inside Page 5 page 4 page 3 Department of Biology to offer new course next fall Weather patterns leave students ill prepared The Optimist, Morris & Mitchell name leaders for next year Abilene Christian University Sports page 6 news opinion news acuoptimist.com See more photos of this year’s spring rushes photos vol. 100, no. 54 friday, april 27, 2012 1 SECTION, 6 PAGES Bringing in the Closer ‘Cats battle Rams for playoff spot crime University mulls iPad mandate Justin Gibson, sophomore social work major from Gatesville, continues to recover after his scooter crashed with another ve- hicle on March 30. After the accident, Gib- son was in critical condi- tion and remained in a coma. Doctors said it was possible that he might lose his speech and his ability to read and hear. However, Gibson’s recovery did not go as expected. Gibson’s girlfriend, Melis- sa Mason, junior psychology major from New York City, said that Justin has made an incredible recovery. “They didn’t ever expect Justin to get to this point and especially not a week and a half after he woke up from his coma,” Mason said. “They didn’t expect him to wake up from his coma 12 days after the ac- cident. They estimated three months to two years. It’s been amazing. It’s a miracle. It’s all God.” Mason said Gibson is currently awake, walking with the help of a walker, cognitively very aware, and he is talking. Gibson plans on return- ing to Gatesville to live with his parents and participate in outpatient care in Dal- las a couple of times a week until he makes a full recov- ery. He continues to suffer from double vision in one eye, a torn ACL and head injuries. He is currently only able to talk in a whis- per due to a damaged vocal cord. At this point, the last- ing effects of Gibson’s acci- dent are unclear. Mason said, “We still don’t know if there are going to be deficits or not, or if he’ll go back to being completely healed. It’s all up in the air.” The ACU community’s support of Gibson has im- pacted him and his friends and family. “Justin knows that all of ACU is praying for him. I told him that the first day you met for Chapel after the accident, the whole Chapel was about him. He said ‘really?’ and then he fist pumped,” Mason said. “He’s blown away by how many people care about him and are coming to- gether to support him. It’s the same for us. We just feel so blessed that we have so many people that are sup- porting us and are praying for him constantly.” Faculty, such as Dr. Scott Perkins, a profes- sor of the Department of Psychology, who are con- nected to both Gibson and Mason have made the trip to the Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas that Gibson is receiving treatment at. Dr. Perkins is one of Ma- All full-time ACU under- grad students may be re- quired to have an iPad by August 2013. Team 55 sent an email to incoming freshmen encour- aging them to choose an iPad from the Mobile Learning Initiative selection because all full-time undergrads would be required to have an iPad in the fall of 2013. However, George Saltsman, executive director of Educa- tional Technology, said the email was supposed to say that Team 55 expects this change but it isn’t set. “We anticipate students to be required to have an iPad by then, but we don’t know for sure,” Saltsman said. “We’re in the plan- ning process now.” Team 55 will send an- other email soon to incom- ing freshmen to clarify its intent. Saltsman said should students be required to have an iPad, he didn’t know if they would have to pay for it or if the university would provide it. “There’s an assumption digital textbooks will ulti- mately save students money” he said. “We don’t know yet how they will be paid for.” Saltsman said data shows an overwhelming majority of students won’t need smartphones when they come to campus, and digital textbooks may be more popular then. “Eighty-six percent of in- coming freshmen are pro- jected to already have smart- phones before getting here,” he said. Marissa jones page 2 editor contact smith at [email protected]A junior psychology major is selling an original piano album on iTunes with pro- ceeds benefiting her sum- mer mission trip. When it came time to raise money for her World Wide Witness trip to Hara- re, Zimbabwe this summer, Caroline Nikolaus, junior psychology major from Illinois, knew that send- ing out fundraising let- ters would not be enough, so she decided to put her musical talents towards a good cause and recorded an entire album of original piano pieces. “I’ve wanted to make an album for a while and had the music to do so,” Nikolaus said. “This mission trip game me the motivation to finally record and release because it was going to be for a purpose and good cause, not just to make me feel better about being an artist.” Nikolaus began piano lessons in kindergarten and continued until she reached high school. Along the way she also picked up playing clarinet and gui- tar. By the time she started her senior year, she was in jazz band, wind ensemble, choir, show choir, church choir and the praise team for her youth group. “My family is a singing family, we grew up belting it in the kitchen, car and everywhere else,” Nikolaus said. “It’s in my blood and I thank God he’s given me these talents to play.” Although Nikolaus has been on several mission trips before, including places such as: Honduras, Oregon, Poland and Bul- garia, this will be the first mission trip that will last longer than two weeks. She is hoping that this experi- ence will help decide if she is interested in more long term mission work. While she is in Zimbabwe, she will be working with local organizations and churches to help with orphan care, vulnerable children care, youth ministry and compas- sion ministry for a time span of two months. The album entitled Speak the Language - A Mediation features eight songs and is available on iTunes for $7.92. Reviews posted on iTunes state that this album is “a perfect study and relaxation mix” service University Student releases album to raise mission trip funds Gibson takes first steps toward recovery Carole-Marie Wiser Student reporter contact Wiser at [email protected]Mark smith managing editor see gibson page 5 Melissa Mason junior psychology major from new york city A lot of people have said to me that they used to have trouble believing in God, and Justin’s situation made them feel that God is real and that He cares about us.” “ Mandy Lambright Chief photographer Ruby Poole, sophomore nursing major from Frisco, demolishes a cantaloupe at the Alpha Kai Omega and Trojan Fruit Smash rush at Will Hair Park.
Transcript
inside
Page 5 page 4 page 3
Department of Biology to offer new course next fall
Weather patterns leave students ill prepared
The Optimist, Morris & Mitchell name leaders for next year
Justin Gibson, sophomore social work major from Gatesville, continues to recover after his scooter crashed with another ve-hicle on March 30.
After the accident, Gib-son was in critical condi-tion and remained in a coma. Doctors said it was possible that he might lose his speech and his ability to read and hear. However, Gibson’s recovery did not go as expected.
Gibson’s girlfriend, Melis-sa Mason, junior psychology major from New York City, said that Justin has made an incredible recovery.
