September 25, 2008

SPORTS PG. 13 NEWS PG. 3

Roberta Zamilpa /THE PAN AMERICAN

During the weekend of Sept. 13-14a University of Texas-Pan Americane-mail address was phished and as a

result, sent out thousands of spam e-mails to various groups. Once theproblem was discovered and investi-gated by the Division of InformationTechnology, that organization shutdown the account.

The e-mail portion of the accountwas the only part breached, and offi-cials insist that pesky computer trou-bles affecting the campus this week areunrelated to the scam. Problems withfaculty and staff e-mail last weekendwere a direct result of the scam.

“An e-mailuser appeared toh a v evolunteered theusername and pass-word informationassociated with avalid UTPAaccount byresponding to aphishing message,” Chief InformationSecurity Officer Mauro Scardignosaid. “The phisher used the e-mail

username andpassword informa-tion to gain accessto the UTPAaccount and startedto submit largeamounts of phish-ing messages.”

According toScardigno, no uni-

versity data was compromised, sincethe phisher’s attempts were strictlylimited to e-mail access.

The University of Texas Systemwas notified about the incident, as isrequired by System policy.

Phishing is password harvestingthat uses lures to “fish” out user finan-cial and account information, accord-ing to information provided by IT.Most scammers use some sort ofdeception to make a link in an e-maillook genuine.

“Phishing is a very real problem,”Scardigno said. “The rule of thumb is

SINCE 1943 September 25, 2008Volume 65, No. 5

By Brian SilvaTHE PAN AMERICAN

INDEX FEATURES PG. 2 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PG. 7

University e-mail lured, hooked by phishing

For the past seven years, TheUniversity of Texas-Pan Americanhas hosted the HispanicEngineering and ScienceTechnology week. The annual eventhas brought local, state and nationalfigures to promote young Hispanicinterest in educational opportunitiesin the engineering, science, technol-ogy and math fields.

As it has become perhaps theuniversity’s signature event of theyear, HESTEC has imported actorsand musicians to help and entertainmore than 80,000 attendees eachyear, along with recruiters and pro-

fessionals to help Valley residentsunderstand what’s out there forthem.

HESTEC has become a veritablecorporation in itself, with a hugefundraising arm, a powerful publicrelations machine, and nationalnotoriety. The big question is, doesit work?

While at times the event seemsmore festive than informative,enrollment figures provided by theOffice of Institutional Researchshow a gradual increase in involve-ment in UTPA science and engi-neering fields since the event’sinception. This would be one way togauge the effectiveness of HES-

� SECURITY

Internet woestraced back toexternal error

WOMEN WORKFORCE - Magda Yrizarray, vice president of workplace culture and compliance forVerizon Communications, speaks to Latinas on females in science Wednesday.

Freshmen parking exile to be addressed in future

The University of Texas-PanAmerican’s decision to have freshmenpark farthest from campus may soundunwelcoming to a newcomer, butparking manager Melissa Sandovalassures that the decision will help stu-dents overall.

For years, parking at this com-muter university has been the bane ofmost students’ mornings at one timeor another, as getting to class on timehas turned into a perennial hunt forthe occasional and coveted emptyspace. With the help of UTPA’s policedepartment, the parking and trafficcommittee members decided theproblem was caused by under-use of

the lots furthest from campus, calledremote lots.

“The more traffic you direct towardthe outer perimeter of campus the lesstraffic you have concentrated in theheart of campus,” said Roberto Cantu,chair of the parking and traffic com-mittee. “PD (police department) hadlooked at other campuses’ models andpresented the idea to the committee.”

An excess of parking tickets,which usually cost $15, and studentcomplaints about parking promptedthe university to act. At the beginningof the semester, freshmen received amap in the mail marking theirapproved lots. They were also issueda different-color parking permit desig-nating their ability to use remote lotsfrom 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. after which

they can park in any other lot.Sophomore, juniors and seniors canstill park at the remote lots as well.

“It (remote lot S-1) wasn’t evenone-fourth used,” said Sandoval of theremote-parking area. “There was a lotof illegal parking, with students park-ing in the streets and there was a lot ofticketing.”

By J.R. OrtegaTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE PHISHING || PAGE 11

� CAMPUS

� TRANSPORTATION

By Ana VillaurrutiaTHE PAN AMERICAN

HESTEC: Seven years of entertainment, opportunities

SEE HESTEC || PAGE 11

SEE PARKING || PAGE 11

Past enrollment figures showincrease in science interest

� Don’t miss HESTEC! Next week, The Pan American will have afull-colored spread documenting the events of HESTEC 2008.

“The rule of thumb is tonever respond to an e-mailrequest for personal infor-mation...”

Mauro ScardignoChief info. security officer

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

Fax: (956) 316-7122www.utpa.edu/dept/panamerican

Sept. 25, 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.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

J.R. Ortega / [email protected]

NEWS EDITOR

Abigail Muniz / [email protected]

A&E EDITOR

Laura Garcia / [email protected]

SPORTS EDITORS

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

PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR

Roxy Solis / [email protected]

DESIGN EDITOR

Roy Bazan / [email protected]

COPY EDITOR

Adriana Acosta / [email protected]

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 BrionesRick Gamez Ana VillaurrutiaPedro Perez IV

ADVISER

Dr. Greg Selber --- [email protected]

SECRETARY

Anita Reyes --- [email protected]

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Samantha Quintana --- [email protected]

THE PAN AMERICAN September 25, 2008

V 65, No. 5 An era of separation still has good timesWith World War II and then Korea,

followed by an incredible post-wareconomic boom, the 1940s and 1950swere a time of consistent change forthe United States. Racial segregationwas ruled unconstitutional in 1954,the addition of Hawaii and Alaskacompleted the United States later inthe decade, and in between, the firstsatellite was successfully put intoorbit in 1957.

Edinburg Junior College would alsoundergo changes. The college’s namewould change twice during these twodecades. Since September 1927, thename Edinburg Junior College hadstood as it illustrated a two-year com-munity college. But on Dec. 29, 1951,an election was held in Hidalgo Countyand Pan American College came to be;it had briefly been known as EdinburgRegional College.

The name change happenedbecause of growing demand for theestablishment of an institution thatwould cover a larger field of service in

Edinburg and give greater opportunityto its citizens.

In 1950, ERC had an enrollment of408 in day classes and 265 students innight school. By 1953, enrollment hadmore than doubled and the one-thou-sandth student to enroll, DanielSanfelipino - a native of Santa Rosaand a Navy veteran - was recognizedat an assembly Feb. 27, 1953.

Groups like the Bronco Boosters,an organization of male students whosepurpose was to support campus activi-ties and advance student interests, orthe Bronkettes, a group of college girlswhose purpose was to render servicewherever and whenever it was needed,supplied the school with spirit.

Silvia Smith, now a resident of SanAntonio, is a former Bronkette whotruly enjoyed her time as a freshman atthe college.

“Oh, I had the greatest of times,”Smith said.

Her experiences as a student rangefrom suffering with a weak stomachduring the dissections she had to do forbiology class, to developing an ambi-tious personality as a participant of a

pie-eating contest in which she becamevery embarrassed. But she remembersone experience quite fondly.

The year was 1949 and Smith, for-merly Ortega, will never forget theday in November she met the famousMexican actor and singer PedroInfante. Smith also recalls her inter-view with The Beacon, the campus

newspaper at the time.“They got my age wrong, I was

only 17 at the time, not 18,” she said. Smith stated in the Nov. 7 article

that meeting Infante was “a dreamcome true.”

“I felt so good about everything thenext day,” Smith said of her feelingsthe day after meeting the movie star.

UTPA Generations: The SeriesWatch for Bronc history lessons intermittently

throughout the semester

Aug. 25 - IntroductionSept. 4 - ‘20s & ‘30s Sept. 25 - ‘40s & ‘50sOct. 16 - ‘60s & ‘70s Nov. 6 - ‘80s & ‘90sDec. 3 - 2000 & Beyond

By Abigail MunizTHE PAN AMERICAN

Silvia Ortega-Smith

Like her, Jim McKone, formersports information director at UTPAwho served 30 years starting in 1969,remembers his time at Pan AmericanCollege in the early ‘50s.

McKone was able to watch the lastBronc football game in 1952 before theteam disbanded after four players wentto serve in the Korean War. Those wish-ing the university would reinstate foot-ball should know that for more than adecade in the “good old days,” theBroncs competed in college football.

“I remember the game really well,”McKone said. “It rained during theentire game. I became drenched. But wewon 19 to nothing against a large uni-versity in Mexico. Our guys played bet-ter in the mud than the opponents.”

McKone who would become a col-lege student the following semester,was a student at McAllen High Schoolwho was also working for The Monitor.

“They had a lot of school spirit,”McKone said. “There were 300 to 400people that showed up for the game.”

Smith said she also rememberssolid school spirit at the college duringthose years. Both she and McKone givesome credit to the fact that everyoneknew each other during that time, sincethe student body was relatively small.

Although Smith moved to SanAntonio before she finished her edu-cation in Edinburg, she said her timeat the college is truly cherished.

“Those were some of the bestyears,” Smith said. “I really enjoyedmy time there.”

J.R. Ortega1920s and 1930s

[email protected]

Brian Silva1960s and 1970s

[email protected]

Abigail Muniz1940s and 1950s

[email protected]

Adriana Acosta1990s and 1980s

[email protected]

Ana Villaurrutia2000

[email protected]

UTPA Generations: The SeriesThe Pan American welcomes any pictures, anecdotes or memories from the past. UTPA community members are

encouraged to contact us.

SIGN of the times

PRICES IN THE 1950s

It’s common knowledge now thatUTPA is a Hispanic-ServingInstitution with almost 90 percent ofthe student body of Spanish-speakingdescent. That’s why HispanicHeritage Month is such a big dealaround the Valley. The nationwide cel-ebration of Latino or Hispanic culture

and life began Sept. 15 and runs toOct. 15, taking its place alongsideother events such as Black HistoryMonth in February.

Last week, the Student Unionshowed La Bamba starring LouDiamond Phillips, and will be show-ing Like Water For ChocolateThursday as well as MotorcycleDiaries on Oct. 7, both at 4 p.m. andin Spanish with English subtitles.


