This past weekend, Texas A&M University-Texarkana hosted their annual Eagle Wonderland in the University Center. The University welcomed many families from the Texarkana community to get ready for Christmas while also participating in various activities to get in the holiday spirit! Activities for the families included stuff a critter, making reindeer food for Santa’s reindeer, writing letters to Santa, and various color activities to get the kids excited for Christmas. In addition to all the activities, families were also given free hot chocolate, free cookies, and free photos with Santa.

The event was held in Eagle Hall in the University Center from 12 noon to 3 p.m. The event was hosted by the Campus Activities Board (CAB) with the help of other organizations, students, and faculty to help volunteer alongside CAB. It was the volunteers that made the event a huge success and it could not have happened without all of the support from Texas A&M University-Texarkana.

Just recently, Corey Robinson, counselor at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, gave a presentation to campus faculty and staff on “Dealing with Depression During the Holidays.” This presentation went over the stress that the Holidays can cause and how to cope with these problems. 

As we all know, the holidays can cause a plethora of problems to one’s life due to many causes. Problems such as stress, fatigue, isolation, and seasonal affective disorder to name just a few. It was also stated that with the purchasing of gifts and time management amongst the holidays are also factors that causes stress over the holidays.

In addition to all of the stress factors, Mr. Robinson demonstrated a few coping strategies to relieve stress over the holidays. Strategies such as taking time to yourself and having an effect time management plan can really be effective to one’s health over the holidays. Due to the last minute Christmas shopping and the pressure of having to buy a plethora of gifts for many individuals, just that itself causes a toll on one’s health.

To help fix this problem, Mr. Robsinon suggested, “Have an effective time schedule. Plan out your events and schedule it”. Mr. Robinson stated this to ensure that our faculty and staff will be efficient and effective during the holidays and that their families are spending time with the best version of themselves.

It is that time of the year where the first-year students are almost finished completing their first semester in college. For college, it could be a tough time for many and by them getting accommodated to the new college scene and college life, the University had to reward them with amazing prizes if they met the standards.

First Year Experience hosted an event that allowed the freshman to bet on an item of their choosing in an auction style and the student who outbid the other contenders, ended up with a prize. These were no small prizes either on the table for freshman to grab. Some of the prizes included were an: Apple Watch, Apple Air pods, Beats Headphones, a Nintendo Switch, an Echo Speaker, a hammock, gift cards, and more.

A&M University-Texarkana provides engaging activities for first-year students in college, building a strong foundation to enhance educational experiences and foster success within the A&M-Texarkana community.  It is important to recognize the significance of each student’s first-year experiences and to support them in reaching their academic and personal goals.

This Thursday, December 12th A&M University-Texarkana will host its annual ring ceremony. The event will take place at 6 p.m. in the University Center on the 3rd floor in the Tri-State Iron & Metal Atrium. 

The purpose of the ring ceremony is to acknowledge any current or former student who has completed 90 or more semester credit hours. Once they achieve the hour limit, the student would then be eligible to purchase their ring to wear.

The Texas A&M University-Texarkana ring has been a tradition for years. It serves as a reminder of a student’s achievement, memories, and accolades achieved while a student at the University. During the ring ceremony, the ring participants will be formally presented with their custom ring. Whenever the students are presented the ring and when the ring is ready to wear, the students wear the ring with the school name facing them. Then whenever the students receive their degrees at commencement, the new graduates turn the ring around, to symbolize that they are now ready to face the world.

At Texas A&M University-Texarkana, the time has come where finals has finally approached. For the past week and a half, students have been studying non-stop to prepare for their final exams. Students have been stressed and filled with anxiety, in hopes to ace their final exam. To omit this problem, Phi Lambda Chi, a fraternity at Texas A&M University-Texarkana, proposed a solution that would allow students to forget about their finals and be stress free.

Phi Lambda Chi, hosted a car smash right in front of the University campus. The brothers of the fraternity were able to get a hold of an old car that way students can unleash their inner stress on the car. The fraternity charged its users $1 for 4 hits, and $3 for 1 full minute on the car. Prices were really good for students as students kept coming in for more and kept supporting the fraternity to kill off all that unwanted stress. In the end, the event turned out to be a huge success as students were smashing the car all day with axes and sledgehammers.