PrairieTuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 Volume 94, Issue XVIII

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The sTudenT newspaper of wesT Texas a&M universiTywww.theprairienews.com Follow us onlinePartly Cloudy

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InsIdesporTs:Baseball starts season with a success.

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news:Jordan Fry’s third installment of her college pregnancy series.

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online:Check online for more reporting on the Nav Camp and Liz Murray’s lecture.

CaMpus life:Readership WT partners with Chili’s to help out the community.

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theprairiewt the_prairie

Students help mentor high schools for GEAR UP

WTAMU Student Fee Committee discusses budgetKrysTina MarTinezassisTanT ediTor

Members of the WTAMU Student Fee Advisory Committee met on Feb. 17 to discuss the allocation of student fees for the 2012-2013 school year.

“We’re going to try not to raise [fees] because they’ve gone up too much,” Student Body Vice President Nick Goettsche said.

The committee looked over the submitted budgets from student service programs such as Career Services, Kids Kollege, Study Abroad and more.

Dr. Don Albrecht, vice president of Student Affairs, explained some of the decisions concerning the previous year’s budget, including not awarding any money to the Family

Weekend program.“We don’t punish organizations for

saving money, but if the difference [in surplus money] gets too outrageous, we will lower it,” he said. “It’s not fair to not use reserve money. [The Family Weekend program] had enough money to run it this year if they wanted to.”

Dr. Albrecht also explained how the Recreational Sports, Student Service, Student Health and Student Sports Complex fees work.

The Rec Sports fee can increase seven dollars without a student referendum because there is a 10 percent window where a vote is not needed. The Student Health fee has a similar window. However, the Student Complex and the Student

Health fees cannot be raised without a referendum.

“There are no proposals to raise the four fees from the administration,” Dr. Albrecht said.

Although the fee advisory meeting was open to the public, there were no organizations that came in to testify against any of the proposed fees. The list of student fees under

review is posted in front of the Student Affairs office in the JBK. The meeting was also announced via The Friday Blast email that circulates WT.

“Rather than just posting [the fees] on the door, make [the meeting] more public,” Brandon

Upton, a senior Theatre Performance major, said. “It’s a lack of students knowing about the meeting and where to look that leads to students being misinformed about fees.”

Upton stated that if he knew about the meeting, he would definitely have attended.

“I’ve found a fee or two on my statement that I didn’t know what it was for,” he said. “Do

students care to look at the public record or argue for the sake of arguing?”

There will be two more meetings in which the committee will review other fees. The meeting on Feb. 24 at 1 p.m. will review academic areas such as dance, music and theatre. The committee will review new requests on March 1.

“Organizations can have their input on where the fees go,” Goettsche said.

Students who wish to testify in the open meeting must show up 15 minutes prior to the meeting. The committee will only accept testimony on that meeting’s agenda. The closed session will allow for deliberation of the fees. The full agenda will be posted outside of the Student Affairs office.

GEAR UP is a grant program designed to help prepare students, academically and financially for postsecondary education.

“We follow one class of students from the time they are in seventh grade until they graduate from high school, all the while providing guidance for future careers, colleges and opportunities available to them,” GEAR UP Enrichment Coordinator Kyla Kentworthy said.

GEAR UP stands for Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs. The goal of the program is to improve college

awareness, stress the importance of education, increase family and student knowledge of postsecondary school preparation, increase the number of students who complete high school and sustain the program beyond federal funding.

“The program spans to include a wide variety of activities including a robotics program, college campus visits, tutoring and mentoring, providing school supplies, scholarship and college application assistance, ACT preparation and job shadowing,” Kentworthy said.

Will Ratliff, GEAR UP Caprock High School site coordinator, said he feels like the program offers numerous

opportunities to students that might have not been available to them elsewhere.

“We have definitely seen improvements in our students over the last few years, not only in test scores and grades, but also in overall confidence and exposure to different aspects of college access and readiness,” Ratliff said.

