Amarillo College's News Source Since 1930 acranger.com
Volume 91, Issue 7
February 4, 2021
Freshman overcomes obstacles By KENNEDY ROYAL Staff Reporter
Kaitlyn Wade, a freshman at Amarillo College, said that last semester, anxiety was her greatest obstacle. The nursing major said she often felt too anxious to eat regular meals, complete her class work or handle many basic aspects of daily life. Wade said she wouldn’t eat for days, sometimes as many as three days at a time. “I promise I’m not starving myself,” Wade said. “I’m just not hungry, and if I eat, I feel like I’m going to throw up.” Now as spring semester is in full swing, the Randall High School graduate is working to overcome her anxiety and end the mental and physical toll it has taken on her life. “I just needed to find a rhythm for college and I’m starting to,” she said. One of Wade’s greatest supporters in overcoming her anxiety has been her boyfriend, Samuel Archer. Archer said he tries to surround her with positive energy. He said loving her with his actions like buying her a coffee, or taking her on a drive means more to her than words. Sometimes it’s hard for Wade to see herself the way others do. Archer said he wants to show her that, “I see her, simply, as beautiful.” Wade said she believes her issues with anxiety stem from the deaths of more than
two dozen friends and family members over the course of her lifetime. The 19-year-old said these losses left her feeling abandoned by her loved ones, including her grandmother. She said the many losses have left her with doubt, guilt and low self-esteem. “I’ve just lost like so many people, relationship-wise, and they always made me feel like it was my fault.” Starting college in the midst of a pandemic fueled Wade’s anxiety. She said that she felt paralyzed by a lack of motivation and dropped several classes without telling her parents. Wade knew her parents had noticed something wasn’t right. Wade’s parents grew increasingly concerned as they watched their daughter struggling. They decided to have an intervention, but even under their intense interrogation, she kept silent. “I just started crying and lost it, and I still didn’t tell them what was wrong,” she said. She was taking classes at AC, working full time at Roasters and was responsible for paying for her education, her car and for her pets. Wade had hit her breaking point. That’s when she slowly began to tackle her anxiety and move forward. Wes Wade, her father, said that he sees a lot of himself in her and is proud of the woman she is. “When she makes up her mind, her mind is pretty much made up,” he said. SHAWN McCREA | The Ranger
Badgers share goals for spring semester From learning and getting better grades to winning awards, students and faculty are setting their sights on a successful semester. ANAHI GOMEZ
LUKEE DIVINA
BRENT CAVANAUGH
“My goal is to continue my education and learn new things that I can take back and use at my job. I also started a new program and I’d like to start strong with good grades.”
“I want to find a wellsuitied drafting job and place at state for the Student Government Association.”
“Inspire and teach my students to take great photographs.”
JACKY MARTINEZ
HEAVEN LOPEZ
COURTNEY MILLESON
“What excites me about my future career is being a valuable asset in a hospital setting and being part of somebody’s care plan.”
“My goals are to be on the Honor Roll and maintain high grades. I also want to stop stressing so much.”
“My professional goals are to support my students as they work toward their academic goals.”
Business Administration
Nursing
Drafting
Business Administration
Photography Instructor, Program Coordinator of Visual Arts
Speech Instructor
February 4, 2021
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE COVID-19 VACCINE? ALEXUS LEWIS
Pre-Physical Therapy “I have mixed feelings honestly. I don’t want to get it because I want to know the science behind it. People who work in the medical field, like me, always want to know everything. I want to see if there’s a backlash that could affect my daily life first.”
ABEL VILLA
Illustration by DAVE CLAYTON | The Ranger
Do research, get vaccinated EDITORIAL
Psychology
“I don’t really believe the vaccine is going to work because the strain in the virus is mutating and changing and scientists won’t be able to keep up with all of the new strains in the virus all while creating suitable vaccines.”
