December 1, 2011 by UTRGV Student Media

WWW.PANAMERICANONLINE.COM

Volume 68, No. 12

December 1, 2011

Pondering intellectual property in the age of SOPA and the internet By Karen Antonacci The Pan American Once educated in the means and low on cash, most college students will face the moral dilemma: to pay for copyrighted content the traditional way or download it illegally from the internet. Further complicating matters is the new bill currently before the House Judiciary Committee, Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), that could require the U.S. Attorney General to recommend certain websites be blocked from search engines and internet service providers if the sites were posting or allowing the posting of illegal copyrighted material. One of the most controversial aspects of the bill is the feature that would increase responsibility for sites that host user-posted content, like Youtube, Flickr, Tumblr, Reddit and Facebook. Sites like these would have to strictly self-police their users to avoid being reported as a copyright infringement site and having parts of the site blocked from ISPs and search engines. Clay Young, is an avid downloader of content on the web and said he found the bill ludicrous and has signed a few petitions against it. Particularly, he takes issue with holding the websites responsible for userposted content. “If I put a stolen item in your car, and they find it and you’re at fault, then that’s ridiculous,” the 23-year old nursing major said. “(If it is passed) I would find a way around it, it would be easy to find a way around it.” On the moral dilemma, Young said he definitely thinks it’s wrong, but he doesn’t have a problem with getting movies, books, music and TV programs online for free. “It is getting copyrighted material without paying the copyright owner or without a license to do it,” he said. “It’s cheaper, it’s easier and it’s very low risk.” As a musician with two albums on iTunes, Richard Isaac Hays disagreed and said that downloading content from the internet might be inevitable but is definitely not right. “I can’t really stop people from doing what they’re doing, but personally I really don’t appreciate it because it’s killing the

CHECK THE WEB

music industry, particularly, it’s killing art,” the senior from Monterrey, Mexico said. “I’m not really mad at (the listeners) I want them to listen to my music, but at the same time I wish they loved me enough that they cared enough to pay… ‘Is my music worth it?’ That’s the way I see it.” Hays explained that he felt the iTunes price of one dollar a song was beyond reasonable to support artists, especially new artists who might be struggling, and illegally downloading was taking that much needed dollar from an artist. In regards to SOPA, however, Hays said he believed going after user-posted content sites like Youtube might not be beneficial to the music industry. “I don’t think it’s healthy for them to

block access to music videos and stuff like that, we should be able to watch those things…what I do think is wrong is these massive hackers that invent things like Napster and enable people to download, Bit Torrents and stuff like that. Block those sites so nobody can get to it,” he said. Like users of the failed Napster, the now more popular torrents, or downloads of content, Samantha Rodriguez said she used to get her music from the recently shut down Limewire but started paying for tracks through iTunes due to a lower security risk and the acquisition of a debit card. “(Limewire) was too much hassle,” the 20-year-old sophomore said. “I used a different computer for that because I

didn’t want my laptop to get viruses, so if I downloaded something, I would have to change it with the pin drive…If I had one song I wanted, then I would get it, but if it’s a list, I’m not going to bother with it.” Rodriguez said her finances used to prevent her from paying for music, even though she wanted to. “I’m pretty sure if I had the money, I would go out and buy the CD…For Nikki Minaj, I went and downloaded two songs and then I went and got more off iTunes because I was able to.” Music is not the only thing being shared illegally online. Texts or programs required by classes can sometimes cost hundreds of dollars. Abraham Cantu, an educational leadership major, said

Cruisin’ for a Bruisin’

FibeRio

Broncs head to face No.2 Ohio State. Check out panamericanonline.com for complete coverage over the weekend.

UTPA-bred company aquires facility; brings jobs to Valley. Check: panamericanonline.com on Friday.

that while obtaining content illegally was wrong, when using the content to teach students, the ends might one day justify the means. “We see it as we’re educating students, they could eventually add to that industry, whether it’s the music industry or the movie industry, we see it as we’re using their texts or their information to help (the industries),” he said. As for SOPA, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Nov. 16 and is still open to discussions or debates on the bill and is supported by more than 20 sponsors in the house. The bill is opposed and has been protested by sites including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and house minority leader Nancy Pelosi.

