Shooting the stars Math professor captures the cosmos Feature Page 5 vol. 103, no. 49
wednesday, arpil 22, 2015
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
what’s INSIDE NEWS Nuclear Physics group recives funding for research Page 3
CLEANUP
HITTER
SPORTS Baseball wins in walk-off fashion against SHSU
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OPINION Allison Brown writes her last column from Canterbury Road Page 4
SPORTS Wildcats record 18 top-five finishes and 19 personal records in Oklahoma emily guajardo staff photographer
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OPINION The Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge is hurting our eyes and our brains
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NEWS ISA promotes diversity with annual food festival
Philomena DeHoyos, sophomore from Marion, takes a swing at the annual fruit smash rush hosted by the women of Alpha Kai Omega and the men of Trojans.
Student Relay for Life teams raise $35k jonathan raitz student reporter Abilene’s 21st annual American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay for Life event will take place Saturday and Sunday at Hardin-Simmons University’s intramural field. “Our vision for Relay for Life is for it to be a community event to bring people and survivors together all for the same cause of finding a cure for cancer,” said Josh Steed, a staff partner for Abilene Relay for Life. Forty-three teams are
emily studer student reporter
Subbers bring home gold local cornhole tournament Page 3
what’s online
Cuban-American painter and ACU alumus Rolando Diaz is bringing the ocean to Downtown Abilene. Tom Rose, owner of Thomas Everett’s Fine Furniture, saw Diaz paint a mural in Peru recently and asked him to do a similar project on the side of the the building on South 1st Street between Elm Street and Syca-
daniel block ONLINE
Read more at acuoptimist.com
fundraising activities will include the Hardin-Simmons Six White Horses, a 100-footlong obstacle course, and local food trucks such as the Toasted Traveler and Rock N’ Roll’s Grill, both of which will give 15-20% of what they make to ACS. Steed said during the event each team will be required to have someone walking, jogging or running the track at all times to symbolize it takes everyone to battle cancer. “In the beginning, I did Relay for Life because it has touched my family person-
ally,” Steed said. “I continue to relay now, being in this job almost a year, because of the stories and the lives I’ve seen touched by cancer just here in Abilene.” The event will be from 6 p.m.-3 a.m. with activities and ceremonies planned from start to finish. Anyone interested in helping the fight against cancer can register at https:// www.relayforlife.org/abilenetx until 6 p.m. April 24. contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
more Street. The building is 175 feet in length, the majority of which will soon feature an aquarium-themed mural. “I think it’s going to be very nice, a real asset to the city,” Rose said. “The artist is fantastic for bringing his talents here. The mural is going to be very eye-catching.” Diaz said he’s pleased to be back in Abilene. “This is a really large work, and this is actually my largest, public, outside mural,” Diaz said. “I’m glad
it happened to work out in Abilene because of my career here, my years here and I have so many dear friends who live here.” Diaz said he chose an aquarium theme because, before coming to ACU, he had grown up in Miami and lived close to the ocean. “When I got to Texas, I was too young, and I didn’t check out that it was going to be landlocked,” he said. “I always wanted the ocean nearby, and of course I couldn’t
get it, so I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to bring the ocean to Abilene,’” he said. In a way, Abilene is where Diaz started his career as an artist. “The mural happens to be close to The Grace Museum,” Diaz said. “My very first one-man show at the beginning of my career was at The Grace Museum, so everything has come full circle.” Diaz said the recent rainy weather has made progress difficult. Diaz has blocked
out two more weeks of painting to finish the mural in time. “So far it has been tough,” Diaz said. “The first day, I couldn’t work at all. Today has been a beautiful day, and I’ve managed to get something done. Tomorrow is supposed to rain again, so I am just playing it by ear.”
contact the optimsit at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
Ash, Wasemiller to retire after semester intramurals editor
Follow the Optimist on Facebook for video updates on what’s hapening around ACU
year has been increased from when they originally started fundraising. “We’ve actually raised just under $3,000, and the relay is this weekend, so I am hoping that we get $3,500,” Combs said. Combs, a senior biology major from Hewitt, said the support her team has gotten has been very encouraging. “The main goal is to get the word out and get people involved in donating to a cause that will hopefully find a cure to cancer,” Combs said. This year, Relay for Life’s
Downtown Abilene gets a ‘splash’ of color
Page 3
NEWS
signed up to help fight cancer and have raised a combined total of more than $35,000. Steed said their goal is around $100,000. “One of the patient services that we provide is our Hope Lodge in Lubbock,” Steed said. “A lot of the money that we fundraise helps support patient services like Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge helps save patients $100,000 of dollars in living costs.” Alpha Kai Omega has participated in the event for several years. Ariel Combs, AKO team captain, said their goal this
Two faculty members find themselves in the homestretch of their collegiate teaching careers. Kitty Wasemiller, professor in the Department of Art and Design, and Dr. Tony Ash, professor in the College of Biblical Studies, will retire at the conclusion of the spring semester. Wasemiller, program director of the interior design program, taught in the art and design department for over 31 years. She began her career in January 1984. Since that time, Wasemill-
er has witnessed firsthand the evolution of art and design, especially within the realm of technological advancements. She said she believes the digital approach is a necessary step forward for designers, but the art of designing with pencil on paper should not be put on the shelf. “There’s a connection between the mind and the hand that is not quite the same with the computer, and so the musings of the designer, the exploration of an idea, often is still going to happen with pencil and paper,” Wasemiller said. Wasemiller said she and her husband, Gene, plan to move to the Dallas-Fort
Worth area upon her retirement. Whether new teaching opportunities in the area open ash up or she gains professional clients of her own, Wasemiller said she plans to stay connected to the interior design business. Mike Wiggins, chair of the Department of Art and Design, said the department is searching for Wasemiller’s replacement and hopes to fill the position by the end of the semester. Ash’s career at ACU spanned over 50 years. He
