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KC alumna returns to work for ECC

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KEVON PRICEStaff Writer

“Should I stay or should I go?” That’s a tough question to answer, especially if the work

you do involves being a minister for God. This is one of many challenges that God has put before Amy Hodge, Wesley Foundation director. Hodge has been the minister at the Wesley since 2010. She and her husband Nathan have been in Hallsville since 2009. They are part of the First Methodist Church in Hallsville where Dr. Nathan Hodge is the pastor.

In the United Methodist church denomination, ordained ministers may be called to go to a new church and there are not a lot of options. A group of ordained ministers help the Bishop decide who is going to do what God has called them to do. This group prays over the decision and looks at the needs of the ministry.

For the Hodges, Nathan was the one who got chosen. He received a call in an appointment to serve and be the pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Willis.

“Willis, Texas is projected to be the fastest growing area in North Houston over the next 10 years,” Hodge said. “The Bishop and the cabinet want Nathan to help the church and be ready to accept the influx of people into the community.”

When you have been a part of a community for so long and a part of many students’ lives, it can bring the weight of the world down on your shoulders. For Hodge, the weight of the world is in the hands of God.

“I have had students want to know why I have to go, and it’s because my husband is being sent. We are a family and we’ll go together,” she said. “I am not sure what my next step in ministry will be, but I do know the first thing I will do is help my husband and support our kids.”

In 2010, the grace of God provided Hodge with what can be best described as the job she could have never imagined. Before the Spring 2010 semester, Hodge got a call from the District Superintendent the Rev. Bill Taylor. The call was for the open position as a part-time director for the Wesley at KC.

Taylor heard that Hodge was a leader and involved in the Wesley Foundation

on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

“I never in my life thought that I would do college-age ministry,” Hodge said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be the director of a Wesley.”

Hodge says that God answered her prayers by bringing her to KC to help students who have no background history of a church.

“Lots of people have come through here who don’t have a relationship with Jesus,” Hodge said. “I have been able to help them learn about Jesus and to come closer to an understanding of His word.”

The biggest word fluctuating around the Hodge family, especially for Hodge, is faithfulness. Hodge pointed out that faithfulness starts with trusting God.

“Right now, I don’t see what good will come from it, but I trust and I know that God’s blessings will continue to be there for our family,” Hodge said. “Five years down the road, we will be able to say we see what the Lord had in store for us and the church. That’s what faithfulness looks like.”

Many students are sad to see ‘Ms. Amy’ leave but they know God has a plan for her.

“I think that it is really sad that she is leaving,” said Gladewater sophomore, Josh Newman. “She has done a great job for holding up the Wesley for all kids to come in and be with her. She will be missed.”

“I am really sad that she will be leaving and I don’t want her to leave,” said Hodge’s intern Samrawit Gebrehiowt, Waco freshman. “She has been the best boss that I have had and I just got to know her.”

Hodge wants the KC community and all the students she has come to know to understand it has been a true blessing to her to have been here. Just as it is painted on the walls of the Wesley, she wants everyone to keep these three things in mind: “Do no harm, do good and stay in love with God.”

Hodge will finish the semester. Her designated day that she will be leaving is June 25. The ministry at the Wesley Foundation will still hold strong. They are in the process of appointing a new director and as soon as they find a new director they will notify people through social media. Sharon Westbrook will still continue to be the administrative assistant of the Wesley Foundation.

THAO NGUYEN Staff Writer

The goal of KC’s Early Childhood Center is “to help children learn through active participation.”

The children learn by gaining knowledge under the guidance of trained teachers. As a growing passion over the years, April Ward, ECC teacher, has focused on being an advocate for children.

Teaching children has not always been Ward’s passion. In high school, she baby-sat children, but originally she wanted to study cosmetology.

She started taking cosmetology classes at KC, but was also encouraged to take some education classes.

Ward received her associate’s degree in 2004. After graduating from KC, she continued her studies at Stephen F. Austin State University to receive her bachelor’s degree.

She was inspired to come back to KC and work at the ECC from her time spent here.

“April is absolutely wonderful,” said Katie Moses, ECC director. “She is flexible in any position and any class, and very positive. You can tell she really enjoys being with the kids. She constantly asks to be evaluated and she strives to grow.”

Ward said she returned to KC because she loves the people and the place.

“Working with children is so rewarding,” Ward said.

One of her instructors, Lara Pauley, Child Development and Education coordinator, praised Ward’s temperament as being, “calm and patient — which is the key to working with children. It also takes a lot of energy and positive attitude.”

For people who enjoy working around children or who have grown to have a passion to work with children just as Ward did, she encourages them to “Go for it!”

“It’s not for the money, it’s gratification,” Ward said. “It is for the love of children and just passing on good energy to help build children through joy.”