� ACTIVISM

First-generation college students arecommon at The University of Texas-PanAmerican, in an economically disad-vantaged area where higher educationhas often been beyond the reach of theworking-class community in the past.

But there has been considerableprogress made in recent years, asUTPA is second in the nation in thenumber of bachelor’s degrees award-ed to Hispanics, and fifth in master’s

degrees to that ethnic group. All told,UTPA is among the top 100 U.S. col-leges for Hispanics and educates themost Mexican-American students inthe nation, according to the HispanicOutlook in Higher Education.

For those who are able to make thecollege experience a reality, once theyget here, the rest is sometimes easierthan they imagined. This is partly dueto the Academic Advisement andMentoring Center, which providesinformation about educationaloptions, assists students in planning ascholastic program, and helps lead

students to a better understanding ofhigher education. The advisers who dothe heavy lifting are constantlysearching for new and innovativeways to make a difference in the aca-demic lives of their advisees.

As part of continuing efforts to facil-itate a smooth transition into college forfirst-generation kids, and help newcom-ers along the way, the center hosted aworkshop last Thursday and Friday forfaculty and professional advisers, offer-ing them the chance to relate with otherprofessionals at colleges nationwide.

Center provides student helpBy Abby FloresTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE HERITAGE || PAGE 12

� STUDENT SERVICES

Dates to Know:HESTEC Community DaySaturday4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Throughout campus

Disability Awareness Days

Oct. 6 to Oct. 9Activities throughout campus

Whenever a class is interrupted bythe hysteria caused at the suddenappearance of a spider, there is some-times one student calm enough to gen-tly scoop it up in a piece of paper andrelease it outside.

Such a student would probably beMcAllen native Stephanie LeeCamacho.

Camacho is the president of the

Advocates for Animal Welfare, a clubin its second year at The University ofTexas-Pan American.

“Our mission statement is ‘Treat allanimals with kindness and respect,’”the 19-year-old communication stud-ies major said.

That assertion is also a way of lifefor Camacho, whose interest in ani-mal rights is a result of a run-in witha possum.

“My mom and I found a possum inour garage, and our gardener killed

it,” she said. “In that instant seeingthat poor animal dying slowly, Ithought, ‘This animal suffers just as Iwould if I were hit over the head witha shovel.’”

Camacho, an owner of nine pets,found herself among kindred spiritswhen she attended her first AAWmeeting during Spring 2008. “I feltthat every member there was genuinein their desire to help animals.”

In her first semester as president,Camacho is determined to make

AAW’s mission statement more thanjust a bunch of words sprawled acrossthe “About Me” section on the club’sMySpace page. She wants thosewords to turn into actions.

“We can’t just sit in a classroom,”she said. “We have to go out there andvolunteer and educate people.”

One of Camacho’s goals for theupcoming year is to formalize a Trap,Neuter, and Release committee as partof AAW. The TNR project wouldfocus on getting as many of the feral

cats on campus fixed as possible. “They’re not socialized, so they’re

not adoptable,” Camacho explained.“Neutering would add years to theirlives, and we won’t have to worryabout overpopulation.”

Veterinarians from 4 Paws AnimalHospital have offered to perform thespaying and neutering for a fixed price.In order to make the TNR project a suc-cess, Camacho said that all the commit-tee would need is a few days of low

Group gives attention to campus animal advocacyBy Nadia Tamez-RobledoTHE PAN AMERICAN

SEE AAW || PAGE 12

Video games extendbeyond entertainment

For Margaret Rivera, gaming ismore than just sitting in front of acomputer screen engrossed for hoursat a time in a game. It’s also a dailyleisure activity that helps her deal withstress and develop certain skills.

“It helps with critical thinkingbecause when you get confronted by aproblem in the real world, after play-ing so many games you start usingthat to solve the problem you’re facedwith,” said Rivera, the vice presidentof the Gamers Club at The Universityof Texas-Pan American.

Even though she is fairly new tothe hobby, having become more of adevoted gamer when the Play Station2 made its way into the market a fewyears back, Rivera believes thatgames have many more positiveaspects than people think since for

example, they have helped her payattention to details even more.

“Some games have you goingaround looking for stuff (to get to anend), and you have to use context cluesto see the big picture,” Rivera said.

While video play may be the “it”thing that parents frown upon becausethey think they’re a waste of time, BradJensen of Microsoft may beg to differ.

“So one of the things a video gamedoes is provide good hand/eye coordi-nation,” Jensen said. “It providesgood skill sets for reasoning, problemsolving, etc.”

Jensen was a guest speaker duringHispanic Engineering Science andTechnology week’s Town Hall eventwhich occurred during activity periodTuesday. The event was part of TheMicrosoft Experience which is ongo-ing during HESTEC week, allowingstudents exposure to technology pro- GAMING EXPERIENCE - Adrian Gonzalez, a freshman civil engineering major (foreground) spends the

activity hour Tuesday playing on Xbox consoles in the open gaming area at the Student Union. The activitywas part of the Microsoft Experience during HESTEC week.

� TECHNOLOGY

By Abigail MunizTHE PAN AMERICAN

By Kristen CabreraTHE PAN AMERICAN

� CULTURE

Upcoming festivitiesto celebrate Hispanics

SEE WORKSHOP || PAGE 12

SEE TECH || PAGE 12

Ben Briones/THE PAN AMERICAN

ADVERTISEMENTS September 25, 2008

THE PAN AMERICAN

� FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

September 25, 2008

Most people only dream of becom-ing a professional guitarist, rocking outonstage with eardrum-blasting soloskills. The University of Texas PanAmerican has its own guitar hero, butnot the type you would think about.

On Sept. 23, music professor KurtMartinez had a solo performance in afaculty recital.

Martinez received his bachelor’s inguitar performance at the Universityof Miami, he holds his master’s fromGeorgia State University, and receivedhis doctorate of musical arts from theUniversity of Wisconsin.

Currently, Martinez teaches guitarcourses at UTPA.

“I love teaching how to play theguitar. I teach all different levels. It’svery fun, very enjoyable and chal-lenging,” Martinez explained.

Martinez picked up the guitar inhis teens, and has been playing for 20years. He explained that he started offplaying in the rock genre, in hopes ofstarting his own garage band. Afterplaying the electric guitar for sixmonths, he switched over to acousticand has been playing it ever since.

Playing the guitar is definitelyMartinez’s passion.“It’s what I live for.I feel very fortunate to be one of thepeople who get to do this for a living.”

Although guitar is Martinez’s main

passion, he admits to favoring travel-ing as well. Fortunately for him, histwo passions go hand in hand.Martinez has played across the UnitedStates, Europe and Mexico. Hisfavorite place to perform is a tiebetween Italy and Spain.

“I usually play big concerts and inreally nice theatres that are sometimeshundreds of years old,” said Martinez.The beautiful architecture is inspiring toMartinez as he plays.

Following his Sept. 23 performance,he will leave to perform four nights ina row in North Carolina as well as asingle performance in Illinois.

When Martinez is not traveling hehas his hands full at UTPA. Martinezstated that there is rapid growth in theguitar program; it is the biggest pro-gram in the music department. Sincethe program is so popular, Martinezreceives help from a graduate assis-tant, Jaime Garcia.

Garcia graduated from UTPA andis currently working on his secondyear in the master’s program in guitarperformance. Garcia stated that therehave been more and more studentsenrolling in the program since hestarted out as an assistant. Garciabelieves that the students can learn alot from Martinez.

“Dr. Martinez has degrees in classi-cal guitar. It’s a completely differenttechnique, completely different instru-ment then people think. A lot of stu-

dents come in thinking it is just basicchords, but reading music is different.”

Garcia helps Martinez by teachingthe elective course, where studentslearn the foundation of playing guitarwhile Martinez handles moreadvanced students.

Rupert Sosa, 35, is a senior in the

guitar program at UTPA. He explainsthat Martinez has a lot to offer hisstudents.

“If you are a beginner he starts youoff easily with the basics,” Sosa stated.“Its really good, I have been studyingwith him for two years and I havelearned a lot in that time.”

Martinez can not imagine life with-out playing the guitar, and stated hewon’t stop playing until he is longgone. He is extremely excited andhappy students are taking a largerinterest in playing the guitar.

“It’s just too much for one personto teach everyone, which is great.”

By Andrielle FigueroaTHE PAN AMERICAN

Ben Briones/The Pan American

THE BEAT GOES ON - Music professor Kurt Martinez plays a few notes in his office. Martinez was fea-tured in a faculty recital held Sept. 23.

Guitar-hero prof rocks out near and far

Dates to Know:EROS presents: Paolo MojoSept. 2510 p.m.KAFS

Colour RevoltSept. 277 p.m.McAllen Creative Incubator

Local artist shows career through photos� PHOTOGRAPHY

When we close our eyes, we canusually recall great moments from ourpast. But the pictures in our mindaren’t perfect. Sometimes the imagesare hazy; sometimes we can’t remem-ber exactly how it was. JulianMendoza however, remembers verywell how it was. His great moments ofthe past happen to be in the present forall to enjoy.

Highlights from Julian Mendoza’slife as a photographer are currentlyfeatured at the Donna Hooks FletcherMuseum located at 318 South MainSt. in Donna. The collection is free tothe public and museum hours are 9a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.Thursday through Saturday.

The exhibit, slated to run throughmid-October, is part of National

Hispanic Heritage Month, whichbegins every year on September 15and is used to recognize contributionsof Hispanic Americans to the UnitedStates and celebrate Latin heritageand culture.

Mendoza, 74, a retired news pho-tographer from Weslaco, believes thatit is important for people to supportHispanic Heritage Month, especiallyfor children.

“Kids need to know where theycame from, they need to know the cul-ture of the parents or it dies,” he said.“They should learn the language oftheir ancestors. Once you lose yourheritage, you lose the flavor of life.”

During his career, Mendoza cer-tainly enjoyed the flavor of life havingtaken photographs of American iconslike Richard Nixon, Gov. GeorgeWallace, Ronald Reagan, Tom Landry,famed coach of the Dallas Cowboys,

and Gen. Chuck Yeager, the Americantest pilot who first broke the soundbarrier. These pictures, and others likethem, are autographed and included inthe exhibit as well.

