Saint Mary’s NSSLHA Club is partnering with Flourish Boutique and Gallery to raise money for Sertoma, a national service organization focused on hearing health, this Friday.The fundraiser is part of the annual nationwide “NSSLHA Loves” campaign, club president and senior Taylor Ellerbrock said.“NSSLHA stands for ‘National Student Speech Language Hearing Association’ and is a club for anyone interested in the professional world of speech pathology and audiology.” Ellerbrock said. “Saint Mary’s is just one chapter of the national organization contributing to the NSSLHA Loves campaign.”According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association website, NSSLHA has approximately 13,000 members and 300 student-managed campus chapters in the United States and abroad.“Every year [NSSLHA Loves] picks a foundation to raise awareness and funds for, and this year they picked Sertoma,” Ellerbrock said. “Sertoma is a hearing loss-hearing health foundation. … They advocate for healthy hearing.”According to the Sertoma website, the organization has a mission to improve the quality of life through education and support for those impacted by hearing loss.In order to achieve ‘gold level’ honors within NSSLHA, the Saint Mary’s club must donate at least $500 to Sertoma, Ellerbrock said. The upcoming event with Flourish Boutique and Gallery is one of the main fundraisers for their contribution, she said.“Five percent of purchases at Flourish from the whole day [on Nov. 13] is going to Sertoma alone. Our club is not taking any of it,” Ellerbrock said.The event will run from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and shoppers are encouraged to look for hidden gift cards in the store ranging from $10 to $100, Ellerbrock said. NSSLHA officers will be at Flourish from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. handing out ‘swag bags,’ and if people bring the event flyer, they will get 50 percent off their purchase and free pair of earrings, she said.“Even if you don’t bring that flyer and you’re a random shopper from, say, Granger, five percent of your purchase money still goes to NSSLHA, which in turn goes to Sertoma,” Ellerbrock said.This is the first time the club has worked with Flourish, Ellerbrock said. Planning for the event began after fall break, when the club decided to do a fundraiser that was different than the Eddy Street Give Back Nights. They also wanted to reach people beyond the Saint Mary’s-Notre Dame community, she said.Ellerbrock said everyone they worked with at Flourish was helpful and supportive. The club enjoys working with a company that promotes positive self-image and self-confidence, she said.“Not only can you get a great deal, but this also helps NSSLHA raise awareness about hearing health in general,” Ellerbrock said. “We’re really passionate our major and about hearing health. It’s going to be a fun time.”Tags: Flourish Boutique and Gallery, hearing health, NSSLHA, saint mary’s
Paris Saint-Germain star Neymar is already regretting quitting Barcelona in the summer, according to La Porteria on Beteve.The Brazilian told those close to him at the weekend that he made a mistake leaving the Catalan club for PSG.Life in France is not how he expected. Unai Emery’s methods, his new coach, are also not to his taste. His controversial exit from Barcelona in the summer saw him end up in Paris when the Ligue 1 club paid his 222 million euros buyout clause, but it seems things have quickly gone sour for the Brazilian.According to La Porteria, Neymar regrets the switch and is missing the life he had in Barcelona.The same source hinted that the Brazil international, who has had problems in the PSG dressing room with other big players in the team, is also not enjoying Emery’s approach. His friends (the Toiss) and family are also not especially happy in Paris, a city which is different to Barcelona.In another development, Neymar’s fellow countryman Leonardo, who worked as PSG’s sporting director between 2011 and 2013, claims the Ligue 1 giants had expressed a strong interest in Neymar while he was still on the books at Santos.He told Canal Plus: “We spoke with Neymar in 2011. He was already someone that we saw getting to the level that he is at today, but the plan was for him to stay in Brazil until 2014.â€Neymar eventually left his homeland for Barca in 2013, forcing PSG to be patient in their pursuit of the Brazilian. Leonardo is delighted to now see him in France, but has also been quick to point out that no player can be allowed to grow bigger than the club.He added: “It’s great because we’re talking about a charismatic player, a very good player and one who is a bit of a movie star. Managing all of that is very important. The club must remain the strongest regardless of whether you are dealing with Neymar or Cristiano Ronaldo. The club must be respected as an institution and it is the club who will guide the project, not Neymar.â€Share this:FacebookRedditTwitterPrintPinterestEmailWhatsAppSkypeLinkedInTumblrPocketTelegram
