the optimist print edition: 09.22.10

Flu season is here, and the ACU Medical Clinic is working hard to vaccinate students, faculty and staff. Each year students are en-couraged to get the shot; especially those living in residence halls on cam-pus, as diseases spread quickly in close quarters. A special incentive will be offered this year.

“Residence Life and the Medical Clinic are partner-ing to offer $500 towards a residence hall party for the residence hall that has the highest percentage of stu-dents vaccinated with the current flu shot,” says Dr. El-

len Little, physician and di-rector of the Medical Clinic.

The shots are available in the clinic, located on the ground floor of McK-inzie Hall and in the Cam-pus Center after Chapel on Thursday, Sept. 23.

“The flu shot is $15 and can be charged to the stu-dent’s Banner account,” said Dr. Little. “If the student car-ries health insurance, a re-ceipt can be obtained from the medical clinic and filed for reimbursement.”

Also, students who get the shot off-campus can bring a record of their vaccination, and it will be entered into the computer for the com-petition. The last day of the competition is Nov. 19th.

Even with incentives, not everyone is interested in get-ting the shot. Freshman Dy-lan Brugman said he does not plan to get the flu shot.

“I haven’t had the flu in like 10 years. I’d rather risk getting the flu maybe once

Optimistthe

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

acuoptimist.com

Vol. 99, No. 10 1 section, 8 pages

weatherinside

page 3

websitenewsThe band, Kansas, will play alongside the Hardin-Simmons University Orchestra on Saturday.

page 7

sportsThe ACU Wildcat football team won its first home game against the East Central Tigers on Saturday.

videoWatch social club members and pledges participate in traditional Bid Night activities. 86° 71°

Students control the fate of several faculty members in the Alpha Kai Omega “Kiss a Pig” fundraiser starting on Thursday.

Students can place mon-ey in the jar of the faculty member they’d most like to see kiss a pig. The jars will be in the McGlothlin Cam-pus Center from Thursday until Oct. 1. The money will be tallied, and the fac-ulty member with most will have to pucker up with the barnyard animal on Oct. 2 in the campus mall area next to the GATA fountain.

The potential pig-kissers include Dr. Phil Schubert, president of the university; Dr. Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean for Student Life; Dr. Richard Beck, chair of Department of Psycholo-gy; and Mark Lewis, assis-tant dean for Spiritual Life and Chapel programs in Student Life. Each faculty member will have their pictures displayed on the collection jars.

“We wanted to get peo-ple from all areas of cam-pus to get involved, so we encouraged big names to volunteer,” said Alpha Kai Omega president Michelle Nix, senior family studies major from Austin.

Vice president of Al-pha Kai Omega Vanessa Butler, senior art major from Longview, came up with the idea for this year’s fundraiser.

Facultykiss pigs to raise money

STUDENT LIFE

Siblings supporting water-melons, Slavs lugging milk jugs and NuNus wearing colorful costumes flooded campus along with eight other social clubs, as club

members put 350 pledges through Bid Night on Friday.

The number of pledges increased for most clubs this year and pledging over-all increased 36 percent for female clubs and 30 percent for male clubs. Women’s clubs have 213 pledges and men’s clubs have 137, up from the 160 women and 107 males who pledged last year.

Mauri Westbrook, director of student organizations, said the reason for the

increase could be attributed to more women deciding to pledge the smaller clubs. She also said this year’s sopho-more class is larger than previous years, which could also have been a factor in the large amount of pledges.

The women’s social club, GATA, has 37 pledges this year, up from 5 pledges last year.

GATA President Bonnie Kellum, se-nior psychology major from Allen, said the club found a great group of girls this year who are excited about pledging.

“Last year we were much smaller, so we’ve been really advertising that it is our big year to come back, and we’re well on our way to that,” Kellum said.

Men’s club, Gamma Sigma Phi, was down from 46 pledges to 37 pledges this year. President of GSP, Bryan Elrod, senior marketing major from Missouri City, said he couldn’t be happier with the 37 who decided to pledge.

“It’s not about numbers,” Elrod said. “It’s about the quality of guys we’re tak-ing, and just how involved they’re going to be and how much they are going to make club a big deal in their life.”

Westbrook said an increase in pledg-es is not the only change to pledging this year. Some changes have also been made to the pledging process.

Christina BurchContributing Reporter

Wed. Fri.Thurs.

88° 70° 87° 69°

Parents of the Year, page 3

Pledge Allegiance

see FLU page 4

DANIEL GOMEZ // Chief Photographer

Dr. Jeff Arrington, associate dean of Student Life, receives his flu shot from Julie Danley, R.N. in the ACU Medical Clinic Tuesday Sept. 21 in preparation for flu season.

HEALTH

Laura GasvodaContributing Reporter

Health clinic offers flu shots

STAFF REPORT

see BIDS page 4

GRANT STEPHEN // Staff Photographer

Cason McInturff, senior animal science major from Nashville, right, talks to his brother Colton McInturff, sophomore animal science major from Nashville, left, at the beginning of a Galaxy pledging activity on the front lawn of the Mabee Business Building at the start of Bid Night.

Social Clubs initiate pledges, adjust to changes on Bid Night

see FUNDRAISER page 4

The Students’ Association voted to allocate nearly $38,000 to 40 student or-ganizations across campus Sept. 15. The groups re-quested a combined total of more than $71,000 from SA, whose fall budget con-sists of $90,000 in revenue.

In addition to funds allo-cated for student organiza-tions, the remainder of the SA budget is set aside for SA officer salaries and opera-tional expenses. The total budget for all SA executive officer salaries in the fall

2010 budget is $17,280, and all other SA officer salaries total $6,480. SA will spend $3,661 on operational ex-penses and $1,375 on Colle-giate Cards. The remainder of the budget went to stu-dent development expens-es, class allocations and the congressional budget.

SA Treasurer Chris Shim, senior finance major from Lawrenceville, Ga., said changes were made this sum-mer to ensure more funds could be allocated to clubs.