“Even more important, though, are the relationships that each of our coordinators - we have six at four different high schools - has with our students,” Ratliff said. “We feel that this is the most impactful part of our job and the hardest to quantify. Because we

have been with the students for several years, there is a relationship of trust and respect that is difficult to establish – one that we hope will not just affect the student now but will be able to change their future.”

GEAR UP continued on p. 5

isToCK phoTo

lisa helliersTaff wriTer

feaTure:Google’s new privacy policy raises questions.

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Check out The Prairie’s new blog at theprairienews.com

Feature2 February 21, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Editor- Maria MolinaAssistant Editor- Krystina MartinezWeb Editor - Georgia RomigLayout- Kati WatsonFaculty Adviser- Butler Cain

The Prairie is a student-operated publication at West Texas A&M University. It functions to inform, educate, and entertain readers accurately and responsibly. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the administration, faculty or students. The editorials that appear on these pages represent the opinion of the Prairie editorial board. The views expressed by other columinsts are the writers’ opinions and do not necessarily reflect the board’s views. Advertising rates are available upon request at (806) 337- 2090 or at theprairiewt@gmail.com. WTAMU Box 60754, Canyon, Texas 79016. The Prairie is distributed on Tuesdays during the semester and has a circulation of 1,500. It is printed by The Amarillo Globe-News.

Reporter- Ashley HendrickReporter- Melissa Bauer-HerzogReporter- Ryan SchaapReporter- Matt WatkinsReporter- Lisa HellierReporter- Brittany CastilloReporter- Sheri GibbsReporter- Chyna Tinney

Prairiethe

Staff 2011-2012Reporter- Jordan FryReporter- Daniela FierroReporter- Monica GambertReporter- Jessica ChandosReporter- Jessica BartelReporter- Sarah FloydReporter- Jacob CainPhotographer- Alex Montoya

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a

redress of grievances.- First Amendment to the

U.S. Constitution

WT students’ preferred spring break activitiesJessica Bartel staff Writer

With spring break approaching fast, The USA Travel Guide has identified the top 2012 spring break destinations – Cancun, Amsterdam, London, Jamaica and South Padre Island. However, some WTAMU students are choosing alternate vacations.

Some students opt to spend spring break with the United Way or Habitat for Humanity. Both organizations offer week long trips to students to experience communities such as Jamaica to rebuild homes or care for the people of Costa Rica.

Others go on trips to learn conservation practices in Mexico and become more culturally familiar to the communities of Morocco.

These organizations believe in promoting community service to young people. They also believe through volunteering, skills are developed in leadership and responsibility and create strong bonds between participants.

Agricultural Communications major Jayce Jane Renee Apsley will travel home for the break to work the family ranch. Apsley said that she could have chosen any other path.

“Spring break is a time to do

literally anything you want, what you do with your freedom is up to you. I choose family, she said”

With the freedom of spring break also comes a much needed break from school stress. This stress felt by students and professors both.

“It’s a much needed break before projects are due and finals, also a time for us teachers to catch up on grading,” Kim Bruce, instructor of Mass Communication, said.

The WT Buff Advertising team chose school during spring break. The team will be working over spring break for the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC).

The group is lead by Lori Westermann, instructor of Mass Communication, and is seventeen members strong.

NSAC will be held in April in Shreveport, La., having groups from multiple schools participating in a fully integrated marketing and advertising campaign.

Members of WT’s Buffalo Advertising team such as Jordan Smith, a junior Advertising and Public Relations major, do not mind working during spring break. Smith sees her Buffalo Advertising peers as family.

“I got into NSAC to be more involved in advertising and heard it was a great way to get involved and ahead in the industry,” Smith said.

Google’s new privacy policyryan schaap staff Writer

Google’s new privacy policy has taken the individual user’s information into a single profile to target any person’s search results with advertising and services.

Google is taking the information it collects from a user and is now making it available across all its platforms. They have also simplified the policy to make it easier to read.

Dr. Nick Gerlich, department head and professor of Marketing, said this might surprise users.

“After searching Google, you may find an advertisement related to that search. Rather than their ads being targeted to a certain platform, they are now literally going across all platforms,” he said.

