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bongaboi · 2 years

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At New Mexico St, a meltdown that runs beyond basketball

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Of all the troubling video made public over a year of crisis at New Mexico State – from the brawl involving basketball players to the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old, allegedly by one of those players, to the police interviews with the coach afterward – one 42-minute log of footage might best explain how the school is in the mess it is today.

In that video, captured on police body cam, an officer is interviewing the university’s $500,000-a-year chancellor, Dan Arvizu, and his wife, Sheryl Arvizu. The officer had been called to the couple’s house to resolve a dispute that came out of Sheryl’s suspicion her husband was having an affair with a staff member at New Mexico State.

Dan Arvizu denied the affair. Sheryl Arvizu ended up being booked into jail on a battery charge that was later dismissed. Officials at the school’s Office of Institutional Equity looked into the allegations for possible conflict-of-interest issues, though there was no report filed.

During these fraught days at New Mexico State, where the once-treasured men’s basketball program has been shelved for the season after that fatal shooting and a gruesome allegation of locker-room hazing, the Arvizu police video is a reminder of who is ultimately responsible at a university that has, in many eyes, become unhinged in areas well beyond basketball. The Associated Press spoke to more than a dozen people affiliated with the university, many of whom expressed deep concerns with leadership at the school. Some said they did not want their names used because they feared retribution. “People are embarrassed,” said Jamie Bronstein, a history professor who also serves as vice chair of NMSU’s faculty senate. “People feel terrible for the students.”

In a letter sent to “Our NMSU Community” after the AP published this story, Arvizu acknowledged that his family had been through “a deeply personal situation.”

“Importantly, there is no truth to the allegations made that evening,” the letter said. “It was a low point for me, and since that time, my wife and I have worked to rebuild our relationship. I am confident this matter has not impacted my ability to lead our university.”

Questions some people are asking on this 14,000-student campus, where some of the adobe-colored dorms and classroom buildings are a short walk from livestock barns, have as much to do with school leadership as they do with the basketball program.

There have been seven different presidents, interim presidents and chancellors over the past 15 years at the second-biggest university in New Mexico. In addition to its isolation — set near the jagged mountains of southern New Mexico, NMSU is some 400 miles from the nearest major media market in Phoenix — the school is unique in that its student body is 63% Hispanic and more than a quarter of the students are the first members of their family to attend college.

“What makes NMSU such a special place is the huge opportunity to change students’ and their families’ lives by increasing our students’ social mobility,” business professor Jim Hoffman said. “This is why excellent leadership, thoughtful decision making and wise use of (limited) resources are so important.”

No matter the disadvantages, New Mexico State has always been able to make a name for itself every March thanks to a men’s basketball program that traditionally thrives on the strength of players and coaches who don’t always take the traditional route to Division I. But this year, the program disintegrated.

The unraveling can be traced to an NMSU football game last Oct. 15 in which a handful of the school’s basketball players got into a brawl with students from rival New Mexico. Video of the melee shows junior forward Mike Peake among those throwing punches.

No police report was filed that night, and five weeks after the fight, the players headed to Albuquerque for one of the season’s most anticipated games, against the Lobos. It was there that Peake broke curfew and went to the dormitory complex of one of the students involved in the fight at the football stadium.

Video from the apartment parking lot shows Peake being attacked with a baseball bat before exchanging gunfire with the student, Brandon Travis. Both men fall. Peake was taken to the hospital with leg wounds that required surgery. Travis later died from his gunshot wounds. Peake, who was acting in self-defense, has not been charged with a crime. Police video shows Peake in a hospital bed after the shooting asking to get his gun back because “that’s my only weapon.” Guns are not permitted on New Mexico State’s campus or on school-related road trips.

The morning after the shootings, players and coaches were loaded onto a bus to head back to Las Cruces, only to be stopped on Interstate 25 by police, who were still piecing together details from the night before.

The Aggies continued to play for nearly three more months. On Feb. 12, Arvizu canceled the season after allegations surfaced about three players ganging up on a teammate in what a police report said included a possible incident of criminal sexual contact. Two days later, Arvizu fired the coach, Greg Heiar. The player who made the allegations said similar hazing incidents had been occurring since summer. Arvizu said he was never made aware of the hazing. School spokesman Justin Bannister said school policy calls for employees to report misconduct to the Title IX office and that the university is “looking at additional support systems” for the future.

At a news conference after those moves, the chancellor said he was sure the “despicable acts” and potentially illegal behavior were confined strictly to the basketball team.

“There will be consequences,” Arvizu said.

Both the shooting and hazing incidents are being sorted out by internal and third-party investigations. Some observers are skeptical they will ever get the full story.

“I feel that we’ve all been left in the dark,” said one longtime Aggies fan, Amy Rohr.

The chancellor’s notion that the problems have been walled off in the basketball program is hardly a consensus around campus.

Current and former employees the AP interviewed described scenarios in which top-level administrators refused to hold themselves or others accountable, both inside and outside the athletic department. One said the “guardrails” designed to protect students and faculty — from everything from retaliation for whistleblowing to sexual improprieties — had all but disappeared.