“The exhibit is really amazing,”says Veronica Navarro, 33, who isearning a masters degree in drama atUTPA. “It inspires me to take morephotos myself.”

Mendoza says he had an interest inphotography from an early age.

“When I was little I used my sister’scamera around the school yard,” herecalled. “When I got older, I was thephotographer for the school newspaperand the annual. It’s just something youpick up unconsciously and youbecome what you are meant to be.”

Born in 1934, Mendoza grew up inEast Donna and graduated fromWeslaco High School in 1953. After ayear at Pan American University, he left

school and received a degree in photog-raphy through correspondence from theNew York City School of Photography.

From 1956 to 1958, Mendozaworked as a photographer for KRGV-TV News Channel 5, and in 1961briefly moved to Chicago and workedin a photo store. In 1963, upon return-ing to the Valley, Mendoza landed ajob as a photographer for the ValleyMorning Star and remained there untilhis retirement in 1996.

His love of photojournalism andthe excitement of not knowing what atypical day at work would bring is oneof the things that kept him so passion-ate about his former job.

“As a news photographer, you takepictures of everything,” said Mendoza.“One day it’s pretty girls in bikinis, thenext a terrible car accident.”

Even now, well into his retirementyears, Mendoza still carries his trusty

camera with him everywhere. “Every day something happens,”

he insists. “There’s a story, there’s ahistory waiting to be caught. A pictureis worth a thousand words. This isvisual communication.”

Along with the signed autographs,others in the 74-picture collectionincludeVIPs, politicians, landscapephotos and pictures of his extensivetravels through Mexico and theUnited States.

Reaction to the exhibit from thosevisiting has been good.

“The collection is awesome,” saysVelma Cisneros, 30, who works atUTPA Payments and Collections. “It’slike a visual narrative of his life. He’sdone a lot of really cool things and metsome amazing people along the way.”

For more information, contact theDonna Hooks Fletcher Museum at(956) 464-9989.

By Marco CarbajalTHE PAN AMERICAN

Millions of years of cosmic effortcondensed into a mere 4 gigs.

Sims creator Will Wright’s Sporehit the American market Sept. 7,bringing a slew of computing inge-nuity and gameplay to home com-puters, Nintendo DS and evenmobile phones. Like The Sims andother Maxis “god games” before it,Spore gives the player control ofmany aspects of the game, namelythe ability to develop (or destroy) acreature or group of creatures in theworld they are presented with. Whilepast games concentrated around aspecific scenario or time frame,Spore tackles the beginnings andendings of life in an entire galaxy.

The game starts the player offwith a single-celled organism, lead-ing it through the primordial soup ofhumble beginnings. The user con-trols all aspects of its evolution, giv-ing the life form different traits tohelp it make headway in its chaoticnew world. Once the creature hasdeveloped properly it’s on to thesecond of five distinct stages. Theuser leads his creature towardbefriending more of its species,eventually forming a tribe and work-ing up to a full-blown, advanced civ-ilization. The species does not nec-essarily have to share living spaceon this planet, let alone the galaxy,so it’s onto global dominationthrough peace; other options areforcing enemies off to the stars tocolonize, and/or eradicating theoverwhelming amount of other plan-ets to be found.

People were quick to pick upSpore, with an estimated total of 2million sales in the United States

alone already. One reason for such areception is its ease of use.

“The game itself plays like a lot ofgames people have already played,”says Baldo Vela, a senior chemistrymajor. “The cell stage plays likeflOw from the PS3.” flOw for thePlay Station 3 is a game in which theplayers control a small organismwhich eats other similarly sizedcreatures to increase in size.

Vela explained that each of thedifferent stages play like simplerversions of different genres, with thecreature stage being an adventuregame as the creature explores andinteracts with its surroundings, andthe civilization stage seeming likethe game it is named after,Civilization. The space stage is themost involved, with players spend-ing most of their game time explor-ing the dark recesses of space. Aspart of one of the most powerfulraces in the galaxy, it is now theplayer civilization’s responsibility todo whatever they feel like doingwith the rest of existence.

This is just the tip of the icebergfor Spore.

“Its selling point is that the cre-ation engine that’s built into it ismassively powerful,” explains Vela.

Creatures and many other aspectsof the game are built using modeleditors that give the user differentoptions for building a model such asvarying legs, tails, and eyeballs. Thegame’s 18 model editors are whatallow the user to control their crea-tures and civilization, giving thedesigner a large amount of freedomcreating different models. Each edi-tor is similar to the other and is easyto learn to use but still contains anexpansive amount of freedom tobuild a model.

“It’s one part Maya, one partAutoCAD; one part Photoshopeven,” he added, mentioning threepopular computer programs.

With several different model edi-tors that facilitate basically any-thing that can be interacted with inthe game - even a music editor tocreate a civilization’s nationalanthem - game content is frequent-ly different.

“You look through the huge 17million entries submitted and see aremarkable number of unique cre-ations,” Vela said, referring to theonline database of user-createdcreatures, vehicles, and other mod-els, called Sporepedia(www.spore.com/sporepedia). Thegame can be set to automaticallyupload any of the players’ createdworks, which can be subsequentlydownloaded by any other Sporeenthusiasts and actually used intheir games.

Cesar Augusto Longoria II, athird-year computer science major,lets the game upload his creationsfor others to see and interact withinthe game.

“[Sporepedia] connects them [themodels] through creation type andcreator, and a number of otherthings,” he said. When signed ontoSporepedia, the users can look at anyother Spore players’ creatures, build-ings and other models that are organ-ized in the database.

The uploaded models are organ-ized to present the evolutionary tracktaken by the player’s characters, andthen downloaded by Spore to fit intoany other user’s worlds, populatingthe galaxy with new material.

This allows for quite a lot ofunique content.

“You rarely run into the same

thing twice. I can imagine how it’sdone.” says Longoria, touching onthe subject of the game’s massiverandom, user-generated content. “Iwas interested in the way the learn-ing algorithms were describedbefore its release. Like how it [thecreature] was supposed to know howto walk and act on its own dependingon how you built its body.”

Downloaded content barelymakes a dent in your hard drivewhile storing everything the gameneeds to run on a computer. This isdue to Maxis’ use of procedural gen-eration to store game content.Procedural generation is a techniquethat takes values and computes anumber of different aspects, such asterrain. Using varying algorithms,the game can convert a few kilobytes(roughly a millionth of a gigabyte)into the entire creature, building orvehicle as well as all manner ofactions and features they have.

Spore is a distinguished game thatpushes the envelope in game- anduser-generated content. But whilemany of its features allow for hoursof creativity, the gameplay itself canbe relatively simple.

“It lived up to my expectations ofenjoyment,” Longoria said of thenew release. “Up until the last spaceexploration point, the game felt a bitforcefully straightforward, not somuch sandbox.”

Despite a lack of a complex story-line, the game still presents the play-er with an incredible amount of con-tent and freedom to appease anyimaginative appetite. After all, Sporegives the player their own galaxy,and all the tools necessary to destroyit, if they want.

Visit www.spore.com for moreinformation.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT September 25, 2008 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Page 9September 25, 2008

Design by Rick Gamez

“God” game gives galaxy to userBy Rick GamezTHE PAN AMERICAN

Millions of years of cosmic effortcondensed into a mere 4 gigs.

Sims creator Will Wright’s Sporehit the American market Sept. 7,bringing a slew of computing inge-nuity and gameplay to home com-puters, Nintendo DS and evenmobile phones. Like The Sims andother Maxis “god games” before it,Spore gives the player control ofmany aspects of the game, namelythe ability to develop (or destroy) acreature or group of creatures in theworld they are presented with. Whilepast games concentrated around aspecific scenario or time frame,Spore tackles the beginnings andendings of life in an entire galaxy.

The game starts the player offwith a single-celled organism, lead-ing it through the primordial soup ofhumble beginnings. The user con-trols all aspects of its evolution, giv-ing the life form different traits tohelp it make headway in its chaoticnew world. Once the creature hasdeveloped properly it’s on to thesecond of five distinct stages. Theuser leads his creature towardbefriending more of its species,eventually forming a tribe and work-ing up to a full-blown, advanced civ-ilization. The species does not nec-essarily have to share living spaceon this planet, let alone the galaxy,so it’s onto global dominationthrough peace; other options areforcing enemies off to the stars tocolonize, and/or eradicating theoverwhelming amount of other plan-ets to be found.

People were quick to pick upSpore, with an estimated total of 2million sales in the United States

alone already. One reason for such areception is its ease of use.

“The game itself plays like a lot ofgames people have already played,”says Baldo Vela, a senior chemistrymajor. “The cell stage plays likeflOw from the PS3.” flOw for thePlay Station 3 is a game in which theplayers control a small organismwhich eats other similarly sizedcreatures to increase in size.

Vela explained that each of thedifferent stages play like simplerversions of different genres, with thecreature stage being an adventuregame as the creature explores andinteracts with its surroundings, andthe civilization stage seeming likethe game it is named after,Civilization. The space stage is themost involved, with players spend-ing most of their game time explor-ing the dark recesses of space. Aspart of one of the most powerfulraces in the galaxy, it is now theplayer civilization’s responsibility todo whatever they feel like doingwith the rest of existence.

This is just the tip of the icebergfor Spore.

“Its selling point is that the cre-ation engine that’s built into it ismassively powerful,” explains Vela.

Creatures and many other aspectsof the game are built using modeleditors that give the user differentoptions for building a model such asvarying legs, tails, and eyeballs. Thegame’s 18 model editors are whatallow the user to control their crea-tures and civilization, giving thedesigner a large amount of freedomcreating different models. Each edi-tor is similar to the other and is easyto learn to use but still contains anexpansive amount of freedom tobuild a model.

“It’s one part Maya, one partAutoCAD; one part Photoshopeven,” he added, mentioning threepopular computer programs.

With several different model edi-tors that facilitate basically any-thing that can be interacted with inthe game - even a music editor tocreate a civilization’s nationalanthem - game content is frequent-ly different.

