October 16, 2008

The University of Texas-PanAmerican has appointed a vice presi-dent for the Division of UniversityAdvancement. Janice Odom, wholeaves her eight-year post as assistantvice president for advancement serv-ices at The University of Texas at San

Antonio will start serv-ing in her new positionNov. 1.

The job Odom willsoon take previouslybelonged to RolandArriola, who was also the

former vice president of ExternalAffairs. When the Division of External

SPORTS PG. 13 NEWS PG. 3

The University of Texas-PanAmerican men’s and women’s cross-country teams are three meets into the2008 campaign and have experiencedmuch success even after a slow start tothe season.

The season was scheduled to beginwith the San Antonio Relays Aug. 29and continue with the Texas StateInvitational Sept. 5 and Texas A&MInvitational Sept. 13, but due tounfortunate events all three meetswere canceled.

On Sept. 5, the cross-country teamsfailed to arrive at the Texas StateInvitational in San Marcos after anaccident involving the UTPAwomen’s vehicle.

According to the Texas PeaceOfficer’s Crash Report, men’s and

women’s coach Dennis Darling wasthe driver of a 15-passenger van thatwas rented from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, with fivemembers of thewomen’s team onboard. Due torestrictions by theFamily EducationalRights and PrivacyAct (FERPA), theathletes’ nameswere not disclosed.

The vehicle was traveling north-bound in the left lane on Interstate 37in Atascosa County, 6.2 miles south ofPleasanton. A half mile south ofMilestone 103, the vehicle veered leftinto the center median, then swervedback to the right where the van lostcontrol, skidding sideways and rolledover onto its left side. The vehiclecame to a final rest in the left lane ofI-37 northbound, facing east.

The emergency dispatch was noti-fied at 2:05 p.m. and investigatorLucian P. Ebrom arrived at the scene at2:14 p.m. The six people in the vehiclewere transported by Atascosa EMS toSouth Texas Regional Medical Center

in Jourdanton. According to Darlingand Interim Athletic Director RickyVaughn, only minor injuries were sus-

tained, howeverone athlete requiredstitches on her leg.

Ebrom, a Texashighway patrol-man, chargedDarling with fail-ure to drive in asingle lane andissued him a cita-

tion. Other factors/conditions issuedby the investigator that may or mayhave not contributed included “faultyevasive action” and “fatigue orasleep,” according to the report.

Enterprise official Ned Maniscalcosaid the damage exceeded $11,000 andthe vehicle was totaled.

Darling stated in the police reportthat he might have fallen asleep butwas not sure, and also said he did notfeel tired. The second-year coach laterreiterated that he did not fall asleep.

“I’ve been driving for a long time.If I’m tired, I’ll stop on the side of theroad,” Darling said. “It’s just not me

SINCE 1943 October 16, 2008Volume 65, No. 8

By Ramiro Paez & Gregorio GarzaTHE PAN AMERICAN

INDEX FEATURE PG. 2 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PG. 7

UTPA accident disclosed� ATHLETICS

WRECK - A women’s cross-country van rolled over on its way to atrack meet in Atascosa County while traveling northbound on I-37.

Congressman introduces higher-education initiativesCongressman Ruben Hinojosa, D-

Mercedes, highlighted various featuresof the 2008 Higher EducationOpportunity Act last week at the ITTbuilding on campus. He was joined bythe leadership of Valley higher educa-

tion, including UTPA PresidentBlandina “Bambi” Cardenas, whoexpressed appreciation for the con-gressman’s efforts.

Hinojosa, whose district includesEdinburg, is the chairman of theSubcommittee on Higher Education.He spoke about the act’s benefitsregarding Pell Grants, Work-Study,

financial aid, and an increase in moniesto Hispanic-Serving Institutions(HISs). The act passed the House Feb.7 by a vote of 354-58, then on July 31the Senate passed it by 83-8 and thenwas sent to President Bush and signedinto law Aug. 14.

“I drew on the advice and counsel ofour higher education leaders in South

Texas,” Hinojosa said. “That is why thenew law emphasizes making collegemore accessible and affordable forcommunities like ours.”

The act will gradually increase themaximum amount a student canreceive from the Pell Grant, to $8,000within the next six years. The Pell willnow be offered year-around instead of

just within a particular academic year. He added that because of the College

Cost Reduction and Access Act, studentsare receiving maximum Pell Grants of$4,731 up from $4,050 two years ago.Both the House and the Senate passedthe bill Sept. 9, 2007, and was then sentand signed into law by President Bush

� EDUCATION

By Brian SilvaTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE ACCIDENT || PAGE 11

SEE FINANCIAL AID || PAGE 11

CHEK CHEONG

Breaking the language barrier

“Do not use your tongue, do not useyour lips,” said Smail Haddad whileteaching his University of Texas-PanAmerican students to speak again, thistime in Arabic for their Language andCulture Session at the CommunicationArts and Sciences building.

Languages like Arabic and Russianmay seem esoteric to the Rio Grande

Valley, however, some UTPA studentshave found great use from these short-term language and culture sessionsoffered by the Office of InternationalPrograms.

“As a political science major andhistory minor I would like to workabroad like in an embassy,” said 19-year-old Mission native Karen Dorado.“I’d like to put this on my resume.”

The classes last only a few monthsand meets twice a week for two hours,

but Haddad and Russian teacher MayaZhivokina said they believe they canteach students to speak, read and writein Arabic and Russian if they take bothbeginner and intermediate sessions.

These language programs havebeen offered every semester since2005 and have included Turkish,Arabic and Russian which cost $24.95.

“This is their challenge,” saidHaddad, who taught language and

� INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

By Ana VillaurrutiaTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE POSITION || PAGE 11

Vice president namedafter national search� ADMINISTRATION

By Abigail MunizTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE LANGUAGE || PAGE 11

Cross-countryseason delayedafter rollover

Janice Odom

Men’s tennis season preview, See 6

“It’s just not me in the car. Ihave six other passengers’lives at stake also.”

Dennis DarlingCross-country Coach

THE PAN AMERICAN October 16, 2008

A changing landscapeThe 1960s and 1970s were a time

of immense social change across thelandscape of America. However,America wasn’t the only thing altered,the landscape of the University ofTexas Pan American, both academi-cally and geographically, wouldchange into what the university hasnow become.

Midway during the ‘60s the uni-versity, then known as Pan AmericanCollege, became part of the state high-er education system. The new desig-nation brought a four-year system tothe university, instead of a two-yearcommunity college program.

Shortly after the switch, in January1967, Lino Garcia Jr. joined the uni-versity as an instructor of Spanish.Now professor emeritus of Spanishliterature, next year will mark his42nd year as a Bronc. The Korean Warveteran and three-time Battle Starrecipient has been able to observe boththe academic and physical growth ofthe university

“When I joined the university wehad just grown from a community col-lege to a four-year school… peoplestill had the community-college men-tality,” Garcia recalled. “We only had

48 professors, and there were no mas-ter’s or doctoral programs.”

In the four years after the universi-ty began its four-year system the stu-dent population nearly doubled fromover 2,000 to over 4,000 students.According to Garcia, who teaches anundergraduate and graduate coursethis semester, the graduate program atthe university started developing dur-ing the 1970s.

Garcia, a long time advocate ofTejano culture and history, said theacademic transition was admirable.

“There was a bright future ahead ofus at that time because of the students’dedication,” he said. “There were a lotof first-generation students, and youcould really see the fear in their eyes.They were new to it, but their dedica-tion led them to succeed.”

In fact, the academic change was acatalyst to the changing of university’sname from Pan American College toPan American University.

Shortly after the academic transi-tion, South Texas suffered from one ofthe worst natural disasters in recordedhistory. In 1967 one of the most pow-erful storms in Atlantic Basin history,Hurricane Beulah, struck the Valleyand meandered across South Texasdumping record rainfalls across theregion. The Rio Grande River was

several miles wide andcrested at its highestpoint in history fromLaredo to Brownsville.Along with massiveflooding, over 100 tor-nadoes touched downin the area.

The sight of recordfloods could also beseen here on the cam-pus as many buildingswere under water.Water stood up to theroofs of cars at times.

Garcia, whoseown house had waterdamage said classeswere canceled forabout two weeks. He described thearea around the university as a lake.

“It was really bad, but we didn’tlose any lives,” he noted. “It was justa really big mess.”

The amount of construction thatfollowed Beulah’s destruction wouldfar exceed the amount of damage thatoccurred. Enormous building projectsoccurred at the change of the decade.In fact, in the 1970 edition of ElBronco, the yearbook at the time,would carry a theme of “The Year ofConstruction.”

The university grew to severaltimes its original size, with adminis-trators buying out the neighborhoodsaround it to expand the landmass.There were two phases to the con-struction of the new buildings. Phase Iincluded the Science Building, Healthand Physical Education Complex, theFine Arts Center, the Cooling Plantand the Library.

The library was three stories andserved as not only the area of researchbut also a place where students wereregistered for classes. Later the library

would have an additional three storiesadded and would become the currentday Executive Tower in the upperfloors; the first floor is now for studentservices.

Phase II would include theUniversity Ballroom and baseball sta-dium. Later the stadium would benamed after Joseph “Jody” Ramsey,the co-captain of the 1972 Bronc base-ball team who died when he was elec-trocuted in an onfield accident.

Garcia believes the large physicaland academic expansions were duemostly to the efforts of two presidents.

“Dr. Ralph Schilling’s legacy wasthe physical structure of the universi-ty, like addition of all the buildingsand structure, as well as putting air-condition in them,” he said. “But thenthe next president (Dr. MiguelNevarez) came in and said that thephysical structure was in place andthat it was time to fill them with aca-demics.”

Garcia noted that he actually hiredPAU grad Nevarez in the early ‘70s towork in his department, but the latter

quickly rose through the ranks toassume various leadership rolesbefore becoming the university’s pres-ident in 1981.