“Because there’s so much churn in our upper administration, we never get to the point of hammering out who is actually accountable for upholding policies,” Bronstein said.

In one instance, a lawsuit last year filed by a Jane Doe alleges a longtime professor with ties to the athletic department “harassed and groomed female students for years, coercing them into sexual relations and bragging about the same” while school officials looked the other way. The plaintiff alleges she was sexually assaulted by the professor.

Another case alleges that two professors who blew the whistle about hiring practices they claimed flouted human-resource policies had their complaints intercepted by an administrator involved in the hiring, who then pushed for disciplinary cases to be opened against those professors. One has been demoted from his deanship.

Bronstein and others told of the Office of Institutional Equity, which handles Title IX and other discrimination complaints and should have been on the front lines of the hazing allegations, as being marginalized, with administrators ignoring some recommendations produced by the office and putting others off.

In his letter, Arvizu said the school has added staff to the OIE, and that whistleblowers are protected under state law.

“And, under NMSU’s Administrative Rules and Procedures, retaliation is explicitly prohibited,” Arvizu wrote.

Some of the dissatisfaction among faculty was resolved last year, when President John Floros stepped down and Provost Carol Parker was fired in the wake of a resolution of no confidence submitted by the faculty senate.

Among the complaints in that resolution were allegations of misappropriation of funds, unethical hiring and promotion practices and a long list of consequences of the “broader impacts of systemic failure of leadership.”

Parker is currently suing the university. Floros was able to keep his $450,000-a-year salary. The approximately $950,000 in annual salary for Floros and Arvizu was nearly triple what former New Mexico Gov. Garry Carruthers made in his dual role as chancellor and president for five years ending in 2018.

Arvizu’s five-year contract runs out in June. In December, regents made the decision not to renew it, leaving NMSU to face the basketball crisis with no president, a provost position in flux and a lame-duck chancellor.

The athletic director’s job seems secure: When Arvizu dismantled basketball for the season, he went out of his way to back Mario Moccia, who is in his 10th year as AD.

One under-the-radar move the administrators made came in 2019 when they ended a policy that stated student-athletes would be dismissed if found guilty of (or pleaded no contest to) a felony. That allowed one player to remain on the team at the time the rules were changed. It also furthered New Mexico State’s reputation as a place where athletes and coaches get second chances — perhaps without accountability.

At his news conference, Arvizu defended the rules changes that led to the new policy, while Moccia defended his hiring record, conceding that “nobody bats a thousand.” The AD insisted the vetting process for Heiar was solid.

It was the first head-coaching job at a Division I school for the 47-year-old Heiar. Among those he had worked for over two decades as an assistant included Larry Eustachy, Will Wade, Gregg Marshall and Chris Jans. All have endured embarrassing episodes that cost them their jobs. Jans, who left New Mexico State for Mississippi State after last season, came to Las Cruces shortly after he was fired from Bowling Green when a video surfaced of him slapping an unidentified woman on the butt at a bar.

One of Heiar’s assistant coaches, Edmond Pryor, lasted less than three months after being arrested on allegations of forgery. Another of Moccia’s hires is women’s basketball coach Jody Adams, who was accused of being abusive toward players when she coached Wichita State.

For decades, though, New Mexico State has not been shy about taking risks to advance its sports programs. One of the program’s glory eras came in the 1990s when coach Neil McCarthy embroiled a team filled with junior-college transfers in an academic scandal that ended up costing him his job.

Even after he was fired, basketball kept putting this school on the map come March. The Aggies have been to March Madness 11 times since McCarthy left after the 1997 season, always as a double-digit seed with a reputation for giving the big boys trouble. Though the Aggies never moved away from taking players with riskier academic records, the school has not been charged with a major NCAA infraction since 2001.

Regardless, there won’t be any postseason this year, and it’s anybody’s guess as to who, or what, will be left from the team that was 9-15 when the hazing allegations arose and the season was called off. Two players quit shortly after the hazing allegations. Moccia said there would be basketball next season, though the status of the players remaining was up in the air.

“The entire program has caught on fire, and the fire has burned down everything, and all that’s left are the roots,” said Jim Paul, the former NMSU AD who fired McCarthy.

Christopher Hamilton, a freshman who was walking across campus the day Heiar’s firing came down, said the whole situation was “just disappointing, and it’s sad that it’s your school.”

He said he hoped to go to basketball games again someday. But on a recent Saturday, when the Aggies had been scheduled to play a home game at the Pan-Am Center, all anyone could see on the hardwood was the cartoon drawing of the school’s mascot at halfcourt: the mustachioed, gun-toting cowboy known as “Pistol Pete.”

AP reporter Susan Montoya Bryan contributed to this report.

#2023 #new mexico state

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eliteprepsat · 5 years

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College campus visits are important for prospective college students for a number of reasons. For one, they demonstrate your interest in the schools to which you’re applying. Beyond this, they are useful in helping you and your family make the difficult decision of where you will invest your time, money, and efforts over the next four years of your life.