GABRIEL LUJAN Mass Media
“I hope the vaccine is everything scientists say it is because this is a new virus meaning a completely new vaccine, and that can be scary. I think I’ll get it when I see that it actually works and has a positive outcome.”
Mo money, mo problems aaap
OPINION
By DAVE CLAYTON
I want to start off declaring that all labor is skilled labor, that freedom to me means freedom from poverty, that we all deserve full bellies, shelter and the means to ascend to a higher economic class. The question has to be asked. What would President Biden’s executive order raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour look like in the Texas Panhandle? I have a suspicion this might not be the bright future that we are hoping for. When was the last time that you have worked a food service or retail job over 35 hours? Probably years ago. Small businesses simply can’t afford the financial burden levied against them by a big brother who is mandating these kind benefits. The work around for small businesses and corporations alike has been to cut hours and hire more labor.
We don’t have to look far to see an example of the use of this loophole. Amarillo College’s student work policy is not to allow students to work over 20 hours. This isn’t a corporate greed situation; the college simply cannot afford to pay for the benefits these workers would be entitled to if they worked over the allotted hours. Many businesses in our community are barely surviving as it is and with the added burden of raising wages, this would be a death blow to our homegrown businesses. It is far more possible that the average Millennial, and our new adorable Zoomers are going to working multiple low hour $15 an hour jobs in the coming years. I am hoping that our mom-and-pop economy will recover swiftly to meet this new challenge. We will also have to learn new skills to adapt to this new job market or get left behind.
Editor-in-Chief
Columnists
Page Editors
Reviewers
Staff Reporter
Caylee Hanna
Cailey Dinga, Ruth Lerma, Jessika Fulton, Dave Clayton
Online Editor Alyssa Fant
Staff Reporters Stormie Sanchez
Raygan Lopez Sidney West
Graphic Designers Sydney West, Shawn McCrea, Dave Clayton
Photographers Jessika Fulton Shawn McCrea
The stigma around receiving the COVID-19 vaccine is a hot topic in Amarillo as well as the entire United States. We as a staff believe that this vaccine will be good for the public and will have a positive impact on the pandemic by helping it come to an end. Amarillo is currently leading the nation in vaccination rates and Texas, Michigan and Florida are some of the top states leading in vaccine rates, according to News Channel 10 and Covidactnow.org. It is reported that there are 28,859 people in Amarillo that have received the first dose of the vaccine and 1,925 that have taken the second dose. Although it is amazing that these states are leading in vaccinations, it is upsetting that there are only three states out of the 50 that are encouraging people to get vaccinated. If the rest of America pushes for people to get the vaccine, there is a possibility that this pandemic can end in a shorter amount of time. There are numerous
people that believe many of the misconceptions about the vaccine and refuse to get vaccinated. Some of the misconceptions are that the vaccine will give people COVID-19 and that the quick development of the vaccine means that it is not safe. It is important to fact-check rumors before basing your opinions and beliefs on those rumors. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta released facts about the vaccine that disprove the misconceptions. Some of the information that they released stated that the vaccine does not contain any part of the virus and that it will not cause people to get COVID-19 or get an infection. They also stated that the “significant scientific process decades before the pandemic, in addition to collaboration among scientists around the world, made rapid development possible.” This proves that the reasoning behind some people refusing to get the vaccine is not valid. There is also a misconception that we don’t know what is in the vaccine itself,
which is also incorrect because Pfizer and Moderna have both released the ingredient lists for their COVID-19 vaccines. This also disproves the theory that there are microchips and tracking devices in the vaccine because they are simply not part of the ingredients. Sorry, conspiracy theorists. And if disproving the rumors about the vaccine is not a good argument for some people, let’s think back to the polio outbreak of 1955. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the first polio vaccine was available in the U.S. in 1955 and was required for children to get in 1977. The requirement of receiving the three doses of the vaccine helped the U.S. become polio-free in 1979. The vaccine should not have to become mandatory for people to get it, but that is what it took to end the poliovirus. If people do research and think back to previous pandemics, they will get the vaccine.