“We sat down and looked at expenses from

STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

SA allocates funds to student groups

Jeff CraigManaging Editor

see BUDGET page 4

11a.m. Summit Theme Conversation in Moody Coliseum with speaker Charlton Taylor

3 p.m. Summit Featured Guest Shane Claiborne in Moody Coliseum

7 p.m. Summit Theme Conversation in Moody Coliseum with speaker Eddie Sharp

11:30 a.m. Burn Room demonstration in the Mall area

4 p.m. Home soccer game against Midwestern State University

announcementsMeningitis shots are now available in the ACU clin-ic located in McKinzie Hall. Call (325) 674-2151 for more information.

FCA meets at 9 p.m. ev-ery Thursday in the living room of the McGlothlin Campus Center.

Summit, ACU’s fall lectureship conference, is Sept. 19-22. Students may receive up to 10 cha-pel credits for attending various speaking events.

Table Tennis Club is looking for new members who will enjoy casual and ranked matches. For more information, contact Benjamin Hayes at [email protected].

Crystal Jarell and Eric Schmidt will preform a con-cert at 8 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Recital Hall of the Williams Preforming Arts Center.

Titanic, the fall homecom-ming musical put on by the theatre department, will show at 8 p.m. on Oct. 8-9 and 2 p.m. Oct. 10 in the Abilene Civic Center. For ticketing information, call 325-647-2787 or visit acu.edu/theatre.

ACUltimate, the uni-versity’s ultimate frisbee club is meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. Interested students can contact Kyle Thaxton at [email protected].

Samuel Cook will preform a concert at 8 p.m. Sept. 30 in the Recital Hall of the Williams Preforming Arts Center.

Red Dirt Adventure Chal-lenge duathlon race will be held by the ACU Out-door Club on Oct. 2nd. For more info and registration details,visit www.acuout-doorclub.org.

Wednesday

6 pm. Home football game against Tarleton State University

24Friday

The Optimist Club is looking for volunteers for their annual Big Country Balloon Fest hot air balloon event Sept. 24 - Sept. 26 at Redbud Park off Buffalo Gap Road (behind South-ern Hills Church of Christ). Volunteers are needed for four-hour shifts to help with many fun activities. Contact Patsy Williams at 325-695-5654 or e-mail [email protected]. Disability Resources, Inc. needs volunteers from 10 a.m. until dusk Monday - Saturday and 1p.m. until dusk Sundays Sept. 29 - Oct. 31 to help with its annual Pumpkin Patch. Volunteers

will help sell pumpkins, read at story time in the chil-dren’s area, and assist with children’s games. Contact Jo Ann Wilson at 325-677-6825, ext. 2003 or e-mail [email protected].

ACU Homecoming Help is needed on Oct. 8, to line the streets from ACU to Shotwell Stadium with streamers, the carnival 4 p.m. -8 p.m. (2 hour shifts), and the spirit shop during the Homecom-ing game on Oct. 9. During the carnival volunteers will assist with face painting, inflatables, children’s game stations, and other activities. Contact Kelsey Chrane at [email protected]

Jane Long Elementary School wants volunteers for their Fall Festival 3:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 to help with decorations, air castles, cake walk, food booths, etc. Contact Nina Leija at 325-671-4920, ext. 8937 or e-mail [email protected].

The Dyess Youth Center needs help with a Ping Pong Exhibition from 4 p.m.-6 p.m every Friday. Volunteers would preside over tournaments and do an exhibition for the students. Transportation will not be provided, nor can the volunteer have any sexual assault charges or

charges pending. For more information, please contact Sheri Frisby at 325-696-4797 or email [email protected]. The Dyess Youth Center needs volunteers from 4 p.m. -6 p.m. every Monday - Friday to assist students with homework in the areas of math, sci-ence, English and history. Transportation will not be provided, nor can the volunteer have any sexual assault charges or charges pending. For more infor-mation, please contact Sheri Frisby at 325-696-4797 or email [email protected]

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

calendar & events

22 Thursday23 25Saturday

The Optimist maintains this calendar for the ACU community to keep track of local social, academic and service opportunities. Groups may send announcements directly to [email protected].

To ensure an item will appear on time, the announcement should be sent at least 10 days in advance. The Optimist may edit items for space and style.

Corrections and clarifications of published news articles will be printed in this space in a timely manner.

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follow us on Twitter: @acuoptimist // become a fan on Facebook: The Optimist

volunteer opportunities

2Campus Day

11 a.m. Small Group Chapels meet in various locations around campus

The rock band, Kansas, will play classic hits alongside the Hardin-Simmons Or-chestra at 8 p.m. in Behrens Auditorium on Saturday.

In 2009 Kansas teamed up with the Washburn University Orchestra to produce the “There’s Know Place Like Home” CD/DVD. After it’s success, Kansas was inspired to continue performing with

college orchestras across the country.

Kansas drummer, Phil Ehart, was overwhelmed by the reaction from uni-versities to participate.

“We immediately discov-ered that most schools have no money for their music programs,” Ehart said in a press release. “We then thought of performing the shows as fundraisers, help-ing to raise funding for the school’s music programs.”

Charles Robinson, a se-

nior music education from Fort Worth, is the principal second violinist at HSU and also serves as an orchestral manager. He and the other members of the orchestra are excited not only to be playing with a famous rock band, but also to learn a style that they are not used to playing.

“We’ve been listening to a lot of Kansas to practice learning the style of their music,” Robinson said. “It’s a different experience and

a new perspective. The re-hearsals are different than normal rehearsing, but there’s lots of positive en-ergy. No one’s been a part of something like this before.”

Associate Professor of Violin Peter Isaacson is pre-paring the orchestra to per-form with Kansas.

“We just got the music on Aug. 28, so it’s been a pretty short turn around, just a month to rehearse,” Isaacson said. “We’re performing about 15 songs, including a lot of big

hits like “Point of No Return”, “Dust in the Wind” and “Carry on my Wayward Son.”