OPINION

December 1, 2011

Opinion

Vol. 68, No. 12

Reﬂection of adventures in journalism

Alma E. Hernandez Co-Editor in Chief Two and a half years ago I transferred to UTPA and knew I wanted to work at the newspaper, but I didn’t take the usual route of an incoming freshman. I transferred in after attending both UT and Austin Community College. Originally from the Valley, I’ve always been familiar with the

University. My dad, uncle and two aunts graduated from UTPA. My dad didn’t graduate until he was married with children; and I remember visiting the University Library as a child. Growing up and graduating from Weslaco High School, I was fairly certain I would not attend UTPA as others in my family had, not because of the caliber of the school, but because of the close proximity to my parents house. I wanted to move to Austin, and that was the biggest factor in attending UT. While there I realized I had no idea what I wanted to major in since “partying” was not an acceptable major. So I stopped attending school and started working crappy jobs to pay my bills and eventually decided it was a good idea to go back to school, so I enrolled at Austin Community College. Still unsure of what I wanted to do, I enrolled in the photography program because while at UT, my favorite class was a photography course. It was not only the one

class I never wanted to skip but I also made an easy A, since I never procrastinated on my homework. At ACC I became very interested in photojournalism program after I joined the school newspaper, The Accent. After going through the photo program at ACC, I realized I needed to finish my bachelor’s degree, and I chose to come back home rather than go back to UT. Family, costs and university size were the deciding factors. At ACC we produced one paper every two weeks, and I hoped to join the paper at UTPA as well. Before I was actually a student at UTPA I contacted the then editorin-chief and even the newspaper advisor, Gregory Selber, about working for The Pan American. I was eager to begin, and within weeks of the new semester I was producing on a weekly basis for the paper. In the two and a half years I’ve worked at the newspaper, I’ve travelled to Florida, Kentucky and to different parts of Texas

to participate in journalism conferences. The conferences have been a valuable learning experience and an opportunity to meet many professionals who are working in the field. I’m grateful we’re able to send students to journalism conferences all over Texas and even out of the state. I know there are many schools in Texas that aren’t so lucky. Along with everything I’ve learned from conferences, I’ve grown so much as a photographer and journalist in the two years I’ve worked at the paper. It’s impossible not improve your skills when you shoot on a nearly daily basis for two years while also writing stories. The University provides a place for journalism students to learn and gain valuable on-the-job experience on our own campus, and I think every journalism student should take advantage of these opportunities. You’ll meet the people who run the University and most likely make some lifetime friends along the way.

CARTOON

THE PAN AMERICAN 1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539 Phone: (956) 665-2541 Fax: (956) 316-7122 The Pan American is the ofﬁcial student newspaper of The University of TexasPan American. Views presented are those of the writers and do not necessarily reﬂect those of the paper or university.

CO-EDITORS IN CHIEF: Alma E. Hernandez alma.e.hdz@gmail.com Roxann Garcia roxx.gar11@gmail.com NEWS EDITOR: Karen Antonacci keantonacci@gmail.com SPORTS EDITOR: Michael Saenz mike_s2208@yahoo.com ARTS & LIFE EDITOR: Nadia Tamez-Robledo ntamezrob@broncs.utpa.edu PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR: Reynaldo Leal reynaldo_lealjr@yahoo.com DESIGN EDITOR: Erick Gonzalez erick.dgr@gmail.com MULTIMEDIA EDITOR: Pamela Morales pamela.morales13@gmail.com SPANISH EDITOR: Norma Gonzalez nc.gonzalez12@gmail.com ADVISER: Dr. Greg Selber selberg@utpa.edu ADMINISTRATIVE ASSOCIATE: Anita Reyes areyes18@utpa.edu ADVERTISING MANAGER: Mariel Cantu spubs@utpa.edu WEBMASTERS: Jose Villarreal josemvillarrealcs@gmail.com Selvino Padilla selvinop3@gmail.com

Delivery:

Thursday at noon Letters to the Editor

The Pan American accepts letters of 300 words or less from students, staff and faculty regarding recent newspaper content, campus concerns or current events. We reserve the right to edit submissions for grammar and length. We cannot publish anonymous letters or submissions containing hate speech or gratuitous personal attacks. Please send all story ideas to thepanamerican@gmail.com. Individuals with disabilities wishing to acquire this publication in an alternative format or needing assistance to attend any event listed can contact The Pan American for more details.

