inside Page 5 page 6 page 3 Men and women’s tennis to play Tyler College Friday Former student talks about his stand against racism at ACU in 1954 Six-foot rattlesnake discovered in regional hunt Abilene Christian University Arts page 5 sports opinion news acuoptimist.com The administration gives their perspective on the first dance party video vol. 100, no. 45 friday, march 23, 2012 1 SECTION, 8 PAGES Education dean to move to Adams Center Student entries submitted to FilmFest 2012 will be shown Friday at the Paramount Theatre at 8 p.m. Watch these videos at acuoptimist.com Spring Serenade SpringFest brings music on-campus Saturday Dr. Lesa Breeding has been appointed to serve as executive director of the Adams Center begin- ning June 1. Breeding serves as dean of the Col- lege of Education and Hu- man Services, a position she has held since its cre- ation six years ago. “Any professional worth their salt should ask them- selves whether or not they’ve done their job and how well they’ve done it,” Breeding said. “I think I’ve done the job that I came to do.” Dr. John Weaver, dean of li- brary and educational technologies and chair of the search committee, of- fered Breeding the posi- tion in the Adams Center. Breeding said she wants to fill a particular need at the Adams Center. “One of the things I learned about myself in doing this is that one of my gifts is an ability to re- imagine organizations, to get them started and go- ing,” Breeding said. Dr. Greg Straughn, in- terim provost, believes this to be a great chance to use Breeding’s gifts of leader- ship and education for the whole campus. “I believe she’s a very collaborative academic leader,” Straughn said. “Seeing that she helped found the College of Educa- tion and Human Services, which didn’t exist before she was dean, I think the Adams Center will benefit from her expertise.” Dwayne Harapnuik, former director of faculty enrichment in the Adams Center, left last summer for a position as assistant provost at Concordia Uni- versity College of Alberta in Canada, and Dr. Nancy Shankle now serves as interim director. Weaver and seven professors from each college began the search in January, hoping to fill the spot by the end of the calendar year. Straughn looks forward to Breeding’s influence on the Adams Center. “I think it will be help- ful for the Adams Center to look at where to go from here,” Straughn said. “Are we going to continue do- ing all the same kinds of things that we’ve done or do we want to launch into a different area? I’m anxious to see what will happen.” Other changes in lead- ership roles on campus are expected soon. The search for interim deans to fill the College of Biblical Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences. Straughn did not say whether Breeding’s position would be filled with an interim or perma- nent appointment. “I know that conversa- tions have been happening with the academic chairs in both the College of Bib- lical Studies and Arts and Sciences,” Straughn said. “Dr. Schubert is very close to being able to make an announcement.” hannah barnes editor in chief contact BARNES at [email protected]The Department of Teach- er Education will add a Master’s degree option, be- ginning Spring 2013. The faculty affirmed a M. Ed. in Teaching and Learning Monday. The department will host four interest meetings for undergraduate students next week. Dr. Dana Pemberton, department chair, said the new graduate level degree has been in the works for several years. “We needed an oppor- tunity for graduate stud- ies that was meaningful for the student proceeding through the program for initial certification,” Pem- berton said. “We’ve been talking about this degree for about five years, but we had a lot of work to do before instituting it. We needed to transform the undergradu- ate program, increase aca- demic standards, increase field experience and aca- demic rigor.” Student interest was the main reason for the degree’s creation, Pemberton said. “About three years ago we had a session at our Alumni in Action confer- ence and we hosted a gradu- ate panel to talk to students about pursuing their Mas- ter’s,” she said. “The first time we did it we had about 10 students there. The next time we did it, the room was packed so we knew we really needed to look at it seriously because the de- partment, the culture and, most importantly, the stu- dents were ready for it.” Pemberton said she began presenting the degree plan informally to different ad- ministrative teams and coun- cils at the beginning of this semester to get the go-ahead for a formal application. The plan then had to pass several more steps before it could go to faculty vote. “We took it through Teach Education Council, our Col- lege of Education and Hu- man Services Council, the Graduate Education Council and then finally to full fac- ulty vote,” Pemberton said. “A new program has to go to full faculty vote and ours was affirmed with an incredibly high percentage.” curriculum university Education department to add new master’s degree mark smith managing editor see master’s page 4 Breeding Dr. Greg Straughn interim provost I believe she’s a very collaborative academic leader.” “ “Lemonade” - by Asia Todd Set to fun, folk music, this short film highlights the ups and downs life takes and draws from the common phrase, ”When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Intended to exploit sex trafficking, “Liberation” is meant to tell a story through the slave’s eyes. Packed with action and special effects, this film will keep you watching. This short film emphasizes the importance of loyalty to a greater cause. It explores the subject of friendship when their loyalty lies in different places. Creative and unique, “Yemiffimey” is a stop-motion video with bright colors and bold shapes. Stop-motions are not easy to make, much like “Yemiffimey” is not easy to say. “In Light of Death” is about a girl struggling with the idea of death and losing a close friend. It shows the redemption that comes with letting someone go. “Light of Ray” presents a love that is destroyed by tragedy. This film shows the pain and anguish of losing someone, and how freeing forgiveness can be. “Liberation” - by Jacob Kitts “Pride of Life” - by Lucius Patenaude and Adrian Patenaude “Yemiffimey” - by Caitlin Bradford and Ben Weaver “In Light of Death” - by Jamie Swallows and Michelle McAllister “Light of Ray” - by Jonny Hill, Cannon Spears, Stephen Estrada ‘LIGHT’ CAMERA, ACTION
Transcript
inside
Page 5 page 6 page 3
Men and women’s tennis to play Tyler College Friday
Former student talks about his stand against racism at ACU in 1954
Six-foot rattlesnake discovered in regional hunt
Abilene Christian University
Artspage 5
sports opinion news
acuoptimist.com
The administration gives their perspective on the first dance party
Student entries submitted to FilmFest 2012 will be shown Friday at the Paramount Theatre at 8 p.m. Watch these videos at acuoptimist.com
Spring SerenadeSpringFest brings music
on-campus Saturday
Dr. Lesa Breeding has been appointed to serve as executive director of the Adams Center begin-ning June 1. Breeding serves as dean of the Col-lege of Education and Hu-man Services, a position she has held since its cre-ation six years ago.
“Any professional worth their salt should ask them-selves whether or not they’ve done their job and how well they’ve done it,” Breeding said. “I think I’ve
done the job that I came to do.”
Dr. John W e a v e r , dean of li-brary and educational technologies and chair of the search committee, of-fered Breeding the posi-tion in the Adams Center. Breeding said she wants to fill a particular need at the Adams Center.
“One of the things I learned about myself in doing this is that one of my gifts is an ability to re-imagine organizations, to
get them started and go-ing,” Breeding said.
Dr. Greg Straughn, in-terim provost, believes this to be a great chance to use Breeding’s gifts of leader-ship and education for the whole campus.
“I believe she’s a very collaborative academic leader,” Straughn said. “Seeing that she helped found the College of Educa-tion and Human Services, which didn’t exist before she was dean, I think the Adams Center will benefit from her expertise.”
Dwayne Harapnuik, former director of faculty
enrichment in the Adams Center, left last summer for a position as assistant provost at Concordia Uni-versity College of Alberta in Canada, and Dr. Nancy Shankle now serves as interim director. Weaver and seven professors from each college began the
search in January, hoping to fill the spot by the end of the calendar year.
Straughn looks forward to Breeding’s influence on the Adams Center.
“I think it will be help-ful for the Adams Center to look at where to go from here,” Straughn said. “Are we going to continue do-ing all the same kinds of things that we’ve done or do we want to launch into a different area? I’m anxious to see what will happen.”
Other changes in lead-ership roles on campus are expected soon. The search for interim deans to fill the
College of Biblical Studies and the College of Arts and Sciences. Straughn did not say whether Breeding’s position would be filled with an interim or perma-nent appointment.
“I know that conversa-tions have been happening with the academic chairs in both the College of Bib-lical Studies and Arts and Sciences,” Straughn said. “Dr. Schubert is very close to being able to make an announcement.”
