The Skyline Newspaper

Ricky Aguilar, Abraham Ely, and Rodrick Gunter wear their Lobo Stars.  Photo by Jason Hennington

Lobo  Stars Shine for SRSU Quality Enhancement Plan

By Jason Hennington
News Writer

No need to look in the sky for stars; Lobo Stars are visible on the SRSU campus.

Lobo Stars is the name and the logo chosen for the Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) by students on the QEP committee. The QEP describes a course of action for institutional improvement critical to enhancement of educational quality, which is directly related to student learning, and is a requirement of the SACS reaffirmation process for colleges. 

The Lobo Stars committee consists of Tori Neugebauer, Mission; Nolan Pritchard, Pyote,; Lacey Cox, Kerrville; Jaime Rios, Roma; Moises Morales, Fort Hancock; Kenzi Miller, Lamesa; Cade Woodward, and Jackie Martinez, both from Alpine, along with additional student leaders on campus.  Dr. Barney Nelson associate professor of English, serves as QEP committee chair, and wants students to get other students involved.

“The idea behind selection of stars as the logo was to encourage a humble ‘team’ effort--like real stars not Hollywood stars,” Nelson said.

The core group met and came up with a strategic plan to begin with students who already serve as role models on campus but eventually plan to include all students on campus.  The Jan. 31 Lobo basketball games against Hardin-Simmons University were chosen for the campaign kick-off, with players wearing star necklaces representing the Lobo Stars program.

Members of both Sul Ross Lobo men’s and women’s basketball teams wore necklaces with a star to show their support of the program, while team members Morales and Janice Mitchell, Round Rock, spoke to the crowd about the program. 
“I’m not really sure why I was chosen to represent the Lobo Stars program because I’m sure there are more qualified people, but I am very grateful that Dr. Nelson gave me the opportunity to learn about the Lobo Stars and also to try to lead others to join the Lobo Stars program,” Mitchell said.  “I feel that it’s an amazing honor, and I’m very happy Dr. Nelson picked me.”

Mitchell, who was a runner-up for 2007 Homecoming Queen in 2007, was chosen because of her accomplishments on campus such as an active member of Student Government Association and her importance on the women’s basketball team.   Morales was nominated to join the QEP committee by the Dr. Jim Case, dean of Arts and Sciences, and was then appointed by Sul Ross President Dr. R. Vic Morgan.  Both Mitchell and Morales are popular with students and involved on campus.

“Both Janice and Moises take their responsibilities as athletes, committee members, students, and leaders very seriously, both on and off the basketball court,” Nelson said. 

By choosing Mitchell and Morales, the idea was to influence other students to get involved with the Lobo Stars program. 

“I do believe and hope that I am influencing other students to join Lobo stars,” Mitchell said.  “I do believe we reached the students that were there to hear us out after the McMurry game.”

Any Sul Ross student can be a Lobo Star.  The program began with student leaders who will influence other students to join.  Anyone who interested in becoming a Lobo Star can contact QEP committee members, Nelson, or other Lobo Stars.  The student will be informed about the Lobo Stars, and then presented with a star necklace to show their support for the program. 

“The stars represent students who realize their responsibility to other students as role models, their responsibility to faculty members as engaged students, and their responsibility to each other as support when striving for excellence,” Nelson said.

Students with necklaces are urged to wear them on Monday, March 31 and Tuesday, April 1 while the SACS team visits campus.  The goal is to show that Sul Ross is a united team that supports each other and supports ideas for improvement. 

For more information, contact Nelson, (432) 837-8154. 

Month More than Black History

February is Black History month and in celebration, graduate student Clarence Russeau contemplates the place of all Americans within its context.

-The editor

By Clarence Russeau
Skyline Contributor

Black History month should be renamed “multicultural month.”

America has a unique situation: its population is like the colorful quilts that your grandmother might have made; the fabric squares made up of different patches.

Those patches would represent the different individuals, diverse groups, and all kinds of nationalities that have contributed to a nation with the potential to be great.

We no longer have ships full of slaves that sail from Africa, we might have stopped Mr. Jim Crow and voter literacy tests, and there are no longer dogs or 150 psi fire hoses used to stop peaceful protests.  Many of these overt actions have long been gone, but there is still a low under-current of racism, judgment, and behavior that still exists in America.

Racism has many faces and crosses all color lines and institutions, regardless of social and economic positions.
We no longer see young college students as freedom riders being attacked, or questioning the authority of a university president.

We now have other forms of discrimination in our society. Our government officials are putting up walls and separating cultures.

Living in West Texas and so close to the border, we have the opportunity to be a part of history, and even perhaps make history. The lands that so many before us - and if we’re lucky after us - will have the pleasure to enjoy might parish if we don’t do something today.

As students, we have the chance to be a part of the new revolution that we missed in the 60’s and define ourselves as other than selfish.

The time is now to show a generation that it’s not about self, but about others, and that is what Black History month is all about.

Rep. Pete Gallego Living the Dream

By Shanna Elmore
Journalism 3301 student

“Have you ever had one of those dreams, the kind that seem too good to be true? I am living one of those dreams,” said Representative Pete P. Gallego when he spoke with members of the SRSU News Writing class last week.

