PAGE 6 fEbruAry 27, 2015

Idaho women’s basketball fell 81-68 at Montana Thursday.

uiArGonAut.com

In spite of being the 2011 Idaho 5A Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year, Connor Hill didn’t receive much at-

tention coming out of high school.Washington State showed interest in

Hill, but the program wanted him as a preferred walk-on rather than a scholar-ship player.

Idaho coach Don Verlin took a chance and offered Hill a full-ride schol-arship to play for the Vandals. Four years later, Hill is Idaho’s leading scorer and career leader in 3-pointers made.

“I’m just thankful for the coaches, that coach (Don) Verlin gave me the op-portunity to come here, because there were a lot of teams and programs that didn’t think I was quite good enough,” Hill said. “They’re like ‘He’s a good shooter, he’s a good player, but can he be successful at D I?’ And for me, I always had confidence. I thought I could play at the D I level for sure.”

Hill is one of three Idaho seniors heading into the final game of the season. Hill, Mike Scott and Bira Seck play in their final men’s basketball game in Moscow Saturday in Memorial Gym against Montana State.

Hill, originating from Post Falls, Idaho, is the only Idaho native on the

Long journey to Idaho coming to an end for Seck

Hill to launch last 3-pointers at home

One year ago, senior Mike Scott stepped into the men’s basketball starting lineup

in place of a banged up Glen Dean after coming off the bench all season.

This year as a senior, Scott is placed fourth nationally in assist to turnover ratio with 3.38 assist per turnover, and second for Idaho in scoring with 14.3 points per game. He is arguably Idaho’s most improved player and a surefire bet for first or second-team All-Big Sky honors.

“He worked and changed his body, he got a lot stronger, he got his outside shot a lot better, he really worked on his handles and really focused in on getting better,” Idaho coach Don Verlin said of Scott’s improvement. “He attributes it to cutting his hair, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I think he just really was focused in on making sure he had a good season and finishing his career the right way.”

Scott, a Los Angeles native who came to Idaho from Ante-lope Valley College, was known for his wild afro hairdo last season before deciding to go with

Scott emerged as leader during senior season

From Dakar, Senegal, to Fukuoka Daiichi High School in Japan, to France, to South-eastern Community College in Iowa and

Olney Central College in Illinois, Bira Seck’s path to Idaho was far from one most college athletes take.

Idaho coach Don Verlin first met Seck when he was recruiting another player in Japan — Modou Niang — while he was

an assistant at Utah State.“When I was in Japan recruiting a

number of years ago, that’s when I first met Bira and that’s when that rela-tionship formed,” Verlin said. “It was

probably eight or nine years ago now. He was just a young kid. Ob-

viously, I didn’t get a chance to recruit him at that time because

he was technically a non-recruitable athlete, but he

was there and he knew that we were there and we just stayed in touch with him

throughout his career.”Seck, whose full

name is El Hadji Ibrahima Seck,

said he stayed in contact through

Verlin’s friend and fellow Utah

Stories by Stephan Wiebe

The ArgonautEND OF THE ROADIdaho seniors prepare for their last days as Vandals

mEn’s bAskEtbAll

SEE hill, PAGE 8 SEE Scott, PAGE 8SEE Seck, PAGE 8

Vandals win 2 OT thrillerKorbin McDonald

Argonaut

It took two overtimes, but Idaho fought its way to a 92-87 victory over Montana Thursday night in front of an electric Memorial Gym crowd.

Failure was not an option for Connor Hill and Mike Scott, as the two seniors willed the team

to the win in their second-to-last home game as Vandals. The two combined for 41 points and made clutch baskets in key situations throughout the game.

Individually, Hill led

the team with 23 points and Scott finished with 18 points, five rebounds and three assists.

The two, joined by fellow senior Bira Seck, will play in their last home game against Montana State at 1 p.m. Saturday in Memorial Gym.

While the end had its fair share of ex-citement, the highlight of the game came in the first half.

Sophomore guard Sekou Wiggs pulled a dunk that could have been mistaken for something out of the video game NBA Jam. After he stole Montana pass near his own basket, Wiggs gathered himself, took one quick dribble, launched himself over two Montana defenders,

Sports briefs

SECKHILL SCOTT

Day one complete for Big Sky Championships

The first day is over for the Big Sky Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. The meet started Thursday in Flagstaff, Arizona, with the men’s heptathlon and the women’s pen-tathlon. Idaho did not have any ath-letes competing in the multi events as the Vandals start competition Friday. Idaho sent eight athletes on the men’s side and 12 on the women’s to the champi-onship meet. One of the first Friday events is the men’s triple jump. Senior Emmanuel Panchol and sophomore Dusan Jevtic go into the event tied for the No. 5 seed. The meet will conclude Saturday.

