A product of the JMC Network of student media at Abilene Christian University.
6
Halfway through his late morning meeting with Re- sLife area coordinators, Dr. John Delony realized that it was his favorite day of the year: April Fool’s Day. That’s when he realized why all of his staff was late for the meeting. “They do this every year,” said Delony, associate dean of students, as he pointed to the blue streamers criss- crossing his office in McKenzie Hall. “But this year is special be- cause I’m leaving.” Delony told Dr. Jan Meyer, interim dean of students, on March 26 that he will leave ACU after nearly six years of lead- ing Residence Life. Effec- tive June 1, he’ll be headed to Lubbock to serve as as- sistant dean of students at the Texas Tech University School of Law. “I’ll be working more directly with students and with the law school itself instead of the broad depart- mental goals here,” Delony said. “It’s very similar, but the major difference is I won’t be dealing with hous- ing like I do here.” Delony said the Tech law school has about 700-800 students, so he’ll be work- ing much more closely with students than his current position. “You can really get to know students and plug into their groups and dreams, which will be pretty neat,” he said. Delony and his wife, Sheila, attended Lubbock Christian University and have many connections and friends in the Lubbock area, which was one of the draws to the position at Texas Tech. Shannon Kaczmarek, area coordinator for Mc- Donald and Nelson Halls, said those who work di- rectly with Delony enjoy his playful personality, and show it right back. Monday afternoon, Easter eggs and folded pieces of paper cov- ered his table, desk and files while he searched for where they hid his laptop. “He is a really beloved boss here,” Kaczmarek said. “He’s created an environ- ment where you feel sup- ported but not managed. One of his strengths is that he’s always willing to enter- One Chapel forum oppor- tunity remains as part of this year’s Justice Week. The annual Justice Week features events re- volving around interna- tional social justice. The week kicked off Monday with a presentation by Red Thread Movement and a Chapel forum led by au- thor Bob Goff, who also spoke during Tuesday’s Chapel. Gerald Britt, vice presi- dent of Public Policy and Community Program De- velopment at CitySquare – Dallas, led a forum Tues- day evening, followed by Ryan Groves, CEO of Wish- ing Well. No forum is scheduled for Wednesday, but the ACU Locavore club will conduct a fundraiser din- ner at Bonterra Blu at 7 p.m. and will provide a farmers’ market the fol- lowing day at 5 p.m. Later Thursday evening at 6 p.m., journalist and activ- ist Sally Fallon will lead a Chapel forum on ‘justice for small farms.’ At 7:30, the Amphitheater will play host to a sampling of slam poetry. Justice Week will wrap up Saturday with the In the RED Fashion Show at 7:30 p.m. in the Windsor Hotel. Proceeds will go to fighting sex trafficking in Nepal. Sarah Ratliff, senior marketing major from Lake Kiowa and Justice Week head chair, said she was happy with how Jus- tice Week has turned out. “There is a little bit for everyone at every forum, so I encourage students who are ready to adopt Bob’s ‘let’s do something’ attitude to attend and find a way to get plugged in,” she said. For a complete list of Justice Week events, visit http://acujusticeweek.com/ full-schedule/. Abilene Christian University Sports Page 6 vol. 101, no. 47 wednesday, april 3, 2013 1 SECTION, 6 PAGES Thrice as Nice Conwell ties ACU record with 3 homers in one game delony sarah ratliff justice week head chair There is a little bit for everyone at every forum.” “ GONE GOFFING ‘Love Does’ author opens Justice Week chapel paige otway stafF Photographer Bob Goff, author of ‘Love Does,’ speaks in a Chapel forum on Monday night as part of Justice Week. GSP brings back ‘club stud’ Men’s social club Gamma Sigma Phi will be reinstating its Club Stud position this semester to go along with its other current elected posi- tions. “Club Stud is probably the most prestigious thing you could achieve in a social club, definitely more pres- tigious than being a social club president,” said Blaine Smith, senior biology major from Keller and former GSP president. “Club Stud is a member of GSP that is determined, by the club’s discretion, to be the studliest member of GSP,” said Curtis Christian, senior electronic media and secondary education major from McKinney and former GSP historian. “Essentially what they get is a title on the officer row of our compos- ite. It’s not an officer posi- tion, just a recognized posi- tion.” Christian said the last club member officially named Club Stud was Justin Gibson in 2010. “He’s still around on campus, and he’s actually helping with bringing it back since it hasn’t been done in a couple of years, but that’s just because it’s usually headed up by the last Club Stud,” Christian said. Like many things in- volved with clubs on cam- pus, the Club Stud position is somewhat of a mystery to those who aren’t actually in GSP. While many of the details about what the Club Stud does, or who the next person appointed to the position will actually be are kept secret by the members of GSP, Smith was able to give a very short, and some- what vague description of the Club Stud’s duties. “They’re kind of like a fig- ure head, like the queen in a constitutional monarchy. They’re there, there’s a lot of prestige, but they don’t actu- ally do much. It’s more of a symbolic thing,” Smith said. social clubs see delony page 3 The second annual Anabel Reid Run for Water will take place Saturday from 8 a.m. - noon. at Chapman Field in Lubbock. The event will honor the life of Anabel Reid, the ACU sophomore who was killed in the Nov. 4, 2011 bus accident. The goal of the event is to raise money for the Water 4 Anabel Reid Memorial Fund. Water 4 is a charity that pro- vides clean water to impov- erished areas, an issue Reid was passionate about. This year’s Run for Water was revived by a Lubbock High School senior, Bethany Rolan. Rolan attended high school with Reid. She said she always looked up to Reid, even though they were sever- al years apart. She described Reid as a “beacon of service.” Rolan said she wanted to have a fundraiser in Lub- bock so it would be easier for Reid’s friends and family to attend. She emailed Shelly Reid, Anabel’s mother, at the beginning of the year to ex- press her interest in coordi- nating the event. Rolan said the Lubbock High School National Honor Society, the Reid family, Red Mango and House of Ink will sponsor the event. She said House of Ink will provide the T-shirts for the run and Red Mango will serve frozen yogurt and smoothies to the participants. She said the bleachers at the field will be open for participants to fellowship and talk with each other and the Reid family. She also said Water 4 will be there showing a documentary, passing out literature and demonstrating how a well works. Rolan said, as of Monday, 132 people had registered for the event and 15 NHS mem- bers had agreed to volunteer. Shelly Reid said she plans High school student revives Run for Water organizations melany cox online manging editor theoxfordcommablog. wordpress.com Marissa Jones, our Oxford correspondent, details her latest experiences abroad INSIDE acuoptimist.com State congressmen put on the ‘Hot Seat’ on campus Page 5 Page 6 Two faculty couples reliving the dorm days in Nelson, Barret Halls SA meeting discusses success of intentional living communities Page 3 acuoptimist.com Dr. Suess sculptures to be unveiled at Everman Park next week Page 3 ONLINE flickr.com/acuoptimist Check our Flickr for more shots from Justice Week Page 4 Christians should disagree on the gay marriage issue with love Page 4 ACU classes should be canceled the Monday after Easter ACU Opera to perform a ‘Soap Opera Opera’ Women’s tennis team riding 6-match winning streak vs. Cameron OPINION NEWS VIDEO PHOTOS OXFORD OPINION NEWS FEATURES SPORTS NEWS acuoptimist.com Studentr pre-registering for Run or Dye 5K NEWS contact the optimist at [email protected]Associate dean to leave for Tech reslife There will be no Friday edition of the Optimist this week because many staff members will be at the Texas In- tercollegiate Press As- sociation convention in Fort Worth. We’ll be back with another is- sue next Wednesday. Until then, check out our website for up- dates at acuoptimist.com. contact garcia at [email protected]josh garcia managing editor mark smith editor in chief brock niederhoffer student reporter see anabel page 3
Transcript
Halfway through his late morning meeting with Re-sLife area coordinators, Dr. John Delony realized that it was his favorite day of the year: April Fool’s Day. That’s when he realized why all of his staff was late for the meeting.
