100 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/15/15 10:22pm)
Drema Holder has just one son, but during any given semester, that number balloons to more than two-dozen.
For the past six years, Holder has worked part-time in the Moseley Center at Elon University as a program assistant alongside two full-timers and watching over nearly 30 student workers.
These students are Holder’s self-proclaimed “all-time joy,” and the relationship she has deveolped with them has given her the title of “the mother of Moseley Center.”
“I still feel like I’m raising children,” she said.
It’s a tight-knit group inside the Moseley Center that’s made up of Holder, Michael Williams, director of campus center operations, Henry Walling, assistant director, a graduate assistant and 27 student workers.
After a few minutes around the front desk, it’s easy to see why they consider themselves a family.
“What really impacts me are the student workers that we have and how close they’ve become with each other,” Holder said. “I ask them, ‘Would you have ever known this person unless you didn’t work at the front desk?’ and they say, ‘No.’ To me, that’s rewarding. It’s just amazing how they grow and that’s fulfilling for me.”
Holder’s mission is to get to know her co-workers beyond the workplace. She wants to know about their families, friends and lives in general.
“I feel like I have a good working relationship,” she said. “I ask about them. I want to know about their family, what they did on break, what they’re going to be doing. I want them to be able to come to me if they need something or just want to chat about how their weekend went.”
Holder’s main responsibilities are to assist with the daily operations of the Moseley Center as well as to coordinate the shuttle service Elon runs for its students during breaks.
To perform this role, Holder learned a lesson in mitigation, as she often has to deal with angry parents and students.
“By the end of the conversation, people are usually OK,” Williams said. “With her personality, there’s no way you couldn’t. She’s kind but she’ll tell you what you need to know though as well, so that’s the good part. She’s almost like a mother figure to a lot of the folks.”
The students’ relationship with Holder doesn’t end after they graduate from Elon. A number of her student workers have remained in contact with Holder through Facebook, exchanging messages and maintaining the relationship that began on campus.
One of these students is Suzanne Bell ’13. Bell worked at the Moseley Center for three and a half years with Holder, and Bell considers her a “second mom.”
Bell has shared some great memories with Holder, but none was more special than the New Year’s Day she spent at the Holder home a few years ago.
“I was apprehensive about going, but her family welcomed me into their home,” Bell said. “We all chatted for a while and then ate a wonderful meal. It was a special night. One I’ll never forget.”
As she begins to build her professional career and move on with her life, Bell has become more detached from Elon. But the one connection that remains is Holder. They stay connected through simple gestures, like the one Bell made on Holder’s birthday last year by sending her flowers.
“I just thought that was so special,” Holder said.
Elon isn’t the only place where Holder helps others. She has elderly neighbors she assists when needed and frequently volunteers at the Allied Churches food bank.
“I love to help them, take food to them or check on them cause they don’t have much family,” Holder said. “That’s really fulfilling for me to see things that you kind of take for granted.”
Relationships are important to Holder, and she builds them anywhere she can.
Holder is a Burlington native and graduate of Williams High School, has been married for 41 years and still remains close with her brother and two sisters, who also live nearby.
“We are a real close knit family,” she said.
Working with students isn’t something new to Holder. She worked with students for three decades prior to coming to Elon as an administrative assistant for two associate deans at nearby Alamance Community College (ACC). It was there she realized her love for interacting and bonding with students.
“My all-time joy is the students,” Holder said. “I still feel like they’re my little children.”
Over three decades from her start at ACC, Holder has not lost a passion for interacting with the students and brightening their day. On any given day, Holder might bake cookies for the staff or bring in doughnuts from her favorite doughnut shop to share with everyone. This is a gesture Williams appreciates but jokes it will have him in the gym more often.
“To me, they’re my all-time favorite doughnuts so I’ll stop by,” she said. “I feel my co-workers are just so special to me and I like to do things for them.”
After leaving the community college system, Holder moved on to a new phase of her life but knew she wasn’t ready to retire.
