth of the competition in the South was not as good as it is up north. To get recognized on a larger scale, he would have to make a move.
And move he did. When he was 16 years old, he went up to the Metropolitan Detroit area in Michigan to play Triple-A midget hockey for two years. While he said it was difficult to leave home and his friends, he was ultimately happy he made the decision.
And, according to Carpenter, the biggest adjustment for him was something most southerners have to deal with when first moving north.
“I had been up north but had never lived there, so the biggest thing for me was driving in the snow,” he said with a chuckle. “The first couple of times I got stuck, and there was drifting, almost hitting stuff. Luckily I didn’t get into any accidents.”
While avoiding accidents off the ice, he maneuvered his way up the competitive ladder on it. He played for the Victory Honda midget team in Detroit, before ultimately making the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League, the premier junior hockey league in America.
In his final season with Sioux City, he was elected the team’s captain, an honor for any player. Serving as captain generally requires a high level of accountability, something that Carpenter’s coach sees on a daily basis.
“He’s got so many different layers that he brings to the table,” said Bowling Green head coach Chris Bergeron. “He’s a great student. He carries himself like a professional. This isn’t something that he does when he wants to. It’s a lifestyle for him.
“There is leadership in Ryan. I believe he is going to be a guy who is going to be a leader, officially, in this program over his time here. There are a lot of things that he brings to the table and we couldn’t be happier to have him here.”
Part of that leadership comes from being the oldest of three children. Carpenter quickly learned that his younger siblings — Kelsey and Chris — looked up to him as a role model. That helped shape who he was as he grew up because he wanted to make sure to set a good example for them.
“Sometimes growing up I wasn’t the best example for them,” Carpenter said. “Being the oldest one, you eventually learn that if you do something wrong your younger sister or brother might follow you, so I wanted to try to do the right things.”
Carpenter committed to play at Bowling Green in June 2010. He said he liked everything about the school and the coaching staff on his recruiting visit. Bowling Green’s rich history — winning a national championship in 1984 and graduating multiple alumni to the NHL — and the chance to help rebuild the program were also big selling points for him. He enrolled for the fall 2011 semester.
Adjusting to college life is usually difficult for any incoming freshman. Add in the wrinkle of being a full-time student-athlete, it’s easy to see how some players struggle to maintain good grades. However, academics have not been an area of struggle for Carpenter.
Majoring in finance, he maintained his grade-point average above a 3.0 during his first semester. He said the busier schedule of college has it’s advantages.
“It seems that there’s not much down time, which is good and bad,” Carpenter said. “You stay busy and the day goes by quick. Sometimes it lets you get your mind away from the rink, which is good.”
On the ice, Carpenter quickly proved to be a key player on the team. During the first 13 games of the season, he lead the team in scoring, putting up 13 points for the Falcons.
His quick start caught the eyes of his teammates. Even though he’s only a freshman, Carpenter’s teammates hold a level of respect for him that is often saved for an upperclassman.
“His work ethic is great; he’s always in there fighting,” said Bryce Williamson, a forward who has played the majority of the season on Carpenter’s line. “He’s hard on the puck and he creates good chances for your line.”
Despite the early season success, Carpenter has run into the type of inconsistency and adversity that is often synonymous with first-year college players. Even though he still leads the team with 19 points on the season, he has only accumulated six points over his last 17 games played.
Even though Carpenter is now no longer a secret to opposing teams, Bergeron feels the reason for his recent struggles is something that is typical among young players, not a result of opposing teams focusing more energy on shutting him down.
“You just get [inconsistencies] with young guys. It’s a long first year both academically and hockey-wise and regardless of how prepared you are, you aren’t prepared enough,” Bergeron said. “Ryan is one of those guys that when he’s on, he’s difficult to stop, whether you’re keying on him or not.”
A devout Christian, Carpenter participates in on-campus religious activities, such as the h2o church. His faith is strong, as he participates in the group’s Fusion bible studies, and he offers thanks to Jesus Christ following games, thanking him for being blessed with the ability to play a sport he loves.
A career in hockey is his first choice for his post-collegiate endeavors. But no matter what he ends up committing his life to in the long run, Carpenter said that he just wants to help people in whatever way possible.
“I’d love to get a job after college, but I think just helping people is a goal,” he said. “I’ve grown in my faith my first semester here, and that’s something I’d like to do, helping people day in and day out, showing the love to others.”
Ryan Satkowiak
12 years
My name is Ryan Satkowiak, and I am a junior print journalism major from Fresno, Calif. (it’s a long story). I have been writing for The BG News since September of my freshman year, almost exclusively as a sportswriter. I currently serve as the BG News’ sports editor.
I basically figured out my freshman year of high school that I wanted to write about sports because I love sports, and I didn’t want to get stuck doing a boring 8-5 Monday-Friday job. (I’ve had one “real” job in my life. A file clerk at a law office, and it sucked). Working with the paper has helped me meet great people and develop good connections. The opportunities I’ve had from working with the BG News have also been awesome. Below is a picture of me and former NHL all-star and BG alumni Rob Blake, who I got to meet when he came back to campus last year.
