thewichitanyour university n your voiceWednesday n September 1, 2010

State calls for deeper cuts from strapped budget

The MSU band has finally found a new home.

After more than 60 years of waiting, the band has moved out of its dingy, moldy head-quarters and into a 3,000 sq. foot, state-of-the-art rehearsal facility.

Construction on the building began at the end of spring and was wrapped up this summer. The project cost about $3 million, $500,000 of which was donated by the Fain Foundation.

The first rehearsal in the old building was in 1946. Before then it served as an Air Corps barracks in Wichita Falls. The building’s name, like the busy street, was Call Field. When it was moved from its original location to MSU, it was one of the first buildings on campus.

The barracks, which was decent for housing soldiers, made a less-than-ideal- practice hall.

“It was very small,” said Larry Archambo,

professor of music.The building was completely renovated in

1988. This was also the year MSU added a marching band and football team to its list of student activities.

Last year’s band, with 132 members, was the largest in school history. This year the band has 128 members, its second biggest troupe in his-tory.

The MSU music department is accredited by

the National Association of Schools of Music. The organization sets guidelines regarding how much space each individual musician needs in order to be comfortable and competent.

“It’s like if you play trumpet, you should have ‘x’ amount of square feet to play in. It’s for comfort, for air quality, for a few different things,” Archambo said. “It’s a little different for a tuba player, a little different for a piccolo player, string bass, whatever.

He said that based on the NASM guidelines for space allotted to players, the MSU band should have about 45 members to be comfort-able. With almost triple that many members, it was time for a change.

“When we had marching rehearsal in there it was deafening,” Archambo said. “It was crowded we had to move all the racks that hold stands and chairs outside just so we could have room to play. It was pitiful. It was terrible.”

New music hall gives band room to playChris Collins

Managing Editor

After a search spanning over a year and more than 100 appli-cants, MSU admins have chosen Texas native Dr. Alisa White to fill the empty provost’s office.

White said her main priorities at MSU will be meeting accredi-tation goals, improving retention rate and helping with student re-cruitment in a fiscally depressed era.

White, who started working as provost July 16, was born in December 1958 in Weatherford, Texas, to Robert White and Kathryn Shires White.

The 51-year-old provost has lived in Montana, Arizona, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alaska, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas. Her family moved often because her father Robert worked as a traveling minister and church administrator with the Church of God.

White earned her Ph.D. in

mass communication from the University of Tennessee in 1990, her MSLS in library science from the University of Tennessee in 1984 and her BA in business from Lee University in 1980.

She said she gets the impres-sion that Wichita Falls has a strong community spirit.

“People really believe in work-ing together to develop the uni-versity and provide quality edu-cation. I felt like it was a good team to be part of,” she said.

“I think there’s an energy to a campus that translates very well to someone who has an adven-turous spirit,” she said. “A uni-versity is not a place to go and sit back on your laurels. There’s always something to move for-ward and do.”

She said her first job out of college was as an advertiser for Yellow Pages. She also advised a campus radio station and a cable TV station in Georgia, and has done professional market re-

Chris CollinsManaging Editor

New provost prioritizes accreditation, recruiting

See MUSIC HALL on page 3

See PROVOST on page 3

Brittany NormanEditor in ChiEf

As the Texas Legislature con-tinues to dig deeper into the pockets of state agencies to cover an $18 billion deficit, MSU ad-ministrators must prepare a plan to return as much as 10 percent of the university’s state appropri-ations for the next biennium.

President Dr. Jesse Rogers said the proposed cuts, which will be finalized during the Janu-ary 2011 legislative session, will be difficult even in the best-case scenario.

“It’s very serious,” Rogers said. “Our budget will be cut some-where between 5 percent – which is a certainty – and 10 percent. That is on top of the 5 percent we cut this biennium.”

Rogers said the university has already pared away $2 million from the 2010-2011 budget af-ter the legislature requested that all state agencies reduce their

budgets by 5 percent. “That first 5 percent was dif-

ficult,” Rogers said. He said the university slashed

$600,000 in the previous school year, and plans to cut the remain-ing amount – over $1 million – over the next year.

One of the money-saving measures the university has tak-en is instating a limited hiring

freeze.“(Limited hiring freezes) are

very hard to do because we are not overstaffed,” Rogers said. “We need every position we have. There are quite a few po-sitions still open, and if we can hold positions open for awhile, we will do so.”

He said MSU has also post-poned or scaled back some cam-

pus projects and cut money out of existing projects.

“It was difficult, but I don’t think the students have felt (the effects of the cuts) in too many ways,” Rogers said.

But if the cuts continue, Rog-ers said the effects might become more noticeable. As a result, the administration has formed three committees to develop plans for the potential 5 or 10 percent cuts. Those committees will be seeking input from across the university.

The committees will look at specific areas of the university,

such as student services, mainte-nance projects and the academic budget, to start hammering out a new budget.

“This is the first time I’ve done that sort of planning as a provost or president, but this is also the largest budget cut I’ve been in-volved in,” Rogers said. “We’ve never been in a position to cut up to $6 million out of our oper-ating budget.”

In the past, it has been pos-sible to handle budget cuts at solely an administrative level,

See BUDGET on page 3

Dr. Alisa White (Photo courtesy)

This is the largest budget cut I’ve been involved in. We’ve never been in a position to cut up to $6 million out of our operating budget.

-MSU President Dr. Jesse Rogers“ ”

A who’s who of MSU: President Rogers, the Deans and Administration heads, Peer Counselors, Student Ambas-sadors, members of fraternities and sororities, cheerlead-ers, athletes, and many more, were in attendance Tuesday night in the Fain Fine Arts Center Theatre to welcome the Class of 2014 to Midwestern.

“[New Student Convocation] is to officially welcome our new students as the Class of 2014 and start them off on their journey to receive a great college education at Midwestern State University,” Student Development and Orientation director, Matthew Park said.

But the festivities didn’t kick off until keynote speaker, Jonathan Sprinkles, took the stage and dazzled the crowd with a message of letting go of the one’s past self and ac-cepting the future with an open mind. Telling them his motto, “If it is going to be it’s up to me. So I choose to see

MSU gets‘Sprinkled’Convocation speaker Jonathon Sprinkles

urges students to embrace changeBrittney Cottingham

fEaturEs Editor

See CONVOCATION on page 5

(Top) Cheerleaders throw prizes into the audience during New Student Convocation Tuesday night. (Bottom) Jonathon Sprinkles spoke to new students about moving into their fu-tures with open minds. (Photos by Kassie Bruton)

(Above) MSU band members rehearse in their new state-of-the-art music hall. Construction was completed on the facility over the summer, allowing the band to leave be-hind the old, cramped and moldy music hall. (Right) The new music hall is situated by the Fain Fine Arts building. (Photo by Brittany Norman)

SWEAT FOR SUCCESS: Football players practice through the heat to prep for season opener

nPAGE 8 nPAGE 7

Shrinefest pairs good Texas music with a good cause

campusvoice2 n The Wichitan September 1, 2010

thewichitan3410 Taft Blvd. Box 14 n Wichita Falls, Texas 76308News Desk: (940) 397-4704 n Ads: (940) 397-4705

Fax (940) 397-4025 n E-mail WICHITAN@mwsu.edu

editorial boardnEdiTor in ChiEf: Brittany normannManaging EdiTor: Chris Collins

nEnTErTainMEnT EdiTor: Lauren Woodnop-Ed EdiTor: Cameron ShaffernSporTS EdiTor: andre gonzales

nfEaTurES EdiTor: Brittney CottinghamnphoTo EdiTor: position open

nadvErTiSing ManagEr: rachel BinghamnCopy EdiTor: alyssa Johnston

nadviSEr: randy pruitt

nrEporTErS:

nphoTographErS: Kassie Bruton, damian atamenwan

Copyright © 2010. The Wichitan is a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. The Wichitan reserves the right to edit any material submitted for publication. Opinions expressed in The Wichitan do not necessarily reflect those of the students, staff, fac-ulty, administration or Board of Regents of Midwest-ern State University. First copy of the paper is free of charge; additional copies are $1. The Wichitan wel-comes letters of opinion from students, faculty and staff submitted by the Friday before intended publica-tion. Letters should be brief and without abusive lan-guage or personal attacks. Letters must be typed and signed by the writer and include a telephone number

and address for verification purposes. The editor retains the right to edit letters.