Students feel the Bern OPINION By RAYGAN LOPEZ Staff Reporter
Other than the Inauguration Day “meme” of Bernie Sanders that went viral on, there are multiple reasons why we all should love Sanders. Not only did Sanders effortlessly make a funny meme, but he made it into a sweatshirt. The sweatshirt sold out immediately after launching, Sanders then donated all proceeds to Meals on Wheels Vermont. In 2010, Sanders spoke on the Senate floor for eight hours straight in attempts to undo tax breaks for the rich. In order to get money out of politics, he is pushing campaign finance reform that would ban corporate contributions and cap individual donations at $500. Sanders’ efforts to take money out of politics did not go unnoticed by Generation Z and the working class.
He has been pushing for these same reforms tirelessly for 40 years. Those with a net worth of over $32 million would have a tax implemented in which they would be annually taxed and stronger policies would ensure the wealthy would not be able to evade those taxes. Gen Z has brought widespread media attention to the amount of taxes the wealthy pay in hopes those in power would do something about it. Sanders is favored by many due to these efforts. Higher taxes for the wealthy, four years of tuition-free public college, raising the minimum wage and universal healthcare gained Sanders the attention of those who work everyday jobs. Along with the efforts to achieve tuition-free college, Sanders called for eliminating all student loan debt within the country, catching the attention of college students
and of those adults with student loan debt. Twitter found and resurfaced images of Sanders being arrested in the 60s while protesting for civil rights, this encouraged people of color to participate in the Black Lives Matter protests in May. Sanders’ focus on racial justice includes fixing a broken criminal justice system and addressing economic, educational, health and environmental disparities in colored and Native American communities. Sanders doesn’t refer to himself as a Democrat or a Republican but is self-described as a Democratic Socialist and an independent member. His brand of Democratic Socialism does not aim to eliminate capitalism, but wants to reform the system in a way that serves working people and not the super-rich. Bernie Sanders is known for being for the people, which is crucial for political figures.
February 4, 2021
RAYGAN LOPEZ | The Ranger
Cafe is open on campus Andrew Flores, bookstore manager and Badger Central volunteer, brews up a latte.
By ALYSSA FANT Online Editor
A new café has recently opened in Badger Central at the College Union Building on the Washington Street Campus. It is open from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The new café serves coffee, tea, hot chocolate, snacks, bagels and pastries for breakfast. The menu will be expanding over time, Kyle Keffer, the Badger Central manager, said. Before coming to the café, Keffer worked as a chef at West Texas A&M for a year.
He has also worked as a sous chef at a restaurant called The Commissary in Dallas where they specialized in charcuterie, dry-aged meats and pasta. The restaurant also had a bakery, a patisserie and a butcher shop as well as a coffee shop where Keffer said he learned to be a barista. Keffer said he has also worked as a cook at the CBD provisions in Dallas and the Brown Derby at Disney World. He said he is looking forward to applying his restaurant experience to Badger Central. “The cafe is starting to pick
up a little bit,” Keffer said. “People are starting to see who we are and what we’re about. We want to bring an atmosphere where students feel safe to come in here and study. You can have a cheap cup of coffee that’s still really good. We don’t want to charge Starbucks prices or Palace prices. We want students to come in here and not worry about how much it’s going to cost,” he said. Keffer also mentioned that students shouldn’t feel obligated to tip when they purchase something at the
café, noting that if customers do tip, the money will go to a good cause. “We took away tipping, however, if anyone does decide to tip we give it to the AC Foundation so it can be donated to lots of different organizations,” Keffer said. Andrew Flores, the bookstore manager, also oversees the new café. “We’re planning on having lunches available for the students; things like sandwiches and hopefully a pizza oven is going to be installed soon,” Flores said. “We want this to be a
place where student clubs and unions can come eat, hang out and play games.” Flores said business at the café remains light due to the pandemic but the people who are already café regulars say they love it. “It’s good. It’s got good service. It’s cheap,” Kena King, a business technology major, said, adding “I come almost every day to get coffee.” Keffer is hiring part-time workers as business increases. “It’s starting to slowly pick up as word-of-mouth is starting to get around,” he said.
