PAN
Volume 68, No. 5
T H E
U N I V E R S I T Y
O F
T E X A S - P A N
A M E R I C A N TM
AMERICAN www.panamericanonline.com
September 29, 2011
Erick Gonzalez/The Pan American
DAY 1
Science guy By Susan Gonzalez The Pan American HESTEC (Hispanic, Engineering, Science and Technology) Week kicked off its 10th year Monday with Educator Day plus symposiums by the College of Education and Science and Engineering. The latter drew a crowd of eager students wanting to catch a glimpse of engineer and television host Bill Nye the Science Guy. Many students, like senior biology major Mandy Carin, grew up watching Nye’s show. “I watched him growing up, so I was really excited to see what he’s doing nowadays,” Carin said. “I’m really glad that he’s authentic. He does practice green energy and supports sustainability and other world-changing methods of energy conservation.” As Carin said, one of the main focuses of Nye’s presentation was the need for energy conservation in a world with a growing population. “By Halloween, there will be 7 billion people on the world,” Nye said. “In my lifetime, the population more than doubled. I hope it does not more than double in your lifetime. But it will increase.” He went on to tie the theme of
HESTEC into his discussion. “Everyone wants you to do less,” he said. “Environmentalists want you to drive your car less, they want you to use less clean water - wear dirty clothes, and if you don’t have to, don’t eat. But just doing less is not going to do it. What we need to do is find ways to do more with less. And my friends, that is where you come in. That is where the scientists and the engineers of tomorrow are going to change the world.” As important as this week is to those who are in science and engineering fields, Mark Allen, a UTPA junior who attended the event dressed as the Transformer, Bumblebee, is proof that this event draws in students who study the humanities as well. “There’s something for everybody,” the social studies composite major said. “If you’re interested, why not go and hear about something in science and engineering? It’s going to help your life in one way or another. Especially with events like this, the speakers are just paying it forward. They’ve done their time in their youth and now they’re giving back to the community so that future generations know what kind of direction we need to go to. We need all majors to go to these things.” Allen, whose father is a forester and mother is a biologist, has been attending HESTEC events since 2007 due to his interest in science, engineering and technology. “2007 was definitely the most hands-on year,” he said. “We had the NASA stuff, the kids really liked it, I think this year has the potential to be the best year or at least coming close to 2007. I think there’s a lot
of potential.” As much as he enjoys HESTEC, he still thinks there is room for improvement in future years. “It has such a base here in the Valley where everybody knows about it, a lot of families come,” Allen said. “HESTEC really needs to focus on the Valley’s needs. What does the Valley need? What can the Valley do? What can the average family do to improve the air quality and the water quality? And getting active in the community to make sure we’re all looking after each other- companies and individuals. ‘Cause we’re all on this planet together!”
DAY 2
Awesome Fossum The second day of HESTEC, appropriately titled “Student Leadership Day,” welcomed astronaut Michael Fossum. In addition, the College of Health Sciences and Human Services and the College of Social Behavioral Sciences held symposiums. The presentation was led by Congressmen Ruben Hinojosa and UTPA President Robert Nelsen, both of whom were just as impressed with communicating with Fossum via downlink as the middle school students in attendance. “Did you ever dream you were
going to talk to an astronaut in outer space?” Nelsen said. “You’re going to talk to an astronaut that’s on a space station right now.” The excitement continued as Fossum recounted his past experiences on campus. “The first university I attended was Pan American University, where you are right now,” said Fossum, a McAllen native. “I remember taking night classes at Pan Am and looking up at the sky and dreaming about being up here some day. And now I really am here. It’s been a great challenge for me. It’s been an adventure of a lifetime to be here.” Keeping with the theme of the day, Fossum reassured the “leaders of tomorrow” that no goal is out of reach. “(Becoming an astronaut) didn’t even seem like something I could dream of,” he said. “But you know what, that’s not true. It’s really not true. Part of me didn’t believe it could happen, but another part of me never gave up on that dream. I tried to do my best in school. I wasn’t always in the top of my class; I was pretty rarely in the top of my class. “But I worked hard and kept dreaming and using that dream to give me the direction and motivation to stay in school and keep working hard. And I knew one day that my education and hard work would pay off. And I’m really blessed that it’s paid off in this way.” Junior graphic design major Jared Ballejos believes that speakers like Fossum and what they have to say are integral to HESTEC. “They had the MythBusters last
For up-to-date HESTEC coverage visit: panamericanonline.
year and there was this one kid in the audience who said ‘because of you, I absolutely love science,’” Ballejos said. “He was just so intrigued and so motivated by them to seek out science and stuff like that. Definitely the speakers-they have an impact on us, our generation and the younger generations to come.” Ballejos, who participated in the student intern panel at the College of Social Behavioral Sciences symposium, was there to discuss the work he did in the African nation of Togo through the Cultural and Language Deployment Program (CULP) in conjunction with the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). “If you want to be known and get yourself out there you have to be involved in the University as well as anything else,” Ballejos said. “It was really to see what other students have done in terms of internships and to share my unique story. Be there as a leader and say ‘I’ve accomplished this, so can you.’” Ballejos, who likes to demonstrate his “natural leadership skills,” was very excited to participate in HESTEC on Student Leadership Day and views the event as a great opportunity for students. “I think it’s absolutely wonderful that Pan Am can host such a big event and have so many speakers and innovative ideas,” he stressed. “It’s opened up to the students and not only gives them a chance to soak in the ideas but also have the chance to speak one-on-one with some of the people and speakers that are here. I think it’s great.”