Abilene Christian University
began teaching in 1962 and spent 10 years in the College of Biblical Studies bewasemiller fore leaving to teach at Pepperdine University for the first three years of its existence. After a few years teaching in Austin, Ash returned to ACU in 1978 and has taught here since. Ash is battling Parkinson’s disease and said he wishes he could continue teaching, but his body won’t allow it. He intends to stick around the campus on which he has spent nearly five decades
teaching. “I’m going to miss the students, and that’s why I’m going to try to hang around,” Ash said. “I really have loved the students and gotten to know them. Just being in this community has meant a lot to me.” Ash was well known within the department for two things– handing out candy in the hallways between classes and his teachings on C.S. Lewis. When he leaves his office for the final time at the end of the semester, his wallto-wall bookshelf filled with Lewis’ writings and other books about the famed see faculty page 4
Wednesday 4.22.15
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wednesday
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thursday Golf at Southland Conference Championship 7 p.m. Frats, Brats and cobbler rush
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friday Men’s and women’s tennis at NCAA Provisional Championship and Ojai Tournament
saturday
12 p.m. Softball vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi
4 p.m. Softball vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi
5 p.m. Gamma Sigma Phi snowcone and waterballoon rush
7:30 p.m. Bands concert
9 p.m. Zeta Rho’s de-stress rush
7 p.m. Ko Jo Kai KoChella rush
7:30 p.m. Ghost: the Musical
To date:
Kirk Goodwin Run
Baseball at Stephen F. Austin University
9 p.m. Get to know Pi Kappa s’more rush
Chapel checkup
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7:30 p.m. Ghost: the Musical
Around Abilene
Remaining:
63 7 @acuoptimist The Optimist
April 23
April 24
April 25
April 27
7:30 p.m. DIRECTFest 2015 at Hardin-Simmons University, Van Ellis Theatre. Join us for the annual one-act play festival directed, designed, performed and produced by HSU theatre students. Tickets are $8 per person. Visit hsutx.edu/theatre for more information.
7:30 p.m. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus Live at the Abilene Civic Center. This one-man fusion of theater and standup starring Peter Story is a light-hearted theatrical comedy based on the New York Times best-selling book of the last decade by John Gray. Tickets are $45 per person. Visit celebrityattractions.com/ SetLocation.asp for more information.
10 a.m. Abilene Zoo Music Fest at the Abilene Zoo. Enjoy tunes in the zoo with local performers: AISD’s Revolution, the Abilene Community Band, the HardinSimmons Cowboy Band, the McMurry Steel Drum Band, Scottish Pipers and the Cooper HS Jazz Band. Admission is $6 for adults.
7 p.m. Ben Rector live in concert. Join us at the Historic Paramount Theatre for Ben Rector and his full band. Special guest opening act is Brett Vanderzee. Doors open at 6 p.m. Food trucks will be parked across the street from the Paramount starting at 5 p.m.
optimist@acu.edu Announcements The second annual Finals Fun Fest will be this Saturday. The four-on-four grass volleyball tournament will be at Sanders Intramural Fields. Cost is $80 per team. Each team can have a maximum of five players, but only four can participate at a time; at least one player must be female. For more information or to register, contact Ijeoma Moronu at ish07a@acu.edu or 325-674-2383. ACU Theatre’s spring musical is Ghost: The Musical, a timeless fantasy about the power of love. Don’t miss this roller coaster ride of music, romance and comedy. The musical will be at 7:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $15 at http://acu.edu/theatre.
The Shinnery Review release party Thursday at 7 p.m. Graduating language and literature majors are invited to join us for an honorary dinner at 6 p.m. Come for live music, readings and food. Cocktail attire is preferred. The address is 10947 CR 224 Abilene, TX 79602.
Phone ER can fix your cracked screen, broken charger, broken home button and even change the color of your phone! Better yet, you are able to charge repairs to your ACU student account! Come by the Campus Store or email us at phoneer@acu.edu for more information.
Wildcat Club Caravan at 5 p.m. on the third floor of the Hall of Fame inside the park. For more information, visit acu. edu/alumni.
ACU Dead Day Disc Golf Tournament will be Monday May 4 at the Wildcat Disc Golf Course starting at 10 a.m. The Sublease at University Park Apartments cost is $5 for single players and $10 per for $395 per month for the summer! Seekers of the Word Drama Ministry will doubles team. Registration starts at 9:30 Apartments are fully furnished! Ten-dol- sponsor a Chapel forum 6 p.m. Wednes- a.m. at Hole 1. lar electricity coverage per month. Some day in Hart Auditorium. There will be extras such as lamps and some kitchen skits, laughter and two chapel credits. Its that time of year again! Course evalusupplies may be included as well! Let me ations are coming up soon, and it is know if you are interested via email at Meet us at the ballpark June 4 at 7:05 important for you to fill them out! Visit nlj10a@acu.edu. p.m. at Globe Life Park when the Texas http://blogs.acu.edu/edtech/courseRangers take on the Chicago White Sox. evaluations/ for more information. Arrive early to meet ACU coaches at the
volunteer opportunities Communities in Schools needs 10 to 20 reading and lunch buddies at Ortiz Elementary. Volunteers are needed anytime between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. weekdays. Contact Sheila Ashford at 325-671-4945 ext.5351 or sheila.ashford@abileneisd.org for more information. Girl Scouts is seeking volunteers to help make a difference in the life of young girls. Girl Scouts offers several flexible ways to volunteer. You choose how:
a one-day event, six-week series or year-round troop! Contact Scout Office. rent opportunities at 325-670-0432 and mlawson@gs-top.org. REACH @ Abilene North Apartments is seeking volunteers. Volunteers will be a part of building relationships with at-risk kids and their families through a unique and developing apartment ministry. The program takes place Mondays from 4:30
p.m.- 6 p.m. Contact Caroline Thompson at 281-782-2956 or crt12a@acu.edu for more details. The International Rescue Committee in Abilene needs your help in welcoming refugees to our community. We are seeking the following donations: hygiene and cleaning supplies, bed linen, towels and kitchen items (dishware, silverware, pots/pans etc). Donations are accepted
Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 2-4 p.m. or by appointment. Their office is located at 3303 N. 3rd St. Suite D. For more information contact Marie-Pascale Manishimwe at 325-675-5643. The Noah Project is seeking volunteers to help with tasks such as answering phone calls, providing child care and doing maintenance and housekeeping. To volunteer call 325-676-7107.