This is a big decision no doubt. When it comes to college visits, then, it’s no surprise that they can feel overwhelming. So here are 25 tips for how to have a great college visit that is smooth, informative, and even fun.

1. Visit during your junior year

It’s a good idea to visit a college campus or two in the few first years of high school (or even middle school). This can give you a feel early on for what the college experience is like and if it is for you. While this is certainly true, it is generally considered best to do the bulk of your campus visitations during your junior year. This is because much of your senior year will be spent working on actual college applications. So, getting your campus visits out of the way during junior year will leave you with plenty of time and energy to focus on those!

2. First, take virtual tours and/or attend a college fair

Before you even visit a college in person, narrow down your options by taking virtual campus tours online and, if possible, by attending a college fair. Of course, you can’t glean as much information from either of these experiences as you can from an in-person college visit. But you just might learn something about a school from either a virtual tour or college fair that could get it added to or taken off of your short list.

National College Fairs, for example, is a program of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). It hosts college fairs across the country every year, including performing and visual arts college fairs, STEM college fairs, and an international universities fair. These fairs are free, and they give students the opportunity to engage with representatives from an array of colleges and universities across the globe.

For a searchable list of this year’s National College Fairs, please see this page from the NACAC website.

3. Go on a practice run

Before you visit the colleges in which you are most interested, start by visiting a school as a sort of practice run. This can be a local school that you feel less invested in or a school that you do not intend on applying to at all. The idea here is that with less at stake, you can get your nerves out in this “dress rehearsal” and then be confident to tackle those schools that are on the top of your list!

4. Visit during the school year

Although colleges might be less crowded over spring or winter break and you might have a bit more freedom to explore, chances are that many campus buildings will be closed during this time and there will be fewer people around. So, be sure to visit college campuses while school is in session—when you can see as much as possible and chat with as many people as possible, really getting a more accurate sense of how that college operates on a daily basis.

5. Sit in on an information session

College information sessions are short presentations run by admissions staff that give general facts about schools to prospective students and their families. These are typically held just before campus tours, and they are a great opportunity to get basic information about a college, including admission requirements, financial aid, and a bit about the undergraduate experience. Depending on the college, registration for these sessions may or may not be required. So, be sure to plan accordingly with each school. And, before you leave, be sure to get the business card of the admissions officer who led your session or (for larger schools) who is responsible for traveling to your local area, just in case you have any follow-up questions after your visit.

6. Take the official tour

Most colleges and universities hold daily tours of their campuses hosted by the admissions office. The guides who lead these tours are primarily current students working off of a script given to them by admissions. This means that they are told which campus sights to highlight and which attributes of the school to emphasize, which is a good thing since you will be sure to see the most iconic places on any given campus during your tour; yet, this doesn’t always mean that what is covered on the tour will necessarily interest you. So, be sure to ask to see locations that are of interest to you. Are you interested in acting classes but haven’t yet been taken by the theater building? Don’t be afraid to ask your guide. Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions that haven’t been addressed on the tour, even if they are more probing than where you can park without getting a ticket or find the best burger on campus. Remember that the purpose of these tours is to sell colleges to prospective students. So, your guide is there to help you in any way they can.

7. Then, take your own unguided tour

While it is important to take the official campus tour, it is also important to leave enough room in your schedule to take an unofficial tour on your own. Did you stop by any places on the guided tour that you wanted to revisit? Did you spot anything on the campus map that the official tour didn’t get to but that looked particularly interesting? Leaving time for your own unguided tour is also a great way to discover the ivy on the staircase of the science building, the view from the philosophy library, or the surprisingly good sandwiches in the student center coffee shop—those smaller and more charming things about a college campus that often make you fall in love with it.

8. Talk to as many people as possible

The most valuable resources when visiting any campus are the people you encounter there. And it’s important that you talk with a variety of these people—from existing students to faculty, staff, and even alumni (if possible). Combined, all of these individuals contribute to the life and vibe of a college campus, so they are all worth communicating with.

With that said, it’s worth noting that you can always walk up to students and other members of the campus community and initiate a conversation with them. But, they might be busy or otherwise unwilling to chat. So, you might consider working with the admissions office, who can connect you with relevant people who are willing to chat in person during your visit or via email/Skype.

9. Visit academic departments

Visit academic departments of which you expect to be a part, especially those you anticipate majoring or minoring in. Professors are typically happy to meet with prospective students. Just remember that they are generally very busy. So, before you arrive, make arrangements to meet with them, as they can provide you with detailed information about their programs, including syllabi from courses you would be required to take or interested in taking.

10. Visit other departments of special interest

In addition to academic departments, also be sure to visit any departments or organizations that are of special interest to you (such as athletic departments or student clubs) and speak to people there (such as athletic directors or club leaders). As with professors, you’ll typically find that most people enjoy meeting with prospective students to discuss their shared interests, so don’t be shy about reaching out to arrange these conversations. Just be sure to do so well enough in advance.