Tomas Garza/The Pan American

NEWS

December 1, 2011 November 10, 2011

higher price$ By Daniella Diaz The Pan American On Monday and Tuesday, two forums were held at the Student Union Theater that reviewed the proposed increases in tuition and fees for the upcoming fall 2012 and fall 2013 semesters. The forums allowed the Cost of Education Committee to receive feedback from students and faculty about their opinions on the increase in University prices. Only a handful of students attended the forum. Most in the audience were faculty and staff. As of Fall 2010, the University of Texas - Pan American is considered the least expensive school in the UT system to attend, according to numbers drafted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The proposed price changes will directly affect tuition prices and other fees. For example, this semester the average student at UTPA paid $3,054.77 for a 15-hour workload. However, with the new tuition price, the average student will pay $3,132.97 for the 2012 fall se-

mester and $3,214.44 for the 2013 fall semester, an increase of about $78 and $160, respectively. The tuition increases will help fund a new program that will be put into motion fall 2012. This program is called the “15 Hour Plan” and is designed to improve faculty efficiency, expand online courses, improve advisement and provide summer monetary support to students unable to receive financial aid, along with other initiatives. The proposed tuition changes will also affect board rates, three-peat tuition, designated tuition and excessive credit hour tuition. Currently a student who has exceeded the required degree plan hours pays $90 per semester credit hour. The new proposed changes increases this fee to the out-of-state rate of $363 per semester credit hour. This increases tuition to $4,356 for a student taking 12 credit hours. Students are graduating with an average of 165 credit hours when most majors only require 120 credit hours -- this fee is designed to encourage students to graduate on time and improve graduation rates. Financial aid will only cover 150 credit hours. The University’s goal

Total Academic Cost

Forums discuss proposed increases to tuition in coming years to graduate students within four years is what initiated this price increase, according to Martha Cantu, the vice president of student affairs and co-chair of the Committee of Education Cost. “It’s going to shorten their time to degree,” Cantu said. “I think it’s very important that students understand that when they look at the University, they’re looking to see how long or how many

hours it takes students to graduate in four years.” The rest of the UT system schools are already using their out-of-state rate for excessive credit hour tuition and UTPA has decided to follow the trend, according to statements presented at the forum. Despite this, some students and staff are strongly resisting the recommended price change by COEC for excessive credit hour tuition.

Mark Allen, former Student Government Association vice president and history major, is strongly against the proposed price increase. “We should not be following anybody. We should be doing our own thing,” Allen said. “If we don’t have a strong advising base for students, then there is no way that we can charge them $363 per credit hour if our institution isn’t doing what they’re supposed to be doing in advising.” Stephanie Corte is the SGA president and also acts as co-chair of COEC. Corte led the forums and explained the tuition changes to faculty, staff, and students. “I understand and agree with most of the tuition changes except the excessive hour tuition fee. It’s a very high increase in such a short amount of time,” Corte said. “Even though it’s only affecting a small amount of students but they are still students that I represent.” Corte has already begun discussing methods to combat this price increase and improve the advisement process with the rest of SGA. “(Advisement) really is affecting our students,” Corte said. “One of the main reasons that our students have all of these credit hours is because they were not advised correctly.... I hope we can prevent students from dropping out because of (the price increases).” Students can leave feedback on the COEC blog at blogs.utpa.edu/coec, which will help COEC make a decision about the proposals, although UTPA President, Robert Nelsen must approve before they go into effect.

Per Credit Hour

$130

$124 $115

2011 2012 2013

$150 $100

2011 2012

Mario Lopez/The Pan American

UTPA professor uses crowdfunding for scientiﬁc research By Susan Gonzalez The Pan American

Faith Aguilar/THE PAN AMERICAN

WEIRD SCIENCE - Biology professor Zen Faulkes holds a marbled crayﬁsh, one of many being tested in Faulkes’ study of female crayﬁsh cloning.