Last year a lot of time was spent by the voice of the student body trying to solve the student body’s problems. But the Stu-dent Government Association, particularly the Student Senate did not do a fantastic job accom-plishing anything.

On May 4th at the SGA ban-quet Dr. Keith Lamb, the univer-sity’s Vice President of Student Affairs and long-time adviser to the SGA, gave a speech praising the accomplishments of the Sen-ate. The only thing he could find to mention was the creation of a freeplay field between Sundance Court and Sunwatcher Village.

While this singular achieve-ment is something the university considers worthy of brandish-ing, it was in no way a SGA tri-umph: there was never actually a vote in the Senate on the issue. The actual concern brought to the attention of the Senate was that the practice fields over by the Wellness Center were con-

stantly being reserved by organi-zations even when they were not present, an annoyance that still persists.

The voice of the students was nothing but a clamorous si-lence last year, which is simply a shame. The chief reason that the SGA proved itself ineffective is that it is designed to institution-alize apathy among its members, which necessarily produces a po-litical ennui in the student body

as they observe no effect on the university administration being produced by the SGA.

Midwestern’s SGA is one the few student governments in Tex-as that pulls its members from student organizations. The prin-cipal incentive for student orga-nizations to send representatives to the Senate is money; student organizations only receive uni-versity funding if they have a member regularly attending the Senate as a senator. With a few notable exceptions, the senators representing organizations did not care a bit about being there. They were only there because they had to be, and the results were pretty clear-cut.

Schools such as the University of Texas, DBU, Texas Tech, Tex-as A&M, and SMU have their senators elected directly from each college within the univer-sity. Their student governments

are smaller, more representative of the student body, and actually accomplish quite a bit. It is no wonder that their student bod-ies responds positively to their respective student governments as their voice.

Student government effec-tiveness and work fuels student body enthusiasm which, in a cyclical manner, produces a stu-dent government that values its role as the student’s voice.

The new SGA president Chris Stolarzyk is not one to let his voice get drowned out. With him at the SGA helm and the start of a new school year, the op-portunity to reform the Senate is fantastic. But more importantly the opportunity to prove to the student body that the SGA is not just decoration should not be passed by. The voice of Mid-western’s students needs to speak up.

The debate raging over the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero proves once again that those who wish to exercise their constitutional rights in a way that will inevitably incite emotional reactions should be prepared for the backlash.

The First Amendment clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establish-ment of religion, or prohibit-ing the free exercise thereof.” If Americans make decisions based upon those words (not always the case), there is nothing legal that can prohibit someone from building a mosque near Ground Zero. They have as much right to worship there as anyone else.

If people weren’t still so emo-tionally raw from the tragedy that occurred at Ground Zero, it would be a non-issue. The “Ground Zero Mosque” isn’t next door to the site of the Septem-ber 11 terrorist attack. It is two blocks away. It would no more be a “Ground Zero Mosque” than the strip club three blocks from the site is the “Ground Zero Strip Club.”

But people think with their emotions, not with their heads. Many feel that building a mosque so near the site where thousands of people died as a result of Is-lamic terrorism is a slap to the face of everyone who suffered through the heartache in the months and years since 9/11.

In a way it is. The develop-ers, while they have every right to build their house of worship wherever they please, should have been more sensitive to what others might infer about their proposed mosque. They should have known that people would be outraged. They should have, at the very least, expected it and had the grace not to react with outrage when people stood up against the “community center.”

It is a community center rather than a minaret-tipped mosque, which is important to point out as well. The symbolism, however, remains unchanged. Whatever the intentions of those who

planned to build their mosque so near Ground Zero had in mind are irrelevant. It’s the perception that matters.

Would it have been so difficult to choose a location a few blocks farther away? Maybe not. Is it wrong for protestors to shout out that no “terrorists” should be allowed to worship within a certain area of Manhattan? Of course it is.

Whether or not building a mosque near the former site of the World Trade Center is right is irrelevant. What mat-ters is that Islamic people have as much of a right as members of any other religion to wor-ship wherever they please in the United States. If members of one religion are to be forbidden from worshipping within a “buf-fer zone” around Ground Zero, members of all religions should be as well. That’s not really what America is about.

The group planning the Is-lamic community center should be allowed to build, but they should not expect to do so with-out having to stand up for their right to do so, repeatedly, in the face of harsh opposition. People may know what is right and legal, but the ache left behind nearly a decade after the attacks on the twin towers is still very much a part of America, and strong emotions like that are difficult to overcome.

nSocietal FloSS

Sound Off Now or Shut Up LaterTexas universities are starting to

really feel the economic recession and administrators are seeking in-put from the MSU community on how to best save money.

Now that they’re asking, it’s time to speak up. Committees have been formed across campus to collect opinions and ideas from areas be-yond the Hardin Administration Building.

Take advantage of it. President Dr. Jesse Rogers plans to address the Student Government Associa-tion about the state-level budget cuts MSU is facing. Tuition hikes are almost inevitable, but everyone should have a voice in what is cut, downgraded, postponed, and elim-inated.

Students make up the largest percentage of the campus popula-tion. Staff, faculty, and administra-tion are going to get their say, but

students at MSU notoriously waste opportunities to have their voices heard.

Don’t make this just another Ath-letic Fee election where a couple hundred students make a decision that ultimately impacts the entire student body.

If the continued improvement of athletic programs and facilities is your thing, say so. If the idea of studying in a moldy corner of Mof-fett Library for another four years sounds miserable, advocate against the new library project being put on the backburner. If your wallet can’t take another tuition fee addi-tion, let someone know.

Everyone’s ideas and suggestions won’t make it into the university’s plan. Some things are already slot-ted to occur, others will simply be too expensive in a budget situation where anywhere between 10-15%

of expected funds are no longer available.

Students are the integral popu-lation of this university. Decisions made at the administrative level ultimately affect the student body, whether it is financially, academi-cally, or through the activities and organizations. As a result, students should join the decision-making process when given the opportu-nity.

The more ideas people bring to the table, the more informed the decisions ultimately reached will be. Billboards and advertisements remind MSU students that this is their university.

They should take the initiative to ensure their opinions and ideas are considered. The administration is offering the student body the op-portunity to be heard – don’t waste it.

nour view

Institutional apathy plagues student body

Cool heads missingin mosque debate

Brittany normanEditor in ChiEf

Cameron Shafferopinion Editor

newsThe Wichitan n 3September 1, 2010

!

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Ms. Liberty Deatherage, Master of English Call or Text (940) 704-8408

campus briefs

n Today:Big Brothers and sisters meeting in CsC Caddo at 9 a.m.

Part-time JoB and Volunteer Fair in CsC ComanChe at noon

student organization Fairin CsC atri-um at noon

n THURSday:Big Brothers and sisters meeting in CsC Caddo at 9 a.m.

Foreign Film series: PersePolis at KemP Center For the arts at 7 P.m.

TV station in Georgia, and has done professional market research and me-dia purchasing.

