A New Direction

C A R I B F E S T

Caribfest offered CSO and the rest of the campus community an outlet for the uniqueness of Caribbean culture on Friday, Sept. 22 and Saturday, Sept. 23.

Marketing senior Zhanique Connor organized the event and said it went according to her vision. “Fantastic. All of the stressing, the almost crying, the screaming, is actually paying off. Like it’s really nice to see the execution coming along. The vision that I really intended for it is really coming along, and tonight was actually amazing. Nothing short, but amazing,” Connor said.

Mara Hill is pursuing a master’s in business analytics and attended the event. Hill said she wanted to experience the culture, but also see that culture shared with the broader community.

“Well, I’m from the Caribbean and that’s part of our culture, so I just came out to see how everyone performed and just to have a good time and listen to the music and the performance,” Hill said, later adding, “It’s very important because like I said, most of us here are from the Caribbean. And we want Americans and people at MSU to see our culture and how we celebrate things at home. So it’s pretty important to continue having that at MSU.”

Mechanical engineering senior Nathaniel Joseph performed several songs at the Friday night event. Joseph has won multiple Soca music competitions on campus.

He said that culture-sharing events like Caribfest are important because MSU attracts students from around the globe and that he believes there are benefits such as exposure of communities to different cultures, adding that people can celebrate their differences while still working together.

“You can take part in a different culture and grow in that. You know it just, it just makes people grow. You know as a people, not just separated because you have a lot of isolation on its own. So I do see that’s something very important, we cannot forget who we are as a people. Recognizing our different backgrounds but embracing togetherness, that is how I put it,” Joseph said.

PHOTO BY CASEE

The Caribbean Student Organization celebrates its 25th versary with a festive parade.

PHOTO BY STEPHANIE

Models from the Caribfest fashion show pose for a group to outside from Prothro-Yeager.

PHOTO BY CASEE

MSU Students adorned masks and headdresses during the Caribfest parade.

It’s very important to have culture on campus. Because what you don’t want is for people to feel that they are interchangeable, feel like objects. “ “

-Nathaniel Joseph, mechanical engineering senior

Welcome to the Family

Family weekend provides MSU families a chance to see the campus and hang out with their mustangs. They also get the chance to play BINGO, sing karaoke, and attend an MSU football game. Students and their families got to spend time getting some fresh air while playing games in the quad and eating some sweet ice cream. Families also got to a mustang win as the team won in the final secons with a 54-yard field goal.

Playing it upMarching Band

The MSU band performed a lively 2023 season with an emphasis on colors, including such titles as Green Onions and Little Red Corvette in its performances. The Golden Thunder played at Memorial stadium five times over the course of the season, spreading school spirit in a way few other parts of school life can.

The band’s last football home game performance of the season came Nov. 11 as the Mustangs squared off against Texas A&M Kingsville. While the teams played a chippy match on the field, the Golden Thunder and Javelina bands came together for a special veteran-themed performance. However, the good will attained by the joint performance was strained when the TAMUK band played over the MSU alma mater at the end of the game. Overall, the band built a more fun public image in 2023 as it placed a focus social media presence. The 2024 Golden Thunder to build on both performance and brand moving

PHOTOS BY CASEE HARL

Go, Fight, win Co-ed Cheer

MSU Texas Co-ed Cheer are UCA College Cheerleading National Championship Finalists and take pride in performing at home and away sporting events.

In January, the MSU Texas cheer teams competed at Nationals. For the first time, they had both of their routines place with their game day routine taking 5th and their traditional routine taking 8th.

Recent MSU graduate and flyer Jordan Ingram expressed pride in the team’s success at the competition. However, according to team captain and exercise physiology sophomore Adarion Miller, says it was hard the team did not place higher.

“I really, that was upsetting and kind of hurt. I mean, one, it was kind of good because we had never gotten both routines to final,” Miller said, continuing, “But fifth and eighth. I felt like game day, to me at least, I was like ‘It was a great routine.’ I guess we had a little stuff they didn’t like that we need to fix, and I felt we fixed it coming into finals.”

The team looks forward to adjusting and coming back stronger next year.