“They didn’t ever expect Justin to get to this point and especially not a week and a half after he woke up from his coma,” Mason said. “They didn’t expect him to wake up from his coma 12 days after the ac-cident. They estimated three months to two years. It’s been amazing. It’s a miracle. It’s all God.”
Mason said Gibson is currently awake, walking
with the help of a walker, cognitively very aware, and he is talking.
Gibson plans on return-ing to Gatesville to live with his parents and participate in outpatient care in Dal-las a couple of times a week until he makes a full recov-
ery. He continues to suffer from double vision in one eye, a torn ACL and head injuries. He is currently only able to talk in a whis-per due to a damaged vocal cord. At this point, the last-ing effects of Gibson’s acci-dent are unclear.
Mason said, “We still don’t know if there are going to be deficits or not, or if he’ll go back to being completely healed. It’s all up in the air.”
The ACU community’s support of Gibson has im-pacted him and his friends and family.
“Justin knows that all of ACU is praying for him. I told him that the first day you met for Chapel after the accident, the whole Chapel was about him. He said ‘really?’ and then he fist pumped,” Mason said. “He’s blown away by how many people care about
him and are coming to-gether to support him. It’s the same for us. We just feel so blessed that we have so many people that are sup-porting us and are praying for him constantly.”
Faculty, such as Dr. Scott Perkins, a profes-sor of the Department of Psychology, who are con-nected to both Gibson and Mason have made the trip to the Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas that Gibson is receiving treatment at.
Dr. Perkins is one of Ma-
All full-time ACU under-grad students may be re-quired to have an iPad by August 2013.
Team 55 sent an email to incoming freshmen encour-aging them to choose an iPad from the Mobile Learning Initiative selection because all full-time undergrads would be required to have an iPad in the fall of 2013. However, George Saltsman, executive director of Educa-tional Technology, said the email was supposed to say that Team 55 expects this change but it isn’t set.
“We anticipate students to be required to have an iPad by then, but we don’t know for sure,” Saltsman said. “We’re in the plan-ning process now.”
Team 55 will send an-other email soon to incom-ing freshmen to clarify its intent.
Saltsman said should students be required to have an iPad, he didn’t know if they would have to pay for it or if the university would provide it.
“There’s an assumption digital textbooks will ulti-mately save students money” he said. “We don’t know yet how they will be paid for.”
Saltsman said data shows an overwhelming majority of students won’t need smartphones when they come to campus, and digital textbooks may be more popular then.
“Eighty-six percent of in-coming freshmen are pro-jected to already have smart-phones before getting here,” he said.
A junior psychology major is selling an original piano album on iTunes with pro-ceeds benefiting her sum-mer mission trip.
When it came time to raise money for her World Wide Witness trip to Hara-re, Zimbabwe this summer, Caroline Nikolaus, junior
psychology major from Illinois, knew that send-ing out fundraising let-ters would not be enough, so she decided to put her musical talents towards a good cause and recorded an entire album of original piano pieces.
“I’ve wanted to make an album for a while and had the music to do so,” Nikolaus said. “This mission trip game me the motivation to finally
record and release because it was going to be for a purpose and good cause, not just to make me feel better about being an artist.”
Nikolaus began piano lessons in kindergarten and continued until she reached high school. Along the way she also picked up playing clarinet and gui-tar. By the time she started her senior year, she was in jazz band, wind ensemble,
choir, show choir, church choir and the praise team for her youth group.
“My family is a singing family, we grew up belting it in the kitchen, car and everywhere else,” Nikolaus said. “It’s in my blood and I thank God he’s given me these talents to play.”
Although Nikolaus has been on several mission trips before, including places such as: Honduras,
Oregon, Poland and Bul-garia, this will be the first mission trip that will last longer than two weeks. She is hoping that this experi-ence will help decide if she is interested in more long term mission work.
While she is in Zimbabwe, she will be working with local organizations and churches to help with orphan care, vulnerable children care, youth ministry and compas-
sion ministry for a time span of two months.
The album entitled Speak the Language - A Mediation features eight songs and is available on iTunes for $7.92. Reviews posted on iTunes state that this album is “a perfect study and relaxation mix”
service
University
Student releases album to raise mission trip funds
The ACU Student-Athelete Ad-visory Committee will be host-ing the 2nd Annual Run for Wishes on May 5 from 8 - 9:30 a.m. Register at bit.ly/acurun-forwishes. Registration costs $15.
The Students’ Association is looking for a Chief Commu-nication Officer. To down-load an application, visit www.acustudents.com/ad-ministrativeofficers. Appli-cations are due Friday at 5 p.m. in the Students’ Asso-ciation office.
The ACU Department of Music presents the Spring Orches-tra Concert featuring Dr. Paul Piersall. The concert will be held on May 1 at 7:30 p.m. in Cullen Auditorium. Admission is free. Call 325-674-2199 for more information.
University Church of Christ is holding a neighborhood block party on April 29 from 6-8 p.m. on the east side of the UCC gym. This event will include food, games, a petting zoo, a bounce house and live music. Admission is free.
The Service Action Leader-ship Team wants you to bring your old clothes, room stuff, plastics, cardboard, glass, pa-per and aluminum to recycle on May 5 from 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. in the University Church parking lot. Free Cajun Cones will be provided. The Students’ Association is looking for a Chief Financial Of-ficer to work next to the Execut-tive Treasurer and manage the SA budget. Download an ap-plication at www.acustudents.com/administrativeofficers.
2nd Annual SDA 5k and Pet-a-thon will be held on Saturday at Red-Bud Park. Registra-tion is available in the Cam-pus Center this week. Tickets are $15 for the 5k, $7 for the Pet-a-thon and $20 for both. 5k registration comes with a shirt. Also sign up for a $1 raffle ticket.
The Office of Multicultural En-richment presents Combined Multicultural Chapel to cel-ebrate the closing of the spring 2012 semester on May 3 in Business Building Room 201.
Volunteer Opp0rtunities
Abilene Hope Haven needs volunteers from May 4 through May 6 to help in a variety of ways with their annual youth soccer tournament. The event will be held at the Abilene National Soccer Complex at 3025 Maple. Contact Alan Jeter at 325-677-4673 or [email protected] or Kathy Reppart at 325-677-4673 or [email protected].