During that same time period acontroversy emerged with the 1971edition of El Bronco. As Dean of Men,Garcia observed as Tejano organiza-tions like MEChA confronted theadministration about what they saw asan offensive portrayal of CesarChavez in the yearbook.

“Students threw their yearbooksinto a pile in front of the administra-tion building,” Garcia said. “Theywere just protesting. Nothing reallygot out of control.”

Looking toward the future, Garciawants to see more doctoral programsand some professional programsadded to the university. He said amedical or law school would be agood addition.

“UTPA has lifted and raised thestandard of education in this commu-nity… we’ve done very well over theyears,” Garcia said. “We will becomethe flagship of South Texas.”

UTPA Generations: The SeriesWatch for Bronc history lessons intermittently

throughout the semester

Aug. 25 - IntroductionSept. 4 - ‘20s & ‘30s Sept. 25 - ‘40s & ‘50s

By Brian SilvaTHE PAN AMERICAN

1201 West University, CAS 170 Edinburg, Texas 78539Phone: (956) 381-2541

Fax: (956) 316-7122

Oct. 16, 2008

The Pan American is the official stu-dent newspaper of The University ofTexas-Pan American. Views presentedare those of the writers and do not nec-essarily reflect those of the paper oruniversity.

The Pan American accepts letters of300 words or less from students, staff andfaculty regarding recent newspapercontent, campus concerns or currentevents. The Pan American reserves theright to edit submissions for grammar andlength. The Pan American cannot publishanonymous letters or submissionscontaining hate speech or gratuitouspersonal attacks. Please send all storyideas to [email protected].

Individuals with disabilitieswishing to acquire this publication in analternative format or needing assistanceto attend any event listed can contact ThePan American for more details.

**Delivery**Thursday at noon

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

REPORTERS, DESIGNERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

Alvaro Balderas Russen VelaIsaac Garcia Andrielle FigueroaOnydia Garza Ben Briones Pedro Perez IV Marco Carbajal

ADVISER

Dr. Greg Selber --- [email protected]

Anita Reyes --- [email protected] MANAGER

Samantha Quintana --- [email protected]

V 65, No. 8

Oct. 16 - ‘60s & ‘70s Nov. 6 - ‘80s & ‘90sDec. 3 - 2000 & Beyond

T

EDITOR IN CHIEF

J.R. Ortega / [email protected] EDITOR

Abigail Muniz / [email protected] EDITOR

Brian Silva / [email protected] EDITOR

Ana Villaurrutia / [email protected]&E EDITOR

Laura Garcia / [email protected] A&E EDITOR

Isaac Garcia / [email protected] EDITORS

Ramiro Paez / [email protected] Garza / [email protected] EDITOR

Roxy Solis / [email protected] EDITOR

Roy Bazan / [email protected] EDITOR

Adriana Acosta / [email protected]

UPBRINGING - This picture from the 1970 editiong of El Bronco shows the Fine ArtsComplex under construction.

CONCENTRATE - This picture from the 1973 El Bronco shows The Pan American editor Kenneth Masonworking on a story.

Earning a degree in marketing hadalways been a dream for 22-year-oldViviana Sanchez. But after approach-ing some tough courses as a marketingmajor she caught herself thinkingtwice about her career.

However, after the McAllen nativeattended The University of Texas-PanAmerican’s 8th Annual Majors Fairand spoke to representatives from the

College of Business, she was re-assured by her original choice ofdegree concentration.

“I knew this was what I wanted todo since my junior year in highschool,” she said. “I would hear afamily friend who had majored inmarketing talk so much about how funhis job was.”

After visiting the different booths,Sanchez said she was sure she didn’twant to change her major. Nothing elseinterested her as much as marketing.

“I’m sure this is the major I willkeep. I was able toget the informationI needed here,”Sanchez said.

This year theannual event washeld in October,though NationalCareer AwarenessMonth is inN o v e m b e r .Marilyn Hagerty, director of the

Advisement and AcademicMentoring Center,said a total of 832students attendedthe fair Oct. 9 at theU n i v e r s i t yBallroom, in starkcontrast to the 660at last year’s event.

Hagerty alsoadded that manda-tory advisement

has always been held before the fair,

which limited the opportunity to findout more about their choice of careerbefore making a decision. The ideaemerged to allow students a chanceto speak with representatives fromvarious UTPA colleges, lending abetter perspective on differentmajors before advisement. Andadvancing the event met withapproval from students.

“Getting to see the students of theHealth Science and Human Services

THE PAN AMERICAN October 16, 2008� CAMPUS

Despite the economic slowdown,the Psychology Club at TheUniversity of Texas-Pan American hasmanaged to sponsor a food drive thatwill benefit people in need. The fooddrive titled, “Fight Hunger, FeedHope!” began on Oct. 2 and will runthrough the end of the month.

The idea of a food drive began inearly September when psychologyclub president, Crystal Rodriguez,brought it up at their meeting.

“We want to make a difference inthe community and we wanted tomake a positive impact and find a

place that had a need,” she said. “Wesaw that the Food Bank of the RGVhad a need.”

With recent nat-ural disasters likeHurricane Dolly,the food bank hasbeen running lowon supplies. For thefirst nine days afterDolly, the FoodBank distributedenough food tomake 60,000 meals a day. In a non-emergency case, they can distributefood to make 25,000 meals a week.

Carter Robinson, Food and FundDrive Coordinator provided the club

with 10 bins that have been placedthroughout campus. Each bin has a

club memberassigned and theykeep track of fooddonations andremove any trashthat is thrown.

Some of the binshave been placed inthe Student Servicesbuilding, Library,Wellness and

Recreation Sports complex, StudentUnion, Education building,Communication building and the Social

Club food drive plans for successBy Adriana AcostaTHE PAN AMERICAN

� ORGANIZATION

Dates to Know:Spring, Summer I, II and miniterm registration beginsMondayBy appointmentSee department for more information

Meningitis Shots $14Friday9 a.m. to 1 p.m.Unity Hall

Majors Fair expectations reached, surpassedBy Abby FloresTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE FAIR || PAGE 12

Essay contest grantsstudents scholarships

Hispanic Heritage Month endedwith a first-time essay contest on Oct.14 at The University of Texas-PanAmerican. The event that concludedthe month-long celebration was theHispanic Heroes Essay Contest held atthe University Ballroom at 5:30 p.m.

Posted on one of the walls in theballroom, passers-by could read the 18essay entries submitted for the contestand underneath each entry on tables, apicture frame of the writer and theirhero was placed. Each applicant wroteat least two pages explaining their rela-tionship with their hero and the impactthey had in their lives.

More than 20 people attended theevent and patiently awaited announce-ment of the scholarship winners. Threeout of the 18 applicants were chosen.

Mirela Dapo from Bosnia was not

able to attend the event but won thefirst place scholarship of $250 whilethe third place $100 prize went toOscar Martinez.

Jessica Moreno-Lino from Donnawon the second place scholarship of$100. A junior, Moreno-Lino is a dualenrolled student from STC who isworking towards a nursing degree.After accepting her award she wasasked to read her essay.

By the second sentence, Moreno-Lino’s voice slowly changed as tearsrolled down her face. While she readthe last sentence, everyone wasapplauding as they gave her a standingovation for her courageous effort. Hergrandfather was the subject of the essay.

“It felt good to talk about mygrandmother and it was very emotion-al for me,” she said. “I plan to use myscholarship toward my tuition.”

Moreno-Lino’s grandmother grad-

� STUDENT LIFE

By Janette SolizTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE CLUB || PAGE 12

SEE HEROES || PAGE 12

Ben Briones/THE PAN AMERICAN

“We want to make a differ-ence in the community andwe wanted to make a posi-tive impact and find a placethat had a need.”Crystal RodriguezPsychology Club president

INSPIRED - Jessica Moreno-Lino shares her second-place essay with guests at the awards presentation ofthe Hispanic Heroes Essay Contest. Moreno-Lino’s hero and inspiration was her grandmother.

For University of Texas-PanAmerican master’s student EdwardAvila, writing research papers is amajor necessity he needs to completein order to earn an advanced degree inhistory.

That’s why when the 36-year-oldfrom Edinburg heard about AcademicSearch Complete, a library researchdatabase loaded with articles on virtu-ally any subject, he did not pass up thechance to learn more about it.

“Most of my papers are in the 30-page range, so I’m constantly doingthis kind of research,” Avila said,referring to the free tutorial he attend-ed last week.

Last Thursday Librarian JaneGoodman hosted an Academic SearchComplete workshop during ActivityPeriod to help interested studentslearn the functions of the database andget more out of their researchingexperiences.

A total of six students attended theworkshop that was held last Tuesday

SEE TOOLS|| PAGE 12

Library stresses use ofonline research database

� RESEARCH

By Kristen CabreraTHE PAN AMERICAN

“Two-hundred students reg-istered for advisement dur-ing the fair and that’s a goodnumber.”Marylyn HagertyDirector of advisement andacademic mentoring center

ADVERTISEMENTS October 16, 2008

THE PAN AMERICAN

Dates to Know:Reckless KellySaturdayDoors: 7 p.m. Music: 8 p.m.Las Palmas Race Park

“The Piper and the Rats” Thursday to Saturday 7 p.m.Sunday 2 p.m.Albert L. Jeffers Theatre

� LOCAL TALENT

As a child, Daniel Martinez had afondness for rendering drawings ofsuper heroes and heroines. It was thispassion that lead him to aspire to be acomic book artist. Now as an adult,Martinez credits that passion for help-ing him render outfits and costumesfor his fashion line, Power, PowerCollection, named after its strengthand boldness

Martinez, a 22-year-old marketingmajor at The University of Texas-Pan American, first got involved inthe fashion world four years agowhen he moved to the Valley fromHouston to work at his brother’s vin-tage-clothing store, Flipside, locatedin Edinburg. He was also inspired byhis mother, who studied fashiondesign in Mexico and now owns analteration shop in Houston calledNena’s Alterations.

“My mother was able to teach methe basics of clothing construction soI practically had all of the resources. Ijust needed to go out and do it,”Martinez said.

