The Yellow JacketDecember 1, 2016 Howard Payne University . Brownwood, TX Volume 107, Issue 6

With the end of the semester winding down, Howard Payne is proud to release its gradu-ating students into the world, including Gavin Paul Stewart.

Stewart has a major in So-cial Studies Composite, is a Yellow Jacket band member, and a member of the Kappa Kappa Psi organization. And for this semester, Stewart is a student-teacher for his-tory at Early High School.

Stewart chose his major because he wanted to be able to flexibly teach anything his-tory-related. The soon-to-be graduate has a love for history that he wishes to share with others. To help him do so, Stewart was a student teacher in history this fall at neigh-boring Early. He will finish student teaching on Friday before graduating Dec. 10.

Stewart teaches about 120 high school students. He instructs four 10th grade advanced World History

classes and two advanced-placement U.S. History classes for 11th graders.

Stewart was a very active student in high school. He played sports, was a member of the band, a member of the drama club, was a good stu-dent and enjoyed things like anime. He uses all of this to connect with his students in the classroom and to keep their at-tention during history lessons.

“I try to connect with students on more than the subject matter. I try to con-nect with them more on a personal level. If I can con-nect with students on a deep-er level that is more than

history, then they’ll appreci-ate what I do,” Stewart said.

“I try to be involved with their extracurricular activities, because if I show them that I care about what they hold dear to their hearts, they will go the distance for me and try to learn from me. Because I work to connect with them and know what they’re pas-sionate about, they’ll listen to me as I teach them about what I am passionate about.”

The student-teacher has also done things like dress up as George Washington on Constitution Day to teach his

students about the Constitu-tion and its makers. His U.S. History class had planned to do a simulation of being in the room with the found-ers and signers during the drafting of the Constitution.

Each student was assigned a certain delegate and Stewart dressed up as George Wash-ington – the person in charge of the constitutional conven-tion – to demonstrate what it was like in the 1700s and

InsIde thIs

edItIon Model UN.........................3The HPU Model United Na-tions team earns a Distin-guished Delegation Award.

Speech and Debate.........4The SSB team competed in Texas and Oxford, England.

Spanish Law....................5HPU’s second Spanish

for Law Enforcment class recieves its certificates.

Presidential Reaction.....6HPU students share their

opinions on the 2016 presi-dential election.

Religion Column............11We shouldn’t allow our

political differences to divide us as Chrstians.

Basketball Openers......13The HPU women’s and men’s basketball teams

played their home openers Tuesday.

Every edition of theYellow Jacket newspaper

is available online at www.hputx.edu/yellowjacket

HPU graduate candidate Stewart makes big impression as student-teacher at Early High School

lazhay winn

staff writer

Courtesy PhotoOn Early High School’s pic-ture day, Stewart was dressed as George Washington for a constitutional convention sim-ulation he held for his Clinical Teaching class. Photo by Lydia Heinrichs

Stewart played “cornhole” at the 2015 Fall Street Party while representing Kappa Kappa Psi.

Graduation Events

Dec. 9 – Chime Out, 6 p.m., Mims Auditorium.

Dec. 10 – Commencement, 10 a.m., Brownwood Coliseum. Stewart→ Page 16

Library extends hours for finals week:

Sunday: 3-11:59 p.m.Monday: all day, 24 hoursTuesday: 7:30 a.m.-11:59 p.m.Wednesday: 7:30 a.m.-11:59 p.m.Thursday: 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.Friday: 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

We can disagree without using hurtful words

When we reflect on past events in our lives, the un-fortunate truth is that we of-ten recall the negative parts much more vividly than we recall the positive ones.

You may not remem-ber the range of wonder-fully kind words said to you on a particular occasion, but boy, do you remem-ber that one rude comment.

Psychologically, our brains take more time to process negative experiences. We feel more emotion during those times than in positive expe-riences, so it’s often much easier to remember the bad.

One component in par-ticular that many bad experi-ences have in common is this: words. The words people use to criticize, demean, and in-sult us often stay with us for years. Or even just the nega-tive way they said it. This has a huge implication for us, es-pecially for many of us who claim to strive towards loving others as Christ loves us. We have to be aware of how deep-ly our words can affect oth-ers, remembering how words have scarred and shaped us.

I think you already know

what I’m going to say, but I’m going to say it anyway.

This has to stop.In light of the insane divide

plummeting through our coun-try in this political season, I urge you to remember that your words matter. You may believe you are exercising your free-dom of speech or defending your rights when you decide to retaliate on a Facebook post or hang a strongly-worded flyer. That’s fine – you do have a right to speak your mind. However, I would simply re-mind you of the pain you can cause by your choice of words.

There is a way to discuss without demeaning. There is a way to be passionate, outspo-ken, and firm without belittling those who disagree with you. There is never any reason to use

derogatory language, no mat-ter what you may truly think of a person or a group of people.

As it says in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for build-ing up the one in need and bring-ing grace to those who listen.”

What do we gain in corrupt talk? What’s the purpose, to have others listen and under-stand or to just spew hate?

Please notice that I’m not taking a side, here. It’s not about Republicans versus Democrats or Trump support-ers versus Clinton supporters. It’s not even just about the election. This is people-to-people interaction – neighbors, family, acquaintances, strang-ers, people you may disagree with but people nevertheless.

We have to realize that when we say “them” or “that group” or “those people,” we’re still talking about peo-ple. We cannot dehumanize groups of people for the sake of our own opinions. When you feel the need to use hate-ful words against a person or group, whoever that may be, please remember that they are people too. They are flesh and blood, living, breathing, hoping for a better day tomorrow just like you.

By all means, exercise your right to share your opin-ion, whether that’s about politics, or religion, or put-ting up Christmas decora-tions before Thanksgiving. But when you do so, remem-ber to be kind. Words hurt.

P A G E 2 D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6

Opinion

What’s the Buzz?To submit items and events to this HPU campus calendar, email yjacket@hputx.edu.

Through Dec 1: HPU Blood Drive, 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m.Dec 1: Christmas Concert Reception, 8:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.Dec 1: Student Led Worship, 9-10 p.m.Dec 2: Christmas Karaoke, 8-10 p.m., Mabee CenterDec 5: Pancake Supper , 9-10:30 p.m., Mabee CenterDec 5-8: Final ExamsJan 9: Spring Semester Begins

The 2016-2017 Yellow JackeT

ediTor-in-chiefLydia HeinricHs

PhoTo ediTorandria Garza

Page designersLydia HeinricHs,

Marina sHeets-OcHOa, racHeL HuGHes, eMiLy ViLLarreaL, anGeLica raMirez, danieL Harris,

KiMberLy bOGart, LiLLie McdOnaLd

PhoTograPhersandria Garza,

rebeKaH LytLe, aiMee OrOzcO, cHeyenne HiLL, JOsiaH HuGHes

rePorTersrebeKaH LytLe, andrea baLderas, LazHay Winn,

aiMee OrOzcO, cHad anders, MOrGan asHMOre, bOardMan adaMs, cairO attaWay, andria Garza, reaGan GrisHaM, Lauren LOnG, cHris-

tOpHer FreeLand, racHeL HuGHes, LiLLie McdOnaLd

columnisTsLydia HeinricHs, dr. rObert

ManGruM, danieL Harris, JacLyn bOn-ner, adaM JOnes, JiMMy abatieLLO,

carissa crOMer

faculTY adviserMiKe Lee

(325) 649-8112MLee@Hputx.edu

The Yellow Jacket is a student publication of Howard Payne Univer-sity. Letters to the editor are welcome. Please send any feedback to yjacket@hputx.edu with “Letter to the Editor”

in the subject line.