While Isaacson is getting the HSU students ready, Larry Baird will be conducting Kan-sas and the full orchestra.

Isaacson said Baird is responsible for orchestrat-ing Kansas’ music. He said Baird originally arranged Kansas’ hits for big names like the London Symphony Orchestra, but now Kansas is doing more philanthrop-ic work with schools.

This event is partnered with D’Addario & Compa-ny to help provide musical scholarships for the HSU music program and im-prove the versatility of stu-dent musicians.

Tickets are available in the Van Ellis Theatre Lobby on the HSU campus for $38.50-$48.50. They may also be purchased online at www.hstux.edu/events/kansas.

September 22, 2010 CAMPUS NEWS

SUMMIT


Author and civil rights activist John M. Perkins speaks to a Cornerstone class during Summit on Monday. Perkins is the coauthor of this years freshman reading Follow me to Freedom.

Man on a Mission Mission leaders named2010 Parents of the Year

Matthew WoodrowOpinions Page Editor

ALUMNI

contact Barnes [email protected]

Book festival promoteslocal reading, literacy

The West Texas Book and Music Festival visits Abilene this week and will stay here through Friday, Sept. 24. Featured authors include Mike Cox, Paulette Jiles, Scott Zesch, and many more. Some featured mu-sicians include The Geezer Brothers, Tony Barker Band, and Catclaw Creek.

Two ACU professors will be in attendance-Karen Witemeyer, university test-ing center coordinator and Benny P. Gallaway, a profes-sor emeritus in the history department. Witemeyer is a Christian fiction writer and has written two books – Head in the Clouds and A Tailor-Made Bride – both having done very well. Gal-laway is the author of The Ragged Rebel: A Common Soldier in W.H. Parsons’ Tex-as Cavalry.

This festival began 10 years ago and was started by Glen Dromgoole and Jane Jones as a takeoff from an event the friends of the Abilene Public Library sup-port group started in the 1950s. In the 1980s, they

started hosting a dinner once a year to honor the many local authors that had been published in the past twelve months. Their mis-sion was to support authors and promote reading. As the years went on, the event started dying and was not well attended.

The festival was created to promote reading and lit-eracy, and Dromgoole and Jones thought it was a fun activity, however, neither of them had ever been to a book festival. They began going around to different festivals to figure out what they wanted to do at their event in Abilene. As the years passed, they honored other Texas authors, not just those from Abilene. Music later became an in-terest in the festival and was added about five years ago when the organizers decided that writing poetry and lyrics is just as creative as writing a book.

Many people participate in the festival, and the or-ganizers make sure that the programs appeal to various age groups to make every-one feel welcome. They will have many Hall of Texas au-

thors and brown bag lunch-es Wednesday through Fri-day this week at noon. It is a great enironment to ask authors questions about their books and themselves. Several free events will take place this week, and every-one is encouraged to come out and support these great authors and musicians.

“Our newest event is our Gospel Music Con-cert that will take place on Saturday at 3pm and will feature the bands Catclaw Creek and Cornerstone,” said Janis Test, who is in charge of public relations for the event. “For students it is an interesting event to see your professors out of the classroom. There is a also a sports session for all the athletes and fans out there, including a chance to meet football star Roger Staubach and the “godfa-ther of poker” and Hardin-Simmons University gradu-ate, Doyle Brunson.”

For more information go online to www.abile-netx.com/apl or call 325-676-6025.

LOCAL

Dr. David M. (’82) and Laurie (’81) Vanderpool of Brent-wood, Tenn., were honored last Friday in Chapel as ACU Parents of the Year.

The Vanderpools found-ed Mobile Medical Disaster Relief in 2005, a non-profit organization that builds and sustains hospitals and medi-cal clinics. MMDR provides medicine and other medical equipment, such as prosthet-ics, to 15 countries around the world.

The Vanderpools were nominated by their son, Da-vid S. Vanderpool (’10). He is also the MMDR international projects manager.

“Their greatest achieve-ment is certainly their lives. They model Christian love and service better than any-one else I know or have witnessed,” said David S. Vanderpool. “The greatest thing I have learned from my parents is a selfless love.”

The couple was selected from a pool of 30 other candi-dates; each were nominated electronically last spring by students. The First-Year Pro-gram and the Alumni Asso-ciation then narrowed nomi-nees to two or three finalists.

“The Vanderpools have a long history of support for ACU, both financially and in volunteering their time,”

said Samantha Adkins, se-nior alumni relations officer. “They open up their home near Nashville to host parties for prospective students.”

After David M. Vanderpool graduated from ACU with a bachelor’s degree in biology, he received his medical de-gree from the Texas Tech Uni-versity School of Medicine in 1987. David M. Vanderpool is a member of the American Society of General Surgeons. Laurie Vanderpool is a current member of the ACU Alumni advisory board and regularly organizes trips to Mozam-bique, Honduras and Haiti.

As soon as the 2010 earth-quake in Haiti occurred, the Vanderpool family worked to

distribute medical supplies, administer vaccinations and set up a field hospital.

The Vanderpools are not only ACU Parents of the Year, they have also been nominat-ed to receive the People Maga-zine Reader’s Choice Hero award for their efforts in Haiti. Voting for the Reader’s Choice Hero award ends Oct. 8.

“They serve at all times, caring for others ahead of themselves, all the while doing so with the love and the joy of the Lord within them. They are beauti-ful role models,” David S. Vanderpool said.

Classic rock group Kansas to perform at HSU

Alia BarnesContributing Reporter

LOCAL

contact Woodrow [email protected]

Elizabeth WeissContributing Reporter

contact Weiss [email protected]

STACY ACTON // Staff Photographer

Dr. David and Laurie Vanderpool are honored during Chapel.

September 22, 2010FROM THE FRONT

In previous years, pledging occurred in two phases. In the first phase, pledges learned about the history and traditions of the club, and Westbrook said pledg-es and members were in separate groups. In the second phase, the club brought the two groups together, creating unity for the whole club.