“You look through the huge 17million entries submitted and see aremarkable number of unique cre-ations,” Vela said, referring to theonline database of user-createdcreatures, vehicles, and other mod-els, called Sporepedia(www.spore.com/sporepedia). Thegame can be set to automaticallyupload any of the players’ createdworks, which can be subsequentlydownloaded by any other Sporeenthusiasts and actually used intheir games.

Cesar Augusto Longoria II, athird-year computer science major,lets the game upload his creationsfor others to see and interact withinthe game.

“[Sporepedia] connects them [themodels] through creation type andcreator, and a number of otherthings,” he said. When signed ontoSporepedia, the users can look at anyother Spore players’ creatures, build-ings and other models that are organ-ized in the database.

The uploaded models are organ-ized to present the evolutionary tracktaken by the player’s characters, andthen downloaded by Spore to fit intoany other user’s worlds, populatingthe galaxy with new material.

This allows for quite a lot ofunique content.

“You rarely run into the same

thing twice. I can imagine how it’sdone.” says Longoria, touching onthe subject of the game’s massiverandom, user-generated content. “Iwas interested in the way the learn-ing algorithms were describedbefore its release. Like how it [thecreature] was supposed to know howto walk and act on its own dependingon how you built its body.”

Downloaded content barelymakes a dent in your hard drivewhile storing everything the gameneeds to run on a computer. This isdue to Maxis’ use of procedural gen-eration to store game content.Procedural generation is a techniquethat takes values and computes anumber of different aspects, such asterrain. Using varying algorithms,the game can convert a few kilobytes(roughly a millionth of a gigabyte)into the entire creature, building orvehicle as well as all manner ofactions and features they have.

Spore is a distinguished game thatpushes the envelope in game- anduser-generated content. But whilemany of its features allow for hoursof creativity, the gameplay itself canbe relatively simple.

“It lived up to my expectations ofenjoyment,” Longoria said of thenew release. “Up until the last spaceexploration point, the game felt a bitforcefully straightforward, not somuch sandbox.”

Despite a lack of a complex story-line, the game still presents the play-er with an incredible amount of con-tent and freedom to appease anyimaginative appetite. After all, Sporegives the player their own galaxy,and all the tools necessary to destroyit, if they want.

Visit www.spore.com for moreinformation.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT September 25, 2008Page 8 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT September 25, 2008

Design by Rick Gamez

“God” game gives galaxy to userBy Rick GamezTHE PAN AMERICAN

� CAMPUS BEATS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT September 25, 2008

As if there aren’t enoughbrowsers to do research on, Google,the most popular search engine todate, decided to make a new webbrowser called Chrome. It was devel-oped in secrecy and released to theworld Sept. 2 and the reviews were abit mixed. Some praised it andoffered a positive comparison toestablished browsers like InternetExplorer, Firefox, and Safari.

First off, Chrome is full of smartfeatures that seem to have beeninspired by other browsers. Take forinstance the address bar. As a userstarts to type, a menu of suggestionsappears, a list not only of pages theuser has visited before, but alsobookmarks, search suggestions, andpopular Web pages not visited yet,appear. Chrome auto-imports book-marks, history and even stores pass-words from the old browser. If any-one has ever searched on Amazon oreBay, a cool shortcut device awaitsthem in Chrome.

For example, the search for “ama-zon.com,” allows a search within thatsite without even going there first.The Internet buyer or surfer has savedone big step. Google boasts that their

Chrome is faster than InternetExplorer, and will soon be up to thespeed in which Firefox and Safari areat right now.

The students and faculty of UTPAwere interviewed about the newbrowser and asked how they thoughtit would stack up against the rest.

Some students and faculty mem-bers at UTPA were enthusiastic aboutthe new browser while some prefertheir old reliable, Internet Explorerand Firefox. Computer InformationSystems Professor Jerald Hughes isamong those who will stick withFirefox over Internet Explorer orChrome.

“I use Mozilla Firefox,” Hughessaid. “I prefer its appearance.” Therehave been some advantages in securi-ty in the past in using Mozilla insteadof Internet Explorer, simply becausehackers tended to target IE, but thatmargin is shrinking.” Hughes haseight years of teaching computerinformation systems in his currentacademic life, but had prior experi-ence in the late ‘70s and early ‘80sworking for International BusinessMachines Corporation, or IBM, amultinational computer technologyand consulting corporation headquar-tered in Armonk, N.Y.

When asked about Chrome, Hughes

stated it was a good strategic move, inthe short run and the long run.

“Google as it operates now has aclear interest in seeing that users of theWorld Wide Web can use it effective-ly,” said Hughes. “Chrome operateslike system software in some respects,instead of merely as a browser.”

Hughes went on to explain that inthe future computer fanatics canimagine “cloud computing,” busi-nesses and individuals both couldown simple, lightweight, cheap PC’swhich act as terminals to theInternet, and provide far more pro-cessing power and data resourcesthan consumers could purchase ontheir own.

Hughes, a New York native, alsosuggests that UTPA should not selectan official web browser. He feels thereis no reason for each user not to beable to choose.

“For the lab portion of my CIS1301 course, we need to use InternetExplorer 7,” Hughes said. “That’swhat our lab software maker requiresto run their web-based lab simulators.”

UTPA has Internet Explorer 7 andMozilla Firefox in their computer labsfor faculty and students.

Jun Sun, an assistant professor incomputer information systems andquantitative methods, says otherwise,

and hopes UTPA finds a place forChrome in its computer labs.

“I think it is a brilliant move forGoogle to expand its market of web-based applications,” Sun said. “Theadvantage of Chrome’s applicationwindows is that they don’t displaytabs, buttons, the address bar ormenus. If you click on a link that takesyou to a different website, the linkopens in a standard Google Chromewindow instead, so that you don’t losetrack of your web application.”

The Shanghai native and second-year assistant professor at UTPA alsosuggested that Chrome might makeit easy for Google users to tailor theirown web experiences through person-alization. In other words, whenGoogle users decide to use Chrome astheir web browser, their favoriteplaces or bookmarks will appear auto-matically, and they would not have toresearch everything they hadresearched before. It will be there infront of them saved.

“I think Pan American should pro-vide Chrome as another option to stu-dents in addition to Internet Explorerand Firefox,” Sun stated. “It maybecome a basic tool for computerusers in the near future.”

Sophomore computer sciencemajor Brenda Martinez was hesitant

at first about the new browser and feltthat she needed to see more of it,rather than just an article about it.

“From what I read and heard,Chrome is in its development stage,”said the Edinburg native. “I wouldrather wait until it has been morethoroughly tested, and until then Ithink I am going to stick withMozilla’s Firefox.”

Martinez said that even with allthe hype and excitement for the newGoogle browser, many peopleincluding herself are going to bereluctant to change, because theyalready know how to operate InternetExplorer and Firefox.

“Why change something when wealready know how to use it?”Martinez asked. “I think UTPA shouldstick with Internet Explorer andFirefox for now.”

Google boasts that it has producedan excellent browser in Chrome.Officials say that is friendly enough tohandle average browsing activitieswithout complicating tasks, but at thesame time is powerful enough to meetthe needs of more advanced users.The only problem they have iswhether people who are used to doingresearch or web browsing on InternetExplorer, Firefox or Safari are readyto conform.

Google browser hit and miss among UTPA

It was hard not noticing the postersthat were up all over campus promot-ing the Incredibly Indie event thattook place on Tuesday at 7 p.m. atThe University of Texas -PanAmerican’s Student Union. But forDavid Cortez seeing them made himfeel awkward as he passed by on hisbike every day, seeing his face every-where he turned.

Cortez, a 25-year-old sophomorepolitical science/history major fromBrownsville, is very familiar withplaying live events; he has been thelead singer of The December Drivefor the past eight years and has touredextensively for two years across theeast coast and Midwest, includingNew York and Kansas.

During down-time, while on tour,Cortez began writing lyrics and com-posing music that didn’t gel with thedistinct sound that he had helped craftwith The December Drive, thusspawning his side-project, The Applein The Tree.

“I did a lot of writing while on theroad with The December Drive, thencontinued on my spare time,” Cortezsaid. “Solo gigs at Simon Sez reallygave me the opportunity to get theproject going.”

The Apple in the Tree was initially

a solo acoustic act, but Cortez could-n’t help himself from recruiting twomembers from The December Drive.

Robert Godinez, a 28-year-oldsophomore and history major atUTPA, plays bass for the new projectand is a member of the other one.

“Basically, Dave started writing alot of these songs on tour with TheDecember Drive and we would jam onthem sometimes during breaks and atband practice,” said the Brownsvillenative. “The Dave, Rob and Charliedynamic eventually crept its way intobecoming the Apple In the Tree as afull band entity,” said Godinez.

Charlie Vela is a 24-year-oldEdinburg native that plays drums forThe Apple In The Tree.

Currently an untitled album is inthe production process and scheduledfor a release later this year.

Managing time between two bandsand an education can be very taxing,but Cortez has set his priorities.

Cortez explained that the twobands are not the only things compet-ing for his attention. His education isthe most important thing to him at themoment and has no plans of touringwith The Apple in The Tree for now.

“I think I left my touring daysbehind me a long time ago,” hestressed. “As The December Drive,we did our fair share of touring andI’m so dedicated to school right now

that I don’t see myself touring againuntil I’ve got my undergrad.”

However, Cortez was keen to notethat he would jump at the opportunityto play more events on campus.

Networking plays a large role inbooking concerts for many bands.

Stacey Sanchez from the UniversityProgram Board contacted the membersof Apple after she saw them perform ata bar called Simon Sez.

“I instantly knew that The Appleand The Tree’s acoustic sound wouldbe the perfect fit for Incredibly Indie,”

she said. “We exchanged contactinformation and kept in contactthrough MySpace, ultimately decid-ing on a date that would be best forthem,” said Sanchez.

UPB hosted Incredibly Indie as partof its Coffeehouse series that bringslive music to UTPA. They offered freecoffee and cookies to all attendees.

“We want to have a genre nightevery month, we are already planningblues and poetry for the future,”Sanchez said

Cortez explained that he was excit-ed to be asked to perform at the on-campus event and eager for people tolisten to his music.

