Hispanic enrollment in North American colleges and universities has increased by 24 percent from 2009 to 2010, according to a report from the Pew Hispanic Center released last week. This increase has made Hispanic students the largest minority group in colleges, surpassing their black counterparts.

The Hispanic population in the commonwealth has grown 91.7 percent since 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released in February.  Between 1998 and 2008, the University’s Hispanic undergraduate population rose 128 percent to 4.6 percent of the overall population. Hispanic representation among full-time faculty increased by 50 percent to make up 1.3 percent of those employees.

Richard Fry, senior research associate for the Pew Hispanic Center, composed the report by analyzing data from the census. He focused mainly on college students in the 18 to 24 age group and said, although Hispanic enrollment has increased for both community, two-year and four-year colleges, blacks are still the largest minority in two-year colleges.

Fry attributed the increase to both population growth and rising educational attainment.

“In some ways, it’s not surprising that the number of young Hispanics in college is going up,” Fry said. “After all, the Census Bureau and others tell us Hispanics are a growing population. And they are.”

The percent increase in the greater population of Hispanics, however, was only seven percent, far less than that in higher education. One reason for the discrepancy between population growth rates and enrollment rates is that more Hispanic students are graduating high school, Fry said.

“In 2009, about 70 percent of young Hispanics had finished high school,” he said. “In 2010, 73 percent had finished high school. One year, up three percentage points.”

In addition, Fry said more young people, regardless of racial background, find going to college important.

“More youth, whether they are white, African American or Hispanic, are going to college.” Fry said. “And one reason for that is because college is increasingly valuable. It used to be the case back in the ’70s that if you were a college graduate, you [earned] about 10 percent more than the high-school graduate. Now that earning is about 50 percent. The value of education has increased in the job market.”

Fry also noted the state of the economy, which encourages people to attend college to increase their job skills and become more employable when facing a competitive job market.

“Hopefully sooner or later the youth job market will begin to improve, and there might be a slight drop off in college enrollment,” he said. “Some students, called ‘marginal students,’ are not committed to college. They’d rather be working.”

Although Hispanic enrollment in colleges has increased, the Hispanic graduation rate for college students is significantly low. Fry said about 13 percent of Hispanics aged 25 to 29 who have attended college have bachelor’s degrees. One possible explanation is that many Hispanic students go to community colleges, where bachelor’s degrees are much harder to achieve, regardless of ethnic background.

Differences between various four-year colleges and universities may also affect the graduation rate, Fry added.

“Some are more academically selective than others and have higher graduation rates,” Fry said. “Whites tend to go to the more academically selective schools. So I’m pointing out a couple things: [Hispanic students] disproportionately go to community colleges and schools with lower degree rates.”

Fry also pointed to socioeconomic status as a factor in graduation rates, noting the importance of being able to afford staying in college for the time required to complete a degree.

Marcela Chavan-Matviuk, a board member of the Virginia Latino Higher Education Network, said the average Virginia private institution or state university has a 3 to 4 percent Latino enrollment. The Virginia school with the largest Hispanic enrollment is George Mason University with 5.2 percent in 2008.

“It is extremely important we increase the levels of Hispanic enrollment at our universities,” Chavan-Matviuk said. “Not only including them in systems, but keeping them in the system until they graduate. So it’s a double-edged sword that colleges and universities have to handle now.”

Alexa Proffitt, chair of the Latino Student Alliance at the University, said she has noticed a difference in the number of Hispanic students in the class of 2012 compared to the class of 2015.

“I think that specifically at U.Va.,” she said, “the fourth-year numbers for Hispanics is very low, under 200. For the first years, it’s 400.”

Students planning on applying to graduate schools from now on will face a reformatted and longer Graduate Records Examination, which went into effect in August.

The GRE, a standardized test administered by Educational Testing Services, is an admissions exam required by most graduate programs in the U.S. and for many abroad.

“The GRE revised General Test replaced the GRE General Test,” ETS announced on its website, adding the new incarnation is now “the most widely accepted graduate admissions test worldwide.”

