Many people graduating from graduate school in Madison, Wis., have never heard of Emory, Va.

Emory & Henry Theatre Professor Dr. Kelly Bremner was no different. Having never heard of the school, but to be here now, she claims, was a blessing in disguise.

Bremner grew up in a small, industrial town in rural Athol, Mass. This town, known for building high precision tools, didn’t even have a theater program in the schools.

“There was a community theatre program in my hometown that I was involved in when I was in high school,” Bremner said, “but there was nothing in the schools at any point.”

After graduating in a class of 80 students, Bremner went on to study at Hobart and William Smith, where she obtained degrees in English (with a concentration in theatre) and music.

While being offered a music scholarship to every school she applied except for one, Bremner chose the one that did not, but still majored in music. Theatre was actually not offered as a major there.

Bremner then went on to graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she met her husband, Scott, who is a composer and rehearsal pianist.

“That’s a really fun story,” Bremner said. “My Husband went to Bard College, along with my little brother. Scott had to write a thesis in order to graduate, so he wrote an opera. My little brother ended up singing in his opera. My mom went to watch and met Scott and found that he was going to Wisconsin-Madison, as well. I didn’t think I would ever actually meet him, but I totally bumped into him the first day on campus.”

Bremner graduated with her doctorate from Wisconsin-Madison and found a job at a college she would not name, due to some bad feelings about the school.

The school was financially insecure and was highly reliant on the automotive industry. So, when the economic crisis began, it pulled the school down with it. Bremner was at this school when the current economic crisis began. The school cut quite a few jobs, one of which was hers.

While searching for her new job, E&H really stood out to her.

“What I like about Emory & Henry is – when I was looking through the various jobs – is that theatre is a top-10 major here. It’s a program that the administration values.”

Bremner’s husband, Scott, still works as a rehearsal pianist for the historic Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va.

Scott also functions as a “two-day-a-week, stay-at-home dad,” in which he looks after their kids, Lotte (4 years old) and Twyla (1 year old).

Sports Part 1-Sean Payton

Sports Part 2-EHC Football Preview

Campus News-SGA Debate

Piscopo has since developed his craze into making highlights and mix tapes for Oak Hill Academy basketball. Now his highlight reel has become a huge hit. HOOPontheHILL is the lead YouTube channel for Oak Hill’s basketball program.

“My initial idea was to find a way to showcase my ability to shoot and edit video for my resume,” Piscopo said.

Piscopo later started following the nation’s best high school basketball program and began shooting video.

“Once I started to create the videos, I decided to create a YouTube channel to showcase the videos,” Piscopo said. “I created a logo, YouTube channel, shot the video and edited all the footage.”

Piscopo would then send the videos to the players and other recruiting pages throughout the social media world. Within just weeks, the YouTube channel received upward of 18,000 hits, along with being aired on the Oak Hill website and different recruiting sites.

But that was not all for Piscopo. His videos drew praise from online sports entertainment and video production companies. Within a month of making videos, Piscopo was contacted by Brandon Deyo, CEO of The Mars Reel, one of the major video production companies.

“I spoke to Brandon directly and learned a little information on the company and their ideas for HOOPontheHILL,” Piscopo said. “From my understanding, Brandon was willing to have HOOPontheHILL partner with The Mars Reel, creating a personalized website for HOOPontheHILL, including feature news articles as well as videos.”

Piscopo is now currently waiting on a proposal email with specifics on a contract from Mars Reel.

“It’s pretty awesome to have this opportunity,” Piscopo said. “It seems like a lot of responsibility running HOOPontheHILL, but it’s something I would love to do.”

Growing up as a kid, Hedgepeth became interested in the game when his dad and grandfather both talked to him about it. He started playing tee ball and quickly moved on to recreational league baseball.

“I grew up watching minor league baseball games on the weekends with both of them at a very young age,” Hedgepeth said.

This quickly piqued his interest, and he’s been in love with the sport ever since.

After high school, Hedgepeth showed an interest in playing at the college level. After starting his career at Wingate University in North Carolina, but not liking it, Hedgepeth had other plans. Emory & Henry was one of them.

“I had heard of Emory through friends and coaches in my area,” he said, “so I took a tour and met with coach McCall in the summer. I enjoyed the atmosphere of Emory and was given the opportunity to play ball, so it was an easy decision to make.”