“I don’t consider myself a greatguitar player, but pride myself in writ-ing songs that mean something to meand hopefully anyone listening,”Cortez said.

Godinez added that The Apple inThe Tree is seeking musical simplicity.

“The Apple in the Tree, to me,embodies the loneliness and discon-nection of modern social life, and analmost thematic longing for simplici-ty,” said Godinez.

Members are careful not to takethemselves too seriously and oftenlike to joke about their performances.

“If I was watching myself performI think I’d lean over to the person nextto me and ask, ‘do they serve alcoholhere?’” Cortez said.

Student entertains during spare timeBy Isaac GarciaTHE PAN AMERICAN

By Russen VelaTHE PAN AMERICAN

� TECH NEWS

Ben Briones/THE PAN AMERICANACOUSTIC ACT - Sophomore David Cortez took the stage at theStudent Union on Tuesday night as part of UPB’s Indie Night.

to never respond to an e-mail request for personalinformation, no matter how official the messagemay look.”

Valerie Tovar, a senior and interdisciplinarystudies major, said people should be concernedabout the problems with phishing.

“I worry about the people who believe thesephishing e-mails are real, and they send theirpersonal information thinking it’s a crediblesource,” Tovar said. “People need to know howto react to phishing e-mails and know how toidentify them.”

During the same weekend the UTPA phishingincident occurred, another problem surfaced atTexas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where acollege server was hacked into. The SocialSecurity Numbers of 31 students on a single

class roster were compromised, according to apress release by the university.

“There is no correlation with the securitybreach reported by TAMU Corpus Christi,”Scardigno said.

UTPA does not use Social Security Numbers toidentify individual students, but rather employs arandom numerical assignment for each student.

Again, Internet network problems which haveplagued the campus since Friday are said to beunrelated to the phishing incident.

The problems were part of a fiber optic devicefoul-up involving the Valley Telephone compa-ny, according to a message from Director ofNetworks Services Jesus Rios sent lateWednesday to the UTPA community. Per regula-tions, the company cannot fix it until Monday.

TEC, which from the beginning wasdesigned to foster interest in previous-ly overlooked academic areas.

Edwin Lemaster, dean of the UTPACollege of Science and Engineering,said HESTEC has in large part helpedboost enrollment in these areas, whichbecome more vital every day in theInformation Age.

“It has contributed a lot towardpublic awarenessof opportunities inscience and engineering,” saidLemaster, who has served as dean forthe past four years. “Particularly, engi-neering contributes to local economic

development.”Mechanical engineering, according

to enrollment statistics provided bythe OIR, has grown the most, from250 in fall 2001 to 545 in fall 2007.That academic area, however, hasseen flux during that time, starting offat 250 enrolled in fall 2001 and downto 110 in fall 2007.

Enrollment figures for fall 2008 willnot be available until Friday, butLemaster said the preliminary num-bers, suggested, a 10-percent increasein engineering, sending the departmentover 1,000 majors. He added that the

preliminary calculations are subject tochange but he is confident the numberswill not dwindle.

“There is a change but it’s a slightamount,” he said.

There are several concentrations inengineering, including computer,electrical, manufacturing, mechanical,and engineering management.

The increased participation in thesefields, according to Lemaster, hasboosted the Valley’s chances to “drivethe development of the Valley.”

“We can compete with China,” hesaid. “The Valley is changing rapidly,

engineering creates higher payingjobs.”

He added that several studentsalready work in maquiladoras or man-ufacturing companies in Mexico help-ing to create major products.

While the fields are seeingincreased enrollment from both malesand females, the increase of males ismuch larger than that of females.

There were 457 males in mechani-cal engineering in fall 2007 and only88 females, compared to fall 2001,when there were 215 males and 35females.

OTHER MEASURING STICKSAlready the event has provided a

week filled with several keynotespeakers and programs like “A T.RexNamed Sue,” the largest and mostcomplete dinosaur fossil discoveredand NASA’s Mars Science Laboratoryrover.

The job fairs are also a popularitem on the agenda, plus outreach pro-grams, which seek to get Valley K-12students excited about science andengineering.

The representation of Hispanics inthese fields has lagged below that ofother ethnic groups, so the weeklongfestival has sought to gradually aug-ment the numbers by introducingschool kids to educational and enter-taining activities, imagining that earlyinterest in science and engineeringwill lead to increased participation inthose areas once the children start tothink about college.

Carlos Rivera, a 21-year-old pre-med/biology student, said he said eventhough HESTEC does not necessarilyapply to his major, it gives studentsopportunities to see what is out on thegrowing job market.

“It gives students the opportunityto see what kinds of jobs are avail-able,” said Rivera, who is part of theuniversity’s Student Ambassador pro-gram, which aims to improve reten-tion rates in freshmen and sopho-mores. “It’s really good for studentswho are undecided about their major.”

Rivera added that he wants to takehis Ambassador protégé, who is stillunsure of a major, to HESTECFriday’s Career Fair.

NEWS September 25, 2008

PHISHING continued from Page 1

HESTEC continued from Page 1

� VISIT

For detailed enrollment on each college discipline, go to:

ENROLLMENT:http://www.oire.utpa.edu/publications/FRD/EnrollmentGenderDiscipline.pdf

HESTEC: www.hestec.org

PARKING continued from Page 1Last spring it was also decided an

additional remote lot off Jackson Roadand FM 107 will have 600 parkingspaces, each costing $2,000 to build.

In an additional move to cut downthe logjam on campus at peak times, aprivate road will be built near UnityHall across the street from campus thatwill lead to the new lot to be used byshuttles and university vehicles.

“The drawings and plans arealready set and we’re hoping to openthe added lot fall of 2009,” saidSandoval.

The changes are well overdue,because ironically, student complaintsabout overcrowding are borne out bythe data. UTPA uses a parking analy-sis that calculates student spaces on a3-to-1 ratio, but currently the univer-sity is behind by 400 slots.

“We don’t really consider it below,not everyone parks a vehicle on cam-pus at once,” Sandoval said. “Hourafter hour we see some spaces empty,but we anticipate there to be a space tostudent ratio adjustment after theopening of the new parking lot.”

THE MASSES REACTThough Sandoval is confident the

moves will alleviate parking prob-lems, some freshmen have already feltthe brunt of the decision.

First-year Bronc Rocio Martinezsees a multitude of empty spaceswhen she parks for her early morningclasses but is still forced to park at theremote lots.

“It sucks, I get here at 7:45 a.m.and there’s no parking in the lots andI can’t park there (reserved areas),”

said the pre-med major from McAllenwho usually parks at Lot U-4.

On the other hand, experience pays,and Victoria Chappell says she’s beenhaving an easier time finding a spotsince the beginning of the semester.

“It has (improved), it used to bereally hard to find parking,” said thepsychology sophomore from McAllenwho parks at Lot A.

As for the future parking project,Sandoval has heard many strategies,including closing off Sugar Road andVan Week Road to make “pedestrianmalls,” but those plans are just con-cepts; Sandoval doesn’t believeUTPA will add more lots close to theuniversity.

“We do not foresee another park-ing lot within the campus in the nearfuture,” said Sandoval.

NEWS September 25, 2008

WORKSHOP continued from Page 3 HERITAGE continued from Page 3

AAW continued from Page 3foot traffic on campus, a lot of cages, abig garage, and volunteers.

“We’re not going to go out thereand just grab cats,” she said. There’s aguidebook with instructions the com-mittee will follow.

The TNR project was brainstormedby the club during the spring 2008semester but never got off the ground.

“Before I becamepresident, the TNRcommittee didn’thave enough mem-bers. A lot of peopleleft or graduated,”Camacho said.“This year I’mgoing to make it apriority to get theTNR committee back on track.”

The actions of the AAW go beyondcampus. Members volunteered everyother weekend at the Palm ValleyAnimal Center in Edinburg during thesummer, something Camacho hopesto continue doing throughout theschool year.

“I feel as though we made the jobsof everyone working for the animals alittle easier by lending a hand andspreading the message of responsiblepet ownership,” she said. “And, ofcourse, we made a huge difference inthe lives of every animal we walked,talked to, played with, and loved thispast summer.”

Students with AAW have spentover 100 hours grooming, walking,and playing with the animals, she said.Brenda Torres-Villalobos, the educa-tion and volunteer coordinator at PalmValley Animal Center, said that volun-teers are critical to helping the animalsbecome social and adoptable.

“A dog can be crouched downwith his tail between his legs,”Torres-Villalobos said, “but after 15

minutes with a volunteer, he won’twant you to leave.”

Because of AAW’s work at the shel-ter, Torres-Villalobos has promised toattend all of the club’s meetings. Shehopes that doing so will encourage stu-dent involvement at the shelter.

“If we are united for these animals,stuff will get done,” she stressed.

Torres-Villalobosestimated that about200 students and com-munity members givetheir time at the shelter,but that at least 100more are needed toprovide all of the ani-mals with the attentionthey need.

“We have so many animals thathave gone through things we wouldnever wish on anyone,” Torres-Villalobos said. “Someone has tobring them back to light.”

The facility was built to houseabout 500 animals, but Torres-Villalobos estimates that it currentlycares for between 600 and 800 home-less cats, dogs, reptiles, and farm ani-mals. Forty-thousand animals aresent to the shelter every year, andabout 100 are put to sleep every day,she added.

“We have overpopulation, andmany animals are being euthanized dueto the public’s lack of education aboutspaying and neutering,” she said.

The club has participated in otheroutreach and volunteer activities likethe Adopt-A-Beach cleanup andCamacho also said the organizationhas made plans to begin volunteeringat Palm Valley again after Torres-Villalobos conducts a volunteer orien-tation during a Oct. 11 meeting.

AAW also wants to work moreclosely with other campus groups like

the Environmental Club and theVegan and Vegetarian AwarenessAssociation in the near future.

“We recognize the importance ofkeeping our environment clean. That’spart of advocating for animal wel-fare,” Camacho said. “We want tomake and alternative to meat-eatingan option for our members.”

Camacho acknowledges that thesubject matter AAW deals with canbe downright saddening at times butsaid that plenty of fun activities areon the club’s agenda. The first is asocial potluck to give members theopportunity to become familiar witheach other.