Having fashion design in his bloodand after creating a dress for FlipsideClothing, which was showcased intheir fashion show, Martinez gained theconfidence to create a collection forThe Art and Film Festival held at theMcAllen Convention Center on Oct. 4.

It was there that Martinez won TheGolden Hanger for best collection, for

his Fall/Winter 2008 collection.In attendance at The Art and Film

Festival’s fashion show was VictoriaGarza, of Alamo, a 20-year-old soph-omore education major at SouthTexas College.

“I really liked a gray dress withpurple pockets that one of the modelswas wearing. I would totally wear thaton a fancy night out,” Garza said.

Martinez explained that he drawsinspiration from a multitude ofsources, but drew his current collec-tion from shapes.

“I chose the grays to go along withthe fall/winter theme and I wanted tostay away from browns and otherearthy tones,” he said. “ I paired thegrays with different shades of purpleand black taffeta to lighten up thepieces,” Martinez explained.

Taffeta is a crisp, smooth woven fab-ric made from synthetic or silk fibers.

“I particularly had one dress inmind and I created a collection out ofthe concept behind the dress by usingthe same shapes, styles and fabricsthroughout the collection,” he said.

His collection was not the onlything he was working diligently on theeve before it showcased.

“I was up for almost a day and ahalf getting everything ready, sewinghems and making minor alterations,”he said. “I had to style my modelsaccordingly (hair, make-up, shoes). Inthe end, I created six pieces in thematter of two weeks all while balanc-ing school and work,” Martinez said.

Martinez credits his friends and theValley for his success in fashion design.

“I have the most supportive friendsand I see the Valley as a good place totest the waters,” he said. “I feel peo-ple are less critical here and it givesme an op portunity to develop mystyle and perfect my constructionskills,” Martinez said.

One of Martinez’s friends whohas seen him grow over the years isJenny Mora, a 21-year-old senior,English/dietetics major at UTPAfrom Mercedes.

“Danny’s sketches are brilliant andhis pieces look just like them, he’s

grown so much as an artist over thepast year,” she said. “He is really inde-pendent at getting everything done, soI’m mainly there for motivation.”

Always looking into the future,Martinez is currently working hard onmaking more collections and openingan online clothing store, www.power-power.bigcartel.com.

“Right now I have all my pieces inmy living room,” he said. “I believemy style is youthful and contempo-rary. My ideal client is a confident andedgy girl. So if anyone wants to take alook, they’ll have to come by myapartment for now,” Martinez said.

Martinez expressed the desire tobranch out on his own and make aname for himself as the reason forhaving his pieces in his living roomand not on the sales rack at his broth-er’s clothing store, Flipside.

“I’m sure if I was to ask theywould allow me to showcase my stuffthere, but I would rather go out and doit on my own,” he said.

Martinez also designs menswearincluding: jackets, hoodies, pants, andT-shirts. He is also available for alter-ations if the public is interested.

He can be contacted athttp://www.myspace.com/whiteliness.

Fashion winner breaks out with trendy piecesBy Isaac GarciaTHE PAN AMERICAN

A murderer is on the loose and thebumbling detective has only a learn-er’s permit to kill. Everyone is a sus-pect and nothing is as it seems.Madness, mayhem and mystery com-bine when the Student Union presentsdinner theater Oct. 23 from 7 p.m. to9 p.m. in the Student Union Café.

Guests will enjoy full dinner servicewhile interactively becoming a part ofthe featured show “CelebrityNewlydeads 2.0.” The event is free withan RSVP ticket and will be the first ofits kind offered by the Student Union.

“I just wanted to do something dif-ferent for the students that hasn’t beendone at this university,” said CindyMata, Union assistant director. “Ithink people would like it because it’ssomething that’s fun and different and

not too traditional here in the Valley.”Dinner theatre found its roots in

1953, when a group of actors inRichmond, Virg., decided to kill twobirds with one stone and offer dinnerand a show. The genre became a start-ing point for many well-known actorsand actresses including Betty Grable,Lana Turner and Jane Russell. Thetrend peaked in the 1970s, before a slowresurgence in the 1990s. The fun lies inthe heavy audience interaction withguests becoming a real part of the story.

The dinner will feature The ComedyKillers, a Dallas-based comedy improv-isational troupe that has been touringthe country with comedic, murder-mys-tery dinners for the last 16 years.

“We’re a lot like the shows atSecond City in Chicago,” said TimShane, a theatrical artist from Dallaswho founded the groups. “There’s ascripted outline of the show, but the

direct audience interaction affects theoutcome. In nearly 16 years, we’venever done the same show twice.”

Assistant professor of TV/filmDavid Bennett Carren has a backgroundin improvisation, having performedwith several groups, including theRubber Hammers back in the 1970s.While he admits that dinner theatre hasseen a decline since its heyday, theresurgence of troupes like The ComedyKillers and the spontaneity of improvi-sation may help pull audiences back.

“Improv is an amazing thing,”Carren said. “Not everyone has thatability, but those who do are able tothink on their feet and work without anet, take a chance and just roll with it.”

Shane agrees and says the show’sappeal also lies in the fact that audi-ences want to try to solve the crimesinteractively, as opposed to justwatching something on TV and hav-

ing all the answers handed to them.“When you turn on the TV there’s

always a crime or mystery show and it’salways neat and clear and predictable,”Shane said. “This is something like theTV show “Lost” where you get cluesand you are just try-ing to figure it outthe whole time -only it’s better,because you’reactually in the mid-dle of it instead ofyelling at the televi-sion screen.”

The characters arrive at the eventwith the guests and proceed to mingle.The one-on-one interaction is toafford guests access to the same infor-mation about the story for an evenplaying field. He also revealed thatthe show is more focused on wacki-ness than on reality.

“We don’t bother with subtly or dis-cretion,” Shane noted proudly. “Ourcharacters are outrageous and funnyand you know who they are right off.”

The upcoming event is alreadygenerating a considerable amount of

interest.“It sounds really

cool, especiallybeing so close toHalloween,” saidJessica Flores, afreshman account-ing major. “Usuallyyou only see stuff

like that on TV.”RSVP tickets will be available for

pick-up by any UTPA student, facultyand staff beginning Oct. 16 at theUnion. Due to space limitations how-ever, tickets are limited and onlyoffered one per person, on a first comefirst served basis.

Dinner brings entertainment to campus lifeBy Marco CarbajalTHE PAN AMERICAN

WORK IT - Daniel Martinez stands with his models wearing his Power, Power collection at The Art and FilmFestival on Oct. 4 in McAllen.

� CAMPUS FUN

Abe Robledo Photography

“It sounds really cool, espe-cially being so close toHalloween,”

Jessica FloresFreshman accounting major

October 16, 2008

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT October 16, 2008 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Page 9October 16, 2008

Design by Rick Gamez Photo Illustration by Ben Briones/The Pan American

Organization hopes to unite students

Walking around campus, one may havestumbled upon some posters with aninterestingly dressed person in a vibrant,multi-colored costume, a cube-shapedegg helmet and gold Nikes. After readingthe title aloud the first thought could be,“Can they say Pinche Huevon? Aren’tthose bad words?”

Well, the pondering stops herebecause Pinche Huevon is a new studentorganization, and those posters are onlythe beginning of what the campus crowdwill be seeing from this outlandishgroup.

Rupert Villalon, 21, a film studiesmajor, created Pinche Huevon. ThePalmview native says the idea hit him inNovember 2006 and slowly took offafter that. Pinche Huevon, he explains,is an alien.

“At first I thought that Pinche Huevonwould be an alien who took over mybody and made me do things against mywill,” he explained, about the Spanishterm meaning stingy, lazy person.

After scrutinizing the idea a littlemore, he decided that he and his captur-er should be friends - but there wasmore. After attending the University ofTexas at Austin, he noticed that studentson campus tended to be self-segregated,as those of the same race seemed toalways be together.

He said the majority of the populationhere is Hispanic but still, the campustends to be divided into jocks, artsy kids,those of different majors, and so on.

“I wanted to create something that willunite us,” Villalon said. “If two peoplecan talk about Pinche Huevon, whether itis negative or positive, I did my job.

The organization consists of 10 mem-bers so far, and they all equally takeresponsibility with the group. Villalonsays each member contributes eitherthrough acting, filming, or advertising.

With a Cinematographer on hand they areable to film new comedy skits once amonth and put them up on their sites.They also use their fictional characterPinche Huevon to bring out the collegecrowd at events such as Hillbilly’sCollege Night and HESTEC.

The group has had a wild journey dur-ing its development. Villalon went toUT Austin from 2005 to 2006, but hegradually began to be brought low by adependency on marijuana, which hesays began at age 16. He flunked out ofschool and took a job offered to him oncampus as a door-to-door salesman sell-ing security systems in Washington stateduring the summer of 2006. Villalonadmitted to being in a rut and being asalesman helped him take command ofhis life. After making enough money togo back to Austin, Villalon spent the fallof that year living on a friend’s balconywith only a thin layer of saran wrap as acover protecting him from insects andbad weather.

After Villalon’s parents caught wind ofhis living conditions, he finally decidedto come back home to Palmview and sethis life straight. While living in Austin,Villalon purchased a small camcorder torecord ideas he had for comedy skits.Upon his return to the Valley, friends dugthe raw material and pushed him to dosomething with them.

This led Villalon to quit smokingmarijuana.

“I figured I needed to talk to sponsors,to students, to faculty and do things allday,” he recalls. “I knew I had to be alert,energetic and inspired, but not because ofthe influence of marijuana.”

On Oct. 9, the Pinche Huevon clan wasmade an official organization after push-ing the idea since January 2008. Villalonis working to expand the group and hashired 2002 UTPA graduate DavidBurbois as the group’s cinematographer.Burbois handles recording the comedyskits, as well as lighting and editing.

Burbois suggests that the group’s com-edy may not be for everyone.

“Well, it’s not normal funny. It is veryextreme, but at the same time Rupert isvery energetic and it becomes a challengeto keep up with him. It’s been a realpleasure and I am looking forward towhat happens in the future.”

