The Trinity Perspective | Winter 2015

WINTER 2015

In the Heart of the Alam o City From cultur e to c servi

ommu ce, nit San A Trinity stud ents e y ntonio xplore and al l it has to offe r

I’ve spent three years here, but I’m always struck by how beautiful this campus is. I think we sometimes forget what a picturesque place we go to school.

JASON AZAR ’16 Art History Major

design strategies for encouraging

plan: a proposal to connect Trinity to

Antonio. Under the mentorship of art

Jason Azar ’16 is redesigning San

Trinity students to discover the city

the San Antonio River Walk.

history professor Kathryn O’Rourke,

around them.

Azar’s undergraduate research not

Azar’s work, “(Re)Designing Texas:

When asked what his favorite spot in San Antonio is, Azar says Trinity

only documents the history of Trinity’s

Landscape History and the Campus-

University: “I’ve spent three years here,

campus and landscape, but explores

River Connection,” investigates the

but I’m always struck by how beautiful

history and theory of Texas landscape

this campus is. I think we sometimes

architecture in the mid-20th century.

forget what a picturesque place we go

Azar has even created his own design

to school.”

Read more about Jason’s research and other undergraduate research projects on Trinity’s blog at gotu.us/undergradresearch

The Trinity Perspective magazine is produced quarterly.

Through these pages, explore the many facets of life at Trinity University and get to know the faculty, staff, and students that call Trinity home. With the vibrant city of San Antonio as a backdrop, discover the many benefits and opportunities our community has to offer. Oh, and we may throw in our favorite restaurants around town for you to check out while visiting our 117-acre campus.

Get Connected Join the conversation:

Facebook: /trinityuniversity Twitter: @Trinity_U or @TrinityU_Admiss Instagram: @TrinityU Snapchat: leeroythetiger

Have a question for a current student?

Email our current students your questions at: AskATiger@trinity.edu Have a question for an admissions officer, faculty member, or other staff member?

Email us at admissions@trinity.edu and we’ll get it answered.

THE OFFICE OF ADMISSIONS Trinity University One Trinity Place San Antonio, Texas 78212 admissions@trinity.edu www.trinity.edu/admissions 1-800-TRINITY

ABOUT TRINITY

Trinity University is a private, residential, co-educational institution with an undergraduate focus. So, what does that mean for you? It means that we are a place that is here to focus on YOU. We connect you with the best possible resources, caring and engaged faculty members, committed staff members, and world-class students destined to have a positive impact on our community.

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Andrea Medina ’15

Through SA2020, Andrea Medina demonstrates deep affection for San Antonio

By Carlos Anchondo ’14

When Andrea Medina ’15 made the transition from high school to college, all she had to do was drive across the street. A graduate of Incarnate Word High School, Medina chose to remain in San Antonio for Trinity’s reputation and a great financial aid package.

Medina majored in human communication with a minor in entrepreneurship. She currently serves as a communication assistant with SA2020, a nonprofit created by San Antonio residents with a vision of where they want to see the city by the year 2020. Medina manages SA2020’s social media channels, schedules company presentations in the community, and communicates with businesses and organizations looking for endorsements.

“I care about this city a lot,” Medina says.

“We have an opportunity right now to improve

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what’s existing and to look forward. We are at this really cool point in time in San Antonio where everything is growing and building.”

As a member of the first-year entrepreneurship hall, Medina polished her leadership expertise with 3 Day Startup, which teaches entrepreneurship skills to university students, and Geekdom, an organization which unites entrepreneurs, developers, creative types, technologists, and others to build things together.

Medina loved the approach of engineering

Within minutes of campus, there are various ways to get involved.

There are theaters, art organizations, companies that are very open and responsive to interns. I love that energy.

professor Mahbub Uddin, who served as an intro-level seminar teacher for Medina’s hall.

“He encouraged us to get out there and get to work, not placing any limits on ideas that we had,” Medina says. “This was something that inspired me to attain whatever I wanted, and it was like a playground, because nothing was wrong, per se, in that class.”

Medina credits her experience with 3 Day Startup with providing her with the confidence to enter any room and express her ideas articulately and without trepidation.

“The 3 Day Startup program put me into a room where I was totally out of my comfort zone and prepared me to really take initiative and not be afraid to go up to an adult and ask them questions or challenge what they were thinking,” Medina says. “It created a sense of fearlessness that I think every student should be able to experience at some point.”