Because of the data merge, Google is making more money. They made over $40 billion in sales last year because of direct marketing.

“Since Google is a free service, this lets them have the opportunity to better market more directly,” Gerlich said. “Google is essentially an advertising company and they say in the policy that they will show ads to the user.”

This policy update has caused some users to worry about what Google is doing to intrude on people’s private lives.

“People are hearing more about this new policy, which might be why some people are more concerned,” said Kris Drumheller, assistant professor of Communications. “Those who are aware of it already will not be fazed as much as those who are just now learning about it.”

Since the statement has been simplified, it should be easier for users to understand the new policies.

“People need to take the responsibility of

reading these privacy statements,” Drumheller said. “I’ve gotten emails about the new policy and they have a website that explains it all. They are required by law to let us know what the policies are all about.”

All of these policies have already been in existence and they are now being relocated to one central location. A lot of the issues people have are search engines are being centralized around the users. Google has programs that will display data of what they think the user might want to see.

“Google is not trying to hide any information of what they collected,” Eli Godwin, a Computer Information Systems major, said.

A new search engine called “Stealth” came out last week, and this new search engine promises the exact opposite of what Google does. No tracking, no targeted ads, no saved searches, no recorded IP addresses and no cookies.

But this bears the question of how they are going to pay for this website if it’s free with no ads.

“From what I’ve read about Stealth, they will eventually start having ads on the site, but they are not going to be targeted,” Gerlich said.

Those who are uneasy about Google’s new policy can go to Stealth, advertisement-free.

“Stealth is a good website from what I understand,” Godwin said. “Some people do not like being advertised to and Google actually has privacy settings where you can edit how much, if any, advertising you want as a user.”

Gerlich said he feels Stealth is a waste of money.

“Why would I want to advertise on a search engine that I can’t target to users? This idea is for those who are creeped out by Google, but I don’t see it having any real legs because they have nothing really to sell,” he said.

News3 February 21, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Kids Kollege beneficial to WTAMU students, parentsJordan FryStaFF Writer

Kids Kollege, WTAMU’s on-cam-pus childcare service, is not only cost efficient for students, but also provides flexibility for class schedules.

“Our rates are usually much lower than other daycares and we are more flexible based on students’ schedules,” Darla Jenkins, director of Kids Kollege, said. “We have a minimum of two days a week while most daycares have a mini-mum of three to five days per week.”

Jenkins said this helps students who only have class two days a week because they don’t have to pay for days their child is not there.

Kids Kollege is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and ranges in age from 18 months to five years old.

Currently, there are three different childcare rates – student, faculty/staff and a community rate. The rates start at $15 per day or $12.50 per half day.

Jenkins said most of the children who attend are students’ children because students are given priority.

To place a child in Kids Kollege, the child is put on a waiting list. Priority is given to students and then to faculty and staff.

“Each semester we look to see the ages for those children who need to move up [to the next class], then we begin filling the holes,” Jenkins said.

While there isn’t an abundance of spots available, Kids Kollege has a lower child-to-teacher ratio than most tradi-tional daycares.

“Because of our lower ratios, we are able to provide more individual atten-tion and better care,” Christy Stockton, assistant director, said.

Stockton began working at Kids Kol-lege as a part-time toddler teacher in 1998 and enrolled her own two-year-old daughter at the same time.

“I could see the benefits of having her in Kids Kollege,” she said. “She learned a lot of things like the routine of school and socialization skills. I could see that

she was learning the same things my other two children had learned in pre-school.”

The majority of the staff at Kids Kollege consists of students, and most of them are pursuing education, speech and commu-nication or social work degrees.

Stockton said she feels this is benefi-cial because most of the workers have an interest in children.

“Everyone here really loves children and they have a passion for teaching them,” Stockton said.

Jenkins said this allows student work-ers to gain the experience they need and give them the opportunity to work with children.

“They’re doing a service for us, but we’re also doing a service for them,” she said.

In conjunction with student workers, other departments also work with Kids Kollege.

Jenkins said the Theatre department and Dr. Trudy Hanson’s Storytelling & Puppetry class come over and perform, Mortar Board does reading projects and the Education department makes books for the children.