In theory, Westbrook said this was a great idea, but in practice it was hard to distinguish between the phases. She said clubs thought pledging would

be more effective if they could intertwine the goals from both phases into one phase, developing a system that works for the club.

Because Student Life is allowing clubs to sequence their events, Westbrook said they also wanted to recognize that pledging is a significant commitment for pledges. They decided to reduce the number of hours a week pledges are

required to participate in club activities from 15 hours to 12 hours. West-brook also said clubs must give pledges one day off of required pledging activi-ties per week.

Student Life made the changes last spring with in-put from club officers and advisers. Westbrook said the changes were based on the idea of the club choos-ing the values they would

like to portray, then choos-ing the activities that rep-resent those values.

“So, maybe the value that they want to portray in an activity is unity, but they start thinking about the value, then they devel-op the activity around the value,” Westbrook said.

She said another new goal for pledging is for members to be more en-couraging and inviting as the pledges learn and grow into membership.

Westbrook said clubs have known of all the changes since the spring, so they have had plenty of time to reevalu-ate their pledging activities.

Brandon Fry, junior ac-counting major from Ballinger and president of Frater Soda-lis, said the changes haven’t affected them very much.

“Honestly, I think it’s been good for us,” Fry said. “We are in a position where we’re able to make those changes because we are smaller, so it’s good. They are all for good reasons, so we’re more than happy to do it, and we’re just having a good time.”

Westbrook said all pledging rules could be found in the Student Orga-nization Handbook.

Bids: Clubs adjust to new pledging rulesSTUDENT LIFE

contact Staff [email protected]

Continued from page 1 quick factsThe number of pledges for 2010 increased from 2009. Here are the total number of new pledges each club received.

Women’s Clubsn Sigma Theta Chi, 53n Ko Jo Kai, 53n Alpha Kai Omega, 47n GATA, 37n Delta Theta, 23

Men’s Clubsn Galaxy, 48n Gamma Sigma Phi, 37n Trojans, 25n Frater Sodalis, 13n Pi Kappa, 8n Sub T-16, 6

every few years than get the shot and be dependent on it. My family has just never done it,” Brugman said.Freshman Jaymee Myller does plan to get the shot.

“I haven’t gotten my flu shot yet, but I’m definitely planning on getting one. Living in a dorm, where sick-ness can spread so quickly, it’s better to safe than sorry,” Myller said.

Julie Danley, R.N. at the Medical Clinic said, “Some-times people are wary of getting the shot because they believe they can actu-

ally become infected. This is not true. Within about 24 hours, any immune system response will be gone. Any reaction you may feel is your body building resistance.”

The vaccination will pre-vent three of the most com-mon strains of the flu virus, including the swine flu. Danley said there has not been a significant number of swine flu cases yet this year on the ACU campus, but getting the shot is still rec-ommended. It will protect recipients for a full year.

Other preventive measures Danley rec-ommends are washing

your hands regularly and coughing or sneezing into the crook or your arm in-stead of your hands.

last year,” Shim said. “We looked and streamlined our resources so we could have more resources for student groups.”

Shim said funds allocat-ed this year represented a $2,500 increase from the fall 2009 budget. He said the ex-tra funds were generated by

cuts made to operational ex-penses and Collegiate Cards.

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association received the largest alloca-tion, receiving $3,240 after requesting $4,469. Interna-tional Students Association and Hispanos Unidos re-ceived the second and third highest allocations, respec-tively, in the budget propos-al. The largest funds request

came from Wildcat Hockey. The club requested $9,050 and was allocated $1,900.

Shim said this year’s bud-getary process was an im-provement over past years’ budget allocations. He said the reasons for improvement could be attributed to better communication between SA and student groups.

“We did the best we could. I met with every

single student group, and a whole lot of one-on-one meetings were conducted,” Shim said.

In addition to more personal meetings, Shim said SA worked to be more open with student groups in general.

“We had two mass gen-eral meetings with all stu-dent groups to give them an idea of what the bud-

geting process would look like,” Shim said. “We went out of our way to invite those student groups to the SA congress meeting on Sept. 15. Their coming out and explaining what they do was huge. I can start the conversation, and the student leader could go more in-depth.”

SA President Samuel Palomares, senior com-

munications major from Abilene, agreed with Shim.

“In recent years, con-gress would debate among themselves without know-ing what is going on,” Pal-omares said. “ Their physi-cal presence helped a lot. It helped when the club representatives spoke up.”

We are in a position where we’re able to make changes because we are smaller, so it’s good.

BRANDON FRY// junior accounting major from Ballinger‘‘ ’’

Budget: SA increases funds for student groupsSTUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION

Continued from page 1

contact Craig [email protected]

“The pledges host a fundrais-er every year, so we thought we’d have a little more fun with it this year,” Butler said.

In addition to club fund-ing, Alpha Kai Omega plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Club members accept all donations and hope to re-ceive support from ACU stu-dents and faculty.

“Our main goal is to be more involved in the com-munity, and it’s a great step towards that,” Butler said.

ACU Senior Vice President Emeritus Bob Hunter agrees.

“I hope students will continue the ACU experi-ence of volunteering and learning to help others for the rest of their lives,” Hunter said.

After the money in each jar is tallied, and the win-ning faculty member is an-nounced, Alpha Kai Omega officers plan to photograph and film the smooch.

Thompson is among the potential swine smoochers.

“I was the unfortunate one in a similar fund-raiser at Grove City Col-lege and had to wear a full-body bunny costume all day around campus,” Jean-Noel Thompson said. “Not sure what it’s like kissing a pig, yet hope I don’t get the chance to find out.”

Fundraiser: Social clubraises funds for children

STUDENT LIFE


contact Burch [email protected]

Flu: Clinic offers vaccinesHEALTH


contact Gasvoda [email protected]

contact Hernandez [email protected]

Area charity hosts luncheon

Yellow and black will swarm the Abilene Civic Center on Thursday for The Alliance for Women and Children’s “Dream to Bee” luncheon. The Alli-ance, one of Abilene’s old-est women’s organizations, will conduct the annual luncheon as a fundraiser to raise money for its activi-ties and programs.