News BriefsCampus

Christmas concertHoward Payne’s Symphonic Band and Concert Choir will present a Christmas celebra-tion concert at 7:30 p.m. today in Mims Auditorium. The con-cert is free and open to the pub-lic. There will be a reception following the concert in the band rehearsal hall of DMC. Reception music will be pro-vided by the HPU Student Jazz Combo. Everyone is encour-aged to bring a canned food item as a donation for admis-sion. Canned goods collected will go to Good Samaritan Ministries of Brown County.

‘Lessons and Carols’

HPU’s School of Music and Fine Arts will present its an-nual tradition of “A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Brownwood. The service in-cludes Scripture readings by HPU faculty and staff mem-bers about the prophecies and fulfillment of the com-ing Christ, in coordination with music that reflects the passages. The HPU Heri-tage Singers will perform the musical selections with Dr. Allen Reed, retired profes-sor of music, accompanying. St. John’s Episcopal Church is located at 700 Main St.

Sportsmanship Award

HPU received the American Southwest Conference SAAC Team Sportsmanship Award for the 2016 season. The award is presented by the 13 ASC Student-Athlete Adviso-ry Committees. HPU also re-ceived the award in 2007, 2008 and 2012. The SAAC Team Sportsmanship award honors the team that best displays sportsmanship and fair play.

lydia heinrichs

Editor In Chief

MUN wins Distinguished Delegation award D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 3

News

Howard Payne’s Model United Nations team recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to represent the Kingdom of Spain at the National MUN conference, which involved over 1,000 participants from international universities.

Students majoring in po-litical science, history, family studies, and communication met with others interested in de-veloping possible solutions to world crises through a detailed re-creation of the different bodies of the United Nations.

MUN conferences have been established around the world, allowing students to not only learn about how the United Nations functions in-

ternally, but also to immerse themselves by becoming rep-resentatives of countries with views possibly different than their own. Delegates are ex-pected to research their re-spective country’s position on certain subjects and debate from that perspective during formal and informal sessions.

The end results are reso-lutions outlining how to effectively solve current problems which are submit-ted, debated, anad voted upon with the same proce-dures the actual UN utilizes.

Topics discussed in the various councils included: the implication of technol-ogy on global security, in-ternational counter-terrorism measures, empowering youth through sustainable devel-opment, and promoting nuclear safety and security.

NMUNDC recognizes a university’s delegation as a whole for their combined work across multiple committees, so it was a great honor for the HPU team to be presented with a “Distinguished Delegation” award. This placed “Spain’s” work among the top 23 per-cent of over 125 countries.

When asked why he be-lieves in the value of the pro-gram, Braxton Clark, a senior social science major said, “Model United Nations, as al-ways, opens doors for deeper cross cultural communication. Learning the viewpoints of foreign students and working with them towards common goals allows us to grow as academics and become more well-rounded global citizens.”

Due to the timing of the conference, the group visited the Capitol in the midst of the

highly debated Presidential election, which added an un-paralleled element of gravitas to the entire experience. Some members even witnessed the President-Elect’s motorcade as he left his first audience with the Senate leadership.

Because of an incredible contact within the Department of Agriculture, the team also had the unique ability to tour the facilities of the USDA, meet and network with legal

and communication staff, and learn more about the day-to-day work of the executive branch.

The delegates were also able to explore the major historical and political sites of Washing-ton D.C., including the Nation-al Mall, Library of Congress, National Archives, Smithson-ian Museums, and Mount Ver-non. Overall, they were able to truly take a poignant glance at our country’s history, present, and future in one short week.

Courtesy PhotoThe Howard Payne Model UN team that participated in the National MUN conference in Wash-ington, D.C., posted for a photo at Mount Vernon, Virginia. The team consisted of, from left: Cody Perrin, Joel Justice, Mike Hord, Caitlin Wood, Sydney Spencer, Braxton Clark, Penny Stehlik, Jimmy Abbatiello, Emma Reed, and Augusta Johnson.

Jimmy Abbatiello

Staff Writer

IMPORTANT FINANCIAL AID INFORMATIONStudents who want to apply for financial aid for

2017-2018 will be able to complete the Free Appli-cation for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) beginning

on Oct. 1.

In past years, students had to wait until January to sub-mit the FAFSA for the next academic year. In order to

accommodate this earlier filing schedule, the FAFSA will collect income information from two years prior to the

academic year for which the aid is intended, rather than the previous year. This means that for the academic year

2017-2018, the FAFSA will collect income information for 2015. This is the same tax year information that was

used to complete the 2016-2017 FAFSA.

It is important that families use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) that is available in the FAFSA to

report their 2015 income.

Students need to complete the FAFSA as soon as pos-sible, so that any inconsistencies between information

reported for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 can be resolved early. Students may complete the FAFSA

at www.fafsa.gov.

Students are encouraged to contact the Financial Aid Office if they have questions on this new procedure or if

they need help filing the FAFSA.

The Financial Aid Office is located in Room 109 of the Packer Administration Building. Students can also contact

the Financial Aid Office by calling 325/649-8015 or by e-mail at financial-aid@hputx.edu

YJ SumbiSSion

Howard Payne University debaters Christopher Free-land and Tyler Olin were semifinalists in parliamen-tary debate at the Texas In-tercollegiate Forensics As-sociation Fall Championship tournament held in Tyler.

The team of Olin, social sci-ence jurisprudence and Guy D. Newman Honors Academy major, and Freeland, sopho-more biochemistry and Guy D. Newman Honors Acad-emy major, boosted the team’s overall rankings, allowing HPU to win second place in debate sweepstakes and fifth place overall sweepstakes.

Olin was also named top novice speaker in parlia-mentary debate. HPU com-peted against 23 universities.

Braxton Clark, senior so-cial science global studies major, was awarded third

place overall debate speaker, and Isaac Sommers, senior social science jurisprudence and Guy D. Newman Honors Academy major, was named ninth place top debate speaker.

Freshman Gabi McWhirt-er, senior theatre major, won fourth place in novice dra-matic interpretation, and

freshman Madi Neal, social science jurisprudence ma-jor, won third place in nov-ice impromptu speaking.

“Gabi and Madi are both new to our team and I’m thrilled at their excellent per-formances. Breaking to nov-ice finals at the fall champi-onship tournament is always

difficult, and these two com-petitors did a fantastic job at competition,” said Dr. Julie Welker, coach of the HPU Student Speaker Bureau.

HPU students also compet-ed in the International Public Debate Association (IPDA) debate format. Clark, Olin, and Sommers all advanced

to competition out-rounds.Clark won second place, Olin

won third place, and Sommers won fourth place in IPDA de-bate. HPU had three of the top four final places at the meet.

Students on the team also competed in individual events, including extempo-raneous speaking (current events), impromptu speak-ing, prose, poetry, informa-tive speaking, dramatic inter-pretation, duo interpretation, and persuasive speaking.

“Our team did exception-ally well. I’m proud of the way our team performed, and we are continuing to prepare for upcoming tour-naments,” said Welker.

Also competing were team members Morgan Ashmore, Andrea Balderas, Erin Haley, Mike Hord, Reagan Grisham, Isabelle Stahrfisher, Aimee Orozco, and Haylee Williams.