The new GRE format affected its 700,000 annual test takers as it changed from a three-hour long exam to a four-hour one, Russell Schaffer, spokesperson for Kaplan Test Prep, said in an email. The new test features a new scoring scale and is based on a format which is adaptive at the section level, meaning “the better a test taker performs in one section, the more difficult the next section will be,” Schaffer said.

Lee Weiss, director of graduate programs for Kaplan Test Prep, said ETS changed the test to respond to criticism from a variety of graduate programs who said the old test was not “the best indicator of success in graduate school.”

“Featuring the new test-taker friendly design and new questions, the revised test more closely reflects the kind of thinking you’ll do in graduate or business school and demonstrates that you are ready for graduate-level work,” the ETS website states.

The previous version of the test included an antonym and analogy section, but “having a great vocabulary doesn’t necessarily make you a better graduate student than someone who doesn’t memorize words as well as you do,” Weiss said.

The Verbal section on the new exam includes in-context questions which test reasoning skills as well as vocabulary to replace the previous antonym and analogy questions, Schaffer said.   Because the reformatted test is four hours long, Kaplan Test Prep experts emphasized the importance of training for a period of two to three months.

“The best way to build up stamina is to do a lot of practice tests and get used to what it feels like to switch from essays to verbal reasoning,” Weiss said.

Fourth-Year Engineering student Matt Jungclaus has tentative plans to attend graduate school, saying the reformatted test would not impact his decision to apply to graduate programs or how he studies. Although he had already purchased a study guide, Jungclaus said he still wants to fully understand what the changes entail.

Fourth-year College student Colleen Harrington said she took the test Aug. 11 and knew it was the revised version.

“I think I prepared differently then I would have for the earlier test,” she said. “Especially for the vocabulary.”

Weiss will be hosting an event at 6 p.m. Sept. 29 in Alumni Hall to speak about the new GRE format and how to best prepare for it.

Council planned events for the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last night. Photo by Scott Miles

At the first Student Council meeting of the school year last night, members unanimously passed a resolution to commemorate those who lost their lives in the Sept. 11 attacks and honor the people who responded to the crisis. Coinciding with the passage of this legislation, the Community Affairs Committee announced its joint plans with other student organizations to express appreciation for Charlottesville public servants on the 10-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

With the passing of the Resolution In Remembrance of the Victims and Heroes of 9/11, Council pledged to honor “the sacrifices of the brave men and women of the Armed Forces, intelligence services and first responders who work tirelessly.”

Council representatives will table on Grounds in days leading up to Sept. 11, asking students to make thank you cards for Charlottesville’s public servants. Council also hopes to receive the University’s permission to sell miniature flags as a fundraiser for an as-of-yet undecided charity.

“We’re going to encourage [if approved] that when a student buys a flag … that they’d be placed in the Lawn area around Homer,” Community Affairs Co-Chair Jeff Roberson said.

Other initiatives planned include a community-wide barbecue held by Council. University Programs Council is hoping to create a scholarship fund for students whose lives were affected by the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Charlottesville community also has organized a 5-kilometer race for the anniversary.

“I was astounded at the number of students who were really affected by 9/11,” Community Affairs Co-Chair Paige Curtis said. “I see this event as taking the time for those students to reflect and to remember.”

Curtis emphasized the need to record appreciation for the police department, fire department and other City employees who work to keep Charlottesville a safe community.

“The tagline at our meeting was ‘U.Va. Remembers and U.Va. Appreciates’,” Curtis said. “Our concern is that we [be] moving forward and also appreciating the public servants who are here.”

Roberson echoed Curtis’ belief in the significance of the two goals of the event.

“I believe it is of great importance and priority to commemorate not only the losses that occurred but also the heroic acts of our public servants,” Roberson said. “While the tagline is ‘Remembering and Not Forgetting,’ we still need to focus on what the community has and be proud.”

Nine percent of people in Charlottesville and surrounding Albemarle County, including 16 percent of children, suffer from food insecurity, according to a report released last Thursday by Feeding America, a national hunger relief charity. The food bank defines food insecurity as a condition in which sufferers do not know where their next meal will come from.