11. Visit a dorm (or two)

While a stop inside a student dorm in typically included on most official campus tours, don’t be afraid to ask to see multiple dorms on your tour, as student housing tends to vary. There is usually a separate dorm for first-year students, for instance. Often times campuses have more apartment-style housing for students in their third and fourth years, as well. Be sure to also check out these housing options for upperclassmen, so that you can know what to expect if you live on campus beyond your first year. And if you plan on living in the surrounding area instead of on campus, be sure to gather information about places for rent and ask students about their experiences with off-campus housing.

12. Visit other campus buildings you will likely frequent

For better or worse, much of a college student’s time outside of their classrooms and dorm is spent studying in other campus facilities such as the library and student center. While on your visit, be sure to visit these spaces. While in the library, walk through the stacks, check out the communal computer and quiet study areas, and even chat with a librarian—perhaps about the stacks of your intended area of study. While walking through the student center, ask yourself if you can picture yourself there, getting a coffee in the morning or detoxing with friends after a long day. Does it seem inviting and comfortable?

Other buildings/areas of campus you might want to visit include:

The quad

The health center

Athletic and/or workout facilities

The book store

The career center

The counseling center

Research labs

The disability resource center

Parking facilities

13. Visit (and eat in!) one or more student dining facilities

One of the great tricks to enjoying college is learning the best places to eat on campus. So, be sure to ask about the preferred dining spots and try them out for yourself. Most colleges typically have at least one cafeteria-style dining hall where you can sit down for a meal, as well as more of a “greasy spoon” style eatery where you can grab a quick bite on the go. If possible, check out one of each. While on your tour, also scope out the vending machine options—both near classroom buildings and student housing. These can come in handy when you need a fast snack between classes or when most dining facilities have closed shop for the night.

14. Get information about campus safety/security

Although it’s a matter of campus life that we tend to consider less, the issue of safety is incredibly important. So, take some time to ask about this issue on your visit. Do all students on campus generally feel safe, even when walking to and from evening classes? Does the campus offer a student shuttle service? What measures does campus security take to enforce safety precautions? Do security personnel or members of local police have a presence on campus/regularly patrol campus?

15. Visit the surrounding area

In a way, when you commit to the University of Alabama, you’re not just committing to the University of Alabama; you’re also committing to the city of Tuscaloosa. When you commit to being a Trojan, you’re also committing to greater Los Angeles. This includes all of the local coffee shops, bookstores, restaurants, theaters, and everything else that each of these areas has to offer. So, be sure to leave some time to not only check out the college campus on your visit but to also check out the city or town in which the college is located, since you will be sure to engage with the life of that place, as well.

16. Meet with a member of both financial aid and admissions

Even if you’ve already sat in on the information session and have gone on the official campus tour, it’s a good idea to meet individually with both a member of the financial aid office and admissions. Finances can present a real barrier to entry for prospective college students, and figuring out how to receive aid in order to make college possible can simply be confusing. So, sitting down with a professional who can explain your options is incredibly beneficial.

And with so many prospective students applying to their institution every season, it’s important to admissions officers that you stand out from the crowd. Taking the time and effort to meet with an admissions officer during your campus visit allows them to put a face to a name once your application rolls in, ideally giving you a leg up from the other applicants in the stack.

17. Spend the night and/or sit in on a class

Many colleges allow you to briefly immerse yourself in the life of their school by spending the night with a current student and sitting in on a class session. While your host isn’t always responsible for entertaining you during your overnight stay, the experience can be a chance to experience the workings of a dorm, often including a communal living space and shared bathrooms. When you sit in on a class, take stock of your fellow students. Do they seem engaged? Also take stock of the classroom. Do the facilities seem up-to-date and well taken care of? Do you otherwise feel comfortable in the space?

18. Keep an eye out for campus literature

While in the admissions office, be sure to check out any available brochures and pamphlets. While these often include general information about a school that can be found on their website, they can be helpful in your college decision-making process since they are portable, handy, and easy to organize with the other college brochures and pamphlets you’ve accumulated. In addition to these, also keep your eyes peeled for pamphlets and other signs posted on bulletin boards across campus advertising upcoming events. And, if possible, get your hands on a copy of the school newspaper. What is the tone of this literature? Do the activities they boast sound interesting to you? Can you picture yourself taking part in them?

19. Don’t let the weather rain on your parade

Remember that once you’re enrolled at a school, you will be there relatively year-round, experiencing it in all the weather that area has to offer. So, if you happen to be taking your campus tour on a rainy day, be sure to do your best to not let it dampen your view of that school. Try to imagine what the campus will look like on a beautiful spring or summer day as well, with students taking in the sun and playing Frisbee on the quad.