“Speech Comm also does hearing and speech evaluations and the Nursing department also performs Denver Screen-ings to test for developmental milestones,” she said. “This gives parents early updates on their child’s development.”

With these developmental updates, Kids Kollege is able to provide early child-hood intervention referrals as needed.

“We have such a wealth of resources that are drawn here,” Jenkins said.

In addition to these resources that may not be available in a traditional daycare setting, as a designated vendor for Pan-handle Work Source Child Care Services, Kids Kollege is held at a high standard.

“We go above and beyond the bare min-imum,” Stockton said. “We are monitored every three months and we are rated at four stars, the best you can have.”

Stockton feels that Kids Kollege is a good place for children to be because it is beneficial to both children and parents.

“I can’t stress the importance of having childcare on campus. We’ve had people tell us that they wouldn’t have finished their degrees if there wasn’t childcare on campus,” Stockton said. “It really helps in pursuing an education.”

Part three of a three part series

SportS4 February 21, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Matt Watkinsstaff Writer

WTAMU baseball extends good startCollegiate Darwinismkeltin WienskWts sports Director

Basketball team defeat No.5 TarletonMatt Watkinsstaff Writer

For shame, college sports, for shame. Conference USA and the Mountain West

Conference announced last week the two conferences will form a brand new “super conference,” although it is hardly composed of “super” schools. After the power conferences in college sports like the SEC, Big 12, Big 10, Pac-12 and the Big East have had their pick of C-USA and MWC schools, the remaining 16 teams are Air Force, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Colorado State, East Carolina, Fresno State, Hawaii (football-only), Marshall, Nevada, New Mexico, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Southern Miss, Rice, University of Texas at El Paso, Tulane, Tulsa and Wyoming.

This new conference stretches across five time-zones and reaches from South Carolina to Honolulu. The merger, to me, makes about as much sense as throwing a toaster into a bathtub. So why did the two conferences choose to make such a decision? The answer is survival.

When we reach the end of the 2013-14 col-lege football season and it is time to decide a new national champion, it will happen either one of two ways. The champion will either be decided via a flawed BCS system in which a computer will pick who should be in the na-tional championship game or a simple playoff system for the rights to claim the national championship. No matter how good they may be, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane or any of the other schools in this conference are not going to get the nod to climb to the top of college football’s popularity contest.

Schools like Tulsa, however, know that they will never make it to the big game. This brings me back to my original point: the new conference is all about survival. What’s left of C-USA and MWC are those schools that have traditionally comprised the “middle-class” of college football. These schools in the new conference have agreed that they are that desperate to not end up in the underbelly of college football. They want to keep their middle-class status as to not allow the power conferences to become too powerful.

This merger of two conferences is just another turn in the long road of conference realignment and we aren’t done just yet. College sports has reached a sad state when two conferences have to merge to create one sixteen team conference just to survive and to compete with the power conferences.

For shame, college sports, for shame.

The WTAMU Buffalo basket-ball team welcomed the No. 5 ranked Tarleton State Texans to Canyon on Feb. 18. The Buffs prevailed in the important Lone Star Conference matchup 62-53.

WT jumped out to an early 6-0 lead four minutes into the game. TSU would battle back and tie the game at 13 all with 7:53 to go in the half. The two teams would go back and forth the remainder of the half, going into the locker rooms with the score tied at 25.

The Buffs set the tone early for the

second half with a powerful dunk by senior Courtney Carr. WT would go on to build a 36-29 lead early in the half, however the Texans would take ad-vantage of turnovers to tie it at 36. The action began to peak when Cameron Furst and Chris Harrell hit back-to-back three-pointers to put TSU up 48-40 with six and a half minutes left. The Buffs immediately retaliated with two three-pointers of their own by freshman Tez Dumars and junior Kennon Washington to take a 49-48 lead.

“You do have to give credit to our seniors and our team for not folding up the tent at 48-40,” Head Coach Rick Cooper said.

WT closed out the game on a 20-4 run that was put together by clutch free throw shooting and key misses by the Texans.