The Department of Teach-er Education will add a Master’s degree option, be-ginning Spring 2013. The faculty affirmed a M. Ed. in Teaching and Learning Monday.
The department will host four interest meetings
for undergraduate students next week.
Dr. Dana Pemberton, department chair, said the new graduate level degree has been in the works for several years.
“We needed an oppor-tunity for graduate stud-ies that was meaningful for the student proceeding through the program for initial certification,” Pem-
berton said. “We’ve been talking about this degree for about five years, but we had a lot of work to do before instituting it. We needed to transform the undergradu-ate program, increase aca-demic standards, increase field experience and aca-demic rigor.”
Student interest was the main reason for the degree’s creation, Pemberton said.
“About three years ago we had a session at our Alumni in Action confer-ence and we hosted a gradu-ate panel to talk to students about pursuing their Mas-ter’s,” she said. “The first time we did it we had about 10 students there. The next time we did it, the room was packed so we knew we really needed to look at it seriously because the de-
partment, the culture and, most importantly, the stu-dents were ready for it.”
Pemberton said she began presenting the degree plan informally to different ad-ministrative teams and coun-cils at the beginning of this semester to get the go-ahead for a formal application. The plan then had to pass several more steps before it could go to faculty vote.
“We took it through Teach Education Council, our Col-lege of Education and Hu-man Services Council, the Graduate Education Council and then finally to full fac-ulty vote,” Pemberton said. “A new program has to go to full faculty vote and ours was affirmed with an incredibly high percentage.”
curriculum
university
Education department to add new master’s degreemark smith
managing editor
see master’s page 4
BreedingDr. Greg Straughn
interim provost
I believe she’s a very collaborative academic leader.” “
“Lemonade” - by Asia Todd
Set to fun, folk music, this short film highlights the ups and downs life takes and draws from the common phrase, ”When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
Intended to exploit sex trafficking, “Liberation” is meant to tell a story through the slave’s eyes. Packed with action and special effects, this film will keep you watching.
This short film emphasizes the importance of loyalty to a greater cause. It explores the subject of friendship when their loyalty lies in different places.
Creative and unique, “Yemiffimey” is a stop-motion video with bright colors and bold shapes. Stop-motions are not easy to make, much like “Yemiffimey” is not easy to say.
“In Light of Death” is about a girl struggling with the idea of death and losing a close friend. It shows the redemption that comes with letting someone go.
“Light of Ray” presents a love that is destroyed by tragedy. This film shows the pain and anguish of losing someone, and how freeing forgiveness can be.
“Liberation” - by Jacob Kitts
“Pride of Life” - by Lucius Patenaude and Adrian Patenaude
“Yemiffimey” - by Caitlin Bradford and Ben Weaver
“In Light of Death” - by Jamie Swallows and Michelle McAllister
“Light of Ray” - by Jonny Hill, Cannon Spears, Stephen Estrada
‘LIGHT’CAMERA, ACTION
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24 25 26friday saturday sunday monday
6 p.m. Hockey game @ Campus Center Living Room
1:30 p.m. ACU Base-ball vs. Texas A&M Kingsville
2:00 p.m. Senior flute recital - Ann-Marie Houy
All day - Anabel Reid Run for Water @ the ACU track
Police Tip of the Week: With the pleasant Spring weather arriving, more people will walk or jog outdoors. When possible, go with others, remain in lighted areas, carry a cell phone with you and call ACUPD if you see anything suspicious.
The headline on the FilmFest story in the March 21 edition of the Optimist was incorrect. FilmFest is Friday, not Saturday.
Correction
Announcements The Department of Agriculture and Environemntal Sciences is conducting the Anabel Reid Run for Water on Friday and Saturday at Elmer Gray Sta-dium. For more information, contact the A&E department at 674-2401 or Many Scud-der at [email protected]. To register for the walk/run fund-raiser visit active.com.
ACU is participating in Re-cycle Mania. Cans, paper, plastic and cardboard will be collected in new dump-sters located in front of the Teague until March 31.
The ACU Student-Athelete Advisory Committee is host-ing the 2nd Annual Run for Wishes on May 5 from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. Participants, area Make-A-Wish kids and families and volunteers will run together to help raise money for children with life-threatening conditions. Registration costs $15.
Beginning Fall 2012, the De-partment of Art and Design is now offering a Minor in Interior Design. For more information call 325-674-2085 ext. 2087.
The Study Abroad Office is accepting applications for all study abroad programs. Sev-eral departments will be taking students to locations around the world this summer. English, Psychology, Art and Design, COBA, Communication, Music, Bible and Pre-Health majors are encouraged to apply. Programs are open to non-majors. For more information, e-mail the Study Abroad Office at [email protected], call 325-674-2754, visit www.acu.edu/studyabroad or go to the Study Abroad Office in Room 124 in the Administration Building.
Student’s Association and Stu-dent Alumni Association present Spring Fest on Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. on the Welcome Cen-ter lawn next to Faubus Pond. It will be a combination of Jam-Fest and a carnival complete with a mechanical bull and a four-person bungee jump. Ca-jun Cones will be available until 7 p.m. The Wildcat Grill is provid-ing food that can be purchased with Bean Bucks or cash.
The ACU Undergraduate Re-search Festival will take place on April 2 at the Hunter Welcome Center.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities
ACU’s Agriculture and Environmental Sciences De-partment needs volunteers to help with the Anabel Reid Run for Water fundraiser on March 23 and 24. Many volunteers are needed a variety of ways during the event. Contact Mandy Scudder at 325-674-2401 or e-mail [email protected].
The City of Abilene Homeland Security Dept. is looking for volunteers on March 28 from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., to help with a simulated aircraft crash at the Abilene Regional Airport. Volunteers will be made up as injured passengers and and may ride in an ambu-lance or bus to the hospital and one person will get a helicopter ride to the hospital. A continental breakfast and lunch will be served. Contact Jim Bryan at 325-676-6683 or e-mail [email protected].
Day Nursery of Abilene will host their 20th An-nual Mexican Dinner Fundraiser on March 31, at the Abilene High School West Cafeteria and needs volun-teers for shifts from 2 to 9 p.m. Help is needed with set up, hanging banners, preparing and serving food and drinks and a variety of other jobs. Contact Shelia Cory at 325-673-1110 or e-mail [email protected].
Abilene Hope Haven Inc. needs volunteers to provide childcare while parents are in class, any evening Monday-Thursday from 6:45 - 8:15 p.m. Abilene Hope Haven is located at 801 S. Treadaway Blvd. For more information contact Kathy Reppart at 325-677-4673 or visit www.abilenehopehaven.com/volunteer.
Volunteers are needed to enjoy a free lunch with students at Bonham Elementary School on a weekly basis. This would be sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., and would involve spending lunch time with students and having a positive impact on their lives. Contact Jason Shaw at 325-639-3745 or e-mail [email protected].
Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with disabilities Monday-Friday between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license. Training is provided. A Chapel exemp-tion is available if delivery time conflicts with Chapel. Contact Jessica Stewart at 325-672-5050 or email [email protected].
The Big Brothers Big Sisters program is looking for volunteers to participate in Lunch Buddies. Bigs and Littles will enjoy lunch together at the child’s school once a week. Students can earn Chapel credit for each visit. Big Brothers Big Sisters is also looking for
volunteers for its Community Based program. Bigs are matched with Littles in a one-on-one relation-ship and spend four to six hours per month together in the community. To sign up or learn more visit www.bbbstx.org or call 325-674-3113.
New Life Alliance is looking for volunteers to help with their after school program on Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. You will help with snacks, homework, crafts, games and other activities in ad-dition to mentoring and building relationships with youth. Contact Ashley Kee at 325-672-1636 or e-mail [email protected]. The House That Kerry Built is looking for volunteers to assist in the day care of medically fragile children any day Monday through Friday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or e-mail [email protected] for more information.
Rescue The Animals is looking for volunteers any-time between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., Monday-Friday. They need help around the adoption center with general cleaning, socialization of the animals, helping potential adopters and other tasks. Con-tact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or email [email protected]. The center is located at 5933 S. 1st St.