Intramurals
Intramural soccer playoffs nearing a close THE VAGABONDAGE REC-COVERING SAMANTHA SUTHERLAND ADDICT
DANIEL BLOCK
This sha ll be the penultimate printing of the intramura l column ever yone has grow n to love (or hate) over the course of the last t wo semesters. A nd because there is no guarantee this column w ill be continued in the future (apparently it’s not the t y pe of ‘true journa lism’ the Optimist strives for), I would suggest you keep this edition and have it on hand in the future. You never k now when you might forget to bring an umbrella to work and need something to hold over your head so your hair doesn’t curl in the rain. Or maybe you just can’t seem to get that wood in the fireplace to catch a spark. Or perhaps that pesk y mosquito has been bothering you and you’re too la zy to get up from the couch to slap it. W hatever the circumstances, you can a lways be thank ful for
this intramura l column. Women’s Champ Soccer After the rainy season in Abilene postponed many of last week’s matchups, the playoffs finally got underway Monday. The third-seeded Kojies easily handled lastplace GATA, 4-1, and advanced to face No. 2 seed B.O.B. in the semifinal Tuesday. Kojie soccer great Anna Beasley gave me some insight on how the Kojies go about winning the beautiful game. “We Kojies know that games are won at halftime,” Beasley said. “It’s all about the halftime snackage. I don’t want to give away any of our secrets, but Pacific Cooler Capri Suns and cuties are the keys to our success.” But we’ve heard this before, Beasley. Alpha Kai Omega’s
Carolyn Miller told us oranges were her team’s secret as well. Miller even said her team was willing to share their oranges. I’m beginning to think it’s something more than just a bunch of cuties on the sidelines at halftime, because there are already plenty of those at each game. Did I say that…? Speaking of Alpha Kai, the Kaios defeated Doomsday Divas in the other quarterfinal Monday by an identical 4-1 score. Alpha Kai played the first-ranked Siggies Tuesday, looking for what might be the biggest upset since the rumor hit campus that La Pop was closing down. Back to Beas and the Kojies, the team has been hard at work preparing for the grueling playoffs. “We’ve been playing a lot of FIFA and watching Mar y Kate and Ashley’s hit movie Switching Goals daily,” Beasley said. “It has been a pretty tough week of prep, but we are willing to do whatever it takes to win.” Beasley went on to credit her team’s most
valuable contributors. “This year’s MV P was honestly a tie between our team dad Eric Schinske and Kojie legend Marquita Bugg,” Beasley said. “W hile neither are technically on the team, they have both carried us through this season. Without their unwavering support (and halftime snacks) we would not have made it this far into the post season.” The winners of the two semifinals will play at 10 p.m. Thursday for the coveted championship XL T-shirt. Men’s Champ Soccer Baba Yao defeated Sub T-16 in the first game of the regular season, 3-0. W hen the two squads met again in Monday’s semifinal, Baba Yao wouldn’t be so lucky. Instead, Sub T walked off the pitch with a 4-2 victor y and a chance to defend its title on Thursday. This wasn’t the greatest victor y for Sub T over the past few days, though. Somewhere else in today’s newspaper (probably should’ve been front page) you can read
all about Barrett Brown and Connor Osburn taking down a competitive field in a local cornhole tournament. And if you don’t know what cornhole is, just remember this is Texas and names don’t necessarily always make sense. But for reference, it’s that game where you chuck (not “chunk”) bean bags through a hole on a board about 30 feet away. So congratulations to those two for being so athletic. Their opponent was decided Tuesday night as Frats and Friends battled Gamma Sigma Phi in the second semifinal. The Frats first had to defeat Team Kaneko on Monday night, marking just their second win of the entire season. But after a 3-1 victor y over Kaneko, the Frats seem to have found an offense typically reserved for their Super Smash Bros. tournaments. GSP, as the No. 1 seed, had a little extra time to prepare for Frats and Friends. Gamma Tyler Eidson knows there are weak points in his team’s game
that can be fixed. “Hmm, we could focus on endurance,” Eidson said. “Hittin’ the g ym for the ladies is great and all, but if you can’t run a few miles without dying, then it’s pointless.” Eidson didn’t want to look past the semifinal, but he already had his sights on what could come about should the Gammas knock off Frats and Friends. “I think I speak for the team when I say we are looking forward to playing Sub T,” Eidson said. “They mirror our strengths in many ways, and it always makes for a fun match.” If the game is tied at the end of regulation, as it was when the two teams met during the regular season, and no one scores in extra time, you can expect Sub T to lobby for a cornhole tournament rather than penalty kicks. Sub T will play Tuesday night’s winner at 9 p.m. Thursday.
contact block at djb13a@acu.edu
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news
wednesday 4.22.15
ISA feasts at festival savanah silva staff writer
austin kilculen staff photographer
Jeff Rogers, graphic designer from Brooklyn, New York, speaks to the audience at the TEDxACU event on Friday. Rogers shared his ideas on fusing passion like art and music, ending his talk with an artistic drum solo.