What does the future hold for PincheHuevon? Students can go to their Website pinchehuevon.com and watch thegroup’s videos and events. This monththe group will be promoting their latestvideo “E-Fatties,” that will be up thisweek. On Wednesday nights students canattend Hillbilly’s College Night to hangout with the wacky Pinche Huevon alien.Villalon is also excited about thePinchehuevon.com Halloween Party Oct.31 at Club Fuego, which is on 11205 N.23rd Street in McAllen.

Villalon admits that the name maycause some fuss due to the alternate defi-nitions of the word pinche, some studentsseem to not take notice.

“I don’t think the name of the groupor the comedy is rude,” concluded MaryJane Perez, a 27-year-old businessmajor, after seeing one of PincheHuevon’s video. “I think it’s a fun wayto get his message across to the stu-dents,” Perez added.

Perez’s friend agreed that it was away at looking at classes in a differentlight.

“Some people think school is boring,and this was a funny way to make peo-ple want to go. People usually think par-ties are the only way to get students todo anything,” added business majorZaira Perez.

Villalon takes this project very serious-ly, and will not let any drawbacks ruin thegroup’s place here on campus. “Somepeople may not approve, but I will behonest, my target audience is from ages18 to 26. Once you watch the videoseither you love it or hate it, there is noth-ing in between.”

By Andrielle FigueroaTHE PAN AMERICAN

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT October 16, 2008Page 8 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT October 16, 2008

Design by Rick Gamez Photo Illustration by Ben Briones/The Pan American

Organization hopes to unite students

Walking around campus, one may havestumbled upon some posters with aninterestingly dressed person in a vibrant,multi-colored costume, a cube-shapedegg helmet and gold Nikes. After readingthe title aloud the first thought could be,“Can they say Pinche Huevon? Aren’tthose bad words?”

Well, the pondering stops herebecause Pinche Huevon is a new studentorganization, and those posters are onlythe beginning of what the campus crowdwill be seeing from this outlandishgroup.

Rupert Villalon, 21, a film studiesmajor, created Pinche Huevon. ThePalmview native says the idea hit him inNovember 2006 and slowly took offafter that. Pinche Huevon, he explains,is an alien.

“At first I thought that Pinche Huevonwould be an alien who took over mybody and made me do things against mywill,” he explained, about the Spanishterm meaning stingy, lazy person.

After scrutinizing the idea a littlemore, he decided that he and his captur-er should be friends - but there wasmore. After attending the University ofTexas at Austin, he noticed that studentson campus tended to be self-segregated,as those of the same race seemed toalways be together.

He said the majority of the populationhere is Hispanic but still, the campustends to be divided into jocks, artsy kids,those of different majors, and so on.

“I wanted to create something that willunite us,” Villalon said. “If two peoplecan talk about Pinche Huevon, whether itis negative or positive, I did my job.

The organization consists of 10 mem-bers so far, and they all equally takeresponsibility with the group. Villalonsays each member contributes eitherthrough acting, filming, or advertising.

With a Cinematographer on hand they areable to film new comedy skits once amonth and put them up on their sites.They also use their fictional characterPinche Huevon to bring out the collegecrowd at events such as Hillbilly’sCollege Night and HESTEC.

The group has had a wild journey dur-ing its development. Villalon went toUT Austin from 2005 to 2006, but hegradually began to be brought low by adependency on marijuana, which hesays began at age 16. He flunked out ofschool and took a job offered to him oncampus as a door-to-door salesman sell-ing security systems in Washington stateduring the summer of 2006. Villalonadmitted to being in a rut and being asalesman helped him take command ofhis life. After making enough money togo back to Austin, Villalon spent the fallof that year living on a friend’s balconywith only a thin layer of saran wrap as acover protecting him from insects andbad weather.

After Villalon’s parents caught wind ofhis living conditions, he finally decidedto come back home to Palmview and sethis life straight. While living in Austin,Villalon purchased a small camcorder torecord ideas he had for comedy skits.Upon his return to the Valley, friends dugthe raw material and pushed him to dosomething with them.

This led Villalon to quit smokingmarijuana.

“I figured I needed to talk to sponsors,to students, to faculty and do things allday,” he recalls. “I knew I had to be alert,energetic and inspired, but not because ofthe influence of marijuana.”

On Oct. 9, the Pinche Huevon clan wasmade an official organization after push-ing the idea since January 2008. Villalonis working to expand the group and hashired 2002 UTPA graduate DavidBurbois as the group’s cinematographer.Burbois handles recording the comedyskits, as well as lighting and editing.

Burbois suggests that the group’s com-edy may not be for everyone.

“Well, it’s not normal funny. It is veryextreme, but at the same time Rupert isvery energetic and it becomes a challengeto keep up with him. It’s been a realpleasure and I am looking forward towhat happens in the future.”

What does the future hold for PincheHuevon? Students can go to their Website pinchehuevon.com and watch thegroup’s videos and events. This monththe group will be promoting their latestvideo “E-Fatties,” that will be up thisweek. On Wednesday nights students canattend Hillbilly’s College Night to hangout with the wacky Pinche Huevon alien.Villalon is also excited about thePinchehuevon.com Halloween Party Oct.31 at Club Fuego, which is on 11205 N.23rd Street in McAllen.

Villalon admits that the name maycause some fuss due to the alternate defi-nitions of the word pinche, some studentsseem to not take notice.

“I don’t think the name of the groupor the comedy is rude,” concluded MaryJane Perez, a 27-year-old businessmajor, after seeing one of PincheHuevon’s video. “I think it’s a fun wayto get his message across to the stu-dents,” Perez added.

Perez’s friend agreed that it was away at looking at classes in a differentlight.

“Some people think school is boring,and this was a funny way to make peo-ple want to go. People usually think par-ties are the only way to get students todo anything,” added business majorZaira Perez.

Villalon takes this project very serious-ly, and will not let any drawbacks ruin thegroup’s place here on campus. “Somepeople may not approve, but I will behonest, my target audience is from ages18 to 26. Once you watch the videoseither you love it or hate it, there is noth-ing in between.”

By Andrielle FigueroaTHE PAN AMERICAN

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT October 16, 2008

AUSTIN - A yellow-vested volun-teer uses his bright orange flag todirect streams of shuttle buses intoZilker Park.

This is not a mass evacuation. It isthe 7th Annual Austin City LimitsMusic Festival, and the buses are car-rying thousands of eager ears hungryfor live music.

ACL Festival is a three-day eventthat took place Sept. 26 through Sept.28 and offers musical discovery with130 bands on eight stages.

Unlike other popular music festi-vals such as Bonnaroo in Tennesse,Lollapalooza in Chicago, andBamboozle in New Jersey, ACL orig-inates from a television show inAustin that has aired since 1975. Theshow provides audiences the chanceto watch live concerts from a widevariety of the world’s most acclaimedand accomplished talent. The show’swide variety is present yearly in thefestival’s line-up.

Genres this year ranged from rockto hip-hop, blues to country andsinger-songwriter to avant-garde.(Experimental treatment of artistic,musical, or literary matrial.)

Big acts in this year’s line-upincluded headliners Foo Fighters,Manu Chao, hip-hop group N.E.R.D.,Beck, and others.

The scene upon entering the gateswas a mass of concert-goers.

Easily over a thousand fans col-lected at the Advanced Micro Devicesstage to watch newcomers VampireWeekend out of New York City.

A father and daughter withBritish accents crowded under themisting flowers of the Mr. Misterstation, hoping to cool off in thealready blistering heat.

Other parents were seen at the Tag-A-Kid station registering their chil-dren with contact information in casethey became separated over the courseof the festival.

Those familiar with music festi-vals might remember Austin’s otherfamed week-long music festival. TheSouth by Southwest (SXSW) MusicFestival takes place annually andalso features a portion for film andinteractive media.

However similar these Austin sta-ples may seem, Jordan Hughes, 21, ofDenton, sees very different festivals.

“ACL has the spirit ofWoodstock,” Hughes said. “It’s con-tained within a park over three dayswhile SXSW is spread out during aweek in different venues throughoutthe entire city.”

Another function SXSW serves,according to its Web site, is as a net-working tool for industry insiders andaspiring musicians. ACL, on the otherhand, is purely for showcasing talent-ed bands and artists of different styles.

“There’s a whole lot more to doand experience at SXSW than ACL,”Hughes said. “But each one lendsitself to its own unique atmosphere.”

ACL’s atmosphere is one of thethings Stephanie Becerra, 21, ofEdinburg took with her.

“At the beginning, it was way toohot for me,” said first time visitorBecerrra. “But when the sun wentdown, it was beautiful and cooler.”

Becerra said the environment waslaidback and nobody was mad.“Everyone was there to chill and havea great time,” she said.

Some contributors to the feel-goodatmosphere were ACL’s nonmusicalfeatures.

The SoCo Art Market included ven-dors from Austin’s South Congressarea selling handmade bags, paintings,

jewelry and other accessories.One of ACL’s major sponsors,

AT&T, provided a Digital Oasis thatmade available Dell laptops with freeInternet. Also available were high-definition televisions where the politi-

cally-savvy gathered to watch thepresidential debate Sept. 26 instead ofwatching international artist ManuChao at a nearby stage.

The Dell Dome featured its ownamenities. Concert-goers basked infree services such as hairstyling,much sought air conditioning, button-making, and a one word table.

The Rock & Recycle Program gaveenvironmentally-minded fans thechance to earn t-shirts by collectingempty beer cans or water bottles inlarge garbage bags.

While being “green” may not benew, it was kept in mind while plan-ning the event.

“They really upped their effortsthis year,” said Spencer Lockwood,22, of Austin.

Lockwood was serving his fourthyear as a volunteer for the festival.

“This year, the organizers had nomeetings for volunteers in effort tokeep cars off the road,” Lockwoodsaid. “Most of the communicationwas kept to e-mail.”

As a part of the event’s green efforts,a solar panel also made an appearance.

