WTAMU Student Government sponsored a Q&A in the JBK featuring University President Dr. Patrick O’Brien

on Feb. 27. The purpose of the event was for Dr. O’Brien to address students’ questions concerning the future of the University.

Questions ranged from topics about construction on campus to parking

concerns. “I think it went well, there were

a lot of questions asked. It was very informative and we learned a lot of neat stuff,” said Student Body Vice President Nick Goettsche.

However, the biggest issues were not the questions asked but the planning behind the event. The Facebook event created for the Q&A had it scheduled for Feb. 29. However, on the morning of Feb. 27, the time was changed.

College students and community leaders joined together at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum on Feb. 21 to take a shot at creating their own version of the federal budget through a workshop called “Principles and Priorities,” created by the Concord Coalition.

The Concord Coalition is a

non-partisan, national grassroots organization dedicated to educating America about the causes and consequences of federal budget deficits and how to build a sound economic future for future generations.

The Principles and Priorities Workshop was designed to teach participants about the federal budget and provides a realistic insight into difficult policy decisions lawmakers’ face.

WTAMU Student Body President Brandy Roberts and WT President Dr. J Patrick O’Brien each made a few opening remarks and thanked everyone for coming to the event before handing it off to Congressman Mac Thornberry, who sponsored the event. He spoke about federal budget issues and how deficits are affecting society.

PrairieTuesday, Feb. 28, 2012 Volume 94, Issue XIX

the

The sTudenT newspaper of wesT Texas a&M universiTywww.theprairienews.com Follow us onlinePartly Cloudy/Windy

66°F | 36°F

InsIdesporTs:Men’s Basketball loses regular season finale

Page 4

news:Student Fee Committee holds second meeting.

Page 3

online:Check online for additional reporting on softaball and baseball.

CaMpus life:S.A.G.E will hold dodgeball competition.

Page 5

theprairiewt the_prairie

WT’s Student Fee Committee holds second budget meeting

CORE will sponsor 2012 annual university formal

phoTo CourTesy of Cary wrighT Congressman Mac Thornberry interacting with one of the groups working on the federal budget.

Scan the QR code and like us on Facebook to receive news updates through the week!

The annual university formal, sponsored by the WTAMU CORE office, will take place at the Amarillo Civic Center Grand Plaza from 7 p.m. - 11:45 p.m. on March 3.

This year’s university theme is “Salsa.” Marco Jimenez, a graduate student in Business Administration and formal king candidate, said he finds the theme appealing.

“I love it. I think it represents the diversity that WT has,” Jimenez said. “On a personal level, I’m Latino and

I love salsa.”The CORE office hired

professional salsa dancers from Salsa Magic to give ticket holders free lessons.

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs James Hallmark said salsa is a fun theme.

“I’m sure formal will draw well,” Hallmark said. “The challenge with the university formal is that some students will go no matter what the theme might be, while others are not attracted. The challenge is to get more students to go.”

The WTAMU Student Fee Advisory Committee met on Feb. 24 to continue the discussion on student fee allocations for the next school year.

The meeting’s agenda covered allocations towards academic organizations such as Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE), Speech Team, KWTS 91.1 and more.

“The Student Service fee

goes towards these groups [and student services],” Dr. Don Albrecht, vice president of Student Affairs, said.

In the meeting, Dr. Albrecht announced the final figures for the total amount of Student Complex, Student Service, Student Health and Recreational Sports fees that were available to use. Over $3 million are available in Student Service Fees.

“There are no proposals to raise the four fees from the administration,” Dr. Albrecht said in the Feb. 17 meeting.

Most of the organizations that requested funding asked for an increase over last year’s allocated money, which Dr. Albrecht attributed to the rising cost of travel. The Marching, Symphonic and Concert bands asked for a significant increase in funding, from the $51,000 they were allocated in 2010-2011 to $106,675 for the 2012-2013 school year.

Formal continued on p. 6

KrysTina MarTinezassisTanT ediTor

feaTure:Liz Murray shares “Homeless to Harvard” experience.

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Student Fee continued on p. 3

Students and community tackle federal budget

MoniCa gaMberTsTaff wriTer

lisa helliersTaff wriTer

Federal Budget continued on p. 3

Dr. O’Brien speaks at rescheduled Q&A sessionryan sChaapsTaff wriTer

Q&A continued on p. 8

Liz Murray spoke at the Mary Moody Northern Recital Hall for Communications Week on Feb. 21. The Distin-guished Lecture Series brought her in to talk about her experi-ences of homelessness and her journey to Harvard. Murray spoke with lots of emotion and a surprising amount of humor.