“I retired from the state and then wanted to keep working because I felt like I wasn’t old enough to retire,” she said. “I didn’t want to sit home.”
Now, Holder works part-time in the Moseley Center and provides much more than assistance with shuttles to the airport on breaks.
She is someone students can talk to, relate to and go to for help. The reputation she’s built over the last six years at Elon as a motherly figure is one she has embraced, and doesn’t see herself losing hold of any time soon.
“When I dread getting up in the mornings and coming to work, that’s when I’ll know it’s time for me to actually retire,” Holder said. “But right now, I love coming to work, even days that I feel like I’m sick and need to be home, I still want to come to work.”
(11/23/14 1:20am)
For the first time since 2005, the Elon University football team has finished winless in conference play. The Phoenix finished its 1-11 season with a 59-27 loss to James Madison University Nov. 22 at Bridgeforth Stadium in Harrisonburg, Virginia, falling to 0-8 in its inaugural season in the Colonial Athletic Association.
(11/21/14 10:36pm)
The Elon University football team will play its final game of the 2014 season Nov. 22 when it travels to Harrisonburg, Va., to face No. 17 James Madison University, the fifth ranked opponent the Phoenix will play this year.
(11/20/14 4:12am)
The narrow seven-point loss suffered by the Elon University football team Nov. 15, the team’s eighth straight, was one that players would usually like to quickly forget. But for linebacker Jonathan Spain, playing in his last game at Rhodes Stadium, the moments after the game were ones he wanted to cherish the most.
The fifth-year senior was one of the last players to leave the field, along with fellow senior linebacker Odell Benton. Spain said he was “sinking it in.”
“I saw [Benton] and gave him a hug, and I was just trying to find some seniors that I’ve been here a long time with,” Spain said. “I know they’ve put a lot of hard work in with me. We’ve shared a lot of disappointment and some success together.”
Spain and Benton are a part of a class of 12 seniors that were honored on the field with their families before the game. Though wins have come at a premium over the last four to five years, making it to Senior Day is an accomplishment in itself.
“It’s a great thing to be able to get to Senior Day,” Spain said. “I’m 23 years old, and I’m still playing football — that’s a great thing. I love the game, and it’s been a great ride even though the season hasn’t gone the way I wanted it to.”
The Phoenix has amassed 17 wins over the past five seasons, under three different head coaches. Change has been the theme in Elon’s recent history, and the seniors have been through more system changes than they probably would’ve preferred. But the seniors showed up in a big way during their final home game.
Defensive lineman Dustin Ruff was a force on the inside, racking up eight tackles on the game, one for a loss. On offense, wide receiver Kierre Brown caught five passes for 88 yards and a touchdown as quarterback Mike Quinn’s go-to option.
“These guys have meant a lot to me,” said Elon head coach Rich Skrosky. “You look at the staff change and what they’ve been through the last several years, the effort has been unbelievable. The energy has been unbelievable.”
But the most impressive performance came from Spain, the anchor of the Phoenix defense for the past four years. The Greensboro native had two third-down sacks and a team-leading 12 tackles. Those 12 tackles moved him past Joshua Jones and Brandon Wiggins for fourth on the all-time Elon tackles list with 352 career stops.
It’s quite an accomplishment for Spain, one of the most successful players in program history, who made it a goal earlier in the season to pass former teammates Wiggins and Jones.
“I feel really blessed and fortunate to be able to play in a program like this for five years,” Spain said.
Though Spain finished his career at Rhodes Stadium on a high note, Senior Day was a bit of a disappointment for quarterback Mike Quinn, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday Nov. 15. Quinn started 1-for-12 passing and finished 13-for-35 with two interceptions and a touchdown.
“Not the birthday I was hoping to have — totally the opposite,” Quinn said.
Despite being caught in a lost season, one game remains on Nov. 22 at James Madison University, and it represents one last chance for Elon’s seniors to win the program’s first-ever Colonial Athletic Association game.
“It’s pretty emotional, but I’ve still got one game left, so I’m not trying to think about it,” Spain said. “I’m trying to think about James Madison when I wake up tomorrow, and I’ll think about all that stuff after that game.”
