by Kahwit Tela | Apr 11, 2022 | News, News Slider, Student Spotlight
Amid turmoil and destruction, one girl completes a beauty ritual every night before going to bed. The 11-year-old sister of Liza Diachenko, a senior fashion major and tennis player from Kharkiv, Ukraine, would put on makeup every night before going to bed for one particular reason. “[My Mom told me my] sister puts on makeup on every night and says if that if she dies, she wants to die pretty,” Diachenko said. “[No] 11-year old should be thinking about dying,” Diachenko said. “They should be talking about school, friends, boys, or whatever.” For Diachenko, It’s heartbreaking to see her younger sister experience a “completely different childhood” than she. One that forces her to grow up fast. This is one of the many harsh realities Ukrainians are currently facing due to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict.On Feb. 24, Russia invaded Ukraine, causing the largest assault on a European state since World War II.Since the start of the invasion, more than three million refugees have fled Ukraine, and more than six million have left their homes in the country. Diachenko’s teammates Kate Popova and Sasha Dobranos are from Ukraine as well and have joined her in grieving that their home country has been filled with unrest. All three women played tennis since an early age and would often travel to different places across Europe to play, including different parts of Ukraine. “We’re thankful to tennis that we got to explore because not a lot of people pretty much explored the whole country [of Ukraine],” Diachenko said. When the conflict started, the three joined a group chat with other Ukrainian tennis players to check up...
by Cory Woodroof | May 22, 2014 | News Slider
Bison Square briefly turned into a national stage as famous newsman Brian Williams hosted NBC Nightly News from Lipscomb University Thursday evening. Williams, NBC’s lead anchor for its evening news program, came to Nashville to honor the promise he made to the 2014 Hillwood High School seniors who invited the popular journalist to speak at their graduation. Before heading over to Allen Arena to speak to the graduating class, Williams and his crew created a makeshift news studio on Bison Square by the Bennett Campus Center for its Thursday evening broadcast. Various on-lookers gathered at the perimeter of the area to catch a glimpse of the show. Williams brings tale of unique encounter, message of inspiration to Hillwood students Once NBC Nightly News concluded its ‘live-from-Lipscomb’ show, Williams ventured over to Allen Arena to fulfill his duties as the commencement speaker for Hillwood’s graduation. In February, a video was posted on YouTube by Hillwood’s seniors that showed various students saying why they wanted Williams to speak at their graduation. The segment featured parts of Williams’ speech to a graduating class at Elon University – a class that featured one of the journalist’s children. Their plea to Williams went viral and caught the anchor’s attention, and he agreed to take part in the festivities. “There was no way I was going to say no,” Williams said after viewing the invitation. Williams thanked the group for having him to their ceremony. “And, I have to say this for the record, I was enormously flattered by what you did,” Williams said. “I was enormously flattered that you found value in my words...
by Madeline Smith | Feb 21, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The world has been watching its favorite teams compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics being held in Sochi, Russia. Students at Lipscomb are no exception. “I’m a huge hockey fan,” said junior Taylor Jackson. “Hockey is the reason I like the Winter Olympics better than the summer ones.” Despite getting off to a bumpy start with construction still going on when the press and athletes arrived to Sochi, the games have been a hit around the world, with the events live on NBC. “I love watching the bobsledding, ice dancing and skiing,” said senior Elizabeth Oliver. Many students have been watching the Olympics, but certain elements of it stand out to different people. “I love the stories about the athletes,” Oliver said. “I like to hear about their stories and their past that got them where they are. I also like to see USA win gold, obviously.” Events Team USA has excelled in are mostly under the skiing and snowboarding categories. America won the gold and silver for both male and female snowboard slope-style. Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the gold for the ice dance free style competition. Team USA also won the bronze in the figure skating mixed team competition. The closing ceremonies are Sunday Feb. 23, at 10...