“I thought she was just so amazing and so real,” Amarillo resident Mikala Stephens said. “She has a very personal way of interacting with the audience. “

Initially, Murray started shar-ing her story with small groups of students in New York City schools hoping her story would be useful to them.

The response Murray received after sharing her story came as a shock to her. She said meeting Barbara Walters was when she realized her life was getting weird, and it would con-tinue to get weirder from that point on. Murray started doing presentations for bigger audi-ences and did interviews with major news networks. Her story was the subject of the Lifetime movie called Harvard to Home-less: The Liz Murray Story.

Two major components of her presentation were about what to do when you want to give up and how no one goes it

alone. Murray started telling about

her journey beginning with when she was a child.

“I grew up in a place that is different than where we are today,” Murray said.

She grew up in the worst part of the Bronx in New York City. There were drug dealers and prostitution throughout the area. Murray said it was the place everyone wanted to move away from. It was a welfare community where most people survived on the check that came in a blue envelope on the first of every month.

“I knew exactly what was going to happen every month,” Murray said.

Once her parents got the check, they would spend about $35 on groceries and spend the rest on drugs. Eventually, the food would run out and they would get desperate. They would also go into the stairwell and smell what their neighbors were cooking and knock on the doors to ask for food.

“In one way, it was a tough neighborhood and in another, it was a wonderful community,” Murray said.

When there was no food, the girls looked for things that could be edible like toothpaste and cherry chapstick. Murray acknowledged that she loved her parents very dearly and she felt incredibly loved by them.

Murray was devastated, but never angry with them. She said she believes that drug addiction is a disease and that her parents were sick.

“People can’t give you what they don’t have,” Murray said.

Everything changed when her family was split apart. Her mother was HIV positive and when it quickly turned into full-blown AIDS, she had to perma-nently remain in the hospital. Her parents’ friends took her sister Lisa in and her father moved into a shelter.

Murray was put in a group home and it is a negative experi-ence she will never forget. She got beat up and the staff was insulting and mean. As soon as she got out of the system she was determined to never go back. Along with her best friend Chris, she started sleeping on couches at her friends’ houses. When people stopped answer-ing their doors, she and Chris would sleep in subways or in the hallways of buildings.

She decided to turn her life around when her mother died. Murray admitted that she had an “I’ll do it later” lifestyle and she hadn’t visited her mother in a month. Her mother’s casket was a pine box and she was bur-ied by construction workers.

“I thought I had a later,” Mur-ray said. “I would be changed by this experience immediately and permanently.”

She decided to go back to school. It was a tough climb as she was rejected by multiple schools for past truancies and poor grades.

She nearly gave up, almost grabbing a slice of pizza instead of going to the last school. She was accepted by one of the schools in New York City, where she met Perry, her future teacher and mentor.

He pushed her to work her hardest and do the best that she could.

“It’s someone that loves you that will hold you higher,” Mur-ray said.

She worked to get straight A’s. Then she started taking night classes and Saturday classes along with her regular classes.

“I thought her story was really amazing,” Krista Rasco Mass Communications graduate student said. “It’s amazing that she’s been able to triumph over so many different obstacles.”

It was a school trip to Boston that led her to apply to Harvard. She didn’t believe she could get in, especially with the high cost of tuition, but Perry encour-aged her to try. She applied for a scholarship New York Times was offering in which she had to write an autobiography. She was one of the top 21 finalists and had to do an interview at the New York Times office. On the day of the interview, she also

had an interview with the wel-fare office and one for Harvard. The only thing she did not get that day was welfare.

“No one knows what’s possible until they are already doing it,” Murray said. “I feel like life is magic. Throw yourselves into what is possible in life.”

Murray was chosen as one of the winners for the scholar-ship and after the article was published she received a lot of help from her community. They set her up in an apartment and brought her food and other necessities.

“I didn’t know people could be good,” Murray said. “They made a believer out of me.”

Today, Murray is married to her high school sweetheart, James, and has a son named Liam. She created a high school for homeless teenagers that opened in August 2011. She also travels around the world to tell people about her story and how she overcame her struggles. Murray is the founder and direc-tor of Manifest Living, which is a company that provides a series of workshops that empower adults to do extraordinary things with their lives.