Banners of information were strungaround the solar panel. The power wasused for the guest services area as wellas the popular Mr. Mister station.

While not aware of the greenefforts, Becerra still had a good time.

“I was most looking forward toseeing Tegan and Sara,” Becerra said.

Tegan and Sara are identical twins.The Canadian duo specializes in alter-native pop and their onstage ram-blings keep audiences entertainedbetween songs.

“Here’s a neat little Tegan and Sarafact for you,” said Tegan Quin, themore outgoing twin.

“When we were born, we were bothkept in the hospital for two monthsbecause we hadn’t developed oursucking reflexes. Do what you willwith that,” Quin said to the audience.

She was making reference to thewell known fact among fans that thepair are lesbians.

“I’ve been a fan for more than fiveyears,” Becerra said. “I’ve seen thembefore, but I was too far back.”

Becerra said she was able to seethem up close this time because shewaited at the stage for eight hours.During that time she said she wasexposed to new bands.

“The bands that played beforeTegan and Sara were amazing,”Becerra said. She added that herfavorite was the Austin nativeOkkervil River because they got thecrowd energized and clapping.

“I’m definitely going back nextyear,” Becerra said. “It was too muchfun to not want to.”

Festival gathers music lovers by thousands � ROAD TRIP

INDIE SOUND - Stars lead singer Torquil Campbell entertains the crowd during the 7th annual Austin CityLimits Music Festival.

Victor Ituarte/THE PAN AMERICAN

By Victor ItuarteTHE PAN AMERICAN

TRAVELING FEATURE - The Dell Dome offered laptops with free Internet, a ping-pong table, hair styl-ists and a station to make free pins. The air-conditioned retreat cooled and entertained concert-goers.

Victor Ituarte/THE PAN AMERICAN

interpretation in Algiers, Algeria, forfour years. “For beginners I can teachthe sounds of accents, how to greetthemselves, if you (the student) comeback (for intermediate) we can stressupon the language so that you cancommunicate more.”

Some of the students still have haddifficulty learning the basics of thelanguages. Dorado admitted she hashad trouble pronouncing and recog-nizing accents in Arabic.

“It’s frustrating,” said the Missionnative. “It takes me awhile to learn butI’m going to start coming in onFridays.”

Arabic is recognized as an “excep-tionally difficult” language forEnglish speakers to learn and Russianis recognized ashaving “significantlinguistic and cul-tural differencesfrom English”according to theForeign ServicesInstitute under the U.S. Department ofState.

“It is difficult because it’s hard toperceive a sound you haven’t heard,and some things are not translatable,”said Haddad who added an extra classsession to the week to give studentsmore help.

Zhivokina, who taught English inVoronezh, Russia, for seven years,said teaching Russian is only slightly

easier for her students.“Russian is not so difficult because

the alphabet is very similar to theEnglish one,” she explained. “Butwhen I see them struggle to pro-nounce, I try to calm them down andsay the way they pronounce is okay,because people will understand youare speaking a foreign language.”

The language and culture sessionshire teachers from the FulbrightLanguage Teaching Assistant pro-gram. Created in 1968, FLTA aims tostrengthen language and cultural edu-cation in the United States.

For Zhivokina, the program alsohelps break down stereotype and buildsrelationships between nations. As aRussian citizen she recognizes rem-

nants of a competi-tive and broken rela-tionship betweenAmerica and Russia,even after the end ofthe Cold War.

“This dialogue isvery important,” said Zhivokina. “Therelationship between the U.S. andRussia was not ideal; but it’s impor-tant not to be guided by stereotypes.”

Next spring OIP will continue offer-ing Arabic and Russian, but the OIPencourages suggestions of different lan-guages from students. Students can signup at the OIP now for next semestersLanguage and Culture Sessions. Thefee will be the same.

LANGUAGE continued from Page 1

in the car. I have six other passengers’lives at stake also. I didn’t fall asleepand I wasn’t tired, I just kind of veeredoff to the side of the road.”

Darling, a former Olympian, saidthe incident was unfortunate and hisprimary concern started and endedwith his athletes.

“I was just thankful that none of theathletes were hurt,” he said. “I thankGod that everyone was pretty safe andthat no car hit us from the back. It wasan eye-opener and I thank God that weall still have our lives.”

Vaughn says he first got word ofthe accident at a university function,where James Langabeer, vice presi-dent for business affairs; Dr. JohnEdwards, vice president for enroll-ment and student services; and CarolRausch, assistant to the president,

were also in attendance. They were allable to contact and work with the DPSand handle the situation.

“Our main concern was our stu-dent-athletes’ and coaches’ well-being, to make sure that they werewell taken care of and things weregoing accordingly,” Vaughn said. “Wesent a department member up to trans-port them back so I think we took allprecautions we needed to ensure thestudent-athletes’ safety.”

Vaughn noted that he personallycontacted all athletes’ parents the nextday (Sept. 6) to follow up with theirconditions and to inquire if they need-ed assistance from UTPA trainers.

MOVING ONIn addition, the accident prompted

the athletic department to review its

travel policies. Charter buses becamethe new transportation mode of thecross country teams and Darling men-tioned they couldremain the maintransportation infuture seasons.

Vaughn says thedepartment has tooperate within abudget and eventhough rental vansare considerablyless expensive,charter buses werethe solution for now. However, otheralternatives will be looked at.

“We’re not going to have any knee-jerk reaction,” Vaughn said. “We werevery fortunate there were no seriousinjuries, but we have to look at this as a

whole and look at our travel policies tosee if there is something we can do thatcreates a safer environment for the stu-

dent-athletes andthe coaches.”

At Texas A&M-Kingsville, the ath-letic departmentowns a 33-passen-ger mini-busreferred to as the“Javelina Bus” forits traveling sportsp r o g r a m s .However, accord-

ing to Marcia Johnson, an athleticadministrative assistant, the depart-ment will be purchasing two charterbuses in the future to assist the pro-grams to its travel destinations.

Although negative effects from such

an accident can linger with a team,Darling says the mishap has brought thewomen’s cross-country unit closertogether. And it shows. The LadyBroncs have captured fifth, third andsecond places accolades in the threemeets they’ve ran since the crash.

Freshman runner Daniela Floressays there is more team unity aseveryone has mentally dealt with theaccident in their own way. She alsostated that if any one of them needs totalk about the accident, the rest of theteam is there to console.

“Everybody is in good spirits,everybody is 100 times supportingeach other,” Darling said. “I thinkwhen you have life-threatening expe-riences like this it reflects on your lifeand how short it is and how quickly itcan be taken away.”

Affairs was scaled down in July 2007and broken into the Division ofUniversity Advancement and theDivision of Academic Affairs, Arriolaassumed the vice presidential positionof UA. Since his retirement this spring,Lydia Aleman has acted as executivedirector.

Odom, who worked for UTPA sixyears ago as a developmental officerand eventually became director ofUniversity Relations, looks forward tomoving back to the Valley and alreadyhas goals for the division.

“Obviously I have to get there anddo a lot of catching up,” Odom said.

“Our (University Advancement) goalswill always be to increase andenhance the university’s image.”

The position will entail leadershipin fundraising and marketing, plusuniversity relations and career servic-es, Aleman said.

Aleman, who worked with Odomduring the latter’s time at UTPA, feelsthat the experience she brings will beof great benefit to UA.

“Ms. Odom’s background willbring to the division a new and freshperspective in advancement efforts,”Aleman said.

Odom obtained a bachelor’s degree

in journalism from the University ofNorth Texas and a master’s in counsel-ing from New Mexico HighlandsUniversity. She has been in the highereducation field for 40 years, with jobsincluding development, alumni pro-grams, public affairs, and advancementmanagement.

Since 2000, she has helped raise $5million in gifts for UTSA as a develop-ment officer.

“University life is what I wasmeant for,” Odom said. “It’s a specialenvironment since it’s inspiring to seestudents come and go.”

LOOKING AHEADOne thing Odom anticipates is

working with new graduates and stu-dents in finding positions such asinternships.

Odom, who said she admiresUTPA students, noted that they areone of the reasons she is returning.

“It’s exciting at UTPA, students areso involved and motivated,” sheexplained. “I guess that’s what isbringing me back. They’re so commit-ted to getting their degree.”

Though Odom knows that a packedschedule awaits her during her firstweeks here, the advancement of the-

university is on her mind.“I’ll be very busy for a while but I

really want to get out and about talk-ing to local area politicians to seewhat we can do to make the universi-ty move forward,” she promised.

As far as plans for the division,Aleman said one thing they will focuson is recruitment.

“A few goals include creating andimplementing a vision and plan thatwill increase student recruitment,”Aleman said. “Another goal is to cre-ate and implement a vision of integrat-ing university advancement efforts tothe needs of the university.”

NEWS October 16, 2008

ACCIDENTcontinued from Page 1

POSITION continued from Page 1

FINANCIAL AID continued from Page 1

on Sept. 27, 2007.The act includes a mandate for the

Secretary of Education to develop andimplement an “EZ-FAFSA” form tosimplify the application process forqualifying low-income families. Thelaw will also enshrine stronger empha-sis on financial literacy and financialaid literacy from organizations thatoffer assistance.

The law makes the largest invest-ment ever in Hispanic-ServingInstitutions. Around $200 million willbe allocated to help UTPA and others

build their capacity to graduate studentsin STEM. Earlier this month UTPA wasawarded $1.2 million for the HSIProgram under last year’s College CostReduction and Access Act.

“It (Higher Education OpportunityAct) will strengthen our Hispanic serv-ing institutions,” he said. “It will enablethem to serve more students andrespond to our nation’s growing needsin high demand fields such as teaching,STEM (Science, Technology,Engineering and Mathematics), nurs-ing and other health professions.”

The new law requires transparencyand consumer-friendly information oncollege tuition, student loans and col-lege textbook costs, Hinojosa said.

Cardenas expressed her deep appre-ciation for Hinojosa’s “powerful advo-cacy” for HSIs both in South Texas andacross America.