HPU will travel next to Texas A&M University in February.

Speech and Debate team competes internationally

Howard Payne’s debate team traveled to Oxford, England, the day after the presidential election to com-pete in the Oxford Inter-Varsity debate tournament at the University of Oxford.

Dr. Julie Welker, chair of the Department of Com-munication and the coach of the Student Speaker Bureau, has been taking groups to the Oxford tourna-ment for the last five years.

“We first started going to the Oxford tournament in 2012. It is a great way to deepen our debate pro-gram and make our students

more well-rounded debat-ers as well as better interna-tional citizens,” said Welker.

The students debated teams from all around the world including countries such as Russia, Turkey, Ireland, In-dia, Spain and France. This tournament is unlike most because students have eight years of competing eligibility, meaning undergraduate stu-dents debate graduate students studying things such as law, philosophy, and economics.

“The students learn impor-tant things at the tournament, including understanding posi-tions and perspectives from people who are from other cul-tures. When we are debating people from Russia or India, for example, their viewpoints on how politics work and their worldviews are vastly

different than ours,” said Welker.

Students debated topics including police brutality, whether or not soldiers should take their own lives to pro-tect military secrets, the nor-malization of the single-life, NATO price requirements and the left promoting the climbing of the social ladder.

The tournament was very competitive with some of the best teams in the world competing. The fi-nal four teams at the tourna-ment were two Cambridge teams, Harvard and Yale.

Reagan Grisham, ju-nior Communication ma-jor from Arlington, said that debating against such prestigious schools was a learning experience.

“Knowing that we are going

up against teams such as Har-vard and Yale really makes me step up my game and do the best that I can possibly can. It really does make you a better debater,” said Grisham.

The team visited the British House of Parliament where they were able to watch a debate in the House of Com-mons. The international de-bate format is structured on the style of debate in parlia-ment, so students see how it works in practice. Welker said that the students look forward to the trip every year and it has become a highly anticipated trip for debaters.

After the tournament, the team traveled to London and did educational sightseeing for three days. The team vis-ited The Tower of London, The British Museum, and

St. Paul’s Cathedral where they learned about Brit-ish and European history.

“Student demand is what brings our group back every year. The students want to debate on the international circuit and have the interna-tional experience. Because HPU is small university, the more external experiences we can provide for our stu-dents, the better,” said Welker.

The students who debated at the tournament were Morgan Ashmore, senior communica-tion major from Brock; Chris-topher Freeland, sophomore Academy and Biochemistry major from Bangs; Andrea Balderas, junior biology ma-jor from Lytle; and Grisham.

The team is already prepar-ing for and anticipating the trip back Oxford in the fall of 2017.

P A G E 4 D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6

News

Morgan Ashmore

STAFF WRITER

Courtesy PhotoThe HPU Student Speaker Bureau speech and debate team consists of, from left: Dr. Julie Welker (coach), Morgan Ashmore, Braxton Clark, Aimee Orozco, Isabella Stahr Fisher, Madison Neal, Christopher Freeland, Gabi McWhirter, Erin Haley, Brooklyn Britton, Isaac Sommers, Andrea Bal-deras, Haylee Williams, Reagan Grisham, Tyler Olin, Sidni Kirby (coach).

Freeland, Olin lead debaters at TIFA event

Students complete Spanish for Law Enforcement class D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 5

News

In today’s society, the im-portance and significance of knowing a second language is not only crucial but ex-ceptionally valuable. This is especially true in a field like law enforcement, where mis-communication can lead to life-and-death circumstances.

Each day the number of cases involving Spanish-speaking individuals within the United States, includ-ing Texas, grows higher. The importance goes as far as establishing an understand-ing of culture and language.

Spanish for Law Enforce-ment is a class at Howard Payne taught by Dr. Danny Brunette-Lopez, chair of the Department of Modern Languages. The class, how-ever, is designed for crimi-nal justice majors seeking careers in law enforcement.

“This course is exception-ally unique in that it provides students with the opportunity to become certified once com-pletion of the course, placing them ahead of most candidates when it comes down to apply-ing for a job,” said Brunette-Lopez, noting the advantage of being able to speak Spanish.

“In addition, these students

were very much challenged. They had to use the Span-ish language for the major-ity of the course. The im-provement and growth I’ve seen in them is impeccable.”

This year’s group represents the second Spanish for Law Enforcement class at HPU. The first one was completed a couple of years ago. The class is designed for students who wish to pursue a career in law enforcement in order to help them further their knowledge within Spanish and challenge them with real-life situations.

“I think that Dr. Burnette-Lopez did an excellent job with our class,” said class member Matt Gomez. “The main focus was that we didn’t necessarily have to be flu-ent in Spanish, just enough to get by and have an under-standing of what was said.

“With me going into a law enforcement field, we will be dealing with a lot of Spanish-speaking people, especially here in Texas where a large ma-jority of our population con-sists of Latinos. This class has given me the chance to be able

to communicate with Hispan-ics and it also puts me ahead of others that don’t speak Spanish within the field.”

Some of the assignments within the class included involvement in neighbor-hood watches and Brown-wood’s National Night Out in order to inform the com-munity and expose them to these current issues we face.

“It’s courses like this one that will help us communi-cate with Spanish communi-ties and save lives,” said class member Krystal Moreno.

“As a native speaker this class has taught me to use commands we normally don’t use. My favorite thing about the class is how easygoing Dr. Brunette-Lopez is with his students. Those who have had him in the past know he loves to do group and oral presentations. In this class, he didn’t fail to incorporate all these methods so that we, the students, could enjoy the class as much as he does.”

Students were split into groups and were assigned a video project where they exhib-ited all of the material learned and their use of the Spanish language. The presentation of certificates for completing the course were conducted dur-ing a gathering Tuesday that included Lynn Humeniuk, director of the Criminal Jus-tice Program at HPU, and Dr. Millard Kimery, dean of the School of Humanities.

“No other Christian Uni-versity offers this course. I think it’s a wonderful thing, and more programs within our school should consider it for their departments,” said Humeniuk. “The Spanish language is rapidly growing within our state and coun-try. We need to recognize the importance of knowing another language so that we can reach out to more people and provide them with the proper care as well as help.”

Photo by Aimee OrozcoHoward Payne students who received certificates for completing the Spanish For Law Enforce-ment class this week were, from left, Kyle Ramon, Sebastian Contreras, Lorenzo Flores, Derick Boese, Matthew Gomez, Jordan Easterling, Jacob Salazar, Serayah Smith, and Krystal Moreno. At the far right is Dr. Danny Brunette-Lopez, who taught the class. Maria Mireles completed the class, but was unable to attend Tuesday’s ceremony in the TAC building.

Aimee Orozco

staff writer

Thanksgiving Luncheon & Friendsgiving

Photos by Rachel Hughes and Josiah Hughes

Hopeful but disappointedStudents share reactions to the 2016 presidential election

The campaign between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is finally over, and Trump has won the presiden-cy. Many people are relieved, many are worried, and some are even rioting in the streets.

I went around campus to get an idea of what Howard Payne students think of the matter, and while I had a wide range of answers, they all had one underlying theme. This theme is perfectly summed up by sophomore Jackson Spencer, who was “eternally hopeful but ultimately disappointed.”

Throughout the campaign, Trump’s attempt at the presi-dency seemed almost a joke. Some still felt it should be that way even after he be-came the president-elect.