Zen Faulkes’ funding for scientific research is multiplying faster than the selfcloning crayfish he is studying. Known as the SciFund challenge, Faulkes, an associate professor in biology, many scientists from across the globe are attempting to raise money for independent research projects through small donations- also known as “crowdfunding.” Notoriously used for charities and projects in the humanities, this is the first time this method has been used

to raise money for scientific research. “The idea of crowdfunding is basically the idea that pretty much every charity and other organizations have used for years and years,” Faulkes said. “To get a lot of people to kick in some sort of small amount to support a project. This is what charities use, what PBS uses and increasingly a lot of artists have used this.” The SciFund Challenge officially started Nov. 1, but founders Jai Ranganathan and Jarrett Byrnes, both ecologists, began the project long before then. “They rounded up people they knew from blogging and online and through contacts and so forth,” he said. “They initially had over 200 people that expressed interest. But when it came time to actually do it, we actually ended up with 49 projects. So now we have 49 projects from scientists all over the world who are trying to raise money this way for specific research.” So far 1,108 people have contributed $60,000 to the projects, proving

that this experiment may have potential. Faulkes is representing UTPA among participants that span from Europe to Africa and said he felt obligated to display his project on SciFund. “One of the two organizers got in touch with me directly because I blog a lot,” he said. “And I have been blogging for a long time. But I have been blogging about ways to fund small scientific research for about four years. Given that I had written (about) that when he contacted me about it, I kind of felt like ‘well, I can’t back out because I would be such a hypocrite. I have to do it now. I’m stuck. I can’t just sit back and watch these guys do it. I got to try it.’” Faulkes’ specific project is about asexual female crayfish that reproduce by cloning themselves; they don’t need mates to reproduce, they simply multiply. “They showed up in the pet trade in Germany in the 1990s, and they were completely unknown to scientists. Finally, some of the people who have them as

pets were realizing ‘wait, this is unusual. I had one little crayfish I raised as a baby, I put it in its own tank, and it has babies. Now, wait, don’t you need two to tango?’.... At the time there were no known crayfish that could do this.” Currently, he is trying to raise money for a trip to Florida to study a species related to the marbled crayfish that does sexually reproduce. He wants to collect these crayfish and establish colonies in order to compare and contrast the two species. “There’s a lot of questions you could ask about this that would be a lot more powerful if you had both the asexual and sexual species in the lab,” he said. Scientific jargon aside, this project really is about people, Faulkes said. “We want people who are science fans, but not necessarily professionals, to get involved,” he said. “We want them to find a project that interests them and help it succeed.” The crowdfunding for these projects ends Dec. 15 and they can be found on rockethub.com

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December 1, 2011

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December 8, 2011

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ESPAÑOL

December 1, 2011

Buscando Hogar Con un número de 40,000 animales al año, el centro animal Palm Valley necesita gente lista para adoptar mascotas.

Por Zaira J. Heredia The Pan American El Palm Valley Animal Center se inauguró en el año 1973 como la “Sociedad humanitaria del Valle” en McAllen, Texas. En el 2007 esta sociedad fue trasladada a Edinburg, Texas y se convirtió en el centro que ahora conocemos, con fin de ayudar con el problema de subsidio estatal para los animales. Este refugio recibe desde 80 a 100 animales por día. Solamente el año pasado el refugio recibió más de 40,000 animales. De hecho, este centro ha sido modificado a través de los años para acomodar a esta cantidad de animales. En el año 2000 se cerró la Sociedad Humanitaria de Weslaco dejando al Centro animal Palm Valley como el único refugio de animales en todo el condado de Hidalgo. “Estamos abiertos al público para que dejen animales aquí y como no cobramos, recibimos muchos animales durante el día,” dijo Brenda Torres, quien es la directora del programa de voluntarios del centro de animales. El problema de exceso

Faith Aguilar/THE PAN AMERICAN

AMORES PERROS - Kiara, una pastor mixto de tres años a estado esperando ser adoptada desde Nov. 11 de este año. Para adoptar un perro visita el Palm Valley Animal Center en Edinburg o visita su sitio en lina en pvaconline.com.