Young Life Ministries needs volunteers Mondays, Tuesdays and weekends from 6-9 p.m. Volunteers will hang out with kids, experience leadership roles, serve others and introduce students to Christ. Young Life is located at 1917 S. 6th St. For more information contact Chuck Rodgers at 325-676-1211 or email [email protected].
The Betty Hardwick Center needs volunteers to participate in Special Olympics by helping mentally/physically challenged people play games such as basketball, track, and/or bowling Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Center is located at 801 Cypress St. Contact Angel Seca at 325-690-5235 for more information.
HERO, Hendrick Equine Rehabilitation Opportuni-ties, is looking for volunteers to help with their spring program by assisting their clients as they ride horses for therapy. No experience with horses is necessary. Help is needed Tuesdays and Thursdays from Mar. 20 to May 3. Volunteers can help anywhere from one to six hours per week for the duration of the program. Volunteers must attend training on either Mar. 6 or 8. Contact Beth Byerly at 325-660-3465 or e-mail [email protected].
Disability Resources, Inc. is looking for volunteers to assist developmentally disabled residence. Help is needed with activities, art projects, reading books, ex-ercise activities, assisting with vocational training needs and other interactions Monday through Friday from 9 a.m-4 p.m. For more information contact Becky Moody at 325-677-6815 or e-mail [email protected] are needed to read to Taylor Elemen-tary School students Monday through Thursday afternoons at UCC from 3:15-4:30 p.m. Enter through the south entrance. Contact C.G. Grey 325-668-2842.
Da’ Cipher 360, a program for at risk children, is looking for volunteers on Monday evenings from 5-8 p.m. at the Rose Park Activity Center, 2625 S. 7th St. Volunteers can help in a variety of ways including helping with set up, learning activities for kindergarten-3rd graders, tutoring 4th-8th graders, and assisting with clean up. Contact Alvina Scott at 847-333-7026 or e-mail [email protected].
The Salvation Army is looking for volunteers for a variety of needs including sorting and pricing items in the thrift store, helping in the kitchen and/or doing yard work. Times are flexible. Volunteers are needed throughout the week Monday-Saturday. The Salvation Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more information contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit www.satruck.com.
Habitat for Humanity needs volunteers to help with various construction tasks including carpentry, painting, cleaning up, installing cabinets and other tasks. Volunteers are needed any day Monday-Sat-urday between 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Contact Steven Legget at 325-670-0489 or e-mail [email protected].
The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volun-teers to help sort and stock food and other items any weekday Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Food Bank is located at 5505 N. 1st St. For more information contact Janice Serrault at 325-695-6311 or [email protected].
The Abilene Boys and Girls Club needs help any weekday between 3:30 - 6 p.m. helping children of all ages with games, art, gym time, reading and computer skills. Locations are 4610 N. 10th St. or 1902 Shelton St. Contact Mark Denman at 325-672-1712 for more information.
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/slvr/vol_opps/
03/09/12 5:00 a.m. BURGLARY OF MOTOR VEHICLES: Several vehicles were bur-glarized throughout campus parking lots during a single criminal episode. Two juveniles were apprehended on campus in a vehicle near one of the break ins. Another vehicle containing an apparent partner of the juveniles escaped. Investi-gations are ongoing.
03/19/12 12:00 a.m. BURGLARY OF A HABITATION: Returning students reported that two Edwards dorm rooms had been burglarized and two lap tops had been stolen. A suspect was developed and subsequently admitted to the thefts with property recovered. Investigation ongoing.
Administrative Activity 19Alarm 2Assist 6Bicycle Patrol 1Building Lock/Unlock 23Burglary (Residence) 2Burglary of Motor Vehicle 9Check Building 59Direct Traffic 1Disturbance 1Found Property 4Incident Report 1Investigation Follow Up 10Lost Property 2Monitor Facility/Lot 1Motorist Assist: Jump Start 2Motorist Assist:: Other 2Motorist Assist: Unlock 7
The Students’ Associa-tion welcomed both Da-vid Gibson, director of computing services, and Dr. Phil Schubert, presi-dent of the university, to tWednesday meeting.
Gibson came to hear SA’s feedback about the myACU portal.
“We’re trying to figure out where to go with por-tal.” Gibson said. “The easy option for us is to just keep doing what we’ve al-ways done, but what we’ve been trying to do is to get with some student groups and specifically ask you what works with the cur-rent environment.”
Congress members voiced several sugges-tions of how to improve myACU. Proposals were given such as gaining the ability to customize each page, adding an intramu-ral or calendar section and changing some de-sign elements.
Members also were made aware of features available on the page that they had not pre-viously known. Execu-tive secretary Katherine Handy suggested a day of freshman CORE classes be dedicated to familiar-izing students to myACU features.
“We tell students about features that they didn’t know and they’re seniors. I think that would be very useful for the students,” Handy said.
Gibson said he had heard that some students thought the webpage was overloaded with informa-tion and links. Congress members, such as Foster Science representative Bo Braddock, disagreed.
Braddock said, “I like it. It’s simple. It doesn’t blow me away, but it gets the job done.”
Next, Schubert made a surprise appearance and invited Congress mem-bers to ask him any ques-tions they had.
Executive president
Connor Best inquired about Schubert’s stance on hiring faculty outside of the Church of Christ denomination especially in the midst of the uni-versity’s search for a new provost.
“Heritage and the his-tory of this institution are pretty important, and we don’t want to arbitrari-ly dismiss or minimize the impact it has when we begin to think about maybe moving away from or changing some of the guidelines,” Schubert said. “I’m in favor of more f lexibility, but in exactly what form that would take I’m still trying to get to a place where I have an opinion on what that looks like.”
Freshman president Rodney Johnson asked Schubert to describe his vision of the future of ACU.
“I buy in pretty heavily to the idea where there truly is a world class aca-demic excellence com-bined with Christ-cen-tered environment that is
intentional about build-ing the faith of its stu-dents and helping them better and more clearly understand who Jesus Christ is and how he’s called them to live their lives,” said Schubert. “I think we’re uniquely po-sitioned. I want us to be the best in the world and combining exceptional academics and a Christ-centered environment. My vision is building on quality, attracting a world class faculty, which part of that pertains to the additional f lexibility beyond hiring Church of Christ, and positioning the university to be a na-tional presence.”
Schubert also said it was a possibility ACU might be moved up to Di-vision I but would have to wait until the middle of May before NCAA decides whether to extend the in-vitation to ACU.
Dylan Benac, Admin. Building representative, respectfully made a sug-gestion for Schubert to
become more connected with students.
Benac said, “In the end, you are the face of ACU, and one thing I hope for is that ACU students know you for more than just the president of ACU.”
Schubert noted some things, such as dedication to his family, that limited time spent with students but appreciated the con-structive criticism.
“I have a great desire to have a whole lot more interaction than I’m hav-ing, and I’d love any ideas SA has that help me to be more engaged,” Schubert said. “I’d love nothing more to have the kind of scenario you painted.”
Congress members proposed that Schubert could either lead a Chapel forum or open his door one day each semester for students to ask questions they might have about the university.
Schubert concluded by telling Congress relation-ships with the student body made his job worth it.
Schubert said, “The best part about this job is being able to get to know you guys.”
Several representatives did not attend the meeting Wednesday. The names are as follows:
Rattlesnake hunt uncovers six-footer
A six-foot rattler was one of many added to the 123 tons that have been caught since the first Sweetwater Jaycees World’s Largest Rattle Snake Roundup in 1940.
The March 8-11 event was filled with all ages and contests from snakes to beauty pageants at No-lan County Coliseum in Sweetwater. The weekend commenced with a rattle-snake parade in downtown Sweetwater. Later in eve-ning young women com-peted for the title of Miss Snake Charmer, a title that comes with a college scholarship.
The rest of the week-end consisted of snake handling shows, gun and knife shows and guided rattlesnake hunts, fried
snake meat tastings, and chili cook-offs among other events. Numerous vendors, a flea market and a carnival are available to entertain visitors.