Vandals at fifth partway through WAC Championship

It wasn’t the start Idaho was looking for, but the Vandal swim and dive team is still in the mix for the WAC Championship, which began Wednesday in San Antonio and ends Saturday. At press time, the Vandals sat in fifth place out of the eight teams with 86 points. They are within strik-ing distance though as Northern Col-orado leads with 122 points, followed by Northern Arizona with 121 points, Cal State-Bakersfield with 91 points and New Mexico State with 88 points. Idaho senior Rachel Millet took third in the preliminaries of the 200-yard individual medley and fellow senior Erica Anderson placed second in the preliminaries of the 50-yard freestyle to lead Idaho.

Montgomery official leaves Vandal roster

Richard Montgomery took to Twitter Thursday to officially announce his departure from the University of

Idaho f o o t -b a l l program. The soph-o m o r e wide receiv-er has been rumored to be off the team since he was absent from the team’s final game of the season against Appalachian State. He was also left off the latest roster update on the official athletic de-partment website.

Idaho spokeswoman Becky Paull confirmed Montgomery’s departure.

“Richard has not been a part of the football program since prior to the Appalachian State game. He finished the fall semester and is not enrolled in the spring semester,” Paull said in an email.

File photos by Amelia c. Warden, Jay Anderson | Argonaut

Left: Bira Seck rebounds the ball against Northern Colorado Jan. 24. Center: Connor Hill shoots a 3 against

Sacramento State. Right: Mike Scott dribbles past EWU defenders in Cheney.

No. 13No. 5

No. 12

Idaho came back to defeat Montana 92-87 Thursday

SEE thriller, PAGE 8

Read our full set of year in review stories online.

uiargonaut.com

THE ARGONAUTPage B1 may 8, 2015

Ko

rbin

McD

on

ald

Argo

naut

Last

seas

on, t

he Id

aho

foot

ball

team

was

choc

k-fu

ll of

you

ng a

nd

inex

perie

nced

pla

yers

.A

fre

shm

an q

uart

erba

ck l

ed

the

offen

se w

hile

bei

ng p

rote

cted

by

an

offen

sive

line

feat

urin

g tw

o fre

shm

en

and

one

soph

omor

e. Th

e le

adin

g ru

sher

was

a j

unio

r co

llege

tra

nsfe

r pl

ayin

g hi

s fir

st

seas

on a

t th

e FB

S le

vel

and

the

team

’s to

p re

ceiv

er w

as a

for

mer

qu

arte

rbac

k pl

ayin

g th

e po

sitio

n fo

r the

firs

t tim

e eve

r.O

ut of

the t

eam

’s 19 s

enio

rs, o

nly

nine

had

bee

n w

ith t

he p

rogr

am

their

entir

e col

legiat

e car

eer.

The

grou

p en

dure

d ar

guab

ly

the

toug

hest

four

-yea

r str

etch

in

the

histo

ry o

f th

e pr

ogra

m. Th

ey

play

ed u

nder

thr

ee h

ead

coac

hes,

spen

t tim

e in

two

conf

eren

ces w

ith

a ye

ar a

s an

FBS

Inde

pend

ent a

nd

spen

t th

eir

seni

or s

easo

n pl

ayin

g

with

a bo

wl b

an an

d re

duce

d pr

ac-

tice

time

due

to t

he t

eam

’s Ac

a-de

mic

Pro

gres

s Ra

te (

APR

) no

t m

eetin

g N

CAA

stan

dard

s.A

fter

the

team

fini

shed

the

20

14 s

easo

n w

ith a

1-1

0 re

cord

, th

e fo

ur-y

ear

seni

ors

left

Idah

o w

ith ju

st fi

ve w

ins t

o th

eir n

ame.

Des

pite

th

e re

cord

, Id

aho

coac

h Pa

ul P

etrin

o fo

und

posi-

tives

to b

uild

on

after

his

seco

nd

seas

on as

the V

anda

l hea

d co

ach.

“I th

ink

we

mad

e bi

g st

ride

s,”

Petr

ino

said

afte

r th

e 45

-28

loss

to

App

alac

hian

Sta

te i

n Id

aho’s

la

st g

ame

of t

he s

easo

n. “

Last

ye

ar w

e ki

nda

got

kille

d by

ev-

eryb

ody

and

this

year

we

got

to

the

poin

t w

here

we

com

pete

d w

ith ev

eryb

ody.