de animales sin hogar es lo que mueve a los trabajadores del centro para alentar a otros a adoptar mascotas. Louis Sulvanabich es la consejera de adopciones en el centro, ella está a cargo de llamar y mantener continuidad con las adopciones anteriores. Sin embargo, no siempre hay buenos resultados en este departamento. “Las adopciones varían, hay días que desafortunadamente no hay ni una, y hay otros días que tenemos diez. No es algo consistente pero en promedio quizás tenemos 110 adopciones al mes,” dijo Sulvanabich. La meta principal del refugio es aumentar el número de adopciones. El refugio usa un proceso de aplicación donde observan que el posible dueño y mascota sean apropiados para sí mismos. Adoptar a un perro o gato adulto tiene una cuota de 90 dólares y 110 dólares para cachorros o gatitos. Esta cuota incluye una operación de castrado, microchip, primera serie de vacunas, vacuna de la rabia, 30 días de seguro, un examen médico y de personalidad y collar de identificación. “Nosotros tomamos un examen en el internet para averiguar conforme a nuestra situación y personalidades que tipo de perro sería el mejor para nosotros,” dijo Chris Smith, prospecto para adoptar. “A mí me tocó un Pastor Alemán y a mi esposa un Beagle. Entonces aquí estamos jugando con los perros y tratando de ver cuál es el mejor para nosotros y que nosotros seamos lo mejor para él.” Adoptar una mascota es una decisión muy importante y no debe de ser tomada a la ligera. Tomar exámenes en el internet para ver que raza es la adecuada para ti como los Smiths es uno de los pasos correctos que un dueño de mascota debe de considerar cuando piensa en adoptar. El Centro Animal Palm Valley necesita más gente como los Smiths o la familia Encinia que ven por los animales y quieren lo mejor para ellos. “No es necesario ser perfecto para esas mascotas abandonadas, ante sus ojos tu siempre serás la persona ideal,” dijo Dámaris Martínez, estudiante de tercer año en UTPA. Para más información sobre adopciones y trabajo voluntario pueden llamar a Palm Valley Animal Center al: (956)-686-1141

El milagro atrás de una tragedia “Día con día Dios me ayuda, el proveé. Yo estoy bien agradecido con Dios porque El me va dirigiendo, a los amigos o a lo que sea, es hermoso.” Faith Aguilar/THE PAN AMERICAN

Por Saira Treviño The Pan American A pesar de que su vida haya cambiado repentinamente y lo que siempre había soñado ahora solo son fragmentos de un ayer, cada día es una meta más que conquistar con victoria para él. Mucha de la gente viven sus vidas a la deriva. Para muchos adolecentes a los 18 años se disfruta la juventud, sin embargo hay otros que por causas inesperadas permanecen ausentes en una coma. Lo que comenzó hace 27 años, ahora es un presente lleno de agradecimiento y felicidad por tener otro día más que vivir. Se dice que cada día trae su propio afán, quizás sea cierto. Cristian Luevanos, un estudiante de ingeniería civil, nació el 2 de febrero de 1984. Como cualquier otro pequeño, siempre soñó con ser futbolista, ya que cuyo deporte es su pasión. “Uuh, amaba el soccer, bueno lo amo,” cuenta Luevanos. “Incluso yo jugué en Oklahoma.” Todo parecía proseguir en el camino adecuado, tal como planeado. El joven se acababa de graduar de la preparatoria de La Joya y ya asistía al colegio de South Texas College. Sin embargo, al cumplir sus 18 años, una edad muy importante