In addition to living on the Entrepreneurship Hall, Medina was a member of the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi, a member of social sorority Gamma Chi

Delta, a mentor for the Freshman Leadership Experience and Sophomore Leadership Initiative, and a volunteer with local theater The Playhouse.

Citing Trinity’s close proximity to downtown, Medina says that all students should get involved in the San Antonio community.

Whether students are looking for a place to intern or volunteer, or just for a weekend activity, Medina says the Trinity area is ripe for the taking.

“Within minutes of campus, there are various ways to get involved,” Medina says.

“There are theaters, art organizations, companies that are very open and responsive to interns. I love that energy.”

One puzzle that Medina and SA2020 are currently trying to solve is how people should approach the organization regarding the endorsement process. Medina was one of the team members who created a process to determine valid criteria and streamlined SA2020 into eleven separate cause areas, from health and fitness to education and more.

As Medina transitions from Trinity to the professional world, she looks back at the faculty and staff who have helped her find her wings.

“There is this trust where everyone respects each other and treats one another as a legitimate accessory to being able to create something that’s very important for the entire world,” Medina says. “You really get to know professors at Trinity and I love that accessibility.”

Medina now works full time with SA2020 and has plans to eventually pursue a postgraduate degree in leadership studies. Whatever happens, San Antonio will always be her hometown and the place where Medina helped her city take flight.

Carlos Anchondo is a writer and editor for University Marketing and Communications and a 2014 Trinity graduate. He can be found at canchond@trinity.edu or on Twitter at @cjanchondo.

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9th

ty g ci s n i e w gro d Stat t s e te fast e Uni h in t

176

224

e hin s n f su lly o s day annua

and e r u t l u C y in a t i v i t a e Cr nity u m m o C Vibrant

city parks and recreation areas

7th 70

largest city

degree average temperature

30+ 10

golf courses

days of Fiesta

(a city-wide party with over 100 events)

Home to Taco Taco and the “Best Tacos in America” - there is even a Taco Taco on campus!

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miles of River Walk paths connect cultural & historic sites Trinity’s campus is a stone’s throw from the heart of downtown San Antonio, which allows the Trinity community to experience everything from First Friday Art Walks to Fiesta celebrations to shopping and dining at The Pearl. San Antonio is home to many teams, attractions, and events that bring millions of people to the city to celebrate local culture.

San Antonio is one of the fastest growing cities in America with a booming economy thanks to a demand for medical, biomedical and biotechnology, energy, manufacturing, tourism, technology, and military sectors. Our close proximity to Mexico adds both to our economy and engagement with the world.

In January 2015, San Antonio was listed as one of the top 52 global travel destinations by The New York Times. San Antonio was ranked No. 36 on this list, the only city in the state of Texas to be listed.

Root for the home team San Antonio is home to five-time NBA champion Spurs, the Missions Baseball Team (Double-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres), the championship-winning NASL Scorpions, and the WNBA Silver Stars.

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minutes from San Antonio International Airport

3

miles from downtown San Antonio

Moving Around in the Alamo City

Venture off-campus to enjoy all San Antonio has to offer!

Need a ride?

Try Uber or Lyft, and their carpooling options! Or, zip around town in a Trinity University Zipcar, available in select locations on campus.

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Historic Spanish Missions and The Alamo comprise a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Looking for fun ways to get around downtown? Take a River

Taxi around the River Walk or north to The Pearl, or enjoy a horse-drawn carriage ride on the street level.

If you prefer two wheels, take a B-Cycle rental bicycle around the city center. A B-Cycle station is located right next to campus at the Semmes YMCA. Trinity provides a student shopping shuttle on select Saturdays that visits Super Target and Park North Plaza.

VIA buses run right by campus—the 8 down St. Mary’s to downtown, the 5 down McCullough to downtown, and the 7, the “sightseer special,” through the zoo and museum corridor.

VIA offers student semester passes for $35 and a free streetcar service, The E, to explore entertainment venues, dining, and cultural sites in downtown and Southtown.

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Mason Stark ’16

Every Dollar Counts

ALE intern Mason Stark examines the ethics of philanthropy at John Burnam Consulting

By Carlos Anchondo

Every time someone contemplates a charitable donation, they have a choice. When selecting a foundation to give their money, they might consider personal connections with the organization, how their money will be used, or even which charity will be able to make the maximum impact with their gift.

For Mason Stark ’16, it is a question of utilitarian terms.

“A lot of times you donate to what you are interested in or have an emotional connection to, not always where your gift will have the greatest impact,” Stark says. “People are going to argue the interest versus impact debate forever. Philosophy allows one to grow more comfortable with dealing with complicated and seemingly unanswerable questions.”