The International Student’s Association had its fifth annual food festival Saturday. More than 300 people, including students, families and faculty members, joined ISA to taste foods from 13 countries, including the Philippines, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. Denzil Lim, senior convergence journalism major from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is the president of ISA and helped coordinate the annual event. “The goal for this year’s festival was to be able to provide a great variety but also a fun and enjoyable place to have a meal,” Lim said. Despite the rainy weather and hail, the free event attracted crowds at the Hunter Welcome Center. The goal of the annual event was to allow guests to come and gain a better understanding of the places their peers come from. “We try to invite everyone from every respective community and country
to cook and present their food,” Lim said. Stephanie Melo, sophomore biology major from Keller, said she thinks the festival is a good way to understand the diversity on campus. “Being from Brazil and having a strong Brazilian heritage, it’s good to see that there are other people on campus just as proud of their culture as I am of mine,” Melo said. The ISA food festival takes place every spring semester, but planning usually starts early in the year. “ISA funds the event and provides a certain amount of spending allowance for each group so students don’t have to pay out of their pockets,” Lim said. Anyone can join ISA, Lim said, without having to register or pay a membership fee. For more information about ISA, students may attend ISA Chapel on Thursdays in COBA, Classroom 207. contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
Nuclear Physics Group receives increased funding Mercedez Hernandez studnet reporter The ACU Nuclear Physics Group has been renewed for funding from the United States Department of Energy for two years at $210,000 per year. “This is a $23,000-peryear increase, which is significant considering the current financial constraints that basic research in the United States has been dealing with in recent years,” said Dr. Donald Isenhower
professor in the Department of Engineering and Physics in a press release last week. Other members of the group include Dr. Rusty Towell, professor and chair of the department, Dr. Michael Daugherity, assistant professor, and Shon Watson, assistant in computers and technology. “This is great for us, especially when you look at where we are in funding basic research as a nation,” Towell said. “It’s a pretty tight and competitive environment to get
grants from the Department of Energy or any federal agency.” This will be the 34th consecutive year the Nuclear Physics Group has received funding from the Department of Energy. “We’re involved as a research group in major projects this summer,” Towell said. “We will be taking groups of students on two of those projects.” The increase in funding for the group will be used in several ways, both for the research and the group itself.
“It goes toward stipends for the students so we can pay them to come work for us,” Towell said. “It also pays for the housing and travel there and for us to go to a conference to present the results of our findings.” The group will participate with as many as 500 other researchers from around the world on two projects – the PHENIX Detector experiment, a detector designed to investigate high-energy collisions of ions and protons, at Brookhaven National
Laboratory in Long Island, New York, and the SeaQuest experiment, an experiment that measures quarks and antiquark structures, at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. “These are both nuclear physics experiments that involve accelerators that accelerate particles to near the speed of light and collide them with other particles,” Towell said. “We study what’s coming out, and when we do that, we get a better understanding of the basic building
blocks of matter.” The research trip offers important experience for faculty and students who attend. “I think this is the unique thing about ACU’s physics department,” Towell said. “We are part of these exciting international world-class research projects, and we are able to take our undergraduate students with us. It really makes
contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
Class research aids Abilene organizations nication in Multinational Organizations and what that field encompasses is how to understand different Students in the Depart- cultures and people who are ment of Communication moving in and out of those integrated cultural research cultures,” said Dr. Carley from five Abilene organiza- Dodd, professor of comtions into their course work munication. “We’ve learned in an effort to aid each non- that the metaphor of culture profit in its development. works not just somewhere The COMS 383 students overseas, the metaphor completed a project assess- also works for corporations, ing, auditing and providing nonprofit organizations, improvement and problem universities and churches solutions to several organi- – every group is not just a zations in Abilene. structure, it’s a culture.” “The course is CommuUsing that perspective
abbey bowling studnet reporter
and understanding of cultures, the students conducted statistical and qualitative interviews and presented applied solutions to organizations including the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene, Global Samaritan, The Alliance, Young Life and the Provost’s Office, Dodd said. “It’s turned out to be a nice volunteer service in the sense that organizations are getting free analysis, even though our students are still learning, and they’re getting directions for the future,” Dodd said. “For the
students, they’re learning their craft and blending the academic world with actually getting a portfolio of experience.” Kaitlin Foster, junior communication major from Hallsville, used the Young Life organization of the greater Abilene area for her group project. She said Dodd gave her group a cultural assessment survey with questions on a Likert scale, a psychometric scale commonly used in research that employs such questionnaires.
“Most of us were pretty familiar with what Young Life is, so that’s what we chose to do,” Foster said. “We asked different things out of that survey that we felt were applicable to the organization, and from there we looked at the organization and came up with ideas to make it better and to improve communication within it.” The resulting presentations showed the multicultural and organizational needs and potential change management for all five or-
ganizations. These results included statistical survey highs and lows for 22 variables associated with organizational culture, realignment of program names with outcomes, and job expectation-clarification solutions, Dodd said. “I’m proud of the students for finding these organizations,” Dodd said. “I didn’t set it up for them, they had to go find their own group, and they all contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
Faculty: Professors announce refrom page 1 author will go with him. “I was exposed to Lewis in a time of my life when what he had to say really resonated with me,” Ash
said. “I went on and read everything I could find that he had written, and it’s just continued down through the years. He speaks to me, and I’ve found in reading that’s true for a lot of peo-
ple.” Dr. Ken Cukrowski, dean of the College of Biblical Studies, praised Ash and the work he’s done both within the school and outside of it.