“Making those institutions strongermakes South Texas stronger,” she said.“An accurate chronicling of Americawould have to include that there wereheroic efforts made for higher educa-tion by a man from Mercedes, Texas.”

Hello in Arabic Ahl Sah-LAHM ah ah Laykoom

Hello in RussianZDRAST-voyt-yah

OPPORTUNITY - President Blandina Cardenas commends Congressman Ruben Hinojosa last Thursday ata press conference.

Ben Briones/THE PAN AMERICAN

“I thank God that everyonewas pretty safe... It was aneye-opener and I thank Godthat we all still have ourlives.”

Dennis DarlingCross-Country Coach

and Thursday. Reference Librarian Carlton Nelson

said, “We’re just getting this started sohopefully the more we do this, the morepeople will show up.”

UTPA first got an online databasewas in 2001. Nelson remembers whenthere were no online databases.

“We always had electronic data-bases, even back in the ‘90s when Iwas an undergraduate. The thing is,back in the day they were actually onCD-ROMs.”

During the event, Goodman saidshe would teach “old librarian tricks,”to help make searching the onlinedatabase easier. She explained how touse the database EBSCOhost withefficiency; one of the tricks is to bespecific when choosing words tosearch newspaper articles, scholarlyjournals, primary sources as well asmany others. Academic SearchComplete also has citation articlesfrom peer-reviewed journals in all the

university’s colleges and subjects.“EBSCO is a huge company that

puts out the various databases,”Goodman said.

It’s the main database that isAcademic Search Complete, a broaddatabase search engine that Goodmansuggests all use as a starting point intheir research.

“Our data base represents 60 to 70thousand of these academic journalsand that’s where students need to drawfrom,” she said.

She added EBSCOhost has plentyof handy tools that can save a lot oftime. She demonstrated how a simplemouse click can take all citation infor-mation from a document and display itin different academic writing stylessuch as MLA, APA or Chicago Style.Nelson said a lot of students don’tknow about all the useful tools thedatabases have because it is alwaysbeing changed.

“This past summer they totally

changed the interface for EBSCO,totally redesigned it. Like the citationbutton, it wasn’t there before, that’spretty new.”

“The citation was really helpful,”said a source who wished to remainanonymous. “It takes so much time.Research is always very long, it justseems so much easier, and you knowyour sources are credible.”

He\ added that the workshop tipstaught by Goodman helped.

“It was really nice to come in andlearn how to use the database that’soffered. You could use this instead ofGoogle,” said the attendee. “Before Ihad no idea, I saw the (AcademicSearch Complete) link there and did-n’t even click on it. Now I feel morecomfortable to go in and learn moreby myself.”

Avila remembers citing Wikipediaas a source recently, something hedoes not suggest.

“I’m in the master’s program and

they were like, ‘What are you doing?’I just didn’t follow through,” heexplained.

In response to Avila’s incident,Goodman scolded, “Never ever useWikipedia, just to go in there and getyour basic facts is fine, but never evercite Wikipedia in a paper becausethat’s just a big no-no.”

These classes have certainly helpedthe tiny number of students who attend-ed. Despite the small little turnout,Nelson is not discouraged about thefuture of these informative classes.

“The more information that stu-dents have access to, the better offthey are as far as school goes. The eas-ier it will be to do assignments and gettheir work done,” he said. “The wholepoint of the UTPA Library is to helpfaculty and staff with their researchand information needs.”

Knowing this, Goodman is in theprocess of scheduling more classes aswell as taking suggestions from stu-

dents on what they would like to learn.“We are looking to teach more of

these classes and are looking for sug-gestions such as classes teachingWord 2007 or Excel, there will be oneon the Business Source Completedatabase for business majors,”Goodman said, on Nov. 4 and Nov. 6in the Library classroom 1 on the firstfloor during the activity hour.

Nelson said “We’re kind of testingit out and hopefully by spring we’llhave a lot more classes.”

and Behavioral Science building.The 50 member organization has

invited all of the student organizationson campus to participate in donatingfood for the drive. Free Hugs, Forumon International Relations andBusiness Affairs and Tau KappaEpsilon are just a few of the organiza-tions involved. Rodriguez said win-ners will receive a trophy for mostdonations.

Club advisor and associate profes-sor Amy Weimer said she is proud theclub is undertaking such an importantcommunity project.

“Through their efforts, they will notonly bring food to families, but also willraise awareness about the thousands ofindividuals in the Valley struggling withhunger,” she explained.

According to the Food Bank of theRGV’s Web site, the poverty numberin Hidalgo County tops 235,000.These are the people they service.

Rodriguez, who has served as pres-ident for the past two semesters, saidshe hopes students around campuswill make donations to the bins.

“We are just hoping it is a lot ofdonations,” the senior from Weslacosaid. “This is the first time we do thisand we want to see how it is going togo.”

The club will next participate in theFood Bank RGV Sort-A-Thon thisSaturday. It is a 24-hour period whereall food donated will be sorted andboxed for distribution throughout theValley. Sorting begins at 6 p.m. onFriday and will continue until 6 p.m.on Saturday.

“This is a friendly competition toget food ready for food pantries, soupkitchens and homeless shelters,”Robinson said.

NEWS October 16, 2008

CLUB continued from Page 3

department get hands-on experience atthe fair by checking blood pressureinterested me and caught my attentionto ask more about the field,” saidCarlos Garcia of Edinburg, an educa-tion major. “It’s something I neverthought of doing, but who knows, Imight change my major.”

The major representatives at thefair seemed to have the same goal: torecruit as many students as possible.

“We want more students interestedin the nursing program and this is agreat opportunity to meet with facultyand ask any questions students mighthave,” said Pharr native Julie Chavez,a nursing major.

Chavez has been a member of thenursing program for two years andhopes to see more students join. “It’sa great opportunity to learn and giveback to the community,” Chavez

explained. In addition to moving the fair to

October, organizers made computersavailable, so that students could thenregister for advisement.

“We plan to keep the fair inOctober and have the computersaccessible for students again nextyear,” said Hagerty. “Two-hundredstudents registered for advisementduring the fair and that’s a goodnumber.”

Another plan in store for 2009 isto invite people from the FreshmanHonors Program to the event, to givefreshman an idea of how to getinvolved.

The program offers special honorsclasses at the freshman and sopho-more levels providing enhancement tobasic curriculum.

Besides all the posters guiding

students to the fair and mascotBucky the Bronc drawing attentionoutside the Ballroom, Sanchez’smain reason for attending was to getto ask questions concerning her fieldof interest.

After visiting with representativesfrom other colleges, she realized mar-keting is still what interested her.

“I wanted to make sure marketingwas what I wanted to do and to see ifmaybe something else caught myattention,” Sanchez said.

According to the CombinedComputer-Science, ElectricalEngineering and ComputerEngineering headcount at UTPA,more students have chosen the engi-neering field since fall of 2000 withan approximate 10 percent increaseof 587 students in 2000 to 649 in fallof 2008.

uated from La Joya High School as avaledictorian in 1935. That year, shewas only one of two women whograduated.

“My grandmoth-er was everything…she was my wholelife,” Moreno-Linosaid. “Educationand morals were thebiggest part sheplayed in my life.”

Her grandmoth-er’s will to becomeeducated, is what inspired her.Moreno-Lino now wears the gradua-tion ring her grandmother earned forher master’s degree in education fromTexas A&I University at the age of 60in 1977, a ring she said allowed clo-sure with her grandmother, whopassed away two years ago.

“The ring [signifies] that educationis available to all,” Moreno-Lino said.“You just have to want it.”

Annel Zamarron from the Multi-Cultural Center inthe Student Lifeoffice at theUniversity Centerdirected the eventand handed outscholarships to thewinners.

“The essayswere judged by

staff members from the Dean ofStudents and was not based on gram-matical literature but on the relation-ship between the students and theirheroes,” said Zamarron.

Zamarron said that the universitywill soon celebrate Black HistoryMonth in February.

FAIR continued from Page 3

� TIDBITTo get to the Academic Search

Complete online database go toutpa.edu, click on the library link,then on to Articles and Data bases.From there, students off campuswill need to enter their UTPA user-name and password, then a list ofdatabases will appear, the firstbeing Academic Search Complete.

Photo Illustration by Ben Briones/THE PAN AMERICAN

FIGHTING HUNGER - In an attempt to help the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley stock up on theirfood supply, the Psychology Club will be hosting a food drive through the end of the month.

TOOLS continued from Page 3

HEROES continued from Page 3

“Fight Hunger, FeedHope”

Who: Psychology Club

When: Oct. 2 - Oct. 31

Where: Around campus

“My grandmother waseverything... she was mywhole life,”Jessica Moreno-LinoScholarship recipient

ADVERTISEMENTS October 16, 2008

In front of 400 Lady Bronc fansdressed in pink, The University ofTexas-Pan American’s volleyball teamtook the court Friday not only to facefuture Great West Conference com-petitor Utah Valley State University,but to raise money benefiting the SusanG. Komen Foundation in this year’sDig for the Cure game. The foundationraises money for the fight againstbreast cancer.

Unfortunately, the Lady Broncsdropped the decision to the LadyWolverines 17-25, 22-25, 24-26. They

recorded 39 digs during the match butthe amount of money raised was notready by press time.

“Very disappointed,” second-yearhead coach Angela Hubbard said of herteam’s performance. “I thought we didwell. They (Lady Broncs) definitelycame in with a different mindset thanwe’ve had before. I think they definitelycame into this game ready to play un-fortunately it just didn’t fall our way.”

The Lady Broncs dropped to 3-11on the season, while the Lady Wolver-ines (6-8) recorded their first road winof the year.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of matches,”Utah Valley head coach Sam Atoa said.

“But it’s the first match we’ve won onthe road and we’ll take it.”

In the first set, the Lady Broncscouldn’t seem to find the momentum,losing 25-17 against a shorthandedLady Wolverine team. The LadyBroncs recorded only three kills on 25attempts with nine errors making theirattack percentage -.240.

