SPECTATOR
The
Western Nebraska Community College
February 5, 2013
Volume 59, Issue 7
ENTERTAINMENT: Don’t miss an opportunity to see two exciting comets later this year, pg. 4 SPORTS: Softball, baseball teams to open their seasons this week, pg. 5 BACKPAGE: Ukrain has lots of history, pg. 8
Student SPOTLIGHT: Miranda Nicholas
‘Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it’ WNCC’s Jessica Littlejohn pursuing her dream of becoming Miss America By JOY ANITEYE Spectator Features Editor Jessica Littlejohn has one big goal for her future. She wants to become Miss America, just like her friend, Teresa Scanlan, did a couple years ago. Littlejohn said there are many reasons she looks up to Scanlan, a former student at both Gering and Scottsbluff
high schools. Littlejohn got to know Scanlan quite well when they were going to high school together. “She is her own person. She is not afraid of whom she wants to be, and that’s a really good thing,” Littlejohn said. “She’s got her head on straight.” Late last year Littlejohn took
See Littlejohn, page 2
COVER STORY
Photo by Lenzie Cole/Spectator
BY LENZIE COLE Spectator Reporter Miranda Nicholas is a freshman at WNCC. She is pursuing a degree in early childhood education. She’s also involved in choir. Q: Why did you pick WNCC?: A: “It’s close to home, and it’s a good school.” Q: Are you enjoying being part of WNCC’s music program? A: “It’s really good because of a very good music teacher. I’m glad I came up here for the music program.” Q: What else do you like about it? A: “We get to travel a lot, and we get to sing a lot of cool songs.” Q: What are your other interests? A: “In my free time I like to hang out with friends, and I like to ride horses when I can.” Q: What do you hope to do in the future? A: “Hopefully, I will eventually be able to open my own daycare. I’m majoring in early child education, so that is where I’m hoping it will go.” Q: How will you use what you’ve learned about music to help other people? A: “I’ll be able to tell how they are feeling. Maybe you can express how you feel [through music] when you can’t tell someone in words.” Q: If you could travel anywhere, where would you go and why? A: “I would probably go to Italy. It would be neat to go there. I have not really been out of the United States, so that would be pretty cool.” Q: How has music changed your life? A: “It helps me express myself in ways words can’t.” Q: What kind of music do you listen to and why? A: “I like country. I listen to anything, but I like country the most. I don’t know why that is; it’s just what I really listen to.” Q: What does the type of music you like say about you? A: “I really don’t know what it says about me, just that I’m a country girl, I guess.” Q: What inspired you to go into music? A: “I’ve loved to sing ever since I was little.”
us on Facebook
Touching the intellect of students at WNCC WNCC instructor Gus Seminario touches his students by teaching them math and engineering. But at the same time, Seminario teaches them about life. On a recent trip to Machupichu, Peru, he realized that a spiritual bird of the Incas was above his head in this picture that his family took of him.
BY JOY ANITEYE Spectator Feature Editor Gustavo Seminario is a math instructor at WNCC. He enjoys teaching engineering classes and all math classes, from basic mathematics to calculus 3. Seminario is originally from Piura, Peru. He underwent his university studies in Lima, Peru, and came to the United States as an engineer and a university professor in 1975.
Courtesy photo
‘The best
Gala we’ve ever done’ Annual event set for Feb. 22-23 at WNCC By ALEXANDRIA MOREE Spectator Fashion Editor
Q: Why did you come to the U.S.? A: At the time, I was a university professor, and there were many political views that went against the freedom of expression. They affected what I call ‘academic freedom.’ You cannot be an intellectual if you’re not free to express your ideas without any fears or remorse. And that’s why I came to this country. Q: What was your childhood like? A: It was a very happy one. I come from a very old family in Peru. One of the things I learned from home is that if I wanted something, I had to work for it. Of course, I was never denied anything, but as soon as I started to grow, my parents taught me to work. My mother made sure that we enjoyed our
After 16 years of sold out Gala events, Rita Stinner is once again preparing for what she confidentially says will be “the best Gala we’ve ever done.” On Feb. 22-23, Western Nebraska Community College will entertain and inevitably “wow” the Scottsbluff Valley with “All You Need is Love,” the theme of the 2013 Gala. “The theme is just about love. It is not a Beatles theme; however, we do have some Beatles songs. It is simply about love,” says Stinner. “We have romantic love, we have love for family, we have love for country, love that is unrequited, and love that is returned. We have every aspect of love.” Stinner said the event will be colorful. “I told the students to think popsicles when they picked out their outfits,” Stinner said with a smile. With a color theme of orange, red, yellow, and white, it is sure to be a feast for all the senses. While many faculty, staff, students, and patrons of the vocal program at WNCC attended the “Varsity Vocal Showcase” in the fall, Stinner explained that “the Gala is a more formal event. There have been years in which people attended wearing tuxedos and ball gowns; however, in our valley we
See Gus, page 3
See Gala, page 2
Courtesy photo
WNCC math instructor Gustavo Seminario enjoys making a difference in students’ lives
Jessica Littlejohn is crowned Miss Crane Watch Festival last year. Littlejohn hopes to someday become Miss America.
Wilson makes yoga part of her lifestyle Yoga helps WNCC instructor improve her strength, flexibility By ALEXANDRIA MOREE Fashion Editor
E
ight years ago Stacy Wilson, a language instructor at Western Nebraska Community College, was introduced to yoga through her then current interest belly dancing. After more and more exposure to yoga, Wilson grew to enjoy the practice of yoga even more so than the belly dancing. “I started doing yoga really seriously four and a Photo by Alexandria Moree/Spectator half years ago after I had a car accident and injured my Stacy Wilson, a foreign language instructor at WNCC, recently made yoga neck,” explains Wilson. “I couldn’t do a lot of different part of her new lifestyle. types of exercise due to the neck injury, but yoga was one thing that I could still do.” improved dramatically as she devotedly practiced yoga. By doing the singular form of physical therapy that consis“For a lot of people in the western world, when they hear the tently helped to ease her chronic pain, Wilson began to build word yoga they think simply of movement, or asana, part of yoga,” up strength. “I realized that as I was doing yoga my body was says Wilson of the misconception that yoga is only a series of transforming, not just the ability to manage my pain, but my body movements. “Little by little, the word is spreading and people are was transforming into something much stronger, especially in my core,” says Wilson, also noting that her balance and flexibility See Yoga, page 7