On to the next game. It’s the mindset Spain and others have had to adopt throughout their careers at Elon and is one that will come to an end in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
(11/14/14 5:58pm)
Looking to snap its seven-game losing streak, the Elon University football team will play its final home game of the 2014 season when they host the University of Maine Nov. 15 at Rhodes Stadium.
(11/13/14 3:52am)
From the opponent’s standpoint, planning to play the Elon University women’s basketball team has become easier over the last few years.
It was expected that Elon’s offense would feature a steady diet of Ali Ford, Kelsey Harris or Zora Stephenson, and not much else.
Enter true freshmen Shay Burnett and Malaya Johnson and sophomore transfer Essence Baucom, and gone are the days of an Elon team with limited options.
“One of the things as coaches we’re most excited about is the depth,” said Charlotte Smith, who’s entering her fourth year as head coach of the Phoenix. “Last year we had gotten down to seven or eight players, so it’s just really good and refreshing to be able to go 12 players deep.”
Elon returns most of its main contributors from last year’s team. Stephenson, a senior, who averaged 10.1 points per game and shot 40 percent from 3-point range, will be called upon to put up similar numbers this season as the go-to shooting option.
Also returning are sophomores Lauren Brown and Jenifer Rhodes. Both players enjoyed breakout freshman campaigns, with Rhodes being named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year.
The biggest omission from last year’s squad is Kelsey Harris, who graduated. The four-year starting point guard led the team in points, steals and assists last year.
Though an adjustment period is to be expected after losing a player like Harris, Smith liked what she saw from the new players in Elon’s exhibition game against Catawba College Nov. 2.
“I’m proud of the way that we played offensively,” she said. “I thought we did some really, really good things offensively [and] got some great contributions from the bench. We had 52 points from the bench. [Burnett] and [Johnson], two freshmen, were huge factors in the bench contribution.”
Burnett led the way with 21 points, shooting an efficient 8 of 9 from the field. Johnson added 14 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, while Baucom, a transfer from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, tallied six assists and four steals.
For Baucom, it was refreshing to finally get back out on the court after having to sit out a season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules. Coming from a decidedly higher level of basketball in Conference USA, Baucom said playing at that level for a year was something that will aid in her adjustment to Elon and the Colonial Athletic Association.
“It’s just exciting to be under a new coaching staff and a new system and being able to just get back on the court after being out for a year,” she said. “I would definitely say [playing at UAB] helped me mentally more than anything, just being able to adjust to the pace of the game, the physicality of the different levels.”
It hasn’t taken long for Baucom and other newcomers to become acclimated to their new teammates and a new system. Both Baucom and Burnett described strong relationships they have built with their fellow teammates, most notably Stephenson and seniors Sam Coffer and Shannen Cochraham.
“Those three have done a great job of leading this team and making sure that all of us stay grounded and make sure that we’re all headed down the right path so this team can be successful,” Baucom said. “We have a really good senior class as far as leading us, and as long as we follow their lead, we should be in good hands.”
Burnett, Johnson and Baucom will be a key part of Elon implementing its mantra for the season, “Fight for 40.”
“It means that we’re going all out for 40 minutes,” Smith said. “We’re being relentless for 40 minutes, trying to create havoc, create chaos and making our opponents uncomfortable.”
Baucom echoed Smith’s comments, adding that they want to be known for their effort on the court.
“Our goal is to make sure that we’re going all out and all in for the entire game from start to finish,” she said. “We want to make sure we play with a certain level of intensity and competitiveness so that we can put ourselves in the best position for success.”
No matter the mantra for the team, there is one word that has become synonymous with Elon women’s basketball leading up to opening night Nov. 14 against Anderson University: depth.
“That’s going to make us one of the harder teams to defend in this league because we have so much that we can work with,” Baucom said. “When there’s a substitution, you don’t really lose much because we’re so deep, which is definitely going to help us get to where we’re trying to go this year.”