Experienced snake hunters guide groups of registered hunters out daily to assist in the hunt-ing and handling of live rattle snakes. Tours last from four hours to all day. Hunters received $10 for ever pound of snakes they collected.
David Sager, floor chair-men and safety inhaling demonstrator, helped or-ganize and run the event. Part of his responsibility is to teach kids about snakes and snake safety.
“Although the weather wasn’t good it was still a good weekend, the largest snake that won was 73-and-a-half inches,” Sager said.
Zane Goggans, junior
broadcast journalism major from Arlington, enjoyed his first visit to the rattlesnake roundup. Goggans favorite part of the Rattlesnake Roundup was watching the snake handlers skin and gut the rattlesnakes. He was film-ing the event, and he liked to watch the snakes try to bight the camera when the handler put it in the snake pit.
“The rattlesnake round-up was fine, I went on Fri-day, but they didn’t have as many rattlesnakes. I ate the rattlesnake spine, it was nasty, oily, greasy, and tough but if the event was going on right now I would do it again and go back,” said Goggans.
Tuesday night went down in ACU history as the first on-campus dance. Themed “Dance in Disguise,” the dance took place the Bob and Shirley Hunter Wel-come Center in celebration of the passing of a revised dance policy granting stu-dents permission to dance at social events.
About 750 students showed up to take part in the celebration throughout the night, and 500 received free dance T-shirts.
“My dad told me I had to come,” said Bailey Evans, junior 3D art major from Gresham, Oreg. “I’m mak-ing ACU history.”
Wilson White, junior his-tory major from Ozona, also attended, though he said he
was not big on dancing.“Lots of schools have
dances,” White said. “It’s very similar to my high school prom; it is mainly just a big social event. I don’t re-ally have a problem with it, as long as it doesn’t distract you from your schoolwork, which is why I just came for a little bit.”
Rebecca Dial, junior po-litical science and finance major from Lexington, S.C., said she was surprised at the turnout. She said everything, from the col-ored retro lights to the DJ to the rented dance floor in the center of the Welcome Center’s ballroom turned out better than she antici-pated.
“I have seen some in-decent dancing but overall people are aware that it’s a privilege and they can still have fun without being en-
tirely indecent,” Dial said. “A few people were told to watch it, but the chaper-ones, who are members of student life, have been friendly while monitor-ing, so we didn’t feel over-whelmed.”
Ryan Stice, junior youth and family ministries major from Arlington, and Carole-Marie Wiser, junior adver-tising and public relations major from Richmond, both said they would be in-terested in seeing the setup and song selection of the dance appeal to a greater variety of dance styles. The music was predominately pop and hip hop songs that they said gave off a club-like atmosphere.
“This seems like the kind of dancing ACU is against, we were not expecting to come in and it be like a club,” Stice said. “We’re making do and doing some actual dance moves like spins and turns. We’re kind of sitting outside and wait-ing for a song so we could go in there and dance.”
Wiser said she would gladly volunteer to give a lesson, or three, before the next dance if ACU want-ed her to in hopes that it would bring a greater va-riety of styles to the dance floor and help spice up the large group of students in the middle of the dance floor just jumping up and down.
Tom Craig, director of student activities and pro-ductions, said the philoso-phy behind the Student Association and Campus Activities Board select-ing that particular style of dance was to be as inclusive as they could be to allow as many people to be involved in the fun.
“I think our students have been interested in
dancing because it’s an identifying cultural ele-ment for their generation,” said Tom Craig. “They grew up dancing in all different forms and fashions, so as they’ve gotten older they’ve continued to dance and it’s a natural form of expression for them.”
“We put students in a real life dance situation, we didn’t play it safe with a sock hop or a country two step or anything and it went really well,” said Julianne Hart, senior po-litical science major from Austin and vice president
of the Student Association. “I think we’re on our way to establishing a culture of appropriate dance at ACU and I’m excited to see that students were able to have a good time and stay within the boundaries of our com-munity expectations.”
Hart said the suggestion of changing the policy was brought up in August and she has been surprised at how supportive people were. She said she could see that the board of trust-ees really wanted what is best for the student body and is looking out for
the students. There were some people on campus and alumni that still are not in favor, but for the most part people are open to the change.
“Things can change, we have four years on this campus to make a differ-ence. As a freshman, I re-member being surprised by the fact that there was no dancing on campus,” Hart said. “Now I’m a senior, and we can dance.”
Zeke Morgan, freshman psychology major from Keller, participates in the festivities at ACU’s first school dance in the Hunter Welcome Center on Tuesday night.
mandy lambright chief Photographer
ACU students Wobbled during the Dance in Disguise on Tuesday night.
friday 03.23.12 4news
Master’s: Graduate degree to launch in Spring 2013
Pemberton said the first part of the Master’s degree will begin in the student’s final semester as an un-dergrad.
“The students will go through as a cohort dur-ing their last semester of senior year,” she said. “They’ll get six hours of graduate credit during that semester and waive the last six they need, kind of like dual credit in high school. Then they’ll go directly into summer work and will eventually finish with their Master’s in five years.
Laura James, sophomore elementary education ma-jor from Midland, said she likes the 5-year plan be-cause it is more efficient
than others she’s seen.“It allows me to go
straight through and complete my Master’s in a more condensed time than typical programs,” James said. “It also opens up more opportunities for my future in the education field, such as school ad-ministration.”
James said she hadn’t planned on grad school immediately after she gets her Bachelor’s degree but that is likely to change with
this new degree program.“I have always had the
idea of getting my Master’s in the back of my head but I just figured I would teach for a few years first and then get it online,” she said. “I’m eager to at-tend the interest meeting to find out more about the benefits of having a Mas-ter’s in education.”
laura jamessophomore elementary education major from Midland
”I have always had the idea of getting my Master’s in the back of my head but I just figured I would teach for
a few years first and then get it online.”“
Curriculum changes to affect course registration
ACU faculty approved the proposal to consolidate and eliminate CORE class-es to accommodate stu-dents before registration for Fall 2012. Dr. Nancy Shankle, interim assistant provost for general edu-cation, said the changes to curriculum will provide students a well-rounded education.
“These changes to the CORE curriculum will help us provide a quality gen-eral education program,” Shankle said. “The general education electives will give students more flex-
ibility in choosing courses to suit their interests.”
CORE classes can be combined in several ways to accommodate differ-ent schedule plans. The options include consoli-dating CORE 120 (Human Person and Identity) and CORE 220 (Community) into a single three-hour course (CORE 240), and consolidating CORE 320 (Transcendence [or Dis-covery/Creation of Mean-ing]) with BIBL 440 (Voca-tion and Mission) into a single three-hour course (BCOR 340). Bible faculty will serve as one of the team members teaching each course.
Shankle said advisers
should be well versed on the changes and how they apply to each class.
“Advisers have at-tended meetings to learn how these changes apply to incoming freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors.” Shankle said. “In-coming freshmen will fol-low the new curriculum.”
Combining the CORE and BIBL courses gives students five extra hours to use as general electives or in a foreign language. The hours are allocated this way: three credits in a foreign language/cultural competency menu, and two credits in a general education elective menu. Students may choose two
hours of credits from any menu within the general education requirements.
The consolidations have changed the course numbers and titles. CORE 240 (tentatively called Identity and Community) and BCOR 340 (tentatively called Meaning and Moral-ity) will be available in the fall. These courses are be-ing developed this spring and go to the university academic councils for re-view and approval before the end of the semester.
Alikay Wood, freshman English major from Sacra-mento, said the changes will allow more flexibility in her schedule, on-cam-pus and abroad.
“I’m really excited about the changes in the CORE curriculum. It gives me more flexibility in my schedule and the oppor-tunity to take other elec-tives,” Wood said. “Because of the changes, I won’t be taking CORE in the fall but
will wait until the spring to take it when I’m studying abroad in Oxford.”
• Graduate students, Hon-ors Program students and students at study abroad sites register Wednesday at 3 p.m.
• Seniors (90+ hours) regis-ter April 2 at 3 p.m.