Ben Richey Boys Ranch is looking for volunteers for their annual Ben Richey Boys Ranch Clay Break Classic on May 5 for shifts throughout the day from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Duties will include set up, helping on the clay-break range, clean up and variety of other tasks during the event. Contact Patty Dunn at 325-668-0557 or Karen Martin at 325-668-9554 or e-mail [email protected]. The Abilene Zoo is looking for volunteers to help with general labor such as grounds cleanup and paint-ing any weekday at any time between noon and 4 p.m. The Zoo is located at 2070 Zoo Ln. Contact Joy Harsh at 325-676-6487 for more information.
Child Protective Services needs volunteers for cleri-cal work as well as volunteers who can organize a playroom. Volunteers are needed any weekday any-time between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Child Protective Ser-vices are located at 3610 Vine St. Background checks are required and are done at the center. Background checks usually are cleared in about two weeks. For more information call V. Danette Cummings at 325-691-8214.
Medical Care Mission is looking for volunteers to as-sist medical or dental staff with patients any weekday from 8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. For more information contact Dave Kraly at 325-676-3104 or email [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.
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 com-puter skills. Locations are 4610 N. 10th St. or 1902 Shelton St. Contact Mark Denman at 325-672-1712 for more information.
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 de-liver afternoon meals to seniors and adults with dis-abilities Monday through 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 exemption 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 relationship 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 volun-teers 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 anytime 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 poten-tial adopters and other tasks. Contact 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] Resources, Inc. is looking for volunteers to assist developmentally disabled residence. Help is needed with activities, art projects, reading books, exercise 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].
Volunteers are needed to read to Taylor Elementary School students Monday through Thursday after-noons 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 Salva-tion Army is located at 1726 Butternut St. For more information contact J.D. Alonzo at 325-677-1408 or visit www.satruck.com.
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].
Access Learning Center is looking for volunteers to help elementary school kids with homework, reading, computers and games. The center is located at 2102 Ambler Ave. For more information contact Bret Hines at 325-670-9727. Call ahead to schedule a time to volunteer.
College Heights Friendship House needs child mentors Monday - Thursday from 3 - 5 p.m. Con-tact Dusty Garison at [email protected] for more information.
For additional volunteer opportunities visit: www.acu.edu/campusoffices/slvr/vol_opps/
announcements
Police Tip of the Week: Never leave valuables such as wallets or iPhones laying around unattended in the SRWC while you work out. Use the secure kit lockers provided.
Weekly Stats for April 17 - April 24, 2012
04/17/12 10:30 a.m. THEFT: An ACU student reported the theft of her cell phone from a bench in the SWRC. Case is open.
04/20/12 9:25 p.m. BACK UP OFFICER: ACUPD assisted an APD unit at a dis-turbance call at The Grove. A tenant who had been locked out of his apartment was throwing his shoe at his window to get his roommate’s attention. He struck a neighbor’s window and the frightened tenant called the police.
04/22/12 3:05 p.m. THEFT: An ACU student reported the theft of money from his room at Mabee hall. Case is open.
04/23/12 3:05 p.m. BURGLARY OF HABITATION: An ACU student reported the theft of his iPod touch from his room at Mabee Hall. Case is open.
04/23/12 6:00 p.m. THEFT: A campus guest reported the theft of his iPhone 4 from the SRWC.
Administrative Activity 8Arrested Subject 4Assist 5Back Up Officer 1Building Lock/Unlock 5Check Building 88Criminal Mischief 1Disturbance 1Escort 1Fight 1 Fingerprinting Service 4Information Report 2Investigation Follow Up 5Lost Property 2Monitor Facility/ Lot 1Motorist Assist: Jump Start 5Motorist Assist: Other 2Motorist Assist: Unlock 10
Mark Smith and Arielle Moncure have been cho-sen to lead the Optimist and Morris & Mitchell for the 2012-13 school year.
JMC Network advisers and university admin-istrators chose Smith, sophomore convergence journalism major from Powhatan, Va., to be ed-itor-in-chief of the Opti-mist. He has worked for the student-run paper since February of last year and served as managing editor since August.
“A couple months after working as a sports report-er I accepted the position of managing editor,” Smith said. “I didn’t have any ex-perience in page design or news but it worked out re-ally well.”
Smith said he learned much of the design aspect
from Han-nah Barnes, s e n i o r graphic de-sign major from El Paso and current editor in chief of the Optimist.
“Hannah is very good at design,” Smith said. “We worked well together because I’m more journal-ism based. I’ve learned a lot about design from her which will help me next year.”
One change Smith would like to incorporate next year deals with online content.
“A change you can count on next year is news being put online faster,” he said. “I would also like to further converge and integrate different areas of the newspaper and video and photos.”
Smith plans on making
the news-room more efficient.
“I want there to be more open c om mu n i-cation be-tween page
editors, photographers, video staff and reporters so we don’t miss any op-portunities.”
Moncure, junior Ad/PR and psychology ma-jor from Leawood, Kan., was selected as group ac-count director for Morris & Mitchell, the student-run advertising and public re-lations agency. Moncure said Morris & Mitchell is a great opportunity for students to get real-world experience while they are still in school.
“I’ve had a great time with it so far,” she said. “It’s very similar to a real Ad/PR agency because we’re working with vari-
ous clients on campus.”This was Moncure’s first
semester with the agency.“Morris & Mitchell is
relatively new but the lead-ership in the past has been phenomenal,” Moncure said. “I want to keep up the high standards and make sure everyone has a good experience with it.”
For more information, visit the Optimist online at www.acuoptimist.com or Morris & Mitchell at www.morrisandmitchell.com.
The men of Gamma Sigma Phi host their 19th annual Crawfish Rush across Campus Court as apart of spring rushing.
Co-founder’s graduation to leave hole in group
The World’s Backyard co-founder will be graduat-ing in May, leaving the future of the non-profit uncertain.
Bradyn Boone, senior fi-nance major from Abilene, created the non-profit or-ganization in 2009 with his brother Jason, ACU alum. Bradyn said he wants de-pendable and capable per-son to replace him after he graduates.
