Category Archives: News

Behind the Bucking Chutes

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Laney Davis

The smell of cotton candy and rough stock animals filled the air, sounds of classic rock vibrated the bleachers, and hearts pounded awaiting the start of the rodeo. Four States Fair and Rodeo (FSFR) held their 71st annual rodeo September 16-19.

FSFR hosted four nights of rodeo. The rodeo was sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and Women’s Pro Rodeo Association. Competitors came from all over the United States to win the first place title in their event. The performance was action packed with cowboys and cowgirls competing in rough stock event s and timed events.

This rodeo is different each year. Not only are there different competitors, but there is a new specialty act. This year the FSFR hired Troy “The Wild Child” Lerwill as the rodeo clown. Lerwill is a 6-time PRCA Comedy Act of the Year. He keeps the crowd laughing and entertained the while the rodeo is going on. Toward the end of the rodeo, he and another person perform a skit with a dirt bike, and Lerwill jumps a horse trailer and dually truck. Lerwill does not just keep the crowd laughing. He keeps them on their toes as well.

To make the rodeo even more special each year, there are two young ladies crowned with the titles Miss Four States Fair and Rodeo Queen and Miss Teen Four States Fair and Rodeo Queen. At the last performance of the rodeo on Saturday night the young women are presented with their new titles and crowns. They will represent the fair and rodeo locally and nationally as ambassadors for the 2016 year.

Now the Ferris wheel is down and the rodeo dirt is being hauled out of the arena. Another successful Four States Fair and Rodeo is in the history books.

Don Henley Returns Home

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Stephen Jones

After 15 years since his last new album, Don Henley reflects on his small-town roots in his latest release, Cass County. Henley ditches the classic rock sound, mostly attributed towards his time in the Eagles, and brings us an acoustic-driven country album.

Even though he found much of his success in California, Henley has always called Cass County, more particularly Linden, home. This look back at his life in a small southern town might be behind his return to the country genre. If you were to ask anyone from Cass County to describe what life is like in small-town Texas, they would tell you how time moves slowly and the day is simple: an attitude country music matches almost perfectly. With collaborations from Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, and Dolly Parton, Don Henley’s new album looks to represent life in Cass County with great faithfulness.

On October 15, Henley comes back to his home state of Texas, when he stops by Grand Prairie’s Verizon Theatre, on his upcoming tour.

 

The Century of Women

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Anthony Hamilton

It’s the Century of Women, and we have just the exhibit to pr20150929_131644ove it.

The Century of Women exhibit, on the third floor of the University Center is brought to us as part of the Victory Over Violence exhibit. The exhibit is being sponsored by Soka Gakkai International USA for World Peace. It contains women of all nationalities, and walks of life and celebrates their contributions to humanity.

One of the exhibit hosts, Mary Pegues, said that the exhibit was started by youth within their organization shortly after Columbine. Pegues said, “The actual Victory Over Violence exhibition was displayed at the University of Texas-Arlington two years ago.” The exhibit is a tribute to women who have made significant contributions to the world in ways ranging from Civil Rights, to Journalism, to fighting world hunger.

I found the exhibit interesting, as well as informative. There are women that I am familiar with, along with many that I am learning about for the first time. The two ladies that I am most informed about within the exhibit come from my studies of the Civil Rights movement. Coretta Scott-King, and Rosa Parks definitely made important contributions to humanity during that time.
We are graced with this exhibit at the request of the local Buddhist Organization. Pegues said that they tried to “piggyback the exhibit along with Homecoming, so more people would see it.” Pegues said she hopes everyone who visits the exhibit will leave understanding that women are a major source of power in this world, and they continue to make significant contributions to humanity.

Anyone who is interested in learning more about Victory Over Violence or Soka Gakkai International can contact Mary Pegues at mary.pegues50@gmail.com, or Jason Burg at (580) 280-0050.

Exhibit hosts Mary Mickens and Mary Pegues

Exhibit hosts Mary Mickens and Mary Pegues

FEATURE: International Journey to Success

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Percy Davis

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful,” Albert Schweitzer. This is a quote that Jennifer Melissa Felps took with her through this journey we call life.