“This is the best job in the world because you have the opportunity to impact people’s lives.”

Gallego, an Alpine native, said he always thought politics was “the coolest thing.” His love of public affairs began as a child, as he watched his father conquer a segregated world. “My father was in the forefront of integration. He was the first Hispanic to serve on the local school board,” Gallego said.

Gallego graduated from SRSU in 1982, with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He earned a Doctor of Jurisdiction from the University of Texas School of Law in 1985. Strong family ties brought Gallego back to Alpine in the late 1980s, when he returned home to help run his ailing father’s restaurant. Soon after, his father made a “miraculous” recovery and “wanted his restaurant back.”

Unsure of where his future was heading, Gallego once again sought the advice of his greatest mentor, who encouraged him to run for office. “My dad said, ‘This is your year.’ I was 27 when I started campaigning. My opponent was in his 60s.” In early 1991, Gallego became the first Latino elected to the 74th district of the House of Representatives.

After 17 years in the House, Gallego says working against increasing high school dropout rates has become his passion and his life’s work. “Statistically, out of 100 Latino kids in kindergarten, only one will have a professional degree. 56 of those 100 kindergarteners will dropout before they finish high school,” he said. “What we need to do for all of us is make sure our kids are okay.  We need to pay teachers well and make sure the best teachers are in the classroom.”

In addition to keeping kids in school, Gallego also wants to keep them healthy. “Texas leads the nation in the number of children without health insurance--adults, too. All those cool advances of science don’t mean much if you can’t afford them,” he said.
 
With a campaign for reelection beginning in the near future, Gallego says he doesn’t worry too much about the outcome. “I feel like I have a debt, but 150,000 voters in this district get to decide when that debt is paid,” he said. “The worst thing that will happen to me is I get to spend more time with my 3-year-old. What a cool gig.”
New Education Director Glad To “Be Back Home”

Dr. Tyra Manning referred to her new Sul Ross State University position as a homecoming.

“It’s good to be back home,” said Manning, new director and associate professor of Education. She lived in Alpine when her mother attended Sul Ross.

The warm and welcome feeling expressed by the Sul Ross community when her mother attended 30 years ago was one reason Manning wanted to return.   

As a child, Manning’s mother and her family moved to Alpine so her mother could finish college.

“When I was nine my father passed and my mother had one year of college.  She explored other universities, but Sul Ross welcomed my mother and my family,” Manning said.

After growing up in Seminole, Manning spent her first three years at Texas Tech University and later she moved to Topeka, Kansas, to study at Washburn University, where she earned her undergraduate degree.  Manning was hired to teach at East Topeka Junior High, home of Brown vs. the Board of Education.  While teaching, Manning also began work on her master’s degree and Ph.D. at the University of Kansas.

“My dream was to be a principal and, ultimately, superintendent,” Manning said.

While teaching social studies and English, Manning worked in the public school system, continued work on her master’s degree, and raised her daughter.  She was soon given the opportunity to fulfill her dream, and was appointed principal of Boswell Junior High School.

“This was my first principalship,” Manning said.  “I was instructed to close Boswell school.  The plan was to combine the Boswell attendance area with another junior high school attendance area.”  This process was a key aspect of the desegregation plan developed by the Topeka Board of Education under the supervision of the local federal judge.

After working with children, families, and teachers as schools were closed and attendance areas were combined, Manning was selected to be the principal of the new Robinson Middle School.  Manning served as principal and was then appointed Director of Certified Personnel for the Topeka Public School District. 

Later, Manning moved to Highland Park, IL to lead the instruction department at the district level.  Six years later, she was appointed Superintendent of Schools in Stoughton, WI and later in River Forest, IL, where she retired after twelve years.  Six months after retirement, she began her university career at Dominican University, River Forest, IL.  Manning resigned her position as Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching Program at Dominican to come to Sul Ross.  Returning to Texas one day had always been a dream for Manning.  One evening, while exploring the Sul Ross website, Manning discovered the Director of Education position was open and she applied. 

“When I was invited to interview at Sul Ross, I was impressed with the faculty and staff, their focus on improvement, and students.  I am impressed with the caliber of people at Sul Ross and the university’s mission.”

“Because mother returned to school after my father’s death and graduated from Sul Ross, her influence on my siblings and me was extraordinary.  My brother and sister both graduated from college, and my sister became an elementary teacher.”

“When mom graduated, we felt like we all graduated,” Manning said.  “My whole life has been education.  The door to opportunity opened because of Sul Ross and my mother’s determination.

“It’s a thrill - and exciting - to have the opportunity to give back to Alpine and the Sul Ross community.  I’m thrilled to be here and enjoy meeting new people.   My door is always open.”

Safer in a Small Town...Maybe Not

By Lauren Dickens
Journalism 3301 Student

We often hear that life is safer in a small town--less violence and crime, and frankly people are just nicer…so we think.

I’ve had the advantage of living in small towns most of my life, and I’ll admit that it is a very sheltered life.
For a long time I didn’t think crime existed outside of the huge cities my family visited for my father’s work.