Despite its plans, one crucial ele-ment to ensuring that AAW’s ideascome to fruition is membership,something that has hindered the club’sactivities in the past.

“At the first meeting last year, itwas like this, the classroom almostfull,” club secretary Naara Andradesaid as she addressed a room of about22 students during the first officialmeeting Sept. 9.

Andrade went on to say that thenumber of members had dwindleddown to about six by the end of thesemester.

“It was upsetting because we want-ed to do a lot,” she commented.

Camacho’s hopes for the future ofAAW and its members are high. Theorganization is just one stepping stoneon her path to reaching an ultimategoal of becoming an animal rightsattorney.

“When they see an animal somepeople think, ‘It’s just a cat, it’s just adog, it’s just a snake.’ They hurt likewe do and feel pain like we do,” shesaid. “When you can show sensitivi-ty to an animal, you just become abetter person.”

Maria Hinojosa, 21-year-old seniorand chair of the Heritage Committee,which co-sponsored the HispanicHeritage Months events, is also plan-ning a Dia de los Muertos exhibit at theStudent Union Oct. 29 through Nov. 2,though Hispanic Heritage month offi-cially ends before the Day of the Dead,a Hispanic tradition that is celebrated byfamilies here and in Mexico.

“I know my family celebrates it,over in Mexico they dress up some-times and they visit the graves of rela-tives that passed away with flowers andthings they enjoyed when they werealive like favorite foods and music,”said Carlos Rodriguez, who fits wellinto the cultural scene at The Universityof Texas-Pan American where a decentnumber students at the university ispuro Mexicano.

“I cannot live without Mexicanfood,” said the 19-year-old sophomoreinternational business major. “I con-sider myself Mexican; I guess becauseof where I have lived. I was raised inReynosa for about five years and thenwe moved over here after that.”

And then there is the ever-presentword game between terms for themajority of Spanish speakers. TheU.S. Census Bureau defines the wordHispanic as “those people who classi-fied themselves in one of the specificSpanish, Hispanic or Latino cate-gories listed on the Census 2000questionnaire.”

The correct term between“Hispanic,” ‘Latino” or many of thevarious grouping names and cate-gories can be debated. But what can-not is that the Rio Grande Valley isheavily populated by Spanish speak-ers; UTPA has a total of 17,435 stu-dents as of fall 2007, 86.3 percent ofwhich are Hispanic, so obviously theculture is rich in this area. Others pre-fer the term Latino, and a small per-centage of politically active people ofa certain age group call themselves‘Chicanos.’

Whatever you call yourself, Hispanic

Heritage Month has room under the tent.But when it comes to celebratingHispanic Heritage Month at collegesacross the country, there are fewerSpanish speakers, and less enthusiasm.

Aaron Cantu, a 19-year-old interna-tional affairs major at Tufts Universityin Boston, said, “It’s not big on ourcampus, but even then, I’m proud ofwhere I come from, I’m proud of theadversity my ancestors overcame to getmy generation to this point. But I feel alittle disconnected from the Hispaniccommunity because I’m fifth genera-tion and never knew Spanish.”

This feeling of disconnection isalso felt at UTPA. As worlds collideand young people are exposed to othercultures, they often find themselvesassimilating into another scene andleaving another behind.

“I know a little bit of Spanish, butnot that much,” said Orlando Flores,18, an undeclared freshman who saidhe has often felt like an outcastbecause of the language barrier.

“I used to work at Chick-Fil-A andeveryone knew Spanish,” he recalls. “Iwas the only one who didn’t so I feltlike nobody wanted to come to myregister because I didn’t know how tospeak Spanish.”

Marisela Gonzalez, coordinator ofstudent development, helped co-spon-sor Hispanic Heritage Month activitieswith the University Program Board.

“I think if you feel disconnectedeither from the university or from yourown culture, you should make aneffort to get connected,” she said. “Whether its by joining a studentorganization that interest you or thatfits your personality.”

Almost 300 students attended thecampus 16 de Septiembre celebrationlast week to exhibit pride in their cul-ture without feelings of discontent.

“Everyone was there enjoyingthemselves,” Gonzalez said. “Tastingthe food, watching the folkloricodancers, listening to the Mariachi. Ididn’t really see a divide.”

National consultant Susan Campbellof Maine, who has a doctorate in educa-tion, spoke at the two-day event in theBallroom about ways to improve stu-dent services. The local advisersenjoyed hearing tips and anecdotes, atwhat was a superlative for UTPA.

“It’s our first workshop with anational speaker,” said MarilynHagerty, director of the AAM Center,which opened in 2005.

The center’s mission since then hasbeen to help increase graduate rates byhelping students stay focused enrouteto graduation. Several academic poli-cies have been implemented to keepstudents on time for graduation, includ-ing one that limits the number of class-es a student can drop without penalty.Another gives tuition breaks to thosewho can graduate in four years.

A new Drop/Withdrawal deadlinepolicy has also taken effect this fall,stating that students are not allowedany sort of drop result after 75 percentof the class has been completed, asomewhat common occurrence in thepast. The last day to drop before thatdeadline kicks in is Nov. 12

“The purpose of our workshop is

to help professional advisers and fac-ulty advisers be consistent with theinformation provided for students,”Hagerty said.

In upcoming weeks the center willmeet with the council to discussactions that have been suggested, likehaving a workshop each year, an ideathat went over well with faculty. Also,implementing a seminar for new pro-fessional and faculty advisers to takebefore they assume the load of advis-ing students has been suggested, alongwith a central Web site to help stu-dents link to other useful sites.

Despite its success in helping theuniversity increase retention rates, theUTPA center is not satisfied yet. Staffand faculty suggestions at the work-shop included posting banners tomake students more aware of wherethe office is located, and making theAAM Web site more helpful.

At the event, Campbell mentionedproblems that UTPA shares with theUniversity of Southern Maine, whereshe works. First-generation graduatestudents are very common; bringing innew software to USM’s center hasalso caused trouble; and of course,

consistency of advice among advisersare ongoing issues.

During the workshop, some of themain ideas focused on where ways totrain everyone effectively on new soft-ware, to make sure it’s meeting theneeds of the center, and to makeeveryone is able to get all the informa-tion they need. Another main focuswas to keep consistency among advis-ers throughout the university about thenew degree plans.

“I love it here, I have never been toa campus that was so clearly commit-ted to students,” said Campbell. “PanAm is serious about what they do.They’re serious about the education oftheir students.”

Though it seems to focus onincoming freshman with first-genera-tion demographics, the center seeks tobe accessible to all students of anyclassification.

“It’s a one-stop shop,” saidEdinburg native Rick Garcia, a juniorhistory major. “They answer any ques-tion you have, I’ve gone for the pastyear and they’ve helped me with ques-tions concerning registration, gradua-tion, and financial aid opportunities.”

vided by Microsoft. The presentationat the Student Union Theater informedstudents on how to prepare for a careerin the technology field. One thing outof the ordinary: Jensen urged studentsto play games, and noted that the gam-ing industry has become a $10.6 bil-lion industry.

In the crowded Union during HES-TEC week, there are stations designat-ed for anyone wanting to play on anXbox in the commons area. For some-one not experienced on a controldevice, it may seem like a waste oftime, but Jensen knows there are a lotof compelling aspects to games.

“There are games that are educa-tional-based, for fun, and there aregames that are basically violence-based,” he said. “I’m not a proponentof a lot of violence-based gamesbecause I do think that there are cer-tain issues with that, and I think thatthere is a hard time getting people tounderstand the difference between

reality and non-reality.”Jensen admits to having started his

daughters on computer games early,explaining to the crowd that educa-tional ones helped them with readingand math, while other aided theirdevelopment in problem-solving.

Of course, skills gained from gam-ing are not the only thing that will helpsomeone get a job in the technologyfield such as in the industry itself,Jensen said. But they help.

“There are huge demands for peoplein the industry that have computer sci-ence backgrounds, IT in management,in marketing, we are paying well andwe can’t get enough people,” he said.

According to Jensen, there are13,000 available jobs with Microsoft,along with a passion for games, thespeaker gave some other closing advice.

Stay informed and up to date withnew technology as it develops, andwork on skills in IT, he said, to makeyourself more marketable.

TECH continued from Page 3

“Neutering would addyears to their lives...”

Stephanie Lee CamachoAAW president

ADVERTISEMENTS September 25, 2008

Even though South Texas didn’t feelthe effects of Hurricane Ike, The Uni-versity of Texas-Pan American’s vol-leyball team will tell you otherwise.

After the hurricane canceled theLady Broncs’ tournament last week-end, Ike continued to make an impactas the women went 0-3 at the Spike IkeClassic this weekend in Denton. Theywere also defeated by The Universityof Texas-San Antonio Sept. 17 andHouston Baptist Tuesday, leaving themat 3-9 for the season.

“We did not perform up to our po-tential at all,” said second-year coachAngela Hubbard. “It was a difficultweek for us. We were down a player(Deanna Schneyer) and had a verytough schedule.”

The Lady Broncs, after reeling off anine-game improvement from 2006 to2007, had high expectations enteringthe new campaign but the season hasn’tpanned out the way they hoped.

But there is reason to be optimistic. Through their first 12 games last

season, the women were sitting on a 2-10 record before they closed the season

out on a 13-8 stretch. So with 12 gamesremaining in this season, including afour-game homestand beginning 4 p.m.Oct. 4 against UTSA, Hubbard hopesthe women will be able to duplicate thefast finish of ’07.

“We have had a few things not goour way so far this season but I knowthat the team is willing and ready to dowhat it takes to stay focused and con-trol those variables that can be con-trolled,” the coach stressed.

UTSATo open up the five-game road

swing, the Lady Broncs, 1-1 againstthe Lady Roadrunners last season, trav-eled to San Antonio and were defeated16-25, 25-22, 15-25, 14-25.

After taking the second set to tie thematch at 1-1, the Lady Roadrunner de-fense stifled UTPA’s offense, and theteam got off to a 6-1 start during thethird set, never looking back. In thefinal set, the women closed the gap to15-11 but a kill by UTSA’s KendraRowland, her 17th of the game, endedthe potential comeback.

