WEDNESDAY
April 09, 2014
Vol. 98 • No. 5 www.therambler.org
The Rambler The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
18th annual President’s Honors Concert promotes top talents Campus,
page 4&5
Table tennis wins 11th national title
Mortar Board taps scholars Paula Justice
prjustice@txwes.edu
Courtesy of Joe Valdez
Yahao Zhang was one of the key players for Wesleyan in the Table Tennis Collegiate National Championships.
Ryan Grounds
rmgorunds@txwes.edu
The Texas Wesleyan University table tennis team competed in the 2014 TMS College Table Tennis national championships April 5-7 in Monroeville, Pa., near Pittsburgh and brought home the gold.
This win brings Texas Wesleyan’s Championship streak to11 consecutive national championships. The men’s team faced one of its toughest challenges against Mississippi College on Saturday, April 5. The men’s doubles put the Rams against Choctaw University. The two teams battled it out with each
program putting two teams in the final four. Texas Wesleyan’s Zhedi Bai and Razvan Cretu defeated MC’s Junyu Xiao and Zesheng Huang for the title. The competition was tied 2-2 entering men’s doubles event. Yahao Zhang, a U.S. Olympian, and Emil Santos, 2013 CTTA men’s singles
French Alps to Fort Worth
David Hagen
dmhagen@txwes.edu
The Language Company on the Wesleyan campus has brought in many new faces from around the world on top of the international students already based in Texas. One such student is Mathilde Rousselle, and she is from Thoard, France. She is not a typical Fort Worth Language Company student because there are not many from Europe as a whole at TLC. The Wesleyan office has most of the students coming from the Far East and Saudi nations The Language Company has a complex job of helping international students speak English but go far beyond this as, according to the website thelanguagecompany. For More Current News, check out TheRambler.org
com, “provides a academic program that is carefully designed to help achieve your language learning goals and is a globally-minded organization that provides English as a second language instruction and cultural opportunities to individuals who are seeking educational, professional and personal enrichment since 1983. They have 14 schools throughout the U.S. with 12 of these based on university campuses along with three ongoing projects, one of which one will be in the Texas area. But since The Language Company signed with Texas Wesleyan two years ago, the campus and the company has seen much change by bringing in many interesting and different cultures to Texas. The director of The Language Company Jerry Balding Jr. stated that instruction and learning potential are vital to academic success. “Success is guaranteed as long as the students play their part,” he said. The main purpose, according to Balding, is to “help students walk straight into a university setting and begin classes straight away.” So after speaking to the di-
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rector, it was important to understand the point of view of the students of The Language Company to see if they felt the program was a success. The reason Rousselle choose to come to The Language Company in Fort Worth is an intriguing story because she stated with a smile on her face “that was a coincidence” that she came to the Wesleyan campus. Her original choice was a university in Kentucky, but she had issues completing her high school diploma back in France. After two attempts she had to change her plans. She was fortunate to get accepted at the Texas Wesleyan English program, and she had an organization back at home help find her the school and she had to put together various items to make it happen. “I needed to make a motivational letter, a CD and to take an interview via Skype in English” she said. Those were to prove she spoke enough English to be entered for the program, and her very different lifestyle back in France caused some early challenges. Her hometown village Tho-
ALPS, page 3
Newscast Sports Access The Weekender Wesleyan People
champion, took the win for Wesleyan. The Wesleyan table tennis team became eligible to play for the championship in 2004 and has not been defeated since then. “The 2014 team title along with the win in men’s doubles gives the Rams a total of 55 championships since the
program’s inception in 2001.” ramsports.net said. In a bit of an upset, the Lady Rams only got to the semifinals, but the Rams and Lady Rams of table tennis declared the ultimate national victory.
Wesleyan’s Mortar Board is one of only 230 prestigious chapters across the nation. The national honor society for senior students prides itself and lifelong members on the principles of scholarship, leadership and service. Mortar Board began with two students who met coincidentally in 1918. Although the students were from different campuses, they wore similar pins – mortarboards. Later, those women were instrumental in the initiation of the organization at four college campuses. Today, Mortar Board continues the nearly 100-year-old traditions of the mysterious “tapping” of new members and providing opportunities to serve campus, community and the nation. Wesleyan student, Melody Armijo, vice president of communications for Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society said the application process begins after each fall semester. “It will be in early June and will last until February,” Armijo said. “Selection and everything is done in March and tapping in April.” Historically, newly selected members are “tapped” as an induction into Mortar Board. “When we tap them, it’s to let them know, ‘You have been selected,’” Armijo said. “This year, we’re doing it in full robe. It might be in class, it might be while they’re out
MORTAR, page 3
Tallie graces Goostree event Paula Justice
prjustice@txwes.edu
Ekere Tallie, poet, educator, speaker and poetry editor of “African Voices,” graced Texas Wesleyan’s Martin Hall. On March 25, as keynote presenter at the 33rd annual Goostree Symposium, Tallie discussed “Success is…success ain’t: redefining what it means to make it.” On being an artist Tallie described her work as an exploration of silence, sexism, racism and herbalism. But, it is not at all what some people think of when they think about having a job. “In fact, it’s not even a job,” said Tallie. “I see it as a calling and my life’s work. I write about all sorts of things: pretty much anything that is important to me. If I learn something, and I think it’s useful to you, I have to find some way to pass it on.” The author of the poetry collection “Karma’s Footsteps” has shared her voice through poetry, fiction and nonfiction writing at events and universities across Europe and North America. She also writes to those whom she refers to as “Continuum” through her blogs: “The Sage Honey: Writing about my journey into the
world of plant medicine” and “The Sage Mama: A spirited place for all things Mama.” “And Continuum writes [and rights] me,” Tallie said. “You should know that.” “To: Continuum” is a novella - a series of letters scheduled for release in September - where Tallie writes to young writers and artists. In the series, she shares her ideas on social justice, experience in the craft of writing and being a writer – an artist. “Being an artist means your heart will break and break and break again,” Tallie said, “and it’s your job to mend it. “When you create art, you have medicine in your hands.” On critical thinking Tallie shared a single thought that has since influenced her life as a mother, writer, herbalist and educator. “The thought went like this: ‘most of the ideas that are floating around in my head are not mine.’ I want you to sit with that.” Consequently, she affirmed a major element of the Wesleyan culture - critical thinking. “Once you start thinking critically, you will never stop,” Tallie said. “The problem is that once you start thinking critically…you will never be
comfortable again.” Tallie suggested that thinking critically enables one to examine their surroundings and celebrate the beauties therein. Likewise, critical thinking permits one to identify injustices and take actions in personal and global resolutions. “Consider the fact that we all are coming from a tradition of people who fought authority and made sacrifices in order to do what they thought was right.” …Which leads to success “My success…would have to do with creating community, teaching, mentoring, and contributing to the legacy of the writers, the activist and the cultural workers who came before me,” Tallie said. Throughout her speech, Tallie challenged the individual Goostree attendees to think critically, and in doing so, to examine their individual ideas of success. She explained that it was only through thinking critically that she discovered her own definition of success. “Everyone has something to give and a responsibility to develop it and share it with others.” The 34th annual symposium will be held in 2015.
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