“I would say my main re-action was maybe cynical amusement, actually,” admit-ted Cody Perrin, a senior. “I was surprised and found it funny that he actually became president. But also a bit scary.”

Most of the students were disappointed with the op-tions, some to the point of not caring who won. One such student was Danielle Strick-land, a junior. “There was no good option,” Strickland said, “so the results, as far as I’m concerned, didn’t matter.”

Another student who shared a similar sentiment is fresh-man Mike Hord, who stated, “I voted third party so I’m pretty much all around disappointed.

Freshman Justin Hughes is not as worried or disappointed. “I don’t want to say I feel like it doesn’t really affect me be-cause it does affect me, but I

feel like it’s really not as big a deal as a lot of people are mak-ing it out to be,” Hughes said.

Jakob Morgan, a junior, shared the sentiment. “I per-sonally didn’t really want either to win, but seeing as how Trump has already re-tracted most of his extreme statements, I think the system will forge him into a semi-normal president,” he said.

A few have taken a posi-tive outlook on the election.

“We survived!” sophomore Jacob Vincent said, “The whole thing felt like a live action Saturday Night Live skit. Hopefully, Trump and a Republican Congress can get rid of most of the failed poli-cies from the last eight years.”

Sophomore Titus Brown also is hopeful for the future of the presidency. “I was really grate-ful to be a part of the election this year,” Brown stated. “I’ll look forward to see what Don-ald Trump will have in store for us in the next four years.”

Even those who did not vote for Trump are taking a positive viewpoint, including senior Shaefer Church. “I wanted Hillary to win,” he said, “but Christ is king no matter what, so I’ll trust that He’s in control.”

Many others share Church’s sentiment. While some col-lege students are rioting across the nation, How-ard Payne continues to trust that God is in control.

Most students weren’t wor-ried so much about the elec-tion itself, but they are worried about the national division that the election has ampli-fied. Isaac Sommers, a junior, points out how both sides are contributing to the division.

“To write off all supporters of Donald Trump as misguid-ed, wrong, or even racist is

closed minded. To ignore the concerns of [those attacked by Trump or his supporters] as purely political correctness nonsense is disrespectful and damaging,” Sommers said.

“For us to progress as a na-tion, people in this nation have to be willing to look past dif-ferences, to admit to being wrong, and to truly embrace the idea of open-minded-ness,” Sommers continued.

Junior Hayden Jacobs said, “I didn’t vote, but I am wor-ried. Not about who is in pow-er, but the people. We as a na-tion are split and if we don’t fix it we will fall apart. We give them power, and who we are will give birth to our leaders.”

Amanda Quinteros, an-other junior, also expressed concern towards the state of America and its citizens.

“I know that there are many who are ecstatic about the re-sults, and many people who lost faith in the country. But I think it’s important to re-member that people shouldn’t be afraid of their government and their leaders, but more the opposite,” Quinteros said.

Senior Katie Straach offered encouragement for Americans, suggesting understanding as a way to bring about unity.

“I think this election will be a turnaround for America, in a positive way,” Straach said. “However, it’s important for everyone to work together and be willing to compromise in order to achieve this. We must be willing to listen to

others, even and especially if they have a differing view.”

Whether we are relieved or scared when we think about the future, the students of HPU remember that we must show kindness to all of those around us; whether they are Republican, Democrat, In-dependent, or non-voters. Because at the end of the day, we are all Americans.

P A G E 6 D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6

Politics

RACHEL hUGHES

staff writer

Cody Perrin Titus Brown Isaac Sommers

Katie StraachShaefer Church

D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 7

Entertainment

Holiday movies promise plot and formula diversity

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas movie season.

With filmgoers eager to buy tickets during the holi-days and the Oscars right around the corner, studios put out some of their best work during this time of the year. If upcoming features lists can be believed, this De-cember is no exception, with a multitude of promising of-ferings that provide some-thing for virtually everyone.

Set before the events of A New Hope, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” tells the tale of Jyn Erso, a rebel-lion soldier and criminal who is tasked with stealing the plans to The Death Star. Staring Felicity Jones, (“The Theory of Everything”)

Alan Tudyk, (“Firefly”) and Forest Whitaker, (“The Last King of Scotland”) the movie bridges a gap in the saga that longtime fans have been aching to see on screen.

Director Gareth Edwards (“Godzilla”) has called it more of a grounded view of what it’s really like to

participate in a war of this scale. With the incredible suc-cess of last year’s “The Force Awakens” and high expec-tations from virtually every demographic, Edwards has some huge bantha tracks to fill.

If you are not as interest-ed in a galaxy far, far away, “Collateral Beauty” opens

the same afternoon. Will Smith stars as Howard In-let, a man who has intimate conversations with “death,” “time,” and “love” after he experiences a horrific trag-edy. Smith has said that the film is a cross between “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Wizard of Oz,” as it ulti-mately resolves in an inspira-tional climax as the answers Inlet is given culminate in an unexpected redemption.

With a variable who’s who of noted actors including Hel-len Mirren, (“The Queen”) Edward Norton, (“Fight Club”) and Kate Winslet, (“Titanic”) the film is sure to be a tear-jerker that lands on a lot of top 10 lists for the year.

After the international ac-claim of 2014’s “Whiplash,” young director Damien Cha-zelle proved to be one of the most talented and vision-ary artists to emerge in re-cent years. With his second

film “La La Land,” which stars Emma Stone (“Bird-man”) and Ryan Gosling, (“The Notebook”) he has created a unique send up of the old Hollywood musical with a modern twist. Utiliz-ing a simplistic story that in-volves a struggling actor and her jazz pianist boyfriend, the orchestrations, singing, and dancing of the charac-ters come to the forefront.

“The film is about the city I live in, it’s about the music that I grew up play-ing, it’s about movies that I grew up watching,” said Chazelle. “Even the big spectacle of the movie feels private to me in that way.”

This is a must see for anyone who simply wants to enjoy something unexpected in to-day’s world of tired formulas.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Collat-eral Beauty,” and “La La Land” all open Dec. 16.

Jimmy Abbatiello

movie columnist

Between concerts, new uniforms, and a new direc-tor, there’s been a lot of buzz surrounding Howard Payne’s Concert Choir this semester. In addition to all of the choir’s plans for the fall semester, Dr. Chris Ros-borough, director of choral activities at HPU, has been planning a recruitment tour for the choir in late January.

In the past, the choir has toured in mid- to late-April. However, touring in Janu-ary would allow the choir to take its fall program, “Cre-ator, Created, Creating,” on

the road. A January tour also makes space for the choir to do more with its spring semester, such as a com-bined program with Univer-sity Singers, and takes some stress off students involved in both the symphonic band and the concert choir since the band tours in April.

Rosborough explained that there are a few rea-sons why the choir tours.

“The main purpose is re-cruitment and retention. We want to be heard at church-es and schools, and to meet alumni. But it’s also an honor to the students in the choir. Tour is an amazing bond-ing experience that grows the ensemble both musical-ly and spiritually,” he said.

The choir has been

working hard to prepare their tour program, meeting dai-ly for an hour. Rosborough strives to invoke an inward, spiritual experience, which reflects musical experience.

When asked about how his choir was preparing, Ros-borough said, “When a per-son invests in a piece and finds it valid or meaningful, they perform it at a higher level. My drive is to inspire and get students invested in the music they’re singing.”

The tour program is very reflective of the spirituality found within the group. The theme for the spring tour is “Creator, Created, Creat-ing – My Maker’s Bounding Line.” Each day of creation is marked by a recitative pulled from “Creation” by Haydn.

