The
November 2019
Special
Texas A&M University - Commerce
Student radio program on hiatus, anticipates Spring 2020 comeback By Cameron Justice “Lions After Dark,” the award-winning by-students-for-students radio show at Texas A&M University-Commerce is planning to make a big comeback in the spring after a hiatus during the fall semester. The program started in the fall semester of 2010 with host Gaby Estrada and Heather Hutchens with the most recent broadcast in the spring of 2019 with host Tyler McDonough and Drew Ivery. The show went on hiatus during the fall 2019 semester due to budget cuts for student organizations according to professor and adviser to the show Dr. John Mark Dempsey. “We, like a number of other organizations, received a significant cut in student-activity funding this year and we didn’t have enough money left over from last year to pay two students to host the program,” Dempsey said. The show has been around for almost 10 years becoming a staple of 88.9 KETR and around the campus of A&M-Commerce. The show has won multiple awards over the years including first place “General Excellence, Radio Program” at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, 2019 conference, and second place, “Best Entertainment/Music Radio Program” at the National Broadcasting Society, 2018 convention. “Lions After Dark” will be looking for a host to bring the show back in the spring of 2020
as Dempsey will be taking all students interested in hosting the show into consideration. “If more students were interested in hosting the program as volunteers, perhaps even non-multimedia and journalism majors, that would be good,” Dempsey said. “There would have to be auditions. It’s great experience, and many people fantasize about being a radio host, and would do it for the fun and excitement of it.” Dempsey hopes the show will return in the spring. “We’ll have enough to do the program in the spring semester, and then we hope we’ll do a better job of explaining why the program is a good expenditure of student-service fee dollars when we submit our proposal for the 2020-21 year,” Dempsey said.
Health Services Center provides variety of services, care for students By Diamond Larry During cold and flu season the number of people getting flu shots isn’t near where it should be and Texas A&M University-Commerce wants to change that on campus, so the Student Health Services Center provides free flu shots to any currently enrolled students. The health center provides students services including acute care and injuries, allergy injections, birth control, EKG’s, immunizations, flu shots, and TB testing. The health center also provides lab-based services including minor surgical procedures, physical
exams, splints, STD/STI testing and treatment, stitches, wart treatment, and diabetic and smoking cessation classes. To use the Student Health Services Center, individuals must be a currently enrolled student at A&M-Commerce. The basic services are free to students but there are additional charges for labs, x-rays, minor procedures. The Student Health Services Center currently accepts Student Health Insurance, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United HealthCare, Aetna Health Insurance, and Cigna. Patients not having insurance will be responsible for additional charges such as x-rays and labs.
Planned podcasts to expand student media presence on campus By Morgan Mouton The East Texan newspaper is adding a new addition to their website - podcasts which will coincide with the print version of the paper. A podcast is an audio series that users can download and listen to or even listen to live depending on what day and time it is being aired. The podcast is produced by students and will be in line with The East Texan is regards to what the newspaper is writing about that week. It will be news oriented and will discuss topics that concern students or benefit students. Currently, student radio KKOM is broadcasting on local cable access Channel 3 and wants a way to reach more listeners. Aligning with The East Texan give students the ability to work together, in order to produce a more interactive form of the news. “We want to grow our listeners and The East Texan readers,” Joel Brasier said “We hope to accomplish showing alumni the great things that the multimedia journalism department is doing, and giving another avenue that can reach them in order to possibly help our department grow.” There are currently six on-air personalities that will be producing the podcast- Joclyn Ventura, Jazzlyn Enbysk, Cydnee Drake, Evans Dennis, Kolby Cowart, and Brasier. The personalities will rotate daily so everyone will have produced a podcast weekly. Multimedia The Special is a general magazine produced by Multimedia Journalism students during the Fall 2019 semester. All content is the responsibility of the students. Staff: Brandon Ballard, Janae Blocker, Ty Brown, Kolby Cowart, Evans Dennis, Jazzlyn Enbysk, Mayson Hausler, Jahonna Hinds, Andrew Ivery, Cameron Justice, Diamond Larry, Morgan Mouton, Kehinde-Ayobami Olayiwola, Lindsey Wiley, Ambrasha Williams, Chaum Young.
East Texan Online tamuceasttexan.com
journalism students will be able to build their portfolios before graduation with these podcasts, and give themselves more experience in the field they want to go into. “For each person, the topics are going to be unique towards their show,” Ventura said. “For mine, I am hoping to focus on pop culture. It will go hand-in-hand with anything that might be on the entertainment page for the East Texan. “We already have the equipment and have the program in order to record,” Ventura said. “We just need to produce it together and make sure it actually is on the website.” Ventura said she believes their toughest problem will be adjusting to the podcast because “We have some newbies, me being one of them, it’ll just take some time adjusting.” The podcast will be available on the East Texan website (tamuceasttexan.com).