FeaturesThe

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Special Edition

“I never in my life thought that I would do college-age ministry and never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would be the director of a Wesley.” – Amy Hodge

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N EWSTHE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 20152BPAGE

Calling an audible on college, career

PTK couple’s teenage romance

grows into long-lasting love

Old school romance

Football player hopes to follow mother’s legacy at KC

Dante Bland follows his mother’s footsteps by choosing a career in sports.

Sable Bass and Josh Shauptrine,�YL\UP[LK�H[�HNL����HM[LY�ÄYZ[�TLL[PUN����`LHYZ�HNV�

Denise Macon / THE FLARE

E’Lexus Hodge / THE FLARE

JULIANNA KENDALL

Staff Writer

Smiling shyly, she inched closer and closer to him. The lunch line was becoming such a nuisance.

Finally, one last person to cut in front of and she’s right there.

“I’ll fix the hat,” she says sweetly.The boy’s bells from his jester

hat that he traded for had fallen off, and she knew she could fix it in no time.

“If you fix it I’ll give you a kiss,” he replies, unaware of the debt, as well as interest, he would soon be owing for the rest of his life.

Fifteen years ago, freshman Josh Shauptrine and sophomore Sable Bass met in middle school. Now, both 26, have been together for 3 years.

“Sometimes you just feel like the universe is working with you and everything falls into place,” Shauptrine said. “I haven’t felt like that except with her and these last three years.”

After extreme effort for Bass to get his number, they began dating for the first time in middle school.

“I had to stalk him basically,” Bass said. “I asked one of his friends, and they told me to leave him alone. Of course, I wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”

When Bass was able to finally retrieve his number, she made the call.

“We talked on the phone for three hours,” Bass said. “Than he asked me to be his girlfriend, but only if I broke up with my boyfriend. So he sat on three-way with me and listened to me break up with him.”

At the age of 13, they made a promise to each other that if they weren’t married by the age of 26 that they would get married.

“We thought since we were adults, we would need to start filing taxes, have a family and move on with our lives,” Bass said.

At one point, they did not speak for a few years and took different paths. Shauptrine worked late night shifts as a security officer and Bass moved away to attend college and married.

“Some things were going down in my life that just made me think about the choices I made,” Shauptrine said. “I hadn’t talked to her in three years and was thinking about her. I didn’t have her number memorized, but I had it memorized by muscle memory. So I punched in the numbers and she answered.”

Bass had been in an unhappy marriage. During this time, Shauptrine suggested to Bass to read Stephen King’s novel, “It”.

“It’s a really good book of the underlying themes and the promises you make as a child,” Bass said. “It was a very powerful book, especially where I was in my head and life.”

It took Bass two months to read the book, and one week after, she divorced her husband. The following October, she proposed to Shauptrine, twelve years to the day after the day they met.

“The Chinese zodiac goes on a 12 year cycle,” Bass said. “I’m a dragon and he’s a snake. We met in the year of the dragon and dated through the year of the snake. Turns out we started talking and got back together in the year of the dragon. It was just another one of those, ‘the universe is talking to us’ [moments].”

The couple is common law married, but due to finances they have not had any ceremony.

“If we are going to do something, we are going to do it right,” Bass said. “I’m more married to him than I ever was my ex-husband.”

Along with starting a life together, the couple began taking their wardrobe more seriously by dressing to complement each other.

“I actually used to not dress this way,” Shauptrine said. “I would wear jeans from Wal-Mart or K-mart, Vans, and I always wanted my hair longer. I feel like I should have been born in the late 1940s or early ‘50s so I could have lived through the ‘70s.”

They both love the ‘70s era because of the clothes, music and environment; therefore, they typically dress in a more hipster style such as bell bottom jeans, middle-parted long hair and platform shoes.

“It’s about finding what fits your body type and wear that,” Bass said. “There is a small handful of brands that he and I wear and they aren’t the same, but we both wear True Religion and know what fits us and our bodies, what sizes we wear, and we do a lot of shopping on eBay because we don’t have a lot of money.”

They believe “if you don’t take yourself seriously, no one else will” and dressing nicely holds importance.

“When you dress well, you feel good about yourself,” Shauptrine said. “And when you feel good about yourself, you typically do things better, make better decisions and are happier as a whole. I don’t dress this way if I’m going to feed the horses. I’m not going to feed horses in Armani shirts, but if I go to Walmart, I’m going to look my best and do it.”

“Honestly, I think a lot of people would be happier if they took the time to dress themselves well and to be happy with the clothes they wear.”

Bass is a psychology major and Shauprine is a music major. Shauprine is also the new Phi Theta Kappa president elect and Bass is treasurer.

“Music is always something I wanted to do and I really appreciate it and want to

understand it better,” Shauprine said. The couple have a son who already can read music. “You always hear when you start a child off young, they will know it for the rest of their lives. If I’m paying to get this education, then I can teach it to him and maybe he will excel at it and choose to do something with it. If he doesn’t, that’s fine. He will still have that ability and knowledge. ”

Shauprine wants to one day have a job teaching at a college and giving music lessons.

