Innovation At It’s Best
by Cheval John
The Woodlands, Texas- “Today is an historic day for our institution and yet another example of why Sam Houston State is a great name in Texas education.”
That were the opening remarks of Sam Houston State University (SHSU) president, Dr. Dana Gibson to the audience in attendance at the Grand Opening Ceremony of Sam Houston State University-The Woodlands Center on the campus of Lone Star College-Montgomery.
Among those who were in attendance were members of The Texas State University System’s (TSUS) Board of Regents, TSUS Chancellor Brian McCall, Vice Chancellor of Lone Star College System Rand Key, LSC-Montgemery President Austin A. Lane, U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady, Texas Representative Lois Kolkhorst and representatives from the South Montgomery Woodlands Chambers of Commerce.
The event was streamed lived through SHSU Online for those who could not make it to the ceremony.
The Center is a 144,164 square foot, four story facility that has an auditorium that seats 120, three lecture rooms that holds a seating for 64 students, a five-story parking garage, an 80-seat computer lab and a whole lot more.
It also increases the chance for area residents, who graduated from LSCS with their associate degree and can’t make it onto the main campus, to continue their education at the center to complete their bachelor’s degree.
“The potential for the Woodlands Center is endless,” Dr. Janet Mullings, Executive Director of SHSU-The Woodlands Center said. “As an extension of our main campus, we are bringing the culture of SHSU here.”
“We will enrich this community and in return, they will enrich SHSU through this campus.”
Prior to the opening of the Woodlands Center, SHSU, in conjunction with five area universities, offered classes in the University Center, in partnership with LSCS.
Over time, it became apparent they needed their own building because they were offering 80% percent of the classes.
In 2005, they entered into an agreement that would move the process toward reality.
With the help of Congressman Brady and State Representative Kolkhorst, they secured the funding and in 2009, the deal was finalized that allowed LSCS to donate seven acres of land to Sam Houston, with the understanding that they will be able to teach their classes at the center and use the parking garage for their students, faculty and staff.
They broke ground in the fall of 2010 and in the spring of 2011, they began construction on the property and completed the center in one year.
“Sam Houston State is our top transfer school,” president Lane said. “We are looking forward to offering even more classes out here for our students so that they can transfer seamlessly from Lone Star College-Montgomery.
With the center completed, SHSU have positioned themselves to have a strong presence in the Woodlands and expand their undergraduate and graduate degree programs to the community.
For those students who start their education at a community college, like Lone Star and live in Montgomery County, they do not have to travel long distance to further their education thanks to the Woodlands Center.
“LSCS has been an important partner for us,” Dr. Gibson said. “We realized that many students today need to start at a community college and then transfer….we are really an phenomenal example of that type of partnership with the two of us together.
Staying “In The Zone”
by Cheval John
When people hear of Huntsville, Texas, the first thing they think of is “prison city”
because it is the headquarters of the
Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
But they fail to realize that there is more to the city than what meets the eye.
For example, it is home to Sam Houston State University, a Carnegie Doctoral Research University that have over 17,000.
These same students would believe that there is nothing to do when they first arrive here,
but would later discover that there is more to do
thanks to a magazine called In The Zone (ITZ).
ITZ is a free monthly entertainment magazine that was founded in 2006 by D.J. Schafer and Jason Naavasard.
It has articles about places to go, sporting events, fashion, movies reviews and a lot more.
“We had quarterly magazines for senior lifestyles…” Schafer said. “The only thing that we didn’t touch was the college.”
The founders held focus groups to find out the type of content that would be suited for the magazine.
They even allowed the participants to write down the possible name of magazine.
After looking at the responses, they came up with the name “In The Zone.”
From there, Schafer built the logo overnight and the first issue was launched in May 2006.
“We decided to start the first issue in the summer instead of the
first day of school because it allowed me to work out the kinks to everything,” Schafer said.
Over time, the magazine has gained popularity among the students, but like any business, it has seen it’s ups and downs.
Naavasard left the magazine last year and they
brought in Mallory Collins as their outside sales representative earlier this year.
Since she joined, the magazines have reached new heights and the team
are looking forward to new opportunities that will come their way
in the fall because of new students that will attend the university.
“You have to re-market yourself every year and target the new comers,” Collins said.
For more information about ITZ, visit their website at www.itzmag.com.
Good Things Happen On Friday The Thirteenth
Many people consider Friday the thirteenth as a day of bad luck.
That was not the case for SHSU spirit programs as both the Orange Pride (OP) Dance Team and the Co-Ed Quad won the national championship in the National Cheer Association/National Dance Association (NCA/NDA) Competition in Daytona Beach, Florida last Friday, April 13 while the All-Girl Squad placed fourth and Sammy the Bearkat Mascot placed seventh in their respective competition in Daytona Beach.
For the O.P. Dance Team, it was their third straight national championship and fifth overall, making head coach Sarah Pritchard the all-time winniest coach in the program history.