Then reality struck hard--first, when I was informed at the age of 17 that a friend of mine had been shot.
Thankfully, he survived, but the incident started to ebb away my sense of security. Then, it was completely stripped away when I moved to Alpine.

In the four years I’ve lived here, I have been stalked by someone who was threatening my life, had my house and truck vandalized with damages reaching almost 1,000 dollars, and just this semester, I had my house broken into.
This unfortunately has not left me with much faith in the small town safety theory. So, I decided to do some digging. After failed attempts to get a comment from the Alpine Police Department, I decided to speak to one man who knows both sides of this street. 83rd District Attorney Frank Brown was kind enough to give me a moment of his time for an interview.

Brown worked as a lawyer in San Angelo before he came to Alpine, so he is able to give assistance in how crime varies in large towns and small towns. Brown explained that crime does happen in small towns; just like in larger ones, it is just of a different sort. “We have a lot less violent crimes in rural towns; the majority of our crimes are property, forgeries and the occasional driving while intoxicated.” Brown stated, “We’ve had four murders in seven years…three in Pecos County and one murder/suicide in Jeff Davis County, none of which have been prosecutable.”

So, when asked if in his experience crime might be taken less seriously in smaller towns, he said, “I would think it’s taken less seriously. I think there is just more potential for crime in larger cities because of anonymity.”
He explained that also in small towns there is more discretion between the offenders and police officers because more often than not the two know each other. There is also more “community policing” that goes on in a small town. Whether that is good or bad depends on your point of view. 

He also speculated on why things in my different cases have been handled the way they were, saying that many people, especially college students, don’t follow up on reported crime, and though they want it on record, college students don’t necessarily want the police to invade their home. They just want it known that things happened and could possibly happen again.

After this informative interview,  I realized that, yes, crime happens everywhere, and although we can’t always prevent it, we can establish preventative measures to help keep it from being worse than it has to be. Even though you’re in a small town, always lock your doors and leave a light on outside at night so that you can see, if need be. As my sense of safety is beginning to be reestablished, I hope that this article helps others to become aware of the things that can happen and allows them to keep themselves safe.

Faculty Profile: Paul Province

By: Adam Cuellar
Skyline Reporter

One of the highest compliments an educator can receive is to be deemed passionate about their teaching. This is not to say most educators aren’t happy or don’t genuinely care about their student’s success, but just as in any other field of work there are some individuals who seem to routinely perform beyond the call of duty. In his third year of teaching at Sul Ross, Reading Specialist Dr. Paul Province has demonstrated the knowledge and enthusiasm necessary to warrant such high accolades.

A product of Clint, Texas, Dr. Province graduated from Sul Ross in 1979 with a Bachelor’s in History and a Minor in English. After graduating, Province taught english for three years in Tornillo, Texas, before moving to El Paso for four years and managing grocery stores and selling new and used cars. Province then managed an oil company, operated heavy equipment on a dam project for the USDA, and drove a fuel truck for two years in Dell City. The army was Province’s next destination, as he served two years at Fort Bliss and three in Zweibruken, Germany. After serving in the Army, Province returned to the El Paso area and taught middle school history and reading for the next fifteen years.

In 1997 Province was awarded a master’s degree in School Administration by Sul Ross State University. He then finished work on a master’s degree as a Reading Specialist in 2000. In 2005, he received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech with a major in Literacy and Language Acquisition and a minor in Bilingual Education. Shortly after, Province moved to Alpine and has lectured on the teaching of reading since.

Having personally experienced the unfortunate realities of public school teaching in Texas, Dr. Province has developed strict expectations for his students striving to teach reading.

“I want my students to believe in their students. I don’t want them to make excuses for why their students are the way they are. I have high expectations for my students and expect them to have the same for their present or future students. Poverty or background cannot be an excuse.”

In an effort to continually raise awareness about the problems English language learners face, Province has been busy attending and conducting presentations around Central and West Texas. Last July he presented in San Marcos concerning paper folding strategies to help English language learners understand math. In October, he presented in Austin on issues pertaining to immigrant students in the US. Just a month later he was invited back to participate in a panel discussion on Hispanic immigrant education. In January he presented at a reading conference in El Paso in which he spoke on emergent literacy and described effective ways to ensure the success of English language learners.   

Although concerned mightily with the plight of English language learners, Province has also expressed the need to help more traditional students acquire reading skills. In class, the professor constantly reflects on personal teaching experiences in an effort to prepare students for inevitable working situations and confrontations. Past and present students of Province are quite familiar with his feelings toward “teacher in a box,” or reading programs such as Accelerated Reader that seemingly streamlines the teaching of reading and promotes statistics and competitive reading rather than true teacher-to-student interaction. Also encapsulated in his “teacher in a box” outlook are special education programs which separate slower learners from the rest of their classmates.

“We need to quit using and depending upon “teacher in a box.” The only way to teach reading is by human interaction. Until we realize this we will continue to farm our students out to special education and other programs and our potential readers will not be served.”

Dr. Province is one of the many amazing and completely devoted professors here on campus. The presence of such passionate and articulate educators makes the future of Sul Ross students glow with possibility.