“Every person’s dream is to be a rock star at some point, and

if it doesn’t happen its not a big deal,” said Shauprine. “I’ll have a family, and we are getting older. When you’ve wasted the time immediately after high school and you have to come back to school at 25 or 26 years old, you realize how much time has passed. You quickly are running out of time to get a foundation.”

Bass was raised by her grandmother who lived during the ‘70s and also has a military family and sorority background.

“I have a lot of influence from that,” Bass said. “I don’t feel the calling to go into the military, but

a lot of them that come back have a lot of mental, as well as physical, issues they have to deal with. I don’t think there is enough people helping them and I want to do that. That’s how I’m going to serve my country, helping the ones that got to come back.”

Shauprine plans on finishing his associate’s degree and Bass will be transferring to UT-Tyler next fall.

“It’s odd when you think the universe is working with you,” Shauprine said. “Things happen for seemingly no reason that end up having great impacts later for the better.”

ELIJAH BANKS

Staff Writer

Transferring to a junior college from a Division One school isn’t always a smooth

transition, but for someone who has been used to adapting to new surroundings their whole life, sophomore football player Dante Bland has been transitioning to KC just fine.

Bland was born in Torrance, Calif., but he and his family moved to Dayton, Ohio, six months later. Not too long after, Dante traveled to Russia with his mother, the former KC basketball Hall of Famer Cheron Bland, as she traveled overseas to start her professional career. He also traveled to Korea while she played there.

“Knowing that my mother had a lot of success at the sport she played makes me want to work harder on the football field,” Bland said.

He recently transferred to KC in the spring from Eastern Illinois University. After spending the fall

semester at EIU, Bland decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and take his talents to KC.

“I wanted to go to a FBS school, and have another chance to attend Clemson, my mom’s alumni,” Bland said.

FBS is a Division One school, and Eastern Illinois is a FCS school which is a Division One - AA.

“School and party wise, it was fun, but when it came to football it was only fun whenever we played bigger schools,” Bland said.

Bland isn’t unfamiliar with being in the Lone Star State because his Dad lived in Texas before passing away in 2013.

“After he died, it affected me a lot because he was like my homeboy,” Bland said. “I could talk to him about a lot of things I couldn’t discuss with my mom in the past.”

Through his father’s death, his relationship with his mother was strengthened. Although Bland has been in Texas plenty of times, Kilgore took a little adjusting to.

“Kilgore is different from most places I’ve been to,” Bland said. “I

was to myself at first, until I got to know some people, but I adjusted way better than I thought I would.”

The support that Bland receives from his family has made the transition a lot easier.

“I am thankful for the good support system I have back home,” Bland said.

Bland has also had to adjust to a new defensive scheme, but he’s doing a great job learning on the fly.

“Were a 4-3 and gap defense, so our scheme requires a lot of speed and quickness, which Dante brings to the table,” said KC assistant football coach Keith Browning.

Despite difficulty transferring, Bland pulls through and makes the best of a situation that most people would not.

“He’s an extremely hard worker, coachable, and asks a lot of questions,” Browning said.

in a whole new world

Upstart actor, break dancerHUK�ÄST�Z[\KLU[�destined for big screen

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NICK SHELLEY

Staff Writer

A student balances on a trapeze between schoolwork, his career and various other recreational activities.

Longview sophomore Derek Henning, started at KC in the Fall 2013 semester, with a major in Arts and Film, “because [he] had a passion for acting, filming, and editing.”

Henning enjoys acting and has already acted in a few projects. He played a role in the film, “Amerigeddon,” directed by the son of Chuck Norris. Henning also acted in short films by a student from Biola University.

He further practices his skill in media at Mobberly Baptist Church as an audio/visual technician for the church’s youth group.

Aside from his career in media, Henning enjoys exercising. He has done exercises in the gym since December 2013. His favorite exercises are back exercises, such as planking pull-ups, because they are practical and give him an adrenaline rush.

“I can get high off of doing back [exercises],” Henning said.

He also enjoys activities related to exercise, such as ballroom dancing, break-dancing, parkour and free running. Parkour is defined as an athletic activity in which participants move quickly through an area in a city, treating objects as structures to be climbed or leapt over. Free running is a type of parkour.

“Humans can’t fly, but can to an extent in parkour,” Henning said.

Henning also works as a parkour coach at a gym in Longview.

Henning carried his enjoyment of diversity into another facet of life – music. He first played in a metal band, Sightseer. He is currently in the worship/electronic/rock

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MAX CERVANTES

Staff Writer

“When I first came [to the United States], I was in an airport, and an African American man

took all my bags and he said ‘Welcome to America.’ He smiled and this smile tells me everything. Nobody smiled like this in the Ukraine,” said Lyuda Burgess, a vocational nursing student at the KC-Longview campus who has been here since 2008.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all smiles growing up in her native homeland of Ukraine. Eventually she found the light at the end of the tunnel.

