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The Wichitan October 14, 2009
MISSION..................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 hour flight led Byrd to the thirdworld country. “Everything was literally foreign,” Byrd said. “Some things look familiar because you’re not on another planet, but structure of the cites is very different.” She said agricultural land and the towns were like polar opposites, going from moderately rich to dirt poor. “It’s like cities where’s there’s wealth, to nothing where it’s completely poor,” Byrd said. The group worked at an orphanage about three hours from where they stayed. They also did children’s activities and hosted a vacation Bible school in the town. The kids they interacted with ranged in age from three to 17. The locals spoke Romanian and Russian, she said. Some of them knew conversational English, however. “They learn English in school there, but a lot of them weren’t school-aged yet,” Byrd said. “Since most of them came from poor families, their parents wouldn’t know English either.” They had about four inter-
preters, who were members of the Moldovan community, in their group. Byrd said most of these people were college-aged, so it was refreshing to interact with similar people. “It’s a third world country, but you really saw that when you were in the small villages,” Byrd said. “In the orphanage they only had one station of running water, so they had a sink in the kitchen. Their bathrooms were a hole in the ground because they didn’t have plumbing.” The psychology major said the children in the orphanage were possessive and generally unhappy with their lives. “Anything they had, it was theirs,” Byrd said. “They got angry a lot easier. They didn’t have a lot of relationships and they didn’t experience love at all in the orphanage. It was more like, ‘you’re here because your parents didn’t want you,’ or ‘they remarried and got rid of you because you weren’t part of their new family.’ A lot of them were angry and hurting.” Byrd said there was a contrast
with the neighborhood kids. They were actually capable of having fun. “Those kids had the attitude that they were happy and that they enjoyed life,” Byrd said. “When you walk through town, the people can tell that you’re American because of the way you dress and the way you carry yourself. I think the main difference is that we were happy – we just were. “We had attention drawn to us just by walking down the street,” she said. “People would stare at us, scoff at us. The way they live there is based on survival, really. It seems like there’s not much they do just for fun. They don’t do to school because that’s what you do after high school. They go to school because if you have the money, that’s the way out. Byrd said the trip was more than worth it because she got to make a difference in children’s lives. She raised $1,200 so she could help out in Moldova, she said. She also took a mission trip to San Diego this summer,
where she helps found and run a church for 10 weeks. Instead of going west, 21-year-old Phillip Ray went straight south for his mission trip. His destination was Guatemala City, a bustling city that boasts a population of over seven million. Ray got interested in digging water wells when he attended a missionary conference in November last year. The LeadNOW assembly in Ft. Worth saw many Christian pastors speaking on the importance of Christ and missionary work, he said. The project fit into his interest because he’s an engineering major, he said. “I got some information and started looking around for a group to go with,” Ray said. The Baptist Student Ministries also helped him join a group of 13 people that was leaving for Guatemala. Most of the group members were from Texas, though a few were from Missouri. Ray was the only MSU student on the trip, he said.
He said he was a little startled when he viewed the relative poverty of the area. “It was kind of a shock at first,” Ray said. “I had never been out of the country in a place like that. But then you adapt to it.” Ray said the Guatemalan people don’t utilize sewers, but instead have pipes underground that carry and hold waste. “You can’t throw your toilet paper in the toilet because it will clog it up,” he said. “It’s definitely not as advanced as our systems.” Ray said the first day of the trip they drove to Nueva Granada, a small village on the Pacific coast with few luxuries of civilization like electricity and running water. This is one of the reasons Ray and his group were helping to dig the well. “You’re in the forest where it rains all the time, but you still don’t have running water of any sort,” he said. Ray’s crew drove a threecar convoy with all the drilling equipment to get to the work
site. It was a six-hour drive from Antiqua to the drill site, but it probably should have taken about 3 hours, Ray said. The narrow, two-lane roads were packed with slow-moving traffic. This is the second well that has been dug in the small village, Ray said. The first was built at the town school. Ray and his group started digging the water hole on a hill where flooding is bad. That way, he said, the town will have drinkable water every time the area floods. “They’re much more thankful for everything they have than we are here,” Ray said. “Even though we have all this stuff, we still don’t appreciate everything we have.” Ray said his most rewarding experience in Guatemala was telling a little local girl who only knew Spanish about Jesus for the first time. “The translator would write something down that I said about Jesus and show it to the girl,” Ray said. “She was learning about Jesus and English at the same time.