“I’d like to know the per-son, whoever that may be, is fully committed to grow-ing this ministry with the same values we hold in our mission statement,” Bra-dyn said. “We value com-mitment rather than a lot of members.”
The World’s Backyard’s mission statement is, “ex-pand the Kingdom of God by raising children out of physical, emotional, and spiritual poverty through sports, discipleship and the power of Jesus Christ.” They meet every Wednes-day afternoon to minister God’s love to these refugee children.
“It was just Jason, me and a soccer ball at the start,” Bradyn said. “God just took it and had a way better plan than we ever envisioned. God turned playing soccer with 15-20 kids a week into getting to know them, and maybe getting a chance to talk to them about Jesus.”
These refugee children come from many different countries in Africa, and relocated to the U.S. with their families for various reasons. The International Rescue Committee, a non-profit that provides service in the wake of disasters, helped them relocate to the United States. Abilene is one of 22 locations in which IRC plants refugee families.
In 2009, the Boone brothers went to Highland Oaks, an apartment com-plex off of Sayles Boule-vard, to play a game of pick up soccer. They ended up
playing with about 20 kids for a couple of hours before leaving them with a deal – the kids would bring their friends the next week and the Boone brothers would bring more soccer balls. More than 50 kids showed up for the second meeting.
Every Wednesday after-noon, about 50 ACU stu-dents volunteer to spend time playing sports, read-ing the Bible, and worship-ing Jesus with refugee chil-dren. Each volunteer has to go through an on-site orientation before working with these children.
Some students, like Steve Oh, marketing/ad-vertising major from Seoul, South Korea got involved with TWB by receiving a class project at the begin-ning of the semester in Dr. David Wright’s marketing strategy class. Oh and his classmates had to choose a non-profit organization to help market and adver-tise the organization to the ACU community.
“We chose this organi-zation because we saw how much of an impact it had on the refugee children. Just to be able to laugh, play, and have fun was something they didn’t re-ally receive on a day to day basis,” Oh said.
The World’s Backyard partners with Southern Hills Church of Christ to pick up the kids at five dif-ferent apartment complex-es. With about 80-140 kids each week, they meet at Madison Middle School.
“I would love to have more student volunteers, but I think the big deal for us is commitment. If this is something that God has re-ally placed on your heart, then that’s what’s going to keep you coming back. We want committed people to come at least once a week to minister to these chil-dren,” Boone said.
I want to keep up the high standards and make sure everyone has a good
experience with it.”“
Biology to begin bug course
The Department of Biol-ogy will offer a new course called Medical and Veteri-nary Entomology next fall.
This course is an intro-duction to the study of in-sects, with a prerequisite of general Biology. This is the first time the course has been offered at ACU, and the 12 seats are filling up quickly.
Dr. Qiang Xu, assistant professor of biology, spe-cializes in Entomology. Xu said students can expect to cover topics such as diseases and how they are transmitted.
“This course addresses a lot of diseases transmitted by insects, like malaria, yel-low fever etc. Those diseases are still around so we need to put effort is preventing that from happening. Stu-
dents will learn what cases those d i s e a s e s , and I think it’s a good idea for my students to take advan-
tage of that,” he said.Ashlann Wood, fresh-
man pre-vet major from Conroe, says that she’d want to check out the course and believes it would benefit her major.
“I would love to take it because it seems really interesting to see how dis-eases effect both animals and humans. Even though it has to do with bugs, I’d still take it. It would defi-nitely benefit me,” Wood said.
Xu said not only medi-cal or science majors can benefit from taking this course, but students in other majors as well.
“I would like to prepare the students better if they want to peruse a degree in Entomology, but it also goes well with any stu-dents in pre-health con-centrations. Students who are interested in medical missions in places like Af-rica, they need to be aware of certain diseases and this course would prepare them for that,” he said.
Next fall Xu is expect-ing several students to en-roll in the class, and hope to continue teaching the course to prepare students in Entomology the best he can in years to come.
“I never want my stu-dents to be at a disadvan-tage when going to Med-School, and this class will only help them be further prepared,” he said.
The Interior Design Pro-gram in the Department of Art and Design re-ceived full reaccredita-tion through the Council for Interior Design Ac-creditation.
“Accreditation pro-motes achievement of high academic standards, while making interior de-sign education more re-sponsive to students and societal needs,” said Kitty Wasemiller, instructor in the Department of Art and Design and director of the interior design program.
Accreditation through CIDA involved a three-day on-site review along with other requirements. Dur-ing which, the students displayed hand and com-puter-generated renderings and illustrations, archi-tectural plans, hand-built models, essays, blog posts, completed assignments and exams, research, and tactile representations of design solutions.
Faculty and students filled the Shore Art Gal-lery with an archive of student’s work and cur-riculum materials for the site review. The programs produce a written self-study to chronicle evi-
dence of how these stan-dards are achieved in the curriculum.
After the site visit, the materials prepared by the department and the eval-uations from the campus visits were sent to be re-viewed before a final opin-ion was passed April 16.
CIDA accreditation programs are evaluated based on 16 standards; these include: Global perspectives, human be-havior, professional and business practices, regu-lations, environment, systems and controls, and aesthetics.
CIDA accredits pro-grams that provide aca-
demic preparation for the professional interior designer. CIDA is also the only interior design col-legiate accrediting body for programs that seek accreditation through a process of self-evaluation and peer review, said Kit-ty Wasemiller.
All students who grad-uate with the CIDA ac-
credited degree from ACU are eligible to sit for the NCIDQ licensing/creden-tialing exam and thereby apply for registration in states providing this op-portunity. So the accredi-tation affirms the excel-lence of the programs outcome.
“This is very important because all students who graduate from a CIDA accredited degree pro-gram are able to sit for the NCIDQ licensing exam. Graduates who pass the NCIDQ are eligible to ap-ply to the states licensing board for registration.
“Being a Registered In-terior Designer is very im-
portant because it opens up job and networking opportunities,” said Mel-anie Bartholomew a se-nior interior design ma-jor from San Antonio and the president of the ACU American Society of Inte-rior Design.
