STUDENTS & SCHOLARS
MEET A STUDENT:
Erika Vasquez How a junior art major from Tamaulipas, Mexico strikes the perfect balance between art and athletics. How do you balance playing for the Women’s Professional Soccer League with being on the Lady Tiger Soccer Team? I spent a month trying out for the WPSL, and I played during their summer season here in Texas. Here on campus, I’m part of the team as a trainer for our goalkeeper. As an artist, what is your area of focus? My paintings deal mostly with family and immigration policy. Who inspired you to pursue soccer? My brother. Other members of my family weren’t as encouraging; in Mexico, girls aren’t encouraged to play. It took an hour to drive to a soccer league that I could be a part of. My brother, who I think saw my talent, offered to bring me to the States at age 12. In exchange for working for his family as a babysitter and doing well in school, he agreed to pay for my soccer lessons. After high school you worked two full-time jobs before coming to TSU. What made you decide to give up a 9-5 in accounting in favor of studying art? I like being around people and also being outdoors. Playing soccer and being an art major allows me to do that. It makes me happy.
Where do you see yourself in the future? I’d like to be a soccer coach, a teacher, and then later on in life, a guidance counselor. Even if it takes many years, I want to keep going. That’s what life is all about.
Waiting to Exhale TSU Respiratory Therapy Students Gain Practical Experience Serving the Community Every day, 4,700 Americans find themselves in the emergency room due to asthma. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, African Americans are three times more likely to be hospitalized from asthma and three times more likely to die from the disease. But despite the statistics, students of Texas Southern University’s Respiratory Therapy Program (RTP) are actively working to change that. For more than 40 years, RTP students have been learning ways to help JOB GROWTH FOR those who suffer from repiratory conditions. Through the “Asthma Initiative,” fully accredited since 1971, they participate in the medical management of asthmatic RESPIRATORY THERAPY: cases in the TSU Student Health Center. Training is hands on: all students in the According to the U.S. Bureau program assist nurses in the assessment and treatment of respiratory cases. of Labor Statistics, the meSince its inception, the Respiratory Therapy Program has graduated more dian salary for respiratory than 300 students. Those considering a career in this rapidly growing field can feel therapists is $54,280 per year. confident that TSU will adequately prepare them. Job placement for RTP graduEmployment in the field is exates is one hundred percent for the field—an achievement that tops all Texas pected to increase by 28 peruniversities. cent—faster than the average For more information on the TSU Respiratory Therapy Program, please for all occupations—through contact the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at 713-313-6700. the year 2018.
9
Inside TSU Now