She has also worked as part-owner of WDR2, a family-owned radio sta-tion in Tennessee. Before she came to MSU, White acted as dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Texas at Tyler.

“It’s been a fun journey,” White said.

She said she thinks a broad array of experiences is necessary to be a suc-cessful educator.

“People can be very different in how they get things accomplished and still do pretty big things,” she said. “So I tend to have a big appreciation for people who may not fir the mold. I can look at someone with a non-tradi-tional background and see what they bring to the table. ”

“My first priority is to work on the academic side of the affirmation for SACS,” she said.

SACS is the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, MSU’s big-gest accrediting body. The university is

up for reaffirmation (think of it as a kind of quality inspection) in 2012.

“They’ll be looking at our programs, our assessments of our programs, how we say we’re doing and what we’re doing for continuous improvement,” White said. “They’re in charge of as-sessing entire programs based on stu-dent learning outcomes.”

After SACS does its assessment, a plan is instituted to improve in prob-lem areas.

She used the example of UT Tyler to demonstrate how the process works. Journalism students weren’t perform-ing well in media ethics in capstone courses, according to a SACS assess-ment.

“When they discovered that, they added exercises on making ethical decisions into the media law class,” she said. “My number one priority is working on the academic side to make sure we sail through SACS reaffirma-tion.”

She said her second focus will be recruiting in a time of severe budget cuts. “We’re dealing with an $18 bil-

lion shortfall state-wide. In the next legislative session, schools will be looking for ways to continue to offer what they’re needing to offer, doing no harm to students but still doing it efficiently,” White said.

One of White’s interests, she said, is studying the retention rate, the rate at which students who attend MSU continue to attend semester after se-mester.

“I haven’t had a chance to look at our data that carefully yet, but this is a problem state-wide and nation-ally,” White said. “We have a lot of students who come to the university and they don’t finish. So they have no degree and they leave with debt. That really bothers me, because without a degree they won’t have the same earn-ing power.”

White said the administration needs to look at ways to make students more successful.

“I mean graduating in four years, graduating efficiently, graduating through programs that help them be an educated person and help them be

successful in the workplace,” she said. “When these people graduate, they’re not going to be competing with the people they graduate with, they’re go-ing to be competing with people with graduates from SMU and OU and A&M. This is a society that moves. If you want a job at the Times Record News, you could be competing with people that move to Wichita Falls to take your job. You’ve got to be better than everybody else.”

White’s son, John Michael Coleman, is a 15-year-old student at Rider High School. Her husband Elliott Herzlich owns a jewelry store in Tyler, Texas. Eventually he will move to Wichita Falls to live with his son and wife.

White said she stays active in her field. She’s a trustee of the 10th Dis-

trict Advertising Foundation. “I want to make sure to stay active in my discipline,” she said. “I can’t imagine ever being complacent. I hate to be bored.”

Rogers said. However, since the new cuts will impact so many areas of the university it is important to seek campus-wide input, he noted.

“I think we need to do everything we can to involve everyone as far as their ideas (and suggestions) are concerned,” Rogers said.

This openness extends to the student body, as well.

“I’m going to go talk to the student body about it and assure them that this budget cut will not be made up by increased tu-ition,” Rogers said. “Our (normal) tuition increases will continue because of infla-tion, but I’m not going to ask the student body to make up this money with a tuition increase.”

He said he plans to ask the SGA to have a couple of sessions with him to discuss the issue once they are organized for the semester.

Rogers also said that the money doesn’t have to be made up solely with “cuts.”

“It can be increased income as well,” he said. “We’ll have some increased income because of higher enrollment, but it’s im-portant to streamline some of our opera-tions without hurting (them). That’s very hard to do.”

At this point, Rogers does not predict that it will become a necessity to cut cur-rent positions and employees.

“We haven’t gotten to the point yet that we will have furloughs or layoffs,” he said. “We may hold positions open longer, but I think we can get through this thing and still hold a good staff and good faculty to-

gether.”Rogers said that the university plans to

save money on utilities, wait on construc-tion projects that were previously planned for, and keep operating with a limited hir-ing freeze in place.

“We can cut some here and cut some there, but we can also cut enough that it will hurt the quality of the institution,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any way of es-caping that the students will notice a little bit larger classes. You’ll see the university slow down on building. We’ve had a great 10-year run (with construction) while the economy was good.”

He said certain projects will continue as planned, and others will be postponed in-definitely. Students can rest assured, how-ever, that summer classes will not be placed on the chopping block, Rogers said.

“If we do this right, I hope the students will see little difference,” he said. “There will still be enough classes to take so that you can graduate on time. You’re still go-ing to see as many full-time faculty.”

Rogers said this budget crunch is the result of the nationwide recession finally hitting Texas with substantial force.

He attributes the delayed impact to Texas’ budget system, and the state’s use of stimulus money to balance the budget in the past.

“We are just now really beginning to feel the effects of the recession,” he said. “We’re still better off (than other states). I don’t think that Texas will have to cut as deep as California or Oklahoma and the Midwest because our economy is just big-

ger and our business environment in Texas is still good.”

He added, however, that an $18 billion deficit is a lot of money even for the Texas budget.

Rogers said that making higher educa-tion more cost-effective in the long-term must involve a shift in priorities.

“The real cost of higher education is that we have a low number going to col-lege and finishing college,” Rogers said. “I think we can look at it in a different light than just cutting a budget.

:It costs us just as much money for stu-dents to come, take some courses and never graduate as it does for them to come and stay and graduate. We’ve got to find more ways to get those people who start college through to graduation. If we just had more people graduating, the cost per graduate would go down. We wouldn’t need more faculty, more building, anything.”

Rogers said if more students worked to graduate in four years, or to graduate at all, the cost of higher education would pay for itself due to the economic impact of more educated people in the workplace.

“The central problem is that we have a big (Texas university) system built up and very few people really taking advantage of it,” he said. “We keep building a bigger system, and what we need is to build more success into the system in some way.”

PRoVoST.....................................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1

He said the carpet hadn’t been replaced since the 1988 renovation. The air-condition-ing, heating and plumbing was completely worn out too.

“The quality of air was just awful,” Archambo said. “It was moldy. It wouldn’t stay cool, it wouldn’t stay hot. This move was overdue.”

The new building features professional soundproofing panels high on the walls to ab-sorb excess sound and prevent echoes. Instead of the deafening roar of an entire band, students can now concentrate on listen-ing to their instrument and im-proving.

“The kids can become better musicians because they can ac-tually hear things in there now,” Archambo said. “In the other one, you couldn’t hear. You should never, ever put carpet in a rehearsal hall like they did.”

The new building’s concrete floor is ideal for the band.

Instruments create conden-sation when warm air is blown inside them to create tones. The condensation, after it cools, turns to liquid. That liquid is expelled from the instrument through a ‘water valve,’ which most music students refer to as a ‘spit valve.’

“Imagine for just a second

having carpet on the floor and having kids drip their spit in the same piece of carpet for 22 years,” Archambo said. “It’s just gross. And that’s what that building was. Gross. It outlived its usefulness.”

“On this building, they went all out,” Archambo said. “I’m telling you this place is state-of-the-art. I think this is compara-ble to any band facility around. At any level. We had the worst band hall within 50 miles of here. Now we feel like we went from having one of the worst band halls to having one of the very best band halls.”

Dr. Ron Fischli, dean of the college of Fine Arts, said the building is part of a bigger proj-ect to integrate all of the uni-versity’s fine arts into one area of campus.

“We’ve made a huge stride with the facility and getting the band out of that awful build-ing,” he said.

Fischli said he was glad the administration got the ball roll-ing on the project when they did.

“I think if we hadn’t gotten approval on it when we did, given the economy where it is now, the plan could have been ashes,” he said. “Persistence has paid off.”