We w

ere i

n ev

ery

gam

e in

the

seco

nd h

alf a

nd n

ow

next

yea

r w

e ne

ed t

o ta

ke t

hat

next

step

whe

re w

e be

at p

eopl

e.”

Ko

rbin

McD

on

ald

Argo

naut

The

2014

-201

5 m

en’s

bask

etba

ll se

ason

will

be

rem

embe

red

as t

he

year

Con

nor

Hill

rei

gned

sup

rem

e w

hile

he

cont

inue

d hi

s pr

owes

s of

ra

inin

g 3s

— a

lot o

f the

m.

The

seni

or

shoo

ting

guar

d fr

om P

ost

Falls

, Ida

ho, s

pent

his

final

sea

son

rew

ritin

g th

e Id

aho

reco

rd b

ooks

.H

ill’s

108

buck

ets

from

beh

ind

the

arc

not

only

gav

e hi

m I

daho

’s sin

gle-

seas

on r

ecor

d fo

r 3s

mad

e in

a s

easo

n, b

ut p

adde

d hi

s le

ad

as t

he p

rogr

am’s

all-t

ime

lead

er in

3-

poin

ters

mad

e w

ith 3

40,

whi

ch

puts

him

172

ahe

ad o

f sec

ond

plac

e O

rland

o Li

ghtfo

ot

(199

1-19

94)

who

mad

e 168

dur

ing

his c

aree

r.“I

t mea

ns a

lot,”

Hill

said

dur

ing

the

seas

on o

f his

3-po

int r

ecor

d. “

I do

n’t t

hink

abo

ut it

tha

t m

uch

on

a da

ily b

asis,

but

whe

n I

do t

hink

ab

out i

t, it

hold

s a

spec

ial p

lace

in

my

hear

t. It’

s coa

ch V

erlin

and

this

univ

ersit

y th

at g

ave

me

a sh

ot a

nd

I did

som

ethi

ng sp

ecia

l with

it. I

’m

just

than

kful

for t

hat.”

Hill

and

the

Van

dals’

sea

son

ende

d aft

er an

early

firs

t-rou

nd ex

it in

the

Big

Sky

Tour

nam

ent a

fter

a 91

-83

loss

to E

aste

rn W

ashi

ngto

n.Th

e Eag

les w

ere l

ed b

y the

ir ow

n sh

arp

shoo

ter,

Tyle

r H

arve

y, w

ho

led

the

natio

n in

3s m

ade

with

128

an

d in

sco

ring

with

an

aver

age

of

23.1

poi

nts p

er g

ame.

Hill

, who

was

battl

ing t

he flu

in th

e fin

al ga

me,

led Id

aho

with

23

poin

ts,

whi

le H

arve

y se

t a B

ig S

ky T

ourn

a-m

ent r

ecor

d, sc

orin

g 42

poin

ts.“T

wo

grea

t sho

oter

s go

ing

at it

, bu

t Ty

ler

Har

vey

just

mad

e so

me

unbe

lieva

ble

shot

s,” I

daho

coa

ch

Don

Ver

lin s

aid

after

the

gam

e. “I

t ne

ver e

nds q

uite

how

you

wan

ted

it to

, but

it’s

been

a b

less

ing

to c

oach

th

ese

guys

… I

thin

k w

e go

t a li

ttle

bit

bette

r fe

el (

of t

he c

onfe

renc

e).

We’r

e ex

cite

d ab

out V

anda

l bas

ket-

ball

mov

ing

forw

ard.”

Be

n E

ve

nse

nAr

gona

ut

The

first

sea

son

back

in th

e Bi

g Sk

y di

dn’t

go a

s pl

anne

d fo

r th

e Id

aho

wom

en’s

bask

etba

ll te

am.

Afte

r tw

o str

aigh

t WAC

title

s and

tw

o str

aigh

t N

CAA

To

urna

men

t be

rths

, th

e Va

ndal

s co

uldn

’t fin

d th

eir f

ootin

g in

thei

r firs

t yea

r bac

k in

the B

ig S

ky aft

er 1

8 ye

ars.