Rosborough explained to his group that there is “constant renewal of creation in each of us,” and that the “mu-sic reflects that by nodding to light, water, vegetation, stars, animals, and man.”

The selections in the pro-gram range from the Baroque period to 21st Century. A fa-vorite piece of the group’s is “Living Water,” composed by Tom Trenney. “Living Water” is a very new piece, composed in July of 2016 and premiered by the Wart-burg Choir at Wartburg Col-lege in Iowa. The Concert Choir is one of only a hand-ful of choirs to have sung this piece. Other favorites include “Animal Crackers I & II” by Eric Whitacre and “The Majesty and Glory of

Your Name” by Tom Fettke.When asked about what

he is looking forward to the most about choir tour, Ros-borough stated that he is looking forward to “reach-ing out and plowing new fields, and having the stu-dents sing and be heard.”

Rosborough also said he and the group are looking forward to recruiting new students and visiting alumni. “Howard Payne people are infiltrated everywhere,” Ros-borough said, “the people who are invested in HPU are their own. The more we invest in alumni, the more we get the word out.”

The HPU Concert Choir will be departing for its spring tour on Jan. 26, 2017, and will return to campus Jan. 30.

Carissa Cromer

Music COlumnist

HPU Concert Choir preps for spring recruitment tour

HPU celebrates holiday season with Christmas on the Plaza D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 8

Features

Howard Payne celebrated the upcoming Christmas holi-day with its students during the annual Christmas on the Plaza event Tuesday night.

Christmas on the Plaza is hosted by the HPU Student Ac-tivities Council and is held on campus and at the house of Dr. Bill Ellis, president of HPU.

The celebration started at HPU by Old Main Tower, where a welcoming ceremony was held. The sidewalk was lit

with bright, holiday lights to create the holiday atmosphere. Students gathered together to sing many traditional Christ-mas carols such as “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “Silent Night,” “The First Noel,” and “Joy to the World.”

Gary Gramling, director of Graduate Program in Chris-tian Studies at HPU, gave a Christmas reflection speech, and Ellis presented a Christ-mas story speech to the stu-dents. The students listened eagerly as they awaited the lighting of the Christmas tree.

After many carols and

speeches, the students head-ed over to the field where Old Main used to stand and watched the annual lighting of the HPU Christmas tree. Many students left after the Christ-mas tree lighting to head over and watch the men and wom-en’s basketball teams compete in their home openers against Southwestern University.

The students who stayed after the Christmas tree light-ing walked to Ellis’s house to have hot chocolate and cook-ies with the president. The stu-dents look forward to seeing Ellis’s stunningly decorated house every Christmas season.

Caleb Dillard, 2016 gradu-ate of HPU, stated that Christ-mas on the Plaza was one of his favorite events as a student.

“I remember walking in with a crowd of students in to the great house of Dr. Ellis and being instantly amazed at beauty of the Christmas deco-rations. The warm welcome that I and many other students received as we entered in to the house was truly a wonder-ful experience,” said Dillard.

The Student Activities Council not only wants Christ-mas on the Plaza to celebrate the Christmas holiday, but they also want it to be a way to bring

students and faculty together. “It’s a way to connect us a

student body and truly rec-ognize and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. It is by far one of my favorite Howard Payne traditions,” said Kayla Smith, senior student at HPU.

HPU celebrated Christmas on the Plaza only five days after Thanksgiving due to stu-dents leaving next week after final exams. The students are grateful that HPU made an effort celebrate the holiday season with their students and faculty, and are looking forward to next year’s tradi-tional Christmas on the Plaza.

Morgan Ashmore

STAFF WRITER

Photos by:Lydia Heinrichs,

Morgan Ashmore, and Andria Garza

Christmas On The Plaza

D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 9

Features

Courtesy Photo

Courtesy Photo

Happenings on campus at Christmastime 1956

The following is an excerpt from FOR HOWARD PAYNE MY ALL: 125 YEARS OF CHRIS-TIAN HIGHER EDUCATION AND SERVICE 1889-2015, AN ENCYCLOPEDIA by Robert G.

Mangrum, Ph.D.

Today we examine the Yellow Jacket detailing campus activities for Dec. 12, 1956. The paper re-ported that “the students of How-ard Payne College witnessed one of the most impressive and in-spirational services of the year at the last hour of the BSU revival.”

Over 200 students made de-cisions during the weeklong

revival as Dr. Ralph Langley, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church of Dallas, conducted the services.

An all-school Christmas party was scheduled for Dec. 17 in the Jackets’ Nest. Student body president Bill McClellan de-scribed the program as “won-derful.” Meanwhile the annual Christmas concert by HP’s Ora-torio Chorus will present, with the aid of the Brownwood High School A Cappella Choir, Ca-mille Saint-Saens “Christmas Oratorio” on Dec. 13, in Mims.

On Dec. 14, the 60th annual meeting of the Texas Academy of Science was to be held on HPC’s campus. In addition to the senior academy meeting, the collegiate division com-posed of college students and the junior academy composed of high school students were

scheduled to meet on campus.The previous Saturday, the

Jacket Co-Ed Banquet, “Winter Wonderland,” hosted 175; held on the Roof garden of Hotel Brownwood (nee Sid Rich Dorm later in the 1960s). The affair, an annual event, climaxed the activities of the Jacket Co-eds while honoring all HP’s athletes. The theme was emphasized “by an actual window of snow, and white Christmas tree set off by a glittering blue curtain edge. The table décor was silver-spar-kled candles and blue- sprayed bear grass.” Music was pro-vided by HP’s own Stage Band.

On the op-ed page, one finds a letter to the editor commenting on a previous edition of the Yellow Jacket concerning “improving school spirit.” The writer notes, “some student suggested baseball

as a means of improving school spirit. The Yellow Jacket staff thought this suggestion was hu-morous. The letter writer relates how he chose HPC because he was told that baseball would be a sport starting the previous spring of 1956. No team was fielded and without any explanation.

Some students transferred be-cause of this, but in my case, I went into debt to move here to attend school and here I must stay until completion. After com-plaining again about the lack of an explanation from the admin-istration, he noted, “as for better school spirit at ball games, if the band would play music which fits the occasions, it would put the cheering section in a bet-ter mood for cheering.” He then mentioned several specific tunes which he didn’t believe were

appropriate for football and con-cluded “the band should take a lesson from the McMurry band.”

On page six one found the sports headlines for the week. Cecil Elkins, HPC tackle and co-captain was named to the Dallas Morning News All-Texas College team. Roundballer Stan Owens hit a 30-foot shot in the final seconds to lead HP to last second victory over McMurry, 67-66. Looking ahead, HP was scheduled the next week to play both H-SU and Abilene Christian in Abilene before hosting South-western the following Saturday.

Finally, two HP boxers, Bob Stokes and Harley Dun-ham, were victorious in ben-efit matches at Brownwood’s Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall on the previous Saturday.

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Religion & Features

Dr. Robert Mangrum

university historian

A Cross-Cultural Studies major is not needed to learn about missions at Howard Payne University. In fact, you can learn about missions all over the world in one semester.

Last year, Brownwood be-gan its first Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class. Founded in 1974 by mis-siologist Ralph Winter, Per-spectives is designed to take students through four perspec-tives of cross-cultural mission: the biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic perspective. There are more than 250 classes held yearly, with an average 9,000 or more people taking the class.