“We are a wonderful organization that exists to empower women and children,” Susan Rob-inson, President of the Board of Directors for the Alliance said.

This year’s luncheon will feature Mamie Mc-Cullough, Ph.D., interna-tionally known motivation-al speaker. McCullough, also known as the “I Can” lady, worked with Chris-tian author and speaker Zig Ziglar as an educational di-rector for ten years before creating her own company, Mamie McCullough and Associates, in 1989.

“Mamie McCullough is a hoot,” Robinson said, “She has local ties; she

actually went to How-ard Payne University in Brownwood.”

The luncheon is usually titled, “Empowering Wom-en with Tools to Dream”, but with McCullough’s vis-it, the theme was changed to “Dream to Bee”.

“The bumblebee is one of Mamie’s symbols, so we decided to incorporate that with our dream theme,” Robinson said.

McCullough says that the bumblebee inspires her because of its ability to fly. Ergonomically, the in-sect’s body shape and size should inhibit flight. The bumblebee is unaware of this, and flies anyway.

Attendees are encour-aged to wear yellow and black to go along with the new theme.

The organization ex-pects around 400 women to gather for the event. One woman planning to attend is Myra Dean, development director for KACU Abilene Public Radio.

“I would like to support the underprivileged women and children. Alliance serves a real niche in our commu-nity by helping the under-

privileged.” Dean said.Besides the annual lun-

cheon, the Alliance for Women and Children offers other ways for the women of Abilene to get involved. The organization is cur-rently selling A-cards, dis-count cards that save shop-pers 20% at participating Abilene retailers from Oct. 22 through Oct. 31.

The money raised through donations and fundraisers is used to sup-port the Alliance’s services and programs. Some of the services offered include providing after school childcare, self-esteem pro-grams for middle school girls, breast and cervical cancer screenings to med-ically overlooked women and health education to all citizens of Abilene and the surrounding areas.

Those interested in do-nating or getting involved with the Alliance for Women and Children can contact their office at (325) 677-5321. A-cards are $40 and can be purchased at www.alliance-forwomenandchildren.org.

Meagan HernandezContributing Reporter

LOCAL

Our main goal is to be more involved in the community.

VANESSA BUTLER // senior art major from Longview‘‘ ’’

FocusSeptember 22, 2010


Above: Sibling Jason Gonzalez, sophomore nursing major from McAllen, participates in Gamma Sigma Phi’s first pledging activity in Beauchamp Amphitheater. Pledges are required to hold watermelons over their heads or in a squat position, as members encourage them to push through. Pledges are also given breaks throughout the event. Below: Kudos perform Sing Song routines at the Amphitheater for current and former Alpha Kai Omega club members.

Nova Colton McInturff, sophomore animal science major from Nashville, does push-ups with his fellow pledges on Bid Night for men’s social club Galaxy.



Squig Megan Goodson, sophomore journalism major

from Crandall, sits blindfolded with fellow pledges in attempt

to learn more about them.


GATA’s Flames and members are serenaded around the GATA fountain by members of Frater Sodalis, their brother club. GATA’s current pledge class has more than tripled this year.

MEAGAN HERNANDEZ // Staff PhotographerLeft: Ko Jo Kai’s NuNus hold hands and yell chants, as members teach them more about their club’s traditions.

Opening Bids

Bid night, the first official night of pledging, brings pledges closer together through various events and

traditions

Many who attended el-ementary school around the late ’90s will remember the popular Disney ani-mated series, Recess. The show revolved around the exploits and adventures of six fourth-graders who, during their daily free time, battled savage kin-dergartners, sneaked into the forbidden teachers’ lounge and tried to avoid the Ashleys and their evil schemes. Sadly, for many schoolchildren around the country, recess will be nothing more than a sad reminder of a school-time tradition that has fallen to the wayside.

For the past few years a disturbing trend has spread across the country

as many school districts are choosing to eliminate recess altogether. Too few adults seem to understand the value of recess and the many benefits it can bring.

A 1993 study sponsored by the Office of Educa-tional Research and Im-provement revealed that allowing recess every day has enormous benefits. Exercise during free time helps release built-up en-ergy and allows students to better concentrate when they return to the classroom. Unstructured playtime also allows stu-dents to interact with each other – them to develop social skills, communica-tion skills and a better un-derstanding of how to co-

operate with one another without adults.

To eliminate recess would be to eliminate a very important part of the day. While many adults might argue that recess is an important part of a child’s day, many do not appreciate its importance after elementary school. It would be silly to argue that for half an hour each day, ACU students should be given the opportunity to run around and play, but there are certainly prin-ciples of recess that carry over into adult life.

Free time is an essen-tial part of being healthy. While staying on top of your commitments is cer-tainly important, keeping

a nonstop pace, morning till night, can bring on se-rious health consequenc-es. According to a recent study by Ohio State Uni-versity, a stressful lifestyle can weaken your immune system and increase your risk of heart disease, os-teoporosis, and autoim-mune diseases, including Type 2 diabetes.

Taking time off from your busy schedule to in-teract with others is also an important component of healthy living. Join-ing a health club, getting involved in an activity such as jogging or swim-ming with others or sim-ply spending time with friends are each contrib-utors to emotional health.

While none of us are in preschool anymore, the importance of nap time cannot be overstated. Get-ting the proper amount of rest, 7-8 hours each night, makes an enormous dif-ference on the quality of a person’s day. Taking a 20- minute power nap during the day can also increase your alertness, your pro-ductivity and improve your mood.

While several years may have passed since many of

us longed for the recess bell, the lessons of childhood carry on into our adult lives. Taking time out each day to exercise, be with friends or to simply burn off steam is as important now as it was when nap time was a mandated activity. We hope more adults will come to un-derstand these values, and recess will remain an impor-tant part of everyone’s day.

