Gamers take your mark. TEXAS A&M university Texarkana(TAMUT) esports club is hosting its second ever Day of Play. Day if play is a day full of different gaming tournaments which people compete for hundreds of dollars.

In the past the event has included Super Smash bros ultimate, Mario cart 8, along with a couple of sport games, Madden and NBA 2k. There is also vendors and concessions to encourage people to stay longer and interact with different people.

This year will have those games and more with a gold of 100 people. When asked about the event the club Vice President, Quincy Jones says “The Day of Play is an event where you can come and have fun and challenging tournament experiences and possibly make a few friends while playing with what’s hopefully at least over 100 people.”.

This year they are hoping to reach out to gamers from Dallas to Little Rock and everywhere in between. For students the entry will be $5 and for community members $10.

The vendors and food trucks will be all from Texarkana to highlight the community while bringing in new faces. The Esports club is looking to build connections with other schools and the Texarkana locals to make events even bigger and better in the future.

TAMUT is building an esports arena to be opened for use in spring of 2024, along with having varsity esports start in the fall of 2024. Quincy Jones says this about the future of esports”Too me the Day of Play event is something that will be a huge stepping stone for not just me but the new representatives of TAMUT E-Sports for many big gaming events to come to life at Texas A&M and I hope that everything goes to plan with this event as it will be just one of the few goals I have planned for TAMUT E-Sports.”.

THE FINAL FRONTIER OF ART: VIDEO GAMES Presented by Logan Buck, is the headline of the presentation given on November 9th 2023. Buck guides the audience through a breakdown of his love of video games. This presentation is brought to life by the different images, games, and sounds presented. He covers his background, the deeper meanings inside video games, and defends Video Games as an art form.

Logan Buck is a Senior Honors Biology major. When asked about his motivation behind the topic he says, ”Ever since I was 5 years old, there’s a picture of me, my dad played a video game with me in his lap with a controller playing. It’s always been a part of my life and I’ve heard from others to brush off video games as a form of art, and I’ve wanted to analyze why do we brush it off and what makes a game art.”

Buck explored various regions of video games to thoroughly discuss the art within video games. A couple points he covered are Art of video games, History, pop culture, and seeking deeper meanings.  He also interacted with the audience while he brought into question the morality and quality of art in video games, and when too realistic. The hyperrealism in games allows gamers to make decisions and feel remorse for the true meaning behind the game and story. 

Video games have constantly moved forward since the creation of Pong(1972). Pong itself might not be the most beautiful piece of art, however it is a pioneer for the endless potential of video games.Buck says “I think it’s important to see how games are evolving because I think one day they’ll be a prime form of art.”

Video games can be held in the actual world or worlds created by pure imagination. Buck questions the debate of whether video games are art and discusses the elements that bring the art to life. Video games today can be seen in different environments such as 3d worlds, fake worlds, and real locations. This allows video games to bring a connection from the gamer to the World. Dark souls is one of the more talked about games involving immersive experiences, symbolism, perseverance, and different meanings for the players to be involved further.
When asked ,how has this changed your viewpoint on not only these games but video games and storytelling as a whole? Buck says, “I just realize how much effort is put into a video game, and how it can be more difficult than other forms of art, because there’s so much more that goes into it if everything is beautiful, everything works perfectly, but the gameplay is terrible, then no one is going to play it.”

A gloomy day in Texarkana looks bright as the TAMUT soccer teams hit the pitch. Thursday, October 26th Texas A&M University-Texarkana’s women’s soccer team won 2-0 against Jarvis Christian College. The game was back and forth, but Johanna Rodriguez scored 2 to secure the game.

The game was close 0-0 until Johanna received a foul in the Jarvis penalty box. She slid the ball in the bottom right corner to bring the score to 1-0. That is the only goal made in the first half.

After halftime, the TAMUT Eagles needed to ensure Jarvis couldn’t score. With Abigail, the 2022 all-defensive player, in the backfield they knew they could stop anything Jarvis threw at them. The Eagle’s defense did not allow many shots on goal, and those on target were saved by the goalie.