• Juniors (60-89 hours) register April 4 at 3 p.m.
• Sophomores (30-59 hours) register April 9 at 3 p.m.
• Freshmen (0-29 hours) register April 11 at 3 p.m.
SpringFest to feature free carnival games, concerts
The Students’ Association is partnering with the Student Alumni Association to orga-nize SpringFest, a concert and carnival event Saturday evening on the Faubus Lawn
next to the Hunter Welcome Center.
The event will feature nine concerts, eight of which will be performed by ACU students, beginning at 5 p.m. The headlining band, Loftland, will begin play-ing at 8 p.m. until the entire event ends around 9 p.m.
The carnival will feature a petting zoo, carnival games with prizes, a mechanical bull and four-man bungee jump will also be available free of charge. The Wild-cat Grill will provide food, which can be purchased with Bean Bucks. The Cajun Cones trailer will be selling snow cones at the carnival as well.
Julianne Hart, senior po-litical science major from Austin and vice president of SA, has been working with SAA to make the event spe-cial. She said SpringFest is actually a combination of the two groups’ ideas for a big post-spring break event.
“SA was looking for a date that we could put on a carnival-like event, and SAA wanted to put on a spring concert like the Homecom-ing concert, JamFest,” Hart said. “We found out what they were trying to do and decided to put the two to-gether to make one really big event.”
Hart said the large
amount of events during Homecoming weekend made it hard for students to go to JamFest, and the carni-val during Homecoming is usually geared more toward children of alumni. She said having two of the more fun Homecoming events, and making them more focused on students, in one night during the spring semester will give students a chance to attend something they may have missed out on last semester.
“The concerts were so popular with students dur-ing Homecoming, but so many more are too busy to go,” she said. “Last fall, Kath-erine Handy, our secretary, came up with the idea of a carnival for students. Both groups were planning these events for spring, and we de-cided to combine them for a really fun event.”
Hart said SpringFest isn’t intended to replace last year’s Post Break Jam.
“The Campus Activities Board worked with the Inter-
Social Club Council last year to create Post Break Jam, and SA donated some money to that,” she said. “SpringFest isn’t the only reason why they didn’t put together an-other one this year.”
Pierce Hardin, freshman psychology major from Lub-bock, will perform in Spring-Fest as part of Elle et Moi, beginning at about 6:20 p.m. He said SpringFest will give him a chance to have a good time playing on stage.
“I am really looking for-ward to being able to play music,” Hardin said. “It’s what I love to do and defi-
nitely something God has blessed me with so I enjoy sharing the gifts God gave me.”
Hardin played in JamFest last semester, but he’ll be bringing a new addition to his performance.
“This time will be differ-ent than JamFest because I’m singing a few songs with my girlfriend, Annique Den-tino,” Hardin said. “I’m su-per excited about that.”
International Justice Mis-sion is hosting the annual “Justice Week” Chapel fo-rum and event series next week beginning Monday.
IJM has been planning the week since last fall, collaborating with organi-zations like Wishing Well, Red Thread Movement and fair trade. Sarah Rat-liff, junior marketing ma-jor from Lake Kiowa and president of IJM, hopes to not only spur awareness but also action in global justice issues.
“I would love to see stu-dents discover a new pas-sion for social justice and put that power to action,” Ratliff said. “Whether it be by joining a club, going out in the community and volunteering their time, or getting out of their com-fort zone to help those in
other countries.”Justice Week features
several active profession-als in missions and social justice, such as the Hill Country Tribers, Discover the Journey, Wishing Well, Food Creates Community and photographer Esther Havens.
Havens, a humanitar-ian photographer from Austin, will speak in Cha-pel on Monday and her work will be featured in the Shore Art Gallery on Monday night. Havens has worked with TOMs, Concern Worldwide and charity:water. Ratliff said
she is inspired by Havens’ passion for social justice and the impact she has made with her talents.
“Her talent and passion is just so contagious,” Rat-liff said. “ I am so excited for students to see her in Cha-pel and interact with her af-ter the forum at her event.”
For a full calendar of events for the week, visit the Justice Week Facebook event or visit www.acu.edu/campusoffices/chapel/fo-rums.html.
sarah ratliffjunior marketing major from Lake kiowa
and president of ijm
Her talent and passion is just so contagious. I am so excited for students to see her in Chapel and interact
with her after the forum at her event.”“
leslie lewis Staff Photographer
Dr. Lorraine Wilson instructs students during a scuba during class in the Student Rec-reation and Wellness Center.
Fox & the Hounds
Clayton Stewart
Elle et Moi
Caroline & Jake
M.A.Double
Will Morgan
No Face
Jordan Smith
Loftland (headliner)
Bands performing at SpringFest:
friday 03.23.125 arts
Rhine GoldChoir of Young
BelieversThe orchestral pop project of Danish artist Jannis Makrigiannis re-leased its fourth album. The group consists of Makrigiannis and others on a variety of instru-ments including cello, flute and keyboard.
Port of MorrowThe Shins
Releasing their fourth studio album, the Shins’ only original member is James Mercer. But he is also the only person to ever write a Shin’s song so not much has changed.
The Deep Blue Sea
R - 98 min.
This drama, an adap-tation of a 1952 play, follows a young woman who’s temptation to leave her passionless marriage for a new re-lationship threatens her well being.
Hunger GamesPG-13 - 142 min.
Based on the wildly popular book series, the film chronicles a nation-ally televised event in which teenagers fight for their lives.
24Miss FrontierTexas! FinalsFrontier Texas
Philharmonic Chamber ConcertWilliams Performing Arts Center24
“Just One of Those Things”Community Theatre
West Texas BarrelRacing ExtravaganzaTaylor County Expo Center23 23EVENTS
MARCH
OUTNOW
After dating for two years, Will and Jaimie are finally taking the stage together, forming a unique duo comprised of an actress and an accountant. Will has been performing in Abilene as a “one-man-band” for several years, while Jaimie has been in numerous ACU theater productions. In addi-tion to Will’s many original songs, the two have recently begun writing music together. For Springfest, this folky duo will perform a stripped down acoustic set, focused heavily on harmonic vocals. It will feature two never-before-heard original songs as well as covers from Ingrid Michaelson and the Avet Brothers. They are most comfortable on stage when their audience is singing along, dancing or both.
Will Morgan & Jaimie Patterson 5:30 p.m.
Caroline Nikolaus and Jake Hall met during marching band and the classes they shared sealed their friendship. Although they began play-ing gigs last year, they have focused on developing their duo since Caroline’s return from Oxford. They both dabble in quite a few in-struments and love to accompany each other’s voices and talents. Since most of their performance revolves around voice, guitar, banjo, drums and piano, they have an acoustic, folksy feel. Caroline & Jake play cover songs as well as their own and bring a quirky energy to the stage that draws people in to relax and enjoy. Most of all, they are musicians who love to play.
Caroline & Jake 6:05 p.m.
Jordan David Smith (who uses the stage name “The Agent Coma”) has written, recorded and self-produced two al-bums in two months right here on ACU’s campus and draws his inspiration from artists such as My Epic, William Fitzsimmons and The Appleseed Cast. He has performed at coffee shops, fundraisers, psych wards, funerals and weddings. After college, he hopes to make a career out of singing to the broken and downtrodden. As an aside, he enjoys V-necks, making duck noises and the moon. Yep, that pretty much covers Jordan Smith.
Jordan David Smith 5 p.m.
No Face is a music group that uses hip-hop as well as poetry to communicate the need for awareness of and participation in the solution of social injustices, as well as the life and glory we find in Christ. Though the typical Christian art seems to have to coincide inside of an explicit message of the gospel, we rec-ognize the need for high quality artistry and creativ-ity. Whether it be through our music or philanthropic outreaches, our biggest goal is to work, not for our own selves to be seen, but the Christ in us; hence the name No Face.
No Face 5:15 p.m.