Opinion September 22, 2010

Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Optimist and may not necessarily reflect the views of the university or its administration.

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Optimistthe

Recess benefits children and adultsEDITORIAL

I liked candlelight devo because it was cool to see all of the lights and listen to the speaker.TYLER PINKERTFreshman business management major from Red Oak

I liked the service project. I got to know a lot of people and my group and I had a blast.

Goodwill huntrelaxes student

COLUMN

Your Average JoBy Jozie Sands

Despite a huge art proj-ect, a research proposal deadline and a severe lack of sleep, I devoted my Sa t u rd a y to a tour of Ab i l e n e’s G oodwil l stores.

It’s the p e o p l e , the junk, the grime and the occasional treasure that make Goodwill the re-treat that it is. The window display boasts mismatched out-fits and dusty guitars along with a stack of three-ring bind-ers meant to al-lude to the back-to-school goodies inside. The aro-mas of many households meld with the scent of age, creating the trademark Goodwill funk.

It’s easy to pick the college students out of the crowd. They tear through racks of clothes feverishly, looking for a treasure. They throw hangers aside without a second glance, deter-mined to find the article of clothing that will al-low them to answer their friends’ envious looks with “Goodwill – $2.35.”

These treasure-hunt-ers pause only to hold up gaudy, oversize sweaters and holler across the store to a friend, “You could to-tally pull this off with leg-gings and those heels that look like Lady Gaga’s.”

And after a quick brainstorm session, the sweater is either tossed in the cart or shoved back

on the rack. It will wait there for the next college girl with a little Gaga in her to see the potential fashion statement.

The knickknack sec-tion always has a sur-prise if you are willing to look hard enough. Whether it is the perfect coffee mug hiding be-hind a cluster of ceram-ic kittens, or a souvenir in the shape of a minia-ture bathtub that reads “We had a tub of fun in Las Vegas” that offers a quick laugh and makes the trip worth it.

Shoes, toys and furni-ture are always a gamble. All of these sections natu-rally have bigger gross-factor than clothing. But if the level of cool is high enough, measures can be taken to ensure proper decontamination.

That’s the glory of Goodwill. It’s the great finds, bitter disappoint-ments and the change of scenery. The chance that you will run into a profes-sor drops considerably, taking away much of the pressure to act like an adult who might need a letter of recommendation some-time down the road. Good-will is one of those places where a twenty-something can act like a kid.

All that for only $2.35.

contact the Optimist [email protected]

Sands

contact Sands [email protected]

letter to the editor

I am, first of all, thankful and grateful to the members of the Students’ Association for grant-ing the Young Republicans a budget. However, I am upset and disappointed with the deci-sion of the Executive Treasurer and Congress as a whole.

The ACU Young Republi-cans requested $700 for their budget this semester, but we were only granted $100. We were told that since the College Democrats were only granted $65 for one interest meeting, and we asked for $700 for two events and a t-shirt fundraiser, that there was too much of a disparity in funding.

We appreciate the fact that ACU has a policy of not show-ing favoritism to any particular political persuasion, but I do not think that it is right or fair

that the members of the Young Republicans are denied funding for several fairly ambitious and potentially great events simply because the College Democrats are not requesting as much, or because the events they hold are funded by the Taylor County Democratic Party.

We are getting support from the Taylor County Republican Party, but not monetary support.

We want to be more self-sustaining and not have to de-pend on the county party. We are planning other events that will require no funding and one that (hopefully) will not require much from the Appropriations Committee.

We were told that the College Democrats were rebuilding and have a new president, yet we are also rebuilding; and we are still

trying to be a vibrant student organization.

Let me make this plainly clear, there is no animosity or bitterness towards the College Democrats from myself or any member of the Young Republi-cans. We gladly offer any help that we can give and look for-ward to working with them on a few joint projects.

Our contention is with SA. We believe in common sense and feel that it was not rightly applied to our request. Our mission is to do what is right regardless of the situation.

We will do our best to be a vibrant active group on campus and look forward to serving and informing the ACU community about how we can be Christians, conservatives and Republicans all at the same time.

Aaron Escobedo senior history major from AbilenePresident of the ACU Young Republicans

Young Republicans allocated too little funds

By Morgan DavisThe Funny Funnies

The aromas of many households meld into the scent of age, creating the trademark Goodwill funk.

the issueSchools are taking away recess, and other break times, from elementary students.

our takeTaking a respite in a busy day can increase productivity and is part of a healthy lifestyle.

September 22, 2010 FROM SPORTS

Blowout: Offense puts Tigers away in first half

was ejected for throwing a punch during a scuffle down the field with an ECU receiver. Withrow and the receiver were rolling around on the ground during the play when Withrow swung and struck the helmet of the Tigers receiver.

ACU added a field goal early in the third quarter before resorting to the run game for the remainder of the contest.

Mitchell Gale was im-pressive again completing 23 of his 32 passes for 263 yards and a career high five touchdowns. The Wildcats amassed a season high 559

yards of offense on just 78 plays, recording an average of 7.2 yards per play.

“I though Mitchell did a good job of operating the offense,” said head coach

Chris Thomsen.Running back Char-

candrick West saw his first action in front of the ACU crowd, West joined the team just five weeks ago, and showed off his blazing speed getting nine carries that went for 110 yards.

“It was good, we got to see all our running backs

tonight with Darryl out,” Thomsen said. “That will help us out depth wise as the season goes on.”

The Wildcats will be back at home next Satur-day when rival Tarleton State comes to town.

FOOTBALL

contact Tripp [email protected]


Upset: Tournament win biggest in Wildcat history

Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational.. Her road to victory was a difficult one. Mongin had to beat six NCAA Division I op-ponents to win the cham-pionship. She beat players from Penn State, Pepper-dine, Texas-Arlington, Tex-as A&M, Rice and Tulsa.

“I knew I was going to be playing against very com-petitive players,” Mongin said. “But I knew I could beat them if I played my best.”