“She’s an excellent speaker and very animated,” Rasco said. “I think the best part of it is her passion for life and everything that she’s done so far and her will to help others.”

Feature2 February 28, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

the

Editor- Maria MolinaAssistant Editor- Krystina MartinezWeb Editor - Georgia RomigLayout- Kati WatsonAd Manager- Sheri GibbsFaculty Adviser- Butler Cain

The Prairie is a student-operated publication at West Texas A&M University. It functions to inform, educate, and entertain readers accurately and responsibly. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the administration, faculty or students. The editorials that appear on these pages represent the opinion of the Prairie editorial board. The views expressed by other columinsts are the writers’ opinions and do not necessarily reflect the board’s views. Advertising rates are available upon request at (806) 337- 2090 or at theprairiewt@gmail.com. WTAMU Box 60754, Canyon, Texas 79016. The Prairie is distributed on Tuesdays during the semester and has a circulation of 1,500. It is printed by The Amarillo Globe-News.

Reporter- Ashley HendrickReporter- Melissa Bauer-HerzogReporter- Ryan SchaapReporter- Matt WatkinsReporter- Lisa HellierReporter- Brittany CastilloReporter- Chyna Tinney

Prairiethe

Staff 2011-2012Reporter- Jordan FryReporter- Daniela FierroReporter- Monica GambertReporter- Jessica ChandosReporter- Jessica BartelReporter- Sarah FloydReporter- Jacob CainPhotographer- Alex Montoya

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a

redress of grievances.- First Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution

Lisa HeLLierstaff Writer

Liz Murray shares homeless to Harvard experience

News3 February 28, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Federal Budget continued from p. 1“It cost the band $24,000 just

to get to Arlington this year [for the Buffs football game],” said Dr. Albrecht. “Athletics just expected them to be there.”

Preston Beaty, a sophomore Music Education major, said he doesn’t know the big picture of how funding is distributed, but he supports the increase for the music department.

“We have definitely been treated pretty well lately, with the refurbished band hall and the new storage shed by the marching school,” Beaty said. “I know faculty members who have taken on positions as directors of ensembles that we had to create on the spot simply because of the band’s size. Our music department is growing at a very fast rate [and] its rapid growth rate could catch us unprepared should we not have enough funding.”

However, students such as senior Broadcasting major Frankie

Sanchez feel that some of the organizations’ budgets can be handled through fundraising.

“I can see why [The Prairie, band, KWTS, and NSAC] would need more money because they have services to print, broadcast, travels, and stuff to physically produce,” Sanchez said. “[However], NBS (National Broadcasting Society) and other organizations I feel don’t need more money per sé because they can fundraise. They shouldn’t totally rely on school funds.”

The last committee meeting will take place on March 2 in JBK 13. The meeting will follow a public hearing format, which will allow an open session for the public and a closed session for deliberation.

Students who wish to testify in the open meeting must show up 15 minutes prior to the meeting. The committee will only accept testimony on that meeting’s agenda, which will be posted outside the Student Affairs office.

“If we don’t get a handle on the federal budget, younger people are going to be left working and working just to pay our bills,” Thornberry said. “They’re not going to have the kind of economic opportunities we want younger people to have.”

Phil Smith, southern regional director and national political director of Concord Coalition, was the main speaker and controller of the event. He introduced the agenda of the workshop and reviewed some basic rules and guidelines for participants to follow. He also talked about the Concord Coalition, and the other types of events they put on to educate the public about federal budget issues. He thanked Thornberry for taking initiative to be a part of this event.

“I wish more members of congress were brave enough to do this,” Smith said.

Smith split the participants into ten groups of four to five people. Each group had to pick a chair person to conduct the votes.

“I’m excited,” Roberts said. “I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”

The categories discussed by the participants included general government spending, overall discretionary spending

levels, security and defense spending, health care and social security and tax revenues. Each category had many underlying issues to be voted on. After analyzing each topic, each member had to vote and the majority won. For the purpose of the event, the groups only tallied up monetary gain based on the yes votes.

“We have found that his exercise was one of the best ways to help educate people about where the big numbers are in the federal budget,” Smith said.

Smith would occasionally interrupt the group budget discussions to give everyone an idea of how much time they had left and at what point they should be at.

Thornberry and Smith worked their way through the room and made themselves available to answer questions.