The story of The Fox & the Hounds began when lead singer Logan Pringle moved from Austin to Abilene to follow a call from the Lord to trust him, even in the face of an uncertain ending. He paired with Jessalyn Massingill, a starving artist, to lead worship. As it were, Lo-gan’s cousin Andrew Tate happened to be a banjo prodigy and after agreeing to play a show as a favor, the three made a spur-of-the-mo-ment decision to call themselves “The Fox & the Hounds.” The name seemed clever enough for the folk inspired sound that they currently play. And to clear up any questions, Andrew is the fox.
The Fox & the Hounds 7:10 p.m.
Loftland, a Wisconsin based pop rock quartet, fuses uplifting lyr-ics with inescapably infectious hooks that are sure to stick in your head for days on end. Backed by an energetic live show that leaves both themselves and the crowd exhausted, this group of young men stay true to their motto, “Go big or go home.” The band is comprised of vocalist/guitarist Dominic Gibbs, guitarist Tanner Gibbs, bassist Steven Priske, and drummer Alex Klingenberg. With a median age of just 19 years, the future for these four young men only looks brighter with each step forward.
Fueled by a commitment to excellence both on and off the stage, the members of Loftland are passionate about connecting with their audience. The open invitation to hang out at their table after every show speaks to the humble way they see themselves – just four young men who, through music, want to share truth and hope with the people they meet. (via loftlandband.com)
Loftland 8 p.m.
Under the moniker M.A.Double, Matt Preston is a Christian Hip Hop artist who loves Jesus. He is from Abilene and loves and thanks his community for all the support they have given him. He grew up as a Christian but truly accepted Christ during the summer of 2010. Now his perspective on life has completely changed and he wants to share his testimony with whoever God leads him to. He has a passion for music but it is nothing compared to his passion for Jesus. He longs to glorify God in everything he does because of His amazing grace and love! Hip Hop is the paintbrush he uses to uniquely paint a portrait of the glorious riches that are in Christ Jesus our Lord.
M.A.Double 5:50 p.m.
Pierce’s style is whatever he feels like playing that day or whatever band he has been listening to. One original song that he will play, ”Don’t Give Up,” was inspired a lot by Mumford & Sons. He loves listening to City and Colour and may be singing an acapella song called “Grinnin’ in Your Face” by Son House. Pierce will be playing with Annique Dentino and they both really love The Civil Wars and Of Monsters and Men. They feel like these bands’ style of playing and singing really fits them and are going to sing “Poison and Wine” and “Little Talks.”
Pierce Hardin 6:20 p.m.
Clayton’s band, which includes David Evans, David Grifith and Landon Cook, enjoys playing gritty blues rock they like to play it loud. Clayton and most of the band have been playing for about five or six years with the exception of our Grifith, who has been playing for quite a long time. Clayton has always looked up to Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters for his originality, but more for the passion that he puts into his music. As a band, they agree that music with passion behind it will always have listeners.
Clayton Stewart 6:40 p.m.
SPRINGFESTTHE
LINEUP a d e f i n i t i v e g u i d eb i o s s t r a i g h t f r o m t h e a r t i s t s SATURDAY
5p.m.-9p.m.Will Morgan
Clayton Stewart
M.A.Double
A great many movies creat-ed in the present are set de-cades in the past. When you watch one of these ‘period pieces’ with someone who was alive during the time in which the film is set, you are sure to hear them point out numerous inaccura-cies. “That song wasn’t writ-ten then!” Your parents or grandparents will exclaim while watching films set during the grand old 20th century.
“One or two people might have done their hair like that, but not a whole school!” It makes me wonder; what kind of appalling anachro-nisms will we point out to the young ones of later 21st century? Imagine yourself as an 80-year-old. It’s the 2070’s and a great big movie has just come out set dur-ing the turn of the century (1999). You’ll be sitting there watching a charming and humorous romantic com-
edy about people falling in love while stocking up on food in preparation for the Y2K.
“You know kiddos, not everybody panicked about the Y2K scare. In fact, I don’t remember ever meeting a single person who bought extra food or anything!”
“Aw, come on, Gramps, obviously you lived in some weird part of the country.”
You try to enjoy the rest of the film, in which the he-roes must navigate streets packed with panicking people holding signs about the end of civilization. Riot-ing begins over canned food supplies. Some people have torches, and are distribut-ing medieval helmets for
protection.“Dad-gum it, grandkids,
nothing like this ever hap-pened! This movie is a com-plete exaggeration.”
“Come on, G-dad, maybe you just lived somewhere ‘lax and chill. I sure some town looked like this some-where back then.”
In the hilarious conclu-sion, silence falls as the stupefied townsfolk look around to discover that ev-eryone still has electricity. Somewhat disappointed, they put down the canned food they were fighting over, begin to sing “Auld Lang Syne.”
The lovers are reunited: him still in his discount medieval armor, her still
clutching the bag full of glowing flashlights. They begin to laugh over their unnecessary efforts to save civilization and finally de-clare their love for one an-other. The film concludes with a credits sequence featuring quaint status up-dates and facebook pictures of the new couple and their friends.
The young people are charmed: “Aw, that’s so cute, Grandpa! Look the old web pages! Makes me really nostalgic, ya know?”
You however, can barely contain your disgust. “There was no Facebook in 1999! This is the stupidest film I’ve ever seen!”
“Come on, Gramps, ‘lax!”
When did Facebook start anyway?”
“I don’t know, but it must have been at least five years after this... Everyone knows that!”
“Five years, Grandy? Wow, big difference! That was 70 years ago, who cares?”
The past is never fully captured. Not by films or books. Even our memories are heavily filtered and mis-leading. Later on, no one will really know what if feels like to be your current age in this current year. So enjoy 2012. It’s truly unique, and will never happen again.
Integration slowly began at Abilene Christian in 1962. Today all colors from all corners of the world are welcomed. I have been asked to write down a small portion of one past event.
Research by Grant Boone for Black History Month turned up a letter in the Optimist that is the earliest opposition to segregation at Abilene Christian. The year was 1954.
That year, Nokomus Yell-dell, was the black preacher at the North 10th & Tread-
away Church of Christ here in Abilene. He told me of his anguish and bewilder-ment: he wanted to enroll at A.C.C. but was turned away, not even allowed to take one Bible course. He had to go across town to McMurry.
The Black History Pro-duction, “A Walk Through Time,” included a segment on this bit of history. Alex Andrews played Nokomus Yelldell and David Bowen said he was playing me.
Immediately after seeing
Nokomus’ pain, I drafted a letter to the Optimist, strongly opposing ACC’s racial policy. My next door classmate in Mabee was Joe Schubert, father of President Phil Schubert. Joe worked with me on the letter as did another friend, Sonny Hollis.
We sent a questionaire to all the dorms and the return showed 96% of the student body wanted black students on campus, in the classroom, and in the dorms.
Of course, the letter didn’t change a thing ex-cept make the student body aware of segregation. We were just sophomores. But we did take a stand - 58 years ago.
Ellis LongAbileneClass of 1957
once upon a hannahhannah barnes
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Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.
Signed columns, cartoons and letters are the opinions of their creators and may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of the Optimist or the university.
The Optimist encourages reader response through let-ters to the editor but reserves the right to limit frequent contributors or to refuse to print letters containing
personal attacks, obscen-ity, defamation, erroneous information or invasion of privacy. Please limit letters to 350 words or fewer. A name and phone number must be included for verification purposes. Phone numbers will not be published.
Address letters to: ACU Box 27892Abilene, TX 79609
Senior year: The days are long and the weeks short
Long: ACU integration begins slowly
Nitpicking future film anachronisms
My alarm goes off. It’s that moment I’ve dread-ed since I laid my head on the pillow only five hours ago. I hit snooze – 15 more minutes ought to do it. The fifteen f ly by, feeling like a mere 30 seconds.
“I didn’t even really fall asleep,” I tell myself. An-other 15 it is. After five 15 minute snooze sessions, I finally realize I have no more snoozes left be-cause class begins in sev-en minutes.
I scramble to get up and race to my bathroom. I splash soapy water on my face, vigorously brush my teeth and throw my hair into a messy bun. A little concealer here, some blush there. Voila – I’m ready. Well, some-what presentable at least. I rush out the door, trying to find my car keys and struggling to get my arm into my sweater.