The class is unique in that there is a different instructor each week. The class meets

once a week for three hours. It is a great opportunity to hear from professionals all over the state and even the country.

We have had speakers from missions sending agencies, universities, and Wycliffe Bi-ble Translators. This allows students to receive lectures from professional in their field. It not only adds to the cred-ibility of the lessons but adds interest to the class each week.

Howard Payne senior Tom Kyle began the class last year

and currently serves on the Perspectives coordinating team, which is led by a local man named Peter (who didn’t want to give his last name).

Last year the class was comprised of seven or eight students who watched vid-eos of past Perspectives speakers for their class.

“God used the class to teach me a lot more and to solidify my sense of calling to mis-sions and Bible translation,” Kyle said. “I realized that the

material in the class really is extremely valuable, not only for people who are already planning on serving over-seas but for all Christians.”

After seeing how success-ful the class was, Kyle was determined to be involved in helping with the class for the 2016 term. He serves by grad-ing the homework of a few students, occasionally leading worship at the beginning of class and filling in for Peter.

Twenty-two registered for the

class this year. Luke Hutchins, a Perspectives student, rec-ommends the class to anyone with a heart for long-term mis-sions. He says “the material is challenging but it helps you start to see the heart of God.”

Mia Ferraro agreed explain-ing that the course “blew [her] mind! It showed [her] how God has been working through-out scripture and history.”

I think Perspectives’ slogan captures the essence of the class perfectly: “get threaded in the biggest story of all time.” The class introduces new ideas and concepts that only mis-siologist have taken the time to consider. The mystery of missions is removed and lo-cal people are empowered to get involved in what God is doing throughout the world.

From the words of Win-ter “Perspectives joined a movement of God that was already in progress.”

The biggest story of all timePerspectives class is for anyone with a heart for long-term missionsCecily McIlwain

Guest writer

Don’t let politics divide us as Christians D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 1

Religion

Post-election fever. It seems ever since the elec-tion, that’s all my newsfeed on Facebook has been clut-tered with. Many people are ecstatic about America’s choice for president and many people are not so excit-ed. I know good well-mean-ing Christians on both sides.

Lately, many Christians have found themselves cling-ing to one side or the other. Both sides think that their way is the right “Biblical” way to run politics. While it’s good to be an informed voter and there is nothing wrong with having political leanings, many of the discussions have led to disunity in the church.

One of the most beautiful things about the church is how diverse it is. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body — Jews or Greeks, slaves or free — and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the hear-ing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the

members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

If all were a single mem-ber, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

On the contrary, the mem-bers of the body that seem to be weaker are indispens-able, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior mem-ber, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one an-other. If one member suf-fers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

As Christians, we each make up part of the body. De-spite one’s political views on either side, we are all of one body. Being different parts of the body, we may look differ-ent, talk different or have dif-ferent views. In light of this passage, this means if we are Republican, we suffer togeth-er and rejoice together with our brothers and sisters who are Democrats and vice versa.

This past summer I was talking with my supervi-sor for my internship who had been a part of the un-derground church in Soviet Russia about a controversy that happened in the South-ern Baptist Convention in years past. I will never forget what he told me. He said, “In Soviet Russia, you’re either a Christian or you’re not.”

I think here in America we make too big of a deal out of petty issues because of the liberty we have to worship freely. That’s not to say that I’m not grateful we have the liberty to worship without fear of persecution, but perhaps we have taken our liberty for granted and forgotten where our true identity should reside.

Our identity first and fore-most is as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Our identity is not if we are Re-publican or Democrat. What forms us first is Christ and his kingdom. This means that re-gardless of who our president is, we are pilgrims on leave. Paul at one point even calls us ambassadors. America and its policies does not de-fine who we are as Christians.

In a statement by pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Kyn-dall Rae Rothaus made in light of a recent controversy in the Baptist General Con-vention of Texas, she said, “Given our current political climate, I would hope to see the church be a shining ex-ample to our country of how to work together despite our differences. What a strong, counter-cultural testimony that would be! The world doesn’t need more polariza-tion, and the body of Christ doesn’t need any more ampu-tations. When did our shared beliefs in the Triune God and our common hope in the life, death and resurrection of Christ become irrelevant?

“We are not enemies. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow members of the body, and when we cut off certain members, we cut off Christ’s own limbs.”

We are all brothers and sis-ter regardless if we have dif-ferent beliefs. 1 John says, “All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you

know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love in that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in any-one who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?”

This is a bold statement made by the author of this letter. When we are not uni-

fied as brothers and sisters in Christ, we are not only cutting off Christ’s limbs, but also we are murdering our other broth-ers and sister by hating them.

I am begging any Christians who may be reading this to not get so caught up in petty is-sues that won’t even matter in the scheme of eternity. Rath-er, I urge you to look to what matters most in life to unify the church body as a whole.

Daniel Harris

Religion Columnist

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P A G E 1 2 D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6

Opinion & Features

Well, well, well, looks like somebody has managed to stay at school long enough to make it to finals week.

I bet you’re soooooo proud of yourself, but guess what, it’s not over yet. You still have finals week. A week that will either be a breeze or crush your soul into a tiny cube and ship it back to your mother with a request for a loan payment. As usual, I’m here to help you survive the last two weeks, separating you from watch-ing ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas while drinking yourself into a cocoa coma.

If you’re one of the blessed individuals who don’t have any finals this week, then don’t even bother to read this. I wouldn’t want you

to go through the unspeak-able terror that finals week can be. Just go back to sleep and wake up for graduation.

However, chances are that you are not in the privileged elect and will be having a fi-nals week. If you’re not sure what finals you have, I encour-age you to pack your bags now because there’s a good chance it is already too late for you.

I know that I’ve painted fi-nals week to be a tremendous burden, but it doesn’t have to be. There are a few ways to guarantee good grades on those pesky exams. The first sure-shot is to hop into your time machine, go back to Au-gust, smack past you on the face, and demand that they pay attention. You may be say-ing, “I left my time machine at home during Thanksgiving break,” but don’t worry, there are other, albeit more com-plicated ways to pass your

exams. Another great way to make great grades is to cheat!

Wait, did I say cheat, I meant study! Stupid autocor-rect. You’ll do well as long as you study, but for some of us, there are just so many distractions here in Brown-wood, the New York City of Central Texas. The first step is to eliminate your distractions.

Distracted by Netf-lix? Throw your computer off of the Veda balcony.

Friends keep interrupt-ing school work? Start big fights to end friendships so they won’t be a problem.

Maybe all of your fo-cus is on another final then you should um … yeah, I got nothing. You’re toast.

Now that you’ve created a distraction-free environment, it’s time to get studying. Now your professors may tell you that the best way to study is by “reviewing your notes” but we

can all agree that advice like that is fundamentally wrong.

The first habit of effective studiers is to cram 30 minutes before the exam. Your brain was not designed to retain memories for extended periods of time, which is why there’s no point in consistent study patterns leading up to exams.

Another great study tech-nique is to put your textbooks under your pillow. Learn-ing through osmosis is sci-entifically proven to work! It’s scientific because osmo-sis is a sciency word and not because is proven to work.

Now, the most important part of studying is to not study in groups. Someone may ap-proach you after class – or if they’re a creep, through Face-book messenger – and try to get you to go to their study group. If this happens, spray them with mace, and run. You don’t want anyone compromising

your chance for a good grade, especially not the guy or girl who never showed up to class but became suddenly inter-ested in having a “study sesh.”

