Sports can be a universal connector, bringing people from different backgrounds together under one group. The importance of collegiate sports is high, as many people are trying to make
new friends and fit in with a crowd in college. Being a part of a sports team can help students feel included, part of a community while at college.

When asked, a member of the volleyball team said, “Volleyball to me is about teamwork and passion.” Another player said, “Volleyball is about building a family on and off the court.” Players grow a strong
sense of community on their team which helps lessen the felling of loneliness on campus. Studies also show that athletes are less likely to be depressed than regular college students.

Men’s volleyball has been growing over the years, adding new teams, allowing for more players. Last year, seven teams joined D1/D2 volleyball, which increased the total teams in D1/D2 to 74. This compares to the number of 48 teams in 2020; this growth is the fastest of any NCAA men’s team. This growth is not random; it was a plan by The First Point Volleyball Foundation. They are a non-profit organization whose goal is to expand the sport of volleyball. They were able to help fund smaller programs. This collegiate growth also coincides with the growth of high school boys’ volleyball, which had grown 22% from 2015 to 2022. Men’s Volleyball’s expansion was also helped due it being more cost-effective compared to other collegiate sports. Schools that already have a women’s volleyball team will have the majority of the equipment necessary, and lacking a large number of indoor sports during the spring season makes adding a men’s team easier to achieve.

While the sport is expanding, there are some roadblocks at some schools that are halting the momentum. Things like Title IX and gender-equity considerations, and staff. For one, colleges may want to add a men’s volleyball team, but it may be a Title IX violation. The other problem they may face is finding or paying staff. Somebody needs to coach, and people need to work the games, so if a college can’t find these things, they may not keep the program around or
start the program.

While this is recorded breaking expansion by collegiate volleyball, it cannot last forever. It appears that expansion will continue, though it is slated to slow down. In 2026, 12 teams are expected to join, showing that this growth isn’t over. This continued growth displays how the sport still has momentum and making more roster spots for many kids all over the world to find a place at a college through sports.

By Rachel Rechichi

A new face roams the halls of the Student Involvement Center, and with them comes new ideas.

As of September 2025, a new Director of Student Involvement, Heather Trumble, was hired to oversee student activities in the wake of Alex Gill’s departure to the University of Buffalo.

Gill had been a staple of the Hilbert community for over six years, serving as the Director of Student Involvement, being an adjunct for various classes, and rocking his signature beard. Many students and staff had fond memories with Gill, as Joyce Hibbs, the current Vice President of Finance for the Student Government Association (SGA), said that Gill was the main reason she was encouraged to get involved on campus and that he was a “great support system” during his time with the SGA.

Taking up the mantle of Director is Heather Trumble. While she is new to Hilbert, she has a lot of experience regarding events and student involvement. When Trumble was a student at UB, she was very involved in campus activities and eventually went to earn her master’s degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from Canisius University. Upon earning her degree, she worked for SUNY Niagara for thirteen years in Student Life. Trumble also has experience outside of the college scene, as she has helped with events at Electric City, a music venue in Buffalo.

Within the SGA, there is much excitement regarding Trumble as the new director. Hibbs said that Trumble has worked very closely with the SGA and is very positive, driven, and has many ideas for campus events. Hibbs stated that she wanted students to know that Trumble is very open to student input and that students should attend SGA meetings, get involved, and have their voice heard on campus.

When asked about how the SGA has been handling the change in directors, Hibbs asserted, “I think the transition of directors has been quite smooth. Pretty much all of us in SGA have already gotten to work with her and get to know her very well. She was great at just jumping right into her role to directly meet students and find out what they would like to see.”

In the future, Trumble is looking forward to continuing traditions at Hilbert, as well as bringing in new events. Recently, Trumble went to an event expo where she was able to talk to other small colleges in the Northeast and gain ideas for what students may enjoy or want to see on campus. There were also talent showcases at the expo which provided some inspiration. Trumble says that Hilbert College has been very welcoming since day one, and she hopes to grow Student Involvement into a more vibrant experience for all students of the campus.

For interested students, information regarding SGA meetings and other events can be found on the online calendar at events.hilbert.edu or on the Hilbert Involvement Instagram.

“I want students to feel like there is always something happening for them each week and make students feel connected to the campus and each other.” Trumble says. “I really want students to know I am here for them and what they have to see happen on campus. I am always here to chat, hear questions and concerns, and would love to have students get involved on campus as much as they can.”

By Ryan Okonczak

HAMBURG, NY — HAWK Radio, Hilbert College’s student-run radio station, has returned to the air after a year-long hiatus.

Many enthusiastic students requested the station to return. The station formally began to broadcast once again late last semester, with the club officially being chartered again in the last SGA meeting before the 2025 Summer Break. Since then, the club has grown to include a core of dedicated members who seek to carry on the tradition of the station.

