WTAMU hosts Arbor Day Celebration

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Krystina Martinez

Valerie Swope, Dulce Chavez, and Kiana Garcia plant flowers. Photo by Krystina Martinez.

Web Editor’s Note: To see more Arbor Day photos, click here!

The WTAMU Campus Beautification Committee and Roots and Boots teamed up for the Arbor Day Celebration on April 14. Students planted trees near Guenther Hall and flowers around the Buffalo Sports Park.

“We love helping on campus and community service is a big thing to us,” Mariela Mendoza, a sophomore Education major and a member of Kappa Delta Chi, said. “It sounded like fun to plant trees.”

The celebration is part of a process WT is going through to become a member of Tree Campus USA, a program under the Arbor Day Foundation.

“Candidates must host two events: an Arbor Day celebration and a service learning project,” Linda Washington, co-chairperson of the Campus Beautification Committee, said. “We have a beautiful campus and we want to advertise it.”

Valerie Swope, co-chairperson of student group Roots and Boots, said being a member of Tree Campus USA would be beneficial for the University.

“It looks good for WT to have that certification,” she said. “We want to help out with the environment.”

The second part of the application process requires a service learning project, which Washington said would most likely involve Work-A-Thon in the upcoming fall semester.

KWTS streams online, introduces smartphone app

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Ashley Hendrick

Photo Courtesy of Arbitron Ink/Edit and Research.

Some changes have occurred at the WTAMU student radio station. After more than a year’s absence, KWTS online streaming is officially up and running once again, but this time they came back with a little different sound.

KWTS now has an app available for anyone to download free on their iPhone or Android smartphones.

“I don’t know if ‘changes’ is a good word,” Randy Ray, director of broadcast engineering and adviser to KWTS, said. “I think just improvements or enhancements because really the radio station itself is not really changing. We’re just delivering it in a better way.”

The app will allow students, parents, faculty members and anyone else to listen to KWTS outside of the limited listening area KWTS previously had access to, which was nine counties in the Texas panhandle.

“When we were doing live streaming before, we had people that were listening in Alaska…Wyoming…Arkansas,” Broadcasting major and KWTS program director Dani Morton said. “All over America we had people that were tuning in and listening to it. Now we have that opportunity again, so I think it’s cool we’re national again.”

The stations’ streaming and app capabilities are thanks to the Internet radio network, Live365. KWTS listeners can go to their smartphone’s app store, download the Live365 radio app and search for KWTS.

Though the app is a new feature for KWTS, streaming online is not.

“We streamed through [Live365] for a year or two,” Ray said. “Then I got to talking to people in the IT department here on campus and they said ‘we can do that ourselves.’ So I let Live365 go and we starting streaming it through the campus servers.” Continue reading →

Pages: 1 2

RHA hosts midnight movie

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Taylor Hurst

The RHA, Residence Hall Association, is hosting a midnight outdoor movie on April 11. Everyone is to meet on the South side, old Ed lawn. The featured film will be Sherlock Holmes 2.

“We would like everyone to know that they can bring a blanket and pillow and come enjoy the movie outside,” said Briana Moore, RHA Vice President of Internal Affairs.

There will be free cotton candy, popcorn and candy available.

“We are really excited about this movie and we hope that everyone is interested in coming and will bring their friends along,” said Moore.

For more information, contact Briana Moore, RH Vice President of Internal Affairs, or Kiya Brooks, RHA National Communication Coordinator.

Music Therapy Awareness Week First time at WT

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Daniela Fierro

The Music Therapy Club will be hosting its first Music Therapy Awareness Week starting April 9 and will be concluding April 11.

“The awareness week is a week of activities that will help get the word out to other people about music therapy,” Music Therapy major Erin Feuerstein said.

Feuerstein said that the main goal is to get the word out to the students on what music therapy is and how it can help people.

“This is our first year so we’re starting kind of small to see how the week goes,” she said. “And to see how we can grow in the future.” Continue reading →

Lady Buffs Swept in Weekend Series Against Abilene Christian

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Melissa Bauer-Herzog

A week after winning a weekend series against No. 1 Angelo State, the No. 19 Lady Buffs found a harder fight in Abilene against Abilene Christian.

The first of the three game series saw ACU get off to a running start when they put their first tally on the board in the bottom of the second inning. The team continued its roll throughout the game, registering six points in the seven innings. WTAMU only scored one run during the game in the sixth inning when Kim LeComte sent a solo blast to center field. Marci Womack registered her seventh loss in the circle with the defeat and WT only had four hits during the seven innings.

The second game on Friday kept the Lady Buffs closer to the Wildcats with ACU not scoring until the bottom of the third inning. The team put down two runs and added two more in the fifth and sixth to grab a 4-0 lead. WT rebounded in the sixth inning off of a Renee Erwin bat to bring in two runs. However, the Lady Buffs fell 4-2 in the second game of the series. Adriana Garcia would record the loss on her record, giving up four runs on eight hits.

With the series already lost, WT returned to the field on Saturday afternoon to try and prevent a weekend sweep. However, offensively the team struggled, recording only three hits. In their earliest scoring of the weekend, the Wildcats put their first tally on the board in the bottom of the first inning.

It would take five innings for another tally to be put on the board and it would once again be ACU getting on the board. WT had a chance to score in the seventh inning when Renee Erwin was sent to first plate after she was hit by a pitch. However, three quick outs later, WT left Abilene with a weekend record of 0-3. Marci Womack picked up the loss again in the circle to take her season record to 11-8.

“The underlying thought of the entire weekend was that we just couldn’t create any offense and that was very frustrating,” Head Coach Kevin Blaskowski said.