Kevin Ruddle, branch manager of the Charlottesville branch of the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, said this new study will “get people to understand that the face of hunger hasn’t changed.” With these new numbers publicly available, Feeding America is showing a “wider spread” of food insecurity, rather than just looking at poverty line statistics, Ruddle said.

Biology Prof. Reginald Garrett is personally involved in the issue of food insecurity. In his course, “Principles of Nutrition,” Garrett said he frequently covers issues like hunger and food insecurity.
Garrett said it is important to understand that “there is indeed food insecurity in the U.S., even given the affluence of this country.”

In the spring of 2010, Garrett organized a food drive which included student volunteers from his class. Garrett said “a small cohort” of students tend to take interest in food security concerns, but most students are “generally disinterested.”

Another problem with food drives, Garrett said, is they happen sporadically and inconsistently, and “the need for food is relentless. We go through periods, like now, [when] the food bank is exhausting supplies and there are no food drives going on.”

Did you know the University’s women’s club polo team made it to the national championship finals? Or that the men’s club polo team is the 2011 national champion?

Although these teams often fly below the radar, the sport is starting to gain a devoted fan base at the University.

Founded in the early 1950s, the University’s polo team is unique in more than one way. Unlike most teams on Grounds, polo team players share the responsibility for the management, athletic success and national reputation of the organization. The players themselves feed the horses early in the morning before classes, get the animals in playing condition through exercise, learn and perform veterinary work for minor horse injuries, and clean the barn and equipment after every practice at the end of the day. What started out as a little venture has grown to more than 60 horses horses and 30 players each year. Today the team has both an indoor and outdoor arena, enabling play at any time of year.

The team’s mission, posted on its website, is to provide “University of Virginia students, both men and women from all walks of life, the opportunity to experience the sport of polo,” and they’ve been doing exactly that since 1953, despite a lack of funding from the University.

Fourth-year Engineering student CB Scherer has been on the men’s varsity polo team for four years now and currently serves as one of the team’s three captains. He said he started riding horses before he could remember and began hitting a polo ball around age 6. As a third generation polo player, Scherer said he is proud to carry on the family tradition. In fact, the University’s renowned polo team was one of the main reasons he chose to apply to the school, he said.

“I am drawn to the sport because as you can imagine, it is very fast, physical and dangerous which all contribute to the adrenaline rush of playing. However, it’s also about the people and the horses,” he said. “Combining all of these aspects makes polo a very addicting sport, but you have to love it to sacrifice the required time for practice, playing and horse care.”

Women’s captain Sarah Pergolizzi is a second-year Law student who started playing during her undergraduate years and has yet to stop. Pergolizzi said she has been riding horses for years before she stumbled upon the Polo Club booth at the Fall Activities’ Fair. “I’ve been playing polo for five years now, and I’m no less obsessed than I was when I started,” she said.

Recent University graduate Lindsey Hellmuth recalled her time spent playing with the Polo Club. “I’ve always loved horses and horseback riding, and I was eager for a way to continue riding when I got to school,” she said. “Polo is an extremely exciting sport, both to watch and to play, and learning the rules of the game is a never-ending process. I loved that it both involved horses and remained a challenge no matter how long I’d been playing.”

Along with their passion for the game, all three players agreed that there are a lot of misconceptions about their sport.

“The one thing I wish I could tell everyone about polo is that it’s not about Ralph Lauren — it’s not this classy, preppy sport that everyone makes it out to be,” Scherer said. “Those who really love the sport, their horses and play the game for the right reasons — typically those who become the best at the sport — are very down to earth and live for the polo.”

Being on the polo team also has drastically changed the University experience for many of its players. An alternative means of getting away from stacks or from the Corner, the Polo Club is a great way for it members to escape to a place where they are most comfortable.

“It made me stop thinking, stressing about school and allowed me to take a mental break from everything else,” Hellmuth said.