Support group “talks it out”
Virtual group provides connection By SUMMER TESSNEER Staff Reporter
ED SACKETT | The Ranger
AC’s Nancy Kocurek is surrounded by three Colorado college players during a game in 1981.
Sports returning to AC campus By NOAH DUBOIS Staff Reporter
Beginning in the fall of 2022, intercollegiate sports are coming back to Amarillo College. Men’s baseball, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s cross-country will be the first sports integrated into the school’s new athletic program, which fulltime Amarillo College students will be able to participate in. Amarillo College has not participated in intercollegiate sports since the 1980s when they stopped due to budget issues. “I am very excited about sports coming to AC. I love volleyball and it would be great to finally get back on the court,” Stephanie Unger, a nursing major, said. AC will be joining the Western Junior College Athletic Conference, competing against teams in
central Texas, New Mexico and the Florida Panhandle. Recruiting for the teams will begin shortly after coaches are hired. Scholarship opportunities will be available for fulltime student-athletes as well as new facilities. The Carter Fitness Center at Amarillo College will receive a $6 million renovation for volleyball, featuring new spectator bleachers and a new court. The baseball team might have the opportunity to play at the Amarillo Sodpoodles Ballpark, Hodgetown. “It is a good time to take the next step of trying to not only enhance student life, but is also a good enrollment initiative,” said Mark White, executive vice president, general counsel and director of athletics. White said he hopes to be able to possibly add women’s soccer or women’s wrestling in the next three to four years.
“We would need to add another women’s sport since we’re such a high percentage of women at the college,” White, added. “I hope to see us at the national championships one day.” Both students and community members say they are excited about the return of AC athletics, though it may be too late for some students to participate. “That is great, I just wish it was sooner so I could play too but I’ll be cheering the Badgers on from wherever I’ll be. I hope they add a basketball team too.” Tong Duong, a general studies major, said. “A lot of people in the community still remember our great athletic programs were in the 80s. Amarillo College has really matured in a lot of ways and this is just another step and we are really excited about it. We just hope to get back to the greatness,” White, said.
This semester, Amarillo College started a new support group called “Talk It Out” in hopes of helping students cope with the struggles of COVID-19. “We felt students needed something different in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Amber White, the counseling center coordinator, said. “Loneliness and isolation were significant problems for students pre-COVID. However, those struggles have been exacerbated by the pandemic. One of our goals with the group is to help students connect with one another, even if it is virtually,” White said. Denese Skinner, the vice president of student affairs, said the difficulties students face inspired the idea. “When I spoke to students who indicated that they lost their jobs and were struggling to pay their bills, it was heartbreaking. Hearing the struggles our students face moved me greatly. It inspired me to reach out to more students to see if we could assist them with CARES funding,” Skinner said. Shelly Moss, the facilitator of Talk It Out, said she is excited to see the group grow.
“Back in pre-virus days, we used to get affirmation from others just by walking by people on campus and getting a wave and a smile, or maybe a hug or a pat from a friend. Now, even if we are on campus, smiles are hidden from us and people seem so alien. And of course, those hugs are now taboo. The support group is a way of providing that human validation and support that each of us needs and craves,” Moss said. Moss stressed that the support group will maintain confidentiality. “The group should be a safe place for people to share emotions and experiences without feeling like what they have shared will be shared outside the circle. Further, we want everyone in the group to respect that every person’s feelings and opinions are valid and real and deserve respect,” she said. Moss explained that students who join the group have the opportunity to bring up a topic they want to discuss, or a topic will be presented by the facilitator. The group meets every Wednesday from 11:50 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. over Zoom. The link to the meeting is located in the counseling resource section of AC’s website.