Luis ‘Deilor’ Sevilla, Dygma RaiseWe’ve been following Luis ‘Deilor’ Sevilla’s post-LoL Fnatic Coach career with a watchful set of eyes. We first interviewed him back in March with the plans for his the all-new gaming keyboard, then called Shortcut, in the very early stages. Now, with a new name and look in Raise and seven months down the line, it’s about to launch on Kickstarter. Esports Insider: We spoke to you back in March when the Shortcut.gg was far more of a concept than a reality. It has since changed name; to Dygma Raise. What else has been going on since then?Luis ‘Deilor’ Sevilla: Put it this way; a lot has happened since March! As you can see, Raise is much more “normal” than Shortcut. This is the consequence of a closed beta that we did with 50 users around May.Although the feedback about ergonomics was really good, we realised that most users took too long to get used to Shortcut. We thought that although Shortcut had a lot of potential, it would be too niche as an initial launch product.“We went all the way to Shenzhen; the Silicon Valley of hardware. We visited over 25 factories, multiple design houses and spoke with many gaming peripheral experts”We started working on a keyboard that had similar health benefits but no learning curve and that’s how we came up with Raise.A lot of time and energy went into it. We went all the way to Shenzhen; the Silicon Valley of hardware. We visited over 25 factories, multiple design houses and spoke with many gaming peripheral experts. It was an awesome experience, and we learnt a ton.Since late summer we’ve been prototyping, testing and preparing the Kickstarter campaign.ESI: What have the major challenges been to date? Did you anticipate these or has it been a case of learning as you go?Luis: From Dygma’s perspective the major challenge was having to pivot from Shortcut to Raise. We had to reconsider our approach balancing testers’ feedback and our vision for the company.For me, the major challenge has been handling our social media and communication. Communication is crucial for any startup because you fight against being irrelevant. You want to deliver value and build your brand. If you achieve it, later you’ll need to take on the established brands.Over the course of the year we’ve worked with two different communications agencies and a community manager but these never really meshed. We haven’t found anyone that reaches our expectations. As such we took it on ourselves; I’ve created 95% of the written content and I’ve been 100% in charge of our social media for the last few months!ESI: You’re soon going live on Kickstarter. Why was this decision made?Luis: Since the start of the project launching a Kickstarter campaign has been something I’ve considered.Hardware is insanely expensive and this way your first buyers are the ones that really want your product. If you succeed, you have market fit and it’s far likelier that your company survives. If you don’t succeed, in short it means that your product and communication aren’t good enough.ESI: You were quite open with utilising the community to be a part of perfecting the keyboard in its early stages, have they continued to play a key role?Luis: Yeah, up to the point that we were sure that our design was ready. It’s really important to listen to feedback but you can’t expect users to design the product. You need to understand what their needs are and how to ensure you’re meeting them.“Since late summer we’ve been prototyping, testing and preparing the Kickstarter campaign”This means that sometimes you’ll make decisions that some users may not agree with or understand, but overall you’ll still improve the user experience.ESI: Are there any further plans for the promotion of Dygma Raise with pro players and teams? You’re closely involved with Movistar Riders as the team’s Director of Performance, will they be one of the first to utilise the new keyboard?Luis: Yes but it’s neither simple nor easy. Most of the top teams are already sponsored by major brands. Also, we only have one keyboard; we don’t have mice or headsets and as such we are less attractive to orgs as they’d need to find other sponsors for those peripherals.What we want to do is sponsor players that really see the value of Raise. But that’s not straight forward either; orgs are not at a point that they accept player sponsors that conflict the team sponsors.For sure we will do something with Movistar Riders in the future but for now, I’m not sure what that will entail.