WEDNESDAY April 13, 2016 Vol. 100 • No. 6
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OPINION
Prud’homme ready for new start Ricardo Cortez rbcortez@txwes.edu
Graduating college is a scary thought Even though graduating college is exciting, it is also scary because you don’t know what the future holds for you.
NEWS
Prud’homme ready for new start Texas Wesleyan’s new head football coach brings a winning legacy to his first college coaching job.
CAMPUS
Photo courtesy of txwes.edu New Texas Wesleyan head football coach Joe Prud’homme coached for 24 years at Fort Worth’s Nolan Catholic High School.
dndevos@txwes.edu
Get more information on the disease that effects one in every 263 American males.
A&E
Common Ground is a great restaurant Common Ground is a up and coming bar and grill that serves great food and has great drink prices.
SPORTS
As the end of the semester draws near, many students may wonder about what awaits them outside Texas Wesleyan University’s small, familiar campus. At University College Day on April 20, students can discover just that while showcasing what they’ve accomplished in their time here. Dr. Barbara Kirby, associate professor of Paralegal Studies and UCD 2016 Committee member, continues to be a faculty sponsor for students presenting during UCD because she believes it’s an important event for the university. “It’s an opportunity for us to showcase the kind of work that our students are doing here at Wesleyan,” Kirby said. “It’s fantastic because it’s a whole day devoted to students showing off.” Kirby is especially excited for the 10:30 a.m. keynote presentation at Martin Hall. The presentation features a panel of successful alumni
rmlehr@txwes.edu
The team hopes to build upon a strong outdoor season, by sending athletes to NAIA tournament
ONLINE
Wesleyan students and faculty celebrate National Kite Day.
representing each of the academic schools and is moderated by Judge Quentin McGown. “It’s going to be in a ‘Ted Talk’ style,” Kirby said. “They will each share how they became successful after leaving Wesleyan, which we think is going to be a very positive experience for our students – to see, yes there is life after Wesleyan, and it can be a very successful life.” Students can give their brains a break at noon on the mall at Ram Jam, which features free birthday cake in celebration of Wesleyan’s 125th anniversary. Like Kirby, Dr. Lisa Dryden, UCD 2016 Committee Chair and professor of Graduate Reading 1, has been a faculty sponsor for student presenters in the past. She loves the way UCD allows professors and students at Wesleyan to collaborate together. “It’s very unique to Wesleyan,” Dryden said. “It’s a wonderful way to bring the entire campus community together, including both professors and students.”
UCD. page 3
Photo by Erica Estrada Texas Wesleyan student Becky Lavarn enjoys playing frisbee with other students in front of Dora’s Dining Hall at Ram Jam 2015.
Peacemakers seek resolutions Rowan Lehr
Track team looks to build upon recent success
PRUD’HOMME. page 3
Students showcase research at UCD Dalise DeVos
Testicular cancer awareness month
How do you build something out of nothing? When there’s no start or end in sight, where do you begin? Texas Wesleyan head football coach Joe Prud’homme believes you start at the source. “Start with the culture, having all of our players in the same mindset,” said Prud’homme, a 52-year-old San Antonio native who played cornerback at both Tyler Junior College and the University of Texas. “That mindset is outworking everybody and knowing the main goal is to make a product Wesleyan is proud of.” Prud’homme’s record at Fort Worth’s Nolan Catholic High School could be seen as a testament to his ability to helm a team to be proud of. The 24-year Prud’homme era at Nolan saw the Vikings win seven Texas Association of Private
and Parochial Schools titles. He was named the 2008 private school coach of the year by Dave Campbell's Texas Football magazine. Prud’home said leaving Nolan is hard. “When you’re in one place for 24 years and you have the kind of success we had as a group its bittersweet,” Prud’homme said. “When you’ve known people for so long that you’re teaching their kids it can be hard.” So why leave? “I knew that Wesleyan was a good and friendly place from previous experience,” Prud’homme said. “I didn’t realize how great it actually was until I did my research. I just said to myself, that’s a place I want be.” Prud’homme was introduced as Wesleyan’s head coach at a press conference at Lou’s Place on Feb. 25.
Wesleyan’s Texas Peacemakers want everybody to get along. The team, which has been in existence since 2008, travels to state and national moderation competitions to practice resolution skills on mock civil court cases. “What we teach is an alternative form to solve disputes among people,” said Dr. Michelle Payne, who coaches the team along with Dr. Barbara Kirby. “So you don’t end up in court and you end up trying to preserve some kind of relationship with these people.” Last November multiple Peacemakers won individual and group honors at the Sixteenth Annual National Intercollegiate Mediation Tournament, which was held in Iowa. Adam Coen, Carlos Ruiz and Tammy Hayes all finished among the top 10 mediators, according to txwes.edu.
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“The nice thing about it is that student who participate and get awards, because they do individual plus team awards, they are considered AllAmerican scholars in mediation,” Payne said. Payne said that Wesleyan got involved in competitive international mediation exercises in 2006.
Texas Wesleyan to the national tournament and they beat us.” The 2008 Wesleyan team won the national tournament and since then the team has always had a strong presence at the tournament, Kirby said. In 2010 Kirby began teaching at Wesleyan and began recruiting stu-
“What we teach is an alternative form to solve disputes among people.” -Dr. Michelle Payne The Peacemakers began in 2008 while Kirby was teaching and coaching a moderation team at the University of Texas at Dallas. She and Payne met because they were both working on their doctorate degrees. “I was coaching the team at UTD and I told her, this is a really great event you should get your students involved in it,” Kirby said. “In the fall of 2008 she brought students from
dents to be part of the moderation team. “My friend Dr. Michelle Payne had been working as political science professor and head of director of paralegal studies program,” Kirby said. “She let me know they were looking for a person to run the paralegal studies program, so I came here in 2010 and have been here since then.” Payne said that in the competitions,
no more than five Wesleyan students play one of three roles: mediator, advocate, or client. The students try to come up with solutions to their cases that don’t involve a court hearing. This alternative style of resolution is used outside the academic world and in many areas of law, such as divorce-related child custody cases. Patricia Duffey, a senior paralegal studies major, wrote that 2015 was her first year to compete on the team. “The group was eclectic,” she wrote in an email. “We had people of all different age groups, ethnic groups, and experience level with mediation. Each person brought a different insight to the mediation.” Kirby said being a Peacemaker does not take up a lot of time and encourages student participation. “Students from all over Texas Wesleyan are eligible to participate,” Kirby said. “They don’t have to have had my class in alternative dispute resolution or have any other qualification, just be a student here at Texas Wesleyan.”