“They do this every year,” said Delony, associate dean of students, as he pointed to the blue streamers criss-
c r o s s i n g his office in M c K e n z i e Hall. “But this year is special be-cause I’m leaving.”
D e l o n y told Dr. Jan Meyer, interim dean of students, on March 26 that he will leave ACU after nearly six years of lead-ing Residence Life. Effec-tive June 1, he’ll be headed to Lubbock to serve as as-sistant dean of students at
the Texas Tech University School of Law.
“I’ll be working more directly with students and with the law school itself instead of the broad depart-mental goals here,” Delony said. “It’s very similar, but the major difference is I won’t be dealing with hous-ing like I do here.”
Delony said the Tech law school has about 700-800 students, so he’ll be work-ing much more closely with students than his current position.
“You can really get to know students and plug into their groups and dreams, which will be pretty neat,” he said.
Delony and his wife, Sheila, attended Lubbock Christian University and have many connections and friends in the Lubbock area, which was one of the draws to the position at Texas Tech.
Shannon Kaczmarek, area coordinator for Mc-Donald and Nelson Halls, said those who work di-rectly with Delony enjoy
his playful personality, and show it right back. Monday afternoon, Easter eggs and folded pieces of paper cov-ered his table, desk and files while he searched for where they hid his laptop.
“He is a really beloved boss here,” Kaczmarek said. “He’s created an environ-ment where you feel sup-ported but not managed. One of his strengths is that he’s always willing to enter-
One Chapel forum oppor-tunity remains as part of this year’s Justice Week.
The annual Justice Week features events re-volving around interna-tional social justice. The week kicked off Monday with a presentation by Red Thread Movement and a Chapel forum led by au-thor Bob Goff, who also spoke during Tuesday’s Chapel.
Gerald Britt, vice presi-dent of Public Policy and Community Program De-
velopment at CitySquare – Dallas, led a forum Tues-
day evening, followed by Ryan Groves, CEO of Wish-ing Well.
No forum is scheduled for Wednesday, but the ACU Locavore club will conduct a fundraiser din-
ner at Bonterra Blu at 7 p.m. and will provide a farmers’ market the fol-lowing day at 5 p.m. Later Thursday evening at 6 p.m., journalist and activ-ist Sally Fallon will lead a Chapel forum on ‘justice for small farms.’ At 7:30, the Amphitheater will play host to a sampling of slam poetry.
Justice Week will wrap up Saturday with the In the RED Fashion Show at 7:30 p.m. in the Windsor Hotel. Proceeds will go to fighting sex trafficking in Nepal.
Sarah Ratliff, senior marketing major from
Lake Kiowa and Justice Week head chair, said she was happy with how Jus-tice Week has turned out.
“There is a little bit for everyone at every forum, so I encourage students who are ready to adopt Bob’s ‘let’s do something’ attitude to attend and find a way to get plugged in,” she said.
For a complete list of Justice Week events, visit http://acujusticeweek.com/full-schedule/.
Thrice as NiceConwell ties ACU record with 3 homers in one game
delony
sarah ratliffjustice week head
chair
There is a little bit for everyone at every
forum.”“
GONE GOFFING‘Love Does’ author opens Justice Week
chapel
paige otway stafF Photographer
Bob Goff, author of ‘Love Does,’ speaks in a Chapel forum on Monday night as part of Justice Week.
GSP brings back ‘club stud’
Men’s social club Gamma Sigma Phi will be reinstating its Club Stud position this semester to go along with its other current elected posi-tions.
“Club Stud is probably the most prestigious thing you could achieve in a social club, definitely more pres-tigious than being a social club president,” said Blaine Smith, senior biology major from Keller and former GSP
president.“Club Stud is a member
of GSP that is determined, by the club’s discretion, to be the studliest member of GSP,” said Curtis Christian, senior electronic media and secondary education major from McKinney and former GSP historian. “Essentially what they get is a title on the officer row of our compos-ite. It’s not an officer posi-tion, just a recognized posi-tion.”
Christian said the last club member officially named Club Stud was Justin
Gibson in 2010.“He’s still around on
campus, and he’s actually helping with bringing it back since it hasn’t been done in a couple of years, but that’s just because it’s usually headed up by the last Club Stud,” Christian said.
Like many things in-volved with clubs on cam-pus, the Club Stud position is somewhat of a mystery to those who aren’t actually in GSP. While many of the details about what the Club Stud does, or who the next person appointed to the
position will actually be are kept secret by the members of GSP, Smith was able to give a very short, and some-what vague description of the Club Stud’s duties.
“They’re kind of like a fig-ure head, like the queen in a constitutional monarchy. They’re there, there’s a lot of prestige, but they don’t actu-ally do much. It’s more of a symbolic thing,” Smith said.
social clubs
see delony page 3
The second annual Anabel Reid Run for Water will take place Saturday from 8 a.m. - noon. at Chapman Field in Lubbock.
The event will honor the life of Anabel Reid, the ACU sophomore who was killed in the Nov. 4, 2011 bus accident. The goal of the event is to raise money for the Water 4 Anabel Reid Memorial Fund. Water 4 is a charity that pro-vides clean water to impov-erished areas, an issue Reid was passionate about.
This year’s Run for Water was revived by a Lubbock High School senior, Bethany Rolan.
Rolan attended high school with Reid. She said she always looked up to Reid, even though they were sever-al years apart. She described Reid as a “beacon of service.”
Rolan said she wanted to have a fundraiser in Lub-bock so it would be easier for Reid’s friends and family to attend. She emailed Shelly Reid, Anabel’s mother, at the beginning of the year to ex-press her interest in coordi-nating the event.
Rolan said the Lubbock High School National Honor Society, the Reid family, Red Mango and House of Ink will sponsor the event. She said House of Ink will provide the T-shirts for the run and Red Mango will serve frozen yogurt and smoothies to the participants.