Studying on your own will also prevent you from mis-leading others. If this hap-pens, they’ll most likely get kicked out of school and hunt you down to exact vengeance. Do you want to deal with this? I don’t think so. Espe-cially not during finals week.

Hopefully this wisdom has helped you, but don’t blame me if it hasn’t. You’re the one who has done more math trying to figure out how to get a C in college al-gebra than you did during your college algebra class.

Now if you know what’s good for you, you’ll put down this paper, lock your-self in your room and only come out for potty breaks until you’re done with finals.

The final countdown (Get it? It’s finals week!)Adam Jones

Guest columnist

Skate Party Photos by Morgan Ashmore

D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 3

Sports

The Howard Payne basketball teams split their home openers Tuesday night in a doubleheader against Southwestern University in the Brownwood Coliseum.

The Lady Jackets beat South-western 82-67 as senior Sarahi Castillo scored a double-double with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Presley McKethan and Vala-rie Matlock combined for 32 points as HPU improved to 3-4.

The Jackets (1-3) led South-

western 34-25 at the half, but eventually fell 66-63 in Tues-day’s opener. Rickey Guillory scored 16 points and Khyce Ran-dall added 11 points for HPU. Senior Donovan Jenkins had eight points and 10 rebounds.

HPU hosts LeTourneau in the American Southwest Con-ference opener tonight in the Brownwood Coliseum. The women play at 5:30 p.m. while the men play at 7:30.

HPU splits home openers, hosts LeTourneau tonight

Photos by Aimee Orozco, Andria Garza and Josiah Hughes

Football gave HPU tackle machine Jason Disney a means of coping with a dad with Alzheimer’s

Jason Disney played foot-ball like it was his passion. It actually was his means of coping. His escape.

The senior linebacker made 17 tackles on Nov. 12 in his final game for Howard Payne University in a 50-45 loss to Belhaven. He finished this season with 118 tack-les to lead the Yellow Jack-ets for the third time in four seasons and the American Southwest Conference for the second consecutive season.

Disney finished with 396 career tackles, which sure-ly would rank among the HPU all-time leaders if the school kept such records.

When no one else emerged, Disney also kicked for the Jackets this season – even though his only qualification was that he played youth soc-cer. With his 32 points from 15 extra-point kicks, five field goals and one blocked PAT return, Disney may be the only college player in the nation this year to lead his team in tackles and scoring.

He recently became just the nine player in the 20-year his-tory of the American South-west Conference – and the first HPU player – to be voted first team all-conference at two positions in the same sea-son. Disney was named a first-team linebacker and kicker.

The 6-foot, 215-pound ironman played like foot-ball meant everything to him.

“Football has made me mentally tough,” Disney said. “It’s like a self-relief. It allows me to release a lot of tension.”

Tension and frustration are emotions Disney often feels when he thinks about his dad. Richard Disney is 72 years old. He’s had Alzheimer’s – a form of dementia marked by a decline in mental abil-ity – for almost 10 years.

“It’s upsetting that this has to happen to someone like my dad. He was in the Air Force, a Vietnam veteran. He never had the opportu-nity to see my life or my suc-cess in football,” Jason said.

“It was my dad’s birth-day a few weeks ago. We don’t celebrate it anymore because he doesn’t know it’s his birthday. But I think about it, and I played for him.”

Richard retired from IBM and moved his family from his native Florida to Austin about 20 years ago. He had a workshop and built fences, mainly for family members.

“One day about 10 years ago, he fell 10 feet off a ladder and shattered both his knees. They think the medication they put him on after the ac-cident is what started the dam-age to his brain,” Jason said.

“Within a couple of years, he’d wake up, feed the dog

and cat, eat at a certain time and talk about the same things every day. He was repetitive. He wasn’t comprehending anything. You couldn’t carry on a conversation with him.”

Richard was unable to attend any of Jason’s football games at Austin Bowie High School. Richard basically didn’t want to be around other people.

When Jason was a high school senior in 2013, he, his mother Linda and older brother Sean left town for a Spring Break trip. They left Richard home alone.

“He had gone out for some-thing and couldn’t find his way home,” Jason said. “He was gone for three or four days. We found gas receipts from down in the San Anto-nio area. When they picked him up, he was driving 30 miles an hour on the highway.

“He was in the hospi-tal when we got back.”

Back and forthbetween home and

college

Jason left home for Brown-wood to attend college at Howard Payne, where he be-gan studying business and playing football. But through-out 2014 and 2015, he found himself making quick trips home to Austin to help his mother care for his dad. The Alzheimer’s was worsening.

“He was not able to bathe himself or change his own clothes, and mom couldn’t always do everything,” Jason said. “I’d stay the night and get up early the next morn-ing and come back (to HPU) for classes and football.”

The visits grew longer last spring as his dad’s health dete-riorated. Jason and his mother had multiple conversations about him leaving HPU per-manently and returning home

to help full-time with his dad.“She thought me finish-

ing my degree was the most important thing,” Jason said. “My dad would have want-ed me to stay here and play. He would have loved to see me play college football.”

Finally last spring, though, Jason could no longer watch his mother deal with his father alone. He gave his mother an ultimatum: He was moving back home if she didn’t find a facility to care for his dad.

“Mom was having to change his bed sheets three or four times a day,” Jason said. “I was not going to let her handle things like that any-more without me being there and helping do something.

“My mom has been my rock – from soccer when I was 5 years old through mid-dle school and high school. She was a fixture at my ball-games and PTA meetings.

“She was still working for IBM when we moved to Aus-tin. Dad was going to be a stay-home dad and watch me and my brother. Mom ended up having to work from home to watch all three of us.”

Linda Disney agreed in March to have Richard put in an Alzheimer’s facility.

“Dad was angry,” Jason said. “He had to be in a behavioral hospital at first and watched 24/7. He had to wear hand-cuffs so he wouldn’t hurt any-body. We had to transfer him from place to place for a while.

“But mom eventual-ly got her routine back.”

That routine included

P A G E 1 4 D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6

Sports

Mike Lee

YJ Adviser

Photos by Andria GarzaHPU senior Jason Disney (49) returns a blocked extra-point kick 98 yards for two points Nov. 12 against Belhaven.

Jason Disney

Disney → Page 15

Full-Time ADSims steps down as football coach, will focus on AD role

From Page 14: Disney

being able to attend all of Jason’s HPU home games this year. She only saw one game in 2015 while car-ing for Richard at home.

Support from a new coach

The 2016 season started with hope and promise for Jason. A broken wrist he played with during the 2014 and 2015 seasons had been surgically repaired during the offseason. His mom was able to come see him play, and Jason met Cary Fowl-er, HPU’s new linebackers coach. “Jason was devastated about losing his grandfa-ther. It was right then I knew why God sent me to Howard Payne. He sent me here to coach Jason Disney,” Fowl-er said. “God had prepared me so I could coach Jason.

“I told him, ‘I’m not your

coach this year. I’m your coach forever. I will always pick up the phone if you call.’ ”

Through his tragic expe-riences at Tarleton, Fowler came to value relationships with players beyond football. He welcomes HPU players into his office during the eve-nings to watch football film or just talk about their lives.

Fowler views coaching as 90 percent about life and only 10 percent about Xs and Os.

“We are coaching a father-less society,” he said. “Jason Disney didn’t choose to be in this situation, but he’s a young man without a father figure.”