In her championship match, Mongin won with ease 6-1, 6-4. She became the first unseeded player in the tournament’s five-year history to win the championship.

“Mongin continues to improve everytime she steps on the court,” said Jones.

Mongin’s win was a big step for the Wildcat program.

“It was possibly the big-gest tournament win in ACU’s tennis history,” Coach Hutton Jones said. “Every-one played against great

competition this past week-end and I think we are a bet-ter team because of it.”

The Wildcats are only three weeks into their season and have already enjoyed a significant amount of success. The women’s team stays here in Abilene next weekend for the ITA South Central Regional, while the men will travel to Waco for the Baylor Invitational.

TENNIS

contact Johnston [email protected]

Assassins: ’Cats coast Moronu also put up 30 as-sists to pace the Wildcats. So far this year Moronu has an astounding 354 assists, which is almost 10 a set. Throughout the match the Wildcats won five service aces, but none resonated louder than Jordan Schil-ling’s ace to win the final point of the match and put the Wildcats in first place of the Lone Star Conference.

The word Coach Mock used to describe her girls was “assassins.”

“It’s not just win,” said Coach Mock. “It’s win in

the very best fashion you possibly can.”

The Wildcats will go for win number nine in their young season against Texas Women’s on Thursday in Denton. They also have a match on Saturday at Texas A&M Commerce. The Wildcats will finally come back to

the comfortable confines of Moody Coliseum for a four-game home stand beginning Oct. 5th. The Wildcats will play eight of their last 13 conference games at home.

VOLLEYBALL


Heartbreaker: ACU plays well despite loss

Princess Haley. ACU would bounce back, though, and control the rest of the half. Freshman standout An-drea Carpenter would tie the game in the 20th min-ute at 1–1. Carpenter’s goal was her sixth of the season. ACU would add another

goal in the 31st minute to take the lead. Ashley Hol-ton buried the ball in the net off a corner kick setup by Katherine Garner.

“In the first half we came out and showed that we were better than them. It was a real big boost for our team and shows us we can play with anyone,” se-

nior midfielder Courtney Wilson said. “In the sec-ond half we came out and played scared and just tried to hold on defensive-ly. For me, even though we lost, it really gives me con-fidence in this team for the season.”

ACU was clinging to a one goal lead when Jessica Giblin

tied the game up at 2–2 for the Moccasins in the 83rd minute. The score would remain tied until overtime. Alvarado would then put the kickoff past London that would eventually clinch the victory 3–2. London finished the game with three saves as she picked up her first loss as a starter.

“We went up against a talented team and stacked up really well. It shows us the level that we are on and what we are ca-pable of doing,” Wilson said. “The girls just need to realize we have to play focused for 90 minutes. If we are taking away any-thing from this it is just a

solid reminder we have to play the whole game.”

ACU returned to action Tuesday at Texas–Permian Basin, however, results were not in time for publication.

SOCCER

contact Cantrell [email protected]



contact Gwin [email protected]

I just took advantage of my opportunity. Coach told me this morning I had to step up.

DARRELL CANTU_HARKLESS // freshman running back‘‘ ’’

It’s not just win. It’s win in the very best fashion you possibly can.

KELLEN MOCK // head coach of women’s volleyball‘‘ ’’

SportsStandings

FOOTBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUAngelo St.MSUTarletonTAMU-KWTAMUUIWENMUE. Central

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

3-02-03-00-33-02-11-21-20-3

NE St. 0-0 3-1-1

VOLLEYBALL

Team Div. Ovrl.ACUWTAMUAngelo St..TAMU-KMSUTarleton St.

2-02-01-11-11-10-2

8-26-44-63-76-59-2

WOMEN’S SOCCERTeam Div. Ovrl.ACUAngelo St.MSUWTAMUCen. Okla.E. Central ENMU

0-00-00-00-00-00-00-0

4-1-03-2-15-1-03-1-14-2-04-1-12-4-0

Briefs

n The women’s soccer team beat the Universi-ty of Texas Permian Ba-sin 3-0 behind second half goals by Katherine Garner, Julie Coppedge and Andrea Carpenter. The win pushes the Wildcat’s record to 5-1

n In the latest Ameri-can Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, released Monday, the Wildcats received 14 votes but fell just outside the top 25, in 28th place.

PlayerProfile

n Neely Borger may be the newest addition to the starting lineup to the Wildcats volleyball team, but she is by no means an ordinary fresh-man. Borger helped her Ama-rilllo High team become the first ever Texas 5A four-peat champions in volleyball. Teammate and fellow freshman Madelyn Robinett was on those state championship teams also. She isn’t the first ACU athlete in her family, either. Her mom, Callie, played basketball in a Wildcats uniform from 1981-84.

Ex-Factor

n Bernard Scott had five carries for 17 yards and had a 60-yard kick return that set up a Bengals touchdown in a 15-10 win against the Ravens.

n Johnny Knox caught four passes for a team-high 86 yards in the Bears’ win over Dallas on Sunday. Knox snagged a 58-yard bomb in the first quarter from quarter-back Jay Cutler which set up a touchdown later in the drive. Danieal Manning had seven total tackles in the effort a well.

September 22, 2010

Gale sets mark as ACU throttles ECU

The Wildcats gave the home fans a show in their home opener for 2010, dominating East Central University 47-7.

Despite being blown out in the end, the Tigers came out firing. Just one minute into the game quarterback Tyler Vanderzee found a wide-open Tyra Waits for the 70-yard touchdown. The score was the third touch-down allowed by the ACU defense of over 30 yards.

The Wildcats answered quickly in just three min-

utes on a nine-yard leap-ing touchdown catch by Edmund Gates to tie the game at seven apiece. With that touchdown Gates needs just one touchdown catch to move into ninth all-time in ACU history for touchdown receptions.

On the ensuing East Central drive the ACU de-fense made up for the ear-lier touchdown when Da-vid Lamour intercepted the pass from Vanderzee.