Beginning in the fall, a minor in interior de-sign will be available for interested students. For more information about the major or minor in in-terior design, contact the Department of Art and Design.
working, self-motivated student to serve as a Classwork Intern dur-ing Fall 2012 and assist in classwork and homework from the 16 hours of class-es I will be taking.
Classes will cover a range of subjects and intern will be expected to spend 3-5 hours each night on homework.
Required experience:The ideal candidate
should be a current uni-versity student and have at least two (2) semesters experience with a col-lege course load. An ideal candidate has experience with essays, book reports, research papers, Power-point presentations and speeches. Strong writing skills, ability to commu-nicate with professor and knowledge of collegiate life are a must. Applicant has no problem putting my name on their work.
Stage acting experience and ability to “be me” during group projects, presentations or student-teacher meetings is an added bonus.
Required skills:The ideal candidate has
good time management skills and is comfort-able with extremely late nights, early morning and busy weekends. Applicant should have strong work ethic but no ethical prob-lem with doing my home-work. Again, can’t stress this enough. I hope you’re fine with cheating.
Applicant is not easily distracted and will have no problem working while I watch television and
check my Facebook.Compensation:
Applicant will receive the chance to work along-side a wonderful student (me) and build their re-sume and portfolio. Intern will gain experience with university work which will benefit them in the future. This is an unpaid
internship.How to apply:
Please send a resume padded with volunteer work and inflated job titles, a portfolio full of your best school work and a writing sample explain-ing why cheating for me and deceiving my profes-sors will not, in any way, compromise your morals.
Additional informa-tion:
If an intern fits well into my day to day school life, there is a possibility of the internship continuing into the spring semester. That internship will also be unpaid.
Isn’t the Campus Center great? It’s got the Food Court, Campus Store, mailboxes, the WORLD FAMOUS Bean, random couches and tables making great obstacle cours-es, and of course, those nice LCD TVs that you can never hear. Oh, and that random “Living Room” that doesn’t do anything.
I’m not complaining. But even the best campus cen-ters can use improvements.
Abilene lacks Chipotle. Sharky’s is good, but man I miss me some Chipotle. The Food Court could make the best of additions by moving the fountain drinks to the center, where the Pop-Tart shelf is now, and install a convenient Chipotle food line.
More than 41 million people like Coca-Cola on Facebook. Eight million poor misguided souls have instead chosen to like Pepsi. Through extensive scientific research, I found several of my friends actually like both pages. That’s like rooting for both OU and Texas, both Obama and Romney or both . That’s not allowed. You have to choose. The choice is clear.
The only reason why we have Pepsi is to remind us how sad the world would be without Coke.
Coke is clearly better and more liked than Pepsi. So of course it makes sense that ACU is a Coke-free campus. I’m inclined to start a peti-tion to end Pepsi’s monopoly
over campus. My distaste for the Coke-wanna-be grows every day I see Pepsi in the campus center with no com-petition from its superior. Those soda fountains must change from Pepsi products to Coke, and the sooner the better. Chip chop chip.
I’d like to see the mail-room add telegrams to their list of services. Hipsters love taking vintage-looking pho-tos with vintage cameras and texting is just a primitive form of talking on the phone, so isn’t this just the natu-ral progression? Whether it be a hipsters-only thing or free for everyone to claim as something they like to do, telegrams were the way of the past and will be a promi-nent part in our futures.
Who says shoeshine stands are limited to airports? Let’s throw one of those in next to that chalk wall that has no chalk with it.
Let’s install a stable plat-form that hangs above the middle of the campus cen-
ter. On it we could add a bar-ber shop. No, not just a bar-ber, maybe a legit hair salon. Why stop there? How about a hair, nail and massage sa-lon/spa thing with a name in a foreign language? Nah, we’d never have that at ACU.
I got it. The platform hang-ing above the campus center will be a dance floor. The Students’ Association dance in the Hunter Welcome Cen-ter required a dance surface to be brought in for that occasion. This would be a permanent place to get yo groove on.
I don’t expect for ACU to fulfill all of my requests.
I’ll even settle for a sta-tion that students can bring any of their belongings to be sprayed in an odorless sub-stance that would repel all beetles, moths and crickets. And the Coke thing. I want Coke. Make it happen ACU.
Dearest weather,While we have enjoyed the
last year full of snow days spent out of class, sunny days spent in the pool and those few weeks in between of actual, decent weather. It is time to make up your mind.
We simply can not take any more of your mother nature inconsistency.
You fluctuate daily, if not hourly, leaving us to ques-tion the choice between jacket and scarf, boots or sandals. This semester alone, you have been re-
sponsible for chilly legs, wet shoulders and even a little moisture under the arms.
Do you not owe us just a shred of decency? Just as the sun and tuition rises every morning, do we not deserve the same consistency from you?
We constantly look to men and women who claim to know you so well only to be left hurt and confused when you betray their very predictions. If a knowledge-able meteorologist can not even ascribe a basic per-centage to your chance of
precipitation, how can we be expected to understand your ways, much less, de-cide if we should pack an umbrella?
There are people across the world who would love water. So, in the interest both ours and their happi-ness, please stop delivering unwanted afternoon show-ers to our otherwise beauti-ful days.
And it is not just the rain, but also the heat, that leaves us to question your motives.
Just as it is easier to smile then frown, it must require
more on your part to pro-duce a 100° squelcher. Triple digits are for slot machines and All-Star basketball games. Grant us a day off and let’s both relax at a com-fortable 75°.
With the summer quickly approaching (although the corresponding tempera-tures seem a bit ahead of schedule), we understand you have certain weather related duties that you must fulfill.
We know that tempera-tures must rise but your constant attempt to win
awards with your “record highs” can have some nega-tive effects on us. You can get recognition other ways, you know.
So this summer, instead of heat, let’s set record lows
in sunburn, air condition-ing bills and forest fires.
Truly, yours.
well, this is awkwardmark smith
Oh Dear, Christian College Ben miller
the issueThe weather has been playing games with our emotions this semester.
our takeThe best way to solve this problem is through open conver-sation.
