Freshman Cara DeCoste enjoyed working on schoolwork curled up on her couch at home. As a 7-year-old, junior Bethany Wescott woke up at 5 a.m. with her older sisters and studied. “We would get all our work done before our parents got up and jump back in bed when we were done,” she said.

DeCoste and Wescott were home-schooled from elementary school through high school and took college courses through dual enrollment at Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) before coming to UNC Charlotte.

DeCoste seeks a major in electrical engineering and physics with a minor in mathematics.

For DeCoste, one of the highlights of home schooling was her flexible schedule. She frequently took history-related field trips with her family, including visits to Gettysburg, presidential and historical houses and museums.

Her two younger sisters, ages 13 and 17, also have been home-schooled since elementary school. DeCoste’s parents consider it a privilege to teach their children.

“North Carolina is one of the best states for home schooling. A lot of states have a lot more regulations. [Other states] want to know what curriculum you are using. They will send officers to your home to look at the work kids are doing,” said DeCoste.

DeCoste registered with the N.C. Division of Non-Public Education and took required yearly standardized tests upon completion of course material. As a N.C. home-schooler, DeCoste and her parents could choose her school curriculums. She enjoyed teaching herself from several curriculums and learning through family discussions about world and church history, literature, geography and economics.

“Home school is about self-directed learning. It’s about raising kids to love learning so that when they have the opportunity they will choose to learn themselves,” said DeCoste.

DeCoste also was involved in her church and met with other home-schoolers, both from church and her community, and learned from hired lab instructors and friends who were chemistry and biology professors.

“A lot of people have this stereotype of home-schoolers as shy and antisocial, which may be easy [to be] without church or support groups,” she said.

Wescott said she also made lasting friendships with people from her church who were home-schooled. Wescott’s parents decided to home-school their children to help them “grow and mature following a Godly example,” said Wescott. She has five siblings—two older sisters, two younger sisters and one younger brother.

Through home schooling, Wescott said she developed deep connections with her siblings and grew up in a close-knit family.

Wescott plays cello in a quartet with her older sisters and younger brother. They started their own music business, Wescottage Music, two years ago and play at weddings and holiday and church events.

“We had a school on wheels sometimes,” said Wescott. When one sibling had a music lesson, the whole family would come along and have school in their van.

Wescott considers herself very competitive and has enjoyed playing softball since she was 10-years-old. Wescott started on a recreational softball team and advanced to play travel softball and compete in many tournaments. In spring 2011, Wescott coached the middle school softball team at Covenant Day School, a private Christian school in Matthews, N.C.

“I loved working with the girls [on the team]. It was really eye opening to see that’s how I was when I first started [playing softball]. I had amazing coaches over the years and was able to apply what I was taught to coaching the team,” said Wescott.

While she coached, Wescott was a full-time student at CPCC. She began dual enrollment at CPCC in high school and enrolled full-time when she finished her senior year of high school a semester early.

Wescott came to UNC Charlotte with the college credits of a first semester sophomore and pursues a major in marketing and minors in music and communications.

DeCoste and Wescott commute to school from their homes in Charlotte. They said they miss teaching themselves at home but have adjusted well to life at the university. Both said taking classes at CPCC helped prepare them for the college environment.

Crime in Charlotte, per 1,000 people, compared to the state and nationally. Graphic courtesy of Christain Billings

Crime. It happens everywhere, it touches everyone’s life. The outstretched reach of crime affects every region, from the nation to UNC Charlotte.

Across the nation, an average of 38.17 crimes occur per every 1,000 citizens. North Carolina as a whole is slightly lower than this average, with 38.11 crimes per 1,000 citizens.

Charlotte, N.C. works to pull up the state average. Charlotte sees an average of 47.02 crimes per 1,000 people, according to an online service called Neighborhood Scout.

The city, which is home to over 730,000 people, was ranked by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the top 25 American cities with large populations in terms of crime occurrences in 2010.

Jeffrey Baker, chief of police for the Police and Public Safety Department, says that despite the crime rate in the surrounding area, UNC Charlotte is a safe place to be.

Compared to the rest of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, the crime rate is “extremely low. It’s not what I think, it’s what I know,” said Baker. “We work very closely with [Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD)] and that’s important as well. The partnership that we have with CMPD is with the university division, but I can assure you that the comparative crime rates are unbelievably low.”