Senior Kellie Phillips led the LadyBroncs in kills with 10 and added 17digs with three blocks. Teammate

Chelsea Blakely recorded six kills, 10digs and one block, while McAllennative Rebecca Toddy, who leads theteam in digs at 142, had a team-high19 digs.

CLASSICIn Denton, UTPA had only day to

regroup to play three games in twodays but the tournament field got thebest of women. Stephen F. Austin (16-25, 16-25, 25-27), Louisiana-Lafayette(23-25, 9-25, 20-25) and Texas Tech(18-25, 18-25, 14-25) all swept theLady Broncs.

During the two-day event, Phillips,the leading player in kills at 113, to-taled 23 kills, nine digs and threeblocks, while sophomore Marci Loganrecorded 21 kills with five digs andfive blocks. Blakely had seven kills, 18digs and three blocks and Toddy added34 digs.

Hubbard says the tournamentserved to hand her team some impor-tant self-reflection.

“There were several things that weneed to fix and this weekend showedus that in full force,” she said. “Weneeded to re-evaluate as a team and asindividuals. We have done that and I

am excited about the future.”

HOUSTON BAPTISTAgainst the Lady Huskies, Phillips

tallied 15 of the team’s 45 kills but itwas not enough to overcome HoustonBaptist’s 65 kills as the Lady Broncswere topped 19-25, 18-25, 25-23, 20-25 at Sharp Gymnasium.

The Lady Huskies had three playersrecording double digits in kills but theycommitted 24 errors, compared toUTPA’s 16.

With the home team holding a two-set lead, the Lady Broncs withstood aback-and-forth affair as a service errorby Jolie Graf and an attack error byJessica Barrera preserved the 25-23victory. But on the ensuing set, UTPAfell behind 22-14 and couldn’t recoverto extend the match.

Hubbard says despite the difficultroad trip, her team is looking forwardto the upcoming home stand.

“We need to stay focused and posi-tive,” she said. “I think the homestretch will be good for us. We havehad several obstacles this season thathave made huge impacts on our pro-gram and we are ready to move for-ward on a positive note.”

And they’re off. The University ofTexas-Pan American cross countryteams had a triumphant kick off to the2008 season Friday at the RicardoRomo/Six Flags Fiesta Texas Classicin San Antonio last week, where themen took home first place and thewomen obtained fifth.

The programs will try to keep theirmomentum-building weekend goingwhen they travel to Corpus Christi Fri-day for the Texas A&M-Corpus ChristiIslander Splash.

In the Alamo City meet, the Broncsfinished with a total of 49 points, morethan enough to upset No. 14-rankedTexas, which recorded 56 points. Themen’s unit was led to victory by soph-omore Angel Ramirez, who capturedsecond place out of 86 runners with atime of 15:41.0.

“I felt good that I was able to con-tribute to the team. I wanted to win,”said the McAllen High School gradu-ate, who competed after taking a cou-ple of days off to recover from aninjury.

Ramirez was followed by anothersophomore, Roberto Najera, who fin-ished eighth with a time of 15:49.4, asthe Broncs placed two in the top 10.

“I was a little nervous because itwas my first competition, but my team-mates looked confident and that mademe feel better,” said Najera, from Med-High School in Mercedes.

Senior J.J. Hernandez of San Juan

ran a time of 15:58.6 which led him to11th place. Omar Doria, who returnedto his running roots after taking a yearoff for personal reasons, placed 13thwith a time of 16:04.9. And Edinburgnative Wally Gonzalez, Doria’s oldteammate at Edinburg North, roundedout the top 15 after clocking in at16:12.4.

Juniors Gilroy Martinez and VidalRuiz crossed the line with times of16:53:0 and 16:58.0, positioning themin 31st and 32nd place respectively, asthe Broncs got solid efforts from anumber of athletes.

Men’s and women’s coach HugoCervantes, a UTPA ex, says he is proudof his athletes’ attitudes, despite thecourse changes.

“The guys are used to running a10K and this race was a 5K, but theywent out and ran strong and smart,” hesaid. “They ran together as a team. Itworked out for us. I knew we couldwin it, but it was going to come downto a few points.”

Carolina Izaguirre led the way forthe women as the senior placed fourthwith a time of 19:19.2. However, theBrownsville native says she was notsatisfied with her performance, andlooks forward to drop her time at theIslander Splash.

“I felt OK, but I expect to do betternext week,” she said.

Senior Sara Rodriguez of ValleyView High School crossed the finishline in 19th with a time of 20:02.4 fol-lowed by sophomore Diana Galloso ofEdinburg High, who ran a 20:33.8 to

place 23rd. Mission natives Larissa deLeon and Sasha Suarez finished theirfirst cross country meet placing 28thand 42nd, respectively, with times of21:18.5 and 22:47.4. Freshman DanielaFlores, from the small Texas town ofEncinal, placed 64th running a time of25:29.8.

ABOUT TIMEThe cross-country season started

three weeks later than expected due tosome unfortunate travel incidents, sothe athletes expressed excitementabout finally getting the season underway as they’ve been waiting to runsince the first week of school.

The coaching staff canceled a trip toSan Antonio Aug. 29 in order to com-plete then-unresolved academic proce-dures. The following weekend, theteam returned after the girls’ trans-portation vehicle was involved in anaccident on the way to the Texas StateRelays in San Marcos. Fortunately, theathletes and the coach on board suf-fered no major injuries.

The Texas A&M Invitational, whichwas supposed to take place Sept 13 inCollege Station, was canceled due tothe strike of Hurricane Ike in the area.

“It feels good to compete,” saidRamirez. “We were ready to go out andshow what we have.”

Newcomer Najera had been practic-ing with the team for almost a year, buthad never been able to run with theUTPA jersey due to eligibility prob-lems regarding high school credits.

“I wanted to run already,” he said. “I

hadn’t competed in more than a year.”Now that the teams are back in ac-

tion, their mindset goes back to goals.Ramirez said that the Bronc objectivesfor this season are to win the GreatWest Conference and place in the topfive during regionals in November.

“Practice has been going very

well. All of us have been running to-gether,” he noted. “The hard work isgoing to show in the future when itcomes down to conference and re-gionals. We’re starting where we aresupposed to be. Our goals are set andwe are looking forward to accom-plishing them.”

SPORTS September 25, 2008

� CROSS COUNTRY

� VOLLEYBALL

Broncs upset Texas, women capture fifth in Alamo City

By Ramiro PaezTHE PAN AMERICAN

Lady Broncs encounter struggles on road, return for homestand

Onydia Garza/THE PAN AMERICANRIGHT ON TRACK - Robert Najera (left) and J.J. Hernandez helped themen’s team capture first place in San Antonio.

By Sara HernandezTHE PAN AMERICAN

VolleyballSchedule

Oct. 4 UTSA 4 p.m.

Oct. 10 Utah Valley State 7 p.m.

Oct. 17 Chicago State 7 p.m.

Oct. 19 Houston Baptist 2 p.m.

Oct. 24 Utah Valley State Orem, UT 7 p.m.

Oct. 31 Texas Southern 3 p.m.

Nov. 4 Missouri State Springfield, MO 6 p.m.

Nov. 5 Oral Roberts University Tulsa, OK 6 p.m.

Nov. 14 Cal State-Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA 3 p.m.

Nov. 15 Cal State-Bakersfield Bakersfield, CA 1 p.m.

National IndependentTournament

Nov. 21 NIT Orem, UT TBANov. 22 NIT Orem, UT TBA

* Home games in bold

With another season around thecorner, The University of Texas-PanAmerican men’s basketball team isfaced with the inevitable situationevery team encounters, breaking inrookies, especially after losing a slewof talent to graduation.

Third-year head coach TomSchuberth brings many new faces fromjunior colleges and high schools aroundthe country, in hopes that they eventual-ly will perform at a level close to lastyear’s Independent champion squad.

“Any time you have a new group ofplayers, it’s kind of a transition to seehow they react to your coaching,adversity and prosperity,” saidSchuberth. “They are working hardand they have a great attitude. But wejust don’t know where we fall as far asour talent in relationship to our teamand the teams we’re playing.”

GUARD OUTLOOKAround the perimeter, the Broncs

have employed some new guns thathope to make a difference in shooting,and hope that some of the guards canbecome team leaders. Gone are PaulStoll and Brian Burrell, a pair of out-standing shooters who were part of thebackbone of the 18-win group.

Reggie Cook, a junior from Cowley

County Community College, comes toSouth Texas with two years of eligibili-ty. Cook was signed to play shootingguard but can very easily take the posi-tion of a point guard. The 6-foot-1-inchLawton, Okla. native stands at a lean180 pounds and averaged 7.8 points and3.1 assists per game last season.

“We think Reggie can be a guy thatcan stabilize our offense and be a gooddefender at the same time,” addedSchuberth.

At the shooting guard position,Schuberth’s secret weapon is 6-foot-3-inch Matt Stilwell of Orlando, Fla. AtS e m i n o l eC o m m u n i t yCollege, heaveraged 20ppg as a fresh-man andS c h u b e r t he x p e c t sStilwell to stepup and makesome shots, aswell as beco-ing a gooddefender.

“I prettymuch wantedto come herebecause it wassomething dif-ferent thanOrlando,” said Stilwell. “What I can

bring to the team is that I’m a shooterand a scorer.”

Another perimeter player is P.J.Turner, who is strictly a point guard.Turner is a quick, strong offensivethreat who can push the ball on thebreak. The 5-foot-11-inch Floridanative arrives at UTPA from Santa FeCommunity College where he aver-aged 7.2 points, 4.8 assists, 2.7rebounds per game and hopes to learnfrom Schuberth, the 2008 IndependentCoach of the Year.

“Right now it’s just fun and excitingplaying at Pan American,” said Turner.

“The main rea-son I came outhere is becauseof the coaching,players, staffbasically.”

J a s o nJensen, whowas the firstplayer to inkwith the Broncsback in January,comes fromMadison AreaTech College inWisconsin, andS c h u b e r t hhopes 6-foot-4-inch guard canshoot the ball

on a consistent basis as he averaged

22.4 ppg. At his former school, he wasone of the most reliable players, andplaying against other Division I-cal-iber athletes is improving him rapidly.