My keys are officially missing, and I am offi-cially late. Points are de-ducted for my tardiness, and my mind is beyond scattered.
I think this might be most people’s life story lately. Sing Song ended more than a month ago – weren’t things supposed to slow down?
Unfortunately, all that wishful thinking has yet to fulfill itself. Job applications, portfolio reviews, a hectic work schedule and a never-ending stream of home-work have invaded my life. I’ve lost some hope as to whether the stress will ever retreat.
However, while the de-manding days keep com-
ing, they are also passing. While they may feel for-ever long, they all come to an end.
So, what are some stress relievers that can help us survive this time of year? Get some sleep. I am the worst at this. I fig-ure I can stay awake into the early morning hours, just to finish a project. While this is sometimes necessary, it can’t be beneficial every night. So try to cram as much work in during the day, and get those eight hours of rest. You’ll feel ready to work again in the morning if you get a bit of shut-eye.
Take a walk. I feel claustrophobic after sitting in my office for hours. Getting up and go-ing outside, even for just a few minutes, can help release the pent up irrita-tion that lingers in your workspace.
Look presentable. If you go to class or work feeling frumpy, it’s likely that your attitude will ref lect your wardrobe. So, make yourself feel pretty/handsome. Dress nice – do your hair, wear something other than sweats. When I’m wear-ing something I feel fash-ionable in, my day feels a little brighter.
We all can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In less than two months, the hectic school sched-ule will come to it’s end. Until then, all we can do is take a deep breath and just keep swimming.
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Outdoor season to begin in Arlington
Abilene Christian’s out-door track and field team will offically begins their season Friday and Satur-day at the Bobby Lane In-vitational at the University of Texas at Arlington.
The women’s team return this season with hopes of redeeming their 29th place finish last year.
The Wildcats tied just above the top 30 teams with eight points; the worst finish in the history of women’s track and field at ACU.
The women are hope-ful, however, and enter this season with several talented athletes.
Amanda Ouedraogo has already made a huge impact on the program this year, winning the NCAA winter nationals triple-jump champion-ship with 12.84 meters. Last season, the junior from Hauts de Seine, France was the runner-up in the competition.
Senior Karla Hope is also expected to put up great numbers for the ‘Cats. The senior from Trinidad currently holds the ninth fastest time in
the nation in the 400 me-ter dash at 56.13. She also qualified for the indoor NCAA nationals.
Along with Hope, fresh-man Karolyn Palmer is making her NCAA debut this season.
Hope, Palmer, Ayes-ha Rumble, and Shan-nae Steele make up the women’s 4x400 relay team that also qualified for the NCAA indoor nationals earlier this year. The team finished in seventh place with a time of 3:50.06
The men enter this meet as the defending outdoor track and field national champions and
have high hopes for con-tinuing their success in this season.
Many members of the championship team are returning this year in hopes of another national championship title.
Nick Jones will be a vi-tal asset to the team this season. The senior has already won four national championships, including winning the indoor shot put title earlier in March.
Also returning for the Wildcats is senior Levance Williams. Williams com-peted in the indoor cham-pionship as well, barely missing All-American sta-
tus, and finishing in ninth place in the long jump with 23 feet-9.5 inches.
Junior sprinter Jordan Geary will also be return-ing to the team.
Junior Parker Petty has already started of the year successfully, finishing the heptathlon in seventh place with 5,032 points at the NCAA indoor champi-onship earlier this month.
After finishing 12th in the 60m hurdles, Petty was able to rally back with a tied third place finish in pole vaulting. His outstanding 14-9.00 vault moved him up to third place overall.
Last year, Petty won
the LSC decathlon title in Stephenville.
Matthew Stark will par-ticipate in field events this weekend. Stark recently finished fifth in the An-gelo State decathlon with 6,103 points. He also score career bests in the long jump (6.47m) and in shot put. (34-01.25, 10.39m)
The two-day meet begins Friday at 2 p.m. at Maverick Stadium in Arlington.
The baseball team re-turns to Crutcher Scott Field this weekend for a four-game series with Lone Star Conference foe Texas A&M University- Kingsville.
The opening game, on Friday, begins at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, the Wild-cats play a double header starting at 2:05 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday at 1:35 p.m.
Abilene Christian (14-11 and 2-2) recently fin-ished a seven-game road trip with a 3-4 record which included a wild 10-inning affair with Uni-versity of the Incarnate Word to close out the trip.
Head coach Britt Bon-neau emphasized the ef-fort his team has been showing all season.
“This team never gives up,” Bonneau said. “They’ve shown they can always come back and win games.”
In those seven games, the Cats batted .295 and scored a total of 42 runs compared to 45 for their opponents. Four of the Wildcats’ runs came by way of the home run ball.
Pitching, on the other hand, was a battle. The team posted an ERA of 5.54 and allowed a com-bined 17 free passes.
Outfielder Kevin Fin-klea led the Wildcats of-fensively. He hit over
.400, scored seven runs, smacked one home run and had five RBI. Infield-er Rodge Macy scored six runs and Duncan Blades led the team with six RBI.
Starting pitcher Aaron Lambrix was more than effective on the mound as he threw 11.0 innings and allowed only two earned runs that game.
No. 6 regionally ranked Kingsville (13-5 and 2-2) was picked to finish sev-enth in the LSC preseason baseball poll. The Javeli-nas were only ahead of the last spot, Eastern New Mexico University. They are currently tied for third in the conference with ASU, ACU and UIW.
TAMU-K is coming off a four-game split with Angelo State University and a most recent 2-1 win against the University of Texas- Brownsville.
Jake Mendiola leads the Javelina starters in batting average (.321), hits (18) and RBI (12). The team also has three other players hitting above .300.
The starting rotation is bolstered by Jaden Dillon and Adam Aspaas. Both players have four wins. Dillon sports a miniscule 0.84 ERA while Aspaas has an equally impressive 1.95 ERA.
Bonneau knows what his team is up against.
“They have a really good pitching staff,” Bon-neau said. “It’s going to
be a challenging week for our hitters.”
“We have to be aggres-sive and take our opportu-nities when there are guys in scoring position,” Bon-neau said. “It’s going to boil down to doing all the little things right.”
Freshman Tyler Eager echoed Bonneau’s words.
“They can pitch,” Eager said. “They’ve been relying on pitching all year.”
“We’re looking to hit the fastball early on in the count,” Eager said.
Aspaas was named the Diamond Lone Star Con-ference Pitcher of the Week after last weekends performance versus the Rams of Angelo State. He gave up one unearned run in 7.0 innings and fanned six batters.
As a team, Kingsville struggles more on offense than pitching. TAMU-K is batting .256 but opponents are hitting .219 against them. The pitching staff has the second lowest ERA in the conference at 2.86.
“When you’re at home the goal is to always win the series and put yourself in a situation to sweep,” Bonneau said.
“We’ve been playing .500 ball all season,” Ea-ger said. “We have to start putting all aspects of the game together.”
The one constant was Lankford, who provided lead-ership on and off the court.
“She definitely deserves it,” assistant coach Lynsie Blau said. “She is a great player, and just a great kid. She truly loves basketball, and when she is on the floor, she is doing every-thing she can to win.”
Despite all of the per-sonal success, Lankford is focused on team glory.
“I want to win confer-ence and the conference tournament,” Lankford said. “It doesn’t matter how I do individually, if the team doesn’t succeed.”
Success next year for the women’s team and Lankford will depend largely on who director of athletics Jared Mosley hires to be the new head coach to replace Shawna Lavender. She filled the position for 10 years.
At the time of her con-tract not being renewed Mosley said that a nation-al search for a new coach would begin immediately and no timetable was set for the hire.
Junior Austin Palmer dominates opposing hitters from the mound at Crutcher Scott Field. He has a record of 1-1 this season with an ERA of 5.23.
brittany williams staff Photographer
Junior Julia Mongin serves to her opponent in front of a crowd at Eager Tennis Pavillion.
friday 03.23.12 8sports
TeamASUTSUTWUWTAMUUIWACUCameronMSUTAMU-KENMU
Div.9-08-16-25-45-44-43-62-71-81-8
Ovrl.25-323-923-720-917-918-812-1612-1612-176-21
Softball plays a three-game series against LSC foe Kingsville at Poly Wells Field beginning Friday at 5 p.m.