Since coming to UNC Charlotte as the chief of police, Baker says that’s campus crime rates have dropped 30 percent. Baker attributes this decrease to the combined efforts of Chancellor Philip Dubois and the 40 officers who are a part of the campus police squad. “Some of the factors that contribute to [the decrease in crime are that] the chancellor funded those sky towers. Combined with that we have strategic patrols that work the parking lots, walk the parking lots, ride bicycles. We work the parking decks on foot,” said Baker.

While campus police work to make campus safe, Baker says that crime is impossible to completely eliminate. “When a crime does occur on a university, all of a sudden it’s like ‘oh! How could this happen?’ When really it happens because crime happens. It’s really a tough road sometimes,” said Baker. “Sometimes crime occurs and we’ve tried everything we can to keep it away and stop it, suppress it, but sometimes crime occurs.”

Because crime is inevitable on a campus with over 30,000 students, faculty and staff members, it is important for everyone to have a hand in their own safety on campus, Baker says. “Not just students but anybody, should be aware of their surroundings, make sure that they secure [their] items. And then the other thing is, walk with someone when you can. Try to always avoid being isolated,” said Baker. “And if you do that, you’ll be real safe.”

As campus and the surrounding community grows, Baker projects that more officers will have to be added to the campus police force in order to effectively protect everyone on campus and those in the university area. “Campuses that are constantly expanding, growing, they’re urban. And you have to have a vibrant and energetic police force to help protect that community. You look at our community,” said Baker. “We have probably 30,000 people here. CMPD with the enforcement of law there’s another 20,000. So we really have a community of maybe approximately 45 or 50 thousand people that we support. We want to make certain that when we do that we can do it adequately.”

Machu Pichu, the mountain Professor Daniel Cozrt crossed while in Peru where he was kidnapped, not once, but twice during his trip. Photo courtesy of Erik Cleves Kristensen

Dan Cozart, professor of Latin American courses at UNC Charlotte, took a not-so-average vacation in Peru. Most people explore the ancient sites, visit friends and family, eat traditional food from the area and make it home without a scratch. Some people are not as lucky.

Cozart visited Peru and spent time visiting local sites such as Machu Pichu and getting kidnapped. Twice.

“I first started out going to Argentina, specifically to Buenos Aires. I wanted to explore the Andes mountains and then eventually head on over to Peru,” said Cozart.

He started his adventure in a restaurant. He had just met a guy there and as he was walking back to his friend’s apartment, everything went blank.

“About 17 hours later, I woke up having no idea where I was. The guy I met must have put something in my drink. I woke up in a taxi with all my stuff robbed, including my travel gear, clothes and cash. Luckily, I had my passport and sleeping bag,” said Cozart.

By this time, Cozart was ready to get on over to Peru. He always loved Cusco, a city in Peru, and even though he managed to get robbed, he was still determined. He had his parents wire him some money to be able to see the Incan ruins, backpack and hike up Machu Pichu.

Cozart said, “Before I hiked up Machu Pichu, a few, local Peruvians said to me, ‘Close your eyes, open them up and the image of Machu Pichu will be ingrained in your head.’ I thought that was pretty cool.”

Without a travel guide, Cozart went to Lake Titicaca and got on a bus to head over to the city of Puno. American tourists told him not to travel on July 10, but he did not care enough and did it anyways. The bus kept stopping and around 3 a.m., there was a tire fire up front.

“The bus driver announced that a national strike was occurring and that he could not provide for any of us on the bus. He asked us if we wanted to turn back and if not, we had to convince the town to let us through,” said Cozart. “The people in the town were in protest mode, so when we got off, screaming matches went back and forth.  Convincing the labor strike activists was tough.”

Cozart and the other tourists linked up in chain formation and tried to get the bus to move. People threw rocks at the tourist bus. As the bus kept going, everyone had to jump on and stay as safe as possible.

“All of this was so surreal to me, but I managed and went a long with it,” said Cozart.

The bus never made it to Puno, so Cozart and four college students from Colombia did not want to wait around. Cozart had no money and did not have much time left to spare. All five of them decided to hike the route to Puno. On the way, they hit a village where nothing was open. The Colombians eventually got tired and wanted to take the taxi, but Cozart said no because he knew a lot of them were pirated and fake.

“I feared taking a taxi especially after being kidnapped once. Well, of course, the Colombians bargained with the taxi driver and got a cheap deal. I had to go along with it. As we were driving to Puno, I could understand the driver. He was saying something along the lines of ‘we are on our way.’ He then pulled up at some random spot in the desert,” said Cozart. “Four men ran to the car and I remembered my friend telling me to knock a guy out immediately if he opens the door to the taxi.”