“Dr. Ash has had a distinguished preaching career in a number of churches and lectureships across the country,” Cukrowski said. “And within the college, he is a beloved
Cornhole tournament brings community together bailey werderich studnet reporter Two members of Sub T-16 won first place at Abilene Hope Haven’s First Annual BBQ and Cornhole Tournament April 18. Barrett Brown, senior nursing major from Odessa, and Connor Osburn, senior accounting major from Southlake, took home the first-place prize, a customized cornhole set, after defeating 17 teams in the tournament. Cornhole, which is sometimes called “bean bag toss,” is a lawn game where players throw bags of corn into a hole at the end of a raised platform. Abilene Hope Haven is the only transitional homeless shelter in Abilene and the surrounding area for both individuals and families, said Alana Jeter, executive director of Abilene Hope Haven. “Our residents can stay for a full year while we provide basic needs so that they
can truly be self-sufficient when they leave the program,” Jeter said. The team at Abilene Hope Haven began work for the event in January. Jeter said they wanted to host a fundraiser to raise awareness for the organization that was family friendly and not exclusive. The event took place Saturday evening at Frontier Texas! with food trucks, bounce houses and face painting in addition to the cornhole tournament. Osburn and Jeter said they had a good time playing in the tournament despite the extreme weather. “For our first time, we were thrilled with that, especially since it hailed,” Jeter said. “But everything continued. People rolled up their pants, took off their shoes and played cornhole in the mud.” About 250 people attended the event, and 18 teams participated in the doubleelimination tournament. “We got involved through our social club, Sub
T-16, because we wanted to show our support for Hope Haven, as well as enjoy a fun event in the community,” Osburn said. “We faced off with some serious corn-holers, but props to my partner Barrett Brown for carrying the load and leading us to victory. Many thanks to those that worked hard to put on a great event.” Brown also wanted to get
involved to support the organization. “I think that more of these events need to come together in Abilene. They’re attractive for the community and for their cause,” Brown said.
contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
colleague who greets all the faculty each day traveling up and down the halls with his bag of candy to hand out.” Cukrowski said the Department of Bible, Mis-
sions and Ministry hired Amanda Pittman as Ash’s replacement. Pittman is
contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
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Opinion
4
Wednesday 4.22.15
editorial
A week in news that goes beyond Kylie Jenner’s lips the issue Teenagers across Twitter are tapping into the #KylieJennerLipChallenge. And it’s getting ugly.
our take The pictures are painful to think about, let alone look at. There is so much more out there people should be reading about and participating in.
People across the internet have been puckering up for the Kylie Jenner lip challenge. And if the concept of the challenge doesn’t make you laugh, the results will. Instead of drastically
enhancing their lips, people (yes, men and women) have accidentally burst blood vessels under the skin and caused extensive bruising. And while we’d love to talk about how funny
hashtagACU
that is and how the Internet is just a black hole of comedy, ridiculousness and research, it’s not really what we want people to pull from this. Instead, we think it’s about time to look at something other than a Kardashian in the news. We could look at the Boston Marathon, for instance. Yesterday, Maickel Melamed from Venezuela started his run at the event, and finished twenty hours later. Melamed, who has muscular dystrophy, ran through torrential downpours and
thunderstorms to complete the course, according to USAToday. Or, for the Californians or just anyone who likes an old-fashioned car chase, CBS News live-streamed one of them Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. Where do these people think they’re going to go? Los Angeles traffic is worse than walking behind a slow couple on the way to Chapel. Or, if we’re really getting into things, how many people knew Footloose is rumored to be
based on events in Anson, just 30 minutes from here? And if anyone hasn’t heard about Lauren Southern and the latest feminist definition, are they really relevant? In recent news, a bookkeeper for the Nazis is being tried in Germany. But we’ll talk more about that on Friday. Also, Huffington Post reported that researchers discovered dozens of dinosaur eggs in China. So basically, the Jurassic Park movie is happening for real.
On that note, the Star Wars trailer came out. “Chewy, we’re home,” is all that needs to be said. All we’re saying is that the Internet has so much more to offer than the Kylie Jenner lip challenge, so let’s start exploring. Don’t settle for the most ridiculous trending tweet. Instead, follow the stories and the people that are doing things worth knowing about.
contact The Optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
DAILY doodle dosage
Ben Todd
April 21 5:01 p.m.
I forget my ID and loiter outside Sikes a lot
April 17 1:02 p.m.
When all iPhones (so essentially all phones) go off with a weather alert right as class is starting...#ACUdifference
@sarahkateoliver April 17 1:57 a.m.
I just saw a girl using her laptop to stop the rain from ruining her hair
@alyssa_shaffner April 21 4:02 p.m.
And we’ve come to my favorite day of the week...leg day. Here’s to not being able to walk for 3 days.
@Awe_SOME April 21 11:27 a.m.
No breakfast=no energy=no life=no friends=no community=no job=no money=no food=no breakfast
@CallieKerbo April 21 1:07 p.m.
Finished a semesterlong project in one week with 10 minutes left to spare before my class #SenioritisIsReal
@camzilla_k April 21 8:25 a.m.
Column
When is nap time?
@bowenarrow43
@linseylouu
April 21 8:50 a.m.
April 21 1:51 p.m.
Float like a butterfly, don’t even sting
current mood: where is my car
When I went to my 8am to take a test I was in a good mood only because I knew I could take a nap after.
VAGABONDAGE ON THE FRITZ
SAMANTHA RACHEL SUTHERLAND FRITZ
@tmcdaniel94 Sometimes instead of studying I just marathon Bill Nye. Same thing right?
@hayleysissy Everyone’s all getting married and engaged and I’m over here single as a Pringle
I’ve never done well when it comes to conf lict. I was born a twin, and the most conf lict I’ve been involved in is the fights my brother and I would get into when we were younger. Other than that, I’ve never gotten physical or even head a verbal argument with anyone. Ever. I’m not aggressive, and I don’t want to be. In middle school, I was moved down to “B” team in volleyball because I wasn’t aggressive enough. How can you not be aggressive enough to play volleyball? That still gets me to this day. But yeah, I was that kid. I quit basketball be-
YikYak The national sound of spring should be me sniffling from these allergies.