THEATER................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 ulty member, said. “We only MSU has participated in the ogy,” Smith said. “They get Came to Mayfield” Thursday the critiques of other directors two visiting colleges, MSU have two colleges coming here festival since the 1980s, tak- to be professionals for a few at 11a.m., Wharton County and actors.” students and faculty as well as this year.” ing their shows on the road. days, not just students.” Junior College will present “A The festival brings in profes- the general public can attend According to Smith, the last Last year the department trav- Local high schools including Gentleman from Wharton” at sors from larger universities the performances. time MSU hosted this event eled with their production of Rider High School and Hirschi 7:30 that evening, and Gray- and industry professionals, The general public tickets cost was in the 1980s or 1990s. “Doubt.” High School will also attend son County Junior College including Erich Friend, a top $5 each and MSU employees “I’m not sure exactly how long MSU theater majors will the event, taking part in some will show their production of theater safety expert in the and students get in free with ago it was, but I know it has also assist in the festival, help- of the workshops, as well as “The Illiad, The Odyssey, and region. The three-day festivalid MSU IDs. been quite some time,” Smith ing the other colleges with the watching the productions put All Greek Mythology in 99 val also consists of directors/ said. “We have received a lot technical parts of their shows, on by MSU, Wharton County Minutes or Less” Friday at 11 designers forum and response “This is great for our students,” Smith said. “We are of support from the university assisting them with the boards Junior College and Grayson a.m. sessions for each college. and many of the departments and technology. County Junior College. “It is good for students to see Despite the festival workshops very excited about the festival and professors have been very “Our students get to walk MSU will perform their pro- the work of other colleges,” and forums being limited to and all it will bring.” accommodating.” people through our technol- duction of “And the Rain Smith said. “As well as hear just theater majors and the ATTENDANCE.....................................................continued from page 1
EVALUATIONS....................................................continued from page 1
children are falling ill. Huang’s attendance policy states that students will lose five final grade points after one unexcused absence, a letter grade for each time after that. Students get an ‘F’ after four unexcused absences. Huang said she needs to “get a new attendance policy. This one is too easy on students.”
working on it right now and hope to have some hard numbers shortly.” The way it will work: Professors would each get a packet in the department mailbox, labeled with the class and number section of the class, with evaluation sheets for each student to fill out. Professors would each decide on a day to have their classes fill out the evaluations. About five minutes before the
Professor of Education and Reading Dr. Margaret Hammer said she has not adjusted her policy. Attendance has been “pretty good.” In her classes, students can accumulate a possible 400 points. Students lose 15 points for every absence, Hammer said. Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Dr. Julie Wood said
attendance in her classes has been better this semester. Her sessions have moved from D.L. Ligon Coliseum to Ferguson Building. “Classrooms are more conducive to learning,” Woods said.Wood does not have an attendance policy. She expects students to be in class, she said.
end of the class period on that day, the professor would distribute the evaluations, leaving a colleague or student to monitor the class while the evaluations were completed. The colleague or student would collect the completed evaluation sheets, place them all back into the packet and seal it. From there, the packets would go to each department¹s main office and then on to the IT people.
The IT department would be responsible for the scanning and compilation of data from the evaluations. After the final grades have been released for the semester, professors would get an analysis report from the IT people for each of their classes, which would include the original evaluation sheets with students’ handwritten comments.
PANEL.....................................................................................................................................................................................continued from page 1 are close-minded,” Vickie Starr, English major said. “They say you have to read this book and interpret it the way they say, and there’s no other way. They need to be open to new possibilities and new options.” “And this is a small thing that’s a big deal: you need to let students go on time,” Starr said. “If you have back-to-back classes and you’re in Dillard hall, and you have to go all the way over, and use the bathroom also, you have to make a choice. Are you going to be rude to the professor in the class you’re in by getting up and leaving, or are you going to be rude to the other by being late? It’s not that I mind staying over, but if
I have another class, it’s not an option” Thomas Arballo, mass communication major, said he was fortunate enough not to have many complaints about his instructors. “I know y’all are busy,” Arballo said. “Everyone is. Where I sit is that if we have to take the time to sit down and do the assignment right, and get the best grade we can. Really the only homework I see for y’all is grading our stuff. So if our homework has to be turned in on time, I would hope that your homework would be to get it back on time.” “Another thing is,” Starr interjected, “that if you’re failing
a class, you want to know like right now, not two months or a month down the road.” “With how fast college is going we don’t really have too many assignments,” Arballo said. “The ones that you do turn in, it’s kind of a big deal to know how we’re going. It could be another month before we get another assignment.” “We just did our senior evaluations, which are different from the online ones,” Graham said. “It was more like what would improve this more, where you could actually write what you thought. With the course evaluations it’s more generic, like ‘I kind of agree,’ or ‘I kind of whatever…’ That’s what I put
on most of them.” “It’s also about trend,” one instructor said. “If a lot of respondents thought you didn’t give assignments back on time, you probably have to own up to that. At least that’s what I thought about it.” “I wanted to ask you guys a question,” Arballo said. “Whenever we did evaluations, I was like this is just like high school, nobody looks at these. But when you guys look at these, do you really care?” “I still remember one from 30 years ago!” one instructor said. Most of the faculty present clamored about how they really do care about evaluations. “When I look at them, I try
to figure out how I can improve my teaching and my student’s learning,” one professor in education said. “Granted, the problem is if there’s something I’ve looked at and improved, this group of students has already moved on, and they won’t see the improvements that I’ve made in my course. “I think we do take it seriously,” he continued. “Obviously, or we wouldn’t be here. It may be part of tenure, but I look at it past that. Because I want my course to be the best that it can be.” “I think another point that Thomas brings up here is that we do a really terrible job of communicating to students
Something to say?
how seriously we take these evaluations,” another instructor chimed in. “A lot of us don’t take the time to say, ‘this is how it’s going to be used, this is why we think they’re important, here are the things I’ve changed in my class based on previous evaluations. I think that if you don’t understand how we use them, you should. Somebody said we cry over them, and they stick with you, they really do. Course evaluations have recently been changed from their online format back to paper evaluations, though it was not a result of this panel.
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