She said the bleachers at the field will be open for participants to fellowship and talk with each other and the Reid family. She also said Water 4 will be there showing a documentary, passing out literature and demonstrating how a well works.
Rolan said, as of Monday, 132 people had registered for the event and 15 NHS mem-bers had agreed to volunteer.
Shelly Reid said she plans
High school student revives Run for Water
organizations
melany coxonline manging editor
theoxfordcommablog.wordpress.com
Marissa Jones, our Oxford correspondent, details her latest experiences abroad
INSIDE
acuoptimist.com
State congressmen put on the ‘Hot Seat’ on campus
Page 5
Page 6
Two faculty couples reliving the dorm days in Nelson, Barret Halls
SA meeting discusses success of intentional living communities
Page 3
acuoptimist.com
Dr. Suess sculptures to be unveiled at Everman Park next week
Page 3
ONLINE
flickr.com/acuoptimist
Check our Flickr for more shots from Justice Week
Page 4
Christians should disagree on the gay marriage issue with love
Page 4
ACU classes should be canceled the Monday after Easter
ACU Opera to perform a ‘Soap Opera Opera’
Women’s tennis team riding 6-match winning streak vs. Cameron
There will be no Friday edition of the Optimist this week because many staff members will be at the Texas In-tercollegiate Press As-sociation convention in Fort Worth. We’ll be back with another is-sue next Wednesday.
Until then, check out our website for up-dates at acuoptimist.com.
4 p.m. Sally Fallon, president of the Weston A. Price Foun-dation, will present lectures on healthy eating in Hart Au-ditorium at Abilene Christian University. Admission is free.
April 4
7 p.m. A senior citizens dance will be at the TCR Old-Timer’s Roundup Hall. The Mike Por-ter Band will perform. Admis-sion is $5.
April 5
7:30 p.m. The fiddle group Revolution will give a pre-view concert of its China tour at the Cooper High School auditorium. Tickets are $30 for both the dinner and the show, or $10 for just the show. For mor informa-tion call 325-691-1000 Ext. 2284 or Ext. 8186.
April 6
9 a.m. The second National Tartan Day Festival at Abilene State Park will begin with a 5K run. The Texas Tartan Walk will follow at 11 a.m. Cul-tural demonstrations will be noon to 2 p.m., with games for children. Normal admis-sion will apply: $5 for adults and free for children 12 and under. People wearing kilts or plaid outer garments will receive a $2 discount.
Abstract submission for the Undergrad-uate Research Festival is now open. The 5th annual ACU Undergraduate Research Festival will be Apr. 4-5. To submit your abstract or get abstract writing tips and information on the review of abstracts go to the Research Festival Blog at blogs.acu.edu/researchfest.
The ACU Career Center is now on Pin-terest. Go to pinterest.com/acucareer-center to begin following the boards from the ACU Career Center Pinterest today.
SA is accepting entries to The Greatest Idea Challenge. Videos must be shorter than three minutes explaining why your idea is the best. The top video submis-sion will advance on in the competition. Cash prizes will be given out.
ACU Opera presents “A Soap Opera Op-era” April 5 at 7:30 p.m. and April 7 at 3:30 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, available at the door.
Character, this year’s senior art show is opening April 5 at 6:30 p.m. in Shore Art Gallery. It will feature work from Horten-cia Flores, Amy Castleberry, Paris Rob-ertson, Shennae Steele, Chase Martin, SM Tracy and J-Rob.
An ACU Computer Auction will be held May 4 in Cullen Auditorium. Viewing begins at 11 a.m. and the auction starts at 1 p.m. See acu.edu/auction for more details.
The ACU Undergraduate Research Fes-tival will be April 4 from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in the Hunter Welcome Center. To find a schedule of events visit blogs.acu.edu/researchfest.
The 2013 Abilene Jazz Fest, featuring local high school and university jazz en-sembles will be held at the Historic Para-mount Theatre from 7-10 p.m. on April 8. Admission is free.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities The Center for International Education is looking for conversation partners for international students to practice Eng-lish, conversations and cultural learning. Partners meet for one hour each week at a time and place determined by the partners. For more information contact Laura McGregor at 325-674-2821 or [email protected].
St. John’s Episcopal School is seeking volunteers to paint metal playground equipment anytime Monday-Friday after 3 p.m. and Saturday anytime. For more information contact Rebecca McMillon at 325-695-8870 or [email protected].
Center for Contemporary Arts needs a gallery assistant to greet patrons, an-swer phones and answer basic questions about the Center and its programs. This opportunity is open Tuesday-Friday. The Center for Contemporary Arts is located at 220 Cypress Street. For more information contact Jessica Dulle at 325-677-8389 or visit: http://www.center-arts.com/.
Rescue the Animals is seeking volunteers to take pictures and videos in preparation for the launching of their new website as well as maintenance of the site after the launch. This opportunity is open Mon-day, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. For more information contact Kathy Walker at 325-677-7722 or [email protected].
The National Center For Children’s Il-lustrated Literature is looking for vol-unteers to greet patrons, assist with art activities, sell books and make visitors feel welcome. Help is also needed for special events like Artwalk and exhibit openings. The NCCIL is located at 102 Cedar St. For more information on times and dates contact Debby Lillick at 325-673-4586 or visit: http://www.nccil.org/index.htm.
The Christian Ministries of Abilene: Food Pantry is searching for volunteers to greet and interview neighbors, do computer entries, shop with neighbors, take grocer-ies to vehicles, bag, stock and pick up
orders on Mondays and Fridays from 9:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. and 1 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. The Food Pantry is located at 701 Walnut St. For more information contact Becky Almanza at 325-673-1234 or [email protected].
The Christian Service Center is seek-ing volunteers to help assist with filling requests for items such as clothing, bed-ding, kitchen utensils, etc. from the dona-tion center, sort and organize donations and occasionally pick-up donated items. Volunteers are needed every weekday and the first Saturday of each month be-tween 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. For more information contact Roberta Brown at 325-673-7561 or at [email protected]. For more information on the program visit: http://www.uccabilene.org/ministries/csc.htm.
The Food Bank of West Central Texas needs volunteers 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].
Meals on Wheels Plus needs volunteer drivers to deliver afternoon meals to se-niors and adults with disabilities Monday-Friday between 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid driver’s license. Training is provided. For more information contact Samantha Barker at 352-672-5050 or visit: http://mealsonwheelsplus.com.
The Salvation Army is looking for vol-unteers 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.
The House That Kerry Built is looking for volunteers to assist in the day care of medically fragile children any day Mon-day-Friday from 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. or 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. Contact Keith Loftin at 325-672-6061.
The International Rescue Committee is seeking volunteers to work with refugees who recently moved to the U.S., teach-ing English, helping with homework and mentoring. Contact Susanna Lubango to make an appointment at 325-675-5643.
The Covenant Place of Abilene is seek-ing volunteers to lead singing and/or play piano for residents. For more information contact Ann Erwin at 325-793-1144.