The guy who opened the door was loaded with a gun and Cozart could not try to fight the man. All of the Colombians and Cozart were trapped at gun point. Hours went by and the situation escalated. All of them were interrogated about what school they attend.

“I told the bad guys I teach English in Colombia. The criminals kept saying they would not take our money. They searched our bags as we kept our heads covered. The criminals even said they were with the police and thought we were a part of trafficking. They told us not to tell the police and let us go. Of course, we were not in Puno, so next, we headed to Juliaca,” said Cozart.

The students and Cozart were never able to report the problem because the police station was closed. Luckily, the guys found a hostel and did not have to pay. They had not eaten in three days.

“On the plus side, a tiny store happened to be open. I had some of the best soup, it tasted so amazing,” said Cozart.

Later, he returned to Cusco and then Lima having made it to the U.S. Embassy.

“Even though the Embassy did not give me a new passport because I had no police report, eventually, I got a new one. Once that was taken care of, I left Peru and went straight back to Buenos Aires,” said Cozart.

Cozart gives his students advice about traveling in countries in which they are not familiar. Although he had some tough times, he would still willingly return to Peru some day in the future.

“I tell students to not take drinks from people they do not know. I even tell men to be careful because it is not just women who fall for it, men can too. Believe it not, all the things I experienced made me more interested in Peru. I got to witness a strike overseas. I have never seen that in the United States,” said Cozart.

Junior forward Chris Braswell entered the contest needing just eight points to reach 1,000. for his career. He scored theNiners first nine points of the game to put the milestone in his rearview.

Chris Braswell surpassed the 1,000 career point milestone Wednesday night in a 72-62 victory over George Washington. (Photo by Chris Crews)

Charlotte led by as many as seven points in the first half despite being out rebounded by the Colonials 19-13. Both teams had trouble holding onto the ball in the half with the Niners and Colonials committing seven and nine turnovers respectively.

Charlotte went into the half with a 38-33 lead behind strong first half performances from Braswell (15 points) and DeMario Mayfield (11 points).

Javarris Barnett added eight points at the break including two buckets from behind the arc helping Charlotte to a 57 percent shooting from three (4-7) and 52 percent (14-27) from the floor.

George Washington opened the second half with a 6-0 run to gain a 40-33 lead less than two minutes into the half, their first lead since the 18-minute mark in the first.

It looked as if it would be another tale of two halves for the Niners in this one as it had been in so many games before. Charlotte has made a habit of playing sloppy second halves during the 2012 season.

Charlotte regained control of the contest with 15 minutes remaining on a Barnett lay-up that sparked a 9-0 Charlotte run giving the 49ers a 50-42.

The lead would grow to as much as 14 with less than nine minutes remaining in part to Derrio Green who saw his first set of serious minutes in since the Jan. 28 game against Xavier. Green had six points in 18 minutes.

The Colonials shrunk the lead to seven with three minutes remaining but the Niners slammed the door on the comeback despite continuing struggles from the free-throw line.

Braswell lead the Niners with 19 points closely followed by Barnett with 18 and Mayfield with 15. Mayfield finished one rebound of short of a double-double with nine adding five assists.

The Charlotte defense held the Colonials to 40 percent shooting from the field, 18 percent from three-point land, and 17 turnovers.

The Niners knocked down eight shots from three to shoot 57 percent for the game from deep.

Charlotte is now 10-3 when scoring more than 70 points and 9-2 when holding opponents under 65 points.

With a loss by Fordham earlier in the night, this victory by the Niners all but locks them into the A-10 tournament.

Charlotte returns to Halton Arena to take on conference opponent Saint Bonaventure Saturday night at 7 p.m.

This image, used in LaBorde's promotional material, is an aggressive take on Mamet's original Broadway flyer. Photo/Charles LaBorde

There comes a point in David Mamet’s play, “Race,” in which a black female attorney tells her white male associate, “This isn’t about sex, it’s about race.” To this the man responds, “What’s the difference?”

Charles LaBorde, director for Carolina Actors Studio Theatre (CAST), will bring this play to Charlotte on Thursday, Feb. 23rd, 2012, and he thinks this is a very explanatory piece of dialogue.

So much so that he has the page number of the script memorized (page 36) and flips to it as one would look at their watch.

“On the surface it’s a sort of simple play but it’s actually very complex,” said LaBorde.

The play revolves around the case of a white billionaire tycoon (“a Richard Branson type”) who has been charged with the rape of a black woman.