Growing up, Burgess was mostly raised by her grandparents since she was six months old. During her childhood, she alternated homes between living with her parents and grandparents. Like her mother, Burgess decided to become a teacher. After some time, Burgess became married and had a daughter. Things took a turn for the worse and she separated from her husband.

“It was a very horrible life after I divorced,” she said.

Because of the separation, Burgess had to sell her condominium but was able to purchase a smaller flat. In order to provide for her daughter and herself, Burgess was working as a part-time teacher.

“The paycheck was so miserable,” she said. “I didn’t have enough money to pay bills for my flat. My daughter would tell me ‘Momma I’m so hungry I want to eat’ and I just told her ‘you have to wait there is nothing I could give you,’” Burgess said. “We would eat if somebody would feed us.”

She also started working part time in a bakery during the night. Working at the bakery also had benefits as she was able to take home some biscuits and some bread. After the passing of her grandparents, she was able to obtain their house with her mother. Burgess and her mother decided to try to grow vegetables around the house for food.

“It was the most difficult year I think. We had to wait for all these plants to grow.”

Another grueling obstacle was the Ukrainian winter. In the winter, the temperature could go as low 20 degrees below zero for six months.

“It doesn’t matter, deep snow or not, you had to go to work,” Burgess said. “The worst thing is giving up, I know I cannot because of my daughter.” Eventually things were becoming more stable when she began working as a kindergarten teacher and was able to provide. But the bad times had not stopped. Her sister ended up marrying a man who would rob stores, park suspicious cars in Burgess’ garage and bringing friends over uninvited. “I started to become afraid.”

However, things would start to improve. At the urging of her mother, sister and daughter, Sasha, Burgess went on a much- needed vacation to a resort city in Ukraine. She didn’t expect to meet anyone special, but she ended up meeting her current husband who is originally from Gilmer.

“I didn’t like him the first time I saw him,” Burgess said chuckling. “But we are a happy couple and family now.”

She would’ve liked for him to stay in the Ukraine, but he didn’t think he could find a job there. He came back to America for a year and they started writing letters to each other.

“We decided we had to be together,” Burgess said. “So we started preparing the papers for me to come to America.”

Religion was one instrumental factor that kept her going through the difficult times in the Ukraine. “Every time I woke up in the morning in the Ukraine, I was praying.”

One of her motivations on becoming a vocational nurse is her fascination with nursing homes. “When I first came over, I’d never seen a nursing home,” Burgess said. “I think ‘how can I help these people?’”

The most important motivation for becoming a nurse was her cousin. When he was 6 months old, Burgess’ cousin became ill. At the time, the nurse would make injections in his head and ended up paralyzing him.

“It was not responsible to do this injection,” Burgess said. “It also scared me.”

With her adult daughter working as a dental assistant and Burgess getting ready to graduate in August, things are looking much brighter.

“I’m so happy I’m here.”

;PɈHU`�1VOUZVU���THE FLARE

Flip SideSophomore living life on the

Nursing

band Culture Rewritten. “[The band] consists of me and Matthew

Parker (former KC student),” Henning said. The two Culture Rewritten members came

from different musical backgrounds. The lead guitarist, Parker, came from a gospel/contemporary/electronic background. Henning came from a metal background. “We combined […] those elements in our

music,” Henning said. After the Spring semester, Henning

plans to transfer to Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va., for two years. Once at Regent, Henning will further his education in acting, filming, and editing. After his time at Regent, he intends to enter the film industry.

Henning learned various lessons through

balancing his schoolwork and different hobbies. From his music, Henning learned to be diverse. From his exercises, he learned to not judge people, but to see that everyone is at a different place in life. Overall, the main message Henning learned through his different facets in life that “in the end, you’re only as strong as you allow yourself to be.”

F E AT U R E STHE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 20154BPAGE

Fashion - Sara Holmes

Fashion - Victoria Gilchrist

Transparent - Story Sasseen

Fashion - Kaelie Wike

Shiny Metal - E’Lexus Hodge

These selected photographs are from the Illustrative Photography I

and II class. Students study the still life in terms of commercial

table-top illustration and editorial fashion. The lighting techniques

utilized are dictated by the subject’s surface quality and the

photographer’s interpretation.

Illustrative Photo Gallery

F E AT U R E S THE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015 5B PAGE

Transparent - Story Sasseen Shiny Metal - Jessica Carrington

Fashion - Kaelie Wike

Transparent - Victoria Gilchrist

Fashion - Tory Van Blarcum

Jewelry- Jessica EasleyShiny Metal - E’Lexus Hodge

“Are you black or white?” “So your mom’s white and your dad is black?” “Are you mixed?” These

are some of the multiple questions that I get asked daily.

For those who do not know me, I am half black and half white. My biological mother is white and my dad is black.

Unfortunately for me, I do not live with either of the two. Instead I am adopted into a family of five. I can basically say that I was raised into a white family.