Professor Donald Vincent is the current staff advisor and founder of HAWK Radio. He recalls how the station has changed over the years.

“HAWK Radio started in 2011. It was originally housed in a small space in the library. In 2014, it moved to the old psychology lab in Bogel hall. In 2016, it was in the DMAC lab, in the room, which is now my office. In 2019, it moved to its current location in Fran Hall.”

HAWK Radio would go dormant several times throughout the year, due to what Vincent described as technical difficulties and, at one point, the station’s online streaming service used to broadcast the station going out of business.

Vincent is hopeful for the station’s future, with him stating his wishes that the station will “…be a significant part of Hilbert’s culture”, and that “The more students we have involved, the more likely that is to happen.”

Ryan Zunner, the Assistant Managing Editor Buffalo Toronto Public Media and former radio personality on HAWK Radio, is thankful for the time he spent on the station.

“Getting to gain experience in all those very different formats was fun, and I think underscores the uniqueness that college radio provides.”

Zunner had the opportunity to partake in many events and types of programming while on the station, including a college game day program and hosting a rock show, a late-night talk show, and a news show. His time on the station has given him a plethora of experience and preparation for his role at Buffalo Toronto Public Media.

“Hawk Radio helped me immensely in finding my own voice and comfortability on radio. The opportunity to do live radio, or any live media, is a skill that will help you leaps and bounds in any future career in the field. Plus that flexibility in hosting shows of varying format and topics gave me great range in jobs in the future.”

There are many ways that students can get involved in Hawk Radio. You can contact Professor Vincent, the club’s staff advisor, at dvincent@hilbert.edu, as well as Treasurer Anjely Ruiz at aruiz230@hilbert.edu.

Modern writing practices have changed to accommodate the presence of several screens at a time; something which has drastic impacts on the quality of entertainment.

By: Steven Ball

Have you ever checked your phone to see how many minutes you have spent on an app? How about how long you spend with the television on? Odds are that you have quite a bit of time logged on both, and the time spent on those devices might not always be when you are watching. This type of behavior has been popularized with the growth of at home entertainment, a category known as “second screen viewing” where what you have on screen is not necessarily meant to be engaged with at all times. This seems counterintuitive, but it has quickly grown into a predominant method of structuring media, leading us into an era of entertainment we don’t have to engage with.

According to Nielson.com, streaming accounts for 46.4% of all viewing numbers on a daily basis, with platforms like YouTube and Netflix being the most prominent services for viewing. As with most streaming services, they host an ever-growing library of content with almost no limit to what is available. YouTube on its own has upwards of 360 hours of video uploaded every minute to its site, whereas Netflix’s model promotes buying and hosting pretty much anything that comes across their table. There used to be limitations on what you could watch and when you could watch it, but now we are bombarded with a deluge of options available at all times of the day.

“One of the things about second screens is the way in which it kind of takes away the experience of watching what it is you are trying to focus on,” says Professor Linquist, an English instructor at Hilbert College. “But it’s also tied to the weird ways that we live now and the ways in which we have never been so busy. That there’s always too many things to do with too many things to watch and too many things to look at. That we’re kind of always being stretched in so many different directions all the time.” With so many options available at all times, we feel pressured to keep up with new entertainment or develop a fear of missing out (FOMO). In order to compensate for this, it has become increasingly common to throw on a show while scrolling on your phone or performing duties around the house.

In order to compensate for this, services and networks have changed the way in how they write their programs. The primary screen, your phone or other device, holds the majority of your attention while the second screen fills in the background. With this kind of behavior most prominent in younger audiences who are more reliant on their phones, information needs to be communicated to the audience with the expectation of them not paying full attention. Characters might bluntly list characteristics of someone else while they are in the room, actions are declared as they are being committed, plot relevant details are broadcast verbally as if the story itself needed to validate itself. It requires less of your attention to maintain continuity, and makes sure to advertise when you should set down your primary screen to re-engage with the secondary.

For example, Netflix released a film in 2023 called Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire. Heralded by Netflix as a premier exclusive sci-fi franchise created by Zach Snyder, it had plans to become a flagship franchise for generations to come, but was quickly discredited upon its debut. What follows is a piece of dialogue from the movie’s protagonist, Kora, as she speaks to a man named Hagen.

“You know, the two seasons I’ve spent here have given me happiness… that I don’t deserve. I understand I am a child of war. To truly love and… be loved, I… don’t know if I’m capable of either. The very idea of love, of… family was beaten out of me. I was told that love is weakness. And I… I don’t know how that will ever change.”

Kora’s dialogue leaves little room for ambiguity pertaining to her characteristics. She sees herself as someone worthy of love or happiness, and holds doubts whether or not she can change. Rather than express this through subtleties, it is laid out in the open for you to easily digest without much thought. This is a common trend throughout the entire film, hosting a cast of easily recognizable character tropes running the usual playbook of story beats.