Pergolizzi agreed that the sport takes her mind off the worries of school. “It’s the best stress-reliever there is,” she said.

After her own experiences with the team, Pergolizzi said she is an advocate for new members and is even in charge of the club’s Polo Boot Camp. “It’s fun; it’s different,” she said. “When else can you learn such a generally expensive sport at such a low cost?”

How early is too early? I was overanalyzing and my hands began to shake when I pulled into the parking lot on the first day of my marketing internship. Five minutes early almost seemed too late, but 10 minutes early could get awkward. So at 8:53 a.m. — a nice compromise ­— I got out of my car and nervously made my way down the marble hallway. I anxiously sat down and waited for my boss to arrive.

In hindsight, I don’t know why I was so nervous. The eight weeks I spent playing musical cubicles at Northern Virginia Family Service, a large umbrella non-profit agency that helps nearly 33,000 Northern Virginia residents annually, not only helped me further my career goals but gave me great experience in an inviting and entertaining work environment which probably could hold its own as a reality television show.

Although my first day went smoothly, I remained nervous for most of the first week, largely because I had lived through “The Devil Wears Prada” last summer. As I quickly learned, most of my coworkers ate out everyday, but because Plus Dollars don’t work in the real world and the food at my house was free, I brought my lunch instead. But on that first Friday, I let my boss, Graham, and our co-worker, Stephanie, convince me that a frosty and fries were a great way to end the week. Graham even provided a minute-by-minute countdown of our departure — scheduled for 11:47 a.m. — for the last 15 minutes.

Food definitely brings people together — and from that lunch on I felt like a full-fledged member of the team. And we definitely had many opportunities to be brought together by food. Forget the freshman 15; the office environment was even more dangerous for my diet. One day we would have a super sized bag of M&Ms, and I’d reach into it every time I walked by. The next day, we’d have wedding cake samples, which is only appropriately followed by cupcakes for another co-worker’s birthday. And what better way to celebrate the chief development officer’s retirement than a supersized meal at the Cheesecake Factory?

And unlike at school where I have opportunities all day to burn off extra calories since I walk everywhere, at work I was sitting down all day. I was not the only one who was concerned about all this extra sitting. Around the middle of my internship, my co-worker Lauren read a study reporting that sitting for long periods of time is detrimental to your health, so she stacked her keyboard on a cardboard box and tried standing up all day.

When I wasn’t eating, I was at a cubicle working on increasing in-kind donations and awareness about Northern Virginia Family Service’s two thrift shops. Since my cubicle was often far away from my co-workers — I did not have an assigned seat — I listened to my country music Pandora station, or when I really needed to instill a sense of urgency, I’d play the Pirates of the Caribbean sound track. But one day, I didn’t even have to pop my ear buds in to get some office jams as my boss sang parts of a New Kids on the Block song in honor of my going to the NKOTBSB concert. Even after going to the concert — which was one of the highlights of my summer, by the way — I still cannot name you one New Kids on the Block song.

And even on the days when I was not in the office, but visiting the thrift shops so I could market them better, I was never at a loss for a response to the question, “What’d you do at work today?” On my first visit to the Centreville thrift shop location, a 20-year-old court-appointed volunteer who quizzed me on my D.C. clubbing habits followed me around for a good two hours. I don’t think he understood that I don’t frequent D.C. clubs. The next time I went back, I not only stopped a shoplifter, but witnessed a hit and run. Needless to say, there was never a dull moment.

Most days when I was in the office, I would finish my work around 4:30 and go check in with my boss to see if there were any last minute things I could do. One afternoon, I was given a task of utmost importance. I needed to get him a new high score in Angry Birds on his iPad. Let’s just say it was a good thing I did not get paid based on my score.

I loved working this summer, but it’s probably a good thing I have two more years left in college to acquire a professional demeanor — especially since I would often find myself saying the words “totally” and “awesome” when talking to the chief development officer. I also need to get used to sleeping at normal hours, which apparently is not from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m.