YikYak Losing the remote in your sheets might be the most frustrating thing ever
YikYak
YikYak
cause I didn’t like having to use my elbows or “go hard in the paint,” and I know I wasn’t intimidating. I tried wrestling in high school – somehow I let my dad and brother convince me that was a good idea. They were wrong. Needless to say, I quit after a month because that was entirely too much contact for me, and there was no way I would ever get comfortable trying to knock my opponent down, on purpose. Oh, and when I was in high school, a girl told one of my friends she was going to fight me because she thought I looked at
her weird. I promise I never looked at her in a way that implied I wanted to fight her, but she was twice my size, so I was already planing to outrun her if she started swinging. My mom suggested I use my lunch tray to fend her off, but it as made of styrofoam, so that wasn’t going to work. Eventually, the issue was resolved. We even played powderpuff football together and shared some laughs. There have also been a few situations since I’ve enrolled here that could have ended in some sort of conf lict, but my fight or f light instinct always chose that latter. I’m basically an expert at f leeing to avoid conf lict. But, I’ve learned this probably isn’t the best way to go through life. Sometimes I wonder how far I could have gone in
basketball had I sucked it up and threw an elbow or two. Actually, that’s a lie. I really don’t like basketball; that’s way too much running for me. But you get the point. Aggression can be a good thing, as long as you go about expressing it in a healthy way, and by healthy I mean don’t go looking for fights or throw punches at anyone who makes you mad. That’s just chaos; find a way to let it out without hurting anyone. Go ahead and talk out your problems or be a little aggressive to get something you want. If done in a healthy way, you won’t hurt others, but if you don’t do it at all, you could end up regretting it.
contact Fritz at REF11a@acu.edu
Column
One of those sappy study abroad farewell things THE OXFORD VAGABONDAGE COMMA SAMANTHA SUTHERLAND
ALLISON BROWN
Four months ago, I got on a bus at the Hunter Welcome Center. I was crying, I was eating my last La Popular burrito, and I was quite nervous for the days ahead as I headed to DFW for my transatlantic adventure. And what an adventure
it has been. I could now share with you my list of things to do in Oxford, but I won’t bother with that. I could give you tips on traveling Europe, but I would just say to figure it out yourself. I could be really dramatic about my reunion
with Mexican food, but I will spare you. So, instead, I write to you now from my favorite Oxford café with tears in my eyes as I think about leaving. I hate to be one of those sappy writers who is so painfully sentimental, but I am afraid that is what I am becoming with every word I type. I look back on the last four months and I don’t know where the days have gone. I try to remember all the things I laughed at, but I didn’t write them all
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ceptionally weird some days with some crazy people that I love but can’t stand sometimes. I missed home, and then I didn’t. I made new friends and fell in love with cities, but somehow I never met a British boy to date. I read some books, but not as many as I planned to. I had to think about what I think about the world and the people in it. I took some pictures, probably too many. I walked all over Europe
and I will arrive in America with really tired feet. In two weeks, I will get on a bus at 9 Canterbury Rd. I will cry and I will probably be eating a scone or an entire roll of dark chocolate digestives and I will, in a terrible blend of happy and sad, embark on my return to Texas. Ready or not, the end is beginning. I’ll see you guys soon. contact Brown at akb12b@acu.edu
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down. I didn’t consistently post on my blog, but who really thought I would? I didn’t go everywhere on my list. I probably spent too much money on weird souvenirs that will maybe remind me of adventures I had. I tripped over a lot of cobblestones (and seriously people, it is a miracle that neither of my ankles broke). I saw a lot of people and cultures and I tasted new foods and smelled some pretty weird smells. I lived in houses that smelled ex-
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5
featureS
Wednesday 04.15.15
photo contributed by dr. jason holland
SHOOTING
THE STARS
photo contributed by dr. jason holland
Math professor picks up hobby in capturing the cosmos, comets and the starry Abilene sky madeline orr editor in chief
Top left: Orion’s Nebula, a diffuse nebula situated in teh Milky Way, south of Orion’s Belt. Top right: Pleiades, an open star cluster Above: Waxing moon taken in 2014. Right: Dr. Jason Holland, professor of mathematics, photographs objects that are often millions of light years away.
Dr. Jason Holland, professor of mathematics, teaches students about discreet algebra and math theory. But hanging on the walls of his office in Foster Science Building are photographs of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters – and they’re all taken by Holland himself. Holland discovered his love for astrophotography in 2012 after he got his photo by jarred schuetze first high-quality telescope. Holland then used Photoshop to layer all 180 photos into one crisp, bright “I took an iPhone photo of the moon, holding the iPhone over the eyepiece,” image. he said. “That turned out pretty well, and I thought, ‘Wow. How can I do this “When you stack a whole bunch of them, the picture really comes together,” better?’” he said. Three years later, Holland has moved beyond taking pictures on his phone Everything Holland has learned about astrophotography, from the technito acquiring the equipment and knowledge necessary to photograph moving cal skills to the software, has been self-taught. He is also part of an online objects that are millions of light-years away. community of astrophotographers called Astrobin, a website that hosts imagHolland said, as a math guy, he enjoys all the variables that have to be ex- es and allows astrophotographers from all over the world to upload and share actly right to capture a good photo of an object in the sky. photos they’ve taken. “One of things I like about astrophotography is there are so many things “It’s a worldwide community, and it’s very diverse,” Holland said. “I follow that can go wrong,” he said. “You have to really control all the elements in people from South America, Europe, Australia – we share tips.” order to get a good photo.” Holland has also found that the best photos are taken against an inky black First, there’s the fact that objects being shot are moving. Because of the sky. earth’s rotation, the stars rotate through the sky. Astrophotographers use an “Dark sky rules out having to deal with light pollution,” he said. “I go out to equatorial mount, a motorized device attached to the camera, allowing it to Fort Griffin near Albany and it’s really dark there.” follow the objects while capturing images. Although he is a math professor, Holland was first interested by the astronHolland describes the tedious task of setting the camera to be precisely omy side of the hobby. “Visual astronomy” is the term used to describe the “polar-aligned.” hobby of observing the solar system with or without a telescope. “We live at 34 degrees north,” he said. “So I turn it to 34 degrees north, and “I love the visual side,” Holland said. I make sure I look through this whole and make sure I can see the North Star, His experience with the observation side of the hobby is helpful when it and then some other fine-tuned technical adjustments.” comes to looking for something to photograph. Then there’s the lighting. Because stars after often so faint to the human “I love to go out with my camera and just be a part of the universe and look eye, the camera has to have the perfect amount of exposure in order to gather at things, but then I really like trying to make everything come together for a enough light data to hits the camera’s sensor. good photo.” Holland points to a photo he took last year. “This picture is a total of 1.5 hours of exposure. Thirty seconds of each excontact orr at posure was the most I could get before the stars started trailing, and I took 180 mco10b@acu.edu of those.”