Fini

sh-

ing

with

a 1

4-15

reco

rd an

d an

8-1

0 Bi

g Sk

y re

cord

, the

Van

dals

bare

ly

miss

ed o

ut o

n th

e N

o. 8

and

fina

l se

ed in

the B

ig S

ky T

ourn

amen

t.Th

e tie

brea

king

syste

m th

at k

ept

them

out

of

the

tour

nam

ent

was

so

met

hing

Idah

o co

ach

Jon

New

lee

said

he

had

a pr

oble

m w

ith a

fter

a se

ason

-end

ing

loss

to Id

aho

Stat

e.“M

y th

ough

ts on

it a

re t

he t

ie-

brea

king

syste

m is

mes

sed

up in

the

Big

Sky

and

the

fact

that

also

thei

r sc

hedu

le-m

akin

g is

mes

sed

up,”

New

lee s

aid

follo

win

g th

e se

ason

fin

ale.

“So,

if y

our s

ched

ule-

mak

ing

is no

t fai

r, th

ey n

eed

to se

nd e

very

-bo

dy to

the c

onfe

renc

e tou

rnam

ent.”

New

lee’s

wish

will

com

e tr

ue in

20

15 as

new

rules

in th

e Big

Sky

will

al

low

all

12 te

ams t

o m

ake

the

con-

fere

nce t

ourn

amen

ts fo

r bas

ketb

all.

Idah

o an

d Id

aho

Stat

e w

ere

both

tied

for

eigh

th in

the

conf

er-

ence

as

the

regu

lar

seas

on e

nded

. Th

e Bi

g Sk

y tie

brea

ker

depe

nded

on

how

the

tea

ms

faire

d ag

ains

t th

e be

st t

eam

s in

the

con

fere

nce.

Both

the

Vand

als a

nd B

enga

ls w

ere

0-2

agai

nst M

onta

na, w

hile

nei

ther

te

am b

eat S

acra

men

to S

tate

eith

er.

Both

team

s wer

e also

1-2

agai

nst

Easte

rn W

ashi

ngto

n an

d N

orth

ern

Col

orad

o, t

he t

hird

and

fou

rth-

plac

e te

ams,

so

it ca

me

dow

n to

how

eac

h di

d ag

ains

t N

orth

D

akot

a,

Nor

ther

n A

rizon

a an

d M

onta

na S

tate

who

wer

e al

l tie

d fo

r fift

h. I

daho

Sta

te’s

4-1

reco

rd

Ga

rre

tt C

ab

ez

aAr

gona

ut

The s

easo

n is

over

for t

he Id

aho

wom

en’s

golf

team

, ex

cept

fo

r se

nior

Lei

lani

e K

im, w

ho is

com

-pe

ting

at t

he N

CA

A S

outh

Ben

d Re

gion

al in

Sou

th B

end,

Ind

iana

, Th

ursd

ay to

Sat

urda

y. Ev

en t

houg

h th

e en

tire

team

w

asn’

t ab

le t

o ad

vanc

e to

the

re

gion

al,

Idah

o st

ill h

ad s

ome

high

light

mom

ents

thi

s se

ason

in

clud

ing

awar

ds f

rom

the

Big

Sk

y C

onfe

renc

e.Th

e Van

dals

wer

e pre

seas

on fa

-vo

rites

to w

in th

e Big

Sky,

but c

ame

up ju

st sh

ort a

t the

Big

Sky C

onfe

r-en

ce C

ham

pion

ship

, tak

ing

third

. Th

ey fi

nish

ed th

ree s

trok

es b

ehin

d ch

ampi

on N

orth

ern

Ariz

ona A

pril

21 in

Cha

ndle

r, A

rizon

a. K

im ti

ed

for f

ourt

h in

divi

dual

ly.Id

aho

show

ed h

ow d

eep

its

team

was

thi

s ye

ar w

hen

it fil

led

thre

e ou

t of

the

five

firs

t-tea

m

All-

Big

Sky

spot

s in

cludi

ng K

im,

seni

or K

aitly

n O

ster

and

juni

or

Kris

tin

Stra

nkm

an.

Soph

omor

e A

my

Has

enoe

hrl e

arne

d an

hon

-or

able

men

tion

spot

.“W

e de

finite

ly h

ad a

lot

mor

e de

pth

this

year

, whi

ch h

elped

us,

allo

wed

us

to w

in,”

Idah

o co

ach

Lisa

John

son

said

. “W

e hav

en’t

had

as m

uch

dept

h in

rece

nt y

ears

and

w

e lo

ok f

orw

ard

to h

avin

g m

ore

dept

h in

the f

utur

e yea

rs.”

