The Rampage Dec 2019

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“Two years ago, we determined it was not in the college’s long-term best interest to continue paying for traditional cable services,” Arnold said. “Our contract with Comcast (Cable) was terminated before the start of the fall 2018 year, though it took them over a semester to officially ‘cut the cord’ and deactivate services to campus.” And while some students may be struggling to adjust to the change, Arnold said the funds saved from eliminating cable are already being put to good use. “The resources used for cable television were repurposed into a number of new student support services,” he said, “including the hiring of full-time, live-in professional resident directors for the

residence halls — a norm at nearly every college and university across the country, but new for Bluefield College. Arnold noted that live television streaming services through Hulu have been added to the Student Activities Center and plans for next year include rolling out streaming services to the first-floor lounges in Cruise, Rish, and East River residence halls. However, gaining private or individual room-by-room access to these services, he said, will take some time. Students are also encouraged to take advantage of streaming services that offer student discounts until the time comes for students to utilize the services on their own devices.

“It is my hope that streaming service giants will begin to offer corporate contracts that allow us to extend services to students’ personal devices,” Arnold said. “The industry isn’t quite there yet, but it is rapidly moving in that direction. In the meantime, students are eligible for substantial discounts on such services as Spotify Premium and Hulu Plus through (their) bluefield.edu email account.” Arnold added that local TV channels remain available for free through the over-the-air service nocable.org. He also said that over-the-air antennas with a minimum range of 50 miles provide an optimal signal and are similar in price to one month of a typical Netflix subscription.

oDo inBluefield raphic Communication

s in a Bluefield College student’s life is where to find things to do in Bluefield a long school week with tons of homework, all a student wants to do is relax hing they enjoy. eld might be that there is nothing to do here, but we’ve discovered there h students can participate. In fact, we asked students to share with us nd Bluefield in their spare time. Here are five of the most common answers.

ntaineer Bowling

AMCClassic Bluefield 8

Hiking

Walmart

ineer Bowling alley is on Cumberland Road field, WV. According ebsite, the facility is hetic 28-lane bowling equipped with automatic , a snack bar with a menu, billiard tables, pro ame room and Keno.” ent Stephanie Miller said nks bowling is the most ivity to do in Bluefield. id when they have laser g a lot of people go and ood place to hang out ends. BC student Jovani nty agreed.

AMC Theaters is a global movie chain that has a movie theater in Bluefield, West Virginia, called AMC Classic Bluefield 8. The theater is located near Mercer Lall. BC student Leo Garcia likes to go to the movies in Bluefield, because he said here the movies aren’t as crowded and he can make jokes with his friends. He also likes it because it is cheaper than the movies at his hometown in Dallastown, PA.

Because of its mountainous terrain, Bluefield is a great place to hike. One of the best hiking spots is Pinnacle Rock State park on Route 52 near Bramwell, WV. BC student Grecia Almandoz said she likes to go on hikes because she can explore Bluefield, appreciate the majestic mountains, and capture beautiful pictures.

Walmart in Bluefield, VA, students say is a fun spot to go and shop. In fact, Haylee Duffy thinks that the most enjoyable thing to do in Bluefield is to go to Walmart to drive around in the electric shopping cart. Jake Mendoza said he also likes to go to Walmart because he can “mess around with friends” while at the same time shopping for what he needs. For him, it’s a win-win situation. Being productive and having fun at the same time, Mendoza said.