Jennifer was born in the “Windy City”, better known as Chicago, Illinois.

Coming from the third most populated city in the U.S. she moved to a much smaller town by the name of Mountain Home, Arkansas.

Throughout her childhood Jennifer participated in many different extra-curricular activities. She also traveled a lot since her mother was from Ecuador. They traveled every other year to Ecuador to visit family and went various places around the U.S. on family vacations every year.

“I really had a passion to learn more about my culture, which is Ecuadorian,” Jennifer said.

After graduating from Mountain Home High School in 2005, she pursued her BA at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She graduated with a degree in Communications and a minor in Latin American studies.

When looking for a graduate program, Jennifer was looking for something that specifically centered on International/Intercultural communication.

“I was very lucky to find this program at the University of Denver in Colorado. It was an exact mix of what I wanted to pursue and the exact type of environment,” Jennifer added.

In 2012 Jennifer Melissa Felps received her Master’s degree in International and Intercultural Public Relations.

While in Denver, Jennifer was part of a Distance Learning Program, a collaborative effort with the University of Denver, the Cable Center in Denver, C-Span studios in Washington DC, George Mason University, and Purdue University.

Jennifer was the graduate assistant for the University of Denver’s class, a distance learning class that focused on the mid-term elections and the makeup of the Congress at the time.

Students would get the opportunity to interact with the guests that Steve Scully had on his show in Washington DC. Scully is a senior executive producer and political editor of C-Span. Steve was the director of the class and Jennifer was his graduate assistant.

Scully would have many different guests on his show weekly, including speech writers for different presidents and also members of the media such as writers for Politico, and former CBS Evening News anchor , Dan Rather.

Jennifer was in charge of the class and her duties were to make sure that the communication was effective between the DC representatives and her students in the class. She did this for one full academic year.

“It was real cool,” Jennifer said astoundingly.

Before landing the position she holds today, Jennifer worked for the Cable Center in Denver, the Open Media Foundation, and Texarkana College.

She is currently employed at Texas A&M Texarkana with the job title of Global Recruitment Specialist.

Her position deals with marketing and recruitment for international studies.

Over time Jennifer has developed an intelligent global perspective and is an advocate of higher education. Her sincerity helps potential students feel connected to the university.

“I would say I am a pro when it comes to letting people know what to expect in college, how to get into college, how to do well in college, and how to look for the job after you graduate college.”

When asked what it takes to become a good global recruitment specialist this is what Jennifer had to say: “You must have the understanding and appreciation of the importance of intercultural/international relations, not only in a university setting but also in an everyday setting. You will also need excellent communication skills and a thorough knowledge of the university’s admission procedures.”

Jennifer thinks the key to recruiting students is trying to present a topic that the students can relate to their personal lives. She noted that communication is probably the number one aspect to becoming a recruitment specialist.

Jennifer is an extremely outgoing person and the type of person that everyone in the building would like to be around. “What I think makes me stand out from other recruitment specialist is my sincere an enthusiastic passion for higher education,” Jennifer said. “It is important that growing universities internationalize their student population in order to maintain a strong position in our globalized world and I aid in that effort.”

The Joy of Teaching

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Percy K. Davis

“One of the most rewarding aspects for teaching at Texas A&M Texarkana was the quality of the students,” Associate Professor of English at Texarkana College Pamela Hesser said.

Pamela Hesser taught at A&M for one semester helping out with the journalism program. Her main focus was to help the students be better writers and help them get the online newspaper off the ground.

Before teaching at A&M, Hesser taught journalism at three other schools, Whitehouse High School, Hooks High School, and Texarkana College. She also was an assistant editor at the Texarkana Gazette where she wrote a bundle of feature stories.

When teaching at the high schools and Texarkana College she dealt with a majority of younger students who weren’t for sure what they wanted to do in life and were not as focused on journalism as she was.