para los jóvenes, todo tomo un rumbo inesperado y desde allí todo cambio. “Buen no te puedo contar, pero te cuento como me han contado que sucedió, porque en si yo no recuerdo, porque me metí en coma,” relata Luevanos. El acidente sucedió en la calle 107, en la ciudad de Endinburg, Texas, cuando trató de rebazar un trailer. Lo que parecía como una simple competencia entre autos le costó a Luevanos cuatro meses de su vida—perdido e inmovilizado por una coma. “Pensé que estaba en el cielo, como todos los doctores estaban vestidos de blanco pensé que eran ángeles,” dijo Luevanos al recordar cuando despertó de su coma. Por causa del accidente, Luevanos perdió gran parte de la movilidad de su cuerpo y la articulación de sus palabras. Ahora acude a la ayuda de una silla de ruedas la cual lo transporta, en muchas ocasiones sin la ayuda de nadie, por la escuela. Cabe mencionar que cuya silla de ruedas no es eléctrica y que solo funciona al ser empujada por alguien. A pesar de su impedimento corporal, logra llegar de sitio en sitio por sus propios méritos. A pesar de que muchas veces es

muy difícil para Cristian encontrar el apoyo que necesita, siempre busca el lado positivo. Relata que tal vez el no tener una silla de ruedas electrónica pueda ser de gran ayuda para él, ya que le exige moverse por sí mismo, pero también sería de mucha ayuda por que le facilitaría muchas de las actividades difíciles de hacer por sí mismo. También comenta que poco a poco ha mejorado gracias a las terapias que recibió. Sin embargo, por causa de su estatus en el estado, mucha de la ayuda que puede estar recibiendo no le es accesible. Se cuenta que si recibiera de las terapias y de la ayuda adecuada, él pudiera caminar y hablar como cualquier otro. Este ingeniero vive solo en los dormitorios de la Universidad. Todo lo que uno hace por si mismo lo hace Luevanos también, sin embargo es doble el esfuerzo. Nadie está al cuidado de él. Nadie lo ayuda a vestirse, a bañarse, a comer. Las rutinas de cada día son cumplidas con gran esfuerzo y mucha determinación. “Día con día Dios me ayuda, el proveé,” expresa Cristian. “Yo estoy bien agradecido con Dios porque El me va dirigiendo, a los amigos o a lo que sea, es hermoso.”

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December 1, 2011

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ARTS & LIFE

December 1, 2011

FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC PICKS ICKS Student channels passion to rise above adversity OF THE WEEK Museum

The International Museum of Art and Science will offer free admission Sunday. Visitors will have access to all exhibits. 1900 Nolana, McAllen. www.imasonline.org

Film

The University Program Board will show a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows double feature Thursday and Friday. Part 1 will be screened at 5 p.m. in the Student Union Theater, and Part 2 will begin at 7:40 p.m. in the quad.

Theater

University Children’s Theatre Productions will perform “James and the Giant Peach” Dec. 8 through Dec. 11 in the Albert L. Jeffers Theatre. General admission is $3. University Theatre Box Ofﬁce: 665-3581

Benefit

The Student Association for Medical Spanish is hosting a Christmas toy drive beneﬁting children from local colonias. Toys can be dropped off at the Science Building, the library or the Student Union until Dec. 9.

By xxxxxxxxx The Pan American

Reynaldo Leal/THE PAN AMERICAN

SWEET SYMPHONY - Abran Garcia plays his cello at the campus’ Veteran’s Memorial garden Nov. 17. He credits his love of music for overcoming personal problems and an abusive upbringing. In the future, the music major hopes to become a cello instructor. By Dimitra Hernandez The Pan American If it weren’t for a chance conversation with a stranger, 19-yearold Abran Garcia would have been dead a year ago. Garcia had fought with his mother about leaving home last November, a move he made to leave the abusive environment he faced there and pursue his goal of playing the cello. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘OK, I’m just going to end this,’” he said. “So I drove to school and began to play at the communication building for one last time. It was one of my favorite places to play.” He didn’t know until then how one person would change his outlook on a life he was ready to end. As he sat there drawing the bow across the strings of his cello, a girl stopped and asked him questions. “I really want to thank her, and she doesn’t know she saved me,” he said. “I explained to her about my cello and how I wanted to teach kids how to play in the future. That saved me.” The events that took Garcia, a music major, to the edge in the end didn’t start in college. They began in his abusive home. “There was never much support with what I wanted to do,” Garcia said. “There was always fighting and hitting, and it’s always been really hard.” Garcia grew up as the second oldest of six children, and he felt the

need to take responsibility and care for his younger siblings. “I think about it, and I had to grow up very fast. My siblings didn’t have anybody to look up to,” he said. “I had to be that person.” Garcia remembers his evenings at home and the ridicule he faced from his own parents; an experience he says no one should ever have to endure. “It was hard at home because I had to practice while having my

