Playing for pay Football team earns cash from state school opponents
vol. 103, no. 48
Friday, arpil 17, 2015
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
Sports Page 8
what’s INSIDE NEWS SAAC athletes host Abilene Boys and Girls Club on campus Page 3
SPORTS ACU soccer star tries out for Colombian national team
Mariana Cedillo staff Photographer
Page 7
OPINION Seniors write guest columns, sharing their parting wisdom
emily guajardo staff Photographer
HITTING ALL THE
Page 6
CLUBS
SPORTS Wildcats push nationally ranked opponents, Tech and A&M, to the brink in back-to-back games
Top left: Erika Reagan, a member of Sigma Theta Chi, talks to potential pledges at the Camp Siggie rush. Top right: Members of Alpha Kai Omega dance on the basketball courts at their Zumba rush. Bottom left: Potential pledges sign in at Tri Kappa Gamma’s first spring rush.
Page 8
OPINION Cyber bullying is here to stay. Will deleting Yik Yak off your phone change anything?
emily guajardo staff Photographer
Nursing prepares for first class of graduates rachel fritz copy editor
Page 6
NEWS Betty&June outfit the catwalk to benefit YoungLife Abilene Page 4
Political science majors have the LSAT, health science majors have the MCAT and nursing majors have the NCLEX. Every nursing major needs to take the National Council Licensure Examination in order to become registered nurses. But this year, there’s a little more pressure with this round of exams. If ACU School of Nursing’s first graduating
elijah evans
People Party Productions throws local craft fair
Page 5
what’s online ONLINE Savanah Silva hosts this week’s newscast covering arts, sports and more
Read more at acuoptimist.com
standard as other schools and meet the standard. “It’s a very long process,” said Dr. Becky Hammack, dean of the School of Nursing. “We’re supposed to know something specific by the first part of May; that’s what they’ve told us and we haven’t heard anything, so we’re hoping everything is great.” Hammack came in 2013 to finish the proposal started by the previous dean, Dr. Susan Kehl. A national accreditation team came in November
last year, and in January 2013 Hammock went with the provost and president of the university to the BON to present the altered proposal. Then, it went to a committee in March and will go to another committee in April. Hammock said the visit went well, and it seems there were no concerns in the exit report. Accreditation hinges partly on seniors’ NCLEX scores. If a high enough percentage passes, the school will be able to admit
more students on a semester-by-semester basis. “If our graduates do well on the national exam, we will be able to start a second cohort in January,” Hammock said. “Up to 80 students is what the Board Of Nursing originally approved us for.” Madison Martin is among the first graduating class and is one of many who are feeling the pressure to pass. “The NCLEX is definitely see Nursing page 4
Faculty use Lightboard for online lessons online managing editor
ARTS
class doesn’t perform well enough, the school’s accreditation could be at risk. Two years after its official launch, ACU’s School of Nursing has inherited the responsibility of placing its first class of graduating students in the workforce next month as it awaits word on its national accreditation. The school, created in 2012, has already been approved by the Board of Nursing, but the accreditation team ensures the materials being taught in the program are at the same
The Learning Studio has launched a faculty-focused, cutting-edge technology project that was developed at Northwestern University this semester. The new project is called Lightboard and was created by Dr. Michael Peshkin, professor of mechanical engineering at Northwestern University. Lightboard is a huge, ultra-clear piece of glass. A professor writes and gives
his lesson on one side of the glass while video is shot from the opposite side. The user can watch himself presenting live on a monitor on the other side of the glass. Powerpoint slides and annotations can also be piped into the video. The technology allows faculty to create and present online lessons similar to the classroom experience. Dr. Curt Niccum, associate professor in the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry, shot several videos with the Lightboard technology for an online graduate
course. “I will definitely use it again,” Niccum said. “There are applications for which it is particularly beneficial. For my applications, I found the Lightboard extremely effective. I had several unsolicited student responses, and all were positive.” Dr. Kyle Dickson, director of the Learning Studio, said he and others in the Learning Studio began talking about a year ago with other universities that used the Lightboard. These universities included Northwestern, Penn State, Notre Dame and Duke.
“We were intrigued with being able to share visual concepts and core ideas directly to camera,” Dickson said. “Presenting the content, but also sharing the process of thinking through that idea in real time.” Like the One-Button Studio, the Lightboard gives faculty the opportunity to create content in an easy manner without putting in extra hours or effort. Dickson said the Learning Studio wanted to stay on the forefront of technological advances in education and be prepared for ACU’s online
expansion. “As ACU continues to expand its online offerings, then we know producing a growing number of video pieces to support the instruction of those individual online classes is something we need to be prepared for,” Dickson said. “The Lightboard gives us one more tool for bringing those online instructors in and begin to turn around a significant amount of content quickly.” contact the optimsit at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
JMC Network awarded at state competition collin wieder sports editor Student reporters with the JMC Network received recognition at two journalism conferences earlier in the semester. Eight students received recognition at a Society of Professional Journalists conference March 27 in Norman, Oklahoma. Then, the network went on to the
Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention in San Antonio on April 9-10 to win 29 awards. At SPJ, two students from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication won first place in the Region 8 competitions. The SPJ awards are a multi-state competition, and the organization’s purpose is to recognize outstanding achievement in journalism and to stimulate
high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism. Linsey Thut, senior convergence journalism major from Keller, won first place for her breaking news piece about the cancellation of ACU Spring Break Campaigns titled CCSL drops five Campaigns. “It was funny because I didn’t even know that what I was writing was breaking news at the time,” Thut said.
Abilene Christian University
“I was assigned to write about any Spring Break Campaigns, and when I went in for my interview, I was told they weren’t happening. That’s when I realized that my assignment was bigger than just a typical story.” As the story unfolded, Thut said she felt the excitement of reporting. “I spent the rest of the day calling and emailing multiple people, trying piece it all
together,” she said. “No one wanted to tell me why they weren’t happening, so after much persuasion and a ton of digging, I finally found my answer,” Thut said. “I worked so hard on the story, and it was the first time I really felt the rush of reporting something bigger than myself.” Denzil Lim, senior convergence journalism major see awards page 4