MSU band members rehearse in the new Fain Instrumental Mu-sic Hall. (Photo by Brittany Norman)

BaNd................................continued from page 1

BUdGET...................................................................................................................continued from page 1

Midwestern held its first ever Minority Networking Event this past Friday. The event, which was held in the Kiowa room of the Clark Student Center, was a part of the week long welcoming activities put on by the office of Student De-velopment and Orientation.

The purpose of the gathering was to help students establish relationships with local busi-ness and organization leaders from around the Wichita Falls area.

Dominique Calhoun, the co-ordinator for multicultural ser-vices, says that his goal in plan-ning this event was to bridge a gap between MSU students and the community around them.

“It is a way to empower the local businesses and organiza-tions, by also offering the stu-dents the chance for mentoring, volunteer services, and of course networking opportunities,” said Calhoun.

While the name of the event suggested that it was specifically for those on campus who were

of a minority group, Calhoun said that was not the case.

“The name may seem a little misleading,” said Calhoun.

When he was first putting the event together, all of the members of the business “net-work” wanting to attend the event were of a minority back-ground. Minority, from a busi-ness standpoint is anyone who is not a white male. This includes anyone of ethnic background, and women.

Therefore Calhoun decided the event name should be Mi-nority Networking Event, since that is who was mainly being brought in for the occasion.

Some of the guests who at-tended the event include a small business owner who owns his own painting business, an elementary school teacher, a published poet, and vari-ous members of organizations such as The Christian Women’s Job Corporation, and also the Wichita Falls Area of Texas Schools Black Educators.

One guest, Sharri Torrence, teaches third grade at the lo-cal Scotland Park Elementary School. However, Torrence shared another passion of hers

with the event attendees which is being a part of the Wichita Falls Area of Texas Schools Black Educators.

Torrence said that the pur-pose of the Black Educators is to improve the achievement of African-American students in the community. The group’s main focus is on assisting the students in achieving gradu-ation from high school, and helping them advance to the next level (college).

Torrence said that this is where MSU comes into play.

Connecting with MSU stu-dents on a personal level at such events as this one enables the group to get a first hand account of the ways the Black Educators can improve their standards for helping their students. Torrence says if they know what is expected of their kids at the next level, then it gives them a better idea of how to get them there.

Torrence, who is an MSU alumni, says that she loves coming back to the campus and seeing all of the change that has taken place since she was a stu-dent in the late 80’s.

The event only lasted for

about an hour and a half. How-ever, Dominique Calhoun says that his hope is to build on this first event, and to make it a regular occurrence throughout the year.

events as this one enables the group to get a first hand account of the ways the Black Educators can improve their standards for helping their students. Tor-rence says if they know what is expected of their kids at the next level, then it gives them a better idea of how to get them there.

Torrence, who is an MSU alumni, says that she loves coming back to the campus and seeing all of the change that has taken place since she was a stu-dent in the late 80’s.

The event only lasted for about an hour and a half. How-ever, Dominique Calhoun says that his hope is to build on this first event, and to make it a regular occurrence throughout the year.

Getting a leg-up on networkingBrittany WalshFor the Wichitan

feature4 n The Wichitan September 1, 2010

Welcome back

Mustangs!

Alyssa JohnstonFor the Wichitan

MSU Peer Counselors Joel Smith, Stephanie Parker, Josh Loeffler, Wesley Hart, Lisa Moore and Lori Haggard brought together from Spirit Days for an Ice Cream Social on Wednesday night at Sunwatcher Plaza. (Photo by Brittney Cottingham)

Students escaped the heat by attending a day trip to Castaway Cove for only $5 on Saturday-to kick off Welcome Week. (Photo by Kassie Bruton)

After Student Convocation, the Student Development and Orientation department threw a block party. (Photo by Kassie Bruton)

Jonathon Sprinkles spoke at the New Student Convocation & Campus Block Party Tuesday night, and it was a huge success according to Cammie Dean, the assistant director of Student De-velopment and Orientation at MSU.

Welcome Week is an impor-tant week that is full of fun events for new and returning students at MSU. Welcome Week allows students to connect and get to know each other through events such as the Convocation and Spirit Days.

“I really like how the people around here are a lot more di-verse,” said Devin Colley, fresh-man and former Abilene Chris-tian University student.

Dean stated that the New Student Convocation was the “feature event of the week.” She also said that the turn out for the events was better than expected. There were at least 200 students attending each large event, and the Convocation held at Fain Auditorium was full.

“The incoming students are really positive and excited to be here,” stated Dean.

The events were bigger and better this year than in the past because new organizations such as Alpha Phi Alpha and the In-terfraternity Council sponsored new events. This year the SGA allocated funds for the operation of Welcome Week, proving the students want to get involved.

As an incentive for coming

to the events and participating, MSU had a contest for a free iPad. Students that came to the marked events were entered to win an iPad. The funding for the iPad came from the Dillard Col-lege of Business Administration as well as the office of Student Development and Orientation.

When asked what he thought about the iPad contest, Col-ley said, “I know kids like me; they’re always reluctant to come out to the organized things, so that’s really cool”.

Welcome Week is important because it “sets the tone for new and returning students to get in-volved, be a part of the commu-nity and feel great about being on campus,” stated Dean.

Speaker Jonathan Sprinkles lead in interactive activities while giving his lecture about decision making on Tuesday night at New Student Convocation.(Photo by Kassie Bruton)

To celebrate the end of the first week of school, new and returning students rushed to the Castway Cove to enjoy the slides and to soak up the sun at Castaway Cove. (Photo by Kassie Bruton)

The student Wellness Center hosted a Student Dodgeball Tournament on Wednesday night. (Photo by: Damian Atamenwan)

Student Development and Orientation host weekly actitives gearing up students for the new year

newsThe Wichitan n 5September 1, 2010

MT’S Bar-B-QUECALL IN CATERING

940-763-13233139 5TH STREET

ORDERS 940-337-4350

WICHITA FALLS, TX 76301

For many MSU students, pay-ing for their college education is already expensive. But this semester will see education stu-dents paying an additional ex-pense to earn their degrees.

Students will have to pay for TK20 software, which provides a database to store and analyze assessment information for the college’s accreditation, said Dr. Matthew Capps, dean of educa-tion.

For the last three years, MSU has paid the cost of the software for its students, but the contract the university set up with the software company, also named TK20, is expired. Starting Sept. 1, the responsibility rests firmly

on the shoulders of the 850 edu-cation students.

MSU paid $143,000 over the past three years to provide stu-dents with the service.

Students for whom the univer-sity has already waived the cost shouldn’t worry – since it’s just a one-time fee, those students will be grandfathered in.

“This is the only university in the country that did that,” Capps said. “That was a commitment set up by Dr. Rogers set up be-cause he wanted to help the stu-dents with that.”

“We’re trying to figure out how to make this as smooth a transition as possible,” he said.

Now MSU has no contract with TK20. Their relationship will work as a pay-as-you-go system.

Capps sympathizes. “I know it’s hard for some people. Every dollar counts anymore,” he said.

About 150 universities use the database software in their edu-cation departments. All of those schools require students to pay the $100 fee.

“Because of the budget crunch, the responsibility of paying that has shifted to the stu-dents,” Capps said. “It’s a one-time fee and they have access to it for the rest of the time they’re in school.”

TK20 is essentially a software system that collects and stores assessment information about education students.

“The College of Education is going through accreditation right now,” Capps said. The depart-ment is seeking this designation

from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Educa-tion. Accreditation hinges on the assessment scores education stu-dents earn while in the program. Since TK20 is the database that houses these assessment scores, the program is pivotal in the ac-creditation of the college.