At the end of the meeting, Smith had the chair person from each of the groups announce the amount of money they would be saving the government and where the biggest cuts were made. They also discussed how well the group worked together and if the members shared similar or different opinions on topics.

“Nothing is as good as learning something yourself,” Smith said.

Student Fee continued from p. 1

SportS4 February 28, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Melissa Bauer-Herzogstaff Writer

Buffs win last nine games of seasonSpring brings baseball backKeltin WiensKWts sports Director

Basketball team loses final gameMatt WatKinsstaff Writer

As another February winds down, we are again confronted with spring training. Yes, baseball season is here again. Just the sound of the word “baseball” conjures up patriotic feel-ings for most Americans and an overwhelming majority of sports fans.

There are so many high hopes for the majors this season and it’s easy to see why. Just think about how the last one ended. The St. Louis Cardinals won a great seven-game World Series, once again frustrating the Texas Rangers. The Rangers made their second straight trip to the Fall Classic, but were once again sent away via the hands of the National League.

What happens when the Rangers have to once again compete with Albert Pujols, this time in their own division? What will this season hold for the Rangers and the newly acquired Yu Darvish and the recently-relapsed Josh Hamilton? Keep your televisions on and radios tuned in.

What about the rest of the majors? The Boston Red Sox, for one, have had a terrible off-season. The fallout from one of the biggest September collapses in MLB history is still evi-dent in Bean Town and the off-season stories haven’t helped much. Getting rid of manager Terri Francona and general manager Theo Epstein have left the Sox in state of flux and wondering whether or not they will be able to compete with the Yankees. The Yanks, on the other hand, have their own problems. What will happen to the team during this season as all of their star players like Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter put yet another season under their belts?

What about National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun? Braun just won his appeal of suspension of 50 games for testing positive in October of performance-enhancing drugs. The Brewers will be hard-pressed to find somebody to replace Braun if his legal thicket isn’t resolved by the start of the season after already losing Prince Fielder to the Detroit Tigers. Braun will no doubt play this season, but how will his previously perfect reputation fair?

Many questions follow us into this season and there are so many more that have yet to be asked, let alone answered. Sports lovers may not be looking forward to the questions themselves, but the great moments to answer them. Hopefully, this season will be just as good as the one we just came from.

The WTAMU Buffalo basket-ball team closed out the regular season in Lawton, Okla. on Feb. 25 against the Cameron Aggies. The Buffs battled the entire game, but fell short 67-61.

The Aggies took a narrow 12-11 lead with 10:47 to go in the first half. Cameron led 19-16 when they went on an 11-5 run at the end of the first half, taking a 30-21 lead over WT into halftime. Junior Donald Sims led the Buffs with nine points and seven rebounds at the break.

WT shot seven of 24 from the field in the first half. The Buffs also made one of six shots from downtown and six of 12 from the charity stripe in the half.

WT and Cameron traded blows all through the second half to the tune of a 47-37 Aggie lead with 4:48 left to play. The Buffs cut their deficit to 65-61 on a layup by Sims with 10 seconds remaining. However, Cameron hit their final two foul shots to put the game away.

“[Cameron] played well and we had no answer for Milton Garner, the leading scorer in the Lone Star Conference,” Head Coach Rick Cooper said.

The Buffs finished the season with a 18-7 record and a 12-6 mark in the Lone Star Conference. WT will be the number three seed in this week’s LSC championship tournament. They will play the sixth-seeded Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds in Allen, Texas on Feb. 29 at 12 p.m.

The Lady Buffs’ regular season went down to the wire this weekend as they traveled to Lawton, Okla. for a game against Cameron State on Satur-day.

WTAMU wouldn’t make watching the game easy for fans as they trailed by 16-points with less than six minutes left in the first half. However, the team would show that they still wanted the win, going on a run late in the half to close out the break trailing by eight with a score of 34-26 on the board.

The second half opened like many of WT’s games this year with the teams trading baskets. CSU pulled off a 45-37 lead with 14:25 left in the game. The Lady Buffs went on a 6-2 run a little under half way through the half to pull within four points of the Aggies. The Lady Buffs would briefly grab their first lead with 5:22 left to play but CSU

would take it back 12 seconds later.WT would again take back the lead

with 3:25 left in the game, only al-lowing the Aggies to have one more lead before scoring eight of the last 13 points. CSU had the final shot with 19 seconds on the clock but their three-point attempt went wide, allowing the Lady Buffs to win 68-65.