(11/12/14 9:28pm)
A number of injuries have ravaged the Elon University football team’s backfield.
(11/09/14 1:04am)
For the second straight week, the Elon University showed some life in the second half but fell short, this time a 17-7 decision to No. 24 College of William & Mary Nov. 8 in Williamsburg, Virginia.
(11/07/14 2:18pm)
After falling just short at Towson University in search of its first Colonial Athletic Association win, the Elon University football team will face the College of William & Mary Nov. 8 looking to snap its six-game losing streak.
(11/05/14 5:10am)
Usually when the punter is noticed on the football field, it’s not a good thing.
The opposite held true for Elon University sophomore punter David Petroni in the team’s Oct. 25 loss to the University of Richmond.
On fourth-and-11, Petroni and Elon’s special teams set up in normal punting formation. Once Petroni took the snap, he was off to the races, scampering 13 yards for a first down.
The play call was based on something Elon head coach Rich Skrosky saw in Richmond’s punt coverage unit.
“You’re really looking for a numbers advantage,” Skrosky said. “Richmond was showing a two-deep look, which takes a guy out of the front, so they were a guy short on the front.”
For Petroni, a fake punt run was an unfamiliar play that became more comfortable after a week of practice.
“I’ve actually never run the ball,” he said. “I just ran left and did my best.”
Between the fake punt and seven others, fans in attendance got to see a lot of Petroni against the Spiders. Because Elon’s offense has struggled, Petroni has been on the field a lot this season.
Through eight games, only two punters in the Colonial Athletic Association had punted more than Petroni. Against Richmond, Petroni booted seven for an average of 42.6 yards.
His seven punts were a mix of traditional and lower trajectory, rugby-style punts. The Phoenix has used the rugby-style more regularly under Skrosky this season. Last year, under head coach Jason Swepson, Petroni only kicked a handful of rugby-style punts all season.
Elon operates under the belief that the rugby style punt has two major advantages: the odds of the opposing team returning the punt are significantly lower and the chance that the punt will strike an opposing player is higher, allowing Elon the chance to recover.
While both of these are valid reasons for mixing in the rugby-style, Petroni admits he’s struggled with the drops on his punts at times, a part of his game he has started to polish.
“At the start of the season, I was disappointed,” Petroni said. “I had a problem where my drop was kind of floating in on me which causes shorter, lower hang time punts. I didn’t start out the way I know I can. But I really focused in, made a couple of adjustments, fixed what I was doing and I’m hitting the ball really well now.”
When practice wasn’t enough to get it right, Petroni performed drills in his apartment.
Even with Petroni’s struggles, Skrosky has shown a commitment to mixing up the punts, citing the net yardage of the rugby-style as an advantage.
“The mix-up is helping,” Skrosky said. “Now that we have both in, it’s really hard for a team to gang up on the kick point.”
Though Petroni is much more experienced with the traditional punts, he sees no reason not to succeed with the rugby style.
“I try and set the expectation pretty high,” Petroni said. “I like to think of myself as my hardest critic. I know if it’s a bad hit even if some guys are telling me it’s a good hit. I know it could be better. I think I try to be hard on myself. It’s better to be hard on myself than say, ‘OK, that’s good enough.’”
For Elon’s special teams unit, it may be a blessing in disguise that the offense hasn’t been able to sustain drives. Less offensive success means more chances for Petroni to work on perfecting both punting styles.
“Obviously it’s not a great thing to punt more,” Petroni said. “But from my standpoint, I get some good reps. It’s always good to snap with a live rush coming at me, so it’s good practice.”
(11/02/14 5:23am)
Trailing by 15 points at halftime, the Elon University football team was off to a familiar start against Towson University Nov. 1 at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Maryland. Slow starts have plagued the Phoenix all season, but the Phoenix was able to rally in the second half against the Tigers.
(10/31/14 8:02pm)
Just three days after being knocked out of the game with an arm injury, senior quarterback Mike Quinn was back at practice for the Elon University football team, throwing passes and taking part in drills just like any other Tuesday.