“It’s not something that you could really describe,” O.P. co-captain Hannah Shields said. “I didn’t order a senior ring because I wanted a third national championship ring and I accomplished that.”
It was the first national championship in the history of the Co-Ed Squad program.
What even more amazing is that it was their first time competing in the NCA/NDA competition this year after competing in the Universal Cheerleaders Association/Universal Dance Association (UCA/UDA) Competition, defeating seven-time national champion and arch-rival Stephen F. Austin (SFA) State University.
“It’s such a huge accomplishment for Sam Houston and in the cheer world,” Shields said. “Who walks into a competition in their first year and wins over a seven-time national champion in SFA? It was a crazy day.”
In the first year of competition at the Division I level, the All-Girl Squad placed fourth.
In reality, the Spirit Programs proved that Friday the thirteenth is not a bad day after all.
Aggies Defeated Bearkats 19-16 in “Stunt Competition”
The Texas A&M Aggies defeated Sam Houston State University (SHSU) Bearkats All-Girl Squad by the score of 19-16 in the “Stunt Competition that was hosted at the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum on the campus of SHSU on Sunday.
The stunt competition focuses on the technical and skill aspects of cheerleading. It is recognized as an “emerging sport” by the NCAA.
They are four quarters in the competition . The first quarter consist of partner stunts, the second quarter is pyramids and tosses, the third quarter is group jumps and tumbling and the fourth quarter is where each team perform a two minute and two second team performance.
The first three quarters consists of three rounds each where both teams compete head –to-head on the floor.
In each round, they perform one of six pre-choreographed routines. A team with possession of each round will determined which one of the routines they will perform.
The judges ranks the teams of each round based on execution of each performance. The team with the best execution will be awarded first place with two points while the second place team will be awarded one point.
A team may forfeit a round if they are unable to perform the necessary skills in the routine. If that happens, the other team can still perform the routine and either get one point or two points.
In the first quarter, the Aggies swept through all of the three rounds and took a commanding 6-3 lead.
In the second quarter, the Bearkats made some strides in the routine and took the first round to cut the lead to 6-5. However, the Aggies continued with their domination and took the second and third rounds to extend their lead to 10-6.
Both teams tied in the first round on the third quarter with the Aggies maintaining their lead to 12-8. Despite the tie, the Aggies took the second and third round to increase their lead to 16-10.
In the fourth quarter, each team performed a full routine. A&M couldn’t hold their pyramids fully, while the Bearkats hold the pyramid flawlessly. A drop pyramid weighs more than a drop stunt because of the degree of difficulty it brings to the whole routine.
Even though the Bearkats took the fourth quarter, it was too little too late as the Aggies went on to win it by the score of 19-16.
We laid off a little bit on the first three quarters, All-Girl Co-Captain and All-American Andrea Dearing said. “We focused hard on our nationals routine and it showed even though we won the fourth quarter.”
Though they lost, they feel that today’s competition will help them to improve their routine as they get set for the NCA/NDA National Cheer Competion that will be held in Daytona Beach, Florida from April 11-15.
“It was really important for us to get in front of the crowd and have a lot of energy and work out some kinks, Dearing said.”
Cheerleaders’ Preparation For Daytona
by Cheval John
While many students were out on spring break, the SHSU All-Girl/Co-ed Cheerleaders, along with the Orange Pride Dance Team were here at SHSU all week practicing for the NCA/NDA National Competition that will be held in Daytona Beach, Florida from April 11-15.
The NCA/NDA competition is based on many factors that includes technique, stability of stunts/strength, flow of routine, degree of difficulty, perfection of routine and overall impression.
For the first time this year, both squads will be competing together as the All-Girl Squad moved up to Division I in the NCA in competion.
Prior to that, the All-Girl Squad competed at the intermediate level in the NCA and have come a long way since then.
Though it will be new for them, they believe that competing with the co-ed squad is bringing them together as a family.
“With co-ed going with us, it’s a whole another team to support us and another team for us to support,” All-Girl co-captain Andrea Dearing said. “A big part of nationals is having a crowd cheering you on and with the co-ed being there, it’s going to bring ten times more energy.”
Though the co-ed team receives scholarships, the all-girl team doesn’t receive any sholarships, but they raise the money through sponsorships and each member on the team has to have a minimum of $250 in order to remain on the squad.
The stereotypical view of cheerleaders is that they are at sporting events to bring extra school spirit ot the the crowds who are attending the games and to cheer the team to victory.
What they don’t see is the dedication and the hard work that goes into being a cheerleader.
“We cheer during the football season, volleyball season and the basketball season and on top of that, we have nationals,” Dearing said. “We put a lot of hard work and a lot of effort into this.”
With school about to be back in session next week, they believe that it is all worth it in the end because of the preparation that they put into perfecting their routine.
“This is where we want to be,” Dearing said. “While there in school, we are going to be in Daytona competing and hopefully getting a ring and that is more than any spring break trip is worth.”