“We have a good offense, we know we can score the ball,” Washington said. “Our defense won the game at the end.”

Washington led the team with 22 points and had six rebounds on the night. Dumars and junior Donald Sims each finished with nine points.

“I thought [Washington] had one of his best games,” said Cooper.

The Buffs’ schedule doesn’t get any easier down the stretch as they host No. 7 ranked Midwestern on Feb. 22. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.

The WTAMU Buffalo baseball team played the Buffalo Triangular Classic at Wilder Park over Feb. 17-19. The Buffs’ 4-1 record at the Classic im-proves their overall record to 6-1.

WT began with a double header on Feb. 17 against the Colorado School of Mines Orediggers. The Buffs scored four runs in the first and third innings and another seven in the sixth on their way to routing the Orediggers 16-0 in the first game. Senior Irving Camacho (1-0) got the win going seven innings and giving up three hits and no runs.

WT took an early 5-1 lead after pushing across three runs in the third

inning of game two. CSM would chip away at the lead, getting a pair of runs in the sixth and one more in the eighth to bring their deficit to 5-4. The Buffs put the game away with five runs in their half of the eighth to pick up the 10-4 win. Junior Ryan Houston (1-0) got the win, pitching six innings and giving up two runs on two hits.

On Feb. 18, WT squared off against the Southwestern Oklahoma State Bull-dogs. The Bulldogs would post a five run second inning en route to a 7-1 vic-tory. Sophomore Steven Diaz (0-1) got the loss for WT having given up seven runs on eight hits in just 2.2 innings.

The Buffs opened up a double header on Feb. 19 against Colorado Mines. WT piled 14 runs on 10 hits in

the second inning. Senior Jordan Easom drove in five runs on two hits in the inning and the entire order came up at least twice. The Buffs would eventually cruise to a 15-1 win.

WT won game two of the day against the SWOSU Bulldogs in dramatic fashion by rallying from behind twice. SWOSU had a 5-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth when the Buffs batted around for six runs to take a 6-5 lead into the fifth. While trailing 8-7 with one out in the bottom of the eighth, junior Jarvis Green hit a two run triple that led to WT’s 9-8 win.

“I was just trying to get something into the outfield,” said Green. “It’s all about getting the next man up.”

For baseball pictures go to p. 8

Lady Buffs Down TexAnns in Thriller

In front of a pinked-out crowd at the First United Bank Center on Feb. 18, women’s basketball took on one of their toughest opponents in the Lone Star Conference: No. 1 ranked Tarleton State TexAnns.

The Lady Buffs started out the scoring with a two-pointer by Ashley Leven and it wasn’t until the 4:31 mark that the TexAnns would get a non-free throw point on the board.

The Lady Buffs dominated the first 20 minutes on both ends, keeping the TexAnns at least five points behind them for most of the half. The teams went to the locker rooms with a 29-24

lead in favor of WTAMU.In the second half, it looked like

the Lady Buffs would be bested as the TexAnns slowly ate into their lead, ty-ing the game with 9:25 left on the clock. However, WT would not back down, leading by seven points in two instanc-es after the tie.

As the final buzzer sounded, WT had a six-point lead, ending the game with a score of 58-52. It was the sev-enth straight win for the Lady Buffs and broke a three-game losing streak against Tarleton.

“The first time we played them [this year], I thought we were kind of a young team,” Senior Joni Unruh said. “We kind of have to get some of those losses and get stuff like that done so we can learn from it later on in the season.”

WT’s win over TSU makes their Wednesday game against Midwestern even more important as they move into second-place in the LSC, tied with MSU. Tip-off for the game against Midwest-ern is set for 6 p.m. in Canyon at the FUBC.

“We refused to lose, that was the attitude the whole night. We just fought and fought and we got a lead and held on to it and won the game,” Power for-ward Devin Griffin said.

For Head Coach Krista Gerlich, back-to-back games against tough teams is good practice for playoffs.

“Our kids are ready for that post sea-son run that you make where you have to knock off those big teams night after night,” Gerlich said.