The Lady Buffs now sit with an overall record of 23-14 and a Lone Star Conference record of 7-8. The team returns to Lady Buff Yard on April 5-6 for a three-game series against Incarnate Word. The first game in the series is set for 5 p.m. on Thursday.

“It’s a pivotal series for us. The winner of this series moves into fifth place in the conference and it’s going to be critical,” Blaskowski said.

WTAMU Readership transitions from Honduras

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Brittany Castillo

Honduran locals sort through tobacco leaves. Photo Courtesy of Brittany Castillo.

Web Editor’s Note: This is part three of a three-part series. To read part one, click here and click here for part two. You can view photos of the trip here.

Returning to Texas from Honduras was much harder than expected. The readjustment made at the Houston airport was minor compared to visiting my family home in Amarillo on March 8.

Leaving Las Piscinas meant abandoning a beautiful world for a more selfish one. The first night back, I stayed in Canyon to process the transition. There was comfort in the isolation of my room, because the silence welcomed my memories. I held my Honduras jacket and fell asleep.

The next morning in the shower, I cranked the “C” knob higher remembering the cold water in Honduras. When I returned to my room, I turned on a Spanish speaking radio station and made black coffee. These Honduras imitations were familiar and helped confirm my journey was real. Continue reading →

Lady Buffs Win Sixth Straight Game

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Melissa Bauer-Herzog

The WTAMU Women’s Basketball team traveled to Commerce on Feb. 15 to attempt to extend their winning streak to six in a row.

The Lady Buffs started out strong, grabbing a 4-2 lead but after a few mistakes, lost the lead when the Lions went on a 9-0 run to lead 11-4 with a little over 14 minutes left in the half.

WT spent a large chunk of the first half playing catch up, finally tying the game with 7:15 left on the clock. WT took back the lead with six minutes left before going on a 12-0 lead to take a large lead over the Lions. However, as the half drew to a close, A&M-Commerce would gain back some momentum, pulling the team within four going into the locker room with a 33-29 WT lead.

Ashley Leven extended WT’s lead only seconds into the second half, putting four points on the board in less than 20 seconds to advance the score to 37-29. A&M-C was held scoreless until the 17:24 mark, but the team only scored two more times in the first half of the period. The Lions’ dry spell allowed WT to increase its lead to 56-34 after a 13-0 run.

The Lady Buffs kept a 20-point lead for most of the half, but the Lions would close the gap in the final minutes, ending the game with a 17-point difference. In the end, the scoreboard showed a score of 78-61 in favor of the Lady Buffs

Kenisha Harris would be atop the leader board in multiple categories when the clock ran out. Harris led the team with 15 points and 10 rebounds in addition to four assists and three steals. WT shot 46.2 percent from the field and converted 67.5 percent of their attempts at the charity stripe.

“I thought we struggled the first half but we fought through it and then came out at halftime and owned it,” Sophomore Lacee Logan said.

WT’s season record went to 15-8 and 13-4 in the LSC with the win. The team sits third in the LSC behind Midwestern State. The Lady Buffs have secured a playoff spot but will be more focused on their next few games rather than the upcoming playoffs.

“We just take it one game at a time, right now our focus is on Tarelton. We’re just going to knock one off at a time,” Logan said.

The Lady Buffs will face one of their toughest opponents in their next out as they take on LSC-leading Tarleton State at the First United Bank Center at 4 p.m. on Feb. 18.

Listen Up!: A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Maria Molina

Listen Up! The Prairie's Podcast.

Get your headphones and listen up to our latest episode about the Theater’s department’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”!

Continue reading →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Students and staff win Math, Chemistry and Physics department art contest

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Maria Molina

The Math, Chemistry and Physics department held an art contest to decorate their hall in the Classroom Center.

“We just moved in to this new area in the Classroom Center a couple of years ago and wanted to decorate the halls,” Nick Flynn, department head of the Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics department said. “Stacy Chase [instructor of Mathematics] came up with the idea and it is a good way to decorate the department.”

Flynn said the event was successful, which encouraged the department to make this contest an annual event.

“We are encouraged,” he said. “We had over ten submissions.”

The department planed to give awards to the first three places, however there was a tie for the third place.

The first place winner was Jesse Melson, a Music Education major. Second place was awarded to Chase Vernon. Tied for the third place was Linda Chenoweth, head of reference at the Cornette Library at WTAMU, and Social Work major Elena Vargas.

Vargas said she was excited when she heard she won third place.

“My art professor told me about it [the contest] Nov. 8 and it was due Nov. 10 so it was unexpected,” she said.

On the other hand, Chenoweth said she feels it is important for staff to also participate in this type of events.

“I think staff are not as visible as students,” she said. “It seemed an important thing that included faculty, staff and students.”

(L-R) Linda Chenoweth, Elena Vargas, Jesse Melson, Chase Vernon.

“Toys for Juarez” becomes a community toy drive

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Maria Molina

Haga clic aqui para leer el sitio web en espanol – Editor Internet

On Dec. 14, Juan Gallardo, president of the WTAMU Hispanic Student Association, will be distributing toys to El Paso with other members of the organization. These toys will then go to “Realizando Sueños,” an organization that collects toys for children in Juarez, Mexico who have been impacted by the violence in the city.

“They [Realizando Sueños] had like 6,000 kids [last year], but they only collected 800 toys,” Gallardo said. “They sent over 5,000 kids back.”

He said the “Toys for Juarez” project started as a toy drop on campus and HSA expected to collect around 100 to 200 toys. However, after calling different companies around the community, the project got bigger.

“Our project got really big until we had an event not on campus, but that involved the whole community,” Gallardo said. “Our goal is now 5,000 toys because that is how many kids got sent back last year.”

Members of HSA will distribute the toys to El Paso and after that, the organization “Realizando Sueños” will take them to Juarez. Continue reading →

Tag Archives: Feature – WT Students