Category Archives: A&M

Step UP! to being a Leader

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College could be a tough time for new students as they make a transition from high-school. At Texas A&M University-Texarkana it is our duty as students and faculty to make sure everyone is in a safe environment. In order to fulfill that goal, the Step-UP! Program was enacted. 

“Step UP! is a prosocial behavior and bystander intervention program that educates students to be proactive in helping others. It received a NASPA Gold award and recently was identified as a ‘Best Practice’ by the NCAA Sports Science Institute of national and international scholars,” according to the organization’s Website. The goals of Step UP! are to raise awareness of helping behaviors, increase students’ motivation to help, developing their skills and confidence when responding to problems or concerns, and to ensure the safety and well-being of self and others.

The Step-UP coordinator will work with the counseling services team to raise awareness on important topics such as sexual assault, drug and alcohol awareness, leadership, goal setting, mental health, and motivation. The counseling services staff at Texas A&M University-Texarkana include: Mr. Corey Robinson, Mrs. Brianna Taylor, and Mrs. Courtney Thomas. The Counseling Services team will be hosting various events and tables at the University to give students the resources they need so that they are educated and prepared if they need to STEP UP in any situation. “It allows our students to be educated and well equipped to manage anything that comes their way. We just want the absolute BEST for our students,” counselor Corey Robinson said.  

Most problematic behaviors on college campuses involve bystanders. The Step UP! program provides a framework explaining the bystander effect, reviews relevant research and teaches skills for intervening successfully using the 5 Decision Making Steps, and the S.E.E. Model (Safe; Early; Effective). Students are encountering multiple situations where bystander intervention would be appropriate including, among other things, alcohol abuse, hazing, eating disorders, sexual assault and discrimination.

In reality, most unfortunate results are preventable. It is our utmost passion to help students learn strategies and techniques to intervene directly or indirectly in both emergency and non-emergency situations. At Texas A&M University-Texarkana, the counseling staff just want the best for their students and they will do whatever it takes to keep them safe.

Check out the video below to get a glimpse of Step UP! in your community:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=DfeYatFeFSM&feature=emb_logo

Riding the Athletics Bus to OK

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Does a two day trip to Oklahoma with over forty of Texas A&M Texarkana’s soccer players sound like a good time? There’s WiFi on the chartered bus. There are plug outlets every other row of seats. There’s even a bathroom in the back, a nice little closet with a toilet that does not flush located right behind the men’s team! If you’ve never been on one of these away-game-trips, buckle up. You’re on one now. 

Walters carries the ball up the field against SCU. Photo by: Suzanna Summerlin

Madison Walters began her journey at TAMUT in August of 2016 at her first preseason training camp for the Women’s Soccer team. Since then, she’s grown as a student athlete and been named team captain. We’ll be following Walters on her last preseason away trip of her career to play against Southwestern Christian University and Oklahoma City University.  

Rise and shine! It’s 5:30 A.M. and it’s time to get moving. Walters is on the chartered bus surrounded by her teammates by 6 A.M. Everyone quickly dozes off to sleep after the team prayer and the 6 hour drive began. “My whole body hurts,” Walters commented during the pit stop the bus took at the halfway point of the journey as she stretched her legs. The bus made a brief stop for lunch before heading to the field so the women’s team could begin to warm up. 

After a 3-1 win against SCU, Walters was exhausted, playing the full 90 minutes. She changed into clean, dry, clothes and sat with her team to watch the TAMUT men’s team win 2-1 in overtime. The bus smelled of sweaty trash as both stinky teams piled onboard to head to the hotel. Walters was dead asleep by 10 P.M. after the teams ate a feast at Golden Corral.

The next morning the hotel lobby was packed with soccer players as they ate breakfast before loading the bus at 10:30 A.M. The teams were eager to play as they arrived to the OCU field around noon. Walters was frustrated after the women lost 2-1 in overtime. She led the team towards the locker rooms to shower off before watching the men’s team battle it out on the field. 