(10/29/14 3:06am)
A structure without a solid foundation will crumble.
The offensive line on a football team is a structure like any other. The O-line needs to perform as the most cohesive unit on the field or else the pocket will crumble, and passing will become difficult.
The Elon University football team has seen its young offensive line have trouble gelling at times throughout this season. Elon has tried different combinations of players among the five-person clan, with several players rotating positions on the line.
Elon’s offensive line perhaps struggled the most against the University of Richmond Oct. 25. The Phoenix surrendered seven sacks to a team that had nine through their first seven games alone.
“I thought the matchup of our O-line to [Richmond’s] D-line was one that I was concerned with,” said Elon head coach Rich Skrosky. “There’s a couple times you take a shot, protection breaks down because you’re trying to get the ball down the field, and that was kind of the basis.”
Elon’s linemen faced a strong duo in Richmond senior Evan Kelly and sophomore Winston Craig, a pair that Elon junior offensive lineman Thomas McGuire called, “Probably the best combo we’ve seen on the inside all year.”
Consistency has been tough to find, as five different combinations of starting linemen have been trotted out on the field in eight games. Redshirt freshman Ikenna Nwokeji, a left tackle, is the only lineman on the team to have started every game this season.
Senior Austin Sowell, the most experienced of Elon’s offensive linemen, has started only four games this year. He has dealt with a shoulder injury, and broke his hand in practice Oct. 22 leading up to the Richmond game.
“It’s hard to get consistency when the offensive line is where we’re at right now,” Skrosky said.
Sophomores Ty Alt and Gordon Acha have been thrown into the fold at times out of necessity, but the unit still hasn’t performed up to par. McGuire has started each of the last four games at center with Sowell out.
“The offensive has to run like a sewing machine, as five guys that have to know everything that’s going on,” McGuire said. “Early in the game [against Richmond], we were really struggling with that offensive line. In the second half, we were able to make adjustments, and I think the pocket was a little bit stronger than it was in the first half.”
When Elon made the transition to the Colonial Athletic Association this season, Skrosky said the tough, physical brand of football in the league would present a challenge for the offensive line.
“That’s a position we knew coming into the year was going to be a struggle,” he said. “And then you add on some of the injuries that we’ve had. You’re mixing and matching. There’s going to be some matchups where you’re going to be out-personelled. I think up front is probably the biggest area where we’ve got to improve and I know that will continue to come.”
With 23 sacks given up through eight games, the Phoenix is the fourth-most sacked team in the CAA. It’s an area of concern for an offense scoring 12.4 points per game.
“It’s not close to where we need to be,” McGuire said.
Dropped passes, among other inconsistencies, have plagued the offensive unit, but it all starts with the foundation — the offensive line.
“It’s hard obviously,” McGuire said. “It’s hard to keep people going on the sideline. We keep reminding ourselves, ‘keep your heads up.’ I don’t have a magic potion. If I did, I’d sell it. Just got to keep working. That’s all we can do.”
Four games remain in the season, and the road doesn’t get any easier for an offensive line that is not getting any healthier. During the next two weeks, the Phoenix will travel to Towson University and the College of William & Mary, two of the top four teams in the CAA in sacks.
“We just need to get the ball rolling as an offensive line and just keep working and keep playing and look forward to going out on the practice field to get better,” McGuire said. “I can’t wait to get back out there on Tuesday and keep working on my craft.”
(10/26/14 3:04am)
The University of Richmond’s offense, working like a well-oiled machine through its first seven games this season, stayed on track with a 30-10 win against Elon University Oct. 25 at Rhodes Stadium.
(10/24/14 1:05pm)
Seeking its first win in over a month, the Elon University football team will host No. 16 University of Richmond on Oct. 25 at Rhodes Stadium.
(10/19/14 2:44pm)
It’s one thing when you know exactly what to expect of your opponent. It’s another when you're not able to excel against it.
