SRU Women's Basketball Hosts Youth Clinic

As a warm up, the older participants learn a new defensive drill at the Back to School Blast Youth Clinic held on September 28th.


Senior D'Asia Chambers leads the kids in ball handling drills to improve their skills.

The older age group learns more advanced moves, the scissor and the behind the back dribble.

The younger age group learns the basics of ball handling from SRU Women's basketball players.
Slippery Rock Women's Basketball Head Coach Bobby McGraw explains what the Back to School Blast Youth Clinic is all about.

SRU Potters Guild Open Studio

Animal Testing: Cruel or Crucial?

A Dalmatian named Pepper in 1965 is believed to be the stimulant that sparked the anti-animal testing era in the United States in the 1960's.

Although testing has been found in ancient Greek writings from 500 B.C., it wasn't until the 1800's when adoption of pets became an interest that objections to animal experimentation became a public issue.  Pepper was a farmer's pet that was kidnapped, sold into experimentation, and died after researches attempted to implant a pace-maker in the dog's body.

Is animal research cruel or crucial?  If you ever find yourself objecting the sale of a cosmetic product that tested on animals, or attending the awarding of a Nobel Prize to a scientist who found a cure in result of the animals he/she used, here's both viewpoints to help you form your own opinion.

The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), defines animal as "any live or dead dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate animal), guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or such other warm blooded animal."  Birds, rats, and mice used for research are excluded from the definition, as well as cold-blooded and farm animals.  These excluded animals account for 95% of animals used in research, as they are not protected by the AWA.  That being said, less than 0.2% of animal research is performed on dogs, cats, and primates combined.

Over the last decade, animal research has helped with medical advances.  Monkeys and mice with Alzheimer's-like brain deformities have helped identify the molecule miR-34c that plays a role in the development of Alzheimer's disease.  Asthma is the most common childhood illness.  Inhalers were developed after research done on the lungs of guinea pigs in the 1960's.  The zebrafish is an animal that can mend it's own heart muscle.  If part of the fish's heart is removed, it can grow it back in a matter of weeks.  The zebrafish has been a vital part of biomedical science in providing traces to heart failure.

Animals are very similar to humans but have a main differentiating factor; they do not have cognitive ability.  Animals cannot talk or reason but they can still suffer and feel pain in the same way humans do.  A common test performed on animals is called the Draize test.  The substance/product that is being tested is put into the eyes of the animal and monitored for damage to the eye which can result in scarring, blindness, and death.  Another test used often is called the LD50 test, in which the product being tested is pumped into the animal's stomach until it dies.

Studying cell cultures in a petri dish as an alternative method to animal testing can help achieve more applicable results because human cells can be used.  Artificial human skin created from human skin cells grown in test tubes creates useful results rather than testing on animal skin.

The ethics of animal research will continue to stand as an ongoing debate, whether you feel it is inhumane or life-saving.

Meet the Author

My name is Bridget McClure and I am a senior Communication-Journalism major at Slippery Rock University.

I can thank Junie B. Jones and J.K. Rowling for leading me to journalism.  At a young age I fell in love with books and soon wanted to capture readers' imaginations in the same way they grasped mine.  I believe certain stories put themselves in front of you to help shape your childhood, way of thinking, and life.

I come from the small town of Indiana, Pennsylvania.  Since enrolling at SRU in 2011, I have become involved in multiple activities.  I am a member of the women's basketball team and couldn't be more excited to help lead my team to a new era this year.  Basketball is what brought me to SRU.  I am also the treasurer of the Communication Honor Society, Lambda Pi Eta.  

This summer I completed my internship with Renda Broadcasting at my very own hometown radio station.  I had never given radio much thought before, but I was given opportunities beyond my expectations that gave me the interest in a possible future radio career.  My responsibilities included writing stories for on air use, creating feature stories, interviewing, attending and reporting on meetings and court trials, and my favorite task of all; announcing the 6:30 and 7:30 news every morning on 1450 WDAD.  My internship allowed me to broaden my skills immensely and create professional stories for my portfolio and future employers.  My dream job is to become a known reporter or news anchor.

I'm interested in New Media Journalism because it will play a major role in my future career.  The standard newspaper is slowly dwindling and our everyday form of news now comes from the internet and social medias such as Twitter.  Although we are becoming "mojos" (mobile journalists), I believe newspapers will continue to live because the type of extensive reporting and story depth they provide us with cannot be found anywhere else.

When it comes to traditional media outlets, I love a conventional newspaper.  The Pittsburgh Post Gazette and the Indiana Gazette are my go-tos because I'm a sucker for local news.  A new-media outlet  I am a huge fan of is the AP app I use on my iPhone.  I prefer this outlet because it uses the location on your phone to provide you with local news and also has multiple categories (top news, sports, entertainment, world, business) to give you a wide variety.