Football

The Mustangs galloped into the 2023 season with heads and hopes high. However, just one game into the season, MSU stumbled with a 37-8 loss to Colorado State Pueblo in the CSU Pueblo ThunderBowl. What followed was an upand-down start to the season as the Mustangs rebound ed with a win over Mississippi College before dropping a tough road game to West Texas A&M. A last-second win over Eastern New Mexico gave the Mustangs a boost on Family Weekend, but that momentum sizzled out quickly as the Maroon and Gold dropped two close games to UT Permian Basin and Central Washington. MSU got things back on track with a dominant 33-6 win on the road at Western Oregon; that train kept rolling into the home coming game at Memorial Stadium, as the Mustangs took a 9-0 lead into the half before exploding for a 56-7 win to thrill the home crowd and claim their first win streak of the season. However, it would also be the last win streak of the season for the Mustangs, as they dropped their last two games to Angelo State and Texas A&M Kingsville. The Mustangs finished with a 4-6 record, falling short of 2022’s 6-5 mark. The Mustangs have failed to make the playoffs since 2017, although that stretch includes a 2021 season in which the Mustangs went 7-3 and won the Lone Star Conference but were not selected for the playoffs. Head coach Bill Maskill has led the team since 2002, and is the head coach with the most program wins in histo ry. He’ll look to lead the Mustangs to greener pastures in 2024 and beyond. Written by Cecil Witherspoon. Photos and spread design by Casee Harl.

Spike it!Volleyball

The season did have some bright spots sprinkled in for the Mustangs, as they recorded victories over St. Edwards and Eastern New Mexico. Additionally, junior Riley Rabedeaux tallied a team-high 263 kills. The volleyball team will return at the end of next summer.

Spread design and photos by:

Casee Harl

Elise Smith, exercise physiology 5th year, cheers after scoring a point.

“Adversity, if you allow it to, will fortify you and make you the best you can be.”

- Volleyball Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings

MSU struggled through a rough 2023 on the volleyball court, compiling a final record of four wins and 24 losses. The tough final record came on the heels of a difficult 2023, which saw the Mustangs post a record of 7-21. Head coach Stephanie Radecki is entering her third season leading the team next year, with hopes to improve on the past two years’ showings. The season started with some cause for positivity, as the Mustangs opened the season August 31 and had a 2-2 record with victories over West Alabama and Western Colorado by early September. Written by:

Cecil Witherspoon.

Brooke Parker, nursing freshman, sets the ball for her teamate to spike and win the point. Photos by: Casee Harl.

Alayna Guerrero, economic freshman, sets the ball to her team mate.

Basketball

Nothing But Net A Rundown of

With a new-look team and a revitalized approach, the MSU men’s basketball team is on a roll. The Mustangs started out 7-0 before their first loss of the year. The hot start came courtesy of a scorching offense that put up at least 80 points in every game and over 90 points in five consecutive games. Things got a little bumpier for the Mustangs about the streaky start, as they went 2-2 over the next four games.

Head coach Justin Leslie prioritized bringing in bigger, more athletic players from the transfer portal, and so far, the approach is paying off.

With a new system and new players, Jackson is looking to lead MSU to a strong close to the season while building mo mentum for next year.

“I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can´t accept not trying.”

- Michael Jordan

of the Season

Women’s basketball head coach Brenita Jackson’s first season at MSU didn’t get off to a dream start. The team started sluggishly, dropping its first nine games, with seven of the losses coming by at least 15 points. However, the team started to turn things around in early December as the Mustangs dropped a hardfought contest to St. Marys by a score of 70-67.

Then, the sun finally broke through the clouds for the Mustangs as they defeated St. Ed

Kicking it up a Notch

Men’s soccer put together an unforgettable season, compiling a stellar record of (final record here). After an early-season tie put their record at 2-0-1, the Mustangs ripped off 15 wins in a row, propelling them to a Lone Star Conference regular-season title, tournament title and the #2 ranking in the nation. Superstar Mere Escobar led the Mustangs in both goals and assists, tallying 17 goals and 13 assists across the course of the season. Esco-

“It’snotaboutbeingafraid ofbeinggreat,”

Jack Larkin, captain of the soccer team, said.

