INDEX:
2|CAMPUS
3|OPINION
4|SPORTS
5 Track & Field athletes head to nationals
5|ENTERTAINMENT
6|AD
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THESOUTHTEXAN.COM Thursday, March 1, 2018
Engineering Department Starts Recruiting Early Darcy Ramirez Managing Editor
Dakota Roberts Editorial Editor
Photo by Darcy Ramirez
Susana Samayoa, Sheriff Oseni, Jason Rodriguez, Josiah Gomez, Kevin Hill and Aaron Balles present videos and sketches of their rover
heading now,” Susana Samayoa, a mechanical engineering major, said. Samayoa is part of a group of mechanical engineering students who will compete in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge later this semester. Her fellow competitors are: Aaron Balles, Josiah Gomez, Jason Rodriguez, Sheriff Oseni and Kevin Hill. The students competing are currently selling raffle tickets for a new barbecue pit and the raffle money will pay for their expenses at the Rover Challenge. At the recent event, student and faculty members presented their newest projects, latest technological equipment and videos of competitions they have entered. “This whole setup is
showing different techniques. Here we’re trying to recruit kids into the engineering department,” said Jason Polasek, a mechanical engineering major. At Memorial, Polasek displayed a 3-D printer to the students and showcased random objects he created with the printer. He even passed out lanyards to each student in order to personally show them what the printer could do. Joshua Bailey, an architectural engineering major, displayed a wind tunnel model with fellow architectural engineering students Jeremy Herrera and Nicholas Payne. They were supervised by Jim Glusing, associate professor for engineering. “It’s nice that we get to show the kids equipment
we work with every day. It’s crazy but in a couple of years those kids could be where we are right now. So it’s good that we are showing them these experiments and projects now while they are still in middle school,” Bailey said.
Photo by Darcy Ramirez
Jason Polasek displays the ROBO 3D printer to students at Memorial Middle School
Pizzazz in the newsroom
The South Texan has first female Sports Editor Crystal Zamarron Editor-in-Chief
Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s newspaper, The South Texan, is making history. Plaserae “Plazz” Johnson is the newspaper’s first female Sports Editor. Johnson worked as a contributing writer for The South Texan for a couple of years until this spring when she applied for the position. “It feels amazing and it is kind of unbelievable for me
Photo by James Passley
Plaserae Johnson
The Gathering of the Deans University heads meet to discuss new school developments
Staff, students host event at Memorial Middle School
Engineering is becoming the future. On Tuesday, Feb. 20, staff and students from the Frank H. Dotterweich College of Engineering at Texas A&M University-Kingsville hosted an event at Memorial Middle School. The event was open to the public and included displays of 3-D printing robots, a bionic arm, a replica of the Mars Rover, a wind tunnel model and many more projects, all in the hopes of sparking an early interest in engineering among the middle school children. The event displayed about 12 projects from various fields of engineering like mechanical, chemical, architectural and electrical. Each project was conducted by a group or a singular student who was then monitored by a supervising teacher in that field of study. The event used handson activities to show the inner workings of TAMUK’s engineering department. Students at Memorial Middle School were offered the chance to explore the science, technology, engineering, art and math program, commonly referred to as STEAM. “We are trying to inspire them to join STEAM where things are evolving to. It’s basically where things are
Volume 92 Issue 17
because I never imagined that I would be where I am, and I know the expectations are high for me,” Johnson said. Aside from serving as Sports Editor, Johnson is a Track & Field star for the Javelinas and is currently ranked 13th nationwide in the 60 meter run for the 20172018 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II, Indoor. She also writes poetry. The senior Communications major and English minor from Glendale, Ariz., came to The South Texan unfamiliar with the programs used to create the newspaper, but was determined to learn. Her determination is paying off. “Media has traditionally been a male-dominated industry; particularly in the area of sports. Considering it took 93 years for The South Texan to have a woman Sports Editor is proof of such. Plazz proved herself more than capable of handling the responsibilities of serving as Sports Editor,” said Nicole Perez Morris, The South Texan adviser. “She has exceeded my expectations.”