“I think accreditation helps us keep track of how well we’re training our teachers, counsel-ors and principals,” Capps said. “It guides us in evaluating what we’re doing and how we’re do-ing with our students. It gives us definitive evidence of the job we do. If you’re going to do some-thing, you’ve got to have evi-dence to back you up.”

Currently the College of Edu-cation has no official accredita-tion designation. Capps said he

thinks getting the thumbs up from the NCATE could poten-tially persuade prospective pro-fessors to teach at MSU instead of elsewhere.

“In order to become accredited you have to keep up with infor-mation about how students do on the assessments we have in the college,” Capps said. “We have

to be able to dissect the data.”The program will help students

keep track not only of the scores they’re given on in-class as-sessments, but also how they’re graded during student teaching. Even graduate students in the department must keep track of their own assessment scores us-ing TK20.

only possibilities. I control what I think and I control how I feel. I know I’m great! And that’s for real. Every day I will be the best me that I can pos-sibly be!”

“When he first got on stage, my friends and I were a little surprised,” freshmen Pheobe Johnson said. “Usually when you come to one of these they have a boring speaker who can’t really relate to an younger audi-ence, but Jonathan totally went against that stereotype. He was actually funny.”

To even be chosen as a key-note speaker Convocation, a person must to be recommend-ed by students, SGA executives and other student leaders and faculty. Park says that Sprinkles came highly recommended from some previous SGA of-ficers and staff members.

“His message was simple and he was both entertaining and motivating.” Park said.

With his animated voice and lighthearted humor, Dis-ney/Eastman Kodak acclaimed Mentor of the Year, Sprinkles finds a way to bring in the laughs while also focusing on educating the audience.

“Well I love to have fun, so I always think of differ-ent ways we can incorporate humor when your funny the message actually sticks a little bit longer,” Sprinkles said. “So I’m always finding little jokes from popular culture or mod-ern technology, anything that

I can use to relate and make a point from.”

Sprinkles led the students into three exercises to get them loosed up. In the process he is constantly making the audi-ence laugh, and poking fun at some of the students, different situations and even himself. All he does on stage is deliberate and is all a part of his ever-changing style, which he says has evolved so that he can be effective and still give the au-dience something that they can use to benefit their lives.

“College students often times love to be entertained versus educated,” Sprinkles said. “So sometimes it can get a little too playful and people don’t want to get as much from it as I would like to. But that’s also the op-portunity as well because now I have to figure out a way to do almost what they call edutain-ment, where to educate and to entertain at the same time.”

Sprinkles led the new MSU students in a lecture about choices. He described this elab-orate story of learning about a hermit crab and how when it leaves their old shell to look for a new one, it is left in a vulner-able state. Sprinkles translated this effortlessly into a begin-ning freshmen’s college experi-ence. Proclaiming to the crowd that there isn’t much difference between having a choice and not making one, than not hav-ing a choice in the first place.

“Essentially [to make the

right choices] is in your hands.” Sprinkles said. “At this school you can be, do or have whatever you choose to have. And really it’s not about where you start, it’s about where you choose to finish.”

The auditorium erupted in applause as Sprinkles took his final bow. Proceeding convo-cation the students had more than a lot to say about his in-teractive public speaking.

“Even as a junior I was sur-prised by what he had to say, even though it was kind of geared toward entering fresh-men,” Brenda Castillo said. “I would definitely love to have Jonathan at our school again for another event. I feel like the whole campus could benefit from his lectures.”

New Student Convocation was followed by a Block Party at Sunwatcher Plaza, where Sprinkles mingled and signed autographs of his two books You Were Born an Original, Don’t Live Like a Copy! And Take Your Leadership to the Next Level!

“[New students] should feel excitement to begin their edu-cation at Midwestern State University as a new Mustang and the motivation to work hard and succeed both aca-demically and personally,” Park said. “Also, a foundation to start building positive and last-ing memories of their time at MSU.”

CONVOCATION............................................................continued from page 1

Chris CollinsManaging Editor

A 13-year-old boy fidgeted in class while his teacher called out each student’s name to read one paragraph aloud. Glenn Har-rington could feel his heart race, his palms begin to sweat.

Two students away and it would be his turn.

His thoughts were frantic. How could he get out of this situation?

One student away.What am I going to do?Suddenly, it was his turn.By then, Harrington had

counted the paragraphs and knew which one would be his. He’d also managed to enlist the help of a nearby classmate who whispered the words to him.

Somehow, he got through the reading.

It wasn’t the first time Har-rington would be confronted with his embarrassment of being unable to read. It wouldn’t be the last.

In fact, it wasn’t until Har-rington reached age 70 that he would learn he is dyslexic.

By then he would have served a stint in the U.S. Air Force and graduated from MSU with a degree in geology. He would go on to get his master’s and teach students at Lee Junior Col-lege in Baytown, Texas. He also taught inmates at the prison in Huntsville. Later, he’d become a naturalist for the National Park Service.

He did it all without reading a book.

“I never read a book in my life,” Harrington said.

Harrington is making this public confession in hopes of helping others. Recently, he re-turned to MSU to speak to spe-

cial education students about his life.

At age 77, he is working to help others who find themselves in a similar situation.

Harrington now calls his battle with dyslexia a “gift” that forced him to learn to think more effi-ciently than others. Harrington has his own take on the expres-sion “thinking outside the box.”

“You have to take that box, crumple it, and throw it away,” he said. “That box has the greatest limitation. Think the unthink-able. It is really so weird that it is practical.”

Thinking differently, he be-lieves, is what got him ahead in life.

Since he couldn’t read well he adopted a listening-questioning approach to all his science class-es at MSU. The English classes, though, that gave him fits. It took all four years of college to pass his two semesters of Eng-lish.

It got to the point where one English teacher referred to Har-rington as “one of our mascots.”

Throughout life, Harrington learned to compensate for his weakness. In elementary and high school he played the role of the class clown.

“That was my cover.”When forced to teach a class

in the military, he bought a pack of colored chalk and drew pic-tures on the blackboard rather than write.

No one ever knew.Not even Melva, his wife of 59

years. “One time he even asked me to read a book for him for a book report,” she said.

Harrington recalls growing up with dyslexia.

“At that time there was no such thing as dyslexia,” he said. “If you couldn’t read it just meant you were dumb or lazy.”

Harrington left high school

six weeks short of graduation to join the Air Force. His diploma was mailed to him. Out of a class of 72, he was second from the bottom in class rank.

Harrington finally discovered his problem in 2003. It was at his home at Grand Lake, Colo.

Brokerage founder Charles Schwab was on television in talking about his bout with dys-lexia. Every symptom sounded familiar to Harrington.

He and his wife traveled to Denver so he could take an $800 test that would diagnose him. On a scale of 0 to 10 with 10 being the most severe, he was a 10. A 70-year-old with a reading level of a fourth grader.

The results provided him with a sobering explanation for every-thing he’d been dealing with his whole life.

He got another surprise in 2009 from another test. He was accepted into Mensa Interna-tional, meaning he scored in the top percentile of the general public on a standard IQ test.

“It took my breath away, kind of set me back. I’m so humbled,” Harrington said.

Being dyslexic doesn’t mean you’re dumb, he discovered.

Harrington and his wife have started a program in their com-munity to collect books and send them to young children. They also arrange and teach literacy courses.

Harrington has a few words to say to anybody who knows they are battling with dyslexia.

“I understand what you are going through. Try not to get frustrated. You need to redirect your thinking and get over the pity party. If others are trying to help you, let them. It is not a handicap. Allow yourself to suc-ceed and you, too, will be blessed with the gift of dyslexia.”