“We’re a little short-handed in nothaving our complete team here so youjust never know what it’s going to belike because you just don’t have thedepth you really need,” Atoa said.

In the second set, the Lady Broncsbegan to find the momentum early onas UVU had to take an early timeout

after UTPA led 8-5. And the timeoutseemed to serve them well as the LadyWolverines rallied to win the set 25-22 behind great offense. The LadyBroncs had 10 kills on 29 attemptsand two errors giving them a .276 at-tacking percentage.

In the final set, things got interesting. In a back-and-forth affair, the Lady

Wolverines took control late in the setto sneak a 26-24 victory from the LadyBroncs. UTPA recorded 14 attacks on40 attempts, and only committed fiveerrors. There were also a few calls thatcould have gone for the Lady Broncsin the third set that might have forced afourth set.

“I don’t like to blame games on therefs, it should never be that close,”Hubbard explained. “But unfortunatelythey didn’t like us. I don’t know why,it’s our home court and we’ve hadthem before and everything we seemedto do they didn’t like. Unfortunatelythose are momentum killers that if theydon’t go your way, it can ruin a match.”

With only three home games re-maining, the Lady Broncs will con-clude their four-game home standFriday and Sunday against ChicagoState and Houston Baptist at the FieldHouse. The match against ChicagoState will begin at 5 p.m. and HoustonBaptist takes the court at 2 p.m.

When The University of Texas-PanAmerican men’s cross country teamentered the 2008 campaign, expecta-tions were extremely high.

And rightfully so.With a bolstering roster returning, the

Broncs knew that 2008 could be the yearto finally capture a spot in nationals. Andwith UTPA entering the Great WestConference during the summer, a con-ference title was added to the agenda.

The Broncs returned six runnersfrom last year’s ros-ter, including seniorstandouts in SanJuan native J.J. Her-nandez and LuisNava of La Joya.They added Edin-burg North alumOmar Doria andnewcomer RobertNajera to the team,making for a a for-midable unit.

So the stage wasset for the Greenand Orange to per-form at a high level,and three meets intothe season, theBroncs have livedup to their talent.

For the secondtime this year, the Broncs recorded afirst-place finish, at the Houston Bap-tist Invitational this past weekend,making them arguably one of thestrongest UTPA men’s squads in recentyears.

“We have seven guys that work to-gether,” men’s and women’s coachHugo Cervantes said. “We don’t have

one great up-front runner who will al-ways be winning meets, but we have agood crew that works together and incross country, that’s how you winmeets. Just the work ethic and howthey get along is one of the reasons Ithink we have a better team.”

UTPA had finished first at the Ri-cardo Romo/Six Flags Fiesta TexasClassic Sept. 19 and second at theNew Balance Islander Splash Sept.26. On Friday, the Broncs upendedRice University with 21 points to col-lect first place.

“We’re working as a team more.We used to workas a team but notreally together.Now we’re settingour goals,” saidNava, who led thepack with a third-place finish afterclocking in a timeof 15:14.

However, thetop-10 finishesdidn’t end withNava.

He was justone Bronc amongsix who placed inthe top 10 as only29 seconds sepa-rated Nava’s timefrom that of 12th-place finisher

Gilroy Martinez of McAllen.

LADY BRONCSOn the women’s side, it’s been a sim-

ilar but different story from the men. After eligibility issues plagued the

Lady Broncs even before the seasonstarted, the women were left scramblingto complete a five-runner squad. And

with no senior leadership to guide theteam, many were uncertain as to how theLady Broncs would perform this year.

But so far, inexperience has beenthe least of their worries.

The women have gradually in-creased in each of their three meets,where Friday they captured secondplace after collecting fifth and thirdplace accolades in the Ricardo Romo/Six Flags Fiesta Texas Classic andNew Balance Islander Splash.

“The good thing is the girls that wehave right now are the ones that reallyput a lot of effort. It shows with theirperformances,” Cervantes said of theLady Bronc unit. “We don’t have thequantity but we do have the quality.”

Part of the success is due to co-cap-tains Carolina Izaguirre and Diana Gal-loso. Izaguirre, a Brownsville native,has led the Lady Broncs in all threemeets, including Friday where she fin-ished first after a season-best time of14:21. Galloso of Edinburg is slowlybecoming a go-to runner after shechurned out her best performance ofthe season, a fifth-place finish with atime of 15:01.

Izaguirre knows the women boast ayoung and small group but that hasn’tstopped the team from attaining its pri-mary goal: winning.

“We put a lot of effort in our work-outs,” Izaguirre said of the LadyBroncs’ surprising season. “We’re allvery dedicated and we want to win.”

THE ROAD TO UTAHWhen the Broncs and Lady Broncs

travel to Orem, Utah, Nov. 1, UTPAathletics will officially celebrate its ad-mission into the Great West Confer-ence, as cross country will be the firstsport to engage in a GWC tournament.The teams will ride their momentum

toward the Great West ConferenceChampionships title.

After his charges ran 90 miles thelast five weeks, Cervantes says themileage will decrease significantly andworkouts will now consist of sharpen-ing up the runners.

“It’s going to motivate them a littlebit more because we’re going to startrunning a lot faster and the workoutsare going to by easier,” Cervantes said.“The hay is in the barn already, we justgot to sharpen up and get it together.”

And with the performances so far,adjusting looks like it won’t pose aproblem. Cervantes says he is confi-dent that the men can stride toward theconference title, while the women canbe a sleeper and sneak away with a vic-tory if components fall into place.

“We should be able to win without aproblem, especially on the men’s side,”Cervantes said. “On the women’s side,if we can get it together and do our bestwe might have a chance to sneak in andbring home a championship as well.”

� CROSS COUNTRY

� VOLLEYBALL

Teams continue stride, prepare for Great West meetBy Ramiro PaezTHE PAN AMERICAN

Lady Broncs dropped by Lady Wolverines in fundraiser game

Onydia Garza/THE PAN AMERICANSHARPENING UP- The cross country teams have only two weeks left toimprove endurance for the upcoming Great West Conference meet.


Dates to Know:

Men’s and Women’s TennisAlumni MatchSaturday, 2 p.m.Orville Cox Tennis Center

Volleyballvs. Chicago StateFriday, 5 p.m.UTPA Field House

By Pedro Perez IVTHE PAN AMERICAN

Houston BaptistInvitational Results

Men3rd Luis Nava 15:144th Angel M. Ramirez 15:195th Robert Najera 15:276th J.J. Hernadez 15:278th Omar Doria 15:359th Wally Gonzalez 15:3812th Gilroy Martinez 15:4324th Vidal Ruiz 16:36

Women1st Carolina Izaguirre 14:215th Diana Galloso 15:0110th Sara Hernandez 15:3411th Larissa de Leon 15:4021th Sasha Suarez 17:31

For the University of Texas-PanAmerican golf program, rain has almostbeen a certainty to go along with everytournament this fall, but this week at theSam Houston State Elkins Lake FallInvitational in Huntsville, the sun wasshining and the weather was sweet, per-fect for three rounds of golf.

“They actually got to play 54 holeswith no rain,” said second-year direc-tor of men’s and women’s golf, OfeliaLopez. “It shows that when it’s notraining what they can do. That’s not anexcuse, it’s just saying for one tourna-ment we finally got to play threerounds in the sunshine.”

On Tuesday after two rounds ofplay at the Elkins Lake Golf Club theBroncs (880) finished in fifth placeshooting 297, 285 and 298 as a teamto stay in the same position fromMonday’s 36-hole performance.

“I’m really proud of them,” Lopezsaid. “I’m glad they stepped to theirgame plan and started to believe inthemselves.”

DAY ONEWith 36 holes in front of them the

Broncs began the day with the shotgunstart at 8 a.m. Armen Kirakossian (76-68), Shane Pearce (70-74) and A.J.Gonzalez (75-69) all shot an even-par-144 to put them in an eight way tie for11th place. Sophomore Tim Acaster(76-74) was tied for 27th place record-ing a six-over-par 150 and High

Wongchindawest (78-74) shot aneight-over-par 152 which earned him36th place for Monday.

DAY TWOTuesday would bring no change in

the rankings as the Broncs topped offin fifth place out of 11 teams for thetournament.

Kirakossian (72) finished in 13thplace overall marking an even-par 216for the 54 holes. Behind him in a three-way tie for 16th place was Pearce (74)who shot two-over-par 218. Gonzalez(76) finished in 22nd place movinghim 11 places down from Mondayshooting four-over-par 220. Acaster(76) finished the day in 36th place witha 10-over-par 226 andWongchindawest (76) topped out in40th place shooting a 12-over-par 228.

Sam Houston State (849) took thetitle shooting 285, 281 and 283 for thethree rounds.

The Broncs close out the fall sea-son at Lopez’s alma mater SouthernMississippi on Oct. 26 where they willparticipate in the 2008 Sam HallIntercollegiate. Lopez wants to makesure the golfers are ready and hasgiven them the edge by explaininghow the greens play at HattiesburgCountry Club.

“I told them what we’re going towork on,” Lopez concluded.“Hattiesburg Country Club has a lot ofshort greens so we’re going to be work-ing on some flop shots around the greenand staying precise with our irons. A lotof accuracy out there is our main point.”

In the waning minutes of a game, thelast thing a defense wants is to give upa pass deep into the scoring area; and ifthere is one thing that a University ofTexas-Pan American club soccer playerdoes not want, it’s to make a mistakebecause of a bad bounce of an unevenplaying field. Unfortunately, this is adistinct possibility.

Since 2005, the men’s andwomen’s soccer clubs have been prac-ticing and playing home games atUTPA’s intramural fields behind theWellness and Recreational SportsComplex. Complaints about the fieldrange from too many divots, stickerson the grass, to uneven surfaces.Complaints about the field come fromUTPA athletes but also members ofopposing teams, who have often beenleft wondering why they were playingon such a poor field.