sports
wednesday 4.22.15
Track and field record several PR’s Hannah Null sports reporter The ‘Cats finished the weekend with 18 top-five finishes and 19 personal bests at the John Jacobs Invitational in Oklahoma. The women’s team had another great weekend with multiple top performances. Sophomore distance runner Alexandria Hackett won the 3000-meter race for the second meet in a row, with a personal best time of 9:46.84. Following Hackett was teammate sophomore distance runner Diana Garcia Muñoz, who finished third with a time of 9:54.50, anoth-
er personal best for the Wildcats. Sophomore distance runner Isabella Gutitook A. Hackett errez second in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 4:37.77. Sophomore pole vaulter Kenzie Walker had an impressive finish at third place with a vault of 3.75 meters. Freshman thrower Kayla Melgar had a throw of 50.39 meters in women’s discus, which left her with a personal best and fifth-place all-time in the ACU record books. “It was pretty exciting,”
said Melgar. “I wasn’t expecting that big of a PR, but I was having a great day and I was feeling good in my warmups. Coach Cook was saying all the right things to get me to throw my best.” Melgar also placed 11th in women’s shot put with a throw of 10.89 meters. The men’s team had excellent finishes from junior sprinter Johnathan Farquharson, freshman sprinter Rosen Daniel, senior sprinter Osei Alleyne-Forte and junior sprinter Devan Brown. Farquharson came in third in the men’s 100-meter dash and men’s 200-meter dash with a personal record time of 20.68.
Farquharson
Daniel
Daniel also gained a personal best in the 200-meter with a fourth place finish of 12.01. He also managed a second-place victory in the men’s 400-meter dash. Brown came out of the meet behind Daniel with a sixth-place finish in the men’s 200-meter with a personal best of 21.18. Allyene-Forte had a fifthplace finish behind Daniel in the 400-meter dash with a
personal best of 47.49. Melgar said teammates and coaches have been huge encouragers and helped each other throughout the season. “It wasn’t until after the meet that my coach told me about the dent I made in ACU history and I couldn’t believe it,” said Melgar. “I am so thankful for my support system and a great team and coach I can always rely on.” The team will be back in action this weekend in Iowa for the second consecutive year to attend the two-day Drake Relays. contact Null at Hln12a@acu.edu
6
standings 2015 Baseball Standings
Team
Div.
SELU 14-4 NSU 14-6 HBU 12-6 SHSU 13-8 MSU 12-9 Nicholls St.10-8 UCA 10-8 TAMU-CC 9-9 Lamar 8-11 ACU 7-11 SFA 7-13 NO 4-14 UIW 3-15
Ovrl 30-11 22-17 21-16 21-20 22-18 21-14-1 19-14 19-16 19-21 9-28 13-26 13-25 13-26
2015 Softball Standings
Team
Div.
NSU 17-2 UCA 14-4 MSU 15-5 Lamar 12-6 SELU 13-7 SFA 10-10 TAMU-CC 10-10 Nicholls St.10-11 SHSU 6-13 HBU 4-15 ACU 4-17 UIW 3-18
Ovrl 28-14 27-15 29-18 21-20 19023 18-26 15-24-1 24-19 15-25 10-27 10-31 9-34
Who’s Hot Junior shortstop Kyle Carroll had a great weekend at the plate for ACU. Carroll Carroll went three-for-five with two runs including a walk-off home run in game three to give the Wildcats a 3-2 win. Carroll helped snap the Wildcats’ eight-game losing streak.
briefings mandy lambright Staff Photographer
Sophomore outfielder Taylor Waters directs senior first baseman Tyler Eager on his slide towards home plate at Crutcher Scott Field. The Wildcats dropped two out of three games to SHSU over the weekend, but won game three on a walk-off home run in the tenth inning to move to 7-11 in the Southland Conference.