Jesse Gonzales Jr., a combo guardfrom San Antonio, was a part-time stu-dent at UTPA last season and watchedthe Broncs practice in the spring. The 6-foot-1-inch sophomore is also comingoff a knee injury so he has to improvehis physical makeup but when facedwith an open shot, his accuracy hasbeen very noticeable early on.

One of the two true freshmen on theteam is Houston native Jared Maree, themost recent acquisition. Maree’s 6-foot-2-inch, 185 pound bulky exterior andunselfishness should account for someoffensive firepower. Schuberth believesthat he will be a successful shooterbefore he leaves UTPA.

EXPERIENCE INSIDEAt the post position, the Broncs have

added to their depth by bringing in threebig men to help Nathan Hawkins andEmmanuel Jones, expected to be solidstarters in 2008-09. Probably the mostathletic player behind Jones is 6-8 LuisValera, who played at MarshalltownCommunity College in Iowa, where heaveraged 9.9 ppg, the third-leadingscorer, and was the leading rebounderwith 198 total boards. Even though he’sathletic and understands the game verywell, Valera has to become tougher

around the basket and more consistent,according to the staff.

“He’s a great listener and his bestyears are in front of him,” saidSchuberth.

Matt Zaney, a 6-foot-6-inch red-shirt forward last season from TheUniversity of Texas-Permian Basin,brings a hard-working attitude. Thesophomore can contribute if he getstougher and becomes a betterrebounder.

The other true freshman is 6-foot-9-inch forward Andrew Smith fromWisconsin. Schuberth feels that if heis able get some repetition and someexperience on the floor he will be aforce to deal with.

With the departures of standoutsStoll, Burrell and Zach Trader,Schuberth says it will take some timefor the new-look Broncs to becomefamiliar with Division I basketball.They start practicing officially on Oct.17 and will travel to Houston to scrim-mage The University of Houston Oct.25. Their first game is Nov. 15 againstSul Ross State at 3 p.m. at the UTPAField House.

“I think we will be a better team atthe end of the year than we will be atthe beginning of the season,” thecoach said. “Particularly in theperimeter positions where it’s veryessential to have a good guard ifyou’re going to be successful.”

It was an early-season start thatThe University of Texas Pan-American women’s soccer club hadn’tplanned for, as the Lady Broncs suf-fered a defeat on the road Saturdayagainst the University of Texas-SanAntonio, 5-3.

Though his team showed consider-able improvement from its previousgame, a tie, first-year coach HugoZuniga believes the loss was just acase of bad conditioning.

“At the end of the day we could notkeep it up. We did not have as manysubstitutions and our girls got tired,”said Zuniga. “We had an excellent firsthalf touching ball wherever we want-ed. The goals came off of beautifulplays that we started from the defenseuntil we found the spaces to score.”

Two goals scored by midfielderGabriella Soto and another by TracyByrd put UTPA on the scoreboard butit wasn’t enough to take the win.

THE OPENER RECAPPEDIn their first game of the season

Saturday, the Lady Broncs (0-1-1) hadended in a scoreless tie againstdefending league champion TexasState. What started off as an excitingup-and-down contest ended in dead-

lock with both teams having troublefinding scoring opportunities.

“Being that this was our first offi-cial game, and also considering whowe played against, I am glad we gotthe tie,” Zuniga said. “We have beenplaying very well in our exhibitiongames and today I think we followedthat up even though there were nogoals scored. The first half they domi-nated us but we came out in the sec-ond and were able to level their inten-sity. You have to remember that thiswas the first place team in the confer-ence last year and we just tied them.”

A bigger and stronger San Marcossquad relied more on physical playcompared to the finesse passing gamethe Lady Broncs practiced. This wasdisplayed often in various no-call situ-ations by the referee that left UTPAplayers dumbfounded.

UTPA played its ground gamewell, passing efficiently when oppor-tunities arose, but could not escalateto a goal because of a formidableLady Bobcat defense.

Although San Marcos lost the bat-tle in ball possession, it had more shotopportunities. During the second halfthis was evident as the Lady ‘Cats hadthree clear goal opportunities, whereone hit the cross bar and two werestopped by UTPA goalkeeper YoliPena. If not for gutsy plays from Pena,

at least one of the three shots wouldhave resulted in a score.

“I am pretty happy with my per-formance. I think I stopped three con-secutive shots where I had to beaggressive. Overall our defense wasstopping their forwards but we justcouldn’t score,” Pena said. “It is goodthat we at least tied this team becauselast year we got blown out. Eventhough we fared pretty well, we knowwe need to work on our communica-tion more and definitely learn how toplay more aggressively.”

A frustrated Lady Bobcat playerreceived a red card close in the 75th

minute, leaving her team with a disad-vantage but the Lady Broncs could notbenefit due to lack of energy in thewaning minutes of the game.

Noticeable outings for the womencame from the orchestrator of theteam, Soto, and left-winger Byrd.The combination of these playersdented the armor in the Lady Bobcatdefense at times.

“We are a team first but consider-ing the heart and the determinationthat Soto and Byrd showed, those girlswere the ones who definitely stoodout,” Zuniga commented.

The women will now start a three-game home stand beginning Saturdayagainst Stephen F. Austin at 5 p.m. atthe intramural practice field.

Lady Broncs tie opener, falter against UTSA

New recruiting class looking to replace experience

� SOCCER CLUB

� MEN’S BASKETBALL

SPORTS September 25, 2008

By Pedro Perez IVTHE PAN AMERICAN

Onydia Garza/THE PAN AMERICANSTALE MATE - UTPA’s Tracy Byrd (right) attempts to advance the ball inthe Lady Broncs’ opener, which ended in a scoreless tie against Texas State.

By Alvaro BalderasTHE PAN AMERICAN

Men’s BasketballFirst Game of the

Season

Nov. 15vs. Sul Ross State

@ UTPA Field HouseTime: 3 p.m.

QuotesFromTheStands

� FEATURE

Editor’s Picks

Monday 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)

McAllen RoweWarriors

SharylandRattlers

�COLLEGE FOOTBALL

�NFL

AlabamaCrimson Tide

GeorgiaBulldogs

BaltimoreRavens

PittsburghSteelers

�HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

Saturday 6:45 p.m. (ESPN)

Friday 7:30 p.m.

@

@

@


COURTESY OF “THE RED QUEEN”

“He is pretty good. He isfast, explosive. He took a67-yard touchdown. He isa good backup right nowbehind Marion Barber.”

Jose MoncibaisJuniorBiology major

On Cowboy RB Felix Jones

“It was a really goodgame. This one guy fromthe other team made atouchdown. But it wasdecided that he threwthe ball back, so thepoint was taken awayfrom the score they had.So I was pretty cool withthat. It helped out ourteam, the Cowboys.”

Aaron MartinezFreshmanMusic major

On Cowboys’ recent game

Date to Know:Men’s GolfAmerica Sky Men’s GolfChampionshipLocation: Boston, Mass.Sept. 28

When people think of martial arts,Bruce Lee, Bob Wall or ChrisCasamassa may come to mind. Butprobably not Linda Bustamante, eventhough the senior at The University ofTexas-Pan American has a black beltin the art of Goju Ryu and has beenteaching it for four years.

Bustamante teaches martial arts atJay Cee Park in Edinburg to eager stu-dents wanting to learn the sport. GojuRyu is a traditional Japanese(Okinawan) style of karate founded in1903 by Chōjun Miyagi; it featuresbody strengthening and conditioning.

Her love for the sport began at age8 when her father, a martial-artsinstructor at the time, introduced herand her twin brother to the sport.

“My dad taught us to do kicks andsplits in the backyard,” she said. “Hetaught us everything that I now use inmy classes.”

However, after a few years oftraining, she wanted to explore othersports before following in her father’s

footsteps. Sofor two years,she tried differ-ent activities.

“I was acheerleader,and then Itried balletdancing, butthe love I hadfor martial

arts kept bringing me back to it,” sheexplained.

After her return to serious training,Bustamante entered the competitionscene at age 11 and remembers get-ting disqualified a few times.

“My dad taught me how to hitstraight to the nose and during compe-tition I kept doing it,” she said. In mar-tial arts, such a tactic is not allowed.“But he taught me the right way tocompete and I stopped doing it.”

For the next four years she workedthrough the Goju Ryu JapaneseYellow Tiger system certifications,which reward a combatant belt ofwhite, yellow, green, purple, brownand black.

After the completion of her greenbelt, Bustamante was asked by herinstructor to begin teaching classes atJay Cee Park.

By her 16th birthday, she had com-pleted a black belt in Goju Ryu butdid not take the belt itself initially.

“It took me about a year to acceptthe belt,” she said. “I wanted to grow asa teacher and make sure I was mentallyprepared for it before accepting it.”

Throughout her career, she haswon several competitions, including astate, regional and world tournamentchampionship. Her most recent victo-ry was at the 2008 WorldInternationals in San Antonio whereshe placed first in the Black Belt divi-sion for women ages 18 to 35.

The pre-med major from Missionhopes to attend

medical school after graduation andhopes her other dream of becoming anaction-movie star will become a reality.

This summer, she was cast along-side UTPA alum Valente Rodriguez -a Valley native who starred in TheGeorge Lopez Show - in a locally pro-duced film, The Red Queen, allowingher to use her martial-arts experienceas well as acting ability. The moviehas a tentative release date inDecember.

In 2005, Bustamante’s had theopportunity to enter a reality televisionshow competition called I Want to Bethe Next Martial-Arts Superstar,which due to corporate funding issueswas never picked up by a network.Still, she was in California for a weekand a half vying with over a thousandother competitors. As part of the audi-tion, she had to show how to performkicks, splits, and weapons movements,gymnastics, alongwith some acting.

“My parents knewthis was my dream, sothey helped me financially,”Bustamante commented.

With her dad by her side,she was able to survive into thefinal 16 contestants, one of theyoungest still standing.

ACTION! - Senior pre-med major LindaBustamante will be starring in The RedQueen, which is set to debut in December,showcasing her martial-arts talent.

By Adriana AcostaTHE PAN AMERICAN

DESIGNED BY GREGORIO GARZA

September 25, 2008

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