February 4, 2021
RUTH MARTINEZ | The Ranger
The board of regents tour the proposed Innovation Outpost facility on Jan. 26, using augmented reality.
Regents transfer $2 million to Outpost By RUTH MARTINEZ Page Editor
The Amarillo College board of regents has approved moving more than $2 million out of college reserve funds to cover some costs for the new Innovation Outpost. At the regular board meeting Jan. 26, the regents toured the future home of the facility, which will be located at the Downtown Campus in the building that formerly housed the Amarillo Senior Citizens Association. Reagan Hales, the associ-
ate vice president for innovation and work-based learning, led the regents on an augmented reality tour of the building and explained her goals for the Outpost. “My hope for the project and the facility is that we can create private sector leaders in technology and innovation that can bring their expertise to our community and then help our business owners and our workforce really transform and start to compete that is at a new level to really kind of help our economy,” Hales said.
The board agreed to transfer $2,059,000 to the Outpost. The remaining portion of the Outpost’s $6 million five-year budget will come from fundraising, grants and the transfer of existing institutional resources, Hales said. In five years the project will have to pay for itself, Dr. Russell Lowery Hart, the Amarillo College president, said. “The Innovation Outpost is a new way of generating revenue. It’s changing the funding model,” he said. According to Hales, the Outpost will focus on tech-
nology adoption and integration, advanced skill development, strategic thinking and change management. It will also host training in coding and visual effects. During the meeting, the regents approved the purchase of the former JCPenney building at 3701 Plains Blvd. at the price of $625,000. The building will be the home of the college’s new First Responders Center. The board also said yes to the purchase of a house on the Washington Street Campus that was the former lo-
cation of the Bible Chair of the Southwest. The purchase price was $167,000 and regents said they have not decided what to do with the property. The board voted in favor of several bond construction contracts and heard a report regarding the new athletics programs at AC. Mark White, AC chief counsel, executive vice president and athletic director, said he is working to arrange for the college baseball team to play games at Hodgetown, the city baseball stadium.
Student Life offers virtual fun By DANIEL PINEDA Staff Reporter
COURTESY PHOTO
The first wave of quarantine kits were shipped on Jan. 22. The kits include snacks, puzzles, a handwritten postcard and more.
Quarantine kits distributed By RUTH MARTINEZ Page Editor
The Amarillo College Student Government Association started the spring semester with something for students who can’t return to campus because they have COVID-19 or have been exposed. Along with the many events planned for students to participate through Zoom, those who are in quarantine will get something a bit different – a quarantine kit. The kits contain Amarillo College swag, snacks, puzzles, a handwritten postcard and more. “I’m really proud of our students to kind of think outside the box by putting a box together for other students,”
Amber Hamilton, the director of Student Life, said. Carmen Nava, a criminal justice major and SGA secretary, said she wants students who are quarantined to know that their classmates are thinking about them. “I had to get quarantined twice,” she said. Nava helped make the kits and also helped make handwritten postcards to put in the kits. To receive a kit, students must click on a link in the Weekly Dig email that goes out each Monday. The link connects students to a Google form that they will fill out. Hamilton stressed that all personal student information will be kept private. The
only people who will view any information are Hamilton and Jenna Welch, the Student Life coordinator. The first shipment of kits were sent out Jan. 22. SGA plans to send out kits once a week, and the kits are expected to be delivered between Monday and Wednesday of the following week. Welch said she is hoping to get some feedback from the students who get the kits. “We’re all in this together, and we kind of carry that throughout our message this year,” Hamilton said. These past semesters have been difficult for both faculty and students. The quarantine kit is simply a reminder that AC cares.