Towards the end of the game, Johanna scored again to bring the score to 2-0 and secure the win for TAMUT. She said this after their win “It was hard, unlucky, but it felt great scoring two goals coming back into it, it was amazing. Personally, it made my confidence go up.”

After the game Coach Don Koontz had this to say “It was a tough win, it’s been rainy and muggy all day.” When asked about Johanna he said, “Yeah, we needed her to come in, and we scored two goals.”.

Despite the weather, the Eagles were able to win at home. The men’s team tied their game that night. Just 2 days later the women’s team won at home again against Texas College with a score of 12-0. The wins mean a lot to the players since it is senior night.

New majors, new sports, and new buildings will all come from the guidance of Dr. Ross Alexander. Dr. Ross Alexander is the new President of Texas A&M University-Texarkana. He has an esteemed resume in higher education and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. TAMUT is changing now and for the better as he plans to expand the campus and the enrollment.

Dr. Alexander was looking for relocation and Texas was on the list. He is no stranger to change in scenery as he has attended several universities, as a student, part of faculty, and staff. However, he sees the support that higher education gets in Texas and knows that the A&M system takes care of their schools, so it was a no-brainer.

Dr. Alexander was given a task from Chancellor Sharp: “Grow the University on all fronts.”. The new President intends to do so. He wants to streamline majors with major industry leaders to ensure students get jobs fresh out of college. He wants students to want to come to this university, stay, and graduate from this branch of the A&M system.

The next installations to hit the campus of TAMUT will be a Coed E-sports arena, Dance and cheer teams, men’s and women’s golf, and an athletic complex to bring all sports offered to the campus of TAMUT. Along with new majors in Nursing, STEM, business, social service, and social work. We can expect to see most of this in effect around Fall 2025.

An ordinary day turned into an emergency surgery. During a baseball game on April 29th, 2023, Matthew Delaney got struck by a stray bullet in the back right above his heart. The day started like any other, Delaney began his day with Waffle House ”Great place to go.”, says Delaney. 

This day in particular, Delaney wasn’t working the books in the dugout, around the 6th inning he was playing catch with Gage Mason. Delaney felt something hit his back, at that moment Gage said ”Shots fired.” Delaney fell to the ground and lost feeling in his left leg, he said “Dang that’s not a baseball, I just got shot.” The trainer came over and removed his jacket to find a hole in his chest. 

At the hospital, the doctors insert a tube in his chest to fix the collapsed lung and start surgery. People were lined up at the hospital to make sure Delaney knew that they were there for him. When asked about the overwhelming support he received, Delaney says” It was amazing, great people here, it’s why I came back.”

Delaney keeps his amazing heart and mindset at the front of his physical therapy, he says “Why get upset at something you can’t control.” He continues to fight through every step of recovery, from overcoming paralysis, learning to walk, gaining strength, and now getting back mobility. Matthews’s message to the world is “No matter what happens to you, never get down on yourself, always stay positive, because that one second you’re down, you can be depressed, and it will keep you down for a very long time.”

The Competitive Gaming Association (CGA) at Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) is having its largest tournament. On April 4-5th, gamers from all over Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas will gather to face off in tournament style combat. 

CGA members train relentlessly to make sure their skills put TAMUT on the gaming map and draw gamers and students from near and far. Founded by Gerven Pennington late of 2019, CGA has been at TAMUT not even a year yet and they have already hosted a successful tournament drawing in a crowd of over 60 not including nearly 30 players. 

Tournaments are a new concept to the university that should add more productive activities to student life on and off campus.Tournaments include games such as Super Smash Bros Ultimate, Tekken 7, Rocket League, Apex Legends, and many more. These games are just the tip of the gaming iceberg that this organization is working towards to get rolling into this tournament. The near future holds games that are played in the largest tournaments in the world, such as, League of Legends, CS:GO, and Modern Warfare. We hope to see all gamers alike to gather April 4-5th at TAMUT for an epic gaming tournament.