Alpha Phi Sigma collecting for CASA By Evans Dennis Alpha Phi Sigma (Criminal Justice Honor Society) accepts donations on behalf of CASA for kids to help serve the community, bring awareness to women rights and make a change in their
community. Each year the organization tries to find ways to contribute and help the community. President of Alpha Phi Sigma Brinley Dougalas said she is very proud of the work that’s going on and “let’s just make sure we fill up each donation
box” all donations should be in good condition. Dougalas said, “The reason I love doing what I do as this event unfolds is because I get to meet other students in my field willing and ready to get involved and give back.”
Unplugged organized to increase confidence with communication skills, human interaction By Jahonna Hinds What are the effects of smartphones on the brain and how has technology impacted society? Addie Chrisman is the founder of the student organization Unplugged, designed to answer the question about how to use technology to maximize its value and minimize its harms. Unplugged was recently introduced to the student body of Texas A&M-Commerce and Chrisman said she established the program “because walking to class, everyone was quiet” and she felt that others could become more confident with communication skills and human interactions. Chrisman has challenged students to become more social and less on media to maintain low screen time on smartphones. Research has been done on how mobile phones influence connections and their impact. She said genuine connections are dulled when an
By Chaun Young Mane Messengers are Texas A&M UniversityCommerce’s student callers who engage with alumni and parents, supporters or friends of the university by making personal phone calls, building alumni relations, and keeping them updated with university information and activities on campus. Students, hired through Hire a Lion, who become a Mane Messenger work out of the McDowell
individual wants to check their telephone and the interruption a telephone brings doesn’t make the other individual feel better. Meetings for Unplugged are held every Monday evening at 5 p.m., in the Student Center with a one-time fee of $15 that goes towards the cost to fund games and activities.
Administration Building contacting alumni and friends of the university about how they can still be involved with the university. “Our primary focus is to involve, invest, and inform people on what does it mean to be a Lion for a student today,” Raymond Williams, manager of Mane Messengers said. Alumni also have opportunities to be guest speakers for classes or departments on campus and mentor students through Career Development. “Our hope is that we have solidified a pride in our alumni and our supporters to where they understand how important they are to the development of the university,” Williams said. The funds raised by the student callers can be put into specific departments or into the Greatest Need Fund. “It is a pool of money that the president of the university uses to his discretion of what is the biggest needs of this campus to develop the university altogether,” Williams said. For more information on Mane Messengers, contact the Coordinator of Communication Outreach, Mumbo Williams, at 903-468-8103 or Raymond. Williams@tamuc.edu
Fraternity looks forward to completion of chapter house By Kolby Cowart Sigma Chi’s new chapter house is due to be completed by early spring semester 2020. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new educational center was held Oct. 14, 2017 and construction began in early June 2019. Within the house, there will be two main rooms. One big room downstairs for social gatherings and another big room upstairs for chapter meetings. Along with those, a section of the house upstairs will be for their Consul (president) and Pro Consul (vice president) to live in. There will be two kitchens, one indoor and one outdoor. The chapter has also included a spot for an elevator, but it won’t be installed immediately. With smaller details, their badge will be in the entrance of the house and they are adding custom bricks for some of their alumni. They are keeping the apartments where they currently reside and are wanting to add a privacy fence around it. The space between the new chapter house and the old apartments will be astroturf. The members are excited about the new chapter house. President of Sigma Chi, Parker Aguilar, said he’s super excited about the balcony of the house and being able to look over the whole school. Alumni Relations Chair Sebastian Romero said he’s “excited for social gatherings we’re going to have on the bottom floor. It gives us a lot more space to have more people and it’s safer, too.”
Public Relations Chair Kevin Sustiata added, “It’s completely indoors and it’s well ventilated so it won’t get stuffy.” Sigma Chi is also trying to pay for the house in cash so they won’t have to make payments on it. Aguilar said their “alumni are donating all the money upfront so in the future, they are able to do a scholarship program.” Fall 2019 pledge Chris Kellough said it’s “really cool to have another spot and a lot more guys around the clock and it’s easier to have that brotherhood, right there, right now.” Aguilar said, “This is them (alumni) giving back to us, and we want to give back as much as possible.” He added that he’s excited about the chapter house bringing alumni around more often and they are able to “bool with the boys.” Kellough, said “The alumni are really inspiring since they are super successful and seeing them give back as much as they do is motivation for all of us.” Romero expressed his eagerness about the custom bricks for their alumni, because it “shows how big alumni connections are with us and how much they give back. So, we decided to give back to them by putting the bricks in the house.” Sustiata finished by stating “the house is going to be a showcase of what Zeta Eta truly is.” Along with the new chapter house, they plan on adding a basketball court where their parking lot is and redoing that entire area.
“... we want to give back as much as possible.”
-- Sigma Chi president Parker Aguilar