“Sometimes it’s embarrassing hav-ing visiting teams come play (here),”said women’s coach Hugo Zuniga. “Weplay on very nice fields everywhere wego. They are very taken care of. Everytime a team comes and plays here Ihave to give my apologies about thecondition of the field.”

Some players, coaches and fans arewondering why the UTPA field is notadequately maintained or better yet,why it hasn’t been replaced. The otheralternative for both soccer teams is toplay at the track and field terrain onthe other side of campus, where thefield is level and there is greater seat-ing capacity, including restrooms forfans, something that the current fielddoes not possess.

“The field is horrible. We shouldhave a better field or at least be play-ing on the track field,” senior LadyBronc defender Jessica Gomez said.“This is the worst field I‘ve played in.It’s ant piles, thorns and its uneven-ness really affects the game complete-ly. Either the ball bounces everywhich way or it gets stuck in pot

holes. It‘s really bad.”Even though UTPA’s track field may

be a good option, it has a considerableflaw to it as well. The field has dentsfrom the shot-put and hammer-throwpractices that take place year around bythe track and field team. These, alongwith burrows and sprinkler depressions,make up about 20 percent of the field,which makes it unsafe for any athleterunning on its surface.

“We haven’t pursued the idea ofplaying at the track field. If we did theywould probably let us, but even thoughthe field looks a lot nicer, it is not ingood condition. It has holes, divots andcraters,” Schmidt said. “Are the fieldswe play in safe?” Probably not. “Arethey rough?” Yes. They are too hard tobe playing on cleats though. It feels likerunning on concrete.”

Interim Athletic Director RickyVaughn says the track field does notpresent itself as an alternative due to itsconditions. He adds that the field issuehas not come up under his watch.

“No one has ever contacted meabout using it, but it is quite a safetyhazard for them with the throwingevents that take place, and that is theonly place we have in which to havethose events,” Vaughn said. “There isa lot of need on campus for severaldifferent areas but because of theshape that the track field is in, there isno way we can allow a soccer matchto take place.”

The question remians, Why has thetrack field been allowed to deteriorate?

Representatives from theUniversity’s Physical Plant say theholes can be fixed in a matter of days,but a problem may arise if the field ispursued by the soccer teams and thetrack athletes.

“Once somebody reports the prob-lem we meet up with them to see wherethe holes are at and that’s it. We havethe materials. That’s what we do,” saidPhysical Plant dispatcher JerryMarquez. “The thing is, we can fixthem every week but it would be like annever-ending battle between the soccer

teams and the track athletes.”

TEXAS A&MFor this past weekend, however, the

intramural practice field didn’t pose aproblem. The men’s soccer club hadtwo road games, where it went 1-1 enroute to a 3-2-1 overall record.

Against Big 12 powerhouse TexasA&M Sunday, the Broncs went downone-nil during the final minutes ofthe game.

After a hard-fought defensive firsthalf, Schmidt gave the green light andchanged to a 4-4-1 line-up in the sec-ond half. Due to an unfortunate redcard during the 10th minute on theBronc goalkeeper, UTPA was left with10 men on the field, which gave theAggies the advantage.

“We played a very good game. I wasconscious of their scoring capabilitiesalong with their strength and speed sowe went defensive at first,” Schmidtsaid. “We changed at the half and forgotabout the defensive mode. The chanceswere there but didn’t happen. There isnothing that I regret. I give credit toA&M. They did an incredible job.”

LAMAROn Saturday, the 10-hour drive to

Beaumont had no effects on the Broncsas they defeated Lamar University 4-2.

The Broncs got their first goal fromJuan P. Davila, who scored early in thesixth minute off a set play on a cornerkick. From there, Juan “Puma”Reynoso and Jose Ramon gave theBroncs their second and third goals.In the second half, the Cardinals cut theBronc lead to only one but UTPA out-lasted the Red Birds in the middle of thesecond half after Reynoso scored thefinal goal for the Broncs, for a com-manding 4-2 lead.

“We were motivated and did whatwe had to do. We gave playing oppor-tunity to everybody. When we were up3-0 we gave the opportunity to someother people,” Schmidt said. “I likedour team very much, the way we spreadthe field and moved the ball around.”

Field conditions plague soccer clubs

� SOCCER CLUB

SPORTS October 16, 2008� GOLF

By Pedro Perez IVTHE PAN AMERICAN

Onydia Garza/THE PAN AMERICANFIELD OF DREAMS - Adverse conditions, including holes in the intramural and track soccer fields, keep the men’sand women’s soccer clubs from having premiere hosting conditions.

By Alvaro BalderasTHE PAN AMERICAN

Broncs capture fifth atSam Houston Invite

Roxy Solis/THE PAN AMERICANPLAYING THE GREEN - Junior Oregon native Armen Kirakossian shot aseason low 68 in the second round of the Sam Houston Invitational Monday.

QuotesFromTheStands

� MEN’S TENNIS

Editor’s Picks

Monday 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

Rio HondoBobcats

HidalgoPirates

�COLLEGE FOOTBALL

�NFL

Missouri Tigers

TexasLonghorns

DenverBroncos

New EnglandPatriots

�HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Saturday 7 p.m. (ABC)

Friday 7:30 p.m.

@

@

@


“I was real excited, I hadfaith in them. Theyweren’t favored to win,Oklahoma was favored, Ithink, by seven. But Texascame back, though it wasback and forth for awhile.I really had faith in them.I think everybody doesn’thold Texas as high as theother teams”

David ManchaSeniorBiology majorOn Longhorn’s win

“I don’t like the Cowboys.I think they are so over-rated. I’m glad that theylost.”

Vianey GonzalesSeniorP.R. / advertising majorOn Cowboys’ recent loss

Onydia Garza/THE PAN AMERICAN

After a 7-12 record last season,The University of Texas-PanAmerican men’s tennis team returnsto the court with a young but experi-enced crew. They started the seasonlast week in San Antonio at the UTSAInvitational, where the Broncs quali-fied two doublets and two singleplayers to semifinals and quarterfi-nals.

The Broncs will return to the courtSaturday for the UTPA AlumniMatch, followed by the UT-AustinInvite Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. This yearthey are looking forward to being acompetitive team in the SouthlandConference and seeing their newacquisition, freshman BeauBernstein, play at the collegiate level.

“We lost our number one player(Ivan Avila), but we brought in a verygood freshman,” men’s and women’scoach Rob Hubbard said. “We arelooking forward to see him perform.”

The Sugarland native joins theBroncs, who are ranked in the top 15in Texas and top 150 in the country,and expects to have a successful col-lege career.

“I expect me and the team to havea winning record,” Bernstein said.“Hopefully, this year I will get nation-

ally ranked.”Bernstein will be joining his older

brother, junior Brett Bernstein, and asquad of talented, experienced play-ers. In addition, Hubbard is hoping torecruit a new netter by January tosolidify the team even more.

Hubbard says his expectations areto compete for the Southland title.

“We have a solid, deep team, butwe still have a lot of work to do,” hesaid.

Sophomore Ashwin Vijayaragavanreturns from the ’07-’08 season witha 9-9 singles record. The India nativeplans to help the team expectation ofa top-75 ranking by reaching his per-sonal goal of appearing in the NCAArankings, where the best 125 playersin the nation are listed in order to playin the NCAA national tournament totake place in May 2009 at CollegeStation.

“Last year our aim was to win 12matches; we fell short by two,”Vijayaragavan said. “This time wewant to get ranked. I think we have avery good chance for that.”

Vijayaragavan added that theyouth of the team provides the perfectconditions to achieve such goals.

“The team looks so much betterthan last year,” he said. “We are most-ly young guys at the moment and weare willing to do everything. It’s a

much better and stable team.”Hubbard said the one-year experi-

ence in the UTPA team of sophomoreplayers like Vijayaragavan, AndrewIrving and Marcus Dornauf will addon to the skill of juniors BrettBernstein, Nirvick Mohinta andJoshua Rollins, senior Shashank Vijand freshman Beau Bernstein to bringstability to the team.

“Ashwin had a good year,” hesaid. “I look for him to get stronger.”

Sophomore Australia nativeDornauf returns with a singles recordof 11-7.

“Marcus is playing very well, bet-ter than last year,” Hubbard said. “Heis still considered one of our bestplayers.”

Juniors Brett Bernstein andNirvick Mohinta of India had a 9-7and 6-13 singles record, respectively.They will be supported by ShashankVil, from Finland, who had a 2-1 sin-gles mark.

“When you have juniors and sen-ior players, you’re always looking fora leadership,” Hubbard said.

New Zealand native Irving postedan 8-11 singles record last season.Though he has been out for six weeksbecause of a wrist injury, Hubbardmentioned that Irving is expected toreturn to practice next week and willbe ready to play by January.

UNDER WAYWhen the Broncs opened up the

’08 campaign in San Antonio, theirperformance gave an inkling aboutwhat lied ahead.

“We had strong performances byMarcus, Brett, and Ashwin. I’mpleased with the way the teamlooked,” Hubbard said.

The event was highlighted by theperformances of the semifinalistVijayaragavan-Mohinta doublet andthe quarterfinal-qualifier duo ofDornauf and Vij.

In singles, Brett Bernstein won theBlue Singles Consolation Title,Dornauf was a semifinalist, andVijayaragavan was a quarterfinalist.

“It was pretty good for our firstmatch,” said Vijayaragavan. “It wasgood experience. I’m playing for thefirst time during the fall.”

The UTSA Invitational was also agood experience for the youngestmember of the team, Beau Bernstein.The freshman did not play to hispotential, but did set the road for aflourishing season. He dropped a 6-2decision to UTSA’s Max Stratmann inorange singles but collected a second-place finish in the doubles consola-tion bracket with his brother.

“I was pretty nervous, but I’mhoping next time will be much bet-ter,” he said.

By Sara HernandezTHE PAN AMERICAN

ALL FOR ONE - The Broncs hope tohave an improved year with a host of play-ers returning from last season.

Joshua Rollins

Brett Bernstein

October 16, 2008

Documents

Transcript of October 16, 2008