It took just two plays for the Wildcats to score. This time it was Gale to Darrell Cantu-Harkless, as Gale was falling down, for

the 35-yard score. Cantu-Harkless, who started in place of Daryl Richardson, finished the game with 55 yards rushing and another 90 yards through the air to go along with two touch-downs.

“I just took advantage of my opportunity,” said Cantu-Harkless. “Coach told me this morning I had to step up.”

After a Morgan Lineber-ry field goal and an ECU punt, Mitchell Gale led the ACU offense back out on the field for a five-play 51-yard drive that ended in a connection

from Gale to fullback Em-ery Dudensing. Dudens-ing caught his third and fourth touchdowns of the season and of his career in the game.

On the Tigers first pos-session of the second quarter, Vanderzee com-pleted another pass to the ACU defense this time it was Darien Williams grab-bing his second intercep-tion of the season.

Gale found Dudensing again on a one yard score to put the Wildcats up big 30-7, Morgan Lineberry clanked the extra point off the left post.

Towards the end of the first half it was ACU up 37-7 on a 34-yard Cantu-Harkless touchdown. The Tigers were backed up deep in their own 12-yard line when Vanderzee missed the snap from center Chad Roark. It rolled into the end zone where defensive end Bryson Lewis pounced on it to put the Wildcats up 44-7 heading into the half. The touchdown by Lewis was the first touchdown of the season by the defense.

Late in the second half ACU corner Caleb Withrow

Brandon TrippSports Director

FOOTBALL

see BLOWOUT page 4

Victorious Wildcats dig home courtSome say home is where the heart is. For the ACU volleyball team home is where wins are. The Wild-cats won in dominating fashion Saturday, blank-ing the Tarleton State TexAnns 3-0. The victory increased their win streak to seven.

Head Coach Kellen Mock had only two words to say about the way her team is playing: “We’re good.”

It was the ’Cats home opener, and they fed off a noisy crowd at Moody Col-iseum, winning the three games by scores of 25-18, 25-21, and 25-8. ACU was efficient at the net with an average hitting percent-age of .283 while holding Tarleton to just .034.

“It was so nice hav-ing so many support-ers there,” said Mock. “It was probably the biggest crowd I have seen since the 2004-2005 seasons.”

The coaches weren’t the only ones who appreciated all the ACU support.

“It was great having so many fans there,” said senior Jennie Hutt. “The whole team wants to thank everyone for the support they showed.”

The Wildcats’ ability to get to the ball that was the difference between the teams in the game. Throughout the game, it seemed as if ACU had two more girls on the court, as the ’Cats rarely let a ball fall to the ground untouched.

The momentum built up through the first two games and came to a head in the third and final game when the Wildcats held Tarleton to a season low of 8 points. It is the first time all year the Wild-cats have held an opponent to a single-digit point total.

It was a true team effort from the ladies in purple with only junior Jennie Hutt getting into double digits for kills with 10. Shawna Hines and Jordan Schilling added eight apiece while Neely Borger, Ijeoma Moronu and Kalynne Allen each had four.

“Ij is doing an amaz-ing job of moving the ball around,” said Mock. “That is part of the reason we are getting so many kills as a team – cause so many peo-ple are contributing.”

Austin GwinAssistant Sports Editor

VOLLEYBALL

see ASSASSINS page 4

GRANT STEPHEN // Staff Photographer

Kalynne Allen (6) and Shawna Hines (7) go up for a block in the game against Tarleton Sate, Saturday. The Wildcats won the match in dominating fashion 3-0. Allen had four kills in the match while Hines added eight. ACU will play again Thursday in Denton.

Overtime goal dooms ’Cats

The Wildcats upset bid of 12th-ranked Florida Southern came just short as ACU lost in overtime, 3-2. The heartbreaking loss drops the Wildcats to 4-1 on the season.

A goal on the open-ing kickoff in overtime by

the Moccasins ultimately doomed the Wildcats. Adi Alvarado launched a ball that just knuckled past goalkeeper Elliot London to seal the victory for Flor-ida Southern.

“We played well in the first half, and we had plenty of opportunities to score,” head coach Casey Wilson said. “I felt we fell out of our game plan in the

second half, which led to us running more and get-ting tired. If we would have maintained our game plan, we could have kept them out from getting back into the game.”

Florida Southern jumped out early in the first half, scoring in the sixth minute on a goal by

Ryan CantrellAssistant Sports Editor

SOCCER

MEGAN HERNANDEZ // Staff Photographer

Andrea Carpenter fights for a ball Saturday. Carpenter leads the team in goals this season with six.

Mongin upsets Div. I athletes

The men’s and women’s tennis teams finished their third tournaments of the season this past weekend. Some of the men and women trav-eled to Midland for their tournament. The rest of the women traveled to Memphis while the re-maining men made their way to Corpus Christi.

The men at Corpus Christi weren’t able to finish their tournament due to rain. The rest of the Wildcats were more fortunate and finished both tournaments, each with numerous players performing well.

Freshmen Micah Hermsdorf and Em-ily Conrad both reached the finals in their singles flights at the Memphis Invitational. Hermsdorf won her flight in just two sets, 6-3, 6-3. Conrad

lost her flight in a tough three-set match 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. Senior Natalie Friend also reached the final in her flight, but like Con-rad, lost an intense three-set match, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

The Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational in Midland brought much success to the Wildcats. Senior Bryan Joiner and junior Eldad Campbell were both able to de-feat NCAA Division I opponents in their first rounds of play before be-ing knocked out in the second round. Campbell beat a player from Uni-versity of Texas at Arling-ton 6-4, 6-2. Joiner beat a player from Texas Tech in an intense match 6-3, 6-7, 11-9.

Sophomore Julia Mon-gin topped all Wildcat per-formances of the weekend with a win in the singles championship at the

Jeff JohnstonSports Reporter

TENNIS

see HEARTBREAKER page 4 see UPSET page 4

Borger

the optimist print edition: 09.22.10

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