Devin Griffin was a major player in Saturday’s game, scoring 27 points, a career high for the sophomore. Griffin also had a team-high seven rebounds while senior Joni Unruh had six re-bounds and one steal. The Lady Buffs’ win was their ninth in a row, with their last loss coming on Jan. 21 against Eastern New Mexico University.

“I thought [the win] was amaz-ing,” Head coach Krista Gerlich said. “I thought it was a hard fought win. We really had to show some guts and it was just really fun to see our kids dig deep and to know that they could come back from a deficient like that.”

The end result of the regular season has WT picking up the second spot in the Lone Star Conference after Tarleton State’s win last night to win the confer-ence. The Lady Buffs had an overall record of 18-8 for a 69 percent winning rate with a conference record of 16-4 to win at 80 percent.

“I think that it has been a season of growth and maturity and kind of exactly how you want a young team to come around,” Gerlich said. “You want your seniors to lead them and to continually teach and show them how to fight and work hard and not be down on themselves and to come back from adversity. I think our kids have matured and are playing some of their best basketball right now.”

The team travels to Allen, Texas next for the LSC Championship Tournament where they will play their first game at 2:30 p.m. on March 1 against No. 7 seed Texas Woman’s University.

Campus Life5 February 28, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Jessica chandosstaff Writer

S.A.G.E. to host dodgeball tournament for WT studentsBrittany castillostaff Writer

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WTAMU’s Graduate School will be offering a course to prepare for the GMAT exam.

Dr. Robin Capt, associate dean and as-sistant professor of the graduate school and research, said that this GMAT prep course will prepare students properly and provide a better understanding of the exam.

“The purpose of this course is to improve students’ performance on the GMAT by teaching essential skills and reducing test anxiety through practice testing,” said Robin.

The course will run for six weeks, pro-viding students the opportunity to work on test-taking skills as well as pertinent material covered in the GMAT exam.

The GMAT is required for acceptance into business and management masters

programs offered at most universities. The course costs $200 and will cover

the “GMAT Prep Book,” as well as the classes. Each class will cover differ-ent material and will be split into two categories: verbal sections and math sections.

The verbal sections will be the first three classes in the course. They will pertain to reading, sentence structure, critical thinking and writing. The math sections will be covered in the final three classes and will cover test-taking strate-gies, problem solving, critical thinking and math review.

History major Matthew Jellison said he feels if WT was to offer other courses to prepare for other graduate school required exams, there could be much interest in the program.

“If there is a program that would help me advance for a reasonable price, it would be something I would be more than willing to do,” Jellison said.

GMAT course helps prepare WTAMU students for exam

Students Assisting in Good Endeavor (S.A.G.E.), a WTAMU campus organization, is hosting its eigth annual dodgeball tournament on March 1.

The games will begin at 7 p.m. in The Box and everyone is welcome to attend, said S.A.G.E. president Jordan Welch, a Childhood Education major.

“Any WT student can participate,” said Welch. “[The first] 180 people [to arrive] will receive a t-shirt.”

All-male or all-female teams of six can join the tournament. Each player will pay a $5 entry fee, said Welch.

Eric Vadaurri, a S.A.G.E. member majoring in Marketing, said this a major event of the year.

“This is definitely one of our biggest events,” Vadaurri said. “We have asked

all of our members to go out and collect donations and get as many teams as they can.”

S.A.G.E. member Jayton Welch, a Biology major, said there has been plenty of preparation for the evening event.

“We’ve been trying to get a hold of people that might have dodgeballs they could lend us for the evening,” Welch said. “We had to get a DJ and bracket ready [and] we’ve been trying to get teams pre-registered.”

Total proceeds of the tournament will directly benefit someone next semester, said S.A.G.E. member Jacob Schacher, a Sports and Exercise Science major.

“The money we raise goes towards a scholarship that is awarded to an incoming freshman,” Schacher said.

For teams wishing to compete, late registration will take place at 6:30 p.m. on the day of the tournament in The Box.

Campus Life6 February 28, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Professor Conn Thomas’ passion reaps rewardsAshley hendrickstAff Writer

Formal continued from p. 1S.A.G.E. formal queen

candidate Erin Kinuncan, a junior Special Education major, encourages everyone to attend.

“Formal is a unique way to spend a Saturday night with a variety of WT students, meet new people, enjoy good music and win cool prizes,” said Kinuncan.

Analilia Sandoval, a General

Studies major, plans to attend the university formal.