Melissa Bauer-Herzogstaff Writer

Campus Life5 February 21, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Eastridge Elementary School to receive help for studentsDino GrieGoStaff Writer

Readership WT, Chili’s partner to help community

On Feb. 20-22, Readership WT—Community Service (RCS), in partnership with Chili’s Grill and Bar Restaurant, will sponsor a “give back to the community” event. During these three days, from 10:45 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Chili’s will donate 10 percent of its proceeds to help Eastridge Elementary School provide clothing for students.

“We wanted our first event of the semester to be both challenging and exciting,” Ceci Hernandez, junior Social Work major, said. “This endeavor will be an enormous task; however, I think we have a great opportunity to meet a local need, and we have excellent people, both in our organization and at Chili’s, who

can help achieve these goals.”Eastridge Elementary is a Title 1

school that has several students beneath the poverty line. Whenever RCS sought out this project, choosing Eastridge was at the top of their list.

“We chose this school because it has a severe need, and they are one of the most diverse schools in Amarillo,” Hernandez said. “More than 75 percent of the students there receive free or reduced lunches from the school. Recently I talked to the principal of Eastridge and I asked her what it was that they needed. The principal said that if we really wanted to help the children, then we might think about buying socks and underwear.”

Not only is Eastridge a Title 1 school, it also hosts more than 18 different languages. The communication barrier

makes teaching a challenge, so it is pivotal that the teachers at Eastridge can capitalize on their time.

“Most of the children that will be benefitting from this event are refugees, so we wanted to do something that would help these children adjust to life here in the United States,” Hernandez said. “Education is absolutely the way, because these children might not ever have another chance to get a quality education like the one they can get in Amarillo.”

Kathryn Radicke, a sophomore Pre-Veterinarian major, works at Chili’s and has helped pull this event together. In her experience, the “give-back” nights usually bring in several dollars for the sponsored event.

“Anyone who walks through those doors with a flyer gives 10 percent of

their entire bill to the fund,” Radicke said. “Our goal is $1000, and that is what we feel can be achieved with hard work. Let us see if we can buy these necessities, so teachers can better educate their students.”

The school itself has several supplies to meet curriculum needs; however, most of the students within the school are lacking basic essentials.

“It is one thing to meet an educational need whenever students do not have pencils, paper, or other scholastic items,” Kendra Campbell, director of First Year Experience and RCS advisor, said. “However, when students come to school distracted because they do not have socks or clean linens, that is another way we can help meet an educational need.”

The Amarillo GEAR UP program includes the Hereford, Dumas, Caprock and Palo Duro school districts.

“Our grant has grown in many ways to meet specific needs of the students in our cohort,” Kentworthy said. “For example, we have expanded upon programs that were already written into the grant and tailored them to fit the needs of our students. The longer we are with these students, the more students we see coming on their own initiative to seek help.”

According to WTAMU instructor and WT GEAR UP representative Mona Gregory, the University became involved in 2010 but really kicked off and built a strong relationship with the mentoring aspect of the program last year.

Communications major Chris Bridenbaugh took initiative to become involved with GEAR UP after hearing about it from Gregory in a majors meeting.

“I feel like I have helped my student learn to make more

responsible decisions and to understand that cost should not be a factor that prevents anyone from achieving their goals,” he said. “In fact, the student that I am currently mentoring has set a goal to go to Tulane University and pursue a career in computer sciences.”

Bridenbaugh said he believes that GEAR UP is an important program.

“It provides these high school students with a safe outlet to discuss the situations in their lives without fear of being judged or rejected by a parent or peer,” he said. “These students have stories to tell and true fears about what they are going to do with their lives, and it is important for them to have people that can help walk them through this time in their lives and who provide them with a support system that nurtures their success.”

WT works primarily with the Palo Duro and Caprock school districts. WT students can volunteer to mentor a student or help with other various tasks.

“They really do want that one-on-one relationship,” Gregory said. “They really do

want to pour into people, and they want to see the result. They commit to a mentorship relationship, and they go one time a week to Caprock and invest in that student.”