Growing up from the time I was adopted at the age of 4 until about the time I hit sixth grade, I never got asked the questions of having a little black in me, or what color my parents were.

I just went to school and had fun hanging out with friends. I always knew that I was half black because of how much darker I was then the majority of my friends, but I never made a huge deal out of it.

In fact, I used to love when the teachers or schools would give me forms to fill out. On the forms they would always have the ethnicity bubbles with a list of different races. It always tells you to bubble in one of the circles, but I always bubbled the “black,” “white” and other boxes for fun.

It is really hard to believe that this world is still full of prejudiced people. Everyone still has to see things such as “he’s black” or “he’s white.” I never thought that I would have to encounter this problem because I am not full black, but I was wrong.

I was headed to my friend Matt’s house to ask if he would like to play football. Before I got to his house, I noticed from the very end

of the street a patrol car kept going back and forth every block to my left and right.

At first, it didn’t catch my attention until I noticed how close he was getting to me. All I could think was that he was just patrolling around, but that thought was wrong.

The cop pulled up next to me, rolled his window down and asked me where I was going and if I knew anything about crimes and robberies in the town. Of course the cop was a white man, but to come up to a person and ask them questions like these is kind of fishy.

Another example is whenever I go into stores with my friends. I’m never expecting to have security follow me around. Once when I was at a store in Longview, this situation happened to me. Out of everyone who was with me at the store, I was the only one who was black.

While they were off looking at costumes, I was too, but in a different aisle. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a security worker was on every aisle I went to.

It really started to get to me because no matter where I went he would go. So I went to the bathroom and thankfully, he didn’t follow me.

After we left the store my friends wanted to know why I was being followed. I was wondering the same question.

I honestly love having the best of both worlds. I get to see what the black race goes through, but I also know what it is like to live in an all-white family.

I know that I’m not the only one who is discriminated against. I have friends of all races who face similar issues. I long for the day that my generation can see past color to what you’re like on the inside.

Kevon Price is a sophomore Mass

Communications major from Kilgore

Growing up in this area I always heard and believed that KC was the “13th grade” and that

everyone that went to KC was either forced into it by parents (as I was) or wasn’t good enough to get in or get scholarships anywhere else. Plus there were the Rangerettes, and for myself and the people I was friends with, they were a reason in themselves not to come to KC. However, after my year here my view of all of this has changed immensely.

Dejectedly walking into class my first day I already knew I would hate it here; I was wasting my time before I could move onto real college. Strangely enough, I was contacted by the new journalism instructor and decided that although I was an English major I would join the staff. Once I was in News Writing I, my hopes that being here wouldn’t be a total waste were dashed when I found out that I was assigned to report over all things Rangerettes. In my mind, I had a fixed impression of the stereotype that the 72 women were assigned by their ignorant peers. I was slowly but surely on my way to find out what all journalists strive to find – the truth.

The truth is, the Rangerettes don’t fit the label they’ve been slapped with. After my first assignment I discovered that their history and origin story wasn’t something to mock, but respect. Gradually I began interviewing them for different things and was again thrown

for a loop at finding out that they weren’t actually all blonde, bouncy ditzes. In fact a few of them that I’ve talked to are some of the more intelligent people I’ve come into contact with at KC.

Their only “fault” that ties them to this stereotype is a skill for drill team and dancing. Although I do not believe we should revere them or worship at their feet like some do, I do believe that students who do not know the Rangerettes personally or their challenges and pressures should back off the stereotype that they are so fond of.

I will be the first to admit that I have been one of the worst offenders, but after learning more about them I realized that they are like any other organization on campus. Despite my initial reluctance to come to KC, I have found a group of people that I would not have discovered anywhere else and a new reluctance to follow stereotypes. This campus is filled with spectacular teachers and students that made my ill feelings at the start vanish. Not only did I discover more about the campus, but about myself as well.

After a year at KC, I changed my major from English to a double major in English and Journalism. KC quite literally altered the course of my life for the better and gave me the experience I needed to make an educated choice to transfer to Texas Tech in the fall.

So if you are stuck in the cliché thinking about KC and the Rangerettes, I encourage you to switch the way you look at them and it might alter your life for the better, as well.

Leah Bryce is a sophomore English and

Journalism major from White Oak

Okay okay so maybe I should just go ahead and expose the elephant in the room and point out that a majority of the students

enrolled at Kilgore College didn’t have this school as their first choice (it definitely wasn’t mine).

Some students’ parents forced them to come here. Some went off to a university, got into some business they weren’t supposed to get into and ended up here. Some came here because they didn’t want to work in the oilfield anymore. Most commonly, some came here because it’s one of the most affordable colleges in the nation.

A lot of people don’t even know about KC until they HAVE to know about KC.

For me, I planned on going to UNT straight out of high school. It was April 2013, and I was in the process of choosing which dorm to live in.