University Place is seeking volunteers to help with the resident birthday party for residents the third Wednesday of each month at 2:30 p.m. For more information contact Linda Tijerina at 325-676-9946.
Breakfast on Beech Street is seeking volunteers to help set up, prepare and serve breakfast to homeless/lower income folks any Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 5:30 a.m. or Tuesday at 5 a.m. B.O.B.S is located at First Christian Church on 3rd St. and Beech St. Service times must be scheduled in advance. To serve on Mondays contact Jody Depriest at 325-669-3312 or [email protected]. To serve on Tuesdays contact Allen Daugherty at 325-660-6949 or [email protected]. To serve on Wednesdays contact Jane Harvey at 325-695-0092 or [email protected]. To serve on Thurs-days contact Margaret Beasley at 325-692-4149 or [email protected]. To serve on Fridays contact Rachel Brown at [email protected].
Christian Homes & Family Services is seeking volunteers to do minor landscap-ing such as raking, trimming bushes, minor apartment repairs and general upkeep Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. For more information contact Shay-lee Honey at 325-677-2205 or [email protected].
The Abilene Public Zoo is seeking volun-teers to help clean/feed animals, assist zookeepers and assist with educational classes any weekday any time between 12 p.m.-4 p.m. They are also seeking volunteers to help with general labor such as grounds cleanup and painting any weekday at any time between noon and 4 p.m. For more information contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487.
Hill Resources is seeking volunteers to encourage and entertain mentally de-layed individuals Monday through Friday any time between 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information contact Michelle Es-pinoza at 325-673-3346 or [email protected].
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/ccsl/ministry-service/volunteer-opportunities/The Oaks at Radford Hills is seeking vol-unteers to participate in activities, go on outings and provide social stimulation for residents any day at any time. For more information contact Michelle White or Sonia Serrato at 325-672-3236.
Rescue the Animals is seeking volunteers to work at the adoption center doing a variety of tasks including cleaning, social-izing and grooming the animals Monday - Saturday from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. For more information contact Mindi Qualls at 325-698-7722 or [email protected].
The CAC Department is seeking volun-teers to participate in Special Olympics, by helping mentally/physically chal-lenged people play games and sports Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. For more infomation contact Angel Seca at 325-690-5235.
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/ccsl/ministry-service/volunteer-opportunities/
Chapel checkup
Wednesday 04.03.133 news
Dorm degrees prove bothersome
Several residents of A.B. Bar-ret Hall have experienced dis-comfort in their rooms due to inconsistencies with the temperature of the air condi-tioning.
Kealey Fabian, sophomore biochemistry major from San Antonio, has noticed many problems with the hall’s air conditioning system.
“When it’s hot outside you walk into the dorm and have to put on a sweatshirt,” Fabi-an said. “And during the cold months you walk in and it’s like walking into Mordor and it’s really uncomfortable.”
Fabian said this problem has been occurring all school year. However, she said not all days are unpleasant.
“Sometimes it’s not run-ning at all and we’ll open our window,” she said. “It’s glori-ous.”
Fabian said she has sent several maintenance requests addressing the problem, even emailing as late as 2 a.m. after being woken up by extreme temperatures. She also said it seems to be a general consen-sus among the residents that the air conditioning system does not work well.
Caroline Gafford, sopho-more biochemistry major from Dallas, has noticed oth-er problems with the system.
“This past week it was cold outside in the morning and at night, but in the afternoon it was super hot,” Gafford said. “We’d walk into our room at night but the air would still be cold even though it was 30 degrees outside and then we’d have no way to heat our room.”
Dr. John Delony, associ-ate dean of students, said recent unusual temperature patterns could be to blame for the inconsistency. The air conditioning for the entire
campus is heated or cooled by one system.
“Recently the (outdoor) temperature has been fluc-tuating,” Delony said. “It’s pretty expensive to funnel all that hot water and then once you’ve heated this whole campus and it switches be-cause you just have a warm day, you lose all that money to cycle that back out.”
Physical resources is re-sponsible for switching the system from hot to cold, and any maintenance requests are forwarded to that depart-ment by the residence direc-tor that receives them, Delo-ny said. He assures students this issue is not a low priority.
“If there’s a significant number of maintenance requests, we definitely want to make sure it’s fixed,” he said.
brantly houstonstudent reporter
ACU Opera to perform ‘Soap Opera Opera’
The ACU Opera will per-form two one-act operas during its performance of the “Soap Opera Opera” on April 5 and 7.
The show will consist of “Gallantry” by Douglas Moore and “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Gian
Carlo Menotti.“Total, it’s a full two hour
production between two op-eras so it’s as good a value for your ticket as anything, espe-cially with how cheap ticket prices are,” said Sam Snyder, sophomore vocal perfor-mance major from Houston and actor in “Gallantry.”
“Gallantry” will be the first performance in the “Soap Opera Opera” show.
Snyder said the opera was created to mimic a televi-sion soap opera like “General Hospital.”
“For Gallantry, our set is a TV sound stage,” Sny-der said. “And in addition to the players themselves, you’ll see all the behind the scenes work on the sound stage. You’ll see the director and the camera man and the sound tech.”
Mirroring a real televi-sion show, “Gallantry” will even have commercials in between scenes, said Jenni-fer Magill, sophomore vocal music education and vocal performance major from League City and actor in “Gallantry.”
The second performance will be “The Old Maid and the Thief.” Rick Piersall, di-rector of opera, said the play
was originally a 1939 radio show.
“We’re setting it in a radio station, and so it looks very much like you would expect an old radio broadcast to look like,” Piersall said. Julie Brinkman, sophomore vocal music education major from McKinney, described “The Old Maid and the Thief” as a show-within-a-show.
“The opera itself that we
are singing that’s supposedly going over the radio is very dramatic in itself but all the actors in the story can relate to the characters that they are playing in the opera,” Brinkman said.
Tickets are $5 with a stu-dent ID and $10 for adults.
ORganizations
linsey thutstudent reporter
Living-learning communities a success
Dr. John Delony, associate dean of students, said he con-sidered the intentional living initiatives this semester a suc-cess.
Delony, associate dean of students, met with the Stu-dents’ Association Wednes-day to answer questions about Residence Life. He be-gan the discussion with the announcement of his depar-ture. Delony has taken the position of assistant dean of students at Texas Tech Uni-versity School of Law in Lub-bock. He is expected to leave his position at ACU around June 1.
Delony said the transition should be smooth.
“This is a pretty neat ca-reer opportunity for me,” he
said. “I have full confidence in the folks that are staying here.”
Congress members in-quired about the status of new ‘living-learning com-munities.’ Several programs were piloted this year, which included using Smith-Adams as an Honors dorm, en-couraging faculty to move into residence halls and ex-perimenting with the idea of ‘intentional living com-munities.’ Delony said he felt positive about the programs after originally pushing back against them.
“The idea is you try and group students where they live based on similar inter-ests,” he said about Smith-Adams. “All indicators on our end is that it’s been awesome and it’s been really a great success for everybody.”