Photo by: Suzanna Summerlin

After two frustrating loses against OCU, the bus loaded up with freshly showered athletes and began the 6 hour trek home. A hectic pit stop at Chick-fil-a was made for dinner– restaurants usually struggle to handle the soccer program and their large appetites. “I want to be home already,” Walters said as she opened up her laptop to begin a Kinesiology test; putting in earphones to drown out the noisey men’s team. The bus arrived safely to campus around 1 A.M. and the bus unloaded quietly as everyone headed their separate ways. 

Just like that, Walters’ last preseason away trip was over. “Next week is going to be brutal,” Walters sighed as she looked over the soccer schedule. The women’s team has a week off from games before conference play starts and they’ll put in work until it’s time to load the bus again.

NSLS Connects Campus to Houston

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The National Society of Leadership & Success is coming back to campus bigger and stronger than ever before on campus. It is still the largest organization on campus and the chapter still plans to outgrow themselves each semester. The NSLS is the nation’s largest leadership honor society. Students are selected by their college for membership based on either academic standing or leadership potential. Candidacy is a nationally recognized achievement of honorable distinction.

In addition to honorable distinction, the NSLS provides a step-by-step program for members to build their leadership skills through participation at their campus or online. Upon completion of the program, members receive their leadership certificate and take their place among the top student leaders at their campus and across the country. Members are able to list their affiliation on all statements of personal accomplishment, including their resume.  

Membership is for life and provides access to benefits including scholarships and awards, exclusive on-campus events, employer recruitment through an online job bank, and discounts on computers, textbooks, grad school prep courses, insurance and much more. Once you have paid your registration fee, you are considered a member (also known as pre-inducted member) with access to certain benefits. In order to become an inducted member, one must complete the following steps: 

  1. Orientation: the first meeting that occurs each semester and will give you access to all the information you need about the program in order to successfully complete the steps for induction as a member.
  2. Leadership Training Day: an interactive video training session with a workbook designed to help you identify and overcome any obstacles that may interfere with obtaining your goals. This introspective seminar helps you to recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and lastly to shift your focus toward your real passions. 
  3. Three speaker broadcast events: you will watch some of the world’s most successful motivational speakers discussing topics related to leadership, identifying goals, facing challenges, personal growth, and successfully transitioning from college to career.
  4. Three Success Networking Team meetings: bring together groups of students that work together and provide peer coaching on achieving goals. You can discuss goals, desires and expectations, set timelines and hold each other accountable for achieving what you want. The Success Networking Team provides members with a support network of like-minded goal-oriented students on campus.

After completing these steps, applicants will be invited to an induction ceremony to receive a membership kit.

The NSLS Chapter at Texas A&M University-Texarkana currently has 324 members. However, the chapter expects a significant jump in that number over the next month. The chapter sent out 618 invitations on Friday, September 6th and received 11 joins in  3 days. Members who received an invitation have until October 3rd, 2019 to accept the invitations.

Next month, Emily Page, Bethany Melton, Darrylynn Dean, and Philip Derouen (the writer of this article) plan to attend a conference in Houston, Texas to bring back more ideas from chapters nationwide right back to Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Emily Page and Bethany Melton were two of the first inducted members on campus since the chapter started in 2018 and they both moved up to serve on its Executive Board. Fall 2019 is Emily’s first semester to serve on the Executive Board and she says she could not be more excited. “I’m so happy I said yes and I don’t regret the decision at all. I’m beyond happy and thankful to work alongside both of y’all,” Emily said.

Open Your Ears: Poet Joy Ladin visits Tamut

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** IN CASE OF INCLEMENT WEATHER, REFER TO THE A&M TEXARKANA WEBSITE OR CONTACT CORRINE HINTON AT CHINTON@TAMUT.EDU ** Image result for joy ladin

A&M-Texarkana will be hosing a worship for poets, aspiring authors, and lovers of literature! Both the workshop and reading will take place on Thursday, May 9th. The workshop will be at 5:30-7 p.m. in University Center room 230, followed by a reading from 7:30-9 p.m. in UC 217.