Then that day came. The day that my parents sat me down and

told me I was going to KC. I was devastated. “You’re kidding. This has got to be some

kind of sick joke,” I replied heated. Then they lectured me on how I should be

grateful that I get to go to college at all and how I could’ve been a kid who didn’t get the opportunity I had.

The deal was I go to KC for a year and then my parents would pay for me to go to virtually any school in Texas (by the way, that definitely didn’t happen, but that’s also a whole other story).

I reluctantly agreed. So here I was. A student with an above-average-GPA.

Voted Most Talented, Class Favorite, Homecoming Princess, etc. Involved in eight clubs being an officer of three of them. A varsity cross-country and track runner with a nice arrangement of medals. Someone who had the lead role in every theatre production (trophies and medals included). A drill team dancer (okay, so that might not really count since I quit towards the end of the year).

I was all these things. And what did I have to show for it?Some rinky-dink college that’s literally

eight miles away from my house.Yup. That’s the dream.

There were no words to describe how angry I was.

So I came to KC. I kept thinking how my classes would suck,

my teachers would suck, my education would suck, and how I would eventually get sucked into the East Texas Vortex and never leave Kilgore, Texas.

My nightmare was steadily unfolding. But then I began to meet people. Some of

these people come from 20 minutes away and others come from the other side of the world.

Either way, we all had something in common: KC was not our first choice school and we had no idea how we ended up here.

It seems like KC is the Island of Misfit Toys. As my first year progressed, I began to

see the talents and unique qualities in the individuals around me.

I think about a lot of the athletes here. Some were overlooked by other schools. Some partied too hard at their university and were released, only to come here as a last resort. Student athletes here are given another opportunity to do what they do – all for the love of the game.

I think about the music students here. Yeah, they didn’t get into some outstanding performing arts school, but the teachers will meet them where they are with an expectation of their students excelling in their passion.

I think about the engineering students. When people think of KC, they think it’s a school for low-life, unintelligent, unmotivated deadbeats. Yet I see engineer students from all over the world with tunnel vision on earning their associates and moving forward to a higher education.

KC isn’t a school for failures – it’s a second chance for the student who has yet to see his or her calling.

They may come from humble beginnings, but my peers have a bright future ahead of them.

I try not to get too nostalgic because there is nothing I can do about my past. In my opinion, no matter how “successful” I could have been before college, I still think somehow, some way I would have ended up at KC.

For that, I am truly grateful. My past two years have been full of life

lessons from my instructors, unity between cultures, me having a better idea of what to do career-wise, money that’s been well saved, and so much more.

I now have friends that I call family. I

An Open Letter to The Ones Who Consider Themselves Failures,

Fighting against racialstereotypes day in, day out

Reality kicks negative opinion of Rangerettes

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VICTORIA WHITWELL

LEAH BRYCEFeatures Editor KEVON PRICE

:[HɈ�>YP[LY

Managing

Editor

have mentors who helped me get through tough situations that matured me. I have an understanding that it’s okay to be who I am as a person and if I have goals, I should never let the fear of failing keep me from obtaining them.

It’s been two years. Two crazy years. There are days when clouds of uncertainty

come and intimidation reigns over me. I wonder if I’m capable to move forward. I think about all the opportunities I’ve missed while being at KC and how I wish I could go back and be a part of a certain club or take a class I’ve always wanted to take.

Those doors, however, have been shut. These past two years don’t seem long

enough now as I’m unwillingly a step closer to the real world.

That’s okay. I know that I am not a failure and I am

capable of accomplishing anything no matter what circumstance.

KC wasn’t what I thought it was going to be and most of my peers say the same.

My experience here was far greater than I could imagine.

For the students out there who look in the mirror and only see disappointments –

for the people out there who carry the suitcase with the luggage tag with the name PAST,

– for the victims who have felt robbed of their futures,

– for the seemingly overlooked, – for the second best, – for the ones who have also considered

themselves failures, take this opportunity of a second chance

you have been given. Do what you are called to do.

Victoria Whitwell is a sophomore Mass

Communications major from Kilgore

KC wasn’t what I

thought it was going

to be. And most of my

peers say the same.

My experience here

was far greater than I

could imagine.

Being a college student is stressful enough. However, if you choose to not fix your problems when they occur, you could be headed toward a spiraling downfall.

Fresh out of high school with no clue about my future, College Station seemed more of a fun adventure than the start of a bright future. Procrastination and trying to keep the party alive sums up my terrible first semester of college. However, everyone has the opportunity to change. It’s when we do not seize the opportunity for change that we disappoint ourselves and the people we care about.

Being here at KC as a 24-year-old was never part of the grand scheme. Refusing to take advantage of the hard work and dedication it takes to be successful in life, I quickly found an uneasy escape in alcohol.

With an Irish family who battles an alcohol disease, it’s obviously embedded in my genes. Alcohol was not an escape; it was just a temporary solution to put off my problems.