(10/10/14 1:29pm)
After dropping consecutive games to No. 3 Coastal Carolina University and No. 4 University of New Hampshire, the Elon University football team will travel to the University of Delaware Oct. 11 in search of its second win of the season.
(10/07/14 4:00am)
When Rich Skrosky accepted the head coaching position at Elon University in December, he was returning to a familiar program — he was an assistant there from 2006-to-2010.
Skrosky brought with him various assistant coaches he knew previously, as well as one player from Ball State University, who no one knew much about at the time: Chris Blair.
Blair used his redshirt year last year at Ball State before transferring to Elon with Skrosky. Skrosky’s decision to accept the head coaching position at Elon was a relief for Blair, who said he wasn’t sure where he would end up.
“If [Skrosky] didn’t come [to Elon], I’m not sure where I would be right now,” Blair said. “When I found out he got the job at Elon, it was a no-brainer to come. I have a lot of trust in him.”
Early in his first season at the helm, Skrosky has already shown a tendency to play his young players early and often, giving them a chance to showcase their skills.
Blair, a redshirt freshman safety, is one of these inexperienced players.
He made his Elon debut Aug. 30 at Duke University, collecting six tackles in a reserve role. Blair logged a total of 10 tackles in the next two games — against North Carolina A&T State University Sept. 13 and against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte Sept. 20 — before junior starting safety Miles Williams went down with an injury.
Williams started all 11 contests for the Phoenix in 2012 before missing last year with an injury. Blair was thrust into the starting lineup to replace Williams, but his mindset didn’t change.
“It’s really not a difference,” Blair said, comparing his reserve role on defense to the sixth-man role in basketball. “I have to bring a spark to the team. You have to prepare the same way, if not better. It’s more physical, so you just have to be ready.”
Blair certainly had large shoes to fill with Williams out, but has done his job and then some.
In his first start against Coastal Carolina University Sept. 27, Blair made six tackles, forced a fumble and was credited with a quarterback hurry. It was an impressive performance that didn’t go unnoticed.
“[Blair] loves football, and that’s what we need in this program,” Skrosky said. “Playing Division I college football is hard, and you’ve got to be passionate about it. And that’s what he is.”
Blair made his second start against the University of New Hampshire Saturday, Elon’s first-ever Colonial Athletic Association game. He was one of the few bright spots for a Phoenix defense that gave up 48 points and more than 400 yards of offense.
Blair led the team with 13 tackles, the most by an Elon player this season. He is not afraid to lay down a big hit or two, using his slight 5-foot-11-inch, 210-pound frame to his advantage.
For Blair, a Winston-Salem native and East Forsyth High School graduate, Elon’s home opener was special because his family was able to make the 45-minute trip to Elon to see him play.
It’s that type of atmosphere at Elon, what Blair described as “family-oriented,” that attracted him to the school. Now that Blair is closer to home and in a comfortable situation, he is enjoying the opportunity that much more.
On the field, Blair likes to keep it simple.
“I just want to have fun,” he said. “If the game is not fun, there’s no point in playing.”
It’s players like Blair, players who have a certain attitude and approach to the game, that Skrosky is trying to bring to Elon.
“[Blair’s] passionate about playing, and it shows in his play. Therefore, he is an inspiration of how to play,” Skrosky said. “We’ve got to get more guys like that. That can’t be the exception. That has to be the rule.”
(10/04/14 11:00pm)
The Elon University football team received a rough welcome into the Colonial Athletic Association from the University of New Hampshire Oct. 4 at Rhodes Stadium. The Wildcats got off to a quick start and didn’t look back en route to a 48-14 shellacking of the Phoenix.
(10/03/14 1:08pm)
After suffering a 31-3 loss at the hands of No. 3 Coastal Carolina University Sept. 27 in South Carolina, the Elon University football team returns home Oct. 4 to host No. 4 University of New Hampshire in its first ever Colonial Athletic Association game. The Phoenix (1-3) is amid a tough portion of its schedule — its first four opponents have a combined record of 16-4 while the remaining eight are a combined 19-17, although they are all CAA teams.