EDITORIAL
SPORTS
A&E
ED: Are there classroom complaints at Wesleyan? Pg. 2
Students share self-love and care experiences.Pg. 4
Rams’ tennis teams swing into their season. Pg. 7
OP: Consumers shouldn’t have to think politics.Pg. 2
Looking for horror? ‘Ted Bundy Tapes’ hit Netflix. Pg. 6
Women’s golf aims for nationals in 2019 season. Pg. 8
THERAMBLER
theramblertwu @the_rambler theramblertwu
THE VOICE OF TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS SINCE 1917
The Rambler
WEDNESDAY Feb.13, 2019 Vol. 103 • No. 1 www.therambler.org
TXWES Esports Program continues its growth Elizabeth Lloyd
ejlloyd@txwes.edu
Photo by Jacinda Chan Senior marketing major Elena Sinde Romero reads the summer school scholarship poster at the Polytechnic United Methodist Church.
Wesleyan gifts students summer scholarships David Cason
dlcason@txwes.edu
Scholarships are now available to Wesleyan students for the summer 2019 semester. Students registered prior to Jan. 1 are eligible for a $3000 summer scholarship. Students are required to take a minimum of 6 credit hours during the summer semester to qualify. Roughly, this equates to two classes for the price of one. This new initiative is the brainchild of John Veilleux, vice president for enrollment, marketing & communications, who looked at summer enrollment numbers over the past several years and noticed a downward trend in student participation. “I started looking at why this is happening,” Veilleux said. “When you take a fundamental 30,000 feet view and just kind of look and go well, ‘What do we do during the year when students come that we aren’t doing during the summer?’ One of the biggest things we do is offer scholarships. We haven’t been doing that in summers, so I said ‘Why are we not doing that in summer.’ It doesn’t take a whole lot of rocket science to figure out that if you make it more affordable, more students will enroll.” In addition to scholarships, more classes will be available during the summer semester. The emphasis will be on junior and senior level classes, online classes, as well as classes that have high failures, drops and withdraws. Certain classes offered only once per year will also be available for students looking to graduate on time.
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The TXWES Esports Program has made great strides in building its community, expanding its influence, and formalizing teams since it began in fall 2018, according to Eugene Frier, executive director of the TXWES Esports Program and Recreation. Frier said Jacob Chesney, senior general business administration major, coach for the Hearthstone team and coordinator of the TXWES Esports Program and Gaming, along with Randy Turner, senior liberal arts major and community manager of the TXWES Esports Program, have both played major roles in advancing the size of the Esports program at Wesleyan. Turner organized and led the fundraiser Extra Life the week of Thanksgiving last semester. The fundraiser raised $500 for Cook Children’s Medical Center, Frier said. Along with coordinating events and recruiting potential players, Turner said he “seeks feedback from students on campus about what they might like to see in the program and how they can get involved in the program.” There are a total of 49 people involved in various positions within the program. Frier said the program has brought 14 students to the campus, and there are seven more who have already been accepted to
the university this semester through the TXWES Esports Program. He said the biggest changes for the teams within the program between last semester and this semester has been structural accountability involving gray checks (checking students’ academic standing) and scheduling, which has been modeled after the other athletic programs at Wesleyan. “We were not in the same position last fall that the other athletic teams were in because they could tell their students last spring, ‘This is when practice is. Make sure you’re not in class.’ Because we started last semester with students on campus, it was kind of like, ‘All right guys, what are we doing?’” Frier said. Chesney has devoted much of his time to coaching the Hearthstone team and coordinating in the office of the TXWES Esports Program to continue building skills and further formalizing the teams within the program. He said that being involved in Esports has made his childhood dream of working with video games come true. “I remember being 11 years old and telling my grandma I would test video games when I grow up,” Chesney said. “And now I’m going to be working very close in league with video games.” The TXWES Esports Program will be hosting a fundraiser from 1 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Feb. 20 at Raising Cane’s on South University Drive.
Scholarship Quick Facts • All students registered before Jan. 1 are eligible. • It is a $3,000 scholarship. • Students must take a minimum of six credit
“We are trying to provide that path forward for them [students] to move along and complete their degree,” Veilleux said, “so really identifying that mix of classes, the right classes to offer on top of a financial aid package, which could lower their cost to attend, speed their degree and path to completion, which is what we’re trying to do. I think for the first time in a while we’ve really taken a hard look at that as deans, administrators, and I think we’ve done something that should be more of a service for students.” Junior Nick Davis said he had seen the fliers around campus but didn’t know any more information about the scholarship. Either way Davis said he wouldn’t be attending. “I have not been to summer school here,” Davis said. “It’s cheaper to go elsewhere. I can go to Hill College for $300.” A dozen students were asked, and like Davis the concern voiced most often was the affordability of summer school at Wesleyan. More inexpensive alternatives for core classes may continue to detract students from going to summer school on campus. Veilleux said Wesleyan’s emphasis
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on upper level classes during the summer term that must be taken at Wesleyan should help with enrollment. Senior Ashley Hicks said she would be looking into the scholarship because she already goes to summer school. Hicks also said she wouldn’t mind online classes if that’s all that was available. “I’m not familiar with the scholarship, but I’ll definitely look into it,” Hicks said. Students who register after Jan. 1 who are not eligible for the $3,000 scholarship will have a summer scholarship option available to them as part of their scholarship package. According to Veilleux the main objective of this scholarship is to make Texas Wesleyan more affordable for students. “We understand that it costs a lot of money to go here, and anything that we can do to make school more affordable not only helps students, but it helps them graduate early and helps them graduate on time, and ultimately that’s what we are trying to do,” Veilleux said. Priority registration for summer classes begins March 25. Late registration ends June 4.
Photo by Elizabeth Lloyd Freshmen general studies majors Teo Macedo and Nick Hains practice together for the FIFA team. Forty-nine people are currently in the Epsorts program.
Rams’ baseball on 10-0 winning streak
Photo by Miranda Day Junior catcher Tanner Amaral throws the ball down to third as the opposing runner from LSU- Alexandria tries to steal the base. Amaral helped fellow players with four assists and also had 13 putouts. Log on to therambler.org for more.
Three business students voiced their issues with Wesleyan’s parking lots at Thursday’s Student Government Association general business meeting. Karen Duarte-Escobar, Le Le Huynh and Jonathan Dermott stood up in front of SGA, Wesleyan’s Public Safety Supervisors Kevin Rodricks and Anthony Garcia and Facilities Operations Coordinator Alyssa Cavitt.