Hannah barneseditor in chief
Mark smithmanaging editor
jozie sandsopinion page editor
Leigh Foithonline editor
david ian singer arts editor
Jozie SandsCopy editor
samantha sutherlandfeatures editor
austin gwinsports director
Natalie goinsports editor
john edward isaacssports editor
Michael mccartypage designer
ben miller cartoonist
Marissa Jonespage 2 editor
amanda lambrightcheif photogrpaher
destiny hagoodstaff photographer
adrian patenaudestaff photographer
brittany willaimsstaff photographer
matt sewellstaff photographer
marcus bowenvideo project editor
lucius patenaudevideographer
farron salleymultimedia managing editor
taylor langstonsports producer/anchor
kristen goodspeedsports producer/anchor
blane singletaryaudio broadcast reporter
kenneth pybusfaculty adviser
cade whitefaculty adviser
cara lee cranfordadvertising
newsroom
(325) 674-2439
sports desk
(325) 674-2684
photo department
(325) 674-2499
advertising office
(325) 674-2463
multimedia desk
(325) 674-2463
subscriptions ($40/Year)
(325) 674-2296
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
ClassifiedRENTAL HOUSING NEAR ACUAvailable June 1, 2012•649 EN 15th: 3 bedroom/1 bath, includes washer and dryer, $700•649 EN 16th: 1 bedroom/1 bath, $400No pets, no smoking. Deposit requiredCall (325) 677-1943
FUN PART-TIME JOBLooking for a companion/aide for active male in wheelchair. Client attends ACU & is active in community. 15 hours every other weekend. $10/hr. determined on experienceCall 325-829-6776 or [email protected] applicants only please.
Workshop offers girls STEM experience
Middle school girls from the Abilene area gathered for an event called STEM for Girls at ACU’s Money Student Recreation and Wellness Center April 21. This program brings middle school girls and primarily female ACU fac-ulty together for a day ded-icated to studying science, technology, engineering and math.
Dr. Sarah Lee, assistant professor in the Depart-ment of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Dr. Jen-nifer Shewmaker, associ-ate professor of psychol-ogy, coordinated the event. These women saw a need in the Abilene community for young girls to be exposed to STEM last semester, so they worked together to make that happen.
Shewmaker said they want to influence the way girls think.
“These STEM areas
give girls a different way to look at themselves. While they’re getting messages through the media or their peers that who they are is all about what they look like, focusing on some-thing they’re really inter-ested in a strong field like STEM gives them a differ-ent identity. Things they know, what they learn and what they do, bring them back to real value and worth,” she said.
Lee said the girls toured booths and activ-
ity areas where they in-teractively learned about STEM subjects.
Projects in all subjects were there, including ro-botics from ATEMS High School, and several micro-scopes from ACU’s biology department were available for the girls to use. Creative hands on activities were available at every station.
This event was the first of its kind, and the positive response from teachers and students around the Abilene community was
encouraging to Dr. Lee and Dr. Shewmaker.
“From the response of ACU faculty wanting to join in, to teacher’s around town sending positive feedback in letters, we were really excited to see it come together and we’re excited for future events like this”, said Lee.
Shewmaker said the middle school girls were not only exposed to a posi-tive learning environment, but a new way of thinking of their own self esteem.
“We had two important goals we wanted to ac-complish for this weekend. First to expose the girls to subjects that they may not really know or experienced before, and to give the girls female role models who are successfully pursuing ca-reers in these fields. I think we are going to do that through this and in the events to come,” she said.
Gibson: Recovery exceeds expectationsson’s past professors. He was impressed with the way family and the com-munity rallied around Mason and Gibson and the evidence of God in that support.
“Melissa has found a place to stay that she
doesn’t have to pay for. She’s not in school right now so she can be with Justin. She’s had some of her family with her who have been very support-ive, which doesn’t sound very miraculous, but is evidence of God being with them,” Perkins said. “I think the ACU commu-
nity has helped them tre-mendously.”
Dr. Perkins’s past expe-rience equipped him with insight into Gibson’s situa-tion which was helpful for Mason.
Perkins said, “Having worked with brain injury before, I think there is good reason to be optimistic for
Justin’s recovery.”Gibson’s story and recov-
ery have also reverberated with those who hear it.
Mason said, “A lot of people have said to me that they used to have trouble believing in God, and Justin’s situation made them feel that God is real and that He cares
about us.”Though Gibson’s recov-
ery is not complete, he ap-preciates the support that has been shown and is al-ready planning ahead.
“I know Justin wants to say thank you to every-body. He never thought that so many people would care about him and would
be praying for him,” Ma-son said. “He keeps say-ing he wants to get better so he can go back to ACU for summer school. That’s what he’s talking about all the time.”
Following losing three of its last four regular season games, the Abilene Chris-tian softball team will have a steep hill to climb as the team embarks on the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament this weekend.
The Wildcats will first encounter fourth seed and defending conference champion West Texas A&M Friday at 4:30 p.m., and if ACU wins, it will play the second of two semifinal games Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against either top-seeded Angelo State or No. 8 Cameron.
The conference cham-pionship will be on Sat-urday at 6:30 p.m. The conference champion-ship now follows a single elimination format, un-like past years where it
was a double elimination format.
“Yeah, this is the first year the conference is do-ing the single elimination format,” head coach Bobby Reeves said. “This means that we have to come to play every game and treat it as if it is our last. There is no safety net of one loss like years past, so we have to bring it at all times.”
The Wildcats are look-ing to rebound off of a rocky week last week. ACU began last week in third place with a 14-8 record in conference play, but lost the rubber match Tuesday night at No. 15 Angelo State and then lost two of three at Midwestern State.
Those defeats paired with wins by West Texas A&M and Tarleton State dropped ACU (19-15, 15-11) to fifth place, meaning the Wildcats will have to battle against the upper half of the bracket to reach
the conference champion-ship game.
This is the Wildcats’ first tournament appear-ance since 2009 when they lost consecutive games to Angelo State in the finals, and the first for Reeves, in his second year at the helm for the Wildcats.
“It has been awhile since we have been in this position,” Reeves said. “But we can’t dwell in the past. Every season is a fresh slate, a new start. We are playing for the present right now.”
There is only one cur-rent Wildcat who was on the 2009 roster that made it to the tournament, and that is senior Brianna Fowlkes. Besides Fowlkes, the rest of the ACU roster is chalk full of novices in re-gard to conference tourna-ment experience.