“Pressureisaprivilege,and wejusthavetokeepworkinghardeverydayandnot takinganydaysoff.”

The Mustangs nearly swept the LSC postseason superlatives, claiming player of the year (Escobar), defensive player of the year (Juan Galindo), goalkeeper of the year (Adam Braman), midfielder of the year (Maycol Reyes), forward of the year (Escobar), newcomer of the year (Reyes) and coach of the year (Michael Meachum). The only postseason honor not won by a Mustang was freshman of the year, but that wasn’t enough to stop the Mustangs from claiming the conference tournament title with wins over Oklahoma Christian (1-0) and Dallas Baptist (5-0). Story written by: Cecil Witherspoon.

Photo to the right: Daniel Yu, business marketing senior, goes for the goal at a soccer game, on Oct. 11, 2023.

Clockwise top left: Mere Escober dribbles against two defenders. Top right: Maycol Reyes, sports adminstration senior, recives the ball and starts to rush forward. Photo to the left: Liam Pritchard dribbles the ball up the side of the field. Above: The team cheers after advancing to the playoffs.

Women’s Soccer

The MSU women’s soccer team took a big step forward, build ing on last year’s 9-9-2 record to post a 10-5-5 finish in 2023. With one more win, and a handful of losses replaced with hard-fought ties, the season was the Mustangs’ second time finishing above .500 in the past three years.

The season started with two ties and a loss, and things looked to be trending the same way as the 2022 season. However, the Mustangs quickly turned things around by notching four consecutive wins. After a bumpy middle of the season, the Mustangs again demonstrated what they were capable of by winning four of their last five regular-season games.

The improvement wasn’t enough to propel the Mustangs to an NCAA playoff berth, but the team did carry its end-of-season momentum to a first-round win in the LSC tournament over Texas Woman’s before being knocked out by rival Dallas Baptist.

Still, the Mustangs’ performance was enough to turn heads around the LSC, as MSU garnered one spot on the all-conference first team (Lexi Beck), one on second team (Isabella Cruz), three on third team (Janae Sanchez, Cassidy Savoy, Maya Warrior) and one on the all-conference freshman team (McKenna Jenkins). Written by Cecil Witherspoon.

Big photo to the right: Janae Sanchez rushes towads the goal to score a point for the MSU mustangs. Photos and spread design by Casee Harl.

Below: Ashlynn Knight guards the ball against a defender.

Laney Haley shoots the ball to her team mates.

Averi Culver lauches down the middle field to help push her team forward.

Game. Set. Mustangs!

The Men’s Tennis Mustangs have wrapped up this season, securing themselves another year filled with outstanding achievements.

The MSU Stalions coached by Scott Linn finished as the top team in the conference, winning the title for the fifth time in program history. With a solid record of 7-1, the Maroons and Golds were seeded as the number one favorites at the Lone-Star Conference Tournament, where they came short in the final, losing to University of Texas at Tyler 4-3.

The Mustangs received the most recognition during the LSC annual awards ceremony with a total of three special distinctions having been presented to the MSU team and five players being selected for AllConference.

Business Administration Graduate Luis Diaz Argente was awarded the Co-Senior of the Year honors

with Lubbock Christian’s Martins Abamu. The graduate from Spain finished the season winning six of his eight conference matchups at line one singles and seven out of eight at line one doubles.

Diaz was also named in the All-LSC First Team Singles and All-LSC First Teams Doubles along with Exercise Physiology Junior Stephen Slocombe. Slocombe also made it in the All-Conference Honorable Mentions in singles with an overall winning record of 5-3 in conference play at line three.

General Business Sophomore Germano Setti won the Academic Player of the Year award and was listed in the All-Conference First-Team Singles and AllConference Second-Team Doubles together with Business Management Sophomore Killian Guillou. Setti plays line two for the Mustangs in both singles and doubles, pulling through a total of fourteen victories for the Stalions.