I recognize I’m slowly becoming an adult — my No. 1 indication of this being I feel naked without a watch on — but I still have a lot to figure out about what I can truly enjoy doing for 40 hours a week to make money. So for now, I’ll spend my 40-hour workweek going to class and “doing work” at my kitchen table surrounded by some of my best friends.

Katie’s column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at k.urban@cavalierdaily.com.

For me, the first day of school is exhilarating. In April, I painstakingly debate which classes to take. I make charts, I color code, I graph. I set my alarm for 6:50 before my 7 a.m. SIS appointment to quadruple check that I have entered the right classes. I assumed this process was the same for the majority of students. After letting a few of my friends see the intense planning, and being laughed at for giving course selection “the affection of a cat lady trying to lure a feral cat into her home” — this is a direct quote — I have learned it’s not the typical approach. So I am not afraid to say that my reaction to the first day of school is probably a little off-kilter too. I shop for new pens, admonish myself for buying said pens when I already have dozens stockpiled, select new notebooks carefully based on paper quality and coolness of cover graphics, organize my backpack with machine-perfect precision and think twice before jostling my backpack on the first day.

All of this anxious, nerdy excitement bubbles up as I attend my classes. Hanging on to every word my professor utters regarding the syllabus, I cannot believe my luck. I am in school! I am learning! This knowledge is mine!

Then, Day Two commences. And the apathy, accented with sleepiness, begins to set in. I am still excited, I still take notes on the syllabus — oh yes, of course I do that. But something is needling me, the concern that maybe I am doing this wrong. No one else seems excited. Some people don’t even have notebooks open.

Day Three and I am feeling somewhat sluggish. Staying up all night to read, very closely, every article I have been assigned has worn me a little thin. I will drink very strong coffee and perhaps my notes will not be the shining, neatly bulleted works of Day One. Instead of reading, I take a much-needed nap. I wake up three hours later, and debate beginning the homework. I will not actually begin for another two hours.

Day Four, Friday; I am yearning for the weekend. Overjoyed that I only have two 50-minute lulls before the weekend, I barely open my notebook. The weekend has finally arrived, and I realize that this school thing is not all that it’s cracked up to be.

This, I think, is the normal student outlook. The first day of school high had worn off and I am feeling the burn of academic rigor. I look at my syllabi and realize there is more reading there than a very bored person trapped on an island could read in several weeks. I am no longer feeling the burning desire to do it.

The school doldrums have hit. It is probably not a good thing that I arrive at this point only a week into the school year, but I’m sure we all understand. Maybe it’s good that I get knocked off my “high horse” so early, because if I attempted to do every reading with a pen in hand and a document for notes open I would probably really hurt myself when I passed out on said pen.

School is great, and of course we will need it for the professions we are seeking. But come on guys, there is a part of you that dreads waking up and taking more notes. I know there is a little nerd in all of us, who wants to color code their notes by topic and do their reading every night. Those of you who keep it up all year, I applaud you as soon as I finish taking this nap.

Simone’s column runs biweekly Wednesdays. She can be reached at s.egwu@cavalierdaily.com.

While the Virginia football team has struggled to make its mark in the win column during the past three losing seasons, the Cavaliers, nevertheless, have continued to churn out plenty of NFL-caliber players. Offensive linemen like Eugene Monroe, Branden Albert, D’Brickashaw Ferguson and even tight end Heath Miller have dominated Virginia’s draft day headlines during the last five years, but the backfield behind the big uglies upfront hasn’t enjoyed consecutive years with a 1,000-yard, 10-touchdown tailback in more than a decade. Thomas Jones last accomplished the feat during the 1998 and 1999 seasons and Tiki Barber did the same in 1995 and 1996, but the Cavaliers have not since come close to matching the quality and consistency of the running game during the two NFL stars’ respective collegiate careers.