The

Vand

als

earn

ed t

wo

team

w

ins

durin

g th

e re

gula

r se

ason

, w

ith o

ne c

omin

g in

the

fal

l an

d on

e in

the

sprin

g. I

daho

won

the

New

Mex

ico

Stat

e A

ggie

Inv

ita-

tiona

l by

10 s

trok

es O

ct. 8

in L

as

Cru

ces,

New

Mex

ico,

and

Oste

r tie

d fo

r firs

t ind

ivid

ually

. “I

t w

as o

ne o

f Id

aho

golf

’s be

st p

erfo

rman

ces e

ver,”

John

son

said

of

the

New

Mex

ico

Stat

e A

ggie

Invi

tatio

nal.

The

Vand

als’

seco

nd w

in c

ame

Year

in

revi

ew

Idah

o go

es fr

om co

nfer

ence

cha

mpi

on to

no

pos

tsea

son

in fi

rst y

ear i

n Bi

g Sk

yId

aho’s

dep

th w

as ke

y, Ki

m st

ill co

mpe

ting

at re

gion

als

A sea

son t

o for

get

Seas

on d

idn’

t go

as p

lann

ed, V

anda

ls ta

ke

lum

ps in

Pet

rino’s

seco

nd se

ason

foo

tBa

ll

Hill’s

reco

rd se

ason

Hill

shin

es in

Idah

o’s d

isapp

oint

ing

seas

on

men

’s B

ask

etB

all

Off th

eir ga

me

wo

men

’s B

ask

etB

all

Solid

seas

on, K

im st

ill go

ingw

om

en’s

go

lf

SEE

forg

et, P

AG

E b1

0SE

E se

aso

n, P

AG

E b1

0SE

E g

am

e, P

AG

E b1

0SE

E g

oin

g, P

AG

E b1

0

Apr

il 26

— W

omen

’s te

nnis

de

feat

s Sa

cram

ento

Sta

te

in th

e fin

als

of th

e bi

g Sk

y to

urna

men

t 4-3

to e

arn

an

NCA

A To

urna

men

t ber

th.

Oct

. 18

— T

he fo

otba

ll te

am s

naps

a

13-g

ame

losi

ng s

trea

k, w

hich

was

th

e lo

nges

t los

ing

stre

ak in

the

na-

tion

at th

e tim

e, w

ith a

Hom

ecom

-in

g vi

ctor

y ov

er N

ew M

exic

o St

ate.

Dec

. 3 —

Men

’s ba

sket

ball

coac

h D

on V

erlin

not

on

ly g

ot h

is 1

00th

win

aga

inst

a W

ashi

ngto

n St

ate

prog

ram

he

had

neve

r bea

t in

six

prev

ious

trie

s, bu

t th

e vi

ctor

y sn

appe

d an

11-

gam

e sk

id to

the

Cou-

gars

and

was

the

first

win

in P

ullm

an in

25

year

s.

Nov

. 29

— W

omen

’s ba

sket

ball

beat

s Se

attle

U o

n th

e ro

ad

65-5

0 af

ter f

acin

g (a

nd b

eat-

ing)

the

Redh

awks

in th

e la

st

two

WAC

Cha

mpi

onsh

ips.

Apr

il 26

— M

en’s

tenn

is d

owns

N

orth

ern

Ariz

ona

in th

e bi

g Sk

y Ch

ampi

onsh

ip a

nd e

arns

a

seco

nd s

trai

ght b

erth

in th

e N

CAA

Tour

nam

ent.

Nov

. 13

– Vo

lleyb

all

sett

er a

nd le

ader

M

ered

ith C

oba’s

se

ason

end

ed w

ith a

kn

ee in

jury

.

Sept

. 26

— S

occe

r co

ach

Der

ek P

ittm

an

earn

s hi

s fir

st w

in a

s Id

aho

head

coa

ch.

Apr

il 29

— M

en’s

golf

finis

hes

first

pl

ace

at th

e bi

g Sk

y Co

nfer

ence

Ch

ampi

onsh

ip. J

ared

du

Toit

took

fir

st p

lace

, Aar

on C

ocke

rill s

econ

d an

d D

an S

utto

n tie

d th

ird.

Oct

. 8 —

Wom

en’s

golf

fin-

ishe

s fir

st a

t New

Mex

ico

Stat

e Ag

gie

Invi

tatio

nal i

n La

s Cr

uces

, New

Mex

ico,

O

ster

tied

for fi

rst.