“We have a young group, a lot of whom are in there first year playing at ACU,”
Reeves said. “But softball is softball no matter the circumstances surround-ing the game or things like that. I have complete con-fidence in the girls that are out on the field.”
Offensively, the Wild-cats have distributes the load in a relatively equal manner with everyone producing.
Keanna Winkfield leads the team in batting aver-age (.378), runs scored (34), hits (59) and total bases (72). Kim Briggs and Lyndi Smith are tied for the team lead in homeruns (7) and Briggs leads the team in RBI’s (37) by a consider-able amount.
The ACU pitching staff has been lights out most of the year. Junior Caitlyn Crain leads the charge on the mound with a 13-6 re-cord and a 2.36 earned run average.
Sophomore Peyton Mos-ley boasts a 2. 35 ERA and
is 11-7 on the year. Junior Shelby Hall has a 2.86 ERA and is 5-2 this season.
“The great thing about all of us pitchers is we have each others back,” Crain said. “Everyone is so gifted, but there are days where we
can just be off, so it’s so re-assuring to know that one of the other two can clean up the mess.”
Last weekend, the ACU men’s and women’s track team travelled to Baylor for the Michael Johnson/Dr. Pepper classic.
In Waco, the ‘Cats won five events, including Se-nior Nick Jones’ two vic-tories in the shot put and discus.
“It is awesome to win at a place like Baylor at the Michael Johnson classic because there is such his-tory there,” Jones said.
The men dominated the field events, as they also were able to capture first place in the long jump thanks to Levance Wil-liams flying through the air on his way to a twenty-five foot jump.
Also in the long jump, ACU’s own Jarvis Gotch was able to secure second place, so the ‘Cats were well represented on the podium.
The fourth victory of the day came from Bap-tiste Kerjean’s hammer throw that cleared all the other competitors by
nearly ten meters.“It is good to see a lot of
guys really pushing their marks and as a team, we are making a lot of prog-ress and getting better,” Jones said.
The ‘Cats were not just winning field events though, 400m hurdler Kevin Johnson won his event as well, showing that ACU could run and throw with anyone in the nation.
On the women’s side, ACU was able to secure several provisional spots on their way to an excellent
showing in Waco as well.All three of the par-
ticipants in the women’s hammer throw were able to set personal records on their way to provisional qualification.
Alexis Wilder’s throw of 170-01 lead the way, while Shalaina Lakey and Lauren Hartwick were both able to send their hammer over 160 feet.
The women’s team also set several personal bests in the track event on the way to even more provi-sional qualifications.
In the individual events,
Shennae Steele, Ayesha Rumble, Emily Hill, and Chloe Susset all set provi-sional marks and will be seen in the NCAA champi-onships.
The women’s 4X100 me-ter relay team of Williams, Steele, Sydney Smith and Karolyn Palmer were also able to qualify for the championships with a time of just over 45 seconds.
“It is always a good meet with a good track,” Head Coach Roosevelt Lofton said. “That and the atmosphere really helped our girls run well
and put up good times.”The Wildcats will be
participating in the West Texas A&M Open and the Penn Relays in Philadel-phia in the next few days, with a chance to see how they stack up against some teams in the Lone Star Conference and get some great competition on a national stage.
Fight: Team to battle 1st place Rams LSC), on the other hand, are jammed in the bottom three with Tarleton State University and Cameron University.
“Angelo plays with a lot of confidence which makes them a good team,” Bonneau said. “We’re go-ing to have to bring our A-game and play with a lot of intensity every single inning.”
The ACU bullpen had a nightmarish series with TSU. With three outs away from recording a double-header sweep, the ‘pen gave up three free passes in the seventh inning and allowed all of them to score resulting in a Tarle-ton comeback, 3-2.
The next day the bull-pen was whacked around for seven runs in the final three innings pitched in a
10-8 defeat.Infielder Rodge Macy
is not worried about a let down at Angelo State.
“We’ve persevered throughout the entire season from tough loss-es,” he said. “It shouldn’t have any affect on this weekend.”
Angelo State won 3 out of 4 over Cameron last week to improve to an im-pressive 20-4 at home. The Rams had no trouble with the Aggie pitchers as they recorded 31 hits and 18 runs. Their pitching staff posted an ERA of 2.25.
ASU is third in the con-ference in team batting average (.309). The top four individual batters are Lee Neumann (.387), Toby Semler (.356), Ryan Greer (.340) and Brett Parsons (.336). All four are ranked among the LSC’s top-20 hitters.
Neumann leads the team in home runs with five while Greer is the RBI leader with 40 and the top base stealer (25).
The ‘Cats also have several top-20 offensive players.
Senior Duncan Blades is 12th in the conference in hitting with a .356 av-erage and third with 16 doubles. Infielder Chuck Duarte is fourth in bat-ting average (.378). Tyler Eager ranks in the top five in hits, runs, doubles, tri-ples and total bases.
Duarte has been red hot the last month of the season. He has raised his average 78 points hitting .565 since April 1.
Softball plays in the LSC Tournament Championship on Friday and Saturday in Denton. The team begins the tourney against West Texas A&M on Friday at 4:30 p.m.
The baseball team will face LSC opponent Angelo State in San Angelo beginning on Friday. The four game series starts at 6:00 p.m.
Men’s tennis competes in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament at the Eager Tennis Pavilion Tuesday. Their first match is against Northwest Missouri State at 11:45 a.m.
Women’s tennis also competes in the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament Tuesday in Abilene. The team’s first match-up will be against either St. Edwards or Central Oklahoma at 9:45 a.m.
softball
standings
briefings
Player Profile
Upcoming
Softball is ranked No. 5 in the NCAA Division II South Central Region softball poll for the second straight week. Angelo State is ranked No. 1 followed by Emporia State, Central Oklahoma and Missouri Western State.
Senior long jumper LeVance Williams and junior sprinter Shennae Steele were named the LSC’s Track & Field Athletes of the Week on Wednesday. They were both recognized for their performances at Baylor’s Michael Johnson/Dr. Pepper Classic.