“I’m excited. I enjoy danc-ing and I’m looking forward to learning salsa moves,” San-doval said.

For other students, the formal’s theme is what will bring them to the event for the first time.

“I like the theme,”

Tyler Sweeney, a senior Broadcasting major and formal king candidate, said. “I think it has the potential to be flavorful and exciting. This will be my first year going to formal and I’m pretty excited.”

Tickets are $15, which can be purchased at the JBK infor-mation desk.

The College of Education and Social Sciences has awarded Dr. Conn Thomas, WTAMU professor of Education, the Geneva Schaeffer Professor of Educa-tion and Social Sciences award.

The award will allow Thomas access to $5,000 in funds for the next three years for academic research, travel and equipment to expand his studies and teachings in the scholastic field.

“I think he’s a perfect candidate for that position and I’m absolutely thrilled that he got it,” Dr. James Calvi, associate dean of Education and Social Sciences, said.

Thomas has been with WT since 1993 and focuses on Special Education. Within the past year, Thomas has concentrated his research on children with learning disabilities and dyslexia.

He has played roles in conduct-ing conferences to help parents and other teachers understand how to teach learning-disabled children.

“The focus now for me has been ex-panded over this last year and working with parents of those children,” Thomas said. “Working with them to provide knowledge and some skills for them to work with their kids at home.”

Though Thomas possesses multiple degrees in education, including a Mas-ters in Psychology and Counseling Ser-vices and a Masters in Special Education,

he said climbing the collegiate ladder to this point was not a professional goal, but became a personal one when his son was identified as learning disabled in third grade.

“One evening he came home and he said ‘Dad, why is school so easy for my sister and so hard for me?”’ Thomas said.

Though he did not have an answer for his son at the time, Thomas said he was determined to find it.

“Ever since, I’ve been searching and working in that area,” Thomas said. “From that moment in time, it became a passion instead of a job.”

So-Hee Choi, a senior majoring in Generic Special Education, said Thomas’ passion is reflected in the classroom.

“He is an active, optimistic, and open-

minded facilitator who wants to share any information or ideas with people,” Choi said. “He made the classroom climate comfortable, and the students could communicate with the professor and classmates without anxiety.”

Aside from gaining recognition in the WT community, Thomas also holds a list of other accomplishments including co-authoring a number of publications such as Special Education Case-by-Case, and Accommodations and Modifications for Students with Disabilities and TExAS Success: A Comprehensive Guide to the Texas PPR Examination of Educator Competencies. He also served in the U.S. infantry and has been an invited speaker to national and international confer-ences.

The WTAMU Department of Music will present its 32nd annual Showcase of Music for the first time at the Amarillo Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts.

The event will have its pre-show in the lobby at 7:30 p.m. and the concert will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets are priced at $10 for adults and $5 for students and can purchased at music office in the Fine Arts Complex.

“It’s the main source for scholarship funds,” Showcase Chairman Douglas Storey said. “We hope to raise as much as money for the students.”

Storey said Dr. Daniel Hall, Dr. Mark Bartley, Dr. Donald Lefevre and Dr. Russell Teweleit will be the conductors of the showcase.

“The students will perform original

compositions by Dr. Hall and Dr. Bartley,” said Storey.

The Chamber Singers, WTAMU Choirs, Symphony Orchestra, a saxophone quartet and a violin/violoncello/piano trio will be performing, Storey said.

“We’ve been working on this event for about six months,” Ensemble Secretary Tracy See said. “We’re excited to showcase our finest talent.”

See said the showcase will present their brilliant players and singers that will blow the audience’s mind.

“Our students work hard,” See said. “Music is like its own language and seeing the students perform it on stage will be really amazing.”

Violin Performance major Anna Zimmerman said she will be playing the violin with the Orchestra.

“We’ve been practicing since the beginning of the semester,” said Zimmerman. “But I’m preparing myself for an uplifting experience.”

WTAMU’s Music Department presents 35th annual ShowcaseAshley hendrickstAff Writer

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Last week’s answers

Where’s your bin? Look for the winning card in your copy of The Praire on March 27, April 3 and April 10 to receive a $10 iTunes

gift card.

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Jacob cainStaff Writer

PhotoS byalex Montoya

Civil Engineering Society at WTAMU

brittany caStilloStaff Writer

On June 30, 2012, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum will debut its new authentic and interactive Pioneer Town.