As an intern at John Burnam Consulting, Stark applies his philosophy major to his work at the nonprofit consulting firm.

Stark’s internship with alumnus John Burnam ’10 is funded through the arts, letters, and enterprise (ALE) internship program at Trinity University. A writer, editor, and consultant, Burnam collaborates with area nonprofits such as the Big Give SA, the Louise Batz Patient Safety Foundation, Xenex, and the San Antonio Christian Dental Clinic, among others.

At the moment, Stark and Burnam are compiling a master grant database of local foundations for the San Antonio Non Profit Council. The database categorizes the foun-

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dations by sector, allows nonprofits to see how various foundations are allocating their money, and provides application instructions as well. The database also links to the foundations’ GuideStar pages, which connects donors and grantmakers to nonprofit organizations.

In addition to the database, Stark is also helping Burnam, a one-man team, assess data from this year’s Big Give, a 24-hour day of giving to raise money for local nonprofits.

Stark is conducting interviews with nonprofits who saw a substantial increase in donations and donors to determine what might have caused the surges.

“Often new organizations do not realize the potential of the Big Give in the first year,” Stark says. “In subsequent years, they plan farther in advance and have a more successful campaign.”

Reaching out to these organizations, Stark has learned to move past his fear of placing cold calls. He says this internship has taught him the value of reaching out to others for help, experiencing this firsthand when he was deciding on the best structure for the database. Stark even connected with members of the grant research department at Trinity who proved to be “extremely helpful.”

“Returning to school, I will be less intimidated by the process of reaching out to people and the network and community of Trinity, because it really is an incredibly valuable resource,” Stark says. “In such a small,

tight-knit community, people are always ready and able to help.”

Stark notes that the critical thinking and writing skills he has developed as a philosophy major have been beneficial to him as a Burnam intern. He says that he pursued his major not with a set vocation in mind, but

Learn more about Trinity’s ALE program online at gotu.us/ale

Do not be afraid to put yourself out there and trust in your liberal arts education. It serves a purpose beyond academics and is applicable to the real world.

because the material interests him.

No office location for John Burnam Consulting means that Stark is on a nomadic move between coffee shop brainstorming sessions, meetings with clients, and independent research. Interning in the nonprofit sector, Stark says he’s met some “genuinely

caring people” from organizations that are doing amazing things to improve the lives of San Antonians.

Stark, a native of Wimberley, Texas, is one of four ALE interns who received internship funding and is mentored by a Trinity faculty member as their ALE liaison. In the fall,

Mason Stark ’16, left, and John Burnam ’10, right, review plans for this year’s Big Give San Antonio.

Stark will continue his internship with John Burnam Consulting and he looks forward to seeing the completion of the database.

For a philosophy major who is fighting the stigma of “having his head in the clouds,” Starks calls the ALE internship program an excellent opportunity to learn about the business world. He encourages other humanities majors to reach out to potential internship possibilities and to trust the “analytic toolkit” honed by Trinity.

“Do not be afraid to put yourself out there and trust in your liberal arts education,” Stark says. “It serves a purpose beyond academics and is applicable to the real world.”

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Taking technology skills to Alamo City nonprofits

Isabel Myjer ’16 (left) and Sydney Wright ’16 work with data from the U.S. Census.

Senior urban studies majors team up with Excel Beyond the Bell SA

By Carlos Anchondo

Urban studies majors Isabel Myjer ’16 and Sydney Wright ’16 each enrolled in sociology and anthropology professor Christine Drennon’s geographic information systems (GIS) course with some trepidation. Neither had used the technology before, but were both intrigued by the major class project known as a staple for the course.

With guidance from Drennon, Myjer and Wright spent the spring semester using GIS to identify where children, ages 5 to 17, were living within Bexar County. Along with two other groupmates, Myjer and Wright looked at demographic data for youth using the U.S. Census in preparation for a survey to be distributed for Excel Beyond the Bell SA, a committee made of area nonprofits and public agencies that provide out-of-school time programs for local youth.

For most nonprofits, hiring a GIS specialist is a luxury, so organizations like Excel Beyond the Bell SA have turned to Drennon and her students, while undergrads simultaneously learn GIS and gain real-world firsthand experience. Excel Beyond the Bell SA is using Myjer

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and Wright’s survey to assess what type of programs are available to children, how many children each program can serve, and what kind of services are offered.