“Here at Texarkana College I was teaching freshman and sophomores, some of whom are still exploring what kind of career direction they want to take.”

When you are a freshman you are just what the name says, “fresh”, so you don’t really know what you want to do in life just yet. You just graduated from high school and are making decisions without your parents telling you what decisions to make. You are out of your parents’ home and have free will to do pretty much whatever you want. So you can easily see how a freshman or even a sophomore’s focus could easily be distracted from the classroom.

“Whereas at A&M teaching juniors and seniors, they have already had time to make a pretty firm decision on what they wanted to do. So they are focused and they know what they want to learn and they take advantage of the learning opportunities,” Hesser concluded with a smile.

Bittersweet Moments for Cowboys

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Dez Bryant and Tony Romo out for a couple weeks due to injuries.

Dez Bryant and Tony Romo out for a couple weeks due to injuries. 

Percy K. Davis

“And the cowboys win the game!” The Cowboys started the year off 2-0 and won their first two division games. These wins came with a devastating cost.

In the first regular season game the Cowboys hosted the Giants in Arlington, Texas. The first quarter was a defensive stand seeing how both teams only put up 3 points. The second quarter the Giants started rolling, scoring 10 points to the Cowboys 3 points.

In the second half the Cowboys came out rolling, scoring 21 points to the Giants 13. The Cowboys won in a nail biter 27-26. Although the Cowboys won the game they lost their star receiver Dez Bryant to a broken foot injury in the 4th quarter. Bryant is said to be out for 4-6 weeks.

The following week the Cowboys were set to play another division game against their rivals the Eagles. Not only are the Eagles the Cowboys’ rivals but during the off-season the Eagles picked up the Cowboys’ starting running back Demarco Murray. Murray led the NFL in rushing yards in the 2014-2015 NFL season.

The Eagles hosted the Cowboys Sunday, September 20, 2015. The first half was a defensive game with the Cowboys only scoring 3 points in each quarter and the Eagles not scoring at all. In the beginning of the 3rd quarter the Cowboys returned a blocked punt for a touchdown, making the score 13-0.

Not too long after that, Tony Romo goes down on a pass play with broken left collarbone. The Cowboys go on to win the game 20-10 without Dez Bryant or Tony Romo.

Although the Cowboys are 2-0, it’s hard to imagine them winning any more games without their star quarterback or their star receiver, and they no longer have the NFL’s 2014-2015 leading rusher, Demarco Murray.

FEATURE: The Woman Behind the Music

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Alyssa Bertrand

Beautiful music is what I hear. The sounds of flutes playing to a bird’s voice, the trumpets forming the sounds of a royal guard entering a room, and the percussion playing as if something was about to happen. The sounds of every instrument in the band makes the most beautiful sound one may ever hear. The director moves her hands so smoothly with a slight bounce as if moving with the music, her students all paying close attention to every movement and every word coming out of the director’s mouth. “Thud thud thud,” the sound your shoe makes when it falls to the ground in order to keep the beat. When the song is over, you may hear a clash of the symbols falling to the ground when the student holding them is not paying attention. Nevertheless, the music coming from Stephanie Blackwell-Nelson’s Liberty-Eylau High School band hall is always wonderful.

Stephanie Blackwell-Nelson is the band director of the high school band at Liberty-Eylau. She has been the high school director for ten years. Before working at the high school, she worked at the middle school as the band director. She has alway had a love for music and even as a little girl she wanted to be a band director, accomplish great things with every band she taught, and guide each student with her help. She believes that every school should have a band or at least some form of musical program in order to keep the arts alive. The fine arts departments are normally the first to be cancelled when the budget shrinks but Nelson shows that band programs and music itself can have a positive effect on every student.

She attended and graduated from Texas A&M University-Texarkana with a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) with a major in business. Even though TAMU-T did not offer a music degree, she still had a few options that gave her the degree she always wanted. Nelson is someone who will find an opportunity in any situation no matter how hard and difficult it may be. TAMU-T helped her reach her dream.