Johnson’s poems have been published in Writers Bloc at TAMUK. Her poems titled “Heavy Expectations” and “A Black Woman’s Words” were featured in the Winter 2017-2018 issue. In the Tapestry 2017 publication, a Women and Gender Studies Journal at TAMUK, published more of her poems - “A Black Woman’s Words”, “Just Be Strong”, “I Could Be” and “Time”. As the first female Sports Editor, “I want to pave the way for other women making historical movements as well,” Johnson said. “Being the first to do anything is important but being the first woman is so much more to me.” Art, Communications and Theatre Department Chair Todd Lucas credits Johnson’s athletic success as plus for her editor’s position. “She’s got a good character and good leadership skills. She’s got lots of traits that can help her. That sports background is what is helping her succeed. She has had good coaching, now she’s using what has been used on her in the newsroom,” Lucas said.
Photo by Fredrick Nuecsh
Plaserae Johnson
Outside of school, Johnson is currently an intern as a Public Affairs Specialist at the Naval Air Station in Kingsville. Johnson has always had a passion for writing. “I wrote a letter to my grandma to stop smoking and because it was well written and powerful, she stopped. My grandma has been clean from smoking for 20 years,” Johnson said. “I’ve always expressed myself through writing. Always.”
Texas A&M University—Kingsville held another Dean’s Forum to let students and their respective Deans discuss the changes coming to the school in the coming semester. The meeting and questions were developed by TAMUK’s Student Government Association. Here is a summary by college: The College of Agriculture probably saw the most growth in the past year, having been granted a memorandum agreement with College Station’s Vet school, which happens to be the only vet school in Texas, to allow additional students to participate in the program. The Dean of the College of Agriculture Dr. Shad D. Nelson told the students, “We have five additional seats every year for Kingsville students that qualify. So, this will be the first year that we will be sending five students who were accepted into Texas A&M University—Kingsville’s vet school. That’s a huge deal.” The College of Agriculture will also be extending a few of its degree plans to reflect the changing times in the vet field. The Bachelor’s for vet tech, usually a two-year degree plan, will increase to a four-year plan and be reevaluated as a Bachelor’s in vet nursing. Nelson reflected on the decision, “That’s a change that is going across from Europe into the United States. A few institutions are starting this because sometimes it can be hard to tell what a veterinarian technologist is compared to a veterinarian nurse.” Another development in the College of Agriculture is the addition of a new class, Digital Wildlife Photography. The class is hoping to attract students who are not on the agriculture track but still have a passion for the wildlife. Anyone who enjoys photography may want to check out this class, as it is already available. Another college that seemed to gain traction since the last Dean’s Forum was the College of Business Administration, now that it has been internationally accredited by AACSB International. Dr. Natalya Delcoure, the dean of business administration, also disclosed the new facilities for business students—a new interactive learning lab found in Room 100 of the business administration building. Along with this there are two new graduate certificates, business analyt-
ics and healthcare gramatics, which are going to be offered effective this Summer. Delcoure underlined that she wants the professors to develop the students’ skills with a sense of emotional intelligence. “We are updating some of the existing classes and developing more emotional intelligence in our business students. Because it’s not only preparing our students professionally,” Delcoure added. “A professional skill-set can easily be developed, but this also develops our students holistically.” The CBA has also added a commercial banking class, hoping to serve the credit union community. With this, a classroom will be modeled to create a Bloomberg financial lab this Fall. Delcoure hopes this will not only be beneficial to students and faculty, but also to the community by increasing the local financial literacy. Dr. Alberto Ruiz, the dean of the College of Education and Human Performance, began his talk with some good news. After a recent change in policy that required students to pass their certification exam before being allowed to teach in a class, has garnered an undergraduate student the “National Student Teacher of the Year” award. “One of our upcoming programs, and one of our shining stars, is our exercise science’s pre-physical therapy program,” Ruiz said. “That program is a very intense program, that’s all I will say.” Ruiz was proud to state that every student sent to physical therapy school that finished that program’s curriculum has gone on to graduate. The College of Education was also recently awarded a $2.75 million grant in collaboration with the Center for Student Success to train 400 teachers. As a result, undergraduate teacher education members will be granted an $800 scholarship. College of Engineering Dean Dr. Mohammad S. Alam announced two majors are being added to the degree plan, one for software engineering and another in electronics. Alam also touched on the status of the engineering building’s refurbishing, stating the construction is focusing on supporting the infrastructure of the building—making sure the walls are sturdy and that there are no water leaks.
Dean’s Forum continued on Page 5