An initiative called ‘inten-
tional living communities’ was started last semester, which allowed students to
live in chosen groups in resi-dence halls provided they did so with a community-orient-ed purpose. J.P. Festa, Barrett Hall representative, said he believed the program had fallen by the wayside this se-mester.
“Last semester we had three meetings, this semester none of that happened,” said Festa, sophomore multime-dia major from McKinney.
Delony said this was partly due to Area Coordinator Jor-dan Bunch’s decision to leave ACU to pursue ministry.
“Jordan Bunch is transi-tioning out at the end of this year, he was actually over the intentional living communi-ties,” Delony said. “We’ll grow it next year.”
Delony also answered questions on speculative campus projects, such as hall renovation, an addition of washers and dryers, the purchase of University Park and the future of the Sherrod apartments, a defunct com-plex next to Smith-Adams. He said he supported addressing these issues but was restrict-ed because of expense.
“It’s a matter of priority funding,” he said.
Following the discussion with Delony, Kaitlyn Warton, McDonald Hall representa-
tive, introduced a bill to pur-chase 150 tank tops for the ACU Baseball event “Pack the Park.” The cost of the tank tops was $850. Congress passed the bill unanimously.
SA meetings are conduct-
ed Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m. in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building Room 114.
students’ association
Dr. John Delonyassociate dean of
students
“All indicators on our end is that it’s been awesome
and it’s been really a great succes for everybody.”“
adrian patenaude staff Photographer
Umbrella held aloft, a student trudges through Tuesday’s rainy conditions.
joshua garciamanaging editor
reslife
Anabel: Registration for run, t-shirt to close at midnightto “show up Saturday morn-ing and participate with ev-eryone else.”
“Bethany truly has done it all,” she said. “Really and truly she has done every-thing.”
During last year’s run more than $14,000 was col-lected.
Registration for the run closes at midnight. Regis-tration is not mandatory to participate, but it is the only way to reserve a T-
shirt. Sign in will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday and the walk/run will begin at 8:30 a.m. Participants are wel-come to come and go as they please.
There is a $15 registra-tion fee which will be col-
lected the day of the run. Donations can also be made online at https://wa-ter4.org/anabelreid/.
Delony: Interim dean of students to seek replacementtain new ideas.”
But while Delony applied for the position away from ACU, he will miss his ACU position and the relation-ships he’s made with the
Student Life staff.“I’ll miss our intercom
system here,” Delony said, after he and Tracy Wetsel, residential services coordi-nator, yelled a short conver-sation through the wall be-tween their offices. “They’ll
be pretty hard to leave. It’s been such a tremendous blessing to have been here.”
Last month, Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson left his post as dean of students and vice president for Student Life for a similar position at
Faulkner University. Meyer, who has since filled the role as interim, will try to replace Delony soon.
Already tired of that girl who constantly asks people to quiet down during this justice week.
Easter evokes many thoughts: bunnies, eggs, pastels, new life and spring. As students on a private Christian universi-ty campus, the first image that should come to mind is Jesus’ resurrection. Canceling class on Good Friday is a good recogni-tion of the Easter weekend and gives students a day of
rest to remember the sad-dest day in the Christian’s world. However, Sunday is the culmination of Holy Week and is normally a special family event. Sadly, ACU’s policy to resume classes on Monday cuts this time short and pre-vents students from fully enjoying the Easter holi-day with their families.
Easter Sunday is not only an important Chris-tian holiday, but it also serves as a time for family to gather and fellowship. When ACU gives students a three-day weekend, it gives them the oppor-tunity to travel home to their families. Yet, the en-tire focus of the weekend holiday is Sunday, the day students need to begin the drive back to campus. For those who have family in or nearby Abilene, it’s not too much of an issue.
Much of the ACU stu-dent population lives around Dallas, which
means they only have to drive for about three hours on Easter Sunday. The many students from big cities farther away, like Austin, San Antonio and Houston, are almost cheated out of Easter ser-vice and certainly do not have time to enjoy the tra-ditional family meal since they have to get back on the road. Nearly all stu-dents from out of state don’t bother going home for Easter Sunday because it just isn’t worth it.
McMurry University suspends classes on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday and the following
Monday. A four-day week-end seems rather long so soon after Spring Break, but ACU students need Monday to travel back to campus so they can fully participate in Easter Sun-day’s festivities. If McMur-ry can manage Friday and Monday off, why can’t our university do the same?
Historically, travel was forbidden on the Sabbath to encourage rest. This is not brought up to en-courage legalism. Rather, wouldn’t refraining from travel on Easter Sunday, the Christian’s Sabbath, better celebrate Christ’s resurrection than racing
back to campus?Though the Friday and
Monday off from school would be challenging to students and teachers, ACU should give students the Monday after Easter off. This is not a group of students pining for more days with no classes, but wanting to respect what Easter Sunday stands for by not spending it in a car. Other universities already follow this policy. Let’s rest Easter Sunday and leave Monday for travel.
Duck Dynasty is a good show.
It has its fair share of haters. It’s not the most intellectually stimulat-ing show, and it’s probably somewhat scripted, but it is still good entertainment. It highlights the way of life for filthy rich rednecks. It’s hilarious, it has a strong connection with faith and it is great television. Si is my favorite (like everyone else’s).
Every episode of the show ends with a prayer and a moral wrap-up with-in a Christian context. Kind of like Full House, except not, because it’s far less
cheesy.Stars of the show have
visited Lipscomb Univer-sity in Nashville, Hard-ing University in Searcy, Ark., Faulkner University
in Montgomery, Ala., and Oklahoma Christian Uni-versity in Oklahoma City. All of these schools share one prominent aspect in
common: they are all af-filiated with the Church of Christ.
So is ACU. But it’s not on this list of Christian schools where the hilarious, Chris-tian rednecks have visited.
This needs to change. And fast, Jack.
Uncle Si, Jase, Willie, Phil and Miss Kay: please come visit our dear Christian col-lege. We have ponds and lakes where you can fish and swim, and you might
even be able to catch some bullfrogs before the sun rises. And hey, you won’t have any trouble finding sweet tea. Need a donut-
eating rematch? We have those too, Jack. Plus, the Optimist has a Ping-Pong table in our newsroom, and we would give Jase and Willie a tough match.
Miss Kay can come fix dinner in my apartment if she wants; she can even make squirrel or alligator or crawdads. Just as long as it comes with her banana pudding.
Robertsons, we share your faith and the af-filiation of at least four other universities you’ve visited. Come check out Abilene. You will be re-ceived warmly.
Oh and hey, please bring along Mountain Man. Thanks.
Just give me plenty of warning so I can let my beard grow out. Jack.
An event of historic pro-portions is taking place– the Supreme Court is hearing and deciding on cases regarding the con-stitutionality of Proposi-tion 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act. These cases have the court entering into un-charted waters, and the rest of the country enter-ing into a media frenzy, in the worst possible way.