The baseball team will face LSC opponent Kingsville at Crutcher Scott Field beginning on Friday. The four game series starts at 7:05 p.m.
Golf will travel to the Wigwam Golf Resort in Pheonix, Ariz. for the Grand Canyon / Thunderbird Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.
Men’s tennis stays in Abilene Friday to play Tyler College. The matches begin at 1 p.m.
Women’s tennis plays Tyler Junior College at the Eager Tennis Pavilion on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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standings
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Player Profile
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Sophomore Trey Sullivan was selected as the Lone Star Conference’s Golfer of the Week after he tied for third place at the UST Mamiya Texas Intercollegiate in Fort Worth. Sullivan shot a 4-under-par 140 through two rounds.
Senior Nick Jones and junior Amanda Ouedraogo each won the national championship at the NCAA Division II indoor track and field championship meet. Jones won the shot put and Ouedraogo placed 1st in the women’s triple jump.
The football team began spring drills under new head coach Ken Collums on Tuesday. It was the first time Collums has coached the entire team on the field since he took over for Chris Thomsen.
Baseball
TeamWTAMUTSUASUTAMU-KACUUIWCameronENMU
Div.4-04-02-22-22-22-20-40-4
Ovrl.16-411-618-613-514-117-811-149-12
Infielder Rodge Macy has been a hot hitter the entire season. He is second on the team in batting average
(.358), has the third most hits on the team (29) and is second in the runs department (26). He has been an RBI machine this year driving in 22 base-runners in 25 games. Macy is from Fort Worth and played two seasons at Vernon College before transferring to ACU.
Wildcats sweep in doubleheader
The No. 24 ACU softball team was swept Wednesday in a midseason non-confer-ence doubleheader by St. Mary’s, falling 4-1 and 1-0.
The St. Mary’s pitching staff held the normally pro-ductive Wildcat offense to one run and ten hits com-bined in the two games.
ACU (18-8, 4-4) has now lost four of their last five games, but will look to change that streak this weekend as the team hosts Texas A&M-Kingsville in a three-game series starting Friday.
In the opener, St. Mary’s scored runs in the second,
fourth, fifth and sixth innings. ACU only produced six hits and left eight runner strand-ed on base against St. Mary’s starter Emily Brittain. Brittain threw a complete game and struck out three and surren-dered zero walks, moving her record to 8-3 on the season.
ACU starter Peyton Mosley (6-5) threw 5.1 innings and al-lowed eight hits, three strike-outs and three earned runs.
An RBI double in the top of the sixth by Brittany Fowlkes scoring Mosley proved to be ACU’s only run in the 4-1 loss.
In the nightcap, the Wild-cats suffered an offensive shutout as St Mary’s pitcher Maricela Bissaro (7-1) si-lenced the Wildcat lineup. Bis-saro went the distance, allow-
ing only four hits, as she was in the zone the whole game. The sophomore only had one strikeout, utilizing the sup-porting cast around her to make plays defensively.
The game was a score-less tie through the top of the seventh before the Rattlers scored the winning run in the bottom half of the inning.
St. Mary’s loaded the bas-es with one out and Shelby Hall on the mound for ACU, and Jared Gonzalez hit a single to centerfield to drive in the game-winning run in walk-off fashion.
Hall (4-2) took the loss despite her valiant effort, throwing 6.1 innings and scattering seven hits.
But, the Wildcats have a great opportunity to rebound
the two losses suffered in San Antonio as the team begins a three-game series Friday with Texas A&M-Kingsville.
“We have to have a short memory, especially this time in the season,” head coach Bobby Reeves said. “While it’s hard not to think about what could’ve happened in games past, we have to look ahead to what’s next.”
The team’s mini slump began against Tarleton State and continued into the St. Mary’s double-header Wednesday.
“We just need to go out this weekend and play our game,” junior Sara Vaughn said. “We have an opportu-nity to take a series and help our conference standing, and hopefully we will do that.
Kingsville (12-17, 1-8) is in last place in the confer-ence standings after going 1-2 last weekend against No. 19 West Texas A&M. The Javelinas, though, took the opener of the series 5-2 against the Lady Buffs.
Senior Lindsay Brown leads the Javelina pitching staff with a 2.83 earned run average and she also is tops in RBI’s with 15. Sophomore Kaylee Villan-ueva leads the team with a .352 batting average.
The doubleheader be-gins Friday at 5 p.m., and Saturday’s lone game is set for 1 p.m.
bryson shakesports reporter
softball
Lankford earns honorSophomore point guard Mack Lankford continues to leave her mark on the ACU record books as she was named a Daktron-ics all-American. She was voted as a member of the third-team squad after being awarded first-team all-South Central Region by Daktronics.
Lankford is the first ACU guard to be named an all-American since Anita Vigil was named to the Kodak all-America honorable mention team in 1991.
“I just never even imagined being in this position when I came here, especially only be-ing a sophomore,” Lank-ford said. “I feel honored being even considered, must less actually making one of the teams.”
Despite being ham-pered by a shoulder injury that forced her to sit some of the season, Lankford still posted noteable of-fensive numbers.
She led the Lone Star Conference in scoring at 21.5 points a game and also about three assists and four rebounds a game.
The award is one of many that Lankford has won in her already storied ACU career. Last season Lankford was named LSC Freshman of the Year.
After five seasons of mak-ing the Lone Star Confer-ence postseason, last year was a step backwards for the basketball program. With a slimmed down Lone Star Conference and an easier chance at the postseason, the Wildcats struggled, fin-ishing 10th out of 11 teams.
Austin Gwinsports director
mandy lambright CHIEF Photographer
Sophomore guard Mack Lankford stretches for a layup in Moody Coliseum. Lankford was named all-American after being voted onto the Daktronics third team on Tuesday.
WOmen’s BAsketball
‘Cats look to stay hot this weekend
This week, the men’s and women’s tennis team will both be in action looking to build upon their im-pressive winning streaks. Both the men and women will be home on Friday to take on Tyler College.
For the men, Tyler Col-lege will serve as a bit of a warm up match for the challenging weekend that lies ahead for the Wildcats.
After ACU finishes up against Tyler, they will head to Waco for a double head-er against a talented Tem-ple squad before taking on Baylor Saturday night.
ACU is no stranger to playing against Division I teams, so the intimidation factor will be non-existent for a talented ‘Cats team that is looking to stick to their winning ways no mat-ter who they play.
“We are on a roll be-cause we have been men-tally tough throughout our matches,” sophomore
Hans Hach said. “We have a good chance to take on some D-1 schools and if we stay though, that is when a big upset occurs.”
Meanwhile, the wom-en’s tennis team will only have one match this week, against Tyler College before the sixth ranked Wildcats get some much deserved time off over the weekend.
ACU’s women’s team has been nothing short of extraordinary as of late, obliterating all of the com-petition in their path for the last couple of weeks, which could be bad news for a Tyler College squad that is simply not as talent-ed as the Wildcats.
The ‘Cats are coming off four impressive victories on the road, and are finally
back at Eager Tennis Pa-vilion, where they are un-beaten this season.
The depth of the ACU roster will undoubtedly be an issue for Tyler Col-lege this weekend, be-cause the Wildcats have the ability to send out six solid singles players to go along with their outstand-ing teamwork in the dou-bles matches.
“I feel confident in each of our girls in each of our positions,” head coach Hutton Jones said. “Most of the time, we are favored to win, and that works for us. I would always rather be the team favored to win.”
The entire tennis pro-gram will be looking to continue to build their nationally recognized re-sumes this weekend and move up the ITA polls, where both teams are cur-rently sixth in the nation.
matthew sloansports reporter
tennis
brittany williams stafF Photographer
Freshman Brittney Reed smashes a serve at Eager Tennis Pavillion. The women play Tyler Junior College Saturday.