“Texas A&M University- Texarkana is one of the best places to go in my opinion. It is close to the community. The professor will help as much as they can and they don’t just teach they make sure you actually learn the material. There are other colleges out there that are bigger but to me TAMU-T was the best of me. Everyone has ‘their college’ and this was mine,” Nelson said.

She smiled and continued, “When I was little, of course I wanted to go off far away from my family and wanted to experience the ‘college life.’ When someone thinks, about how much one truly spends of that great college life everyone talks about then they will see the huge difference in staying at home and going to a local university, then to go off and having to stay in a dorm.”

She added that TAMU-T is not just a university, is it a family. “It may be a huge family, but everyone helps each other. People are friendly even if they do not know you. People hold doors open, and wave and say things like “Hey, how are you?” and “Have a good day” when you happen to be in the elevators with someone. No, they do not know you, but the atmosphere of the campus is joyous.”

Nelson said multiple times that TAMU-T is the reason she is where she is today. They allowed her to continue with her dream and never stop. She tells her students that this university is a great place to go and she would recommend her students to attend TAMUT.

“They don’t let you give up. They don’t let life struggles tear you down. The professor will works with you and will do everything in their power and under school policies they can in order to get you to pass and never stop believing,” she said. Nelson promotes the university everywhere she goes. She even tells people from other schools about her experience at TAMU-T.

Nelson has been the director of many award-winning bands. Her current band earned a sweepstakes two years in a row just recently and is working towards another one this year. In a matter of three years, she helped over 100 students advance to State in solo and ensemble, never leaving the competition with less than 30 medals each year at the state level. These accomplishments are just a few of her many goals that she has achieved. She plans on continuing to excel in her teaching and helping the students improved as much as possible.

She pushes her students to achieve their goals like TAMUT did for her. Nelson is excited to see what TAMUT has in store for the future. Nelson is overjoyed to hear that the university is starting a marching band.  Nelson said joyfully, “There is not a better staff anywhere I have attended or visited than Texas A&M University-Texarkana!”

Little Kickers

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Leslie Arietta

Dribble! Pass! Shoot! Little kickers are on the move towards goal and no one can stop them. Saturday morning, September 26th the women’s soccer team of Texas A&M University-Texarkana (TAMUT) volunteered to coach at the Grady T. Wallace Soccer Complex.

There were two groups of Little Kickers, U3 group at 10am and U4 group at 11am. The TAMUT soccer team arrived early to set up the different drills the Little Kickers would be doing. Three drills consisted of dribbling, passing, and shooting. The U3 group started to sign in and put on their new Little Kickers shirt before they were split up into groups, boys on one side and girls on the other.

It was time to get started and the TAMUT soccer team had its hands full with the little ones running around and having fun. Some of the kids were energetic and others were shy and took a while to participate. Each kid had the chance to develop skills with the ball. The kids got thirsty and worked up a sweat so in between drills they got water breaks. The most successful station was shooting on goal. Most of the kids were engaged and ready to make a goal.

The U3 session came to an end and the U4 group were slowly arriving. The TAMUT soccer team had just enough time to reorganize, get some water, and modify the drills. Since shooting on goal was the most successful point for the U3 group they decided to incorporate passing and dribbling towards goal for the U4 group. These techniques kept the U4 group more involved and organized. This group had a little more experience than the U3 and got through the drills a lot more smoothly. The Little Kickers session was a success. TAMUT women’s soccer team gave back their knowledge and skills to the community and will continue to coach the Little Kickers.

The Year of the Dragon

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Garrett Griffin

The muggy air was somewhat suffocating as bugs flew aimlessly around the towering stadium lights, falling to their demise into a tray of cold nachos. The Linden-Kildare band had just completed their performance, and the Redwater Dragon band was making its way onto the field. They proceeded to play music for the Redwater Dazzler drill team to perform their choreographed dance. The award-winning Redwater band was ready to usher in a new year of musical enjoyment.