Joy Ladin is an American poet and the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University. She is the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution. Joy Ladin is an American poet and the David and Ruth Gottesman Chair in English at Stern College for Women at Yeshiva University. She is the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution.

In 2013, Ladin published a series of poems formed entirely from words and phrases found in popular women’s magazines. These poems, such as “Ready To Know,” link both trans women and cis women’s experiences of gender to the “commodity capitalist engine of the production of femininity.” This work emerged when Ladin gave herself a “writing assignment” to creatively engage with the “how-to” rhetoric of mainstream femininity.

“I am a teacher, widely published essayist and poet, literary scholar, and nationally known speaker on transgender issues” Ladin says. Ladin has given invited talks and readings at many universities and colleges such as Harvard and Smith College. After this Thursday, A&M University of Texarkana can be added to the list.

TAMUT’s Annual Mud Volleyball Tournament

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Campus Rec hosts a variety of intramural sports a year; dodgeball, ultimate frisbee, basketball, and more. While the diverse selection of sports keeps students engaged year-round there is one event that only occurs once a school year: mud volleyball. At the beginning of May, right before finals hit students, Campus Rec hosts two loss elimination mud volleyball tournaments with female, male, and coed leagues. Everyone is fighting for the championship– a championship t-shirt to be specific.

Intramural referees smile during the gloomy first match

At 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 4th, you could find two women’s volleyball teams, three intramural refs, and a cooler of water and snacks camped out behind the Judy Kelly Morgan Soccer field. All year an old tattered volleyball net held up by cemented tires waits for The Pit to be cleaned out and watered. The weekend before a handful of Campus Rec employees spent their Saturday ridding The Pit of rocks, garden snakes, and tall weeds before allowing a hose to fill the trench with muddy water.

From 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. teams were splashing around in The Pit battling for a t-shirt. The day began gloomy with dark clouds and a constant mist, but the women’s bracket played on. By noon the men’s bracket had warmer weather as students began to gather around to watch the tournament and cheer on friends. By the time coed play began everyone was taking turns applying sunscreen and jumping into the cool brown water for relief from the sun. Referee Madison Walters commented, “I wish we could play mud volleyball more often, but it’s such a hassle to get The Pit ready…” She continued to reapply sunscreen regularly explaining that last year she got a sunburn at the tournament so bad it hurt to wear t-shirts for days.

The Pit was constantly filled with laughter as teams splashed about in front of a small audience of supportive friends. Three teams went home with a championship t-shirt, but everyone left with muddy feet. We’ll see you next spring, The Pit.

JMBLYA 2019

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The JMBLYA is back for 2019 and ready to invade the city of Dallas (May 3rd) and Austin, Texas (May 4th).

Photo Courtesy JMBLYA 2018.

JMBLYA is a recurring outdoor music festival featuring artist from all over the world.
This year’s lineup includes Travis Scott, Lil Wayne, Kevin Gates, Gunna, Sheck Wes, Youngboy Never Broke Again, Bhad bhabie, Blueface, City girls, Maxo Kream, P-Lo, WhooKilledKenny, and 10K.Caash

JMBLYA is a rain or shine event and will open festival gates open at 12PM on Friday, May 3rd (Dallas) and Saturday, May 4th (Austin).
Children 3 1/2 feet tall and shorter are admitted FREE if accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. There will be no children under the age of 14 allowed in without the supervision of an adult.

General admission ticket pricing begins at $109.00, along with four different selections (Pinky Ring, Gator Boots, Fur Coat, Drop Top) of VIP packets to choose from. JMBLYA has a strict no-pet policy, with exceptions only for service animals as specified by federal and state law.