We are not writing to argue for or against gay marriage, or to shove our opinions on the matter
down the throats of our readers. Avid Facebook and Twitter users are do-ing a bang-up job of that already. What we would like to address, however, is how we think this type of argument should be handled, regardless of the position one chooses to take.
This is one of those high-priority cases that generates a lot of strong opposing opinions. It’s OK to have differing opin-ions. It’s not OK to try and force those opinions
on others. So much of the conversation revolv-ing around these cases is backed by hate and dis-dain for anyone whose values and ideas don’t match others’. As Chris-tians, we are the worst of-fenders.
We are called to ap-proach any and every ar-gument out of love.
If one is attacking an-other individual’s char-acter or personal views because they are not on point with his or her own, or one’s Facebook sta-tus ref lects an under-in-formed and over-opinion-ated political agenda, he or she is lacking in love. If one thoughtlessly use the term “gay” derogato-rily, he or she is lacking in love. If one is throwing the Bible at every person that advocates for same-sex marriage, or dismiss-ing the Bible as irrelevant, he or she is lacking in love. The door swings both ways, and we all need to step back and reevaluate our approach to such a sensitive situation.
It’s time that we all closed our mouths and opened our minds. It’s time to do less talking and more listening. A conver-sation has two sides, both of which deserve to be heard. Until we can learn to confront this issue with an attitude of love, that cannot be accomplished.
Easter break needs more of an Easter breakthe issue
Resuming classes on the Monday after Easter cuts the Easter celebrations and family time short for students.
our take
ACU should include Monday in the Easter holiday.
Disagree with love, not hate
WELL, THISIS AWKWARD
MARK SMITH
Duck Dynasty stars should stop by
hashtagACU
@bibbfrasier @Jodi_LynnG@hayleysissy
11:48 a.m. April 2
10:55 a.m. April 21:50 p.m. April 2
@megkeav@BrandyRains
11:20 a.m. April 2
3:25 p.m. March 25
April showers bring... more engagements. #ACU
Getting assigned a self-portrait in painting class is the equivalent of getting asked to make a professional selfie your mom would hang up.
I changed out of my cute outfit into my Ko-jie rain jacket because I felt like it was morally right to do so.
Well I WAS going to chapel. Then outside happened.
Bro, it’s raining. Put some shoes on
Mark Smitheditor in chief
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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
9:34 a.m. March 2511:00 a.m. April 24:38 p.m. April 2
Guy in chapel about The Lord bless you and keep you: “what is this? Jesus never did this!”
@AgentRegine@claygreenwalt
11:04 a.m. April 2
1:41 p.m. April 2
“April fools it’s still me.” - Winter
Winter weather in Spring is about as fun as when the green bean juice gets underneath your mashed potatoes on the plate.
Chapel forum was LAST night.... Blocking off half of Moody for regular chapel may not be the best idea.
You know there’s a chance of precipita-tion if all the Kojies are wearing those dark green pullovers.
11:34 a.m. April 2
@winsor_kate
12:57 p.m. April 2
Watching commercials for restaurants Abilene doesn’t have is a cruel form of torture. #pan-erabread
We have ponds and lakes where you can fish and swim, and you might even be able to catch some bullfrogs
before the sun rises.”“
the issue
Arguments are arising over the same-sex marriage discussions in the Supreme Court.
our take
The controversial issue over legalizing same-sex marriage should be approached out of love and respect.
These cases have the court entering into
uncharted waters, and the rest of the country enter-ing into a media frenzy, in
the worst possible way.”
“
ark and Laura Phillips live in an ACU resi-dence hall for the first time since 1986, when Mark lived in Mabee Hall and Laura in Gardner. Since then, they have married,
earned doctoral degrees and acquired a lot of things.Now, they live in Nelson Hall. Most of their belong-
ings are in storage.“We’re living on minimal stuff right now,” Mark
said. “I even packed some stuff in storage we shouldn’t have packed.”
Mark and Laura, associate professors of manage-ment sciences, had grown accustomed to living in their 2,700 square-foot house for eight years. Their new resi-dence, the apartment in Nelson usually reserved for the dorm’s resident director, is less than half the size of their old home.
“It’s hard to find places to put stuff here, and even then it’s hard to remember where we were able to put it away,” Laura said. “Like the first day it rained, we had no idea where we put the umbrellas.”
Shannon Kaczmarek, resident director of Nelson and McDonald Halls, married this summer and lives off campus. Otherwise, she would live in the apartment.
More than a half dozen green, potted plants, all dif-ferent sizes and species, dominate the decoration in the tiny living room.
“They didn’t seem this plentiful in the house,” Laura said. “But when you put them in this small of a space, it seems they’re everywhere.”
Mark emailed Dr. Robert Rhodes, new ACU provost, this summer to say his family was looking to move from their south-Abilene home. Their home had a garage apartment, something Rhodes wanted for his father.
“They came and took a look, came back the next day and looked again and decided it worked well for them,” Mark said. “So we had about six weeks to get packed up.”
Mark and Laura’s plan at the time was to begin con-struction of a new house closer to campus. But they needed an immediate if temporary place to live until that plan could be completed.
“We wanted to live on this side of town but hadn’t expected to sell our house until next summer,” Mark said. “After selling the house to the Rhodes family, we started looking at short-term options and thought we’d go with a University Park apartment because it’s con-venient. We’d live there while we built a house.”
UP bedrooms measure 8’ by 10’, half the size of the smallest freshman dorm rooms.
“You could put a queen-size bed in a bedroom, but that’s about all that could fit,” Laura said. “We weren’t sure how that would work. It would have been chal-lenging.”
Then, through a new Residence Life initiative called Faculty-in-Residence program, the opportunity arose for them to live in a dorm apartment.
“John Delony asked me in a meeting if I’d ever thought about living in a dorm,” Mark said. “My first reaction was no. But the more we talked about it, it made sense.”
Dr. John Delony, assistant dean for Residence Life Education and Housing, restructured hall manage-ment to a permanent area coordinator model instead of each hall having its own director. Six directors now coordinate the 10 dorms (four directors manage two halls), opening up some of the hall apartments for the Faculty-in-Residence program.
“The restructuring gave us a great opportunity to start this program,” Delony said. “We want the fac-ulty and students to have a seamless educational ex-perience in the classroom. Many prestigious univer-sities like Oxford, Princeton and Yale have the same type of program.”
With the help of Res Life staff, the Phillipses moved into Nelson Hall three days before classes began.
The Nelson apartment has a small entry room, a kitchen with room for a table, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. It is laid out in a long rectangle the width of each room. Mark and Laura use the first bedroom as an office, but there’s also a twin bed for their daughter Allison to sleep in during the winter break. The washer and dryer are stacked in the master bedroom.
They said get one common question from almost everyone they tell about their new living arrangement. Is it loud?
“It’s really not,” Mark said. “These walls are con-crete, so sound doesn’t carry very well.”
Except one time it did.“One day there was a guy in the community bath-
room in the lobby, which is on the other side of our wall,” Laura said. “He was in there singing really loud, and we could hear it right through the vent. That was really weird.”