A Redwater color guard member smiles while she performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

A Redwater color guard member smiles while she performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

The band moved to their first position of the show by way of a theatrical act in reference to the subject of their show: The Rise and Fall of Rome. The Friday night lights glistened off the scintillating bells of the sousaphones. The press box announcer asked the drum major, “Is your band ready?” She responded with a salute and the band awaits her signal of initiation. The half-time show at Redwater High School homecoming football game was about to begin its second section.

The band stepped off at the count into a movement across the field while playing an energetic introduction to the first of three movements. Tonight they were showcasing the new uniforms, a combination of modern styling and traditional marching attire.

A saxophonist plays her solo during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

A saxophonist plays her solo during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

This year’s show is in many ways similar to the show the band played in 2011, the year during which the students’ determination allowed them to advance all the way to state to claim the 2nd place prize for best marching band in the 2A category. I was part of that team and can say that it was a life-changing event for me.

During the second movement, a slower, softer chorale, a saxophonist played a solo. A solo is a great way to impress the judges at any competition because a single player has no way to cover up mistakes; they are vulnerable, prepared for sacrifice.

The Redwater Drumlines performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

The Redwater Drumlines performs during the Redwater High School Homecoming Game on September 18th, 2015.

The show continued on, but the third movement was not played, because the band was still learning their movements. It will have to be as flawless as possible for the first contest that the band traditionally attends: The Four States Marching Competition at Grim Stadium in Texarkana.

This experience from the first event will help students prepare for the subsequent contests leading up to their ultimate goal of playing at the State Finals Competition at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. This year will likely be a year of the dragon for Redwater High School’s Marching Band.

Leopards Take Down the Hogs

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Alyssa Bertrand

Nothing is better than enjoying Friday night lights with family and friends. The excitement everyone encounters makes staying late in the stadium worthwhile. Sitting in the bleachers physically watching brings someone a completely new feeling rather than watching it on the television.

Rivalries are a part of every sport and sometimes even among people. The biggest in Texarkana is the Texas versus Arkansas football game. To some, the rivalry between Liberty- Eylau and Arkansas is even bigger and Friday night showed that it was.

There was not an empty seat in sight. The overflow of people in the stadium to watch the game was out of control. Most rival schools try to keep the schools separated at events. The abundance of Arkansas fans made the way to the LE side was not good. Crowds were rolling in around 6:30 for a 7:30 game. Even though these two districts do not have too much history in the public eye, behind the doors the history is unbelievable. LE and Arkansas only recently started playing each other in football. Before 2012, the two schools had not played each other for a while.

I attended the game as LE alumni. I was in the concession stand for a long of time, or I was in the stand by the LE band, which played part of the “fight song” every time LE scored a touchdown. The band played the song twice and I was not by them long. Amanda Baker, LE alumni since 2008, explains, “We have seen this team battle for a few years now and honestly if you watch them actually play, LE is the better team. I hope tonight proves that too. We deserve recognition for the hard work these boys do every day.” Many expressed about the same feelings. I asked people how they felt about the two teams and they said that it is LE’s time this year.

While I was helping, the other workers could feel the tension between the two schools as well. The customer’s attitude was completely different. We gave the same respect to everyone but it was difficult at times. We did not just assume the customers with horrible attitudes were from Arkansas, but they were wearing the team’s shirt. I realized no matter how nice one is to another, if one is unhappy from the beginning, and then someone most likely could not change a mood in five minutes waiting for an order of fries. The lines never ended. The concession stands were still helping people when it was over. The game lasted from 7:30 to around 10:20. We did not think the game was ever going to end because we felt we were there for longer than little more than three hours.

After the game, I asked one of the customers, Ariana Hines, the final score and she said, “66 to 21, we fried some bacon tonight.” That made us all laugh. I was happy that LE won. All week Arkansas was talking down to the LE school district and it was a good feeling when LE was able to prove them wrong.

Football is a family game. Fridays is a time when many teenagers think they can go party, but being at a football game prevents them from doing dangerous activities. I saw many families out there that night, whether there for someone on the football team, in the band, a cheerleader, a member of the dazzlers, or just there for a good family event. There is nothing like a good night Friday nights light.