Carroll Carries ‘Cats
Wildcats defeat Sam Houston on walk-off home run collin wieder sports editor The Wildcats ended their weather-delayed weekend series against Sam Houston State in walk-off fashion. After freshman outfielder Taylor Fajardo sent the game into extra innings with a tworun homer to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, junior shortstop Kyle Carroll needed just one pitch to give the Wildcats a one-run win with a solo home run to win the game, 3-2. “It was a big weight off our shoulders; we’ve lost a lot of one-run games lately,” Bonneau said. “Nothing really has been going our way, so it felt
good to get a win.” The Wildcats moved to 9-28 overall and 7-11 in the Southland Conference while the Bearkats moved to 21-20 and 13-8 in the Southland. The series didn’t get to start Friday as the game was delayed due to rain. Instead, Saturday featured a doubleheader. Game One, the Wildcats would record their third straight one-run loss as they fell to the ‘Kats, 6-5. The Wildcats held a 5-2 lead after three innings behind a combined four RBIs by freshman left fielder Marcelle Carter and sophomore third baseman Aaron Draper. The Bearkats answered, cutting into the Wildcats’ lead with a run in the fourth. Sam
“
Nothing really has been going our way, so it felt good to get a win.” britt bonneau head coach acu baseball
Houston would complete the comeback in the fifth and take junior starting pitcher Garrett DeMeyere out of the game with two runs to tie the game. Freshman Drew Hanson took over on the mound and pitched four scoreless innings to maintain the 5-5 score. But the Bearkats finally earned a run off Hanson on an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Junior pitcher Nick Palacios entered and retired the final two batters, but ACU’s bats could not score in the bottom of the inning, ending the game at 6-5. Game Two did not go well from the beginning for the Wildcats as Sam Houston scored three runs in the first inning. SHSU added three more in the sixth to put the game out of reach as starter Logan Boyd would not relinquish a run to the ‘Cats until the sixth. The Bearkats added two more runs in the seventh to make it a dominating 8-2 win in the second half of the double-header. Sunday’s game showcased a pitchers’ duel involving senior Thomas Altimont. ACU
and SHSU would battle in four straight scoreless innings before Sam Houston took the lead in the fifth with a solo home run. The Bearkats would add another in the eighth to set the stage for a great comeback in the ninth. Senior Kevin Sheets put up a zero in the top of the tenth, giving the Wildcats a shot to win in the bottom of the inning. “We had some luck go our way,” Bonneau said. “With Fajardo hitting a home run, we were able to get one up in air again in the bottom of the tenth.” contact wieder at cpw11a@acu.edu
Wildcats avoid sweep to Bearkats savanah silva sports reporter Wildcat softball traveled to Huntsville last weekend to face off against conference rival Sam Houston State University. ACU came off a threegame sweep by Southland powerhouse Stephen F. Austin. Freshman infielder Peyton Hedrick added to her already outstanding first season with the Wildcats and was named a finalist for the NFCA freshman of the year. Hedrick slammed two home runs in the series. Game 1 of the series against the Bearkats was close, but SHSU would take the win by one run. ACU came out swinging, putting SHSU down three runs in the second, but the Bearkats rallied back and took a 5-4 victory over the ‘Cats. Senior pitcher Emily Seidel took the loss, giving up five earned runs in as many innings. Sophomore outfielder Taylor Brown and Hedrick helped put up ACU’s first three runs with RBIs in the second. Brown’s triple was her ninth of the season, leading the
mariana cedillo Staff Photographer
The Wildcats avoided the sweep to Sam Houston this weekend with a win in game three, 3-2. Southland Conference in the category. ACU scored its final run of game when freshman outfielder Brianna Barnhill drove in teammate Holly Vanckhoven. “Coming off of the first loss, we just wanted to regroup and try and pull together for the next game, get something rolling in the next game to try and score some more runs,” Hedrick said. Game 2 of the Friday doubleheader was another close
one, but the Bearkats took the win. Though the Bearkats scored the same amount of runs to take the second game, 5-2, the Wildcats couldn’t answer against SHSU pitcher Haley Baros. ACU scored one in the first inning, and their second and final run on the night didn’t come until the seventh. Brown went two-for-four with two singles and two stolen bases, one of which led to a run.
Barnhill scored in the seventh off an RBI single by teammate and fellow freshman infielder Baylee Travers. Junior transfer pitcher Julia Montoya held the Bearkats scoreless until the third when sophomore Sarah Allison slammed a three-run bomb for the Bearkats that opened the floodgates on the ‘Cats. Seidel commanded the mound for six complete innings, giving up two runs, just one of them earned. Montoya came on in relief in the seventh, shutting down the Bearkats to seal the victory. The Bearkats took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a sacrifice fly, but ACU stayed focused and scored all three of their runs between the seventh and ninth innings. The final game went into extra innings after Hedrick cracked her 10th home run of the season to give the ‘Cats a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, the Bearkats answered with a leadoff double that turned into a run when ACU made two overthrows in one play. Montoya then came in and pitched her way out of a twoon, two-out jam to end the inning with a tie score. Both offenses were retired
in the eighth, but speedy pinch hitter and sophomore outfielder Lakin Carpenter reached first on a bunt single to start the ninth. She made her way to third on backto-back ground balls, then Barnhill slammed the gamewinning hit to bring Carpenter home. The Bearkats almost rallied in the bottom of the ninth, but could not cross the plate. Montoya earned the win for the Wildcats with a 3-2 final score. The ‘Cats will be back home this weekend with another three-game series against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which will also be their last of the 2015 season at Wells field. “We are continuing to work hard and try to end on a good note,” Hedrick said “Staying focused, and working to take one game at a time.” First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Friday with the second game to follow immediately after. Saturday’s 12 p.m. game will also be Senior Recognition Day and the last home game of the year. contact silva at sns12b@acu.edu
ACU football completed spring football this week with a final practice on Sunday. Former Wylie quarterback and St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum spoke to student-athletes at FCA chapel last Friday. The ACU baseball team surpassed its Southland Conference win total from last season with 12 conference games still remaining. Freshman five-tool shortstop Peyton Hedrick is currently second in batting average in the conference. She also is in the top ten in hits, doubles, triples and home runs. Be sure to follow @OptimistSports on Twitter and like the Optimist Sports Facebook page for more ACU sports news and updates.
Upcoming Golf finishes its spring schedule season Wednesday in McKinney. The Wildcats are on the final day of Southland Conference Championship play. Men’s and women’s tennis head to Ojai, California, Thursday for four days of tournament play. Softball hosts Texas A&M Corpus Christi for its final home series of the season. The first game starts Friday at 4 p.m. Baseball travels to Nacogdoches Friday to take on Stephen F. Austin. The first game starts at 6:30 p.m. Track heads to Des Moines, Iowa, for the two-day long Drake Relays.