Photo Courtesy JMBLYA 2018.

JMBLYA will offer multiple free water refilling stations. You are encouraged to bring reusable water bottles, however, just be sure to have them empty upon entry. There will also be water and other non-alcoholic beverages available for purchase at the bar.

To ensure the safety of our JMBLYA family, all vehicles, persons and property are always subject to search, failure to consent to a search will result in denial of entry or ejection from the event.

Parking will be available at both festival sites. Stay tuned for more details.

Ticketing questions can be directed to support.frontgatetickets.com
For more on ticket information click here.

For rules of JMBLYA click here.

TAMUT Took on Dodgeball

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Texas A&M University Texarkana has over forty organizations on campus to keep students engaged and active in the community. Intramural sports is an extremely active organization, hosted by Campus Recreation, which holds weekly sports, games, and activities. For a few weeks this semester, the campus was covered in advertisements encouraging students to sign up for an intramural dodgeball team. Games were held from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. in the Patterson Student Center with a variety of teams formed by students, faculty, athletes, Greek life, and other clubs.

The dodgeball games came to a close in mid February, the last night consisting of a championship tournament with ten games, back to back. Each game required two referees to monitor the ten people on the court and two ball retreivors. The gymnasium, where the games took place, was lively with laughter, music, competitive banter, and a few screams as balls were thrown across the court at opponents.

Time keeper Madison Walters commented on the games, “it’s pretty funny, boys take this so seriously while most of the girls have no idea what’s happening.” She continued to laugh about other intramural events, “you should have seen intramural basketball…that was so bad!” Walters went on to say they were surprised by the number of participants for this sport. Usually they struggle to fill out teams, but dodgeball had about ten games a night.

The center referee, Ellie Kemins, was getting visibly upset by some of the participants. This was the first year TAMUT hosted a dodgeball league in the new gymnasium and there were a few hiccups throughout the night. Kemins commented, “it’s just a game! We need to adjust a few of the rules so this goes smoother next year…a holding limit, no talking to the officials…” Intramural officials looked tired as they chased balls for the players and kept everyone accountable on the court.

While the event lasted for three hours the pace never slowed down. One game started as soon as the previous finished with students lining up for their turn to play. The dodgeball league was a success from all the looks of tired smiling faces as they enjoyed their time with friends. There is a first for everything, and although some hiccups occurred, it was a lively event.

Heart of the Leader

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The Heart of the Leader Training event will take place Sunday, February 10th and Monday, February 11th at Texas A&M-Texarkana, facilitated by Bobby Audley, a leadership character development trainer. This training will accompany a total of 11 student participants hosted by the student activities committee, formally known as Student Life.

This rigorous training is intended to refine and enhance student success. The training consists of multiple educational breakout sessions that address such subjects as motivation, stress management, communication skills, decision-making, ethical leadership, and group processing techniques. Students as well as varying participants are said to graduate from the training with a noticeably new-found confidence, assured future goals, and long-lasting self-awareness. 

Since the training is an all-day two-day event, and resides on a Sunday and Monday, many students are positioned to sacrifice religious and academic scheduled days. Though the training workshop is supported by the president of Texas A&M-Texarkana, when students sign up, they are required to commit to the schedule entirely. All assignments surrounding the set dates are to be left under the student’s responsibility and handled accordingly. Professors are even asked to support the students despite the training necessitating their absence of class.

Furthermore, Heart of a Leader is taken very serious by everyone involved. Students breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all accommodated by the campus. As well as, the materials needed to complete the program. A formal letter is sent to the professors and they along with family friends, and supporters are asked to attend to Heart of a Leader graduation ceremony at the completion of the training. Supporters have been known to take great lengths to show their support. Some have traveled from Dallas and taken off work, even past graduates from all over come to support future graduates of whom they’ve never met. All in order so that they may attend this one-hour graduation.