Midwestern State University’s 2023-2024 Men’s Tennis Team, Feb. 12. (Trey Reed)

ConferenCe StandingS 2024

5-2 w 7-0 5-2 4-3 w w w L

The last award of the ceremony was received by MSU Men’s Tennis team Coach Scott Linn who won the Coach of the Year award for leading his team to a remarkable season. This is Linn’s 14th year representing the men’s and women’s tennis programs at Midwestern State. The Mustangs are now ranked 19th in the International Tennis Association national rankings and are looking to earn a spot in the NCAA DII National Championships, which will start on May 21st, in Altamonte Springs, FL.

To secure their place at nationals, the Maroons and Golds have to win their final matchup in the Regional Championship, taking place on May 13.

Germano Setti prepares to hit a serve, Feb. 9.

Sophomore

(Casee Harl)

Sophomore Killian Guillou celebrates winning a point,

Servingit

Up!

Scott Linn’s Women’s Tennis team finished top of their conference during the regular season and dominated the Lone Star Conference end of year reception with three awards and seven distinctions having been presented to the Mustangs.

The Maroons and Golds had a flawless conference record securing the LSC title without dropping one team match-up.

This year MSU secured their fifth regular season title as well as the highest ITA national ranking the program has ever reached on March 27 when they climbed the standings to #3, right under Barry University and Nova Southeastern University of the Sunshine State Conference.

Midwestern State currently stands at #8 after losing in the semifinals of the LSC tournament on April 26 to Dallas Baptist University.

MSU will now head into the post season holding an overall record of 19-4.

Conference Standings 2024

Junior Jessica Binzari and Senior Skylar Minns celebrate winning a point, Mar. 30 and Apr. 19, (Trey Reed)

Not only as a team, but also individually, the Women’s Tennis team marked themselves as outstanding ath letes on and off the court, winning nu merous awards during the LSC annual tennis awards ceremony.

Midwestern State was presented with three special awards, which was the most recogni tion a team has received during the reception.

Mass Communications Junior Jessica Binzari was presented the Newcomer of the Year award, along with two post-season honors as All-LSC Second Team Singles and All-LSC Second Team Doubles together with her partner Psychology Senior Anda Ghinga.

Binzari was also named to the LSC All-Tournament Team, playing line one in both singles and doubles for the Mustangs.

Ghinga was listed in the All-LSC First Team Singles at number two after winning 19 out of 20 matches she played this season.

Geosciences Junior Hannah Yip received recognition for her remarkable achievements in the classroom, getting listed in the LSC All-Academic Team.

Yip was also named in the All-LSC Second Team Singles playing line three for the Stangs and Honorable Mention in Doubles, playing line two along with Business Analytics Graduate Shreya Chakraborty.

Finance Senior Skylar Minns won the Sportsmanship Player of the Year award in the Lone-Star Conference, a dis tinguishment presented to the individual who has represented the best sportsmanship conduct.

Women’s Tennis Coach Scott Linn was presented with the Coach of the Year award both on the women’s and the men’s side for representing the Mustangs throughout a phenomenal season.

Junior Sydney Williams hits a forehand midair, Feb. 9. (Casee Harl)

Model UN Taking over the Big Apple

Model United Nations is a simulation of the United Nations in which students role play the diplomats and ambassadors to the United Nations from a particular country. Each student team represents an assigned country and represents that country’s interests in committee meetings on topics such as non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, climate change, global development, refugee policy, or global health.

The goal of Model UN is to serve as strong representatives of the assigned country and work as a team to advance that country’s agenda in each simulated UN committee. There are currently 12 team members, representing all 6 colleges at MSU with majors ranging from Accounting and Pre-med to Political Science and Spanish. Team members are high achieving students at MSU. The team GPA average is 3.7.

Over the Ocean

Study Abroad

Wichita Falls, home of Midwestern State University, is far from an exotic destination. The town is relaxed and mostly quiet, with a handful of modest attractions of varying degrees of interest. Oftentimes, MSU feels a bit more exciting than the rest of the town. But buried within the activities and academic opportunities MSU offers is one that opens up a whole world of potential for learning and adventure, beyond county lines, state boundaries and even the oceans that separate America from the rest of the world.

MSU’s study abroad opportunities span the width of Europe, offering students the chance to see a plethora of internationally iconic locations. Headlining the batch is the London program, which allows students to immerse themselves in some of the most famous locations on earth while gaining both life experience and degree credit in almost every major. Another popular program takes students to the unique culture of Spain, with close access to cities, the countryside and beautiful beaches. The Spain program offers Spanish credits in both the Summer I and Summer II semesters, with the first half of the summer in Valencia, followed by the latter half in the beautiful coastal city of Malaga.

