Man of many hats Multi-faceted athlete working toward career in criminal justice vol. 101, no. 16
friday, october 19, 2012
Sports Page 8B
2 SECTIONs, 16 PAGES
curtis christian Staff Photographer
INSIDE NEWS Student religious diversity continuing to grow Page 6A
NEWS Interview process for Presidential Scholarships changing Page 6B
HOMECOMING
paige otway Staff Photographer
JamFest concert to feature student artists, firework show Page 3A
OPINION Each member of the Editorial Board shares his or her political views
RETURN page 4B
FEATURES ACU heritage resurfaces through formation of CHARIS Page 7A
SPORTS Former football player, coach working as director of athletics emeritus
OF THE
paige otway Staff Photographer Top Left: Connor Vansteenberg, junior management major from Conroe, works on GSP’s float for the Homecoming Parade. Above Left: Freshmen Casey Montgomery and Kinsey Lee work on the Homecoming float for Freshman Action Council. Above Right: Taylor Hunt, sophomore musical theatre major from Overland Park, Kan., performs in Moody Coliseum during the Chapel preview of the Homecoming musical, “42nd Street.”
ALUMNI
audrey schaffner copy editor Continuing in last year’s footsteps, the Homecoming parade will be the only Homecoming event to have a theme. Misty Spainhower, alumni relations officer, said this year’s Homecoming parade theme is “ACU’s Greatest Hits”. “The floats will be fo-
cused on unique ACU traditions, landmarks and people,” Spainhower said. Samantha Adkins, senior alumni relations officer, said the alumni office tries to keep the parade theme ACU related so the floats will be meaningful to alumni and their families. Because of last year’s decision to nix the overall motif and only have a theme for the parade, no other events will be designed around
Groups preparing floats for ‘Greatest Hits’ theme
“ACU’s Greatest Hits”. Adkins said in years past, the parade was one of the only events completely tied to the theme, while other events, such as the reunion dinners and carnival, did not rely as much on the overall motif. Jama Cadle, assistant director of alumni relations, said the Homecoming theme used to coordinate with the Homecoming musical.
“The theme used to go along with whatever the musical theme was, so we used to kind of tie it together,” Cadle said. “It didn’t always correlate with some of the decorations for the events. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t.” This year’s parade theme, though unrelated to any other Homecoming event, has still stirred up excitement among stu-
dents. Abigail Flournoy, GATA float director, said she has been planning the float decorations since the summer, but the construction of the float, costumes and working on choreography for the parade began last week. “I was so excited about this year’s theme,” said Flournoy, junior speech see theme page 2B
ag department
Return to Medina brings healing
Page 1B
HOMECOMING Newly recharted Zeta Rho’s past members return for reunion Page 3A
HOMECOMING
samantha sutherland
King of Campus Court to restart bell-ringing tradition
features editor
Page 2B
ONLINE
paige otway staff Photographer The four Dukes of Campus Court show off their Wildcat sign during the debate on Tuesday night.
For a preview of some of our news stories on acuoptimist.com, turn to: Page 3B
McCarty wins debate, crown gabi powell student reporter
PHOTOS For more photos from this week on campus, go to our Flickr page
Prentis McCarty is the first ACU King of Campus Court. The dukes dueled during a live debate Tuesday night, in hopes of winning student votes as ACU’s first “King of Campus Court.”
Providing a needed break from the heated political debates, Hart Auditorium was the site of comical questions for the finalists of the King title. McCarty, Clint Coulter, Evan Hernandez and Jonathan Pruitt were asked absurd questions ranging from, “Describe your dating life using the title of a
reality TV show” to showcasing their best wildcat mating call. Before the debate took place, Zack Morgan, senior biology major from Keller who pitched the idea to Students’ Association, explained why this event would be important for students deciding who is worthy to be King.
“The debate is important because it signifies the first time that the finalists appear together in front of the whole student body,” he said. “It’s akin to the Homecoming Queen Court being introduced during Chapel. The students will get much more see debate page 6B
First Queen returning to ACU flickr.com/acuoptimist
elizabeth weiss student reporter
VIDEO Watch the seventh installment of The Ken Collums Show
acuoptimist.com
The first Homecoming Queen, Addie Rheiner Felts, will be coming back to campus this weekend to relive her glory days. Samantha Adkins, senior alumni relations officer, has been in contact with Felts’ daughter to schedule the visit. “We actually had a member of her family that notified us that she had been the first queen,” Adkins said. “We researched a little bit and there’s a great old Optimist story out there about her being crowned, that is very
much a Cinderella-story in how they wrote it. It’s pretty amazing, so we decided to invite her back.” Felts was crowned as Homecoming Queen in 1951 and graduated from ACU in 1952. She will be representing the 60-year Coming Home Court and will also join the 2002 Coming Home Court, who will be celebrating their 10-year reunion. The Alumni Relations Committee gave the Felt family a lot of options for Mrs. Felts to participate in while she is on campus. Because she is in her 80s, she will not be attending the football game on Saturday afternoon. Felts will be introduced and honored in Homecoming Chapel on Sat-
Abilene Christian University
urday morning. She will ride as the grand marshal in the parade on Saturday, and will also attend the Queen’s Tea on Friday afternoon with many of her family members. “Mrs. Felts has a long history with ACU,” said Misty Spainhower, alumni relations officer. Of Felts’ family, 19 members have gone through ACU, 15 of those being grandchildren. One of her granddaughters, Addie Jane Shipley, is currently a freshman attending ACU.
contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
A group of more than 30 students and faculty members from the Department of Agriculture completed a mission trip to the Medina Childrens’ Home, the same trip that ended in a lifechanging bus accident last year. Anna Ciufo, sophomore animal science major from the Woodlands, was involved in last year’s accident and suffered several injuries. This was her first year to make it to Medina on the mission trip. “A couple of my friends were a little nervous about the actual bus ride because of the experience we had,” Ciufo said. “But overall, especially toward the end, it was more of a positive healing experience and that was a blessing.” The students spent the weekend helping the childrens’ home with different projects that required some manual labor. They sorted food in the pantry, did tile work, organized the hog barn and cleaned some of the childrens’ toys. On Saturday night, as is tradition, the group prepared a meal for the kids and their families and held a devotional, Ciufo said. “I really love getting to talk to people and getting to serve them,” Ciufo said. see medina page 6B