20. Try to read the school’s vibe

As you walk around campus on your tour, do a good amount of people watching. How does the student body strike you? How do they seem to interact with one another? Is it what you envision when you dream about going to college? For instance, if the student body appears to lack diversity and you believe that you would thrive in a more diverse environment, this might not be the school for you. Or, if there hardly seems to be anyone on campus, and you know you would thrive in a more vibrant setting, this might not be the school for you either. Just think: Can you see yourself happily fitting in among these people and this environment?

21. Come prepared with questions

It can feel like a lot is being thrown at you at once during a college campus visit, and it can be easy in the moment to forget questions you want to ask. So, come prepared with questions either printed out or typed on the notes app of your phone. Have questions for everyone you’ll encounter, not just admission staff or your tour guide. And divide your questions into useful categories (such as by person or subject) so that they are more easily accessible as you make your way through the day.

Remember, too, to not get too bogged down with questions regarding logistics during your visit (e.g. the size of the student body, the typical class size, etc.). You can typically locate the answers to such questions on a college’s website or in their brochures. Instead, try to ask more questions about less tangible but no less important aspects of the college experience. A few such questions include:

What makes your school unique?

How would you describe the student body?

What sort of student would most thrive here/would not be happy here?

What’s something you wish you had known about this campus before coming here?

Does the college work to prepare its students for a career after study?

Do the professors seem happy here?

How do locals feel about the students here?

22. Keep an open mind

While you may already have feelings about a certain college for one reason or another (e.g. your big sister went there, your favorite basketball player went there, or you’ve always heard about it in movies or on the news), try to walk into your campus visit without any preconceived notions—whether they be good or bad. Try to participate in all possible activities during your visit, even if they might be a bit out of your comfort zone or if you only guess they’ll be relevant to your future college experience. In the end, the more information you have about each school, the better decision you’ll be able to make about where you’ll attend college.

23. Take plenty of notes and photos

Don’t trust your campus visit to memory. Especially when you’re visiting multiple colleges, the information you’ve taken in can blend together. So, be sure to take notes about your impressions of each school. And take plenty of photos, as well—including selfies. Just think of how cool it will be to have a throwback photo of your first time visiting your alma mater!

For help with keeping notes during multiple college campus visits, check out this “College Comparison Worksheet” (PDF) from the NACAC website.

24. Follow up

Your college visit doesn’t end when you drive away from campus. An important step in the process is following up with the people with whom you met during your time on campus, especially professors and staff. These communications don’t have to be formal. In fact, emails are best since they are easiest to respond to. When drafting your follow-up emails, simply thank these individuals for their time and express that you had a positive experience during your visit. Another tip is to mention something specific from your visit (e.g. something you saw, did, or discussed together) to personalize your note and show how much you care.

Another important step post-campus visit involves looking back at your notes and photos; writing down any follow-up questions you might have; and discussing your impressions with family, friends, and trusted mentors. What are your thoughts after this reflection?

25. Enjoy yourself

Last (but certainly not least), remember to enjoy yourself while visiting college campuses. Of course, this is, in part, just a state of mind. But there are also practical steps that you can take to ensure that the campus visit experience is a pleasurable one. First, don’t try to fit in too many campus visits or even too much of one campus visit in on a single day. Also, perhaps leave some time for something fun while visiting a college, such as a nearby tourist attraction. And regardless of your itinerary, be sure to plan your campus visit reasonably well ahead of time to alleviate any stress that comes from being in a time-crunch.

Finally, remember that while choosing a college is a big decision, it is an exciting one that typically only comes once in a lifetime. So, be excited about the process!

Stacy G. is a writer and teacher who has taught composition, literature, and creative writing courses at a number of public and private universities across the U.S. She has also taught SAT, AP English, and Literature SAT Subject Test courses at Elite Prep. She likes poetry, dogs, and poetry about dogs.

#college #college prep #campus visit #appblr #studyblr #high school

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manascoundrel · 8 years

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Trophy- Chapter 5

by Yarking Fandom: Dragon Age (general) Summery: Two troubled children meet at the Minrathous Circle. One is a magister’s heir, groomed to be the blood mage general of Seheron, without fear or mercy. Hopefully, that will keep people from noticing how very much an elf he is. The other is last born, least loved and most of his emotions involve academics and cadavers. They love each other, even if they’re not terribly good at it. Warnings for this chapter: implied auditory hallucinations AO3: here

The assembly of apprentices in the large, lofted lecture hall was intimidating. Tertius was a shy child, made doubly so by his father's insistence that he speak only when necessary (to the enchanters, or when asked a direct question by another student). In the sea of children surrounding him, all of them chattering away to their neighbors, he felt distinctly lonesome, and for not the first time today he wished that he was home, wrapped up in a blanket and reading with his mama.

The thought left him sullen, looking at the tips of his shoes while they waited for the speaker to arrive.

After too long a time, a woman approached the speaking podium at the front of the hall, face aligned with the shining fuscia crystal mounted at the podium head. When she spoke, her words reverberated throughout the entire room, mana residue from the projection enchantment dusting the air invisibly around them."If you would all be silent, we can begin," she said, sternly. The chatter quickly grew to a murmur and then just the sounds of robes shuffling and someone coughing from the other side of the room. No one wanted to be the first to fail to follow directions. Tertius wondered if everyone who attended was given the same speech by their mother or father or nannies about how important it was to behave and reflect well on their family, or if the obedience came naturally to them in a way that Tertius hopelessly struggled with, despite best efforts.