What is lost here is a sense of humanity in the characters and trust in the audience to engage with the material. People are not usually so open with each other, typically requiring heightened tension or an immense level of trust in order to be so direct with their words. Rather than feeling like a real person who is struggling with a dark past, she comes across as a stereotypical mold that can fit a hundred other forgotten protagonists.

As second screen applications have become more common, similar practices have been initiated on broadcast and cable media to maximize engagement on multiple screens. The AI marketing platform Arena.im details ways to integrate second screen interaction into the viewing process directly, creating what they call a “more engaging and personalized journey.” This can manifest in all sorts of ways such as on screen social media hashtags, interactive ads, companion apps, live-chats, and augmented reality (AR) experiences. Whatever the method, you are incentivized to pull out your phone to participate in a more “enriched experience.”

While there is no harm in throwing on a favorite classic while you fold the laundry or catch up with the family, the point of entertainment is to be engaged with it. By relegating entertainment to the second screen, you forfeit the opportunity to experience something beyond the surface of enjoyment. Stories have been utilized as a way to pass down knowledge and wisdom for generations, with the best ones sticking around long after you are done with them, enticing you to think about everything you just watched.

“If we lose those quiet spaces,” says Nicholas Carr in his article ‘Is Google Making us Stupid?’, “or fill them up with ‘content,’ we will sacrifice something important not only in ourselves but in our culture.” Are we ready to embrace the second screen? To enter a world of shows you aren’t supposed to watch?

By Brian Sylvia

HAMBURG, N.Y. – When the Hilbert Hawks line up in their rare, ground-pounding flexbone offense, fans might wonder why they opt for a relentless run game over flashy passes. The answer lies in a bold strategy shift that’s transforming this young Division 3 program.

Hilbert College, a small school in Hamburg, NY, launched its NCAA Division 3 football program in 2022. Starting from scratch, the Hawks faced challenges typical of a new team: a roster of mostly freshmen competing against teams with seasoned juniors and seniors. Recruiting for a small college with no football legacy is tough, making Hilbert true underdogs. In 2024, head coach Ted Egger hired offensive coordinator Aaron Aydelott to overhaul the offense, moving from a spread style to the flexbone. The flexbone is a run-focused, deceptive scheme designed to give undersized teams an edge. After a season and a half, the Hawks are already seeing improved offensive efficiency, aiming to make their mark in Division 3.

The flexbone’s roots trace back to the 1960s, when Emory Bellard developed the wishbone offense at the University of Texas. This formation featured a quarterback under center, a fullback, and two halfbacks in a “Y” shape, emphasizing the triple option: the quarterback could hand it off to the fullback, keep the ball, or pitch to a halfback. This forced defenses to make quick, often incorrect, decisions, making the offense lethal. In the 1980s, Ken Hatfield at the Air Force Academy tweaked the wishbone, creating the flexbone by moving the halfbacks (now slot backs) closer to the offensive tackles. This adjustment added pre-snap motion and passing threats while maintaining the focus on controlling possession and time.

Today, the flexbone is rare in college football, thriving at places like the service academies and Harding University, where Aydelott previously coached. At Harding, the flexbone offense powered a Division 2 national championship and broke NCAA rushing records. Aydelott brought this expertise to Hilbert, drawn to the offense’s sustainability. “It’s not reliant on having consistently better talent,” he told me. “It’s different and being different makes preparation difficult for opponents.” The flexbone’s uniqueness forces defenses to prepare for something unfamiliar in the fast-paced, week-to-week world of college football, giving Hilbert an advantage.

However, the offense’s unpredictability means Hilbert must be ready for any defensive response. Aydelott addresses this by practicing against every possible defense, ensuring players master their assignments and play with confidence. “We want our guys to be tougher, more detailed, and relentless,” he said, emphasizing an identity of grit and unity over raw talent.

Hilbert is still chasing its first program win, but the flexbone has already boosted their performance, Aydelott’s vision isn’t just about victories, it’s about “steady long-term progression” and building a brotherhood of tough, disciplined players who fight as one. Aydelott wants people to say, “we’re a group of guys that fight really hard for each other, that battle for each other, and we are a true, strong brotherhood where we’ve got eleven guys moving as one part every time we touch the field.”

As Hilbert’s program grows, the flexbone could be their weapon to defy the odds. So, the next time you watch a Hawks game and wonder why the ball isn’t soaring through the air, remember this methodical offense is designed to steal momentum and wear opponents down. The Hawks will fight to the final whistle, embodying their underdog spirit.

Editor’s note: Brian Sylvia is a former Hawks Football Wide Receiver and the 2024-25 Coaches Award Winner.