Two high-priced male attorneys are hired for the case.

The case takes its toll on a strong relationship between the two attorneys; one black and one white.

In classic “12 Angry Men” style, the entire play takes place within the boardroom of the law firm, with only four characters: the two lawyers, the accused and the female lawyer mentioned above, brought in later to help with the case.

The play will take place in a small theater within the CAST studio on N. Davidson Street and E. 28th Street (the same shopping center as Amelie’s).

The play is also done “in the round,” which means the audience will be surrounding the characters, with members in the front row sitting within two feet of the table.

“That’s really an exciting thing for the audience but also for the actors,” said LaBorde. “To have the audience that close you sort of feel the synergy between the two. It’s a play that, within that space, you have nowhere to hide, and with a play this shocking it will be interesting to have the audience that close.”

The play hits hard not only because of the controversial themes of the plot itself, but the electric dialogue that Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet is known for.

“Typical of Mamet, the language is very adult and rough,” said LaBorde. “Most people associate Mamet with extreme profanity and constant profanity, which is the case, but not quite as frequent as in most of his plays. It’s still shocking.”

However, this play goes beyond just swearing for shock value. “The way he gets it up to his typical level of in-your-faceness is that he adds the racial aspect,” LaBorde said.

“A lot of the racial stuff that gets thrown around, you just don’t hear people in most polite company talk frankly about the issues in the play the way they do in this play.”

It is this issue that lies at the heart of the play, speaking to audiences who like to believe they live in a post-Obama, and therefore post-racial, world.

Mamet was once quoted as saying that the theme of “Race” is race itself but also “the lies we tell each other.”

“I think [racism] is still very much there,” said LaBorde. “I think we’d like to think that we as a society are past that but I really feel that it is something that is difficult for Americans to get past.”

It’s by tapping into these hidden emotions that this play starts to peel back the layers of the characters’ subconscious and becomes more complex.

“Even though it talks frankly and a lot of people in the play have worked closely and been close friends for a long time, they see things differently in the play,” said LaBorde.

When people begin to see things differently, the play’s unofficial motto, “Everybody lies,” begins to take effect.

LaBorde developed the catch phrase from a line of script said in passing by one of the pay’s characters.

“We talked in rehearsals about how the different characters lie: some overtly, some less obviously, some to themselves, some to the other people, but they’ve all got one version or another of lies.”

The play will run until March 24th and, as usual for a CAST play, will engage the audiences as soon as they walk in the door. Tickets will be made to look like tabloid magazines with the defendant’s face splattered on their fronts and the entrance of the theater will be made to look like the lobby of a law firm.

ListenUp! talks to Genesis from Chi Upsilon Sigma and then we hit the streets once again! Whitney Houston’s tragic death and then we talk cupcakes.

Dentists can also detect how well you take care of your teeth and if you have a healthy diet. One thing college students are not known for is their healthy eating habits and with mom no longer nagging you to schedule your six month check up it may have descended quite a bit on your priority list.

However, with most college students addicted to energy drinks and fast food these years may be the most important to schedule that appointment and get some advice on ways to improve these bad habits.

Not convinced the dentist is worth your time? You may want to ask yourself why that is. Personally my least favorite part of the dentist is the flossing. This dreaded act is usually preceded by the question, “So, How often do you floss?” To which I respond, “Well, I do it occasionally.” Of course by that I mean that rare occurrence when you get some popcorn stuck in your tooth or maybe if you’re out of ways to procrastinate on your essay and you have already alphabetized your books and color-coded your closet.

In the end if you brush and floss regularly the dentist won’t be nearly as awful and it could prevent periodontal disease or tooth decay which cost a lot of money to amend. As my dentist always says, “floss the teeth you want to keep.”

Shockingly, energy drinks, sodas and ramen are not only detrimental to your health but also your teeth. Bacteria in your mouth convert sugar to acid, which in turn erodes your enamel causing cavities. Realistically, you probably aren’t going to just stop drinking those super addictive red bulls, however, there are many things that you can do to at least delay the process.

First and foremost never drink a sugary drink by itself always pair it with a snack. Another tip is to brush your teeth after you eat or drink something sweet.

As soon as the sugar enters your mouth and turns to acid it spends the next 20 minutes attacking your teeth hoping to encroach on the nerve and blood supply of the tooth resulting in a painful tooth ache (dentistry.com). The sooner you brush your teeth the less time it has to do so.

Cancer, diabetes and heart disease are all very prevalent, very serious diseases in the world today. These diseases are systemic which if you are in biology you know all about.