Drinking on the weekends quickly spun out of control and became an every day habit. Before I knew it, academic suspension headed my way and I ran to the bottle.

It was pouring rain the night A&M beat Nebraska at Kyle Field, but the party was just getting started. Having drunk well over my limit, my friend Clint and I decided to head home and call it a night. While driving, I suddenly lost control of my vehicle and rolled into a large electrical box.

Waking up in a smoke-filled car, the only thing on my mind was my friend. I yelled his name over and over until I finally heard an answer. He was alive and well and as we climbed out of the car the only thing on my mind was shame.

How could I be so stupid to not only put my life in danger, but my best friend’s life as well. Thinking this would be the end of my alcohol abuse was all but true. One thing led to another, then another, and I quickly found myself chasing alcohol, instead of chasing my dream. Before a shower I would drink, before the movies, I would drink; drinking became such a part of me that I didn’t know who I was without alcohol.

Who is David McCarty, or better yet, who was he? My vision in life couldn’t have been brighter. I was back in college with the woman of my dreams. Yet I couldn’t combat the demons inside of me.

Now staring deep into my reflection in the mirror, I realize it ruined the best relationship I ever had.

She was the best person I have ever met; however the alcoholic inside of me had worse plans. I wasn’t the same man she had fallen in love with three years before. Slowly but surely her love and desire for me was being chipped away by my actions and lack of motivation.

Watching the best thing that I could ever wish for slip away from me was the hardest thing I have personally dealt with. The worst part of it all, there was no one to blame except myself. Instead of changing my ways, all I could do was drink to ease the burning pain she left in my chest. “The plan was to drink until the pain’s over, But what’s worse, the pain? Or the Hangover?” said Kanye West

in his song Dark Fantasy. Here I am, trying to deal with the pain of

losing my Belle and I am just becoming more and more of the Beast. We were just like the movie, except I ruined the perfect ending. There was no extravagant dance at the end, just a creature alone in an empty palace with his head hanging low.

Instead of chasing my life-long goal of being a public relations manager, I was fully consumed by a disease that plagues millions of people across the world.

Will power and help are the only things that I had to combat with this sickness. Pondering how disappointed my grandfather was with me really broke the camel’s back. Being one DWI away from the penitentiary was not the life I was given. My family worked way too hard to get me where I needed to be and I was literally just throwing it away.

Still battling the urge to drink on a daily basis will always be a fight that I must win. People all across the world have certain addictions and reasons why they are addicts. Once addiction grabs you by the wrist, you will follow it wherever it takes you like a puppy on a leash. Alcohol nearly ruined my life, and made me naive enough to risk the life of my best friend.

Simply taking life day by day for what God offers is all I truly have. If I can learn from the mistakes that I created and continue to strive forward then eventually I can reach the success I am capable of.

For the rest of my life, alcohol will be a battle, but if I continue to win each fight, I will win the war.

David McCarty is a sophomore Mass Communications major from Longview

Don’t judge a book byits cover

OP I N I O NTHE FLARE

FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2015 7BPAGE

Mental illness is still a taboo subject. People are afraid of being labeled as crazy, unstable

or permanently damaged. The truth is that the stigma is unfounded. Life can be difficult and no one should be ashamed of seeking help when they need it.

I was first diagnosed with depression when I was 13. Problems had first surfaced the year I moved to Texas. Right before we moved, my mom had her first stroke. Being the new kid at school, I had trouble making friends. My dad was never home due to his job, so my sister and I had to spend our free time doing the housework my mom couldn’t do. We also helped her with daily tasks, such as walking, eating and getting dressed. Not only did my life have outside stressors, my insides were chemically mixed up inside well.

Tired of being confused and sad all the time, I asked my parents for help. My dad took time away from his job to take me to different psychiatrists. Most of them thought there was nothing seriously wrong with me, but I felt differently, and didn’t feel like they were doing much to help. My time spent in their offices consisted of me hearing things such as “not everyone in life is going to like you,” which does nothing constructive to help a moody 14-year-old.

Because I did not identify as suicidal, no doctors in Longview would recommend me staying in a mental hospital. Then, a doctor in Tyler recommended one for me.

My dad voluntarily checked me into Brookhaven Hospital in Shreveport, La.

I was on a ward with only juvenile females. Most of us were aged 13 to 15. We became close friends quickly after having to spend the majority of the day around each other, and shared each other’s life stories, common interests and, of course, clothes.

About half of the residents there we juvenile offenders and always had to wear orange jumpsuits. My first roommate had committed a robbery. During a break when I was taking a shower and she was in our room alone, she cut herself using a piece of metal she’d broken off of her bed frame. She was put in solitary confinement. I didn’t get another roommate for the rest of my stay. It was horrible having to be in an unfamiliar place alone.

No one was allowed to have many personal items. I had the book I was reading at the time, Left Behind, and some clothes in my room. Patients could have pencils and paper, but only when supervised. Our rooms were really only used for sleeping.