The extensive project began early last April and has been constructed by a large team, who thoroughly researched the time period.

Each contributor examined Panhandle life in the late 19th century to cor-rectly add detail to the town, explained Communications Coordinator Andrea Porter.“Our time period is 1890-1910 [and] everybody had to do research

concluding proof verifying Pioneer Town matched the time period,” Porter said. “I don’t think you could get anything more realistic than what we’re doing. Even the curtain rods are very specific.”

Renovations include detailed replicas of about 30 actual Panhandle businesses from the 1900s.

“We’ve tried to represent not only Canyon, but businesses from all around the Panhandle,” Porter said.

Porter explained the entrance of Pioneer Town’s design is to embody a railroad depot so visitors can experience what it was like for settlers to arrive for the first time. People can also expect to see a barbershop, photographer’s studio, drug store, jewelry store, doctor’s office

and much more.According to Education Coordinator

Millie Vanover, even “town sounds” will be heard throughout the area.

Vanover also shared plans of teaching visiting students in the new schoolhouse.

“I’ll have it set up to where school groups can come in, sit down and we’ll have a school lesson,” Vanover said. “The school will have lots of interactives, like reproductions of old books they used.”

Along with numerous stops and shops, the PPHM team included several textures and facades to enhance the significance of each building.

“There will be a lot of texture: wood, stone and adobe buildings,” Porter said. “We’ve [also] had a muralist come in and

paint sunsets.”Lavern Burton joined the team in

September as the mural artist of the new project.

“We decided there would be 23 mu-rals,” Burton said. “They were explicit about what they wanted and I did several sketches they approved.”

Burton said contributing to the proj-ect is a dream come true.

“I went to school here at WT and later taught art. I had a gallery next to the museum and began mural painting in my home,” Burton said. “I remember walking in this museum a long time ago, saying ‘Man I’d sure like to do murals in a museum one day.’ And here I am.”

PPHM’s Pioneer Town currently under renovation

WTAMU’s Civil Engi-neering Society was founded by civil engineering students in October 2011.

Before being considered a chapter of The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Civil Engineer-ing Society must complete a year-long application process, due to be reviewed in October 2012.

The society welcomes goal-oriented students in-volved in WT’s campus, said Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering Dr. Kenneth Leitch.

“[The society] serves to help students with their ca-reer goals while here at WT,” Leitch said. “[When consid-ering new members], I’m not necessarily looking for a person with a 4.0 [GPA] that has never done anything, I’d rather have someone with a 3.0 that has been very ac-tive.”

Robert Heinz, a junior Civil Engineering major and president of the Civil Engineering Society, said the purpose of the society goes

beyond learning in a class-room.

“Our purpose is to give students a hands-on oppor-tunity to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to other things, along with having fun in the process,” Heinz said.

The Civil Engineering Society has been invited to events such as the Steel Bridge Competition and the Concrete Canoe Competi-tion.

The ASCE National Con-crete Canoe Competition (NCCC) provides students with a practical application of the engineering principles they learn in the classroom, along with important team and project management skills they will need in their careers, according to ASCE’s official website.

Vice President of the Civil Engineering Society Chris Tyzrain, a senior Civil Engineering major, said the newfound union is a great opportunity.

“The society is great for the university, for the de-partment, for the program,” Tyzrain said. “It shows there’s genuine interest in the program.”

Communication Week was a hit

Pastor Tony Shupp speaks to students at “Table Talk” on Feb. 23.Nick Lynch shoots “How Much Do You Know?” for NewsOne.

Q&A continued from p. 1“There was no

miscommunication,” said President Dr. Patrick O’Brien. “It’s been on my calendar for today for weeks and I think what happened is the notice did not go out.”

Some students were

upset at the change and voiced their displeasure on the event page.

“Why the time change?” asked Cedric Nguimatsa. “If students don’t show up, you guys can’t use the ‘you didn’t show up so it’s your

fault‘ thing.”Student Body

President Brandy Roberts apologized on the page for the inconvenience of the time change. Goettsche said that it was a mix up and Roberts was not to

be blamed. “It wasn’t her fault or

my fault,” he said. “You just pick up the slack, we did what we could and I think we had a pretty good turn out.”

Christy Bertolino talking to students during “Table Talk” on Feb. 23.Randy Ray, Krystina Martinez, Blake Moore, Austin Bagwell, Bekah Purl and Bryan Samuel participate on “How Much Do You Know?”