Yet hope for the ground game springs eternal in coach Mike London’s second season at the helm. Running backs coach Mike Faragalli, who followed London from Richmond to Virginia after the 2009 season, has been grooming a stable of ground-game talent which includes a veteran starting running back, three freshmen tailbacks and two senior fullbacks. Junior tailback and team captain Perry Jones picks up where workhorse Keith Payne left off last year, and the 5-foot-8, 185-pounder has big shoes to fill if he hopes to match the bruising back’s ACC-leading 14 rushing touchdowns from 2010. Jones amassed 646 yards, a 4.7 rushing average, and just one touchdown while sharing carries with Payne last season, but his big strides in the leadership department this offseason suggest that he is more than up to the task of carrying the offense until sophomore signal caller Michael Rocco becomes acclimated under center.

“[Jones has] always been a great worker and a physical player, but he’s started to take some of the younger guys under his wing,” Faragalli said. “He’s started to be a little bit more vocal in the huddle; he’s not afraid to get in somebody’s face if he doesn’t think they’re giving 100 percent. He’s just becoming a little bit more of a leader — he’s always been a team guy, always had that in him — but it’s starting to come to the forefront a little bit.”

Jones’ speed and elusiveness provided the perfect complement to Payne’s punishing running between the tackles last season, but after being tackled for a loss for 34 yards on the season, easily the most among running backs, Jones has worked hard to find a happy medium between the two running styles, and the coaches like what they have seen so far.

“He’s become a much more decisive runner — especially between the ends, between the tackles,” Faragalli said. “We’re running our inside draws and zones and different schemes like that, and he’s now getting four, five, six yards a pop, whereas last year he might stop at the line and bounce it out, stop at the line and cut back … There [are] times to go for a home run and there [are] times to get four yards, and I really think he’s done great things in that regard.”

Jones is joined in the Virginia backfield by redshirt freshman Kevin Parks, redshirt freshman Khalek Shepherd and true freshman Clifton Richardson, adding an impressive amount of tailback depth and development for the foreseeable future. Although Jones “will certainly start things out” from the depth chart and playing time perspectives, Faragalli said, all four figure to factor into the team’s game plans this season.

“Everybody’s going to have a role,” Faragalli said. “Each of them has their own strengths and weaknesses — strengths I guess is the biggest thing. Kevin Parks is an excellent runner with the football, a great pass protector even though he is a little bit short, and Khalek Shepherd’s a really good receiver and a solid runner as well. Clifton Richardson, being a freshman, he’ll get some time, and it’ll [be] more of the basic things that are a little simpler to learn. I think we have four really good guys going into the season, and last year proved that we’re really going to need all of them at some point in time over the course of an 11 or 12-game season.”

To take some of the pressure away from Rocco and allow the young quarterback to establish an early rhythm, the team also will rely on its tailbacks to run routes and catch passes out of the backfield, a challenging added dimension the youthful unit has picked up surprisingly well.

“They’re all really good [receivers],” Faragalli said. “All four of them have excellent ball skills, they’re learning to run more precise routes, [and] we’re expanding the kinds of routes they run every day. Perry and Khalek can do a lot of the inside slot-back type passing game, so when we do go to a spread-out type situation maybe with two tailbacks in the game, those would be the receiving backs and then Kevin [Parks] or Clifton [Richardson] would be in the backfield as the I-back type guy. From a downfield pass receiving standpoint, I think Perry is as good as a lot of wide receivers in this league, and I think Khalek is learning to be that type of player as well.”

Although the current crop of running backs oozes with promise, even superstar talents like Thomas Jones and Tiki Barber needed bulldozing blockers in front of them. The offensive line may lack the name recognition and NFL pedigree of past linemen like the New York Jets’ Ferguson, but the unit — which boasts a healthy mix of youthful energy and veteran savvy — has earned rave reviews and injected an abundance of confidence into the ground game ahead of Saturday’s home opener against William & Mary.

“I love our line, [they’re] really good,” Faragalli said. “They’re obviously big and strong, but they’re kind of nasty too, which is a running back’s dream. Those guys will hit you and keep hitting you until they hear the whistle. They won’t take anything from anybody, they don’t ever back down, and I love the attitude they play with — they play with an edge. It’s a lot — I won’t say different — but they’re all more experienced with the offense, so a year later I think we’re going to be that much better.”