“He was singing show tunes enthusiastically,” Mark added.
Mark and Laura have made several lifestyle chang-es now that they live on campus. They eat in the World Famous Bean every week. They walk to work, the gym, volleyball games and Nikki’s Swirl Shop, among other places.
“It reminds me of living in Oxford, when we were there for Study Abroad,” Mark said. “We didn’t have a car, so we just walked. That’s what we do now.”
Laura filled up her car with gas before school start-ed. Five weeks into the semester, she had half a tank left.
“I drive to church and the grocery store,” she said. “That’s it.”
Their 11-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, Hallie, was always an indoor dog before they moved into Nel-son and isn’t as active as she used to be. Mark and Lau-ra walk her outside the res hall each day.
“She’s perfectly happy with this,” Laura said.One morning during the first week of the semester,
the desk manager in the Nelson lobby saw Mark leav-ing the dorm to take Hallie out for a walk. Men aren’t allowed in women’s res halls, except during visitation hours on Thursday nights.
“The guy working the desk didn’t hear me come out, but he glanced up just in time to see a man leaving the hall early in the morning,” Mark said. “I was down at the end of the building with the dog and he came down the sidewalk to ask me why I came out of Nelson, if I lived there. I said yes, and he said, ‘OK, good.’”
Mark and Laura’s daughter, Allison, sophomore marketing major from Abilene, lives in Morris Hall, one of the farthest buildings from Nelson on campus. Allison sees her parents often during the week, but only because they spend a lot of time in the Mabee Business Building.
“Beyond that, we really don’t run into each other,” Allison said.
Mark and Laura host four Nelson residents for dinner each Monday to meet their new neighbors.
“We really got to know them better and had a great time,” said Nicole Schoolcraft, freshman early child-hood education major from Midland. “One night I saw them in the Bean and they came over to say hello and see how we were doing.”
Delony, who also teaches graduate level English classes, is experiencing the first year of the program himself. John and his wife, Sheila, assistant professor of teacher education, also live in an ACU dorm apart-ment now after moving into Barret Hall this summer.
Angela Neal, the resident director of Barret and Smith-Adams Halls, lives in the Smith-Adams apart-ment, which made the Barret apartment available.
The Delonys’ old home was a traditional three-bed-room, two-bath brick home with a picket fence. They sold some of their belongings in garage sales, gave some of it away and have put much of it in storage.
“The biggest difference has been not having a fenced-in yard for our son and dogs,” Sheila said.
The Delonys had to give their two basset hounds, Maria and Baxter, to friends in Lubbock because they couldn’t have them in the dorm.
The move has affected their son, Hank, the most. Hank turned 2 years old this summer.
“He lost his pacifier and his dogs and his backyard all at the same time,” John said. “Some of it is normal two-year-old stuff, and some of it is the move, so it’s been a big adjustment for him.”
However, Hank does enjoy his new neighbors.“He’s loved it because the students’ response has
been great,” John said. “He loves to give hugs and he invites everyone over to play with him.”
The Barret apartment is larger than the Nelson one, laid out in more of a square-shape than the long, thin Nelson apartment.
It is, however, much less sound-proof than the one in Nelson. The bass beat in an upstairs resident’s ste-reo blasts overhead, thumping the ceiling and walls.
“We lived in a house and neighborhood for a decade, so we’re not used to that,” John said. “We can hear mu-sic and people walking all the time.”
But students are aware of their volume and check with the Delonys when planning loud events or exercises.
“We have students come talk to us to tell us they’re planning an exercise class above us and want to make sure it’s OK, and that’s great,” John said. “Sometimes I text them to tell them to crank it up because we’ll be gone for a few hours.”
Neither McMurry University or Hardin-Simmons University have any faculty living in the dorms during the school year. Jason Feltz, director of residence life at McMurry, said a few professors stayed in a dorm this summer for summer class, but that hadn’t happened before and they don’t plan on having faculty in the dorms during the school year.
The Phillipses and Delonys will stay in their apart-ments at least until May.
Mark and Laura are considering purchasing a lot in the Wildlife Trails neighborhood about a mile from campus. They have until the end of November if they want to buy that lot to build on.
“We anticipate being here through May,” Mark said. “Beyond that, we’ll see. We like living here.”
“The downsides to living here are small,” Laura add-ed. “All the positives really outweigh them.”
Wednesday 04.03.135 featureS
Top: Mark and Laura Phillips unpack their belongings in the dorm resident director’s suite of Nelson Hall.
Bottom: Sheila Deloney conducts a student-teacher seminar in the Delonys’ apartment in Barrett Hall.
M
MARK SMITH
EDITOR IN CHIEF
OUT OF THE BOXFILE PHOTO
CURTIS CHRISTIAN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Outfielder Kyle Conwell whacks the baseball at Crutcher Scott Field over the weekend. Conwell smacked three home runs Friday against ENMU.
The men’s and women’s tennis team host Cameron University Thursday at 1 p.m. in a Lone Star Conference matchup.
The softball team plays against West Texas A&M in Canyon Friday night at 6 p.m. They also play a double-header Saturday.
The baseball team plays four games on the road against West Texas A&M this weekend. Friday night at 7 p.m. two games Saturday, and a Sunday game at 1 p.m.
The track and field team is running a split squad meet Saturday. Some of the athletes will compete at the Texas Tech Invitational, and some will compete in the Sun Angel Classic.
women’s tennis
standings
briefings
Who’s Hot
The ACU tennis team is planning an alumni weekend for April 5-6. The weekend will consist of a golf tournament at Diamondback Golf Club and various lunches for the alumni.
The baseball team hosted the little brothers and little sisters March 27th. The “Littles” got to hang out with the players, got a free hot dog and a free t-shirt while attending the game.
men’s tennis
TeamACUUIWCameronMSU
Div.12-1111-515-213-5
Ovrl.2-01-11-01-2
Baseball player Kyle Conwell hit three home runs in a game last
week against Eastern New Mexico, tying an ACU record and pro-pelling the Wildcats to victory. Conwell had not hit a home run all year heading into the game, but was able to yank three balls out of Crutcher Scott Field in seven innings. Conwell is hitting .303 this sea-son and has started all but one game for ACU.
Senior outfielder Kyle Con-well did something this weekend only one other player in ACU baseball his-tory has done. He smashed three home runs in Friday night’s game against East-ern New Mexico.
That feat tied the single-game record set by Joel Wells in 2006 against Tar-leton State.
“It’s a great honor to be in the record books,” Conwell said. “To be able to come out and hit three home runs at home, you can’t ask for anything better.”
His last bomb was a game-winner to lead off the seventh inning. It gave the
Wildcats a 5-4 victory and a doubleheader sweep.
“Wow,” said head coach Britt Bonneau. “That final shot in the seventh was ex-citing. It got our guys going. Those are special moments for the kids and for me as a coach to watch.”
The team carried that momentum over to Satur-day’s finale and won 4-2 to take 3-of-4 games from the Greyhounds.