“

his desire to move out, she reacted angrily and demanded he leave at once. “She snapped and began to hit me. I remember holding her hand and asking her to stop,” Garcia said. “She then demanded I apologize, so I did, but I didn’t know for what. I felt betrayed.” Garcia packed his belongings into his car, including his old cello, and moved in with his girlfriend temporarily. They too began to fight,

I remember thinking to myself, ‘OK, I’m just going to end this.’

”

- Abran Garcia UTPA cello student

father suggest that I was gay because of my decision to play cello,” recalls Garcia. “I’ve always been told that I’m worthless and never going to amount to anything from my own family. If you hear this from your own family, what do you expect from the rest of the world?” Garcia decided to leave the abusive household and chose to take a step forward for himself. “I thought to myself that I had to go,” he said. “If I stayed home what I would have ended up doing is working and not going ahead in my cello playing.” When he told his mother about

and he felt like he had no one to turn to. It was then that he went to the communication building with the intention to play his cello one last time before taking his life. That’s when a female stranger stopped to ask him questions about his instrument that made him remember the reason he wanted to live. “It would have been a year,” he said, reflecting on that November day. Garcia turned his sadness into motivation. As he prepared for his first semester in college as a music major, he knew he would need a new

cello. “My old one was horrible,” he said. He decided to sell his car and was excited when he found a buyer on Craigslist, an online classifieds website. “I felt so good, like it was a step forward,” Garcia said. However what he thought was a silver lining to a hard couple of months would soon turn into a disappointment. He had agreed to accept the money in payments, but his calls to the buyer soon went unanswered. “Eventually I couldn’t get in contact with her,” Garcia said. “I knew I had been cheated; she gave me $1,100 in total when my cello was $4,200.” Garcia didn’t let the setback keep him from pursuing his goal. Determined, he continued his dream and rode a bicycle to and from Edinburg North High School where he taught cello lessons. “It was hard in the heat, and then trying to balance a cello and backpack…” he said. Garcia now owns a car of his own. He understands the concept of struggling, something that has only made him stronger for the future. “It’s hard, very hard to juggle school and work but it’s not impossible,” Garcia said. “I want to finish my cello degree and I really want to teach, because to me cello is one of those things that can apply to almost every aspect in your life, and that’s important.”

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SPORTS

December 1, 2011

By Michael Saenz The Pan American Perhaps Rome couldn’t be built in a day, but the real question for the University of Texas-Pan American was if a Division I athletics program could be built back up in three years. That’s the daunting task that Athletic Director Chris King encountered when he accepted the position at UTPA two and a half years ago. THE CHALLENGE The difficulty in building up a program is more intricate than the common person can see. A university that most people consider part of northern Mexico is just the beginning of the difficulties that UTPA faces. But having a staff with colorful personalities and headline-grabbing opportunities is always an asset, especially when national exposure is an extremely important aspect of sports in this day and age. And this is where men’s basketball coach Ryan Marks fits right in. “(Coach Marks) is a fan favorite inside the department. Everybody loves him. He’s a lovable kind of guy and the players take to his coaching style and his personality,” King said. In addition to connecting himself to the players in a unique approach, Marks has helped bring national attention to the Broncs in more ways than one. In the summer CBSSports.com Senior Writer Jeff Goodman followed the third-year UTPA coach during one of his annual recruiting trips and blogged about the entire trail. After the summer project ESPN The Magazine approached Marks with another opportunity, this time a chance to blog about coaching the program. His blog “A Broncs Tale” is showcased online and in The Mag every two weeks. Even though exposure is starting to make its way down south that is only the cusp of the situation that King needed to turnaround. Athletes' grades and graduation rates are important factors that he had to tackle as well. Last year the departmental GPAs were an average of 2.88 and about 50 percent of