As this day approached a group of past and present participants were interviewed.

“I’m really excited about this thing, I’ve committed to entering this with an open heart!” said Casey Castell, who is a freshman here at Texas A&M-Texarkana.

“Honestly, I am nervous. I mean, I am an extremely shy person and I don’t really know what to expect. The email about it was specific but vague at the same time. I know one of the activities will cover communication and leadership skills…but what does that even mean? What will I be forced to do?” says another freshman participant named Leslie.

Her face began to tense up as if she were searching for an internal relief. Nevertheless, she digressed with a sigh and said, “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“…Well, I am very excited but apprehensive. A friend of mine participated last year and he said I will be forced out of my comfort zone but that I will also appreciate all of it in the end. He didn’t tell me specifically what will take place.” says Matthew a junior participant.

As the interview came to a close each student agreed that the experience will be “life changing and eventful”.

 

 

Lady Eagles Prep for the Diamond

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Led by head coach Marie Stone, TAMUT Lady Eagles will be beginning their softball season February 1st, 2019.

Picture Courtesy of TAMUT Eagle Athletics

Marie Stone comes to A&M Texarkana from Murray State College in Tishomingo, Oklahoma. A native of Pittsburg, Texas, Coach Stone has earned her bachelors degree in Exercise Science at Texas Wesleyan University and a Master in Sports Administration from Texas Woman’s University.  In 2010, Coach Stone started the softball program at Our Lady of the Lake University, a member of the Red River Athletics Conference in San Antonio, Texas. In 2013 Coach Stone became head coach of the Murry State softball team. Under the leadership of Coach Stone, the Lady Aggies won NJCAA Regionals in each of the last three seasons. During the 2015 season, the team received numerous honors and was ranked 17th nationally by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) for team grade-point average. In the 2016 season the Lady Aggies set single-season team records for total runs scored (218), home runs (26), stolen bases (45), hits (384), and highest batting average (.325). Coach Stone is entering her second season here at Texarkana A&M along with her assistant coach Jordan Gabriel. Coach Gabriel is in her second season and an alum of West Virginia Tech.

Picture Courtesy of TAMUT Eagle Athletics

The 2019 Lady Eagle softball roster consists of two freshman, Lauren Huff (22) and Lauren Hensley (13), three sophomores Mackayla Rameriz (2), Jaden Lance (25) and Gracelyn Spring (26), five juniors, Hannah Adams (1), Baylee Taylor (6), Morgan Bullock (11), Lauren Bierschenk (19), and Jordyn Logan (23). Tamut completes the roster with seven seniors, Kacey Maines (7), Cassie Vasquez (8), Ashley Nipper (10), Kallee King (14), Kayla Mahan (18), Hannah Cooper (24) and Kallee Wilkins (27).

To download the lady Eagle softball schedule or for more sports update on the team please click here.

Kids’ Yoga with Santa!

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Texarkana Yoga is offering a Kids yoga with Santa workshop on Sunday, December 16 from 5-6:30 p.m. The workshop will be instructed by Brittany Carder. Brittany said “I consider my classes an opportunity to teach mindfulness and awareness of the body and the breath, allowing students to cultivate inner peace for themselves as well as build strength and increase flexibility and endurance”. The workshop will be co-instructed by Venus Lillis who has been practicing yoga for about 10 years and teaching since 2017. Venus regularly teaches Hot Power Yoga, Kids Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Warm Yoga.

Image Courtesy of TXK Yoga

This fun-filled Christmas themed class will encourage self-expression, social interaction and mind/body awareness through games and yoga poses! Santa will make a special stop by the studio at the end of each class to encourage wellness & good behavior! Each child will get to sit on Santa’s lap and receive a special treat bag!

Kids may bring a bottle of water, please no other drinks or snacks. Mats provided. Wear comfortable clothing.

Limited Spots Available! Class drop-in is $15. For more information or to sign up for yoga with Santa click here.