ACU is now 21-12 over-all and an impressive 9-3 in the Lone Star Conference, which ties them with TSU for first place. The squad has won all three of their division series this season.
Oddly enough, Conwell had no home runs on the year prior to Friday night. He whacked his first two
blasts in the fourth and fifth innings to bring the ‘Cats within a 4-3 deficit.
Sophomore Tyler Eager tied the contest 4-4 in the sixth when he singled in a run. A thunderstorm then rolled in and delayed the game for 98 minutes.
Conwell’s walk-off home run was the Wildcats’ first since 2008 when Mike Elk-erson did it against East Central. Junior closer Brady Rodriguez (2-1) benefited from the drama by claiming the win.
The first game of the doubleheader on Friday was a low-scoring pitchers duel between ‘Cat starter Carter Hahn (5-2) and Greyhounds starter Jaspreet Shergill. Hahn tossed 7.0 strong innings and fanned four batters.
ACU won 2-1 behind Ty Taylor’s sacrifice fly in the sixth which scored pinch run-ner Mason Smith. The game was tied 1-1 before the run.
Taylor (3-3) came out the next day and pitched a gem in the final game of the se-ries. He threw 7 1/3 innings while scattering eight hits. He left the game in the eighth inning with a 3-1 lead.
Rodriguez took over for Taylor and escaped a bases loaded jam after he caught a comebacker for the final out of the inning. However, ENMU did score one run to make it 3-2.
The Wildcats cushioned their one-run lead in the bottom of the eighth.
J.R. Roland led off the in-ning with a single to left then was replaced by pinch-run-
ner Smith. Two batters later, Seth Spivey doubled into the center field gap to plate Smith and make the score 4-2.
The first game of the se-ries, Thursday, was a heart-breaking 11-10 defeat in 11 innings. The ‘Cats fought their way back from an 8-2 deficit with an eight-run eighth.
The lead was short-lived though. The Greyhounds scored two runs in the ninth off of lefty Austin Palmer and Hahn to send it to extra innings.
ACU will travel to Can-yon this weekend for a four-game series against West Texas A&M. The first game is Friday at 7 p.m.
Lawton works to reward mom Hundreds of Wildcat fans saw senior transfer Eric Lawton lighting up Lone Star Confer-ence opponents and became fans of him on the court, but Lawton’s off the court drive is just as impressive.
As a young player in Cali-fornia, Lawton was ranked the number 28 shooting guard in the entire country according to ESPN.com.
Lawton was one of seven children raised by his moth-er, who has been a constant source of inspiration to him.
“Eric was always a good kid with a good mom who did a great job with him,” head coach Joe Golding said.
Lawton chose to spend his first two years of college close to home, playing at Mount San Jacinto Junior College, where he flourished and was named an All-Con-ference performer.
From there, he was re-cruited to play basketball at Arkansas Little Rock by
then head coach Joe Gold-ing, who ended up taking the head coach job at ACU before Lawton’s junior year.
After an up and down sea-son in Arkansas, Lawton de-cided to transfer, and found himself in Abilene playing for Golding in his senior season.
“We built a great relation-ship while we were at Arkan-sas Little Rock and he left for ACU,” Lawton said. “So when I decided to transfer he was the first to call me and we al-ready had a great bond.”
Once in Abilene, Lawton took the reins of a program that was in transition, lead-ing them to competitiveness and led the Wildcats to their best season in five years.
Lawton was named the LSC newcomer of the year after averaging over 17 points per game as a Wild-cat. He also led the team in assists, three-pointers made and minutes per game.
“Eric had a really spe-cial year,” Golding said. “If you go back and look at his numbers he shot 47 percent from the floor and 47 per-
cent from three. He had 116 assists. When we had those injuries, I think around Christmas Eric really took over our team and became the heartbeat of our team. ”
Meanwhile, Lawton de-veloped a fondness for the ACU community that val-ued him as more than a bas-ketball player.
“He is a great person, and ACU was good for him too,” Golding said. “He has never been in an environment like this with everyone being so nice and generous and want-ing to help. You could tell how Eric changed throughout the year and grew up in his faith, friendship and basketball. He grew up to be a man and it
was fun to watch as a coach that is what it is all about.”
With his college career over, Lawton will be headed overseas to begin his profes-sional career that he hopes will end in the NBA.
“Lawton will play at a high level overseas because he is a baller, he loves to play the game,” Golding said. “ We are working on getting him to finish his degree as he plays, either with online classes or by getting him back here in the summer. We want him to graduate from Abilene Chris-tian. He will be a good repre-sentation of this university.”
One way or another, Lawton grinds everyday so that one day his mother will not have to.
“My mom is a big influ-ence on my life,” Lawton said. “She is loving, caring and she has supported me through-out my career. Growing up, seeing my mom struggle, one day I want to change that.”
men’s basketball
mandy lambright chief Photographer
Senior Eric Lawton takes a shot in Moody Coliseum.
Wednesday, the women’s ten-nis team added a big victory to their win streak, making the total six straight games.
The Wildcats are current-ly ranked No. 3 nationally (18-5 overall) and have the top record in the Lone Star Conference, 4-0.
As the season comes to a close, senior sisters, Julia and Laura Mongin said it will be hard to leave the sport.
“It’s sad because we won’t play again,” they said. But
“anything is possible.”The women’s team trav-
eled to Stephenville to face off against Tarleton State University.
The TexAnns posed no threat to ACU. The team won 8-1, winning 5 of 6 singles and all three of their doubles matches.
Julia Mongin defeat-ed Alicia Perez 6-0, 7-5. Brittney Reed took on Mea-line Barnes 6-3, 6-2. Laura Mongin challenged Ivana Zecevic 6-2, 6-2. Hannah Kelley matched against Sil-via Nieva-Garcia 6-1, 6-1, and Kaysie Hermsdorf faced
off with Marina Rull and was also victorious 6-1, 6-1.
All of the doubles domi-nated their opponents as Julia Mongin and partner Reed went 8-6 against Perez and Karla Martinez.
Duo Kelly and Micah Hermsdorf defeated Barnes and Zecevic 8-4. Laura Mon-gin and Kaysie Hermsdorf served up an 8-0 victory against Makenzie Mitchell and Rull.
The Wildcats face their last conference game of the season Thursday. Both teams will play Cameron University here in Abilene.
Before heading to the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament and the division regionals at the end of the month, the teams will take a trip to Pen-sacola, Fla.
When in the Sunshine State, they will match with Auburn University, the University of New Orleans and the University of West Florida.
While the matches in Florida will be the end to the regular season for the women’s team, the men’s team will close their sea-son squaring up against
McMurry University.The women’s team holds
22 conference titles and the men’s team holds 13, with both squads being recent winners last season. Head coach Hutton Jones believes they will be able to repeat last year’s success.
“I know what we are capa-ble of,” he said. “There won’t be anything easy, but the teams that are more comfort-able with [competition] not being easy will usually win.”