The speaker continued. "Thank you. Now, classes from here on will be divided into smaller groups that you will be assigned to by your Dorm Master for the next five years. After that point, your classes will be assigned based on your capabilities, availability, and personal preference, in that order. The Minrathous Circle is filled with examples of excellence, and our great Imperium's strength lies in our commitment to the meritocracy and honoring the best among us with the responsibility to lead. Exceptions will not be made for those who do not earn a position. I suggest you work hard to make sure and take advantage of this spectacular opportunity and resources around you and rise to each of your individual potentials."

Tertius glanced away from the speaker, distracted by the movement out of the corner of his eye. A few of the apprentices had already lost interest and were whispering to each other, while one apprentice a bit further down was bouncing on her heels in boredom. Tertius focused back on the speaker, scoffing to himself. Those apprentices wouldn't be much competition if they couldn't even get through this without getting distracted. He had endured longer lectures from his nanny for eating with his elbows on the table.

While Tertius prided himself for being a particularly disciplined five-year-old, the speaker paused to let her words sink in. Then, she began again with a lighter tone. "Today is a very special day for you all, however. Our head of Formari research has finished assessing the staves that have-"

The speaker paused again, waiting for the sudden burst of excitement that manifested in gasp, squeals and more chatter to die down before continuing. She seemed to expect the children's wildness, as she was smiling as she continued, "Has finished assessing the staves that have been commissioned and submitted for some of our students. Those without a personal staff submitted will be assigned one by our Formari senior enchanters. Senior enchanters, please raise your hands."

A handful of mages arranged in a line along the side of the room raised their hands, looking welcoming out at the new faces.

Tertius froze.

One's first staff was special. An honor. It was a symbol of becoming part of something important, of being worthwhile. His brothers' first staves were kept in their estate's library, mounted alongside a collection of their family's history of first staves and decorated with other family accolades. Tertius had often stood in front of them, admiring the craft and wishing with a fluttering heart that he had one of his own.

It only occurred to him now that he might not get anything special here. He was born third, neither heir to the Danarius house nor next in line. Tertius looked at the ground, keeping still so that his tears might remained walled over his eyes instead of spilling over and the speaker called name after name to retrieve their staff. He tried not to be preemptively disappointed. The Circle assigned staves were perfectly serviceable, with a entirely adequate foci embedded in their plain, smooth wood. It was really just looks that made a commissioned staff different than any other. It didn't matter.

"Gaius Tertius Danarius?" she called, and Tertius came to life as if shocked. He slipped between the rows of apprentices and scurried down the aisle at the side of the audience, directed gently by one of the speaker's assistance towards the row of children already called.

Tertius swallowed, craning to look past the row to where one of the Formari enchanters handed a beautifully carved staff with a silvery swan to one young mage that cooed as it was placed in her hands. Beyond, he saw the scarce few apprentices who hadn't be deemed worthy of a personal staff, holding the common-looking staves against their chest abashedly. Tertius could feel his heart in his chest, knew that's where he was going. Knew it.

Finally, the apprentice before him was granted his staff (a lovely mahogany thing with gems set in its head) and Tertius stepped forward. He braced himself, jaw tight and lip wibbling.

But the enchanter did not send him swiftly away.

"Gaius Tertius Danarius, yes?" the enchanter confirmed, reading over his list carefully. Tertius nodded once, still stiff and waiting. The enchanted smiled and turned, reaching out for a staff as he spoke. "Congratulations."

Tertius stared. The enchanter presented him with a staff- a beautiful thing. The wood was stunning white and gently carved with smooth, rolling waves that patterned out from its grip as if rippling, whorling up to the head of the staff, where it's foggy glass foci peeked out from the carved wood. Curled atop that were three intricate snakes, their scales rendered beautifully in pearl and lines of gold with sparkling peridot glinting at their eyes.

Tertius ached. It was magnificent. Better than he could have ever dreamed, and the tears spilled over at once as he reached for it. When his fingers closed around the cold leather wrap of the grip, Tertius held his breath.

He felt at once constricted, a pressure pushing around him that made it harder to breath. The sound of rushing wind roared in his ears and dissolved into momentary voices, a whole cacophony competing to speak over each other, and the silence. But, no, not silence. The distant, indistinct whispers susurrating from strange places, past the walls and below the floors.

Tertius looked at the audience out of the corner of his eyes, thinking for a moment the bizarre sound had come from them. They were the only people present, after all, but there was nothing that seemed to account for the sudden deafening rush and lingering impossible whispers that floated in the air the same as the mana residue of before. He looked down at the staff, wondering at the shining peridots as they seemed to wink at him.

"Run along, Apprentice Danarius," the Formari enchanter urged. "We have a lot of students to get through today."

