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MSU takes home Big Bear Trophy for the first time since 2017

For the first time since 2017, Michigan State men’s soccer hoisted the Big Bear Trophy following a 2-0 defeat of Michigan in its Big Ten home opener of the 2022 season.

“It feels great,” Head Coach Damon Rensing said. “I’m really happy for the players that looked like the Spartan team that I’ve coached for a lot of years, a really good defensive performance from front to back… Just a great Spartan team victory.”

The Spartans played tough from the start. Within the first seven minutes of the game, senior defender Nick Stone played the ball into the Michigan box, which junior forward Greyson Mercer then headed to the bottom right corner of the net.

It was Mercer’s third goal of the season, making him the leading scorer on the team.

MSU kept it up defensively throughout the second half with senior goalkeeper Owen Finnerty saving all five shots taken at goal.

With just under 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Spartans came storming down the field. Freshman forward Jonathon Stout took his first shot which bounced off the left post. Then, corralled his own rebound and kicked it back towards the bottom right of the net, successfully scoring the second goal of the night.

MSU put up a fight until the final minute of the game, sealing the 2-0 victory over the Wolverines and taking back the Big Bear Trophy.

CATA no longer stopping at Frandor Shopping Center over owner’s ‘safety concerns’

The Frandor Shopping Center will remove two public bus stops from its parking lot on Oct. 17.

Patrick Corr, president of Corr Commercial Real Estate, which manages Frandor, said tenants, employees and customers have expressed safety concerns, and some business owners have considered relocating their stores and some workers are considering job changes due to various incidents.

Corr said “safety concerns that haven’t been addressed by city officials,” including “vagrancy, public intoxication/open container, aggressive panhandling (and) public urination” for motivations behind his company’s decision in a release.

Corr’s real estate firm informed CATA of its decision to terminate an existing contract in a letter on Aug. 17.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor told Lansing City Pulse that the issues Corr cited had been raised in February, and that the issue is prevalent throughout the city’s bus stops.

“Unfortunately, the changes to various laws (and) ordinances the city have put in place have greatly hindered the ability of police to affect significant progress,” the release said. “The CATA shelters are being used as a ‘safe haven’ from LPD and our security staff … When called, the police do not always remove them from the property for the above-referenced incidents.”

Best of both worlds: STEM majors balance artistic passions and academic pressures

Human biology senior James Cozzi will graduate in December from Lyman Briggs College. He’s been shadowing an orthopedic surgeon since he was in high school and he’s currently awaiting decisions from a number of competitive medical schools.

However, he’s not all STEM. Cozzi is just one out of many students at Michigan State University who balances studying STEM with an artistic passion.

Every Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Cozzi is in rehearsal for MSU’s concert orchestra, where he’s the ensemble president. Cozzi played the violin for 11 years before coming to MSU. The opportunities for non-major musicians were a major draw in his college decision.

Some students said their studies and passions aren’t discrete parts of their lives. Instead, they enhance each other and balance each other out — their split interests have made them more well-rounded and capable in both STEM and the arts.

Microbiology junior Taryn Vielma is a visual artist. She said her art helps her understand scientific concepts and explain them to non-scientists in ways unartistic scientists could not.

Vielma said. “When you’re presenting your research at conferences and everything like that, that visualization, you’re able to connect on a whole different level with people and make them understand.”

Hip-hop artist and computer engineering senior Timothy Boyd said balancing STEM and art has helped him in the opposite way. He believes the discipline he developed in his demanding major enables him to put adequate time into his art.

Boyd hopes to someday transition to making music full-time.

Other students see a simpler relationship between their art and their STEM major. Computer science senior Adam Anderson said having a low-pressure passion is a great release from the stress of rigorous studies.

Anderson spent his summer as an intern for Amazon and is involved in an MSU research project that is creating an electronic delivery drone.

In the free time he has, he makes bedroom-pop music.

Mechanical engineering junior Uma Pentakota took a break from her competitive dancing when she first came to MSU.

Now, she’s back to practicing art through the Nrityalaya School of Dance and encourages students putting off their passions, to jump back into them.

Based on original reporting by Melanie Soverinsky, Wajeeha Kamal and Alex Walters.