Fowler was amazed at Disney’s performance this season while dealing

with off-field challenges.“Through tough times, he

has excelled in football and in the classroom. He played at an All-American level this year,” Fowler said of Dis-ney. “I’m proud to say he also excelled as a leader of our football team. He had injuries to his ankle, back and knee, but he showed up

every day and worked when he probably shouldn’t have.

“He will become a great husband and father. He can help change the direction of our country. People like Jason Disney can help change our fa-therless society,” Fowler said.

Disney obviously hoped for a better senior season on the field. The season-end-ing loss to Belhaven left the Jackets with just their second 0-10 finish in school history.

“I hope the younger play-ers have seen our work ethic and see that they can ac-complish some things in the future,” Disney said.

Having played his fi-nal game for HPU, Disney plans to finish college and earn a degree in business management in Decem-ber 2017. Then he plans to move to the Austin area to be near his mom and dad.

“They gave my dad about four years to live,” Dis-ney said. “You never know. It’s like a waiting game.”

D E C E M B E R 1 , 2 0 1 6 P A G E 1 5

Sports

Photo by Andria GarzaHPU’s Jason Disney (49) helps make a tackle in his final college football game Nov. 12 against Belhaven.

By HPU SPortS InformatIon

Howard Payne recently an-nounced that Hunter Sims, who has served as head football coach and direc-tor of athletics since April, will step down as coach to focus solely on his du-ties as athletic director.

Following the retirement o Mike Jones as athletic di-rector in December 2015, HPU conducted a nation-wide search for a replace-ment. Sims was selected and, because of the timing of the start of the football season,

agreed to continue as head coach in addition to assuming the role of athletic director.

As a result of today’s move, Sims will focus his full attention on current and future projects for the en-tire athletic department.

“I am excited to be tran-sitioning to full-time focus as director of athletics,” said Sims. “It is also exciting to be a better servant to the rest of our department and keep the forward momentum going.”

As HPU’s athletic director, Sims has made significant improvements in the depart-ment’s marketing plan and has boosted community involve-

ment through service projects.“We are very thankful for

Hunter’s service in both roles this season, and we look for-ward to his continued posi-tive leadership as athletic director,” said Dr. Magen Bu-nyard, vice president for stu-dent life and dean of students.

Sims has also complet-ed the department’s five-year self-study require-ment to the NCAA and made improvements to HPU’s athletic facilities.

The search for a new head football coach is underway. HPU is considering inter-nal and external candidates to fill the open position. Hunter Sims

Football finishes 0-10 for first time since 1986

from page 1:Stewart

what they wore. He got this idea from his HPU Model U.N. class, where they of-ten get immersed in subjects.

These kinds of interactions with his students caught the at-tention of many Early students, including the Student Council members. These members chose to have Stewart recog-nized as the Teacher of the Month. They felt like he was a superior student teacher and wanted to give him that honor, according to Jennifer Kent, the Early High School principal.

“Gavin is a really good fit in our school. Early High School is ranked one of the top schools in the nation. For him to be in-experienced and come in and be connected with the students like one of our other teach-ers is amazing. He is a good match and can fit into any high school that he wishes to teach at,” Kent said about Stewart.

Stewart was excited and humbled to receive the award.

“Every day I ask myself, ‘Am I teaching the right way. Am I connecting to the students? Are these kids learning?’ I try to be the best me that I can be for them, so I was very excited and humbled that they recog-nized my efforts. It was nice

to be rewarded for something that I did not know I was in the running for,” said Stewart.

One of his advanced history instructors at HPU, Dr. Robert Mangrum, professor of Histo-ry and Government and HPU historian, said he hates to see Stewart leave college, but can’t wait to see what he does next.

“Like all of my history ma-jors, I hate to see him go. But all good things must come to an end and we have to send our students out into the world. It’s so great to see history ma-jors develop and grow into historians,” Mangrum said.

“Our job is to nurture them and to help them to grow. And, like all parents have

to let their kids go and send them off to college or into the real world, we have to let these kids go because they’re at that point in their lives. I hate to see the kids graduate but we must send them off.

“My wife and I have been here for about 36 years and were not blessed with kids of our own, so we see the kids that we teach and in-teract with as our children. I’ll see him across the stage at graduation and be happy to see what he does next,” Mangrum said of Stewart.

Kent agrees that HPU has prepared Stewart for the real world and believes that he would make a great teacher.

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Sports

The Howard Payne foot-ball season can be wrapped up in these age-old words: It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times.

Throughout this season we’ve experienced an elec-tion cycle, flaming arrows shot at a homecoming bon-fire, and the Cubs even won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. The campus lit up in an extravagant fash-ion, campus life was crawl-ing with activities and com-munal fellowship. However, the other end of the phrase reminds us that the Howard Payne football team went 0-10 for the first time since 1986.

“One thing that I can feel good about, is we were com-petitive in about five games, maybe even six,” HPU head coach Hunter Sims said.

The Yellow Jackets lost four games by a combined total of 16 points, and were behind by only a score at halftime to Sul Ross and Louisiana

College, both games they end-ed up losing by double digits.

“We were in more games than we have been in a long time, but we just didn’t finish them out,” Sims said. “Some-thing you could definitely tell is this team didn’t quit. The guys didn’t quit and that’s some-thing to be completely proud of. Especially being down 17

against Belhaven, haven’t won a game all year, and they end up battling back and taking the lead in the fourth quarter.”

The offense of the Yellow Jackets struggled this year, only being able to score an average of 18 points a game. The defense didn’t answer well by allowing 44 points per game, but try not to read

too much into those numbers.“Man, honestly, the season

did not go as planned at all. A lot of us were expecting to come out with a few wins,” said senior wide receiver Wil-lie Rangel-Alfaro. “I think that our mentality and team morale took a dramatic drop after the 35-7 loss to Louisiana College in Week 5. We were just nev-er able to recover from that, and it was heart breaking.”

A team that played 27 fresh-man players over the course of the year was doomed for a little bit of growing pains. The seniors are con-fident in the impact they made on this young bunch.

Rangel-Alfaro said, “My overall impression of the sea-son was that the team made amazing strides as a whole, although it didn’t show in the win and loss columns. As seniors, we showed the younger guys what direc-tion the program needs to go in, and what the mental-ity needs to be to get there.”

The seniors realize the im-portance of the younger players staying and growing together.

“Well this past season was

a thrill, not a lot to be said about it,” senior running back Justin Acosta said. “Every-one saw what happened. Our team was young and our of-fensive line was the youngest of all. With that being said, the chemistry just wasn’t there. Our defense is making strides and I enjoyed watching them improve through the season.

“I gave four great years to this program and in the end, if we can’t get the young kids to stay, there won’t be a change in our program.”

Sims, in his first seasons as head coach, had a lot higher hopes for his team. After tak-ing on the athletic director roll last spring, his plate has been full. He has since decided to step down as head football coach to better address his du-ties as athletic director, and focus on the success of the athletic department as a whole.

“I’m excited to give my full attention to the athletic de-partment,” Sims said. “We’re going through a change, but I’m not going anywhere. My vision and my expectations are still the same no matter who becomes the head coach.”

chad anders

sports Writer

Photo by Andria GarzaHoward Payne’s Sayvon Young-Cormier (7) celebrates a touch-down reception from quarterback Trey Potter against Belhaven.

Courtesy PhotoStewart mixes history with present day by enjoying a cup of Common Grounds coffee while dressed as George Washington.