Ashley NesbittFor thE Wichitan

New software forces additional fees for MSU students

Finding the ‘gift’ in dyslexiaSpecial education students receive an inside look into the world of dyslexia from a former student

Five “Sprinkle-isms” for a great school year

1. You were born an original. Don’t live like a copy.

2. Have a clear vision. When your vision’s clear, resources will appear.

3. Show me your friends and I will show you your future.

4. Choose a champion. Find somebody who has what you want and model your school career after theirs.

5. Quit complaining! It’s not about what you don’t have. Look at what you can do. What can you do with what you have left? At every point in the semester, whether you have 30 days or you only have three days, what can you do with what you have left?

- Jonathon Sprinkles

a&e6 n The Wichitan September 1, 2010

Summer flicks heat up theaters and box offices

Explore music genres with unbiased mind

Summer after summer, it’s the same story - bad movie after bad movie.

Nothing on the marquee is of any interest. Going to the movies becomes nothing more than drudgery.

This summer, that was not the case.

A big summer was promised by film companies around the nation, and a big summer is exactly what they delivered.

Here is a list of the seven biggest and best movies of this summer.

7. “Shrek Forever” – Just when you thought the “Shrek” series was over, the fourth and final installment of the series hit the big screen this summer. Although its gross was high across the world, it was the worst performing of the series. While sequels usually don’t hold a candle to the original, as is the case with “Shrek Forever,” it was a great way to end the series.

6. “Despicable Me” – Steve Carrell leaves the world of “The

Office” and steps into the 3-D animated world once again. An evil villain who is losing his touch, Gru adopts three girls in an attempt to unfold his master plans to steal the moon. Even though it was made for children, it kept adults laughing as well. Not to mention a box office gross of $300 million.

5. “The Twilight Saga – Eclipse” – While this movie doesn’t appeal to everyone and seems to have a hate following, the box office numbers and lines of people dressed as vampires cannot be ignored. “Eclipse” grossed nearly $700 million.

4. “Iron Man 2” – Following a box-office hit like “Iron Man” seemed like an impossible task. However, director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr did just that. “Iron Man 2” picks up after Tony Stark admits to the public that he, in fact, is Iron Man. From there, villains begin to take an interest in his arc reactor technology. Setting the series up to be absorbed in the Avengers series and grossing millions more than the first “Iron Man,” the sequels’ special

effects and action left audiences nationwide very satisfied.

3. “Dinner for Schmucks” – With big names like Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, and Zach Galafinakis, one can expect big laughs. “Dinner for Schmucks” delivered exactly that in it’s remake of the 1998 French film “The Dinner Game.” In an effort to impress his boss, Tim Conrad (Paul Rudd) must invite an idiot to dinner to insult him the entire night. After hitting him with his car, Tim chooses Barry Speck (Steve Carrell) to be his guest at this dinner. This movie is comparable to being this generation’s “Dumb and Dumber” and left audiences rolling nearly the entire 114 minutes.

2. “Inception” – Director and writer Christopher Nolan spent nearly ten years writing the story and script for this movie. Not based on any movie or book, Warner Brothers took a huge risk with this movie. That risk paid off. Dom Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is a professional dream stealer. After being exiled from the U.S., Dom

has the chance to return to his family if he performs the difficult task of performing inception, a process of planting an idea in a persons’ subconscious while they dream. With a complex story and more twists and turns than a “Saw” movie, “Inception” swept the box offices, grossing $650 million.

1. “Toy Story 3” – An end to a trilogy ten years in the making, the “Toy Story” audience ranged from adults who took their kids to the first two, to college students who were children when the first two came out, to kids who became new fans of the series. “Toy Story 3” is the final adventure of Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, and the rest of the toys we came to know and love after Andy goes off to college. The movie grossed over a billion dollars, making it the most successful film of the summer.

With so many successful releases this summer, the box offices were full of cash and theaters became the place to spend a Friday night again.

The music world is changing.Ten years ago, getting signed was the only way to make it

big. Now, all one would need is Garage Band and a MySpace account.

Ten years ago, no more than six or seven artists ruled the airwaves. Now, every song seems to be by a different artist.

They all may sound the same on the radio, but that’s neither here nor there.

With the horizons of the music industry expanding to once think an unreachable potential, the number of artists out there seems to be increasing at exponential rates.

With so much to choose from, sorting out the good from the bad can become somewhat of an arduous task.

Herein lies the purpose of this column; to make that task a little bit easier.

Each week, a different artist or artists that you may or may not have heard of will be highlighted and discussed. Strengths of the music, closely related bands, bands that sound the same, genre (if one can be assigned to said artist) and more.

If you want to hear any of the artists mentioned, give them a good look up on one of your favorite social networking sites or search engine. MySpace, Purevolume, and YouTube are bound to have most of them.

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. So take all suggestions given with a grain of salt. Run them through your own wild array of personal preferences and see if it suits your style.

Many of the bands mentioned may not be on any radio station other than Pandora. In an effort to expose new music, several bands that appear on the radio may not appear in this column. This is for no other reason than to expose new or less known music, rather than highlight famous bands.

That, and you can simply turn on 92.9 or 103.9 if you want to discover new radio bands.

Having established a preface for this column series, each few weeks, a different genre will be highlighted. From indie to punk to pop to metal to folk, there will be few genres not covered.

While each week, a new artist or few artists will be discovered, each genre will get a significant amount of artists revealed.

I hope you enjoy reading this column as much as I’m going to enjoy writing it and discovering new bands to cover in the process. Music is a very important thing, and with so much dross polluting the music industry now, a breath of fresh air is almost necessary.

So take a deep breath, and next week, get ready to look up a few bands.

Instead of reaching for that gallon of ice cream this summer, students were heading to their local frozen yogurt joint where they could mix different flavors and add their favorite toppings.

But what some don’t know is that frozen yogurt is better for the body than ice cream. By no means is it as good as an apple or carrot, but it does have its benefits.

According to the Yogurt Journey Web site, frozen yogurts contain high levels of beneficial live and active yogurt cultures. These cultures are probiotic and are considered beneficial to be present in the intestinal tract of the human body to insure proper balance needed for digestion and good health.

In recent research, other effects have been observed and are currently being studied. They include the potential that yogurt can help boost the immune system, may be useful in lowering serum cholesterol and help overcome lactose intolerance.

In addition, yogurt is a source of protein, calcium and potassium.In Wichita Falls, there are two frozen yogurt establishments:

Yogurt Journey “YoJo” and Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt. “YoJo” is located off of Kemp Avenue in between Golden Corral

and Big 5 Sporting Goods and Orange Leaf is in the shopping strip by James Avery and Cotton Patch off of Lawrence Road. They both have an abundant and diverse selection of flavors and toppings, but it depends on what your preference is. Based on my random one time experience at each of the establishments, I have compared them based on different categories.

Josh HoggardFor the Wichitan

Frozen yogurt frenzy scoops up students

Yogurt JourneyConvenience: It is close to campus and an easy self-serve

systemCustomer Service: The cashier was very friendly and

polite and even made small talk as I loaded up on napkins.Cost: $.39 per ounceAtmosphere: Definitely on the kid-friendly side with their

small tables and interactive wall art.Options: They rotate their flavors, so it depends on what

you prefer. They were out of both of my favorites, so I had to settle for the basic vanilla.

Taste: It was delicious because I piled it high with my favorite toppings, but was a little disappointed because it wasn’t my favorite frozen yogurt flavor.

Orange Leaf Frozen YogurtConvenience: A little further from campus than YoJo, but

still closeCustomer Service: The cashier said one thing, “Did you

want your receipt?”Cost: $.39 per ounceAtmosphere: More adults and college students were at

this location, not so family oriented thoughOptions: You can have a mixed flavor of the frozen yogurt,

or you can choose individually. They were out of my favorite flavor as well, but had another one I really enjoyed.