Campus activities at Amarillo College have changed significantly because of COVID-19. In the midst of a pandemic, Student Life events involving crowds larger than 10 are not permitted on campus. “We’re trying to reach out and find new virtual programs, like ones we haven’t seen before, things that just get the students more involved and feel like they still get something out of Student Life,” Miranda McHugh, the Student Life assistant, said. What used to be on-campus events has now switched over to a virtual approach. Activities include the “Playlist Bingo,” where instead of using numbers, songs are played and students have to mark off the artists who sing the song. Another activity includes the “Show Biz Quiz Game Show” trivia competition, where students are asked questions about movies, music and television. Alexia Banda, a criminal justice major, bingo and trivia are among the activities that
she is usually interested in. “I love the way you get to interact and see others’ responses on what they know, and getting to know more about them. I love seeing and communicating with other people and of course winning free prizes,” she said. In addition to the games, there are also educational activities. “We have partnered with career and employment services, they have a whole lot of series of webinars set up, career readiness, some Adulting 101, where you learn about taxes, you learn about loans, learn about retirement, that kind of stuff,” McHugh said. Another type of activity planned for this semester is the come-and-go events, which are open for a week. Many of these events have been done in the past such as a Pumpkin Patch event, a Christmas Wonderland and a recent Martin Luther King exhibit. While the pandemic has been challenging, officials said it has also allowed for Student Life to gain a new audience of students.
February 4, 2021
COURTESY PHOTO
Game to scribble boredom away REVIEW
By SIDNEY WEST Reviewer
About a decade ago, little ol’ me was sitting in front of the TV when a commercial came on for a Nintendo DS game called “Scribblenauts.” The premise of it was that you could spawn anything your heart desired if you wrote its name down. I got the game thinking it would help me become a better speller. The game did not help me become a better speller, but it did get me hooked and I spent countless hours playing it during my teens. A few weeks ago I had finally gotten around to getting the third installment in the franchise, “Scribblenauts: Unlimited.” After beating it, decided I wanted to ramble about it
to you, the poor unfortunate reader. The premise of the game is that you play as a boy named Maxwell armed with a magic notebook that can spawn anything that’s written into it. The game kicks off with Maxwell being a little brat and using said notebook to prank a wizard. The wizard, in turn, places a curse on your sister that is slowly turning her into stone. So now you gotta save her by doing good deeds around the world, such as providing school children with a new playground, capturing outlaws in the desert, feeding cannibals, and awakening Cthulhu. For me, the most fun way to play is to solve the puzzles in the most horrific and/ or stupidest ways possible. For example, your brother
wants something to eat out of the vending machine, but the candy got stuck in it, so naturally my first instinct was to spawn an edible child. Bam, problem solved. If the puzzles get too exhausting or boring for you, there’s nothing to stop you from using your god powers to make everyone’s lives miserable for fun. Unlimited’s biggest contribution to the series is that it now allows you to make custom objects to spawn in, which now means you can spawn whatever vulgar and copy written things you want. I personally didn’t mess around with the feature too much, I’m sure it’s tons of fun once you get into it, but it’s kind of a pain because you have to work with the game’s preexisting art assets. Luckily, if you’re playing
using Steam, you can browse the community workshop for content made by people even more unhinged than you. The game gives you so much freedom and it’s at it’s best when you’re messing around doing your own thing. I wish the puzzles did more to provoke this style of play because as is, they’re pretty basic and unimaginative. A Lot of the solutions are pretty obvious too, like on the last stage of the game, a pig will ask you to give it something from a farm, all you need to do is spawn something obvious like a cow. The most compelling puzzle I beat involved getting through a prison gauntlet. Your goal in the level was really simple, get to the end, how you did it was up to you. There were a few obstacles you really had to think out-
side the box for, I wish there were more puzzles like this one. Something else that would have been nice is the addition of co-op. I would have loved to have played this with my friends. This game just feels like it has a lot of missed potential. It’s not really a huge step up from the DS games to be honest. I may complain about what Scribblenauts didn’t do, but not doing things it could have done doesn’t make the game worse. “Scribblenauts: Unlimited“ is a game worth playing, as well as a great time killer. If you’re interested, the game is available on Nintendo 3ds, PC, iOS, and Android. The game was included in the mega pack, meang it’s also available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One.