Bridenbaugh has gained a lot from his experience as a mentor.

“There was a moment when I was working with my student one day and realized how much we had been helping each other and I was taking away just as much from this experience as he was,” he said.

Gregory expects about 20 more students to participate this coming semester and hopes that the number of volunteers will continually grow. Anyone with the time and the desire to help students can become a mentor.

“Our students did benefit greatly from these relationships,” Gregory said. “We want to continue. We want to get more students to volunteer.”

The future of GEAR UP is not 100 percent secure as it is a grant-based program. Funding is a concern.

“We are funded through the summer of 2013. However,

beyond that, our future is unclear,” Ratliff said. “I really believe in this program and hope that we are able to be

funded again because we have the opportunity to affect thousands of students across the panhandle.”

GEAR UP continued from p. 1

Campus Life6 February 21, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Dr. Raul Ruiz lectures about overcoming obstaclesAshley hendrickstAff Writer

Speaker discusses importance of dreams and defying odds

Voted by Southern California newspapers as the most influential Latino of the Year in 2009, Dr. Raul Ruiz will make his way onto WTAMU campus on Feb. 23 to discuss the importance of dreams and defying the odds to achieve them.

“He is the type of person that we want to be a part of the Distinguished Lecture Series as it pertains to the College of Education and Social Sciences,” Dr. Dwight Vick, assistant professor of Political Science and Criminal Justice, said.

Dr. Ruiz is the son of migrant farm workers who, despite financial problems and language barriers, became the first Latino ever to receive three graduate degrees from Harvard, including a Masters in Public Policy and Masters in

Public Health.The journey from small town farm

boy, who did not speak English as his first language, to medical doctor and public health expert from Harvard is what made Dr. Ruiz a prime candidate for the lecture.

“It was a logical choice to choose Dr. Ruiz because he can help talk about all of these things not only from a personal perspective, but from a professional perspective as a doctor, a public health expert and as a government expert,” Vick said.

Upon agreeing to lecture at WT, Dr. Ruiz specifically requested to be allowed to talk to both college and high school students, a rare request not made by many other guest speakers brought to WT, according to Vick.

For Julia Schafer, college and career coordinator at Canadian High School, Dr. Ruiz’s request is greatly appreciated.

“We have quite a few students that

do not have the support at home that most of our kids have and they’re very, very bright kids,” Schafer said. “And I just think it’s important to let them see what they can overcome and what they can accomplish outside of public school.”

Though the lecture will accommodate any student who wishes to go beyond expectations to achieve their goals, Dr. Ruiz’s influence in the medical field will allow some of his lecture to focus on students interested in healthcare as a career.

”The nursing department really liked the idea of bringing him because so many of their students will be working with persons who are migrants and the issues they are going to face when they come to the emergency room, the doctor’s office and public health clinic,” Vick said.

Dr. Ruiz’s dedication to the relief effort in Haiti also appealed to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences

faculty members.“The thing the appeals to me most

is his dedication to caring for others,” Dr. Lisa Davis, associate professor of Nursing, said. “Not just the people in his community, but in the world. He’s been very active in the Haiti relief and has dedicated himself toward that.”

With all of Dr. Ruiz’s accomplishments, the lecture is projected to be more impactful quantitatively then other lectures past.

“Dr. Ruiz’s presence has been wildly received,” Vick said. “Received well beyond any of my imagination. I don’t know how big it’s going to get, I just know it’s going to be big.”

The Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice will be hosting the event at the Alumni Banquet Center from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and again that night at the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum at 7:30 p.m.

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8 February 21, 2012www.theprairienews.comPrairie

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Kim LeComte moving into first on WT’s all-time run list.

Photos ByMelissa Bauer-herzog

Second week for WTAMU Buffs proves a success

The Buffs won four of their five games this weekend at the Triangular Classic.

Jess Cooper heads to third base in a 16-0 win over Colorado School of Mines.

The Buffs recorded 46 runs this weekend at the Lady Buff Classic.

Jess Cooper steps up to the plate in one of Friday’s games against the Colorado School of Mines.