athletes carried at least a 3.0 at the end of the year, with the athletes’ graduation rates 17 percent higher than the general student body. This year the numbers just came out and the 17 percent rate above the rest of the student body remains. As the GPAs and graduation rates continue to increase for athletes, so do the expectations and standards for the University when recruiting incoming prospects. The NCAA has a minimum requirement of a 2.0 GPA in order to be eligible for a Division I athletic scholarship, and UTPA doesn’t settle. “Our motto is we want to recruit the best and brightest, and so we recruit a better prepared student academically,” King said. MOVING FORWARD Speaking to King in the summer, another fairly big project that he was eager to begin was continuing to renovate a few of the athletic facilities. Last year the staff was able to put in new bleachers and an entirely new basketball court. Other additions to come include a front porch with a main lobby/display area, concessions and merchandise area, restrooms, ticket box office, external operations office, storage, a new video scoreboard, Athletic Fund hospitality area and athletic administration offices. But of course you can have all the plans in the world to better your athletic facilities but without the proper funds at the end of the day you have nothing. “Because of our budget situation at the University, most of our fundraising money goes back into making that budget,” King said. “…we want to do some renovations for the tennis program, we are looking at purchasing a new video board for the Field house through our beverage contract that would be put in after basketball season.” Basically any new additions that the university plans on doing needs to be privately raised. Private funds are usually from alumni, and those are very tough to come by, King said. “There has to be those special individuals out there that want to make a major difference, that’s where those funds come from,” King said.

THE PRODUCT This is a “what have you done for me lately” type of era, and perhaps, the greatest indication on how to measure that formula is ticket sales. With basketball being the primary sport at UTPA, the fact that ticket sales are rising is probably a good thing. “When I first arrived on campus, I asked our business manager how many season tickets we sold for basketball, and he told me eight,” the third-year AD said. “Last year, we were up 91 percent. This year we’re trying to finalize the numbers and we’re probably going to be up another 50 percent. But we still have to do more.” In the summer there was a chance that the Southland Conference would take a look at UTPA and invite them to join, but recently it was learned that Houston Baptist, out of the Great West, was invited instead. There are several people around the conference who believe that another invitation from the SLC could be coming, but it’s becoming less likely that UTPA will be chosen. Houston Baptist says that they will add a football program in 2014, and when it was all said and done that put them over the top above the Broncs. Despite the fact that many around the program believe that UTPA is a better all-around run university. The irony of it all for UTPA is that technically it’s labeled as a Division I school, with basketball being its main sport and not being able to qualify to make the sport's biggest event, the NCAA Tournament, something isn’t right. The Great West Conference is the only Division I alliance that does not reward the conference winner with an automatic bid to the NCAAs. Yes, UTPA has made a few steps in the right direction but something doesn’t quite add up when it’s all said and done. And maybe two and a half years is not enough time to pass judgement on AD King.

Volleyball # UTPA Victories over the years:

2007 ‘08

‘10

8 9

‘11

‘09

Coach Brian Yale was hired Jan. 2011 and led the Broncs to a 8-24 record during his inaugural season.

# UTPA Victories over the years:

In the past two seasons the Broncs have posted a 43-63 record.

Manny Mantrana has coached 10 All American's, in including five All-American scholar athletes throughout his career.

The Broncs have gone 12-52 under Marks' first two seasons.

August 2009, Athletic Director Chris King was hired.

2007

‘09

‘10

10 6

11 11 14

‘10

‘11

‘09

‘08

‘09 ‘10

14 22

‘11

Over 40 of Mantrana's players have received AllConference or All-Region accolades with 20 of those players signing professional contracts.

# UTPA Victories over the years:

14 18

‘08

2007

Women’s Basketball

# UTPA Victories over the years:

2007

The Broncs fielded a squad with seven freshmen this season.

Baseball

Men’s Basketball Coach Ryan Marks was hired May 2009 after posting a 91-54 in five seasons at St. Edwards University

15 8

‘08

Coach Denny Downing has led the Broncs to a 16-7 home record in his first two seasons.

>> The Broncs have won 12 conference games under Downing.

December 1, 2011

the pan american

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the pan american

December 1, 2011