Taste: It was tasty as well, but lacked some of my favorite toppings because they were out of them. Overall, it was still a good cup of “fro yo.”

Josh HoggardFor the Wichitan

VS

Lauren Woodentertainment editor

An EntErtAinmEnt Column

nmusiC ExCursion:

Above: Both “fro yo” joints offer two sizes of cups. (Photo Courtesy) Left: Yogurt Journey offers a rewards card that gets hole-punched each time you purchase a bowl. (Photo by: Lauren Wood) Below: Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt allows customers to select a mixed version of two different flavors. (Photo by: Lau-ren Wood)

FedEx Ground is hiring Part-Time AM Package Handlers

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To schedule an observation, call (940) 766-1204FedEx Ground is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer (M/F/D/V) committed to a diverse workforce.

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FedEx Ground is hiringPart-Time AM Package Handlers

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*Bud Select and Ziegenbock 1/2 Barrel kegs - $74.82 plus tax!*

ATM on site!

Catering for Hospitality Suites, Holiday,Graduation and other large parties

Thousands of Texas music fans came out Saturday to “do it in the Red Dirt” at the fifth annual Shrinefest.

For the first time, Shrinefest promoters paired the festival with Hotter’N Hell Hundred, the largest single-day bike race in the world. If the crowd gathered in the field in front of the Shrinefest stage was any indication, many cyclists shed their spandex and ditched their bikes to come out and enjoy a little Red Dirt music.

The first band on the newly-built stage was Chris Clerihew and the West Coast Turnarounds. The Vernon-based band won the Shotout for Shrinfest contest earlier in the summer, a battle of the bands competition where the winner got to open up the music fes-tival.

Those looking for a Roger Creager or Randy Rogers sound wouldn’t have gotten what they were looking for with Chris Cleri-hew and the WCT, but fans of James McMurtry and Rodney Parker and the 50 Peso Reward got a taste of something familiar. It’s not quite country and not quite rock, but a combination of the two with some rocking blues sound thrown in for spice. The crowd was still small when 50 Peso Reward took the stage at 3:00 in the afternoon, but they played like it was a full house.

After Clerihew and the band tore down, Micky and the Motor-cars set up. The band is musically solid with a sound that’s more rock than country, but the lyrics sung by Micky Braun send out emotion-al shockwaves through the audience. The songs MMC plays aren’t derived from any groundbreaking life experiences. They’re written about the same things everyone goes through in their lives. MMC put on one of the best performances of the afternoon, and could have gone much later in the lineup and still been a crowd pleaser.

Charla Corn, the only female on the stage Saturday, came on after MMC. She didn’t have the emotive vocals or lyrical talent of MMC, but her attitude and energy kept the show rocking. Her songs like “She Ain’t Always Been an Angel” and “Break My Heart Tonight” aren’t in the same league as some of the lyrical gems Micky Braun sang before her, but the audience was singing along and enjoying her act. She’s like a cross between Miranda Lambert and the sweet girl you met at church last Sunday – able to get rough and rowdy without losing her sweet, girly side.

Granger Smith is one of the Red Dirt artists who could make it in Nashville. His Texas country roots haven’t faded, but his songs about heartbreak (Don’t Listen to the Radio and Colorblind) could fit just as comfortably on the Top 20 country stations as they do on 94.9 The Outlaw. The former Aggie has a packed touring schedule and a broad fan base. The crowd gathered in front of the stage during his set, were singing the words of his songs back to him, and while his sound is a little less edgy than the rest of the bands on the stage for Shrinefest, the Red Dirt music scene has enough room for the softer side of the genre as well as the rocking beats.

Things were starting to get a little bit rowdy after dark when Casey Donahew stepped out on the stage. They were by far the most popular of the night’s bands, even if they weren’t the head-lining act. From the first drumbeat to the moment the last note faded, the audience was screaming the words to his songs, spray-ing beer all over their neighbors, and generally having a great time. His most popular song was “12 Gauge,” a story about a woman who decides she’s had enough of her boyfriend’s abuse and grabs a gun to level the playing field. When it came time for the chorus, Donahew’s lyric “He’s never gonna hit her again” was followed by an enthusiastic “Hell no!” from the audience.

If Granger Smith and those before him had warmed up the audience for Casey Donahew, the notorious party band might have pushed them over the edge. Much of the crowd started to drift toward the parking lot before the headlining act, Kev-in Fowler, even had a chance to take the stage. There was still a healthy (mostly drunken) audience around the stage when he kicked off his act, though. His newest radio hit “Pound Sign” had people two-stepping and singing along with the creative take on the text-message generation. The song’s chorus includes the line “I feel like pound sign, question mark, star, exclamation point.”

With well over 5,000 people in attendance, the Shri-ners were able to raise a lot of money for the local Maskat Shrine, which works to help fund the Shriners Hospitals for Children, which provide free orthopedic and burn care to children under 18. A lot of the audience was probably feeling a lot like #?*! the morning after Shrinefest, but overall the show was a lot of good music taken in by a good (but rowdy) crowd, with all proceeds going to a good cause.

a&eThe Wichitan n 7September 1, 2010

Getting’ rowdy for a good causeBrittany Norman

Editor in ChiEf

Shrinefest delivers a good roundup of country artists and Red Dirt fans

Top left: Charla Corn performed at Shrinefest as the lone, female artist. Top right: Casey Donahew swept the crowd away with his performance. Below: Mickey and the Motorcars rocked out the new stage on Saturday, August 28. (Photos by: Brittany Norman)

Night of remembrance, laughter and winners: Emmys 2010

The 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards aired Sunday, August 29 at 7 p.m.

For the first time, the Emmy’s were shown live from Los Angeles.

Jimmy Fallon hosted the award ceremony and artists such as Jewel and the cast of “Glee” performed during the evening.

It was a night of surprises and laughter, but also one of remembrance of those who had left the television industry too soon.

To much surprise, “Modern Family” took home the most Emmys this year, totaling at six.

Lauren WoodEntErtainmEnt Editor

Outstanding Drama Series: “Mad Men”, AMC

Outstanding Comedy Series: “Modern Family”, ABC

Lead Actor, Drama Series: Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”, AMC

Lead Actress, Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwich, “The Closer”, TNT

Lead Actor, Comedy Series: Jim Parsons, “The Big Bang Theory”, CBS

Lead Actress, Comedy Series: Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”, Showtime

Supporting Actor, Drama Series: Aaron Paul, “Breaking Bad”, AMC

Supporting Actress, Drama Series: Archie Panjabi, “The Good Wife”, CBS

Supporting Actor, Comedy Series: Eric Stonestreet, “Modern Family”, ABC

Supporting Actress, Comedy Series: Jane Lynch, “Glee”, FOXJane Lynch from “Glee” took home the award for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. (Photo Courtesy)

sports8 n The Wichitan September 1, 2010

Summer preparation strengthens Mustangs

MMA 101

An MSU Football player takes a water break. (Photo by Kassie Bruton)

For the last few months the MSU Mustangs football team has practiced in scorching 100- degree temperatures for hope of stampeding their way to victory this upcoming season. But be-fore the No. 17 ranked Mustangs (ranked by the American Football Coaches’ Association’s Preseason Division II Poll) step out onto the field, Head Football Coach Bill Maskill said he wants mainly to accomplish getting enough players out onto the gridiron with experience.

“We got a lot of new players, so hopefully we can get those guys ready to play a good game and get better every game,” Maskill said.

The Mustangs’ offense will re-turn with five starters from last year. Starting off with the back-field, Maskill said he believed it was going to be strong.

“We’ve got seven guys, they all can play and they’re very deep,” Maskill said.