“It is important to know where youth are living in Bexar County so that we can see if the out-of-school time programs are in places where they are needed,” Myjer, a native of Arlington, Mass., says.

Myjer says that she and Wright worked hard to ensure that the survey questions were concise, answerable, and easily understood by the out-of-school time program representatives. Wright, from St. Louis, whose second major is sociology, says that performing the in-person interviews with the out-of-school time programs has been the most rewarding part of research.

“As we conduct the in-person interviews, we’re able to actually go to the sites, see the kids at their summer camps, and witness what we’re researching in progress,” Wright says.

In addition to studying GIS, Myjer and Wright say that this experience has enhanced their communication skills, exposed them to new areas of San Antonio, and shown them

As we conduct the in-person interviews, we’re able to actually go to the sites, see the kids at their summer camps, and witness what we’re researching in progress.

some of the “amazing work” that the out-ofschool programs are doing.

“After collecting this information about services offered, we’ll compile it all together, which is very cool because that has never been done before,” Myjer says. “Excel Beyond the Bell SA is bringing all of these organizations together to get a really good look at Bexar County, so that’s very interesting as well.”

Save The Dates

Scholarship Application Deadlines SEMMES DISTINGUISHED SCHOLARS IN SCIENCE AWARD

Trinity Admission Application Deadlines APPLICATION DEADLINE

N OT I F I C A T I O N DEADLINE

DEPOSIT DEADLINE

Early Decision II

Jan. 1

Feb. 15

Mar. 1

Early Action II

Jan. 1

Feb. 15

May 1

Regular Decision

Feb. 1

Apr. 1

May 1

Need-Based Scholarship & Grant Application Deadlines Admissions application and separate award applications due: Feb. 1 FAFSA filed by: Feb. 15 Financial Aid for Science & Technology Students Enhanced with Research

Storer Tillman Scholarship for Developing Christian Leaders

Trinity’s FASTER grants are available to select academically talented students with financial need who plan to major in the sciences, engineering, or mathematics. These $5,000 annual awards replace student loans and are renewable for up to four years.

This scholarship is open to students, by application, who demonstrate financial need and a commitment to developing their leadership skills in the context of their faith.

(FASTER)

Our most prestigious scholarship, this award is for students who intend to major in a STEM field and provides a full-tuition scholarship and a $5,000 research stipend to engage in undergraduate research.

Submit your application for admission and the Semmes Distinguished Scholars in Science Award application online by Jan. 1, 2016. Students must apply by our Early Decision II or Early Action II to be considered for this award.

More info online: gotu.us/semmes

FINE ARTS AWARDS Trinity’s fine arts departments offer merit awards for students who demonstrate exceptional talent in art, music, theatre, or debate. Each department has their own audition, portfolio, interview, and application requirements.

More info online: gotu.us/fineartsawards

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Visit Trinity If there is one thing you take the time to do (other than completing your personal statement and finalizing your application), visit the college campuses that you are interested in. We encourage you and your family to try the food, meet the people, see the sights, and experience our beautiful campus and sunny San Antonio.

The Office of Admissions is open daily (excluding major holidays and the University’s winter recess) for tours and information

Take a Virtual Tour

Explore Trinity’s campus online at gotu.us/virtualtour

sessions. We’re also open most Saturdays during the academic year.

The College Search:

An experience for the whole family The college search is a fun and exciting time for students and families. Students get to celebrate their academic and co-curricular accomplishments and reflect upon their experiences as they chart their journeys forward.

Here at Trinity, we value the college experience, and that experience begins with you.

Trinity in Focus

Experience Trinity

Trinity In Focus open house programs are open to all prospective students and their families. This program is an excellent opportunity to discover the many opportunities available to students who study and live at Trinity University.

Monday Open House Program

Jan. 30, 2016 Feb. 13, 2016

Experience Trinity is open to all prospective students and families. This program is an excellent opportunity to explore Trinity’s academic and student life community through hands-on activities both inside and outside of the classroom.

April 4, 2016

RSVP online at gotu.us/visit.

Have a question for a current Tiger?

Send us an email at AskATiger@trinity.edu to get the inside scoop on student life at Trinity.

Throughout this process we encourage future Tigers to discover new interests, to grow your existing passions, and to become an empowered citizen of the global community.

To help you do this, we encourage you to ask your friends, family, and parents for help. They can help you with your essays, be another set of eyes, ears, or taste buds on a campus visit, and can help you through the tough decisions that come with every pro-and-con list you can think of.

Resources for parents and family are available online at gotu.us/futurefamilies