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Pixar’s new shorts are poppin’ REVIEW
By ALYSSA FANT Online Editor
A new series of shorts has recently been released to Disney+. There are 10 shorts, each one about two to five minutes long, making a total of 22 minutes of watch-time. They all use characters from some of their popular new movies. Each of the shorts starts out with the famous Pixar logo opening, except involving popcorn in some way, as the shorts are called “Pixar Popcorn” because of how short each one is.
Disney+ advertises the shorts as “Grab a quick snack of Pixar! This collection of mini shorts stars your favorite characters in all-new, bite size stories. Created directly by Pixar animators as a quick pop of Pixar fun.” Almost every short has no talking, with the exception of “Fluffy Stuff with Ducky and Bunny.” This seems to be to reach a broader audience so that anyone watching them can enjoy no matter what language they speak or their reading abilities are. Not every short tells a
narrative. For example, the shorts “Soul of the City” and “A Day in the Life of the Dead” are only a series of clips showing what life is like in the places depicted in the movies “Soul” and “Coco.” My favorite short would have to be “Chore Day - The Incredibles Way.” This short creatively shows how each of the Incredibles would do their chores with their unique abilities and tools. It is quick-paced and ends by showing how the Incredibles can roast s’mores in the rain using their powers.
It’s interesting how they can solve day-to-day problems by creatively using their powers to make life easier for themselves. It makes me wish I could see how a Jedi would use the force to help them do their chores. My least favorite shorts are the two “Fluffy Stuff with Ducky and Bunny,” which also happen to be the only two with any talking. The shorts only consist of the two characters, Ducky and Bunny, talking to each other. One about who is better and the other about the
three-headed sheep. Each of these shorts is five minutes long, making them the longest shorts, of only them talking. I may be biased since these two were not my favorite characters in “Toy Story 4” and I understand why someone might find it funny. The way the two bounce off each other sounds realistic and fast-paced; however, very little happens in the shorts themselves. Overall, I highly recommend these shorts if you want to watch them for yourself or show them to a little kid.
February 4, 2021
By ISAIAH FLOREZ Staff Reporter
Get ready to lace up your running shoes, because it’s time to run. Amarillo College intramural sports is having a 500mile challenge for students, faculty and staff. The challenge began Jan. 25 and ends May 7. The goal for this challenge is to complete 500 miles between these two time periods in order to win a prize. Competitors who make it past 400 miles will also qualify to win a prize. Trent Oneal, the intramural specialist, described the event as a way “to help people with their New Year’s resolutions.” Oneal called this competition “a lofty challenge for students.” Students can sign up by downloading an app called
IMLeagues, create a free account and check out all the sports available. There are other kinds of sports for students to get involved in such as: tennis league, volleyball skills contest, snowball fight, basketball skills contest, a gladiator challenge and March Madness. Although Oneal said it’s difficult to be a part of intramurals during this pandemic, he said he encourages students to participate because it “gives them something to do.” Oneal urges students to “challenge themselves. Get them out of their normal schedules.” He also said that it’s “great exercise, a way to meet people and even goes on a student’s transcript.” Krystal Sisneros, an art major, said participating in intramurals is “really helpful
toward my health.” Adriana Ornelas, a receptionist for the Fitness and Wellness Center and a physical therapy major, said intramural sports is “a great way to interact with kids your own age, relieve stress at college and become involved in a diverse group of students.” Ornelas said that participating in intramurals “encourages them to fully experience the college life. It really helps you become a more outgoing person.” Although the pandemic has kept many students away from campus, intramurals has offered a wide variety of activities. “Despite this pandemic Mr. Trent has found a way for students to interact, and provide activities to do at home,” Ornelas said. For more information, contact Trent Oneal at taoneal@ actx.edu or call 371-5965.
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVE CLAYTON | The Ranger