Junior Adam Carpenter was named the Lone Star Conference’s Academic Golfer of the Year on Monday. To be eligible for this honor, student-athletes must maintain at least a 3.30 grade point average and be at least a sophomore academically and athletically.
Baseball
TeamTAMU-KASUUIWWTAMUTSUACUCameronENMU
Div.16-816-814-914-1012-1211-1310-142-21
Ovrl.28-1232-1419-1627-1521-1924-2221-2412-30
Sophomore Courtney Flanary has been impres-sive in her first season with the softball team.
A outfielder/infielder who transfered from Sam Houston State, Flanary is batting .351 with 39 hits in 44 games played. She has knocked in 22 RBIs and is third on the team in runs with 26.
Carpenter earns academic award
ACU student-athlete Adam Carpenter was named the Lone Star Conference’s 2012 Academic Golfer of the Year only a week after his twin brother Alex was named the 2012 LSC Golf-er of the Year.
“The fact that Alex and I both received the two player of the year awards is exciting for us,” Adam
said. “Alex and I constant-ly work together and use our personal gifts to help one another. I know this is the reason behind our success. I could not ask for a better twin brother.”
Adam becomes the fifth ACU athlete to win an Ac-ademic Player of the Year honor this year joining Julie Coppedge (soccer), Jennie Hutt (volleyball), Erik Forrister (cross coun-try) and Micah Hermsdorf (women’s tennis).
Although Carpenter has only competed in nine events since his freshman season, he has maintained a stellar GPA in the class-room. He has only made one B in his five semes-ters in college giving him a 3.96 GPA.
“Receiving the award is a combination of two very important goals of mine: achieving excellence in the classroom along with excel-lence on the golf course,” Adam said. “I believe the
Lord has blessed me with the ability to do both, and I work hard at constantly giving Him my all.”
Despite his lack of re-cent success on the green, his teammates, especially his brother, are still sup-portive of his in-class-room efforts.
The golf team will play in the regional meet on May 7-9 in Jefferson, Mo. If they qual-ify, they will make their sec-ond straight trip to nationals which will be one week later.
“We’re excited about the chance to compete against the best teams in the region,” Alex said. “We played really well as a team the last two rounds at conference and have been working hard on the things we can improve on so that we put our best stuff on the line next week in Missouri.”
Nick Jones and Jennie Hutt received the Paul Goad award Tuesday night, an annual ACU award given to the most accomplished male and fe-male athlete of the year.
Jones, a senior standout in the shot put and discus competition this year, is on his way to claiming a fourth and fifth NCAA national championship. Hutt, also a senior, has been instrumen-tal in the volleyball team’s success all four years.
Although the track and field season is still under
way, Jones has already left his mark on the 2012 season.
After his first appearance in both the shot put and dis-cus competition this year, Jones has held the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II rankings in both events. He is favored to win both in the NCAA Division II National Championship in May.
No NCAA athlete has ever won four outdoor national championships in a row in discus, and Jones is hopeful to be the first this year.
In discus, Jones holds the top mark out of all col-legiate athletes, regardless of division with his throw of 203 feet, 3 inches. It is the
third-best mark in all Divi-sion II history. Jones also has the thirteenth-best shot put throw in all collegiate athletes this season with a mark of 62 feet, 4.5 inches.
Jones won the indoor in-dividual national champion-ship in shot put in March. He has won the outdoor individ-ual national championship every year he has competed in discus, winning three times in 2008, 2009, and 2011.
Hutt has had a signifi-cant impact on the vol-leyball team’s success the past four years, playing with outstanding num-bers on the court.
“I was pretty surprised
I won,” Hutt said. “It was a huge honor and blessing not only for me, but also for my team and coaches.”
Hutt is no stranger to LSC recognitions, winning Player of the Week twice this year. Hutt recorded 518 kills in her senior season, ranked sixth nationally in that category. She averaged 3.78 kills per game, 46th in the country, and third in the conference. She also recorded 32 kills in a single match this year against Incarnate Word, the second team-high in Wildcat history. Her 4.20 average points per game put her at 60th nation-ally, and second in the LSC.
Hutt also received sev-
eral post-season awards. In addition to being voted the LSC All-Academic Player of the Year, she was selected as first team NCAA Division II academic all-American, and received honorable mention all-American.
“It’s an honor to go out on, and the topping to my experi-ence here at ACU,” Hutt said.
Jones is the first track and field athlete to win since Nicodemus Naimadu in 2007. Hutt is the fourth volleyball player to win the award since 2006.
Natalie goinsports editor
awards
‘Cats fight for playoff berth at ASU
The Wildcats enter the last weekend of the regu-lar season fighting for the remaining two spots in the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The Angelo State Uni-versity Rams stand in the ‘Cats way. A four-game series with No. 19 ASU begins Friday at 6 p.m. in San Angelo and goes into Saturday with a double-header at 4 p.m. The se-ries concludes with a 2 p.m. Sunday contest.
After losing a disap-pointing 3 out of 4 games versus the Texans last week at Crutcher Scott Field, the Wildcats dropped from fifth to sixth in the LSC. The team could miss out on the playoffs for a second straight year if it
does not win at least three games in San Angelo.
“This has been a team that can rise to the occa-sion and I think we’ll play well this week,” said head coach Britt Bonneau. “We know what we have to do.”
ACU is not the only team with something to lose this weekend. The Rams (32-14) are cur-rently tied for first place in the conference with Texas A&M University-Kingsville at 16-8.
The ‘Cats (24-22, 11-13
edward isaacssports editor
baseball
matt sewell staff Photographer
Senior infielder Duncan Blades waits on the ball at Crutcher Scott Field against Tarleton State University. The ‘Cats lost 3 out of 4 to the Texans. see fight page 5
Left: Optimist photo by DANIEL GOMEZ Right: file photo
Seniors Jennie Hutt (left) and Nick Jones (right) won the 2012 Paul Goad award, an annual ACU award honoring the top male and female athlete of the year. Hutt smashed 518 kills in her senior season. Jones is ranked No. 1 in Division II in both the shot put and discus.
Britt bonneauhead coach
acu baseball
This has been a team that can rise to the oc-casion and I think we’ll