Then, all of a sudden, things changed. Hedgepeth left school last year to play summer baseball in Los Angeles. While there, Hedgepeth had the opportunity to play with several competitive travel teams.

“I feel that it was a great decision for my baseball career because I was able to train under a variety of great baseball minds and practice all year round,” Hedgepeth said. “It was a great experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world.”

After long deliberation, Hedgepeth thought it was in his best interest to continue his career with the Wasps.

“I had an extra year of eligibility [and] wanted to play baseball, so I spoke with Coach McCall, who welcomed me back and allowed me to join the Emory baseball team again for my last year,” Hedgepeth said.

The team is sure glad to have him back. This season Hedgepeth is hitting a staggering .349 with 13 doubles and 26 RBIs.

“Baseball will continue to be a large piece of who I am,” he said. “I don’t know what I would do without it.”

Again, it’s better late than never. This week’s issue features campus dining expansions, a music review of the band Sleigh Bells, and an E&H baseball review.

Whitetopper 3/22/12

Better late than never! This week’s Whitetopper features a review from the Coffey Anderson concert, service learning projects, and a little something from #DVnation. Don’t mind the weird coloring of the photos, we’re not sure what’s going on there.

Whitetopper 3-1-12

Weird News

Sports part 1-Peyton Manning Signs with Broncos

Sports part 2-Kendall Marshall

Sports Part 3-Golden State Warriors

Campus News

John Towers lives in a passive green home, which is a home designed to require very little energy to keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

His house was not initially designed to be passive, but Towers has modified his home to make it more energy efficient. Such modifications include sheets to insulate the windows. Towers’ energy bill has been cut drastically to 27 dollars because of the way he saves energy.

Towers also has a very rational look on how reduce one’s carbon footprint. He said that the way to reduce the energy is to do so gradually and not sacrifice our lifestyle in the process.

Economics professor Krista Clark did not plan to be a teacher at Emory & Henry or at any other college or high school. She aspired to be an astronaut or a nun, depending on which opportunity became available.

“I went to college and I thought I was an astronomy major. I went to space camp three times, that was like my other life. I was either going to be an astronaut or be in Africa.”

Clark had everything lined up to become a nun and join a Sacred Hearts convent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa, but not long after returning from a study abroad trip to Botswana, she met husband Todd Clark, Assistant Dean of Students here at Emory & Henry.

After meeting Todd Clark and graduating with a master’s in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State, and a master’s in Education from Virginia Tech, she obtained a job in high school education teaching mostly social studies and history, with a few economic classes.

While economics was not exactly her first choice when it came to teaching, when a job opened up at Emory & Henry, she said it was one of the greatest things that had ever happened to her – almost like a dream.

“This is a beautiful, small college where people care about each other. And I think that’s probably what makes it so enjoyable to me. There’s just an understanding of, ‘we care.’ You (students) care about each other. I see faculty caring and being concerned about students here. That’s so important to me.”

Even though her original dream of working overseas didn’t work out, she still visits and studies other countries. Clark has already traveled to Thailand, Ireland, and Botswana. She believes her fascination with religions and cultures around the world has also helped her in understanding students in class.

Clark will accompany mass communication professor Dr. Twange Kasoma, along with some students, this summer to Zambia.

“I’m really excited to go to Zambia,” Clark said. “There are certain places where you travel, and you go there, and it’s like your soul is there. I feel at home and at peace there.”

Husband Todd Clark told her that he was excited for her to go to Zambia, as she actually agreed to go on their first date back in college after she had gone on a trip to Botswana.

The trip is offered to mass communication students at Emory & Henry. While abroad, they will participate in internships, gaining valuable experience for media in the global spectrum.

“My main goal for this season would be to make the conference finals and compete with the top conference teams,” Hale said.

This is Hale’s third year of coaching tennis, the previous two being with men’s and women’s teams at Wesleyan.

“I think he cares a lot about the conditioning of his players,” senior and No. 2 singles player Chip Wintringham said, “and he wants the team to be the best in the ODAC.

“He is very intense,” Wintringham added, “and his practices mimic his match-like intensity.

Hale has so far led the Wasps to beat Hampden-Sydney (5-4) and Greensboro (7-2).

“I think he is what the team really needs,” junior and No. 5 singles player Webster Gilley said. “He expects us to be the best tennis players we can be and is determined to bring us to championship quality.

“Practices can be tough at times,” Gilley added, “but, at the end, we will appreciate it.”