Tertius scurried as he was told, momentarily setting aside the unexplainable phenomenon so as to not be impolite. As soon as he reached the other children who had already received their staves, most of them bragging and comparing the personal touches, some of them fawning over other's, Tertius inspected his more closely.

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with his staff. It was as glamorous and exquisite as he had initially thought. No cracks, no chips. Not even fingerprints on the pearlescent surface of the snakes' twining bodies. No sign at all that it had been tampered with. A new, unexpected fear rose up in Tertius at how unexplainable it is, spurred by how distracting and uncanny the murmurs fell on his ears.

He should tell someone. Should he tell someone? What if the problem was with him, some new fault hidden inside of him to be brought out with a touch of magic. Tertius swallowed, wincing as he held his beautiful staff away from him just a little. He couldn't tell anyone. He wasn't even supposed to talk to anyone unless it was very important. He could manage this fine. It was just some voices. They weren't even loud anymore.

The remaining ceremony passed slowly, Tertius starting occasionally when a voice whispered almost intelligibly, sounding as if someone was whispering right in his ear. He lacked the focus as much as the undisciplined children he had just earlier scoffed at by the time the speaker made her closing statements, and her words were lost beyond Tertius' own spiraling thoughts.

As soon as Tertius and the other children were finally lead back to the dormitories, Tertius shuffled silently to his bed and placed his staff on the blanket beside him, resting the ornate head on his pillow revrently.

The whispers quieted further, nothing more than a soft hush that could be mistaken for a light draft.

While the other children entertained themselves for the rest of the evening proudly parading their staves, Tertius slid off the bed and to his trunk tucked beneath him. He rummaged through the contents, pulling out books and clothes and a case of charcoal before he found a blanket. His yellow blanket.

That sight of it made his sad, and his throat tight.

Tertius pulled it from his trunk slowly, laying out out on his bed over the staff and carefully wrapped it in the blanket, swaddling it like a baby. The voices grew quieter still, lowering to near silence. As he slid the staff beneath his bed alongside the re-packed trunk, Tertius resolved to learn something more.

The library, as it turned out, had a few books on staves. If you considered "a few" to be an entire section, several dozen massive tomes lined up with thick, intimidating spines and words too long for him to ever hope to pronounce. He had managed to ask one of the librarian's assistants to help him find the section to begin with, but after he had ushered Tertius to one of the tall bookshelves and explained with a sweeping gesture that "anything in this row" would be pertinent, the assistant had left, and Tertius didn't feel confident in summoning him back for more help. Not only because he worried about speaking too much with the complication of his stutter, but also in concern at revealing to a stranger the sudden whispers plaguing him.

The advent of the youngest apprentices getting their first staff just the other day gave him an excuse to want to learn more, even made him look like he had initiative, which his papa would have liked, Tertius would like to think, but he didn't want to press his luck too far and arouse suspicion. While he didn't know what exactly the cause of the voices were, he instinctively suspected that it was something he'd want to know about himself before anyone else did.

That was something of a running theme when you were from a magister's house.

As for the whispers, they remained distant, but more obvious in the library, when there was little ambient sound to distract from their presence. They no longer disturbed Tertius as they did yesterday when the strangeness was new and unexpected, but it still forced him to read the names of the books out loud to himself to be able to focus on what they said. The voices weren't as great a distraction to his own thoughts as they had been either, but it would take some time still to get used to.

None of the books seemed particularly more relevant to his predicament than any other, so he finally settled on one to pick by the shade of the book's cover and how nice the font on its spine looked. He pulled a green-spined book with golden lettering from the shelf and grunted when it fell into his hands, nearly tipping him over. It was a bit heavier than expected.

Tertius carried it over to the open study desks lining the edges of the library and let the book thump heavily against the surface. On either side, the sparse students dotting down the row of desks in either direction looked up from their books scathingly at the noise, and Tertius bowed in apology, bashful. Still, he slipped into the seat (feet dangling from the height of the chair meant for older students) and peeled the pages open, the flapping and crinkle of the old paper sounding loud.

When he looked down at the page, he panicked. For a moment, Tertius had thought that whatever strange event had occurred yesterday when he was granted his staff had stolen his ability to read as well, as when he looked down on the page the text was wholly gibberish. He scanned the page and finally relaxed when he picked out a few smaller words he recognized and could read, and realized his problem was just a matter of the book being too advanced for him. Most of the words on the page were long concepts he hadn't yet heard of, and though he managed to sound out a few of the longer words just to prove to himself he was capable of doing so, it seemed like his "pick whatever book looked the nicest" strategy wasn't a reliable way of finding something helpful.

Tertius huffed, heaved the book back off the desk and tottered precariously with it back to the section on staves to put it back and try again.

This cycle continued for three, four, five more books before Tertius found one that was more his speed. It was thinner, newer and a bit less impressive than some of the more interesting looking books, but it approached the subject simply, explaining even the most simple concepts patiently.

