Shooting the stars Math professor captures the cosmos Feature Page 5 vol. 103, no. 49
wednesday, arpil 22, 2015
1 SECTION, 8 PAGES
what’s INSIDE NEWS Nuclear Physics group recives funding for research Page 3
CLEANUP
HITTER
SPORTS Baseball wins in walk-off fashion against SHSU
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OPINION Allison Brown writes her last column from Canterbury Road Page 4
SPORTS Wildcats record 18 top-five finishes and 19 personal records in Oklahoma emily guajardo staff photographer
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OPINION The Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge is hurting our eyes and our brains
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NEWS ISA promotes diversity with annual food festival
Philomena DeHoyos, sophomore from Marion, takes a swing at the annual fruit smash rush hosted by the women of Alpha Kai Omega and the men of Trojans.
Student Relay for Life teams raise $35k jonathan raitz student reporter Abilene’s 21st annual American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay for Life event will take place Saturday and Sunday at Hardin-Simmons University’s intramural field. “Our vision for Relay for Life is for it to be a community event to bring people and survivors together all for the same cause of finding a cure for cancer,” said Josh Steed, a staff partner for Abilene Relay for Life. Forty-three teams are
emily studer student reporter
Subbers bring home gold local cornhole tournament Page 3
what’s online
Cuban-American painter and ACU alumus Rolando Diaz is bringing the ocean to Downtown Abilene. Tom Rose, owner of Thomas Everett’s Fine Furniture, saw Diaz paint a mural in Peru recently and asked him to do a similar project on the side of the the building on South 1st Street between Elm Street and Syca-
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fundraising activities will include the Hardin-Simmons Six White Horses, a 100-footlong obstacle course, and local food trucks such as the Toasted Traveler and Rock N’ Roll’s Grill, both of which will give 15-20% of what they make to ACS. Steed said during the event each team will be required to have someone walking, jogging or running the track at all times to symbolize it takes everyone to battle cancer. “In the beginning, I did Relay for Life because it has touched my family person-
ally,” Steed said. “I continue to relay now, being in this job almost a year, because of the stories and the lives I’ve seen touched by cancer just here in Abilene.” The event will be from 6 p.m.-3 a.m. with activities and ceremonies planned from start to finish. Anyone interested in helping the fight against cancer can register at https:// www.relayforlife.org/abilenetx until 6 p.m. April 24. contact the optimist at jmcnetwork@acu.edu
more Street. The building is 175 feet in length, the majority of which will soon feature an aquarium-themed mural. “I think it’s going to be very nice, a real asset to the city,” Rose said. “The artist is fantastic for bringing his talents here. The mural is going to be very eye-catching.” Diaz said he’s pleased to be back in Abilene. “This is a really large work, and this is actually my largest, public, outside mural,” Diaz said. “I’m glad
it happened to work out in Abilene because of my career here, my years here and I have so many dear friends who live here.” Diaz said he chose an aquarium theme because, before coming to ACU, he had grown up in Miami and lived close to the ocean. “When I got to Texas, I was too young, and I didn’t check out that it was going to be landlocked,” he said. “I always wanted the ocean nearby, and of course I couldn’t
get it, so I thought, ‘You know what, I’m going to bring the ocean to Abilene,’” he said. In a way, Abilene is where Diaz started his career as an artist. “The mural happens to be close to The Grace Museum,” Diaz said. “My very first one-man show at the beginning of my career was at The Grace Museum, so everything has come full circle.” Diaz said the recent rainy weather has made progress difficult. Diaz has blocked
out two more weeks of painting to finish the mural in time. “So far it has been tough,” Diaz said. “The first day, I couldn’t work at all. Today has been a beautiful day, and I’ve managed to get something done. Tomorrow is supposed to rain again, so I am just playing it by ear.”
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Ash, Wasemiller to retire after semester intramurals editor
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year has been increased from when they originally started fundraising. “We’ve actually raised just under $3,000, and the relay is this weekend, so I am hoping that we get $3,500,” Combs said. Combs, a senior biology major from Hewitt, said the support her team has gotten has been very encouraging. “The main goal is to get the word out and get people involved in donating to a cause that will hopefully find a cure to cancer,” Combs said. This year, Relay for Life’s
Downtown Abilene gets a ‘splash’ of color
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NEWS
signed up to help fight cancer and have raised a combined total of more than $35,000. Steed said their goal is around $100,000. “One of the patient services that we provide is our Hope Lodge in Lubbock,” Steed said. “A lot of the money that we fundraise helps support patient services like Hope Lodge. Hope Lodge helps save patients $100,000 of dollars in living costs.” Alpha Kai Omega has participated in the event for several years. Ariel Combs, AKO team captain, said their goal this
Two faculty members find themselves in the homestretch of their collegiate teaching careers. Kitty Wasemiller, professor in the Department of Art and Design, and Dr. Tony Ash, professor in the College of Biblical Studies, will retire at the conclusion of the spring semester. Wasemiller, program director of the interior design program, taught in the art and design department for over 31 years. She began her career in January 1984. Since that time, Wasemill-
er has witnessed firsthand the evolution of art and design, especially within the realm of technological advancements. She said she believes the digital approach is a necessary step forward for designers, but the art of designing with pencil on paper should not be put on the shelf. “There’s a connection between the mind and the hand that is not quite the same with the computer, and so the musings of the designer, the exploration of an idea, often is still going to happen with pencil and paper,” Wasemiller said. Wasemiller said she and her husband, Gene, plan to move to the Dallas-Fort
Worth area upon her retirement. Whether new teaching opportunities in the area open ash up or she gains professional clients of her own, Wasemiller said she plans to stay connected to the interior design business. Mike Wiggins, chair of the Department of Art and Design, said the department is searching for Wasemiller’s replacement and hopes to fill the position by the end of the semester. Ash’s career at ACU spanned over 50 years. He
Abilene Christian University
began teaching in 1962 and spent 10 years in the College of Biblical Studies bewasemiller fore leaving to teach at Pepperdine University for the first three years of its existence. After a few years teaching in Austin, Ash returned to ACU in 1978 and has taught here since. Ash is battling Parkinson’s disease and said he wishes he could continue teaching, but his body won’t allow it. He intends to stick around the campus on which he has spent nearly five decades
teaching. “I’m going to miss the students, and that’s why I’m going to try to hang around,” Ash said. “I really have loved the students and gotten to know them. Just being in this community has meant a lot to me.” Ash was well known within the department for two things– handing out candy in the hallways between classes and his teachings on C.S. Lewis. When he leaves his office for the final time at the end of the semester, his wallto-wall bookshelf filled with Lewis’ writings and other books about the famed see faculty page 4