Some students opt to study in France, where many fall in love with the ambiance of the country. Students get to study the French language at the Institut de Touraine which also offers the opportunity to meet international students from around the globe.

The last European option for students is Berlin, which offers core curriculum classes in Summer I. The Berlin program takes place on the campus of Bard College Berlin, and also has an optional weekend trip to Rome.

MSU’s only non-European program caters to health sciences and history students, transporting them to the gorgeous beaches of Grenada for the May Mini-term. Although it is the shortest program, it offers a deep dive into the history and global impact of the region.

Wherever Mustangs choose to go, they have the opportunity both to experience the culture of the rest of the world and spread MSU spirit through the study abroad program. Written by Cecil Witherspoon.

Summer 2023

I See France!

Brandon Goins, english junior, visits some of the tourist hotspots in Paris, France. “It is an experiance unlike any other,” Brandon said! “I would love to go back and hope to be able to visit again.” Photos by: Casee Harl.

London is Calling:

Our Mustangs are quite the world travelers from France to Berlin, where will you go? Visit the

or

Join

London Eye

the white cliffs of Dover.

our well traveled herd. Photos by: Casee Harl.

all The world’s

Junior Brayden Young plays the roles of Peter and Hal, and sophomore Allie Lawrence, plays the roles of Tanya and Nan, starred in Hope and Gravity.

by: Tiffany Haggard

Photo by: Rebekah Gardener

The theatre program at Midwestern State University is devoted entirely to undergraduate instruction. As a result, motivated, capable students find themselves quickly involved not only in the classroom, but also in production work on stage and backstage. The program emphasizes the importance and interrelatedness of all aspects of theatre: performance, design, technical theatre, and scholarship. Every year, principles studied in the classroom are applied in a season of three or four major productions. These productions offer performance, design, and technical opportunities for all majors — freshmen as well as upperclassmen. MSU Theatre participates regularly in American College Theater Festivals, where it has won Critic’s Choice and/or Directors’ Choice Awards at both the stage and regional levels. Midwestern State University students often share a common feeling of belonging, as though the university is home for them; our theatre program is no exception. Plays this fall included Hope and Gravity, A Marriage Proposal, and The Bear.

Photo

Middle: From left to right, Isabella Del Rio as Natalya, Brayden Young as Lomov, and Andrew Camacho as Chubukov starrted in A Marriage Proposal.

world’s a stage

And all the men and women merely players.

Left: Junior Brayden Young plays the roles of Peter and Hal, and sophomore Allie Lawrence, plays the roles of Tanya and Nan, starred in Hope and Gravity.

Photo by: Tiffany Haggard

Middle: Andrea Smith as Popova stands back to back with Jay Phillips as Smirnov.

Photo by: Rebekah Gardener

Right: Senior Rebekah Gardner, in the role of Barb, and junior Jay Phillips, in the role of Steve, embrace during a performance of Hope and Gravity.

Photo by: Tiffany Haggard

Davis Scobe, Brayden Young, Jay Phillips, and Savannah Lira huddle together during a scene in Hope and Gravity.

Photo by: Tiffany Haggard

Taking it Away

MSU Texas students traveled across the state to compete head-tohead against some of Texas’ best journalism and communication students. The Texas Intercollegiate Press Association took place from April 11-13. The convention took place in San Marcos this year, the home of Texas State.

The convention featured over 30 live competitions centered around journalism, writing, photography and video. Student delegations from over a dozen Texas colleges and universities competed with the end goal of winning the Director’s Cup, an award given to the program that does the best overall in the live competitions. Ultimately, the award went to UT Rio Grande Valley.

While MSU didn’t win overall, the Mustangs took home a slew of awards from the live competitions and placed among the best at the convention. Other highlights of the weekend included a hype video competition, which MSU placed in, a variety of seminars where experienced journalism and communication professionals shared their experiences and ranking pre-submitted work from the schools, where MSU students again raked in a number of awards.