Tertius began reading voraciously, mumbling the words under his breath as his did to focus over the constant murmur of voices that drove him there to begin with. It was slow going. He could read well enough, but the book was still more difficult than he was used to. The pages turned at a frustratingly slow pace. When Tertius finally shook his head and arched his back to stretch out the ache of sitting for too long, he had only managed a few chapters of the book, far from even halfway. He was usually done with books by now.

Tertius stood, discouraged by how little progress he had made and even more so by the complete lack of anything relevant found so far. He decided to take a break and get a sip of the conjured water provided near the library's door. As he walked, he took solace at least in knowing that his stutter had hardly cropped up at all when he was just reading to himself. Perhaps he could get better at it by practicing like this? He knew he was to take classes with a tutor to fix how he spoke, but didn't know when those were to begin, and though he was shy and liked the quiet and peace of reading and drawing by himself, he still missed the option of talking to the other apprentices if the opportunity arose.

Tertius was heading back to his desk and book when he passed by one of the other student's abandoned desks, its owner probably off to get another book or refill his inkwell or something like that. It normally wouldn't concern Tertius, but as he passed by, the color and lines of the books illustration drew his attention and at once enthralled him.

It was a picture of a cat, but Tertius didn't recognize it as such initially. The illustration was expertly done, and the silhouette of the animal was clear, but as Tertius approached the book closer, lured by the colors (reds, pinks, blues) he didn't expect to see, he saw the form filled with strange shapes. Lines pointed to the unusual blocks of color, labeling things (stomach, intestines, heart) and Tertius was instantly enamored.

The whispers, he realized, had gone quiet.

Shyly, glancing around and prepared for the book's owner to come and shoo him away, Tertius furtively slipped into the desk's chair. He had never seen a picture of inside something like that before. It never even occurred to him that there were something inside people, even if he knew intellectually of blood, bones and where his tummy was from when it was upset. But it had always just been.

Seeing it now, before him, laid out... it was pretty. His fingers brushed the page lightly.

"Excuse me?"

Tertius started, stumbling out of the chair and a few paces away to give the older student her desk and room back. She looked down at him. Not mad. Not annoyed. A flat, amused expression, one that didn't quite chase Tertius away.

He looked at the illustration in the book and then back up to the student, want swelling up in him keenly. He wasn't supposed to speak. He's not supposed to. He's…

"Like what you see?" she asked, sounding playful.

Tertius' eyes widened in surprise before he nodded emphatically, raising to his toes and bouncing in excitement. He gave a high-pitched squeak from his throat in the affirmation.

"There are other anatomy references in the fourth row. You wanna grow up to be a healer too?"

A healer? Tertius stopped himself from laughing out of politeness. Healing was not a beloved profession in the imperium, perhaps because so many of the magisters used blood magic like his papa, and there were no easier way to tell if someone had been casting with blood than trying to heal them with magic. The two disciplines didn’t play nice together.

"I-" he began, and stopped himself so swiftly his little teeth clicked together. The bashfulness returned as his words left, and his hands curled over his chest meekly.

"Ah, I see!" the apprentice suddenly said, sounding triumphant. She reached forward and Tertius froze as her hand got close, but she only grabbed his hand, his fingernails blackened with charcoal messily. "You're an artist. Well, that's something, I guess. I had to take painting lessons. It was so boring, but I guess it's not for everyone."

She released his hand and he brought it back to his chest, cradling it as if it had been scalded, and scowled behind in loose, scraggly hair. She didn't seem to notice or care, attention returning back to the book with the picture in it, and Tertius sulked away.

It was only then did Tertius truly notice the whisper's retreat to nothingness, appreciating the peace and quiet with a sigh. He had no luck finding any useful information on the dry, unforgiving manuals, but there had to be some reason the whispers had left him. Tentatively, he counted out the rows until he reached the fourth.

His finger rested on the top of one spine that read "Anatomy of the Modern Equine". Equine meant horse. He liked horses. He liked the color and mystery of squiggles and lumps of colors that were apparently inside people. He slid the book out, opening it there on the floor before bothering to drag it back to the study desk and flipped through the pages.

Text, text and more boring text, and he was prepared to give up when he reached a page of a skeleton, illustrated carefully and lovingly there across two pages. This whispers were utterly silent, and in their place a curious alertness, and excitement that matched his own. Amazing. Was there more?

He flipped forward, pausing at every page with a closer look at bones in certain parts of the body, how the legs were shaped and the mesmerizing pattern of the ribs and bones in the back.

"Lum-bar v-... vertebrae," he managed, his stutter only a small snag. He kept turning pages, eyes sparkling in delight when he was introduced to an diagram with partial musculature.

It was far past dark when the spell was lifted, Tertius sitting in the aisle of the bookshelves and blinking against the dimness that made reading difficult. Hours later, and the slew of books he had pulled out cluttering the row. He stretched, rubbing his eyes, and chalked the entire endeavour up as a resounding success.

The whispers hadn't bothered him all evening.

#dragon age #trophy #yarking writes

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