Every morning, a nurse would give everyone a little paper cup with a cocktail of drugs in it, just like in the movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” I have no clue what was in the medicine. All I know is that I started falling asleep at random times during the day, which had never happened before. The pills made me feel what I would now describe as drunk.

Many group meetings were held throughout the day where us girls would talk about our problems and feelings with counselors. There was a room designated to do schoolwork in the mornings. The common room had things such as a ping-pong table, exercise equipment and a radio, where we’d get to hang out for about an hour a day. Meals were served cafeteria style, and tasted horrible.

In the afternoon, family could come visit. My dad commuted to Shreveport for work, so he saw me a lot. All I did when he came by was hug him, cry and complain about how I hated being there.

One time, I asked my dad for a stick of gum, because we couldn’t get any in the hospital. I kept it in my mouth as visitation ended. When I went back into the common room, I showed everybody. The other girls were so desperate for a piece of outside life that they begged me to split my gum with them. I did. We all had each other’s backs.

After a week my doctor said that I was doing a lot better after having medication and therapy. However, they had done some bloodwork. I was diagnosed with diabetes.

Hearing that did not help with the depression. Nevertheless, I got my blood sugar under control and eventually went home.

Over the years, I still struggled with mental illness. I only found relief about five years ago. No medications or therapy worked for me. I decided to constantly force my mind to have good thoughts and always and change my outlook of any situation to finding the positives in it.

Most days have gotten a lot better for me. I feel like I’m able to manage my stress levels and emotions better after years of hard work.

Medication and therapists can help people, but clarity and happiness from within and a support system of family and friends is important too. It’s also vital not to judge anyone’s situation. We never know what life will throw at us and how those experiences will shape our lives.

Kathryn Agee is a freshman Journalism major from Longview

KATHRYN AGEE

Executive

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Alcohol addiction provides more tragedy, struggle, than fun

A constant

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Photoillustration by

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THE FLARE

A Challenging ProjectFreshman picked for Walmart strawberry trial

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For someone who doesn’t like to eat strawberries, Amanda Stevens has learned a lot about them in the past few months. She is involved

in a research project that focuses on growing, examining and processing data on strawberries.

“I have a real interest in research, so I’m using this as a stepping stone into the research world,” said Stevens, Hurst freshman. “Not many college freshmen can say that they were on a nationwide research trial.”

This trial is funded by Walmart and KC’s Demonstration Farm is one of about 30 participating farms in Texas. The primary strawberry growers are located in California and Florida. Walmart wanted to move the growers into the south and central area of the country to reduce travel time and expenses and give the berries more time on the plant to grow, thus supplying fresher product by the time it gets to the store shelves.

“It’s a nationwide trial, so they selected farms in each state and they are testing the varieties to see which do best in the soil,” Stevens said. She was awarded this internship in March, but the work actually began in the fall.

“We planted the plugs in October and we let them grow under the high tunnel,” she said, adding she should be done with the trial by the end of the growing season in June.

Stevens harvests the strawberries twice a week. To do this, she takes off good and bad berries from each plant and places them in separate containers. Once collected, she takes the berries to the house and does the data processing — which consists of weighing each quart of strawberries from each plot.

“We put the good ones into the fridge and we dump the coal (bad ones),” Stevens said.

Along with picking strawberries and weighing them, she also has to examine the berries for different diseases and bugs. She

includes any diseases and bugs that attack the plants in her analysis at the end of her trial.

“I’m in charge of documenting absolutely everything we do and in charge of telling when we need to spray for certain diseases again,” Stevens said.

One disease that the farm currently battles is botrytis, which is a fungus that can attack the plants.

“It’s like we spray it, one good harvest and then it’s coming back. It’s not like there is anything wrong with it; it’s just a really common disease with strawberries,” she said.

As a child, Stevens grew up helping her grandparents with their five-acre garden, so she knew a little about plants going into the trial but prefers working with animals.

“I’m not a plant person, but I’ve actually really enjoying it and all the stuff I’ve learned through Dr. (Karl) Steddom,” Stevens said.

Along with Stevens’ internship, the farm is also participating in a crepe myrtle trial. Callie Faul, Longview freshman, is the intern on this trial, which consists of her testing out a new pesticide for crepe myrtles.

This summer, there will be another internship that is a solarization for disease and weed management trial.

“It’s not as intensive as mine. I do a lot more work on my hands and knees then they do,” Stevens said.

Stevens has worked with Dr. Steddom, horticulture and biology instructor, throughout the entire process.

“This coming semester, we are going to have pumpkins, field corn and other items that the horticulture class will plant in the fall,” Stevens said.

Horticulture is now offered to non major students as a science to be core complete. The students in the class will take part in planting and doing hands-on activities at the farm during their labs. For more information on the horticulture class, contact Dr. Steddom at 903-983-8656.

The strawberries that are grown are for sale in the biology room of the Canterbury Engineering and Science Building for $3 a quart.

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