Basically they enter your blood stream and travel all around your body. Manifestations can be found in many places, your mouth being one of them. Some examples of these manifestations are swollen gums, mouth ulcers, dry mouth and excessive gum problems.

You may think these things could never happen to you but contrary to what most college students believe you aren’t invincible.

Although there is not a dentist on campus there are quite a few close to school. The Student Health Center suggests calling your insurance provider and finding out which dentists are covered and which are not. We all like our teeth right? Can’t you dedicate an hour every 6 months to what 83% of people believe are more important to their appearance than hair and eyes.

As a student from Kingston University in London on an exchange here in Charlotte for an academic year I can say that I would push anybody to take the opportunity and embrace the chance to experience another culture.

My experience at UNC Charlotte has been probably the best experience of my life. The difference of college here and college in the United Kingdom is huge. Academically the systems are similar but the lifestyles are a million miles apart.

Landing here in August I didn’t know what to expect. I walked out of Charlotte Douglass International Airport after a 12 hour trip and was blown away at the difference that one plane journey can make.

The obvious thing at first was the accents and the weather. Even at 3am when I landed the humidity and the hospitality was jaw dropping. Since that day I have been fortunate enough to have the full American college experience. I mean I didn’t even know what beer pong was until I arrived here.

Some of the things that American people do on a daily or weekly basis are some things that I have never even heard of.

A couple examples of this are things like mac and cheese and Four Loko. There is also the difference of how Americans party, I consider myself a party animal and I love to drink but when we party back in England we have a few drinks and hit two or three clubs and stroll home at 4am.

Whereas in the U.S. I can go over to somebody’s apartment and the drinking can resume there all night. To me this is a weird way to spend a night out not in a bad way but it is a very different atmosphere.

If a student from UNC Charlotte were to go to London for one or two semesters they would not believe how different college life is. People always ask me things like, “So do you always eat fish and chips?” or “Why do you guys drive on the wrong side of the road?” and the best one that is “So why would you want to come to Charlotte?”

These questions get asked every day and my answer to all of them is, “Go to London and find out for yourself.” Study abroad allows people to embrace another culture. I thought I knew a lot about this country but I didn’t know anything.

I used to describe Americans as fat yanks that sat and played Xbox all day, eating fast food whilst complaining how gas prices were too high. Now I know that what I thought was completely wrong. I love this country and feel at home walking around campus I even missed the U.S. over Christmas break, it’s that amazingly different here.

If I was an American student I would honestly be thinking about the hot International girls, the lower drinking ages, the special attention you will receive from professors, the amazing food, the different social events, the different sports and the general fact that you are establishing yourself and making international contacts for the future and if you are studying a language then it can be a bonus.

In 2010, 260,327 American students got on a plane and took their studies to another country; International Education Exchange reports and shows how popular the decision is.

If the opportunity comes, take it, it is very necessary and it will change you and mold you as a person with one great experience to add to a resume.

There are over 300 blue emergency phones across campus. These phones are placed in areas where students frequently go which could be dangerous.

Despite the amount of emergency phones on campus, chief of campus police with the Police and Public Safety Department, Jeffrey Baker, says the most dangerous spot for students is actually off campus.

The most dangerous spot for students is anywhere they attempt to cross Highway 49, says Baker. “Cars go way too fast and at night it can be difficult when people want to cross in areas other then where there are crosswalks. It’s dangerous,” he said.

Baker says that campus police do not receive very many calls due to students getting hit by cars in this area, however. “We’ve actually started making sure that our officers who work that sector patrol the area right in front of the campus to help slow cars down and maintain traffic enforcement in those areas,” said Baker. “We haven’t had too many calls, but we have had students hit. And we’ve had bicyclists hit.”

Individuals trying to cross the street in the wrong place isn’t the only time when UNC Charlotte students are in danger of getting hit by a car. Baker says that people drive too fast on campus all the time. At night and when students are trying to get to classes are two of the worst times for students and drivers on campus roads. “If everyone just slows down it would be far less of a problem,” he said.

Other dangerous places for students, Baker says, are covered by the blue emergency phones, by the police towers that rotate between parking lots and by the foot beats of campus police officers. “This is where they park their vehicle and get out and walk,” says Baker.

The blue emergency phones, which are placed in “high concentrated areas where students go the most,” said Baker, are not indicative of places where the most crimes happen.

With four squads patrolling campus, two at night and two during the day, campus police are working to make these areas even safer.