As far as quarterbacks go, Maskill said he had a lot of con-fidence in Mustang’s star quarter-back senior Zack Eskridge.

“He’s played the last two years, twelve games last year and 10 games the year before, so he’s got 22 games underneath him. He’s going to be good,” Maskill said.

If Eskridge were to become injured during a game, Maskill said he plans to use backup quar-terback Brandon Kelsey, a sopho-more from Arlington.

For the rest of the offensive line, a good amount of last year’s

backups will make up the starting O-Line.

“Those guys that were on the field some last year and have been in the arena have been with us, so they are a little bit further along than some of our defensive guys that are just as talented, “ Maskill said.

Switching to the defensive part of the team, a lot of new faces will be shown.

“We’ve only got three start-ers back from last year on de-fense. Everyone else is relatively new, and that would be new as in a backup from last year, a squad member, or a transfer coming in,”

Maskill said.The linebackers for the team

are all somewhat new with the exception of a last year starter and a backup from last year.

The secondary for the team has become revamped with only one starter from last year re-turning.

Even with a young and some-what new team, Maskill said he still held confidence in it.

“I think once we get things going we’re going to roll into becoming a good team. We just need to mature and grow up on defense and we have got to do better on offense,” Maskill said.

Andre GonzalezSportS Editor

nIN THE CAGE WITH TOLU

Mixed Martial Artist gives insight on hot, new trend

Rear Naked Choke

Punter Gunter Elenburg practices his kickoff as the countdown against the first game draws near. (Photo by Kassie Bruton)

My name’s Tolu Agunbiade. I’m a mass communication major here at MSU. I have a re-cord of two wins and no losses fight-ing in the cage, and an ama-teur boxing record of eight wins and four losses. My losses have all been by d e c i s i o n . You can view my fights on Youtube on my channel babatolu12.

My cage fights can be found under “Tolu vs. Johnathan” and “Tolu vs. Adam.” I borrow

my techniques from a variety of disciplines but my main staples are Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai and Boxing. I’ll be competing in a grappling competition in Ft. Worth Sept. 18 and will also be in a box-ing tournament in McAlester Okla. Oct. 8.

I train at a gym in Wichita Falls, “The Falls town fighter’s club.” The owner, Mike Za-pata, coaches the boxing side of the gym along with Abel Villalobos.

They’ll help you attain the skill and conditioning you’ll need to compete in the box-ing ring. Reggie Demps is the MMA instructor. He special-izes in Sambo, wrestling and Muay Thai.

He will help you acquire all

the tools you’ll need to con-fidently step in the cage and go to war. The gym’s great! It has a Rocky movies look to it, real hardcore. At the moment we are getting Trey Mendoza, a sophomore at MSU ready for his first cage fight. He’ll be fighting in Altus, Okla. Sept. 4.

Fighting has evolved dra-matically since the first UFC took place in Denver Nov. 12, 1993. The idea was to match up fighters who practiced differ-ent disciplines of martial arts. There were no weight classes and hardly any rules. One style of fighting was dominant in the early years of the sport. This is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The man who dominated with this style is Royce Gracie. He weighed 170 lbs, and was beating 250 pounders. He even defeated a 500-pound sumo wrestler in under three minutes. Jiu Jitsu was the leverage he needed to deal with the size and strength advantage his opponents had over him.

There are over 2,000 sub-missions and chokes one can use to subdue their opponent when practicing Jiu Jitsu.

It’s an art that doesn’t de-pend on striking but the abil-ity of the fighter to get close to his opponent without get-ting hurt with strikes, clench-ing with them and submitting them on their feet or taking him to the ground.

It’s a different world on the ground for martial artists who

aren’t use to it. For instance, James Toney, a seasoned pro-fessional boxer, with a re-cord of 72-6, 44 of his wins by knock-out, fought against Randy Couture, an MMA legend, this Saturday. Couture took him down within the first 15 seconds. Got full mount and started softening him up with a barrage of punches.

It didn’t seem as if Toney were prepared for that. Cou-ture finished him off with an arm triangle at 3:19 in the first round.

The “ground game” is one of

my favorite aspects of MMA. I love to roll, which is grappling, or wrestling, so to speak. Here is a submission you’ll see in MMA. Pictured is a rear na-ked choke.

The term comes about be-cause of the use of the bare arm to choke the opponent when you’re behind him. It allows you to “get your hooks in.” It keeps me from getting away from the opponent or turning into him.

After the first UFC fight in 1993, fighters have realized in order to survive in the cage

they needed a variety of skills that you can’t find practicing one art. This brought about the birth of MMA. These days fighters are armed with the deadly knowledge of several fighting disciplines. They train day in and day out, sparring, rolling, lifting weights, run-ning, etc.

Good cardio is a must. Strength is always a factor, but nowadays technique prevails over strength. People have to fight more intelligently as the sport evolves. One wrong move could cost you the fight.

Men’s Soccer season kicks off this Thursday against Texas A&M Interna-tional at 7 p.m. at the MSU soccer fields. (Photo by Damian Atamenwan)

Tolu AgunbiadeFor the Wichitan

sportsThe Wichitan n 9September 1, 2010

On Deck This Week

n ThurSday, SepTember 2 FooTball

@neW mexico highlandS perkinS STadium 7 pm

Soccer men vS. TexaS a&m inTernaTonal @ mSu Soccer FieldS 7 pm

croSS counTry mSu muSTangS cc STampede @ memorial aThleTic complex 7 pm

n Friday, SepTember 3 Soccer Women @ broncho inviTaTional in edmond, ok - univerSiTy oF cenTral oklahoma 2 pm

volleyball @ neb-omaha inviTaional in omaha, nebraSka 10 am

n Sunday, SepTember 4 Soccer Women @ broncho inviTaTional in edmond, ok - univerSiTy oF cenTral oklahoma 12 pm

Hotter’n Hell hundred kicked of it’s thirtieth year with a record number of rac-ers, 720, and riders, 13,067.

The Expo at the MPEC began Thursday, but was tru-ly buzzing Friday.

Events started Friday night with the Women’s Pro1/2/3. A large crowd gathered to watch as MSU’s Jen Purcell won first place. The Mens Pro 1/2 began shortly after at 6:30 and MSUs Josh Carter was able to come in third.

Saturday was a long day for racers, as races began just before the sun came up.

The cool air was a nice change for the start of the race but it quickly warmed up as the sun broke over the horizon.

The men raced the 100 miles. For the Men Pro 1/2 race Jason Short took fifth with Josh Carter in sixth. In the category 3 Mens, Tony Baca took ninth and Sean Brown took thirteenth.

The Women raced the 100k route and Jen Purcell was able to take first for the second day in a row. Claire Routledge came in eleventh.

Sunday was another crit. Temperatures seemed to have increased a bit com-pared to Friday and Satur-days races.

Jen Purcell was able to take second and came in first for the overall results. Natalie Klemco took seventh and Claire Rout-legde took thirteenth. The Mens Pro 1/2 had a longer race in the heat. Josh carter took second and Jason Short took eighth. Carter came in third for the overall results.

In the Mens’ 3 category, MSU’s newcomer Tony Baca won first with Sean Brown coming in tenth. Baca also took first overall for the weekend.

It was a busy weekend for MSU’s cyclist as road cycling slowly comes to a close for the year. MSU will be send-ing a group of riders to Indiana in September to compete at the Collegiate Track National Championship.

Good luck to the MSU cy-cling team!

Loren Eggenschwilerfor the wichitan

The 30th Annual HHH competition took off last Friday with the Criterium race kicking off the weekend race in downtown Wichita Falls. (Photos by Brittany Norman)

Despite ‘cool’ weather, cyclists still bring heat

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