Thro

ugh

win

s and

loss

es, 2

014-

2015

was

a

year

to re

mem

ber i

n th

ree

athl

etic

conf

eren

ces

Friday, May 8, 2015uiargonaut.com

Opinion, B10News, A1 Sports, B1 RecyclableVolume 115, Issue no. 62

Three champion-ships and play in three different con-ferences.

Head to the curbs and dumpsters be-cause one man’s trash is another’s treasure.

IN THIS ISSUE

sports, B1 rawr

University of Idaho

A year of transition and change for UI. Read Our View.

opinion, B10

Corrin BondArgonaut

Four years in college can hold a lot of good experiences to reflect on, and for Karlee Kirking, her favorite

memories are the evenings she spent with friends, being goofy, playing games and talking about life.

“I treasure the nights my roommate and I sat on the couch and ate mac and cheese,” she said. “Or the times freshman year when I hung out in the dorms with a bunch of friends.”

Kirking, a Lewiston native who will graduate from the University of Idaho May 16, said she was drawn to UI because of its international studies program.

“I applied to a bunch of different schools around the country and to be honest I saw myself in Boston or New York,” Kirking said. “Freshman me severe-ly underestimated how great this school is and four years later, I am so grateful to have chosen UI.”

Kirking, a triple major in international studies, economics and Spanish with a minor in international political economy, said after four years of studying and trav-eling abroad, she is excited for her future following commencement.

“Graduating is equal parts terror and excitement,” she said. “I’ve been a student since I was five and now I won’t be a student anymore so it will be a big change but I feel ready for it.”

Kirking said her experience studying abroad for the 2013-2014 academic year in Santiago, Chile was invaluable for both her personal growth and education.

“Studying abroad was one of the great-est experiences,” she said. “It helped my Spanish so much and I really bonded with my host family.”

Of all the lessons

learned

CommenCement

Senior Karlee Kirking reflects on her college career as

graduation approaches

SEE lessons, PAGE A16

Corrin BondArgonaut

Playwright Samuel Hunter said although he moved out of state after high school, his Idaho heritage is an important part of who he is today.

Hunter, 33, is a Moscow native and well known for his award-winning plays “A Bright New Boise” and “The Whale.” He said he was sur-prised and overwhelmed with

excitement when he was asked to speak at the 2015 Spring Commencement ceremony.

“I was overwhelmingly ap-preciative and this opportu-nity means so much to me, but it’s also really nerve wracking,” Hunter said. “My idea of a com-

mencement speaker is someone who is wise and has lived a lot of life, and here I am, at 33, still trying to figure it all out.”

C o m m e n c e m e n t will begin at 9:30 a.m. next Saturday and general seating is free and open to the public.

Jamie Garlinghouse, graduation and commencement coordina-

tor, said each year the University of Idaho president chooses the commencement speaker.

“There is a Faculty Senate Commencement Committee that compiles a list of people they would like to see speaking at the graduation,” Garlinghouse said. “Then this list is sent to the president, who makes the final decision and chooses the spe-cific individual.”

Hunter is an ensemble play-wright at Victory Garden, as well as a core member of the Playwrights Center. He gradu-ated from New York Univer-sity (NYU) only 11 years ago.

Crafting a commencementMoscow native Samuel Hunter to give commencement speech

David Betts | ArgonautUI senior Karlee Kirking holds var-ious awards she has won through her undergraduate years.

Jake SmithArgonaut

Uriel Benichou — lawUriel Benich-

ousaid he blames America for breaking his shy personality.

Hailing from Nice, France, Benichou, a graduating senior

from the University of Idaho College of Law, said America has benefitted and challenged him.

Benichou, who already holds two law degrees, said there are numerous differences between France and the United States, both

in profession and culture.When Benichou began studying

law in France, he said his lecture halls contained approximately 450 students. He never knew the names of his professors and if the class found an abbreviated letter for the professor’s first name, students joked about what it could be.

U.S. classrooms, Benichou said, are a much more intimate setting.

Benichou said a challenge was learning how to adapt to a new writing style. French legal writing is about showing off, he said, whereas English writing is about dumbing down the writing and getting to point.

A glimpse of graduates

Hunter

Benichou

SEE glimpse, PAGE A16SEE crAfting, PAGE A15

By the numbers

1,536University of Idaho

students statewide are eligible for graduation

this spring

1,179Baccalaureate degrees

52Doctoral degrees

80Law degrees

10Specialist degrees

302 Master’s degrees